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December
More than 1,600 Rohingya head for remote Bangladesh island, navy official says
Written by Nur YasminMore than 1,600 Rohingya refugees sailed on Friday from Bangladesh’s southern port of Chittagong for the remote island of Bhasan Char in the Bay of Bengal, a naval official said.
The south Asian nation says moving the refugees will ease chronic overcrowding in camps that are home to more than 1 million Rohingya, members of a Muslim minority who have fled neighbouring Myanmar.
But refugees and humanitarian workers say have some of the Rohingya had been coerced, despite government assertions that none would be forced to go.
The naval official said the Rohingya were aboard seven boats, with two more carrying supplies. (Reuters)
December
U.N. chief pans countries who ignored COVID-19 facts, WHO guidance
Written by Nur YasminUnited Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday decried countries - without naming any - who rejected facts about the coronavirus pandemic and ignored guidance from the World Health Organization (WHO).
Guterres addressed a special session of the 193-member U.N. General Assembly on COVID-19, which emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan late last year and spread globally, so far infecting nearly 65 million people and killing nearly 1.5 million.
Dozens of world leaders have submitted pre-recorded video statements for the two-day meeting.
“From the start, the World Health Organization provided factual information and scientific guidance that should have been the basis for a coordinated global response,” Guterres said.
“Unfortunately, many of these recommendations were not followed. And in some situations, there was a rejection of facts and an ignoring of the guidance. And when countries go in their own direction, the virus goes in every direction,” he said.
U.S. President Donald Trump cut funding to the WHO earlier this year and announced plans to quit the Geneva-based body over accusations it was a puppet of China, which the WHO denied. The U.S. withdrawal would have taken effect in July next year, but U.S. President-elect Joe Biden has said he will rescind the move.
“The pandemic underscores the importance of the World Health Organization, an institution that needs to be strengthened,” said German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Long-simmering tensions between the United States and China hit boiling point over the pandemic at the United Nations, where months of bickering between the superpowers has spotlighted Beijing’s bid for greater multilateral influence in a challenge to Washington’s traditional global influence. (Reuters)
December
China orders inspections to prevent COVID spread via cold chain
Written by Nur YasminChina is carrying out sweeping inspections on food importers, supermarkets, e-commerce platforms and restaurants to prevent the spread of coronavirus through imported cold chain products, the country’s market regulator said on Wednesday.
“The current epidemic prevention and control situation is still complex and austere, and the risk of the disease entering through imported cold chain links is continuously rising as the exchange of international personnel and goods increases,” State Administration for Market Regulation said in a statement on its website.
While China has already stepped up testing and disinfection of imported frozen products at ports and in local markets, driving up costs and curbing demand, the latest comments from Beijing showed inspections on cold chain imports would only strengthen.
China has repeatedly detected the virus on packaging on products ranging from German pork knuckles to Ecuadorian shrimp, triggering disruptive import bans, even as the World Health Organization says the risk of catching COVID-19 from frozen food is low.
The administration has also asked for authorities to have all cold storages registered by the end of the year, according to the statement.
Imported cold-chain food products cannot be sold in China without a report showing they have undergone a nucleic acid test for the coronavirus, the market regulation administration said, reiterating an existing policy.
Imported cold chain food products “without inspection and quarantine certificate, or nucleic acid test report, or disinfection certificate, or tractability information, must not be sold in the market,” the statement said.
Local authorities must intensify the crackdown on imported cold chain food products without clear origin, or relevant receipts and bills, it said.
Producers and operators were to bring in imported cold chain food products through designated channels and store and sell them in designated areas, according to the statement. (Reuters)
December
Iran Embassy in Indonesia Condemns Attack Against Iranian Nuclear Mastermind
Written by Nur YasminJakarta, Voice of Indonesia. The Iran Embassy in Jakarta releases a statement condemning the terrorist attack and against Iranian scientist Prof. Mohsen Fakhrizadeh on Nov. 27, 2020.
