Coronavirus: India to loosen lockdown despite record cases
India has announced plans to further ease a strict national lockdown even as the country reported a record daily rise in new coronavirus cases. From 8 June, restaurants, hotels, shopping centres and places of worship will be allowed to re-open in many areas in the...
Japan’s coronavirus cases rise for fourth day in a row since country lifted state of emergency
Japan’s Health Ministry announced 75 new coronavirus cases and 12 deaths for Friday — the fourth consecutive day that the country has seen a rise in coronavirus cases since fully lifting its state of emergency. This brings the number of total Covid-19 cases in Japan...
China-India border: Why tensions are rising between the neighbours
The armies of the world’s two most populous nations are locked in a tense face-off high in the Himalayas, which has the potential to escalate as they seek to further their strategic goals. Officials quoted by the Indian media say thousands of Chinese troops have...
Trump targets China over Hong Kong security law
President Donald Trump has announced that he will start to end preferential treatment for Hong Kong in trade and travel, in response to a new security law pushed by Beijing. He described the Chinese government’s moves to introduce the measure in Hong Kong as a...
South Korea authorities race to contain a new cluster at a logistics center near Seoul
South Korea recorded 58 new coronavirus cases and no new deaths on Thursday, said authorities Friday. That brings the national total to 11,402 cases and 269 deaths. Authorities are also working to contain a new cluster that emerged this week in a logistics center near...
Japan reports biggest one-day jump in cases in two weeks, raising fears of second wave
Japan reported 63 new coronavirus cases and seven new deaths on Thursday — the biggest one-day jump in infections since May 14. Of the new cases on Thursday, 21 came from the southern city of Kitakyushu. The city had reported zero new infections for 23...
Tourists will need tests when Bali reopens
Tourists looking to visit the Indonesian resort island of Bali will need to prove they are free of coronavirus before they start their holiday. The island hopes to reopen in July – but tourists will need a negative test result from their home country, or...
Another 41 coronavirus cases identified in Japan
Japan’s Health Ministry said 41 new coronavirus cases and nine Covid-19 related deaths were reported in the country on Wednesday. Tokyo reported 11 new infections and four deaths on Wednesday. Concerning signs in the south: The mayor of the southern Japanese city of Kitakyushu, Kenji...
Another 79 coronavirus cases were identified in South Korea yesterday. It’s the most in weeks
South Korean authorities identified 79 new novel coronavirus cases yesterday — the most in a single day since April 5. Sixty-eight of those were locally transmitted, with the majority found in Seoul, the province that surrounds the capital, Gyeonggi, and the city of Incheon. Vice...
China identified just 2 fresh symptomatic cases yesterday
Chinese authorities identified only two new novel coronavirus patients presenting symptoms on Wednesday, the country’s National Health Commission (NHC) said in a statement. Both cases were imported — one was in Shanghai and the other in the southeastern province of Fujian. However 23 asymptomatic cases...
Hong Kong security bill backed by China’s parliament
China’s parliament has backed a new security law for Hong Kong which would make it a crime to undermine Beijing’s authority in the territory. The bill – which now passes to China’s senior leadership – has caused deep concern among those who say it could...
Japanese mayor predicts “second wave” of infections as a new spate of cases emerge
Japan may face a second surge of coronavirus infections, said Kenji Kitahashi, the mayor of the southern port city Kitakyushu. “We are on the doorstep of a second wave,” he warned, pointing to a string of new infections. The city, home to about 937,000 residents,...
South Korea reports 40 new cases, in biggest one-day jump in weeks
South Korea reported 40 new cases of the novel coronavirus on Wednesday, the highest daily figure since early April. Among these new cases, 37 are believed to be locally transmitted, according to the South Korean Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The last time South...
Mumbai: How Covid-19 has ravaged India’s richest city
With more than 31,000 cases, Mumbai accounts for more than a fifth of India’s coronavirus infections and nearly a quarter of deaths. The BBC’s Yogita Limaye finds out why India’s financial capital is so badly affected. Mumbai has long been described as a city always...
India heatwave: Delhi temperature hits 47C as north India reels
The Indian capital, Delhi, saw temperatures rise to 47.6C on Tuesday, as most of north India faced severe heatwave conditions. The heatwave, which officials say is likely to last until the weekend, comes even as the region struggles with rising Covid-19 infections and swarms of...
