International

Indonesia yesterday warned it was bracing for a punishing surge in Covid-19 cases as its daily toll soared to a record 728 deaths and hospitals crumble under the weight of the country’s deadliest wave yet. Emergency oxygen supplies for virus patients were being flown in from neighbouring Singapore, while the government said southeast Asia’s worst-hit nation could see cases soar to more than 50,000 a day. Hospitals in the hard-hit capital Jakarta were topping 90% occupancy and more than a dozen facilities in Indonesia’s second-biggest city Surabaya shut out new patients because they could no longer handle the huge influx. A Surabaya hospital spokeswoman described jammed ICUs and exhausted doctors, some infected with Covid-19. “The hospital no longer has rooms for patients who need ventilators. The ICU rooms are also full,” said the woman who asked not to be identified. “We’re overwhelmed. Many of our health workers have collapsed from exhaustion and some are also infected. We trying to get volunteers to help out.” Nearly 1,000 Indonesian medical workers have died of Covid-19, including more than a dozen who were already fully inoculated, according to the country’s medical association. Desperate families are hunting for oxygen tanks to treat the sick and dying at home. Thousands of troops and police are scrambling to enforce new virus curbs to bring down record daily cases, which soared yesterday to 31,189 new infections and 728 deaths — as much as seven times the daily mortality rate less than a month ago. Daily Covid-19 burials in Jakarta alone are up 10-fold since May, overwhelming exhausted cemetery workers scrambling to keep up. Jakarta yesterday said about 10,000 concentrators - devices that generate oxygen - were to be shipped from nearby Singapore with some arriving by a Hercules cargo plane earlier. The government was also in talks with other countries including China for help, it said. Jakarta has ordered all the nation’s oxygen supplies to be directed to hospitals overflowing with virus patients as the highly infectious Delta variant tears across Indonesia’s main Java island, home to more than half of the country’s nearly 270mn people. “The team is preparing for a scenario of up to 50,000 cases a day, maybe even 60,000 to 70,000 per day at worst,” said senior minister Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, tasked with enforcing new virus rules. “But we hope that won’t happen.” Offices, mosques, parks, shopping malls and restaurants have been shuttered across Java under new curbs that started from the weekend. But there have been widespread violations. Authorities in Java’s Semarang city fired water hoses at shops that have refused to close. Jakarta’s governor Anies Baswedan yesterday ordered dozens of offices to be sealed after some employers ignored work-from-home orders. Surabaya’s mayor at the weekend ordered that vaccine-rule violators be forced to tour a local cemetery, while in locals in Malang dressed as ghosts in the hopes of scaring rule-breakers. Indonesia’s huge social media space has been jammed with fake news and hoaxes about the virus, while many have expressed doubts about taking vaccines. So far, only about 5% of the country’s nearly 270mn people has received two jabs. A surge of Indonesians have rushed to buy controversial anti-parasite drug ivermectin to guard against coronavirus after it was backed by some heavyweight politicians, despite warnings against using the unproven treatment on Covid-19 patients. The world’s fourth most populous nation has seen its daily caseload soar in recent weeks with its tally at more than 2.3mn cases and 61,686 deaths. That figure is widely believed to be a severe undercount due to low testing and poor tracing measures.

Philippine security forces have retrieved the cockpit voice and flight data recorders of a military aircraft that crashed in a coconut grove and killed 52 people, a top commander said Tuesday. The C-130 Hercules transport plane was carrying 96 people, mostly fresh army graduates, when it overshot the runway on Sunday while trying to land on Jolo island in the southern Sulu province. Witnesses and survivors told investigators the plane landed "hard" and then bounced twice before taking off again, said Lieutenant General Corleto Vinluan, chief of the Western Mindanao Command. "Then at the right side of the airport it hit a tree -- that's the account of the injured," Vinluan told AFP. Most of the dead were soldiers being deployed to the island -- a haven for Islamist militants -- as part of a counter-insurgency effort. Three civilians who were not on the flight were also killed as the plane ploughed through coconut trees and houses. Another 51 people, mostly troops, were injured. Many suffered severe burns when the four-engine aircraft exploded into flames. The cockpit voice and flight data recorders, which are known as black boxes, will be sent to the United States for analysis, Vinluan said. The CVR records flight crew conversations and the flight data recorder holds information about the speed, altitude and direction of the plane. They could explain what caused the C-130, which the military said was in "very good condition", to crash in sunny weather. "We will be able to hear from that black box what was the last conversation of the pilots and crew in the cockpit so we can ascertain the situation that really happened," armed forces chief General Cirilito Sobejana told CNN Philippines. Photos of the scene released by the military showed the damaged tail and smoking wreckage scattered among trees. Dental records are being used to help in the painstaking effort to identify badly charred bodies. "So far we have identified six or seven of them," said Sobejana. "We are doing our best... we need to bring them to their family at the soonest possible time." C-130s have been the workhorses of air forces around the world for decades, used to transport troops, supplies and vehicles. The second-hand Hercules that crashed Sunday was acquired from the United States and delivered to the Philippines earlier this year. It was one of four in the country's fleet. Two others are being repaired while the third has been grounded following the crash. Sunday's crash was one of the country's worst military air disasters and the latest in a series of accidents this year. Last month, a Black Hawk helicopter went down during a night-time training flight, killing all six on board. The accident prompted the grounding of the country's entire Black Hawk fleet.

