Queensland voters face fine for absence
SYDNEY • People in the Australian state of Queensland were urged to vote in local elections yesterday or face a fine of A$133 (S$117), as polls went ahead despite most citizens being asked to stay home to stem the spread of the coronavirus.
The state's top health official said it was safe to vote in person as long as people followed social distancing guidelines.
Many of the three million eligible voters had cast their ballot early, or remotely by post or phone.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Tom Hanks and wife back in Los Angeles
LOS ANGELES • Tom Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson returned to Los Angeles last Friday after spending more than two weeks in quarantine in Australia as they had tested positive for the coronavirus.
Hanks was in Australia working on a movie about Elvis Presley when he announced on March 11 that he and Wilson had tested positive for the disease.
REUTERS
4 dead on cruise ship, 130 others ill
PANAMA CITY • Four passengers have died on a cruise ship off the Pacific coast of Panama and more than 130 others aboard have influenza-like symptoms. At least two of them have the coronavirus, said the vessel's operator last Friday.
Holland America Line said in a statement that the MS Zaandam, previously on a South American cruise, was trying to transit the Panama Canal and make its way to Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
But Panama has denied it access to the canal for sanitary reasons, leaving passengers and crew in limbo.
REUTERS
Brunei sees first coronavirus death
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN • Brunei reported its first coronavirus death yesterday - that of a 64-year-old man.
Brunei has reported 115 cases of the coronavirus so far, some linked to a religious gathering in Malaysia attended by about 16,000 people.
The man who died was not at the gathering but had travelled to Malaysia and Cambodia.
REUTERS
109 new cases in Thailand, 1 death
BANGKOK • Thailand reported 109 new coronavirus cases and one death yesterday, bringing the total to 1,245 infections and six deaths.
Bangkok has the highest total number of coronavirus cases at 534, while the southern provinces of Yala, Narathiwat and Pattani have a total of 79 cases, health ministry data showed.
REUTERS
Turkey's domestic trains, flights halted
ANKARA • Turkey halted inter-city trains and limited domestic flights yesterday, and the main opposition party called for a stay-home order as coronavirus cases jumped by a third in a day.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan last Friday asked Turks to go on a "voluntary quarantine" in which they stay home except for shopping or basic needs to help contain the outbreak.
REUTERS
