These are the top stories making the front pages of major newspapers from across Southeast Asia today.
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Vaccinated cleaner at care facility among Singapore's new community Covid-19 cases
A fully vaccinated woman who was working as a cleaner at a community care facility in Tuas South was the sole unlinked case out of the 16 community cases announced by the Ministry of Health (MOH) on Thursday (April 29). The 39-year-old Vietnamese national wears full personal protective equipment while at work – including an N95 mask, face shield, gown and gloves. She also periodically helps out at a food stall at The Summit located at the National University of Singapore's Bukit Timah campus. She received her first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine on Jan 27, and the second dose on Feb 19. MOH said that while the Covid-19 vaccine is effective in preventing symptomatic disease for the vast majority of those vaccinated, it is possible for vaccinated individuals to get infected. The woman had been asymptomatic, but her case was picked up when she was tested on Monday as part of rostered routine testing, MOH said. Her pooled test result came back positive for Covid-19 the next day, and she was taken by ambulance to the National Centre for Infectious Diseases. An individual test was done on Tuesday and her test result came back positive for Covid-19 infection. Her earlier tests from the routine screening - the last being on April 14 - were all negative for Covid-19 infection, the ministry added. The other 15 community cases announced by MOH on Thursday were linked to existing clusters. Eight of them – two staff and six patients – were linked to the nurse at Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) who was working at Ward 9D, a general ward. These cases had mainly been detected by MOH's proactive testing of patients and staff in the affected ward. Measures have been put in place at the hospital to prevent further transmission, including barring visitors from entering the hospital except for critically ill patients. The other seven community cases were family members of a prior Covid-19 case – a 38-year-old Immigration and Checkpoints Authority officer – that MOH had announced on Wednesday. The ministry said that the man and his family had gathered for a meal on Sunday, when the transmission was likely to have taken place. – The Straits Times
No toll hikes for Kesas, SKVE, LPT2 this year
The government has agreed to postpone the toll hikes for this year involving Lebuhraya Shah Alam (Kesas), South Klang Valley Expressway (SKVE), and the East Coast Expressway 2 (LPT2). Senior Works Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof in a statement said the 2021 toll hike was postponed from Jan 1 to Dec 31. All three highways were scheduled for the toll hike starting Jan 1, this year. "The decision was made following the government's concern over the public's rising cost of living caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and agreed to the postponement during the Cabinet meeting on Apr 28," the statement read. Fadillah said there are 21 highways that were previously allowed to postpone the toll rate hike for all vehicle classes. He said among the highways involved were the North-South Expressway (PLUS), Duta-Ulu Kelang Expressway (DUKE), Damansara Puchong Expressway (LDP) and KL - Putrajaya Expressway (MEX). "Only one highway suspended the toll hike for Classes 1 and 5 vehicles; one highway suspended the hike for Class 5 vehicles; and one highway suspended it for Classes 2,3,4 and 5 vehicles only," he said. Class 1 is identified as vehicles with two axles and three- or four-wheels excluding taxis; Class 2 vehicles with two axles and five- or six-wheels excluding buses; Class 3 vehicle with three or more axles, Class 4 taxis and Class 5 buses. Due to the extensions of the toll hikes, Fadillah estimated that the government would bear RM2.25 billion while negotiations to restructure the toll rates with concessionaires was still ongoing. He said the government has agreed to finalise the toll restructuring before 2023. "The estimated compensation is based on the calculation formula stipulated in the concession agreement. "And the actual amount of toll compensation payment will be determined after the traffic verification process is done by the Malaysian Highway Authority." he said. – New Straits Times
50 infected by virus in Klong Toey
At least 50 people in a Klong Toey community in central Bangkok have been confirmed as being infected with the Covid-19 virus. Bangkok governor Aswin Kwanmuang announced on his Facebook page that the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) and Institute for Urban Disease Control and Prevention had used an express analysis mobile unit to test 925 residents in the community on Tuesday. The district office and Erawan Medical Centre have been ordered to take the infected to field hospitals as quickly as possible. Meanwhile, the BMA and institute are continuing to proactively search for Covid-positive people. Pol Gen Aswin also led officers from Medical Service Department and Bangkapi district office to inspect Baan Thai Boutique Hotel, on Ramkhamhaeng Road in Bangkapi district ahead of its opening as a 300-bed hospital-cum-hotel, or "hospitel" today. The operation is being run with the BMA-run Taksin Hospital to accommodate patients with mild symptoms. The Baan Thai hospitel will have a 24-hour emergency medical service plus rescue