“The Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran condemns this brutal murder and inhumane act, and calls out the international community, countries that defend human rights, and independent media to condemn this criminal, terroristic attack,” the statement says as received by Voice of Indonesia on Thursday.
Fakhrizadeh, who is the head of Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research and a senior official in the nuclear program of Iran, was murdered brutally from gunshot attack while he was traveling in a car in Absard, Tehran. The assailants were not identified, but Iranian officials blamed Israel.
“For the last year, several Iranian scientists and heroes becomes the target and getting murdered by various terrorist attacks. The recent murder of our senior nuclear scientist have the same characteristic and method which usually used by the Israeli terrorists,” the release says.
Rear Admiral Shamkhani, head of the Supreme National Security Council, confirmed that the scientist was killed by a remote-controlled weapon, that "It was a very complex mission using electronic equipment”, as BBC reported.
The statement claimed that the murder aims to create a major crisis to prevent Iran’s nuclear agreement Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). They also claimed that Israel, the only other country who holds a nuclear weapon in the Middle East, designed the attack.
They added that since 2015, Israel have been persuading US to leave the deal and sanction Iran again. US finally left the deal in 2018 under Donald Trump presidency, saying it was “defective at its core”.
Aside from being an instrumental agent to Iranian nuclear program, Fakhrizadeh had a major role in developing Covid-19 test kit and vaccine for Iran. The country has no access to humanitarian and medical aids due to sanctions from the United States.
December
India says may not need to vaccinate entire population to control COVID
Written by Nur YasminIndia may not need to vaccinate all of its 1.3 billion people if it manages to inoculate a critical mass and break the transmission of the coronavirus, senior government officials said on Tuesday.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who toured the facilities of three vaccine makers over the weekend, has emphasized the importance of a vaccine to rein in COVID-19.
In October, he said that the government was preparing to reach every single citizen as soon as a vaccine was ready.
World Health Organization experts have pointed to a 65%-70% vaccine coverage rate as sufficient to reach population immunity.
“The government has never spoken about vaccinating the entire country,” Rajesh Bhushan, the top bureaucrat in India’s federal health ministry, told a news conference on Tuesday without reference to Modi.
India currently has the world’s second-highest number of coronavirus infections, behind only the United States, with 9.46 million cases and 137,621 deaths.
India recorded 31,118 new coronavirus cases on Tuesday, the lowest daily tally since Nov. 17, data from the health ministry showed.
“...If we are able to vaccinate a critical mass of people, and break that virus transmission, then we may not have to vaccinate the entire population,” Balram Bhargava, Director General of the state-run Indian Council Of Medical Research, said at the press briefing.
India’s plan to roll out a COVID-19 shot in the first few months of 2021 wouldn’t be impacted by an alleged adverse reaction during AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine trial, Bhushan said.
A 40-year-old Indian man said in a complaint over the weekend that he had suffered serious “neurological and psychological” symptoms after receiving the vaccine in a trial being run by the British drugmaker’s partner, Serum Institute of India.
The incident is currently under investigation. (Reuters)
December
Amid fight to curb coronavirus, U.N. urges designation of seafarers as key workers
Written by Nur YasminThe 193-member U.N. General Assembly urged all countries to designate seafarers and other marine personnel as key workers on Tuesday after travel restrictions to combat the spread of COVID-19 have left hundreds of thousands stranded at sea for months.
A unanimously adopted resolution encouraged governments to ensure safe ship crew changes and travel, allowing stranded seafarers to be repatriated and others to join ships.
“In this crisis, we need to show our attention, commitment and support to these invisible heroes, who are working under difficult and challenging circumstances,” Indonesia’s U.N. Ambassador Dian Triansyah Djani told the General Assembly.
