COVID-19 surge strikes Asia; China, Thailand, Malaysia see record infections

New Delhi: The COVID-19 pandemic is on the surge once again as several Asian countries saw a record number of new infections in the last few days.

China reported 55 new coronavirus cases on Saturday, compared with 64 cases a day before. The rise has been attributed to the Delta variant spread across the country. The eastern city of Nanjing has been particularly affected. The country is planning to test over 80 lakh citizens for COVID-19 virus.

Thailand and Malaysia also registered a record number of COVID-19 infections on Saturday, mostly driven by the highly transmissible Delta variant.

Thailand also reported a daily record high of 18,912 new coronavirus infections, bringing its total cases to 597,287. The country also reported 178 new deaths, also a daily record.

Malaysia, one of the hotspots of the disease, reported 17,786 coronavirus cases on Saturday, a record high.

Tokyo, which is hosting the Olympic Games, has also seen a fresh spike in new cases, Reuters reported.

Tokyo’s metropolitan government announced a record number of 4,058 infections in the past 24 hours. Olympics organisers reported 21 new COVID-19 cases related to the Games, bringing the total to 241 since July 1.

A day earlier Japan extended its state of emergency for Tokyo to the end of August and expanded it to three prefectures near the capital and to the western prefecture of Osaka.

Meanwhile, Vietnam, which is grappling with its worst COVID-19 outbreak, announced strict curbs on movement in its business hub Ho Chi Minh City and another 18 cities and province for two weeks starting Monday.

Cases also surged in Sydney, where police cordoned off the central business district to prevent a protest against a strict lockdown that will last until the end of August.

Police in Sydney closed train stations, banned taxis from dropping passengers off downtown and deployed 1,000 officers to set up checkpoints and to disperse groups.

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