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May
More COVID-19 vaccines coming to Taiwan as cases spike
Written by Nur Yasmin
Much needed COVID-19 vaccines should be coming to Taiwan soon, the GAVI Vaccine Alliance said on Monday, as the chip-producing island's limited supplies run short during a spike in cases that has left the government scrambling for supplies.
A surge of coronavirus infections in Taiwan, one of the world's COVID-19 mitigation success stories, has led to its stock of 300,000 doses rapidly running out, with only about 1% of its 23 million people vaccinated.
Taiwan has been a model of how to control the pandemic since it began but over the past week it has reported more than 700 domestic cases, out of a total of 2,017 infections recorded in all, triggering panic-buying at supermarkets as the government tightened curbs in the capital, Taipei.
The GAVI Vaccine Alliance, which with the World Health Organization is jointly running the COVAX scheme to provide doses to countries which may have difficulties obtaining them, said more AstraZeneca (AZN.L) vaccines were coming to Taiwan.
COVAX expects Taiwan should receive allocated doses by the end of June at the latest, the alliance said in a statement to Reuters.
"The target remains to have 76 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine from AZ delivered between February and June to supply up to 80 countries and we expect next tranches of deliveries of vaccines to Taiwan soon," it said.
Taiwan has ordered 20 million vaccine doses, mostly from AstraZeneca Plc (AZN.L) but also from Moderna Inc (MRNA.O), though global shortages have curtailed supplies.
Taiwan has said it expects to get more than 1 million AstraZeneca shots via COVAX.
Health authorities last week stopped giving shots to people who are not on priority lists that include the elderly and medical staff. Taiwan only has AstraZeneca vaccines.
AstraZeneca said that through the COVAX facility it was committed to broad and equitable access to the vaccine, including to supply Taiwan.
Moderna did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Health Minister Chen Shih-chung told reporters on Monday that there was "no new progress" to report on the arrival of more vaccines but lots more would gradually be coming. He gave no details.
CHIP MAKER
Taiwan's main opposition Kuomintang party has called for the world to ensure that the island, a major semiconductor maker, gets priority help.
"Taiwan's pandemic is related to the stability of the global electronic product supply chain," party chairman Johnny Chiang said on Sunday.
A further concern for the government has been China, which claims Taiwan as its own territory and has a deep antipathy towards its democratically elected leaders.
China has been shipping supplies of its domestically developed vaccines around the world and has offered them to Taiwan via the COVAX global sharing scheme.
Taiwan law does not permit the use of Chinese vaccines.
A security official looking into Chinese activity on the island told Reuters the security services had been told to focus on what the government believes is "cognitive warfare" by China to "create chaos" and undermine public trust in the government's handling of the pandemic.
"They are trying to highlight the efficacy of the Chinese vaccines and how the government is blindly pinning its hopes on vaccines from the United States and home-made vaccines, leaving the lives of citizens in the lurch."
China's Taiwan Affairs Office told Reuters "most" Taiwanese hoped they could access Chinese vaccines, and called on Taiwan to remove "political obstacles". (Reuters)
May
More forced power outages in Taiwan as demand spikes amid heatwave, drought
Written by Nur Yasmin
Taiwan imposed power cuts on Monday evening following a spike in demand amid a heatwave and drought and failure at a power plant, in the second such outage in a week, although far fewer homes were affected.
Power was restored by 1340 GMT, electricity provider Taipower said.
Taiwan, which major chip makers such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd (TSMC) (2330.TW) call home, already imposed phased blackouts on Thursday following an outage at a plant in the southern city of Kaohsiung. read more
TSMC, which has factories across the island, said it had seen "no impact so far" from Monday's power cuts.
Taipower said 660,000 homes were affected by the power cuts, fewer than the roughly 4 million affected last week.
Taipower blamed a rise in demand coincided with the suspension of some generators due to a technical failure at the southern Hsinta Power Plant, the same facility that caused the problem last week.
The state-own company said that the worst drought to hit the island in more than half a century meant electricity generated by hydropower plants was insufficient to meet the unexpected demand on Monday evening, a record high for May.
By 8:40 p.m., only 40% of the supply had been restored in the coal- and gas-fired power plant, Taipower said.
Taiwan's cabinet offered an apology and urged citizens to stay safe.
Taiwan's main opposition party, the Kuomintang, said the outages showed the government's power policy was inadequate and called for Economy Minister Wang Mei-hua to step down.
Taiwan is currently experiencing an unusually hot May with temperatures in parts of the island peaking at around 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit). (Reuters)
May
Australia sticks by plan to re-open border in mid-2022
Written by Nur Yasmin
Australia is sticking to plans to start re-opening to the rest of the world only from the middle of next year, officials said on Sunday, resisting mounting pressure to end the closure of international borders.
