Second wave of coronavirus in Asia prompts fresh lockdowns

[snoop1130]

Second wave of coronavirus in Asia prompts fresh lockdowns

By Stephen Coates

 

FILE PHOTO: People wearing face masks following the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak walk at a shopping mall in Hong Kong, China July 20, 2020. REUTERS/Lam Yik

 

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Countries around Asia are confronting a second wave of coronavirus infections and are clamping down again to try to contain the disease, with Australia recording a record daily rise in cases and Vietnam locking down the city of Danang.

 

Mainland China is battling the most aggressive return of COVID-19 in months, confirming 57 new locally transmitted cases on Sunday, the highest level since early March, driven by fresh infections in the far western region of Xinjiang.

 

In the northeast, Liaoning province reported a fifth straight day of new infections and Jilin province reported two new cases, its first since late May.

 

Hong Kong is expected to announce further restrictions on Monday including a ban on restaurant dining and mandated face masks outdoors, local media reported.

 

The measures, which are expected to take effect from Wednesday, would be the first time the city has completely banned dining in restaurants.

 

Australian authorities warned a six-week lockdown in parts of the southeastern Victoria state may last longer after the country registered its highest daily increase in infections.

 

Most of Australia is effectively virus-free but flare-ups in the two most populous southeastern states have authorities scrambling to prevent a wider national outbreak.

 

"The tragedy of COVID-19 is that we know, with the number of new infections that we have seen today, that there will be many further deaths in the days ahead," Australia's Deputy Chief Medical Officer Michael Kidd told reporters.

 

In Japan, the government said it would urge business leaders to ramp up anti-virus measures such as staggered shifts, and aimed to see rates of telecommuting achieved during an earlier state of emergency.

 

"At one point, commuter numbers were down by 70 to 80%, but now it's only about 30%," Economy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura said late on Sunday. "We really don't want to backtrack on this, so we have to explore new ways of working and keep telecommuting high."

 

Japan has avoided mass infections but a record surge in cases during the past week in Tokyo and other urban centres has experts worried the country faces a second wave.

 

Vietnam is evacuating 80,000 people, mostly local tourists, from the central city of Danang after three residents tested positive for the coronavirus at the weekend, the government said on Monday.

 

The Southeast Asian country is back on high alert after the government on Saturday confirmed its first community infections since April, and another three cases on Sunday, all in Danang.

 

In the Philippines, President Rodrigo Duterte is expected to focus on COVID-19 and the economy in his annual State of the Nation Address on Monday.

 

Manila is weighing whether to re-impose stricter lockdown measures after easing them saw a dramatic surge in infections and deaths, with 62,326 cases reported since the first lockdown was relaxed June 1.

 

Elsewhere in Southeast Asia, Malaysia is expected to announce new measures to contain the outbreak as authorities struggle to contain more than a dozen new clusters that have appeared since curbs were lifted last month.

 

Indonesia is expected to report its 100,000th case on Monday, having surpassed China with the highest number of cases and deaths in East Asia.

 

North Korean state media reported on the weekend that the border town of Kaesong was in lockdown after a person who defected to South Korea three years ago returned this month with symptoms of COVID-19.

 

If confirmed, it would be the first case officially acknowledged by North Korean authorities.

 

South Korea has reported more than 14,000 cases and 298 deaths from the pandemic. Saturday's 113 infections were the highest on a single day since March 31.

 

Papua New Guinea halted entry for travellers from Monday, except those arriving by air, as it tightens curbs against infections that have more than doubled over the past week.

 

Traditional border crossing were suspended from July 23, police chief David Manning said in a statement distributed on Monday. PNG has fluid borders with Indonesia, the Federated States of Micronesia and the Solomon Islands with people regularly crossing on foot or in small boats.

 

While much of Asia is reimposing lockdowns and other curbs on movement, India continues to ease restrictions despite a relentless rise in infections. India has a total of 1.4 million cases, behind only the United States and Brazil.

 

More than 16.13 million people have been reported to be infected by the novel coronavirus globally and 644,836 have died, according to a Reuters tally.

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-07-27

 

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[Keyser Soze666]

It's game over. Someone turn out the lights.

[ThailandRyan]

Glad my pantry and freezer are stocked as well as my wine refrigerator....

Spent the day at Siam Paragon and it was packed.  The Sea Life Aquarium was also full and had many children inside.  Chinese were in big numbers so I wonder if they Traveled to Bangkok from other provinces such as Chiang Mai for the 4 door weekend.

