Commuters walk past Melbourne's Flinders Street Station on July 23, 2020 on the first day of the mandatory wearing of face masks in public areas as the city experiences an outbreak of the COVID-19. (PHOTO / AFP)

WELLINGTON / RAMALLAH - The Australian state of Victoria, a hotspot in the country’s COVID-19 outbreak, said on Saturday social distancing restrictions will be eased earlier than previously announced as daily new infections held near three-month lows.

Victoria said 12 COVID-19 infections have been detected over the past 24 hours, near a three-month low of 11 recorded on Sept 21.

With case numbers well below the thresholds defined in the government’s phased removal of restrictions, state Premier Daniel Andrews said he will on Sunday update the schedule for easing curbs.

“We have had a very good day and I will back before you tomorrow to make some substantial announcements,” Andrews told reporters in Melbourne.

Andrews did not specify which restrictions could be relaxed, but said it would centre on curbs scheduled to be removed in late October.

Melbourne - Australia’s second-largest city - has been under a strict lockdown for nearly two months. The state has ordered nearly 5 million people to stay at home, closed large parts of the economy and imposed a nightly curfew.

Victoria accounts for 90 percent of Australia’s 870 coronavirus deaths. Health officials believe the outbreak in Victoria began after private security guards mingled with infected travellers in hotel quarantine.

The country has otherwise reported just over 27,000 cases, well below the numbers seen in many other developed nations.

Other states used Australian military officials as security in their hotel quarantine.

Victoria officials have been under pressure for months to explain why private security guards were used.

On Saturday state health minister Jenny Mikakos resigned after Premier Andrews told an official inquiry that she was responsible for the decision.

South Korea

South Korea on Saturday reported 49 new domestic coronavirus cases, the smallest number of locally transmitted cases in 44 days in a sign that tighter social distancing rules are paying off.

Health officials reiterated calls on people to refrain from visiting their hometowns and meeting with relatives during the Chuseok holiday, worrying that the holiday, which runs from Sept. 30 to Oct. 2, may lead to another spike.

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency reported 61 new coronavirus cases as of midnight Thursday, including 49 local cases, mostly in Seoul and nearby Gyeonggi Porvince.

This brings the country’s total to 23,516, while deaths increased by 4 to 399.

Australia

Health Minister Jenny Mikakos of Australia’s coronavirus hot spot Victoria state resigned amid anger over quarantine procedures at hotels.

State Premier Daniel Andrews had told an investigation into the government’s quarantine program that he saw Mikakos as accountable for the program, according to a report from the Australian Broadcasting Corp. Mikakos said that while she never shirked her responsibility, it wasn’t hers alone.

Her resignation came as Prime Minister Scott Morrison told the UN General Assembly that whoever discovers a vaccine to the new coronavirus must share it, calling it a global and moral responsibility.

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Turkey

Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said on Friday that the intensive care unit (ICU) bed occupancy rate of the country's hospitals has reached 68 percent during the coronavirus outbreak.

The bed occupancy rate is 61 percent in Turkey, while the intubation occupancy rate is 33 percent, the minister told reporters in the Black Sea province of Samsun.

Turkey's COVID-19 cases increased by 1,665 to 311,455 on the day, the Turkish Health Ministry announced.

Meanwhile, 73 people died in the past 24 hours, taking the death toll to 7,858 and 1,318 more patients recovered, raising the total recoveries to 273,282 in Turkey since the outbreak.

The rate of pneumonia in COVID-19 patients is 6.6 percent and the number of seriously ill patients is 1,601.

Turkish health professionals conducted 112,885 tests in the past 24 hours, bringing the overall number of tests to 9,834,572.

The country reported the first COVID-19 case on March 11.

Palestine

The Palestinian health ministry on Friday reported 452 new COVID-19 cases and five deaths from the virus in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem. 

In a press statement sent to Xinhua, Palestinian Health Minister Mai al-Kaila said two death cases were in the Hebron district, two in the Nablus district, and one in East Jerusalem.

The total number of coronavirus cases in the Palestinian territories has increased to 48,282, including 327 deaths, since the outbreak of the disease in March, she added.

