Revue de presse internationale (non exhaustive)
Gontalde08/04/
A hospital nurse puts face shields on newborn babies as a precaution against the coronavirus
Photograph: Rungroj Yongrit/EPA
Sélection Sur les fils Sars-Cov Info https://t.me/nCovFR et COVID-Pandemic 19: https://ko-fi.com/covid_19pandemic_breaking et SARS-COV Info: https://ko-fi.com/covid_19pandemic_breaking et Coronaviurs Infolive: https://ko-fi.com/covid_19pandemic_breaking
SARS-CoV-2-INFO, [8 Apr 2020 at 12:14:14]:
🇮🇷🇦🇫 Plus de 200 000 personnes ont fui l'épidémie de l'Iran vers l'Afghanistan, la plus grande migration transfrontalière au monde depuis la pandémie, ce qui menace de bouleverser le fragile système de santé de l'Afghanistan. (Al Jazeera)
SARS-CoV-2-INFO, [8 Apr 2020 at 12:14:29]:
🇺🇸 12 469 Américains sont morts en un an lors de la pandémie de grippe H1N1 en 2009. En un peu plus de 5 semaines, le coronavirus a été associé à près de 13 000 décès aux États-Unis.
SARS-CoV-2-INFO, [8 Apr 2020 at 17:56:45]:
🇺🇸 Le coronavirus tue les Afro-Américains à un rythme plus élevé que la population américaine en général, selon les chiffres préliminaires de la Louisiane, du Michigan et de l'Illinois qui, selon les responsables, indiquent des disparités en matière de santé et d'accès aux soins. (Reuters)
COVID-19 Pandemic - Breaking, [10 108 vues, 8 Apr 2020 at 17:57:22]:
🇮🇷 The Shāh Chérāgh Shrine (شاه چراغ) in Iran has been turned into mask factory. @COVID19Up
COVID-19 Pandemic - Breaking, [9 094 vues, 8 Apr 2020 at 17:58:03]:
🦟 The Coronavirus is a respiratory virus that is primarily transmitted through droplets when an infected person sneezes or coughs, or through saliva or discharge from the nose. Source: WHO @COVID19Up
🇺🇸 C'est la panique, pour annoncer un couvre-feu dans la ville d'AcadiaParish en Louisiane, la police utilise le même son de sirène que celle du film The Purge. telegram-cloud-document-4-5796157502387127832
Coronavidéos & photos Covid-19 France - Archives YKK, [8 Apr 2020 at 17:59:56]:
🇺🇦 le maire de Dnipro en Ukraine a fait creuser des centaines de tombes "pour les gens comprennent" le danger du COVID19. La ville ne compte officiellement que 13 cas de Covid_19 et 0 décès. (AFP) telegram-cloud-document-4-5796157502387127864
🌐 Flash Info 🌐, [3 278 vues, 8 Apr 2020 at 18:00:41]:
🌐 Flash-Info : Le président vénézuélien ordonne l’hospitalisation de la totalité des malades du Covid-19 🇻🇪 (La presse)
"C’est un ordre que je donne. Nous devons arriver à l’hospitalisation de 100% des cas. 100% !", a-t-il déclaré lors d’une allocution télévisée, tout en assurant que le système hospitalier du pays comptait plus de 20.000 lits prêts à les accueillir.
🌐 Flash Info 🌐, [3 269 vues, 8 Apr 2020 at 18:00:50]:
🌐 Flash-Info : Une pénurie mondiale de préservatifs à l'horizon ? (LCI)
C'est en tout cas l'alerte que lance ce mercredi Karex, une entreprise malaisienne qui produit un préservatif sur cinq dans le monde et dont de nombreuses usines sont désormais à l'arrêt.
"Le monde va sans aucun doute faire face à une pénurie de préservatifs. C'est une inquiétude majeure, puisque les préservatifs sont un article sanitaire de première nécessité", explique le directeur exécutif Goh Miah Kiat, qui se dit particulièrement inquiet pour la fourniture de préservatifs aux pays en voie de développement.
