UCA News Weekly Summary, May 8, 2020 - a podcast by Binu Alex, UCA News

As Covid-19 continues its ravaging journey, Asian governments this week reinforced measures against the pandemic, drawing some criticism and some applause. Curfews and lockdowns continue amid government plans to evacuate the stranded. The pandemic resulted in the temporary shutdown of a church-run hospital in densely populated Bangladesh after 22 medical staff including doctors tested positive for Covid-19. Despite a curfew, Sri Lankan Buddhists are celebrating the Vesak festival, which commemorates the birth, enlightenment and death of the Lord Buddha. In Pakistan human rights activists are condemning an Islamic missionary group for trying to convert non-Muslims while distributing rations amid the coronavirus lockdown. Meanwhile, India’s fight against Covid-19 hit a major hurdle when the country witnessed three industrial accidents. In Thailand, fears are growing that immigration detention centers may become hotbeds of Covid-19 as 18 more foreign detainees were tested positive for the virus on May 4. The Philippine government shut down the country’s top entertainment and media corporation ABS-CBN, after its 25-year franchise expired on May 4. In China, a 98-year-old bishop, believed to be the world's oldest person to have survived Covid-19, died in his sleep on May 7. Christians have welcomed a damning report of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom but said religious oppression in China is more severe than what is reported. Catholic Church officials see a potential rights violation in Taiwan’s plans to amend a law to legalize surrogate pregnancy.

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