Category Archives: Asia Pacific

Coronavirus: South Korean city faces ‘unprecedented crisis’ after spike in cases – latest news

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Mayor of Daegu orders shutdown of all kindergartens and public libraries in while two Japanese passengers from stricken Diamond Princess ship die

Two more Russians aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship quarantined in Japan have been diagnosed with a new virus, the Russian Embassy in Japan said Thursday.

The two will be transferred to a hospital in Japan for treatment, according to the embassy statement published on Facebook.

An evacuation flight for Britons stuck on a cruise ship docked off the coast of Japan over coronavirus fears will leave Tokyo on Friday, the UK’s foreign secretary has said.

Dominic Raab said information had been provided to those registered for the flight, but he urged other British nationals still seeking to leave to contact the Foreign Office. He added: “We will continue to support British nationals who wish to stay in Japan.”

I can confirm the evacuation flight out of Tokyo on Friday for British nationals from the Diamond Princess cruise ship: https://t.co/vBYNRkvBbK

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‘Bali’s been through a lot’: holiday island’s tourism industry hit by coronavirus fears

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Hotel bookings plummet by 40,000 in recent weeks as ban on incoming flights from China bites local businesses

The idyllic holiday island of Bali has been hit by the ripple effect of the coronavirus crisis, with tourism plummeting and suggestions it “does not have the capacity” to treat patients if they become sick.

Indonesia, the largest country in south-east Asia, claims to have no cases of coronavirus, but according to the Bali’s tourism board, there have been around 40,000 cancellations of hotel bookings in recent weeks nonetheless. In the first half of February about 740,000 people visited the island – 16.25% fewer than the same period last year – Bali’s airport spokesman told state news agency Antara this week.

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Wellington’s water crisis deepens as pollution, leaks and flooding take toll

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City councillor says capital’s water issues may be ‘tip of the iceberg’ for rest of country

Wellington City Council has alerted Island Bay residents to another burst water pipe, frustrating the city’s residents who are weary of harbour pollution, streets filled with brown sludge and some homes with no water at all.

Since the start of the year the capital has had one water set-back after another. The iconic Oriental Bay was closed to swimmers on some of the hottest summer days due to dangerous levels of pollution, two major city wastewater pipes burst, dozens of homes lost water access, and streets were flooded due to worn-out infrastructure.

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Foreign Office tells Britons not to leave cruise ship struck by coronavirus

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Passengers who disembark Diamond Princess may not be allowed to board evacuation flight later in week, FCO warns

British passengers stuck on the cruise ship in Japan where more than 600 people have been infected with the coronavirus have have been told to stay onboard by the Foreign Office, while those who are evacuated face a 14-day quarantine in the UK.

Japanese authorities said those who had tested negative for the virus were allowed to leave on Wednesday, but the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) warned that passengers who disembark may not be allowed to board a British evacuation flight scheduled for later this week.

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British couple with coronavirus ‘will not be on evacuation flight’ – video

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A British couple who had been asking the UK government to organise a repatriation flight for passengers stuck on a cruise ship in Japan will not be on the plane after testing positive for coronavirus. David Abel said in a video on Facebook that he and his wife, Sally, were being taken to a hostel as there were no available hospital beds nearby. The couple, who are in their 70s, were diagnosed with the virus one day before the ship’s quarantine was due to end

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Coronavirus: two people die in Iran as cruise ship Britons face Wirral quarantine – latest updates

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Deaths in mainland China pass 2,000 and Foreign Office tells Britons to stay on the Diamond Princess cruise ship

Inspectors in protective suits have been going door to door in Wuhan in an effort to find every infected person, the Associated Press reports.

Wednesday marked the final day of a campaign to root out anyone with symptoms whom authorities may have missed so far.

Britons returning home from the Diamond Princess cruise ship that has had more than 600 cases of coronavirus will be quarantined at the same NHS facility that housed people flown back to the UK from Wuhan.

The Department of Health said: “We can confirm that an accommodation block on the Arrowe Park NHS site will be used to isolate those returning from the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan. They will be kept in this location for the 14-day quarantine period, with around-the-clock support from medical staff at all times.”

Related: Foreign Office tells Britons not to leave cruise ship struck by coronavirus

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Coronavirus: Diamond Princess exodus begins amid criticism over quarantine

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More than 3,000 people to disembark over three days after ship proved a fertile breeding ground for Covid-19

Hundreds of passengers have begun leaving the stricken Diamond Princess in Japan after testing negative for the coronavirus, ending two weeks of quarantine that experts say failed to prevent the virus spreading onboard.

