Thousands of Chinese tourists stranded in Bali after Indonesia suspended flights over coronavirus fears will be offered charter flights home, China's consulate on the holiday island said Thursday.A diplomatic notice said Beijing was arranging flights for Friday back to Wuhan - the epicentre of the deadly outbreak which has killed over 500 people and spread around the world.Many of the marooned tourists are from the stricken city and surrounding Hubei province, the consulate said, but it

As doctors scramble to contain the fast-spreading coronavirus, a potent brew of anti-retroviral and flu drugs has emerged as a possible defence against the disease that has killed hundreds.But the science is inconclusive on whether they are actually effective, and experts say a specific treatment could take years to develop.Here is what we know - and don't know - about the drugs deployed against the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)-like virus.Why anti-retrovirals?Patients diagnos

The World Health Organization (WHO) declared a global emergency over the new coronavirus, as China reported Friday the death toll had climbed to 213 with nearly 10,000 infections.The United Nations (UN) health agency based in Geneva had initially downplayed the threat posed by the disease, but revised its risk assessment after crisis talks."Our greatest concern is the potential for the virus to spread to countries with weaker health systems," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus tol

The novel coronavirus, originating from Wuhan, China, has shaken the world.

As fears of a deadly virus sweep the globe, panicked members of the public are depending on a flimsy first line of defence - surgical masks that are coveted, but in short supply and of limited use.While Asian commuters cover their noses and mouths with the blue-green paper-thin covers - and social media buzzes with mask emojis, rumours of stockpiles and shortages - the humble medical mask has become an essential weapon in the battle against an invisible enemy.Cheap, mass-made and usually read

Asia stepped up its defences Tuesday against a new SARS-like virus, introducing mandatory screenings at airports of arrivals from high-risk areas of China as authorities move to head off a billowing regional health crisis.From Bangkok to Hong Kong and Seoul to Sydney, authorities have gone onto high-alert over the new coronavirus, following China's confirmation of the first case of human-to-human transmission of the deadly illness.Four people have died in China while scores more have bee

A medical clinic in Bangkok opened Monday offering free cannabis oil to hundreds of Thais seeking relief from cancer, insomnia and muscle pain as the government drives home the economic and health benefits of their gamble of marijuana. Thailand in 2018 became the first country in Southeast Asia to legalise medical marijuana, although many Thais have long used the herb in traditional medicine.The government is eager to harvest the multi-billion-dollar potential of weed, investing in t

Malaysia has reported its first polio case in 27 years, health authorities said Sunday, announcing a three-month-old baby had been diagnosed on Borneo island.The Malaysian health ministry's director-general, Noor Hisham Abdullah, said the baby from Tuaran in eastern Sabah state had been admitted into intensive care after experiencing fever and muscle weakness."The patient is currently undergoing treatment in an isolation ward and is in a stable condition but needs respiratory suppor

Philippine police were ordered Wednesday to arrest anyone caught vaping in public, just hours after Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte announced he would ban e-cigarettes.The abrupt prohibition, revealed by Duterte late Tuesday adds to a growing global backlash against a product once promoted as less harmful than tobacco smoking.Duterte, a former smoker, called the devices "toxic" and said vaping introduced "chemicals" into the user's body.He ordered the arrest of a

Earlier this week, The ASEAN Post published an article regarding the 2020 Budget in Thailand. In that article, a study by the Super Poll Research Centre was cited in which 1,069 people from a wide range of occupations nationwide were interviewed between 15 and 19 October.