In March 2020, Australia closed its borders to non-nationals and non-residents and has since been allowing only limited international arrivals, mainly citizens returning from abroad.
"All the way through we will be guided by the medical advice," Prime Minister Scott Morrison said at a televised briefing. "We will be guided by the economic advice."
Earlier in the day, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg told the Australian Broadcasting Corp (ABC) that the medical advice to keep the borders closed had 'served us very well through this crisis'.
Australia's border closure, combined with snap lockdowns, swift contact tracing and public health compliance has ranked its control measures among the world's most effective. Infections total about 29,700, with 910 deaths.
But border reopening plans unveiled this week have sparked criticism from businesses and industries, as well as politicians in Morrison's Liberal Party.
"Like many measures, international border closures had a temporary place, but it is not sustainable and will turn us into a hermit outpost," the Sunday Age newspaper quoted Tim Wilson, a Liberal Party member of parliament from Melbourne, as saying.
The newspaper also published recordings from Victoria's Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton, one of the architects of Melbourne's 111-day tough and successful lockdown last year.
Sutton suggested that Australia must start thinking about a reopening strategy once there is high vaccination coverage.
The government budget unveiled this week envisages vaccination by year-end for all willing Australians.
The border closure has stranded many Australians abroad. Government figures show that about 9,000 Australians in India have registered requests to return home.
On Saturday, the first repatriation flight from New Delhi following Australia's controversial ban on travel from India arrived half-empty in the northern city of Darwin, as many who had planned to travel were denied boarding after testing positive for the virus. read more
Morrison defended the testing requirements.
"I have seen the suggestions from others who seem to think that we can put people who have tested COVID-positive on planes and bring them into Australia," he told reporters.
"That just doesn't make any sense." (Reuters)
May
Do not give in to evil and division, Pope tells Myanmar community
Written by Nur Yasmin
The people of Myanmar must not despair in the face of evil or allow themselves to be divided, Pope Francis said on Sunday at a special Mass for the Myanmar community in Italy.
Myanmar's military seized power in a Feb. 1 coup, derailing the country's tentative progress towards full democracy and triggering protests that have been met with a bloody crackdown.
Francis, who visited the Southeast Asian country in 2017, has repeatedly denounced the coup and on Sunday held a special service for the Myanmar faithful in St. Peter's Basilica.
"Your beloved country of Myanmar is experiencing violence, conflict and repression," the pope said in a toughly worded homily, urging the congregation to draw inspiration from the final hours of Jesus Christ before his crucifixion.
"He does not resign himself to evil, he does not let himself be overwhelmed by grief, he does not retreat into the bitterness of the defeated and disappointed," he said.
Myanmar is a predominantly Buddhist country and is home to fewer than 800,000 Roman Catholics.
Francis, who has been one of the most outspoken global leaders on the Myanmar crisis, said people should not lose their faith or hope "even in the dark night of grief, even when evil seems to have the upper hand".
He also urged the people of Myanmar not to yield to "the logic of hatred and vengeance", nor to compromise their values. Unity was vital, he said.
Since grabbing power, the junta has struggled to govern. Protests, strikes and a civil disobedience campaign have crippled businesses and the bureaucracy, while an armed resistance has also taken hold in the northwest of the country. read more
The military has said its takeover was aimed at protecting democracy after a November election that it said was marred by fraud. The electoral commission rejected the military’s claims of irregularities. (Reuters)
May
Blinken discusses Gaza in calls with Qatari, Egyptian, Saudi foreign ministers
Written by Nur Yasmin
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken discussed the violence in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza in phone calls with the Qatari, Egyptian and Saudi foreign ministers, the State Department said on Sunday.
Blinken and Qatar's Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani discussed "efforts to restore calm in Israel and the West Bank and Gaza in light of the tragic loss of civilian life", the State Department said.
The Qatari Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the two officials discussed "the recent Israeli attacks on worshippers at the Al Aqsa Compound and the attack on the besieged Gaza Strip."
Al-Thani stressed the "need for urgent action by the international community to stop the repeated brutal Israeli attacks against civilians in Gaza and the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque," it added.
Meanwhile, a growing group of U.S. senators on Sunday called for a ceasefire. Democratic Senator Chris Murphy and Republican Todd Young, the senior members of a Foreign Relations panel, said in a statement: "As a result of Hamas’ rocket attacks and Israel’s response, both sides must recognize that too many lives have been lost and must not escalate the conflict further."
Twenty-five other Democratic U.S. senators and two independents issued a separate, similar statement urging an immediate ceasefire.
In his call with Egypt's Sameh Shoukry, Blinken "reiterated his call on all parties to de-escalate tensions and bring a halt to the violence, which has claimed the lives of Israeli and Palestinian civilians, including children", the State Department said in another statement.
Saudi state news agency SPA reported on Sunday that Blinken also had a phone call with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud to discuss the latest developments "in Palestine and in the region."
