VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Switzerland will start gradually relaxing from Apr 27 the drastic restrictions it brought in last month, to tackle the spread of the new coronavirus, the government said on Thursday, Apr 16. Hospitals will be allowed to perform all procedures, even elective surgeries, while hair salons, massage parlours and cosmetic studies will be allowed to reopen. This will be followed by compulsory schools, shops and markets from May 11, it added. In a third stage it will reopen secondary schools, vocational schools and universities from June 8.

"The spread of the coronavirus was slowed, and our hospitals are not stretched to the limit," Swiss President Simonetta Sommaruga told a news conference.

Switzerland's death toll from the COVID-19 respiratory disease the virus causes has risen past 1,000, with nearly 27,000 people testing positive. The rate of infections has slowed in recent days, while the government has come under increasing pressure to reopen businesses which have struggled during the shutdown//Reuters

Nations belonging to the G20 group of leading economies have agreed to suspend debt payments owed to them by some of the world's poorest countries.As quoted by BBC.com (15/4)  the agreement covers money that is due to be paid to G20 governments up to the end of 2020. The aim is to help countries deal with the health and economic impacts of the coronavirus pandemic. The Jubilee Debt Campaign group has described the move as a first step, but called for much more. The UK-based charity estimates that the delay will cover $12bn (£9.6bn) of payments. But it is only a delay and the campaign group understands that the payments will instead have to be made between 2022 and 2024, along with interest accrued in the meantime//BBC

South Korean voters turned out in force Wednesday to back President Moon Jae-in's handling of the coronavirus epidemic, putting on compulsory face masks and gloves to give his Democratic party a parliamentary majority according to exit polls. As quoted by AFP.com ( 15/4) South Korea was among the first countries with a major virus outbreak to hold a national election since the global pandemic began, and a raft of safety measures were in place around the vote.Turnout was the highest for a generation, and an exit poll by national broadcaster KBS projected the ruling Democratic party and a sister organisation would take between 155 and 178 places in the 300-seat National Assembly. It predicted the main opposition United Front Party (UFP) and its sister grouping would take between 107 and 130 seats. Voters in obligatory masks lined up at least one metre (three feet) apart outside polling stations and had their temperatures checked before being allowed in//AFP

The International Energy Agency (IEA) stated on Wednesday that the coronavirus outbreak will slash global oil demand in 2020 to erase a decade of growth and set up "the worst year in the history" of the sector. As quoted by AFP.com ( 15/4) demand is projected to plummet by a record 9.3 million barrels per day (mbd) for the year as a whole, with 29 mbd in the month of April, and 26 mbd in May -- "staggering numbers . International Energy Agency (IEA) on  Wednesday  believes in a few years' time, when you look at 2020 the people  may well see that it was the worst year in the history of global oil markets//AFP