Kamis, 16 April 2020

Coronavirus: Capt Tom Moore finishes NHS fundraiser as it tops £12m - BBC News

A 99-year-old war veteran has walked 100 laps of his garden to raise more than £12m for the NHS.

Captain Tom Moore originally wanted to raise £1,000 for NHS Charities Together by completing laps of his garden before his 100th birthday.

But he smashed his target after more than 640,000 people made donations to his fundraising page.

As he finished the challenge, he said: "I feel fine, I hope you're all feeling fine too."

Capt Tom told the BBC earlier that the total amount raised so far was "an absolutely fantastic sum of money".

"I never dreamt I would be involved in such an occasion as this," he said at the end of his final lap.

By 11:00 BST, Capt Tom's JustGiving page, which temporarily crashed shortly after he finished the challenge, was showing donations of more than £12.5m.

His daughter Hannah Ingram-Moore said: "We are absolutely floored by what has been achieved but we're so happy, so humbled and so proud.

"He's a beacon of hope in dark times and I think we all need something like this to believe in and it's for such an amazing cause."

'Extraordinary'

Capt Tom began raising funds to thank the "magnificent" NHS staff who helped him with treatment for cancer and a broken hip.

With the aid of a walking frame, he completed 100 laps of the 25-metre (82ft) loop in his garden in Marston Moretaine, Bedfordshire, in 10-lap chunks well before his birthday on 30 April.

Tributes and messages of congratulations have poured in from politicians, celebrities and NHS workers.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak, said what he had done was "extraordinary" and "showed that the British spirit was as strong as it's ever been", while Brig Andrew Jackson, colonel of the Yorkshire Regiment, described Capt Tom as "an absolute legend" who came from "an exceptional generation that are still an inspiration for our Yorkshire soldiers today".

Celebrity judge Judy Sheindlin described the 99-year-old as "remarkable" while former F1 champion Damon Hill congratulated him on the "brilliant idea and for pulling it off".

Nurses on Ward 4 at the Royal University Hospital said: "Thank you so much for all your efforts and how much money you've raised for the NHS."

Capt Tom also received a special message from actor and singer Michael Ball, who described the challenge as "an extraordinary achievement" and sang "You'll Never Walk Alone" to him live on BBC Breakfast.

'It will all be right'

Shortly after he finished the fundraiser, the retired soldier had words of advice for the nation about coping with the coronvirus lockdown.

"You've all got to remember that we will get through it in the end, it will all be right," he said.

"For all those people finding it difficult at the moment, the sun will shine on you again and the clouds will go away."

More than 600,000 people from around the world have donated money to the fundraising page since it was set up last week.

Capt Tom, who is originally from Keighley in West Yorkshire, trained as a civil engineer before enlisting in the Army for World War Two, rising to captain and serving in India and Myanmar, also known as Burma.

Calls for him to receive a knighthood have gathered momentum and a petition has been signed by almost 2,000 people so far.

"It would be marvellous to have such an honour but I don't expect anything like that," Capt Tom said.

NHS Charities Together, which support health service charities and will benefit from the funds, said it was "truly inspired and humbled" by his efforts.

Chairman, Ian Lush, said about 150 charities would benefit from the money.

"It's extraordinary to see the amount of money and the outpouring of goodwill towards the NHS and towards all the NHS charities who will take good care with the money that he's raising," he said.

JustGiving confirmed it is the largest total ever raised in a single campaign on its site and it had itself donated £100,000 to Capt Tom's "amazing campaign".

"This is the largest donation JustGiving has ever made," a spokeswoman said.

"[The campaign is] the largest total raised on JustGiving, the fastest growing campaign on the platform and has attracted donations and media coverage from around the world."

Find BBC News: East of England on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If you have a story suggestion email eastofenglandnews@bbc.co.uk

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2020-04-16 08:56:10Z
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US Navy claims Iran's Navy taunts ships in Persian Gulf - Fox News

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Six US Navy warships conducting drills with US Army Apache attack helicopters in international waters off Iran Wednesday were repeatedly harassed by 11 Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Navy vessels, the US Navy’s 5th Fleet reported.