Edited July 27, 2020 by ThailandRyan

[lee b]

I wonder if Vietnam will be testing the 80,000 people they are evacuating before hand? 

[Bruce Aussie Chiang Mai]

We lucky we here in Thailand, we surrounded by virus on all sides. Guess the sensible use of masks and hand wash everywhere working.

Plenof good food and beer, nothing to worry about asking as we keep everyone  else out.

????❤????????

[tonray]

14 hours ago, ThailandRyan said:

Glad my pantry and freezer are stocked as well as my wine refrigerator....

You're all set....French wine producers are currently selling last year's stock to distilleries to make hand sanitizer alcohol because this year's crop is set for harvest and they need to make room. Set up your still and you're good to go.

[tonray]

Spent my birthday weekend in Hua HIn...packed, packed and packed. You might not know thousands out of work and economy flailing like a foriegner at extension time.

[Isaan sailor]

Thank you, China, for your Virus.  And special thanks for sucking in Mekong waters, and claiming South China Sea.  Sorry to hear your Wuhan-19 has returned to the source...

[Pravda]

Please don't ruin the thread with serious post

[JimHuaHin]

14 hours ago, lee b said:

I wonder if Vietnam will be testing the 80,000 people they are evacuating before hand? 

 

Quarantine and testing -

 

[Tarteso]

End of Turism in Asia. You, as Expat or Turist can participate in the new topic;

 

BOTSWANA VISA FORUM

(No Covid-19)

Edited July 28, 2020 by Tarteso

[nobodysfriend]

16 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Countries around Asia are confronting a second wave of coronavirus infections and are clamping down again to try to contain the disease, with Australia recording a record daily rise in cases and Vietnam locking down the city of Danang.

It ain't over 'till it's over ... anyway enjoy every day as if it were your last ... but be careful .

[thequietman]

42 minutes ago, Tarteso said:

End of Turism in Asia. You, as Expat or Turist can participate in the new topic;

 

BOTSWANA VISA FORUM

(No Covid-19)

Nonsense. Give it time.

 

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/botswana/

[Bender Rodriguez]

17 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Mainland China is battling the most aggressive return of COVID-19 in months, confirming 57 new locally transmitted cases on Sunday, the highest level since early March, driven by fresh infections in the far western region of Xinjiang.

out of 1.193.000.000 people ?

[overherebc]

1 hour ago, nobodysfriend said:

It ain't over 'till it's over ... anyway enjoy every day as if it were your last ... but be careful .

Enjoy every day as if it were your last because someday it will be. ????????

[Syduan]

17 hours ago, Bruce Aussie Chiang Mai said:

We lucky we here in Thailand, we surrounded by virus on all sides. Guess the sensible use of masks and hand wash everywhere working.

Plenof good food and beer, nothing to worry about asking as we keep everyone  else out.

????❤????????

 

[rupert the bear]

so the panic and insanity continues,last week we passed 640K deaths same as flu for last season.we must learn to live with it.get on with life.we have almost 8 billion of us.lets take a reality check. protect the fragile and move on.mask ,wash hands and lets get back to life.the control patterns by govts who are basically responsible for this are absurd,there will be pockets or clusters what ever you do.deal with them.china,well lies and more lies so what is going on there is anyones guess.send em the bill.or after theyve stopped their little temper tantrum,just dont buy anything they make.we as the people can do that no matter what idiot ville central tell us IE govt.time to tell them to walk and move on.as i said protect the fragile and then get back to work ,hit the airport quit the squealing and screaming,adjust your mask smear on that soap ,so general ,xi .abe ,trump merkel etc leave us alone and go f%^k your selves as you got us into this and you now wont let us out for whatever reasons you do have.and they are multitude from here ,china and philippines where you wish to keep power to eu and USA where you want to control our political thoughts.its all been a mighty fine opportunity for authority to push its agenda no matter where.we need to quit the sheep impersonations,look at rayong,pathetic is the politest word.....

Edited July 28, 2020 by rupert the bear

[RichardColeman]

18 hours ago, Keyser Soze666 said:

It's game over. Someone turn out the lights.

