Coronavirus, Vladimir Putin, India’s Workers: Your Wednesday Briefing

Passengers crossing the only open land border into Phuket, Thailand, got sprayed with disinfectant on Tuesday.Credit...Adam Dean for The New York Times Cities and countries that seemed to have brought their outbreaks under control are tightening their borders as they face worries about a new wave of infections from abroad. A surge in cases tied to international travelers led China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan to close their borders to foreigners in recent days. She elaborated on some of the psychological toll that can result from being indefinitely locked down: “Being isolated for a long time, without physical and social contact with people from around the world, may have a profound effect at a societal as well as individual level.” In Kandahar Province, a tailor named Mohammad Younas turned his shop into a mask factory and is handing his products out to the poor. He said he came up with the idea after realizing that the cost of masks in drugstores was too high for most people; about half the population lives below the poverty line. Chinese fleets have been illegally fishing in a rich part of the South China Sea that is internationally recognized as belonging to Indonesia. Trawlers scrape the bottom of the sea for their catch — destroying other marine life — and expand Beijing’s maritime claims . “I can’t say it’s uplifting, but Ehrenreich is one of our best thinkers about exactly the issues we’re facing, like the economy, inequality and health,” says Dan Saltzstein, a special projects editor. And Kyle Turner will introduce you to the dreamy, mystical animation of the filmmaker Jodie Mack — short film, big smiles.