IRAN SUSPECTED OF SEIZING, RELEASING HONG KONG-FLAGGED TANKER NEAR STRAIT OF HORMUZ

The Iranian ships repeatedly crossed in front and behind the U.S. vessels at extremely close range and high speeds, including multiple crossings of one ship, the Puller, with a 50-yard closest point of approach and within 10 yards of another ship, the Maui's, bow, a 5th Fleet statement said.

Six US Navy vessels conducting drills with US Army Apache attack helicopters in international waters off Iran Wednesday were repeatedly harassed by 11 Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Navy vessels, the US Navy’s 5th Fleet reported. (5th Fleet, US Navy Photo)

The U.S. crews responded to the infractions by issuing multiple warnings via radio – including five short blasts from the ships' horns and long-range acoustic noise maker devices, but received no response from the IRGCN, the statement said.

After approximately an hour, the Iranian vessels finally responded to the radio queries, before maneuvering away from the U.S. ships and increasing the distance between them, the 5th Fleet reported.

FEINSTEIN URGES TRUMP TO REVERSE PLAN TO BLOCK IRAN REQUEST FOR $5B IN IMF AID, CLAIMS IT IS IN ‘OUR NATIONAL INTEREST’

Besides the Puller and Maui, the Navy reported the following ships were involved in the exercises: USS Paul Hamilton, USS Firebolt, USS Sirocco and USCGC Wrangell.

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The Navy statement said the Iranian's dangerous and provocative actions “increased the risk of miscalculation and collision” and were in violation of international maritime “rules of the road” as well as not in accordance with international law to act safely with other vessels in the area.

The U.S. Navy, Coast Guard, Marines and Army have been conducting joint interoperability operations in the North Arabian Gulf since late March.

Fox News' Louis Tomlinson contributed to this report.

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2020-04-16 07:44:04Z
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WHO boss Tedros says he’ll face coronavirus inquiry, vows to ‘learn’ from deadly ordeal - Fox News

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Facing global scrutiny and the potential loss of hundreds of millions in funding from the United States, the embattled leader of the World Health Organization said Wednesday his performance in combatting the coronavirus pandemic will be assessed “in due course.”

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the Ethiopian politician who has led the United Nations-backed health body as director-general since July 2017, added he intends to “learn” from the outbreak that as of early Thursday had sickened more than 2 million people worldwide and killed more than 130,000.

Speaking to reporters in Geneva, Tedros said he would be subjected to a public inquiry once the global crisis of COVID-19 has passed, Sky News of Australia reported.

SOURCES BELIEVE CORONAVIRUS ORIGINATED IN WUHAN LAB AS PART OF CHINA'S EFFORTS TO COMPETE WITH US

“In due course, WHO’s performance in tackling this pandemic will be reviewed by WHO’s member states and the independent bodies that are in place, to ensure transparency and accountability. This is part of the usual process put in place by our member states,” Tedros said.

"In due course, WHO’s performance in tackling this pandemic will be reviewed by WHO’s member states and the independent bodies that are in place, to ensure transparency and accountability."
— WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus

“No doubt areas of improvement will be identified,” he added, “and there will be lessons for all of us to learn. But for now my focus is on stopping this virus.”

Tedros, 55, has come under fire, particularly in the United States, over the global spread of the virus, which has infected people across the globe in recent weeks after being largely confined to China in January. Critics have accused Tedros and the WHO of allowing China to underreport the impact of the virus in that country, thus hindering other nations’ ability to prepare for its spread.

"No doubt areas of improvement will be identified and there will be lessons for all of us to learn."
— WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus

Since then, the U.S. has become the nation hardest-hit by the virus, suffering more than 600,000 cases and nearly 27,000 deaths as of early Thursday.

On Tuesday, President Trump announced the U.S. would immediately halt its funding of the WHO, saying the global body had placed “political correctness over lifesaving measures.” Trump said the U.S. contributes roughly $400 million to $500 million to the WHO each year while China chips in about $40 million.

"We have deep concerns over whether America's generosity has been put to the best use possible," Trump added, accusing the WHO of failing to adequately keep the international community apprised of the threat of the coronavirus.

"We have deep concerns over whether America's generosity has been put to the best use possible."
— President Trump

"The WHO failed in this duty, and must be held accountable," Trump continued. He said the WHO had ignored "credible information" in December 2019 that the virus could be transmitted from human to human.

A British study found that if WHO had asked countries to close their borders one week sooner, as many as two-thirds of the deaths would not have happened, Sky News reported.

