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: No police road blocks to enforce elevated safe distancing measures
Text and WhatsApp messages being circulated recently claiming the police had stopped motorists at road blocks and fined them for not complying with the enhanced safe distancing measures are false, said the police on Monday (April 13). A police media statement said: "The police have not conducted road blocks specifically to enforce the elevated safe distancing measures, and no passengers have been fined at road blocks for not complying with these measures." On April 3, the authorities announced stricter measures, starting April 7 and lasting until May 4, to contain the spread of Covid-19. The measures make sure that most people stay at home during the month-long circuit breaker period. Students are required to do home-based learning, while adults who are not employed in essential services have to work from home. Loitering at void decks is not permitted. Shoppers must observe strict safe distancing and wear face masks when buying groceries at markets and supermarkets. There have been more than 2,500 cases of coronavirus infection and eight deaths in Singapore to date. – The Straits Times
It's official – no Ramadan bazaars in Johor this year
The state government has decided against allowing Ramadan bazaars to operate in Johor this year. State Health and Environment Committee chairman R. Vidyananthan said the decision is in line with the federal government's proposal to disallow the organisation of Ramadan bazaars amid the Covid-19 pandemic. "The decision is part of a move to prevent the possibility of the spread of Covid-19 through close contact, which poses a higher risk to the people," said Vidyananthan. However, he said traders are encouraged to conduct their businesses through online platforms. "This is an opportunity for traders to explore the potential of a wider market through online platforms," Vidyananthan said in a statement here, today. On a related matter, he said the Johor Health Department has conducted 1,445 Rapid Test Kit (RTK) tests on residents in Simpang Renggam, where an Enhanced Movement Control Order (EMCO) was imposed on March 26. "As of April 13, a total of 55 people have tested positive. Those who tested positive in the RTK tests are ordered to undergo swab tests. "Since the EMCO was imposed, the state Health Department has recorded a total of 201 positive Covid-19 cases and three deaths," said Vidyananthan. – New Straits Times
ASEAN rallies against Covid-19
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha will on Tuesday push ahead with a proposal to set up the ASEAN Response Fund (ARF) as part of a six-point declaration to be endorsed by the 10 ASEAN leaders as they join hands to fight Covid-19. Their cooperation, initiated in response the the pandemic that has left the situation in each member state volatile, will witness a rare ASEAN summit teleconference chaired by Vietnamese Prime Minister and ASEAN chair Nguyen Xuan Phuc. Gen Prayut has been preparing for the talks since last week. He said he plans to table a number of important items during the one-day meeting, which will culminate in the Declaration of the Special ASEAN Summit on Coronavirus Disease (Covid-19). "The prime minister will ask all ASEAN leaders to seriously carry out the plans under the declaration," a government official said on Monday. – Bangkok Post
COVID-19: Community in Madiun builds ‘open kitchen’ to help affected residents avoid hunger
A community unit in Madiun, East Java, has set up an “open kitchen” so that people in the area whose incomes have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic will not need to go hungry. Residents of community unit (RT) 37 in neighbourhood unit (RW) 09 of Mojorejo, a subdistrict of Taman district in Madiun, have built a kitchen accessible to the public in the yard of a house. The RT chief, Syamsul Hadi, 43, said the kitchen was opened two weeks ago. Syamsul said most people in the neighbourhood worked in the informal sector as street vendors, parking attendants and pedicab drivers and the like and their daily income had been devastated because of the coronavirus outbreak. Some residents also had to temporarily shut down their small businesses to comply with the government’s physical distancing policy to curb the spread of the disease. – The Jakarta Post
16 of 32 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Quezon are health workers
At least six more health workers in Quezon province have been confirmed to have the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), bringing the total recorded cases among their sector to 16. In its 4 p.m. report on Monday, the Quezon Public Information Office disclosed that the confirmed COVID-19 cases in the province rose to 32 from Monday’s 25. Of the new seven cases, six are all health workers as disclosed by the local chief executives of Lucena City, the towns of Real and Pagbilao, and the local government of Tayabas City. Of the 16 health workers with COVID-19, at least six came from Lucena, four of them “doctors.” – Philippine Daily Inquirer