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JOHANNESBURG • South African police enforcing a coronavirus lockdown yesterday fired rubber bullets at hundreds of shoppers queueing outside a supermarket in Johannesburg, an Agence France-Presse photographer said. Between 200 and 300 people gathered outside a popular grocery store, Shoprite, early in the day in Yeoville, a crime-prone area in Johannesburg’s gritty central business district […]

WUHAN • Dozens of people clashed on the Hubei border after the Chinese government lifted a two-month quarantine on Hubei province, the epicentre of China’s outbreak, highlighting the challenges of undoing the unprecedented measures taken to contain the virus. The conflict began on Friday morning on a bridge connecting Hubei and neighbouring Jiangxi province, as […]

PUTRAJAYA • More than 400 people in Malaysia were arrested over Thursday and Friday for flouting the country’s movement control order (MCO), which has shut schools and businesses and only allows people to leave their homes for essential goods and services, such as food and medical care. The month-long controls, which will be in place […]

JAKARTA • Indonesia’s capital Jakarta has announced a two-week extension of its state of emergency following a nationwide surge in coronavirus cases. Mr Anies Baswedan told reporters during a video conference yesterday that the state of emergency, imposed on March 20 to try to slow the spread of the virus in South-east Asia’s largest city, […]

Japan’s megacities of Tokyo and Osaka came to a virtual standstill yesterday as millions of residents heeded their leaders’ call to stay home this weekend to curb the spread of the coronavirus. The governors of at least eight prefectures in Japan – Tokyo, Chiba, Kanagawa, Saitama and Yamanashi, which comprise the Greater Tokyo metropolitan area, […]

Enterprise Singapore has denied claims circulating on social media and text-messaging apps that one of its safe distancing ambassadors had fined a member of the public. It addressed the claims in a Facebook post on Friday. One of the claims on social media was put up by a user who said she witnessed a customer […]

Between social distancing measures and the mandatory closure of entertainment outlets, the usual crowds were nowhere to be seen yesterday. Business had all but halted at sites usually popular with both Singaporeans and tourists. In Haji Lane, local shops were largely devoid of shoppers, although a number of passers-by were taking pictures of the iconic […]

Crowds in Orchard Road were visibly thinner yesterday after stricter safe distancing measures were put in place, and the Government reminded the public to stay home and go out only for essential needs. Shoppers dutifully queued to enter shopping centres to limit numbers inside, some for nearly an hour, while maintaining a 1m distance from […]

Singapore has further tightened restrictions on the entry of foreigners, announcing yesterday that all long-term visit pass (LTVP) holders and student pass holders have to obtain approval from the authorities first, starting from 11.59pm tonight. This comes as the number of coronavirus cases here passed the 800 mark to hit 802, after the Health Ministry […]

As the coronavirus rampages across the planet, governments and hospitals are desperate for personal protective equipment (PPE) to deal with a rising flood of ill people putting healthcare staff at risk. “The chronic global shortage of personal protective gear is now one of the most urgent threats to our collective ability to save lives,” World […]