BANGKOK: The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) will relax certain COVID-19 control measures in the Thai capital as its order to temporarily close venues with risks of infection comes to end on Thursday (Apr 30).
Its spokesperson Pongsakorn Kwanmuang said eight types of venues will be allowed to resume operations, including restaurants outside department stores and supermarkets, public and private parks, hair salons and barbershops, golf courses and driving ranges as well as sports venues for running, tennis and badminton.
Markets, clinics and pet grooming businesses are also in the list.
"The reopening date will correspond to the one that Thailand's Centre for COVID-19 Situation Administration will announce in a day or two," Mr Pongsakorn said on Wednesday, following a meeting with the Bangkok Communicable Disease Committee.
According to Mr Pongsakorn, operators who will benefit from Bangkok's relaxation of its disease control measures will be required to follow various regulations to ensure hygiene and reduce risks of the COVID-19 transmission.
At restaurants, for instance, body temperature screening will be required before entry. Customers will be seated at least 1.5m from one another and no alcohol consumption or live bands will be allowed.
Toilets will need cleaning every hour while tables and chairs will have to be disinfected every time after each use. Air-conditioned eateries will have to open their doors and windows every two hours for cleaning and ventilation.
"Restaurant employees must tie their hair and wear gloves, caps, aprons, face masks and face shields. Any employee feels unwell, has a fever, cough or has a body temperature of 37.5 degrees Celsius or higher must stop working and see a doctor," Mr Pongsakorn said, adding that restaurants inside department stores and supermarkets are not included in the partial relaxation.
For hair salons and barbershops, only cut, shampoo and blow-dry will be allowed.
Customers will be required to make a reservation in advance as queuing will not be allowed at the venue. Disinfection of equipment will have to take place after each use and each service can only last up to two hours before a cleaning break of at least 20 minutes.
As for parks, Mr Pongsakorn said they can be used for exercises that do not require social gathering such as running and cycling. Football, basketball, aerobic dance or tai chi practice will not be allowed due to potential risks of infection.
On Wednesday, Thailand reported nine new cases of COVID-19, bringing the total number of cases in the country to 2,947. So far, 2,665 patients have been discharged from hospitals and 54 have died. Thailand has been reporting single-digit increase in daily new cases since Monday.
SEOUL (BLOOMBERG) - For about as long as North Korea has existed, Kim Pyong Il has been considered a possible successor to the throne. And now, with his nephew Kim Jong Un's health status unclear, his name is being bandied about again.
Mr Kim Pyong Il, 65, is the last known surviving son of North Korea's founder, Kim Il Sung. After losing out in the 1970s to his half-brother, Kim Jong Il - who ended up running the country from 1994 to 2011 - Mr Kim Pyong Il spent about four decades overseas in diplomatic posts including in Hungary, Bulgaria, Finland, Poland and the Czech Republic before returning to Pyongyang last year.
Although Mr Kim Pyong Il has been effectively sidelined - he was largely purged from state media and never developed enough power back home to mount a serious challenge for leadership - some North Korea watchers say he could end up taking over from the 36-year-old Kim Jong Un, who hasn't named a successor. This is mainly because he has Kim blood, and he's a man.
The conservative male leaders in Pyongyang would resist giving power to Ms Kim Yo Jong - Mr Kim Jong Un's younger sister who has been by his side helping to make policy the past few years - according to Mr Thae Yong Ho, who was North Korea's deputy ambassador to the UK before he defected to South Korea in 2016. That's due to her gender and relatively young age of 30.
"The problem is that a Kim Yo Jong-led North Korea is unlikely to be sustainable," Mr Thae said, warning that collective leadership with her as the figurehead could lead to chaos. "To avoid this, some in the leadership would try to bring back Kim Pyong Il, who's now under house arrest, to the centre of the power."
Others don't think Mr Kim Pyong Il has a chance. South Korean ruling party lawmaker Kim Byeong-ki, a member of Parliament's intelligence committee, said on Sunday on social media that there was no indication he could possibly succeed Mr Kim Jong Un if the leader were incapacitated: "I laugh off these theories."
North Korea has often exiled those who fall out of favour, sending them abroad in attempts to erase their influence, but also providing a financial lifeline that keeps them dependent on Pyongyang's rulers.
If Mr Kim Pyong Il took power, it could put a great number of the current top leadership in jeopardy after they spent decades working to suppress his influence. When Mr Kim Jong Un took power after his father's death in 2011, he soon eliminated potential rivals: He executed his uncle and one-time deputy, Mr Jang Song Thaek, and was suspected to have ordered the assassination of his exiled older half-brother, Mr Kim Jong Nam, in Malaysia.