vans that aim to deliver patients to hospital inside 15 minutes. Also prepared in the hospitel are X-ray machines to examine especially sick patients and telemedicine software that will enable doctors from Taksin Hospital to liaise online with patients and advise them speedily. Patients will also be able to report their daily health condition to an online platform, arranged by the National Innovation Agency. The platform can track patients' locations, record their health information and allow them to chat with doctors through chats and video calls. The National Health Commission Office, BMA and civil networks have set up a community isolation centre at Saphan temple in Phra Khanong district to isolate patients from the Klong Toey community while they await hospitalisation. Dr Prateep Thanakitcharoen, secretary-general of National Health Commission Office, said the isolation centre would be opened today and run by Klong Toey communities. – Bangkok Post
‘If you’re bright, why did we lose the West Philippine Sea?’ – Duterte to Carpio, Del Rosario
“If you’re bright, why did we lose the West Philippine Sea?” President Rodrigo Duterte posed this question, phrased in Filipino, to retired Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio and former Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario as China continued to keep its presence in the disputed waters. “That was during your time. It was your time when you were still in position. If you’re bright, why did we lose it? Now it’s China who’s holding it. And it’s me you’re pressuring to find a solution,” Duterte said in Filipino. The Philippines might have won its case against China at the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague. But Duterte said: “Nobody in the United Nations will go to war for us.” So, the Philippines was “at a loss how to get back physically the West Philippine Sea,” he added. The President also said China’s grip on the disputed sea was already tight when he assumed office. “When I got here, we had already lost. China really assumed that it was theirs,” Duterte said. “So, I have a choice of going to war. We’re all going to die because we don’t have arms. I will just send my soldiers to hell, which I will never do. I will not let my soldiers fight. If there has to be a fight, then we have to win,” he went on. China has consistently refused to acknowledge the 2016 ruling of the UN-backed Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague that invalidated its claim in the entire South China Sea. Recently, the Philippines has begun filing daily diplomatic protests over the continuing presence of the Chinese ships at Julian Felipe Reef. – INQUIRER.net
Ha Noi, Hung Yen record domestic cases, Ha Nam closes tourism sites
A man in Ha Noi has tested positive for COVID-19 after he came into close contact with patient 2899, the Ministry of Health said on Friday morning. He is a driver living in Viet Hung Commune, Dong Anh District. On April 22, he joined a dinner party with patient 2899 at a restaurant in Vinh Tru Township, Ly Nhan District of Ha Nam Province. On April 29, he tested positive and is now being treated at the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases in Dong Anh. Through preliminary investigations, 10 people have been traced who he came into close contact with and 21 others living in the same area. Two other domestic cases were also recorded Friday, both in Hung Yen Province. The pair are relatives of the 28-year-old man who had earlier tested positive. They live in Hoang Xa Village, Tien Tien Commune of Phu Cu District and are being treated at the National Hospital of Tropical Diseases. On the same day, one imported case was reported, a 34-year-old woman who entered the country via the Lao Bao Border Gate in Quang Tri Province. She was quarantined upon arrival. Tourism sites closed. Meanwhile, on Thursday evening, Ha Nam Province’s People’s Committee closed Tam Chuc Tourism Site in Ba Sao Township of Kim Bang District and other religious venues, tourism and historical sites in the province. The provincial authority also asked all districts to postpone festivals, activities and unnecessary or crowded events. Karaoke venues, bars, restaurants, discos, entertainment places and gaming centres were also ordered to close. The provincial People's Committee also requested to review, complete and reactivate the entire force and plans of the COVID-19 pandemic prevention and control at all levels. Ha Noi authorities ordered compulsory wearing of masks when outside and violators warned they would be fined. Entertainment venues will also be closed in the capital starting Friday (April 30). The city’s walking streets and festivals continue to be halted. “Other people got the food from the government,” a villager in the crowd said. “Why haven’t we got any?” – Viet Nam News
Red Zone residents in Meanchey District gather to demand for immediate food assistance, defying curfew and lockdown measures
