Indonesia recorded its biggest daily rise in COVID-19 deaths on 25 December with 258 fatalities, taking the total to 20,847.

People wear face masks in Indonesia (Photo: The Straits Times)

According to the Indonesian health ministry, COVID-19 infections also increased by 7,259, bringing the number of cases to 700,097.

Indonesia has the highest COVID-19 caseload and death toll in Southeast Asia.

The same day, the Philippines’ Department of Health announced that the country logged 1,885 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the national tally to 467,601.

The death toll climbed to 9,062 after seven more patients died.

In the Philippines, President Rodrigo Duterte will convene the inter-agency coronavirus task force on 26 December to discuss whether or not to extend the travel ban on the UK or to add more countries to the list, the presidential spokesman Harry Roque said.

The Philippines previously imposed a ban on flights from the UK starting 24 December until 31 December over fears of the transmission of a newly-detected variant of the SARS-CoV-2 that is more infectious.

Source: VNA