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SIHANOUKVILLE, Cambodia (AFP) — A US cruise ship blocked from several Asian ports over concerns that a passenger could have been infected with the new coronavirus arrived off Cambodia Thursday, as frustrated holidaymakers expressed hope that their ordeal may soon be over. The Westerdam was supposed to be taking its 1,455 passengers on a dream 14-day cruise around East Asia, beginning in Hong Kong on February 1 and disembarking on Saturday in Yokohama, Japan. But […]
VINH PHUC, Vietnam (AFP) — Vietnam announced Thursday that a commune of 10,000 people will be placed under quarantine due to fears over the spread of the new coronavirus. “As of February 13, 2020, we will urgently implement the task of isolation and quarantine of the epidemic area in Son Loi commune,” said a health ministry statement. “The timeline… is for 20 days”. There are 15 confirmed cases of the COVID-19 virus in Vietnam, five […]
by Martin Abbugao SINGAPORE, Singapore (AFP) — Asia’s biggest air show opens in Singapore Tuesday under the shadow of a deadly coronavirus outbreak that has prompted dozens of companies to withdraw and threatens to hammer the aviation industry. The biennial Singapore Airshow attracts hundreds of global aerospace firms and airlines to the financial hub, where they negotiate multi-million dollar deals and watch spectacular aerial displays by fighter jets. But the virus — which has killed […]
by Dene Chen in Nakhon Ratchasima and Joe Freeman in Bangkok NAKHON RATCHASMA, Thailand (AFP) — The “pings” from the metal targets at a gun range ring out as a baby-faced shooter smile for the camera — a chilling prelude to the mall massacre by a Thai soldier who shared his prowess as a marksman on social media. But more than a day after he was shot dead following a near 17-hour shooting spree that […]
By Dene-Hern Chen in Nakhon Ratchasima with Aidan Jones in Bangkok NAKHON RATCHASIMA, Thailand (AFP) — In a fourth-floor toilet of the Terminal 21 mall, shoppers jammed cubicle doors against the entrance to keep out a Thai soldier on a shooting spree, tracing his movements through fragments of CCTV passed on by friends on the outside. Barricaded in the women’s toilet with a few dozen others, Chanathip Somsakul, a 33-year-old music teacher, and his wife […]
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AFP) — A Malaysian journalist was charged Wednesday with causing public alarm with Facebook posts about the deadly coronavirus outbreak in China, as authorities warned against online “rumor-mongering”. The virus has so far killed almost 500 people and infected 24,000 others in China, and spread to more than 20 countries including Malaysia, which has 12 cases. It has also unleashed a flood of misinformation online, from misleading death tolls to vaccine conspiracies, […]
BALI, Indonesia (AFP) — Hundreds of pigs have died from African swine fever in Bali, authorities said Wednesday, marking the Indonesian holiday island’s first recorded outbreak and after the virus claimed some 30,000 hogs in Sumatra. Ida Bagus Wisnuardhana, Bali’s agriculture and food security agency chief, said nearly 900 pigs succumbed to swine fever since mid-December. “The results are positive for African swine fever,” Ida told reporters, referring to tests performed on the dead animals. […]
BALIKPAPAN, Indonesia (AFP) — Two Indonesian women who allegedly posted misinformation online about the deadly coronavirus have been arrested, police said, as they warned dozens of hoaxes were being rapidly shared by the country’s millions of internet users. The pair were taken into custody in Balikpapan, a city on Borneo island, in the past few days after separately posting rumors on their social media accounts that a local resident was infected and undergoing treatment. Indonesia […]
SINGAPORE (AFP) — Singapore on Tuesday announced the first local transmissions of the deadly coronavirus from China as a major aviation conference was scrapped due to the escalating health scare. The Ministry of Health said it had found six additional cases, four of them involving human-to-human transmission in Singapore, bringing the total infections to 24 in the city-state. “Though four of these cases constitute a local transmission cluster, there is as yet no evidence […]
BANGKOK, Thailand (AFP) — A Chinese woman infected with the new coronavirus showed a dramatic improvement after she was treated with a cocktail of anti-virals used to treat flu and HIV, Thailand’s health ministry said Sunday. The 71-year-old patient tested negative for the virus 48 hours after Thai doctors administered the combination, doctor Kriengsak Attipornwanich said during the ministry’s daily press briefing. “The lab result of positive on the coronavirus turned negative in 48 hours,” […]
PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea (AFP) — Papua New Guinea shut air and seaports to all foreign travellers coming from Asia on Wednesday, in a desperate bid to prevent the deadly coronavirus from reaching the impoverished Melanesian nation. In a note to airlines and boat operators, the ministry of immigration said “all citizens originating from the Asian ports will be refused entry to the country effective today”. The ministry also announced that Papua New Guinea’s […]
Asian nations were ramping up defences against a deadly viral epidemic Tuesday, sealing borders, shuttering public places and clamping down on visitors from China. Concern over the steadily expanding contagion, which has killed over 100 in China and sickened more than 4,500, is prompting an increasingly urgent push for protection. Hong Kong, which has eight reported cases of the SARS-like disease, announced the sealing of six of its 14 border crossings to the mainland […]