At around 7:00pm last night, hundreds of people in Phneat Village of Meanchey District’s Steung Meanchey II commune came out to gather at a barricaded intersection to demand for food supplies from the authorities. The people, most of whom are factory workers, were displaying cardboard bearing phrases such as “we are starving” and urged the authorities to give them much-needed food supplies after over 2 weeks of being under lockdown. The protesting people refused to disperse until a solution was reached. The district officials, including Meanchey District Deputy Governor Dy Rath Kemrin, later went down to the place to negotiate with the people. “We will help you, but now you have to disperse or you risk getting infected with COVID-19,” Kemrin spoke on a loudhailer to the protesting people. “Everyone is experiencing hardship right now, and we would like to request your understanding.” He urged the protesters to return to their homes, which they did after he promised that he would order the officials to survey the areas for those who need food so that the authorities can bring them relief packages. The food shortages in the areas designated as Red Zone have become more and more serious, particularly after the government announced the extension of the lockdown for another week, after already 14 days of restriction, and many people living in these zones have called for help on social media. – Khmer Times
Despite ASEAN consensus, military abuses continue around the country
Nearly a week after Myanmar’s chief coup maker met with leaders of the member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) last Saturday to discuss the crisis in the country, reports of abuses by the military continue. The ASEAN meeting, held in the Indonesian capital Jakarta, reached a five-point consensus that aimed to end the ongoing violence, which has already claimed more than 750 civilian lives in less than three months. Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, who made his first trip outside of Myanmar since seizing power on February 1 to attend the emergency summit, appears to have backed away from the terms of the agreement since returning to the country. The day after the meeting, coverage of the summit in state-run newspaper The Mirror made no mention of the five points, which included plans to allow representatives of the regional grouping into the country to observe the situation on the ground. On Tuesday, however, the regime announced that it would only move forward with this and other points in the agreement once the country had become “stable”. Meanwhile, it continues its efforts to restore stability through brute force, killing at least seven people during and in the days immediately after the Jakarta summit, in direct violation of its commitment to end violence against civilians. The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), which has documented the regime’s arrests and killings of protesters and other civilians, said that the ASEAN meeting had failed to achieve the desired results. “On the night after the meeting, the junta’s armed forces continued to commit atrocities against civilians, including women, in plain sight,” it noted in a statement released earlier this week. On the day of the summit, a young man was shot dead by plainclothes policemen in Mandalay, while a woman arrested in Myaung Mya, a town in Sagaing Region, died shortly after being taken into custody on the same day, according to AAPP. There was also one other civilian death reported in Yezagyo, Magway Region, on Saturday, followed by two more the next day – one in Kawthaung, in Tanintharyi Region, and another in Yangon’s Insein Township, AAPP records show. – Myanmar NOW
Govt pegs 2022 budget deficit at 4.5% - 4.8%
The Indonesian government has set a budget deficit target of Rp808.2 trillion-Rp879.2 trillion, or 4.51-4.85 percent of the national gross domestic product (GDP), for 2022. “With the deficit of 4.5-4.8 percent, the 2022 financing will be kept more prudently,” Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said at the 2021 central development coordination meeting in Jakarta on Thursday. The 2022 fiscal macro posture covers a state income target of Rp1,823.5 trillion-Rp1,895.4 trillion, or 10.18-10.44 percent of the GDP, she added. State income will comprise tax receipts of Rp1,499.3 trillion- Rp1,528.7 trillion, or 8.37-8.42 percent, non-tax state revenues of Rp322.4 trillion-Rp363.1 trillion, or 1.8-2.0 percent, and grants of Rp1.8 trillion-Rp3.6 trillion, or 0.01-0.02 percent, the minister disclosed. State spending is set to reach Rp2,631.8 trillion-Rp2,775.3 trillion, or 14.69-15.29 percent of the GDP, Indrawati said. State spending will comprise central government spending of Rp1,856 trillion-Rp1,929.9 trillion, or 10.36 percent-10.63 percent, and fund transfers to regions and village funds of Rp775.8 trillion-Rp845.3 trillion, or 4.33- 4.66 percent. Indrawati said the government will make the composition more balanced so that it will reflect a budget strategy that promotes human resources, develops productive infrastructure, protects vulnerable citizens, and supports an efficient, effective, and professional bureaucracy. The 2022 budget financing target will be achieved through net debt of 4.81-5.8 percent and investment of minus 0.3-minus 0.95 percent, she disclosed and pegged the debt ratio at 43.76-44.28 percent, with a median of 41.05 percent. She further said the theme of the government’s macroeconomic projections and the draft fiscal policy (PEM PPKF) is economic recovery and structural reforms conducted through human capital improvement, economic transformation, and fiscal reforms. She said economic recovery in 2022 will remain highly dependent on the government’s efforts to focus its programs on driving the public and the business world to become healthier and recover from the pandemic. “All stakeholders, including regional governments, will play a very strategic role in safeguarding and recovering the national economy and conducting structural reforms,” she added. – AntaraNews.Com