COVID-19 PANDEMIC Day 141: ASIA & PACIFIC – YANGON- Myanmar detects 11 new COVID-19 patients, ups cases to 85

A man wearing a face mask seen praying to the Shwedagon Pagoda from a pedestrian overpass in Myae Ni Gone, Yangon. Photo: Nyan Zay Htet/The Myanmar Times

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ASIA & PACIFIC

 No new COVID-19 cases in Sultanate, one more recovers

James Kon

Brunei Darussalam recorded no new COVID-19 case yesterday keeping the total confirmed cases at 136.

One of the recovered patients who was readmitted to the National Isolation Centre after being found positive again, was allowed to return home after a follow-up showed negative result.

The latest development of COVID-19 in the Sultanate was announced by Minister of Health Dato Seri Setia Dr Haji Mohd Isham bin Haji Jaafar at a press conference yesterday.

He said, “Alhamdulillah, by the grace of Allah the Almighty, there is no new case of COVID-19 in the country.”

Meanwhile, one recovered patient and was allowed to return home from the National Isolation Centre bringing the number of recovered cases to 108.

“Alhamdulillah, one of the cases that had been cured but was readmitted to the National Isolation Centre after being positive again, was allowed to return home today.

“A follow-up laboratory test conducted at the National Isolation Centre found that the case was negative for SARS-CoV-2 virus. However, as a precautionary measure, the patient will undergo self-isolation for another 14 days at home,” said the minister.

Minister of Health Dato Seri Setia Dr Haji Mohd Isham bin Haji Jaafar speaks during the press conference. PHOTO: BAHYIAH BAKIR
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The minister also revealed that the number of active cases undergoing treatment at the National Isolation Centre remained at 27, where two remained in critical condition requiring heart/lung machine (ECMO) and respiratory assistance. The rest are in stable condition.

Some 81 individuals are undergoing quarantine in accordance with the Infectious Diseases Act (Chapter 204) and a total of 2,394 individuals have completed their quarantine.

“In the past 24 hours, 229 samples have been tested for the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which bring the total number of laboratory tests conducted since January 2020 to 10,579 tests to a ratio of one in 41 people.”

For information, the public can visit www.moh.gov.bn, contact Health Advice Line 148 or visit healthinfo.gov.bn.

According to the healthinfo.gov.bn web application, the breakdown of cases shows 109 in the Brunei-Muara District, 23 in the Belait District and four in the Tutong District.

No cases are reported in the Temburong District.

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As supplied to Khmer Times, this is the current breakdown of COVID-19 cases in Cambodia up to 09:00 am on 16/04/2020.

As always, we will be keeping you up to date with the latest stories, as they happen, about the current situation with COVID-19 in Cambodia and the world.

There have been 122 cases of COVID-19 in Cambodia :

51 Cambodian

40 French

13 Malaysian

5 British

2 Indonesian

2 US

2 Canadian

3 Chinese

1 Belgian

3 Vietnamese

CAMBODIA COVID-19 – SITUATION UPDATE: 16 APRIL 2020. CASES: 122 CURED: 98: Time: 09:00

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JAKARTA- Indonesia Ramps Up Testing as Coronavirus Cases Pass 5,000.

Two medical workers take blood sample from a motorist during a rapid coronavirus testing near Padjadjaran Stadium in Bogor, West Java, on April 7. (JG Photo/Yudha Baskoro)

 

BY :HERU ANDRIYANTO

APRIL 15, 2020

Jakarta. The Indonesian government is racing against time to achieve at least 10,000 Covid-19 tests per day as confirmed cases reached 5,136 on Wednesday, up by 297 from yesterday.

“We are doing our utmost to achieve 10,000 tests per day by activating 78 laboratories across the country, many more than 32 labs we were operating before,” Covid-19 Task Force spokesman Achmad Yurianto said in a teleconference in Jakarta.

Since the first coronavirus cases were detected in late February, Indonesia has conducted only 36,400 swab tests for Covid-19. There have also been around 40,000 antibody-based rapid tests conducted by regional governments.

More tests are needed as more than 165,000 people now fall into the “person under surveillance” (ODP) category, meaning that they possibly have contracted the virus from coming into contact with people with Covid-19.

There are also more than 11,000 people suspected of having the illness after being treated at hospitals, or “patients under observation” (PDP).

If the government cannot ramp up the number of tests, it will continue having to battle the outbreak blindly.

The government will acquire more lab machines and reagents used in the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests, as well as cut the duration between specimen examination and result delivery, Achmad said.

According to him, the pandemic has now affected 196 districts and municipalities in all of Indonesia’s 34 provinces.

