The test was carried out as part of the quarantine process where everybody is checked to determine the status before being release.

The three primary contacts- the partner, guide and driver, finish their quarantine period today.

While tests on the guide and the driver were confirmed negative, the partner, who is 59 years old, showed a positive result. This was the fourth test run on the

primary contacts since the detection of first case on March 5. All earlier three tests were negative.

Meanwhile, the patient is asymptomatic and healthy. She will be monitored in isolation starting today. Her partner was evacuated to the US last week.

The driver and the guide, who will be allowed to leave the quarantine facility, will have to be under home quarantine and report immediately should they notice any symptom or sign of it. “Should they wish to stay in the facility, we will be offering the option, said the premier.

This takes the number of Covid-19 cases in the country to two.

A signing ceremony to employ the labours in Yangon, Hpa-an, Myawady and Kawthaung Townships and issuing labour identity cards through Oversea Job Agencies was suspended since the beginning of March 18th.

Later, the government will be replying the date for resuming the work procedures. Moreover, issuing of application form on holding of EPS-TOPIK exam which will be held in April and May will be temporarily suspended on March 18th.

The Ministry of Health and Sports released a notification to the public on February 23rd warning that people should avoid crowded places and public gatherings.

So, Oversea Job Guidance and Japanese Language training courses being opened by the Labour Department will be suspended temporarily since the beginning of March 18th.

After the World Health Organization announced the declaration on March 11th that the spread of novel coronavirus (COVID-19 ) was a pandemic, the government had banned public gatherings, including the upcoming Thingyan Water Festival until the end of April.

The government has banned all passengers, including Nepalis, from entering Nepal from European Union territories, including the United Kingdom, West Asia, Gulf countries and countries like Iran, Turkey, Malaysia, South Korea and Japan. The ban will come into effect from March 20 midnight and will remain in place until April 15.

All passengers transiting in these locations are also prohibited.

Movement from China, however, has remained inexplicably open.

A meeting of the high-level coordination committee led by Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Ishwar Pokhrel took these decisions on Wednesday.

“The decision means that all Nepalis who are currently outside the country have to enter Nepal by Friday midnight,” said Rajan Pokhrel, director-general of the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal, one of the members of the committee. “As the Indian government has banned the entry and exit of all passengers from its airports, we didn’t deem it necessary to ban passenger movement to India.”

There are, however, concerns regarding the status of Nepalis who are currently abroad, especially if their visas expire and they do not have enough money to remain abroad.

According to the committee, this issue will be handled by Nepal’s diplomatic missions abroad and coordinated by the Foreign Ministry.

“This is a practical issue that needs to be resolved by the Foreign Ministry,” said Ram Chandra Tiwari, information officer at the Department of Immigration. “Such issues will be settled through diplomatic channels.”

The ban on entry comes in response to the ongoing Covid-19 outbreak that has paralysed the world. As the coronavirus has spread to over 160 countries, numerous nations have placed travel bans and are shutting down borders in order to contain the spread of the disease.

This is the third step of restriction after the government on March 2 suspended the visa-on-arrival regime for nationals of five countries — China, South Korea, Japan, Italy and Iran which were badly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Subsequently, on March 11, the government decided to temporarily stop issuing on-arrival tourist visas to all countries, including the Non-Resident Nepalis.

“This is the most rigid step taken by the government as of now. If the scenario becomes more extreme, there is a possibility that the government could place the country’s sole international airport under lockdown for all passengers,” said Pokhrel.

“But in view of essential supplies that need to be flown, the government may not restrict the flights. Everything will be decided step by step.”

According to the airport authority, after the decision to temporarily stop issuing on-arrival tourist visas to all countries, inbound passenger movement plunged to just 3,064 individuals on March 17. Among them, 2,904 were Nepalis and 160 foreigners. On a normal day, Nepal’s sole international airport receives 5,000 inbound passengers.

As per the high-level coordination committee’s decision, if any foreign tourist currently in Nepal is unable to return to their country, the government will extend their visas as per the prevailing law. However, tourists need to apply for the extension before their visas expire.