On Wednesday, Tedros told reporters he hoped the U.S. would reconsider its decision to halt funding, calling the U.S. a “longstanding and generous friend” of the organization but said the WHO would evaluate the potential impact of the loss of U.S. support and “work with our partners to fill any financial gaps we face and ensure our work continues uninterrupted.”

Republicans in Congress have also targeted Tedros from criticism.

Last week a group of GOP members of the House Oversight Committee wrote to Tedros, demanding that he disclose the precise nature of his relationship with Chinese officials.

“Throughout the crisis, the WHO has shied away from placing any blame on the Chinese government, which is in essence the Communist Party of China,” the Republicans wrote. “You, as leader of the WHO, even went so far as to praise the Chinese government’s ‘transparency’ during the crisis, when, in fact, the regime has consistently lied to the world by underreporting their actual infection and death statistics.”

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Other Republicans who have spoken out against Tedros’ leadership have included Rep. Guy Reschenthaler, R-Pa., and Sen. Martha McSally, R-Ariz.

Tedros is also the target of a petition on Change.org calling for his resignation. As of early Thursday the petition had more than 960,000 signatures.

Fox News' Gregg Re and Barnini Chakraborty contributed to this story.

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2020-04-16 06:16:14Z
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After Anonymous Tip, 17 Bodies Found at Nursing Home Hit by Virus - The New York Times

The call for body bags came late Saturday.

By Monday, the police in a small New Jersey town had gotten an anonymous tip about a body being stored in a shed outside one of the state’s largest nursing homes.

When the police arrived, the corpse had been removed from the shed, but they discovered 17 bodies piled inside the nursing home in a small morgue intended to hold no more than four people.

“They were just overwhelmed by the amount of people who were expiring,” said Eric C. Danielson, the police chief in Andover, a small township in Sussex County, the state’s northernmost county.

The 17 were among 68 recent deaths linked to the long-term care facility, Andover Subacute and Rehabilitation Center I and II, including two nurses, officials said. Of those who died, 26 people had tested positive for the virus.

For the others, the cause of death is unknown.

Of the patients who remain at the homes, housed in two buildings, 76 have tested positive for the virus; 41 staff members, including an administrator, are sick with Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, according to county health records shared on Wednesday with a federal official.

Andover Subacute is not alone. Coronavirus has swept through the New York region’s nursing homes with devastating and deadly speed, killing thousands of residents at facilities struggling with staff shortages, increasingly sick patients and a lack of personal protective gear.

But with beds for 700 patients, Andover Subacute is, records show, the state’s largest licensed facility — and the risk of continued spread is terrifying to family members who have turned to social media and their local congressman, desperate for answers and extra personnel.

“The challenge we’re having with all of these nursing homes, is once it spreads, it’s like a wildfire,” said Representative Josh Gottheimer, a Democrat who got the call on Saturday, asking for body bags. “It’s very hard to stop it.”

One of the owners of the facility, Chaim Scheinbaum, did not return calls or emails. Staff members who answered phones at the facilities said they were not authorized to speak to the news media.

Even before the pandemic, the nursing home had struggled. Andover Subacute and Rehabilitation II recently got a one-star rating of “much below average” from Medicare for staffing levels, inspections and patient care.

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“I feel so helpless,” one woman, who started a group for family members, wrote on Facebook on Tuesday. “I feel like everyone is going to get Covid. What do we do?”

Staff members at the facility were asking the same thing.

“To all the people calling into the governor’s office, the congressman’s office to help us tell them WE NEED HELP,” a representative of Andover Subacute & Rehab Center Two wrote at 7:18 p.m. on Monday, in a Facebook post that was deleted on Wednesday.

After news began to be shared on Wednesday about the bodies found in the makeshift morgue, a discovery first reported by The New Jersey Herald, the fear intensified.

Mr. Gottheimer said his office had fielded calls from staff members and worried relatives pleading for help. He said he had spoken to a representative of the Federal Emergency Management Agency about the possibility of sending National Guard medics.

The state Department of Health sent two shipments containing 3,200 surgical masks, 1,400 N95 masks and 10,000 gloves to the nursing homes, said Donna Leusner, a spokeswoman. The first shipment went out about a week ago and the second should have been delivered Tuesday or Wednesday, she said.

