covid-19 pandemic in asia covid-19 pandemic in asia the covid-19 pandemic began in asia in wuhan, hubei, china, and has spread widely through the continent. as of 13 may 2023, at least one case of covid-19 had been reported in every country in asia except turkmenistan. covid-19 pandemic in asiaconfirmed covid-19 deaths per million residents as of 10 december 2020 ≥ 800 600–799 300–599 200–299 100–199 <100 cumulative confirmed cases of covid-19 per 100,000 people as of 10 december 2020 ≥ 3,000 2,500–2,999 2,000–2,499 1,500–1,999 1,000–1,500 <1,000 diseasecovid-19virus strainsars-cov-2locationasiafirst outbreakwuhan, hubei, chinaindex case1 december 2019(3 years, 5 months, 1 week and 5 days ago)confirmed cases17,725,946active cases1,770,067recovered15,651,219deaths304,660territories49 part of a series on thecovid-19 pandemicscientifically accurate atomic model of the external structure of sars-cov-2. each "ball" is an atom. covid-19 (disease) sars-cov-2 (virus) cases deaths timeline 2019 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united nations world health organization wto ip waiver undercounting of deaths covid-19 apps zero-covid national responses africa china european union germany ghana india ireland netherlands new zealand nigeria philippines russia sweden uk government us federal government vietnam medical response disease testing breathalyzer development drug development drug repurposing public health mitigation vaccines history research vitt deployment authorizations operation warp speed misinformation and hesitancy us vaccine card vaccine passports current vaccines coronavac covaxin convidecia janssen medigen moderna novavax oxford–astrazeneca pfizer–biontech sinopharm bibp sputnik v variants variants of concern alpha beta gamma delta omicron other variants epsilon zeta eta theta iota kappa lambda mu cluster 5 lineage b.1.617 economic impact and recession arts and culture aviation cannabis cinema films disney fashion financial markets food industry food security journalism music performing arts retail shipping television us sportscasting programs tourism video games by country canada india ireland malaysia new zealand russia uk us by sport association football baseball basketball combat sports cricket disc golf gaelic games gridiron football ice hockey motorsport rugby league impacts animals black people crime death rates by country disability domestic violence emergency evacuations education female environment hospitals language lgbt community long-term care media coverage mental health symptoms migration military notable deaths other health issues politics diplomacy popular culture protests pregnancy prisons religion catholic church hajj science and technology social media strikes suicides telehealth xenophobia and racism society ireland malaysia new zealand russia uk us covid-19 portal the asian countries with the highest numbers of confirmed coronavirus cases are india, south korea, turkey, vietnam, and iran. despite being the first area of the world hit by the outbreak, the early wide-scale response of some asian states, particularly bhutan, singapore, taiwan, and vietnam has allowed them to fare comparatively well. china was criticised for initially minimising the severity of the outbreak, but its wide-scale response has largely contained the disease since march 2020. as of july 2021, the highest numbers of deaths are recorded in india, indonesia, iran, and turkey, each with more than 90,000 deaths and more than 900,000 deaths combined. however, the death toll in iran and indonesia are claimed to be much higher than the official figures. per capita, the highest deaths have been disproportionally in several western asian states, with georgia having the highest figure closely followed by armenia, and iran in third, whereas china had the lowest. statistics by country and territory summary table of confirmed cases in asia (as of 6 may 2023) country/territory cases active cases deaths recoveries ref china 99,248,443 n/a 120,961 n/a india 44,964,289 33,232 531,642 44,399,415 japan 33,772,764 n/a 74,633 n/a south korea 31,176,660 n/a 34,487 n/a russia 22,870,557 192,318 398,463 22,279,776 turkey 16,829,941 57,717 100,979 16,677,245 vietnam 11,565,495 898,268 43,195 10,624,032 taiwan 