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Health and safety risks from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic can cause an additional burden on workers, local communities, and employers. To support its developing member countries in managing these risks, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has prepared the following advisory note on publicly available international good practice. These preventive measures can be adapted for a variety of workplaces and country-specific contexts.

In Alzheimer's disease (AD), and other tauopathies, microtubule destabilization compromises axonal and synaptic integrity contributing to neurodegeneration. These diseases are characterized by the intracellular accumulation of hyperphosphorylated tau leading to neurofibrillary pathology. AD brains also accumulate amyloid-beta (Aβ) deposits. However, the effect of microtubule stabilizing agents on Aβ pathology has not been assessed so far. Here we have evaluated the impact of the brain-penetrant microtubule-stabilizing agent Epothilone D (EpoD) in an amyloidogenic model of AD. Three-month-old APP/PS1 mice, before the pathology onset, were weekly injected with EpoD for 3 months. Treated mice showed significant decrease in the phospho-tau levels and, more interesting, in the intracellular and extracellular hippocampal Aβ accumulation, including the soluble oligomeric forms. Moreover, a significant cognitive improvement and amelioration of the synaptic and neuritic pathology was found. Remarkably, EpoD exerted a neuroprotective effect on SOM-interneurons, a highly AD-vulnerable GABAergic subpopulation. Therefore, our results suggested that EpoD improved microtubule dynamics and axonal transport in an AD-like context, reducing tau and Aβ levels and promoting neuronal and cognitive protection. These results underline the existence of a crosstalk between cytoskeleton pathology and the two major AD protein lesions. Therefore, microtubule stabilizers could be considered therapeutic agents to slow the progression of both tau and Aβ pathology. ; This study was supported by Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCiii) of Spain, co-financed by FEDER funds from European Union, through grants PI15/00796 and PI18/01557 (both to AG), PI15/00957 and PI18/01556 (both to JV), and CIBERNED (CB06/05/1116 to AG and CB06/05/0094 to JV); by Malaga University grant PPIT.UMA.B1.2017/26 (to RSV). JJFV and CMC were supported by FPU PhD fellowships (Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities). RSV held a postdoctoral contract from Malaga University. IMG is recipient of a senior postdoctoral contract from Ramon y Cajal Program (Spain Government). ; Yes

Almost two decades after the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak, the Chinese government is again confronting a mysterious illness caused by an agent similar to the SARS coronavirus. How China responds to the outbreak have implications for ASEAN states, especially in anticipation of an influx of Chinese visitors during the coming Lunar New Year holiday.

The spread of Coronavirus (COVID-19) has jolted the world economy suspending business activities and forcing millions of people to stay at home. According to estimates, COVID-19 crisis would leave 25 million unemployed in Pakistan pushing millions towards hunger and poverty. Sectors like tourism and travel, stock markets, entertainment, manufacturing etc. are the worst hit. The global economy projection is 2.9% to 2.4% while China's economic forecast has been downgraded from 6.1% to 4.9% (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development [OECD] 2020). The world GDP growth is expected to decrease from earlier projection of 2.9% to 2.4%. European Union will be the most affected in terms of trade loss due to COVID-19 which is estimated as $ 15,597 million (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development [UNCTAD] 2020). The United States is the second most affected country with trade impact of $ 5,779 million. India also falls among top 15 affected countries with trade impact of $ 348 million. Chemicals sector, textile and apparel, automotive, electrical machinery, leather products, metals & metal products, wood products, and furniture are the sectors, which received a severe blow in India.