The fact that Mr Kim Pyong Il survived the purges in the ruling family may indicate that Mr Kim Jong Un never saw him as a credible rival, keeping him in the foreign service and at arm's length for years. In 2015, he was named North Korea's ambassador to the Czech Republic and was given extra protection in 2017 when Mr Kim Jong Nam was murdered.
Mr Kim Pyong Il kept a low profile while he was in Europe, though he still made an impression. Mr Lubomir Zaoralek, who was the Czech Republic's foreign affairs minister from 2014 through 2017, said "his style and manner were as if he had come from South Korea".
"You could see that he was established in Europe and that he has lived his life here," Mr Zaoralek said. "He was always careful in what he had to say, but it always made perfect sense. And it seemed that he lived a much freer life here than other North Koreans."
Mr Kim Pyong Il returned to Pyongyang last November, so that Mr Kim Jong Un could keep a closer watch on him, the JoongAng Ilbo newspaper reported, citing intelligence sources.
He has been the subject of speculation for decades in South Korea in unverified reports about family intrigue, often including house arrests and attempted assassinations. Before his years abroad, he served in the army, commanding an elite body guard unit, and also was appointed to posts in the ruling party, according to the South Korean Unification Ministry.
His mother Kim Song Ae - the second wife of the state founder - was influential in the 1970s and pushed for Mr Kim Pyong Il to take power. But she soon fell out of favour after Mr Kim Jong Il was named successor.
Mr Kim Pyong Il is largely seen as a contender this time by those who discount Ms Kim Yo Jong due to her age and gender, according to Ms Rachel Minyoung Lee, a former North Korea analyst with the United States government.
"It is highly unlikely that he has the connections or the support base he needs to be the next North Korean leader," she said. "Kim Yo Jong has a special status in the regime, and I think in this case, her connection to the Kim family trumps her gender."
KUALA LUMPUR: When Mel Youlanda had fever and severe gastric pain one evening, she feared that she had contracted COVID-19.
She wanted to head to the nearest hospital to get tested or at least see a doctor at a nearby clinic, but she simply could not.
The 41-year-old from Sabah lives in Menara City One condominium, one of Malaysia’s designated COVID-19 red zones.
The apartment complex, located in Kuala Lumpur’s city centre, has been placed under enhanced movement control order (MCO) since Mar 30 after a resident who was linked to the Sri Petaling Mosque tabligh gathering cluster tested positive for COVID-19.
So far, a total of 54 COVID-19 cases have been reported at the condominium and one resident, a Pakistani national, has died. The rest of the residents like Youlanda have been forced to remain inside their apartment units for the last month.
The area is tightly guarded by armed police and army personnel patrolling the condominium entrances to ensure that no unauthorised personnel come into the area and residents do not leave.
“I am scared. Everybody is afraid,” she said in a phone interview with CNA.
“When I was sick, I had to call the condominium management, and it was late at night so they told me I had to wait until 8am the next day to see a doctor,” she recounted.
NO ACCESS TO 24/7 MEDICAL SERVICES
She explained that all residents who wanted to see a doctor were told they could only do so between 8am and noon each day at the ground floor.
“My pain at my stomach was bad so I pleaded for a doctor but they insisted that I only come down the next morning,” she recounted.
“I’m worried because what if this was a real emergency, would we still need to wait until the next day? It’s a nightmare, I don’t know what else to say,” she added.
Mel Youlanda received medication after seeing the doctor the next morning. But before that, she had to endure severe gastric pain for more than 12 hours. (Photo: Mel Youlanda)
She eventually met the doctor the following morning and got medication to treat her stomach flu. However, some of her other neighbours with more pressing needs for medical care were not so lucky.
Youlanda recalled how one of her close friends, who lived on a different floor, ended up giving birth at the condominium’s lift lobby due to a delay in emergency medical services arriving.
The woman had called for an ambulance at 6.30am after her water bag burst but it only arrived at 8am, she claimed.
All entrances at Menara City One are guarded by armed personnel. (Photo: Menara City One - People's Voice/ Facebook)
“If we were not under lockdown, someone could have driven her to the hospital but all the residents were locked in. So, she gave birth downstairs while waiting for the ambulance,” she said.
“We need the health ministry to take this seriously. Although we are quarantined, we cannot be denied access to emergency health care services.”
She stressed that it was important for residents to have access to doctors 24 hours a day, especially since the residents are at risk of contracting COVID-19.
