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Coronavirus update: China issues travel warning to citizens asking them not to travel to Australia due to post COVID-19 racism

China has issued a travel warning to its citizens, warning them against travel to Australia in the wake of what it says is increased racism in Australia following the coronavirus outbreak.

This story will be updated throughout Saturday.

Saturday’s key moments

‘Don’t travel to Australia’: Chinese Government warns citizens of increased racism

The Chinese Ministry of Culture and Tourism has issued a travel alert to its citizens warning them not to travel to Australia due to a “significant increasing” of racist attacks on “Chinese and Asian people”.

The statement issued on Friday (local time) says the alleged attacks came in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic.

“Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, racial discrimination and violence against Chinese and Asian people in Australia have seen a significant increase,” the statement said.

“The Ministry of Culture and Tourism reminds Chinese tourists to enhance their safety awareness and do not travel to Australia.”

The warning came after China’s state-run tabloid Global Times published an editorial warning Chinese students “be cautious about studying in Australia”.

There have been anecdotal reports of people of Asian appearance experiencing increased racism in the wake of COVID-19.

This warning from China could further sour relations between the two trade partners.

Last month, China announced their decision to impose an 80 per cent tariff on Australian barley and blacklisted four major beef exporters due to labelling violations.

But Beijing denied the new trade measures were in retaliation to Australia’s call for an independent investigation into the global pandemic.

World Health Organization says ‘it’s not over’

Crowds packed at a beach.
WHO is asking people to not be lax about social distancing as countries begin to ease coronavirus lockdowns.(AP: Andrew Matthews)

Some countries have seen rises in COVID-19 cases as lockdowns ease, and populations must protect themselves from the coronavirus while authorities continue testing, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday.

The epicentre of the pandemic is currently in countries of Central, South and North America, particularly the United States, WHO spokeswoman Margaret Harris said.

“On upticks (in cases), yes we have seen in countries around the world — I’m not talking specifically about Europe — when the lockdowns ease, when the social distancing measures ease, people sometimes interpret this as ‘OK, it’s over’,” Ms Harris told a UN briefing in Geneva.

Ms Harris, referring to US demonstrations since the killing of George Floyd 10 days ago, said that protesters must take precautions.

“We have certainly seen a lot of passion this week, we’ve seen people who have felt the need to be out and to express their feelings,” she said.

“We ask them to remember still protect yourself and others.”

Indonesia opens mosques to worshippers

A man sits on a designated spot and prays, wearing a mask, keeping social distance.
Worshippers at the mosques were asked to bring their own prayer mats and abide by social-distancing rules.(AP:Achmad Ibrahim)

Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta, has opened its mosques and other places of worship for the first time in three months.

Offices, restaurants, shopping centres and tourist attractions will also be allowed to start operating again in the coming weeks as part of measures to ease the local lockdown.

Those attending mosques were asked to bring their own prayer mats and abide by social distancing rules, with temperature checks at the door.

Indonesia has confirmed more than 29,000 cases of coronavirus and nearly 18,00 deaths.

Jakarta has been the epicentre of the outbreak, with nearly 8,000 infections.

India reports another spike in cases as the country eases its strict lockdown

A hairdresser in personal protective suit attends to a customer at a hair salon in New Delhi, India.
The Indian Government has partially restored train services and domestic flights and allowed the reopening of shops and manufacturing.(AP: Manish Swarup)

India’s Health Ministry on Friday reported another record spike in new coronavirus cases — more than 9,800 in 24 hours.

India now has 226,770 confirmed cases with 6,348 deaths, 273 of them in the past 24 hours, the ministry said. It says the overall rate of recovery for coronavirus patients is around 48 per cent.

There has been a surge in infections in rural areas following the return of hundreds of thousands of migrant workers who left cities and towns after losing their jobs due to a nationwide lockdown.

The more than two-month-old lockdown is now largely being enforced only in high-risk areas, known as containment zones.

The Government has partially restored train services and domestic flights and allowed the reopening of shops and manufacturing.

E-commerce companies have started to deliver goods, including those considered nonessential, to places outside containment zones.

Metro service and schools and colleges, however, remain shuttered nationwide.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, meanwhile, announced India was contributing $15 million to an international vaccine alliance.

Japan aims to have coronavirus vaccines in use by June 2021

Two women in surgical masks walking in front of a sculpture of the Olympic rings
Japan is in a race to have a vaccine ready before the Tokyo Olympics.(Reuters: Athit Perawongmetha)

Japan aims to put coronavirus vaccines into use by June 2021, the health minister said on Friday, as the country strives to be fully ready to host the Tokyo Olympics, originally planned for this summer but postponed by one year due to the pandemic.

Drugmakers around the world are scrambling to develop a treatment or vaccine for COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the highly infectious new coronavirus which has so far killed nearly 400,000 people worldwide.

“We will be securing production facilities in parallel with expedited vaccine development,” Japan’s Health Minister Katsunobu Kato told reporters as he outlined plans to bring vaccines into use by the end of the first half of 2021.

Japan has reported around 17,000 confirmed cases and 900 known deaths to date.

ABC/Wires

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