New case cluster detected in Malaysia, Philippines reports lowest number of cases in 15 days

a group of people walking on a city street

Tourists visit the Jonker Street night market in Malacca, Malaysia, Sept. 18, 2020. (Xinhua/Zhu Wei)

— Malaysia reports 82 new cases, new case cluster detected;

— Pakistan starts clinical trial of Chinese vaccine for COVID-19;

— Philippines reports 1,635 new cases, lowest in 15 days;

— India reports 75,083 new cases as total surpasses 5.5 million.

HONG KONG, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) — The following are the latest developments of the COVID-19 pandemic in Asia-Pacific countries on Tuesday:

KUALA LUMPUR — Malaysia reported 82 new COVID-19 infections, the Health Ministry said, bringing the national total to 10,358. Health Ministry Director-General Noor Hisham Abdullah said in a press statement that 10 of the new cases are imported and 72 are local transmissions.

a small boat in a body of water

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A man sits on the Pattaya beach in Chonburi province, Thailand, Sept. 15, 2020. (Xinhua/Rachen Sageamsak)

BANGKOK — Thailand’s famous resort island of Phuket pleaded state and private sectors to help support its tourism industry as the COVID-19 pandemic had cost the island 400 billion baht (12.75 million U.S. dollars) in losses since the ban on entry of foreigners was launched in late March.

a man riding on the back of a bicycle

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A rickshaw puller wearing a face mask waits for customers on a street in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on Sept. 21, 2020. (Xinhua)

DHAKA — Bangladesh reported 1,557 new COVID-19 cases and 28 new deaths on Tuesday, making the tally at 352,178 and death toll at 5,007, the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) said.

a group of people looking at each other

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A medical worker collects a swab sample from a teacher for COVID-19 tests at a school in Karachi, Pakistan, on Sept. 14, 2020. (Str/Xinhua)

ISLAMABAD — Pakistan has started stage three clinical trials of a China-made vaccine for COVID-19 with the assistance of China, Executive Director of the country’s National Institute of Health (NIH) Aamer Ikram said.

a man holding a sign

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A man wearing a face mask stands in front of a poster of COVID-19 preventive measures at Manila Bay in Manila, the Philippines, Sept. 21, 2020. (Xinhua/Rouelle Umali)

MANILA — The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the Philippines surged to 291,789 after the Department of Health (DOH) reported 1,635 new daily cases, the lowest in 15 days.

A man runs on the street in Wellington, New Zealand, Sept. 22, 2020. (Xinhua/Guo Lei)

WELLINGTON — New Zealand reported no new cases of COVID-19 as the country embraced the first day of relaxed restrictions, or Alert Level 1, except in Auckland.

Photo taken on Sept. 15, 2020 shows the city slogan of Seoul changed from I·SEOUL·U to I·MASK·U near the city hall of Seoul, South Korea. (Xinhua/Wang Jingqiang)

SEOUL — South Korea reported 61 more cases of the COVID-19 as of midnight Monday local time compared to 24 hours ago, raising the total number of infections to 23,106.

The daily caseload hovered below 100 for three straight days amid the reduced cluster infections in Seoul and its surrounding Gyeonggi province traceable to church services and a massive rally held in central Seoul on Aug. 15.

Passengers wearing face masks travel on a metro train in New Delhi, India, on Sept. 12, 2020. (Photo by Partha Sarkar/Xinhua)

NEW DELHI — The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in India rose to 5,562,663, India’s federal health ministry said, with 75,083 new daily cases and 1,053 more deaths.■