🌐 Flash Info 🌐, [2 966 vues, 8 Apr 2020 at 18:00:58]:
🌐 Flash-Info : La France travaille sur une application smartphone : "Stopcovid" 🇫🇷 (Reuters)
La France a confirmé ce mercredi travailler sur un projet d'application pour smartphone qui permettrait de prévenir les personnes ayant été en contact avec un malade testé positif au coronavirus, tout en assurant que son installation serait volontaire et ne permettrait pas la géolocalisation, ont affirmé le ministre de la Santé Olivier Véran et le secrétaire d'Etat au Numérique Cédric O.
🌐 Flash Info 🌐, [2 482 vues, 8 Apr 2020 at 18:01:21]:
🌐 Flash-Info : Que sont ces "coronabonds" qui font échouer le plan de sauvetage Covid-19 des pays européens ? 🇪🇺 (LCI)
Les ministres européens des Finances ne sont pas parvenus à s'entendre après une nuit entière de discussions, sur une réponse économique commune face au coronavirus. Les pays du Nord restent opposés à ceux du Sud, qui réclament un mécanisme européen de soutien exceptionnel pour faire face à la crise : les coronabonds.
Les coronabonds sont la contraction des mots coronavirus et eurobonds, le mot anglais pour euro-obligations. Les euro-obligations sont des emprunts émis en commun par les pays de la zone euro sur les marchés financiers. Concrètement, les eurobonds consistent à mutualiser, à l’échelle européenne, la dette des pays de la zone euro. Les pays émettent ensemble des obligations sur les marchés financiers, ceux qui versent habituellement les taux d'intérêt les plus élevés peuvent ainsi bénéficier des taux plus bas des pays plus solides.
Désobéissance Ecolo Paris, [8 Apr 2020 at 18:06:19]:
Nouvelle activité de confinement
...
Lebanese News and Updates, [2 075 vues, 8 Apr 2020 at 18:07:07]:
-- An attempted prison break happened in Zahle prison where the prisoners dug a 3 m deep and 7 m long tunnel into a neighboring empty field.
COVID-19 Pandemic - Breaking, [6 187 vues, 8 Apr 2020 at 18:09:30]:
🇨🇳🇷🇺 China has closed all 4 land borders with Russia to prevent imported COVID-19 cases.
The border ports of Suifenhe, HuiChun, and Dongning in NE China‘s Heilongjiang and port Manzhouli in N China's Inner Mongolia will be closed to all arrivals by Wednesday. @COVID19Up
Coronavidéos & photos Covid-19 France - Archives YKK, [8 Apr 2020 at 18:11:23]:
🦌 Aujourd'hui dans le Palars en Catalogne confinée : une nouvelle espèce de touristes déambule dans les rues. telegram-cloud-document-4-5796157502387127874
SARS-CoV-2-INFO, [8 Apr 2020 at 18:12:36]:
🇨🇳🇷🇺 La Chine a fermé les 4 frontières terrestres avec la Russie pour empêcher les cas de COVID-19 importés.
Les ports frontaliers de Suifenhe, HuiChun et Dongning dans le Heilongjiang au nord-est de la Chine et le port de Manzhouli dans la Mongolie intérieure du nord de la Chine seront fermés à toutes les arrivées.
🇫🇷 Anne Hidalgo propose un plan pour sortir Paris du confinement
La maire de Paris préconise un dépistage massif et une mise en quarantaine des personnes infectées, dans une lettre envoyée au premier ministre.
Parmi ses suggestions, Anne Hidalgo préconise avant tout un « dépistage massif » des « publics prioritaires », qui restent à définir. Sont ciblés « les jeunes Parisiens, de la crèche au lycée », mais aussi les agents du service public parisien. La ville de Paris a commencé lundi à organiser le dépistage généralisé dans les maisons de retraite.
Deuxième proposition d'ampleur : la maire souhaite la mise en quarantaine des personnes infectées. « Il s’agit d’appliquer le principe de séparation physique entre les personnes saines, les personnes potentiellement contaminées, en attente de dépistage, et les personnes positives au virus », écrit Anne Hidalgo dans sa lettre à Matignon. Elle pourrait pour cela « faciliter la mobilisation de sites dédiés et d’hôtels ».
Par ailleurs, la maire de Paris voudrait «au plus vite» expérimenter des «certificats d'immunité» délivrés aux personnes qui ont été au contact du virus et ont été immunisées. (Le Figaro)
🇫🇷 🌍 La France va consacrer 1,2 milliard € pour lutter contre le COVID-19 en Afrique. (ministre)
🇨🇳 Un rapport du renseignement a mis en garde contre une crise de coronavirus dès novembre.
