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.
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S'pore retailers working with suppliers to ensure 'steady supply' of ART kits as demand spikes
Demand for antigen rapid test (ART) kits has spiked in recent weeks during the Chinese New Year festive period, but retailers say they are ordering more kits to replenish stocks.
Pharmacy chains like Guardian said demand for test kits has doubled since mid-January due to the festivities and more people returning to the workplace.
"This is significantly higher than what we observed in November and December last year," said a spokesman for DFI Retail Group, which owns stores including Guardian, Cold Storage and Giant.
"We have also seen an increase in demand in the past week as more consumers are taking extra precautions and conducting self-tests before their New Year visits."
A check on Guardian's online store on Wednesday (Feb 9) showed that while larger boxes of five and 25-piece boxes of test kits were sold out, there were still individual and two-piece test kits available.
Watsons has also seen a spike in demand in the past two days, at both its physical and online stores.
"Available stocks are snapped up fast upon hitting the stores," said a spokesman. Currently, it has only individual test kits available for purchase at its online stores, while larger boxes containing multiple test kits are sold out.
Similarly, FairPrice said demand for ART kits has been "elevated" in the past week. ART kits are stocked at various outlets owned by the group, including Unity pharmacies and FairPrice supermarkets. – Straits Times
No more temperature checks at schools from tomorrow
Schools under the Education Ministry's purview are not required to record their attendee's body temperature upon entrance from tomorrow (Feb 11).
The Education Ministry, in a statement today said, however, those attending schools are still required to scan the MySejahtera QR code upon entrance.
"The teachers, Anggota Kumpulan Pelaksana (AKP) members, support service workers and visitors are still required to get themselves checked-in digitally.
"Parents and guardians are also advised to ensure students are in good health and do not have any symptoms of health problems before attending schools," said the statement. The ministry said students who have any symptoms, close contact with family members who contracted Covid-19 or living in the same house with a Covid-19 patient are not allowed to attend schools.
"The students' health status will be regularly monitored while they are at school.
"Those who develop or show symptoms of health problems while at school will be placed in an isolation room for further action".
The ministry said the new ruling applies to all educational institutions under their purview, including those who are not registered under them. – New Straits Times
PM urges patience on energy woes
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha appealed for understanding yesterday over the government's attempts to curb high oil prices through various measures, including revising the structure of oil taxes and requiring more than 3 billion baht in oil price subsidies per month.
"Please be patient. We are taking care of all groups of people, particularly low-income ones," he said. "Because the energy price situation involves several factors, it can't be solved in a short time."
The government has been attempting to ease the impact of high global oil prices including using money from the Oil Fund to subsidise retail oil prices, which has already caused the fund to plunge into the red, he said. As the government prepares to seek more loans to subsidise oil prices, discussions on a proposal to revise the oil tax structure began Tuesday, Gen Prayut added.
More measures will be required to curb cooking gas prices as these have also started to escalate, the prime minister said. The root cause of these problems is the rising cost of imported energy, he said.
The retail price of energy sold in some other countries in the region is lower because these countries do not rely solely on imported energy as they have their own sources of energy, Gen Prayut said.
The government has been exploring various possibilities on how to best subsidise the price of diesel and have it capped at no more than 30 baht per litre, he said.
Meanwhile, a proposal to slash oil taxes including the excise tax would risk triggering other problems associated with shrinking government revenue, he warned. The government will require more than 3 billion baht more in oil price subsidies per month, he said, adding that if the subsidies last six months, the required budget would exceed 18 billion baht.
"The government will try its best to keep the energy prices as low as possible," Gen Prayut said. – Bangkok Post
Korea gives P15-M to rebuild shelters in 'Odette'-hit areas
The South Korean government is providing USD300,000 (approximately PHP15 million) to support the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in its efforts to rebuild shelters in provinces affected by Typhoon Odette.