Indonesia has prepared backup medical facilities for a worst-case scenario where daily coronavirus infections reach 40,000 to 50,000, a senior official said on Tuesday, as the country battles its fastest-spreading outbreak so far. Indonesia has one of Asia's worst Covid-19 epidemics, exacerbated by the presence of the highly infectious Delta variant, with hospitals overstretched, oxygen supply issues and a growing numbers of sick unable to receive medical attention. Southeast Asia's largest and most populous country has seen record daily increase in coronavirus infections in 10 of the past 15 days, with the death toll passing 500 on several days. Its vaccination rate remains low. Senior Minister Luhut Pandjaitan said the government has plans to increase oxygen supplies and has accommodation infrastructure, including disused buildings, which can be converted into isolation facilities in the worst-case scenario. Indonesia recorded nearly 30,000 new cases on Monday, among 2.3 million overall. "The number can go up to 40,000 or more, that's why we have prepared scenarios - when it comes to medications, oxygen, and also hospitals," Luhut said, adding that help had been sought from countries like China and Singapore. Health minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said that the government was adding nearly 8,000 new beds within the Greater Jakarta area, and was closely watching Sumatra and Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of Borneo island, amid a rise in cases of the Delta variant first detected in India. Indonesia on Saturday imposed tighter curbs on movement, office work, dining and air travel on Java and Bali islands and on Tuesday tightened measures in 20 other provinces.

An explosion near Thai capital Bangkok's international airport Monday left a plastic's factory in flames, killing at least one firefighter and wounding 27 people, officials said. Heavy plumes of black smoke could be seen rising up to the sky from the city's downtown 35km away, as rescuers continued to evacuate residents near the site. The blast occurred around 3 am at Taiwan-based Ming Dih Chemical Co., located on the outskirts of Bangkok near Suvarnabhumi airport. "We have 27 injured, mostly from cuts, and one dead who was a firefighter," said Somsak Kaewsena, the chief of Bang Pli district where the factory is located. He told AFP that 500 residents had so far been evacuated to two shelters. By noon, elderly residents in wheelchairs were evacuated to a nearby school about 9km away. The public have been ordered to stay away from a radius of at least 500m around the blast site, said Lieutenant General Ampon Buarubporn. "We do not know if there is anything left to explode," he said, adding that authorities are still working to get the fire under control. Rescue workers drove around the neighbourhood in emergency vans, telling thousands of residents via loudspeakers to leave for their safety. The cause of the explosion is still unknown.

* All passengers accounted for, including 47 dead soldiers * Three civilians on ground also killed, dozens injured * Plane was in 'very good condition' - military spokesman Philippine authorities ordered on Monday an investigation into the crash of an Air Force plane that overshot a runway killing 47 soldiers on board, three civilians on the ground and injuring dozens. Some passengers on the Lockheed C-130 jumped free seconds before the plane crashed and burst into flames on the weekend, officials cited witnesses as saying. The aircraft, carrying recently graduated troops bound for counter-insurgency operations, had been trying to land at Jolo airport in southern Sulu province. All 96 passengers on board had been accounted for, with 49 military personnel injured as well as four civilians on the ground, military spokesman Major General Edgard Arevalo said. In a news conference, Arevalo said the plane was in "very good condition" and had 11,000 flying hours remaining before its next maintenance was due. "We are determined to find out what really transpired in this very tragic incident, because according to available information the aircraft followed the specified protocols," he said. Defence Secretary Delfin Lorenzana ordered an investigation into the country's worst military air disaster in nearly 30 years. The military command said the soldiers were flying to the provincial airport of Jolo from Laguindingan, about 460 km to the northeast, to be deployed to their battalions. The army in the sprawling Philippine archipelago has been fighting a long war in the area against Islamist militants from Abu Sayyaf and other factions. There was no sign the plane was brought down by insurgent fire, officials said. "We assure our people that we are transparent and the results of the investigation (will be made) available when completed," added Arevalo, saying that authorities were still searching for the flight recorders. Jolo airport has a 1,200-metre runway that usually takes civilian turboprop flights though occasionally some military flights, according to a Civil Aviation Authority of the The Lockheed aircraft had only recently arrived in the Philippines and was one of two provided by the US government through the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, a government website said in January. It quoted an Air Force spokesman as saying the aircraft would boost capability for heavy airlift missions. The website C-130.net said the plane that crashed had first flown in 1988. The model is a workhorse for armed forces around the world. The Philippines armed forces have a patchy air safety record. Last month a Black Hawk helicopter crashed during a training mission, killing six people. A Philippines Air Force C-130 crash in 1993 killed 30 people. A 2008 crash of the civilian variant of the Lockheed plane flown by the Philippines Air Force killed 11 people, the Aviation Safety Network says. The country's worst plane crash was that of an Air Philippines Boeing 737 in 2000, which killed 131 people.