Dès la fin novembre, des responsables du renseignement américain avertissaient qu'une contagion balayait la région de Wuhan en Chine , changeant les modes de vie et les affaires et constituant une menace pour la population, selon quatre sources informées des informations secrètes.
"Les analystes ont conclu qu'il pourrait s'agir d'un événement cataclysmique", a déclaré l'une des sources à propos du rapport du NCMI. "Il a ensuite été informé à plusieurs reprises" de la Defense Intelligence Agency, de l'état-major du Pentagone et de la Maison Blanche. (ABC)
🇫🇷 L’Unef (Union Nationale des Étudiants de France) réclame le remplacement des partiels par des devoirs maisons, avec une note minimale de 10 sur 20 pour éviter «l’échec de masse». (Le Figaro)
🌐 Flash-Info : L’état de santé de Boris Johnson "s’améliore", selon le ministre des Finances britannique, Rishi Sunak. 🇬🇧 (20minutes)
🌐 Flash-Info : L’OMS répond aux critiques de Donald Trump, qui l’accusait de s’être "plantée"
"Ne politisez pas le virus", a répondu Tedros Adhanom. Le directeur général de l’OMS a également invité les Etats-Unis et la Chine à s’unir plutôt que de s’affronter, dans la lutte contre la pandémie.
🌐 Flash-Info : La France va consacrer 1,2 milliard d'euros dans la lutte contre le Covid-19 en Afrique. 🇫🇷 (LCI)
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Articles divers 08/04 (hors france):
# Petite retour sur la situation en Mongolie
# Ne pas fermer les parcs contre les virus
# Tadjikistan sans virus
# Révolte en Idaho (au nom de la liberté?)
# Certains industriels allemands demandent la suspension des réglementations écologiques
# journal de New York
# Au Brésil, des milliers de personnes sont sans domicile
# Dubai suspend mariages et divorces pour diminuer l'épidémie
# La Turquie veut (comme d'autres) traquer les malades avec les données
# En Israêl, des groupuscules de droite demandent le tests de tous les Palestiniens
# Les Femmes Saoudiennes dénoncent le harcèlement
# 6 expatriés au Koweit en prison pour avoir déclenché une émeute?
# Des membres d'ISIS se révoltent et s'évadent de prison en Syrie
# Le lockdown dans les Philippines
# Une ville en Arabie Saoudite pour concurrencer Dubai est désertée
#Le Marché mondial de l'alimentaire s'adapte à toute allure
# Un pilote découvre un Hangar suspect dans la zone 51 (où des extraterrestres ont atterri vous savez?)
Commuters in face masks during the morning rush hour
Photograph: Ann Wang/Reuters
Firefighters and volunteers disinfect a street
Photograph: Ye Aung Thu/AFP/Getty
Issue 13: Mongolia’s response to COVID-19 sits at the nexus of two threats
How did Mongolia contained Coronavirus despite sharing a border with China?
Mongolia’s initial response
Mongolia and its southern neighbour share a 4630 km long international border, the 4th longest in the world. China has more than 81,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 3,295 deaths. Despite its geographic and socioeconomic proximity, how come Mongolia has only 11 cases cases?
Mongolia declared a state of emergency on January 17th. A week later, borders with China were closed. Travellers were screened for symptoms, educational institutions were closed and social gatherings were prohibited , including Lunar New Year celebrations.
The decision to close the border wasn’t taken lightly. The Mongolian economy is overwhelmingly dependent on trade with China. The majority of Mongolians live in the capital city, Ulaanbaatar, where the centralized healthcare system is ill prepared for a pandemic.
Keep the Parks Open
Public green spaces are good for the immune system and the mind—and they can be rationed to allow for social distancing.
The outdoors, exercise, sunshine, and fresh air are all good for people’s immune systems and health, and not so great for viruses. There is a compelling link between exercise and a strong immune system. A lack of vitamin D, which our bodies synthesize when our skin is exposed to the sun, has long been associated with increased susceptibility to respiratory diseases. The outdoors and sunshine are such strong factors in fighting viral infections that a 2009 study of the extraordinary success of outdoor hospitals during the 1918 influenza epidemic suggested that during the next pandemic (I guess this one!) we should encourage “the public to spend as much time outdoors as possible,” as a public-health measure.
