Travel on compassionate grounds between Singapore and Malaysia will be allowed from May 17, amid Covid-19 restrictions that ban the bulk of cross-border movement, the two countries announced yesterday. But given the escalating Covid-19 situation in both countries, other arrangements like an air travel bubble and short-term visits for business, as well as a planned […]
UNITED NATIONS (BLOOMBERG) – China’s ambassador to the United Nations took the rotating presidency of the Security Council on Monday (May 3) by calling on the Biden administration to ease the economic pressure campaign on North Korea and engage in dialogue. Referring to a recently completed White House review of North Korea policy, Chinese Ambassador […]
KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan — On the morning of May 1, an Afghan transport aircraft landed at this sprawling military base in the country’s south. It was loaded with mortar shells, small-arms cartridges and 250-pound bombs to supply Afghan troops under frequent attack by the Taliban in the countryside. Later, at midnight, a gray American C-130 […]
SINGAPORE – Lunchtime crowds still thronged two popular malls in Novena on Monday (May 3) despite the Covid-19 cluster linked to the nearby Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH), but businesses said footfall has been impacted. Diners and shoppers at Velocity and Square 2 that The Straits Times spoke to said they were not overly concerned […]
SINGAPORE – Sales of emergency contraception pills and long-term oral contraception were at a four-year high in Singapore last year, according to data from IQVIA, a global life sciences analytics and clinical research services provider. Figures seen by The Straits Times showed that 17,275 boxes of emergency contraception were purchased here in 2020, up from […]
NEW DELHI — Rajni Gill woke up with a slight fever in mid-April, the first warning that she had Covid-19. Within a few days, she was breathless and nearly unconscious in a hospital. Desperate to arrange plasma treatment for Ms. Gill, a gynecologist in the city of Noida, her family called doctors, friends, anyone they […]
NEW DELHI (REUTERS) – Pfizer is in discussions with the Indian government seeking an “expedited approval pathway” for its Covid-19 vaccine, its chief executive officer Albert Bourla said on LinkedIn on Monday (May 3), announcing a donation of medicines worth more than US$70 million (S$93 million). “Unfortunately, our vaccine is not registered in India although […]
SINGAPORE – There were 17 new coronavirus cases confirmed by the Ministry of Health (MOH) as at Monday noon (May 3), taking Singapore’s total to 61,235. Of these, 10 are from the community and none from foreign workers’ dormitories. Eight of the patients from the community have been linked to the nurse at Tan Tock Seng […]
MANILA (PHILIPPINE DAILY INQUIRER/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) – At the virtual vaccine summit organized the other day by the country’s leading business groups, vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. told participants: “We are very confident that the country will be able to achieve herd containment within this year with the help of the private sector, with […]
SYDNEY (REUTERS) – Western Australia state reported no new locally acquired Covid-19 cases for the second straight day on Monday (May 3), allaying fears of a second lockdown in two weeks after three new coronavirus cases were detected over the weekend. The fresh cases forced officials to ban crowds at a local football match on […]