As India continues to lead the way in hard-hit Asian countries, other nations such as South Korea are pushing through with restrictions to prevent further COVID-19 infections.
Greater Seoul Extends Anti-Coronavirus Restrictions
Despite an apparent decline in daily new COVID-19 cases in South Korea's hard-hit Seoul area, the local government extended strict social distancing measures to further stop new infections.
The stricter measures were extended as part of the local government's efforts in preventing the flare-up of clustered cases across the country, particularly in the greater Seoul area.
Before the revamped COVID-19 measures were implemented, the country has been struggling to contain daily new cases since the second week of August.
Most of the new cases were linked to clusters from group gatherings such as religious events and rallies in central Seoul.
Inside Level 2.5 Alert in Greater Seoul
Dubbed the Level 2.5 alert, the heightened anti-coronavirus measures in Seoul include operational limitations to several food-related business segments.
Starting Monday, shaved ice cafes, ice cream shops and franchise bakeries will not be allowed to cater to dine-in customers. The new alert level will allow these businesses to only offer delivery and pickup services.
The curfew time for eating and drinking at food trucks or street stalls has been set at 9 p.m. Furthermore, in-store services in smaller eateries will only be allowed until 9 p.m.
As of Monday, South Korea has logged a total of 21,296 confirmed COVID-19 cases.
Australia Aims To Secure Vaccine Early Next Year
In Australia, hopes are high following the announcement that the country will receive the first batches of a potential COVID-19 vaccine as early as January 2021.
Like other countries seeking to obtain coronavirus vaccines, the Australian government secured a deal to procure an Oxford University and AstraZeneca vaccine. The first 3.8 million doses are expected to be delivered between January and February of next year.
The news came as the country continues to report new coronavirus cases despite a slight decline in daily infections over the past several weeks. Australia is currently battling the second wave of the pandemic.
India Breaches Global Daily Record
Meanwhile, India on Sunday breached the global record of daily COVID-19 infections with 90,632 new confirmed cases in the last 24 hours.
Health analysts are expecting the country to overtake Brazil early this week as the second hardest-hit country in the world in terms of total confirmed COVID-19 cases.
So far, Brazil has 4,137,606 confirmed infections, while India is inching closer and closer to bridging the gap. If that comes to pass, India will be second only to the United States in confirmed cases.
As of Sunday, India has reached a total of 4,113,811 coronavirus cases and over 70,000 deaths from the fast-spreading disease.
Despite the massive infection rate in the country, the recovery rate has also climbed over the past few weeks. India now has over 3.2 million recovered patients.
