Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday described doctors and other health staff at the frontlines of the fight against coronavirus as “incarnations of God” and said those harassing them would face police action.

The Thai government banned entry for all non-resident foreigners yesterday but held off on restricting people’s movement inside the country as the government prepared to roll out emergency measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus.

Pakistan has suspended six civil servants after they posed for a selfie with a coronavirus patient in a quarantine centre, an official said yesterday.

‘FRIEND OF CORONAVIRUS’

China’s imported coronavirus cases have risen to a record 228, data showed yesterday, as infected travellers spread to ever more provinces, adding pressure on authorities to toughen entry rules and health protocols.

Malaysia will mobilise the army to help enforce curbs on movement aimed at reining in the coronavirus, the government said yesterday, as it grapples with the highest number of infections in Southeast Asia.

With millions of face masks, low interest loans and teams of medical experts, China is trying to paint itself as a Good Samaritan while deflecting criticism over its initial missteps in handling the coronavirus.

People suspected of having the coronavirus in India have received hand stamps and are being tracked using their mobile phones and personal data to help enforce quarantines, raising concerns about privacy and mass surveillance.

Mosques in Sri Lanka were shut indefinitely from yesterday, and the island imposed a countrywide curfew over the weekend, as South Asian countries step up efforts to check the spread of Covid-19 cases.

Nepal has closed all of its Himalayan peaks including Mount Everest this climbing season because of fears of the coronavirus outbreak, says a government minister.

At least 10 people are killed following the collapse of a hotel used as a coronavirus quarantine facility in eastern China, authorities say.

The isolated Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan has reported its first case of the coronavirus after a US tourist tested positive, the prime minister says.

South Korea reports its biggest surge in new coronavirus cases as concerns grow of a possible epidemic in the United States and the World Health Organization raises its risk alert to its highest level.

In another twist to Malaysia's political drama, interim prime minister Mahathir Mohamad says he is back as PM candidate after securing backing of old rival Anwar Ibrahim.

The US Navy said Thursday that a Chinese military warship fired a military grade laser at US Navy P-8 surveillance aircraft last week while it was flying over the Pacific Ocean, an action that the US Navy called “unsafe and unprofessional.”

Malaysia’s king yesterday struck down a power play by 94-year-old Mahathir Mohamad aimed at seizing momentum in a political crisis, capping a week of turmoil that has left the country effectively leaderless.

From an artificial island in Sri Lanka to a bridge in Bangladesh and hydropower projects in Nepal and Indonesia, China’s trillion-dollar Belt and Road plan is stuttering under the effects of the deadly coronavirus.

As deadly clashes between Hindu and Muslim groups rocked parts of the Indian capital Delhi this week, the family of a young Hindu woman living in a Muslim-majority area was forced to cancel her wedding.

The Delhi government has given its approval to police to prosecute former Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union (JNUSU) president Kanhaiya Kumar and others in a sedition case for allegedly raising anti-India slogans during an event inside the university campus in February 2016.

At least 42 people have lost their lives and more than 250 are injured as armed mobs rampage through parts of northeast Delhi from Sunday till Tuesday, looting and burning buildings and attacking residents.