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Kamis, 17 Desember 2020

Tokyo raises COVID-19 alert to highest level as medical crunch looms - CNA

TOKYO: The Japanese capital Tokyo, faced with acute strains on its medical system from the COVID-19 pandemic, raised its alert level to the highest of four stages on Thursday (Dec 17) as the number of new cases spiked to a record daily high of 822.

A health official said it had become difficult to balance the care of COVID-19 patients with regular ones as hospital beds filled up, and a "red" alert for medical preparedness had been assigned for the first time.

"We fear a serious dysfunction of the medical system in two weeks, on Dec 31, if the number of new daily infections keeps growing at the current pace," Masataka Inokuchi, vice chair of the Tokyo Medical Association, told a news conference attended by Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike.

"Medical service providers have exhausted all spare resources. Reducing the number of (COVID-19) patients will be the only way to go."

The metropolitan government in the city of 14 million people said the number of new coronavirus cases hit 822 on Thursday, surpassing the previous record of 678 reached a day earlier.

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Tokyo — Pedestrians wearing protective masks amid the COVID-19 pandemic make their way at a shopping district in Tokyo on Dec 17, 2020. (Photo: Reuters/Kim Kyung-Hoon)

Tokyo issued a special COVID-19 alert for the year-end and new year periods to raise public awareness, Koike said.

"We need to turn this holiday season into a special period to stop the spread of the infections."

The Tokyo government has asked medical institutions in the capital to raise the number of hospital beds set aside for COVID-19 patients to 4,000 from the current 3,000, she said.

READ: Japan review of Avigan says efficacy for COVID-19 treatment inconclusive: Report

READ: Japan PM Suga under fire for year-end dinners as coronavirus cases mount

A month ago, Tokyo raised its coronavirus alert for new infections - a separate category - to the highest level. It had kept its alert for medical preparedness at the second-highest level at the time, indicating a need to boost hospital capacity, but a notch below critical conditions.

Japan has reported an overall total of 190,935 infections and 2,791 deaths from the respiratory disease since the outbreak began early this year, according to public broadcaster NHK.

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2020-12-17 13:40:56Z
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French President Macron tests positive for COVID-19 - CNA

PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron has tested positive for COVID-19, the presidency said on Thursday (Dec 17), although it was not clear at this stage where he had contracted the virus.

"The president tested positive for COVID-19 today (Thursday)," it said in a statement, adding he had been tested after the "onset of the first symptoms".

Macron will now, in accordance with national regulations, "self isolate for seven days", it said, adding that he will continue to work and carry out his activities remotely.

A spokeswoman said that all his trips had been cancelled, including an upcoming visit to Lebanon on Dec 22.

They added he was trying to assess where he could have contracted the virus.

Macron was at a European Council heads of state meeting on Dec 10 to Dec 11.

READ: France may start COVID-19 vaccinations in last week of December: PM

His schedule over the last week has also included a private dinner with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, during which Macron awarded him the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour.

The French president also had lunch this week with European leaders Charles Michel and Ursula von der Leyen, as well as the Spanish and Portuguese prime ministers.

He was seen shaking hands with OECD chief Angel Gurria.

Prime Minister Jean Castex will also self isolate after coming into contact with Macron over the last few days, said Gerard Larcher, head of the Senate, the upper house of the French parliament.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez will also quarantine until Dec 24, his office said in a statement. The two leaders had met on Monday in Paris.

Portugal's Prime Minister Antonio Costa, too, will self-isolate after meeting Macron, his office said in a statement. He has cancelled official trips to Sao Tome and Principe and Guinea Bissau scheduled between Dec 18 and 20, though "he will keep all executive activities and work schedule, which will be carried out remotely", the statement said.

Michel, the president of the European Council, decided to self-isolate as a precaution.

Von der Leyen said she "has no plan on self-isolating", however, according to a European Commission spokesman. The Commission head's meeting with Macron did not constitute a close contact that required self-isolation by the standards of French authorities, the spokesman added.

The French president is one of several heads of state and government around the world who have contracted COVID-19, including British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and US President Donald Trump.

Johnson sent his best wishes to Macron on Thursday after the French president tested positive for COVID-19.

"Sorry to hear my friend Emmanuel Macron has tested positive for coronavirus. We are all wishing you a speedy recovery," Johnson wrote on Twitter. He also posted the same message in French.

France earlier this week eased restrictions imposed to battle the second wave of the coronavirus but infection rates remain high.