For passengers who have already purchased flight tickets to or from Nepal, and wish to cancel their trip, airlines should handle their refund requests free of charge, according to the committee’s decision. The coordination committee has asked the Tourism Ministry to direct all airlines to not charge passengers for postponement.

The government has also decided to shut down all cinema halls, gyms and health clubs, museums and cultural centres until April 30, and has banned gatherings of more than 25 people at a time, whether it be for cultural, social or religious activities at party palaces, temples, monasteries, mosques, churches and other religious and public spaces.

The Covid-19 outbreak has so far infected 203,617 people and killed 8,227.

Nepal has only reported a single case of the coronavirus, in January. The patient recovered.

The novel Coronavirus pandemic, which began in the Hubei province of China, has infected more than 1, 56,000 people and killed over 5,800 globally.

In India, the number of Coronavirus cases have gone up to 107 on Sunday, which includes two persons who died in Delhi and Karnataka, the Union Health Ministry said.

A special Air India aircraft carrying 211 Indian students and seven compassionate cases, who were stuck in Italy after flights were cancelled due to the Coronavirus outbreak, landed in Delhi today morning. “211 students & 7 compassionate cases departed by AI flight #Milan. All those who helped us through this difficult situation, special thanks to @airindiain team & Italian authorities. Consulate will continue to ensure the welfare of all Indians in northern #Italy,” Indian Consulate in Milan tweeted.

Meanwhile, another batch of 234 Indians stranded in Iran also reached Delhi in a Mahan Air flight early this morning. They were sent to an army quarantine facility in Rajasthan’s Jaisalmer in two Air India flights.

While a 76-year-old man from Karnataka’s Kalaburagi who had recently returned from Saudi Arabia died on Thursday, a 68-year-old woman in Delhi who had tested positive for COVID-19 passed away at the Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) Hospital on Friday night.

Delhi has reported seven positive cases and Uttar Pradesh 11 so far. Karnataka has six Coronavirus patients while Maharashtra 19,Ladakh 3 and Jammu and Kashmir 2.

Besides, Rajasthan also reported two cases. Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Punjab have reported one case each.

Kerala has recorded 22 cases, including three patients who were discharged last month after they recovered from the contagious infection with flu-like symptoms.

The total number of 93 confirmed cases includes 17 foreigners — 16 Italian tourists and a Canadian, the Heath Ministry said.

The government has asked people not to panic, saying no community transmission of the virus has been observed and there has only been a few cases of local transmission so far and that it is “not a health emergency” in India at present.

The Central government on Saturday declared the pandemic a “national disaster”. Earlier, the Central government had also announced an ex gratia of Rs 4 lakh to the families who died of the virus. Moments later, the Government reissued a fresh “modified order” with no mention of any ex-gratia compensation.

The Ministry of Home Affairs in a letter to states and union territories stated.“Keeping in view that spread of COVID-19 virus in India the declaration of it as pandemic by World Health Organisation, the Central government has decided to treat it as a notified disaster and announced to provide assistance under State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF).”

With the World Health Organisation (WHO) declaring COVID-19 a pandemic, a Health Ministry official said over 4,000 people who had come in contact with the 93 positive cases have been identified through contact tracing and were being tracked while 42,000 people across the country are under community surveillance.

“Today, we received reports of 21 new cases, 19 of which are in Jakarta and two in Central Java,” Health Ministry Disease Control and Prevention Director General Achmad Yurianto said on Sunday, as quoted by kontan.co.id.

He declined to elaborate on the cases, saying only that they were linked to previous cases reported in the capital.

Yurianto said the ministry would relay the findings to the hospitals in which the patients are being treated.

The data, he added, was needed so that the medical teams in charge of treating the patients could give them a proper explanation on the next steps to be taken, including isolation.

“[It] is the patient’s right to know,” he said.

The doctors must also inform local health authorities on the new cases so that the relevant authorities in the respective region could begin contact tracing, Yurianto said.

“Afterward, the health agencies should inform the local governments. It is their prerogative to decide whether to announce [the new cases] to the public, without neglecting their privacy as mandated by law,” Yurianto said, adding that he believed regional leaders had their own policies to contain the spread of the virus.

