Fishermen and women return to their homes in Port Blair, in India's Andaman and Nicobar Islands archipelago, Sept 6, 2007. Four members of a small tribe in the remote Andaman and Nicobar Islands have tested positive for the coronavirus. (AIJAZ RAHI / AP)

SEOUL / GAZA / BEIRUT / JERUSALEM / CANBERRA / SYDNEY / MANILA / JAKARTA / BISHKEK/ NEW DELHI / ULAN BATOR / WELLINGTON / PHNOM PENH / YANGON / KOLKATA - Four members of a dwindling tribe in India’s far off Andaman Islands have tested positive for coronavirus, officials said on Thursday as the country reported 75,760 new infections, the highest-single-day rise.

The Great Andamanese are one of the six tribes of Mongoloid and African origin, who have lived in the Andamans in the Bay of Bengal for thousands of years.

Only about 50 members survive, after thousands were killed by British colonisers in the 19th century or died later due to diseases. Indian officials have since tried to protect their way of life while opening up the islands to the fruits of development such as access to healthcare.

The London-based Survival International said authorities must work to prevent the virus reaching other remote tribes.

Members of a Hindu family wear face masks and carry an idol of elephant-headed Hindu god Ganesha to immerse in Hussain Sagar Lake on the fifth day of the ten-day-long Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Hyderabad, India, Aug 26, 2020. (MAHESH KUMAR A. / AP)

On the Indian mainland, in the eastern state of Odisha, a member of a hill tribe had also tested positive, a state official said, so as the country's federal junior minister for social justice and empowerment Krishan Pal Gurjar.

The 63-year-old politician is the seventh federal minister to test positive for the highly contagious disease.

India's COVID-19 tally has reached 3,310,234, with the total number of related deaths at 60,472.

A man wearing a face mask crosses a quiet road in Melbourne's Chinatown area on Aug 13, 2020. (WILLIAM WEST / AFP)

Australia

Australia’s Victoria state - epicentre of the nation’s second wave of COVID-19 infections - reported its lowest one-day rise in new cases in nearly two months, buoying hopes a lockdown of nearly 5 million people has contained spread of the virus.

Victoria said it detected 113 new cases in the past 24 hours, the lowest one-day rise since July 5. The state reported 149 infections on Wednesday.

Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews said the results mean officials are now plotting how to ease restrictions when the stringent lockdown of Australia’s second-most populous city Melbourne is scheduled to end in September.

Strict lockdown measures have helped ease the daily rise of coronavirus infections in Victoria after the state hit a one-day high of more than 700 cases about three weeks ago.

New South Wales, Australia’s most populous state, reported nine COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, all locally acquired, and Queensland said it detected two new infections.

Australia has now recorded nearly 25,500 COVID-19 infections. The death toll has risen to 572 after the death of 23 people in Victoria.

Australia's Acting Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Paul Kelly has described the number of healthcare staff who have caught COVID-19 as "unacceptable."

Kelly said on Wednesday afternoon that the federal government was seeking the "best expert advice" on how to protect workers in "high-risk settings" from the virus.

At the peak of Victoria's second wave of infections earlier in August, healthcare workers accounted for about 11 percent of the state's active cases of COVID-19.

Cambodia

Cambodia will reopen the academic institutions on Sept 7 after temporary closure since mid-March due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Education Ministry on Thursday.

Education Minister Hang Chuon Naron said in a press release that the schools must properly follow the standard operating procedure (SOP) set out by the Ministry of Health in order to ensure students' safety.

The number of students in a classroom must not be more than 20, the news release said.

It added that the new academic year 2020-2021 will start from Jan 11, 2021 onwards.

Cambodia has seen success in controlling the spread of the COVID-19. The kingdom has recorded a total of 273 confirmed COVID-19 cases to date, said a statement from the Ministry of Health on Wednesday, adding that none have died and 264 have recovered. 

Indonesia

Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Thursday launched subsidies for 15.7 million workers whose monthly salaries are under 5 million rupiahs (some US$341.26) amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The subsidy assistance is given to workers who are registered in the public social security agency for employment (locally known as BPJS Ketenagakerjaan), the president said at the state palace in Jakarta.

The head of state further said in the first phase, the subsidies will be distributed to 2.5 million workers and the rest will be given to other formal workers in the next stages until the number reaches 15.7 million by the end of September 2020.

In the first phase, each worker will receive 1.2 million rupiahs (US$81.90) for two months and the rest will be distributed within the next two months.

Indonesia reported its biggest daily rise in coronavirus infections with 2,719 new cases on Thursday, taking the total to 162,884, data from the country’s COVID-19 task force showed.

The data showed an additional 120 deaths, taking the toll to 7,064.

ALSO READ: Indonesia on alert over spike of COVID-19 cases in EU, Asia

Israel

Israel's Ministry of Health reported 1,943 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday, bringing the total to 108,403.

