News Headlines

Restrictions on movement, which take varying forms in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines, must balance the need to suppress the infection and the care for the underprivileged, say four observers.

TOKYO: A Japanese naval destroyer and a Chinese fishing boat have collided in the sea off Shanghai but there were no injuries, Japanese media reported early on Tuesday (Mar 31). The destroyer Shimakaze, from Japan's Maritime Self-Defence Force, received damage to its port side, Kyodo news agency ...

NEW DELHI: Indian health workers caused outrage on Monday (Mar 30) by spraying a group of migrants with disinfectant, amid fears that a large scale movement of people from cities to the countryside risked spreading the coronavirus. Footage showed a group of migrant workers sitting on a street in ...

SRINAGAR, India: India's health ministry on Monday (Mar 30) invited doctors in Indian-administered Kashmir to an online training session on managing ventilators: Critical equipment for patients with COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus. Most, however, were unable to attend because ...

MYANMAR, Yangon: The likelihood of undetected COVID-19 cases imported by a recent wave of returning Myanmar workers from Thailand – at least 32,000 of them – via a shared land border is “dangerously high”, a Myanmar health official told CNA on Monday (Mar 30).  The remarks came a day after Myanmar ...

TOKYO: Tokyo officials said a drop in daily cases of coronavirus on Monday (Mar 30) was not a cause for optimism, as they called on citizens to refrain from outdoor activities, especially gatherings at bars, night clubs and karaokes, through Apr 12. A senior health department official from the ...

The Tokyo Olympics will begin on July 23 next year, organisers said on Monday, after the coronavirus forced the historic decision to postpone the Games until 2021.

TOKYO: Japan's ruling party called for stimulus worth a total of 100 trillion yen (US$926 billion), or 16 to 17 per cent of economic output, to combat the hit to the economy from the coronavirus, with the government set to sell bonds worth 16 trillion yen to help fund it. Liberal Democratic Party ...

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia confirmed 156 more COVID-19 cases on Monday (Mar 30), bringing the total number of people who have tested positive to 2,626. At a press conference, Health Director-General Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah also said that three more deaths have been recorded. READ: COVID-19: Malaysia ...

North Korea on Monday warned it could cut off dialogue with the United States and slammed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for urging the international community to maintain sanctions on its regime.

JAKARTA: Indonesian President Joko Widodo announced on Monday (Mar 30) that the government is formulating a regulation that would pave the way for cities and provinces across the country to impose a virtual lockdown, so as to contain the spread of COVID-19. The regulation would serve as a ...

PARIS: French automaker Renault said on Monday (Mar 30) it was resuming production at two factories in China and South Korea after they were shut down as authorities tried to limit the coronavirus outbreak. "All of the group's factories are currently shut down, except for the factories in China ...

The World Health Organization (WHO) has not shared with member states information Taiwan has provided on the coronavirus including details on its cases and prevention methods, Taiwan's Foreign Ministry said on Monday, ratcheting up its complaints.

Mainland China reported 31 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, including one locally transmitted infection, the country's National Health Commission said, dropping from 45 cases a day earlier.

A passenger train derailed after striking debris from a landslide in central China on Monday, injuring a number of passengers and staff, officials said.

Japan has no plan to declare a state of emergency from April, its top government spokesman said on Monday, seeking to dispel mounting fears a recent spike in coronavirus cases could lead to a first-ever lockdown of the capital, Tokyo.

JAKARTA: Indonesia confirmed 129 new COVID-19 cases on Monday (Mar 30), taking the total to 1,414 in the country. There were also eight more deaths, taking the total to 122, said health ministry official Achmad Yurianto. He added that 75 patients had recovered.  Indonesian President Joko Widodo ...

SEOUL: Choi Young-eun is so concerned about her teenagers' education as South Korea's schools stay shut that she has been sending them to a private tuition centre to make sure they don't miss out. Choi, a stay-at-home mum of two high schoolers, is one of the millions of parents keeping South ...

A passenger train derailed after striking debris from a landslide in central China on Monday, injuring a number of passengers and staff, officials said.

PUTRAJAYA: Malaysian authorities are set to implement enhanced measures to better contain the spread of COVID-19, Senior Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said on Monday (Mar 30). Speaking at a press conference in Putrajaya, Mr Ismail Sabri, who is also defence minister, explained that these enhanced ...

India has no plans to extend a 21-day lockdown to slow the spread of the coronavirus, the government said on Monday, as it struggled to keep essential supplies flowing and prevent tens of thousands of out-of-work people fleeing to the countryside.

New dates for the delayed Tokyo 2020 Olympics will likely be revealed this week, organisers said Monday after the coronavirus forced the historic decision to postpone the Games until next year.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen on Monday ordered all casinos to close to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

HANOI: Vietnam’s prime minister on Monday (Mar 30) asked major cities to prepare for possible lockdowns to stop the spread of coronavirus as the number of confirmed cases in the Southeast Asian country reached nearly 200. “Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City have to review and update plans to battle the ...

BANGKOK: Thailand's public health ministry said on Monday (Mar 30) that two more people have died from the new coronavirus, bringing the total number of deaths in the country to nine. The two deaths included a 54-year-old Thai man in the southern province of Yala who had recently returned from ...

