An Afghan tailor (L) donates masks for a local resident in Kandahar city, Afghanistan, March 19, 2020. (Photo by Arghand/Xinhua)
-- Afghanistan imposes a three-week curfew in the capital of Kabul effective from Saturday.
-- Malaysian PM announces a 57.54-billion-U.S. dollar economic stimulus package.
-- Pakistani PM says China's image as a responsible country is highlighted in fighting COVID-19.
HONG KONG, March 27 (Xinhua) -- The following are the latest developments of the COVID-19 pandemic in Asia-Pacific countries.
KABUL -- The government of Afghanistan in a bid to contain the spread of COVID-19 has announced a three-week curfew in the national capital of Kabul city on Friday and the decision comes into effect from Saturday.
"To contain the coronavirus, all the government departments and entities except the Ministry for Public Health and parts of Kabul Municipality and security apparatus that provide services, will remain closed at least for three weeks," Kabul Governor Mohammad Yaqub Haidari told reporters at a press briefing here Friday.
All the educational centers, recreational parks, restaurants, swimming pools, wedding halls, public gathering and public transport buses remain shutting down during the period, said the governor. The restaurants provide delivery services can operate.
According to the country's ministry of public health, so far 91 positive cases of COVID-19 had been confirmed in the country.
A health official checks a passenger's body temperature at a traveler screening point in Shiberghan city, capital of Jawzjan province, Afghanistan, March 15, 2020. (Photo by Mohammad Jan Aria/Xinhua)
KUALA LUMPUR -- Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin announced an economic stimulus package worth 250 billion ringgit (about 57.54 billion U.S. dollars) on Friday to fight the economic fallout caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The package includes 128 billion ringgit for the people welfare; 100 billion ringgit for businesses including small and medium enterprises; and 2 billion ringgit to strengthen the country's economy.
The total package has included the first economic stimulus package worth 20 billion ringgit which was announced in February.
Customers have their body temperatures tested before entering a supermarket in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, March 25, 2020. (Photo by Chong Voon Chung/Xinhua)
ISLAMABAD -- Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan said China is not only committed to protecting its own people in the fight against COVID-19, but also helping the international community contain the pandemic, which highlights China's image as a responsible country.
Khan made the remarks Thursday when attending the groundbreaking ceremony of an isolation hospital supported by the Chinese government.
A sweeper cleans an empty metro bus station during lockdown in Rawalpindi of east Pakistan's Punjab province on March 24, 2020. (Xinhua/Ahmad Kamal)
NEW DELHI -- Leading health professionals and officials from the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries have intensified collaboration in the joint fight against COVID-19 at the ground level, said an official statement issued on Friday.
The SAARC member countries include Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
India proposed to set up a shared "Electronic Platform" for all SAARC nations to share and exchange information, knowledge, expertise and best practices for jointly combating the COVID-19 pandemic.
People keep a distance to line up to purchase medicine from a pharmacy in Guwahati, India, March 26, 2020. (Stringer/Xinhua)
CANBERRA -- Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced that everyone who arrives in the country from Sunday onwards will be forced into quarantine for two weeks.
Morrison said approximately two thirds of Australia's confirmed cases of COVID-19 could be attributed to people who have recently returned from overseas.
Photo taken on March 23, 2020 shows a restaurant only providing takeaway service in Canberra, Australia. (Photo by Chu Chen/Xinhua)
MANILA -- The Philippines has canceled its biggest annual joint military exercise dubbed as "Balikatan" with the United States this year due to the threat posed by COVID-19, a high-ranking Philippine military official said on Friday.
Rear Admiral Adelius Bordado, the co-exercise director of Balikatan 2020, said that Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief of staff General Felimon Santos has recommended the cancellation of Balikatan exercise 2020 scheduled for May 4-15 in the Philippines.
Firefighters on a firetruck spray disinfectant on a street in Quezon City, the Philippines, March 23, 2020. (Xinhua/Rouelle Umali)
WELLINGTON -- New Zealand on Friday confirmed 76 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the total number of confirmed and probable cases to 368.
Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield told a press conference that 85 new confirmed and probable cases were reported in the last 24 hours, which include 76 confirmed and nine probable cases.
He said 37 people have recovered, and eight people are in hospital.
The New Zealand Defense Force (NZDF) on Friday confirmed seven cases of COVID-19 among its members, local media reported.
A medical worker conducts quick tests at a newly built mobile testing station in Auckland, New Zealand, March 23, 2020. (Photo by Li Qiaoqiao/Xinhua) ■