The number of death cases reached 875, with 16 new deaths, while the number of patients in serious condition decreased from 427 to 404, out of 825 patients currently hospitalized.

The number of recoveries reached 86,466, with 2,644 new recoveries, while active cases stand at 21,062.

Iraq

The Iraqi Health Ministry on Wednesday confirmed 3,837 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total nationwide infections to 215,784.

The ministry also reported 72 more deaths, raising the death toll from the infectious virus to 6,668 in the country. It also said that 3,454 people recovered during the day, bringing the total recoveries from the disease to 157,215.

Japan

Japanese Economy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura said a jump in virus cases from July and heavy rains are dragging on the nation’s economy and he didn’t know yet whether the outbreak has peaked. He told a parliamentary committee the economy’s overall recovery trend is not yet back. Nishimura said on Wednesday a second wave of the virus now spreading in Japan is bigger than the one that caused the government to declare a state of emergency in April.

Kuwait

Kuwait on Wednesday reported 698 new COVID-19 cases and two more deaths, raising the tally of infections to 82,271 and the death toll to 521, the Health Ministry said in a statement.

Currently, 7,844 patients are receiving treatment, including 92 in ICU, according to the statement.

Kyrgyzstan

Kyrgyzstan added 101 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, bringing the total number to 43,459.

Nurbolot Usenbaev, the country's deputy minister of health, said during a news briefing that 3,116 of the total COVID-19 cases were medical workers.

He added that 2,409 of them had recovered and returned to work.

The total recovery number in the country rose to 37,492, with 275 new recoveries for the last 24 hours.

The death toll stands at 1,058, with no deaths related to the virus registered in the past day.

Members of the Lebanese security forces man a checkpoint on an avenue in the capital Beirut to verify the compliance with restrictions on the first day of a reinstated lockdown to combat a surge in COVID-19 cases, on Aug 21, 2020. (ANWAR AMRO / AFP)

Lebanon

Caretaker Prime Minister Hassan Diab said on Wednesday that Lebanon was at risk of losing control over the coronavirus outbreak after a rise in the number of cases following the explosion in Beirut on Aug 4.

Cases doubled in the two weeks following the blast as infections spread in hospitals where victims were being treated, medics say.

Lebanon's number of COVID-19 infections increased on Wednesday by 561 cases to 14,248 while death toll rose by one to 139, the Health Ministry reported.

Myanmar

Myanmar closed schools nationwide on Thursday as novel coronavirus infections increased, a decision broadly welcomed by parents worried about a rapid spread of the contagious virus.

The country reported six more locally transmitted cases of COVID-19 on Thursday morning, bringing the number of infections to 586 in total, according to a release from the Health and Sports Ministry.

Of the newly patients, five are from Rakhine state who were under quarantine due to close contact with recently confirmed patients while the other one is from Yangon region who had traveling history to Sittwe township of Rakhine state in the past 14 days.

Myanmar has reported more than 200 cases of the coronavirus since early last week after a month without any reports of domestic transmission.

Most recent infections have been outside the biggest city, Yangon, and authorities believe they were more contagious than previously seen.

Mongolia

Mongolia has reported one more COVID-19 case in the last 24 hours, bringing the nationwide tally to 301, the National Center for Communicable Diseases (NCCD) said Thursday.

The latest case was found in a 35-year-old Mongolian man who returned home from South Korea on a chartered flight last week, Amarjargal Ambaselmaa, head of the NCCD's Surveillance Department, told a daily press briefing.

Meanwhile, two more patients have recovered from the disease, bringing the national couont to 291, Ambaselmaa said.

New Zealand

Wearing a face covering on public transport is the right thing to do and will help keep New Zealanders safe from COVID-19, New Zealand's Health Minister Chris Hipkins said on Thursday.

From Monday, it will be compulsory for everyone aged 12 and over to wear a face covering on public transport and planes under Alert Level 2 and above, with certain exemptions for health, disability and practicality reasons, Hipkins told a daily COVID-19 briefing.

New Zealand confirmed seven new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, including one imported case and six community outbreak cases, as the government outlined rules for the use of face coverings on public transport.

The imported case was a woman in her 20s who arrived in New Zealand on August 22 from abroad. She has been staying in a managed isolation facility in Christchurch and tested positive for COVID-19 around day 3 of her time in managed isolation, according to the Ministry of Health.

The other six cases are in the community, and they have all been linked to the Auckland cluster identified more than two weeks ago, which resulted in a second lockdown in the country's largest city. The current Alert Level 3 lockdown in Auckland will last till Sunday before new decisions are made, said a ministry statement.

 The country's total number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 is now 1,351, which is the number reported to the World Health Organization.

Oman

The Omani health ministry on Wednesday announced 166 new COVID-19 infections, raising the total number of confirmed cases in the Sultanate to 84,818, the official Oman News Agency (ONA) reported.

