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Confirmed COVID-19 cases in the Asia-pacific region kept increasing rapidly on Friday as Bhutan reported the first case of the epidemic.
Prime Minister of Bhutan Lotay Tshering said on Friday morning that one positive case of COVID-19 has been confirmed in the Himalayan kingdom.
The patient is a 76-year-old U.S. tourist who arrived in the country on Monday.
Schools and institutions in three districts of Thimphu, Paro and Punakha where the American visited will remain closed for three weeks.
South Korea is scrambling to combat the COVID-19 outbreak as confirmed infections reach 6,593, up 309 from the previous announcement as of midnight. Two more deaths were reported, lifting the death toll to 43.
Twenty more patients were discharged from quarantine after making full recovery, raising the combined number to 108.
The government is planning to set up the Drive-Thru testing stations across South Korea to help detect potential patients early and speedily.
Drivers are asked to wait alongside temporary steel container facilities and roll down windows low enough for medical staff in white protective gear to take saliva samples from their nose and mouth.
The number of COVID-19 cases in Daege, the epicenter of virus response in the country, has increased to 4,694.
The virus infection soared for the past 16 days, with 6,253 new cases reported from Feb. 19 to March 5.
Japan said on Thursday that people arriving from South Korea will be quarantined for up to two weeks at designated facilities over concern about the spread of the epidemic.
In response to Japan's entry restriction, South Korea's presidential Blue House on Friday expressed strong regret over the measures.
Since Jan. 3, South Korea has tested more than 160,000 people, among whom 136,624 tested negative for the virus and 21,832 were being checked.
The number of confirmed cases in Japan increased to 1,074 as of Friday, with 696 linked to the Diamond Princess cruise ship that was previously quarantined near Tokyo.
The Japanese government announced that tests for COVID-19 will be covered under Japan's national health insurance system starting from Friday.
With the insurance coverage, the government will allow people to undergo testing at hospitals or contracted private testing companies without being referred to by health centers.
Meanwhile, Japan has canceled a memorial for victims of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster due to the novel coronavirus outbreak.
Crown Prince Akishino and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had been scheduled to speak at the event next week.
Malaysia on Friday announced 28 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the total number of cases to 83.
The Health Ministry said all 28 new cases had been confirmed for further treatment, adding that health authorities were working to confirm and test the close contacts of the cases.
Among the 83 cases, 65 are Malaysians, the ministry said.
According to the latest data from the Australian Health Department, 59 people have been diagnosed with the virus as of Friday morning, an increase from 52 on Thursday, and the number of deaths remains at two.
Two more people were diagnosed with coronavirus in South Australia on Thursday, including the baby of a woman who was diagnosed on Wednesday.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Friday that the state and federal governments will split the cost of tackling the disease, which he said could be as high as 1 billion Australian dollars (660 million U.S. dollars), 50:50.
On executing those agreements, the government will immediately put 100 million Australian dollars (66 million U.S. dollars) down as an advance through the normal distribution mechanism to the states, to ensure that they are in a position to immediately meet those costs, he said.
Thailand's Ministry of Public Health on Friday confirmed one more case of COVID-19, raising the total case to 48 with one death.
Sixteen patients are now receiving treatment in hospitals and 31 persons were recovered and discharged from hospitals.
Indonesia recorded two new cases of COVID-19 on Friday, bringing the total number of cases to four, a Health Ministry official told a press conference.
"Of the seven (new patients suspected of having been infected with COVID-19), two are confirmed positive. We've just called them Case 3 and Case 4," said Achmad Yurianto, a government spokesperson for all coronavirus-related cases following detection of first two confirmed cases in the archipelagic nation on Monday.
The number of COVID-19 cases in India rose to 31 on Friday as one more person tested positive, according to a source from the Indian Ministry of Health.
Out of the 31 positive cases, the initial three cases that were found in Kerala had been successfully cured.
The total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Pakistan has reached six with one new case reported, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Health Zafar Mirza said late Thursday.
Pakistan is taking effective measures to stop the spread of the COVID-19 epidemic in the country.
All education institutes in Sindh have been closed till mid-March.
In the Philippines, the government reported two more cases of the COVID-19, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the country to five.
The two new cases were a 48-year-old Filipino male with a travel history to Japan and a 62-year-old Filipino male with no travel history.
New Zealand's Ministry of Health confirmed the fourth positive test for COVID-19 on Friday.
The patient is a New Zealand citizen in his 30s, who is the partner of the second case announced earlier this week. The Auckland couple recently arrived home from northern Italy, according to a ministry statement.
The Nepali government has decided to conduct quarantine checking of people at over 30 border crossings between Nepal and India as fear rises over growing COVID-19 cases in India, a senior official from the Ministry of Health and Population said.
The government has made it mandatory for all passengers to undergo thermal screening at Tribhuvan International Airport, the country's only operating international airport, in Kathmandu.
The country has so far confirmed one COVID-19 case.
