Pak World News

UK's Johnson says devolving powers to Scotland was 'a disaster'

noreply@blogger.com (news) — Tue, 17 Nov 2020 14:46:00 +0000

UK's Johnson says devolving powers to Scotland was 'a disaster'

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson called the devolution of powers to Scotland “a disaster”, a comment that played into the hands of Scottish nationalists pushing for an independence referendum that opinion polls suggest they could win.

The bonds holding the United Kingdom together have been severely strained over the last five years by Brexit and the government’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, and 14 recent polls have shown a majority of Scots now support independence.

In a video call on Friday with northern English lawmakers from his Conservative Party, Johnson said that devolution, introduced by Tony Blair had been the former prime minister’s “biggest mistake” and “a disaster”, media reported.

He also said he saw no case for giving Scotland’s semi-autonomous government and parliament, which are dominated by the pro-independence Scottish National Party (SNP), any further powers in addition to the ones they hold now.

Johnson’s office did not deny the comments.

Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, the SNP leader, jumped on them, arguing that the Conservatives’ public statements of support for devolution were duplicitous.

“Worth bookmarking these PM comments for the next time Tories (Conservatives) say they’re not a threat to the powers of the Scottish Parliament - or, even more incredibly, that they support devolving more powers,” she said on Twitter.

Independence is the only way to protect and strengthen the Scottish parliament, she added.

In a sign of the nervousness that Johnson’s comments caused among Scots who support staying part of the United Kingdom, the Conservative leader in Scotland, Douglas Ross, immediately contradicted the prime minister.

“Devolution has not been a disaster,” he said on Twitter. “The SNP’s non-stop obsession with another referendum - above jobs, schools and everything else - has been a disaster.”

SECOND REFERENDUM?

Scottish voters rejected independence by 55 to 45 percent in a 2014 referendum, but since then the SNP have become stronger, winning all elections in Scotland by huge margins. They are expected to perform strongly in elections to Scottish parliament in Holyrood in May. Sturgeon is pushing for a second referendum.

In the 2016 Brexit referendum, England and Wales voted to leave the European Union but Scotland and Northern Ireland voted to remain. Due to the much greater size of England’s population, the overall result was a win for Brexit.

This was galling for many Scots, because one of the central arguments put forward in favour of remaining in the United Kingdom in their own 2014 referendum was that it was the only way for Scotland to remain part of the European bloc.

In an attempt to defuse the row caused by Johnson’s comments, the housing minister Robert Jenrick said it was not realistic to demand a second referendum.

“Any politician who wanted to hold a referendum on a topic like this, at this moment in time, is frankly mad,” he said, accusing the SNP of prioritising their cause above the fight against COVID-19 and the economic damage it has caused.

However, polls suggest that Scots have a more favourable view of how Sturgeon and her administration have handled the pandemic than the rest of the country has of how Johnson’s government has performed.

Biden could name top staff as Trump tries to block transition

noreply@blogger.com (news) — Tue, 17 Nov 2020 14:34:00 +0000

Biden could name top staff as Trump tries to block transition

President-elect Joe Biden will focus on shaping his core White House team on Tuesday while outgoing President Donald Trump presses on with his increasingly tenuous legal fight to reverse his loss in the U.S. election.

Biden s senior campaign staff have been discussing their roles in the transition and the new administration that takes over Jan. 20. Several roles could be announced as soon as Tuesday, according to a person familiar with the matter.

U.S. Representative Cedric Richmond, who was a national co-chair of Biden s campaign and former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, is expected to join the administration in a senior capacity, as is Steve Ricchetti, who has long been a close adviser to Biden, the person said. Richmond s move would leave his Louisiana congressional seat open.

Jen O Malley Dillon, who was brought in early this year as Biden s campaign manager and is the first woman to lead a winning Democratic presidential bid, is expected to be named a deputy chief of staff.

Other roles could also be disclosed this week though Biden could still be weeks away from finalizing his slate of cabinet appointees.

None of the potential appointees could be reached for comment. A spokesman for Biden s transition team declined to comment.

Biden, a Democrat, is also set to receive a briefing on national security threats from his own advisers. Trump, a Republican who has not conceded the Nov. 3 election, has blocked him from receiving classified intelligence briefings usually provided to the successor in a transition.

General Services Administrator Emily Murphy has not recognized Biden as the "apparent winner." A spokeswoman for Murphy said the administrator was following precedent and would "make an ascertainment when the winner is clear." Critics say Murphy is holding off under pressure from the White House, a claim rejected by administration officials.

The Republican Trump has remained angry and defiant on social media even as some prominent Republicans have asserted that Biden should be considered the president-elect.

Trump s national security adviser, Robert O Brien, said on Monday he would ensure a professional transition in the likely event that Biden is deemed the winner.

"If the Biden-Harris ticket is determined to be the winner, and obviously things look like that now, we ll have a very professional transition from the National Security Council," O Brien told the Global Security Forum.

At a news conference on Monday, Biden again called upon Trump to cooperate with the transfer of power, saying that the resurgent COVID-19 pandemic meant lives were in the balance. "More people may die if we don t coordinate," he said.

CLEAR BIDEN VICTORY

Though a definitive winner from the election did not emerge until four days later, Biden s victory has become clearer as more votes have been counted.

Biden won the legally meaningless but symbolically important national popular vote by at least 5.6 million votes, or 3.6 percentage points, with some ballots still being counted.

In the all-important state-by-state Electoral College, Biden surpassed the 270 votes needed to win with 306 to Trump s 232.

As states work to certify those results before a Dec. 8 deadline, Trump and his supporters have claimed he was cheated by fraud, but so far those baseless allegations have failed to gain traction in court.

One of Trump s legal challenges will get a hearing on Tuesday in a Pennsylvania federal court, where another legal setback would likely doom his already long-shot prospects.

U.S. District Judge Matthew Brann will hear arguments in a Trump campaign lawsuit that seeks to halt the state s top election official from certifying Biden as the winner.

In order to remain in office, Trump would need to overturn results in at least three of the closely contested states in unprecedented fashion, and has no apparent legal means to do so.

Trump supporters are also clinging to hope that recounts could reverse state results, even though experts have said Biden s margins appear insurmountable.

Georgia is undertaking a manual recount on its own, but in Wisconsin the Trump campaign would have to pay for a recount in advance. The Wisconsin Elections Commission on Monday estimated such a recount would cost $7.9 million.

Georgia s top elections official, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, told the Washington Post he has come under pressure from fellow Republicans who have launched false fraud allegations or questioned the legality of valid votes.

He also said he and his wife have received death threats.

"Other than getting you angry, it s also very disillusioning, particularly when it comes from people on my side of the aisle," Raffensperger told the Post. "Everyone that is working on this needs to elevate their speech. We need to be thoughtful and careful about what we say."

Is Trump mounting a coup -- or just putting on a circus?

noreply@blogger.com (news) — Fri, 13 Nov 2020 06:04:00 +0000

Is Trump mounting a coup -- or just putting on a circus?

Is President Donald Trump s unprecedented assault on the US election results a coup in progress -- or mere political show?

In this golden age of conspiracy theories, few can agree.

Ostensibly, Trump is exercising his right to complain that the count showing Democrat Joe Biden with a solid if close win was wrong. "Rigged Election!" he tweeted in his latest broadside Thursday.

But the president is not making much sense.

Plenty of US elections have been as close as his November 3 loss -- or closer -- and no incumbent ever alleged that his victory was stolen or refused to concede. US elections just don t have those kinds of problems.

More than a week after Election Day, not a single piece of credible, significant evidence of fraud has been provided.

So what s really going on?

For some, Trump is finally showing his true authoritarian colors.

This is a president who openly admires the likes of President Vladimir Putin, the king of warping democratic institutions to award himself power. Now, the theory goes, he s following suit.

But what if Trump is more slipshod showman than Machiavellian mastermind?

If his team s embarrassing courtroom failures and a bizarre press conference by his fixer Rudy Giuliani at a Philadelphia gardening center called Four Seasons Total Landscaping are anything to go by, that may be the more logical answer.

- The coup theory -

Still, when Trump fired his relatively independent-minded defense secretary Mark Esper on Monday, and then several other high-ranking officials, blood pressure levels shot up among those already on edge.

"In the last 24 hours, the Secretary of Defense (SecDef), the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy (USD-P), and the Under Secretary of Defense for Intell (OUSD-I) have been sacked.... Why?" tweeted Alexander Vindman, a retired army officer turned White House staffer who was fired after testifying against Trump during his 2019 impeachment.

Alarm bells also went off when Trump s attorney general, Bill Barr, authorized federal prosecutors to join Trump s quest for election irregularities.

The Justice Department s chief election crimes official, Richard Pilger, resigned in protest.

Barr is "permitting the department to be weaponized to try to overturn the results of this election," wrote former senior Pentagon lawyer Ryan Goodman and Andrew Weissmann, who was part of the special counsel s team investigating Trump s Russia links, in The Washington Post.

In the most extreme scenario, some warn of a coup within the Electoral College.

This is the mostly symbolic body comprised of representatives sent from each state to elect presidents on the basis of the popular vote.

What if Republican state legislatures managed to send hand-picked electors who would ignore the vote and choose Trump instead?

The doomsday scenario is being widely discussed in the media but appears far-fetched in real life.

"To begin with, even talk of doing so would trigger massive unrest and put legislators under unprecedented pressure," wrote Richard Hasen, a law professor at the University of California.

But given the high stakes, nerves are jangled.

