简体中文
Japan approved the coronavirus bill on Tuesday as Asia-Pacific countries reported more COVID-19 cases, with the number of infections hitting 100 in Australia.
JAPAN
The Cabinet on Tuesday approved a special bill to enable better provisions to be made to combat the COVID-19 outbreak and empowering Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to declare a state of emergency if necessary as the infections continue to rise.
The bill, which will be effective for a period of up to two years, is a revision of an existing law on novel influenza and has been made applicable to COVID-19.
It will be valid until February 2022 as COVID-19 was officially classified as a designated infectious disease in Japan in February.
The bill is likely to clear the lower house of parliament on Thursday and the upper house a day later as the ruling Liberal Democratic Party-led coalition holds a majority in both chambers.
Under the new amended law, the government would have extended powers once a state of emergency has been declared for particular parts of the country.
"Given that individual rights would be suppressed after an emergency declaration, I would thoroughly examine its potential impacts when making a decision," Abe told a budget committee session on Monday.
Japan's health ministry and local governments said that the number of COVID-19 infections increased by nine on Tuesday to stand at a total of 519 infected people in Japan as of 5:00 p.m. local time.
The health ministry said there are currently 33 patients considered severely ill and are on ventilators to receive respiratory assistance or have been admitted to intensive care units for medical treatment.
The death toll in Japan from the virus currently stands at 27, according to the health ministry, with the figure including those from the Diamond Princess.
Tourists are seen at a dock in Sydney, Australia, March 10, 2020. (Xinhua/Bai Xuefei)
AUSTRALIA
The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Australia has reached 100, Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt announced on Tuesday.
"Within Australia we now have 100 officially confirmed cases and sadly there have been three lives lost," Hunt said.
The figure includes a number of patients who have subsequently recovered from the disease and does not include hundreds of people currently awaiting test results.
Following a ramping up of containment measures in Italy, Hunt said that Australian authorities would consider introducing more rigid restrictions on arrivals from the country.
A soldier disinfects an apartment building where mass coronavirus infections occurred in Daegu, South Korea, March 9, 2020. (NEWSIS/Handout via Xinhua)
SOUTH KOREA
South Korea confirmed 131 more cases of the COVID-19 on Tuesday, raising the total number of infections to 7,513.
As of midnight local time, the number of infected patients totaled 7,513, up 131 from 24 hours ago. Three more deaths were reported, lifting the death toll to 54.
The total fatality rate stood at 0.7 percent, but the figure among those in their 80s or higher gained to 6.8 percent.
Eighty-one more patients were discharged from quarantine after making full recovery, raising the combined number to 247.
The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) decided to update the data once a day at 10:00 a.m. local time beginning Tuesday, after having announced it twice a day.
A worker disinfects a coach of the Metro Rail Transit-3 (MRT-3) in Quezon City, the Philippines, on March 10, 2020.(Xinhua/Rouelle Umali)
THE PHILIPPINES
The Philippine Department of Health (DOH) said on Tuesday that nine more people in the Philippines have tested positive for the new coronavirus, bringing the total number of COVID-19 cases in the country to 33.
The country's Health Assistant Secretary Maria Rosario Vergeire clarified that the 11 new cases announced earlier by the DOH "are in fact new positive samples and not cases."
"Upon verification, DOH reported that two of the new positive samples are repeat tests on samples," she told a news conference, adding that the DOH's earlier report that the total cases have reached 35 was a "mistake."
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte signed on Sunday the proclamation and declared a public health emergency as anxiety mounts over the increasing number of COVID-19 cases in the country.
Duterte ordered on Monday night the suspension of classes in the National Capital Region from March 10 to 14 as part of efforts to prevent the transmission of the COVID-19 in Metro Manila after the number of cases more than doubled on Monday.
People are seen wearing masks outside the special isolation ward set up to provide treatment to novel coronavirus patients at Kochi Medical college, in Kerala, India, March 9, 2020. (Str/Xinhua)
INDIA
India's federal health ministry on Tuesday said the total number of the COVID-19 cases in the country had risen to 47.
