Coronavirus turns Southeast Asia lighting red

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Southeast Asia,as a whole, has reported more than 28,000 cases as of Sunday(19), according to data by Johns Hopkins University.

Combination of Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore account for 87.9% of total cases reported in Southeast Asia, information revealed.

Meanwhile, the Southeast Asia’s tally is still far off the hundreds of thousands seen in the U.S. and some European nations, several studies suggest that tens of thousands more infections could be undetected due to the low testing ratein countries such as Indonesia and the Philippines.

Meanwhile in Singapore, cases have spiked dramatically in the last two weeks, with new clusters of infections found among migrant workers living in packed dormitories  even as the government’s handling of the outbreak wasat one time hailed internationally as a model for others to follow.  

Coronavirus update: Follow the latest news in our daily wrap.

Indonesia

Indonesia reported total number of coronavirus cases at 6760 ,on Monday(20), and 590 deaths as of April 20, making it the country with the most coronavirus deaths and the highest fatality rate in Southeast Asia.

According to Indonesia’s health ministry, there are 2,813 hospitals in the country, with an average of 12 beds available for every 10,000 people. There are also an estimated 110,040 doctors for the country of more than 260 million as of 2018 – or about four doctors per 10,000 people.

Singapore

In Singapore, total number of coronavirus cases at 8,014 and 11 deaths  were reported in Singapore on Monday (Apr 20), the Ministry of Health (MOH) said in a media release.

The number of unlinked cases in the community, however, has increased slightly, from an average of 19 cases per day in the week before, to an average of 22 per day in the past week.

Leong Hoe Nam, an infectious disease specialist at Mount Elizabeth Novena Hospital in Singapore, said “it’s a bit embarrassing” that the uptick in cases involving foreign migrant workers has come when the government has managed to control the number of imported cases and community transmissions. 

Philippines

Most of the new cases that have popped up recently involved migrant workers, many of whom are men from South Asia working in construction.

Malaysia

Read more:-Havelock Magazine/Health

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