A Philippines Air Force troop plane crashed and broke up in flames on a southern island yesterday, killing at least 45 people after some jumped free, officials said, in the country’s worst military air disaster in nearly 30 years. Pictures from the scene showed flames and smoke pouring from wreckage strewn among coconut palms as men in combat uniform milled around, while a column of thick black smoke rose into the sky. The Lockheed C-130 transport aircraft, carrying troops bound for counter-insurgency operations, crashed with 96 people on board. The plane had attempted to land at Jolo airport, but overshot the runway without touching down. It failed to regain enough power and height and crashed at nearby Patikul. “A number of soldiers were seen jumping out of the aircraft before it hit the ground, sparing them from the explosion caused by the crash,” the Joint Task Force Sulu said in a statement. It was not immediately clear how many jumped or whether they had survived. Military chief Cirilito Sobejana said the plane had “missed the runway trying to regain power”. The department of national defence said 45 people had been killed, including three civilians on the ground, while 53 were injured, including four civilians. Five military personnel were still missing. A military spokesman, Colonel Edgard Arevalo, said there was no sign of any attack on the plane, but an investigation had yet to begin as efforts were focused on rescue and treatment. The military command said the soldiers aboard had the rank of private and were being deployed to their battalions. They were flying to the provincial airport of Jolo from Laguindingan, about 460km to the northeast. The army in the sprawling Philippine archipelago has been fighting a long war against militants from Abu Sayyaf and other factions. “They were supposed to join us in our fight against terrorism,” said Commander William N Gonzales of Joint Task Force Sulu. Jolo airport has a 1,200-metre runway that usually takes civilian turboprop flights though occasionally some military flights, according to a Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines spokesperson. Jolo island, part of the Sulu archipelago, is about 950km south of the capital, Manila. The Lockheed C-130H Hercules aircraft, with registration 5125, had only recently arrived in the Philippines.  It was one of two aircraft provided by the US government through the Defence Security Cooperation Agency, a government website said in January. It quoted an air force spokesman as saying the aircraft would boost capability for heavy airlift missions. The website C-130.net said the plane that crashed had first flown in 1988.  The model is a workhorse for armed forces around the world. The Philippines armed forces have a patchy air safety record. Last month a Black Hawk helicopter crashed during a training mission, killing six people. A Philippines Air Force C-130 crash in 1993 killed 30 people. A 2008 crash of the civilian variant of the Lockheed plane flown by the Philippines Air Force killed 11 people, the Aviation Safety Network says. The country’s worst plane crash was that of an Air Philippines Boeing 737 in 2000, which killed 131 people.

At least 10 anti-junta fighters and civilians were killed during clashes with the military in central Myanmar, villagers said Sunday, as locals increasingly take up arms against the regime in the coup-wracked country. Myanmar has been in turmoil since a February coup that ousted Aung San Suu Kyi's government, with 890 people killed in a junta crackdown on dissent, according to a local monitoring group. In some areas civilians have formed "defence forces" to combat the State Administration Council, as the junta dubs itself, often using hunting rifles or makeshift weapons cobbled together from household items. The central Sagaing region has been the site of multiple skirmishes between defence forces and the military, and on Friday fighting broke out in Depayin township. Residents told AFP that military trucks entered their area and opened fire on a village near the jungle hoping to flush out members of the local defence force. "We heard the shooting of artillery 26 times," said a villager, who added that anti-junta fighters tried to retaliate but could not fend off the attack. "They shot everyone who they saw on the road and in the village. They did not just have one target," he said. Civilians were among the dead, he added. Villagers waited until Saturday to venture out of their homes to assess the casualties, said another witness, who helped to collect the bodies around Depayin township. "We found in one place eight people were killed, and in another area two were dead," he said. Local media reported a higher death toll, though it could not be independently verified by AFP. State-run media offered a different account of the skirmish, saying the military was patrolling the area when they were ambushed. Soldiers fended off "armed terrorists" and later found "four mortars and six percussion lock firearms", reported the Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper. In another attack in a different part of Sagaing one member of the security forces was killed and authorities were "working to stabilise the area", the paper added. Despite the threat of crackdowns, protesters in Myanmar are still taking to the streets daily in defiance of the military regime. On Sunday residents across Sagaing held short demonstrations, flashing a three-finger salute of defiance during rapid marches through the streets.

