An official at Thailand’s Health Ministry on Friday denied news reports that the government had ordered the compulsory quarantine of all arrivals from the four countries hardest hit by the novel coronavirus whether or not they were infected or showing symptoms, after days of mixed messages.The government labeled China, Iran, Italy and South Korea — along with Hong Kong and Macau — “dangerous communicable disease areas” on Thursday. The same day, Reuters news agency reported that all arrivals from those areas would have to quarantine themselves for 14 days, either at home or in their hotels, citing Health Ministry spokesman Rungrueng Kitphati.Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul had announced the compulsory quarantine for arrivals from the countries and territories on Facebook on Tuesday — along with France, Germany, Japan, Singapore and Taiwan — but deleted his post soon after and closed the account the next day. He told local media that the list needed revising.On Friday afternoon, Tanarak Pipat, deputy director-general of the Health Ministry’s disease control department, told VOA that there was no mandatory quarantine order for arrivals from any country for the time being.”No, not yet,” he said. “We did not quarantine the travelers.”Asked whether the government might yet impose a compulsory quarantine on arrivals from any country, Tanarak replied, “maybe, just maybe.”The AFP news agency reported that the government was “recommending” that arrivals from the four countries self-quarantine, however, and insisted that they report to authorities on their health status daily.People line up to buy face masks amid concerns about the spread of the coronavirus, outside a shopping mall in Bangkok, Thailand, March 5, 2020.Thailand has also been moving ahead tentatively with “social distancing” efforts to cut down on large crowds through which the virus might spread. Authorities have postponed one of the country’s largest sporting events, the MotoGP 2020, scheduled for later this month over outbreak fears and suspended the full-moon parties on Koh Phangan, which draw thousands of revelers a month, until further notice.Thailand was the first country outside of China to report an infection of Covid-19, as the new virus is officially known. But the country has since kept new cases in check. It reported its 48th confirmed case on Friday, a British man who arrived via Hong Kong. Of the 48 patients, 31 have recovered and one has died.The concern the World Health Organization (WHO) has with any possible blanket policy of compulsory quarantine is its risk or looking like and in effect acting as an international travel ban, which it advises against.”Our formal line on this is that it’s not really recommended,” Dr. Rick Brown, health and emergency program manager for the WHO in Thailand, told VOA.”Until now there’s really been insufficient evidence to really inform a very, very considered scientific debate about it. But on the basis of the evidence that’s available so far, it seems like travel restrictions don’t necessarily work. And they do also have these collateral disadvantages.”He said travel restrictions imposed during the Ebola virus outbreak that hit parts of Africa some years ago hurt efforts to fight the disease by making it harder for health professionals and medical supplies to reach the affected area.”So I think it’s a combination of:  Is there very good evidence that the measures that are actually going to be effective in slowing the spread of the disease balanced against all the kind of collateral, negative impacts that a restriction on travel will have?” he said.Brown said he was impressed with the Thai government’s response to the Covid-19 crisis to date, praising its laboratories, coordination between agencies, emergency operations centers and case follow-up.Despite those efforts, the crisis has taken a heavy toll on Thailand’s already flagging economy, which draws heavily on tourist dollars. The tourism authority says the outbreak could cost the country 15% of the roughly 40 million foreign arrivals the country sees each year. Forecasters expect GDP growth in 2020 to dip below 2% owing partly to the virus. 
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The United States sent its second aircraft carrier in as many years to Vietnam this week, shortly after toughening up its treatment of the Southeast Asian country’s economic prowess over concerns about the bilateral trade imbalance. Vietnam went along with both moves, yet didn’t play up either.Vietnam and the United States are growing closer, despite their bitter war 50 years ago, as both hope to check Beijing’s expansion in the South China Sea, analysts say. However, Vietnam’s communist political system and pursuit of a multicountry foreign policy rather than a purely pro-Western one are likely to stop Washington from getting too close. For their part, U.S. officials worry about Vietnam’s U.S. trade surplus.“Washington’s institutional bureaucracy surely sees Hanoi as a partner in pushing back against Beijing’s South China Sea claims and militarization,” said Sean King, vice president of the New York-based Park Strategies political consultancy, “but Vietnam’s not an ally, nor a democracy, hence there are limits to this partnership.”“My sense is Vietnam wants [the United States] as a regional counterweight to Beijing but doesn’t want to be part of any wider U.S.-mainland Chinese containment strategy,” King said.The USS Theodore Roosevelt is seen near Vietnamese fishing boats at a port in Da Nang, Vietnam, March 6, 2020.Aircraft carrier visitsOn Thursday the USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier docked in the central Vietnamese city of Da Nang, military news website Stars and Stripes reported. A guided-missile cruiser accompanied the carrier on the ceremonial visit. The USS Carl Vinson, the first American aircraft carrier to visit since the Vietnam War, made a port call two years ago.The visits show both sides intend to strengthen defense relations. Vietnam looks to outside support in keeping Chinese vessels away from South China Sea tracts it contests with China, which has a stronger military.Vietnamese officials “are building a strategic trust between the two countries and they want to engage the U.S. more in the South China Sea,” said Nguyen Thanh Trung, Center for International Studies director at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities in Ho Chi Minh City. “I think that in the future Vietnam will be more welcoming of U.S. naval ships,” he said.FILE – Ships and an oil rig, center, which China calls Haiyang Shiyou 981, and Vietnam refers to as Hai Duong 981, is seen in the South China Sea, off the shore of