NEW DELHI — As India recorded nearly 50,000 fresh cases of the coronavirus, Prime Minister Narendra Modi prepared to launch facilities in three major cities to significantly ramp up testing capacity.
The 49,931 cases reported on Monday brought India’s tally to beyond 1.4 million. India has the world’s third-highest caseload after the United States and Brazil. The 32,771 reported deaths from the disease in India, however, mark a far lower fatality rate than in the other two countries.
Modi’s office says the testing facilities that will begin operating on Monday will help authorities track the virus. They will be put in Noida, a suburb of the capital New Delhi, and in the cities of Mumbai and Kolkata. Each is capable of analyzing as many as 10,000 tests per day.
India’s chief medical research agency says the country tested about 515,000 samples for COVID-19 on Sunday.
———
HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE VIRUS OUTBREAK:
— Tourism, diplomacy facing pushback as virus caseloads surge
— White House, Senate GOP try again on $1 trillion virus aid
— Coronavirus crisis sparks a young Israeli protest movement
— Hanna 's rains bring flooding threat along US-Mexico border as virus surges
— Uncertainty over US-China tensions, pandemic pushes gold to record price
— Baseball’s return includes several comeback stories
————
Follow AP’s pandemic coverage at http://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak
————
HERE’S WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING:
JOHANNESBURG — South Africa is reporting more than 11,000 new confirmed coronavirus cases as the country now has more than 445,000 in all, including more than 6,700 deaths.
South Africa has the world’s fifth largest caseload and makes up more than half the cases across the African continent. President Cyril Ramaphosa says the recovery from the pandemic will be “long and difficult” but experts say the worst is yet to come.
A growing concern is poorly resourced Eastern Cape province, which makes up 16% of the country’s cases but more than 20% of deaths. South Africa’s public labs continue to face testing delays, with the average turnaround time for results at just over a week.
———
SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea reported 25 new cases of COVID-19, bringing its caseload to 14,175 infections and 299 deaths.
South Korea’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday said 16 of the new cases were tied to people arriving from abroad.
The country in past days have reported dozens of cases among crew members of a Russia-flagged cargo ship docked in the southern port of Busan and hundreds of South Korean construction workers airlifted from virus-ravaged Iraq.
Among the nine local transmissions, eight were from the Seoul metropolitan area, which has been at the center of a virus resurgence since late May.
———
BEIJING — China on Monday reported 61 new cases of coronavirus, spread between its northeastern and northwestern regions.
The Xinjiang region in the northwest reported 41 new cases, while Liaoning and Jilin provinces in the northeast saw a combined total of 16. Another four cases were brought by Chinese travelers from outside the country.
No new deaths were reported, leaving the toll from COVID-19 in the country at 4,634 among 83,891 cases. A total of 339 people are receiving treatment for the disease, 21 of them in serious condition, while 305 people are being monitored in isolation for showing signs of infection or for having tested positive for the virus without showing symptoms.
The latest outbreaks come as most of the country is opening up, with major cities restarting indoor recreation venues and sporting events, albeit without fans in attendance.
———
MELBOURNE, Australia — Australia’s hard-hit Victoria state on Monday posted a new daily record of 532 new COVID-19 cases, and the government leader warned that a lockdown in the city of Melbourne would continue while infected people continued to go to work.
Melbourne is almost half way through a six-week lockdown aimed at curbing community spread of coronavirus. Mask-wearing in Australia’s second-largest city became compulsory last week.
The new cases and six deaths reported on Monday surpasses a previous record of 484 new infections reported on Wednesday last week.
Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews said the biggest driver of the new infections was people continuing to go to work after showing symptoms.
“This is what is driving these numbers up and the lockdown will not end until people stop going to work with symptoms and instead go and get tested,” Andrews said.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison called for patience in Victoria.
“There has been significant community transmission in Victoria. That will take some time to get on top of,” Morrison said.
—————
MANILA, Philippines — Vietnam has postponed its hosting of Asia’s largest security forum, which includes North Korea, and an annual meeting of Southeast Asian foreign ministers by a month to September due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Two Southeast Asian diplomats said Monday that Vietnam, which leads the Association of Southeast Asian Nations this year, hopes to hold face to face meetings in mid-September instead of doing them by online video due to travel restrictions if the annual gatherings were to be held as originally scheduled later this week.
The 10-nation bloc hosts the ASEAN Regional Forum, which brings together its top diplomats with counterparts from the United States, China, Japan, Russia, India, the two Koreas and other Asia Pacific countries to discuss the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and other security issues.
Most of about 1,300 ASEAN meetings this year have so far been shifted online due to the coronavirus pandemic, including an annual summit of ASEAN leaders last month. More sensitive talks, including secretive negotiations between China and ASEAN member states for a so-called “code of conduct” in the disputed South China Sea, have been delayed indefinitely, said the two diplomats, who spoke with The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of a lack of authority to discuss the matter publicly.
———
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump won’t be throwing out the first pitch at Yankee Stadium next month after all.
Trump tweeted Sunday that he won’t be able to make the trip because of his “strong focus” on the coronavirus, vaccines and the economy. Trump said in the tweet: “We will make it later in the season!”
He had announced at a briefing Thursday on Major League Baseball’s opening day that he’d be at Yankee Stadium on Aug. 15 to throw out the first pitch.
Trump has been trying to show voters that he is taking the virus seriously by holding briefings and canceling Republican convention events set for Jacksonville, Florida. Florida is among several states where the virus is raging.