At least 29 people were killed and 50 injured Sunday when a Philippine military aircraft carrying troops crashed and burst into flames after missing the runway in the country's south, officials said. Nearly 100 people, most of them recent army graduates, were on the C-130 Hercules transport plane which was trying to land on Jolo island in Sulu province around midday. Some of the soldiers were seen jumping out of the plane before it hit the ground and exploded into flames, said Major General William Gonzales, commander of the Joint Task Force-Sulu. It was one of the country's deadliest military aviation accidents. "This is a sad day but we have to remain hopeful," Gonzales said in a statement. "We enjoin the nation to pray for those who are injured and those who have perished in this tragedy." A search was still under way for 17 missing people. Photos of the crash site released by the Joint Task Force-Sulu showed the damaged tail and the smoking wreckage of the fuselage's back section laying near coconut trees. Images published by local media outlet Pondohan TV on its Facebook page showed the wreckage engulfed in flames and a plume of thick black smoke rising above houses located near the site. Armed Forces Chief General Cirilito Sobejana said the aircraft was carrying troops from Cagayan de Oro on the southern island of Mindanao when it "missed the runway" as it tried to land on Jolo. The plane tried to "regain power but didn't make it", he told local media. The four-engine plane crashed near a quarry in a lightly populated area, First Lieutenant Jerrica Angela Manongdo said. Western Mindanao Command chief Lieutenant General Corletan Vinluan told AFP the aircraft overshot the landing strip and broke into two according to initial reports. Air force spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Maynard Mariano said the cause of the crash would be investigated, while armed forces spokesman Major General Edgard Arevalo told DZBB radio that it was being treated as an accident rather than an attack. Most of the passengers had recently graduated from basic military training and were being deployed to the restive island as part of a joint task force fighting terrorism in the Muslim-majority region. They were supposed to report for duty on Sunday, Gonzales said. The military has a heavy presence in the southern Philippines where militant groups, including the kidnap-for-ransom outfit Abu Sayyaf, operate. C-130s have been the workhorses of air forces around the world for decades, used to transport troops, supplies and vehicles. They are also often deployed to deliver humanitarian assistance and disaster relief. The Hercules that crashed Sunday has the same tail number as one acquired from the United States and delivered to the Philippines earlier this year. Senator Richard Gordon said it was the fourth military aircraft accident this year with "mass casualties". "Are we buying defective crafts... (with) the people's money?" he tweeted. Presidential spokesman Harry Roque described the accident as "very unfortunate", and the US embassy Charge d'Affaires John Law offered "sincerest condolences" to the families of the victims. Sunday's accident comes after a Black Hawk helicopter crashed last month during a night-time training flight, killing all six on board. The accident prompted the grounding of the Philippines' entire Black Hawk fleet.

More than 2,000 people have fled from a volcano eruption that has filled the air near the Philippine capital with toxic gas, officials said Saturday. Taal volcano, which sits in a picturesque lake, has been belching sulphur dioxide for several days, creating a thick haze over Manila and several surrounding provinces, and prompting health warnings. At least 2,400 people have left their homes since the government called for evacuations of hamlets on the lake's shores, provincial disaster official Joselito Castro told AFP. ‘We expect more residents to evacuate over the coming days,’ he said, adding that they were seeking refuge either in schools closed by the coronavirus pandemic or in the homes of relatives. Taal lies just 50 kilometres (30 miles) south of Manila and for much of the past week has discharged volcanic smog that has blotted out the sun in the capital. Civil defence officials have warned that upwards of 317,000 people could be vulnerable to toxic gas emissions from the volcano under the current eruption's worst-case scenario. Taal is one of the most active volcanoes in a nation hit periodically by eruptions and earthquakes due to its location on the Pacific ‘Ring of Fire’ -- a zone of intense seismic activity. The last eruption there in January 2020 shot ash 15 kilometres (nine miles) high and spewed red-hot lava, crushing scores of homes, killing livestock and sending over 135,000 people into shelters.  

