Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc attends the Special Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit on the COVID-19 Response in Hanoi, Vietnam on April 14, 2020. (VNA/Handout via Xinhua)
-- ASEAN leaders prioritize COVID-19 pandemic control;
-- Thailand reports 34 new COVID-19 infections, 1 death;
-- Philippines reports 291 new COVID-19 cases;
-- Japan records 53 new COVID-19 cases, 7,744 in total.
HONG KONG, April 14 (Xinhua) -- The following are the latest developments of the COVID-19 pandemic in Asia-Pacific countries.
HANOI -- At the virtual Special Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit on the COVID-19 on Tuesday morning, leaders of the 10 ASEAN member states affirmed that the block's current leading priority is controlling the COVID-19 pandemic and preventing it from spreading further.
The heads of state or government of the 10 ASEAN members and the ASEAN Secretary-General agreed that the countries should join hands with one another and with other nations to prevent the global pandemic from spreading further, with focus on preventing cross-border infections.
People sit according to signs on an overground train cabinet in Bangkok, Thailand, April 6, 2020. (Photo by Rachen Sageamsak/Xinhua)
BANGKOK -- Thailand's Center for COVID-19 Situation Administration on Tuesday reported 34 new COVID-19 cases, comparing to Monday's 28, with one new fatality. The total death toll has increased by one to 41.
The total infections in Thailand stood at 2,613, with 1,405 recoveries and 1,167 cases still being treated in hospitals.
Photo shows notice of "social distancing" at a shop in Manila, the Philippines, on April 11, 2020. (Xinhua/Rouelle Umali)
MANILA -- The Philippines reported on Tuesday 291 new confirmed COVID-19 cases, bringing the total number of infections in the country to 5,223.
The Department of Health also reported that 20 COVID-19 patients have died, bringing the death toll to 335.
The Philippines is taking a leaf from China's experience in battling against the highly infectious coronavirus disease, Kenneth Ronquillo, assistant secretary of the Philippine Department of Health, made the remarks when he accompanied Chinese medical experts visiting a converted quarantine facility at the Philippine International Conference Center in Manila.
The 12-member Chinese anti-epidemic medical expert team comprises medical experts in the fields of infectious disease prevention and control, clinic treatment, and laboratory testing. They arrived in Manila on April 5 to share their first-hand experiences and best practices to the Philippine healthcare workers.
"We get very good advice from the team. They share their experiences and compare them with what we have here in the Philippines," Ronquillo told Xinhua in an interview.
Citizens wearing masks pass the ticket gates at Meguro station in Tokyo, Japan, April 8, 2020. (Xinhua/Du Xiaoyi)
TOKYO -- Japan's health ministry and local governments said Tuesday afternoon the number COVID-19 cases in Japan rose by 53 to 7,744, with the latest figure coming one week after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe declared a state of emergency over the crisis for Tokyo and six other prefectures.
The death toll from the pneumonia-causing virus currently stands at a total of 158, including those from a cruise ship that was quarantined in Yokohama near Tokyo.
Photo taken on April 4, 2020 shows a notice of asking people to stay at home in Fairlight, Sydney, Australia. (Xinhua/Bai Xuefei)
SYDNEY -- New cases of COVID-19 in Australia continued to decline as of Tuesday, as people returned from an unusually subdued Easter holiday weekend.
State and federal leaders thanked Australians for mostly abiding by social distances laws over the long-weekend, traditionally a time spent with friends and family.
On Tuesday, Deputy Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly confirmed that with national case numbers rising slowly around 6,375, Australia had been "very successful" in flattening the curve.
The country's worst-hit State of New South Wales recorded just seven new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, compared with 212 new daily cases three weeks earlier.
A firefighter sprays disinfectant in Kandahar, southern Afghanistan, April 11, 2020. (Xinhua/Sanaullah Seiam)
KABUL -- Forty-nine more confirmed COVID-19 cases had been reported in Afghanistan, bringing the total number in the country to 714 as of Tuesday morning, the Ministry of Public Health confirmed Tuesday.
"The COVID-19 cases are expected to increase rapidly over the weeks ahead as community transmission escalates. A total of 18 new cases were reported in Kabul province, 15 in Kandahar, six in Balkh, four in Herat, four in Ghazni and two in Nangarhar provinces respectively," the ministry said in a statement.
A total of 23 patients have died and 40 others have recovered since the outbreak in mid February, according to the statement.
Vendors line up to enter a wholesale market to buy vegetables during a lockdown across the country to curb the spread of coronavirus, in Jalandhar district of India's northern state of Punjab, April 13, 2020. (Str/Xinhua)
NEW DELHI -- Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday extended the countrywide Lockdown till May 3 in the wake of the prevailing health crisis posed by the COVID pandemic.
India's federal health ministry said the death toll due to the COVID-19 rose to 339 and the total number of confirmed cases reached 10,363.
This is a jump of 15 deaths and an increase of 1,011 cases since the morning.
People observe social distancing while entering a supermarket in Wellington, New Zealand, April 11, 2020. (Xinhua/Guo Lei)
WELLINGTON -- New Zealand's state of national emergency to support the COVID-19 response will be extended a third time for a further seven days, New Zealand Minister of Civil Defense Peeni Henare said on Tuesday.
Four more people died of COVID-19 in the country over the past 24 hours, according to the Ministry of Health.
Faculty members put stickers onto desks to remind students keep a two-meter social distance at the Jukjeon Campus of Dankook University in Yongin of Gyeonggi Province, South Korea, April 7, 2020. (NEWSIS/Handout via Xinhua)
SEOUL -- South Korea reported 27 more cases of the COVID-19 compared to 24 hours ago as of midnight Tuesday local time, raising the total number of infections to 10,564.
The daily caseload hovered below 50 for the sixth straight day. Of the new cases, 12 were imported from overseas.■
