Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — As a doctor in North Korea during the SARS outbreak and flu pandemic, Choi Jung Hun didn’t have much more than a thermometer to decide who should be quarantined.

Barely paid, with no test kits and working with antiquated equipment, if anything, he and his fellow doctors in the northeastern city of Chongjin were often unable to determine who had the disease, even after patients died, said Choi, who fled to South Korea in 2012.

19 April 2020; AFP: The director of a maximum-security laboratory in China's coronavirus ground-zero city of Wuhan has rejected claims that it could be the source of the outbreak, calling it "impossible".

Beijing has come under increasing pressure over transparency in its handling of the pandemic, with the US probing whether the virus actually originated in a virology institute with a high-security biosafety laboratory.

Chinese scientists have said the virus likely jumped from an animal to humans in a market that sold wildlife.

NEW DELH, April 19 (Bernama) — A Malindo Air special flight on Saturday evacuated 179 people, mostly Malaysian citizens, from India and Sri Lanka amid the coronavirus curbs on travel.

The plane carried 97 passengers, including an infant and a few permanent residents of Malaysia, from Chennai in the afternoon and flew to Colombo to pick up 82 Malaysians from there, a person familiar with the rescue flight said.

WUHAN, April 18 (Xinhua) -- Wuhan, once the hardest-hit city by novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), has been classified as a low-risk area of the outbreak as the city has met the criteria of no newly confirmed cases for the last 14 days, according to the latest assessment released Saturday by local authorities.

By the end of Friday, the central province of Hubei, which administers Wuhan, has 76 low-risk cities and counties and none with high risk or medium risk, according to the provincial COVID-19 epidemic prevention and control headquarters Saturday.

BEIJING, April 19 (Xinhua) -- Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Saturday that at the critical moment when the world is combating the COVID-19 pandemic, supporting the World Health Organization (WHO) and its director-general is to safeguard the philosophy and principle of multilateralism.

He made the remarks when holding a phone conversation with WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, noting that the support is also an act to secure the United Nations' status and role and maintain the international solidarity in the face of the disease.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea reported fewer than 10 new coronavirus cases Sunday for the first time in two months as U.S. governors ease lockdowns amid pressure worldwide from businesses and the public to limit the pandemic’s economic damage.

In Brazil, hundreds of people protested in major cities against anti-virus lockdowns. France reported a decline in numbers of intensive care patients but its health agency warned the public to stick to strict isolation measures.

HONG KONG (AP) — The United States condemned the arrests of at least 14 veteran pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong on charges of joining massive anti-government protests last year, saying the police action jeopardizes a high degree of autonomy guaranteed the southern Chinese city.

Among those arrested Saturday were 81-year-old activist and former lawmaker Martin Lee and democracy advocates Albert Ho, Lee Cheuk-yan and Au Nok-hin. Police also arrested media tycoon Jimmy Lai, who founded the local newspaper Apple Daily.

MANILA, April 18 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Eighteen guards and inmates at a jam-packed Philippine prison have tested positive for the coronavirus, officials said, heightening fears of a rapid spread of the illness inside the country’s jails.

Another 30 prisoners were showing symptoms inside the Quezon City Jail in the capital Manila – a facility so crowded that inmates take turns sleeping on staircases and open-air basketball courts.

18 April 2020; AFP: Police in Hong Kong carried out a sweeping operation against high-profile democracy campaigners on Saturday, arresting 14 activists on charges related to massive protests that rocked the Asian financial hub last year.

Among those targeted was media tycoon Jimmy Lai, 72, founder of anti-establishment newspaper Apple Daily, who was arrested at his home.

(Reuters) - Singapore’s health ministry confirmed 942 new coronavirus infections on Saturday, a new daily record, taking the total number of COVID-19 cases in the city-state to 5,992.

The vast majority of the new cases are of “work permit” holders living in foreign worker dormitories, the health ministry said in a statement on Saturday.