[ti:Asia Sees Rise in COVID-19 Cases after Lunar New Year] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]更多听力请访问51VOA.COM [00:00.04]Many Asian nations have reported a rise in COVID-19 infections [00:07.44]following the Lunar New Year holiday. [00:11.44]Lunar New Year was widely celebrated in China [00:16.40]and other parts of Asia beginning February 1. [00:22.68]The celebrations came as many countries [00:26.76]kept pandemic restrictions in place [00:30.96]in hopes of preventing virus spread. [00:35.84]The rules included limits on the size of public [00:40.56]and family gatherings. [00:43.72]In Hong Kong, officials reported a record rise [00:48.40]in COVID-19 cases, with 614 local infections identified. [00:57.52]Hong Kong has established a "zero-COVID" policy [01:02.92]that aims to quickly stop new outbreaks [01:06.92]before they have time to spread widely. [01:10.92]The policy calls for lockdowns at housing buildings [01:16.52]that experience a large number of infections. [01:21.44]Hong Kong has also banned restaurants from operating [01:26.56]after 6:00 at night. [01:29.20]Edwin Tsui is with Hong Kong's Centre for Health Protection. [01:35.04]He told reporters on Monday that officials [01:39.88]expect to see more cases in the coming days. [01:44.28]"With our current containment measures, [01:47.88]we hope we can still contain the disease," Tsui said. [01:54.24]Singapore has reported a sharp rise in COVID-19 infections [02:00.24]after last week's holiday. [02:02.68]Officials there said new cases reached 13,000 on Friday. [02:09.88]The city-state has reported more than 100,000 cases [02:15.84]over the past month. [02:18.04]But officials say about 99 percent of cases are considered light. [02:25.20]Many of those infected have shown no signs of sickness. [02:31.68]Other Asian nations have seen similar increases in case numbers [02:37.64]as the Omicron version of COVID-19 has become dominant. [02:43.80]Officials in several countries report that Omicron [02:48.96]has a much lower rate of hospitalizations [02:52.72]and deaths than the earlier Delta version of the virus. [02:58.88]In Japan, nearly 90,000 new cases nationwide [03:04.32]were reported on Sunday. [03:06.96]This included 17,526 in Tokyo. [03:13.64]Experts say the infections are now spreading to older people [03:19.28]who are beginning to fill more hospital beds. [03:24.16]In Indonesia, case levels were close to the height [03:28.32]of last year's Delta version outbreak. [03:32.00]On January 6, Indonesia recorded 533 [03:38.28]new COVID-19 cases and seven deaths. [03:42.84]On Sunday, the daily number was 36,057. [03:49.28]Daily deaths rose to 57, nearly four times the rate one week ago. [03:56.48]In Thailand, officials reported more than 10,000 [04:01.64]daily cases Monday for the third day straight. [04:06.12]But the Department of Disease Control [04:09.36]said the number of severely sick patients was dropping [04:13.76]and the death rate had stayed about the same. [04:17.84]In South Korea, officials reported 38,691 new cases of the virus. [04:27.32]Health experts warned the country may see daily increases [04:32.88]of 130,000 or 170,000 by late February. [04:39.92]In Vietnam, officials had warned that infections [04:44.72]may rise after the popular New Year holiday. [04:48.88]Over the past month, Vietnam has reported [04:52.96]just 192 cases of Omicron, [04:57.48]with most of those showing few or no signs of sickness. [05:02.68]The Philippines has moved to ease COVID-19 restrictions [05:08.52]and open its doors to foreign visitors. [05:12.32]Officials reported Sunday that case numbers [05:16.32]eased to about 8,300 on Sunday. [05:21.20]That was down from a high of 39,000 in mid-January. [05:28.08]In mainland China, [05:30.12]new local infections continue to move up and down. [05:34.28]Cases fell as low as nine on Friday [05:38.56]but rose again to 45 on Monday. [05:42.48]The majority of the new cases are in the southern area of Guangxi. [05:50.12]China ordered severe restrictions and mass testing [05:55.16]ahead of the start of the Beijing Winter Olympics, [05:59.28]which began last Friday. [06:02.56]I'm Bryan Lynn. 更多听力请访问51VOA.COM