Meanwhile, 368 more patients have recovered from the coronavirus, raising the total number of recoveries to 35,709, the minister said, adding the recovery percentage has reached 74 percent in the Palestinian territories.

There are currently 12,246 active cases in Palestine, with 43 in critical condition and 12 on ventilators, according to al-Kaila.  

The United Arab Emirates

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Friday announced 1,008 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total confirmed cases in the country to 89,540.

At the same time, 882 more patients have recovered from the virus, taking the tally of recoveries in the UAE to 78,819, the Ministry of Health and Prevention said.

It also confirmed two more deaths, pushing the country's death toll to 409.

The UAE was the first among the Gulf countries to report COVID-19 cases.

Lebanon

Lebanon's total number of COVID-19 cases increased on Friday by 1,143 to 33,962 while the death toll went up by four to 333, the Health Ministry said.

It is the highest single-day increase since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus in Lebanon on Feb 21.

Lebanon has been registering more than 1,000 cases daily in the past few days, leading to isolation of some villages to curb the spread of the deadly virus.

Singapore

Singapore will quarantine fewer migrant workers in their dormitories should COVID-19 cases be detected in the living quarters, tweaking its approach to reduce work disruption and improve their welfare.

The new policy will isolate smaller groups when a new case is found in a dorm, instead of an entire block of workers, the Ministry of Manpower said on Friday. This applies to residences where there are no intermixing between workers, with segregation measures put in place by operators, the ministry said.

Those who have recovered from Covid-19 and are within 150 days of their infection won’t need to be quarantined, the ministry said, citing the latest medical evidence that showed they still have antibodies to guard against re-infection. Previously, those who had passed their 120th day of infection had to serve quarantine.

“Through our collective efforts, our migrant workers will remain safe and healthy, and our businesses can minimize disruption to their operations,” the ministry said.

Migrant workers have accounted for almost all of the Singapore’s coronavirus cases. Since April, they have been confined to their residences with limited exceptions for work.

After an extensive testing and quarantine campaign, the government cleared the dormitories of COVID-19 in August. But new virus clusters soon re-emerged in the dorms, where workers from China, India, Indonesia and elsewhere share bunks and tight living spaces, raising questions about whether Singapore’s conditions for its low-wage workforce undermine the efforts to stamp it out.

Singapore's Ministry of Health (MOH) reported 11 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, bringing the total confirmed cases in the country to 57,665.

Of the new cases, two are imported cases, none are community cases and nine are linked with the dormitories of foreign workers.

Israel

The number of coronavirus cases in Israel has reached 217,899, with 5,784 new cases, the state's Ministry of Health said on Friday.

The number of death cases rose to 1,412, with 34 new fatalities, while the number of patients in serious condition increased from 685 to 708, out of 1,386 patients currently hospitalized.

The number of recoveries rose to 153,574, with 4,761 new recoveries, while active cases currently stand at 62,913.

Earlier on Friday, tightening of the ongoing three-week anti-coronavirus lockdown took effect in Israel.

Under the new lockdown, all markets and businesses were shut down except for factories and services defined as "essentials".

Myanmar

The Myanmar government will impose stay-at-home orders in more areas starting Saturday, said an order issued by the Ministry of Health and Sports on Friday.

To effectively curb the spread of COVID-19, 11 townships in Mandalay, Bago, Ayeyarwaddy regions and Mon state will be put under the stay-at-home orders as the number of infected patients with no recent traveling history and no close contact with confirmed patients has been increasing in the areas, the order said.

The government recently imposed the stay-at-home order in most areas except one township in Yangon region after the region has seen rocketing number of local transmissions during the second wave of the outbreak since Aug 16.

The stay-at-home orders was imposed in 10 townships of Yangon region and one in Sagaing region where most cases were reported in the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Myanmar and the government later lifted the orders after seeing no new infections in the areas.

According to the latest figures by the ministry, the number of COVID-19 cases reached 9,112, while its death toll stood at 174 as of Friday night.

A total of 2,517 patients have been discharged from the hospitals, the ministry said.

Myanmar State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi has urged people not to follow home remedies, but to go to the hospital for more effective treatment of COVID-19.