Man charged over deadly Kyoto animation studio fire
Police in Japan have charged a man 10 months after he allegedly set fire to an animation studio in Kyoto, killing 36 people. Shinji Aoba, 42, had been in hospital since the arson attack in July 2019. He was so badly burned that police had...
Wuhan performed 6.5 million coronavirus tests in 9 days, Chinese state media reports
The central Chinese city of Wuhan conducted more than 6.5 million novel coronavirus tests in 9 days, according to state media, a drastic move by authorities to prevent a second wave of infections in the original epicenter of the global pandemic. Wuhan’s ambitious citywide nucleic...
South Korea has identified almost 250 coronavirus cases linked to a cluster from a nightclub district
There are now 247 cases of coronavirus in South Korea tied to an outbreak in Itaweon, a popular nightlife district in the capital of Seoul, health officials said. The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) said Tuesday that 83,000 tests have been conducted...
South Korea reported 19 new coronavirus cases today. Mainland China found 11
Health authorities in South Korea identified 19 new cases of coronavirus on Tuesday. Three are believed to be imported, while the other 16 are thought to be locally transmitted. Authorities in mainland China said 11 cases were identified in the country Tuesday. Here are each...
Singapore confirmed 344 new coronavirus cases on Monday
Singapore reported 344 new Covid-19 cases on Monday — all but six of which were located in foreign worker dormitories. The government said in a statement that 99% of those cases are linked to known clusters. Singapore initially appeared to have the pandemic under control,...
Australia bushfires: Hundreds of deaths linked to smoke, inquiry hears
Smoke from the massive bushfires that hit Australia in the 2019-20 summer was linked to more than 445 deaths, a government inquiry has heard. More than 4,000 people were admitted to hospital due to the smoke, Associate Prof Fay Johnston from the University of Tasmania...
India combats locust attack amid Covid-19 pandemic
An invasion by desert locusts has hit large swathes of India and Pakistan in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic. Large and aggressive swarms of these crop-devouring short-horned insects have invaded more than two dozen districts covering more than 50,000 hectares of desert areas of...
Coronavirus: Bangladeshi clothes boxes reach 60,000
An Edinburgh businessman is trying to help thousands of Bangladeshi garment workers hit by cancelled orders during the coronavirus outbreak. Cally Russell said the country was left with mountains of unsold clothes in factories after UK retailers pulled out of their contracts. Now the 32-year-old...
In South Korea, 219 cases have been linked to the nightclub cluster
On May 9, reports started emerging of cases spiking in the South Korean capital of Seoul. It immediately raised alarm; South Korea had just started loosening restrictions and opening up some businesses after largely regaining control of the outbreak that had peaked in February and...
India reports more than 6,600 cases within 24 hours, in largest one-day spike
India recorded 6,654 new cases in the past 24 hours — the country’s biggest one-day surge in cases so far, said the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Saturday. This raises the nationwide total to 125,101 cases and 3,720 deaths. The western state of...
China reports no new symptomatic Covid-19 cases for first time since pandemic started
China reported no new symptomatic coronavirus cases on Saturday, for the first time since the beginning of the outbreak in December. There were 28 new asymptomatic cases, which are counted separately, the National Health Commission (NHC) said. With no new deaths reported, China’s death toll...
US experts skeptical after Chinese researchers report positive vaccine results
Researchers in China reported results from one of the first Covid-19 vaccine trials Friday, but experts who spoke to CNN were skeptical of their findings and called the data lukewarm. In a study published in the medical journal The Lancet, researchers said their vaccine was...
Coronavirus: COVID-19 pandemic disrupting vaccination for at least 80 million babies, warns WHO
At least 80 million babies are at risk of diseases such as diphtheria, measles and polio due to disrupted vaccinations, three international organisations have warned. Routine vaccination efforts have been “substantially disrupted” in 68 countries due to the coronavirus pandemic, said officials from the World...
Coronavirus: Chinese retail giant Alibaba sees ‘recovery’ after virus
Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba said it has seen a “steady recovery” in the country since March, but warned that the path to an economic rebound remains uncertain. The firm’s sales grew 22% in the three months to 31 March, despite virus-related restrictions denting activity. The...
Dozens of South Korean schools that shut over coronavirus concerns to reopen Monday
Sixty-six high schools in Incheon, South Korea, that shut on May 20 over coronavirus concerns, will reopen on May 25 the country’s Education Ministry has said. The high schools opened on Wednesday, the first day back to school since the outbreak, but closed within two...