MANILA -- The Philippines' Department of Health (DOH) reported on Tuesday 2,668 new COVID-19 infections, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the Southeast Asian country to 600,428.

The death toll climbed to 12,528 after seven more patients died from the viral disease, the DOH said. It added 171 more patients recovered, raising the total number of recoveries to 546,078. (Philippines-COVID-19 infections)

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NEW DELHI -- Nine people including five firefighters and a policeman were killed in a devastating fire in an office building of railways in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal, officials said Tuesday.

The fire broke out Monday evening inside the Eastern Railways Strand road office in Kolkata, the capital city of West Bengal. The building houses railway ticketing offices. (India-Fire-Toll)

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PHNOM PENH -- Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen late on Monday ordered the temporary closure of state's civil institutions for at least one week as COVID-19 cases continue to rise.

But all armed forces and healthcare workers still work as usual. "It's really turbulent at this time because there are infections among police officers, civil servants and artists, so the temporary closure of the institutions, not close completely but reduce the number of people at workplaces by at least 90 percent, is necessary," he said in an audio message sent to the public. (Cambodia-Pandemic-Civil institutions closure)

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TOKYO -- Japan's economic growth in the October-December period was downgraded from an annualized expansion of 12.7 percent initially reported to an annualized real 11.7 percent from the previous quarter, the government said in a report on Tuesday.

According to the cabinet office, the rise in the real gross domestic product (GDP), the total value of goods and services produced in the country and adjusted for inflation, equates to a 2.8 percent expansion on a seasonally adjusted quarterly basis. (Japan-Economic growth rate) Enditem

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