These are the top stories making the front pages of major newspapers from across Southeast Asia today.
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10 out of 12 new Covid-19 cases in S'pore asymptomatic; 13 cases discharged from hospital
There were 12 new coronavirus cases confirmed as at Sunday (Oct 4) afternoon, including two community cases and six imported cases. Ten of the cases are asymptomatic and detected from proactive screening, while two had symptoms. The latest increase takes Singapore's total number of cases to 57,812. One of the community cases is a work pass holder, while the other is a work permit holder. One of them was detected under the Ministry of Health's (MOH) enhanced community testing of all individuals aged 13 and above who are diagnosed with acute respiratory infection at first presentation to a doctor. The other community case was detected as a result of the routine testing of workers in the construction, marine and process sectors who are living outside of dormitories. He is asymptomatic, said MOH. Contact tracing is underway. All identified close contacts have been isolated and quarantined, and will be tested for the Covid-19 virus. On the imported cases, MOH said all of them were already in quarantine before they tested positive. Two of them are Singapore permanent residents who returned to Singapore from India on Sept 22 and 23. Three other cases are work pass or work permit holders currently employed in Singapore. The three arrived from Netherlands on Sept 22, the Philippines on Sept 22 and Indonesia on Oct 1. The last imported case is a dependant's pass holder who flew in from Japan on Sept 22. The remaining four cases on Sunday are made up of workers residing in dormitories. – The Straits Times
Parents call for closure of schools
Anxiety among parents is mounting as concerns over possible Covid-19 infection among school-going children grow amid an exponential increase in the number of new infections in the country. They called on the authorities to temporarily close down schools in high-risk areas, including in Kedah and Selangor, and revert to e-learning for two weeks or until the number of cases had significantly decreased to minimise the risk of transmission. Parents also questioned the authorities' decision and rationale behind the closing down of kindergartens in red zones and advising students of higher education institutions to stay home, yet paying no heed to primary and secondary schoolchildren. Sharmila Raj, 40, a mother of two from Ipoh, said schools in red zones and high-risk areas with increased number of cases and new clusters, such as in Selangor and Kedah, should be ordered shut. She said although the Covid-19 situation in Ipoh was under control and her children's school maintained strict compliance with the standard operating procedures (SOP), the risk of transmission remained, especially since inter-district and interstate travels were allowed. Therefore, she said, the government should also impose a temporary ban on interstate travel. "Recently, about 600 Penang children underwent swab tests. Imagine the misery these children went through. Even as an adult, I am trying to avoid the swab test in fear of pain. "Children are trying to adjust to this new norm and to trouble them with the nasal test is just unnecessary. – New Straits Times
Ranong pier in hot water over breach
Port authorities are threatening to shut down a wharf in Ranong that allowed a fishing trawler crew from Myanmar to come ashore during a stopover, despite a ban that was put in place to prevent the spread of Covid-19 in Thailand from neighbouring Myanmar. During a random inspection of local wharves on Sunday, a team from Ranong's port security centre, which is under the Thai Maritime Enforcement Command Centre (Thai-MECC), encountered several fishing trawler crew members from Myanmar onshore, who fled into their boats as soon as they were approached, said port security centre chief, Nat Charatsakun, yesterday. Capt Nat said the wharf's operator was given a formal warning and ordered to abide by the ban, or risk having the wharf shut down. "If an outbreak is traced back to a wharf, its operator will be held responsible for failing to follow Covid-19 prevention guidelines, as outlined by the written agreement with Thai-MECC," he said. The number of confirmed Covid-19 infections in Myanmar has surged from about 400 cases on Aug 20, to 16,503 cases as of yesterday, raising concerns about a possible contagion in provinces along the Thai-Myanmar border. The northern province of Mae Hong Son yesterday announced the suspension of trade activities at three border areas over concerns about the deteriorating situation in Myanmar, according to the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration's (CCSA) Facebook page. – Bangkok Post
COVID-19 handling ‘not that bad’, Jokowi says as nation surpasses 300,000 cases