Japanese TV showed passengers – who spent quarantine largely confined to their cabins – leaving the ship on Wednesday morning to board waiting buses, while others left the pier in Yokohama, near Tokyo, by taxi.

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Peter Singer event cancelled in New Zealand after outcry over disability stance

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Venue says Singer’s beliefs – which include that parents should be allowed to euthanise disabled newborns – ‘do not reflect our values’

An event with Australian philosopher Peter Singer has been cancelled in New Zealand after outcry over his public stance on the morality of killing some disabled newborns.

Singer, best known as a proponent of the “effective altruism movement”, has previously written that parents should be allowed to euthanise disabled babies if they wish to.

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‘They allowed the perfect storm’: UN expert damns New Zealand’s housing crisis

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Special rapporteur says successive governments have contributed to what she called a ‘human rights crisis’

When Leilani Farha touches down in a new city, the first thing the UN special rapporteur on the right to adequate housing does is look up.

In Melbourne, Toronto, London and Dublin, the skies above are filled with cranes, Farha says, soaring across the skylineto construct new homes for their booming populations.

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China’s handling of coronavirus is a diplomatic challenge for WHO

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Beijing’s draconian measures to contain outbreak have delayed global transmission

The World Health Organization is having to perform a diplomatic balancing act over the new coronavirus outbreak, caught between China – whose draconian measures to contain the disease have delayed transmission to the rest of the world –and China’s critics, who say its behaviour is typical of its disregard for human rights.

At every press briefing, WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has defended China’s handling of the epidemic in the face of critical questions, very often from US journalists. At the end of January, when Tedros declared a public health emergency of international concern – having put it off a week earlier under what was assumed to be pressure from Beijing – he praised China for protecting the rest of the world.

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Coronavirus: Japan to trial HIV antiretroviral drugs on patients – latest news

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UK prepares evacuation flight for cruise ship passengers. Follow the latest news

The Italian luxury fashion house Prada has postponed a fashion show due to take place in Japan in May.

In a statement, the company said:

Due to the current uncertainty related to the spread of the novel coronavirus, the Prada Resort fashion show originally scheduled for May 21 in Japan will be postponed.

Repatriating passengers from the coronavirus-stricken cruise ship in Japan is not without risks, a medical expert has said.

Paul Hunter, professor in Medicine at the University of East Anglia, said:

Considerable care needs to be made to ensure that the passengers do not transmit infection between themselves or to cabin crew during the flight home and once back on home soil they do not act as a focus for the spread of the disease into their home countries – any returning passengers may be put in quarantine on their return.

It is well known that certain infections such as influenza and norovirus can spread rapidly on board cruise ships. Cruise ships take passengers and crew from all over the world, often passengers are relatively elderly, they spend most of their time on board indoors mixing with others.

The most likely [infection] route is direct person-to-person transmission when people are close to an infected person, but with currently publicly available information it is not possible to rule out other issues at this stage.

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Briton tells of mental strain on cruise ship as passengers test positive for coronavirus – video

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On Monday, David Abel spoke in a video update on Facebook about the mental strain of being quarantined on a cruise ship in Japan amid the coronavirus crisis. ‘It’s all getting to us now – not just me, other passengers as well. It’s the not-knowing factor that is the real challenge,’ he said. The British passenger, who published video diaries from the Diamond Princess, tested positive for the coronavirus, along with his wife, on Tuesday

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HSBC to cut 35,000 jobs worldwide as profits plunge

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Bank warns of ‘meaningful’ job losses in UK and of impact of coronavirus outbreak in Asia

HSBC has said it will slash 35,000 jobs over three years as part of a major shake-up as it issued a warning over the impact of the coronavirus outbreak in Asia.

The interim chief executive, Noel Quinn, confirmed on Tuesday that plans to cut $4.5bn (£3.5bn) worth of costs would involve slashing about 15% of the group’s global workforce. “We would expect our headcount to decrease from the current level of 235,000 to be closer to 200,000 in 2022,” Quinn said.

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Apple warns of coronavirus causing iPhone shortages

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Company hit by shutdown in China and says it will fail to meet quarterly revenue target

Apple has warned of global “iPhone supply shortages” resulting from its Chinese factories being shut because of the coronavirus outbreak.

