Beijing Zoo reopened on Monday after being closed since Jan 24 as part of efforts to control the novel coronavirus pneumonia outbreak.

The 5,000 animals have been fed well, are housed in sanitized areas and are enjoying the spring sunshine.

Zhang Chenglin, the zoo's deputy director, said, "Some of the animals, such as the pandas, preferred to have more exercise when the zoo was empty."

Veterinarians checked the animals' health. A pregnant Malayan tapir received the most attention, with regular ultrasound examinations.

Ma Tao, who looks after pandas at the zoo, starts his working day at 7 am by taking a fixed route on a delivery truck to feed the animals in their enclosure.

Workers such as Ma help prepare 2,000 kilograms of food for animals at the zoo every day, including chopped carrots, fresh cucumbers and raw meat.

"My happiest time of the day is to see the animals eating, even if sometimes they take a bite out of my arm," Ma, who is in his 40s, said jokingly. He added that it usually takes about three hours to distribute food to all the animals.

Occasionally, they need "afternoon tea", with grapes being the red pandas' favorite. Ma often feeds these animals by hand.

With snow falling in Beijing in the middle of last month, keepers spent more time checking on the animals. Some of the inhabitants preferred to keep warm in their enclosures, while others enjoyed being outdoors.

Zhang said: "Tufted deer prefer to be outside and can resist the cold even in extreme wintry conditions. They jump and run around frequently in the snow."

In the past month, zookeepers have been engaging with these animals to win their trust.

Zhang said he is most concerned about baby tufted deer, as they are extremely timid. He added that the term of a pregnant tufted deer is between three and seven months, during which time the animals must be provided with a quiet and stable environment to ensure they have adequate rest.

In the wild, tufted deer, which are listed as a national first-class protected wild animal, usually inhabit forests at an altitude of about 1,000 meters.

"Keepers need to be patient so that these creatures can get to know them after the first contact," Zhang said. "In the case of a newborn tufted deer, a keeper has to come to the animal at least four times before it will trust him and eat from his hand."

Zhang said disinfection measures at the zoo have been strengthened.

"We completely disinfect and sterilize the zoo once a week," he said, adding that the animals' food is carefully checked and purchased from Xinfadi, a wholesale market for agricultural products about 20 kilometers south of the zoo.

"We have sufficient food stored at the zoo to feed the animals for six months," he said, adding that designated suppliers have to be contacted in advance for deliveries of some food, such as bamboo for the pandas.

Zhang said online trips to the zoo are available, where visitors can see enclosures being disinfected and the animals fed.

Beijing resident Wang Shengru and her 6-year-old daughter are eagerly waiting to revisit the zoo. The chimpanzees are the young girl's favorite, as the animals make her laugh when they eat bananas.

Due to the outbreak, both mother and daughter have remained at home for more than one month. "She misses her animal friends terribly," Wang said.

Since Feb 22, Hongshan Forest Zoo in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, has been livestreaming footage of animals being fed. In the mornings during weekends, two "hosts" use a phone camera to take online visitors on a sightseeing tour of the zoological park.

Many people have voiced concern about food supplies for animals at the zoo, with online donation campaigns being launched to provide them with fresh vegetables, fruit and meat. The livestreaming sessions show that the animals are being fed well.

Source - TheJakartaPost

Southeast Asia feels the burn as virus keeps Chinese tourists at home

Elephant parks unvisited, curios at markets unsold as tuk-tuks sit idle: Southeast Asia is facing billions of dollars in losses from a collapse in Chinese tourism since the outbreak of a deadly new coronavirus.

From Luang Prabang in northern Laos to Pattaya in Thailand, Hoi An in Vietnam and the Cambodian casino town of Sihanoukville, takings have plummeted as Chinese travelers find themselves subject to a host of restrictions at home and abroad.

"We haven't had any Chinese for 10 days since they closed the road from Yunnan," says Ong Tau, 47, from behind her stall of fruit shakes in the temple-studded Laotian colonial town of Luang Prabang.

"Business is down 20-30 percent... it will get worse."

Tour guides, mall workers and restaurant staff are all feeling the burn as Chinese -- the world's biggest travellers -- stay at home in the middle of a global health crisis.