The spread of COVID-19, an unprecedented anomaly of our times, is so wide and rapid that even most advanced economies are unable to respond to it quickly and appropriately. If this situation persists longer, not only the global health system may collapse but also there are apprehensions of large-scale socioeconomic meltdown. The Global North is currently the most-affected region due to Coronavirus outbreak where most of the governments have clamped complete lockdowns (Map A). These countries not only drive the global economy, trade and politics but also paved the way for labour migration from the Global South, which is underdeveloped or least developed. The Global South is heavily dependent on financial remittances from migrants. In 2019, the global flow of remittances to developing countries was recoded US$ 550 billion, which is larger than Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and Official Development Assistance (ODA) (Plaza et al. 2019). This flow of remittances helped the developing countries to reduce poverty, overcome food insecurity, support balance of payments, and contribute to national economic growth. Pakistan is among top 10 recipients of global remittances (Plaza et al. 2019). In 2019, Pakistan received Rs 21.8 billion foreign remittances, which contribute to about 8 percent of its GDP. In the meantime, the migrant workers in GCC countries dropped to about 60 percent in 2018 compared to 2015, which is mainly due to the nationalization policies opted by these countries (Plaza et al. 2019). The decline in demand for Pakistani migrant workers is alarming and needs immediate attention of the government. Likewise, the strict regulations imposed by the European Union against refugees and asylum seekers during the migrants crisis in 2019 also aggravated the situation. In this backdrop, this policy review looks into the ways how COVID-19 spread can impact remittance flows and what should be the policy options to mitigate this impact.

While people usually rely on the state in times of crisis, the scale and significance of the COVID-19 pandemic necessitates a more inclusive global response. Can the private sector step in to fill existing gaps in the current response?

In Asia, which began to develop nuclear power generation in the 1960s, several countries are considering the introduction of nuclear power. East Asia Summit (EAS) countries that have been using nuclear power are China, India, Japan, and the Republic of Korea. When neighbouring countries use nuclear power or begin generating nuclear power, no country can avoid involvement in potential problems such as information sharing in the event of a nuclear accident, or the transportation of radioactive waste. Hence, delivering information about nuclear power to people in a timely fashion, eliminating information asymmetry, and improving public acceptance of nuclear power generation by both hosting and neighbouring communities are important issues. This research offers policy recommendations for improving the public acceptance of nuclear power in Asia based on a direct exchange of views between opinion leaders in Euro-American countries, since 2018. For many years, there have been entities that successfully communicated with and served as a bridge between residents and business operators in areas where nuclear power facilities are located.

The Russian Federation's population has been declining since 1992, but recently the decline appears to be over. Although fertility has risen since the 2007 introduction of the family policy package, which focused on stimulating second and higher-order births, total fertility rates still remain significantly below replacement rate. Unlike some Western European countries, low overall fertility in Russia can be explained predominantly by a high prevalence of one-child families, despite the two-child ideal family size reported by the majority of Russians. This paper examines the correlates of Russian first-time mothers' desire and decision to have a second child. Using the 2004–12 waves of the Russia Longitudinal Monitoring Survey, the study focuses on the motherhood-career trade-off as a potential obstacle to higher fertility in Russia. The preliminary results indicate that among Russian first-time mothers, being in stable employment is positively associated with the likelihood of having a second child. Moreover, the desire to have a second child is positively associated with the first child attending formal childcare, which suggests that the availability, affordability, and quality of such childcare can be important for promoting fertility. These results are broadly consistent with previous studies in other European countries that indicate that the ability of mothers to combine work and family has important implications for fertility, and that pro-natalist policies focusing on childcare accessibility can offer the greatest payoffs. In addition to these factors, better housing conditions, being married, having an older child, and having a first-born boy are also positively associated with having a second child.