The WHO said on Saturday that the virus had been circulating in 136 countries, with 13 new countries reporting their first cases. At least 5,393 people have died of the disease, but more than 73,900 have recovered worldwide.

Some prominent figures around the world – from celebrities to high-ranking officials — have tested positive for COVID-19, including Indonesian Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi. (asp

DOH’s announcement late Sunday afternoon has brought to 11 the number of fatalities from COVID-19 and raised to 140 the number of people infected.

Based on DOH’s update, the three patients who died were “PH9”, the 86-year-old American male from Marikina City who succumbed to multiple organ failure; “PH54”, the 40-year-old male from Pasig City who died due to acute respiratory illness; and “PH39”, a 64-year-old male from Negros Occidental who previously had liver disease.

PH54 and PH39 died Sunday morning at 2:42 a.m. and 11:09 a.m. respectively; while PH9 died Saturday morning.

mOf the three, only PH9 had a travel history to the United States and Korea while PH39 went to Greenhills in San Juan City, Metro Manila, where some of the people found positive for COVID-19 have reportedly visited.

At least two of the 140 people positive for COVID-19 were said to have frequented the Muslim prayer room in Greenhills.

PH54, meanwhile, had no history of travel to virus-hit countries and no exposure to any infected person 14 days before symptoms appeared.

COVID-19 is a respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus or SARS-CoV-2, which outbreak started in China’s Wuhan City in Hube province in late 2019.

People who have COVID-19 could recover since for most people, its symptoms were mild like fever and cough. But the illness could also be worse or serious for others such as pneumonia, especially for older adults and those with existing health problems.

The World Health Organization has declared COVID-19 a pandemic as it has infected more than 150,000 people and killed over 5,000 all over the world.

This brings the number of cases in the country to 428, says the Health Ministry.

Its minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba said most of new cases were traced to the tabligh programme in Masjid Jamek Sri Petaling, held from Feb 27 to March 1.

Dr Adham said that the ministry was still tracing those who took part in the programme.

“We urge those who participated in the programme to contact the nearest district health office for further instructions,” he said in a statement.

He said that participants of the tabligh programme need to be under monitoring for 14 days from the end of the programme or the last close contact they had with those diagnosed with Covid 19.

He urged those who went to the tabligh programme to cooperate with the authorities to prevent further spread of Covid 19 among Malaysians.

Dr Adham said that of the 428 cases in the country, nine patients were in the intensive care unit (ICU) and needed respiratory assistance.

Meanwhile, seven individuals have been discharged from the Sungai Buloh Hospital, he said.

With the number, 42 Covid 19 patients in the country have so far recovered.

Dr Adham also urged Malaysians to refrain from spreading fake information that can cause panic among the public.

In a letter sent to the President on Tuesday, WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the agency had “seen undetected or under-detected cases at the early stages of the outbreak [which] result in significant increases in cases and deaths in some countries.”

The agency then recommended several actions to be taken to reduce transmission and prevent further spread of the coronavirus, including “scale up emergency response mechanisms including a declaration of national emergency.”

Tedros went on to say that the country should intensify case finding, contact tracing, monitoring, quarantine of contacts and isolation of cases.

“I would also be grateful if the Republic of Indonesia could provide the WHO with detailed information about the approach to surveillance and testing, contact identification and contact tracing for COVID-19 and any data or summaries,” Tedros wrote in the letter.

“I am counting on your personal leadership and political will, which not only reflects strong partnership with WHO, but also demonstrates the Republic of Indonesia’s commitment to global health security.”

Tedros went the extra mile by calling President Jokowi directly, as he wrote in his official Twitter account, @DrTedros, on Friday.

“I thanked him for the government’s leadership on containment and preparing the health system and other sectors to respond to COVID-19. We agreed to scale up cooperation and I assured him of the WHO’s readiness to support,” Tedros wrote on Twitter.

Presidential spokesperson Fadjroel Rachman confirmed that the phone call took place on Friday, after the President received the WHO’s letter. He went on to say that the government had taken several measures recommended by the United Nations health agency.