NO FRUITS, VEGETABLES OR FRESH MEAT
Youlanda lives with five other people in her condominium unit, including two children. All of them are tenants of the unit.
She highlighted that one of the biggest issuse she and her housemates face is that they have not been able to consume wholesome and healthy meals since the enhanced MCO was enforced.
As they are not able to do their own groceries, she said that they would collect food supplies distributed by the authorities. But the supplies mainly comprised uncooked rice, flour, sugar, eggs, canned sardine and instant noodles.
Each apartment unit is required to send a volunteer to the seventh floor to collect grocery supplies provided by government officials. (Photo: Mel Youlanda)
“We had hoped for vegetables, fruits like papayas or bananas, chicken and fresh fish but we got none of this. There’s no point having many plates of rice when there’s no wholesome dishes to accompany them,” she said.
“My stomach would get upset after every meal, eating the same thing. And with instant noodles, it’s just not healthy to be eating them on a regular basis."
As there was no variety in the food provided, she and her housemates would have only one “proper meal” a day, usually comprising rice, eggs and sardine. For the rest of the day, they make do with bread or biscuits.
When asked if she could make requests for the officials to help make specific purchases for the residents, Youlanda said it was difficult to convey these requests as face-to-face communication was restricted to limit the spread of COVID-19.
A sample of a meal provided comprising of rice, some vegetables and sambal. (Photo: Mel Youlanda)
“Beside fruits and vegetables, I’d also like to request for things like shampoo, soap and detergent to keep me and my house clean. But I’m not so sure how we can convey this to the officials,” she added.
She stated that whenever the authorities were distributing food supplies, only one person from each household was allowed to leave the unit to collect them. Moreover, in her experience, the officials did not have much time to take requests from individual units to purchase specific groceries.
Earlier this month, Senior Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said that food will be provided for residents held within enhanced MCO premises.
Additionally, he maintained that all residents will be able to obtain essential items by placing a request with the operations centre within the premises.
OVERCROWDING OF RESIDENTS A CONCERN
Overcrowding of residents at Menara City One condominium at centralised locations recently gained national attention, after photos of residents queueing in line to be tested for COVID-19 went viral on social media.
In the photos, the residents were seen standing shoulder to shoulder in long queues.
Speaking in a press conference on Saturday (Apr 25), Malaysian Health Ministry director-general Noor Hisham Abdullah said the overcrowding at the condominium was a concern. He noted that the implementation of the testing could have been improved to ensure that residents practiced social distancing.
He added that residents were told to come down in batches. However, in a statement reported by local media, condominium residents and the management committee maintained that health ministry officials had demanded that they come down together at once for screening.
When asked, Youlanda said that residents in her unit were luckily not among those who were asked to be tested. However, she still fears that she may be tested positive.
“I heard news that one by one of our neighbours had tested positive, and one person I know is in critical condition. It’s not easy to live like this,” she said.
To take her mind off the stressful situation, she would clean her house, surf the internet and talk to her housemates.
She works for a law firm but she admitted that her job is the least of her concerns at the moment.
“I haven’t been able to do any work while in quarantine, so I don’t think I’ll be getting the full salary for this coming month. But I don’t really know, I have not been in contact with my superiors since the MCO,” she said.
What she looks forward to most is being able to buy her own necessities, when the restrictions are eventually lifted.
The Menara City One condominium was placed under enhanced movement control order from Mar 30. (Photo: Polis KL/Facebook)
Malaysia’s nationwide MCO, which began on Mar 18, has since been extended until May 12.
However, she admitted that it would be “wishful thinking” to assume that the enhanced MCO on Menara City One condominium would be lifted together with the nationwide MCO.
“I think we’ve got a long way to go before freedom. The number of cases here is still above 50. If more people get discharged and hopefully there are no more new cases, we can look forward to it,” she said.
SEOUL (BLOOMBERG) - For about as long as North Korea has existed, Kim Pyong Il has been considered a possible successor to the throne. And now, with his nephew Kim Jong Un's health status unclear, his name is being bandied about again.
Kim Pyong Il, 65, is the last known surviving son of North Korea's founder, Kim Il Sung. After losing out in the 1970s to his half-brother, Kim Jong Il - who ended up running the country from 1994 to 2011 - Kim Pyong Il spent about four decades overseas in diplomatic posts including in Hungary, Bulgaria, Finland, Poland and the Czech Republic before returning to Pyongyang last year.
Although Kim Pyong Il has been effectively sidelined - he was largely purged from state media and never developed enough power back home to mount a serious challenge for leadership - some North Korea watchers say he could end up taking over from the 36-year-old Kim Jong Un, who hasn't named a successor. This is mainly because he has Kim blood, and he's a man.
