Asian Insider, June 15: Fears of a second wave of coronavirus infections, Maria Ressa guilty of cyber libel, Asians not quite ready to work from home

Hi all,

In today's bulletin: Fresh coronavirus cases in a Beijing market raises alarm, Philippine journalist Maria Ressa held guilty of cyber libel, Asians not ready to work from home, Facebook rejects calls to share revenue with Australian media, and more.

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Early signs of a fresh wave of coronavirus infections in China and clusters in South Korea are raising concern that the pandemic is nowhere near being contained.

An outbreak in Beijing's largest fruit and vegetable market, Xinfadi, over the weekend left over a hundred people infected, forcing officials to go door-to-door to identify and test potential new cases.

The sudden appearance of the new infections in the capital city of 20 million people threatens to disrupt the normalisation of everyday life and business, brought about after China successfully contained the first round of infections and saw no new cases, except for imported ones, for 55 days before the latest outbreak surfaced.

Meanwhile, in South Korea, the appearance of new flare-ups at nightclubs and retail distribution centres has raised concern of a second wave of infections. Given the current rate, a prominent infectious disease specialist has warned that the country could see as many as 800 new cases a day by July, if the government does not introduce stricter social distancing guidelines.

China Correspondent Elizabeth Law: New Beijing infections in market spark fears of second wave

Salmon suppliers say China has halted imports after coronavirus found at Beijing market

A Philippine court held Maria Ressa, editor of Rappler, one of the country's top news websites, guilty of cyber-libel for a story published in 2012. She and her former researcher and writer Reynaldo Santos Jr were sentenced to a jail term that ranged from six months to six years, but were allowed to post bail.

The decision has kicked up a furore in the country, coming as it does weeks after Philippine regulators shut down the country's largest media company ABS-CBN in early May, a day after its 25-year congressional franchise expired.

Philippines Correspondent Raul Dancel explains the case against Ressa in his report.

Asians prefer working in the office? So, it seems. Many companies across the region seem to be allowing their employees to return to office even as they try to ensure that safe distancing rules are in place, and working remotely is also possible.

This seems partly driven by the Asian work culture that leans towards more in-person connections. And the infrastructure in countries like Indonesia and Philippines which simply cannot support a wholesale shift to working from home.

Our bureaus report that in China, most seem to have already abandoned the "great work from home experiment" and are back in the office. While, in South Korea, a study found that only 40 per cent of firms were willing to let staff work from home.

Japan Correspondent Walter Sim: Telework here to stay in Japan, at least for big companies

Social media giant Facebook has rejected calls to share advertising revenue with the media, in a submission made to Australia's competition watchdog. It has suggested that it would rather cut news content from its platform.

The Australian government and news companies have asked Facebook to share advertising revenue with the media, in a battle being watched by many. The initiative has been strongly pushed by Australia's two biggest media companies, Rupert Murdoch's News Corp and Nine Entertainment.

Read more:

Australia to force Google, Facebook to pay domestic media to use content

AIRASIA TO RESUME FLYING FROM JULY: Malaysian budget carrier AirAsia Group will restart all domestic routes from July, Chief Executive Officer Tony Fernandes said today, after the government eased movement curbs for containing the coronavirus. The airline will run flights over its entire domestic network and at full seat capacity, according to government guidelines, though frequency would depend on demand, he said.

ASIA'S ELECTRONICS SECTOR BOOMS: Global trade could be slowing but the electronics sector in Asia could be headed for a boom year. In South Korea, semiconductor exports rose in May while imports of equipment used in producing semiconductors surged 168 per cent. And Taiwan's electronic-component exports, which include chips, grew 13.2 per cent in May to US$10.2 billion (S$14.2 billion).

SINGAPORE HOSPITAL ONLY ASIAN IN NEWSWEEK'S TOP 10 LIST: Singapore General Hospital (SGH) was ranked 8th in a survey of 1,600 hospitals in 21 countries, in Newsweek magazine's annual ranking of the world's best hospitals. SGH was the only Asian hospital among the top 10. Japan's University of Tokyo Hospital, the only other Asian hospital to make the top 10 last year, fell to the 18th position. The top three hospitals this year are all in the United States: the Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic and Massachusetts General Hospital.