Mosques were jammed across virus-wracked Indonesia on Friday despite warnings against mass gatherings as the daily death toll in the world's biggest Muslim-majority nation soared to a record high.Skyrocketing COVID-19 infections and deaths are hammering hospitals in the Southeast Asian country of nearly 270 million, which is overtaking India as Asia's coronavirus epicentre.Fearing a further explosion in transmission, the government and Indonesian Mosque Council have called on millio

Here are the latest developments in the coronavirus crisis:Origins ProbeThe World Health Organization (WHO) says the second stage of an investigation into the origins of coronavirus should include further studies in China and lab "audits".Catalonia Curfew Barcelona and other cities in Spain's north-eastern Catalonia region will re-impose a night-time curfew starting this weekend to fight a surge in virus cases after the measure wins court approval.US Doses For AfricaTh

Younger adults admitted to hospital with COVID are almost as likely to suffer from complications as those over 50 years old, a study has found.Four in 10 of those between 19 and 49 developed problems with their kidneys, lungs or other organs while treated.The research looked at 73,197 adults of all ages across 302 United Kingdom (UK) hospitals in the first wave of COVID in 2020."The message is that this is not just a disease of the elderly and frail," said Prof Calum Semple, who led

The Philippines has confirmed its first death and locally transmitted cases of the more infectious Delta coronavirus variant, the health ministry said on Friday, as the country attempts to ramp up its vaccination drive with almost 400,000 people injected on Thursday.Of the 16 new COVID-19 cases found to have contracted the Delta variant, 11 were tagged as locally acquired, Health Under-secretary Maria Rosario Vergeire told a news conference.

The World Health Organization (WHO) warned Thursday that "more dangerous" variants of COVID-19 could tear across the world as global infections soared to half a million daily, largely driven by the virulent Delta strain.An AFP tally of official sources found that after an initial dip, cases have been rising again worldwide since the end of June, topping 540,000 on Tuesday and again on Wednesday."The pandemic is nowhere near finished," the WHO's emergency committee sai

Here are the latest developments in the coronavirus crisis:COVID Infections RiseNew COVID-19 infections have been on the rise across the world since late June, topping half a million on Tuesday and Wednesday, increases not seen since May 28, according to an AFP tally.WHO WarningThe World Health Organization's (WHO) emergency committee warns that new concerning variants of COVID-19 are expected to spread around the world, saying "the pandemic is nowhere near finished".Origin Pro

Singapore police are investigating several karaoke bars for breaching coronavirus restrictions and have arrested 20 foreign women for alleged "vice-related activities" after an outbreak linked to the nightspots, authorities said.The city-state has seen a spike in cases this week connected to the bars – including a 10-month high of local transmissions on Wednesday – and the number of infections in the cluster now stands at 87.A staple of Singapore nightlife, the karaoke bars typicall

Residents across Myanmar's biggest city are defying a military curfew in a desperate search for oxygen to keep their loved ones breathing as a new coronavirus wave crashes over the coup-wracked country.The spike in cases is the latest blow to Myanmar, already suffering from a February coup and a bloody crackdown on dissent that has killed over 900 people and gutted the economy. Hundreds queued across Yangon as the sun rose Wednesday in the hope of refilling blue oxygen cylinders

Virus-wracked Indonesia posted record daily infections topping 54,000 on Wednesday as the highly infectious Delta variant rips across the archipelago, catapulting it ahead of India as Asia's COVID-19 epicentre.The Southeast Asian nation has been battered by a virus explosion that overwhelmed hospitals, leaving scores to die at home, while desperate relatives hunt for oxygen tanks to treat the sick.On Wednesday, Indonesia's health ministry posted its highest-ever 54,517 new cases and

Continuing attempts to curb the sale of wild animals and their meat have failed to engender change at wet markets in the Asia Pacific, even as the region struggles to contain the largest and deadliest wave of COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic.According to the World Health Organization (WHO), nearly three-quarters of emerging infectious diseases that spread to humans originate in animals.