10,152,881 n/a 18,425 n/a iran 7,539,698 79,055 144,199 7,316,444 indonesia 6,784,170 17,909 161,404 6,604,857 malaysia 5,079,436 16,842 37,028 5,025,566 thailand 4,730,490 3,907 33,947 4,692,636 israel 4,642,530 8,635 11,656 4,622,239 philippines 3,908,295 25,262 62,342 3,820,691 hong kong 2,862,312 271,006 13,203 1,371,169 iraq 2,458,509 1,504 25,348 2,431,657 bangladesh 2,038,250 3,132 29,446 2,005,672 singapore 1,859,937 77,752 1,602 1,782,583 jordan 1,738,867 2,903 14,114 1,721,850 georgia 1,735,682 81,500 16,889 1,637,293 pakistan 1,576,235 590 30,640 1,545,005 kazakhstan 1,405,498 1,652 13,843 1,390,003 lebanon 1,212,668 114,435 10,646 1,087,587 united arab emirates 1,063,971 13,009 2,349 1,048,613 nepal 1,003,081 162 12,030 990,888 mongolia 980,442 4,328 2,179 973,935 saudi arabia 827,861 2,843 9,570 815 448 azerbaijan 831,511 187 10,254 821,070 bahrain 673,996 1,722 1,518 670,756 sri lanka 670,444 290 16,728 653,426 kuwait 657,745 312 2,563 654,870 myanmar 634,258 110 19,490 614,658 palestine 620,371 8,267 5,402 606,702 cyprus 579,899 5,161 1,173 573,565 qatar 436,820 5,047 682 431,091 armenia 436,727 4,706 8,662 423,359 oman 397,846 8,917 4,260 384,669 uzbekistan 243,893 770 1,637 241,876 brunei 223,059 3,273 225 219,561 laos 212,083 n/a 883 n/a kyrgyzstan 205,835 6,438 2,991 196,406 afghanistan 196,182 14,458 7,789 174,935 maldives 184,924 20,929 308 163,687 cambodia 137,719 73 3,056 134,590 bhutan 59,614 29 21 59,564 syria 57,166 135 3,163 53,868 east timor 23,217 44 138 23,035 tajikistan 17,388 0 124 17,264 yemen 11,932 658 2,155 9,119 macau 3,520 4 121 3,400 christmas island 521 n/a 0 511 cocos (keeling) islands 249 n/a 0 248 total 201,938,760 5,751,120 1,858,735 194,125,378 timeline by country and territory afghanistan main article: covid-19 pandemic in afghanistan on 23 february 2020, at least three citizens of herat who had recently returned from qom were suspected of covid-19 infection. blood samples were sent to kabul for further testing. afghanistan later closed its border with iran. on 24 february, afghanistan confirmed the first covid-19 case involving one of the three people from herat, a 35-year-old man who tested positive for sars-cov-2. on 7 march, three new cases were confirmed in herat province. on 10 march, the first case reported outside of herat province, was in samangan province, bringing to the total to five cases. armenia main article: covid-19 pandemic in armenia armenia confirmed the first case of coronavirus during the late night of 29 february/early morning of 1 march, announcing a 29-year-old armenian citizen had returned from iran and was confirmed positive for the virus. his wife was tested and results came in negative. prime minister nikol pashinyan declared that he is "now in good condition". about 30 people who came in contact with him are being tested and will be quarantined. armenia had earlier closed its border with iran. as of 15 march there are 23 confirmed cases with over 300 being in quarantine. on 23 march, it confirmed 23 cases. azerbaijan main article: covid-19 pandemic in azerbaijan on 28 february, azerbaijan confirmed the first case from a russian national, who was travelling from iran. on 12 march, a woman died from multiorgan failure who had been diagnosed with covid-19 a day earlier. this marked the first death of coronavirus in azerbaijan. on 22 march, the first domestic human to human transmission was confirmed. on 31 march, azerbaijan declared nationwide quarantine. people are required to stay in private houses and apartments, permanent or temporary places of residence until 20 april. bahrain main article: covid-19 pandemic in bahrain the first case in the country was confirmed on 21 february. the index case was a school bus driver who had travelled to iran. bahrain has recorded a total of 2,009 covid-19 cases including 7 deaths and 1,026 recoveries. the bahraini government has unveiled a stimulus packages of 4.3 billion bahraini dinars that include exempting consumers from bills of electricity and water for three months. bangladesh main article: covid-19 pandemic in bangladeshthe first three covid-19 cases of the country were found on 7 march 2020 that was officially confirmed on 8 march 2020 by professor dr meerjady sabrina flora, former