People wearing masks walk in and out of subway train in the Chinatown district in Singapore on Oct 4, 2021. (ROSLAN RAHMAN / AFP)

HANOI / KUALA LUMPUR / NEW DELHI / SINGAPORE - Singapore reported 17,564 new confirmed COVID-19 cases on Friday, bringing the total tally to 803,389.

Of the new cases, 2,425 cases were detected through PCR (polymerase chain reaction) tests and 15,139 through ARTs (antigen rapid tests), according to statistics released by the Ministry of Health.

Among the PCR cases, 2,369 were local transmissions and 56 were imported cases. Among the ART cases with mild symptoms and assessed to be of low risk, there were 15,037 local transmissions and 102 imported cases.

A total of 1,678 cases are currently warded in hospitals, with 45 cases in intensive care units.

Eighteen more patients have died from complications due to COVID-19 infection, bringing the death toll to 1,067, the ministry said.

India

India's COVID-19 tally rose to 42,957,477 on Saturday with 5,921 new cases registered during the past 24 hours across the country, showed the federal health ministry's latest data.

Besides, as many as 289 deaths due to the pandemic since Friday morning took the total death toll to 514,878.

There are still 63,878 active COVID-19 cases in the country with a fall of 6,019 active cases during the past 24 hours. This was the 40th consecutive day when the number of active cases declined in the country.

A total of 42,378,721 people have been successfully cured and discharged from hospitals so far, out of which 11,651 were discharged during the past 24 hours. 

Malaysia

Malaysia reported 33,209 new COVID-19 infections as of midnight Friday, the highest daily spike since the outbreak, bringing the national total to 3,561,766

Malaysia reported 33,209 new COVID-19 infections as of midnight Friday, the highest daily spike since the outbreak, bringing the national total to 3,561,766, according to the health ministry.

There are 441 new imported cases, with 32,768 being local transmissions, data released on the ministry's website showed.

A further 78 deaths have been reported, bringing the death toll to 33,106.

The ministry reported 26,352 new recoveries, bringing the total number of cured and discharged to 3,223,650.

The country reported that 81,724 vaccine doses were administered on Friday alone and 83 percent of the population have received at least one dose.

Vietnam

The daily COVID-19 tally in Vietnam surged to a new high of 125,587 cases on Friday, up 6,797 cases from the previous record on Thursday, according to its Ministry of Health.

The new infections, logged in 63 localities nationwide, included 125,568 domestically transmitted and 19 imported cases.

Vietnamese capital Hanoi remained the epidemic hotspot with 21,395 cases on Friday, also its new daily record, followed by central Nghe An province with 6,657 cases, and northern Bac Ninh province with 6,011 cases.

On the same day, health authorities also documented 48,044 COVID-19 cases detected earlier in northern provinces of Bac Ninh and Quang Ninh.

The infections brought the total tally to 4,059,262 with 40,644 deaths. Nationwide, as many as 2,589,436 COVID-19 patients, or 64 percent of the infections, have so far recovered.

Vietnam has by far gone through four coronavirus waves of increasing scale, complication, and infectivity. As of Friday, it has registered over 4 million locally transmitted COVID-19 cases since the start of the current wave in April 2021, said the health ministry.