BFF-21 Asia virus latest: Japan lifts emergency, India domestic flights resume

372

ZCZC

BFF-21

HEALTH-VIRUS-ASIA

Asia virus latest: Japan lifts emergency, India domestic flights resume

HONG KONG, May 25, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – Here are the latest developments
in Asia related to the coronavirus pandemic:

– Japan lifts virus emergency –

Japan lifted a nationwide state of emergency over the coronavirus,
gradually reopening the world’s third-largest economy as government
officials warned caution was still necessary to prevent another wave.

“We had very stringent criteria for lifting the state of emergency.
We have judged that we have met this,” Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told
a nationally televised news conference.

– Jitters as Indian domestic flights resume – Domestic flights
resumed in India even as coronavirus cases surge, while confusion
about quarantine rules prompted jitters among passengers and the
cancellation of dozens of planes.

India halted almost all commercial air travel in late March as it
sought to stop the spread of the coronavirus with the world’s largest
lockdown.

But desperate to get the economy moving again, the government
announced last week that around 1,050 daily flights — a third of
usual capacity — would restart on Monday.

– Thailand enters global race for vaccine –

Thailand is conducting tests on macaque monkeys as it races to
produce a cheaper, alternative coronavirus vaccine it hopes will be
ready by 2021, a top researcher has said.

More than 100 candidate vaccines are currently in various stages of
development around the world, at least eight of which are in clinical
trials with humans, according to the World Health Organization.

– Fiji Airways halves workforce –

Pandemic-hit Fiji Airways fired more than half its workforce as
travel restrictions put the islands’ vital tourism sector in deep
freeze and reduced the national carrier’s revenue to “virtually zero”.

Chief executive Andre Viljoen said that after “exhausting all other
options” the airline had decided to let 758 staff go — some 51
percent of the workforce — while those remaining would face a
permanent pay cut of 20 percent.

– Japan premium fruit prices plunge –

A pair of premium Japanese melons sold for just a slice of the five
million yen ($46,000) reached at auction last year, as the coronavirus
bites hard, keeping away rich corporate clients.

The melons from Yubari, on the northern island of Hokkaido, sold
for a snip at 120,000 yen at the season’s first auction — 40 times
less than last year’s record price tag.

– Pro tennis bounces back with NZ tournament –

New Zealand Tennis said it was set to host the southern
hemisphere’s first professional tournament since the COVID-19
shutdown.

The men’s Premier League tournament in Auckland next month will
feature 24 players competing in three teams at spectator-free arenas
over three weeks.

BSS/AFP/MRU/1725hrs