The conservative male leaders in Pyongyang would resist giving power to Kim Yo Jong - Kim Jong Un's younger sister who has been by his side helping to make policy the past few years - according to Thae Yong Ho, who was North Korea's deputy ambassador to the UK before he defected to South Korea in 2016. That's due to her gender and relatively young age of 30.
"The problem is that a Kim Yo Jong-led North Korea is unlikely to be sustainable," Thae said, warning that collective leadership with her as the figurehead could lead to chaos. "To avoid this, some in the leadership would try to bring back Kim Pyong Il, who's now under house arrest, to the centre of the power."
Others don't think Kim Pyong Il has a chance. South Korean ruling party lawmaker Kim Byeong-ki, a member of parliament's intelligence committee, said on Sunday on social media that there was no indication he could possibly succeed Kim Jong Un if the leader were incapacitated: "I laugh off these theories."
North Korea has often exiled those who fall out of favour, sending them abroad in attempts to erase their influence, but also providing a financial lifeline that keeps them dependent on Pyongyang's rulers.
If Kim Pyong Il took power, it could put a great number of the current top leadership in jeopardy after they spent decades working to suppress his influence. When Kim Jong Un took power after his father's death in 2011, he soon eliminated potential rivals: He executed his uncle and one-time deputy, Jang Song Thaek, and was suspected to have ordered the assassination of his exiled older half-brother, Kim Jong Nam, in Malaysia.
The fact that Kim Pyong Il survived the purges in the ruling family may indicate that Kim Jong Un never saw him as a credible rival, keeping him in the foreign service and at arm's length for years. In 2015, he was named North Korea's ambassador to the Czech Republic and was given extra protection in 2017 when Kim Jong Nam was murdered.
Kim Pyong Il kept a low profile while he was in Europe, though he still made an impression. Lubomir Zaoralek, who was the Czech Republic's foreign affairs minister from 2014 through 2017, said "his style and manner were as if he had come from South Korea."
"You could see that he was established in Europe and that he has lived his life here," Zaoralek said. "He was always careful in what he had to say, but it always made perfect sense. And it seemed that he lived a much freer life here than other North Koreans."
Kim Pyong Il returned to Pyongyang last November, so that Kim Jong Un could keep a closer watch on him, the JoongAng Ilbo newspaper reported, citing intelligence sources.
He has been the subject of speculation for decades in South Korea in unverified reports about family intrigue, often including house arrests and attempted assassinations. Before his years abroad, he served in the army, commanding an elite body guard unit, and also was appointed to posts in the ruling party, according to the South Korean Unification Ministry.
His mother Kim Song Ae - the second wife of the state founder - was influential in the 1970s and pushed for Kim Pyong Il to take power. But she soon fell out of favour after Kim Jong Il was named successor.
Kim Pyong Il is largely seen as a contender this time by those who discount Kim Yo Jong due to her age and gender, according to Rachel Minyoung Lee, a former North Korea analyst with the U.S. government.
"It is highly unlikely that he has the connections or the support base he needs to be the next North Korean leader," she said. "Kim Yo Jong has a special status in the regime, and I think in this case, her connection to the Kim family trumps her gender."
SINGAPORE: Singapore will look after the well-being of Chinese migrant workers in the country, Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan reassured his counterpart in China, Mr Wang Yi, during a phone call on Tuesday (Apr 28).
This includes providing the workers with the necessary medical care and treatment, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) said in a statement on Tuesday.
Dr Balakrishnan and Mr Wang “expressed appreciation for the mutual support and effective collaboration between Singapore and China amid the COVID-19 outbreak”, MFA added.
Both ministers had ongoing discussions on how to gradually resume economic activity and exchanges, and spoke about how safe international travel could be reintroduced in the “near future”.
Both leaders also reaffirmed their commitment to maintain supply chain connectivity, especially for medical supplies and food, and the importance of continuing to enhance regional and international cooperation.
Migrant worker dormitories in Singapore have been especially hard-hit by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, with large groups of foreign workers testing positive for the virus.
Over the course of the outbreak, many migrant worker dormitories have also been gazetted as isolation areas to contain the spread of the coronavirus.
Last week, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong had also expressed a similar sentiment to India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
On Tuesday, Singapore reported 528 new COVID-19 cases as of noon, with a vast majority of the new cases being work permit holders residing in foreign worker dormitories, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said in an earlier update.
GERIK (THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - Malaysia's Deputy Health Minister Noor Azmi Ghazali and Perak executive council member Razman Zakaria have pleaded guilty to breaching the movement control order (MCO).
