Australia and large countries in Asia still haven't seen a slowing in daily COVID-19 cases and deaths as cluster infections sweep the region.
Australia Reports Record Deaths
On Monday Australia reported its highest number of deaths in a single day with 25 in Victoria state. There were 282 new confirmed coronavirus cases in the country in the past 24 hours.
A second wave of COVID-19 outbreaks first started in Melbourne in June. While Melbourne appears to have contained the wave Victoria continues to suffer.
State premier Daniel Andrews has been questioned about the implementation of anticoronavirus measures
Victoria Sees Hundreds of Outbreaks in Aged Care Homes
Health experts have raised concerns about the increasing number of transmissions at aged care homes. As of Monday there were 2,009 active cases at aged facilities across the state.
Following an outbreak at the Peninsula Health hospital chief executive Felicity Topp said it was "working through a plan" to ensure patients and staff were safe from COVID-19.
Topp said the hospital was cooperating with the national Department of Health and Human Services to track down patient zero and how the current outbreak started.
India Passes 50,000 Deaths
India has recorded 50,921 deaths linked to the novel coronavirus following a daily toll of 941 fatalities. The country also reported another 57,981 confirmed COVID-19 cases. The national infection number is nearing 2.65 million.
There are increasing concerns about the virus spreading among poor, rural villages where people have limited access to healthcare.
International and local health authorities said if the virus continued to sweep rural communities the effect would be devastating - especially since it would be hard to perform contact tracing in rural towns.
India is the third worst-affected country behind Brazil and the U.S.
Nearly 200 New Cases in South Korea
On Monday, South Korea reported an additional 197 new coronavirus cases, bringing the national infection toll to 15,515. Of the new infections, 188 were locally transmitted.
Monday's log also marked the third consecutive day that the country reported a daily increase of triple-digit figures. Most of the new cases were still traced back to Seoul, the hardest-hit city.
The local government of Seoul has already reimplemented stricter social distancing measures following Sunday's record-high in five months of 279 confirmed infections.
Seoul Church at Center of Seoul's Cluster Crisis
Meanwhile, the leader of the Sarang Jeil Church in the northern part of Seongbuk in Seoul has been accused of refusing to cooperate with health authorities.
The Central Disease Control Headquarters in Seoul revealed that as of noon Monday there had been 319 confirmed COVID-19 cases linked to the religious group.
The Sarang Jeil Church cluster is second only to the Shincheonji Church in Daegu in terms of confirmed infections linked to a religious sect. Shincheonji Church has reported 5,214 infections since the onset of the pandemic.
Sarang Jeil conservative pastor Jun Kwang-hoon has tested COVID-19 positive, health authorities said.