"The total number of Confirmed COVID-19 cases across India is 47," officials from the health ministry said. "Of these cases, 31 are Indians and 16 foreign nationals."
According to officials, 941,717 international passengers from 8,827 flights have been screened at airports until now with 54 passengers being referred to IDSP and hospitals.
"To meet the increasing demand and convenient screening of passengers, manpower deployed at airports has been substantially increased," the ministry said. "There are now 286 doctors, 160 nurses and 295 paramedics stationed at airports across the country."
The local governments in various states have ordered the closure of primary schools until March 31 as a precautionary measure in wake of the spike in COVID-19 cases.
India's western state of Maharashtra has reported first time two cases of COVID-19 after a couple from Pune, 150 km from Mumbai testing positive on Monday evening.
The two patients, husband and wife aged 53 years and 45 years, respectively, returned to India from Dubai on March 1 and reported to the hospital on Monday after developing mild symptoms, state health officials said.
"Their samples were immediately sent for testing and both were positive for COVID-19," said Dr. Archana Patil of Directorate of Health Services (DHS), Maharashtra.
A health officer checks temperature for a woman in a military quarantine site located in outskirts of Hanoi, Vietnam, on March 9, 2020. (Xinhua/VNA)
VIETNAM
Vietnam confirmed two new COVID-19 infections on Tuesday, bringing the total infected cases to 33, according to the country's Ministry of Health.
The first one is a 24-year-old Vietnamese girl returning to the country from Britain on Monday. She was reportedly in contact with a 26-year-old Vietnamese girl confirmed to be the 17th case to contract the virus on Friday.
The second one is a 58-year-old British tourist, who was on a same flight from London to Hanoi with a Vietnamese female who as confirmed to be infected with the virus on March 6 and known as the 17th case in the country.
So far Vietnam has confirmed 33 infection cases with 16 discharged from hospital. The country has reported 17 new infections since March 6, among which 11 are foreign tourists.
The country has 210 suspected cases with more than 20,000 being put under quarantine as of Tuesday, according to its health ministry.
Vietnam announced on Monday the temporary suspense of visa waiver program for nationals of Britain and seven European Union countries of Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Norway, Spain and Switzerland. The country has earlier suspended the visa waiver program for South Korean and Italian citizens.
Vietnam's national air carrier Vietnam Airlines will disinfect all inbound international flights after the country confirmed over 10 novel coronavirus (COVID-19) infections on a flight run by the carrier from London to the Vietnamese capital city of Hanoi.
The air carrier will disinfect interior plane parts including passenger cabin and crew cabin, especially frequently touched surfaces like overhead locker and handles, right after plane landing.
A health worker in protective suit sterilizes a money exchange market in Herat province, western Afghanistan, where three new cases of COVID-19 were confirmed, on March 8, 2020. (Photo by Elaha Sahel/Xinhua)
AFGHANISTAN
The Afghan Public Health Ministry on Tuesday confirmed a new case of the COVID-19 in the country.
The new case was detected in northern Samangan province, bringing the total number of infections in the country to five, the ministry's spokesman Dr. Wahid Mayar said.
It was an imported case as the patient returned from Iran a couple of days ago, and had been isolated, he added.
Four cases were reported in western Herat province bordering Iran.
More than 120 suspected cases were tested negative and 10 suspected cases are still under investigation since the outbreak of the disease on Feb. 24, according to health officials.
MALDIVES
The Maldives Health Protection Agency said on Tuesday that two new cases of the COVID-19 were detected at the Kuredu Island resort, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the island country to six.
Local media quoted government spokesperson Mabrook Abdul Azeez as reporting that all the six positive cases were foreign nationals and strict quarantine measures were in place to prevent the virus from spreading further.
Both the Kuredu Island and the Sandies Bathala Resort Island have been placed on lockdown. Entry to and exit from the islands have been indefinitely restricted, Mabrook said.
The Maldives Health Protection Agency said the situation of Kuredu Island Resort and Sandies Bathalaa Resort was being closely monitored. Enditem
