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During much of the first year of COVID-19, Southeast Asia seemed one of the few bright spots in the world. Vietnam, a lower-middle income country that had learned from its experience with SARS, had one of the lowest case and death rates in the world. Thailand, Brunei, Singapore, Malaysia and even poorer countries in the region such as Laos and Cambodia mostly kept the virus at bay, even as wealthier states in Europe, North America and Latin America suffered millions of cases and hundreds of thousands of deaths. To be sure, Indonesia and the Philippines struggled, but the region’s overall low rates even made some scientists question whether people in mainland Southeast Asia enjoyed some natural immunity to the novel coronavirus. More recently, many Southeast Asian states have experienced ...

Hong Kong has announced its representative office in Taiwan will “temporarily suspend operations” but both sides have been winding down interactions in recent years, says Bo Zhiyue. WELLINGTON: A strange development took place this week regarding cross-strait relations. On Tuesday (May 18), the Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region announced that its representative office in Taiwan, the Hong Kong Economic, Trade and Cultural Office in Taiwan (HKETCO), will suspend operations effective immediately. The HKETCO had a good 10-year run. Established in December 2011, the HKETCO is responsible for the economic, trade and cultural relations between Hong Kong and Taiwan. Hong Kong has over 20 such offices across China and in other parts of...

The leaders of protests in Thailand plan to revive demonstrations as soon as the country’s worst COVID-19 outbreak starts to ease, adding to the government’s challenges as it comes under fire for a slow vaccine rollout. After a monthslong hiatus due to a spike in cases, protest leaders say they’re working to draw fresh support from frustrated residents for a movement that began last year with calls for Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-Ocha’s resignation and unprecedented reforms of the monarchy. Authorities have faced increasing public criticism for Thailand’s third wave of COVID-19, which has more than quadrupled total cases since early April. “When we return to the streets, there’ll be even more people joining us,” said Patsaravalee Tanakitvibulpon, one of the protest leaders, in a phone i...

SINGAPORE: Singapore updated its guidance for the use of masks on Tuesday (May 18) on the back of rising COVID-19 infections in the community. The Ministry of Health (MOH) is advising that members of the public use masks with better protection, such as those with better filtration efficiency, to mitigate the higher risk of infection. This is because the recent COVID-19 clusters “suggest a higher level of transmission, likely attributed to new virus variants”, the ministry said. Here’s what you need to know about the new mask guidelines: WHAT IS FILTRATION EFFICIENCY? The bacterial filtration efficiency (BFE) of a mask refers to the degree of barrier protection provided by the material or fabric of the mask. A mask with a higher BFE would be more effective in preventing bact...

LONDON: Already grounded by the coronavirus pandemic, airlines operating in the UK are facing post-Brexit obstacles to flying across the European Union, and their shareholders are paying the price. The trade agreement reached ahead of Britain's recent formal divorce from the EU allows flights between the two to continue as before. But for airlines with fewer than 50 per cent EU-based shareholders, flights within the European Union require a new agreement by the end of 2021. "To continue being able to access these intra-European traffic rights, airlines need to demonstrate they are majority-owned and controlled by European persons," noted Bernstein analyst Daniel Roeska. No-frills airlines, such as Ryanair and EasyJet, are notably affected, with their business model based heavily on...