BEIJING, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- The following are the updates on the global fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

- - - -

ULAN BATOR -- Mongolia reported 3,361 more COVID-19 cases and 13 new deaths in the last 24 hours, bringing the total caseload to 283,956 and the death toll to 1,159, the health ministry said Thursday.

The latest confirmed cases were local infections, and 1,540 of them were detected in the Mongolian capital of Ulan Bator, which has been the hardest hit by COVID-19, the ministry said.

- - - -

VIENTIANE-- Lao Ministry of Health on Thursday recorded 666 local COVID-19 transmissions, the highest daily infection ever reported in the country.

Director General of the Department of Communicable Disease Control under the Lao Ministry of Health Rattanaxay Phetsouvanh told a press conference in Lao capital Vientiane on Thursday that 5,652 tests had been conducted over the past 24 hours, with 694 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed.

- - - -

NEW DELHI -- India's COVID-19 tally rose to 33,563,421 on Thursday as 31,923 new cases were registered during the past 24 hours across the country, federal health ministry's latest data showed.

As many as 282 deaths due to the pandemic since Wednesday morning took the total death toll to 446,050. Most of the new cases and deaths were reported from the southern state of Kerala.

- - - -

WELLINGTON -- New Zealand reported 15 new Delta variant cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the country's community outbreak to 1,123.

The new infections were all recorded in the largest city Auckland, Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield told a press conference.

- - - -

KUALA LUMPUR -- Malaysia reported another 14,990 new COVID-19 infections as of midnight Wednesday, bringing the national total to 2,142,924, according to the health ministry.

Five of the new cases are imported and 14,985 are local transmissions, data released on the ministry's website showed.

- - - -

KAMPALA -- Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni on Wednesday ordered the reopening of worship centers as the country continues to register a decline in new COVID-19 cases.

Museveni in a televised address on the update of the COVID-19 situation in the East African country said places of worship can reopen as long as they keep a maximum quota of 200 people and strictly adhere to the prevention measures including social distancing, face mask wearing and sanitization.