Asia steps up efforts

Authorities across Asia ramped up efforts this weekend to stem the coronavirus amid fears of a second wave of infections in places where outbreaks had appeared under control.

Tighter travel restrictions were imposed in several countries while Malaysia deployed its army to enforce a lockdown as the number of cases in the region soared past 95,000 -- a third of the world's infections, an AFP tally shows.

Outside China -- where the virus was first detected in December and infected more than 80,000 people -- South Korea is the hardest-hit country in Asia with over 8,500 cases.

While China says it has drastically reduced the number of domestically transmitted cases – the one reported yesterday was the first in four days – it is seeing a steady rise in imported cases, mostly from Chinese people returning from overseas.

Cases rose by roughly a third in Thailand overnight to nearly 600, fuelling scepticism about claims in neighbouring Myanmar and Laos of zero infections.

Three doctors treating virus patients in Indonesia died, taking the country's death toll to 48 with 514 confirmed infections.

Pakistan suspended international flights in a desperate bid to prevent the virus spreading in a country with more than 300 reported cases. Millions of people in India were in lockdown yesterday as the government tests the country's ability to fight the pandemic.

In Hong Kong the number of cases has nearly doubled in the past week as more people fly back to the financial hub.

Prison guards opened fire on inmates in Sri Lanka's north after they tried to break out in protest over a ban on family visits to prevent spread of virus.