Governments and health authorities have constantly been urging the public to practice social distancing among many other COVID-19 preventive measures suggested. Moreover, they have also released hygiene tips to show people how to protect themselves from the coronavirus.
With the current COVID-19 health crisis looming – infecting close to two million people worldwide, governments have imposed drastic measures to contain the virus. It was reported that three billion people are currently under lockdown worldwide in an effort to flatten the curve. Other than that, authorities have urged citizens to practice social distancing and have even released hygiene tips to show people how to protect themselves from the coronavirus.
Pressures from population growth and an economic boom have increased demand for water in Vietnam, risking depletion of the valuable resource and threatening the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) by up to six percent by 2035 – a year’s worth of GDP growth.About 8.5 million urban citizens in Vietnam lack access to clean water, and in rural areas, about 41 million dwellers do not have clean water supply.
Every day, Jakarta’s 13.5 million people face water-related risks. Some have too much water, while others just do not have enough. Some have water but it is not consumable because of dirt or salt. Some even face the threat of sea water entering their homes. As grave as the situation is, for Jakartans in this megacity, conditions are expected to worsen as a result of climate change.
Tioman Island on the east coast of Malaysia first appeared on the world’s radar after its beaches were depicted in the 1958 movie South Pacific as ‘Bali Hai’. In the 1970s, the island was named by Time magazine as one of the world’s most beautiful islands. Since then, the island’s tourism industry has grown by leaps and bounds. Like many other small islands, the dwellers there have always faced a water shortage.
Whenever Malaysia wishes to get under Singapore’s skin, it seems, all it has to do is talk about their bilateral water agreement. A brief remark by Malaysia’s Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad in an interview on Bloomberg Television on 22 June drew a swift and curt response the following Monday from Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA).Mahathir had said that water was among the issues with Singapore that need to be settled.