And Secretary of State Mike Pompeo s odd comment on Tuesday that the government is preparing for "a second Trump term" didn t help.

- Circuses and careers -

The alternate theory is that Trump is just being Trump -- the perpetual performer who can t stand being out of the limelight and will leave the stage only after putting on the show of his life.

Even though he came second, Trump got more than 72 million votes and that huge fan base is famously loyal.

According to a Politico/Morning Consult poll, an amazing 70 percent of Republicans don t think the election was free and fair -- testimony to the power of Trump s persuasion.

So it would make sense for a man whose brand rests heavily on macho concepts about "fighting" and "winning" to go down in the way his followers expect.

Beyond putting on a political circus, Trump may have more personal goals: his financial and career future.

At an energetic 74 and in possession of a gigantic database of voter information, Trump clearly has options beyond quietly curating a presidential library.

One clue lies in his frantic appeals for money.

Read the fine print in Trump s "Official Election Defense Fund" mass emails and it becomes apparent that donations won t only go to fighting the "left-wing MOB."

A hefty portion is being directed to paying off Trump s 2020 campaign debt and more is going to a newly formed Political Action Committee or PAC which will help him back chosen candidates in the future or even launch a possible new presidential bid in 2024.

Whether or not Trump pursues electoral politics, he is widely expected to dive into broadcasting, with a reported mission to punish Fox News for what he sees as insufficient loyalty.

Fox "forgot what made them successful, what got them there. They forgot the Golden Goose," he said Thursday in a burst of tweets attacking Rupert Murdoch s network and boosting the conspiracy theory peddling right-wing channels Newsmax and OANN.

Could Trump s post-election chaos in fact be the pilot episode for the former reality TV star s next series?

'No evidence' of lost or changed votes: US election officials

noreply@blogger.com (news) — Fri, 13 Nov 2020 04:57:00 +0000

'No evidence' of lost or changed votes: US election officials

Senior US federal and state election officials said Thursday that there was "no evidence" that votes were lost or changed, or voting systems corrupted, in the presidential election.

The officials, responsible for election security across the country, rejected claims made by President Donald Trump and Republicans that fraud and lost ballots led to his loss to Democrat Joe Biden in last week s election.

"The November 3rd election was the most secure in American history," they said in a statement.

"There is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised," they said.

"While we know there are many unfounded claims and opportunities for misinformation about the process of our elections, we can assure you we have the utmost confidence in the security and integrity of our elections, and you should too."

The statement was issued by the Election Infrastructure Government Coordinating Council, a public-private umbrella group under the primary federal election security body, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).

It was signed by the heads of the National Association of State Election Directors and the National Association of Secretaries of State -- the officials who manage elections at the state level -- and by the chairman of the US Election Assistance Commission.

It came hours after Trump retweeted a baseless claim that an election equipment maker "deleted" 2.7 million votes for him nationwide and switched hundreds of thousand from him to Biden in Pennsylvania and other states.

It was the latest in a series of bogus assertions Trump and Republicans have put forth in order to reject Biden s victory.

The company, Dominion Voting Systems, and the Pennsylvania Department of States flatly denied Trump s claims.

The statement from the election security officials also came amid reports that Trump could fire the head of CISA, Chris Krebs, who has made a strong effort to stifle unsupported allegations of fraud that have surfaced while the votes have been counted around the country.

Despite that, rumors and conspiracy theories of a corrupted vote that allegedly "robbed" Trump have flooded the internet, and Republicans and the Trump campaign have filed multiple lawsuits around the country claiming irregularities.

So far none have been substantiated in court.

The statement said that election officials across the country are currently "reviewing and double-checking" their state and local results prior to certifying the numbers.

"When states have close elections, many will recount ballots. All of the states with close results in the 2020 presidential race have paper records of each vote, allowing the ability to go back and count each ballot if necessary," the officials said.

UK 'reaching' virus peak as death toll approaches 13,000

noreply@blogger.com (news) — Thu, 16 Apr 2020 04:24:00 +0000

UK 'reaching' virus peak as death toll approaches 13,000

England s chief medical officer said on Wednesday he believed the UK coronavirus death toll, which now stands at almost 13,000, was approaching its peak but warned of grim figures to follow in the next 24 hours.

"On the issue of the peak, our view is that it is probably reaching the peak overall and that is what the flattening shows," Professor Chris Whitty said at a daily government crisis news briefing when asked about the number of people losing their life.

But any optimism was tinged with the prospect that high fatality numbers "will continue", Whitty said, confirming Britain as one of the worst affected countries by the global pandemic.

"I think it s important, and I am saying this because new data will come out presumably tomorrow. My expectation would be that the number of deaths may well go up."

Figures announced by the health ministry earlier Wednesday showed that 12,868 people in hospital have died from the coronavirus, a rise of 761 on the previous day.

That was slightly down from the 778 fatalities recorded on Tuesday but noticeably lower than a high of 980 deaths declared last Friday.

The number of people who have tested positive for COVID-19 in the UK has now reached 98,476.

Whitty s comments came ahead of a government decision, expected on Thursday, to extend the lockdown and renew a stay-at-home order imposed three weeks ago to stem the spread of COVID-19.

The government has come under increasing pressure in recent days over the death toll as charities and others said it did not reveal the true scale of the number of fatalities in British care homes.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock announced on Wednesday, at the same briefing, that people with relatives in care homes would be given the "right to say goodbye" if they were gravely ill with the virus.

Earlier in the day, Keir Starmer, the new leader of the opposition Labour Party, said it would support any government decision to extend the social distancing orders.

However, Starmer, who was elected Labour leader earlier this month, called on ministers to explain within a week their plan for easing restrictions, both to reassure the public and to give lawmakers time scrutinise it properly.

"People need hope, they need to know there s light at the end of the tunnel," Starmer told BBC radio.

In a letter to the government, he also warned: "We cannot repeat mistakes that have already been made on testing and access to protective equipment."

Prime Minister Boris Johnson s Conservative government has been criticised for not introducing the lockdown earlier, and for failing to properly prepare for the outbreak.

Medical staff and care homes still complain of a lack of protective equipment, while testing for coronavirus remains limited.

The government has promised 100,000 tests a day by the end of the month, but Starmer noted it was only at about 15,000 a day now.

"If (mass) testing is part of the answer, then we now know that plans need to be in place to ramp up testing," he said.

Starmer formally set out his request in a letter to Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, who is deputising for Johnson while the prime minister recovers from his own bout of coronavirus.

"This lockdown is not affecting people equally. In fact, it has exacerbated existing inequalities in our country," Starmer wrote.

"A family living in an overcrowded flat will have particular challenges. And it is hard to imagine the daily horror of someone trapped in a home with his or her abuser."

He asked Raab to set out clearly what criteria the government will use to inform the decision on how to ease the lockdown, and which economic sectors might be first to benefit.

However, a government source said it was too soon, saying: "Talk of an exit strategy before we have reached the peak risks confusing the critical message that people need to stay at home

France virus toll tops 17,000, numbers hospitalised down for first time: official

noreply@blogger.com (news) — Thu, 16 Apr 2020 04:17:00 +0000

France virus toll tops 17,000, numbers hospitalised down for first time: official

Over 17,000 people have now died in France from COVID-19, a top health official said on Wednesday, but the total number currently hospitalised has fallen for the first time since the epidemic began.

A total of 17,167 people are now confirmed to have died in France in hospitals and nursing homes, Jerome Salomon told reporters, compared with a total toll of 15,729 the day earlier.

But he said the difference between the two figures did not represent a daily toll due to the delayed collation of data from the Easter weekend.

In better news, he said there were currently 513 fewer coronavirus patients in hospital than the day before. "It remains very high but... the total shows for the first time a fall thanks to people who have been discharged."

In another encouraging sign, the total number in intensive care fell for the seventh day in a row, this time by 273 patients.

"A slight fall in the demand for intensive care is being confirmed," Salomon said, while adding that there was still pressure in some regions such as eastern France and the Paris area.

France has been in lockdown since March 17 in a bid to slow the spread of the epidemic, with only essential trips allowed.

President Emmanuel Macron on Monday said that the epidemic "was beginning to steady" in France and added the lockdown could begin to be eased from May 11.

He said schools could gradually reopen then but cafes, cinemas and cultural venues would remain closed, and there could be no summer festivals until mid-July at the earliest.

Nearly 2,600 US coronavirus deaths in 24 hours Itally

noreply@blogger.com (news) — Thu, 16 Apr 2020 04:08:00 +0000

Nearly 2,600 US coronavirus deaths in 24 hours Itally

The United States on Wednesday posted nearly 2,600 additional deaths from COVID-19 in 24 hours, a new record and the heaviest daily toll of any country, Johns Hopkins University said.

A running tally from Johns Hopkins showed 2,569 victims at 8:30 pm Eastern Time (0030 GMT Thursday), compared with the same time the previous evening, bringing the total number of US deaths to 28,326 -- higher than any other nation.

The figures came after President Donald Trump earlier in the evening said "the data suggests that nationwide we have passed the peak on new cases," and he will announce Thursday the first plans for lifting coronavirus lockdowns.

According to Johns Hopkins, the number of cases in the US reached 636,350.

Trump says US likely passed the peak of coronavirus cases

President Donald Trump said Wednesday the United States is past the worst of the coronavirus pandemic and that he will announce guidelines for reopening the economy on Thursday.

"It is clear that our aggressive strategy is working," he told a news conference. "The battle continues but the data suggests that nationwide we have passed the peak on new cases."

