The Philippine Congress on Tuesday approved a bill declaring a national emergency and authorising the president to launch a massive aid programme for 18 million families and tap private hospitals and ships in fighting the coronavirus pandemic.President Rodrigo Duterte can reapportion the executive department’s budget under the legislation, which will also punish people disobeying quarantine orders and spreading “false information” about the outbreak, legislators said. The state of national…
Coronavirus: Myanmar confirms first two cases in men returning from abroad
Myanmar confirmed its first cases of the deadly novel coronavirus late on Monday after weeks of increasing scepticism over the underdeveloped southeast Asian nation’s claims to be free of the disease.The country of 54 million people had been the world’s largest country by population not to report a single case of the pandemic that has confined more than 1.7 billion to their homes.With only 214 people tested by late Monday, medical experts and rights groups have urged Myanmar to stand up and…
Coronavirus: Singapore must take aggressive action to support its economy – and its people
The Covid-19 pandemic has forced economies into a tailspin, kicking off a long-drawn and painful downturn. We will soon start to see real, massive corporate and banking failures as well as individual bankruptcies that could last for the next two to three years. Singapore is saddled with long-term structural issues and short-term issues caused by the Covid-19 issue and the related panic it has created. The long-term issues the country already had will now create much bigger problems for…
‘Death is everywhere’: in Malaysia, a toxic river haunts sick children
Just two years ago, Irfan Wafiy Idham Wazir was doing cartwheels, scaling rock-climbing walls and playing soccer around his neighbourhood in Johor, Malaysia. Today, the 13-year-old hobbles around with a stick, unable to walk or stand for long periods. His legs shake uncontrollably and he feels tiny shocks of pain in his feet, in a condition called myokymia. At Irfan’s boarding school, he does his daily prayers on a chair instead of a prayer mat, struggles up the stairs and spends most of his…
Coronavirus: Singapore’s tourist ban aims to curb imported infections, ease health care pressure
Singapore’s efforts to combat the coronavirus pandemic has earned it plaudits from experts around the world, but a recent spike in imported cases has threatened that success and prompted fresh travel curbs on tourists.Effective Tuesday, all short-term visitors will be banned from entering or transiting the city state, the government announced on Sunday, with travel restrictions also tightened for work pass holders and their dependents, with only those providing essential services, such as in…
Aggressive tracing, lessons from Sars: how Singapore is flattening the coronavirus curve
Singaporean coronavirus patient Adam – not his real name – returned from an 11-day trip to France and Spain on March 7, but after he went back to work two days later, he started developing a sore throat.The 27-year-old decided it was best to see a doctor and work from home on March 10 – the same day France and Spain reported 286 and 435 coronavirus cases, respectively.“On Tuesday morning when I woke up, my temperature was still OK, but I had a hunch, so I went to the GP and emailed my…
Coronavirus: Singapore confirms first two deaths and PM Lee Hsien Loong warns ‘we must brace for more losses’
Two months since the novel coronavirus arrived in Singapore, the city state woke on Saturday to news of its first casualties after two patients died.In a Facebook post, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong sought to reassure the population but also warned of further deaths.“As we get more Covid-19 cases, more patients will need ICU care, and we must brace ourselves for more losses,” he wrote.Lee reminded Singaporeans that of the confirmed 385 cases, 131 have been discharged and “most are gradually…
Coronavirus: Malaysia beat Sars and Nipah. But Covid-19 is different
Southeast Asia is ramping up its fight against the coronavirus as infections spread across the region, with nations locking down cities and sending in the military.As of Friday afternoon Malaysia, the hardest-hit country in the region, had reported 1,030 infections, Singapore 345, Indonesia 309, Vietnam 85, Thailand 50 and Cambodia 47.However, with 25 deaths Indonesia had the most fatalities. Myanmar has no reported cases, but has preemptively closed its border and stopped its migrant workforce…
Coronavirus: travel chaos in Thailand over new entry restrictions
Confusion over Thailand’s new coronavirus curbs left travellers scrambling on Friday as Thai citizens queued at embassies abroad to get special travel papers and foreigners faced the challenge of producing a negative test for the disease.Testing kits are limited in most countries, especially to people who appear healthy – meaning the Thai rules amount to a de facto ban on all foreigners.The regulations, which take effect on Sunday, were announced on Thursday, but a clarifying document from the…
‘Justice has been done’: India hangs four men convicted of 2012 Delhi bus gang rape and murder
India hanged four men on Friday who were convicted for the rape and murder of a young woman on a bus in New Delhi in 2012, in a case that shocked the world and shamed the country over its appalling record for crimes against women.The men were executed at dawn in Tihar jail, on the outskirts of the capital, four television news channels reported.Hundreds of police officers were deployed outside the jail premises to control the jubilant crowd that waited with placards to celebrate the execution…