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Thursday, April 30, 2020

Rich Brian hingga Kang Daniel Ramaikan Konser Online Asia Rising Forever - Kompas.com - KOMPAS.com

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - Label musik 88rising akan mengadakan konser online dengan tajuk Asia Rising Forever.

Konser tersebut akan berlangsung selama empat jam pada 6 Mei 2020 mulai pukul 21.00 ET atau 7 Mei 2020 pukul 08.00 WIB.

"Announcing... a special 4-hour global online concert celebrating the most exciting Asian talent from around the world with," tulis isi pengumuman di akun Instagram resmi @88rising, dikutip Kompas.com, Jumat (1/5/2020).

Baca juga: Rich Brian Pakai Konsep Physical Distancing untuk Video Musik Bali

Konser ini bakal bertabur bintang berbakat asal Asia, mulai dari genre pop, Kpop, hingga R&B.

Mereka yang akan tampil adalah rapper Rich Brian, Hyukoh, Baebadoobee, Kang Daniel, girl grup CLC.

Ada pula penyanyi asal Thailand Phum Viphurit, Keshi, Mxmtoon, dan penyanyi asal Malaysia Yuna.

Baca juga: Aksi Rich Brian Kirim Donasi Pakai Drone dalam Video Musik Bali

Penyanyi berdarah Indonesia lainnya, Niki Zefanya dan Stephanie Poetri, juga ikut masuk dalam daftar.

Selanjutnya ada Alextbh, Dumbfoundead, Josh Pan, Lim Kim, Luna Li dan masih banyak lagi.

Asia Rising Forever akan ditayangkan di akun resmi 88Rising di YouTube dan Twitter.

Baca juga: Comeback, Kang Daniel Jadi Bintang Tamu di Acara Running Man

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Asian shares fall after Wall St slips on grim economic news - WSOC Charlotte

“The rebound in April was an assumption that this was going to be a short, V-shaped recovery, both economically and at the corporate and business level,” said David Lyon, global investment specialist at J.P. Morgan Private Bank. “In our view, it probably has gotten a little ahead of itself. We think it’s going to be a longer and slower recovery.”

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Asian shares fall after Wall St slips on grim economic news - WSOC Charlotte
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Australia shares drop more than 3% and Nikkei down 2%; major markets in Asia closed for holidays - CNBC

Stocks in Japan and Australia slipped in Friday afternoon trade, with most major markets in Asia closed for holidays.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 dropped 3.44%, with shares of major miner BHP plunging more than 6%. Major banks such as Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Australia and New Zealand Banking Group also saw their shares fall more than 4% each.

The Nikkei 225 in Japan slipped 2.47% in afternoon trade, with shares of Tokyo Electron dropping more than 5%. The Topix index also shed 1.81%.

Major markets across the region — including China, Hong Kong, South Korea, India and Singapore — are closed on Friday for holidays.

On the economic data front, South Korean exports fell in April at their sharpest pace since the global financial crisis, Reuters reported Friday citing data from the trade ministry. Exports fell 24.3% year-on-year in April, the worst contraction since May 2009. Still, it was slightly smaller than expectations of a 25.4% drop in a Reuters survey.

The data release from South Korea, a major Asian economy and exporting powerhouse, could provide clues on the scale of the economic hit from the coronavirus pandemic. Globally, more than 3.2 million people have been infected while at least 233,000 lives have been lost, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Overnight stateside, the major averages fell on the day but capped off their best monthly performances in years. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 288.14 points lower at 24,345.72 while the S&P 500 slid 0.9% to end its trading day at 2,912.43. The Nasdaq Composite fell 0.3% to close at 8,889.55.

Still, Thursday's moves did little to dent the monthly gains for the three indexes.

For April, the S&P 500 posted its third-largest monthly gain since World War II, surging 12.7% in April. It was also its biggest one-month gain since 1987. The Dow had its fourth-largest post-war monthly rally with an 11.1% gain. The Dow also had its best month in 33 years. The Nasdaq surged 15.5% in April, its biggest monthly gain since June 2000.

Meanwhile, oil prices rose in the afternoon of Asian trading hours, as international benchmark Brent crude futures gained 2% to $27.06 per barrel. U.S. crude futures also rose 4.3% to $19.65 per barrel.

The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 99.136 following a decline from levels above 100 seen earlier this week.

The Japanese yen traded at 107.13 per dollar after weakening sharply yesterday from levels around 106.5. The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.6463 after seeing highs around $0.657 yesterday.

— CNBC's Fred Imbert contributed to this report.

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Activists Warn Anti-Asian Racism Likely to Worsen After Lockdown Lifts - San Francisco Public Press

San Francisco Public Press

 — Apr 30 2020 - 5:04pm

As reports of coronavirus-related attacks against Asian Americans surged in March, prominent civil rights activist and author Helen Zia became alarmed. To the San Francisco Bay Area resident, the nation looked poised for the worst wave of anti-Asian hostility since World War II.

“Listen Up!” she wrote to her nationwide followers on social media.

“I lived through the auto industry's collapse and the climate of misery and hate,” she continued, alluding to attacks on Asian Americans in the 1980s, and warning that this time things could be worse. That was a decade when anti-Asian sentiment rose as Japan overtook the United States as the world’s largest automaker and Japanese investors poured billions of dollars into iconic U.S. properties such as New York’s Rockefeller Center. Anyone who looked Japanese was a target.

“When the powder keg of racism blew,” Zia recalled in her social media post, “Chinese American Vincent Chin was beaten to death for ‘looking Japanese.’ With this pandemic, people are losing livelihoods AND lives. The misguided outrage is bound to explode.”

Activists expect incidents of hate, discrimination and even life-threatening violence to escalate after shelter-in-place orders are lifted, and they’re already organizing against that possibility.

To prepare for this surge, “we need an equivalent system-wide response like the public health and government responses to COVID-19,” said Cynthia Choi, co-executive director of Chinese for Affirmative Action.

Since the coronavirus began spreading in the U.S., Asian Americans – the fastest-growing population group in the country – have once again become the targets of a rising tide of xenophobia. Negative attitudes are increasing, and Americans are becoming more resentful of Asians and China as the pandemic spreads.

A national tool launched in mid-March to monitor incidents of anti-Asian-American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) hate and hostility shows how prescient Zia was. Within a month, Stop AAPI Hate received almost 1,500 reports of hate incidents. Forty-two percent came from within California and 94 were from San Francisco.

That incidents were so high even in the Bay Area, which contains six of the 10 U.S. cities with the highest concentrations of Asians, suggests that even people who may have previously felt safe from racial discrimination are now more likely to encounter harassment, refusals of service and other outright, even more perilous acts of racism.

“We are perpetual foreigners,” said Zia.