Ten more people have died from Covid-19 over the past 24 hours to bring the total death toll to 469, while 20 more patients have fully recovered to bring the number of recoveries up to 446, he said.

“We’re in a very alarming situation that has already been declared as a national disaster. The president has instructed that both central and regional government budgets are prioritized for measures to handle this disaster, to break the cycle of Covid-19 infection nationwide and mitigate its impact on people,” he said.

Hospital capacity for critical patients has now reached more than 4,000 beds, while makeshift hospitals in the Athletes’ Village in Central Jakarta and on Galang Island in the province of Riau Islands together have around 2,400 beds for Covid-19 patients who are not severely ill, he said.

More than 800 hospitals across the country, including private hospitals, have been designated as Covid-19 referral hospitals, Achmad said.

The government has suggested that asymptomatic patients or those who develop mild symptoms self-isolate at home.

The task force has so far received more than Rp 200 billion ($12.8 million) in public donation, Achmad said.

At least 10 cities and districts in worst-affected areas have agreed to impose large-scale social restriction (PSBB) to contain the outbreak, he said.

Jakarta remains the epicenter of the pandemic in Indonesia with 2,474 confirmed cases, followed by West Java (559), East Java (499), Central Java (292), Banten (281) and South Sulawesi (242).
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VIENTIANE- Laos records no new Covid-19 case for three consecutive days

Laos has not recorded any new Coronavirus infections for three consecutive days since April 13, the National Taskforce Committee for  Covid-19 Prevention and Control said on Wednesday.

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PUTRAJAYA- Malaysia recorded 85 new positive cases, 169 recovered cases, discharged cases 2,647 or 52 per cent of the total positive cases 5,072. 
 PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia ensures Covid-19 positive patients, asymptomatic carriers and those with mild symptoms are isolated and treated at hospitals for close monitoring

Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said in Malaysia patients testing positive for Covid-19 are isolated in hospitals and not at home like in some other countries.

“This is something different from other countries. And because of the close monitoring and treatment given we achieved a better outcome,” he said during his Covid-19 daily briefing at the Health Ministry here, today.

Dr Noor Hisham said if one looks at the United Kingdom and Italy, positive patients, asymptomatic carriers and those with mild symptoms are advised to stay at home.

He said this when asked about national hammer throw athlete Jackie Wong who was still under isolation and treatment for Covid-19 at the Sibu Hospital in Sarawak since March 16.

He said the main duration (for isolation) is 14 days but we need to do the test and if it was still positive, then the patient would need to remain in hospital.

Dr Noor Hisham said perhaps this is the reason why Malaysia’s asymptomatic and mild symptom patients are about 88 per cent.

Malaysia today recorded 85 new positive cases and 169 recovered cases. Presently the cumulative number of discharged cases in Malaysia is 2,647 or 52 per cent of the total positive Covid-19 cases which is 5,072. – Bernama

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YANGON- Myanmar detects 11 new COVID-19 patients, ups cases to 85.

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We will keep you updated as soon as we have more information.

Myanmar detected 11 new COVID-19 patients on April 16, according to the National Health Laboratory, bringing to 85 the total number of cases in the country, with four deaths and two recoveries.

For the first time the update information was not announced first on the health ministry’s Facebook page but during the 8’o clock morning news by the state-media MRTV, on April 16.

A total of 400 people were tested by the National Health Laboratory on April 15, and 389 were tested negative.

It was the third day of double-digit increases in COVID-19 cases in the Southeast Asian state that has been searching for ways to mitigate the impact of the dreaded pneumonia-like disease. It detected the first two cases on March 23.

So far, there has been no incident of mass transmission of the disease, but health authorities have reported clusters of cases.

Government authorities have enforced movement restrictions on most populated areas, such as Yangon and Mandalay, urging people to stay at home during the 10-day Thingyan Festival, which started on April 10.

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MANILA, Philippines- Local cases hit 5,453, top list in incidence in SEA

COVID-19 CASES BREAKDOWN (PH)
(as of April 15, 2020 – 4:00 PM)
CONFIRMED CASES: 5,453
RECOVERED: 353
DEATHS: 349
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The Philippines is the Southeast Asian country with the most number of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) cases, data from the Johns Hopkins University showed.

