Signs of a growing split between Australia and the United States over an unproven theory that the coronavirus came from a Wuhan laboratory have emerged, amid claims the US embassy may have leaked a dossier linked to the allegations.The Sydney Morning Herald on Thursday reported that Canberra was increasingly concerned the Trump administration’s promotion of claims that the novel coronavirus began in a lab could undermine its push for an independent inquiry into the origins of the pandemic and a…

New coronavirus cases are rising in Indonesia’s provinces despite the government’s efforts to contain the outbreak in Jakarta, as hundreds of thousands of migrant workers in the capital seek ways to bypass a travel ban to return to their hometowns to observe the Eid al-Fitr holiday.Scientists are worried the mass wave of travellers could lead to the virus spreading from Jakarta and its satellite cities of 30 million, the epicentre of the pandemic, to the provinces where hospital facilities are…

The Indonesian government said on Thursday it was seeking clarification and investigation from the Chinese and South Korean governments over the deaths of four Indonesian seamen working on a Chinese longliner.The request follows South Korean media reports quoting Indonesian crew members of Chinese-flagged Long Xing 629 tuna longliner as saying their crewmates were denied medical treatment and subjected to physical abuse.Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi told a press conference that she spoke with…

North Korea’s Kim Jong-un has sent a “verbal message” to Chinese leader Xi Jinping, state media KCNA reported on Friday, after weeks of speculation about his health.The news agency did not explain what it meant by a “verbal message,” and it was not clear if Kim and Xi had spoken directly.The message was “in connection with the fact that China is registering success in preventing the Covid-19 infection”, according to KCNA, with Kim extending his “warm greetings” to Xi.Rumours about Kim’s health…

Southeast Asian nations already straining from the United States-China tug of war for regional influence are likely to avoid supporting Washington’s drive for Taiwan to be granted observer status for a top-level meeting of the World Health Organisation, analysts have said.Even though the leaders of these countries understand the “moral and logical” arguments for allowing Taiwanese delegates to attend the annual meeting on May 18 – which will be live-streamed because of the coronavirus pandemic …

Since Mumbai native Alex Johnson’s work contract in Saudi Arabia ended more than a month ago, the former cashier in a restaurant has been surviving on one meal a day to make his funds last while waiting to return to India.The 35-year-old, who did not want to use his real name out of concerns there might be repercussions from his former employer, is desperate to see his two-year-old son.In Singapore, Ramya Rekha Chola who is 29 weeks pregnant needs to return to Kurnool in southern India at least…

A series exploring the different experiences of recovered Covid-19 patients around the world. 1. Life as a coronavirus patient in Wuhan during its darkest hour A teacher’s story in the first of a series exploring the experiences of Covid-19 survivors from around the world. 2. Musician recounts horror from Covid-19 bar cluster Mark Anthony Balcueva struggled to breathe and had to be put on a cocktail of drugs, with only the thought of his daughter back in the Philippines keeping him alive. …

Singapore expatriates are often envied for their generous pay packets but facing the prospect of salary cuts as the coronavirus batters businesses, some are tightening their belts and asking for lower rent.Clarence Foo, a real estate agent at APAC Realty Ltd unit ERA, has come across seven such cases over the past month – the highest number of requests he has received during his seven-year career. Four were successful.One was an American woman who texted Foo last week. In her message, she said…

South Korea confirmed 12 new coronavirus cases on Friday, its first increase above 10 in five days, as authorities warned numbers would increase as it had identified a new cluster of infections linked to a 29-year-old man.The IT company employee had spread the virus to at least 14 others as he wandered around the capital Seoul and four neighbouring cities over a long weekend period at the start of the month, said the Korea Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.While the 12 cases were those…

Malaysia’s politics took another dramatic turn on Friday ahead of its first parliamentary sitting in months as the speaker of the house accepted a motion by former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad to launch a no-confidence vote against his replacement, Muhyiddin Yassin.Mahathir, however, has conceded that he does not believe he has the numbers required to command the majority support of parliament, claiming that Muhyiddin had won over supporters by giving them government roles. “Maybe we will…

There was a collective sigh of relief when Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach shook elbows over the postponement of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in March because of the coronavirus pandemic. What with the unprecedented postponement of an Olympics and subsequent uncertainties over athletes, logistics, sponsors, a Tokyo 2020 main office employee contracting Covid-19, and the increasing friction between Abe’s and Tokyo governor (and…