Vietnam, May 14, 2014.Vietnam and China got into a boat-ramming incident in 2014 over the placement of a Chinese oil rig. Last year the two sides entered a standoff near Vanguard Bank, a South China Sea feature where Vietnam was looking for energy.China cites historical records to back its claim to about 90% of the sea, which covers 3.5 million square kilometers rich in fossil fuel reserves and fisheries. It has alarmed Vietnam and five other Asian governments by sending ships and by landfilling islets for military use.Vietnam’s resistance against China caught the attention of former U.S. President Barack Obama, who in 2016 lifted a post-Vietnam War embargo on sales of lethal arms to Hanoi. Vietnam aside, the U.S. regularly sends warships into the South China Sea on “freedom of navigation operations” to warn China, which Washington sees as a rival superpower.Vietnam doesn’t want to get too close militarily, said Carl Thayer, emeritus professor at the University of New South Wales in Australia.Vietnamese media went low-key in covering the USS Theodore Roosevelt visit, Thayer said. Hanoi’s leaders are focused, he said, on a 7-year-old “comprehensive partnership” that covers cooperation beyond defense.Vietnam trades briskly with China and keeps macro relations stable despite the maritime spats as part of a multicountry foreign policy. The Southeast Asian government has comprehensive strategic partnerships too with India and its old ally Russia.Some conservatives in the Vietnamese government don’t want U.S. relations to grow “too fast,” Nguyen said.FILE – U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, center, shakes hands with Vietnamese Ambassador to the U.S. Pham Quang Vinh as they wait for the welcoming ceremony of U.S. President Donald Trump at the presidential palace in Hanoi, Nov. 12, 2017.Tougher on tradeThe U.S. government’s Feb. 10 delisting of Vietnam as a “developing country” indicates a knottier bilateral trade relationship; the move gives Washington more clout to investigate whether Vietnamese export subsidies hurt U.S. industries.Vietnam must now follow rules-of-origin guidelines on steel and footwear, business consultancy Dezan Shira & Associates says in a research note. U.S. officials, already nonplussed by a $47 billion bilateral trade deficit, worried last year about whether Chinese goods were being shipped through Vietnam to avoid U.S. tariffs.Possibly to ease resentment in Washington, Vietnam agreed this week to buy $3 billion in American farm goods.Vietnam’s lure of cheap labor has boosted export manufacturing over the past eight years. The country doesn’t need special treatment anymore, said Frederick Burke, partner with the law firm Baker McKenzie in Ho Chi Minh City.“The benefits of moving up the ladder is that you no longer depend on handouts,” he said. “You have real investors deeming Vietnam to be one step better in terms of investment grade, so people will come here out of their own private sector motives, and it’s more of a natural thing instead of having to be on life support like some least-developed countries.”However, Vietnam hopes never to become “vulnerable to U.S. pressure to open up politically,” King said.
 
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The U.S. Health and Human Services secretary said Thursday a million test kits for the COVID-19 are expected to arrive this weekend at U.S. labs.  Alex Azar said the coronavirus tests are shipping from a private manufacturer.The Trump administration has received criticism about the short supply of test kits.Vice President Mike Pence said in Washington state Thursday, “We don’t have enough tests today to meet what we anticipate will be the demand going forward,” but added that “real progress” had been made “in the last several days.”Vice President Mike Pence, right, looks on as Gov. Jay Inslee speaks during a news conference, March 5, 2020, at Camp Murray in Washington state. Pence was in the state to discuss its efforts to fight the spread of the coronavirus.Pence met Thursday with Washington Governor Jay Inslee. Washington is the site of 11 of the 12 U.S. deaths from the virus. Most of the deaths in Washington took place in a nursing home near Seattle.’Not a successful strategy’National Nurses United said its members have not been given the resources, supplies, protection and training they need to do their jobs properly. “It is not a successful strategy to leave nurses and other health care workers unprotected,” Executive Director Bonnie Castillo said. Castillo, who is a registered nurse, said when nurses are quarantined, “We are not only prevented from caring for COVID-19 patients, but we are taken away from caring for cancer patients, cardiac patients and premature babies.”Four U.S. states — Maryland, California, Florida and Hawaii — have declared states of emergency because of the virus.FILE – This undated file photo provided by U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows CDC’s laboratory test kit for the new coronavirus.Maryland joined the roster Thursday after three Montgomery County residents, a husband and wife in their 70s and a woman in her 50s, were diagnosed with the coronavirus. All three were reported to have contracted the virus while on an overseas cruise. Montgomery County is a Maryland suburb next to Washington, D.C.State of emergency in PalestineIn the Middle East, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas declared a state of emergency Thursday, shutting down schools for 30 days and closing the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem after seven coronavirus cases were confirmed in the city. These are the first cases in the Palestinian territories.Closing the church in the town that worshipers say was Jesus’ birthplace will devastate Bethlehem’s vital tourism industry and comes just weeks before Easter.The threat appears to be waning in China, where the outbreak erupted in December. The WHO said Thursday there are about 17 times as many new cases outside China now than inside China.On Friday, however, China reported that the number of new cases had risen from 139 Thursday to 143.A medical worker in a protective gear offers consultation to people at the first stage screening post for checking for COVID-19 at Kyungpook National University Hospital in Daegu, South Korea, March 6, 2020.South Korea travelHundreds of patients are being released from Chinese hospitals and shuttered factories are starting to reopen. But Chinese President Xi Jinping has called off a scheduled state visit to Japan, where Tokyo has declared that all visitors from China and South Korea will be placed under quarantine. South Korea has the largest number of coronavirus cases outside China.Australia joined China and Iran in banning travel from South Korea.Indonesia is also restricting travel from parts of South Korea as well as two other hard-hit nations: Iran and Italy. Both of those nations have shut down schools.The United Nations said the virus has disrupted classes for nearly 300 million students worldwide from preschool through 12th grade. That number does not include colleges that have also been shuttered.Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline. Embed” />CopyFunds to fight outbreakIn the United States, with more than 150 confirmed cases of the virus and 12 deaths, the Senate Thursday followed the House in approving $8.3 billion in emergency spending to combat the outbreak, including money for developing a vaccine. The measure now goes to President Donald Trump for his signature.Trump took some heat Thursday from health experts after he told Fox News that the World Health Organization is sending out false information, and he suggested infected patients are safe going to their jobs in offices and stores.The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the coronavirus is highly transmissible and that people who are sick must stay home.Global markets took another beating Thursday with investors nervous about the coronavirus outbreak and uncertain about exactly which way the situation is going.Experts say the roller coaster ride in the markets is likely to continue as long COVID-19 spreads to more countries, with investors acting out of fear over where the next state of emergency, quarantine or business shutdown will be declared.’Time to act’At his daily virus briefing Thursday, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus again stressed the seriousness of the virus about which scientists still know little.“This is not a drill. This is not the time for giving up, this is not a time for excuses,” Tedros said. “Countries have been planning for scenarios like this for decades, Now is the time to act on those plans.”As of late Thursday, there were more than 98,000 COVID-19 cases worldwide and at least 3,300 deaths.
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As advertising campaigns for major world cities go, “Let’s Take a Break From Social Life” is not exactly inspiring.  The slogan, though, rolled out by Seoul authorities this week, accurately describes life for many South Koreans these days, as they limit face-to-face interaction to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus epidemic.  Although the outbreak has mainly been contained to the area near the southeastern city of Daegu, authorities across the country aren’t taking any chances. They have suggested “social-distancing” measures to help keep people away from each other.A thermal camera monitor shows the body temperature of people at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, March 2, 2020.Nearly every main venue for social life in South Korea has been affected. Schools and universities are closed. Many companies have their employees work from home. Churches hold services via YouTube. South Korea’s football league has postponed the start of the season indefinitely.In Seoul, home to half the country’s population, life goes on as usual — only much more quietly. With many people staying home, Seoul’s infamously congested streets now flow much faster. Though people still use public transportation, many buses and trains are less crowded. Noisy protests, a mainstay in the South Korean capital, are virtually non-existent.Meanwhile, although Seoul residents sometimes form long lines in the early morning outside department stores to the purchase face masks that are in short supply, stores remain otherwise fully stocked — even if they are not full of people. Popular food delivery services are now used even more widely.Isolated, anxiousAs the outbreak grinds on, though, many South Koreans are not only trying to prevent the disease, but also fight off boredom.People wearing masks stand in a line to buy face masks in front of a drug store amid the rise in confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Daegu, South Korea, March 3, 2020.“There is no more social life,” laments Rosa Lee, who lives on the southern outskirts of Seoul. “I’m working at home right now…not meeting anybody,” says Lee, who works in pharmaceutical regulation. “No cafes, no restaurants, no church.”Park Sun-kyung was forced to work from home after someone in her office building in central Seoul contracted the virus. “It’s not very convenient — I need to be online all day,” she said. “I’m an outgoing person,” she added, “It is really frustrating to stay home and not meet with people.”Social distancingThe marketing campaign urges residents to participate in a two-week social distancing effort to halt the spread of the coronavirus. 
“Hold on! Let’s Take a Break From Social Life,” appears on a sign greeting Seoul commuters at bus stops, in newspaper ads, and on social media.Recommended steps include: 
“Refrain from going outdoors and avoid physical contact with others.”“Keep in touch with people by using social media measures instead of meeting them personally.””Keep your personal hygiene by washing your hands and wearing a mask at all times.”The policies are not mandatory. Unlike China, which forcibly locked down tens of millions of residents as it attempted to contain the virus, South Korea, in almost every case, is merely recommending its social distancing policies.Mental health impactNevertheless, the social isolation could still take an emotional or physical toll, public health experts warn. Medical staff members in protective gears arrive for a duty shift at Dongsan Hospital in Daegu, South Korea, March 3, 2020.”You don’t have to witness atrocities during wartime” to suffer mental health consequences, said Jung Doo-young with the UNIST Healthcare Center in Ulsan, a coastal city about 300 kilometers from here, “especially if people are not as active while staying inside, the body’s natural rhythms could become disrupted.”The impact could be worse for people with existing mental health issues, such as anxiety or depression, said Kim Yoon-seok of Seoul’s Margeun psychiatry clinic.“People may become more anxious, especially in isolated situations when they are consuming excess amounts of exaggerated information or fake news,” Kim added.  To deal with some of those problems, Seoul has set up a COVID-19 support group, which offers counseling and information on dealing with coronavirus-related stress.So far, the social distancing, combined with an intense coronavirus testing campaign, seems to have helped limit the outbreak. Nearly all of the confirmed cases have been limited to the southeastern part of the country.  