“It’s scary for everybody — for the residents and for the staff,” Mr. Gottheimer said. “What is surprising to me is how many are dying in house, versus the hospital.”

The nursing home has told local health officials that they are housing sick patients on separate wings or floors, Chief Danielson said. And local residents have been gathering supplies to donate to the nursing home.

Several women created a Facebook page and a website, Sparta Helps Healthcare Heroes, to gather needed gowns, gloves and masks.

“At first, it was kind of like, ‘What can we do?’” said one of the organizers, LeeAnne Pitzer. “Now we have an army of sewers who are making handmade masks that can be washed and reused.”

One resident of Sparta, Cheryl Boggs, said she found three boxes of Tyvek suits and bootees in a storage room at the company where she works, Petro-Mechanics. She dropped them off on Monday after seeing the pleas for help on Facebook.

“We just wanted to help,” she said.

Lily Repasch, 84, died three weeks ago at Andover Subacute and Rehabilitation Center I.

Her son and three daughters were regular visitors to the facility, even talking through a window in her final days after the state ordered all long-term care facilities to stop allowing visitors.

The women said the facility offered no way for them to communicate with their mother, who had dementia, and provided family members no information. Their mother was never tested for the coronavirus.

“Her death was inevitable,” said one daughter, Lee Repasch. “But she was a vulnerable woman with dementia. It was inevitable, but it didn’t need to be like this.”

Most of the state’s nursing homes have reported at least one case of the coronavirus, which as of Wednesday had infected 6,815 patients of long-term care facilities in New Jersey. At least 45 of the 351 coronavirus-related deaths announced on Wednesday were residents of long-term care facilities.

Gov. Philip D. Murphy said that once the threat of the pandemic passes, New Jersey must take a hard look at what went wrong.

“It’s pretty clear that a big weakness in the system, and in reality, is long-term care facilities,” he said.

Thirteen of the bodies discovered on Monday at the Andover facility were moved to a refrigerated truck outside a hospital in nearby Newton, Chief Danielson said. A funeral home had made arrangements to pick up the other four.

He said he was not entirely surprised by the number of bodies discovered.

“I don’t know if I’m shocked by any means,” he said.

Kitty Bennett contributed research.

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2020-04-16 05:27:12Z
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Rabu, 15 April 2020

Relying on Science and Politics, Merkel Offers a Cautious Virus Re-entry Plan - The New York Times

BERLIN — Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday set in motion a plan for Germany to begin lifting social and economic restrictions in place because of the coronavirus, even as she warned that the road ahead would look less like a return to normal than a way to live with a pandemic that has overturned ordinary life.

The chancellor, a physicist by training, was typically restrained and focused on the science as she announced the government’s cautious step-by-step plan, for which she had won the agreement of regional leaders in Germany’s diffuse federal system.

Shorn of any bravado, her announcement seemed again to make Germany, Europe’s biggest economy, a de facto leader on the Continent and something of an example for Western nations looking to navigate the tricky course of rebooting economic activity and fighting the virus.

Her approach stood in stark contrast to the fraught political divisions in the United States, where state authorities have often been at odds with President Trump, who has made forceful but erratic predictions about the virus.

“We have achieved something,” Ms. Merkel said at a news conference, “something that by no means was a given at the start — namely that our doctors and carers, all those in the medical field, in the hospitals, were not overwhelmed.”

But she added: “What we’ve achieved is an interim success — no more, no less. And I stress that it is a fragile interim success.”

An economic lockdown will remain largely in place for an additional 20 days, Ms. Merkel cautioned, and strict social distancing rules will remain in force.

But some shops will be allowed to reopen beginning next week — although only those with the necessary protections in place to allow strict social distancing to continue, she said.

Older students might be allowed back to school in May but that will be contingent on a radically changed setup involving small groups, face masks and social distancing rules for school buses.

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Every two weeks the government will take stock of infection numbers, Ms. Merkel said, to evaluate in real time the impact of each incremental measure that is lifted — and to avoid the danger of infections picking up pace again.

“We can’t have a wrongheaded push forward, even when the best intentions are behind it,” Ms. Merkel said. “We need to understand that we need to live with this virus as long as there is no vaccine and no treatment.”

Germany was hit hard by the pandemic but reacted quickly and decisively in trying to slow the spread of the virus.