Political demonization has likely contributed to rising racial antipathy. Anti-Asian attacks spiked across the country after President Trump and top Republicans began repeating the terms “China virus,” “Chinese virus” and “Wuhan virus.” Asian Americans have been chased out of stores, coughed on, beaten up, sprayed with sanitizers, barred from restaurants and more, according to reports filed with Stop AAPI Hate.

Two Asian American children and their father were stabbed in a Texas mall. A Brooklyn woman had acid thrown in her face as she was taking out her garbage. Those are just some of the most horrifying attacks reported to Stop AAPI Hate. The majority of incidents targeted non-Chinese Asians, the site said. Asian Americans are now more afraid of being attacked than of getting sick, according to advocates.

Stoking hostility toward Asian Americans

A joint intelligence bulletin issued April 7 found that white supremacists are using this crisis to advance their agenda. “Racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists who advocate for the superiority of the white race seek to exploit the COVID-19 pandemic to bolster their narratives and encourage attacks and hate crimes against minorities, including Jewish and Asian Americans,” said the internal document authored by the Department of Justice, the National Counterterrorism Center and the Department of Homeland Security, according to a report from Yahoo News.

These groups believe Trump is on their side. Soon after his inauguration, former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke tweeted, “Everything I’ve been talking about for decades is coming true and the ideas I’ve fought for have won.”

As the first coronavirus cases showed up in the United States, these groups were promoting race-based political strategies that Republicans have adopted.

In a March 17 letter, they implored the President to investigate China’s role in allegedly hiding the coronavirus’ origins and in spreading the virus beyond its borders. Posted by the Southern Poverty Law Center, the letter was signed by what the center described as a “litany of conservative groups and figures, including members of hate and antigovernment groups.”

Although Trump stopped using Asian names for the virus and even said Asian Americans were not to blame for it, attacks continued. He then escalated his rhetoric by taking exactly the tack hate groups and other conservatives had urged: blaming China for allegedly covering up its role in spreading the virus.

Racially motivated slurs and attacks surged, demonstrating how Trump’s vilification of China may have intensified hostility toward Asian Americans. Another sign of rising antagonism: changing public opinion.

The share of Americans with negative perceptions of Asians rose to 14% in March from just 10% at the beginning of 2020, according to a Nationscape survey report sponsored by the Democracy Fund and UCLA. This attitude change marks a reversal of trends between 1992 and 2016, when the share of Americans who felt positive about Asians grew from 59 to 68 percent, according to the Nationscape report.

Turning division into action

From the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 to “Yellow Peril” hysteria in the early 1900s to World War II Japanese internment to 1980s violence, the nation’s long history of demonizing Asian Americans has sparked both fear and commitment to organizing against hate.

“The political goal of the rhetoric of racism is the removal and incarceration of people of color,” said Don Tamaki, managing partner at the San Francisco law firm of Minami Tamaki LLC, at a recent virtual town hall sponsored by the American Bar Association.

“This is all part of the white nationalists’ play book,” said Helen Zia. “In their chat rooms, these hate groups talk about creating chaos, division, fear. That’s how they are most able to disrupt our democracy.”

Just as white nationalists are using social media to organize and grow their numbers, social justice and civil rights organizations are following suit. In March, alarmed by the sudden rise of anti-Asian attacks, 3,000 activists participated in a virtual town hall to discuss forming a national multiracial coalition that would develop common organizing strategies and appropriate responses to protect their communities.

“The pandemic is forcing us to coalesce and really look at what we need to do to address white racists,” said Choi of Chinese for Affirmative Action. “We’re very conscious that as thousands more die and the economy gets worse, there will be more reasons to attack Asian Americans, and those attacks will continue long after a vaccine arrives because of anti-China policies.”

In San Francisco, the first step was taken with Stop AAPI Hate, founded by Chinese for Affirmative Action with the Asian Pacific Policy & Planning Council and San Francisco State University Asian American Studies Department. The site’s purpose is to document the number and pattern of racist incidents and use the data in determining advocacy and policy responses at the local, state and national levels, said Choi.

For example, the data collected by the web site and other sources will help the state’s Asian American Pacific Islander Legislative Caucus push for stronger anti-hate policies than currently exist.

“The data is critical … as we develop policy solutions and evaluate future budgetary investments,” Assemblyman David Chiu, who chairs the caucus, said in an email. “The pervasiveness of hate incidents is clear and will require multiple agencies working together to protect against discrimination and bias and promote safety and accountability.” 

Reporting incidents still a challenge

However, the reports received still don’t reflect all the incidents that actually occur, said Choi. Because of cultural aversions to, or negative experiences with, law enforcement and other government agencies, Asian Americans underreport attacks even to community organizations. Choi and other advocates are working with city agencies to create community-based outreach programs to address this reluctance as well as provide some form of justice for victims, whether through restorative justice or criminal prosecution.

To reassure Asian Americans and encourage more reporting, District Attorney Chesa Boudin’s office released a public service announcement emphasizing a “zero-tolerance policy toward racism and discrimination” and emphasizing that his office is “committed to prosecuting hate crimes.” 

Boudin’s reputation for practicing restorative justice offers some relief to those who don’t want to go through the criminal justice system but do want accountability. “The first thing I wanted to do was get the message out [to Asian Americans] that we’re here for you,” Boudin said in an interview. “You don’t have to suffer alone. There are services available to you.”

Similarly, the San Francisco Mayor’s Office of Street Violence Intervention Program is working with advocates to prevent and de-escalate racially motivated violence against Asians in the city. Scattered incidents of anti-Asian violence by members of other ethnic groups have occurred, said James Caldwell, director of the program. “The mayor won’t tolerate any of that and is very proactive in preventing more violence.”

Advocates are also developing recommendations for Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office to establish an emergency anti-bias task force to work alongside community organizations throughout California. Though Newsom has strongly denounced anti-Asian attacks, advocates say they need more statewide coordinated action from the top and more accountability in government’s response to hate acts.

“Leadership has to start at the top. This is a statewide crisis. It’s government’s responsibility to ensure the safety of its people,” said Russell Jeung, chair of the Asian American Studies Department at San Francisco State University. ”We shouldn’t have to guarantee our own safety.”

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Mayoritas Pasar Utama Asia Tutup, Saham di Australia dan Jepang Tergelincir - Liputan6.com

Liputan6.com, Jakarta - Saham-saham di Jepang dan Australia tergelincir pada perdagangan Jumat pagi, dengan sebagian besar pasar utama di Asia ditutup karena liburan panjang.

Dikutip dari CNBC, Jumat (5/1/2020), Nikkei 225 di Jepang tergelincir 1,37 persen pada awal perdagangan, dengan saham Tokyo Electron turun 3,57 persen. Indeks Topix juga turun 0,93 persen.

Sedangkan S&P/ASX 200 Australia turun 2,42 persen dengan saham penambang utama BHP anjlok lebih dari 4 persen.