Indonesian police threw up road blocks and more than 400 checkpoints on the islands of Java and Bali to ensure hundreds ofmns of people stayed home on Saturday, the first day of stricter curbs on movement to limit the spread of Covid-19. As it battles one of Asia's worst coronavirus outbreaks, the world's fourth most populous nation has seen record new infections on eight of the past 12 days, with Friday bringing 25,830 cases and a high of 539 deaths. ‘We are setting up (patrols) in 21 locations where typically there are crowds,’ Istiono, the head of national traffic police, who goes by one name, told a news conference late on Friday. ‘Where there are street stalls and cafes, we will close those streets, maybe from around 6 p.m. until 4 a.m.’ Saturday's more stringent curbs, from tighter travel checks to a ban on restaurant dining and outdoor sports and the closure of non-essential workplaces, will run until July 20, but could be extended, if needed, to bring daily infections below 10,000. More than 21,000 police officers as well as military will fan out across Indonesia's most populous island of Java and the tourist resort island of Bali to ensure compliance with the new curbs, a police spokesman said. At the road blocks and checkpoints on the islands, police will conduct random tests and enforce curfews. Vaccinated travellers with a negative swab test will be permitted to make long-distance journeys, however. The highly infectious Delta variant first identified in India, where it caused a spike in infections, is spreading in Indonesia and pushing hospitals across Java to the brink. Indonesia is set to receive vaccines donated by foreign countries to help speed its vaccination drive, which has covered just 7.6% of a target of 181.5mn people by January. Until now, it has relied mainly on a vaccine from China's Sinovac Biotech. Indonesia's tally of infections stands at 2.2mn, with a death toll of more than 59,500.  

Hundreds of Taiwanese people eager to get a coronavirus vaccine have booked tours to Guam after the US Pacific territory offered jabs to foreign visitors, a travel agency said yesterday. Tiny Guam, for which tourism is a major economic driver, has limited Covid-19 infections and a high vaccination rate among the local population. Dubbed “Air V&V” — vacation and vaccination — the new programme is primarily aimed at US expatriates in the Asia-Pacific region, although other nationalities can join. Participants can choose between the Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines. Of the three, only Moderna is available in Taiwan as the island has been struggling to secure enough vaccine supplies. Just 9% of Taiwan’s 23.5mn people had been vaccinated as of Thursday, according to the health ministry. Lion Travel, one of the biggest tour operators in Taiwan, said all 439 slots in its first four packages to Guam starting on July 6 had been sold. The packages cover flights and hotels, with prices starting at Tw$45,900 ($1,530), excluding the cost of Covid-19 tests. The company also offers seven-day and 22-day trips and expects a revenue of Tw$140mn if the packages are fully booked. “We will discuss with airlines to operate two additional direct flights on July 26 and August 12 to meet market demand,” it said in a statement. Interest in vaccination tours was boosted following the Guam government’s decision to exempt visitors who can show negative coronavirus test results from quarantine from July 4, it added. According to the Guam Visitors Bureau, eligible travellers can obtain a Covid-19 vaccine shot the day after their arrival and freely tour the country after that.

Netflix has pulled an Australian spy show from its services in Vietnam over scenes containing a map of the South China Sea showing Beijing’s claims in the flashpoint waterway. The map — shown briefly in two episodes of Pine Gap — had prompted a complaint from the Southeast Asian country’s broadcasting authority. China has long used its so-called nine-dash line to justify its claims over most of the resource-rich South China Sea, often to the displeasure of Vietnam, which also claims parts of the waterway. Vietnam’s Authority of Broadcasting and Electronic Information said on its website that the images shown during the six-episode drama had “violated the country’s sovereignty over sea and islands”. “Netflix’s violations have hurt feelings and caused outrage among the entire Vietnamese people,” it added. The statement also said this was the third time over the past 12 months that Netflix had been found to “distribute movies and TV shows containing content which violates Vietnam’s sovereignty”. It singled out Chinese rom-com Put Your Head on My Shoulder and the political drama Madam Secretary. Netflix confirmed that Pine Gap — which it describes as an international political thriller set around the Australian and American joint defence intelligence facility at Pine Gap in Australia’s Northern Territory — had been removed in Vietnam. “Following a written legal demand from the Vietnamese regulator, we have removed the licensed series, Pine Gap, from Netflix in Vietnam, to comply with local law. It remains available on our service in the rest of the world.” China claims the majority of the South China Sea, often invoking its nine-dash line as a supposed historical justification to the waters, a key global shipping route.