The Californian company told investors on Monday night it would fail to meet its quarterly revenue target of $63-67bn (£48-52bn) because of the “temporarily constrained” supply of iPhones and a dramatic drop in Chinese shoppers during the virus crisis. Apple did not provide a new forecast for its second-quarter revenue.

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Reform urged in Malaysia after disabled man is jailed for attempted suicide

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Campaign groups unite in condemnation of ‘grossly inhumane and incompassionate’ verdict

Human rights groups in Malaysia are calling for the repeal of a law that criminalises attempted suicide after a man with a physical disability was sentenced to six months in prison for trying to take his own life.

Malaysia is one of the few countries where attempting suicide is illegal. Under existing legislation, people found guilty can be punished by up to a year in prison, a fine, or both. But the Malaysian government is now considering a change to the law, which advocates say cannot come soon enough.

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Coronavirus updates: China’s second worst-hit city bans residents from leaving home – live news

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People who flout new order in Xiaogan city in central Hubei face detention for 10 days as global death toll reaches 1,775. Follow live news and latest updates

Shares in China have posted strong gains after the country’s central bank cut the interest rate on its medium-term lending to try to cushion businesses from the impact of the Covid-19 outbreak. The bank also injected another 200bn yuan of liquidity into the system.

The move is expected to pave the way for a reduction in the country’s benchmark loan prime rate on Thursday, Reuters reports, to lower borrowing costs and ease financial strains on companies hit by the epidemic.

China CSI 300 erases Covid-19 slump.

Why?
* Short selling ban (in China this means the Gulag!)
* Funds need gov't approval to sell (prove an outflow)
* Record repo injections by the PBoC, rate cuts
* Xi - will cut taxes and record fiscal stimulus

Rally means all is good, right? pic.twitter.com/hCRUaEiHdZ

#PBOC injects 200 bn yuan liquidity via 1-year medium-term lending facility (MLF).

PBOC cut the rate on MLF to 3.15%, from 3.25% in the previous operation. https://t.co/EXAEiLHayq

A reporter is asking about Australians onboard the MS Westerdam cruise ship that docked in Cambodia last Thursday. An American passenger on that ship was subsequently diagnosed with Covid-19, after testing in Malaysia. The foreign affairs minister, Marise Payne answers:

There were some Australians on the vessel Westerdam. 39 of those have remained in Phnom Penh after the ship finally docked. They have been provided with hotel accommodation in the capital.

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China accuses Australia of discriminating against Huawei

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Chinese ambassador says consumers not being served well by ‘politically motivated’ ban on tech firm’s entry into 5G network

The Australian government’s ban on Huawei’s participation in building the nation’s 5G network remains a “sore point or thorny issue” between the two countries, the Chinese ambassador said on Monday, as he criticised the government for discriminating against a Chinese company.

Cheng Jingye dismissed concerns Huawei may pose a threat to Australia’s national security given its links to the communist Chinese government, and said Australia’s ban was “politically motivated”.

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Elton John cuts short New Zealand gig after catching pneumonia

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Singer ‘deeply upset and sorry’ for cutting short farewell concert in Auckland

Sir Elton John has said he is “deeply upset and sorry” for cutting short a concert in New Zealand after being diagnosed with a mild form of pneumonia.

The musician, 72, was performing at Auckland’s Mount Smart Stadium on Sunday when he lost his voice and broke down in tears on stage.

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‘Westlessness’: is the west really in a state of peril?

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Top diplomats disagreed over the global relevance of the west at the Munich security conference

The chosen theme of the Munich security conference – once a party for Nato and now a Davos for the world’s diplomats – was “westlessness”. The organisers wanted to capture the fear that the west is now so divided and challenged by the rise of China its whole existence has become imperilled.

It was not a concept that won universal acclaim. Margrethe Vestager, the EU vice-president, hit back in one session: “I never thought about ’westlessness’ before. Are we here discussing our own depression and asking the rest of the world to join in as a sort of collective mindfulness exercise? I don’t really don’t get this.” European values – the rule of law and the integrity of the individual – had spread across the world, she insisted.

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Britons onboard cruise ship face extended coronavirus quarantine

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Changes to Japanese procedure could mean two more weeks on the Diamond Princess

Britons could face two more weeks trapped onboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship as Japan updates its quarantine procedure in an effort to halt the rapid spread of coronavirus among passengers.

Cruise ship guests received a letter on Sunday saying that while those who tested negative for the virus would be allowed to leave on Wednesday, anyone who shared a room with a passenger who tested positive would face another two weeks onboard, starting from the date they were separated from their cabin mate.

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