News

SE Asia’s COVID legacy is less wildlife trade, but more hunting, study finds

The COVID-19 pandemic, which began spreading in a seafood and poultry market in Wuhan, China, shone a spotlight on zoonotic diseases and the risks that markets selling wild meat can pose to human health. Following the outbreak, some countries like China temporarily closed down wet markets, while ...

Spoorthy Raman

Asia-Pacific leaders seek unity on war, economic ills, virus

Pacific Rim leaders were striving to find common ground on the war in Ukraine and other dire threats to humankind in an annual meeting that began Friday at a heavily guarded venue in Thailand’s capital. The annual summit of the 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum is ...

ELAINE KURTENBACH and CHALIDA EKVITTHAYAVECHNUKUL

SARS-related viruses infect thousands in Asia every year: Study

About 66,000 people in Southeast Asia are infected each year with SARS-related coronaviruses, and nearly 500 million people live near habitats where bat hosts of those viruses are found, according to a new study. The research, published by Nature Communications on Wednesday, said viral transmission from ...

Al Jazeera

Commentary: What can Southeast Asia do about all this COVID-19 waste?

For the last couple of years, virtually every news feed or broadcast has included images of mask-clad people or health workers suited up as protection from COVID-19.  While the images might be ephemeral, those masks and personal protective equipment (PPE), along with used test kits and ...

JJ Rose

Consumption of plastics doubles in Myanmar amid pandemic: environmental group

According to Thant Myanmar, the consumption of plastic has doubled during the Covid-19 pandemic in Myanmar. Ma The Su Aye, manager of Thant Myanmar’s Rural Waste Management, told DMG that the increase was due to the increasing use of plastics, which are currently being used during ...

Development Media Group

Thailand Keeps Quarantine-Free Entry Ban as Omicron Cases Surge

Thailand’s main Covid-19 task force will meet later this week to review the suspension of its quarantine-free entry program for vaccinated visitors amid an uptick in new omicron cases among foreign tourists. The Center for Covid-19 Situation Administration, headed by Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-Ocha, will meet ...

Randy Thanthong-Knight

U.N. says about half of Myanmar's people could sink into poverty in 2022

Urban poverty is on course to triple in Myanmar, pushing nearly half the population below the poverty line next year, the United Nations said on Wednesday, as the twin impact of the pandemic and a military coup threaten progress made in the past decade. The army ...

Reuters

Sex workers have long been disapproved of in Thailand. Now they are calling for their billion-dollar industry to be recognised

It is hard to imagine, but Pattaya’s near-deserted “Walking Street” used to teem with revellers, as pulsating music filled the air and neon lights flashed until the early hours. Before the pandemic, the coastal city south-east of Bangkok was a buzzing party scene, and was once described by the Lonely Planet travel ...

South-East Asia correspondent Mazoe Ford and Supattra Vimonsuknopparat

Thailand plans to reopen borders to foreign workers amid shortage

Thailand plans to reopen its borders to workers from neighbouring Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos, a government official said on Tuesday (Nov 9), in a bid to ease a labour shortage that is hurting its export and tourism-dependent economy. Pairote Chotikasathien, from the Ministry of Labor, said ...

Reuters/aj

Thailand reopens to vaccinated tourists from over 60 nations

Tens of thousands of travellers are expected to arrive in Thailand today as the country reopens to tourists after 18 months of Covid restrictions. Vaccinated tourists from more than 60 “low-risk” nations are allowed to enter the country and avoid hotel quarantine. Tourist numbers are forecast to ...

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