About 90% of world trade is transported by sea and curbs imposed during the coronavirus pandemic in some jurisdictions are affecting supply chains. The resolution noted that in 2019 there were some 2 million seafarers working on more than 98,000 commercial ships, transporting more than 11 billion tons of trade. (Reuters)
“Yet today hundreds of thousands of seafarers are stranded on board their ships,” European Union diplomat Peggy Vissers told the General Assembly. “Because of travel restrictions and border closures, they are unable to leave their ships and return home after long months of uninterrupted work. They are both physically and mentally exhausted.”
U.N. General Assembly resolutions are non binding but can carry political weight. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on all countries in June to designate seafarers and other marine personnel as key workers.
The resolution “calls upon governments to promptly implement relevant measures designed to facilitate maritime crew changes, including by enabling embarkment and disembarkment and expediting travel and repatriation efforts as well as ensuring access to medical care.”
The 193-member U.N. General Assembly urged all countries to designate seafarers and other marine personnel as key workers on Tuesday after travel restrictions to combat the spread of COVID-19 have left hundreds of thousands stranded at sea for months.
A unanimously adopted resolution encouraged governments to ensure safe ship crew changes and travel, allowing stranded seafarers to be repatriated and others to join ships.
“In this crisis, we need to show our attention, commitment and support to these invisible heroes, who are working under difficult and challenging circumstances,” Indonesia’s U.N. Ambassador Dian Triansyah Djani told the General Assembly.
About 90% of world trade is transported by sea and curbs imposed during the coronavirus pandemic in some jurisdictions are affecting supply chains. The resolution noted that in 2019 there were some 2 million seafarers working on more than 98,000 commercial ships, transporting more than 11 billion tons of trade.
“Yet today hundreds of thousands of seafarers are stranded on board their ships,” European Union diplomat Peggy Vissers told the General Assembly. “Because of travel restrictions and border closures, they are unable to leave their ships and return home after long months of uninterrupted work. They are both physically and mentally exhausted.”
U.N. General Assembly resolutions are non binding but can carry political weight. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on all countries in June to designate seafarers and other marine personnel as key workers.
The resolution “calls upon governments to promptly implement relevant measures designed to facilitate maritime crew changes, including by enabling embarkment and disembarkment and expediting travel and repatriation efforts as well as ensuring access to medical care.”
December
PM Modi Inspires India to Become Pharmacy of the World
Written by Ani HasanahPM Modi undertook a 3-city tour to conduct an extensive review of the vaccine development and manufacturing process recently. He visited the Zydus Biotech Park in Ahmedabad, Bharat Biotech in Hyderabad and Serum Institute of India in Pune. Two of these sites are where India is indigenously developing vaccines to fight COVID and one of these sites is where crores of vaccines to save the world will be manufactured.He told the scientists that he chose to meet them face to face in order to boost their morale & help accelerate their efforts at this critical juncture in the vaccine development journey.PM Modi stressed that India considers vaccines as not only vital to good health but also as a global good, and it is India’s duty to assist other countries, including the nations in our neighbourhood, in the collective fight against the virus.
India is not only leading the world in research for vaccines but will also be crucial for the world’s vaccine production.In December, ambassadors of 100 countries are scheduled to visit Pune on December 4, they will visit Serum Institute of India and Gennova Biopharmaceuticals Limited.India has become the Pharmacy of the World in its fight against the pandemic. (Release Indian Embassy, Jakarta)
December
China gave COVID-19 vaccine candidate to North Korea's Kim, U.S. analyst says
Written by Nur YasminChina has provided North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his family with an experimental coronavirus vaccine, a U.S. analyst said on Tuesday, citing two unidentified Japanese intelligence sources.
Harry Kazianis, a North Korea expert at the Center for the National Interest think tank in Washington, said the Kims and several senior North Korean officials had been vaccinated.
It was unclear which company had supplied its drug candidate to the Kims and whether it had proven to be safe, he added.