Trump added that "these encouraging developments have put us in a very strong position to finalize guidelines for states on reopening the country."

He said he would discuss this in a news conference on Thursday, "announcing guidelines."

Facing a tough re-election in November, the Republican president has been bullish on reopening the world s largest economy as soon as possible.

On Monday, he threatened to invoke his "total" power to force state governors to follow his directives on reopening, prompting an outcry.

He backpedaled on the comment the following day, saying he was not going to put "any pressure" on governors to reopen.

"We ll be opening up states, some states much sooner than others," Trump said during his Wednesday briefing. "We think some of the states can open up before the deadline of May 1."

"We ll be the comeback kids, all of us."

Anthony Fauci, the veteran US pandemic expert, said in a televised interview Sunday that parts of the country could begin easing restrictions in May, but cautioned that reopening would not work like a "light switch."

The US has been battered by the coronavirus, with nearly 633,000 confirmed cases, according to a running tally by Johns Hopkins University, by far the highest number in the world.

The virus has claimed almost 28,000 lives throughout the country -- also the world s highest.

Global virus death toll passes 94,000, but some signs of hope

noreply@blogger.com (news) — Fri, 10 Apr 2020 10:06:00 +0000

Global virus death toll passes 94,000, but some signs of hope

Another horror day of the coronavirus pandemic saw the global death toll pass 94,000, although there were tentative signs of hope that the crisis was peaking in the United States and Europe.

The picture of the unfolding economic catastrophe also became clearer with the IMF warning of a Great Depression and data showing 17 million Americans lost their jobs, but a European Union financial rescue package agreement offered some relief to the barrage of bad news.

Another 1,700 people died in the United States on Thursday, while there were hundreds more deaths across Europe, driving the confirmed global toll above 94,000.

Nearly half of all pandemic fatalities have occurred over the past week.

But authorities in worst-hit Europe and the United States said a slight decline in daily deaths and infections gave reason to hope the worst could be over.

"The fire started by the pandemic is starting to come under control," said Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez of Spain, where fatalities inched down to 683 from 757 a day before, pushing that country’s total above 15,000.

"Our priority now is not to turn back, especially not to return to our starting point, not to lower our guard."

France also reported that 82 fewer people were in intensive care for COVID-19 -- the first fall since the pandemic broke out.

And Anthony Fauci, the US government’s top pandemic expert, said the United States was "going in the right direction".

The US recorded 1,783 deaths in the past 24 hours, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University as of 0030 GMT Friday, lower than the previous day’s record toll of 1,973.

The US has seen more than 16,500 confirmed deaths, the second-highest tally in the world after Italy, and more than 460,000 confirmed cases.

In New York, the epicentre of the virus in the United States, only 200 more people entered hospitals, the lowest number since the pandemic struck, even though 799 people died over the last day, Governor Andrew Cuomo said.

"We are flattening the curve by what we are doing," Cuomo said, adding, "We have to keep the curve flat."

But he declined to predict how New York would fare in the coming weeks, telling reporters bluntly: "I have no idea."

Further lifting spirits, the health improved of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the highest profile of the 1.5 million people infected by the virus, and he ended three days of intensive care.

However Britain announced another 881 deaths on Thursday, taking the total to nearly 8,000.

‘A Europe that protects’

On the economic front, Europe attempted a fightback with EU finance ministers agreeing in late-night talks to a 500 billion-euro ($550 billion) rescue package aimed at reducing pain across the 27-nation bloc, especially hardest-hit Italy and Spain.

"Europe has decided and is ready to meet the gravity of the crisis," French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire tweeted after the talks.

He warned earlier in the day that France’s economy was expected to shrink six percent this year, even with the country’s own 100-billion-euro relief plan.

The US Federal Reserve threw its own fresh lifeline to Americans, with chairman Jerome Powell announcing a $2.3 trillion financing measure "to provide as much relief and stability as we can during this period of constrained economic activity."

The International Monetary Fund said 170 of its 180 members would see declines in per capita income this year -- just a few months after predictions that nearly all would enjoy growth.

"We anticipate the worst economic fallout since the Great Depression," said IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva, urging governments to provide lifelines to businesses and households alike.

Developing world fears

And despite hopeful signs in Western nations as well as in China, where the virus was first detected late last year, there are fears the worst is still to come in much of the developing world.

War-torn Yemen, which has been experiencing one of the world’s most acute humanitarian crises, on Friday reported its first case.

Brazilian authorities Thursday confirmed the first deaths in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro where crowding and poor sanitation have raised fears of a catastrophe.

There are similar fears in India, where hundreds of millions of poor people are becoming increasingly desperate.

"I keep hearing that the government will do this and that. No one has even come to see if we are alive or dead," Rajni Devi, a mother of three, told AFP in a slum on the outskirts of New Delhi.

In a move to build international solidarity over the crisis, Germany on Thursday led a videoconference session of the UN Security Council on the pandemic.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres opened the session by calling the pandemic "the fight of a generation -- and the raison d’etre of the United Nations itself."

Guterres appealed for a global halt to conflicts to concentrate on the COVID-19 fight.

Saudi Arabia embraced the call by announcing a unilateral pause in its brutal offensive against rebels who control much of Yemen.

US President Donald Trump said he spoke Thursday to Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, and Russian President Vladimir Putin, and thought they were near a deal to end an oil price war that has thrown further uncertainties into the global economy.

OPEC announced Friday that major oil producers except Mexico had agreed to cut output.

Russia reports new record daily rise of coronavirus cases

noreply@blogger.com (news) — Fri, 10 Apr 2020 09:50:00 +0000

Russia reports new record daily rise of coronavirus cases

Russia reported 1,786 more coronavirus cases on Friday, its largest daily rise so far, which took the national tally of confirmed infections to 11,917.

The number of coronavirus-related deaths rose by 18 to 94, the Russian coronavirus crisis response center said in a statement

Saudi-led coalition declares 2-week coronavirus ceasefire in Yemen

noreply@blogger.com (news) — Thu, 09 Apr 2020 05:28:00 +0000

Saudi-led coalition declares 2-week coronavirus ceasefire in Yemen

The Riyadh-led military coalition fighting Yemen s Huthi rebels has declared a two-week ceasefire in the country starting Thursday in a bid to combat the spread of the deadly coronavirus.

The unilateral ceasefire follows an escalation in fighting between the warring parties despite a call by the United Nations for an immediate cessation to protect civilians in the Arab world s poorest nation from the pandemic.

The announcement, due to take effect from 0900 GMT Thursday, marks the first breakthrough since the warring parties agreed to a UN-brokered ceasefire in the port city of Hodeida during talks in Sweden in late 2018.

"The coalition is determined... to support efforts towards combatting the spread of COVID-19 pandemic," Turki al-Maliki, the military alliance s spokesman, said on Wednesday.

"The coalition announces a comprehensive ceasefire in Yemen for a period of two weeks, starting on Thursday."

The two-week truce, which could be extended, was aimed at creating "appropriate conditions" for a UN-sponsored meeting between the warring parties to enable a "permanent ceasefire" in Yemen, Maliki added.

There was no immediate reaction from the Iran-aligned rebels.

But hours before the announcement, the rebels released a comprehensive document that called for a withdrawal of foreign troops and the end of the coalition s blockade on Yemen s land, sea and air ports.

The coalition, which launched its military intervention to support Yemen s internationally recognised government in 2015, said it was fully committed to a two-week ceasefire.

But when asked whether it will respond if the rebels persist with attacks during the truce, a Saudi official said it reserved the right to "defend our people".

UN special envoy Martin Griffiths welcomed the truce, calling on the warring parties to "cease immediately all hostilities with the utmost urgency".

The ceasefire comes as Saudi Arabia, reeling from plunging oil prices, seeks to extricate itself from the costly five-year conflict that has killed tens of thousands of people and triggered what the UN calls the world s worst humanitarian crisis.

Saudi deputy defence minister Prince Khalid bin Salman called on the rebels to "show good will" by seriously engaging in dialogue.

"The two week ceasefire will hopefully create a more effective climate to deescalate tensions, work with (Griffiths) towards a sustainable political settlement," Prince Khalid said on Twitter.

The United Nations has repeatedly called for an immediate cessation of hostilities in Yemen to help avert potentially disastrous consequences of the coronavirus outbreak.

Yemen s broken healthcare system has so far recorded no cases of the COVID-19 illness, but aid groups have warned that when it does hit, the impact will be catastrophic.

"The ceasefire seems to be more of a courtesy than a policy -- it comes in response to UN calls to deescalate during the COVID-19 crisis," Fatima Abo Alasrar, a scholar at the Middle East Institute, told AFP.

Saudi Arabia, the Yemeni government and the Huthi rebels had all welcomed an appeal from UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres for an "immediate global ceasefire" to help avert disaster for vulnerable people in conflict zones.

"It is most important to watch if the Huthis will stop their military operations," Alasrar said.

"That will be the real litmus test of a successful ceasefire as the Huthis have currently opened multiple battlefronts they cannot afford to close."

Fighting recently escalated again between the Huthis and Riyadh-backed Yemeni troops around the strategic northern districts of Al-Jouf and Marib, ending a months-long lull.

And Saudi air defences intercepted Yemeni rebel missiles over Riyadh and the border city of Jizan late last month, leaving two civilians wounded in the curfew-locked capital, state media reported.

It was the first major assault on Saudi Arabia since the Huthi rebels offered last September to halt attacks on the kingdom after devastating assaults on Saudi oil installations.