Pasar utama di seluruh wilayah termasuk Cina, Hong Kong, Korea Selatan, India dan Singapura ditutup pada hari Jumat untuk liburan.

Di Amerika Serikat, rata-rata saham utama jatuh tetapi membatasi kinerja bulanan terbaik mereka selama bertahun-tahun. Dow Jones Industrial Average ditutup 288,14 poin lebih rendah pada 24.345,72 sementara S&P 500 turun 0,9 persen untuk mengakhiri hari perdagangannya di 2.912,43. Nasdaq Composite turun 0,3 persen menjadi ditutup pada 8.889,55.

Tetap saja, pergerakan Kamis tidak banyak mempengaruhi kenaikan bulanan untuk ketiga indeks.

Untuk bulan April, S&P 500 mencatat kenaikan bulanan terbesar ketiga sejak Perang Dunia II, melonjak 12,7 persen pada April. Ini  merupakan kenaikan satu bulan terbesar sejak 1987.

Dow memiliki reli bulanan pasca-perang terbesar keempatnya dengan kenaikan 11,1 persen. Dow juga memiliki bulan terbaik dalam 33 tahun. Nasdaq melonjak 15,5 persen sepanjang April, kenaikan bulanan terbesar sejak Juni 2000.

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Harga Minyak

Sementara itu, harga minyak naik di pagi hari jam perdagangan Asia, karena patokan internasional berjangka minyak mentah Brent naik 3 persen menjadi USD 27,29 per barel. Minyak mentah berjangka AS juga naik 6 persen menjadi USD 19,99 per barel.

Yen Jepang diperdagangkan pada 107,38 per dolar setelah melemah tajam kemarin dari level di sekitar 106,5. Dolar Australia berpindah tangan pada $ 0,6489 setelah melihat tertinggi di sekitar $ 0,657 kemarin.

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Faktor Pemicu Bangkitnya Ecommerce B2B di Asia Tenggara - Tech in Asia Indonesia

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Faktor Pemicu Bangkitnya Ecommerce B2B di Asia Tenggara  Tech in Asia Indonesia

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15-year-old girl has an answer for racism against Asian-Americans | Letter - lehighvalleylive.com

I am writing to nominate Valerie Xu, a 15-year-old Asian-American girl from Texas, for person of the year.

After experiencing an incident of racism directed at her, Xu turned the other cheek, forgave and moved forward. She came up with the idea of raising funds to provide face masks for frontline workers in her hometown of Dallas. Not only did she raise the money, she used family resources to secure more than 11,000 masks, which were donated to a hospital.

Racist acts against Asian-Americans have been fueled by inflammatory comments by the president of the United States. This 15-year-old — without resorting to offensive tweets, blame-shifting and double speak — did something concrete and life-saving. Here is a shining beacon in a time of so much uncertainty, angst, and needless attempts to offend. This act of kindness, charity, selflessness and sacrifice are the virtues that made America the great country it is.

Xu exemplifies all the “little acts of kindness” that are done daily but do not always receive recognition. Perhaps if the powers that be in this country used Valerie’s action as motivation for change, this country will have a much more secure future.

Andrew Chiappinelli

Palmer Township

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San Diego DA Establishes Tip Line For Asian Americans To Report Coronavirus-Related Hate Crimes - KPBS

A man passes a store that closed as part of efforts to combat the spread of t...

Photo by Gregory Bull / AP Photo

Above: A man passes a store that closed as part of efforts to combat the spread of the new coronavirus Thursday, April 9, 2020, in San Diego.

The San Diego County District Attorney's Office announced a new online form and hotline Thursday so the public can report suspected hate crimes, tools prosecutors say were established partly in response to reported incidents of hate crimes against Asian Americans as a result of COVID-19.

The District Attorney's Office said race-based crimes typically make up 50% to 60% of the county's hate crimes, though nationwide, reports of hate crimes against Asian Americans have escalated since the COVID-19 pandemic took hold.

Locally, prosecutors are reviewing a case in which a 66-year-old man in San Diego allegedly attacked another man he believed was Chinese-American, according to the San Diego Police Department and the District Attorney's Office.

RELATED: Asian Americans Use Social Media To Mobilize Against Attacks

San Diego police say that on the morning of April 25, Joseph Nguyen struck a 27-year-old Asian man with a cane after the victim asked Nguyen to socially distance as they walked past each other.

Police say Nguyen "made racial comments as he struck the victim several times on the head with his cane," causing injuries to the victim's face and wrists. Nguyen was booked into county jail, where he remains held on $50,000 bail, according to county jail records.

"Fighting hate crimes in all its forms is a priority for my office and these crimes won't be tolerated," said District Attorney Summer Stephan. "The COVID-19 health crisis has created some concern among victims of crime who may be unsure if law enforcement and prosecutors continue to be ready to protect the community as they respond to the pandemic. I can assure you that we are."

RELATED: From Guns To GoPros, Asian Americans Seek To Deter Attacks

Witnesses to hate crimes in San Diego County can utilize the online reporting form at https://ift.tt/3aVuOdE, or call the Hate Crimes Hotline number at 619-515-8805. People submitting information through the DA's hate crime tools will be contacted at a later time with information regarding the DA's review of the report and any subsequent action taken, according to the DA's Office.

"This reporting tool facilitates access to justice for San Diego County's diverse communities," Stephan said. "This tool can be used to report suspected hate crime against anyone, but we're especially concerned right now that the Asian community will become targets of hate crime as we continue to respond to this pandemic.

"We know that people often don't report hate crimes because of fear or shame, and we wanted to provide a direct avenue to encourage victims or witnesses to hate crimes to report.

"People can and should continue to report hate crimes to their local police departments and Sheriff's Department. This additional reporting mechanism will act as a safety net and help ensure reports are reviewed and shared by law enforcement," Stephan said.

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Hate rising? In age of coronavirus, Asian Americans in Orange County are targets - OCRegister

“I’m getting sick because of people like you.”

“Stay away from us.”

“Go back to China!”

Those are just some of the remarks that in recent weeks have been tossed at Asian Americans in Orange County.

The ugly talk has grown loud enough, and common enough, that on the same night this week, April 28, three different local government bodies — the county board of supervisors and the city councils in Irvine and Garden Grove — felt the need to pass three independent resolutions denouncing hate crimes against Asian Americans.

“The Asian community was really becoming the target (for) something they effectively have no control over,” said Irvine Councilwoman Farrah Khan, explaining why she introduced the resolution in her city.

The virus originated in China. But medical experts point out that expressing anger at Chinese and other Asian Americans for this biological fact not only does nothing to address the pandemic, it actually adds to the health risk for those who are targeted.

“Racism can make people sick,” said Gilbert Gee, a public health professor at UCLA. “As in, literally, sick.”