The UNDP Philippines on Wednesday said this partnership with South Korea will focus on providing immediate relief and long-term resilience-building to affected communities in Dinagat Islands.
"To support UNDP’s initiative, the Republic of Korea has provided USD 300,000 to help rebuild shelter in several provinces. The selected beneficiaries will be trained in designing and rebuilding their own houses with typhoon-core shelter designs that can withstand strong winds and floods," it said in a statement.
The Korean shelter support is part of Seoul's USD2 million (PHP102.4 million) humanitarian assistance for communities affected by Typhoon Odette.
Of this funding, USD600,000 or approximately PHP31 million will be used to deliver food to around 4,000 vulnerable households in Bohol, Southern Leyte, and other heavily-impacted areas.
About USD700,000 or PHP36 million, on the other hand, will fund water, sanitation, and hygiene services (WASH) in Surigao del Norte, Southern Leyte, and Dinagat Islands.
"The Embassy of the Republic of Korea is working together with the World Food Program for food assistance, UNICEF for the provision of WASH, and the Philippine Red Cross and the UNDP for housing of resilient resettlement," the Embassy said in a statement.
Prior to this, the Korean Embassy last December 29 made an initial delivery of 1,500 sacks of rice and 740 hygiene kits valued at USD50,000 (PHP2.5 million) to the Department of Social Welfare and Development.
"The Embassy of the Republic of Korea hopes that the lives of the Filipino people affected by Typhoon Odette will return to normalcy at the soonest time, and (we'll) continue to work together with our friends and partners toward this objective," it said.
Typhoon Odette struck the country in December 2021, affecting more than 8 million people. – Philippine News Agency
Viet Nam’s aviation expected to strongly rebound this year
The recent resumption of domestic and international air routes is building hope that the sector will strongly rebound this year, following a tough year for business in 2020 and 2021.
According to the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV), domestic airlines operated 126,280 flights in 2021, down 41.7 per cent year-on-year, and nearly 60 per cent from pre-pandemic levels.
Regular international flights had been completely frozen since the first wave of the pandemic, except for those bringing home overseas Vietnamese, or carrying foreign experts.
The General Statistics Office (GSO), under the Ministry of Planning and Investment, said Viet Nam welcomed only 111,100 international arrivals by air last year, a drop of 96.4 per cent from the previous year.
Pham Viet Dung, chairman of the Vietnam Aviation Business Association (VABA), said Vietnamese airlines experienced decreases of 80-90 per cent in revenues.
The national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines reported an accumulative loss of VND21.2 trillion (US$934.7 million) as of the end of the third quarter last year.
However, a representative from Vietnam Airlines said the carrier’s market share and revenue from cargo transport still took the lead in Southeast Asia, reaching some VND8 trillion in the year, up 60 percent from 2020.
The carrier will continue to focus on cargo transport, aiming to establish a cargo carrier in the future, the representative said.
Meanwhile, new-generation airline VietJet reported a rise of 36.4 per cent in revenue, despite successive pandemic impacts, a silver lining of the whole sector.
In December 2021, when international flights resumed, the number of international visitors to Viet Nam expanded by 14.2 per cent from the previous month.
Experts said the Vietnamese aviation sector has surmounted the deepest point of the crisis. Domestic transport will recover to some 70-75 per cent of pre-pandemic levels, while international transport will reach 25 per cent. The figures are expected to rise higher in the last quarter of this year. – Vietnam News
Businesses have turned complacent over C-19 rulings
More than 90% of businesses in the capital have stopped complying with the directives of the Health Ministry and Phnom Penh City Hall to get their customers and clients to scan the Covid-19 QR code, take temperature and check vaccination cards. The non-compliance came to light when the Khmer Times team went on the ground yesterday to do a spot check on Covid-19 compliance among the business fraternity, including in public and private markets and restaurants.
It came as no surprise that many have become complacent despite no sign of the Covid-19 situation easing due to the need for them to move on with their businesses.