Meanwhile, 262 people recovered during the past 24 hours, taking the overall number of recoveries to 79,409, while the death toll increased by four to 646, according to a ministry statement quoted by ONA.

Palestine

Gaza will remain in lockdown at least until Sunday, health officials said on Wednesday after reporting two deaths and 26 COVID-19 cases in the first public outbreak of the coronavirus in the blockaded Palestinian enclave.

As of two days ago, when the first four cases were discovered in a refugee camp in the 360 square-kilometre territory, and a 48-hour lockdown was imposed, there had been no infections outside border quarantine facilities for new arrivals.

But by late on Wednesday, health officials said 26 people in several locations had tested positive for COVID-19 and two patients had died - a sign the world pandemic had penetrated Gaza’s forced isolation.

The new infections added to concerns among local and international health organizations about Gaza’s potentially disastrous combination of poverty, densely populated refugee camps and limited hospital capacity.

Mosques, schools and most businesses have been ordered closed. Authorities have instructed Gazans to stay at home and wear masks if they need to shop for essentials.

Palestine recorded on Wednesday 602 new COVID-19 cases in the Palestinian territories, including the Gaza Strip, bringing the total number of cases to 26,764.

Qatar

Qatari health ministry on Wednesday announced 244 new COVID-19 infections, raising the total number of confirmed cases in the Gulf state to 117,742, the official Qatar News Agency (QNA) reported.

Meanwhile, 240 more recovered from the virus, bringing the total recoveries to 114,558, while no new death was reported, as the fatalities remained 194, according to a ministry statement quoted by QNA.

A medical worker measures his own body temperature during the COVID-19 testing at a makeshift clinic in Seoul, South Korea, Aug 26, 2020. (AHN YOUNG-JOON / AP)

South Korea

South Korea urged businesses on Thursday to have employees work from home after reporting the highest daily number of coronavirus cases since March, as it also flagged the risks of new clusters at call centres and logistics warehouses.

South Korea reported 441 new coronavirus cases as of Wednesday, the most daily infections since early March when the country had the first large outbreak, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) said on Thursday.

While authorities said the recent surge has mostly to do with recent outbreaks in a church and at an anti-government rally earlier this month, they warned about the possibility of new clusters in densely-populated workspaces.

The new cases bring the total number of coronavirus infections in South Korea to 18,706 and the COVID-19 death tally to 313. A total of 933 infections have been traced to the church outbreak, KCDC said.

ALSO READ: South Korea warns of ‘massive’ coronavirus risk

Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia reported 1,068 new COVID-19 cases and 33 fatalities on Wednesday, raising the total number of cases to 310,836 and the death toll to 3,755.

The total number of recoveries in the country has increased by 1,013 to 284,945 cases, according to Saudi health ministry.

The Philippines

The Philippines’ health ministry on Thursday reported 3,249 additional novel coronavirus infections and 97 more deaths due to the disease.

In a bulletin, the ministry said total confirmed cases in the Philippines had reached 205,518, the highest in Southeast Asia, while deaths had increased to 3,234, about a quarter of which were recorded in the past 15 days.

This photo taken on Aug 21, 2020 shows passengers wearing face masks as a preventive measure against the COVID-19 coronavirus walking along a concourse at the departure area of Suvarnabhumi airport in Bangkok. (ROMEO GACAD / AFP)

Thailand

The Thailand government may allow foreigners who own properties in the country to return as it seeks to gradually ease travel curbs imposed in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. 

Foreigners who plan long stays in Thailand may also be allowed, Natthapol Nakpanich, deputy army chief and a member of the national COVID-19 task force, told reporters in Bangkok Thursday. The easing of entry rules may see hundreds of foreign visitors entering Thailand, Natthapol said. 

READ MORE: Thai PM eyes limited opening for tourists for economic survival

Thailand has had 3,404 confirmed coronavirus infections and 58 deaths and has gone more than three months without a case of domestic transmission.

Turkey

Turkey on Wednesday adopted new restrictions on some social activities in 14 provinces to curb the rising daily new COVID-19 cases across the country.

According to the Interior Ministry, some specific activities are banned in these provinces, including the capital Ankara and northwestern Bursa.

Turkey's COVID-19 cases increased by 1,313 to a total of 262,507 on Wednesday, Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said, adding that 20 people died in the past 24 hours, taking the death toll to 6,183.

Turkish health professionals conducted 100,109 tests in the past 24 hours, bringing the overall number of tests to 6,621,749, he said.

UAE

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Wednesday announced 399 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total confirmed cases in the country to 68,020.

The Ministry of Health and Prevention said 316 more patients have recovered from the virus, taking the tally of recoveries in the UAE to 59,070.

It also confirmed one more death, pushing the country's death toll to 378.