The State Department said the two discussed "the ongoing efforts to calm tensions in Israel and the West Bank and Gaza and bring the current violence to an end."
Qatar's Al-Thani also held a phone call on Sunday with Shoukry, in which they reviewed "bilateral cooperation relations and developments in Palestine," the Qatari Foreign Ministry said in a separate statement.
The Egyptian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the two ministers agreed on "the importance of working to reach an immediate ceasefire between the two sides, and they also agreed to continue coordination in the bilateral framework, as well as in regional and international ones, regarding what is in the interest of the Palestinian people and reaching a ceasefire,"
The truce efforts by Egypt, Qatar and the United Nations have so far offered no sign of progress. (Reuters)
May
Long working hours are a killer, WHO study shows
Written by Nur Yasmin
Working long hours is killing hundreds of thousands of people a year in a worsening trend that may accelerate further due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the World Health Organization said on Monday.
In the first global study of the loss of life associated with longer working hours, the paper in the journal Environment International showed that 745,000 people died from stroke and heart disease associated with long working hours in 2016.
That was an increase of nearly 30% from 2000.
"Working 55 hours or more per week is a serious health hazard," said Maria Neira, director of the WHO's Department of Environment, Climate Change and Health.
"What we want to do with this information is promote more action, more protection of workers," she said.
The joint study, produced by the WHO and the International Labour Organization, showed that most victims (72%) were men and were middle-aged or older. Often, the deaths occurred much later in life, sometimes decades later, than the shifts worked.
It also showed that people living in Southeast Asia and the Western Pacific region -- a WHO-defined region which includes China, Japan and Australia -- were the most affected.
Overall, the study - drawing on data from 194 countries - said that working 55 hours or more a week is associated with a 35% higher risk of stroke and a 17% higher risk of dying from ischemic heart disease compared with a 35-40 hour working week.
The study covered the period 2000-2016, and so did not include the COVID-19 pandemic, but WHO officials said the surge in remote working and the global economic slowdown resulting from the coronavirus emergency may have increased the risks.
"The pandemic is accelerating developments that could feed the trend towards increased working time," the WHO said, estimating that at least 9% of people work long hours.
WHO staff, including its chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, say they have been working long hours during the pandemic and Neira said the U.N. agency would seek to improve its policy in light of the study.
Capping hours would be beneficial for employers since that has been shown to increase worker productivity, WHO technical officer Frank Pega said.
"It's really a smart choice not to increase long working hours in an economic crisis." (Reuters)
May
G7 urged to donate 'emergency' supplies to vaccine-sharing scheme
Written by Nur Yasmin
The head of UNICEF on Monday asked G7 countries to donate supplies to the COVAX vaccine-sharing scheme as an emergency measure to address a severe shortfall caused by disruption to Indian vaccine exports.
India has curbed exports of the AstraZeneca (AZN.L) vaccine made by its Serum Institute, which had been pledged to COVAX, to be used by the country as it battles a massive second wave of infections. read more
U.N. agency UNICEF, which is in charge of supplying coronavirus vaccines through COVAX, estimates the supply shortfall at 140 million doses by the end of May and about 190 million by the end of June.
"Sharing immediately available excess doses is a minimum, essential and emergency stop-gap measure, and it is needed right now," said UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore, adding that this could help to prevent vulnerable countries from becoming the next global hotspot.
As G7 leaders prepare to meet in Britain next month, the head of the World Health Organization last week denounced the "moral catastrophe" of vaccine inequity, urging wealthy countries to donate doses rather than use them for children who are less vulnerable to severe disease. read more
Citing new research from scientific information and analytics company Airfinity, UNICEF's Fore said that G7 countries could donate about 153 million doses if they shared only 20% of their available supply over June, July and August.
This could be done while still meeting commitments to vaccinate their own populations, she said without providing further detail.
COVAX, run jointly by the WHO and the GAVI vaccine alliance, relies heavily on the AstraZeneca shot, which accounts for the bulk of the vaccines earmarked for early rollout as it seeks to provide 2 billion doses this year.
UNICEF said that other manufacturing limitations outside India had also slowed supply of COVAX doses but those delays are expected to be resolved by the end of June. (Reuters)
May
Indian police find bodies on riverbank amid raging COVID-19
Written by nuke
Policemen stand next to the bodies buried in shallow graves on the banks of Ganges river in Prayagraj, India, on May 15, 2021. (Photo: AP/Rajesh Kumar Singh) -
Police are reaching out to villagers in northern India to investigate the recovery of bodies buried in shallow sand graves or washing up on the Ganges River banks, prompting speculation on social media that they were the remains of COVID-19 victims.
