China's National Health Commission reported 39 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 infections on Sunday night from 46 in the previous day. The newly reported infections were of those individuals coming from abroad. Most of them are Chinese nationals who are studying overseas and who decided to come home.
Nevertheless, the Asian country continues to report no cases of local transmission. In Wuhan, the worst-hit city in the country and the epicenter of the outbreak saw no local infections for the fifth day as of March 22. Authorities are therefore relaxing lockdown measures placed since January. To date, residents are allowed to ask permission to leave the city for essential travels but would still have to pass health requirements.
The imported cases of infections were reported in Beijing (10) Guangdong (7), Fujian (4) Jiangsu (2), Hebei (1), Zhejiang (1), Jiangxi (1), Shandong (1), and Sichuan (1). As preventive measures, Shanghai and Guangzhou required all international passengers for health tests before being allowed entry.
South Korea, meanwhile, also reported its lowest number of new infections since cases peaked in the peninsula on February 29. As of Sunday night, Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported only 64 cases, bringing the total infections to 8,961. While there had now been 110 deaths in total, as many as 257 patients recovered from the virus.
Malaysia, on the other hand, reported a spike in new cases with eight new deaths reported on Sunday. Officials said they expect more cases to be confirmed in the coming days as they track down people who attended a religious gathering. The said gathering was linked to 714 cases in the country.
In Japan, unlike its previous stance to continue with the Tokyo Olympic Games, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for the first time said the sporting event may need to be postponed up until the time it is safe for everyone.
At the same time, Australian Olympic Committee said its national team can't be assembled for the Tokyo Games due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Here are the total number of cases, new cases, total deaths, new deaths in the Western Pacific Region and South-east Asian region as identified by the World Health Organization:
Western Pacific Region
China (total cases 81498) (new cases 82) (total deaths 3267) (new cases 6)
Republic of Korea 8897 98 104 2
Malaysia 1183 153 3
Australia 1081 208 7 0
Japan 1046 50 36 1
Singapore 432 47 2 2
Philippines 307 77 19 1
Viet Nam 94 3 0 0
Brunei Darussalam 83 5 0 0
New Zealand 66 13 0 0
Cambodia 53 2 0 0
Mongolia 10 4 0 0
Fiji 2 1 0 0
Papua New Guinea 1 0 0 0
South -East Asia Region
Indonesia 450 81 38 6
Thailand 411 89 1 0
India 283 88 4 0
Sri Lanka 72 13 0 0
Bangladesh 24 7 2 1
Maldives 13 0 0 0
Bhutan 2 0 0 0
Nepal 1 0 0 0
Timor -Leste 1 0 0 0