Authorities in the Philippines yesterday started evacuating thousands of people after the alert status was raised on a restive volcano that spewed a 1km high plume of gas and steam. The alert for the Taal volcano, about 70km south of central Manila, moved to level 3 from level 2 on the 5-level scale, which the seismology and volcanology agency said meant a “magmatic intrusion” at the main crater “could further drive succeeding eruptions”. Taal is one of the world’s smallest active volcanoes. Despite standing at only 1,020-foot, it can be deadly and an eruption in 1911 killed more than 1,300 people. In January last year, Taal shot a column of ash and steam as high as 15km into the sky, which forced more than 100,000 people to abandon their homes, widespread flight cancellations and heavy ash falls in Manila. While the situation could go either way, authorities yesterday warned that the type of eruption could potentially be more hazardous than that of last year. Water in Taal’s crater boiled before and after its eruption, a video posted on the Facebook page of the seismology agency showed. Magma made contact with the crater’s water, which then turned into gas and vapour, known as a phreatomagmatic eruption. “Phreatomagmatic is more dangerous because there’s already an interaction with magma,” Maria Antonia Bornas, chief of the agency’s monitoring and eruption prediction division, told a news conference. The towns of Agoncillo and Laurel, situated on the lake surrounding the Taal volcano, were in danger from eruption and volcanic tsunami, the seismology agency said. The national disaster bureau warned of eruption-related quakes. The evacuation of Agoncillo started late afternoon, Batangas provincial governor Hermilando Mandanas said, with 3,523 families or 14,495 people to be moved to safe areas.

* Magma in crater could lead to more eruptions: seismology agency * Alert Level raised after volcano spews plume of gases and steam * Taal is among world's most active small volcanoes Philippine volcanologists raised on Thursday the alert status of a volcano near the Philippine capital, after it spewed a one-kilometre (0.62 mile) high phreamagmatic plume of gases and steam. The alert for the Taal volcano, about 70 km (45 miles) south of central Manila, was raised to level 3 from level 2 which ‘means that there is magmatic intrusion at the main crater that may further drive succeeding eruptions,’ the seismology and volcanology agency said. Water in Taal's crater boiled before and after its eruption, a video posted on the Facebook page of the seismology agency showed. Authorities ordered the evacuation of residents in the lakeside towns of Agoncillo and Laurel in Batangas province due to possible eruption hazards including a potential for a volcanic tsunami. Taal is one of the world's smallest active volcanoes. Despite standing at only 311 metres (1,020-foot), it can be deadly, as an eruption in 1911 killed more than 1,300 people. It spewed clouds of ash in January last year, prompting the evacuation of more than 100,000 people. Residents have previously been banned from living in the vicinity of Taal, which sits in the middle of a lake about 70 km (45 miles) from Manila.  

* President says tighter measures to run from July 3-20 * To tighten movement curbs, shut non-essential offices-document * Indonesia has recorded a series of daily records in infections * Health experts warn risk of devastating India-type wave of cases * Indonesia stock market loses gains after announcement President Joko Widodo said on Thursday that Indonesia will bring in emergency measures running until July 20 aimed at containing an exponential spike in coronavirus cases that has strained the country's medical system. There has been a near vertical climb in virus cases in the world's fourth most populous nation in recent weeks, prompting health experts to warn that the outbreak could be as bad as India's devastating second wave if tighter measures are not introduced. ‘With cooperation from all of us and the grace of God, I'm certain that we can suppress Covid-19 transmission and restore people's lives quickly,’ said the president, who is usually known as Jokowi, as he announced the stricter measures. The measures, which will start on Saturday, aim to halve the current number of daily virus cases to below 10,000, and include tighter restrictions on movement and air travel, a ban on restaurant dining and closure of non-essential offices, according to a government document. They will be applied on the most populous island of Java and on the tourist island of Bali. Further details of the measures will be announced by Indonesia's minister for maritime affairs and investment, Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, later on Thursday, officials said. Grappling with the worst outbreak in Southeast Asia, Indonesia has reported a series of record daily Covid-19 cases since mid-June, with the 21,807 new cases on Wednesday, its biggest daily increase. Indonesia has recorded 2,178,272 cases overall, among the highest number in Asia, and 58,491 deaths. Up to now, Jokowi has been reluctant to bring in measures that might hit the economy and news of the curbs wiped out gains on Indonesia's main stock index that had earlier been up as much as 0.9%. The highly transmissible Delta variant that caused a spike in cases in India in April and May, overwhelming healthcare facilities and swamping crematoriums, is spreading in Indonesia. Hospitals across the crowded, main island of Java are being pushed to the brink. In Jakarta, some emergency wards have been moved to tents erected in hospital car parks to free up isolation rooms, while residents have formed queues to buy oxygen tanks for relatives being treated at home. The bed occupancy rate in the city's hospitals hit 93% this week, with hospitals across Java also edging toward full capacity. 'EMERGENCY BY NAME ONLY' But public health experts have questioned whether the proposed measures go far enough. ‘The current proposals are 'emergency' by name only, but they don't respond to an emergency situation,’ said Dr Dicky Budiman, an epidemiologist at Griffith University in Queensland. From outside Java, others experts questioned how effective the selective emergency measures would be. ‘If the government is half-hearted it will just remain the same,’ said Defriman Djafri, an epidemiologist at Andalas University in Padang on Sumatra island. What was needed, he said, was: ‘Two weeks total lockdown, no outside activities and no contact, people must stay at home. Rather than implement a national lockdown, Indonesia has instead opted for localised restrictions in designated ‘red zones’, a move the president previously said was designed to avoid ‘killing’ the economy. As tougher restrictions are expected to be announced, Mercy Corps Indonesia has expressed concern over the already ‘dire situation’. ‘Hospitals are overflowing, around one in five tests in Indonesia are reportedly coming back positive, and we’re experiencing more deaths now than at any point of the pandemic so far,’ said Ade Soekadis, Mercy Corps’ country director for Indonesia. ‘Worryingly, as we’ve seen in India and Nepal, we know it’s only going to get worse.’    

