Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia’s economic growth likely slowed to the weakest in 18 years in the first quarter, but there is probably worse to come during the rest of 2020 due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, a Reuters poll found.

The median forecast of 15 analysts in a Reuters poll was for Southeast Asia’s largest economy to expand 4.04% from a year earlier, compared with 4.97% in the previous quarter.

If the forecast is correct, it would by Indonesia’s slowest growth rate since the second quarter of 2002, based on the OECD data.

SEOUL, April 30 (NNN-YONHAP) — South Korea reported four more cases of the new coronavirus Thursday, but all of them were imported ones, marking the first time that local infections have fallen to zero since the coronavirus outbreak began more than two months ago.

The four new cases brought the total to 10,765.

It was the lowest daily increase in more than two months, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC). The figure peaked on Feb. 29 at 909.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean authorities on Thursday were investigating what caused a fire that killed 38 construction workers in one of the country’s deadliest fires in years.

The explosion that swept through a warehouse being built in Icheon, just south of Seoul, also injured 10 others Wednesday.

At the time of the fire, 78 workers had been inside the warehouse and all have been accounted for, local fire official Park Su-jong said.

TOKYO (AP) — Under Japan’s coronavirus state of emergency, people have been asked to stay home. Many are not. Some still have to commute to their jobs despite risks of infection, while others continue to dine out, picnic in parks and crowd into grocery stores with scant regard for social distancing.

On Wednesday, the first day of the “Golden Week” holidays that run through May 5, Tokyo’s leafy Shiba Park was packed with families with small children, day camping in tents.

Beijing, Apr 29 (PTI) China will hold its annual Parliament session from May 22 which was earlier scheduled to be held from March 5 and got postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic outbreak in the country, the state media reported on Wednesday.

The decision was made at a regular session of the National People's Congress' (NPC) Standing Committee, the country's top legislature, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

KUALA LUMPUR, April 29 (NNN-BERNAMA) — More than 70 per cent of COVID-19 death cases in Malaysia had comorbidities of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), said an exercise medicine expert Prof Dr Lee Chee Pheng.

He said the risk of contracting COVID-19 is higher in people with weak immune defences and could further be compromised in chronic conditions such as heart and lung diseases as well as diabetes.

BEIJING, Apr 28 (APP): China, more than anyone else, wants to see a harmonious relation between Pakistan and Afghanistan and will contribute to any effort that helps improve the mutual trust and relations between the two sides, China’s State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said.

BEIJING, April 28 (Xinhua) -- Claims that the novel coronavirus came from China's National Biosafety Laboratory at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) were groundless and contradict all available evidence, said lab director Yuan Zhiming in a recent written interview with Reuters.

BEIJING, April 28 (Xinhua) -- BRICS countries Tuesday evening agreed to enhance collaboration in fighting against the COVID-19 pandemic.

The consensus was reached during the BRICS Foreign Ministers' Extraordinary Conference on COVID-19 via video link, which was chaired by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and gathered Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Brazilian Foreign Minister Ernesto Araujo, Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and South Africa's Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Naledi Pandor.

BANGKOK (AP) — As governments move forward with plans to ease coronavirus restrictions, health officials around the globe are calling on the public to remain vigilant so that hard-won victories in the battle against the pandemic are not lost.