A month ago, when the number of deaths stood at 90, Ms. Merkel’s government imposed strict social distancing rules that banned groups of more than two people of different households from gathering, and that shut down much of the economy.

By Wednesday, the number of infections in Germany stood at 136,616, the third-highest toll in Europe, after Spain and Italy. But the number of new daily infections has tapered off and the number of deaths, now at 3,428, has remained low compared with other countries.

Germany’s strategy of early and widespread testing and its large number of intensive care beds help explain the country’s relatively low mortality rate, but the trust in Ms. Merkel’s leadership and the resulting compliance with government measures has contributed too, virologists say.

As in previous stages of the pandemic, Ms. Merkel consulted widely before she made her announcement Wednesday. She had studied the recommendations from a panel of 26 top academics from a range of fields including behavioral psychology and ethics, and then hammered out an agreement with the governors of Germany’s 16 states.

Highlighting this broad consensus, the chancellor was flanked at her hourlong news conference not just by her finance minister, but also by the governor of Bavaria and the mayor of Hamburg.

“Germany has a collective philosophy, and the debates of recent days have ended up in a good result,” said Markus Söder, the Bavarian governor, who has not been shy to criticize Ms. Merkel in the past. “All states are completely united with the federal government on the strategy and the strategy is caution.”

In a week where several smaller countries in Europe have begun loosening restrictions, many had been eagerly waiting for Germany to come forward with a plan to emerge from the economic lockdown.

Ms. Merkel’s announcement came as the German government issued a bleak assessment of the impact of the coronavirus outbreak on the economy, saying the country was headed for a steep recession and a surge in joblessness.

Among the first shops allowed to reopen are bookstores, bike stores and car dealers. But they all have to ensure that the number of customers inside is limited while also avoiding long lines from forming outside.

All schools will stay closed for another three weeks and primary schools and nurseries for longer, the chancellor said. Effective immediately, the German government is also “urgently” recommending the use of face masks in enclosed public spaces like shops and public transport, but stopped short of making masks mandatory as they are in neighboring Austria.

Restaurants and bars will have to wait longer, and large events like soccer matches remain banned until Aug. 31. Religious services won’t resume until places of worship have put in place measures to ensure the required distance between worshipers.

During Wednesday’s news conference, the chancellor thanked citizens for obeying strict social distancing rules and living with so many restrictions, stressing that Germany’s relative success in combating the virus was because of their cooperation.

“The curve has become flatter,” Ms Merkel said, referring to the number of new daily infections.

But she cautioned against a false sense of security, saying the achievements could quickly be reversed.

“We don’t have much leeway,” she said.

“If we now allow more public life, in small steps, then it is very important that we can trace infections chains even better,” she said. “That must be our aim: to trace every infection chain.”

To that end, she said, Germany’s testing capacities would be increased. The country is currently capable of testing 100,000 people a day, more than any other country in Europe.

Earlier Wednesday, the European Commission presented a road map for countries in the 27-country bloc planning their own exit strategies. Chief among its recommendations is a German-style testing regime that allows for the tracing and quarantining of those who are sick while also slowly allowing those who are not to go back to some activities.

The chancellor went into detailed explanations of the science behind her own plan.

A key variable the government was looking at, she said, is the so-called reproduction factor of the virus — the number of people an infected person passes the virus on to.

That factor currently stands at about 1, she said, meaning that one person gets infected by every newly infected person. If that factor rose even to 1.1, the German health care system would reach capacity by October, she said.

If it were allowed to rise to 1.2 — so out of five infected people one infects not one but two additional people — that limit is reached by July.

“With 1.3,” Ms. Merkel continued, “we have reached the limit of our health care system by June.”

“So you can see how small our leeway is,” she said, “the entire development rests on having a number of infections that we can keep track of and trace.”

Christopher F. Schuetze contributed reporting.

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2020-04-16 04:18:17Z
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South Korea election: Ruling party wins amid coronavirus outbreak - BBC News

The party of South Korean President Moon Jae-in has won a decisive victory in parliamentary elections, with voters backing the government's response to the coronavirus pandemic.

South Korea was among the first countries to hold a national vote since the pandemic began.

Strict safety and social distancing measures were in place for the vote.

With nearly all votes counted, Mr Moon's Democratic Party won 163 seats in the 300-seat National Assembly.

