Asian Legal Review

In Southeast Asia, a region of some 655 million people, a humanitarian catastrophe looms as the Covid-19 pandemic advances and economies falter. The number of officially confirmed cases across the region is lower than the hardest-hit parts of the world. But these numbers are accelerating and the reported figures will represent only a fraction of the true number of infections. Even if the virus proves to do less well in warm climates, Southeast Asia has all the ingredients for larger-scale…

Children tend to get less severe symptoms when they contract Covid-19 and cases can be harder to detect than in adults, new research in China has found, as health experts, parents and officials weigh the risks of sending their kids to school.A study of 36 cases in children in the eastern province of Zhejiang found that 10 – or 28 per cent – had no symptoms, while seven had mild upper respiratory symptoms, according to a paper published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases on Wednesday.Separate…

Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s first month on the job has been a tortuous one: a health epidemic, economic woes and a powerful opposition force threatening a no-confidence motion in parliament are among the crises he has been faced with.Having come to power on the heels of a political coup that saw the shock resignation of the previous prime minister Mahathir Mohamad, the breakdown of former ruling coalition Pakatan Harapan after just 21 months of rule and the nation’s king…

Vietnam said on Friday that it plans to stockpile rice and suspend new rice export contracts through the end of the month to ensure it can feed its 97 million population through the coronavirus crisis.The country is the world’s third-largest exporter of rice, behind India and Thailand. In an update on its website, the Finance Ministry said Vietnam’s state reserves department planned to have 190,000 metric tonnes of rice in storage by June 15.The move comes amid worldwide food security concerns…

Uncooperative patients, long hours and a lack of protective equipment are hampering health care workers across the world as they take the fight to the coronavirus, leading many to fall sick themselves.In Malaysia, a pregnant woman who did not disclose that her father was infected tested positive after giving birth, leading to the shutdown of the entire hospital for cleaning. In the Philippines, nine doctors have died, two of whom had dealt with a patient who lied about her travel history.In…

South Korea’s boy band BTS will postpone its North America tour by two months to June due to concerns over the coronavirus pandemic, its management said on Friday.The seven-member K-pop hit group was expected to begin its tours in the United States and Canada on April 25, in Santa Clara, including stops in Los Angeles, Dallas, Orlando, Atlanta, New Jersey, Washington and Toronto before wrapping up in Chicago.It is now rescheduled to kick off on June 6, Big Hit Entertainment said, adding all…

Singapore Airlines (SIA) said it would tap existing investors for up to S$15 billion (US$10.48 billion) through the sale of shares and convertible bonds to offset the shock to its business from the coronavirus outbreak, sending shares down as much as 10.5 per cent on Friday.The fundraising is being underwritten by the airline’s biggest investor, state-owned Temasek Holdings, which owns about 55 per cent of the group.“This is an exceptional time for the SIA Group,” SIA chairman Peter Seah said…

Airline workers such as cabin crew are anxious over their financial future as the aviation industry comes to a virtual standstill worldwide due to the Covid-19 outbreak, with many borders closed and nations in lockdown.Many of these workers in Singapore are scrambling to supplement their lost income, as they are stood down, or working very few shifts. Singapore Airlines (SIA), for example, grounded almost all its aircraft earlier this week.“How much I bring back a month solely depends on my…

Singapore’s economy shrank 2.2 per cent in the first quarter from a year earlier, preliminary data showed on Thursday, its biggest contraction in over a decade as the coronavirus outbreak prompted the city state to plan for a recession.The grim data is likely to add to fears that the global economy will contract in the first half of the year. Singapore is one of the world’s most open economies and one of the first to report quarterly growth data since the virus spread from China at the start of…

Indonesia-based ride-hailing firm Gojek has announced the creation of the Gojek Partner Support Fund (GPSF), to support drivers, merchants, and other partners whose income has been adversely affected by the economic slowdown amid the Covid-19 pandemic.As citizens have been following the advice of health officials to work from home and limit their movements, hundreds of thousands of drivers and merchants are seeing a significant drop in their income.The support fund is being introduced to ensure…