Mainland China reported 42 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, the highest daily toll in more than two months due to a rise in infections in Xinjiang, the country's health authority said on Wednesday.
Of the new cases, 22 in the city of Kashgar in Xinjiang were previously asymptomatic patients.
The region's health authorities also reported another 19 symptomless infections, which China does not recognise as confirmed COVID-19 cases.
The daily toll marks the highest since 44 confirmed infections were reported on August 10, though it remains far off the peaks in February at the height of the outbreak in mainland China that forced the country into a virtual standstill.
Kashgar health officials said the COVID-19 testing drive for the 4.75 million people in the area was completed as of Tuesday afternoon and a total of 183 people were confirmed to have been infected with the novel coronavirus. The cases are linked to a garment factory, though it's not yet clear how the infections began.
The total number of confirmed COVID-19 infections in mainland China now stands at 85,868, while the death toll remained unchanged at 4,634.
Israel bombarded northern Gaza overnight in some of the heaviest shelling in weeks, causing panic amongst residents and flattening neighbourhoods in an area from which the Israeli army had previously down its troops, residents said on Tuesday.
Russia launched a drone attack on Ukraine that injured seven people in the Black Sea port of Odesa, two of them children, and also targeted Kyiv, the capital, Ukraine's military officials said early on Tuesday.
A Delhi court on Tuesday extended the pre-trial detention of Indian opposition leader Arvind Kejriwal until May 7 in a corruption case, the legal news website Live Law reported.
Taiwan's quake-hit eastern county of Hualien was rattled by more than 200 aftershocks late on Monday and early on Tuesday, but only minor damage was reported and no casualties and major chipmaker TSMC said it saw no impact on operations.
Two Malaysian navy helicopters collided in mid-air during a rehearsal for a naval parade on Tuesday, killing all 10 crew members aboard, the navy said in a statement.