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| - Here are the latest developments from Asia related to the novel coronavirus pandemic: A Japanese virus expert who has criticised the country's response to the pandemic warned he is "pessimistic" the postponed Olympics can be held even in 2021. "To be honest with you I don't think the Olympics is likely to be held next year," said Kentaro Iwata, a professor of infectious diseases at Kobe University. Oil prices collapsed to more than two-decade lows as traders grow concerned that storage facilities are reaching their limits. US crude benchmark West Texas Intermediate briefly plunged almost 20 percent to below $15 -- its lowest since 1999 -- in Asian trade as stockpiles continue to build owing to a crash in demand caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. New Zealand will ease a nationwide lockdown next week after claiming success in stopping "an uncontrolled explosion" of the coronavirus, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said. "We have done what very few countries have been able to do," Ardern said. "We have stopped a wave of devastation." The country has been one of the most successful in containing the virus, with around 1,100 known cases among the five-million population, including 12 deaths and 974 recovered patients. Japan's trade surplus dived 99 percent in March from a year earlier as coronavirus woes hit exports to its major trading partners, official data showed. The March surplus came in at 4.9 billion yen ($45.5 million), less than one percent of the year-before figure of 517 billion yen, according to the finance ministry. The coronavirus-delayed Chinese Super League (CSL) season is scheduled to begin in late June or early July, a club chairman says. Suspended leagues across the world, including in Europe, will be watching the CSL with interest as an indicator of the challenges they face in relaunching their own competitions. Afghan toilet paper entrepreneur Zuhal Atmar overcame patriarchy and security threats to build a business that was set to go global due to a coronavirus-induced shortage. But then, the supply of her key raw material -- trash -- dried up. The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered a lockdown in Kabul, forcing scavengers off the streets and slashing access to the waste paper and cardboard which Atmar recycles into pink-and-white loo roll. burs-sr/kaf
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