Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

MANILA, April 13 (Xinhua) -- The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said on Monday it tripled the size of its response to the COVID-19 pandemic to 20 billion U.S. dollars and approved measures to streamline its operations for quicker and more flexible delivery of assistance.

The Manila-based bank said the package expands ADB's 6.5 billion U.S. dollars initial response announced on March 18, adding 13.5 billion U.S. dollars in resources to help ADB's developing members counter the severe macroeconomic and health impacts caused by COVID-19.

TOKYO (AP) — The International Olympic Committee will face “several hundred million dollars” of added costs because of the postponement of the Tokyo Games, the body’s president said.

Thomas Bach spoke in an interview with German newspaper Die Welt on Sunday.

Estimates in Japan put the overall cost of the postponement at $2 billion-$6 billion. Except for the IOC portion, all added costs will be borne by the Japanese side according to an agreement signed in 2013 when Tokyo was awarded the Olympics.

HANOI, Apr 13 (NNN-VNA) – The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) stood shoulder to shoulder with one another, as well as, with China, to curb the spread of COVID-19, showing their strong determination and political commitment to battle the global pandemic.

TOKYO (AP) — South Korean officials warned Monday that hard-earned progress fighting the coronavirus pandemic could be upset by new infections at bars and leisure spots, highlighting global tensions between governments desperate to maintain social distancing and citizens eager to resume their lives as economic pressure mounts and infections slow in some places.

BEIJING, Apr 12 (APP): A Chinese scholar has urged the international community to lend a helping hand and assist Pakistan to fight Covid-19 pandemic at the current crucial moment.

“I strongly believe that at this crucial moment, the international community should lend a helping hand and assist Pakistan to fight the pandemic and solve the livelihood problems of the poor,” Cheng Xizhong, special commentator of China Economic Net and visiting professor at Southwest University of Political Science and Law said in a statement here on Sunday.

NUR-SULTAN, April 12. /TASS/: Spacecraft producers from Russia, France, Italy, the United States and Turkey sent technical proposals on making the Kazakh telecom satellite KazSat-2R, press service of the Kazakh Ministry of Digital Development, Innovations and Aerospace Industry told TASS.

12 April 2020; AFP: North Korea called for stronger measures against the rapidly spreading coronavirus pandemic at a meeting presided by leader Kim Jong Un, state media reported Sunday, without acknowledging whether the country had reported any infections.

The already isolated, nuclear-armed North quickly shut down its borders after the virus was first detected in neighbouring China in January, and imposed strict containment measures.

MANILA (Reuters) - The Philippines recorded 50 coronavirus deaths on Sunday, its highest in a single day, taking the toll to 297.

In a bulletin, the health ministry said 220 new infections took the tally of virus cases to 4,648. But 40 more patients recovered, for a total of 197 recoveries.

JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia on Sunday reported 399 new cases of the coronavirus, its biggest daily jump so far, bringing the total number of infections in the country to 4,241, according to data provided by a health ministry official, Achmad Yurianto.

Yurianto said there were also 46 new coronavirus-related deaths, taking the total to 373.

PHNOM PENH, April 12 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen will attend the special ASEAN Summit and the special ASEAN+3 (China, Japan and South Korea) Summit on COVID-19 via video conference on Tuesday here, said a foreign ministry's statement on Sunday.

The upcoming summits were convened by Vietnam, the current chair of ASEAN.