Hate rises

By every measure — culturally, politically, numerically — Asian Americans are central to the fabric of Orange County.

Census data from 2018 shows about 21% of the county’s 3.1 million residents identify as Asian, giving Orange County one of the biggest Asian American populations in the nation.

Asian American politicians hold many city and state offices in the county, and a majority on the county board of supervisors. The county’s Little Saigon district is home to one of the biggest Vietnamese populations outside Vietnam. And recent arrivals from China, South Korea and India, among other countries, make up fast-growing sectors of many Orange County cities.

But as the coronavirus pandemic drags on, people are looking for scapegoats, said Alison Edwards, CEO of OC Human Relations, which tracks hate crimes in the county. And in the wake of President Donald Trump initially calling COVID-19 the “Chinese virus” — and the administration’s more recent focus on the role that China’s government had in spreading the disease — Asian Americans have become that target, said Patty Yoo, co-chair of Asian Americans in Action.

Yoo’s group drafted the letter that helped prompt county supervisors to officially denounce discrimination against the local Asian community.

Though the District Attorney’s office has yet to prosecute an anti-Asian hate crime related to COVID-19, OC Human Relations says such episodes are on the rise.

In recent weeks, the organization has reported 10 COVID-related hate incidents, including the distribution of racist fliers and yelling racial epithets, and one hate crime, targeting Asian Americans.

Others are seeing a similar trend.

Stop AAPI Hate, a website that tracks coronavirus-related discrimination, reported 34 incidents of prejudice against Orange County’s Asian Americans between March 19 and April 15. Most of those reports came from women, said Manjusha P. Kulkarni, the executive director of the Asian Pacific Policy and Planning Council which co-founded the website.

Some incidents of discrimination have been more visible than others.

In March, a video of two girls at Garden Grove’s Bolsa Grande High screaming “coronavirus” at Asian American students, drew local and national news attention. Later, a flier was left on a Huntington Beach family’s front door and car that read “You guys are Chinese Viruses” and “Get out of our country.”

But discrimination doesn’t have to be overt to be hurtful.

Supervisor Andrew Do, a Vietnamese American, recalled attending a concert in south county before the state issued a stay-at-home order.

“The stares that I got, and the icy reception I got, was palpable,” Do said during the April 28 board meeting. “It’s been many decades since I felt that level of unfriendliness.”

“Why should that just because of the color of my skin, I’m perceived as a threat?”

What’s the effect?

Speaking on Monday, April 27 town hall held by Rep. Gil Cisneros (D-Yorba Linda), Asian American residents who experienced discrimination said their experience made them more afraid to venture out for groceries and essential businesses.

“I’m making sure I carry my pepper spray wherever I go,” a Brea resident said at the town hall.

Edwards said even a single incident of discrimination can create a ripple effect felt by the broader community.

“If one member of the community feels attacked, every member will feel it,” she said. “They will be in a position of wondering, ‘Am I next?’”

And, UCLA’s Gee noted, discrimination can take a physical toll. Research has linked discrimination to health problems such as respiratory issues among Filipinos and cardiovascular conditions for Vietnamese and Chinese. And the stress brought on by being targeted, Gee added, can weaken an individual’s immune system and potentially make them more susceptible to COVID-19.

What can people do?

With so many incidents going unreported, officials don’t know the full extent of xenophobia against Asian Americans in Orange County, Edwards said. For now, Edwards and community leaders are urging people to report any incidents of discrimination, whether to nonprofits like OC Human Relations, or local law enforcement or government agencies.

“If we don’t make the public aware that this is happening, it’s so much harder to combat hate and get leaders to engage in this fight,” Edwards said.

“If constituents aren’t bringing it up, there’s no good way to fight back.”

OC Human Relations, she added, will provide resources and support for those reporting the incidents, regardless of whether they can be prosecuted.

In a Facebook post on April 1, District Attorney Todd Spitzer said his office is “more prepared than ever” to seek justice for victims of illegal discrimination.

“Hate crimes will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” Spitzer said. “There is no justification for attacking, mocking, teasing or discriminating against someone because of who they are.”

Kulkarni, of the Asian Pacific Policy and Planning Council, said it’s time for people targeted by hate — and those who witness it — to speak out.

“We don’t need bystanders,” she said. “That has come and gone.”

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How India fares among Asian countries in fighting the coronavirus pandemic - India Today

Coronavirus cases in India crossed the 30,000-mark on Wednesday, April 29. As of April 30 afternoon, it reported a total of 33,610 cases and 1,075 deaths. This number is the 16th highest in the world and 4th highest in Asia.

The Covid-19 pandemic had broken out in China’s Wuhan in late December, 2019. India Today Data Intelligence Unit (DIU) analyses how India, which is in close proximity to China, fares among Asian countries in dealing with the outbreak.

The comparison was done on four parameters speed of rise in cases, speed of rise in deaths, recovery rate and test positivity rate.

Speed of rise in cases

There are 12 countries in Asia where the number of coronavirus cases is above 10,000. At more than 33,000 cases, India comes fourth after Turkey, Iran and China.

When the speed at which cases doubled in the last one week was compared, India stands at fifth position. In the last one week, it took 11.4 days in India for coronavirus cases to double.

In Qatar, cases doubled in 8 days, which is the fastest among the 12 countries; in Saudi Arabia, it took 8.6 days. Cases doubled in 9 days in Singapore, which is facing a second wave of coronavirus infections after successfully dealing with the pandemic in late March.

In South Korea, one of the first countries to contain the virus sans draconian lockdown measures, cases are taking almost 646 days or close to two years to double. China, the origin of the virus, contained the pandemic in early April. It will take almost 10 years for cases to double in China.

Test positivity rate

India, according to Worldometer data, has conducted roughly 7.7 lakh tests the third highest number in Asia after UAE (11.2 lakh) and Turkey (9.48 lakh).

Owing to India’s large population, the number deflates when scaled to per million. India currently has clusters of Covid-19 cases, and thanks to an early and strictly imposed lockdown, it hasn’t reached the community spread stage. Also, India is following a testing strategy to control the situation.

DIU scanned the test positivity rate (in percentage) for Asian countries having more than 1,000 cases and found varying results. Test positivity rate (TPR) is defined as the ratio of positive cases to the number of tests conducted.

Even with low per million testing, India had 4 per cent TPR. Of the 26 Asian countries with over 1,000 cases, India’s TPR stands at number 12. Three countries Hong Kong (0.7), Uzbekistan (0.8) and UAE (0.95) had less than 1 per cent TPR.

Cross sectional data analysis also shows that aggressive testing doesn’t necessarily result in high TPR. For instance, testing per million in UAE is 1.1 lakh and TPR is 0.95 per cent. In Qatar, testing per million is 30,000, but TPR is 13.45 per cent.

