Philippines to bar travel from Malaysia, Thailand to curb Delta’s spread

Passengers, mostly Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) queue at the departure area of Ninoy Aquino International Airport amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Pasay, Metro Manila, Philippines, on June 1, 2021.Reuters The Philippines will ban travellers coming from Malaysia and Thailand, as well as tighten restrictions in the Manila area, in a bid to prevent the...

Malaysia’s Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul on the ‘Bendera Putih’ campaign, job losses and standing for election

Malaysia’s Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz.Twitter/tzafrul_aziz Malaysia ’s Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz spoke to the South China Morning Post on a wide range of issues concerning the National Recovery Plan, a four-phase road map for the country to progressively reopen its economy by the end of the year. While Malaysia’s heaving health care system...

Myanmar funeral services overwhelmed as Covid-19 toll mounts

Hundreds more bodies than usual are being taken for funerals every day in junta-ruled Myanmar as a new wave of Covid-19 sweeps through the country, services transporting the bodies and arranging ceremonies said. The accounts from different parts of Myanmar point to the daily death tolls being higher than those given by the health ministry, which...

Malaysia to stop using Sinovac vaccine after supply ends: Minister

People receive doses of the Sinovac vaccine against the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) in a vaccination truck in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on July 12, 2021.Reuters Malaysia's health ministry on Thursday (July 15) said the country will stop administering the Covid-19 vaccine produced by China's Sinovac once its supplies end, as it has a sufficient number of other vaccines for...

2 KTV lounges in Parklane mall closed due to likely Covid-19 spread; KTV cluster grows to 88 cases

Two KTV lounges at Parklane Shopping Mall in Selegie will be closed from Friday (July 16) to July 30, said the Ministry of Health (MOH) on Thursday night. The lounges are Las Vegas KTV and Tuberose KTV at 35 Selegie Road, which is the address of the mall. This to break any potential chain of transmission and...

Dirty air makes Covid-19 worse, beta variant deadlier than original

People line up for nucleic acid testing at a makeshift testing site in a park following the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) outbreak, on a polluted day in Daxing district of Beijing, China, on Jan 26, 2021.Reuters Here is a roundup of some of the latest scientific studies on the novel coronavirus and efforts to find treatments and...

North Korea rejected AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine over side effects, says think-tank

North Korea has rejected planned shipments of AstraZeneca's Covid-19 vaccine that were being organised under the global Covax distribution scheme due to concerns over side effects, a South Korean think-tank said on Friday (July 9). Covax has said it would provide nearly two million doses of AstraZeneca's shots to North Korea. The first batch had been...

Coronavirus: Early signs Sinovac’s jab is safe and effective in children

The Covid-19 vaccine developed by Chinese company Sinovac is safe and effective for children as young as three, early stage human trials have found, as China seeks to expand immunisation coverage. The vaccine, which gained World Health Organisation emergency use approval for adults earlier this month, has already been approved for emergency use for children above...

As Malaysia’s Covid-19 vaccination drive revs up, sceptics threaten to spoil the party

In the interior of Malaysia’s Sabah state, two thirds of which remains under forest cover, citizens are deeply sceptical about Covid-19 vaccinations. The state has experienced its fair share of trauma during the pandemic, stemming from its experience as the “ground zero” of the nationwide third wave of infections that stretches back to September. Despite having witnessed...

Malaysia PM announces $48b aid package amid extended lockdown

Malaysia Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin on Monday (June 28) announced a 150 billion ringgit (S$48 billion) aid package, including cash aid and wage subsidies, a day after extending a nationwide lockdown indefinitely to tackle a stubborn Covid-19 outbreak. Lockdown measures originally set to end on Monday would not be eased until daily reported cases fell below 4,000,...