Disasters
Pandemics
Mekong countries get Covid-19 help
The Defence Ministry will donate 20 mobile negative pressure cabinets to Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia and Myanmar to support their efforts to control the spread of the novel coronavirus. Negative pressure cabinets allow medical staff to safely collect respiratory secretions from patients infected with Covid-19. Ministry spokesman, Lt ...
MONGKOL BANGPRAPA & WASSANA NANUAM
Yangon poor lose livelihoods due to COVID-19 restrictions
The stay-at-home order because of COVID-19 is causing hardships for the most vulnerable in Yangon. Only one person is allowed to go out at a time and some streets don’t allow strangers to enter, causing hardships for street pedlars and gig economy workers. Most shops in ...
Zeyar Hein
Myanmar’s Effort to Trace COVID-19 Spread Treads on Sensitive Territory
Myanmar’s second wave of coronavirus may have been triggered by “returnees” from neighboring Bangladesh, who brought the illness back with them when they illegally entered Rakhine state, which is now a COVID-19 hotspot, according to a senior government health official. But other experts say the evidence ...
Moe Myint and Nay Myo Htun for RFA’s Myanmar Service. Translated by Than Than Win and Ye Kaung Myint Maung. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.
Why Vietnam Is Asking Other Asian Countries to Help Squelch Fake News
A surge in fake news around Southeast Asia, particularly bogus COVID-19 information, has prompted leaders to explore a regional crackdown after a suggestion from a Vietnamese security official. Police agencies in the 10 Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries – which represent a total population ...
Ralph Jennings
Testing times: Myanmar struggles to keep pace as COVID-19 takes off
On September 30, Myanmar announced a record 946 COVID-19 cases in a single day. Less noticed was that it also performed a record number of lab tests – 6,262, to be exact. As cases have increased, particularly in Yangon, numbers like this have quickly become the ...
AUNG PHAY KYI SOE
ADB supports Thailand green bonds for Covid-19 recovery
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is assisting the government of Thailand in designing, issuing and monitoring innovative capital market initiatives as part of the country’s recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic in a manner aligned with the 2015 Paris Agreement and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. ADB’s ...
Chito Santiago
Myanmar’s Second Wave of Coronavirus Takes Toll on Under-60 Population
A resurgence of coronavirus infections in Myanmar has been lethal for younger people in the Southeast Asian country, with 40 percent of those under the age of 60 who have tested positive dying from the highly contagious respiratory illness, a government health official said Thursday. On ...
Nay Myo Htun and Kan Thar for RFA’s Myanmar Service. Translated by Ye Kaung Myint Maung. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.
Covid and the climate crisis in SE Asia
‘A global reset”, “a sick planet”, “health security” are huge, heavy phrases that have been swirling in the global psyche for most of this Covid-19-marked year. They speak of the “must-do-something” type of issues that weigh on the minds of people everywhere, including in Southeast ...
JOHANNA SON
Auto sales down 25 pct
Auto sales fell 25 percent year-on-year in the first eight months to 151,903 units due to the continuing impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic. Passenger cars accounted for 109,694 units, followed by commercial vehicles and special-purpose vehicles, according to the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers Association (VAMA). Sales in August, ...
Dat Nguyen
New stimulus package to boost spending power of low-income groups
The government will this week consider measures to increase the purchasing power of low-income groups and support small businesses. Lavaron Sansnit, the director-general of the Fiscal Policy Office, said on Sunday that the Finance Ministry would urge the government’s centre for economic situation administration to approve ...
