Chinese province at center of Covid-19 outbreak to lower emergency response level
China’s Hubei province will lower its coronavirus emergency response level from the highest level starting on May 2, according to Yang Yunyan, the vice governor of Hubei. Hubei province, which was hardest hit by Covid-19 and is home to the city of Wuhan, will move...
India sends first train to bring stranded migrant workers home, ahead of lifting lockdown
The first train carrying stranded Indian migrant workers home set out today, as the country prepares to lift its nationwide lockdown. The restrictions, which have been in place since March 25, are set to ease on Sunday. Railways, which had been suspended during the lockdown,...
Japan reports nearly 200 new infections as total cases near 15,000
Japan confirmed 187 new coronavirus cases and 17 deaths yesterday, according to the country’s health ministry. That brings the national total to 14,993 cases and 458 deaths, the ministry said. Of that total, 712 cases and 13 deaths are linked to the Diamond Princess cruise...
Are ‘anti-virus’ cars in China just a gimmick?
Car makers in China are tapping into health concerns by launching vehicles with anti-virus features. New models aim to provide the same level of protection inside the cabin as wearing a face mask. Some of the country’s biggest carmakers have launched new cars with such...
India coronavirus lockdown: Train leaves with stranded migrants
The first train carrying migrant workers stranded by a nationwide lockdown in India has left the southern state of Telangana. The 24-coach train, carrying 1,200 passengers, is travelling non-stop to eastern Jharkhand state. Earlier this week, India said millions of people stranded by the lockdown...
China’s largest travel platform predicts tourism recovery milestone over May Day holiday
China’s largest online travel platform, Trip.com Group, said it expects the country’s travel figures during the May Day holiday to possibly double the 43 million trips made during April’s Qingming festival. The company’s 2020 May Day Tourism Trends Report, released on April 23, states the...
Japan to extend state of emergency
Japan’s Prime Minister said Thursday he plans extend the country’s state of emergency, which was due to end on May 6. Shinzo Abe told reporters at his office: “I think it will be difficult to return to normalcy from May 7. We have to prepare...
US ‘hasn’t seen’ North Korean leader Kim Jong-un recently, Mike Pompeo
US officials “haven’t seen” North Korean leader Kim Jong-un recently and are watching reports about his health “closely”, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said. He also expressed concern that the hermit state could be hit either by the coronavirus outbreak or a famine....
Coronavirus and South Korea: How lives changed to beat the virus
South Korea has recorded its first day with no locally transmitted cases of Covid-19 since the middle of February. It did record four new cases, but all were people coming from abroad, who were diagnosed and isolated on arrival. They brought the country’s total number...
India coronavirus: The man giving dignified burial to Covid-19 victims
For three decades, Abdul Malabari has been an undertaker for unclaimed bodies. But he never thought he would have to bury people whose families wanted to say goodbye but couldn’t because of Covid-19. BBC Gujarati’s Shaili Bhatt reports. “My work has no fixed timings,” says...
Coronavirus: Two million Bangladesh jobs ‘at risk’ as clothes orders dry up
High Street fashion emporiums around the world have closed their doors for lockdowns, but the largely forgotten victims are thousands of miles from the glass and steel-fronted shopping arcades. Sabina Akhter is one of them. She works in a garment factory on the outskirts of...
Coronavirus-themed game banned in China
A coronavirus-themed game has been blocked on Steam in China because of its politically motivated content. In order to win Coronavirus Attack, players have to stop “selfish zombies” from escaping a country infected with the virus. Players reported the game for using the same colour...
Kim Jong Un may be trying to avoid coronavirus, South Korea says
A top South Korean official believes that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un may have missed the birthday celebration of his grandfather on April 15 because of the coronavirus pandemic and not because he was ill, according to a report on Tuesday. Amid rumors regarding...
Former New Zealand PM says early ban on Chinese travellers helped curb spread of outbreak
New Zealand’s early decision to ban travel from China and then Iran is why the country has been able to dramatically curb the spread of coronavirus, said the country’s former Prime Minister Helen Clark. New Zealand instituted the measure despite the World Health Organization advising...
This Indian village is distributing 10,000 umbrellas to help maintain social distancing
A village in the southern state of Kerala is distributing 10,000 umbrellas to residents to help maintain social distancing, according to a senior local council official. “We hope the clouds of Covid-19 may clear soon but during the summer and upcoming days of rain let...
