This undated file photo shows the thin strip of coral atolls separates the ocean from the lagoon in Majuro, Marshall Islands. (PHOTO / AP)

HANOI / SINGAPORE / SEOUL / WELLINGTON / KUALA LUMPUR / SYDNEY / ISLAMABAD / NEW DELHI - Amid surging COVID-19 community transmission in the Marshall Islands, authorities are asking healthcare workers back to work if they are only experiencing mild COVID symptoms, as the healthcare system is hard hit.

Secretary of health and human services of the Pacific island country Jack Niedenthal said on Monday that the continued attack of the virus on healthcare workers caused the delay of their regular health reporting work, crowds in clinics, and closures of some public sporting sites.

"You can't have healthcare if you don't have healthcare workers. We weren't left with a lot of choices, and if our workers are willing to come back because they are only suffering from mild symptoms, they are only assigned tasks that don't involve patient care," he said.

Niedenthal said last Saturday that there have been 213 medical workers being tested positive for COVID-19, and many of them are doctors, and the nation expected the outbreak to continue to gain strength.

He said over 1,000 cases were detected in the capital, Majuro, on last Saturday, almost double from the previous day. And about 75 percent of the people being tested are positive, which is "an incredibly high positivity rate."

The country reported 571 new cases in the last 24 hours till 3:00 pm local time on Aug. 14, and cumulative cases reached 3,036 with seven hospitalizations and two deaths since October 2020.

The government temporarily closed the Reproductive Health Clinic due to the current situation, and urged pregnant women to get vaccinated.

Some Alternative Care Sites (ACS) have been designed to test and treat patients with minor COVID-19 symptoms, such as scratchy throat, a cough or fever. Individuals who are experiencing severe symptoms still need to report to the emergency rooms at the hospital.

Niedenthal said they are planning to add another ACS to release the pressure on the health system. As over 200 medical staff sick with COVID-19 would begin to recover in the next few days, the sites will be more organized.

A health worker administers Covishield vaccine for COVID-19 at a vaccination center in Hyderabad, India on July 15, 2022. (MAHESH KUMAR A. / AP)

India

India recorded 14,917 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, taking the total tally to 44,268,381, data released by the federal health ministry on Monday showed.

With the reporting of new cases, India's active caseload currently stands at 117,508.

The South Asian country also logged 32 deaths from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, bringing the death toll to 527,069 since the beginning of the pandemic.

Currently the daily positivity rate stands at 7.52 percent and the weekly positivity rate is recorded at 4.65 percent, the ministry's data showed.

Health authorities have so far administered over 2 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines, and conducted over 880 million tests for COVID-19 across the country, including 198,271 tests conducted on Sunday.

With the COVID-19 daily cases on the rise in th capital region of Delhi, the health authorities have started forming teams to strictly enforce the wearing of face masks and impose fines on the violators.

On Saturday the state government in northern India's Punjab made the wearing of face masks mandatory in public places.

After the detection of infections with the Omicron sub-variants, the Indian government is currently focusing on improving the coverage of the COVID-19 vaccine booster dose as the uptake for a third dose has been low.

A bus driver sanitizes the interior of a bus before passengers' boarding at Larkin bus station in Johor Bahru, Malaysia, Nov 29, 2021. ( VINCENT THIAN / AP)

Malaysia

Malaysia recorded 3,045 new COVID-19 infections as of midnight Sunday, bringing the total tally to 4,735,547, according to the health ministry.

There are five new imported cases, with 3,040 cases being local transmissions, data released on the ministry's website showed.

Another five deaths have been reported from the pandemic in the Southeast Asian country, taking the death toll to 36,085.

People return to shopping at Newmarket in Auckland, New Zealand as some COVID-19 restrictions were eased on Nov 10, 2021. (ALEX BURTON / NEW ZEALAND HERALD VIA AP)

New Zealand

New Zealand recorded 3,387 new community cases of COVID-19 and 12 more deaths from the pandemic, the country's Ministry of Health said on Monday.

New Zealand has reported 1,676,638 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 1,750 confirmed deaths attributable to the disease since the pandemic hit the country in early 2020, the health ministry said.

Currently, 536 COVID-19 patients are being treated in hospitals in the country, including 13 in intensive care units or high dependency units, showed official data.

The country is currently under the orange settings of its COVID-19 Protection Framework, where there is no limit for gatherings.

Pakistan

Pakistan recorded 459 new COVID-19 cases and two new deaths on Sunday, its ministry of health said on Monday.

The total tally of the infected people increased to 1,563,347 in Pakistan with the new cases, according to the data released by the ministry.

The data showed 30,529 people have died from COVID-19 in Pakistan with the two newly reported deaths.

On Sunday, 18,045 tests for COVID-19 were conducted in the country, and the positivity rate stood at 2.54 percent.

Currently a total of 172 active cases are being held in intensive care in hospitals in the country.

A notice warning people not to gather in groups larger than five persons as part of restrictions to hald the spread of the coronavirus is displayed at Raffles Place financial business district in Singapore on Jan 4, 2022. (ROSLAN RAHMAN / AFP)

Singapore

Singapore reported 3,023 new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, bringing the total tally to 1,794,069.

Of the new cases, 389 cases were detected through PCR (polymerase chain reaction) tests and 2,634 through ART (antigen rapid test) tests, according to statistics released by the Ministry of Health.

Among the PCR cases, 345 were local transmissions and 44 were imported cases. Among the ART cases with mild symptoms and assessed to be of low risk, there were 2,459 local transmissions and 175 imported cases, respectively.

Three deaths were reported from COVID-19 on Sunday, bringing the total death toll to 1,559, the ministry said.

People wearing face masks cross a road in the rain near a subway station in Seoul, South Korea on July 13, 2022. (AHN YOUNG-JOON / AP)

South Korea

South Korea recorded 62,078 new COVID-19 cases as of midnight Sunday compared to 24 hours ago, raising the total number of infections to 21,418,036, the health authorities said Monday.

The daily caseload was down from 119,603 in the previous day due to fewer virus tests on the weekend, but it was higher than 55,262 tallied a week earlier, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).

For the past week, the daily average number of confirmed cases was 124,829.

Among the newly reported infections, 396 were imported cases, lifting the total to 51,895.

The latest number of infected people who were in a serious condition stood at 521, an increase of nine from the previous day.

Fifty more deaths were confirmed from the pandemic, taking the death toll to 25,673. The total fatality rate was 0.12 percent.

Passengers wait for transportation outside the arrival hall of Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi on March 15, 2022, as Vietnam announced the return of a visa exemption policy for 13 countries in an effort to kickstart its tourism sector. (NHAC NGUYEN / AFP)

Vietnam

Vietnam recorded 1,429 new COVID-19 cases on Sunday, down by 386 from Saturday, according to its Ministry of Health.

Among the new cases, only one was imported and the rest were all locally transmitted, said the health ministry.

The newly reported infections brought the total tally to 11,365,784. The country reported a new death from the pandemic in the southern province of Tay Ninh on Sunday, bringing the total fatalities to 43,098.

As of Sunday, there were 106 severe cases in need of assisted breathing in the Southeast Asian country, according to the ministry.

More than 251.3 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in the country, including approximately 216.3 million shots on people aged 18 and above, said the ministry.

Vietnam has already recorded COVID-19 infections with the Omicron BA.4, BA.5 and BA.2.12.1 sub-variants and is accelerating the inoculation of its people with a fourth vaccine dos