COVID-19 cases and deaths continue to leap in some Asia-Pacific countries on Wednesday as the total cases in India surpassed 1.9 million mark and Australia saw the highest number of deaths from the virus in a single day.
India's health ministry announced that the total number of COVID-19 cases in the country has surpassed 1.9 million mark, reaching 1,908,254.
According to the ministry's data, as many as 52,509 new COVID-19 cases were detected in the past 24 hours. Besides, 857 deaths took place since Tuesday, taking the total death toll to 39,795.
The recovery rate in the country is consistently increasing even as a total 1,282,215 people who were infected with the virus have successfully recovered and discharged from various hospitals across the country. Still there are a total of 586,244 active cases in the country.
The Tokyo metropolitan government confirmed 263 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday. Tokyo's latest figure marks the ninth consecutive day that new daily cases have topped 200, but the number of infections has dropped from the previous day's tally of 309 and retreated from its record 472 cases reported Saturday.
Meanwhile, as Aichi Prefecture reported 144 new COVID-19 cases Wednesday pushing its cumulative total up to 2,528 cases, its governor Hideaki Omura said the prefecture would declare a state of emergency from Thursday through Aug. 24.
Australia recorded its worst day of the pandemic as the nation's death toll climbed to 247 after Victorian authorities announced 15 deaths.
The deaths included a man in his 30s, and 10 of the 15 new deaths are linked to known outbreaks in aged care facilities.
Australia's Deputy Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Michael Kidd said in the update on Wednesday that this is the country's highest number of COVID-19 deaths in a single day.
As of Wednesday afternoon, there had been 19,444 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Australia, and the number of new cases in the last 24 hours is 739.
The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the Philippines surged to 115,980 after the Department of Health (DOH) reported 3,462 new cases.
The DOH said that the number of recoveries further rose to 66,270 after it reported 222 patients having survived the disease.
The death toll also increased to 2,123 after nine more patients have succumbed to the viral disease, the DOH said.
Bangladesh reported 33 more deaths and over 2,654 new COVID-19 cases.
Senior Health Ministry official Nasima Sultana said in a briefing that "the number of confirmed infections in the country totaled 246,674 while fatalities stood at 3,267."
According to the official, the COVID-19 fatality rate in Bangladesh is 1.32 percent and the current recovery rate is 57.46 percent.
The COVID-19 cases in Indonesia rose by 1,815 within one day to 116,871, with the death toll adding by 64 to 5,452, the Health Ministry said.
According to the ministry, 1,839 more people were discharged from hospitals, bringing the total number of recovered patients to 73,889.
The virus has spread to all the country's 34 provinces.
South Korea reported 33 more cases of COVID-19 as of 0:00 a.m. Wednesday local time compared to 24 hours ago, raising the total number of infections to 14,456.
The daily caseload stayed above 30 for two straight days due to small cluster infections and imported cases.
One more death was confirmed, leaving the death toll at 302. The total fatality rate stood at 2.09 percent.
Malaysia reported 21 new COVID-19 infections, the Health Ministry said, bringing the national total to 9,023.
Another 18 cases have been released, bringing the total cured and discharged to 8,702 or 96.4 percent of all cases. No new deaths have been reported, leaving the total deaths at 125.
New Zealand reported two new cases of COVID-19, with the number of active cases in the country being at 24, all in managed isolation and quarantine facilities, according to the Ministry of Health.
It has been 96 days since the last case of COVID-19 was acquired locally from an unknown source, according to the ministry.
Cambodia confirmed two new imported COVID-19 cases, raising the total number of infections in the country to 243, said a Health Ministry's statement.
The Southeast Asian nation has so far recorded a total of 243 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with 202 patients cured and 41 remaining in hospital.
