Confirmed COVID-19 cases keeps mounting in Asia-Pacific, Japan extends state of emergency until May 31

An electronic screen shows the news that the Japanese government announced its decision to extend the nationwide state of emergency for COVID-19, in Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo, Japan, on May 4, 2020. The Japanese government on Monday officially announced its decision to extend the nationwide state of emergency for COVID-19 by nearly a month until May 31. (Xinhua/Du Xiaoyi)

HONG KONG, May 4 (Xinhua) -- Asia-Pacific countries are still on high alert of the COVID-19 pandemic as Japan extended a state of emergency Monday to curb the virus, and a steep upward trend of daily cases has been shown in Bangladesh.

The Japanese government on Monday officially announced its decision to extend the nationwide state of emergency for COVID-19 by nearly a month until May 31.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe made the announcement at a meeting of a government task force on the coronavirus response to extend the state of emergency beyond May 6, the last day of Japan's Golden Week holiday which was the initial expiration date.

To date, Japan has recorded 15,084 infections.

Bangladesh on Monday reported a record daily jump of 688 new COVID-19 cases, taking its total to 10,143.

Five more deaths were reported in the last 24 hours, taking the death toll to 182.

A total of 665 cases were confirmed in Bangladesh in a 24-hour period on May 3.

Indonesia recorded 395 new infections, tally at 11,587.

A total of 864 deaths have been recorded in the country, an increase by 19 over the previous day.

In the Philippines, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases increased by 262, to a total of 9,485, accord to health authorities.

A total of 101 more patients recovered from the virus, raising the country's total number of recoveries to 1,315, and 16 new deaths were recorded in the last 24 hours, bringing the death toll to 623.

Thailand's daily new COVID-19 infections rose to 18 on Monday, compared with three cases on Sunday, and all of them were illegal immigrants held at a detention center in Thailand's Southern Province of Songkhla.

No deaths were reported, and the total number of infections stood at 2,987, while 2,740 people have recovered, 193 remained in hospitals. The total number of deaths stood at 54.

Malaysia reported 55 new positive cases, among which seven were imported cases with the remainder being local transmissions, pushing the total cases in the country to 6,353.

Laos confirmed no new COVID-19 cases for 22 consecutive days, with the total number of confirmed cases remaining at 19.

As of Monday, Laos has tested 2,223 suspected cases with 19 cases tested positive, and nine patients have recovered.

Afghanistan's health ministry reported 190 new infections within the past 24 hours, taking the total cases to 2,894.

Five patients died since early Sunday, bringing the death toll to 90.

India on Monday morning confirmed 67 more deaths and 2,270 new positive cases since Sunday evening in the country, taking the number of deaths to 1,373 and total cases to 42,533.

According to ministry officials, 11,707 people have been discharged from hospitals after showing improvement.

New Zealand reported no new case over the past 24 hours, the first time in 49 days, with the total number of infections staying at 1,487, according to the Ministry of Health.

South Korea reported eight more infections compared to 24 hours ago as of midnight Monday, raising the total number of infections to 10,801.

The daily caseload hovered below 20 for 17 straight days.

All the new cases were imported from overseas, lifting the combined number to 1,099.