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Australia has confirmed its second death from the coronavirus.  The latest victim is a 95-year-old woman who died at a nursing home in Sydney. Australia now has more than 40 confirmed COVID-19 cases.  The woman, Australia’s second coronavirus victim, died Tuesday at a facility in Sydney.  Another elderly resident at the aged care center has also tested positive for the virus.FILE – A photographer takes photos near the quarantined Diamond Princess cruise ship anchored at a port in Yokohama, near Tokyo, Feb. 21, 2020.A 78-year-old man died in Perth over the weekend.  He was a passenger onboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship that was on lockdown in the Japanese port of Yokohama before being flown home.The number of COVID-19 infections in Australia has risen sharply in recent days.But Australia’s chief medical officer, Professor Brendan Murphy, has told a parliamentary hearing in Canberra that 80 percent of people infected with the coronavirus show “such mild symptoms they barely notice it and that is particularly the case in children.”Australians are being urged to stop the panic buying of household essentials in fear over the spread of the disease.  Supermarket shelves have been emptied of toilet paper, tissues and hand sanitizers despite government pleas for calm.There has been high demand, too, for rice, frozen meals and pet food.Psychologists call it “herd behavior” and it has prompted shops to ration certain products as customers scramble to get what they want, or believe they will need, to outlast the crisis.Empty shelves are pictured at Coles Supermarket following reports of coronavirus in the Canberra suburb of Manuka, Australia, March 2, 2020 in this picture obtained by Reuters from social media. (Adam Spence via Reuters)“Everything was gone,” said a women.“Well, there are signs inside with limits of how much bread, milk and toilet paper you can buy, which I have never seen before,” said another shopper. “The teller actually mentioned people are maybe stocking up, panic buying.”Is it panic-buying, or simply being well-prepared for potential shortages?  Either way, the authorities in Australia say stock-piling is not necessary as many manufacturers of toilet paper, for example, are increasing production.Australia has more than 40 confirmed coronavirus cases.  Medical officials have warned that it is no longer possible to stop the disease entering the country despite a ban on foreign nationals traveling from China and Iran. Those restrictions now apply to travelers arriving in Australia from South Korea. 
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With a million personnel, the Korean People’s Army is among the largest in the world.It’s also cited as one of the most vulnerable groups of people to a possible coronavirus outbreak in North Korea.”A coronavirus outbreak in the military will be Kim Jong Un’s biggest fear,” said Lee Unggil, former member of North Korea’s special forces “Storm Corps” or the 11th Corps.During a forum Wednesday at Washington’s Hudson Institute about the lives of North Korean soldiers, Lee explained that the military’s conditions are prone to a massive outbreak.Crowded barracksLee explained the North Korean soldiers live in crowded barracks with poor living conditions so diseases spread fast.”In early 2000s, there was SARS [Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome] outbreak in the military. North Korean soldiers are very malnourished and their immune system is weak, so many people died. But we didn’t even know whether it was because of SARS or other diseases. There aren’t any testing kits. If someone dies with fever, we presumed it was an epidemic,” Lee said.Patrick Cronin of the Hudson Institute (L) is seen with ex-North Korean soldiers in Washington, March 4, 2020. From right to left, Colonel Steve Lee, Henry Song, and Lee Unggil. One man’s face is blurred to protect his identity. (Eunjung Cho/VOA)Lee was in North Korea’s “Storm Corps” from 1998 to 2003, and he defected to South Korea in 2007.Some 43% of the North Korean population, or 11 million people, are suffering from malnourishment, making them highly susceptible to infectious diseases.Jung Haneul, who defected to South Korea by crossing over the Military Demarcation Line a few years ago, told VOA that living conditions in the military improved somewhat after Kim Jong Un assumed power but medical conditions remain dire.”If there’s coronavirus outbreak in North Korea, the military will be on the highest alert,” Jung noted. “The soldiers will be barred from contact with civilians. There’s no way masks will be distributed. Whenever there’s an epidemic, people resort to gargling with salt water.”Jung said while he was in the military, there was scabies infestation, but the soldiers didn’t have the proper medication so they burned sulfur.Regime threatJohn Everard, former British ambassador to Pyongyang, told VOA a COVID-19 outbreak in the North Korean military could threaten Kim’s totalitarian rule.”Should this happen, the regime would face not only the weakening of its defenses caused by sickness amongst its soldiers, but also the political dangers of widespread military discontent. This could pose a serious threat to it,” Everard said.”The word is spreading that many North Koreans died in the border area with China infected by the coronavirus,” Lee added, citing his sources in North Korea.VOA’s William Kim and Ji Da-gyum contributed to this report.