Last week, the coalition carried out multiple air strikes on Yemen s rebel-held capital Sanaa in retaliation for the missile strikes.

WHO urges virus unity after Trump attack

noreply@blogger.com (news) — Thu, 09 Apr 2020 05:09:00 +0000

WHO urges virus unity after Trump attack

The World Health Organization on Wednesday pleaded for global unity in fighting the coronavirus, following US President Donald Trump s stinging attack on its handling of the pandemic.

As the WHO prepares to mark 100 days on Thursday since it was first notified of the outbreak in China, director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus hit back at accusations that it had been too close to Beijing.

The UN s health agency has faced criticism in the past both for overreacting and for moving too slowly in fighting epidemics, but it has rarely faced as much scrutiny as with the COVID-19 pandemic.

Trump piled in on Tuesday, accusing the WHO having "called it wrong" and months too late, while taking US money but favouring China.

The new coronavirus, which first appeared in China in December, has gone on to kill more than 80,000 people, while more than 1.4 million people have tested positive.

"The WHO really blew it. For some reason, funded largely by the United States, yet very China centric. We will be giving that a good look," Trump said on Twitter.

"Fortunately I rejected their advice on keeping our borders open to China early on. Why did they give us such a faulty recommendation?"

Tedros urged the United States to join with China in combating the disease rather than indulging in a blame game, as he issued a stern defence of the WHO s management of the pandemic.

"The United States and China should come together and fight this dangerous enemy," Tedros told a virtual press briefing in Geneva.

"The focus of all political parties should be to save their people. Please don t politicise this virus.

"If you don t want many more body bags, then you refrain from politicising it," the WHO chief argued, before adding later: "It s like playing with fire."

Citing the death toll and number of infections, Tedros implored: "For God s sake... is this not enough?"

The WHO was deemed too alarmist when it faced the H1N1 epidemic in 2009 but five years later it was accused of dragging its feet in declaring an emergency over the Ebola outbreak in west Africa, which killed more than 11,000 people.

Now the agency has been accused of delaying sounding the alarm over COVID-19 for fear of offending Beijing, for waiting too long to declare the outbreak a global pandemic and for failing to coordinate a coherent international response.

Tedros has been giving thrice-weekly virtual press conferences in a bid to be open about how the organisation is dealing with the pandemic.

On Wednesday, in a highly unusual turn, Ethiopia s former health and foreign minister spoke out for the first time about the personal attacks aimed at him, including racial slurs and a death threat, during the crisis.

"I don t give a damn," Tedros said.

"I am a very proud black person or negro. I don t care being called even negro; I am.

"When the whole black community was insulted, when Africa was insulted, then I don t tolerate," he said, referring to suggestions last week from two scientists about the continent s suitability as a vaccine testing ground.

Late Wednesday he retweeted the personal support he has received from the African Union and the presidents of South Africa, Nigeria and Rwanda.

United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres lent his support too, saying it was not the time to criticise the early response to the outbreak.

"Now is the time for unity, for the international community to work together in solidarity to stop this virus and its shattering consequences," he said in a statement.

Tedros can call also on some top-level celebrity backing, such as US superstar Lady Gaga.

He has teamed up with the singer to launch a giant online coronavirus awareness concert on April 18 entitled "One World: Together at Home", featuring music icons like Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder.

Tedros said there would be worse to come from COVID-19 if the world did not unite to stand up to its spread.

"Let s fight like hell to suppress and control this virus," he said.

"Otherwise, with the way we are doing now, I think we will regret it."

UN Chief calls for Unity after Trump Slams WHO

noreply@blogger.com (news) — Thu, 09 Apr 2020 04:55:00 +0000

UN chief calls for unity after Trump slams WHO

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday said it was not the time to criticize the early response to the coronavirus pandemic, after US President Donald Trump attacked the World Health Organization.

"Once we finally turn the page on this epidemic there must be a time to look back fully ... But now it is not that time," Guterres said in a statement.

"Now is the time for unity, for the international community to work together in solidarity to stop this virus and its shattering consequences."

Trump, whose own response to the crisis has been widely criticized, on Tuesday accused the WHO of reacting slowly.

"They called it wrong. They really missed the call. They could have called it months earlier," he said.

He questioned why the WHO had given "such a faulty recommendation," apparently referring to its earlier advice against curtailing international travel to stop the virus which first spread from China.

Guterres said the WHO "is on the front lines, supporting member states and their societies, especially the most vulnerable among them, with guidance, training, equipment and concrete life-saving services."

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Wednesday also urged leaders to stop politicizing the pandemic and issued a stern defense of the body s work.

Virus Deaths Soar in US, Europe as Trump sees light at end of Tunnel

noreply@blogger.com (news) — Thu, 09 Apr 2020 04:45:00 +0000

Virus Deaths Soar in US, Europe as Trump sees light at end of Tunnel

The United States saw nearly 2,000 coronavirus deaths for a second day running as the toll soared again in Europe, despite US President Donald Trump s insistence that there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Governments are grappling with how to balance public safety against the devastating economic impact of stay-at-home orders that have erased millions of jobs in a matter of weeks.

More than 86,000 people worldwide have died in the virus crisis, which has sent the global economy spiralling and forced billions of people to remain at home as much as possible.

As the economic downturn starts to bite, health experts stressed that any premature loosening of restrictions could accelerate the spread of a contagion that has already infiltrated nearly every country.

In France, one of the hardest-hit nations in Europe with more than 10,000 deaths, President Emmanuel Macron will address the nation next week to explain the path forward.

The confinement order issued on March 17 "will be extended" beyond the current deadline of April 15, an official close to Macron told AFP.

The United States reported the highest one-day toll on record, with 1,973 deaths over a 24-hour period -- reaching nearly 2,000 for the second day in a row.

Italy and Spain are still recording hundreds of deaths a day, and the situation is also deteriorating in Britain, which saw a record 938 fatalities Wednesday as Prime Minister Boris Johnson spent a third day in intensive care.

The 55-year-old leader s condition is "improving" and he is in "good spirits", officials assured the public.

In New York, the epicentre of the US outbreak, the state s governor noted the new single-day high for virus deaths at 779, but offered an optimistic view for the weeks to come.

"We are flattening the curve," Andrew Cuomo told reporters, as he cited a decreasing hospitalization rate due to stay-at-home orders.

That optimism was shared by US President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence, who both said the data seemed to indicate a turn for the better.

"We are hopefully heading towards a final stretch, the light at the end of the tunnel," Trump told reporters.

Pence chimed in: "We re beginning to see glimmers of hope."

In the Chinese city of Wuhan, where the novel coronavirus first emerged in December, there was cause for celebration as a ban on outbound travel was lifted.

But Malta joined the ranks of those in mourning, recording its first death.

- Global trade to plummet -

The head of the World Trade Organization, Roberto Azevedo, issued a dire warning, saying the economic fallout from the health emergency could be "the deepest economic recession or downturn of our lifetimes".

Germany and France, the EU s two largest economies, are bracing for a painful hit.

Gross domestic product in export powerhouse Germany is expected to shrink by nearly 10 percent in the second quarter, the country s leading research institutes said.

France is already in a technical recession, the Bank of France said. Its first-quarter performance was its worst since 1945.

But officials at the US Federal Reserve said the wide-ranging shuttering of businesses should not have the lasting impact that was seen in the wake of the global financial crisis in 2008.

As some European countries weighed easing lockdown measures to allow economic activity to resume in earnest, the World Health Organization urged against it.

"Now is not the time to relax measures," said WHO s Europe director Hans Kluge.

"It is the time to once again double and triple our collective efforts to drive towards suppression with the whole support of society."

- Stages of grief -

Around the world, medical staff are bearing a heavy physical and emotional toll as they work in overflowing intensive care units and makeshift hospitals erected in sports stadiums, on ships and even in a New York cathedral.

In Spain, another 757 deaths were reported Wednesday, bringing the toll up for a second day after several days of decline.

Antonio Alvarez, a 33-year-old nurse at a Barcelona hospital, described his experience as akin to bereavement.

"I ve had my phases of anger, of denial -- you go through all of them," he told AFP. "Now we are still a little overwhelmed but it is better. Fewer patients are dying."

In Italy, police have started to tighten lockdown controls as cabin fever and a slowing of the death toll tempted residents out in increasing numbers.

Jews around the world marked the start of Passover without the large family gatherings normally organised for the seder meal, with some turning to virtual platforms.

"The Passover holiday is celebrated with friends and families," Yigel Niasoff, 45, told AFP from his balcony in New York s Crown Heights neighbourhood.

"Right now with the pandemic, it s a very, very sad time."

- Bailout efforts -

Governments worldwide are rolling out staggering stimulus measures to ease the economic pain.

In Washington, Democrats demanded an additional $500 billion to battle the crisis, doubling the government s request to help small businesses and imperilling the rapid approval of emergency aid lawmakers sought this week.

The eurozone is also mired in bickering over a bailout plan for its hard-hit members that would come on top of measures enacted by individual governments. Talks resume Thursday.

The markets continued their volatile movement, with the Dow closing up 3.4 percent in New York after European stocks faltered.

For those who have lost their jobs during the crisis, survival is already a struggle.

"With the coronavirus, I m suffocating," 55-year-old Gabriel Rodriguez told AFP in Miami, where he spent five hours in line to apply for unemployment benefits.

"I have to pay for the car, I have to pay the phone bill -- how am I going to pay that? And the rent too!"

