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Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, US President Donald Trump’s message to Americans about Covid-19 has evolved. From his initial remarks downplaying the risk of the disease, he has more recently turned toward statements which blame China for the pandemic. Here is a look back at some of Trump’s most hea…
Third-generation hawker Kristen Choong said her wonton noodle stand’s business has fallen about 90 per cent since early April.
Shanghai Disneyland reopened to visitors on May 11, 2020, after a four-month shutdown because of the Covid-19 pandemic. The park is restricted to one-third of its normal daily capacity of 80,000 visitors and guests are constantly reminded to wear face masks and adhere to social-distancing guidelines. The reopening o…
While nightclubs have closed in Germany as part of its coronavirus restrictions, a club held the country’s first drive-in social-distancing rave on May 9, 2020.
Singapore has unveiled a four-legged robot programmed to keep park visitors tuned in to rules about safe social-distancing during the Covid-19 pandemic. Developed by Boston Dynamics, the robot has been busy during a two-week test run during off peak hours at the Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Sunday May 10, 2020, announced a loosening of the UK’s coronavirus lockdown rules. He unveiled the new slogan "Stay Alert, Control The Virus, Save Lives," to replace the previous government message, "Stay Home, Protect The NHS, Save Lives", used when the coronavirus pandemic s…
China is seeing alternative wedding celebrations amid the coronavirus pandemic which prompted bans on large gatherings and banquet parties. Some Chinese couples have decided to live-stream their wedding online, attracting millions of “guests” who often send virtual gifts and “coins”. Meanwhile, divorce inquiries hav…
China’s National Health Commission reported the first double-digit rise in new coronavirus cases since April 29, 2020, after at least 17 new cases were confirmed in 24 hours leading up to the morning of May 11. Seven of the new cases were from abroad, reflecting China’s ongoing fight against so-called imported cases…
The Walt Disney Company has reopened its biggest Asia resort after a four-month shutdown, as Shanghai’s health authorities eased restrictions on public gatherings after getting the coronavirus outbreak in the megacity of 24 million people under control.
Warren Mok Wah-yeun, known as one of “China’s Three Tenors”, tested positive for Covid-19 while entering Thailand for a holiday following a business trip to the United States. The Hong Kong based musician spent 26 days in hospital in the Thai capital Bangkok before finally testing negative for the disease and being …
Lam Man-hing, a 70-year-old Hongkonger who has survived three bouts with cancer, has vowed to spend the rest of his life caring for his wife, Tang Siu-man, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease eight years ago. Lam said he can bear the idea of his wife forgetting about him and all the members of their family, a…
With the Covid-19 pandemic driving up the cost of produce from the nearby Chinese mainland, Hong Kong’s small community of organic vegetable farmers has seen business boom. Since February 2020, profits have doubled for the Mapopo Community Farm located in the town of Fanling in Hong Kong’s New Territories. One of th…
A two-year-old Palestinian boy, Hamza Ali Mohammed, is finally reunited with his family after he underwent heart surgery alone. He was separated with his family for more than two months because of the coronavirus lockdown.