Singapore reports nearly 800 new coronavirus cases
Singapore recorded 799 new cases of coronavirus in the 24 hours before noon local time on Monday, according to a statement by the country’s Ministry of Health. Among the new cases, 14 are Singaporeans or permanent residents, while the vast majority are work permit holders...
China says all hospitalized coronavirus patients in Wuhan have been discharged
All hospitalized coronavirus patients in Wuhan, the original epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic, have been discharged from hospitals, Mi Feng, a spokesperson for China’s National Health Commission said on Sunday. “With joint effort of medical professionals from Wuhan and from around the country, by April...
Bank of Japan warns economy could contract by as much as 5% this year
The Bank of Japan expects the country’s economy to contract by 3% to 5% this year — a sharp departure from its forecast at the start of the year, which predicted slight growth. The economy “is likely to remain in a severe situation for the...
China says all hospitalized coronavirus patients in Wuhan have been discharged
All hospitalized coronavirus patients in Wuhan, the original epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic, have been discharged from hospitals, Mi Feng, a spokesperson for China’s National Health Commission (NHC) said on Sunday. “With joint effort of medical professionals from Wuhan and from around the country, by...
New Delhi hospital closed after a nurse tests positive for coronavirus
Hindu Rao, one of the largest hospitals in the Indian capital New Delhi, has been closed for a deep clean, after a nurse there tested positive for coronavirus. “Since she has been on duty in various locations within the campus over the last two weeks,...
Coronavirus: US and China trade conspiracy theories
From the early stages of the coronavirus outbreak, conspiracy theories about the origin and scale of the disease were spread on online platforms. Among these were the false claim that the virus was part of a Chinese “covert biological weapons programme”, and a baseless claim...
Jack Ma: The billionaire trying to stop coronavirus (and fix China’s reputation)
The richest man in China opened his own Twitter account last month, in the middle of the Covid-19 outbreak. So far, every one of his posts has been devoted to his unrivalled campaign to deliver medical supplies to almost every country around the world. “One...
What life after lockdown could look like — and it is intense
What will the new normal look like when the lockdown finally ends? If it’s anything like Taiwan, it will be a lot less social and a lot more authoritarian. Taiwan was one of the few places in the world that didn’t go into lockdown and...
Over 200,000 now dead worldwide from COVID-19
A pandemic of the novel coronavirus has now killed over 200,000 people worldwide. More than 2.89 million people across the globe have been diagnosed with COVID-19, the disease caused by the new respiratory virus, according to data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and...
India’s most populous state bans gatherings until end of June
The government of India’s most populated state, Uttar Pradesh, has announced a ban on gatherings until June 30. It is the first state to have issued a ban on gatherings beyond the end of the nationwide lockdown, which is May 3. Its Chief Minister Yogi...
Some stores will be allowed to reopen in India despite country’s lockdown
India’s Ministry of Home Affairs says some stores will be allowed to reopen, despite the nationwide lockdown. Since the restrictions began in late March, only essential commodity stores have been able to open every day. But in an order late Friday, the ministry allowed businesses...
Australia and New Zealand remember fallen soldiers in scaled-down Anzac Day
Wreaths have been laid at the Anzac memorial in Sydney in a scaled-back ceremony without the usual crowds. Mass public gatherings are banned in Australia, where people typically attend services or marches on April 25 to commemorate soldiers lost during wartime. Laying a wreath Saturday,...
Singapore’s migrant workers are suffering the brunt of the country’s coronavirus cases
Rubel, a 28-year-old migrant worker in Singapore, is afraid. The dormitory he and other foreign workers live in has been locked down, and nobody is allowed in or out as government officials scramble to contain the country’s novel coronavirus outbreak. What’s going on in Singapore:...
The US will send ventilators to Ecuador, El Salvador and Indonesia, Trump says
The United States will send ventilators to Ecuador, El Salvador and Indonesia, President Donald Trump tweeted Friday. “Just spoke to my friend, President Joko Widodo of the Republic of Indonesia. Asking for Ventilators, which we will provide,” the President wrote. “Great cooperation between us!” Trump...
He is one of the first in the US injected with a possible Covid-19 vaccine
Despite all his medical knowledge, 31-year-old medical student and Ph. D. candidate Sean Doyle couldn’t know for certain all the risks of the injection he had just received in his right shoulder at Emory University Hospital. Yes, of course he was told of the potential...