China's new coronavirus infections double due to imported cases - Reuters

BEIJING (Reuters) - China’s Hubei province where the coronavirus pandemic originated will lift travel restrictions on people leaving the region as the epidemic there eases, but other regions will tighten controls as new cases double due to imported infections.

A security guard wearing a protective mask sits on a tree at a park, as the country is hit by an outbreak of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Beijing, China March 23, 2020. REUTERS/Thomas Peter

The Hubei Health Commission announced it would lift curbs on outgoing travellers starting March 25, provided they had a health clearance code.

The provincial capital Wuhan, where the virus first appeared and which has been in total lockdown since Jan. 23, will see its travel restrictions lifted on April 8.

However, the risk from overseas infections appears to be on the rise, prompting tougher screening and quarantine measures in major cities such as the capital Beijing.

China had 78 new cases on Monday, the National Health Commission said, a two-fold increase from Sunday. Of the new cases, 74 were imported infections, up from 39 imported cases a day earlier.

The Chinese capital Beijing was the hardest-hit, with a record 31 new imported cases, followed by southern Guangdong province with 14 and the financial hub of Shanghai with nine. The total number of imported cases stood at 427 as of Monday.

Only four new cases were local transmissions. One was in Wuhan which had not reported a new infection in five days.

Wuhan residents will soon be allowed to leave with a health tracking code, a QR code, which will have an individual’s health status linked to it.

In other parts of the country, authorities have continued to impose tougher screening and quarantine and have diverted international flights from Beijing to other Chinese cities, but that has not stemmed the influx of Chinese nationals, many of whom are students returning home from virus-hit countries.

Beijing’s city government tightened quarantine rules for individuals arriving from overseas, saying on Tuesday that everyone entering the city will be subject to centralised quarantine and health checks. [B9N2AR01N]

The southern city of Shenzhen said on Tuesday it will test all arrivals and the Chinese territory of Macau will ban visitors from the mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

The number of local infections from overseas arrivals - the first of which was reported in the southern travel hub of Guangzhou on Saturday - remains very small.

On Monday, Beijing saw its first case of a local person being infected by an international traveller arriving in China. Shanghai reported a similar case, bringing the total number of such infections to three so far.

CONCERNS ABOUT NEW WAVE OF INFECTIONS

The rise in imported cases and the lifting of restrictions in some cities to allow people to return to work and kickstart the battered Chinese economy has raised concerns of a second wave of infections.

A private survey on Tuesday suggested that a 10-11% contraction in first-quarter gross domestic product in the world’s second largest economy “is not unreasonable”.

Slideshow (4 Images)

The epidemic has hammered all sectors of the economy - from manufacturing to tourism. To persuade businesses to reopen, policymakers have promised loans, aids and subsidies.

In the impoverished province of Gansu, government officials are each required to spend at least 200 yuan ($28.25) a week to spur the recovery of the local catering industry.

The official China Daily warned in an editorial on Tuesday that maintaining stringent restrictions on people’s movements would “now do more harm than good”.

Reporting by Ryan Woo, Lusha Zhang, Huizhong Wu and Se Young Lee; Additional reporting by David Stanway; Editing by Kim Coghill and Michael Perry

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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2020-03-24 07:43:25Z
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China's new coronavirus infections double due to imported cases - Reuters

BEIJING (Reuters) - China’s Hubei province where the coronavirus pandemic originated will lift travel restrictions on people leaving the region as the epidemic there eases, but other regions will tighten controls as new cases double due to imported infections.

A security guard wearing a protective mask sits on a tree at a park, as the country is hit by an outbreak of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Beijing, China March 23, 2020. REUTERS/Thomas Peter

The Hubei Health Commission announced it would lift curbs on outgoing travellers starting March 25, provided they had a health clearance code.

The provincial capital Wuhan, where the virus first appeared and which has been in total lockdown since Jan. 23, will see its travel restrictions lifted on April 8.

However, the risk from overseas infections appears to be on the rise, prompting tougher screening and quarantine measures in major cities such as the capital Beijing.

China had 78 new cases on Monday, the National Health Commission said, a two-fold increase from Sunday. Of the new cases, 74 were imported infections, up from 39 imported cases a day earlier.

The Chinese capital Beijing was the hardest-hit, with a record 31 new imported cases, followed by southern Guangdong province with 14 and the financial hub of Shanghai with nine. The total number of imported cases stood at 427 as of Monday.