The duo was jointly charged with 13 others at the Magistrate's Court on Tuesday (April 28), after they were all pictured having a meal at a tahfiz in Lenggong on April 18.
Magistrate Norhidayati Mohammad Nasroh ordered the accused to pay a RM1,000 (S$325) fine in default of one month's jail if they failed to pay the fine.
The men were charged under rule 6(1) of the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases (Measures Within the Infected Local Areas) Regulations 2020.
According to the charge sheet, the accused were found at an infected area for social purposes.
Noor Azmi and Razman were visiting the Lenggong Health Clinic to check on preparations of the Hulu Perak district health office to control the Covid-19 outbreak before visiting the tahfiz at Kampung Luat Lenggong to perform azhar prayers, then sitting down to have a meal.
The photos were uploaded on Noor Azmi's Facebook page, but were later deleted after drawing heavy criticism.
Lawyer Nor Zahari Ismail represented all 15 accused while Deputy Public Prosecutor Azhar Mokhtar and Mohamad Amri Alfikri Mohamad Dasuki prosecuted.
When asked to comment, Noor Azmi promised to do better.
"I would like to humbly offer my sincere apologies and thank those who have supported me.
"I will obey the law and the jurisdiction of this country. I will perform better to provide only the best health for Malaysians," he told reporters before leaving together with Razman.
Only four members of the media were allowed to enter the courtroom to maintain social distancing rules.
SEOUL: Kim Jong Un may have missed a key holiday on Apr 15 because of concerns over the coronavirus, not because he is ill, South Korea's minister for North Korean affairs said on Tuesday (Apr 28).
North Korean leader Kim's absence from public ceremonies on the birth anniversary of his grandfather and founder of the country, Kim Il Sung, was unprecedented, and he has not been seen in public since. That has led to days of speculation over his health.
South Korean officials emphasise they have detected no unusual movements in North Korea and have cautioned against reports that Kim may be ill.
North Korea has said it has no confirmed cases of the coronavirus, but given the fact that the country has taken stringent steps to head off an outbreak, Kim's absence from the ceremonies is not particularly unusual, Unification Minister Kim Yeon-chul, who oversees North Korea engagement, told lawmakers.
"It is true that he had never missed the anniversary for Kim Il Sung’s birthday since he took power, but many anniversary events including celebrations and a banquet had been cancelled because of coronavirus concerns," Kim Yeon-chul said at a parliamentary hearing.
He said there were at least two instances since mid-January where Kim Jong Un was out of sight for nearly 20 days. "I don’t think that’s particularly unusual given the current (coronavirus) situation."
US President Donald Trump said on Monday he has a good idea how Kim Jong Un is doing and hopes he is fine, but would not elaborate.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he was aware of reports on Kim's health and he was was paying close attention to developments.
North Korea had cancelled some large events, and imposed a border lockdown and quarantine measures in an effort to prevent an outbreak of the coronavirus.
But if Kim Jong Un is hiding out due to fears surrounding COVID-19, it would "puncture a hole in the state media narrative of how this crisis has been perfectly managed", said Chad O'Carroll, CEO of Korea Risk Group, which monitors North Korea.
"If he is merely trying to avoid infection, it should theoretically be very easy to release photos or videos of a healthy-looking Kim," he said.
SIGNS OF LIFE
An authoritative source familiar with US intelligence reporting said on Monday it was entirely possible Kim had disappeared from public view to avoid exposure to COVID-19 and the sighting of his presidential train in the coastal resort area of Wonsan did suggest he may be there or have been there recently.
But the source said that since there was no authoritative backing for such a conclusion, US agencies were also still considering the possibility Kim might be ill, even seriously.
Special train station servicing North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's Wonsan complex is seen in a satellite image
Washington-based North Korea monitoring project, 38 North, said on Saturday that satellite images from last week showed a special train that was probably Kim's at Wonsan, lending weight to reports he had been spending time in the resort area.
While North Korean state media have not reported on Kim Jong Un's whereabouts since he presided over a meeting on Apr 11, they have carried near-daily reports of him sending letters and diplomatic messages suggests he is still carrying out his duties as leader.
That suggests that he is still carrying out his duties, Unification minister Kim said, although some experts say they are not necessarily conclusive.
"I agree with the South Korean government's assessment that there is no reason to think Kim Jong Un is not performing his duties," said Rachel Minyoung Lee, a former North Korea open source intelligence analyst for the US government. "That said, I would not read too much into letters signed by Kim Jong Un. I would guess that most of them are not written by him anyway."