With the country re-opening all the sectors after a closure of almost two years, businesses were initially complying with the directives of the ministry and City Hall but as time went on, the preventive measures were slacked.
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Hun Sen said that Phnom Penh is where most of the Omicron cases were reported and called on the people to pay more attention to taking preventive and precautionary measures to avoid contracting the highly transmissible virus and falling ill.
On October 5, City Hall had issued instructions on the presentation of the Covid-19 vaccination card or certificates and on the need to scan the QR code each time when entering and leaving educational institutions, public and private markets, marts, restaurants, coffee shops and other locations which were allowed to be open.
However, a random check at several places revealed that practically all restaurants have stopped taking temperatures, have removed the Covid-19 barcode at the entrance and the customers were not asked to produce their vaccination cards nor told to wear their facemasks. – Khmer Times
Thousands of civilians displaced by military air offensive in Ye-U
The Myanmar army carried out airstrikes on eight villages in Sagaing Region’s western Ye-U Township on Sunday and Monday, local sources said.
Among the targeted communities were Taung Pyin Nge, Palu Zawa, Auk Yae Twin and Aung Thukha.
Soldiers were sent into the area by helicopter and carried out raids on the villages, a man helping the fleeing locals said.
“Three helicopters came on February 6 [to Taung Pyin Nge] and two of them dropped off soldiers while the other one opened fire from the air,” the man said, adding, “They came four times on February 7 and opened fire the whole day with just a few breaks in between.”
Around 10,000 locals from the eight locations were displaced to nearby forests and neighbouring villages, according to a man who lives near Taung Pyin Nge.
An additional 7,000 people fled when fighter jets hovered near the villages of Zin Kalae, Laung Pyae, Khat Lon and Than Pauk villages, all within three miles of Taung Pyin Nge but in Mingin Township.
The man said that Myanmar army soldiers detained 70 people, including elderly persons and young children, from Taung Pyin Nge on Sunday.
“They surrounded the village in such a short time that the villagers did not even dare or have a chance to run,” he told Myanmar Now. “The helicopters dropped off soldiers and they started surrounding the village and arresting the villagers.”
On Monday, the troops reportedly opened fire both into the villages and the surrounding forests. That day, two helicopters airlifted soldiers to Palu Zawa village and one did so to Taung Pyin Nge.
The villages targeted in the strikes are located some 17 miles from the Winmana police station in Kani Township, which was attacked by the local anti-junta People’s Defence Force (PDF) one day earlier on Saturday. – Myanmar NOW
Merah Putih vaccine to be used as booster, child vaccine: Minister
Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin has confirmed that the domestic-developed Merah Putih (red-and-white) vaccine will be used as a booster vaccine, as well as to vaccinate children from 3 until 6 years old.
Inputs from President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has also been considered in the decision to explore the potential to use Merah Putih vaccine as a booster and children’s vaccine, he added.
"Scientists are currently probing the potential to use the Merah Putih vaccine as a booster vaccine and for children from 3 until 6 years old. At present, not many vaccine variants can be used for children, because, as far as I know, there are only the Sinovac and Pfizer variants, yet the Pfizer variant is currently under clinical tests, as well," Sadikin said during the Merah Putih vaccine clinical test kick-off event at Dr Soetomo Regional General Hospital in Surabaya, East Java, on Wednesday.
The minister also said that the authority would consider donating Merah Putih vaccines to several countries, including African countries, where COVID-19 vaccine stocks are scarce.
"The vaccine distribution penetration in Africa is slow, and some vaccine variants, such as Moderna and Pfizer, need a complicated logistics facility, as the vaccine must be delivered in a freezing temperature of minus 25 to minus 28 degrees Celsius," Sadikin said.
He confirmed that President Jokowi has expressed his consent to the plan to donate the Merah Putih vaccine to several countries, hence expanding the domestic COVID-19 vaccine utilisation coverage to a global scale. – AntaraNews.Com