Asia Today: China sees 57 new cases, Bangladesh over 3,000

BEIJING — China on Sunday reported its biggest one-day jump in coronavirus cases in two months after closing the biggest wholesale food market in Beijing and locking down nearby residential communities.
The 57 new confirmed infections included 36 in Beijing.
The Xinfadi market on Beijing’s southeastern side was closed Saturday and neighboring residential compounds locked down after more than 50 people in the capital tested positive for the coronavirus. They were the first confirmed cases in 50 days in the city of 20 million people.
China, where the pandemic began in December, had relaxed most of its anti-virus controls after the ruling Communist Party declared victory over the disease in March.
Authorities locked down 11 residential communities near the Xinfadi market. Police installed white fencing to seal off a road leading to a cluster of apartment buildings.
In other developments in the Asia-Pacific region:
BANGLADESH SEES OVER 3,000 NEW CASES: Bangladesh reported 3,141 new cases and 32 more deaths from the coronavirus on Sunday, raising its total caseload to 87,520, including 1,171 fatalities. Nasima Sultana, additional director general of the Health Directorate, said a junior minister from Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s Cabinet and a former health minister and close aide to Hasina both died of the virus on Saturday in Dhaka, the capital. Bangladesh’s main state-run hospitals are overwhelmed, with many critical COVID-19 patients being deprived of intensive care beds and ventilators.
SOUTH KOREA REPORTS 34 NEW CASES: South Korea has confirmed 34 new cases of the coronavirus, mostly in the densely populated Seoul metropolitan area. South Korea has confirmed 12,085 cases, including 277 deaths. The new cases have been linked to nightlife establishments, church services, a large-scale e-commerce warehouse and door-to-door salespeople. In late February and early March, South Korea was reporting hundreds of new cases each day before improving the situation significantly with aggressive contact tracing. That’s now proving to be more challenging as authorities ease up on social distancing rules.
MDT/AP