Asia virus latest: Back to school in China; Japan expands monetary easing

Here are the latest developments in Asia related to the novel coronavirus pandemic:

Back to school in Shanghai and Beijing -

Tens of thousands of students returned to school in Shanghai and Beijing after months of closures as China's major cities gradually return to normality.

Shanghai students in their final year of middle and high school returned to classrooms, while only high school seniors in Beijing were allowed back on campus to prepare for the all-important "gaokao" university entrance exam.

Bank of Japan expands easing measures -

The Bank of Japan ramped up its emergency monetary easing and cut growth forecasts for the world's third-largest economy.

The central bank said it would shift to unlimited government bond-buying and more than double its capacity to purchase corporate bonds and commercial papers -- a move to support financing as the country grapples with fallout from the virus.

Meanwhile, Asian markets rallied as the rate of deaths from the virus sank in several badly hit countries, while leaders stepped up plans to reopen their economies, though oil prices sank with supply glut fears overshadowing output reductions.

New Zealand has won a battle against transmission: PM -

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern claimed New Zealand had scored a significant victory against the spread of the coronavirus as the country began a phased exit from lockdown.

"There is no widespread, undetected community transmission in New Zealand," Ardern declared. "We have won that battle."

Million Australians download tracker app -

More than one million Australians have downloaded a new government smartphone app designed to make coronavirus contact tracing easier despite concerns about how authorities might use their data.

Health minister Greg Hunt hailed take-up since the app was released Sunday evening as "extraordinary", adding that 1.1 million people had downloaded the program by Monday.

Malaysia criticised for jailing virus rule breakers -

Malaysia should stop jailing people who breach strict curbs imposed to halt the spread of the virus, as it places people at greater risk of infection, Human Rights Watch said.

Thousands have been detained for breaking the rules and some of them have been handed short jail terms. Authorities have established temporary jails to hold those who break virus rules, and said at the weekend that the first batch of 58 inmates had been sent to the prisons.

Indonesian zoo animals 'face starvation' -

Thousands of animals, including Sumatran tigers and Bornean orangutans, are facing the threat of starvation at Indonesian zoos.

More than 90 percent of the archipelago's zoos only have enough feed until mid-May and not enough money to buy more owing to a lack of visitors, according to the Indonesian Zoo Association. - (AFP)