Only four new cases were local transmissions. One was in Wuhan which had not reported a new infection in five days.

Wuhan residents will soon be allowed to leave with a health tracking code, a QR code, which will have an individual’s health status linked to it.

In other parts of the country, authorities have continued to impose tougher screening and quarantine and have diverted international flights from Beijing to other Chinese cities, but that has not stemmed the influx of Chinese nationals, many of whom are students returning home from virus-hit countries.

Beijing’s city government tightened quarantine rules for individuals arriving from overseas, saying on Tuesday that everyone entering the city will be subject to centralised quarantine and health checks. [B9N2AR01N]

The southern city of Shenzhen said on Tuesday it will test all arrivals and the Chinese territory of Macau will ban visitors from the mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

The number of local infections from overseas arrivals - the first of which was reported in the southern travel hub of Guangzhou on Saturday - remains very small.

On Monday, Beijing saw its first case of a local person being infected by an international traveller arriving in China. Shanghai reported a similar case, bringing the total number of such infections to three so far.

CONCERNS ABOUT NEW WAVE OF INFECTIONS

The rise in imported cases and the lifting of restrictions in some cities to allow people to return to work and kickstart the battered Chinese economy has raised concerns of a second wave of infections.

A private survey on Tuesday suggested that a 10-11% contraction in first-quarter gross domestic product in the world’s second largest economy “is not unreasonable”.

Slideshow (4 Images)

The epidemic has hammered all sectors of the economy - from manufacturing to tourism. To persuade businesses to reopen, policymakers have promised loans, aids and subsidies.

In the impoverished province of Gansu, government officials are each required to spend at least 200 yuan ($28.25) a week to spur the recovery of the local catering industry.

The official China Daily warned in an editorial on Tuesday that maintaining stringent restrictions on people’s movements would “now do more harm than good”.

Reporting by Ryan Woo, Lusha Zhang, Huizhong Wu and Se Young Lee; Additional reporting by David Stanway; Editing by Kim Coghill and Michael Perry

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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2020-03-24 07:15:03Z
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China's new coronavirus infections double due to imported cases - Reuters

A security guard wearing a protective mask sits on a tree at a park, as the country is hit by an outbreak of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Beijing, China March 23, 2020. REUTERS/Thomas Peter

BEIJING (Reuters) - Mainland China saw a doubling in new coronavirus cases, driven by a jump in infected travelers arriving from abroad, while more locally transmitted cases crept into its daily tally, including one in the central city of Wuhan.

China had 78 new cases on Monday, the National Health Commission said, a two-fold increase from a day earlier.

Of the new cases, 74 were imported infections, up from 39 a day earlier.

Wuhan, capital of Hubei province and epicenter of the outbreak in China, reported one new case, the National Health Commission said on Tuesday, following five days of no new infections.

Three other local infections were reported elsewhere in the country.

Reporting by Ryan Woo, Lusha Zhang and Se Young Lee; Editing by Kim Coghill

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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2020-03-24 06:51:12Z
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China to Lift Lockdown Over Virus Epicenter Wuhan on April 8 - Bloomberg

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China to Lift Lockdown Over Virus Epicenter Wuhan on April 8  BloombergView Full Coverage on Google News
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2020-03-24 06:40:22Z
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Italy Virus Deaths Fall for Second Day as Germany Weighs Help - Bloomberg

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1. Italy Virus Deaths Fall for Second Day as Germany Weighs Help  Bloomberg
2. Coronavirus: Europe tightens lockdowns while others ignore social distancing advice  NBC News
3. Coronavirus deaths rising faster in UK than Italy  Telegraph.co.uk
4. The Lessons from Italy’s Covid-19 Mistakes  Bloomberg
5. Coronavirus lessons to learn from Italy  Chicago Tribune
6. View Full Coverage on Google News

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2020-03-23 17:53:56Z
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Pompeo visits Afghanistan - The - The Washington Post

Jacquelyn Martin AP Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks during a news conference last June at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul.

KABUL — With a crisis in the Afghan government threatening to derail a peace deal signed last month between Taliban and U.S. officials, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made an unannounced visit here Monday in hopes of resolving a clash between President Ashraf Ghani and his main rival, Abdullah Abdullah, who is attempting to form a parallel government.

