bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

TODAY

Malaysia reported 190 new cases of coronavirus on Sunday, most linked to a religious event at a mosque that was attended by more than 10,000 people from several countries.
The new cases bring the total number of infections in the country to 428, the health ministry said in a statement.
“Of the 428 cases, 243 are participants from the religious event in Sri Petaling mosque,” said Noor Hisham Abdullah, director-general of the Health Ministry.
The ministry said all event participants and their close contacts will be placed under mandatory quarantine for 14 days.




Malaysian health authorities have said about 16,000 people attended the religious gathering held at the mosque near Kuala Lumpur between February 27 and March 1. Around 14,500 of the participants are Malaysian.
Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said on Friday that the country was facing a “second wave” of infections, and warned of an impact on economic growth.
In neighbouring Brunei, 38 of a total 40 cases had been linked to the religious gathering as of Saturday. Singapore has also reported some cases linked to the same event.
In its latest step to curb the spread of the coronavirus, Singapore on Sunday announced tighter border restrictions. From Monday, all travellers entering Singapore with recent travel history to Asean countries, Japan, Switzerland or the UK in the last fortnight will be issued a 14-day stay-home notice.
Singaporeans are also advised to defer all non-essential travel abroad with immediate effect, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said in a statement.
The new measures are aimed at reducing the risk of Covid-19 being imported to Singapore. The restrictions on entry into Singapore, however, do not apply to people coming from Malaysia via the land and sea checkpoints, National Development Minister Lawrence Wong said on Sunday.
Some “special considerations” have to be put in place for Malaysia given the proximity and interdependency between the two countries, he told reporters at the National Press Centre along Old Hill Street.
Will Singapore use its reserves to counter the coronavirus?
“We do need precautions to be taken at these checkpoints, but it is going to be more complex given the high volume of people moving in and out of these checkpoints. On our land crossing alone, 300,000 people move across the checkpoints every day,” said Wong, who co-chairs a multi-ministry task force to tackle the virus.
The stay-home notice will be issued from 11.59pm on Monday to all travellers, including Singapore residents, long-term-pass holders as well as short-term visitors who have been to the listed countries.
Similar measures have already been rolled out for residents and long-term-pass holders returning from China, Iran, Italy, France, Germany, South Korea and Spain, while short-term visitors from these places are barred from entering or transiting through Singapore.
Singapore on Sunday confirmed 14 new cases of the novel coronavirus, taking its total number of infections to 226. Nine of the cases confirmed on Sunday are imported.


As for the US, which has reported about 3,000 infections and more than 50 deaths, Wong said that the authorities were watching developments there closely, but a key concern was with countries that have already “given up on containment” and are simply delaying the spread, such as Britain.
“The UK has been most public in acknowledging that there is no point containing and that they are simply now at a phase of trying to delay the spread,” Wong said.
“They are quite prepared, as you heard some of these countries say, for the virus to spread to a large proportion of their populations … Then the number of cases in the next peak that comes may now be higher than what we had faced in the initial wave.
“Countries that are not even thinking about containing the virus may be well facing a much higher number of cases outside Singapore [and] exposure to more cases.
“That is why we are quite concerned that Singapore will, indeed, be exposed to a new wave of infection that is potentially larger than what we had seen … If that is the case, we do need more stringent border control measures.”
Affected travellers will have to provide proof of the place where they will serve the stay-home notice, such as the hotel they will be living at. They may also be swabbed for Covid-19 testing, even if they do not have symptoms.

Additionally, from 11.59pm on March 16, all short-term visitors who are nationals of any Asean country will have to submit health information to the Singapore overseas mission in their country before they travel to Singapore. The submission will have to be approved by MOH before they travel to Singapore and will be verified by Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officials at Singapore checkpoints.
Those who arrive in Singapore without the necessary approval will be denied entry.
All travellers entering Singapore with fever or other symptoms of respiratory illness are required to undergo a Covid-19 swab test at the checkpoints, regardless of travel history. They will also be issued a 14-day stay-home notice, which they have to serve in full even if the swab test is negative. Those who meet the clinical suspect case definition will be taken to hospital for follow-up.
The advisory for Singaporeans to defer all non-essential overseas travel will apply for 30 days and will be reviewed thereafter.
Similarly, the border control measures will be reviewed in 30 days and may be extended to more countries, depending on the global and local situation, MOH said.
Read the original articles here and here at Today Online.