Same is the case in low testing countries. India has tested 559 people per million with a 4 per cent TPR, whereas Indonesia, with 291 tests per million (almost half of India), has a TPR twice of India.

DIU could not establish a correlation between testing and positivity rate. The coefficient of correlation turned out to be -0.3, which shows a weak correlation between testing per million and positivity rate.

Speed of rise in deaths

India’s death toll of 1,075 is the fourth highest in Asia after Iran (5,877), China (4,633) and Turkey (2,992). Among the countries with over 10,000 cases, Qatar, Singapore and UAE have below 100 deaths as of April 30 morning.

The speed at which deaths doubled in India is the third highest in Asia, along with Japan. In the UAE, deaths doubled every 6.6 days, followed by Pakistan (8.3). In India and Japan, deaths doubled in 10.6 days. Incidentally, Japan, which for the longest time had resisted a lockdown, is now witnessing a spike in Covid-19 deaths.

Here too, China and South Korea have an edge over other Asian countries. At their respective speeds, it will take 144 days in South Korea to double the number of deaths and almost 53 years in China (19,283 days).

Recovery percentage

Out of the 12 countries with more than 10,000 cases, only four have seen more than 50 per cent recoveries/discharges. Around 94 per cent of the Chinese patients have recovered, while it is 83 per cent in South Korea, 78 per cent in Iran and 50 per cent in Israel.

With 34 per cent of its patients recovered, Turkey stands at number 5 and India at number 6 with a recovery rate of 25 per cent. Qatar and Singapore have the lowest recovery rates as on April 30 morning 10 per cent and 7 per cent respectively.

DIU also found that countries where the virus struck early, such as China, South Korea, Iran and Israel, have higher recovery rates compared to those which started reporting Covid-19 cases at a later stage.

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How India fares among Asian countries in fighting the coronavirus pandemic - India Today
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SEE IT: Asian man pummeled on NYC subway, blamed for coronavirus - New York Daily News

Unfortunately, our website is currently unavailable in most European countries. We are engaged on the issue and committed to looking at options that support our full range of digital offerings to the EU market. We continue to identify technical compliance solutions that will provide all readers with our award-winning journalism.

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South Asian stars mourn death of Irrfan Khan - NBCNews.com

Fans worldwide have mourned the loss of Bollywood star Irrfan Khan, who died Wednesday after being admitted to a hospital in Mumbai, India, with a colon infection.

A number of high profile South Asian Hollywood stars have posted social media tributes for the Khan, 54, who had starred in Bollywood films such as "The Lunchbox" and "Paan Singh Tomar," for which he won an Indian National Film Award for best actor in 2012. He also starred in "The Life of Pi," "Slumdog Millionaire" and "The Namesake."

Khan had announced in 2018 that he had been diagnosed with a rare neuroendocrine cancer.

British actor Riz Ahmed called Khan one of the “greatest actors of our time” and “a guiding light for so many of us.”

American comedian Hari Kondabolu said Khan’s film “The Lunchbox” is one of his favorite movies and encouraged people to watch his work.

“The loss of Irrfan Khan - at such a young age - is devastating,” actress, writer and producer Mindy Kaling wrote on Twitter. “He was my favorite actor. I can’t think of someone who gave such layered and thoughtful performances but was also a movie star; you couldn’t take your eyes off of him onscreen.”

Kaling also tweeted a quote about Khan from Tom Hanks.

Actress Priyanka Chopra, who starred alongside Khan in the Bollywood film “7 Khoon Maaf,” said that his talent forged the way for so many, and that the charisma he brought to everything was “pure magic.”

Canadian YouTuber and "A Little Late With Lilly Singh" host Lilly Singh called Khan “an extraordinary actor with limitless talent.”

“You were and will continue to be magic and an inspiration to myself and so many others,” Singh wrote on Twitter.

"A Little Late With Lilly Singh" airs on NBC, which is owned by NBC News' parent company, NBCUniversal.

“Irrfan’s art and humanity will be badly missed,” Kal Penn, actor and former White House Office of Public Engagement associate director, wrote on Twitter. “Never seen someone use the beats of silence so beautifully to convey so much about who we are.”

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Ringkasan Perdagangan 30 April: IHSG Naik Tajam, Rupiah Terbaik di Asia - Bisnis.com

Bisnis.com, JAKARTA – Indeks Harga Saham Gabungan (IHSG) menguat tajam bersama nilai tukar rupiah terhadap dolar Amerika Serikat di tengah bangkitnya kepercayaan pada pasar dalam negeri.

Sentimen global dari rencana pemberian stimulus di Amerika Serikat hingga penemuan terbaru terkait obat virus corona (Covid-19) turut menjadi angin segar.

Berikut adalah ringkasan perdagangan di pasar saham, mata uang, dan komoditas yang dirangkum Bisnis.com, Kamis (30/4/2020):

'Disuntik' Obat Corona, IHSG Lari Kencang Jelang Long Weekend

Pergerakan Indeks Harga Saham Gabungan (IHSG) berakhir melonjak 3,26 persen atau 149,08 poin ke level 4.716,4. Sepanjang perdagangan hari ini, IHSG bergerak dalam kisaran 4.567,4-4.726,77.

Saham PT Bank Central Asia Tbk. (BBCA) dan PT Bank Mandiri (Persero) Tbk. (BMRI) yang naik 6,6 persen dan 11,5 persen masing-masing menjadi pendorong utama penguatan IHSG.

Bersama IHSG, indeks saham lain di Asia rata-rata berakhir di zona hijau, antara lain indeks Nikkei 225 dan Topix Jepang yang masing-masing menguat 2,14 persen dan 1,03 persen.

Di China, indeks Shanghai Composite dan CSI 300 pun ditutup menguat 1,33 persen dan 1,18 persen. Adapun indeks S&P/ASX 200 Australia dan Taiex Taiwan sama-sama melonjak lebih dari 2 persen.

Bangkit 5 Persen dalam Sebulan Terakhir, Bagaimana Proyeksi IHSG Mei 2020?

IHSG memang masih tercatat mengalami koreksi 25,13 persen secara year to date (ytd) hingga penutupan perdagangan hari ini. Akan tetapi, IHSG mampu menguat 5,61 persen dalam sebulan terakhir.

Head of Equity Trading MNC Sekuritas Medan Frankie Wijoyo Prasetio mengatakan kemarin Federal Reserve atau The Fed masih mempertahankan suku bunga. Selain itu, bank sentral Amerika Serikat (AS) tersebut masih akan aktif memberikan stimulus untuk mendorong perekonomian.

“Hal ini disambut dengan baik oleh pelaku pasar, tetapi hal yang menjadi major news adalah uji tes obat Remdesivir dari perusahaan farmasi AS, Gilead, yang mencatatkan hasil yang positif,” jelasnya kepada Bisnis.

