Singapore on Monday announced it would put together an assistance package for China, which is battling to stem the coronavirus outbreak, with the island nation’s leaders stressing they had the utmost confidence in Beijing to weather the crisis.The coronavirus, which was first detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan, has infected more than 17,000 people around the world, killing more than 360.Singapore’s health minister Gan Kim Yong on Monday told parliament that the coronavirus had become “not…
Coronavirus: Thailand has apparent treatment success with antiviral drug cocktail
A Chinese woman infected with the new coronavirus showed a dramatic improvement after she was treated with a cocktail of antivirals used to treat flu and HIV, Thailand’s health ministry said on Sunday.The 71-year-old patient tested negative for the virus 48 hours after Thai doctors administered the combination, doctor Kriengsak Attipornwanich during the ministry’s daily press briefing.“The lab result of positive on the coronavirus turned negative in 48 hours,” Kriengsak said.“From being…
Coronavirus: outbreak exposes anti-Chinese sentiment in the Philippines
A racist undercurrent of anti-Chinese attitudes has been exposed in the Philippines by the ongoing coronavirus outbreak that has claimed more than 300 lives worldwide. On Sunday, Manila confirmed that a 44-year-old Chinese man from Wuhan had died of the virus – the first fatality outside China – prompting tighter travel restrictions on both foreigners and Filipinos, as well as a torrent of negative backlash against President Rodrigo Duterte. Philippines reports first coronavirus death outside…
AirAsia denies corruption in Airbus order as Malaysia probes bribe claims
Malaysia’s anti-graft agency is investigating allegations by Britain’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) that Airbus paid a bribe of US$50 million to win plane orders from AirAsia, it said on Saturday.The SFO said on Friday that Airbus had failed to prevent individuals associated with it bribing executives linked to AirAsia Group and its long-haul arm, AirAsia X.AirAsia said it had never made any purchase decisions that were premised on an Airbus sponsorship, and that it would fully cooperate with…
Coronavirus: three new cases confirmed in Japan, two in Singapore
Singapore reported two more cases of the novel coronavirus on Saturday, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the city state to 18, while the new strain has sickened three more people in Japan.One of the latest cases is a 47-year-old Singaporean woman who travelled to Wuhan, the centre of the outbreak, and is among the republic’s residents evacuated from the central Chinese city on January 30. She is the second Singaporean to be infected with the virus.The other patient is a 31-year…
Singapore closes borders to all Chinese travellers to stem spread of coronavirus
Singapore will close its borders to all new visitors from mainland China, including foreigners who have been there within the past 14 days, becoming the first Southeast Asian country to do so in a bid to stem the spread of the deadly coronavirus.The island nation has China as one of its biggest trading partners and is a popular destination for Chinese tourists. Figures from the Singapore Tourism Board showed that 248,000 travellers from the mainland entered Singapore last November, while 3.42…
Coronavirus: global travel restrictions imposed on Chinese travellers as airlines cut flights to mainland
At least 18 economies have restricted entry to travellers from China while more than 20 airlines are suspending or reducing flights to the country as coronavirus infections continue to soar, with almost 10,000 confirmed cases and 213 deaths as of Friday afternoon.Twenty-three countries and territories besides mainland China have reported cases of the deadly virus since it was first detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan last month, with cases of human-to-human transmission confirmed in the…
China coronavirus: World Health Organisation declares outbreak a global health emergency, reversing earlier decision
The World Health Organisation (WHO) declared a global public health emergency over the spread of the Wuhan coronavirus on Thursday, citing the potential of the virus to spread to countries not prepared to deal with the contagion.Declaring the public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC), WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus emphasised multiple times during a press conference in Geneva that the move was not “a vote of no confidence” in China’s ability to control the…
‘Corona beer virus’ searches surge as China coronavirus spreads
As cases of the novel coronavirus spread across the globe, so has interest in two unusual search terms – “corona beer virus” and “beer virus”.From the United States to Cambodia, and even in Israel, Ireland and Singapore, internet users seem to be confusing the Mexican lager Corona for the virus.According to Google Trends, the first searches for “corona beer virus” started on January 9, the day the World Health Organisation (WHO) said a string of pneumonia-like cases in Wuhan, the capital of…
Malaysia arrests five for spreading fake news about coronavirus
A tutor, two pharmacy assistants and a university student were arrested in Malaysia on Wednesday for spreading fake news about the coronavirus.This comes after a 34-year-old man was detained in Bangi on Tuesday for spreading false information about the influenza-type virus that originated in Wuhan in China and has infected more than 6,000 people worldwide, mostly in China.The police and the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission made the four arrests on Wednesday in separate…