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Tajikistan "Still Free of Coronavirus"
Unlike elsewhere in the world, the authorities have not imposed a quarantine or restricted public events.
There are rumours that a quarantine will shortly be imposed, and although the ministry of health has not officially confirmed this, their press service reported that measures needed in the event of a state of emergency were discussed at a March 28 meeting.
Tajikistan is one of the poorest countries of the former Soviet Union, and Abror Asoev, a Tajik doctor with over 20 years experience in the national healthcare system, warned that it did not have the capacity to deal with a full-blown epidemic.
He noted an insufficient number of hospital beds, respiratory devices and medicines as well as experienced doctors.
“If only one or two hundred cases are detected, there are likely to be no serious consequences for Tajikistan,” he said. “However, if coronavirus spreads throughout Tajikistan, it is hard to imagine to what consequences it will lead to. The ratio of hospitals to population of the country is too low. We are having difficulties placing 5-6,000 people in quarantine. Imagine what can happen if the number of sick patients reaches this figure.”
https://iwpr.net/global-voices/tajikistan-still-free-coronavirus
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Rwanda: How Trade in Banned Alcohol Wrecks Lives
Investigation reveals that police collusion fuels lucrative smuggling industry.
Popote (not his real name) spends his days drinking kanyanga, an illegal, fiercely strong alcohol brewed from bananas.
He began drinking as a child, he said, and from the first sip his life had been destroyed.
“When I was still at school, you know my vision was always to be a doctor, but this has let me down,” Popote explained. “My parents stopped caring, arguing that am useless without any future.”
He was soon expelled from school, and began taking other drugs too.
“I don’t fit in society now, whenever I meet my old school boys and girls, I feel ashamed of myself,” he said.
I went to Kagarama secondary school with Popote. He is just one of many of my family members and old friends whose lives have been severely affected by kanyanga.
Ben, another friend, is also struggling to break free from kanyanga. Having lost his parents in the 1994 genocide, the government educated him through the Fund for Neediest Survivors of Genocide in Rwanda (FARG).
“FARG helped me to study but kanyanga really messed everything up,” Ben said. “I remember I was expelled from the school, that was in 2012.”
Since then, he has been unable to break free from kanyanga.
“I have been caught very many times,” Ben said. “I was taken to rehab twice when I had no money; but when you have money you can talk to them and can easily be released before you reach there.”
In any case, he continued, kanyanga was easily available in rehab, too.
https://iwpr.net/global-voices/rwanda-how-trade-banned-alcohol-wrecks-lives
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États-Unis.Dans l’Idaho, une “rébellion ouverte” contre le confinement
Dans le nord-ouest des États-Unis, des militants opposés au gouvernement fédéral et des élus locaux brisent les restrictions imposées par Washington pour lutter contre le Covid-19 au motif qu’elles seraient une atteinte à la Constitution et à leurs libertés individuelles.
Ammon Bundy fait de nouveau parler de lui. “Je veux attraper le virus maintenant”, a déclaré récemment cette figure du Mouvement patriote américain, qui avait dirigé en 2016 l’occupation d’un parc naturel de l’Oregon pendant quarante et un jours.
Révolté par le confinement imposé dans l’Idaho depuis le 25 mars par le gouverneur républicain Brad Little, Bundy a réuni la semaine dernière “quelques dizaines de personnes” à l’intérieur d’une ancienne usine au nord de Boise, la capitale de l’Idaho. D’après le New York Times, cette réunion représentait pour Bundy une revendication du “droit constitutionnel de se réunir pacifiquement”.
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Politicians Call for Fewer Climate Protections During Coronavirus Crisis
German politicians have begun calling for industry to be shielded from too much environmental protection during the coronavirus crisis. But corporations aren't joining the appeal. They managed to turn CO2 reduction into a competitive advantage long ago.
There are no longer tens of thousands of young people taking to the streets on Fridays in cities around the world. Climate protests in times of the coronavirus have gotten quieter and more modest. In one video, three young people can be seen shouting from a balcony: "Funds for health care, not for coal!" At the beginning of last week, the clip had 878 views.
That's nothing compared to the millions of people who showed up for the Fridays for Future demonstrations. But it's also no reason to despair. "We're not actively pushing forward right now because the coronavirus is taking up so much space. It wouldn't really be appropriate," says Carla Reemtsma, one of the movement's most prominent activists.