Kembali Menguat ke Rp14.800-an, Rupiah Juara di Asia

Rupiah berhasil mencatatkan pertumbuhan tertinggi di Asia pada perdagangan hari ini seiring dengan optmisme terhadap fundamental domestik dan pelemahan dolar AS.

Pada perdagangan akhir April 2020 ini, nilai tukar rupiah berakhir melonjak 414 poin atau 2,70 persen ke level Rp14.881 per dolar AS. Penguatan rupiah menjadi yang tertinggi di Asia.

Menguat ke Level Rp14.800, Ini yang Membuat Rupiah Perkasa

Kinerja nilai tukar rupiah yang terus moncer sepanjang April 2020 diperkirakan akan mampu menjadi pendorong mata uang garuda pada bulan berikutnya.

Sepanjang bulan ini, rupiah terus menunjukkan tren menguat meski dalam beberapa sesi perdagangan terkoreksi. Rupiah mengawali pergerakan di awal bulan di kisaran Rp16.550 per dolar AS.

Rupiah terus menguat menjelang pertengahan April 2020 di kisaran Rp15.000 per dolar AS. Rupiah lantas mengakhiri kinerja dengan ciamik, naik 2,7 persen ke level 14.881 per dolar AS pada perdagangan hari ini.

Permintaan Batu Bara Diperkirakan Anjlok Paling Dalam Sejak PD II

Tingkat permintaan global terhadap komoditas batu bara tengah menuju penurunan tahunan terbesar sejak Perang Dunia II karena aktivitas ekonomi anjlok akibat wabah virus Corona.

Pembangkit listrik tenaga batu bara di beberapa negara Eropa bukan pilihan yang menguntungkan dan secara sosial tidak dapat dipertahankan, karena di sana banyak tersedia komoditas gas alam murah dan kampanye penggunaan energi terbarukan terus digalakkan.

Dalam laporan yang mengukur dampak virus Corona di seluruh bisnis energi, Badan Energi Internasional atau International Energy Agency (IEA) memperkirakan bahwa permintaan batu bara akan turun 8 persen. Selain itu, jumlah batu bara yang digunakan untuk pembangkit listrik akan anjlok 10 persen.

Pergerakan Harga Emas

Harga emas Comex untuk kontrak Juni 2020 terpantau menguat 14,30 poin atau 0,83 persen ke level US$1.727,70 per troy ounce pukul 17.12 WIB.

Namun di dalam negeri, harga emas batangan Antam berdasarkan daftar harga emas untuk Butik LM Pulogadung Jakarta stagnan di level Rp928.000 per gram.

Harga pembelian kembali atau buyback emas pun berada di posisi Rp829.000 per gram atau tak mengalami perubahan dari harga sebelumnya.

Bisnis Indonesia bersama 3 media menggalang dana untuk membantu tenaga medis dan warga terdampak virus corona yang disalurkan melalui Yayasan Lumbung Pangan Indonesia (Rekening BNI: 200-5202-055).
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Ringkasan Perdagangan 30 April: IHSG Naik Tajam, Rupiah Terbaik di Asia - Bisnis.com
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Terbaik di Asia, IHSG Naik 3,3% Berkat Saham Tiga Bank BUMN dan BCA - Katadata.co.id

Indeks harga saham gabungan (IHSG) menutup perdagangan hari terakhir pekan ini, Kamis (30/4), dengan kenaikan yang signifikan sebesar 3,26% ke level 4.716,4. Laju indeks ditopang oleh empat saham bank kelas kakap yang naik hingga 11,5%.

Keempat saham bank tersebut yaitu Bank Mandiri Tbk (BMRI) yang naik 11,5% ke level Rp 4.460 per saham, kemudian saham Bank Negara Indonesia Tbk (BBNI) naik 9,04% ke Rp 4.100, Bank Central Asia Tbk (BBCA) naik 6,6% ke Rp 25.850, serta Bank Rakyat Indonesia Tbk (BBRI) naik 5,81% ke Rp 2.730.

Sementara indeks sektor keuangan melesat hingga 5,45%, memimpin sembilan indeks sektoral lainnya yang juga naik signifikan. Seperti sektor aneka industri naik 3,59%, infrastruktur 3,36%, dan perdagangan 3,02%. Kemudian industri dasar naik 2,45%, properti 2,17%, serta tambang 2,11%.

(Baca: Kabar Baik Soal Obat Corona, Bursa Asia Menghijau dan IHSG Naik 2,6%)

Adapun kinerja indeks dalam negeri ini menjadi yang terbaik di antara indeks bursa saham Asia lainnya yang juga mengakhiri perdagangan dengan kenaikan. Mengekor di belakang IHSG yaitu indeks Nikkei 225 Jepang yang naik 2,14% meski pada siang ini sempat melaju di zona merah.

Kemudian indeks KLSE Malaysia naik 1,99%, Straits Times Singapura naik 1,84%, Shanghai Composite naik 1,33%, SET Thailand naik 1,1%, PSEi Filipina 1,01%, Kospi Korea Selatan 0,7%, serta Hang Seng di bursa Hong Kong naik 0,28%.

Sentimen Perkembangan Obat Covid-19 Dongkrak Bursa Asia

Kenaikan bursa saham Asia dipengaruhi harapan tinggi investor terhadap obat remdesivir yang dikembangkan perusahaan farmasi asal Amerika Serikat (AS), Gilead Sciences Inc., dapat segera membuka lockdown di berbagai belahan dunia, sehingga roda perekonomian dapat kembali berputar.

Hal ini lantaran pengujian klinis remdesivir oleh Gilead menunjukkan hasil yang positif. Dikutip BBC, penasihat kesehatan Gedung Putih Dr. Anthony Fauci mengatakan, “remdesivir memiliki efek positif yang signifikan dan jelas dalam mengurangi waktu yang dibutuhkan pasien Covid-19 untuk pemulihan”.

(Baca: Uji Coba Obat Covid-19 Berhasil, Rupiah dan Mata Uang Asia Menguat)

Ditambah lagi pemerintah AS telah menyiapkan proyek, yang bekerja sama dengan pihak militer dan perusahaan farmasi, untuk mengembangkan vaksin yang diharapkan bisa selesai pada akhir tahun ini.

Disamping itu investor juga merespon kebijakan bank sentral AS, Federal Reserve (The Fed) yang menegaskan tidak akan menaikan suku bunga hingga perekonomian membaik dari dampak pandemi corona.

Sikap The Fed ini diikuti berbagai bank sentral lainnya di dunia. Seperti European Central Bank (ECB), meskipun pertumbuhan ekonomi beberapa negara Eropa terkontraksi akibat pandemi.

“Kombinasi langkah-langkah simulatif dan prospek vaksin yang siap untuk segera didistribusikan membuat kita lebih percaya pada pemulihan lebih lanjut pada saham dan aset-aset berisiko lainnya,” kata analis pasar JFD Group, seperti dikutip Bloomberg.