"My friend has lost four or five big tour groups... they would have paid for his low season," said Tee, a guide in Luang Prabang, giving only one name in the tightly-controlled communist country, a mass of tuk-tuks standing idle behind him.

But in one of Southeast Asia's least well-resourced countries, there may be one bright side to the sudden economic pain.

"We don't know how to protect ourselves," he added. "The government doesn't tell people anything... so maybe less Chinese is a good thing for now."

Loans and job losses

The slump is being felt sharply in Thailand, where tourism authorities say arrivals from China -- usually close to one million a month -- have plunged by 90 percent so far this February.

At the Chang Siam Elephant Park in Pattaya, a few hours south of Bangkok, owner Nantakorn Phatnamrob fears he will soon be pressed into debt to float a business which has lost nearly $65,000 since the outbreak.

"People are afraid to visit," he told AFP. "If it stays like this, I will have to get a loan from the bank."

Crocodile farms and tiger sanctuaries -- controversial tourist beacons where visitors can pet the animals -- are also deserted, leaving owners to feed expensive star attractions.

The outbreak has also spooked western tourists at the height of peak season in what has already been a tough period for Thai tourism thanks to a strong baht.

Thailand anticipates shedding five million tourists this year, taking with them "250 billion baht (over $8 billion) in revenue", according to Don Nakornthab, director of economic policy at Bank of Thailand.

"Our hopes that the economy will do better than last year are very low... it's possible it could grow below 2 percent," he added.

That will spell bad news for the untold number of Thais working in the tourism sector.

Ma Mya, 22, who sells trinkets in Pattaya, says she may soon have to return to her home in northern Thailand.

"There's no more profit -- everything has gone bad."

Things can only get better

With so much riding on the seasonal influx, some Mekong countries are desperate not to deter those Chinese still traveling.

Thailand offers visa on arrival for Chinese tourists despite having one of the highest numbers of confirmed infections -- 34 -- outside of the mainland.

At least two of those cases were Thais who contracted the virus after driving infected Chinese passengers, raising fears that the economy was taking priority over tackling the health crisis.

For staunch Beijing ally Cambodia, where only one case of the virus has been confirmed so far despite a large Chinese presence, strongman leader Hun Sen has repeatedly played down the risk to his country.

Still, Cambodian tourism is taking a hammering.

Ticket sales at the famed Angkor temple complex in Siem Reap have fallen between 30 and 40 percent this year, while in Sihanoukville, a southern beach resort notorious for its casinos, the tourist take has shriveled.

"I used to make $100 a day," said Chantha Reak, a ride-hailing driver. "Now it's $10."

Businesses are praying for a bounce back if and when the virus is controlled.

With 10 million Chinese visitors each year, Thailand hopes the pain will ease in a few months.

Regular visitor Yen Ran, 25, from Chengdu, came to Pattaya despite the health warnings.

"I am a little concerned how other countries perceive us," she told AFP. "But when there's a cure, things will get better."

Source - TheJakartaPost

Frightened Asian tourists cancel flights, stay home

The South Korean government’s advisory to its citizens to delay trips to countries and territories where the Covid-19 coronavirus has been found has resulted in numerous flight cancellations to Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan.

South Korea has remained relatively free of the contagion, although one of its citizens was found to be infected after returning from Thailand.

Its news media have also reported that the virus is rampant in North Korea, which shares a porous border with China.

Thai Airways this week reported a 30-per-cent plunge in its bookings for round-trip flights between Bangkok and Seoul and said it was dropping four weekly flights as a result from February 26-March 28.

Twenty-one THAI flights a week will remain on the schedule, however.

The national carrier said it might also cancel some flights to Japan because people there are similarly showing reluctance to travel to Thailand.

Seoul-based carriers Eastar Jet, Jeju Air, Asiana Airlines and Korean Air have also reduced the number of flights to Thailand.

Wing Commander Suthirawat Suwanawat, Airports of Thailand’s general manager at Suvarnabhumi International Airport, said Thailand’s premier air hub is seeing far fewer foreign tourists because of the virus outbreak.

“We’re getting 140,000 people a day this month – 60,000 fewer than last year, which represents a 30-per-cent decrease,” he said.

“The reason is that people in China, South Korea and Japan have begun postponing plans to travel elsewhere in Asia, especially in Japan now, where a death from the virus has caused alarm.”