Myanmar's authorities will free around 700 prisoners from Yangon's Insein jail on Wednesday, prison chief Zaw Zaw told Reuters, in a release that is expected to include some of the thousands of people detained for opposing military rule. The prison chief said he did not have a list of those being released, but BBC Burmese language news reported it would include people accused of incitement after speaking out against the coup. A crowd of people gathered ahead of the release outside the Insein prison, a colonial-era jail on the outskirts of the commercial hub of Yangon, photographs on social media showed. The Myanmar Now news portal reported that across the country about 2,000 prisoners would be released. A prisons department official declined to comment. Since the junta ousted the elected government of Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi on Feb. 1, authorities have faced daily strikes that have paralysed official and private business, while ethnic insurgencies, that have beset Myanmar for decades, have also flared up. Many people have been arrested under section 505A of the penal code, which criminalises comments that could cause fear or spread false news and is punishable by up to three years in jail. More than 5,200 people are being held in detention, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners activist group. It also says 883 people have been killed - a figure challenged by the junta. On Tuesday, the army run Myawaddy television said authorities had dropped charges against 24 celebrities who had been declared wanted under the anti-incitement law after anti-government comments. Actors, sportspeople, social media influencers, doctors and teachers have been among hundreds of people listed as wanted for opposing the junta. Suu Kyi, 76, along with other members of her National League for Democracy (NLD) party have been held in detention since the military overthrew her elected civilian government. She is accused of a series of offences ranging from bribery and violating coronavirus protocols to illegally possessing two-way radios and incitement to commit crimes against the state - allegations her lawyers reject. The military said it took power after accusing Suu Kyi's party of a manipulated vote that swept it to power in a November poll, though the election commission at the time rejected its complaints. The NLD said it won fairly.   

Indonesian rescuers were searching for 11 people still missing after a passenger ferry sank off the coast of Bali in rough seas, killing at least seven, authorities said Wednesday. Dozens of survivors were plucked from the water Tuesday evening after the KMP Yunicee, carrying 57 passengers and crew, went down near Gilimanuk port at the western end of the holiday island. It had been travelling across a narrow strait from Java island. But 11 people remained missing Wednesday while authorities confirmed that they had pulled seven dead from the waters, updating an earlier toll. ‘We are still searching for the missing,’ said Bali search and rescue chief Gede Darmada. ‘Last night, the rescue was hampered by low visibility and high waves.’ It was unclear what caused the accident. Marine accidents are common in Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands, where many use ferries and other boats to travel despite poor safety standards. In 2018, about 160 people drowned when a ferry sank into the depths of one of the world's deepest lakes on Sumatra island. And more than 300 people are estimated to have drowned in 2009 when a ferry sank between Sulawesi and Borneo.  