In jeeps and boats, the police used portable loudspeakers with microphones asking people not to dispose of the bodies in rivers. "We are here to help you perform the last rites,” police said.On Friday, rains exposed the cloth coverings of bodies buried in shallow sand graves on the riverbank in Prayagraj, a city in Uttar Pradesh state.
Navneet Sehgal, a state government spokesman, on Sunday denied local media reports that more than 1,000 corpses of COVID-19 victims had been recovered from rivers in the past two weeks. “I bet these bodies have nothing to do with COVID-19,” he said.
He said some villagers did not cremate their dead, as is customary, due to a Hindu tradition during some periods of religious significance and disposed of them in rivers or digging graves on riverbanks.
KP Singh, a senior police officer, said authorities had earmarked a cremation ground for those who died of COVID-19 on the Prayagraj riverbank and the police were no longer allowing any burials on the riverfront.
Sehgal state authorities have found “a small number” of bodies on the riverbanks, he said, but did not give a figure.
Ramesh Kumar Singh, a member of Bondhu Mahal Samiti, a philanthropic organisation that helps cremate bodies, said the number of deaths is very high in rural areas, and poor people have been disposing of the bodies in the river because of the exorbitant cost of performing the last rites and shortage of woods. The cremation cost has tripled up to 15,000 rupees (US$210).
Health authorities last week retrieved 71 bodies that washed up on the Ganges River bank in neighbouring Bihar state.
Authorities performed post mortems but said they could not confirm the cause of death due to decomposition.
A dozen corpses were also found last week buried in sand at two locations on the riverbank in Unnao district, 40km southwest of Lucknow, the Uttar Pradesh state capital. District Magistrate Ravindra Kumar said an investigation is underway to identify the cause of deaths.
India’s two big states, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, with nearly 358 million people in total, are among the worst hit in the surge sweeping through the country with devastating death tolls. Hapless villagers have been rushing the sick to nearby towns and cities for treatment, many of them dying on the way, victims of India's crumbling health care.
After hitting record highs for weeks, the number of new cases was stabilising, said Dr VK Paul, a government health expert.
The Health Ministry on Sunday reported 311,170 confirmed cases in the past 24 hours, down from 326,098 on Saturday.
It also reported 4,077 additional deaths, taking the total fatalities to 270,284. Both figures are almost certainly a vast undercount, experts say//CNA
May
Pro-Palestinian activists and supporters let off smoke flares, wave flags and carry placards in central London AFP/Tolga Akmen -
Thousands of protesters marched in support of Palestinians on Saturday (May 15) in major European cities including London, Berlin, Madrid and Paris, as the worst violence in years raged between Israel and militants in Gaza.
In London, several thousand protesters carrying placards reading "Stop Bombing Gaza" and chanting "Free Palestine" converged on Marble Arch, near the British capital's Hyde Park, to march towards the Israeli embassy.Packed crowds stretched all along Kensington's High Street where the embassy is located.
Organisers claimed as many as 100,000 people had gathered for the demonstration though London police said they were unable to confirm any figure.
"The group is spread across a large area which makes it impossible to count them," a Metropolitan Police spokesman said.
"Officers are engaging with a group of people who have gathered for a demonstration in central London this afternoon," the police said in a separate statement, adding that a plan was in place to curb the spread of COVID-19.
"This time is different. This time we will not be denied any more. We are united. We have had enough of oppression," Palestinian Ambassador Husam Zomlot told the demonstrators.
"Today we are saying enough, enough with the complicity," he added.
May
Taiwan upbeat on economic prospects despite COVID-19 spike
Written by nuke
A shop owner and residents wear protective face masks, to protect themselves from the coronavirus (COVID-19), while buying groceries at a market in Taipei, Taiwan, March 12, 2020. REUTERS/Ann Wang -
Taiwan's economic prospects are bright and growth this year will come in as expected as long as the COVID-19 situation can be brought under control quickly, the government said on Sunday (May 16), adding that the impact of a recent spike in cases was limited.
Export-dependent Taiwan raised its coronavirus alert level in the capital, Taipei, and the surrounding city on Saturday, imposing two weeks of restrictions that will shut many venues and limit gatherings after a rise in community transmissions.
The profits of listed companies have increased significantly over last year, and export orders are also performing well, it added.
The current pandemic situation is having a short-term impact on consumers, but as long as infections can be controlled soon, added to a proposed NT$210 billion (US$7.51 billion) in government spending support, expectations for 2021 economic growth can be maintained, it said.
The Cabinet proposed the new spending on Thursday, though it still needs parliamentary approval.
The sudden rise in domestic cases last week spooked Taiwan's stock market.
Su urged all departments to keep a close watch on market developments and "take necessary steps for the normal operation of financial institutions and order and stability of the stock and foreign exchange markets", the Cabinet added.
Taiwan's economy grew at its fastest pace in more than a decade in the first three months of 2021 as the "work from home" boom sparked strong global demand for the island's hi-tech exports.