The Covid-19 pandemic has put great strain on hospitals which are short of enough workers and struggling to protect staff from the deadly virus that causes the disease. Many other industries are also scrambling to find ways to protect workers from infection. For some of China’s hi-tech industries, including those in…
Japanese digital game giant Nintendo sold 21 million of its Switch consoles in the financial year ending in March 2020. The Covid-19 pandemic, which forced people around the world into home isolation, was credited for better than expected sales for the console, and its fastest-selling game title, Animal Crossing: Ne…
At least 2,000 Hong Kong residents of Pakistani origin have been left stranded in Pakistan due to travel restrictions put in place because of the Covid-19 pandemic. On April 29, 2020, nearly 200 of the Hongkongers flew back to the city on their own, on flights that allowed them to transit in Doha, Qatar. The next da…
Indigenous communities are extra vulnerable to the Covid-19 outbreak because of the lack of access to health care services. In the Brazilian Amazon, an indigenous nurse, Vanderlecia Ortega dos Santos decided to volunteer as a frontline medical worker to provide care for her community of over 700 families living with…
At least 11 people died and an estimated 1,000 more were left with breathing difficulties and other health problems after synthetic gas leaked from a factory in southern India on May 7, 2020. A second release of toxic gas happened again the following morning from the LG Chem plant in southern India’s Andhra Pradesh,…
Since the coronavirus outbreak began in the US, funeral home workers have been grappling with a surge in demand that many describe as “overnight” and “unexpected”. While most people are aware of the frontline battles health care workers are fighting against Covid-19, few understand the grim reality faced by those ha…
The Old Man, one of the top bars in Asia, is to open again after the Hong Kong government announced it was easing restrictions brought in to stop the spread of the coronavirus. The South China Morning Post’s Elaine Ly speaks with Agung Prabowo, the founder and owner of the establishment, to find out how he plans to …
The novel coronavirus that causes Covid-19 was first detected in Wuhan, China in late 2019, and took only a few months to spread into a global pandemic. The Hong Kong government was quick to impose strict measures on inbound travellers to contain the spread of the coronavirus after most infections were confirmed to …
Doctors in France have identified a patient treated for pneumonia in late December 2019 who they say was infected with the coronavirus that causes Covid-19. The discovery may indicate that the virus arrived in Europe nearly a month earlier than the first official cases were reported.
Vietnam started to lift strict travel restrictions and social distancing measures on April 23, 2020, after no deaths caused by Covid-19 were reported. As the virus threat disappeared, traffic congestion reappeared in the country’s major cities as business and schools reopened. Timelapse footage shows Thanh Xuan dist…
Thai authorities have started offering coronavirus tests in Khlong Toei, one of the largest slums in Thailand’s capital Bangkok. Anyone who tests positive for the virus that causes Covid-19 is transferred to a nearby temple which has been turned into a quarantine facility.
Shanghai Disneyland has announced it will reopen on Monday, May 11, 2020. While most of the amusement park’s rides and attractions that were closed since January 25 will resume, parades and interactions with characters of “cast members” will continue to be suspended to avoid large group gatherings which could spread…
About 100 penguins at Hong Kong's Ocean Park are staying healthy and “chilled out” even though the usual droves of visitors are staying away during the coronavirus pandemic. Keepers have been ensuring the birds stay cool, fed and entertained since the marine mammal park closed on January 26, 2020. While social-dista…
Hong Kong has earned international praise for how its health care system has handled coronavirus patients amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Many of the city’s medical professionals had experience with another coronavirus outbreak, Sars in 2002-2003, and have applied tactics they learned then to their current battle. While…
Indonesia saw its highest daily increase in Covid-19 cases so far on May 5, 2020, when 464 new coronavirus infections were confirmed. The country also reported eight new deaths in the same day from the disease. The spike comes as millions of people in the world’s largest Muslim country observe the holy fasting month…
Since the first coronavirus cases were detected in Hong Kong, health workers in the city have been working to keep the deadly infection virus at bay. As a show of appreciation, the Nest bakery operated by the charity Nesbitt Centre is making cakes and biscuits for medical teams on the front lines of the Covid-19 pan…
Zeng Xiaoxu is one of China’s “virus hunters” fighting the Covid-19 pandemic as it spreads in the northeastern province of Heilongjiang. The 32-year-old and her colleagues have been working day and night, carrying out tests on suspected coronavirus cases, and moving from place to place along one of the front lines o…
Hong Kong’s economy has taken its worst hit ever amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to advance estimates released on May 4, 2020. The city saw an 8.9 per cent contraction in the first quarter, worse than the 8.3 per cent low point recorded in 1998 during the Asian financial crisis. But since the city has seen …
With the Egyptian Premier League suspended due to the Covid-19 pandemic, one footballer is preparing himself for a return to action with “fire therapy”, which a practitioner says can strengthen the immune system and prevent health problems.