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte said Emmanuel “Manny” Pacquiao should name corrupt government offices to prove that the boxer-turned-lawmaker is not just politicking ahead of a presidential election next year. The comments were the latest chapter in a surprise war of words between the president and Pacquiao who is seen as being among his strongest backers and a possible successor when the single six-year term he is allowed expires next June. The firebrand Philippine leader said Pacquiao had criticised corruption in his government and threatened to expose the boxing champion as a liar. “I’m not saying there is no corruption, so expose it,” Duterte said in a televised late night national address. “If you don’t do that, I will expose you daily as a liar...I know you from way back.” Using an expletive in his strongest language yet against Pacquiao, Duterte said if he did not reveal corruption, he would be “playing politics”. In a statement, Pacquiao said he accepted Duterte’s challenge, but said it was disheartening that they were fighting over the issue of corruption. “I had mistakes in life that I corrected but I can hold on to two things. I am not corrupt and a liar,” Pacquiao said yesterday. Pacquiao, 42, has long been among Duterte’s strongest supporters, backing his bloody war on drugs and bid to re-introduce the death penalty. The eight-division champion has yet to announce his presidential bid. Early this month, Duterte criticised Pacquiao’s “shallow” foreign policy knowledge, after the senator said he found the leader’s stand on the South China Sea as “lacking” and “disheartening”. Duterte remains popular in the Philippines.

President Rodrigo Duterte has prolonged restrictions on movement and businesses in the Philippine capital and nearby provinces until mid-July, and retained stricter Covid-19 curbs in central and southern areas, an official said on Tuesday. Infections in the capital region, home to at least 13 million people, have dropped since peaking in April, but some provinces are battling spikes as the country scrambles to distribute and administer vaccines. Entertainment venues, amusement parks, and contacts sports are prohibited in the capital region and nearby provinces, while restaurants, gyms and indoor tourist attractions are allowed to operate at up to 40% capacity. But 21 cities and provinces outside the capital remain under tighter measures to contain the virus. A ban was extended on inbound travel from Oman, the United Arab Emirates and most countries in South Asia, to ward off highly contagious Covid-19 variants. Local officials have two days to appeal to the president over the restrictions, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said in a statement. The Philippines has fully vaccinated only 2.5 million people, or just 3.6% of the 70 million targeted for immunisation this year. It has received 17.5 million vaccine doses, mostly those of Sinovac, among 40 to 55 million doses of various brands on order for June to September. In a weekly national address, Duterte told local officials to prepare cold storage facilities for the vaccines. With more than 1.4 million cases and 24,456 deaths, the Philippines has among the most coronavirus deaths and infections in Asia.    

Former Philippine president Benigno Aquino was laid to rest in a Manila cemetery yesterday beside his parents, two of the Southeast Asian country’s democracy icons. Hundreds of mourners in black and white, some also wearing yellow – the colour associated with the Aquino family and a 1986 revolution that toppled a dictator – ribbons and face masks, attended a funeral mass and burial ceremony. Aquino, president from 2010 to 2016, died at age 61 in a Manila hospital on Thursday of kidney failure as a result of diabetes. “To the man we were so blessed to have as our brother, we will forever be proud of you, thank you, long for you and love you,” Maria Elena Aquino-Cruz, an older sister of Aquino, said at the funeral mass. Aquino’s remains were cremated on Thursday. Thousands queued for the public viewing in a church in his alma mater on Friday. Filipinos lined up along roads to pay respect during the one-hour convoy of dozens of vehicles from his alma mater, Ateneo de Manila University, to the cemetery south of the capital. The military gave a 21-gun salute and a helicopter rained down yellow flowers. At the Aquino residence at the heart of the capital, supporters left chrysanthemums, yellow bell and sunflower for the late leader. Among those paying respects to Aquino was vice-president and political ally Leni Robredo, and close friends. Most supporters were blocked at the entrance of the cemetery to prevent mass gathering and the spread of coronavirus (Covid-19). “I pray for another family with the attitude like Noy and his parents that will fight for truth, justice, loyalty, love for God and country,” Thelma Chua, 64, wearing a yellow shirt at the funeral, told Reuters. Known popularly as Noynoy, Aquino rode a wave of public support to the presidency after the 2009 death of his mother, the revered “People Power” leader Corazon Aquino, who was president from 1986 to 1992. His namesake father, a staunch critic of dictator Ferdinand Marcos, was assassinated when he returned from political exile in 1983, planting the seeds for the 1986 People Power revolution that booted the strongman from office. As president, the younger Aquino led the Philippines in shedding its perennial “sick man of Asia” image through better governance and robust economic growth. He challenged Beijing’s sweeping claims of the South China Sea before the arbitration court in The Hague in 2013. President Rodrigo Duterte, criticised by the Catholic Church and rights group for crassness and his bloody war on drugs but hugely popular as a man of the people, did not attend the funeral.