Global tourism is recovering, but for Asia it’s a mixed bag at best

Malaysians face retirement in poverty as lifelong low pay bites back in their autumn years

Malaysians feel the pinch as the ‘shringgit’ returns – and there’s no quick fix for PM Anwar

Covid surge prompts calls for return of masks in Singapore, airport scanners in Indonesia

Coronavirus Malaysia

Coronavirus: Malaysia reports 190 new cases, Singapore tightens border controls

Pedestrians wearing face mask in a shopping district in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Photo: AP

Departing cruise line passengers wait to pass through the thermal screening system before immigration control at the Singapore Cruise Centre in Singapore, on Thursday, March 5, 2020. As the novel coronavirus starts to gather speed in Europe, the Middle East and the U.S., Singapore has received praise from health experts for implementing measures that have likely helped to contain the virus. Photographer: Wei Ling Tay/Bloomberg

Will Singapore use its reserves to counter the coronavirus?

Dark clouds above Singapore’s skyline. Photo: Xinhua

Women wear facemasks amid fears of the COVID-19 novel coronavirus in the Orchard Road shopping district in Singapore on March 10, 2020. (Photo by Louis KWOK / AFP)

FILE PHOTO: Singapore's Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat speaks at a UBS client conference in Singapore, January 14, 2019. REUTERS/Feline Lim/File Photo

epa08274726 Tourists admire the view of the city skyline from the observatory of the Supertree Grove at Gardens by the Bay, a popular tourist spot, in Singapore, 06 March 2020. Singapore's tourism sector is expected to be hit hard due to the ongoing outbreak of the COVID-19 disease casued by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, with visitor arrivals estimated to fall by 25 to 30 percent this year. EPA-EFE/HOW HWEE YOUNG

Coronavirus could be more damaging than financial crisis: Singapore PM Lee

A member of a health care team takes a traveller’s temperature at Changi Airport in Singapore. Photo: Bloomberg

Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. Photo: AP

Coronavirus: Singaporeans tread with caution, but a ‘new normal’ appears

Women wear face masks in Singapore’s Orchard Road shopping district. Photo: AFP

epa08224917 A man wearing a surgical mask prays at the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple in the Chinatown district of Singapore, 17 February 2020 (issued 18 February 2020). The Singapore government will announce its budget on 18 February and introduce a range of measures to help businesses hit by the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) outbreak. Among those hit hardest by the global health crisis, the tourism sector as well as those in retail, transport, F&B, and manufacturing will receive support for wages and rental. The disease caused by the virus has been officially named COVID-19 by the World Health Organization (WHO). The outbreak, which originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan, has so far killed more than 1,800 people with over 73,000 infected worldwide, mostly in China. EPA-EFE/WALLACE WOON

Travellers, wearing protective facemasks amid fears about the spread of the COVID-19 novel coronavirus, wait at the departure hall of Changi International Airport in Singapore on February 27, 2020. (Photo by Roslan RAHMAN / AFP)

A Chinese restaurant displays a sign that says 'disinfected' as businesses adapt to less footfall due to the coronavirus outbreak in Singapore February 21, 2020. Picture taken February 21, 2020. REUTERS/Edgar Su

News

Asia

Southeast Asia


Malaysia’s infections soar to 428, more than any other Asean country, and most new cases are linked to religious event at mosque near Kuala Lumpur
All travellers entering Singapore with recent travel history to Asean countries, Japan, Switzerland or UK will be issued a 14-day stay-home notice



Malaysia’s infections soar to 428, more than any other Asean country, and most new cases are linked to religious event at mosque near Kuala Lumpur.
