TOKYO — Tokyo on Monday reported 116 new daily COVID-19 cases, bringing the capital’s tally since the outbreak of the pandemic here to 113,571.

The Tokyo Metropolitan government and health officials’ latest figures showed that the latest number of new infections marked the first time the figure had dropped below the 200-mark since last Monday when 121 cases were reported. (Japan-COVID-19)

– – – –

COLOMBO — Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa honored female citizens for their contribution toward the economy and GDP as the country celebrated the International Women’s Day on Monday.

In a statement, President Rajapaksa said women had gradually been able to occupy a higher representation in areas of economic, social, and cultural life in Sri Lanka among a number of other fields. (Sri Lanka-Women)

– – – –

MANILA — The Philippines’ Department of Health (DOH) reported on Monday 3,356 new COVID-19 infections, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the Southeast Asian country to 597,763.

The death toll climbed to 12,521 after five more patients died from the viral disease, the DOH said. It added 61 more patients recovered, raising the total number of recoveries to 545,912. (Philippines-COVID-19)

– – – –

LASHKAR GAH, Afghanistan — At least 10 insurgents were confirmed dead as the security forces stormed Taliban hideouts in Garmsir, Nad Ali and Nahr-e-Saraj districts of southern Helmand province, said a statement from the provincial police headquarters on Monday.

Four more militants, according to the statement, were also injured. (Afghanistan-Taliban-Clash)

– – – –

NEW DELHI — India’s COVID-19 tally rose to 11,229,398 on Monday as 18,711 new cases were registered during the past 24 hours, said the latest data from the health ministry.

According to the official data, the death toll mounted to 157,853 as 97 COVID-19 patients died since Sunday morning. (India-COVID-19)

– – – –

MACAO — The Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) is set to hold the Legislative Assembly election on Sept. 12 this year, according to an executive order published Monday at the Macao SAR Gazette.

A separate executive order, also published on Monday, set the spending cap for each campaigning team for the election at 3,549,622 patacas. (Macao-Legislative Assembly-Election)

– – – –

SEOUL — The combined forces of South Korea and the United States kicked off their joint annual military exercises in a scaled-back manner amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Yonhap news agency said Monday citing the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS).

The Combined Command Post Training (CCPT), or the annually-held computer-simulated command post exercise in springtime, was scheduled to last until March 18. (S. Korea-U.S.-Military Exercise)

– – – –

SEOUL — South Korea reported 346 more cases of COVID-19 as of midnight Sunday compared to 24 hours ago, raising the total number of infections to 92,817.

The daily caseload was down from 416 on the previous day due to fewer virus tests over the weekend. (S. Korea-COVID-19)