Regional countries still struggling with COVID-19 pandemic
Hanoi (VNA) - The Philippine Department of Health on August 23 recorded 18,332 new cases of COVID-19, the highest daily surge since the pandemic broke out in the country.
Manila officials also acknowledged for the first time community transmission due to the Delta variant in Metro Manila.
In addition, the country reported 151 new deaths, raising the
total number of fatalities to 31,961. The total number of COVID-19 cases in this Southeast
Asian country mounted to 1,857,646 cases.
The Ministry of Health's spokeswoman Maria Rosario Vergeire said
that the Delta variant with the ability to spread quickly is spreading throughout
the Metro Manila area. She stated that by looking at the epidemic map,
community transmission is concentrated in densely populated areas where nearly
30 million people live.
According to local officials, the infection rate here has leveled off
after two weeks of imposing a strict lockdown order.
To date, just over 4 million people, or 43.5 percent of the
population in Metro Manila, have been fully vaccinated.
Meanwhile, Indonesia is moving to relax restrictions on
community activities.
President Joko Widodo said the government will gradually relax the regulations on the implementation of restrictions on community activities (PPKM) level 4 due to an improvement in some indicators.
The
resumption of community activities must still be done step by step in line with
health protocols such as testing and contact tracing, as well as a broader
rollout of immunisation.
According to the President, the COVID-19 pandemic is not over
yet and some countries are currently experiencing the third wave of COVID-19
and Indonesia must stay vigilant to curb the spread of the pandemic.
According to the Indonesian Ministry of Health, the country recorded 9,604 new infections on August 23, bringing the total caseload to 3,989,060. With 842 deaths, the number of fatalities rose to
127,214.
In a related development, Cambodia has so far recorded a total of 999 Delta variant
infections.
Cambodian Health Minister Mam Hun Heng said the Delta variant has
appeared in 23 provinces and cities of the country, of which the most are in
Pailin (270 cases) and Phnom Penh (238 cases).
The Ministry of Health reminded people to strictly comply with prevention
measures such as wearing masks, maintaining distance and avoiding large
gatherings.
The Cambodian Ministry of Health confirmed 16 deaths and 410
cases of COVID-19 on August 23, including 132 imported cases. Cambodia has detected a total of 89,641 cases of COVID-19, of which 85,618 recovered and 1,808 died./.