Pompeo spent the day meeting privately with both leaders, first separately and then together, before leaving the country less than nine hours after he landed. There was no immediate indication from U.S. or Afghan officials as to how much progress his efforts had made.

But the secretary’s sudden trip from Washington, even with the novel coronavirus upending life in the United States and consuming its government, was a dramatic indicator of U.S. officials’ growing alarm at the lengthening political stalemate here — both for its potential to erupt into a violent civil conflict and to undermine the peace process.

[Standoff between Afghan President Ghani and rival Abdullah threatens Taliban peace deal]

The agreement signed Feb. 29 between U.S. and Taliban officials was expected to allow thousands of U.S. troops to begin leaving Afghanistan soon and to pave the way for negotiations between Taliban and Afghan leaders on a shared government in the future. Instead, both plans have bogged down, and no date has been set for the talks.

“Unless this crisis gets resolved and resolved soon, it could affect the peace process, which was an opportunity to end . . . 40 years of war. And our agreement with the Talibs could be put at risk,” a senior State Department official told journalists traveling with Pompeo, speaking on the condition of anonymity to be candid.

The official said Pompeo’s “authority” as the top U.S. diplomat and a close adviser to President Trump gives him more potential influence than other intermediaries on Ghani and Abdullah, who are bitterly estranged after co-governing for five years. In recent weeks, both Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. diplomat spearheading the peace talks, and senior Afghan political and religious leaders have tried to find a compromise — to no avail.

Even with “a lot going on,” including the coronavirus pandemic, the official said, Pompeo had “come all the way here” to “push” both Afghan leaders to form an inclusive government and to stress the dangers that could result “if they don’t do the right thing.” The official said there was particular concern that the Afghan defense forces could split between “two presidents and two commanders in chief, or worse.”

What the Trump administration wants is for Ghani and Abdullah to agree on an “inclusive government that is acceptable to both,” the official said. “We are encouraging them to rise to the occasion” and “put the country first.”

After back-to-back meetings, with Pompeo shuttling between Ghani’s and Abdullah’s palaces — one block apart — and then meeting them together, no official statements were made.

Presidential Palace

EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, center, receives Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, left, in the presence of Afghan Vice President Amrullah Saleh at the presidential palace in Kabul on March 23.

The political crisis arose after the presidential election in September. Ghani, the incumbent, was declared the winner last month, but Abdullah alleged massive fraud and refused to concede. The two have been locked in a tense stalemate for two weeks, while Abdullah, backed by an array of former ethnic minority militia leaders, has begun naming his own governors and cabinet members.

Meanwhile, no progress has been made on forming a government delegation to meet with the Taliban, even though those talks were scheduled to begin March 10. In a separate dispute, Ghani has refused to immediately release 5,000 Taliban prisoners as the U.S.-Taliban agreement stipulated, throwing that deal into doubt as well, and leaving unclear if and when American troops can begin pulling out in large numbers.

Pompeo’s mission is eerily reminiscent of what transpired after the last Afghan presidential election, in 2014, when then-Secretary of State John F. Kerry successfully mediated an identical spat between Ghani and Abdullah. Both claimed to have won the presidency in a fraud-marred election, but Kerry persuaded them to accept a power-sharing arrangement. It has proved tense and fractious.

Pompeo also raised the prisoner-release issue with Ghani, which Khalilzad has been trying to work on over the past week. Over the weekend, he facilitated a video conference between Taliban and Afghan prison officials on the “technical” aspects of a proposed release, but no plan was finalized.

Pompeo, who attended the signing of the peace agreement in Qatar, said at the time that the path forward would be “rocky” and that talks between Taliban and Afghan leaders would be difficult. But he also said that while Taliban leaders have “an enormous amount of blood on their hands, they have now made a break” with their past and promised not to allow anti-U.S. terrorist activities on Afghan soil.

Read more

U.S. signs peace deal with Taliban agreeing to full withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan

Pakistan fears Afghan peace failure could bring violence its way

Afghan president commits to releasing Taliban prisoners

Today’s coverage from Post correspondents around the world

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2020-03-23 17:22:31Z
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Pompeo visits Afghanistan - The - The Washington Post

Jacquelyn Martin AP Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks during a June 25, 2019, news conference at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul during an unannounced visit to Afghanistan.