The party's sister group, the Platform Party, was forecast to win a further 17 seats, giving the government a total of 180 seats.

Among the winning candidates for United Future was high-profile North Korean defector Thae Yong-ho. Mr Thae, a former senior diplomat at North Korea's embassy in London, won a seat for the Gangnam district in Seoul.

N Korean defector wins seat in South Korea

Although 35 parties put forward candidates, the race was between the left-leaning Democratic Party and the conservative opposition, United Future Party. United Future and its parliamentary partners are expected to win 103 seats.

It is the first time in 16 years that left-leaning parties have secured a majority.

The prospects for President Moon's party did not look good in January. The South Korean economy has slowed, talks with North Korea have stalled and news headlines were dominated by a series of political scandals.

But the country has managed to combat coronavirus with aggressive tracing and testing measures. It brought the number of daily infections down from a peak of 900 a day in late February to fewer than 30.

The Democratic Party put this effective response at the heart of its campaign.

It has resulted in President Moon's government winning the largest majority in parliament this country has seen since it held its first democratic elections in 1987.

How were people able to vote?

In order to cast their ballots, voters had to clean their hands with sanitiser, wear face masks and plastic gloves, stand at least one metre (3ft) apart, and have their temperatures taken.

Anyone with a temperature above 37.5C had to cast their vote in separate booths that were then disinfected after each use.

One voter, a young woman, told BBC Seoul correspondent Laura Bicker: "I thought maybe the election should be postponed because people wouldn’t turn up. But now that I’m here and see so many others, I’m not worried."

There are currently about 60,000 people in quarantine due to the coronavirus in South Korea.

Despite this, the overall turnout was more than 66%, the highest in 18 years, aided by the fact it was first time that 18 year olds were allowed to vote.

About 26% of the population cast their votes in advance, either by post or in early polling stations set up in quarantine stations on Friday and Saturday.

People who had tested positive for coronavirus were under strict instructions to only vote at certain times and at specially designated polling stations. They were also forbidden from using public transport and were only allowed to walk or take their own car.

"Everyone recognised the seriousness of the situation and showed mature citizenship by encouraging electoral officials rather than complaining," the mayor of Seoul's Yongsan district, Sung Jang-hyun, told the BBC.

South Korea briefly had the world’s second-largest outbreak of coronavirus but it was largely brought under control through a policy of widespread testing, thorough contact-tracing, and widely observed social distancing.

South Korea has never postponed an election including the presidential election of 1952, which went ahead despite the country being in the middle of the Korean War.

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2020-04-16 02:16:23Z
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South Korea election: Ruling party wins amid coronavirus outbreak - BBC News

The party of South Korean President Moon Jae-in has won a decisive victory in parliamentary elections.

South Korea was among the first countries with a major coronavirus outbreak to hold a national vote since the pandemic began.

Safety and social distancing measures were put in place so that the election could take place as scheduled.

With nearly all votes counted, Mr Moon's Democratic Party won 163 seats in the 300-seat National Assembly.

The party's sister group, the Platform Party, was forecast to win a further 17 seats, giving the government a total of 180 seats.

Although 35 parties put forward candidates, the race was between the left-leaning Democratic Party and the conservative opposition, United Future Party.

United Future and its parliamentary partners are expected to win 103 seats.

Mr Moon's election victory is seen as a show of approval for his handling of the coronavirus outbreak, which has been widely praised.

It will give his government the largest majority in parliament South Korea has seen since it held its first democratic elections in 1987.

It is also the first time in 16 years that left-leaning parties have secured a majority.

How were people able to vote?

In order to cast their ballots, voters had to clean their hands with sanitiser, wear face masks and plastic gloves, stand at least one metre (3ft) apart, and have their temperatures taken.

Anyone with a temperature above 37.5C had to cast their vote in separate booths that were then disinfected after each use.

There are currently about 60,000 people in quarantine due to the coronavirus in South Korea.

Despite this, the overall turnout was more than 66%, the highest in 18 years, aided by the fact it was first time that 18 year olds were allowed to vote.

About 26% of the population cast their votes in advance, either by post or in early polling stations set up in quarantine stations on Friday and Saturday.

South Korea has never postponed an election including the presidential election of 1952, which went ahead despite the country being in the middle of the Korean War.

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