More coronavirus cases are being confirmed outside China, raising concerns about the extent of the outbreak worldwide and how governments will respond to the calls for stricter screenings and travel regulations.
Philippines Retains No Travel Ban for Singapore
The Philippines said on Monday that it will not ban Singaporean travels amid the confirmation that a Filipino in the city-state has been infected with CoVID-19.
Speaking with local news site Rappler, Philippine Ambassador to Singapore Joseph Yap noted that the "overall situation" in the city-state "is stable and is in fact improving." He pointed out that this should be enough reason to not impose travel restrictions.
Furthermore, Yap explained that Singapore has discharged a growing number of people who have recovered from the novel coronavirus. The city-state has discharged a total of 51 recovered patients.
Yap also reiterated that imposing a travel ban against Singapore will have an inconvenient effect on "everybody." His comments came amid increasing fears that the Southeast Asian economy will be hampered by increasing CoVID-19 cases across the region.
The Philippines is one of Singapore's top trading partners in Asia.
Singapore Discharges Two More Patients
The Singaporean Health Ministry (MOH) said it has discharged two fully-recovered patients, rounding up the city-state's total number of discharged at 51, the Straits Times reported.
The MOH further revealed that the remaining confirmed cases who are still under hospitalized monitoring have reached a stable stage and are improving. Only five of the remaining 38 CoVID-19 cases are in critical care.
Singapore has a total of 89 confirmed cases. The first case was confirmed on January 23.
Thailand Expects Coronavirus Easing by H2
Thai Tourism and Sports Minister Pipat Ratchakitprakan said on Sunday that the coronavirus crisis is not expected to come down to a standstill until the second half of 2019 or earlier.
According to the Bangkok Post, Pipat said at a conference that the Wuhan coronavirus has been affecting Thailand's tourism sector since the outbreak kicked off late December.
Economists were expecting the country's tourism industry to contribute as much as 20 percent in the gross domestic product (GDP) to the overall growth rate this year. However, things have changed since the projections were made.
On the other hand, Thailand has been somehow successful in screening potential CoVID-19 cases and Pipat believes things will get better after the country's Songkran Festival.
Pipat went on to predict that China will likely develop a vaccine at the time of the Songkran Festival which will be held from April 13-15.
Vietnam Tourism Reels from Coronavirus Stigma
In terms of tourism, Vietnam is another Southeast Asian country that is expecting a significant blow to its tourism industry.
In an email to Business Insider on Friday, a tourism department representative said the government is expecting "direct damage to Vietnam's tourism industry" to reach as much as $3 billion or $4 billion.
Chinese visitors make up for a huge chunk of the country's total number of annual tourists but over the past few months, the numbers have been shrinking. Furthermore, travel bans are also hurting tourism segments.
It remains to be seen whether the Vietnamese tourism industry will start recovering in the coming weeks as China's infection toll gradually declined over the past few days.
Malaysia's First Locally-Transmitted Case Recovers
As other countries continue to worry about the global outbreak just starting, Malaysia is seen as doing well in containing the virus and helping patients recover.
The country's first locally-transmitted coronavirus case has been discharged from the hospital on Saturday after recovering from the novel virus strain, Channel News Asia reported.
The said patient is the sister of a Malaysian man who was in Singapore in January for a conference. The patient then contracted the virus from his brother as they spent the Chinese New Year at home.
The man was discharged earlier last week but the interest on the sister has been ramping up due to the case being Malaysia's first local transmission. She said in an interview with the country's health ministry that he was "extremely worried" about her loved ones when she first tested positive.
The patient went on to share her experiences while being treated at a public hospital. She praised the government hospital for its efforts and also noted that "Malaysians should be proud of this."
