The Indonesian Health Ministry on March 21 confirmed 81 new cases positive for the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 and six more deaths, bringing the total number of infection cases to 450 and deaths to 38.

A medical worker pulls a stretcher from an ambulance to the quarantine room for COVID-19 patients at Sanglah Hospital in Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia (Photo: Reuters)

This comes a day after the Jakarta authorities declared a state of emergency for the next two weeks over the virus outbreak as the death toll in the country climbed to the highest in Southeast Asia.

On the same day, the Philippines reported 77 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total cases in the country to 307. The disease has killed 19 persons in the Philippines so far.

Meanwhile, the Health Ministry of Timor Leste confirmed the first case of COVID-19 on March 21.

Source: VNA