China has seen a boom in transactions for used goods on online trading platforms, such as Idle Fish, as the coronavirus pandemic continued to hit the country’s retail sector. Also known as Xianyu, Taobao’s digital flea market said its user numbers have exceeded 200 million, with more than 20 million people using it …
Some “lonely” garden eels in Japan are being given a distraction from Covid-19 pandemic isolation. Keepers at Tokyo’s Sumida Aquarium, which has been closed since March, noticed that the creatures were becoming a bit too shy to monitor. The aquarium is appealing to the public to use video calling software to dial in…
People queued up on the streets of the Indian capital New Delhi on April 29, 2020, to undergo Covid-19 swab tests administered by health care workers operating out of a van. So far, India appears to have been spared the devastation caused by the virus seen in the US, Italy and other hard-hit countries in the world. …
US President Donald Trump responded to media questions at the White House on April 30, 2020, saying Beijing does not want to see him re-elected because of the tariffs he has imposed on China. He also said China's actions in regard to the coronavirus pandemic were "just not acceptable".
Zou Dehu had been a bartender in Ningxia in northwestern China before he left town after he got into a fight with his father. Now more than eight months later, he’s in Shanghai and working as a delivery man. Restrictions on movements because of Covid-19 have forced the city to rely heavily on the work of delivery se…
In Hong Kong’s New Territories, war-gaming enthusiasts gathered with replica guns to fight out a historically inspired mission based on the 1942 World War II battle Operation Winter Storm. The event was organised by Day Army, the biggest airsoft event agent in Hong Kong. Between the citywide protests of 2019 and the…
A Chinese pharmaceutical company says its researchers are working day and night to find a vaccine against the coronavirus behind the Covid-19 pandemic. Sinovac Biotech says its experimental drug "Coronavac" looks promising for human use after some early success in tests on animals. While the drug still has a long wa…
Pope Francis prayed for the victims of the Covid-19 pandemic on April 30, 2020. He made special reference to the “anonymous dead” who have been buried in mass graves around the world.
Hong Kong’s annual bun festival opened with toned down celebrations on April 30, 2020, as social-distancing measures to control the spread of the coronavirus remained in place across the city. But with hundreds of people flocking to the island of Cheung Chau, marquee events including a traditional religious parade a…
Pope Francis devoted his daily prayers on April 30, 2020, to the victims of the Covid-19 pandemic. He made special reference to the “anonymous dead”, unidentified people who have been buried in mass graves around the world.
Thousands of zoo animals across Indonesia are facing starvation as zookeepers struggle with depleting food stocks during the pandemic. The plunge in ticket sales has pushed many facilities to the brink of collapse, forcing some zookeepers to consider feeding non-endangered herbivores to the carnivores.
Rideshare drivers in New York are trapped between their fear of contracting the coronavirus and need to earn a living. Most drivers have stopped working to avoid Covid-19 infection, but some cannot afford to lose the income.
South Korea reported no new locally transmitted coronavirus cases on April 30, 2020, for the first time since the nation’s coronavirus outbreak reached a peak on February 29. The Korea Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) said all four new Covid-19 infections reported on the day were imported. The lates…
A new drive-through Covid-19 testing site opened in a car park in the Philippine city of Taguig on April 29, 2020. The new facility near the capital Manila is part of a programme that aims to ensure tests are done for all those who need them. The partial lockdown has been extended to May 15, and Philippine President…
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro joked as he dismissed media questions about the country's rising coronavirus numbers. On April 28, 2020, Brazil’s death toll surpassed the figure reported in China.
Coronavirus victims in Brazil are being buried in mass graves at the Taruma cemetery in the northern city of Manaus as the Covid-19 pandemic worsens in the country. On April 28, 2020, Brazil’s death toll has surpassed the figure reported in China. As Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro downplayed the outbreak and cal…
A team of researchers from a Hong Kong university has developed an antiviral coating that may be able to help fight the spread of Covid-19. The scientists say the coating can provide up to 90 days of protection against bacteria and viruses including the novel coronavirus that causes the disease.
An Indonesian couple created see-through masks as lip-reading got harder for the deaf when people covered their face during the coronavirus pandemic.