 
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Italy is considering closing all schools and universities until mid-March amid a coronavirus outbreak as governments around the world continue to take measures to keep the virus from spreading..Italy reported a sharp increase in coronavirus deaths on Tuesday, up to 79, the most outside of China. Iran, meanwhile, has again canceled Friday prayers in major cities.With China seeing a slowdown of new cases of the virus, the focus on containing the outbreak has shifted to places such as Italy and Iran, which have not only seen their own cases steadily increase, but have also had their citizens and others who traveled from those areas test positive while in other countries.India, which has linked cases to Italian tourists, said Wednesday the number of cases there jumped from five to 28.South Korea reported more than 500 new coronavirus cases Wednesday, as health officials said more than 2,000 people in the city hardest hit by the outbreak, Daegu, were waiting for open spaces in hospitals.South Korea has seen the most cases outside of China, and is planning to spend about $10 billion on medical resources and measures to counteract the economic impact of the outbreak.Wednesday also brought news of the first death in Iraq, where so far all of its cases are connected to Iran.Medical staff treat a critical patient infected by the COVID-19 with an Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) at the Red Cross hospital in Wuhan in China’s central Hubei province, March 1, 2020.Worldwide, the coronavirus has infected more than 93,000 people and killed more than 3,100, with the vast majority in both categories in China.The expansion of the outbreak has reached several new countries, including Jordan, Morocco, Senegal, Portugal and Saudi Arabia.  Saudi Arabia has banned its citizens from performing the Muslim pilgrimage in Mecca.
World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus urged people around the world Tuesday to stop hoarding masks and other protective gear, saying health care workers need them.People wearing masks stand in a line to buy face masks in front of a drug store amid the rise in confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus disease of COVID-19 in Daegu, South Korea, March 3, 2020.Experts say surgical masks are not guaranteed protection against the virus, but say they are essential equipment for doctors and nurses.Tedros said he is concerned about the “severe and increasing disruption to the global supply of personal protective equipment caused by rising demand.”
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Taiwan sits near Japan, China and South Korea, three countries with some of the world’s worst outbreaks of the deadly coronavirus, but the island itself has just 42 isolated cases.Chalk it up to extra early, effective preparedness, analysts and policymakers say – so effective that people’s approval of the government unexpectedly soared last month.Taiwanese health officials saw the virus taking shape in the central Chinese Wuhan in December and began checking passengers who flew in from there. They also cut off flights from much of China, the outbreak origin, before a lot of peers around Asia did.Now almost every public building in Taipei offers hand sanitizer and a lot of them, such as schools, require that anyone entering submit to a fever check. Taiwan’s Centers for Disease Control announces any new cases every day. In February it began rationing facemask purchases to head off panic buying.“With the hit from Wuhan pneumonia, most people originally figured Taiwan was going to be miserable this time because of ties with mainland China are so close, and that it couldn’t be avoided,” said You Ying-lung, chairman of the Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation polling agency, using a local term for the disease officially dubbed COVID-19.“But as the things became clear, it turned out Taiwan wasn’t so miserable and in fact compared to other countries in the world, it’s got the best performance,” he said.The government first took notice of the virus in December as people in China began talking about it informally. In response, the Centers for Disease Control started onboard quarantine of all direct flights from Wuhan on December 31. The centers said on its website that by January 9 it had “inspected” 14 flights with 1,317 passengers and attendants.The disease caught the attention of other countries in late January. Although numbers of new cases are dropping in China, Japan and South Korea are grappling with recent outbreaks.People wear face masks to protect against the spread of the new coronavirus as they visit the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei, Taiwan, Thursday, Feb. 27, 2020.Officials in Taiwan took a “more proactive” approach compared to other parts of Asia by stopping flights from China, lawmaker Lo Chih-cheng said. Hundreds of thousands of Taiwanese live in China and a lot of them return in the first two months of each year for holidays, a pattern that increased Taiwan’s exposure to the disease.The Centers for Disease Control’s daily announcements include details on how new patients might have gotten sick and whether anyone else might be infected. The island’s only death, for example, was described as a taxi driver in his 60s with two existing medical conditions.Taiwanese citizens, Lo said, consider transparency “very important.” The government hopes to release information that keeps people on guard without inciting any panic, analysts believe.Taiwan’s public schools resumed classes just two weeks later than scheduled after a break in February, unlike the situation in Hong Kong and Japan where caseloads are higher.Taiwan moved fast because of its experience 17 years ago with SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome. That disease originated in China and jumped into other parts of Asia. It killed 73 people in Taiwan.Officials are looking for ways now to minimize economic impacts of the virus.Tourism revenue slumped in February because of lack of flights and fear among Taiwanese of going abroad, travel agents have said. Local event cancellations intended to stop any virus spread are hurting swathes of the service industry as well.In Taiwan’s signature manufacturing sector, companies with China plants face slowed production if their workers are still staying home to avoid catching the virus.“The ultimate impact of course includes that Taiwan’s GDP growth will definitely go down, because Taiwan’s GDP is very connected to China’s economy,” said Huang Kwei-bo, vice dean of the international affairs college at National Chengchi University in Taipei.Parliament approved a $1.96 billion stimulus package last month for companies shaken by the outbreak. After the virus subsides, Lo said, the government will come out with discount vouchers to encourage spending. More might be in the pipeline.“We need to do something to help the small and medium-sized enterprises to pass through this kind of difficult period,” Lo said. “The government for example needs to lower the interest rates and to help the people or the companies, or factories, to borrow new loans from the bank, so this is the first stage.”Action against the coronavirus to date has boosted  President Tsai Ing-wen’s approval rating to 68.5% in February up from 56.7% in January and on par with what she polled right after taking office in 2016, a Taiwanese Public Opinion Foundation poll showed February 24. Local television network TVBS gave the government an 82% approval rating for its handling of the outbreak.“The meaning is the Tsai government is doing pretty well,” You said.
