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SCMP’s Asia desk

Agencies

US President Donald Trump pressed for a further reopening of the United States as job losses mount from coronavirus shutdowns.
Calls to kickstart the American economy came as large parts of Europe continued to resume normal life as the crisis there abates, with more shops opening and beaches welcoming tourists.
But the lifting of restrictions in some places comes despite virus cases passing five million globally, with the disease continuing its march in Latin America and Russia.
Trump, with an eye on his re-election prospects in November, made it clear he hoped more US state governors would move towards a loosening of antivirus restrictions.
“We did the right thing but we now want to get going... you’ll break the country if you don’t,” he told African-American leaders in Michigan.


The president has adopted the theme of “Transitioning Back to Greatness” as states reopen at different speeds.
Deaths are still mounting in the US, with the total surpassing 94,000, and Trump ordered flags at federal buildings be flown at half-staff for three days for the victims.
Across the Atlantic, much of Europe pressed on with work to get life rolling again, with Cyprus lifting curfews and allowing outdoor restaurants, barber shops and beaches to reopen. In Denmark, the exit from lockdown also picked up pace as museums and zoos began reopening and health officials said the spread of the virus was slowing.
Despite pandemic, Trump suggests in-person G7 summit
But while many European countries have significantly curbed the contagion, Latin America is becoming a new hotspot with cases on the rise.
Brazil – now home to the third-highest number of cases in the world after the US and Russia – has recorded more than 20,000 deaths and hit a record 24-hour toll of 1,188.
Here are the developments:
Malaysian PM under home quarantine
Malaysia’s Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin will undergo 14 days of home quarantine after a government officer who attended a post-cabinet meeting on Wednesday tested positive for Covid-19, the prime minister’s office said in a statement.
Muhyiddin tested negative for the disease, the statement said.
All other officials who attended the post-cabinet meeting will also be tested and undergo home quarantine for the next two weeks.
The announcement follows the controversial half-day parliamentary session held on Monday, when Muhyiddin’s government listed the king’s ceremonial address as the sole order of business. The government said all other matters – including a vote of no confidence brought by the opposition – would be held in July as part of social distancing measures.
The Malay-Muslim majority country will celebrate the festival of Eid on Sunday.
Sri Lanka permits weddings, but no kissing
Sri Lanka lifted a ban Friday on wedding receptions as part of an easing of coronavirus restrictions, but grooms may not kiss the bride – at least in public.
The country’s well-heeled usually hold wedding celebrations with thousands of guests, and the festivities can last for days with much eating, drinking, dancing and singing.
But under the new guidelines there should be no more than 100 guests, all of whom must stay a metre [three feet] apart and wear masks – including the happy couple.
“Guests should not be allowed to kiss, hug or shake hands,” the latest health ministry rules said. “Greeting each other should be done without any touching.”
Sri Lanka imposed a nationwide curfew on March 20 that ruled out gatherings of any sort, but the restrictions have been eased in many districts that are not considered high-risk.
Religious gatherings remain banned while only the bereaved family are allowed at funerals.
US secures 300 million doses of Oxford vaccine
The United States has secured almost a third of the first one billion doses planned for AstraZeneca’s experimental Covid-19 vaccine by pledging up to US$1.2 billion, as world powers scramble for medicines to get their economies back to work.
While not proven to be effective against the coronavirus, vaccines are seen by world leaders as the only real way to restart their stalled economies, and even to get an edge over global competitors.
After President Trump demanded a vaccine, the US Department of Health and Human Services agreed to provide up to US$1.2 billion to accelerate British drug maker AstraZeneca’s vaccine development and secure 300 million doses for the United States.
The vaccine, previously known as ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 and now as AZD1222, was developed by the University of Oxford and licensed to AstraZeneca. Immunity to the new coronavirus is uncertain and so the use of vaccines remains unclear.
Meanwhile, more than 35,000 lives would have been saved in the US if social distancing measures had begun just a week earlier than they actually did in mid-March, according to a new estimate by researchers at Columbia University.
They said simulations based on several models showed that 61 per cent of the US cases of infection as of May 3 – more than 700,000 – and 55 per cent of the more than 65,000 recorded deaths could have been averted if social distancing and other safety measures had been in place a week earlier.
These researchers said the simulations illustrate the danger of easing lockdown measures too early, as many experts have noted. All 50 US states have begun to reopen, to one extent or another and with encouragement from President Donald Trump, to try to resurrect economies devastated by business closures and lay-offs in the pandemic.
“Efforts to further raise public awareness of the ongoing high transmissibility and explosive growth potential of Covid-19 are still needed at this critical time,” the researchers wrote.