A group of 150 Chinese workers believe the world’s largest maker of trainers used the coronavirus as an excuse to fire them, having helped Taiwanese firm Pou Chen successfully expand its production into Vietnam for more than a decade.Pou Chen, which makes footwear for the likes of Nike and Adidas, informed the group in late April that they would no longer be needed as they were unable to return to Vietnam from their hometowns in China due to the coronavirus lockdowns.“We believe we contributed…

As Asia’s rich contemplate where to place their nest eggs, most have overwhelmingly chosen Singapore over rival international financial centre Hong Kong so far this year, according to the region’s largest wealth manager.High-net-worth individuals have mainly instructed their private bankers at UBS to place new money in Singapore rather than Hong Kong, said Edmund Koh, the Swiss bank’s president in the Asia-Pacific region. Last year, the region’s high-net-worth individuals opened more new…

Singapore is moving 2,600 nursing-home employees into hotels to reduce their interaction with the community, with health minister Gan Kim Yong on Tuesday saying it was critical to protect older Singaporeans as they tended to be more severely affected by Covid-19. Nineteen of the country’s 20 deaths from the disease were patients above the age of 60, and four were nursing-home residents. All 9,000 of the country’s nursing-home staff have been tested, with one positive result. The 30 residents…

President Vladimir Putin told Russians they are “invincible” when they stand together as the country on Saturday marked the 75th anniversary of the end of second world war on lockdown from the coronavirus.With the number of virus cases surging and authorities urging Russians to stay in their homes, celebrations of this year’s Victory Day were muted after the Kremlin grudgingly agreed to postpone plans for a grand parade with world leaders.Instead of columns of military hardware and thousands of…

In a back room of Singaporean dentist Teehee Dental Works, three orange-topped boxes hum with a sterile buzz.Over the next three hours, a thousand strands of liquid resin will form and harden to become plastic nasal swabs, ready to be used in Covid-19 test kits. Those 3D printers – normally making dentures and crowns – are a part of a local effort to re-tool some of Singapore’s industries to respond to a growing need for test kits amid the widening coronavirus pandemic.With one of Asia’s…

Ratri Anindyajati had plenty of things to worry about when she, her sister and her mother became the first three people in Indonesia to catch the coronavirus. Little did she know that personal abuse and social stigma would be among them.But that was exactly what came her way after President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo revealed to a stunned nation on March 2 that Indonesia had recorded its first two infections. Though he did not name the victims, their details soon leaked out; Anindyajati’s younger…

The night of March 6, 2020, started much like every other night for boxing camp owner Pitak Kaewprapol – with a visit to a fight.Pitak and thousands of other Muay Thai fans had packed the New Lumpinee Boxing Stadium in Bangkok to watch an evening of kick-boxing, ignoring a government order just three days earlier requiring large gatherings to be cancelled or postponed.Like many others among the crowd of fans, tourists, celebrities, trainers and promoters who packed the 5,000-capacity stadium,…

When 93-year-old Thomas Abraham was being treated for Covid-19 in the intensive care unit of a hospital in Kottayam, southern India, the one thing he missed was making black coffee for his wife, Mariyamma, 88.He need not have worried, the two would soon be having their morning cuppa together again – Mariyamma had contracted the disease too and both were being treated in the same hospital.“[At first] we were in separate wards but when both of us started missing each other, the doctors moved us…

Rising job losses and persistent xenophobia over the origins of the coronavirus are leading to growing resentment against Chinese migrant workers in Indonesia. Last week, legislators in Southwest Sulawesi province rejected the planned arrival of about 500 workers hired by the Chinese-backed PT Virtue Dragon Nickel Industry and PT Obsidian Stainless Steel despite permits being issued by the central government in Jakarta. The provincial governor Ali Mazi told state news agency Antara he…

Picka.treatsg, an online business operating out of a Singapore public flat, saw an increase in orders of its cakes late last month, after the authorities announced commercial snack and drinks outlets would have to temporarily stop operating.This came amid tighter restrictions during Singapore’s circuit breaker or partial lockdown period, and just before the start of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.Singapore moves nursing-home employees into hotels to protect elderlyWith orders growing from…

As the United States has taken a step back from world affairs to focus on an unprecedented health crisis at home, China has made full use of its massive military power to promote itself as a leader in the global fight against Covid-19.In the latest of a slew of recent overseas aid efforts carried out by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), a Chinese medical team put the finishing touches to a testing laboratory in Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city, which they had helped to build from the ground up…

by Lachlan Hyatt | Prague Daily Monitor

More than 30 years after the Fall of Communism in the Czech Republic, many of the stories of those targeted during the worst era of the regime are being forgotten as dissidents forced to work in labor camps are dying off.