“The government has increased its efforts in handling COVID-19 by issuing a presidential decree that mandates the formation of a COVID-19 accelerated handling task force, as well as the Health Minister’s decree on protocols for central government and regional administrations,” Fadjroel said in a statement.

As of Saturday noon, Indonesia had 69 confirmed COVID-19 patients, as the death toll from the disease climbed to four.

The government’s spokesperson for all coronavirus-related matters, Achmad Yurianto, said the government would expand the COVID-19 testing range by allowing laboratories in universities and other research agencies to perform polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing on suspected patients.

A number of nations have declared a national state of emergency following the outbreak, such as Spain and United States. President Donald Trump declared a US national emergency over the quickly spreading coronavirus, opening the door to more government aid to combat the disease, as reported by Reuters.

According to global data compiled by Johns Hopkins University’s Center of Systems Science and Engineering, around 145,000 cases have been confirmed worldwide, around 5,400 of which died due to COVID-19. Meanwhile, 71,694 people recovered from the disease.

S Korea     8,162 (75D) (834R)

Japan         784 (22D) (122R)

(ship)          705 (6D)

Malaysia    238 (35R)

S’pore        212 (105R)

HK               141 (4D) (81R)

Ph’pines     112 (8D) (2R)

India            100 (2D) (10R)

Indonesia    96 (5)

India            100 (2D) (10R)

Thailand     82 (1D) (35R)

Taiwan         53 (1D) (20R)

Vietnam       53 (16R)

Brunei           40

Pakistan       33 (2R)

Macau         10 (10R)

Sri Lanka      10 (1R)

Maldives       9

Cambodia     7 (1R)

Bangladesh  5 (2R)

Nepal             1 (1R)

Bhutan           1

Mongolia       1

Italy        21,157 (1,441D) (1,966R)

Iran         12,729 (611D) (5,529R)

Spain          6,391 (196D) (517R)

Germany    4,599 (9D) (46R)

France       4,499 (91D) (12R)

USA             2,695 (58D) (49R)

Switz’d       1,359 (13D) (4R)

UK               1,140 (21D) (18R)

Norway       1,109 (2D) (1R)

Sweden       961 (2D) (1R)

Neth’ds       959 (12D) (2R)

Denmark     827  (1D) (1R)

Belgium       689 (4D) (1R)

Austria         655 (1D) (6R)

Qatar           337 (4R)

Canada       252 (1D) (11R)

Aust’lia       250 (3D) (27R)

Greece         228 (3D)

Finland        223 (10R)

Bahrain       210 (60R)

Israel           193 (4R)

Portugal     169 (2R)

Iceland       156  (1R)

Brazil          151 (1R)

Cz’Rep        150

Slovania     141

Ireland        129 (2D)

Romania    123 (9R)

Estonia       115

Iraq             110 (10D) (26R)

Kuwait        104 (5R)

S’ Arabia    103 (1R)

Poland        103 (3D) (13R)

S’Marino     101 (5D) (4R)

Egypt          93 (2D) (27R)

Lebanon     93  (3D) (1R)

UAE            85 (20R)

Chile           61

Russia         59 (8R)

Lux’bourg   51 (1D)

Serbia        46

Argentina   45 (2D)

Slovakia     44

Bulgaria      41 (2D)

Croatia       39 (2R)

Peru           38

S Africa       38

Albania       38 (1D)

Algeria        37 (3D) (10R)

Panama    36 (1D)

Hungary     30 (1R)

Georgia     30

Ecuador     28 (1D)

Belarus     27 (3R)

Costa Rica 26

Mexico       26 (4R)

Palestine   26

Cyprus       26

Latvia         26 (1R)

Columbia   22

Senegal      21

Bosnia        21

Oman         19 (9R)

Malta         18 (1R)

Morocco     18 (1D) (1R)

Armenia     18

Tunisia       16

Azerbajan 15 (1D) (3R)

N Mace’a 13 (1R)

