People walk down Takeshita Street in the popular Harajuku area of Tokyo on Sept 23, 2022. (RICHARD A. BROOKS / AFP)

SEOUL / NEW DELHI / KUALA LUMPUR / SINGAPORE / YANGON / MANILA / HANOI / TOKYO - A Japanese health ministry panel on Wednesday recommended approving Pfizer Inc's COVID-19 vaccine for children as young as six months old.

Japan in January expanded use of the vaccine to those as young as five years old. Last month, health authorities started to dispensing Pfizer and Moderna Inc booster shots that target the Omicron variant of the virus.

The panel also recommended approval of a version of the Pfizer vaccine that protects against the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants of Omicron. Moderna said earlier on Wednesday it was seeking Japanese approval of its own subvariant shot.

India

India recorded 2,459 new COVID-19 cases, according to federal health ministry data released on Wednesday.

The new cases marked an increase from the daily caseload of 1,968 on Tuesday.

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India's total tally of COVID-19 cases has risen to 44,601,934, with the  active caseload being 33,318 currently.

The country also logged 17 new COVID-19 related deaths for the past 24 hours, bringing the overall death toll to 528,733 since the beginning of the pandemic, the ministry said.

Malaysia

Malaysia reported 1,483 new COVID-19 infections as of midnight Tuesday, bringing the national total to 4,846,592, according to the health ministry.

There are four new imported cases, with 1,479 cases being local transmissions, data released by the ministry showed.

Five new deaths have been reported, lifting the death toll to 36,385.

Myanmar

Myanmar has confirmed 390 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the total tally to 624,682, the country's Ministry of Health said on Tuesday.

The death toll from COVID-19 in the country reached 19,463 on Tuesday after two new deaths were reported, the ministry said.

Republic of Korea

The Republic of Korea reported 34,739 new COVID-19 cases as of midnight Tuesday compared to 24 hours ago, raising the total number of infections to 24,882,894, the health authorities said Wednesday.

The daily caseload was up from 16,423 on the prior day, but it was lower than 36,139 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 24,747.

Among the new cases, 69 were imported from overseas, lifting the total to 68,080.

Sixteen more deaths were confirmed, taking the death toll to 28,544. The total fatality rate was 0.11 percent. 

Commuters leave a train station during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Singapore, Sept 23, 2021. (EDGAR SU / REUTERS)

Singapore

Singapore reported 7,146 new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday, bringing the total tally to 1,924,139.

Of the new cases, 444 were detected through PCR (polymerase chain reaction) tests and 6,702 through ART (antigen rapid test) tests, according to statistics released by the Ministry of Health.

Among the PCR cases, 434 were local transmissions and 10 were imported cases. Among the ART cases with mild symptoms and assessed to be of low risk, there were 6,454 local transmissions and 248 imported cases.

Two new deaths were reported from COVID-19 on Tuesday, lifting the total death toll to 1,624, the ministry said.

The Philippines

The Philippines reported 1,347 new COVID-19 infections on Tuesday, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the Southeast Asian country to 3,957,112.

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The Department of Health said the number of active cases dropped to 26,792, while 36 more patients died from COVID-19 complications, taking the country's death toll to 63,078.

Vietnam

Vietnam recorded 1,020 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, up 224 from Monday, according to the Ministry of Health.

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

The newly reported infections brought the total tally to 11,482,334. The country reported two new deaths from the pandemic on Tuesday, bringing the total fatalities to 43,151.