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New York Diary Eight Days in the New Capital of Corona
Not a soul to be seen on Wall Street, cafés closing down in Brooklyn and a field hospital in Central Park: New York City is in the grips of coronavirus. Notes from a week that changed the city.
Donna has set up two folding chairs in the stairwell for us to sit on, while she sinks onto a plastic stool in her doorway, three meters (around 10 feet) away. "Thank you for the salami," she says though her mask and stretches out her hands - covered in latex gloves – to take the bag from the deli on the corner.
Donna is 64 and lives alone in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Crown Heights. Her parents immigrated to the U.S. from the West Indies, but Donna was born in New York. She has seen a lot, but says she has never experienced a catastrophe like this before. And now, she herself has become part of it.
It began with a fever. First it was 37.4 degrees Celsius (99.3 degrees Fahrenheit), then 38.9. It fell to 36.7, before spiking again to 38.7. Donna meticulously records her temperatures in her diary. She says she was having trouble sleeping because of aches and pains and ultimately, she called 911.
The paramedics showed up in full protective gear, including masks, gloves and rubber boots. Once she got to the hospital, she was asked a seemingly endless number of questions: Did she have a cough? Aches and pains? Headaches? Then X-rays were taken of her lungs.
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Brazil's homeless faced many risks before the coronavirus arrived
Brazil's capital has some 24,000 homeless people who face significant risks from their lack of access to proper hygiene.
Despite the coronavirus outbreak in Brazil, Luiz Renato Ribeiro Junior, who is homeless, still tries to sell candy every day in Sao Paulo, Latin America's largest city. But lockdown policies put in place last month have made it harder for him to earn money.
"If I just stay in one place, I will have no income," he said. "I have to hustle and try to sell my product."
His plight is shared by many of the city's 24,000 homeless residents, the official tally according to the census.
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Dubai suspends marriages, divorces to curb spread of coronavirus
Move announced as 'measures to prevent spread of the pandemic' after emirate reports 2,659 infections and 12 deaths.
Justice Khaled al-Hawsni of the family court also said on the department's website that couples who have already completed marriage formalities must not organise wedding parties "even among their immediate circles".
On Tuesday, the Personal Status Court in Dubai decided to suspend all legal services related to family matters based on Islamic jurisprudence, which holds that “repelling an evil is preferable to securing a benefit", the Arab news reported.
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Coronavirus: Turkey to track patients via mobile phones to enforce quarantines
Those who violate isolation will be asked to return home or be penalised, according to the new measures
Turkey is set to monitor the mobile phones of citizens diagnosed with the highly contagious coronavirus to ensure their commitment to quarantine, according to the presidency’s director of communications Fahrettin Altun.
Authorities will start tracking the movement of those who tested positive for the virus, also known as Covid-19, and will send them a message or call them once they leave their homes, authorities said in a promotion video shared by Altun on Wednesday.
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/coronavirus-turkey-track-patients-phones-quarantines
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Coronavirus: Rights group demands Israel opens testing centres in Palestinian areas
In order to get tested, residents of Kufr Aqab and the Shuafat camp have to travel through Israeli checkpoints to Jerusalem
As the number of coronavirus cases in Israel continues to grow, surpassing 9,400, rights groups are demanding that authorities end their neglect of tens of thousands of Palestinian residents of occupied Jerusalem who have yet to receive access to testing.
Adalah - The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel - filed a petition on Wednesday to the Israeli Supreme Court on behalf of two East Jerusalem communities, Kufr Aqab and the Shuafat refugee camp, calling on the government to provide coronavirus testing to residents.
Kafr Aqab and Shuafat are home to an estimated 150,000 Palestinian Jerusalem ID-holders but have been separated from the rest of the city by Israel’s separation wall.
As a result, they have been left out of Israel’s testing efforts in Jerusalem, which were only recently extended to Palestinian residents of the city.
"We are asking the government to provide basic access to Covid-19 healthcare and testing for the people living in these two neighborhoods, which, municipality-wise, belong to Jerusalem," Adalah attorney and co-author of the petition Myssana Morany told Middle East Eye.
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/coronavirus-israel-palestine-demands-open-testing-centres
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Saudi women speak against harassment on social media
Saudi women use social media to recount abuse endured at home or in public which they did not report to authorities fearing shame - or blame.