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Japan on Wednesday lifted an evacuation order for parts of Futaba, one of two towns where the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant is located, ahead of an Olympic torch relay in the region.The whole of Futaba, formerly home to some 7,000 people, was designated a mandatory evacuation zone after a massive quake-triggered tsunami in 2011 hit the Fukushima Daiichi plant, damaging the power supply and cooling system and eventually causing a meltdown.With the lifting of the mandatory evacuation order in a northern part of the town, workers will be able to stay in the area near the main railway station.But residents will not be able to return to the town immediately because of a shortage of running water and other infrastructure, a town official told AFP.”We are aiming to have the return of residents starting in the spring of 2022,” she said.The move comes after organisers of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics said Futaba has been added to the route for the Olympic torch relay, which begins on March 26.”In addition to building excitement across the country ahead of the Tokyo 2020 Games and promoting the Olympic values, the Olympic Torch Relay aims to demonstrate solidarity with the regions still recovering from the 2011 earthquake and tsunami,” the organisers said last month.The Japanese government is keen to use the Olympics to showcase Fukushima’s recovery from the disaster.It intends to use the J-Village — a sport complex located about 20 kilometres (12 miles) from the nuclear plant damaged in the 2011 tsunami — as the starting point for the Japan leg of the torch relay.The Fukushima crisis itself did not directly kill anyone, but some 470,000 people were estimated to have fled their home to seek shelter in the first days of the triple earthquake-tsunami-meltdown disaster.In all, 15,899 people died and 2,529 people remain missing after the quake and tsunami.
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In these days of infection and fear, a recent propaganda photo sums up the image North Korea wants to show the world, as well as its people: Soldiers with black surgical masks surround leader Kim Jong Un, ensconced in a leather overcoat and without a mask as he oversees a defiant military drill.As a new and frightening virus closes in around it, North Korea presents itself as a fortress, tightening its borders as cadres of health officials stage a monumental disinfection and monitoring program.That image of world-defying impregnability, however, may belie a brewing disaster.North Korea, which has what experts call a horrendous medical infrastructure in the best of times, shares a porous, nearly 1,450-kilometer (900-mile) border with China, where the disease originated and has since rapidly spread around the world. The North’s government has also long considered public reports on infectious disease — or, for that matter, anything that could hurt the ruling elite — matters of state secrecy.This has raised fears that North Korea, which claims zero infections, may be vastly unprepared for a virus that is testing much more developed countries across the globe — and even that infections could already be exploding within its borders.“Unfortunately, the international community has no idea if the coronavirus is spreading inside North Korea,” said a recent report by Jessica Lee, an East Asia expert at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, a think tank in Washington. “The fact that we know nothing about the level of infection or deaths within North Korea is extremely problematic and, left unchanged, could have serious public health implications.”North Korean media, meanwhile, are filled with self-described examples of ultra-vigilance — as well as a sense of urgency.Calling its anti-virus campaign a matter of “national existence,” the North has banned foreign tourists, delayed the school year, quarantined hundreds of foreigners and thousands of locals who’ve traveled abroad, shut down nearly all cross-border traffic with China, intensified screening at entry points, and mobilized tens of thousands of health workers to monitor residents and isolate those with symptoms.A parade of media photographs show North Korean doctors, scientists and health workers in masks, paper hats and protective clothing, discussing matters of science, or disinfecting public transportation, or planning ways to further protect citizens.“No special cases must be allowed within the state anti-epidemic system,” Kim, emerging recently from a prolonged period out of the public spotlight to oversee a politburo meeting on the virus, said, according to state media. Officials must “seal off all the channels and space through which the infectious disease may find its way.”On Monday, Kim’s military fired unidentified projectiles into the sea, weapons tests apparently aimed, in part, at showing that all’s well amid outside worries about an outbreak in the North.Despite the bravado, there are rising doubts that North Korea has dodged the virus.Some North Korea monitoring groups, which claim to have a network of sources inside the nation, recently said that there are virus patients and deaths in North Korea, a claim the South Korean government couldn’t confirm.“I’m 100% sure that North Korea already has infected patients,” said Nam Sung-wook, a North Korea expert at South Korea’s Korea University who served as president of the Institute for National Security Strategy, a think tank affiliated with South Korea’s main spy agency.If North Korea had an outbreak similar to what’s happening in South Korea, the world’s hardest-hit country aside from China, it would cause serious turmoil because of a chronic lack of medical supplies and medicine, Nam said.“North Korea would be helpless,” he said.Some analysts believe that North Korea’s strong moves to shut down border areas with China, its only major ally and aid benefactor, signal that the virus has already spread into the nation from China, which has had more than 80,000 cases.There is usually heavy border traffic between the two countries, and tens of thousands of North Koreans were believed to be working in China before a U.N. order for Beijing to send them back home expired in December. It’s unknown how many of them have returned home.There have been growing outside calls for North Korea to open up about what’s going on inside its borders.The U.N. Special Rapporteur on human rights in North Korea, Tomás Ojea Quintana, urged North Korea to “allow full and unimpeded access to medical experts and humanitarian actors, and relax restrictions on access to information. Further isolation of the country is not the answer.”Ojea Quintana said that many North Koreans, especially in the countryside, lack proper access to health services, water and sanitation, and that more than 43% of the population is undernourished.The United States also expressed worry about North Korea’s vulnerability to the viral outbreak and said it was ready to support efforts by aid organizations to contain the spread of the illness in the impoverished nation.An epidemic in North Korea, which experts say has a chronic lack of medical supplies, could further shake an economy battered by U.S.