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.
Air quality in North still 'critical'
Air pollution across the upper North remains at critical levels with authorities monitoring almost 400 active hotspots in Chiang Mai alone on Sunday. The air quality did not improve on Monday morning, with IQAir recording "very unhealthy" air quality and hazardous, ultra-fine PM2.5 dust levels at 170.1 microgrammes per cubic metre (μg/m³) at 10.30am in the so-called "Rose of the North".
Government spokeswoman Narumon Pinyosinwat said fires have undoubtedly affected air quality, with 17 provinces in the North reporting an increase in levels of PM2.5 pollutants on Sunday.
Only Nakhon Sawan and Uthai Thani reported PM2.5 readings below the Pollution Control Department's "safe" threshold, set at 50 μg/m³. – Bangkok Post
Coronavirus: Trump backs off plan to reopen businesses by Easter, extends social distancing guidelines to April 30
United States President Donald Trump on Sunday (March 29) extended his stay-at-home guidelines until the end of April, dropping a hotly criticised plan to get the economy up and running by mid-April after a top medical adviser said more than 100,000 Americans could die from the coronavirus outbreak.
The reversal by Mr Trump, which he said would be disclosed in greater detail on Tuesday, came as the US death toll from the respiratory disease topped 2,460, according to a Reuters tally, with more than 141,000 cases, the most of any country in the world. – The Straits Times
Food shortage looms amid quarantine
Faced with a looming food crisis as the financial assistance promised by the national government has yet to reach them, people in various parts of Luzon are left to their own devices to stave off hunger.
Some residents have started eating corn fungus, while others have planted vegetables in once idle plots. – Philippine Daily Inquirer
Myanmar COVID-19 patients climb to 10
The number of COVID-19 patients in Myanmar has been increasing steadily as the Health Ministry confirmed two more infections on Sunday, bringing the total number of cases to 10.
The first case involved a 44-year-old man who returned from Thailand recently. He passed through the Myawaddy border gate in Kayin State. – The Myanmar Times
Negative tests bring positive news in virus fight
There was positive news in the Kingdom’s fight against coronavirus yesterday after more than 300 Cambodians who were in contact with infected French tourists and 174 Chinese nationals, feared to have been infected, have all been cleared.
The Cambodians were in Siem Reap and the Chinese in Svay Rieng provinces. – Khmer Times