A woman takes a test for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) at a testing center in Sydney, Australia, Jan 5, 2022. (JAIMI JOY / REUTERS)

SINGAPORE / YANGON / MANILA / HANOI / SYDNEY / NEW DELHI / KUALA LUMPUR / SEOUL / ISLAMABAD – Australia will end the mandatory five-day home quarantine for COVID-infected people on Oct 14, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Friday, even as some doctors warned the move would put the public at risk.

The decision to let COVID-infected Australians decide whether they need to isolate or not removes one of country's last remaining restrictions from the pandemic era, and comes about a month after the quarantine period was cut to five days from seven.

Australia, one of the most heavily vaccinated countries against COVID-19, has given two doses to 96.5% of those older than 16, although just under 72% have had the booster shot.

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India

India's daily COVID-19 caseload Friday decreased to 3,947 from 4,272 the previous day, officials said.

According to federal health ministry data released on Friday morning, 3,947 new cases of COVID-19 were reported during the past 24 hours, taking the total tally to 44,587,307 in the country.

The country also logged 18 related deaths during the past 24 hours, pushing the overall death toll to 528,629 since the beginning of the pandemic, the ministry said.

Malaysia

Malaysia reported 1,867 new COVID-19 infections as of midnight Thursday, bringing the national total to 4,838,872, according to the health ministry.

There are four new imported cases, with 1,863 cases being local transmissions, data released by the ministry showed.

Another four deaths have been reported, pushing the death toll to 36,369.

The country reported 2,263 vaccine doses administered on Thursday and 86.1 percent of the population has received at least one dose, 84.2 percent are fully vaccinated and 49.7 percent have received the first booster and 1.5 percent have received the second booster.

Myanmar

Myanmar has confirmed 379 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the tally to 622,802, the country's Ministry of Health said on Thursday.

The death toll from COVID-19 in the country reached 19,458 on Thursday after one new death was reported, the ministry said.

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Pakistan

Pakistan recorded 43 new COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours, the country's ministry of health said on Friday.
A total of 30,616 people died of COVID-19 in Pakistan, after three new deaths were reported in the country during the last 24 hours, according to the ministry.

Republic of Korea

South Korea reported 28,497 new COVID-19 cases as of midnight Thursday compared to 24 hours ago, raising the total number of infections to 24,769,101, the health authorities said Friday.

The daily caseload was down from 30,881 the previous day and lower than 29,097 tallied a week earlier, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency.

For the past week, the daily average number of confirmed cases was 29,175.

Among the new cases, 276 were imported from overseas, lifting the total to 67,237.

Forty-two more deaths were confirmed, leaving the death toll at 28,406. The total fatality rate was 0.11 percent.

People wearing face masks cross a road amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Singapore May 14, 2021. (CAROLINE CHIA / REUTERS)

Singapore

Singapore reported 3,431 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, bringing the total tally to 1,904,192.
Of the new cases, 295 cases were detected through PCR (polymerase chain reaction) tests and 3,136 through ART (antigen rapid test) tests, according to statistics released by the country's Ministry of Health.
Among the PCR cases, 269 were local transmissions and 26 were imported cases. Among the ART cases with mild symptoms and assessed to be of low risk, there were 2,950 local transmissions and 186 imported cases, respectively.
No death was reported from COVID-19 on Thursday, making the total death toll stay unchanged at 1,617, the ministry said.

The Philippines
The Philippines reported 2,536 new COVID-19 infections on Thursday, bringing the number of confirmed cases in the Southeast Asian country to 3,945,566.

The Department of Health said the number of active cases rose to 28,172, while 34 more patients died from COVID-19 complications, pushing the country's death toll to 62,916.

Vietnam

Vietnam recorded 978 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, down by 609 from Wednesday, according to its ministry of health.

All the new cases were locally transmitted, said the ministry.

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The newly reported infections brought the total tally of COVID-19 to 11,477,886. The country reported a new death from the pandemic in the northern Hai Duong province on Thursday, bringing the total fatalities to 43,148.