Afg’an 11, Nigeria 2, Lithuania 8, New Zealand 7, Monaco 2, Domican Republic 5, Andorra 1, Jordan 1, Ukraine 3, Gibraltar 1, Liechtenstein 1, St Barth 1, French Guiana 5, Faroe Island 9, Cameroon 2, Vatican 1, Togo 1, Paraguay 6, Modolva 12, Martinique 2, St Martin 2, Channel Islands 1, Congo 2, B Faso 2, Turkey 5, Jamaica 8, Kenya 1, Reunion 5, Ivory Coast 1, Guyana 1, Honduras 2, Bolivia 10, Cuba 4, Guernsey 1, Gabon 1, French Polynesia 3, Ethiopia 1, Sudan 1, Kazakhstan 6, Ghana 2, Antigua & Barbuda 1,Guinea 1,Guadeloupe 1, Guatemala 1,Cayman Islands1, Trinidad & Tobago 2, Aruba 2, Porto Rico 2, Uruguay 4, Venezuela 2, Mauritania 1, Namibia 2, Rwanda 1,

(D=Death, R=Recovered)

Asia News Network as of 10 am Bangkok time

Member countries also agreed 62 measures to be prioritised in the ASEAN Agenda 2020.

They included commodities commercialisation, facilitation of trade and skillful worker movement, one-stop shop ASEAN policies, the investment environment, competition policies, consumer protection, intellectual co-operation, electronic trade and boosting the role of small-medium-sized enterprises, as well as ASEAN globalisation.

Minister of Trade and Industry Trần Tuấn Anh announced the results of the AEM Retreat and ASEAN-BAC meeting at a press conference yesterday.

He said Vietnam was focused on regional economic integration and connectivity, strengthening partnerships for peace and sustainable development, and enhancing the capacity and operational efficiency of ASEAN.

“This meeting provided an important chance to discuss the ASEAN Economic Community. Twelve out of the 13 priories that Vietnam proposed have been approved,” Anh said.

“The meeting once again strongly confirmed the central role of ASEAN in dealing with global challenges and trade tensions as well as threats of epidemics. The spread of COVID-19 has posed a problem for ASEAN, but it has also created opportunities for regional countries,” he said.

He said ministers of ASEAN countries also agreed to restructure supply chains to cope with the virus.

“We also discussed how the ASEAN will recover after COVID-19, and the need to build a sustainable growth model while boosting co-operation among ASEAN members and with partners including India, Canada, New Zealand and the UK after Brexit,” he said.

Anh also said six recommendations of the 37th High-level Task Force on ASEAN Economic Integration (HLTF-EI) Meeting in Hà Nội on February of 2020 were approved by ministers at the meeting.

He said ASEAN ministers focused on restarting negotiations for the ASEAN-India Trade in Goods Agreement (AITIGA) and co-operation with South Korea.

Public-private partnerships were also discussed at the ASEAN-BAC meeting on how to develop businesses.

Boosting investment in ASEAN countries through trade and development of medium-and-small sized enterprises was the main focus of initiatives proposed at the ASEAN Business Advisory Council (ASEAN-BAC) Consultation Meeting.

The meeting also raised ideas on business development in the fields of electronic trade, tourism transport and logistics.

Speaking at the press conference, ASEAN Secretary-General Lim Jock Hoi highly appreciated the efforts of ministers and representatives of ASEAN member countries.

“Despite the spread of COVID-19, participants worked hard to complete a very important agenda. I believe that economic engagements and negotiations will be finalised by the year end,” he said.

Relating to the ASEAN-India negotiations as part of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), the Vietnamese minister said more technical talks were needed to complete the agreement by November.

Representatives of ASEAN countries also discussed investment service regulations and a flexible open-door market policy among members and partners, including China, Japan, Korea, Australia, India and New Zealand.

Ministers of ASEAN countries agreed to boost reforms and create a framework for closer connectivity and co-operation, diversifying supply chains and partnerships.

Participants said legal frameworks needed perfecting to boost the circulation of goods human resources and investment capital.

Despite rapid growth in the past decades, the ASEAN economy was only valued at US$3 trillion per year with 9.1 per cent growth, while commodities trade reached $700 billion.

The ASEAN Economic Ministers Caucus Meeting on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) will be held on Wednesday. — VNS