-led sanctions over its nuclear weapons and missile program. That, in turn, could quicken the depletion of the North’s foreign currency reserves by choking off income from tourism and smuggling.Decreased trade with China could also dry up the goods going to North Korea’s informal private markets, which have emerged as a big part of the national economy following the collapse of the state rationing system during a devastating famine in the 1990s, experts say.And the country’s intensified anti-virus efforts could potentially hamper Kim’s ability to mobilize his people for labor on major development and tourist projects, said Lim Soo-ho, an analyst from South Korea’s Institute for National Security Strategy think tank.Despite a big economic hit to many North Koreans, however, the elite may survive a serious outbreak.“North Korea has a powerful control over its people, and that was how it maintained its leadership when 2 to 3 million people died during ‘the arduous march period,’” Oh Gyeong-seob, an analyst at Seoul’s Korea Institute for National Unification, said, referring to the North Korean euphemism for the 1990s famine.“Public dissatisfaction with Kim Jong Un will grow, but not at a level that will deal him a critical blow,” Oh predicted.
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China is threatening to retaliate against the United States over its decision to limit the number of state media personnel allowed to work in the U.S.U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced Monday a cap on citizens from five Chinese state-owned outlets — Xinhua News Agency, China Global Television Network (CGTV), China Radio International, China Daily Distribution Corp., and Hai Tian Development USA, Inc.  The reductions, which take effect March 13, will limit the number of Chinese nationals working at these outlets from 160 to 100.Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told reporters in Beijing Tuesday that the government strongly opposes the Trump administration’s decision.  Zhao says the move effectively expels the journalists, and warned that China “reserves the right” to respond and take further measures.Hua Chunying, a spokeswoman for the Foreign Ministry, issued a far more ominous warning on her Twitter feed, saying “Now the US kicked off the game, let’s play.”Reciprocity? 29 US media agencies in China VS 9 Chinese ones in the US. Multiple-entry to China VS Single-entry to the US. 21 Chinese journalists denied visas since last year. Now the US kicked off the game, let’s play.— Hua Chunying 华春莹 (@SpokespersonCHN) FILE – U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks during a news conference after a signing ceremony between members of Afghanistan’s Taliban delegation and U.S. officials in Doha, Qatar, Feb. 29, 2020.“Our goal is reciprocity,” said Secretary Pompeo in a statement. “As we have done in other areas of the U.S.-China relationship, we seek to establish a long-overdue level playing field.  It is our hope that this action will spur Beijing to adopt a more fair and reciprocal approach to U.S. and other foreign press in China.”A senior State Department official said even after this cap is implemented, the five Chinese state media groups continue to employ more Chinese personnel in the U.S. than foreign reporters at all U.S. media outlets in China, combined.
The U.S. has issued 3,000 I-1 visas to Chinese nationals working in the United States since 2015, said another senior Trump administration official.  “By contrast, U.S. news outlets have only about 75 American or other non-Chinese citizens working for them inside of mainland China.”I-1 visas are issued by the U.S. government for representatives of foreign media to work in the United States.The visas that the U.S. issues to  Chinese journalists have no duration of stay. In contrast, Beijing currently imposes duration of stay on all foreign reporters in China, some as short as 30 days.  After 30 days, some foreign reporters in China have to reapply for an extension.The U.S. decision comes after the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of China (FCCC) published its annual media freedoms report, “Control, Halt, Delete: Reporting in China Under Threat of Expulsion,” an in-depth examination of media freedoms in China in 2019.“The U.S. is taking this action in order to clearly communicate the severity of our concerns about the abusive, unfair and non-reciprocal treatment of international press in China,” said a senior State Department official on Monday.The FCCC report finds Chinese authorities have weaponized visas against the foreign press, issuing truncated press credentials to a dozen journalists in 2019, and expelling four correspondents from China since August 2019.A spokesperson for China’s Foreign Ministry said the FCCC report was “inappropriate,” and that China does not recognize the organization.The U.S. announcement Monday also comes after China expelled three Wall Street Journal reporters, a move seen as a punishment for a recent opinion piece published by the U.S. newspaper.In the past few weeks, Chinese citizen journalists who have been chronicling the coronavirus outbreak and seen as defiant to the Beijing government were said to have “disappeared.”
On Feb. 28, outspoken Hong Kong publisher Jimmy Lai and two prominent opposition politicians were charged with illegal assembly over a pro-democracy gathering in 2019. Lai, who has made financial contributions to Hong Kong’s pro-democracy demonstrators, was later released on bail.FILE -Svenska PEN’s Tucholsky Prize, awarded to detained Swedish bookseller Gui Minhai, is pictured in Stockholm, Sweden, Nov 15, 2019. (TT News Agency/Fredrik Sandberg via Reuters)On Feb. 24, China sentenced book publisher Gui Minhai, a Swedish citizen who disappeared in 2015 and was believed to have been abducted by Chinese agents in Thailand, to 10 years on charges of “providing intelligence” overseas.