Everything you need to know about new Coronavirus

noreply@blogger.com (news) — Wed, 08 Apr 2020 05:11:00 +0000

Everything you need to know about new coronavirus

The novel strain of coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) causes coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19). Both COVID-19 and the flu are respiratory illnesses that spread from person to person. This article will discuss the differences between COVID-19 and the flu.

Symptoms

The symptoms of the flu and COVID-19 have some differences.

People who have the flu will typically experience symptoms within 1–4 days. The symptoms for COVID-19 can develop between 1–14 days. However, according to 2020 research, the median incubation period for COVID-19 is 5.1 days.

As a point of comparison, the incubation period for a cold is 1–3 days.

The symptoms of COVID-19 are similar in both children and adults. However, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), children typically present with fever and mild, cold-like symptoms, such as a runny nose and a cough.

The following table outlines the symptoms of COVID-19, the flu, and a cold.

Severity and mortality

The symptoms of COVID-19 and flu can range from mild to severe. Both can also cause pneumonia.

It is important to note that the World Health Organization (WHO) have classified mild symptoms of COVID-19 to mean that a person will not require hospitalization. The WHO classify mild cases to consist of symptoms including:

· Fever

· Cough

· Fatigue

· Loss of appetite

· Nasal congestion

· Sore throat

· Headache

According to the WHO, around 15% of COVID-19 cases are severe, and 5% are critical. Those in a critical state require a ventilator to breathe. The chance of severe and critical infection is higher with COVID-19 than the flu.

COVID-19 is also more deadly. According to the WHO, the mortality rate for COVID-19 appears to be higher than that of the flu.

Compared with the flu, research on COVID-19 is still in its early stages. These estimates may change over time.

Transmission

Both SARS-CoV-2 and the flu virus can spread through person to person contact.

Tiny droplets containing the viruses can pass from someone with the infection to someone else, typically through the nose and mouth through coughing and sneezing.

The virus can also live on surfaces. The WHO is not sure exactly how long the virus can survive, but it could be days.

According to the CDC, people can transmit the flu virus to people who are 6 feet (ft) away. According to the WHO, people should stay at least 6 ft away from anyone coughing or sneezing to help prevent the transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 infection.

According to the WHO, the speed of transmission differs between the two viruses. The symptoms of flu appear sooner, and it can spread faster than the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

The organization also indicate that people with flu can pass the virus on before they show any symptoms. A person can also pass on the SARS-CoV-2 infection even if they have no symptoms.

There are also differences in transmission between children and adults.

According to the WHO, the transmission of the flu from children to adults is common. However, based on early data it appears that it is more common for adults to pass the SARS-CoV-2 infection onto children. Children are less likely to develop symptoms.

Treatment

As flu has been around much longer than COVID-19, there are more treatment options.

Most people with the flu do not require medical treatment. But a doctor might prescribe antiviral drugs in some cases, which can reduce the symptoms by 1–2 days.

These antiviral drugs help the body fight the virus. They treat symptoms and reduce how long the illness lasts.

There are currently no antiviral drugs approved to treat COVID-19, although scientists are currently researching drugs in trials. When scientists have had more time to study the disease, the availability of antivirals to treat COVID-19 will likely increase.

Although there is currently no approved treatment or vaccination for COVID-19, there are ways to help treat the symptoms and any complications that can occur.

For mild cases, a person should remain home and undertake social distancing. Healthcare professionals may prescribe antipyretics to reduce the fever.

For more severe cases, a person may require supplemental oxygen or mechanical ventilation on a breathing machine to treat the respiratory problems that may occur.

Prevention

The most effective way of preventing the flu is through vaccination.

Many strains of influenza can cause infection. The most common strains vary depending on the season.

Doctors will try to predict what strains will be most common each season to select the right vaccine components.

There is currently no vaccine available for the SARS-CoV-2 infection. The virus is new, and developing safe vaccines takes time.

The best way to prevent spreading the SARS-CoV-2 virus includes:

· Washing hands regularly

· Avoiding touching the face

· Keeping at least 6 ft away from anyone sneezing and coughing

· Covering the mouth when sneezing or coughing

· Staying at home if feeling unwell

· Working from home if possible

· Avoiding crowds and gatherings of any size

Causes

Both COVID-19 and the flu are viral infections. Viruses are tiny microbes that survive by invading other living cells. These cells become host cells to the virus, which multiplies inside of them. They can then spread to new cells around the body.

Coronaviruses are a family of viruses that cause respiratory infections. The SARS-CoV-2 causes the infection that leads to COVID-19.

There are two types of viruses that cause the flu — influenza A and B. There are also several subtypes of influenza A. Any of these viruses can cause the flu.

Summary

COVID-19 and flu share some similar symptoms. The symptoms of flu tend to occur faster and can have greater variation. But COVID-19 is more likely to lead to severe illness or death.

Both viruses spread via person to person contact. Flu spreads faster and is more likely to affect children.

As the flu has been around longer, there are several effective antiviral treatments and vaccines available. Researchers and scientists are developing these for

COVID-19, but treatments and vaccines are not likely to be available soon.

The best way to prevent COVID-19 is to practice social distancing, which means avoiding any non-essential social contact or travel. It is essential to maintain good personal and domestic hygiene by washing the hands regularly and keeping surfaces and utensils clean.

Viral infections cause both COVID-19 and the flu. But COVID-19 is due to the SARS-CoV-2 virus, and flu is from influenza A and B viruses.

Why African Americans are dying at higher rates from COVID-19

noreply@blogger.com (news) — Wed, 08 Apr 2020 04:52:00 +0000

Why African Americans are dying at higher rates from COVID-19

The new coronavirus isn t biased about who it infects -- so why does data emerging from some states suggest that African Americans are bearing the brunt of the pandemic in the US?

Experts say blacks are disproportionately impacted by underlying health conditions linked to poverty, face discrimination in medical care, and are more likely to work jobs that require them to leave their home.

"We know that blacks are more likely to have diabetes, heart disease, lung disease," the nation s top doctor, Surgeon General Jerome Adams told CBS News on Tuesday.

These chronic illnesses, which are in turn linked to poverty and structural racism, can lead to more serious forms of the COVID-19 disease.

Adams, who is himself black and has high blood pressure and asthma, added: "I represent that legacy of growing up poor and black in America.

"And I, and many black Americans, are at higher risk for COVID."

- Emerging trend -

There is no nationwide data available on COVID-19 cases by race, but a pattern of over-representation by black Americans has emerged in states or jurisdictions that are sharing the numbers.

Sixty-eight percent of coronavirus deaths in Chicago have been among African Americans, who make up just 30 percent of the city s population.

"Those numbers take your breath away," the city s mayor Lori Lightfoot said Monday at a coronavirus briefing. "This is a call to action for all of us."

The trend is repeated in North Carolina, Louisiana, Michigan, Wisconsin and the capital Washington.

Doctor Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association, told AFP the issue was also linked to social class, with black people more likely to work jobs deemed essential that expose them to potential infection.

"That population is more public facing," he said. "More bus drivers, more people taking public transportation to work, more people providing services in nursing homes, more folks working in grocery stores."

- Structural bias -

The problem is compounded by implicit and explicit bias that African Americans face in the medical system.

Doctor James Hildreth, president of the historically black Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee told AFP that in his city, most of the initial testing took place at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

Most of the patients who go to hospital systems like these have insurance, and it was only recently that three assessment centers run by the city of Nashville were built for the underprivileged and minority communities -- one of them located at Meharry s campus and run by its staff.

"My point is, depending on which community you live in, and whether or not you have insurance... the chances for getting assessed are much less," he said.

What s more, it s well documented that when black people seek care, they are less likely to have their symptoms believed or get adequately treated, Doctor Ebony Hilton, an anesthesiologist at the University of Virginia Medical Center told AFP.

For example, black women are less likely to have their breast cancer mammograms seen by a specialist as opposed to a general radiologist, according to a 2012 study from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Black heart patients who present with elevated levels of a group of proteins indicating cardiac injury are also less likely to be seen by specialists, per a 2018 study.

A civil rights group wrote this week to the US health secretary, Alex Azar, calling on him to "release daily racial and ethnic demographic data related to COVID-19 testing, disease burden and patient outcomes."

This, said the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, was necessary to ensure a robust public health response, and to make certain care and testing aren t being administered in a discriminatory manner.

The group said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was already collecting the information but deliberately withholding it.

Hilton stressed that it was in the interests of Americans as a whole to address the problem, because -- unlike high rates of heart disease or cancer -- a wave of coronavirus spreading through the black and Hispanic population will ultimately impact everyone else.

"When you have a system that s not treating these people of lower social economic status and these minority groups, they are then not being tested, they re sent back home to infect their community," she said.

"Those workers who are now infected are going to the grocery store, and when the upper echelon of America are going to get their food, they will get infected too."

Thousands leave virus-hit Wuhan as outbound travel ban lifted

noreply@blogger.com (news) — Wed, 08 Apr 2020 04:38:00 +0000

Thousands leave virus-hit Wuhan as outbound travel ban lifted

Thousands of Chinese travellers flocked to catch trains leaving coronavirus-ravaged Wuhan early Wednesday as authorities lifted a more than two-month ban on outbound travel from the city where the global pandemic first emerged.

As the ban was lifted on schedule at midnight (1600 GMT Tuesday), many passengers expressed joy and relief as they filed into Wuhan s Wuchang station, leaping at the chance to board overnight trains heading out of town.

"Wuhan has lost a lot in this epidemic, and Wuhan people have paid a big price," said a 21-year-old man surnamed Yao, who was heading back to his restaurant job in Shanghai.