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Prague Daily Monitor

Although the suspicious cases of coronavirus at Prague's Na Bulovce were not confirmed as such, there are several other pending cases across the country. At the Prague Airport certain measures have already come together to start more intensive screening of incoming flights, for now those from China.

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Prague Daily Monitor

So far the coronavirus, in the Czech Republic as well as most of the world, has remained relatively contained. Several suspicious cases in the country have proved negative as just normal flu or cold symptoms. People are advised to clean hands often, especially after visiting busy public places.

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Prague Daily Monitor

The Prague Transport Authority (DPP) is funding a project to extend the tram track from Sídliště Modřany to Nové Dvory. The extension will be 1.8 kilometers long and cost about CZK 350 million. The target completion date would be 2027.

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Prague Daily Monitor

Judges will no longer have to automatically pause or delay sentences for pregnant women, or women with a child under one year old, and release them from prison if the case includes particularly serious crimes. The judges will be able to make the decision according to factors including danger to those involved. The notion was passed at the first reading in the Lower House and drafted by politicians from almost every political party.

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Prague Daily Monitor

With increasing cases and deaths the Czech Republic is yet to confirm its first case. All suspected cases up to Sunday have resulted in negative results, or results are still pending. The country has also managed to evacuate citizens from China to Brussels and other European destinations.

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Prague Daily Monitor

The Czech Republic has not recorded a positive test on any suspected patients to date. There have been several suspected cases, mostly from Chinese tourists in North Moravia, Brno and Prague. Futhermore, even the Czechs that were evacuated from China last week have thus far not been tested positive for the virus. There remain 105 Czech citizens in China whom want to return home. The Minister of Foreign Affairs Tomas Petricek communicated to media that if need be the country will send an airbus to China to pick them up.

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Prague Daily Monitor

Border Police patrolling an area close to Slovakia intercepted four refugees who were walking in the area. Not far from the town of Lanžhot, squeezed between Slovakia and Austria, police noticed four young males walking in a field. The refugees are thought to come from Afghanistan but had no identity documents in their possession.

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Prague Daily Monitor

The Ministry of Labor has prepared and made available to the public a study showing that the Czech Republic is not doing enough for kindergarten capacity according to EU norms. Pre-school care thus is not available to three in ten girls and boys up to the age of three years old, which parents need.

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Prague Daily Monitor

Over the weekend the weather was great, if not ideal for skiing and mountain sports. The combination of a snow dump in many areas and ideal sunny conditions brought lots of visitors to the hills. Weather wise the sun and pleasant conditions will give way to a wet unpredictable week.

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Prague Daily Monitor

Prague City Council has approved four rules which are to be used as a basis for upcoming negotiations with the Ministry of Regional Development concerning short-term rental platforms. Counselor Hana Marvanova said that the largest change would be for Airbnb and other short-term rental platforms to provide municipalities with information about rentals. The four rules include limiting rentals, neighbors permission before going live on the platform, and fulfilling the same safety and building standards as hotels.

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Prague Daily Monitor

In an article written by Jakub Plíhal for news server Aktualne.cz, about Prague's coming war with short-term rentals, he covered a symbolic protest in a building where out of seventeen flats only three are occupied by families permanently. Prague Mayor Zdeněk Hřib joined the protest organized by the Stop Airbnb group.

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Prague Daily Monitor

A common topic over the past several years: temperature records falling on the positive side. The past several years have been some of the hottest in human's short recorded history. Again yesterday several records were broken, including České Budějovice's Rožnov where the temperature has been measured for 136 years.

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Prague Daily Monitor

Police from the National Center Against Organized Crime suspect an employee from the General Financial Directorate of agreeing to a ten million crown bribe, five million of which he had personally taken possession of. The spokesperson for the General Financial Directorate Zuzana Masatova said "the employee has been removed from service."

