Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

BANGKOK, July 18 (Xinhua) -- Thailand on Sunday announced an expansion of restrictive measures that include travel curbs, a night-time curfew and shopping mall closures to cover three more provinces as its daily COVID-19 case tally surged to a record high for the third consecutive day.

The Southeast Asian country reported 11,397 new cases and 101 deaths on Sunday, taking the total number of infections to 403,386 and cumulative fatalities to 3,341, according to the Center for the COVID-19 Situation Administration (CCSA).

TOKYO, July 18 (Xinhua) -- Tokyo Olympic organizers confirmed on Sunday that two athletes have tested positive for COVID-19 in the Olympic village and are now isolated in their rooms.

This came after a non-athlete in the village tested positive for coronavirus earlier on Saturday, and these two confirmed cases are the first among competitors.

At a press conference, Tokyo 2020 spokesperson Masa Takaya said the two athletes are from same country and same sport, and they were isolated as soon as they returned positive tests. No names or other information were provided.

BEIJING, July 18 (Xinhua) -- China's Mars rover Zhurong has traveled more than 509 meters on the surface of the red planet as of 11 p.m. Saturday, according to the Lunar Exploration and Space Program Center of the China National Space Administration.

The rover will soon arrive at the second sand dune on its journey on the red planet. It will carry out a detailed survey of the dune and surrounding environment, said the administration.

Hanoi, Jul 18 (AP-PTI) Vietnam put its entire southern region in a two-week lockdown starting midnight Sunday, as confirmed COVID-19 cases exceeded 3,000 for the third day in a row.

The lockdown order includes the Mekong Delta and Ho Chi Minh City metropolis, the country's financial and economic hub with over 35 million people - nearly a third of Vietnam's population.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea is sending military aircraft on Sunday to replace the entire 300-member crew of a navy destroyer on an anti-piracy mission off East Africa after nearly 70 of them tested positive for the coronavirus, officials said.

Two multi-role aerial tankers will bring home 300 sailors aboard the 4,400-ton-class destroyer Munmu the Great, Joint Chiefs of Staff and Defense Ministry officials said, requesting anonymity citing department rules.

They said 68 sailors have so far tested positive and the results on 200 of the 300 crew are still pending.

BEIJING (AP) — Divers have been dispatched in the search for 14 workers missing since water flooded a tunnel under construction in southern China three days ago, authorities said Sunday.

Zhang Yisheng, the vice mayor of Zhuhai city, told a news conference that the water level in the tunnel had dropped by 11.3 meters (37 feet), according to an online report by state broadcaster CCTV. Underwater robots, unmanned ships and sonar detectors would also be deployed, Zhang said.

BEIJING, July 17 (APP): In a milestone move, Chinese, Pakistani and Turkish researchers on Saturday published two English monographs on climate-smart agriculture as the world is struggling to maintain and increase agriculture production against the backdrop of growing climate change.

KUALA LUMPUR, July 17 (NNN-Bernama) — Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said data showed that vaccination has succeeded in sharply reducing the number of serious COVID-19 cases in the country.

He said this was evident from the figures for admission of senior citizens in categories four and five cases to Hospital Sungai Buloh, which had dropped by more than 50 per cent in the past one month.

“Now the positive impact of vaccination is beginning to be seen,” he said in a Facebook post Saturday.

KUALA LUMPUR, July 17 (NNN-Bernama) — After dodging the worst of COVID-19 since the pandemic surfaced last year, many of ASEAN member nations now appear to be grappling with the rapid surge in infections following the emergence of new variants especially the Delta variant.

On Friday, Indonesia logged 54,000 new daily cases, while Malaysia (12,541), Thailand (9,692), Myanmar (6,194), the Philippines (5,676), and Vietnam (3,336). All states, except Singapore and Brunei, have witnessed a rising trend in the number of new cases.

HONG KONG, July 17 (Reuters) - China's foreign ministry branch in Hong Kong said new U.S. sanctions on Chinese officials and its updated business advisory on the city are "extremely rude" and "extremely unreasonable" bullying acts with "despicable intention".

The United States imposed sanctions on Friday on seven Chinese officials over Beijing's crackdown on democracy in Hong Kong, Washington's latest effort to hold China accountable for what it calls an erosion of rule of law in the former British colony.