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: It will be Dorscon orange for some time yet, say task force chairmen
Singapore will not be moving down from Dorscon orange for some time to come because the country is still not out of the woods yet for Covid-19, said the two ministers chairing the multi-ministry task force tackling the outbreak. The virus has not been eradicated and people are still getting infected, said National Development Minister Lawrence Wong, who was speaking at a virtual press conference yesterday. Under the colour-coded Disease Outbreak Response System Condition or Dorscon, orange signifies an outbreak with moderate to high public health impact. People need to comply with control measures. There are two lower levels, yellow and green, and a higher level that is red for a severe disease that is spreading widely. Health Minister Gan Kim Yong said: "My sense is that we ought not to let our guard down. – The Straits Times
Health D-G: Malaysians must embrace new normal
Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said Malaysians must embrace the new normal and adhere to standard operating procedures (SOP). "The government's drastic decisions to limit the movement of citizens and shutting the nation's borders were done to contain the outbreak. "These were done to allow the ministry to increase its capacity in public health, medical labs, government health clinics and hospitals to flatten the (infection) curve," he said today. When the MCO began on March 18, Dr Noor Hisham said the country's labs had a daily testing capacity of 6,210 and it had 626 ventilators. He added that the country also had only 4,433 hospital beds and 273 intensive care unit (ICU) beds for Covid-19 patients. He said Malaysia reached its peak on April 5, with 2,596 active cases and a fatality rate of 1.67 per cent. – New Straits Times
TM30 reporting rule on foreigners eased
Property owners will no longer be required to report the presence of foreign tenants in their properties as often as they do now, starting from Tuesday. Section 38 of the Immigration Act requires that property or hotel owners who take in foreigners as guests notify officials within 24 hours. The Immigration Bureau has changed the reporting frequency to only when they arrive. They do not need to file the reports again if the guests leave the premises only temporarily and then return, or when they have multiple-entry visas or re-entry permits. The bureau called the amendment "a move to end duplication". Landlords are still required to report the arrivals of tenants within 24 hours or face a fine up to 10,000 baht. The change followed complaints from operators about the need to repeatedly file reports on their foreign guests every time they arrive at their properties, and foreigners who were unable to get services at immigration offices without being able to prove that TM30s had been filed on their behalf. – Bangkok Post
Jokowi gives East Java two weeks to control virus
President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has urged the East Java administration to decrease the rate of COVID-19 transmission in the region within two weeks. On Thursday, Jokowi visited Surabaya and other cities in East Java, which has become the country’s COVID-19 epicentre after Jakarta. It is his first regional working visit as the government transitions into the so-called new normal period. “I demand integrated and serious controls from all institutions in the region […] so we can handle and lower the number of confirmed cases […] within two weeks,” the President said during a visit to the East Java COVID-19 task force headquarters in the Grahadi building in Surabaya. On Thursday, 247 new COVID-19 cases were recorded in East Java, bringing the total official case tally to 10,545. The province is now slightly behind Jakarta, which has recorded a total of 10,600 cases. – The Jakarta Post
Duterte joins virtual 36th ASEAN Summit
President Rodrigo Duterte joined fellow heads of state as the 36th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit formally opened Friday morning. Duterte, alongside other leaders attended the ASEAN opening ceremony via teleconferencing as Vietnam Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc delivered his speech. Vietnam is hosting the meeting as it assumed Asean’s chairmanship this year. With the theme “Cohesive and Responsive ASEAN,” Duterte and his counterparts in the region are expected to discuss initiatives and cooperation in addressing the COVID-19 pandemic. The leaders are likewise expected to tackle ASEAN’s transition to the “new normal” and its post-pandemic recovery measures. In mid-April, the regional bloc already convened a series of online meetings on how to deal with the health crisis. – INQUIRER.net
Việt Nam demonstrated strong leadership of ASEAN during COVID-19 response, says top ASEAN official
ASEAN Secretary-General Dato Lim Jock Hoi lauded Việt Nam’s leadership of ASEAN during its chairmanship year as the regional bloc grapples with the COVID-19 pandemic. Speaking to a Vietnam News Agency correspondent in Jakarta, Indonesia, ahead of the 36th summit of the Southeast Asia regional bloc, Lim Jock Hoi said that: “Hà Nội has demonstrated strong leadership in spearheading a collective regional response to the pandemic. On the whole, ASEAN has come together and responded quickly to the pandemic, through the two special summits as well as the various measures undertaken collectively and specifically by the sectoral bodies,” the ASEAN Secretary-General said. The theme of 'Cohesive and Responsive' that Việt Nam selected for this year fits the requirements in terms of regional co-operation and solidarity in the fight against COVID-19. – Viet Nam News
Hun Sen Tempers Speculation Son Will Be Next Cambodian Leader
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen has groomed his eldest son as a potential successor ever since that son, Hun Manet, graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point almost 20 years ago, and is confidently predicting his ruling Cambodian People’s Party will remain in power for another 100 years. Analysts say, though, that that rise is far from certain and Lieutenant General Hun Manet – who also heads the army – will have to negotiate the CPP politburo, factionalism, a fickle public and China to win enough support to govern this one-party state. Even Hun Sen, the region’s longest-serving leader, has tempered recent speculation that the top job was his son’s for the taking, saying there were many capable candidates who could contest any future leadership bid. – The Cambodia Daily