Local cases hit 5,453, top list in incidence in SEA
OH BEHAVE. Residents of Quezon City, detained for roaming the streets without relevant passes amid the COVID-19 pandemic, squat at a distance from one another as they are processed outside a police station on Monday. The city government and police lectured violators on the importance of heeding the call to stay home amidst the pandemic AFP
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As of April 15, the Philippines counted 5,453 cases, compared to 5,136 in Indonesia and 5,072 in Malaysia. This was followed by Singapore, 3,25; Thailand, 2,643; Vietnam, 267; Brunei, 136; Cambodia, 122; Myanmar, 74; and Laos, 19.
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READ: COVID-19 Tracker: Philippines as of April 15, 2020
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In terms of fatalities, Indonesia had the largest number of deaths at 469, followed by the Philippines with 349.Malaysia registered 83 deaths and Thailand had 43.Despite having the most number of COVID-19 cases, the Philippines has only recorded 353 recovered patients, much lower than Malaysia (2,647), Thailand (1,497), and Singapore (611) and Indonesia (446).Still, for the first time, the number of recoveries surpassed the number of deaths in the Philippines, the Department of Health  said.The DOH registered the highest daily record of recoveries from the respiratory disease at 58, overtaking Tuesday’s record of 53.However, confirmed cases for the new virus nationwide jumped to 5,453 with 230 new infections. There were also 14 new deaths for a total of 349.Meanwhile, Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles said President Rodrigo Duterte and Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe discussed a Japanese-developed flu drug Avigan which may be used to treat patients with COVID-19.He said the talks took place at the special virtual summit of the Association of Southeast Nations and its dialogue partners China, Japan and South Korea on COVID-19 on Tuesday.
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Nograles said that during the meeting, Duterte reiterated that the Philippines is ready to participate in clinical trials of drugs such as Avigan.In a virtual press confernce, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire also said that as of April 14, the country’s COVID-19 testing centers have so far conducted 39,947 tests, of which 5,782 were positive and 34,116 were negative.So far, the DOH said the youngest COVID-19 fatality in the Philippines is an infant, who was less than a month old, from Batangas province.Vergeire said the male infant was brought to the hospital because he had trouble breathing. It was then that he was diagnosed with pneumonia. She said the cause of death was late onset sepsis due to severe respiratory infection.Sepsis, which is an extreme response to infection, was often cited as a cause of death in the previous fatality cases reported by the DOH.Even though the DOH stopped issuing information on individual patients, she said the DOH’s new COVID-19 tracker website includes one male fatality who is 0 to 4 years old.Before the 29-day-old infant, the youngest fatality in the Philippines was a 7-year-old girl from Pangasinan who died due to hypovolemic shock caused by acute gastroenteritis and severe dehydration.Meanwhile, an official of the DOH National Center for Mental Health (NCHM), who has been vocal about the COVID-19 situation at the facility, has been removed from her post.Clarita Avila, NCMH chief administrative officer, was ordered transferred to the Drug Abuse Treatment and Rehabilitation Center (DATRC) in Las Piñas City.
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The transfer came just days after the NCMH barred Avila from speaking about the situation at the Mandaluyong facility, where she had alleged that several patients in the psych ward had died and that personnel were in quarantine for COVID-19 exposure.Avila branded as a form of harassment and persecution her transfer to a Las Pinas drug facility.Meanwhile, Ambassador Huang Xilian, Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines, on Tuesday turned over to Philippine government authorities medical supplies that were airlifted by a special “goodwill flight” from China.“We are glad to see some of the medical supplies have been airlifted to Manila by this special flight. This ‘goodwill flight’ demonstrates the new era of partnership,” he said.