With 360,000 approx born every day and half that number dying, the human race is growing 180,000 a day, which means that since covid started the human race has grown 37,000,000 - even if taking off 650,000 deaths from Covid. World needs to man up and get on with normal life - we're not in danger of dying out soon - unless someone in china starts eating some alien bacteria in dinosaur bones or something

[ThailandRyan]

1 hour ago, Syduan said:

 

Oh you people and your sheeple exaggerations.  Just think if the US would place the entire country on a 3 week lockdown with no one going anywhere.  The virus would be fricking long gone, but if not wear a mask for the right reasons.  Its not infringing on your rights either...

[SePl]

During that time the "smart people" of EU and US still do not understand that they must wear a mask...

 

 

[Tropposurfer]

Say goodbye to 2020 for our borders to open except for heavily quarantined essential folks.

[overherebc]

4 hours ago, Syduan said:

 

Who is the shifty looking one with the black eyes. 2nd from left front row????

[GreasyFingers]

2 hours ago, overherebc said:

Who is the shifty looking one with the black eyes. 2nd from left front row????

Are you a Kiwi?

[lonewolf99]

I am with "Rupert the Bear" on this one.

 

It is a new flu that knocks down obese people (90% in UK) who tend to have underlying health issues.

Tell them to stay indoors, don't travel and wear a bleeding mask and lose weight.

 

A work collegue of mine - White, blue eyed, English, normal weight, no health issues age 50- was tested and found to have had the virus. He had no symptoms what so ever !

Another colleague - Asian/oriental, brown eyes, normal weight, no health issues age 30 - knocked on his back for 2 weeks with the virus and recovered.

 

The same happens with the old fashioned flu - why the hell are we making an exception to this one ???

 

The control freaks have taken over the world.

[Tarteso]

11 hours ago, thequietman said:

Nonsense. Give it time.

 

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/botswana/

Come on it was a joke. All the world is under second wave, Africa in a very danger position increasing the curve;

 

 

 

[Cryingdick]

On 7/27/2020 at 7:12 AM, Bruce Aussie Chiang Mai said:

We lucky we here in Thailand, we surrounded by virus on all sides. Guess the sensible use of masks and hand wash everywhere working.

Plenof good food and beer, nothing to worry about asking as we keep everyone  else out.

????❤????????

 

I can't believe people still believe Thailand isn't affected because of their stellar systematic use of masks. Eat with a Thai family and you will quickly see that any sickness will be passed to pretty much every person sitting on the floor in a circle eating.

 

I will give an example of precautions that went out of their way to prevent the virus and fell short. Major League baseball. They have 17 infections and were all quarantined, sealed off from the world, tested, special cleaning of rooms, you name the precaution it was taken and still an outbreak.

 

Something doesn't add up. Maybe Thais have the sort of thing going on that little kids have. They don't seem to be infected as much or super spread it if they are. I am half joking there.

 

 

Edited July 28, 2020 by Cryingdick

[JemJem]

7 hours ago, Tropposurfer said:

Say goodbye to 2020 for our borders to open except for heavily quarantined essential folks.

Sadly, you might be right. There is quite a high chance that unfortunately I won't be able to go to Thailand this year. 

 

By the way, folks, there is one interesting detail in the article. It says that the person who was found to be positive in N. Korea is someone who defected to S. Korea 3 years ago and then headed back home. Wow. It is a brave but very crazy act for a defector to go back to N.Korea, although we don't know all the details of course. 

[daveAustin]

On 7/27/2020 at 12:12 PM, Bruce Aussie Chiang Mai said:

We lucky we here in Thailand, we surrounded by virus on all sides. Guess the sensible use of masks and hand wash everywhere working.

Plenof good food and beer, nothing to worry about asking as we keep everyone  else out.

????❤????????

Yes, it's everywhere but Thailand. Why is that? Think a little, now.

[sezze]

13 hours ago, Tropposurfer said:

Say goodbye to 2020 for our borders to open except for heavily quarantined essential folks.

I saw it coming already . Nrs are going up near everywhere , and since they was no change in outlook on tourism side , then you could imagine that unless a vaccine or medicines ( just read there are promising results on some existing meds ) anywhere long haul travel would not be happening . Let's just hope they find something fast , or the virus does the magic disappearing act ( which also might just happen , highly doubtful because too many cases but can only hope ) . Personally im not looking at all anymore at this year , i give it less then 5% chance , and i am hoping at around april/songkran ( in case of vaccine ) or next year october . Damn far ahead , but we are in this already 6 months with no future in sight .

[englishoak]

12 hours ago, overherebc said:

Who is the shifty looking one with the black eyes. 2nd from left front row????

 

That ones clearly had a makeover.  Probably katoey of the sheep world