Duterte threatens to shoot curfew breakers

JERUSALEM－Countries in the Asia-Pacific region and Africa are continuing to fight the novel coronavirus with some taking very strict measures, like the possible shooting of violators in the Philippines.

President Rodrigo Duterte warned violators of the lockdown measures in the Philippines that they could be shot for causing trouble, and said abuse of medical workers was a serious crime that would not be tolerated.

The Philippines has recorded 96 deaths and 2,311 infections so far.

In Israel, the country's health minister Yaakov Litzman went into isolation on Thursday after being infected, his office said.

Those who came in contact with him in the past two weeks will also be put into isolation, his office added.

The country has reported just over 6,200 confirmed cases and 29 people have died.

In Iran, President Hassan Rouhani said on Wednesday that the infection rate in the country pointed to a downward trend in all provinces.

He also said there was 80 percent drop in travel in the country during the Iranian new year celebrations compared to previous years, adding that the infections had peaked in a majority of the provinces during the very first days of the new year.

A total of 2,875 new cases were confirmed on Thursday, taking the tally in Iran to 50,468. The death toll rose to 3,160.

Meanwhile, India reported on Wednesday evening its first death, within a few hours of detecting it as a positive confirmed case, in Dharavi, Asia's largest slum located in Mumbai, occupying over 613 hectares and housing over 1.5 million people.

Seven members of the infected person's family have been quarantined, said the spokesperson for the city's municipal corporation.

Separately, the death toll in India rose to 50 as the number of infections in the country reached 1,965.

In Japan, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe launched on Wednesday a plan to send cloth masks out, starting the week after next, with areas seeing a spike in cases getting priority.

The plan was announced a day after experts warned that Japan was on the brink of a medical crisis as cases rose around the nation, especially in Tokyo. Japan had 2,524 infections as of Thursday morning.

Free childcare

In Australia, Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Dan Tehan, the minister for education, said on Thursday that childcare would be free for all parents who required their children in care so they could continue to work from Monday next week.

In New South Wales, the authorities said on Thursday that restrictions on personal movement would last three months until June 29.

Australia had reported 5,133 cases by Thursday, including 24 deaths.

South Africa on Wednesday launched dozens of mobile sampling and testing units to scale up the capacity of testing.

The move came as 27 new infections were reported on Wednesday, taking the total to 1,380, with five deaths.

Xinhua and agencies contributed to this story.