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Agence France-Presse

Malaysia reported 1,228 new coronavirus cases on Saturday, a record daily jump since the start of the pandemic, taking the total number of cases to 25,742.
The health ministry also said seven new deaths were recorded across the Southeast Asian country, bringing the toll to 221.
The government ordered about 1 million people to work from home from October 22 in a bid to tighten movement controls in the capital Kuala Lumpur and several states.
Coronavirus Malaysia: more heat on Muhyiddin over quarantine flap
Meanwhile, authorities in Sri Lanka on Saturday closed at least two fishery harbours and many stalls after a surge of 609 cases linked to the country’s main fish market.
The government also widened the curfew in parts of Colombo. At least 11 villages were isolated in the densely populated Western province, which includes the capital.
Health authorities on Wednesday temporarily closed the fish market on Colombo’s outskirts after 49 traders tested positive for the coronavirus. By Saturday, the number of cases went up to 609.
Hundreds of traders and fishermen are being tested.
Authorities said the outbreak is related to a cluster in a garment factory early this month, which has grown to 3,426 cases, almost half the country’s total of 6,287. It broke a two-month lull in infections.
Several thousand people have been asked to quarantine at home. Schools and key public offices are closed, gatherings banned and restrictions imposed on public transport. Sri Lanka has had 14 deaths since March.


In Australia, all staff and students from two schools in northeast Melbourne have been told to immediately get tested for Covid-19 after the emergence of seven new cases on Saturday. There were no deaths. Both schools will be closed for the next two weeks. Already about 800 residents in Melbourne’s northern suburbs have been isolating because of the school outbreak.
Warnings have been circulated to workers, including taxi drivers, who might have visited the area. The Victoria state’s death toll remained at 817 on Saturday and the national figure at 905, with only one death in the past week. The updated figures Saturday followed the city’s most significant anti-lockdown protest on Friday.
A “Freedom Day” rally began midafternoon and continued for several hours, erupting at times in violent scuffles between police and demonstrators, many of whom did not wear masks. Police arrested 16 people and handed out dozens of fines. Three police officers were injured and one was taken to a hospital.
Soaring Covid-19 cases trigger pneumonia vaccine shortage in Europe
Elsewhere, the US recorded 80,000 infections in a single day, France extended a curfew to two-thirds of citizens and Germany’s death toll passed 10,000.
The World Health Organization had earlier warned of an “exponential” rise in infections threatening health systems’ ability to cope.
But populations weary of social isolation and economic hardship have pushed back against fresh restrictions to slow the resurgent virus’ spread, including overnight clashes in hard-hit Naples between Italian police and hundreds of protesters.
Johns Hopkins University had earlier reported 79,963 new American cases in 24 hours, a new record, although the number of daily deaths has remained broadly stable since the beginning of autumn at between 700 and 800.
Overall, more than 223,000 people have died from Covid-19 in the US.

France on Friday followed Spain past the milestone of one million cases, while the government extended an overnight curfew designed to slow the spread to affect some 46 million people.
“Whatever we do in the coming days and weeks, the toll will grow heavier,” Health Minister Olivier Veran told lawmakers.
And after Germany recorded its 10,000th death from the coronavirus, Chancellor Angela Merkel told citizens that “the order of the day is to reduce contacts, to meet as few people as possible” in a weekly video podcast.
In Poland, President Andrzej Duda tested positive for Covid-19, although an aide wrote on Twitter that he was “fine”.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus had on Friday warned that “too many countries are seeing an exponential increase in Covid-19 cases and that is now leading to hospitals and intensive care units running close to or above capacity – and we’re still only in October.”
“We urge leaders to take immediate action to prevent further unnecessary deaths.”
Coronavirus vaccine race: where are we and how far?
That message was echoed by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), whose director Andrea Ammon warned of a “highly concerning epidemiological situation”.
But moves to reintroduce restrictions were met with protest in parts of the continent.
In Naples, hundreds of demonstrators turned out after a call on social media to resist a new curfew in parts of Italy, throwing objects at police and setting rubbish bins on fire.
The country is reeling from its worst post-war recession after a gruelling two-month national lockdown prompted by one of Europe’s worst outbreaks, and authorities have so far been reluctant to repeat the drastic quarantine restrictions seen then.
Wales entered a full lockdown on Friday evening, a day after Ireland shut down, while Poland adopted a nationwide “red zone” lockdown mandating the partial closure of primary schools and restaurants.
Only Sweden, which famously refused to lock down earlier this year, continued to stick to its guns despite a rise in cases.