AMMAN - Hundreds of women in Saudi Arabia are taking to social media to share their experiences of sexual harassment in a rare exploration of a taboo topic in the ultra-conservative kingdom.
Using the hashtag "Why_I_didn't_report_it", women and some men are recounting abuse endured at home or in public which they did not report to authorities fearing shame - or blame.
Saudi Arabia has outlawed domestic violence and sexual harassment in sweeping reforms recently that ended decades of gender segregation in restaurants and a ban on women driving.
But women who report incidents have faced smear campaigns on social media and been blamed for being harassed, rights groups say.
"My friends were punished when they reported (their abuse) and experienced more harm," wrote one Saudi Twitter user who called herself Bella.
"I chose silence," she said.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman last year allowed adult women to travel and get a passport without permission, further eroding a heavily-criticized male guardianship system.
Under the regulations women can still face arrest if they disobey their guardian, often a husband or father.
One woman on Twitter who uses the online name Udor said she was arrested after her father beat her, kicked her out of the house and reported her to the police for disobedience.
A Saudi government body tasked with tackling domestic violence used the hashtag to urge those who had suffered abuse to get in touch privately.
Some women said they were afraid to speak up, especially in cases when their abuser was a family member.
"I reported it and the police came to convince me to drop the charges while my abuser sat with them," wrote a Twitter user by the name of Catolina.
Saudi women can struggle to access social services without the presence of a male guardian, according to Human Rights Watch, and some who have sought refuge in shelters still require permission from a male relative to leave the shelter.
High profile cases such as that of 18-year-old Rahaf Mohammed al-Qanun who fled to Canada in 2019 to escape what she said was an abusive family have rallied opposition to the kingdom's male guardianship system.
AMMAN - Hundreds of women in Saudi Arabia are taking to social media to share their experiences of sexual harassment in a rare exploration of a taboo topic in the ultra-conservative kingdom.
Using the hashtag "Why_I_didn't_report_it", women and some men are recounting abuse endured at home or in public which they did not report to authorities fearing shame - or blame.
Saudi Arabia has outlawed domestic violence and sexual harassment in sweeping reforms recently that ended decades of gender segregation in restaurants and a ban on women driving.
https://middle-east-online.com/en/saudi-women-speak-against-harassment-social-media
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6 Expats arrested in Kuwait after causing strife
The Kuwaiti Interior Ministry arrested six expats who caused riots and will take legal measures against them, and deport them back to their country.
The ministry said Wednesday, they received a complaint from a representative of a private company stating that a group of workers gathered and tried to assault him while delivering their salaries.
A rescue patrol immediately moved to the location of the incident and upon its arrival, one of the company’s workers assaulted the police car, and then the patrol commander fired a precautionary caliber in the air to disperse the gathering.
The ministry stressed that an investigation had been carried out and the rest of the workers involved were being seized and referred to the authorities.
https://kwttoday.com/6-expats-arrested-in-kuwait-after-causing-strife/
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ISIS members riot and break out of Syrian prison
Several Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) members escaped from a Syrian prison on Sunday by ripping off doors and using them to break down a wall during a "detention facility uprising," authorities said.
The Ghweran prison, located in the northeastern city of Hasakah, is run by the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a key US partner in the fight against ISIS.
ISIS prisoners took over the first floor floor of the prison, tore down some of the internal walls, and destroyed the doors, Mustafa Bali, head of the SDF press office, said in a tweet Sunday.
"Some of them managed to escape and the search for them is ongoing," he added.
Inside, prisoners staged a riot that authorities struggled to control. "The situation is tense inside the prison currently " Bali said. "The anti-terrorist forces are dealing with the situation to restore control of the ground floor in the prison and restore calm to the prison in general."
A US military official confirmed to CNN Sunday that there was an ongoing situation at the prison. CNN reporters on the ground could hear loud chanting from prisoners inside.
https://edition.cnn.com/2020/03/30/middleeast/isis-prison-escape-syria-intl-hnk/index.html
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Are you living in a hotspot?
Read more at:
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/are-you-living-in-a-hotspot/articleshow/75053247.cms
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Enforce total LOCKDOWN
Experts urge govt as new infections, deaths surge; ‘track the hidden cases’
The country continues to see a steady uptick in coronavirus cases as the authorities reported three more deaths and 54 new cases yesterday.