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s Chinese community has been urged by the government, as well as religious and grassroots associations, to observe this year’s Qing Ming festival at home amid an extended movement control order (MCO). In a Facebook post on Sunday (Mar 29), Transport Minister Wee Ka Siong ...

TOKYO: Japanese comedian Ken Shimura, who had been hospitalised after being infected with COVID-19, has died, becoming the first Japanese celebrity to die of the virus. His death, late on Sunday, set off widespread grief among fans. Shimura, 70, one of Japan's best-known comedians with a career ...

South Korea reported 78 new coronavirus cases on Monday, taking the national tally to 9,661, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) said.

Millions of migrant workers across the Gulf face uncertainty as host countries lock down, employers withhold wages or mull redundancies, and strict coronavirus containment measures lead to deportations and confinement.

SINGAPORE: US-China ties were already “complicated” before the COVID-19 pandemic, but the blame game between them over the outbreak will not help "solve the problem sooner", particularly in a time when countries need to work together, said Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. Mr Lee was ...

North Korea's latest test of super-large multiple rocket launchers a day earlier was a success, state media said on Monday.

SINGAPORE: US-China ties were already “complicated” before the COVID-19 pandemic, but the blame game between them over the outbreak will not help "solve the problem sooner", particularly in a time when countries need to work together, said Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. Mr Lee was ...

JINGZHOU, Hubei: Ten unclaimed urns sit in the crematorium in Jingzhou, a city in central China's Hubei province hard-hit by coronavirus. Not only are funerals banned across China, in places like Jingzhou bereaved relatives who are stuck in their homes must wait even to retrieve the remains of ...

Massive COVID-19 rapid testing has begun in major cities and regions including Jakarta, West Java and Banten focusing on vulnerable group, but won’t be enough to stem the spread, say three observers.

JINGZHOU, China: Ten unclaimed urns sit in the crematorium in Jingzhou, a city in central China's Hubei province hard-hit by coronavirus. Not only are funerals banned across China, in places like Jingzhou bereaved relatives who are stuck in their homes must wait even to retrieve the remains of ...

WUHAN, China: The bright yellow barricades snake through the streets of Wuhan, dividing up the epicentre of China's coronavirus outbreak into segments that can be easily monitored for people disobeying orders to stay home. Separating neighbours and blocking shuttered shops, the roughly two-metre ...

MANILA: A medical evacuation plane exploded during take-off in the Philippine capital on Sunday (Mar 29), killing all eight passengers and crew, including an American and a Canadian, officials said. The Lionair plane, owned by a Philippines-registered charter service Lionair, had been bound for ...

MANILA: A medical evacuation plane exploded during takeoff on Sunday (Mar 29) in the Philippine capital of Manila, killing all passengers and crew members on board, officials said. The Lionair plane was bound from Manila to Japan's Haneda, and burst into flames at about 8pm at the end of the ...

JAKARTA: Indonesia's government faced increasing calls to tighten restrictions on movement as deaths from COVID-19 rose by 12 to 114 cases on Sunday (Mar 29) in the world's fourth most populous nation which has so far resisted blanket lockdowns. With 1,285 infections also confirmed in the nation ...

Malaysia reported 150 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, taking the total to 2,470, the highest in Southeast Asia.

BANGKOK: Dozens of prisoners broke furniture and smashed windows during a riot in a Thai jail on Sunday sparked by fears of a COVID-19 outbreak in the facility. During the violence some convicts escaped from the Buriram prison where 2,000 inmates are held, the justice ministry said. Seven have ...

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia reported seven more deaths from COVID-19 on Sunday (Mar 29), bringing the national death toll to 34.  There were also 150 new COVID-19 cases, said the health ministry, taking the total to 2,470 - the highest in Southeast Asia.  The seven fatalities were all Malaysians. Six ...

The ground-zero city of Wuhan is cautiously reopening after a two-month quarantine, but the birthplace of the global coronavirus pandemic is now on guard against a potential new threat: imported cases.

TOKYO: The shock postponement of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics has dealt a savage blow to Japan's hotels and tourism industry, already reeling from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many operators have seen bookings decimated by the virus and had been clinging to the hope that the Games would help ...

North Korea on Sunday fired at least one "unidentified projectile" into the sea off its east coast, the Yonhap news agency reported, citing the South's military joint chiefs of staff.

North Korea fired an unidentified projectile into the sea off the coast of Japan Sunday morning, the sixth launch by the Kim Jong Un regime in less than a month.

BEIJING: China reported 45 new coronavirus cases in the mainland for Mar 28, down from 54 on the previous day, with all but one involving travellers from overseas, the country's health authority said on Sunday (Mar 29). The number of so-called "imported" cases also fell from 54 on the previous day ...

India said on Saturday it was planning to turn some railway coaches into isolation wards for patients with coronavirus, as authorities scramble to prepare the country's health infrastructure for an expected surge in cases.

The cancellation is a double whammy for Japan. The economic and psychological toll on the nation is huge, says Patrick Reinmoeller.

Dozens more passengers on a cruise ship docked in Western Australia showed symptoms of coronavirus Saturday after the vessel was allowed ashore following days stranded at sea in a stand-off with authorities.