Asia virus latest: Japan to lift emergency, India domestic flights resume

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

Japan set to lift virus emergency

Japan is poised Monday to lift its nationwide state of emergency over the coronavirus, gradually reopening the world's third-biggest economy after new cases slowed to a crawl.

Compared with hard-hit areas in Europe, the US, Russia, and Brazil, Japan has been spared the worst of the pandemic, with 16,581 cases reported in total and 830 deaths.

Jitters as Indian domestic flights resume

Domestic flights resumed in India even as coronavirus cases surge, while confusion about quarantine rules prompted jitters among passengers and the cancellation of dozens of planes.

India halted almost all commercial air travel in late March as it sought to stop the spread of the coronavirus with the world's largest lockdown.

But desperate to get the economy moving again, the government announced last week that around 1,050 daily flights -- a third of usual capacity -- would restart on Monday.

Japan premium fruit prices plunge

A pair of premium Japanese melons sold for just a slice of the five million yen ($46,000) reached at auction last year, as the coronavirus bites hard, keeping away rich corporate clients.

The melons from Yubari, on the northern island of Hokkaido, sold for a snip at 120,000 yen at the season's first auction -- 40 times less than last year's record price tag.

Fiji Airways halves workforce

Pandemic-hit Fiji Airways fired more than half its workforce as travel restrictions put the islands' vital tourism sector in deep freeze and reduced the national carrier's revenue to "virtually zero".

Chief executive Andre Viljoen said that after "exhausting all other options" the airline had decided to let 758 staff go -- some 51 percent of the workforce -- while those remaining would face a permanent pay cut of 20 percent.

Pro tennis bounces back with NZ tournament

New Zealand Tennis said it was set to host the southern hemisphere's first professional tournament since the COVID-19 shutdown.

The men's Premier League tournament in Auckland next month will feature 24 players competing in three teams at spectator-free arenas over three weeks.