"What we have seen is that some people try to use household remedies when they think that they have been infected and treat themselves at home. They go to the hospital only when their home remedies fail," the state counsellor said in her televised message to the public late Friday.

Suu Kyi encouraged people to go to the hospital at early stages and said that it would be difficult to contain the disease and provide treatment if the patient is sent to the hospital only at later stages of infection.

Iran

The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases increased to 439,882 in Iran on Friday. Meanwhile, Israel tightened the ongoing anti-coronavirus lockdown as the total infections surged to 217,899 in the country.

Iran, the hardest-hit country in the Middle East region, reported 3,565 new cases, bringing the total number of infections to 439,882.

The pandemic has so far claimed 25,222 lives in Iran, up by 207 in the past 24 hours. A total of 369,842 coronavirus patients have recovered, with 4,023 still in critical condition.

Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia announced 472 new cases and 26 more deaths, raising the tally of confirmed cases to 332,329 and the death toll to 4,625.

The kingdom also reported 843 more recovered patients, taking the total recoveries to 315,636.

Iraq 

In the mean time, 4,593 new COVID-19 cases were detected in Iraq during the past 24 hours, bringing the total nationwide infections to 341,699.

The Iraqi health ministry reported 4,505 recoveries from the virus, the highest in a single day since the outbreak of the disease, raising the tally of recoveries to 273,266.

The death toll from the coronavirus in Iraq rose to 8,867 after 68 fatalities were added.

Qatar

In Qatar, 225 new coronavirus cases were detected, increasing the total number to 124,650, including 212 deaths and 121,512 recoveries.

Kuwait 

In the mean time, Kuwait reported 590 new cases, bringing the country's total number of infections to 102,441, including 595 deaths and 93,562 recoveries.

India

The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in India Saturday morning rose to 5,903,932, India's federal health ministry said.

During the past 24 hours, 85,362 new cases were reported from across the country. Besides this, 1,089 deaths were also recorded.

"The total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases across India is 5,903,932 and death toll is 93,379," reads the information released by the ministry.

According to ministry officials, 4,849,584 people have been discharged from hospitals after showing improvement.

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Maldives

The number of COVID-19 cases in the Maldives has crossed 10,000, local media reported here Saturday.

The Health Protection Agency (HPA) on Friday evening confirmed 75 new cases of COVID-19, including 53 locals and 22 foreigners, raising the country's total case count up to 10,014.

Public Health Expert Dr. Sheena Moosa was quoted in state media as saying that despite a recent decrease in the rate of infection, it is still not appropriate to ease restrictions.

New Zealand

New Zealand reported two cases of COVID-19 on Saturday, said the Ministry of Health in a statement.

Of Saturday's cases, one was an imported case detected in a managed isolation facility and the other was a historical case detected during contact tracing. Meanwhile, there was no new case of COVID-19 in the community, said the ministry.

The historical case was tested because the person was among the passengers including confirmed cases on a recent charter flight from Christchurch to Auckland. However, the infection would have occurred overseas prior to the person returning to New Zealand earlier this month and the person was no longer infectious, said the ministry.

According to the statement, the ministry said that historical cases were some people who could return a positive PCR (Polymerase chain reaction) test long after they had recovered from the illness and were no longer infectious.

Currently there are 61 active cases in New Zealand. The total number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the country is 1,475.

The Philippines

The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the Philippines surged to 301,256 with 2,747 new coronavirus infections reported by the health ministry on Saturday.

The ministry said the number of recoveries rose to 232,906 after 787 more patients recovered. Meanwhile, 88 more patients died from the pandemic, bringing the death toll to 5,284.

The capital region Metro Manila was the country's worst hit area with 1,115 cases newly confirmed on Saturday.

The ministry said over 3.37 million people in the Philippines have been tested so far.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the ministry is seeing an "improvement" in the country's critical care utilization rate in the last two weeks, adding that there has been a "slow decongestion" in hospitals, including in Metro Manila.

Vergeire said the critical care utilization rate in Metro Manila, the epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak, has gone down to about 60 percent from a high of up to 81 percent - a level considered the "danger zone" - in August.

The critical care utilization rate serves as an indicator based on the use of mechanical ventilators, intensive care unit beds and isolation beds in hospitals.