“We’re witnessing an assault on free speech inside of China that goes even beyond what it was a decade ago,” said a senior Trump administration official on Monday.The five Chinese state media groups’ U.S. operations will have to disclose their personnel rosters, as well as hiring and firing decisions, according to the State Department.  In addition, they are required to register properties that they rent or own in the U.S.China Daily is an English-language newspaper published by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Hai Tian Development USA distributes the People’s Daily, the official newspaper of CCP’s Central Committee.U.S. officials have said there is “an awakening” to what they call Chinese propaganda outlets operating on U.S. soil.  For example, CGTV, formerly known as China Central Television America (CCTV America), was once warmly welcomed to the State Department in an event in 2013, but now faces scrutiny as a Chinese foreign agent. 
At the State Department podium, Ma Jing, director general of CCTV America, touted CCTV as a bridge between the U.S. and China to promote knowledge and understanding.  
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The Trump administration is limiting the number of Chinese state media personnel allowed to work in the United States, citing Beijing’s “long-standing intimidation and harassment of journalists.”U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Monday announced a cap on People’s Republic of China (PRC) citizens from five Chinese state-owned outlets — Xinhua News Agency, China Global Television Network (CGTV), China Radio International, China Daily Distribution Corp., and Hai Tian Development USA, Inc.These entities together currently employ about 160 Chinese nationals. Effective March 13, the reductions will bring this number to 100, according to the State Department.Chinese citizens working for other media organizations in the U.S. are not affected by the cap.On Monday, Zhang Jun, Chinese ambassador to the United Nations, said the U.S. should not interfere with the work of Chinese journalists.”We have some differences, but we do not think it is appropriate for the United States to take steps in interfering with the work of journalists coming from China,” he said at a news conference to mark China’s presidency of the U.N. Security Council in March.Foreign reporters in ChinaThe five entities are determined by the U.S. as “explicit propaganda organs of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)” and had been previously designated by the State Department as foreign missions of the Chinese government.FILE – A worker changes copies of the People’s Daily newspaper, distributed by Hai Tian Development USA, in a public reading display at a park in Beijing, Nov. 20, 2015.”Our goal is reciprocity,” Pompeo said in a statement. “As we have done in other areas of the U.S.-China relationship, we seek to establish a long-overdue level playing field. It is our hope that this action will spur Beijing to adopt a more fair and reciprocal approach to U.S. and other foreign press in China.”A senior State Department official said even after this cap is implemented, the five Chinese state media groups continue to employ more Chinese personnel in the U.S. than foreign reporters at all U.S. media outlets in China, combined.The U.S. has issued 3,000 I-1 visas to Chinese nations working in the United States since 2015, another senior Trump administration official said. “By contrast, U.S. news outlets have only about 75 American or other non-Chinese citizens working for them inside of mainland China.”I-1 visas are issued by the U.S. government for representatives of foreign media to work in the United States.The visas that the U.S. issues to Chinese journalists have no duration of stay. In contrast, Beijing currently imposes duration of stay on all foreign reporters in China, some as short as 30 days. After 30 days, some foreign reporters in China have to reapply for an extension.Media freedomsThe U.S. decision comes after the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of China (FCCC) published its annual media freedoms report,The U.S. announcement Monday also comes after China expelled three Wall Street Journal reporters, a move seen as a punishment for a recent opinion piece published by the U.S. newspaper.Missing journalistsIn the past few weeks, Chinese citizen journalists who have been chronicling the coronavirus outbreak and seen as defiant to the Beijing government were said to have “disappeared.”Media mogul Jimmy Lai leaves a police station after being arrested for illegal assembly during the anti-government protests in Hong Kong, China, Feb. 28, 2020.On Feb. 28, outspoken Hong Kong publisher Jimmy Lai and two prominent opposition politicians were charged with illegal assembly over a pro-democracy gathering in 2019. Lai, who has made financial contributions to Hong Kong’s pro-democracy demonstrators, was later released on bail.On Feb. 24, China sentenced book publisher Gui Minhai, a Swedish citizen who disappeared in 2015 and was believed to have been abducted by Chinese agents in Thailand, to 10 years on charges of “providing intelligence” overseas.”We’re witnessing an assault on free speech inside of China that goes even beyond what it was a decade ago,” a senior Trump administration official said Monday.The five Chinese state media groups’ U.S. operations will have to disclose their personnel rosters, as well as hiring and firing decisions, according to the State Department. In addition, they are required to register properties that they rent or own in the U.S.China Daily is an English-language newspaper published by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Hai Tian Development USA distributes the People’s Daily, the official newspaper of CCP’s Central Committee.U.S. officials have said there is “an awakening” to what they call Chinese propaganda outlets operating on U.S. soil. For example, CGTV, formerly known as China Central Television (CCTV), was once warmly welcomed to the State Department in an event in 2013, but now faces scrutiny as a Chinese foreign agent.  At the State Department podium, Ma Jing, then-director general of CCTV, touted CCTV as a bridge between the U.S. and China to promote “knowledge and understanding.”
 
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