After Spain became the first European country to officially record a million Covid-19 cases earlier in the week, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Friday the real number of infections was likely more than triple that number.
Across the planet, Covid-19 has now claimed the lives of 1.1 million people and infected close to 42 million, with the WHO warning the northern hemisphere was at a critical juncture.
Belgium has seen one of Europe’s deadliest per capita outbreaks and has found itself suffering some of the highest second-wave infection rates in Europe.
“We’re losing. We’re overwhelmed. We’re bitter,” said Benoit Misset, head of the intensive care unit at the University Hospital in the city of Liege, where several of his staff are having to work despite being positive – if asymptomatic – themselves.
Work has continued on the international quest to find a vaccine for the disease, with clinical trials for one candidate developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University resuming in the US on Friday, six weeks after a test subject became ill.
Additional reporting by Reuters and Associated Press


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Coronavirus pandemic

Coronavirus latest: Malaysia cases hit record daily high; Germany deaths pass 10,000

Workers disinfect the Merdeka Square in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Photo: AP

Two persons face the Eiffel Tower in Paris, during a nighttime virus curfew as a measure against the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic caused by the novel coronavirus on October 22, 2020. - France on October 22, 2020 extended the anti-Covid curfew in place in nine cities to large parts of the country, taking to 46 million the number of people forced to stay indoors at night. (Photo by Valery HACHE / AFP)

Amid coronavirus surge, Malaysia asks what went wrong as Muhyiddin and other politicians take brunt of criticism

A health worker in Petaling Jaya tests a woman for coronavirus amid the recent surge. Photo: DPA

FILE PHOTO: Malaysia's Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin wearing a protective mask arrives at a mosque for prayers, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Putrajaya, Malaysia August 28, 2020. REUTERS/Lim Huey Teng/File Photo

From Australia to India and the Philippines, are coronavirus lockdowns working?

Melbourne introduced a citywide curfew last month as it battles a surge in Covid-19 cases. Photo: EPA

(FILES) This file photo taken on July 22, 2020 shows people having drinks at a cafe with an extended terrace made of wooden pallets in Paris, in respect for social distancing due to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. - Paris' city prolongs "exceptionally" until June 2021 the extension of the terraces of bars and restaurants on the Parisian public space, "given the scale of the crisis hitting the sector", First Deputy Mayor of Paris Emmanuel Gregoire told AFP on August 27, 2020. (Photo by Christophe ARCHAMBAULT / AFP)

(200831) -- MELBOURNE, Aug. 31, 2020 (Xinhua) -- People enjoy city view in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, Aug. 31, 2020. A lockdown in the Australian state of Victoria aimed at stopping a COVID-19 outbreak came under scrutiny on Monday, with critics calling for a clearer plan to end the restrictions which are said to be weighing on the nation's economic recovery. Victoria recorded 73 new infections on Monday following a month of Stage 4 lockdowns in capital city Melbourne, down from a peak of over 700 in early August. (Photo by Bai Xue/Xinhua)

A fish vendor waits for customers at his roadside stall in Lucknow, India, Saturday, Sept. 12, 2020. Millions lost their jobs, and thousands, fearing starvation, poured out of cities to try and get back to their rural homes during India’s lockdown of 1.3 billion people earlier this year. The economy shrunk by nearly 24% in the last quarter, the most of any major country. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)

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Malaysia registered a record 1,228 new cases on Saturday
Chancellor Angela Merkel told Germans to stay at home and reduce socialising to an absolute minimum



Coronavirus latest: Malaysia cases hit record daily high; Germany deaths pass 10,000

Malaysia registered a record 1,228 new cases on Saturday Chancellor Angela Merkel told Germans to stay at home and reduce socialising to an absolute minimum

Malaysia registered a record 1,228 new cases on Saturday

Chancellor Angela Merkel told Germans to stay at home and reduce socialising to an absolute minimum