President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has claimed that the country’s COVID-19 control efforts are going well, as the nation enters its eighth month of the outbreak and exceeds 300,000 cases. “Let’s judge this based on facts and data, not based on estimates,” Jokowi said in a video posted on the Presidential Secretariat’s YouTube channel on Saturday night. “I can say that COVID-19 handling in Indonesia is not that bad. In fact, it is quite good.” He said the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases and deaths in Indonesia was significantly lower than that of other countries with large populations. The video displayed the case counts of countries such as the United States, India and Brazil, which number in the millions. He did not address the fact that Indonesia’s COVID-19 testing rate remains significantly lower than the rates of those countries. The nation has conducted 12,854 tests per 1 million people, compared to the US’s 333,407 tests per 1 million and India’s 57,096 tests per 1 million. The government has been criticized for a lack of transparency regarding the COVID-19 death toll. Suspected virus deaths recorded at the provincial level reached 12,362 on Friday, surpassing the 11,151 total confirmed deaths reported by the Health Ministry on Sunday. The President called for optimism, saying the country’s economy had not been hit as hard by the pandemic as other Southeast Asian countries had. “We should look at the silver lining so that we stay optimistic and don’t lose hope,” he said. Jokowi pledged that his Cabinet would work harder to find solutions to the pandemic and its consequences. “We have to continue to improve everything, and there is still a lot of work that we must do,” he said. “We have to continue to adjust policies to find the best ones.” As of Saturday, the central government had recorded 303,498 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 11,151 deaths. – The Jakarta Post
Proof to indict Duque enough, says Lacson
The task force formed by President Duterte to go after officials who allegedly misused billions of pesos in COVID-19 response funds of Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) has found “enough evidence” to indict Health Secretary Francisco Duque III, Sen. Panfilo Lacson said on Sunday. Lacson, who had exposed the massive corruption in the state health insurer along with Senate President Vicente Sotto III, said Duque and other PhilHealth officials should not celebrate prematurely after they were not named in the criminal complaint that the National Bureau of Investigation filed in the Office of the Ombudsman last week. He said Duque, resigned PhilHealth senior vice president Rodolfo del Rosario Jr. and the others could be included in the next batch of cases that the task force, led by the Department of Justice (DOJ), would bring to the graft buster. “In fact, (Sotto) has it on good information that the task force has enough evidence against the others not initially charged, specifically Secretary Duque,” Lacson told the Inquirer. He said the “inside information” was given to the Senate President by a “trusted source” in the task force. Lacson also noted that Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra had previously said the list of people to be indicted was “not yet final” as the investigators were still reviewing evidence, including documents submitted by the Senate committee of the whole. The task force, he said, might have just been “pressed for time” as the President gave it only 30 days to complete the investigation into fraudulent transactions that had cost PhilHealth P154 billion since 2003 and put it on the brink of financial collapse. – INQUIRER.net
Quality tours at affordable prices needed to stimulate tourism market
High-quality, affordably priced tours are needed to attract local tourists, especially following the second COVID-19 outbreak that occurred this summer, experts have said. Now that the outbreak is mostly under control, more tourist attractions are open for business and have introduced promotional tourism packages. But tourism agencies need preferential policies from the State to revive their operations. The director of Sai Gòn Star Company, Huỳnh Văn Sơn, said it was necessary to ease tourists’ travel anxiety. “Reducing tour prices and locals’ travel costs must be part of demand stimulus policies. For example, a tour to Phú Quốc usually costs VNĐ8 million (US$345), but it should be cut to VNĐ6 million at this time,” Sơn said. Chairman of the Bà Rịa - Vũng Tàu Province Tourism Association Phạm Ngọc Hải said that tourism agencies have agreed to reduce their price by 50 per cent or more during the second phase of the stimulus programme. The association has told participating business firms that they should think of creating new tours and products. “Due to the low-peak tourism season, especially when international tourists cannot come now, it is crucial to 'turn on' the deep-sale mode,” Hải added. – Viet Nam News
Ministry to examine complaints over Thai hotel’s “cultural appropriation”
The Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts is looking into complaints about a Thai hotel’s use of ancient Cambodian landmarks and designs in its surroundings. Ministry spokesman, Long Punna Serivath, said yesterday that the hotel, known as “Le Palais Hotel” on the island of Koh Phangan, is designed to resemble Unesco World Heritage listed Angkor Wat, Banteay Srey and Bayon Temple in Cambodia. On Saturday criticism was made online of the hotel for appropriating Khmer culture and landmarks for commercial purposes. Social media commentators reacted with a mixture of anger and bemusement, with some criticising the hotel for what they call “cultural appropriation.” One commentator said: “Angkor Wat is the property of Khmer people. It is not right that a foreign country steals our culture.” Other comments include: “This is the brand of Khmer, Thailand must ask for permission”, “it’s really sad, a thief has stolen the culture of Khmer heritage,” and “when I last checked, Koh Phangan was over 1,000km away from Angkor Wat – why do they have these buildings!?” Serivath said: “We have received this information and are looking for the exact source, as we need to confirm whether it is in fact true, we can’t make an assumption about it.” He said: “The temples of Angkor Wat and other Unesco world heritage sites are cultural resources that we are obliged to help preserve and promote.” – Khmer Times