If the crisis persists into April, he said, the airport reckons passenger volume will grow by a mere 3 per cent, far less than the annual averages until now.

“Airports of Thailand says that, because of the virus, airlines cancelled 2,762 flights through Suvarnabhumi Airport from January 24 to February 13, which averages out to 132 flights a day,” Suthirawat said.

Source - TheNation

Schengen countries extend suspension of visa issuance in China in wake of coronavirus

China

Following the suspension of all visa issuance in China, due to the coronavirus outbreak, the visa centers of the seven Schengen member countries that were supposed to re-open on Feb. 3, have remained closed.

The member countries have instead announced that the suspension period will be extended until Feb. 9 at the earliest.

A notice published by the Slovak visa center in China indicated that the re-opening of the centers may change, dependent on advice from authorities.

“In light of the current coronavirus alert, please note that the Slovakia Visa Application Centers across China will remain closed until Feb. 9 (included). However, the re-opening of the centers may change, subject to further notifications from central, provincial and city authorities. We apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your understanding and kind co-operation. Please return to this page for further updates,” the notice reads as reported by schengenvisainfo.com.

As there is no improvement in the coronavirus epidemic, with the death toll rising to 497 as of Wednesday, authorities for the Schengen member countries extended their closure for at least a week more than intended.

The Schengen members involved are:

    Austria – Feb. 9
    Belgium – Feb. 9
    Estonia – Feb. 10
    Liechtenstein – Feb. 10
    Norway – Feb. 10
    Slovakia – Feb. 9
    Switzerland – Feb. 10

France remains the only Schengen country that has announced the closure of the Wuhan Visa Application Center, while the European Union prepares to tighten entry conditions for Chinese nationals who have traveled to China in recent months.

Cautionary action has been taken by numerous countries as the coronavirus has infected more than 20,000 people in China since emerging in December and has now spread to more than 20 countries. 

Source - TheJakartaPost

#Russia suspends visa-free tourist travel to and from China over virus

Russia said on Saturday it was suspending visa-free travel for tourists to and from China to help contain the outbreak of a new coronavirus that emerged in China.

A bilateral visa-free regime for tourist groups agreed on in 2000 will suspended from Feb. 2, a government decree said.

Russia will also temporarily stop accepting and issuing documents for work visas to Chinese nationals.

Russia reported its first two cases of coronavirus on Friday and restricted direct flights to China, its biggest trade partner.

The Russian military is to start evacuating Russian citizens from China due to the outbreak. 

Source - TheJakartaPost

#China - Beijing to close section of Great Wall, other tourist sites

China announced Friday it will close a section of the Great Wall and other famous Beijing landmarks to control the spread of a deadly virus that has infected hundreds of people across the country.

A range of Lunar New Year festivities have been cancelled to try to contain the virus, and Beijing's Forbidden City and Shanghai's Disneyland have also been closed temporarily.

The Ming Tombs and Yinshan Pagoda will also be closed from Saturday, the authority that oversees the sites said, while the Bird's Nest stadium -- the site of the 2008 Olympic Games -- was shuttered from Friday.

The Great Wall attracts around 10 million tourists a year and is a popular destination for visitors during the New Year holiday.

The Juyongguan section will close, while the Great Wall temple fair was cancelled at the Simatai section of the famous landmark.

Tourists at the Gubei water town by the Simatai section will have their temperature tested, the authority said in a statement on the WeChat social media app.

The Bird's Nest will be closed until January 30 in order to "prevent and control" the spread of the virus, authorities said. An ice and snow show taking place on the pitch will be closed.

The measures in the capital are the latest to try and control the outbreak of the new coronavirus, after authorities rapidly expanded a mammoth quarantine effort that affected 41 million people in central Hubei province.

The previously unknown virus has caused alarm because of its similarity to SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome), which killed hundreds across mainland China and Hong Kong in 2002-2003.

Although there have only been 29 confirmed cases in Beijing, city authorities have cancelled large-scaled Lunar New Year events this week.

The city government said it would call off events including two popular temple fairs, which have attracted massive crowds of tourists in past years.

Beijing's Forbidden City -- which saw 19 million visitors last year -- is usually packed with tourists during the Lunar New Year festival, when hundreds of millions of people travel across China.

Source - TheJakartaPost