"Now that the lockdown has been lifted, I think we re all pretty happy."

Government estimates have said that as many as 55,000 people are expected to flow out on Wednesday by train from the city, which was placed under an unprecedented quarantine lockdown on January 23.

Some could barely contain their happiness.

"I ve been stuck for 77 days! I ve been stuck for 77 days!" shouted one man from the neighbouring province of Hunan, who was in Wuhan when it was sealed off.

The lockdown made Wuhan the first place in the world subjected to draconian containment steps now seen in many countries.

It was quickly followed by the rest of surrounding Hubei province, confining tens of millions of people to their homes and cutting the province off from the rest of the world as transport in and out was halted to prevent transmission of the virus.

Chinese media outlets hailed the removal of the travel ban, with headlines posted on their websites after midnight saying: "Wuhan, long time, no see."

Hubei and the provincial capital Wuhan have suffered the majority of China s officially claimed tally of more than 81,000 overall infections and more than 3,300 deaths.

An announcement blaring over the train station PA system said: "Wuhan deserves to be called the city of heroes. Wuhan people deserve to be called heroes."

Despite the measures taken in Hubei, the pathogen spread across China and the world.

But Communist Party authorities -- who are accused of a slow-footed response and an initial attempt to cover up the outbreak -- have claimed recent success in bringing the virus to heel, though questions over the accuracy of its reported case numbers persist.

Its official national tally of coronavirus deaths and overall cases has plummeted in recent weeks, with the National Health Commission saying Tuesday that no new deaths had been logged in the preceding 24 hours.

That was the first fatality-free day since China began publishing figures in January.

Relief over China s falling virus numbers has been tempered, however, by caution over new risks: rising numbers of infected people arriving from abroad -- primarily returning Chinese citizens -- and the invisible threat of asymptomatic cases.

Hubei residents had been confined to their homes until about two weeks ago, when restrictions began to be eased, triggering a resumption of inbound travel from other parts of China.

Authorities, however, had waited until Wednesday to allow normal traffic out of Wuhan amid continued fears in the rest of the country that people from the city pose a risk.

Chinese disease-control officials said in January that the virus likely leapt from wildlife to humans at a Wuhan market that sold a wide range of wild animals for food.

Wuhan authorities said at the weekend that various restrictions on movement would remain in place to guard against a second wave of infections, arguing that "even greater vigilance is needed" now that the travel ban has been dismantled.

People from Wuhan also face hurdles getting out.

They must show proof that their area of origin has been declared safe from the virus, and many face the likelihood of two-week quarantines in their destination provinces

Trump threatens to cut WHO funding, China lifts Wuhan travel ban

noreply@blogger.com (news) — Wed, 08 Apr 2020 04:26:00 +0000

Trump threatens to cut WHO funding, China lifts Wuhan travel ban

President Donald Trump threatened on Tuesday to cut US funding to the World Health Organization, accusing it of bias toward China, where the authorities lifted a two-and-a-half month travel ban on Wuhan, the city that spawned the global coronavirus pandemic.

As the United States suffered a record total of nearly 2,000 deaths in the past 24 hours, China reported no new deaths for the first time since the outbreak began in Wuhan in late December.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson remained in stable condition in intensive care in a London hospital, meanwhile, after being admitted on Monday, 10 days after being diagnosed with the virus.

His spokesman said the 55-year-old Conservative leader was in "good spirits," was receiving "standard oxygen treatment" and has not required a ventilator.

The shocking hospitalization of a high-profile world leader underscored the global reach of COVID-19, which has put more than four billion people -- over half of the planet -- on some form of lockdown, upending societies and battering economies worldwide.

Amid warnings that worse is yet to come, death tolls mounted from the virus that has now claimed more than 82,000 lives and infected more than 1.4 million people worldwide.

In Washington, Trump told reporters that he was "going to put a very powerful hold" on funding to the WHO, the UN body whose biggest contributor is the US, accusing it of being "very biased towards China."

"They called it wrong," he said of a WHO travel warning on China. "They could have called it months earlier."

Trump gave no details about how much money would be withheld and minutes later he said he would only "look at ending funding."

China faces criticism over the way it handled the initial virus outbreak and Trump and others have expressed doubt over the accuracy of Chinese statistics for cases and deaths.

Trump himself has been widely criticized for initially downplaying the virus, which he likened to an ordinary flu before later accepting it was a national emergency.

More than 12,800 Americans have now died from COVID-19, according to Johns Hopkins University, and with nearly 400,000 cases the country has the most in the world.

A record total of 1,939 people died in the United States in the 24 hours up to Tuesday evening.

China lifted a travel ban on Tuesday on residents of Wuhan and reported no new deaths, but the situation remained grim elsewhere.

While other major cities around the world remained locked down, thousands of people rushed to leave Wuhan.

Train service and flights resumed and roadblocks were removed, prompting an exodus by residents wearing protective clothing and masks.

China s National Health Commission said Tuesday that no new deaths had been logged in the preceding 24 hours, the first fatality-free day since the country began publishing figures in January.

China s official tally is some 81,000 overall infections and more than 3,300 deaths but there are suspicions Beijing has under-reported the real numbers.

Britain reported 786 new deaths and New York state saw 731 in 24 hours, after Spain, France and Italy all recorded new surges in fatalities.

New research showed Britain s toll on a steeper trajectory than other nations and predicted as many as 66,000 deaths by July, far more than in Italy, which has the highest fatalities to date -- 17,127.

Paris on Tuesday banned daytime jogging to keep people from bending anti-coronavirus lockdown rules as France breached 10,000 deaths.

But there were glimmers of hope in the statistics.

Spain said its downward trend in new infections and deaths was continuing and that increases in fatalities on Monday and Tuesday were the result of weekend deaths being tallied.

Eduardo Fernandez, a 39-year-old nurse at Madrid s Infanta Sofia Hospital, said there had been fewer admissions in recent days.

"But we remain much above our usual capacity," he cautioned. "I don t know if my colleagues who are in the eye of the storm are able to see (the decrease) because the work pressure is very high."

Iran s parliament convened for the first time since late February as the country reported a drop in new infections for the seventh straight day.

In New York, the epicenter of the US outbreak, Governor Andrew Cuomo said the state appeared be nearing the peak of its pandemic but urged New Yorkers to continue staying indoors.

"I know it s hard but we have to keep doing it," he said.

A New York City funeral home director, Pat Marmo, said he was dealing with three times more bodies than normal. "It s almost like 9/11, going on for days and days and days," he said.

Despite stay-at-home orders, voters in another US state, Wisconsin, went to the polls to cast ballots in the Democratic presidential primary and local elections.

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel showed a mask-wearing woman in line to vote holding a sign bearing the message: "THIS IS RIDICULOUS."

Governments are scrambling to put together rescue packages to stem the economic damage from effectively shutting down global commerce, as fears loom of a devastating recession.

The UN s International Labour Organization said 81 percent of the global workforce of 3.3 billion people are now affected by "the worst global crisis since the Second World War."

Japan, which declared a month-long state of emergency on Tuesday, has promised a $1-trillion stimulus package and Trump said he favors another massive US spending program, this time targeting infrastructure projects.

EU finance ministers were working on a deal to use the eurozone s 410-billion-euro ($447 billion) bailout fund to fight the virus but the bloc remains divided on pooling debt to issue "coronabonds."

Stock markets were up across Asia and Europe but Wall Street finished slightly lower.

The EU announced it would put up 15 billion euros to help developing countries fight the epidemic, which is only starting to spread in some of the world s poorest countries.

Nearly 2,000 US Coronavirus Deaths in Last 24 hours

noreply@blogger.com (news) — Wed, 08 Apr 2020 04:08:00 +0000

Nearly 2,000 US coronavirus deaths in last 24 hours

Nearly 2,000 people infected with the new coronavirus have died in the United States in the last 24 hours, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University as of 8:30 pm Tuesday (0030 GMT Wednesday).

The record daily figure of 1,939 brings the total number of deaths in the US to 12,722, which is approaching tolls in the worst-hit countries so far -- Italy with 17,127 dead and Spain with 13,798.

President Donald Trump has defended his response to the crisis, and on Tuesday he blamed the World Health Organization for reacting slowly.

He questioned why the WHO had given "such a faulty recommendation," apparently referring to the UN body s advice against curtailing international travel to stop the virus which first spread from China.

"They called it wrong. They really missed the call. They could have called it months earlier," he said.

Trump has been widely criticized for initially downplaying the virus, which he likened to an ordinary flu and said was under control in the United States, before later accepting that it was a national emergency.

- New York registers record 731 virus deaths -

New York state has recorded its highest number of COVID-19 deaths in 24 hours, Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Tuesday, adding though that hospitalizations appeared to be "plateauing."

Cuomo said 731 people succumbed to the new coronavirus on Monday, bringing the state s total death toll to 5,489. The previous single-day record was 630, set on Friday.

New York has borne the brunt of America s deadly coronavirus pandemic, accounting for around half the number of deaths across the country.

COVID-19 has killed more than 11,000 people in the United States, according to a running tally by Johns Hopkins University.

Cuomo said New York appeared be nearing the peak of its pandemic, with a three-day average of hospitalizations down.

He added that intensive care admissions and intubations had also declined.

"We re projecting that we re reaching a plateau in the number of hospitalizations," Cuomo told reporters.

He said social distancing was working, urging New Yorkers to continue to stay indoors unless absolutely necessary.

"I know it s hard but we have to keep doing it," Cuomo implored.