The death toll stood at 20 while the number of confirmed cases reached 218 till 2:00pm yesterday -- the rise happened in just a month since the detection of the first Covid-19 case in Bangladesh.
What is worrying is that the capital continued to witness a surge in coronavirus cases. Yesterday too, it had the highest number of new cases -- 39. The total number of cases in the city is 123.
What is worrying is that the capital continued to witness a surge in coronavirus cases. Yesterday too, it had the highest number of new cases -- 39. The total number of cases in the city is 123.
Experts say the surge in Covid-19 cases so far is only the tip of the iceberg, and there could be more cases in the coming days if the authorities do not go for quick detection of hidden cases and enforce lockdown strictly.
"It is just the tip of the iceberg. Though the number of test facilities is increasing, it is too little to detect hidden cases," Prof Mozaherul Huq, former regional director of World Health Organization (South East Asia), told The Daily Star.
https://www.thedailystar.net/frontpage/news/enforce-total-lockdown-1891186
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The wrong way to do a lockdown in the Philippines
President Rodrigo Duterte's soldier-enforced Covid-19 lockdown shows signs of becoming a clampdown on dissent
There are also concerns that the emergency lockdown may be giving cover to a crackdown on dissent.
In early April, a week after Duterte was handed his new emergency powers, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) reportedly issued more than a dozen subpoenas against netizens for allegedly spreading fake news and disinformation.
Prominent human rights lawyers like Chel Diokno, who has volunteered to represent several netizens now facing charges that carry jail terms under emergency rule, have argued that the subpoenas are a form of suppression of legitimate criticism.
Diokno has accused the government of imposing a chilling effect on free expression, including for “fair commentary on matters of public interest.”
“I don’t think that we have any reason for the government to do that. Even in this emergency, we are still entitled to our opinion. We are still entitled to transparency and accountability by the government,” the lawyer said.
Diokno has also raised concerns about an alleged lack of transparency in government expenditure during the the lockdown, an accusation that drew the ire of Duterte during a recent nationally televised address.
MANILA – Faced with 3,870 confirmed Covid-19 cases, 182 deaths and an upward-pointing trend-line, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte is doubling down on his “enhanced community quarantine” policy by extending an already month-long lockdown until the end of April.
Whether his government can hold that line long enough to tamp down the Covid-19 curve is an open question as desperate and sometimes hungry Metro-Manila residents break the government’s military-enforced containment measures to seek out sustenance.
The extension was announced on April 7, soon after Duterte was given extraordinary powers late last month by Congress to strictly enforce social distancing and home quarantines, and disburse a multi-billion-dollar aid package for the hardest hit communities and businesses.
The decision has won broad support, including from independent and opposition legislators, due to growing concerns the lockdown so far has met with only mixed results.
https://asiatimes.com/2020/04/the-wrong-way-to-do-a-lockdown-in-the-philippines/
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Saudi futuristic city turns into a mirage in Covid-19 era
NEOM, a $500-billion fantasy world, was supposed to replace Dubai as the Hong Kong of the Middle Eas
The ravages of Covid-19, coupled with a bruising oil price war with Russia, have pushed the kingdom into emergency mode, the crown prince’s vanity projects pushed to the side.
King Salman on Friday decreed the government would step in to pay 60% of private sector salaries for its citizens for the next three months. The Saudi Grains Organization has meanwhile instructed Saudi investors abroad to supply the homeland with 355,000 tons of wheat.
“I don’t see the powers that be prioritizing [NEOM] now … It’s a running cost with no value added,” the Gulf-based economist told Asia Times.
n the Red Sea coastal province of Tabuk, where the futuristic city of NEOM was meant to rise from the desert, royals have hunkered down in new construction, the paint barely dry on the palace walls.
On the horizon, Jordan’s Aqaba port and Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula are visible but unreachable. The Arab littoral neighbors, envisioned as bridges to NEOM, are now in varying degrees of lockdown.
Israel, surveillance eyes to the monarchy, has sealed itself off.
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In the heart of the kingdom, the gates to Mecca have been shuttered. The authorities are preparing the world’s Muslims for the cancellation of the Hajj, a rarity not witnessed since the Napoleonic incursions.
Movement between Tabuk and other parts of the country is banned, bringing the isolation of the brick red moonscape into stark relief.
