These are the top stories making the front pages of major newspapers from across Southeast Asia today.
Get up to speed with what’s happening in the fastest growing region in the world.
Coronavirus: Chinese doctor who tried to warn of outbreak dies from virus
A Chinese doctor who was among the first to raise a public alarm about the deadly coronavirus outbreak died of the infection early on Friday (7 Feb), his hospital announced.
Opthalmologist Li Wenliang died from the infection at 2.58am, Wuhan Central Hospital said in a post on its verified account on Chinese social media platform Weibo.
News of Dr Li’s death soared to the top read topics on China’s Twitter-like Weibo on Friday, with over 1 billion views. – The Straits Times
Coronavirus death toll reaches over 560, China says
The official Chinese death toll from the coronavirus outbreak rose to 636, with the government saying total infections had climbed past 30,000.
The toll was raised by 73 new deaths from the epidemic, the National Health Commission said today in its daily update. – New Straits Times
Coronavirus: Travel ban extended to other Chinese provinces under lockdown – DPM
The temporary travel ban on Chinese nationals arriving from Hubei province and the city of Wuhan will be extended to all other provinces placed under lockdown by the Chinese government in the wake of the 2019 novel coronavirus infection.
“The Immigration Department will also from now impose a travel ban on a province as soon as the Chinese government declares it under lockdown,” Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail said in a statement last night. – Borneo Post
Jokowi's economic growth target unrealistic: Indef
The government's economic growth target in 2020 is unrealistic given last year’s sluggish economic expansion and looming risks from the coronavirus outbreak, economists have said.
Institute for Development of Economics and Finance (INDEF) economist Abdul Manan Pulungan said the global uncertainty that hampered global growth last year would continue this year, adding that there was no sign that Indonesia’s exports would pick up. – The Jakarta Post
Localities asked to take measures against bird flu
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has called on local authorities nationwide to roll out precautionary measures against avian influenza, commonly called bird flu.
The request was made on Monday after China announced a case of H5N1 avian influenza on a poultry farm in Hunan Province on Saturday. – Viet Nam News