On Monday, the governor extended a shutdown until near the end of the month, ordering schools and non-essential businesses to remain closed until April 29.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said it was "too early to draw any definite conclusions" about whether the situation was improving in the Big Apple.

"I want to really make sure none of us in public life tell you we have turned a corner until we are absolutely certain," he told reporters.

Elsewhere, a crew member of the military hospital ship USNS Comfort tested positive for the virus, a navy spokesperson told AFP.

The vessel arrived in New York last month to relieve the burden on hospitals overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients.

"The crew member is isolated from patients and other crew members. There is no impact to Comfort s mission, and this will not affect the ability for Comfort to receive patients," said the spokesperson.

World short of six million nurses WHO says

noreply@blogger.com (news) — Tue, 07 Apr 2020 04:45:00 +0000

World short of six million nurses, WHO says

As COVID-19 captures global headlines, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned Tuesday that the world needs nearly six million nurses.

The UN s health agency along with partners Nursing Now and the International Council of Nurses (ICN) underscored in a report the crucial role played by nurses, who make up more than half of all health workers worldwide.

"Nurses are the backbone of any health system," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement.

"Today, many nurses find themselves on the frontline in the battle against COVID-19," he noted, adding that it was vital they "get the support they need to keep the world healthy."

The report said that there are just under 28 million nurses on the planet.

In the five years leading up to 2018, the number grew by 4.7 million.

"But this still leaves a global shortfall of 5.9 million," the WHO said, pointing out that the greatest gaps were in poorer countries in Africa, southeast Asia, the Middle East and parts of South America.

The report urged countries to identify gaps in their nursing workforce and invest in nursing education, jobs and leadership.

ICN chief executive Howard Catton told a virtual briefing that infection rates, medication errors and mortality rates "are all higher where there are too few nurses".

Furthermore, "shortages exhaust our current nursing workforce", he added.

In fighting the pandemic, Mary Watkins, who co-chaired the report for Nursing Now, called for urgent investment in virus tests for healthcare workers.

"We have a very high proportion of healthcare workers not going to work because they re afraid that they ve been infected and that they can t prove that they have not got the infection -- or that they ve had it, and they re over it," she said.

Catton said that 23 nurses had died in Italy and cited figures suggesting that around 100 health workers had died around the world.

Meanwhile he said there were reports of nine percent of health workers being infected in Italy and "we re now hearing of rates of infections up to 14 percent in Spain".

He also cited reports of "completely unacceptable and reprehensible" attacks on health workers battling COVID-19, largely due to ignorance about their work, combined with countries not doing enough to protect them.

"COVID is putting it into a very stark lens for us all," he said, though he welcomed the growing appreciation in some countries of nurse s work.

Catton said that could help change perceptions of the value of nursing -- which in turn might help make it a more attractive profession.

Beyond COVID-19, Watkins said many wealthier countries were not producing enough nurses to meet their own healthcare needs, and were therefore reliant on migration, exacerbating shortages in poorer countries.

"Eighty percent of the world s nurses only currently serve 50 percent of the world s population," she noted.

Catton warned of risks that richer countries would rely on the Philippines and India to "supply the world with nurses", which could lead to significant shortages in India.

The experts said nursing remains female-dominated and needed to recruit more men.

"There is clear evidence that where there are more men in any profession in the world, the pay and the terms and conditions improve," Watkins said.

UN Security Council to hold first coronavirus talks Thursday: diplomats

noreply@blogger.com (news) — Tue, 07 Apr 2020 04:35:00 +0000

UN Security Council to hold first coronavirus talks Thursday: diplomats

The UN Security Council will hold its first meeting on the coronavirus pandemic on Thursday, after weeks of divisions among its five permanent members, diplomats said Monday.

Last week, exasperated by the back-and-forth that has paralyzed the council, including between China and the United States, nine of the 10 non-permanent members formally requested a meeting featuring a presentation by Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

"Meeting confirmed for Thursday," one diplomat told AFP on condition of anonymity. It was to be held behind closed doors at 3:00 pm (1900 GMT).

It s not yet clear what form the meeting will take, or what could be accomplished: will the member nations show unity in the fact of a global crisis and a willingness to cooperate, or proceed with a settling of scores?

Last week, the UN General Assembly adopted by consensus a resolution calling for "international cooperation" and "multilateralism" in the fight against COVID-19 -- the first text to come out of the world body since the outbreak began.

Russia has tried to oppose the text, but only four other countries backed its parallel draft.

The United States has long demanded that any meeting or text specify that the virus first emerged in China, to Beijing s consternation.

Diplomats said Monday that opposition to holding a council meeting was coming from the Chinese and the Russians.

Moscow and Beijing say they only believe the council should consider the pandemic when they are talking about a country experiencing conflict, the diplomats said.

Several sources also said France was hesitating about the need for talks.

Paris has been trying since last week to get the council s five permanent members -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the US -- to sit down for a videoconference to settle their differences.

Sources said it would prefer that call take place before any full gathering of the council s 15 member nations.

The nine countries that requested the meeting are Germany, which spearheaded the effort, Belgium, the Dominican Republic, Estonia, Indonesia, Niger, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Tunisia and Vietnam.

The final non-permanent member, South Africa, did not support the move, saying the council s remit was peace and security, not health and economic issues.

For those nine countries, it s "really irresponsible to block" a council meeting and to "paralyze" the institution since the start of the crisis, a diplomat from one of them said.

Saudi Imposes 24-hour virus Curfew in five Cities

noreply@blogger.com (news) — Tue, 07 Apr 2020 04:22:00 +0000

Saudi Imposes 24-hour virus Curfew in five Cities

Saudi Arabia extended the duration of daily curfews Monday in four governorates and five cities, including the capital, to 24 hours to combat coronavirus as confirmed deaths from the disease hit 38.

The kingdom imposed round-the-clock lockdowns on the cities of Riyadh, Tabuk, Dammam, Dhahran and Hofuf, the interior ministry said on Twitter.

The same measures were also imposed on the governorates of Jeddah, Taif, Qatif and Khobar, the ministry added.

Authorities had already sealed off the holy cities of Mecca and Medina along with Riyadh and Jeddah, barring people from entering and exiting as well as prohibiting movement between all provinces.

Saudi Arabia, which has reported the highest number of infections in the Gulf, is scrambling to limit the spread of the disease at home.

On Monday the health ministry said deaths from the respiratory illness had risen to 38, while confirmed current infections rose to 2,523 and 551 people had recovered from the illness.

Last month, Saudi Arabia suspended the year-round "umrah" pilgrimage over fears of the coronavirus pandemic spreading to Islam s holiest cities.

Authorities are yet to announce whether they will proceed with this year s hajj, scheduled for the end of July. Authorities last week urged Muslims to temporarily defer preparations for the annual pilgrimage.

Last year, some 2.5 million faithful travelled to Saudi Arabia from across the world to take part in the hajj, which all Muslims must perform at least once in their lives if able.

The Arab world s biggest economy has also closed down cinemas, malls and restaurants and halted flights as it steps up efforts to contain the virus.

King Salman has warned of a "more difficult" fight ahead against the virus, as the kingdom faces the economic double blow of virus-led shutdowns and crashing oil prices.

US Coronavirus Deaths pass bleak 10,000 Milestone

noreply@blogger.com (news) — Tue, 07 Apr 2020 04:13:00 +0000

US coronavirus deaths pass bleak 10,000 milestone

Americans were put on notice Monday not to let up in the fight against the coronavirus, as a grim milestone of 10,000 deaths cast a pall over the first signs of optimism about the trajectory of the outbreak.

The United States has emerged as one of the world s worst-hit nations, with a steadily mounting number of fatalities and millions facing the possibility of economic ruin.

Authorities began the week by telling frightened communities to brace for one of the worst periods yet in the crisis as the outbreak has not yet reached its peak.

Baltimore-based Johns Hopkins University, which has been keeping a running tally of coronavirus numbers, said at least 356,942 US cases had been confirmed, with 10,524 deaths.

Only Italy (15,877) and Spain (13,055) have seen more of their citizens killed by the deadly pandemic.

There was a glimmer of hope however in New York, the main focus of the US outbreak, where there have been more than 4,750 deaths statewide and 130,000 cases.

Governor Andrew Cuomo said Monday the death rate had been "effectively flat" for two days. The state reported 599 new deaths, similar to Sunday s tally of 594 and down from a record 630 on Saturday.

But the governor ordered schools and non-essential businesses to remain shut for a further three weeks, telling reporters: "Now is not the time to be lax."

"It is hopeful but it is also inconclusive," Cuomo said, adding that it would be a "mistake" to relax restrictions too early.

"If the curve is turning, it s because the rate of infection is going down. If the rate of infection is going down, it s because social distancing is working."

The pandemic has killed nearly 75,000 worldwide since the emergence of the new coronavirus in December in China, according to an AFP tally compiled from official sources.

Authorities have warned that between 100,000 and 240,000 people could die in the United States, even in a best-case scenario with social distancing guidelines being observed.

Nine states -- all controlled by Republican governors -- have still not yet ordered total lockdowns, much to the frustration of public health experts.

Wisconsin, which is among those under stay-at-home orders, became the 15th state to delay presidential primaries after initially determining to forge ahead.

Governor Tony Evers, citing the risk to poll workers and voters, ordered that Tuesday s Democratic presidential primary and local elections in the Midwestern US state be postponed until June.

"I cannot in good conscience stand by and do nothing," said Evers, whose health officials have registered 2,267 positive tests and 68 deaths.