This report explores the sectors that will be instrumental for positive CU impact and competitiveness in the medium term. The initial chapter analyzes the gaps and opportunities the Kyrgyz NQI presents for capturing benefits of access to the enlarged common market across sectors. The next three chapters take an in-depth look at three high-growth sectors and identify adaptation priorities and opportunities. Agriculture, services, and garments are a large and growing share of exports and are the sectors most likely to be transformed by accession to the CU and the increased tariffs to countries outside the EEU. Services added 56 percent to GDP in 2013, while agriculture contributed 18 percent, and manufacturing 16 percent. Exports in the garment sector were close to US$200 million in 2013, employing over 150,000 workers. The main findings of each chapter are summarized below followed by a summary of recommendations. This report is relevant to the Kyrgyz experience as it highlights important differences both in terms of regulations and technical requirements. The report highlights differences between the EU and CU regulatory systems in approaches to food safety and legislation, but it also analyzes the differences in infrastructure aspects of the NQI, such as testing laboratories and certification mechanisms between the EU and CU. The Customs Union approach is based on end-product compliance to a specific technical regulation or standard, whereas the European Union relies on preventive measures and minimizing risks associated with each process throughout the complete food chain. In the CU food control system, food control bodies verify that the end-product meets the required technical specifications established by the government; in the EU system, end-product attributes such as size, color, shape, smell, and taste are generally left to the marketplace to judge if they are acceptable. Importantly, the report pinpoints specific technical requirements for EU food safety that differ from the CU requirements (microbiological criteria for foodstuff, contaminants in food; maximum residue limits for residues of pesticides, and pharmacologically active substances).

Indonesia has made significant increase in rural sanitation access and services from 20.64 percent in 2006 to 44.09 percent in 2013. A study conducted in 2012 estimated a capacity gap of 12,000-18,000 sanitation professionals (from engineers to community workers) to meet the 2015 millennium development goal (MDG) targets, with 30 percent of community health centers not having frontline sanitation personnel. Capacity building programs have so far been largely conducted by technical units, projects, and local government offices. Following an assessment on how and where to best address the issues, the technical assistance (TA) recommended a transformative approach, away from project-based cascading training where training is done at national level and then repeated and cascaded to provincial, district, sub-district, and village levels to an institutionalized capacity building program. The institutionalization of capacity building program targeted two primary audiences: future professionals (pre-service) addressed through integrating national strategy for community-based total sanitation (STBM) modules into health polytechnic schools curriculae and current professionals (inservice) addressed through accredited and certified training programs, with an additional e-learning scheme to reach out to a wider group of professionals and interested parties. The support to scale-up the use of the STBM human resource capacity building system can be provided via a circular letter of Ministry of Health (MoH) to local health offices and STBM partners. Continuous support through the MoH system to follow-up and evaluate outcomes of training and education will be key to sustainability and roll-out across all provinces of Indonesia.

This paper contributes to the limited literature on the welfare impacts of market concentration by developing a simple model that shows how exogenous variations in market power affect poverty. Increased market power leads to economy-wide welfare losses, because it raises the prices of goods and services for all agents in an economy and thus reduces the relative incomes of households, particularly among the poor. Declines in poverty in this context are only possible in the case wherein the poor have access to a share of oligopolistic rents. Although this scenario seems highly unlikely, this result has important implications for public policy, particularly for economies with less-than-perfect markets and social objectives of poverty eradication. This result suggest the possibility of taxing extranormal rents extracted by firms with market power and redistributing them through targeted lump-sum social transfers, thereby contributing to poverty reduction by mitigating welfare losses from the negative price effect.

Despite significant improvements in per capita expenditures and a marked decline in poverty over the 2000s, a large fraction of Eastern Europe and Central Asias population reports their economic situation in the late 2000s to be worse than in 1989. This paper uses data from the Life in Transition Survey to document the gap between objective and subjective economic mobility and investigate what may drive this apparent disconnection. The paper aims at identifying some of the drivers behind subjective perceptions of economic mobility, focusing on the role of perceptions of fairness and trust in shaping peoples perceptions of their upward or downward mobility. The results show that close to half of the households in the region perceive to have experienced downward economic mobility, that is, that their position in the income distribution has deteriorated. The results also show that perceptions of higher inequality, unfairness, and distrust in public institutions are associated with downward subjective economic mobility. The findings from this study confirm that factors beyond objective well-being are associated with the perceptions of mobility observed in Europe and Central Asia and may explain why the region has had such a pessimistic view of economic mobility during the past two decades. Understanding what drives peoples perceptions of their living standards and quality of life is important, because regardless of objective measures, perceptions could influence peoples behavior, including support for reforms and labor market decisions. For Eastern Europe and Central Asia, a region that has undergone substantive transformations and which is still going through a reform process, accounting for these aspects is critical.