10 must-reads for today
Sign up now: Get insights on Asia's fast-moving developments
Pro-democracy Legislative Council members at a news conference in Hong Kong on Monday.
PHOTO: BLOOMBERG
China yesterday said it strongly supports Hong Kong's decision to arrest 15 pro-democracy activists. China's Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office said the actions of the police were made in accordance with the evidence they had gathered and were "normal law enforcement measures" to ensure the rule of law and order.
Circuit breaker measures to limit the spread of the coronavirus will be extended to June 1, with existing rules further tightened, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong yesterday. This means more workplaces will be closed. Entry restrictions will also be put in place at hot spots where large groups of people continue to gather, starting with four popular markets.
To curb the spread of the coronavirus, Indonesian President Joko Widodo yesterday banned mudik, the annual tradition of people returning to their home villages during the Ramadan fasting month ahead of Hari Raya. The ban takes effect on Friday, the start of Ramadan.
Malaysia's dengue cases are surging even as the authorities battle the coronavirus. There were 139 new dengue cases on Sunday, compared with 84 new confirmed cases of Covid-19. Many areas with Covid-19 clusters are also dengue hot spots, especially in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur.
Crises often inspire innovation, and Covid-19's impact is no different. Companies and governments have to respond and adapt to the changes in its wake, says associate editor Vikram Khanna.
Dr Julian Ong, the surgeon who lost his defamation suit against a woman who had accused him of taking advantage of vulnerable patients, will not be allowed to practise at any of the Parkway Group hospitals from this week.
Donations on fund-raising website Giving.sg reached a record $13.6 million between April 1 and Sunday, as thousands of people responded to an online campaign encouraging Singaporeans to donate a part of or their entire Solidarity Payment. Traffic on the site also surged to a high of 67,000 visitors last Friday alone, far in excess of the daily average of 3,000 to 5,000.
Virgin Australia Holdings, 20 per cent owned by Singapore Airlines, became Asia's first airline to fall to the coronavirus, after the outbreak deprived the debt-burdened company of almost all income. Administrators at Deloitte will take control of the carrier.
The circuit breaker measures have hit physiotherapists hard but some of them are using technology to get round the problem. In a job that relies heavily on physical contact, they now have to trust what they see and hear over video calls to assist clients in their recovery. Still, though wearable devices and video links can help alleviate some issues, not every case can be treated well via remote consultation.
The hunkering down, the ordering in of food, groceries and booze, the home-based learning - there is a name for all this: the Isolation Economy. It is the subject of a 15-hour online course offered by the Singapore Management University. The course is tailored for people in the food and beverage industry, which has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic.
VIDEO
100 years of pandemics
Be it "Spanish", "Asian" or "Hong Kong", deadly flu pandemics have taken their toll in Singapore before. We look back at the past century to find out what happened. Three times that the world coughed, and Singapore caught the bug
STAY-HOME GUIDE
Make your own bread
Baking bread at home may sound like a tall order, but with these four simple ingredients - bread flour, yeast, salt and water - it is not difficult to get started. 5 things to do today: Make your own bread, do your manicure and more