KABUL — With a crisis in the Afghan government threatening to derail a peace deal signed last month between Taliban and U.S. officials, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made an unannounced visit here Monday in hopes of resolving a clash between President Ashraf Ghani and his main rival, Abdullah Abdullah, who is attempting to form a parallel government.

Pompeo spent the day meeting privately with both leaders, first separately and then together, before leaving the country less than nine hours after he landed. There was no immediate indication from U.S. or Afghan officials as to how much progress his efforts had made.

But the secretary’s sudden trip from Washington, even with the novel coronavirus upending life in the United States and consuming its government, was a dramatic indicator of U.S. officials’ growing alarm at the lengthening political stalemate here — both for its potential to erupt into a violent civil conflict and to undermine the peace process.

[Standoff between Afghan President Ghani and rival Abdullah threatens Taliban peace deal]

The agreement signed Feb. 29 between U.S. and Taliban officials was expected to allow thousands of U.S. troops to begin leaving Afghanistan soon and to pave the way for negotiations between Taliban and Afghan leaders on a shared government in the future. Instead, both plans have bogged down, and no date has been set for the talks.

“Unless this crisis gets resolved and resolved soon, it could affect the peace process, which was an opportunity to end. . . 40 years of war. And our agreement with the Talibs could be put at risk,” a senior State Department official told journalists traveling with Pompeo, speaking on the condition of anonymity to be candid.

The official said Pompeo’s “authority” as the top U.S. diplomat and a close adviser to President Trump gives him more potential influence than other intermediaries on Ghani and Abdullah, who are bitterly estranged after co-governing for five years. In recent weeks, both Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. diplomat spearheading the peace talks, and senior Afghan political and religious leaders have tried to find a compromise — to no avail.

Even with “a lot going on,” including the coronavirus pandemic, the official said, Pompeo had “come all the way here” to “push” both Afghan leaders to form an inclusive government and to stress the dangers that could result “if they don’t do the right thing.” The official said there was particular concern that the Afghan defense forces could split between “two presidents and two commanders in chief, or worse.”

What the Trump administration wants is for Ghani and Abdullah to agree on an “inclusive government that is acceptable to both,” the official said. “We are encouraging them to rise to the occasion” and “put the country first.”

After back-to-back meetings, with Pompeo shuttling between Ghani’s and Abdullah’s palaces — one block apart — and then meeting them together, no official statements were made.

Presidential Palace

EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, center, receives Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, left, in the presence of Afghan Vice President Amrullah Saleh at the presidential palace in Kabul on March 23, 2020.

The political crisis arose after the presidential election in September. Ghani, the incumbent, was declared the winner last month, but Abdullah alleged massive fraud and refused to concede. The two have been locked in a tense stalemate for two weeks, while Abdullah, backed by an array of former ethnic minority militia leaders, has begun naming his own governors and cabinet members.

Meanwhile, no progress has been made on forming a government delegation to meet with the Taliban, even though those talks were scheduled to begin March 10. In a separate dispute, Ghani has refused to immediately release 5,000 Taliban prisoners as the U.S.-Taliban agreement stipulated, throwing that deal into doubt, as well, and leaving unclear if and when American troops can begin pulling out in large numbers.

Pompeo’s mission is eerily reminiscent of what transpired after the last Afghan presidential election, in 2014, when then-Secretary of State John F. Kerry successfully mediated an identical spat between Ghani and Abdullah. Both claimed to have won the presidency in a fraud-marred election, but Kerry persuaded them to accept a power-sharing arrangement. It has proven tense and fractious.

Pompeo also raised the prisoner-release issue with Ghani, which Khalilzad has been trying to work on over the past week. Over the weekend, he facilitated a video conference between Taliban and Afghan prison officials on the “technical” aspects of a proposed release, but no plan was finalized.

Pompeo, who attended the signing of the peace agreement in Qatar, said at the time that the path forward would be “rocky” and that talks between Taliban and Afghan leaders would be difficult. But he also said that while Taliban leaders have “an enormous amount of blood on their hands, they have now made a break” with their past and promised not to allow anti-U.S. terrorist activities on Afghan soil.

Read more

U.S. signs peace deal with Taliban agreeing to full withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan

Pakistan fears Afghan peace failure could bring violence its way

Afghan president commits to releasing Taliban prisoners

Today’s coverage from Post correspondents around the world

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2020-03-23 16:45:10Z
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