Mainland China reported more than 20,000 COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, its highest daily tally since the start of the pandemic in Wuhan two years ago. The majority of the cases have been asymptomatic.

Shanghai accounted for more than 80 percent of the national tally.

South Korea's coronavirus cases surpassed 200,000 cases per day for the second day in a row.

Some states in Australia are seeing a spike in the number of new COVID-19 cases. In particular, New South Wales, Australia's most populous state, recorded 24,100 new cases and 15 deaths on Wednesday. Some schools had to close or reduce their staff due to the surge.