(Baca: Pengujian Obat Corona Gagal, IHSG dan Bursa Saham Asia Berguguran)

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What Asian and Pacific Countries Can Teach the World About How to—and How Not to—Reopen Our Economies - TIME

It’s early morning on Shanghai’s West Bund, and the lawns of the waterfront area are filled with picnickers savoring the annual cherry-blossom bloom. Parents push strollers through carpets of flowers while students sprawled on the grass share bottles of chilled cava. After three months of strict stay-at-home orders because of the COVID-19 pandemic, residents of China’s biggest city have re-emerged blinking into the light. “It’s crazy; I’ve never seen it so busy here,” says Sally Zhou, as she queues for coffee with her French bulldog. “People are desperate to get outside and enjoy themselves.”

Even as COVID-19 spreads across the world, nowhere has replicated the scale and intensity of China’s unprecedented lockdown. The epicenter of the outbreak, Wuhan, was sealed off and other cities placed under quarantine. The world’s No. 2 economy froze completely. Those sacrifices have now enabled China to slow new cases to a trickle. Wuhan discharged the last of its hospitalized coronavirus patients on April 27, and although many are skeptical of the government’s reported case numbers, authorities clearly feel confident enough to allow certain schools and businesses across China to reopen. Sales at major online retailers grew around 10% year-on-year in March, according to China’s Commerce Ministry, partly in response to a flurry of cut-price deals designed to rekindle demand. On April 22, President Xi Jinping emphasized the imperative to restart China’s stalled economy. “Great advances in history have come after great catastrophes,” he said.

For much of the world, the catastrophe is still ongoing–at least 3 million cases and more than 200,000 deaths in more than 200 countries and territories as of late April. In February, the world marveled as China threw up temporary hospitals in Wuhan; now, similar facilities sit in London’s largest convention center and in New York City’s Central Park. Medical masks, long de rigueur in Asia to guard against infection, are now worn by most venturing outside in much of the Western world. The new hot spots of the virus have armed themselves with defenses pioneered in Asia: the potent trident of social distancing, widespread testing and protecting frontline medical workers.

The coronavirus is far from defeated, but in many places, the initial surge in cases has abated and focus has turned to the fate of the global economy. The IMF estimates global GDP will shrink 3% this year and that contraction may continue into 2021, which could lead to the deepest dive since the Great Depression. The U.S. economy shrank 4.8% in the first quarter, and J.P. Morgan predicts a 40% contraction in the second. The number of Americans claiming unemployment is now 22 million.

With statistics like these, some feel as if the cure may hurt more than the disease. Protests have broken out in the U.S. against lockdown measures, which are already being rolled back in states including Georgia, Montana and Tennessee. But health officials warn that easing measures too quickly risks a W-shaped recovery, where a resurgence of cases causes a second economic decline soon after the first.

There’s no playbook for successfully lifting lockdown. But several East Asian countries are further ahead in the game. How they are faring offers invaluable lessons in the effort to balance public health and economic recovery.

It was about 4 P.M. on March 7 when Park Hong-cheol, 42, received a call from his local health authority in South Korea informing him that a colleague in his office had tested positive for COVID-19. He quickly donned a surgical mask and drove to Sejong City’s Public Health Center. After he filled out registration forms, hazmat-suited staff performed a COVID-19 test through a crack in his car window. Afterward, officials sprayed disinfectant on his car’s exterior and Park drove straight home, obeying strict instructions to stay indoors and avoid human contact. “By the time I awoke the next morning, I had a text message saying that I’d tested negative,” he tells TIME.

At the start of the coronavirus outbreak, South Korea had been caught off guard; a slow initial rate of infection quickly metastasized in mid-February. But unlike in the U.S., which confirmed its first COVID-19 case one day after South Korea, a robust public health response kept reported cases under 11,000. Compared with the U.S., South Korea on a per capita basis tested three times as many citizens.

The ability to test and trace every infection and their contacts is one of six conditions the WHO says should be met before any society can reopen, and South Korea shows you don’t have to be an autocratic system like China’s to introduce these kinds of expansive measures. By April 24, more than 589,000 Koreans had been tested in the same way as Park Hong-cheol, in large part at drive-through and walk-through facilities that delivered quick results. The government provided free smartphone apps that relayed emergency SMS alerts about spikes in infections in neighborhoods, and updated national and local government websites that tracked cases. Infections with only mild symptoms were treated at temporary facilities to allow hospitals to concentrate on the most acute cases. As a result, South Korea successfully flattened the curve in 20 days without extreme draconian restrictions on freedom or movement. “The faster we find the contacts, the better we are able to stem further spread of the virus,” South Korean Health and Welfare Minister Park Neung-hoo tells TIME. Still, he adds, “finding a midpoint between economic activities and containing an epidemic outbreak is a delicate balancing act.”

Swift, decisive action has no doubt lessened the economic hit South Korea will have to bear (although its economy still shrank 1.4% in the first quarter of the year). Park, the Health Minister, says test results that arrive in minutes, not days, are “critical” to effective contact tracing. Then anonymized GPS data from an infected person’s cell phone can be used to automatically alert via SMS those people who had recently been in the same vicinity to get tested themselves. Other methods use interviews, security cameras and credit-card data to trace infected people. Hong Kong and Taiwan have enjoyed similar success.

The U.S. is poorly positioned to follow. For one, problems in the supply and capacity of testing kits mean it typically takes several days for results–and that delay exponentially increases the potential for infected people to expose others. For another, there are only around 2,200 professional contact tracers in the U.S., and health experts say 100,000 more are desperately needed. In China, around 9,000 contact tracers were employed in Wuhan alone.

There are also privacy issues; Americans generally don’t want their telecom companies to share their GPS data with government agencies, even if rendered anonymous and used to fight an extraordinary health crisis. Apple and Google are currently collaborating on an app that will use geodata to facilitate contact tracing–but, they insist, on a voluntarily opt-in, self-reporting basis.

And the app may not be ready for weeks, “It is very, very difficult to get people to opt into anything,” says Kai-Fu Lee, a venture capitalist; former Google, Microsoft and Apple executive; and author of AI Superpowers: China, Silicon Valley, and the New World Order. “It begs the question of which is more important: personal privacy or, during national pandemic emergencies, to use data in a restricted, anonymized way for public health.”

The government of Taiwan made its choice early. The island of 23 million realized it was extremely vulnerable given its position just 80 miles off mainland China, where 850,000 of its citizens reside and another 400,000 work. But in addition to early screening and detection, emergency powers also enabled smartphone location tracking to form “electronic fences” around people under quarantine, imposing steep fines if they leave home. Thanks to these precautionary measures, Taiwan has had fewer than 500 cases to date.