“Kim Jong Un and multiple other high-ranking officials within the Kim family and leadership network have been vaccinated for coronavirus within the last two to three weeks thanks to a vaccine candidate supplied by the Chinese government,” Kazianis wrote in an article for online outlet 19FortyFive.
Citing U.S. medical scientist Peter J. Hotez, he said at least three Chinese companies were developing a coronavirus vaccine, including Sinovac Biotech Ltd, CanSinoBio and Sinophram Group.
Sinophram says its candidate has been used by nearly one million people in China, although none of the firms was known to have publicly launched Phase 3 clinical trials of their experimental COVID-19 drugs.
North Korea has not confirmed any coronavirus infections, but South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) has said an outbreak there cannot be ruled out as the country had trade and people-to-people exchanges with China - the source of the pandemic - before shutting the border in late January.
Microsoft said last month that two North Korean hacking groups had tried to break into the network of vaccine developers in multiple countries, without specifying the companies targeted. Sources told Reuters they included British drugmaker AstraZeneca.
The NIS said last week it had foiled North Korea’s attempts to hack into South Korean COVID-19 vaccine makers. (Reuters)
December
The 2020 prize for Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Year went to an obvious choice: pandemic.
The term had the most online dictionary lookups of any word, Merriam-Webster said on its website, after a year in which at least 1.4 million people globally have died from the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Sometimes a single word defines an era, and it’s fitting that in this exceptional - and exceptionally difficult - year, a single word came immediately to the fore,” the dictionary publisher said.
Pandemic is defined as “an outbreak of a disease that occurs over a wide geographic area (such as multiple countries or continents) and typically affects a significant proportion of the population,” according to Merriam-Webster.com.
The word’s Greek roots are “pan,” meaning all or every and “demos,” meaning people, Merriam-Webster said.
Dictionary lookups skyrocketed on March 11 when the World Health Organization officially labeled COVID-19 a pandemic.
The word “saw the single largest spike in dictionary traffic in 2020, showing an increase of 115,806% over lookups on that day in 2019,” said the company, founded in 1831.
Last year’s winner was “they” as used to describe someone who does not identify as male nor female. That follows winners “justice” in 2018, “feminism” in 2017 and “surreal” in 2016. (Reuters)
November
Gaza gets vital medical aid as hospitals struggle with rising infections
Written by Nur YasminThe World Health Organization delivered 15 ventilators to Gaza hospitals on Sunday amid a spike in COVID-19 infections that has tested the Palestinian territory’s under-developed health system.
The donation of the intensive care devices, funded by Kuwait, came a week after local and international public health advisers said hospitals in the enclave could soon become overwhelmed.
“These devices will help medical teams provide better service to patients, but it is not enough,” said Abdullatif Alhaj of Gaza’s health ministry.
Alhaj said hospitals had suffered acute shortages in oxygen essential in the treatment of COVID-19 patients.
Gaza has logged nearly 20,000 coronavirus cases and 97 deaths, mostly since August, amid concern of a wider outbreak in the densely populated enclave of 2 million people, many of whom live in poverty.
The Gaza Health Ministry said 342 COVID-19 patients, of whom 108 are in critical condition, are being treated in the territory’s hospitals, which have been able to expand their intensive care units to 150 beds over the past week.
It said more than half of the territory’s 150 ventilators are in use.
“The health system right now can hold on for a few weeks after the expansion of beds,” said Abdelnaser Soboh, emergency health lead in the World Health Organization’s Gaza sub-office.
Soboh said Gaza is also experiencing severe shortages of medications and disposable equipment needed to treat COVID-19 patients.
Palestinians in Hamas Islamist-run Gaza say 13 years of economic sanctions by Israel and its border blockade have crippled their economy and undermined the development of medical facilities, weakening their ability to tackle a pandemic.
Israel, which cites security concerns for the border restrictions it imposes along with neighbouring Egypt, says it has not limited the transfer of medical supplies to Gaza to fight the pandemic. (Reuters)
