For a nine-year-old Malaysian schoolgirl, the new coronavirus was hard to fathom. But Nur Afia Qistina Zamzuri knew one thing for sure: it was dangerous.So when she heard a local hospital was looking for people to sew protective gear, she immediately volunteered.“I felt bad, so I told my mum I wanted to help,” Nur Afia said at her home in Kuala Pilah, a town in Malaysia’s southwestern Negeri Sembilan state.Nur Afia, who learned to sew at the age of five, can make four full personal protective…
Coronavirus: Philippines exposed after plans to expand health insurance derailed by pandemic
After decades of underinvestment in medical care, the Philippines finally was moving to expand health insurance for its citizens. Then coronavirus happened.Now, state-owned Philippine Health Insurance, known as PhilHealth, might not meet targets set for expanded coverage, president and CEO Ricardo Morales said. Spending has been refocused on virus response, and the recent suspension of increased contributions from Filipino workers abroad could further drain funds, he said.“The move now is to…
Mekong nations face growing threat to food security amid claims China’s dams exacerbate effects of drought
Fishermen in northeast Thailand say they have seen catches in the Mekong River plunge, while some farmers in Vietnam and Cambodia are leaving for jobs in cities as harvests of rice and other crops shrink.The common thread driving these events is erratic water levels in Asia’s third longest waterway.Water flows along the 4,300km (2,700 mile) Mekong shift naturally between monsoon and dry seasons, but non-governmental groups say the 11 hydroelectric dams on China’s portion of the river – five of…
Coronavirus: how cash-mad Philippines learned to love digital money thanks to Covid-19
With her neighbourhood south of Manila locked down due to the coronavirus, Dolly Pelle had been planning to close her sari-sari convenience store – until customers convinced her they couldn’t do without her. Pelle’s store is one of a handful of similar shops all on the same street, but her’s has a crucial difference: it is the only one able to process local remittances. Lock down, start up: the digital firms cashing in on coronavirus in the Philippines In the past four years in the…
Coronavirus survivors: aged 93, this Indian man did everything with his wife. Including getting Covid-19
When 93-year-old Thomas Abraham was being treated for Covid-19 in the intensive care unit of a hospital in Kottayam, southern India, the one thing he missed was making black coffee for his wife, Mariyamma, 88. He need not have worried, the two would soon be having their morning cuppa together again – Mariyamma had contracted the disease too and both were being treated in the same hospital. “[At first] we were in separate wards but when both of us started missing each other, the doctors moved…
Coronavirus survivors: Covid-19 felt worse than when I was shot, says Muay Thai camp owner who attended Lumpinee fight
The night of March 6, 2020, started much like every other night for boxing camp owner Pitak Kaewprapol – with a visit to a fight. Pitak and thousands of other Muay Thai fans had packed the New Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok to watch an evening of kick-boxing, ignoring a government order just three days earlier requiring large gatherings to be cancelled or postponed. Like many others among the crowd of fans, tourists, celebrities, trainers and promoters who packed the 5,000-capacity…
Coronavirus: as Singapore employers cut pay, expats are asking for lower rentals
Singapore expatriates are often envied for their generous pay packets but facing the prospect of salary cuts as the coronavirus batters businesses, some are tightening their belts and asking for lower rent.Clarence Foo, a real estate agent at APAC Realty Ltd unit ERA, has come across seven such cases over the past month – the highest number of requests he has received during his seven-year career. Four were successful.One was an American woman who texted Foo last week. In her message, she said…
US push for Taiwan WHO observer status seen falling flat in Southeast Asia
Southeast Asian nations already straining from the United States-China tug of war for regional influence are likely to avoid supporting Washington’s drive for Taiwan to be granted observer status for a top-level meeting of the World Health Organisation, analysts have said.Even though the leaders of these countries understand the “moral and logical” arguments for allowing Taiwanese delegates to attend the annual meeting on May 18 – which will be live-streamed because of the coronavirus pandemic …
Deadly chemical gas leak at LG Polymers plant in India sees hundreds evacuated
A chemical gas leak at an LG Polymers plant in southern India on Thursday killed at least nine people, and emergency services rushed more than 300 to hospital and evacuated hundreds more from nearby areas, a police official in the state of Andhra Pradesh state said.The commissioner of the Visakhapatnam city corporation said styrene leaked from the plant during the early hours of the morning, when families in the surrounding villages were asleep.“Hundreds of people have inhaled it and either…
1MDB scandal: US recovers another US$49 million siphoned from Malaysian fund
The United States has reached a settlement to recover more than US$49 million involving Malaysian sovereign wealth fund 1MDB, the US Department of Justice said.The government of former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak set up the 1MDB fund in 2009 to promote economic development.The US justice department has estimated more than US$4.5 billion was siphoned out of Malaysia by high-level fund officials and their associates between 2009 and 2014 in a scandal that has also embroiled Goldman Sachs…