South Korea and other countries in Asia continue to face down a second wave of coronavirus cases as governments struggle with the backlash brought about by economic reopening.
South Korea Capital Mandates Face Masks
On Monday, the South Korea capital Seoul announced that residents will be required to wear face masks in indoor spaces as well as outdoor venues.
Citizens don't need to wear masks while eating. There has been an increasing number of new COVID-19 cases in the capital and surrounding areas.
Before the new mandate was announced, Seoul demanded face masks be worn on public transport.
Government Warns of Further Restrictions
With cluster infections across the capital and surrounding towns, South Korea's government Monday warned of tightening its social distancing regulations if outbreaks don't decline.
The tightening of social distancing will depend on how residents abide by existing protocols. The warning came following an increase in local transmissions over the past week.
On Monday, however, South Korea saw a decline in new confirmed cases to 266 compared with a day earlier when the country reported almost 400 new cases.
India Daily Cases Rising Still
India's daily coronavirus infections continue to rise with the country reporting an additional 61,408 new confirmed COVID-19 cases Monday. The country has 3,106,348 cases.
India topped 3 million confirmed coronavirus infections. It is among the three worst affected countries behind Brazil and the U.S.
Experts have raised the alarm about the spread of the virus among the country's rural and poor with many townships lacking effective health systems.
Rapid Tests in Center of India's COVID-19 Battle
With a rise in daily infections across India health experts are questioning if rapid coronavirus tests are accurate.
Health analysts said for safe use, rapid tests should be conducted frequently. Some rapid test kits could miss infections, the experts said.
India has been using rapid tests since June. They are cheap and have significantly boosted testing rates. The goal is to detect infected patients faster and prevent them from infecting others.
But medical experts said some rapid tests could return false negative results - causing more transmissions.
Thousands of Workers Stay at Home Due to New Singapore Cluster
A new coronavirus cluster was detected at Sungei Tengah Lodge in Old Choa Chu Kang Road, Singapore, prompting the Ministry of Manpower to issue a stay-home order for around 4,800 employees.
The ministry had in July cleared the dormitory of COVID-19 after there had been 2,200 confirmed infections linked to the site.
However, a new cluster emerged last week. There have been 58 confirmed cases linked to the new cluster as of Sunday.
Singapore has seen a decline in daily infections over the past two weeks. As of Monday the country had 56,404 COVID-19 cases.