director, institute of epidemiology, disease control and research (iedcr), then. two of those affected returned to bangladesh from italy and one was a family member of one of those two. on 18 march, the first known coronavirus death in the country was reported. on 22 march, bangladesh declared a 10-day shut down effective from 26 march to 4 april to fight the spread of coronavirus. bangladesh on wednesday reported the fifth death from the coronavirus though no new case of the infection came out in the last 24 hours as the country suspended all domestic flights, trains and public transport to fight the pandemic. the institute of epidemiology, disease control and research (iedcr) has confirmed that one more person has died of coronavirus (covid-19) infection in bangladesh, taking the number of deaths from the disease in the country to five, the dhaka tribune reported. bangladesh on wednesday confirmed another death taking the death toll in the country to six while number of positive cases rose to 54.the nationwide lockdown has been extended till 9 april to curb the spread, however prime minister sheikh hasina on tuesday said that offices and industries could resume work. health minister zahid malik said "another 300 ventilators are being imported. there are about 700 ventilators across private hospitals". bhutan main article: covid-19 pandemic in bhutan on 6 march, the first case in the country was confirmed, a 76-year-old us male who travelled to the country. brunei main article: covid-19 pandemic in brunei on 9 march, the ministry of health confirmed that a preliminary coronavirus test had returned positive for a 53-year-old male who had returned from kuala lumpur, malaysia on 3 march. the patient was moved to the national isolation centre in tutong for treatment. cambodia main article: covid-19 pandemic in cambodia cambodia confirmed cases the hand sanitizer shelf at a pharmacy in kep, cambodia, was emptied the day after the first covid-19 case was confirmed in the country. on 27 january, cambodia confirmed the first covid-19 case in sihanoukville, a 60-year-old chinese man, travelling to the coastal city from wuhan with his family on 23 january. three other members of his family were placed under quarantine as they did not appear to have symptoms, while he was placed in a separate room at the preah sihanouk referral hospital. by 10 february, after two weeks of being treated and kept under observation, he had fully recovered, health ministry stated on account of testing negative for the third time by pasteur institute of cambodia. the family were finally discharged and flew back to their home country on the next day as of the 80 chinese nationals who arrived in sihanoukville on the same flight as the patient, most had since returned to china, although the city of wuhan remained under quarantine at that time. china main articles: covid-19 pandemic in china and covid-19 pandemic in mainland china covid-19 cases in mainland china, as of 13 april 2020, broken down by provinces the covid-19 pandemic first originated in wuhan, hubei in which it manifested itself as cluster of mysterious suspected pneumonia cases. sophisticated modelling of the outbreak suggests that the number of cases in mainland china would have been many times higher without interventions such as early detection, and isolation of the infected. following the initial outbreak, china opted for containment, inflicting strict lockdowns to eliminate spread. the vaccines distributed in china included the bibp, wibp, and coronavac. it was reported on 11 december 2021, that china had vaccinated 1.162 billion of its citizens, or 82.5% of the total population of the country against covid-19. china's large-scale adoption of zero-covid had largely contained the first waves of infections of the disease. when the waves of infections due to the omicron variant followed, china was almost alone in pursuing the strategy of zero-covid to combat the spread of the virus in 2022. lockdown continued to be employed in november to combat a new wave of cases; however, protests erupted in cities across china over the country's stringent measures, and in december that year, the country relaxed its zero-covid policy. on 20 december 2022, the chinese state council narrowed