Yet even the most efficiently staged recoveries can prove fragile. Singapore, an affluent city-state of 5.6 million, was initially commended by the WHO for its widespread testing and comprehensive tracing of close contacts. Singapore requisitioned 7,500 hotel rooms to quarantine new arrivals, including some at the storied colonial-era Raffles Hotel. Sure, room-service menus were off-limits–simple meals on trays were provided instead–but the state still picked up the tab. On March 23, the island permitted schools to reopen, confident the virus was under control.

It turned out, however, that authorities had paid little attention to Singapore’s million or so low-paid migrant workers, and all the while COVID-19 was flourishing in their cramped dormitories–the largest of which house up to 25,000 workers. Over a week in April, case numbers rocketed by more than 250% to over 10,000–the highest tally in Southeast Asia. Ripon Chowdhury, 31, a shipyard worker from Bangladesh who has lived in Singapore for 10 years, was sharing a room with 15 others when the virus tore through his community. “It’s just too crowded,” he says. “If one person gets it, then all of us will, because we’re sharing a toilet, shower and kitchen.”

Singapore shows that any response to this indiscriminate virus must be inclusive. Americans on low incomes who cannot work from home and lack comprehensive health insurance have proven particularly vulnerable, as have elderly people trapped in care homes. But the virus cannot be banished from society by prioritizing the young and affluent. In Singapore, like the U.S., rich and poor take the same public transportation, use the same ride-sharing apps, prowl the same malls. “The virus doesn’t respect community barriers,” says Christine Pelly, an executive committee member of Singapore’s Transient Workers Count Too, a nongovernmental organization. “We benefit a lot from [low-wage workers]. We should look after their well-being more closely.”

Singapore is not the only Asian nation to have suffered a “second wave.” Japan was one of the first nations affected, not least because of the stricken Diamond Princess cruise liner docked south of Tokyo. But early on, it was actually Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido that was worst hit. Home to 4% of the population, the province roughly the size of Maine had a third of Japan’s 206 cases at the end of February, mainly owing to Chinese visitors to the Sapporo Snow Festival. A state of emergency was declared Feb. 28, with schools shut and residents ordered to stay at home.

But as cases mushroomed in urban areas like Tokyo and dropped in Hokkaido, the island’s authorities grew concerned by the economic toll. Kazushi Monji, the mayor of the town of Kutchan, some 50 miles from Sapporo, tells TIME the shutdown had a “serious impact” upon the local economy with restaurants empty, hotel reservations canceled and practically no new bookings. On March 19, Hokkaido lifted its state of emergency after just three weeks.

“People in Hokkaido became so happy, relaxed and relieved–walking around, going for drinks, attending business meetings,” says Dr. Kiyoshi Nagase, president of the Hokkaido Medical Association who helped coordinate the local COVID-19 response. Quickly, the situation spiraled with a flurry of new infections. On April 12, a second state of emergency was imposed. “Now I regret it,” says Nagase. “We should not have lifted the first [order].”

For chef Koji Yorozuya, whose parents started the Wafuchubo Mikami Izakaya in Otaru, northern Hokkaido, 20 years ago, the lockdown has become the “most severe crisis in the history of our restaurant.” Normally, all 40 seats would be occupied with customers enjoying warm sake alongside dishes of sashimi, tempura and grilled seafood skewers. But health regulations have forced him to shut up shop, and he now serves only taxi deliveries. “Honestly, I want the restrictions lifted as soon as possible because I am afraid of losing my restaurant,” he says. “But in terms of public health, I am also scared. I don’t know what the right answer is.”

As Hokkaido demonstrates, a town or province that has conquered its infection rate can relapse with alarming ease. Kazuto Suzuki, vice dean of international politics at Hokkaido University, says his province’s experience shows that the piecemeal opening up of U.S. states is “very dangerous … even if you control the first wave, you can’t relax.” In Texas, state parks have already reopened and nonessential surgeries resumed. On April 24, Oklahoma’s nail salons, spas, barbershops and pet groomers were allowed to resume work. Georgia’s gyms, bowling alleys and tattoo parlors flung open their doors the same day. “I’d love everything open,” Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman recently told CNN. But individual states’ actions pose a serious risk to the rest of the U.S. “The whole world is on fire with coronavirus,” says Michael Osterholm, the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota and co-author of Deadliest Enemy: Our War Against Killer Germs. “So all 50 states are going to contribute to each other. We’re only as strong as our weakest link.”

The question every country has to answer is what recovery looks like in a post-coronavirus world. New Zealand has had extraordinary success in conquering the virus, partly as a consequence of its isolation and low population density but also because it introduced strict lockdown measures and all but closed its borders. Now, daily new infections are down to single digits and it’s poised to banish the virus completely.

Still, the banning of all foreign nationals is having a catastrophic effect on the country’s tourism-reliant economy. Over 2019, international tourists to New Zealand spent just over $10 billion: the sector employs 8.4% of the workforce. All this has now evaporated. “The economy can survive without international tourism, but not as we know it,” says Brad Olsen, senior economist at New Zealand’s Infometrics consultancy firm.

Economic superpowers are no less at risk. China’s economy contracted 6.8% in the first quarter of 2020. Although domestic demand is now picking up again, China’s exposure to the global marketplace will mean the pain lasts for some time–and will have unpredictable repercussions. The dearth of demand for goods by Americans sequestered in their homes, for example, means Chinese factories run at reduced capacity, slashing the demand for energy, which helped crude-oil prices plummet below $0.

After the 2008 financial crisis, China invested in its recovery through infrastructure. It plowed $586 billion into government projects like highways, metro systems and airports, and poured more cement between 2011 and 2013 than the U.S. used in the entire 20th century. One result of that spending binge was soaring national debt, but it also resulted in millions of jobs in the short term and an enhanced foundation for every Chinese business to operate.

Beijing now appears reluctant to repeat that feat, but it might work for the U.S., which has so far focused on injecting liquidity into bond markets, making grants to small business and sending $1,200 checks to individuals. Analysts say the U.S. needs to spend some $4.5 trillion by 2025 to fix its creaking roads, railways and airports, plus upgrade to next-generation technology like 5G. Economists say infrastructure is an equalizer that empowers all businesses–big and small–and should be prioritized over bailing out lenders once again.

It’s early, but already clear that one legacy of the coronavirus will be a changed economic landscape. Almost half a million companies in China declared bankruptcy during the first quarter of the year. How many American firms fold depends on choices made today–by officials, and by people anxious for answers. The only thing worse than closed doors is a public too terrified to walk through open ones.

–With reporting by STEPHEN KIM/SEOUL; ABIGAIL LEONARD/TOKYO; AMY GUNIA and HILLARY LEUNG/HONG KONG

Write to Charlie Campbell at charlie.campbell@time.com.

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