Trump wears mask but refuses to be photographed
US President Trump said on Thursday he had finally overcome his aversion to wearing masks against the coronavirus – but he did not want be photographed.
Touring a Ford vehicle factory in Ypsilanti, Michigan, where workers have converted to building respirators and other medical equipment for fighting Covid-19, Trump held up a mask and declared he had covered his face earlier.
“I had one on before. I wore one in this back area but I didn’t want to give the press the pleasure of seeing it,” he told reporters and photographers covering his visit.
Nearly everyone at the Ford factory was wearing a face covering, in line with company policy and government recommendations on curtailing the highly contagious virus.
Japan to start antibody tests on 10,000 people in June
Japan will start testing 10,000 people in Tokyo, Osaka and the northeastern prefecture of Miyagi for antibodies of the coronavirus from early June as part of efforts to better understand its spread, health minister Katsunobu Kato said on Friday.
Authorities hope to grasp the rough number of people in those areas who have been infected with the virus, including those who have not shown any symptoms, as well as gain an outlook for infection numbers should there be a resurgence.
The results will also help authorities estimate how many people will need vaccination.
“We will confirm how much immunity the entire community has acquired and utilise the data to prevent the virus spreading in the future,” Kato said.
The government has chosen the three prefectures as Tokyo and Osaka have high rates of confirmed infections, measured in the number of people testing positive per 100,000 people, while Miyagi has a relatively low rate.
The blood tests, which look for specific proteins made by the immune system in response to infection, will be conducted on roughly 3,000 adults randomly selected in each of the three regions who consent to take part.
Local authorities will conduct the tests and send blood samples to the central government for analysis. The state will leave it up to the municipalities whether to inform the examinees of the results.
China reports four new coronavirus cases
China recorded four new coronavirus infections on May 21, up from two a day earlier, the National Health Commission (NHC) reported on Friday.
China also reported two imported cases from the previous day.
The NHC reported 35 new asymptomatic coronavirus cases, up from 31 a day earlier.
The total number of Covid-19 infections in China to-date stands at 82,971. The death toll remained unchanged at 4,634.
Infections in Singapore surge past 30,000
Singapore’s health ministry said on Friday it had confirmed another 614 coronavirus cases, taking its tally of infections to 30,426.
The vast majority of the new cases are work permit holders residing in foreign worker dormitories, while four are Singaporeans or permanent residents.
While the coronavirus has been spreading rapidly in the dormitories, many of which the authorities have sealed off, the spread in the community apart from the migrant workers has been much slower, with an average of five new cases a day over the past week.
Only 23 people have died in Singapore after contracting Covid-19, one of the world’s lowest death tolls.
The government has said it will test all 320,000 migrants living in the dormitories and has promised to rehouse them when the pandemic subsides.


Britain orders for plans to end reliance on Chinese imports
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has instructed civil servants to make plans to end UK’s reliance on China for vital medical supplies and other strategic imports in light of the coronavirus outbreak, The Times newspaper reported on Friday.
The plans, which have been code named ‘Project Defend’, include identifying Britain’s main economic vulnerabilities to potentially hostile foreign governments as part of a broader new approach to national security, the newspaper reported, adding that the efforts are being led by Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab.
Two working groups have been set up as part of the project, according to the report, with one source telling The Times that the aim was to diversify supply lines to no longer depend on individual countries for non-food essentials.
Johnson told lawmakers he would take steps to protect Britain’s technological base, with the government review also expected to include personal protective equipment and drugs, the report added.
Thailand to extend emergency to end of June
Thailand will maintain its state of emergency over the coronavirus until the end of June, its Covid-19 task force said on Friday, in an effort to keep infections under control as the government prepares to ease restrictions further.
Shopping malls and department stores reopened at the weekend after almost two months of closure as the number of cases slowed, but bars, nightclubs, cinemas, playgrounds and some sports remain off-limits.
The government’s Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) proposed the extension in response to developments with the global pandemic and to allow time to prepare for further easing at the start of next month.
“The reason for extending the emergency decree for one more month is health security, enabling a unified and continued operation by officials in a pandemic situation that has not been resolved,” CSA spokesman Taweesin Wisanuyothin said.
The extension is subject to Cabinet approval on Tuesday.
Thailand has been recording daily infections in single digits for most of the past month and on Friday reported no new coronavirus infections or deaths.
Its total confirmed cases are 3,037, of which 56 were fatalities, with 2,910 recoveries.
US cracks down on unvetted antibody tests
US regulators are moving ahead with a crackdown on scores of antibody tests for the coronavirus that have not yet been shown to work.
The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday published a list of more than two dozen test makers that have failed to file applications to remain on the market or already pulled their products.
The agency said in a statement that it expects the tests “will not be marketed or distributed”. It was unclear if any of the companies would face additional penalties.
Most companies faced a deadline earlier this week to file paperwork demonstrating their tests’ performance. Regulators required it after previously allowing tests to launch with minimal oversight, which critics said had created a “Wild West” of unregulated testing.
The FDA website shows more than 175 tests have either filed applications with the agency or are in the process of doing so. A dozen companies have already been reviewed and authorised by the FDA to sell the tests after meeting requirements for accuracy and reliability.
“We have seen a high level of collaboration and engagement from developers who want to get this right,“ said FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn in a statement.