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China will continue to support and assist the Philippines in its fight against COVID-19, he said, expressing optimism that the Philippines will be able to beat the pandemic. “Facing the challenge of COVID-19 outbreak, China and the Philippines have been supporting and helping each other. We will continue to provide our support and assistance to the best of our ability to the Philippines. It is our firm belief that the dawn of victory will come at the earliest,” Huang added.Huang also cited the visit of 12 Chinese medical experts who have gone to more than 10 front-line medical agencies, such as the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine, Lung Center of the Philippines and Chinese General Hospital and Medical Center and shared with public health officials and professionals their experience and practice on COVID-19 prevention and control, diagnosis and treatment. Also on Wednesday, Senator Nancy Binay said the government has yet to designate a point-person who will be responsible for sourcing, coordination, acquisition, consolidation, development, and distribution of medical supplies necessary to fight the coronavirus pandemic.
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“The lockdown is already one month, but no government unit is accountable or anyone from IATF is in charge of medical logistics,” she said.Binay expressed her disappointment over the apparent lack of foresight in anticipating the required medical logistics, noting that the government’s failure to factor in the medical supply chain in the fight against COVID-19 has already exposed thousands of health workers to the deadly virus. Based on accounts shared by medical workers in the frontlines, the failure to survey the needs of public and private hospitals has raised alarm about shortages of supplies, personnel and government support at nearly every stage of the COVID-19 treatment process.
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“Doctors, nurses and health workers are ready to sacrifice and serve, leave their families behind, and risk their lives during this public health emergency. But government must also show that it truly cares–not by asking them to die for the country–but [by providing] them with life-saving resources necessary to allow them to save lives of thousands more,” Binay noted. According to clinical research, patients who took the drug turned negative for the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes the disease in a median of four days after they had become positive — much faster than patients not taking the drug, who turned negative for the virus in a median of 11 days. Also, 91 percent of the patients who received the medicine saw their lung functions improve, compared to just 62 percent of those who didn’t take the drug.The drug developer, Fujifilm, said it would “continue to work to establish a treatment method for COVID-19 patients through conducting clinical trials, and to contribute to ending the spread of this global pandemic as soon as possible by increasing the production of Avigan in collaboration with strategic partners.”“According to Prime Minister Abe, there are 50 countries that are interested in studying this drug further,” Nograles added.Avigan is the brand name for anti-flu drug favipiravir. It is among the drugs being tested worldwide as a treatment for COVID-19.The President, Nograles said, has told his fellow leaders that all countries should be given fair and easy access to potential coronavirus treatments and vaccines.Nograles on Wednesday said more than 38,000 people have already been tested for COVID-19.“These numbers now lead us with an inventory of 99,750 test kits. As we announce [this], more test kits are arriving,” Nograles said.
by Macon Ramos-Araneta and Vito Barcelo
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SINGAPORE- Record 447 new coronavirus cases in S’pore, of which 404 are linked to dormitories

Dormitories continue to make up the vast majority of new cases.
Dormitories continue to make up the vast majority of new cases.ST PHOTO: DESMOND WEE

SINGAPORE – New Covid-19 cases hit another daily high on Wednesday (April 15), with the Ministry of Health announcing 447 new cases.

This brings the country’s total cases to 3,699 as of noon on Wednesday. There were 41 more cases discharged, bringing the total number of those recovered to 652.

Dormitories continue to make up the vast majority of new cases. A total of 404 of the 447 new cases are work permit holders residing in dormitories.

There were another three new clusters at dormitories and new cases at nearly all existing dormitory clusters. The S11 Dormitory @ Punggol, Singapore’s largest cluster, added another 74 cases, bringing the total to 797.

A fourth new cluster was also announced on Wednesday – a building of shophouses located at 234 Balestier Road that is linked to foreign workers.

With Wednesday’s cases, there are now at least 1,800 people linked to dormitories who have tested positive for the virus, or nearly half of all coronavirus cases in Singapore.

So far, 17 out of the 43 purpose-built dormitories here have been reported as virus clusters, with several other clusters linked to factory-converted dormitories.

Five of the new cases are work permit holders living outside dormitories.

There were 38 new local cases in the community on Wednesday and the MOH noted that the number of new cases in the community has remained stable in the past two weeks, with an average of 36 cases per day.

However, it added that the number of new cases among work permit holders has increased significantly from 48 cases per day in the week before this to 260 cases per day in the past week. This is in part because of efforts to undertake more active testing of the workers.

Of the new cases, 68 per cent are linked to known clusters, while the rest are pending contact tracing.

No imported cases have been announced since April 10.

MOH also said that an 80-year-old Malaysian man died in Singapore on Tuesday and later tested positive for the coronavirus after his death. But MOH said that the patient did not die from causes related to Covid-19.

The Early Childhood Development Agency also said there had been another case involving a preschool. A member of the teaching staff at Learning Vision @ Work at Lower Kent Ridge Road has tested positive. The staff member was last at the school on April 9.

As a precaution the school will be closed from today till April 23, and all affected staff members and children will be placed on a leave of absence during this period.

It will reopen on April 24 to serve parents who are working in essential services and unable to find alternative care arrangements.

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HA NOI, Viet Nam- Teenage girl from Mong ethnic community tests positive for COVID-19

 

Guards in Hà Giang Province are on duty around the clock at the border between Việt Nam and China to detect possible COVID-19 infections. — VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — A teenage girl from a remote Mong ethnic minority community has tested positive for COVID-19.

The 16-year-old lives in a hamlet near the border with China in the northern mountainous province of Hà Giang.

Details of where she may have contracted the virus were not released by the Ministry of Health, although it did say she has three brothers who all work across the border in China.

She started to show signs of fever, began coughing and had difficulties breathing on April 7 and was placed in quarantine at a hospital in the province’s Đồng Văn District.

She is the 268th person to test positive for COVID-19. Of those, 171 have been treated and have made full recovery.

There are 68,049 people currently in quarantine nationwide. — VNS

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DILI, Leste-Timor-

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TRIVIA: ASEAN
10 States ― Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam
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