Evers moved to delay the election unilaterally after the Republican-majority state Senate and state Assembly ignored his repeated appeals for a postponement.

Although hotspots like New York face a dire lack of protective gear, ventilators and medics, there was further cause for optimism, with early-hit states like Washington and California demonstrating a possible pathway out of the crisis.

Washington appears to be on the downward slope of its case curve and has even sent 400 ventilators to New York, but its governor Jay Inslee said he feared a second wave because of the ongoing patchwork response.

"Even if Washington gets on top of this fully, if another state doesn t, it can come back and come across our borders two months from now, so this is important to have a national success," he told NBC.

California is also showing how it is possible to get on top of the crisis, said epidemiologist Brandon Brown of the University of California, Riverside.

"We are now ramping up testing, starting to measure community spread, preparing spaces for when hospitals may be overrun," he said.

On the sports front, the golf world has reconfigured its schedule -- the Masters will now be in November, and the US Open and Ryder Cup will go ahead on back-to-back weeks in September.

"Sports, and particularly the game of golf, are important vehicles for healing and hope," said PGA of America chief executive Seth Waugh.

British PM in Intensive care as virus toll soars Coronavirus (COVID-19)

noreply@blogger.com (news) — Tue, 07 Apr 2020 03:57:00 +0000

British PM in intensive care as virus toll soars

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was moved to intensive care Monday when his condition worsened in a battle with the coronavirus, as the death toll from the pandemic hit grim new highs in Europe and the United States.

Johnson, the most prominent victim yet of the pandemic, deputized his foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, to stand in for him, but remained conscious according to Downing Street.

The setback came as the death toll from the virus jumped in Western Europe and soared past 10,000 in the United States -- taking the global toll above 73,000, out of more than 1.32 million confirmed cases.

In somber warnings from both sides of the Atlantic, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the European Union was facing its "biggest test," while US officials said Americans should prepare for an ordeal comparable to the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor.

Signs of a possible turnaround in Europe -- where daily virus tolls have been falling -- were dampened by a record new surge of 833 deaths in France on Monday, as well as 636 in Italy.

"We have not reached the end," said France s health minister, Olivier Veran.

Admitted to hospital 10 days ago, Britain s 55-year-old prime minister has not been able to shake the disease.

Johnson was transferred into intensive care as the country s death toll topped 5,000 -- an increase of 400 in a day.

"Over the course of this afternoon, the condition of the prime minister has worsened and, on the advice of his medical team, he has been moved to the Intensive Care Unit at the hospital," said a Downing Street statement.

US President Donald Trump was one of many world leaders who expressed concern, saying "Americans are all praying for his recovery."

- Light at the end? -

US officials referred cautiously to the first glimmers of hope that the pandemic can be got under control.

Trump spoke again of seeing "light at the end of the tunnel," while New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, whose state is at the epicenter of the crisis, said that for the first time the growth rate there was flat.

Nevertheless, the United States has the world s highest number of recorded cases and things are sure to get worse in coming days.

"This is going to be the hardest and the saddest week of most Americans lives, quite frankly," US Surgeon General Jerome Adams told Fox News. "This is going to be our Pearl Harbor moment, or 9/11 moment."

Cuomo extended a statewide shutdown, warning: "Now is not the time to be lax."

- Critical situation -

The pandemic has reached almost every corner of the planet, confining nearly half of humanity to their homes and turning life upside down for more than four billion people, according to an AFP tally of populations under some form of lockdown.

The UN Security Council will hold its first coronavirus crisis talks on Thursday -- by videoconference -- ending weeks of divisions among the five permanent members, diplomats said.

With the ink barely dry on a $2 trillion economic rescue package passed by Congress, Trump said he favored another massive spending program, again roughly at $2 trillion, but this time targeting infrastructure projects.

"We built the greatest economy in the world. I ll do it a second time," he said.

Japan announced an imminent state of emergency and a trillion-dollar stimulus package of its own.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said the country s hospitals face a "critical situation" with a rapid increases of new infections.

Italy likewise unveiled a record 400 billion euro ($430 billion) stimulus to help businesses hurt by a month-long national lockdown

Speaking one day ahead of a key eurozone finance ministers conference on a joint economic rescue plan, Merkel called for strength.

"In my view... the European Union stands before the biggest test since its founding," she warned.

"Everyone is just as affected as the other, and therefore, it is in everyone s interest, and it is in Germany s interest for Europe to emerge strong from this test," she said.

Italy, France and Spain want to establish common debt facilities -- "coronabonds" -- to cushion the economic impact of the virus.

But the richer northern nations have resisted the calls -- with Germany and the Netherlands in the lead -- fearing their taxpayers will be left to pay.

- India hospital locked down -

In India, the world s second most populous country after China, a major private hospital in economic hub Mumbai was shut down after 26 nurses and three doctors tested positive, amid complaints from staff that they had been told to work without adequate safety gear.

India has so far recorded 4,000 coronavirus cases among a population of 1.3 billion, but experts warn the real number is likely to be far higher, given the lack of testing.

Yet another cruise ship was snared in the health crisis, with more than 80 passengers and crew testing positive for the cornoavirus aboard an Australian liner off South America.

Corona virus: over 70,000 deaths worldwide, most difficult this week in US

noreply@blogger.com (news) — Mon, 06 Apr 2020 14:40:00 +0000

Corona virus: over 70,000 deaths worldwide, most difficult this week in US

More than 70,000 people have lost their lives worldwide due to the Corona virus born from China, but this week may be the toughest for US deaths and new cases.

There have been 9,628 deaths so far in the United States due to the Corona virus, out of which around 5,000 have been reported so far this week, while the number of patients has reached close to 373,000.

The US state of New York, Michigan and Louisiana continues to have fatalities that have put US officials in serious concern.

"The current situation is as difficult for us as Pearl Harbor and 9/11," said US surgeon general Jerome Adams.

Meanwhile, the outbreak also killed Captain Brett Crozier, the captain of the US aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt. They had already warned that the Corona virus had spread on the ship. This led to Crozier's dismissal.

According to the New York Times, US Defense Secretary Mark Asper announced the dismissal of Captain Crozier. A few hours after the verdict, the results of Crozier's Corona test came out, which was positive.

Esper told US News Channel AB that U.S. Navy Minister Thomas Modley made the "difficult decision" to remove Brett Crozier from the command of the US Navy "USS Roosevelt." The aircraft operates with nuclear energy.

In response to a question, Asper replied that the decision was not from President Trump but from the Navy minister. They informed me to which I told them that I would support this decision.

In addition, the White House received the first official report of the Corona virus in China on January 3, according to the Washington Post, but the administration took 70 days to decide to fight the pandemic.

On the other hand, the death toll from the Corona virus in Italy has dropped to the lowest level in two weeks, while the rate of new cases is steadily declining.

The virus has so far killed 15,887 people and affected 281,000 in Italy.

The number of Corona victims in Spain is higher than in Italy, but the rate of new cases has been gradually decreasing over the past three days. Spain has so far affected 311,646 people and 12,641 have been killed.

The global epidemic is even more alarming in the UK where 4,934 people have lost their lives so far and more than 47,000 have been affected.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has not yet been able to get rid of the Corona virus and has been taken to a hospital for treatment.

In Japan, the government is considering a six-month emergency in the capital Tokyo, Osaka and two other areas in the wake of the Corona virus.

The Corona virus has so far devoured 85 human lives in Japan, with more than 3,000 people affected by the outbreak.

In China, where the world's first Corona virus was diagnosed, the death toll has risen to 3,331 after two more deaths, while the number of victims has risen to 81,708 after 39 new cases were reported.

It is thought that the Corona virus has infected more than 1.25 million people worldwide, of which more than 70,000 have died.

Christian Turner is taking every possible step to bring back the trapped citizens in Pakistan Christian Turner

noreply@blogger.com (news) — Mon, 06 Apr 2020 12:38:00 +0000

Christian Turner is taking every possible step to bring back the trapped citizens in Pakistan Christian Turner

Addressing a video link press conference of Christian High Commissioner Christian Turner posted in Islamabad, the British government is taking all possible steps to repatriate the trapped citizens in Pakistan.

During the press conference, he added that flight operations were under way through special flights from PIA, with more than four thousand passengers departing next week. Flights to bring British citizens from around the world are not free, passengers pay a fare.

The British High Commissioner further said that there are about one lakh British citizens in Pakistan, the first priority is the return of those who are elderly or who are ill.

Talking to Pakistani journalists in the UK on the video link, the High Commissioner said he was in contact with the PIA and would withdraw four thousand British citizens within five days.

Christian Turner thanked the government of Pakistan and PIA officials, saying that PIA fares are better than other airlines. There was a misconception among the people that the British government was releasing people back on chartered flights for free, which is not true, chartered aircraft passengers also have to pay rent.

He said that the passengers inside who have been diagnosed with the Corona virus, the government of Pakistan is taking full responsibility for keeping them in isolation so it will not be possible for them to return to the UK during the illness. It is the PIA's responsibility to take care of passenger hygiene while I am confident that they are being fulfilled.

Christian Turner said that people who are not British citizens but have a UK visa are also not allowed to travel to the UK during the days of the outbreak.

Responding to questions from Pakistani journalists in the UK, the British High Commissioner stationed in Islamabad said staff at his office was ready for assistance at all times. They could be contacted via email and phone.

At this time, the British Foreign Office is trying to bring its citizens back home from all over the world where commercial flights are not available.