Brazil passes 20,000 deaths after record daily toll
The coronavirus death toll in Brazil surpassed 20,000 on Thursday, after a record number of fatalities in a 24-hour period, the health ministry said.
The country is the epicentre of the outbreak in Latin America, and its highest one-day toll of 1,188 pushed the overall death tally to 20,047.
Brazil has now recorded more than 310,000 cases, with experts saying a lack of testing means the real figures are probably much higher.
With its curve of infections and deaths rising sharply, the country of 210 million ranks third in the world in terms of total cases, behind the United States and Russia. The death toll – the sixth-highest worldwide – has doubled in just 11 days, according to ministry data.

Despite the worrying spread of the disease, far-right President Jair Bolsonaro on Thursday continued his calls to scrap lockdown measures to revive the country’s flagging economy.
But almost all of the country’s 27 states are under some sort of lockdown order, though Brazilians are wearying of the restrictions in place since the end of March.
Sao Paulo state, the economic and cultural capital of Brazil, is by far the most affected area, with about a quarter of the country’s deaths and infections.
The virus’s impact has accelerated in Rio de Janeiro state in recent days.
Brazil’s president bets on drug that can kill, to save people from virus
Myanmar editor jailed over virus error
A Myanmar news editor has been jailed for two years after his agency reported a coronavirus death that turned out to be false, his lawyer said on Friday.
The country has only 199 confirmed cases of coronavirus and seen six deaths, although the low numbers tested mean experts fear the true figures are far higher.
Chief editor Zaw Ye Htet was arrested May 13, the same day his online news agency Dae Pyaw published an erroneous article alleging there had been a death due to the Covid-19 in eastern Karen state.
On May 20, just one week later, he faced trial, an unusually swift process in a country where suspects often languish for months behind bars before being convicted.
“He was sentenced under section 505(b) to two years in jail,” by the court in Karen state, his lawyer Myint Thuzar Maw said on Friday.
The notorious Section 505(b) is a vaguely worded law, often thrown at journalists and activists for making any statement that cause fear or alarm.
“We’ll appeal this unfair decision,” Zaw Ye Htet’s wife Phyu Phyu Win said.
Karen state has so far only reported two cases of coronavirus and no deaths. The government has warned people will be prosecuted for spreading misinformation about the pandemic, but this is the first known case.
Australia seeks exemption from UK quarantine
Australia, after bringing its coronavirus outbreak largely under control, said on Friday it is seeking an exemption from a requirement that travellers arriving in the UK quarantine for 14 days to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
The British government is planning a 14-day quarantine for most people arriving in the country in the coming weeks to try to prevent a second peak of the pandemic, with details to be finalised next month.
Heathrow Airport has proposed Britain should set up “travel bubbles” with low-risk countries exempt from the requirement.
“Australia has led the world in the successful containment of Covid-19, which clearly means that travellers coming from Australia would pose a low risk to the rest of the world,” Trade Minister Simon Birmingham said in a statement.
Birmingham said Australia has no plans to open its borders to non-citizens, while all returning locals will still have to quarantine for two weeks upon arrival.
Australia has recorded just over 7,000 cases, while the death count rose on Friday to 101 after authorities said a 80-year-old woman died from Covid-19. The unnamed woman contracted the virus in a Sydney hospital.
Facebook CEO embraces more permanent remote work
Facebook’s founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said on Thursday he expects the coronavirus pandemic will have a long-lasting impact on working practises.
Zuckerberg expects that in ten years about half of the social network company’s employees will be working remotely, he said in an interview with technology news site The Verge published on Thursday.
He emphasised that the 50 per cent figure was his estimate and not an official announcement.
According to a survey of Facebook employees, one in five expressed strong support for working from home permanently, while a further 20 per cent expressed “some interest”.
However, 40 per cent said this would not be practical due to the nature of their jobs.
Zuckerberg expects that in the future, more employees will hired to work from home from the beginning of their contracts.
Other major tech firms including Twitter had previously announced their employees could continue to work from home even after social distancing restrictions brought in during the pandemic eased.
Agence France-Presse, Associated Press, Kyodo and dpa


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epa08436516 A man cries for his relative victim of Covid-19 in the Campo de Esperanza cemetery in Brasilia, Brazil, 21 May 2020. Brazil has already registered at least 291,579 cases and around 19,000 coronavirus deaths, although the numbers could be much higher due to high underreporting and the delay in carrying out the tests. EPA-EFE/Joedson Alves

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Malaysia’s Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin will undergo 14 days of home quarantine
Infections in Singapore surpass 30,000; Japan to start antibody tests on 10,000 people


Malaysia’s Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin will undergo 14 days of home quarantine.


Coronavirus latest: Trump urges reopening as US secures 300 million doses of Oxford vaccine

Malaysia’s Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin will undergo 14 days of home quarantine Infections in Singapore surpass 30,000; Japan to start antibody tests on 10,000 people

Malaysia’s Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin will undergo 14 days of home quarantine

Infections in Singapore surpass 30,000; Japan to start antibody tests on 10,000 people