Work at NEOM has ground to an undefined halt.
“There’s a high likelihood it fades into nothingness,” said a Gulf-based economist.
https://asiatimes.com/2020/04/saudi-futuristic-city-turns-mirage-in-covid-19-era/
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From caviar to apple juice, coronavirus is changing the way the world feeds itself
The crisis has upset the palates of consumers in richer countries who are accustomed to eating whatever and whenever they want thanks to synchronized, rapidly moving economic designs that can make all manner of food appear, including out-of-season blueberries from the Southern Hemisphere.
“The system has evolved to be highly efficient; able to get food from Asia or South America onto the grocery store shelves within days,” said Joseph Glauber, a senior research fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute and the former chief economist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. “Now we have all these things gone from stores in the U.S. I lived in Mali for two years in the ’70s and the grocery stores were always that way. It’s striking if nothing else.”
Glauber said supermarkets weren’t designed to suddenly absorb all the spending on food that normally takes place at restaurants. Whether the scenes of sparsely stocked shelves worsens into a genuine food shortage will depend on the length of the pandemic and whether nations can refrain from protectionism, he added.
Already Vietnam, the world’s third-largest exporter of rice, suspended sales to foreign buyers. Kazakhstan banned exports of flour. And the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union, which also includes Belarus, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan, halted exports of rye, soybeans, and some flour.
Glauber said the bans were mostly symbolic, to ease concerns about shortages at home. Global grain stocks, he added, were high enough to weather a months-long disruption.
That doesn’t mean other food sectors aren’t feeling the pain. The virus, as it has done in the lives and neighborhoods it has swept through, has forced new reckonings.
Dairy farmers in the U.S. and Canada are reportedly dumping millions of gallons of milk because they can no longer supply schools and restaurants.
The supply of apple juice to the U.S. is in jeopardy because of delays at Chinese ports, according to Mintec, a commodities research firm that estimates two-thirds of the kid-friendly beverage consumed by Americans originates from China.
California almond growers are struggling to get their product into their top export market, India. Ports there are in disarray, prompting some to declare force majeure, as strict lockdown measures have left many migrant workers at home.
https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2020-04-08/the-coronavirus-is-disrupting-the-way-the-world-eats
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Pilot takes incredible photos of Area 51 that reveal construction of mysterious massive hangar after receiving permission to fly his small plane past the top secret facility
Pilot Gabriel Zeifman flew his Cessna 150 over Nevada Test and Training Range
He received permission to pass over because airspace was 'cold' with no flights
Took photos showing Area 51 and secretive Tonopah Test Range Airport in stunning detail
At Area 51, one massive hangar is under construction and another's purpose remains unknown
A pilot has taken incredible photos of Area 51 and other top secret installations on the Nevada Test and Training Range after receiving permission to fly through the highly restricted airspace.
Gabriel Zeifman took the images while flying in his Cessna 150, after receiving permission from air traffic controllers to pass through the airspace last weekend because it was 'cold', meaning no military flights were taking place.
Among Zeifman's incredible images are photos showing a massive hangar under construction at Groom Lake, the highly classified Air Force facility more commonly known as Area 51.
'Probably the most exciting part was the first time I saw Groom Lake (Area 51), it's just such a rare place to see,' Zeifman told DailyMail.com. 'It's something everyone has heard of but few get to look at. So I'm glad to share a glimpse of it.'
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Army calls for reserve volunteers
This week the South African Military Health Service issued a call to registered medical personnel to join the Reserve Force as volunteers until June 23 as part of the operation against Covid-19.
In the call to registered healthcare professionals, the military health services said the call-up was “already under way and envisaged to continue till June 23, 2020.”
At the same time, the military health service has started to identify and set up quarantine facilities in all nine provinces to provide for its own personnel who may become infected with the virus in the course of their duties.
In the call, the military health service said the recruitment was aimed at “reinforcing, regrouping and strengthening its medical capacity in the wake of the national disaster declared by the commander-in -chief”.
The personnel included doctors; professional, enrolled and auxiliary nurses; clinical associates and operational emergency-care practitioners. They were asked to contact the various directorates with their name, identity number and registration details and await deployment to their nearest military health unit once contacted by the Reserve Force headquarters.
https://mg.co.za/article/2020-04-08-army-calls-for-reserve-volunteers/