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Prague Daily Monitor

According to a story run in Deník N, a blind woman going out for a morning walk ran into a nightmare scenario on Monday in Prague's trendy Žižkov area.

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Two Hour School

For bilingual families, choosing a school may no longer be a dilemma. The Two Hour School has opened in Prague.

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by Paul Lysek | Prague Daily Monitor/Unicare

With the headlines full of stories written to cause us anxiety about the flu and coronavirus, we asked our partners at Unicare, a Prague premium healthcare company, to help us write up some key important facts about what to look for and how to deal with symptoms.

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Prague Daily Monitor

The Prince of Lichtenstein Foundation has lost its case concerning ownership of 600 hectares of forest close to the city of Říčany, outside of Prague. The Constitutional Court upheld the prior verdict in the case which was not to return the 600 hectares of forest to the foundation. "The Prince of Lichtenstein will in this case use all possible tools and opportunities to get justice in an international court and international institutio," said the foundation's spokesperson.

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Prague Daily Monitor

The first three cases of people testing positive for the coronavirus in the Czech Republic were confirmed on Sunday evening. All of the infected are in residence at the Na Bulovce hospital in Prague, one patient arriving via special ambulance from Masaryk hospital in Ustí nad Labem. One case is a male who was on a conference in Udine. The second case is a female American citizen visiting Prague while on a study abroad program in Milan. Lastly, a male who was in Italy on ski holidays.

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Prague Daily Monitor

Some people are panicking, some people are fighting at the bulk retailers across the pond, some are getting haircuts in China with a meter distance between themselves and the barber. But what is actually going on here?

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Prague Daily Monitor

There is not very much in the news outside of the fear selling virus epidemic, as it is being increasingly referred to. As of Sunday, March 8th there were thirty-two cases confirmed in the country. They are mostly people returning from Italy or close contacts. There does not appear to be any run away escalation of cases as in some other countries. But life as we know it will most likely change for a while. The Czech Republic seems to be the first country to threaten quarantine breakers with a maximum fine of CZK 3,000,000.

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Prague Daily Monitor

The Covid-19 virus brought new measures to the Czech Republic. With cases quickly growing to over 10,000 in Italy, and surrounding countries running over a thousand cases each, the Czech Republic has decided to try and get ahead of the virus and stop its spread. Schools are closed for an unspecified amount of time. All activities which have groups larger than 100 people are cancelled.

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Prague Daily Monitor

Europe and the world are entering a new phase in the fight against the epidemic. Yesterday, the WHO declared the spread of the Covid-19 virus a pandemic. The Czech Republic is closing in on 94 confirmed cases as of Wednesday night. This includes a few cases which are not traced to a patient zero, meaning the patient got the virus from another person who may not yet be known to the health authorities.

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Prague Daily Monitor

Starting today, the city requests that all people using Prague public transport to wear protection across their nose and mouth. Also, the Mayor of Prague Zdeněk Hřib recommended to stores that they insist that customers cover their face and nose as well.

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Prague Daily Monitor

In Brno yesterday, a thirty-six year old man tried to enter a local supermarket without proper face protection. The fifty-nine year old security officer on duty was not willing to yield the rule and demanded the man not enter. A scuffle broke out and it ended with the customer being driven off in an ambulance.

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Prague Daily Monitor

The government has already passed several measures which are designed to assist and help people cope with the situation surrounding the current lock-down, school and business closures and other related problems. The government has agreed to compensate employees of closed businesses, which include restaurants, bars, stores and other deemed non-essential operations. The government will compensate 80% of wages for the employees who are affected.

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Czech Development Agency

While as late as 1990 the WHO reported 116 deaths for every 1,000 births in Cambodia, the situation has now improved fourfold. This is credited to a Czech Development Agency project through which health care equipment and neonatal tools, including incubators, were provided to the Pediatric Hospital in Phnom Penh.

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Prague Daily Monitor

The Liberec Technical University has created a replaceable filter which can be used in the homemade masks people are sewing. The masks are worn to comply with laws designed in preventing the spread of Covid-19. The Nano-material is 70-90% effective in stopping the coronavirus cells. The university with the help from the Liberec region and the private sector is now producing 100,000 filters a day. The price per one should not exceed CZK 10.

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