READ: France's new COVID-19 cases up, hospitalisations resume downward trend

There is still a nationwide overnight curfew from 8pm to halt the spread of the virus while restaurants and cafes as well as theatres and cinemas remain closed.

More than 59,300 people have died in France of coronavirus since the start of the pandemic, according to official figures.

The recording of more than 17,000 new cases on Wednesday alone has also generated concern as people shop and travel more intensely ahead of the Christmas holidays.

Like other EU states, France is pinning its hopes on a vaccine to quell the virus and Castex said Wednesday the country will receive around 1.16 million COVID-19 vaccine doses by year-end.

BOOKMARK THIS: Our comprehensive coverage of the coronavirus outbreak and its developments

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2020-12-17 12:11:15Z
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French President Macron tests positive for COVID-19 - CNA

PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron has tested positive for COVID-19, the presidency said on Thursday (Dec 17), although it was not clear at this stage where he had contracted the virus.

"The president tested positive for COVID-19 today (Thursday)," it said in a statement, adding he had been tested after the "onset of the first symptoms".

Macron will now, in accordance with national regulations, "self isolate for seven days", it said, adding that he will continue to work and carry out his activities remotely.

A spokeswoman said that all his trips had been cancelled, including an upcoming visit to Lebanon on Dec 22.

They added he was trying to assess where he could have contracted the virus.

Macron was at a European Council heads of state meeting on Dec 10 to Dec 11.

READ: France may start COVID-19 vaccinations in last week of December: PM

His schedule over the last week has also included a private dinner with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, during which Macron awarded him the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour.

The French president also had lunch this week with European leaders Charles Michel and Ursula von der Leyen, as well as the Spanish and Portuguese prime ministers.

He was seen shaking hands with OECD chief Angel Gurria.

Prime Minister Jean Castex will also self isolate after coming into contact with Macron over the last few days, said Gerard Larcher, head of the Senate, the upper house of the French parliament.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez will also quarantine until Dec 24, his office said in a statement. The two leaders had met on Monday in Paris.

The French president is one of several heads of state and government around the world who have contracted COVID-19, including British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and US President Donald Trump.

Johnson sent his best wishes to Macron on Thursday after the French president tested positive for COVID-19.

"Sorry to hear my friend Emmanuel Macron has tested positive for coronavirus. We are all wishing you a speedy recovery," Johnson wrote on Twitter. He also posted the same message in French.

France earlier this week eased restrictions imposed to battle the second wave of the coronavirus but infection rates remain high.

READ: France's new COVID-19 cases up, hospitalisations resume downward trend

There is still a nationwide overnight curfew from 8pm to halt the spread of the virus while restaurants and cafes as well as theatres and cinemas remain closed.

More than 59,300 people have died in France of coronavirus since the start of the pandemic, according to official figures.

The recording of more than 17,000 new cases on Wednesday alone has also generated concern as people shop and travel more intensely ahead of the Christmas holidays.

Like other EU states, France is pinning its hopes on a vaccine to quell the virus and Castex said Wednesday the country will receive around 1.16 million COVID-19 vaccine doses by year-end.

BOOKMARK THIS: Our comprehensive coverage of the coronavirus outbreak and its developments

Download our app or subscribe to our Telegram channel for the latest updates on the coronavirus outbreak: https://cna.asia/telegram

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'We are not afraid': Wuhan residents say they hope WHO team finds COVID-19 origins - CNA

WUHAN, Hubei: With investigators from the World Health Organization (WHO) set to visit China next year, residents of Wuhan said they want the team to come to the central city, hoping they could prove that COVID-19 did not originate there.

An international team of investigators is expected to travel to China in January, the WHO said on Thursday (Dec 17), more than a year after the first identified cluster of COVID-19 infections was linked to the Huanan seafood market in Wuhan.

"I welcome them to come. We also want to know how it developed, specifically where it came from, if the source of the virus is here," said a Wuhan resident surnamed Wan, as he walked to work on Thursday morning.

"My feeling is that it is not from there," he added, referring to the seafood market.

Man wearing a mask stands near a street, almost a year after the start of the coronavirus disease ( — A man wearing a mask stands near a street, almost a year after the start of the COVID-19 outbreak, in Wuhan, Hubei province, China on Dec 17, 2020. (Reuters/Aly Song)

The WHO did not confirm whether its team will go to Wuhan, saying that discussions on the itinerary were ongoing. A two-member WHO team visited China in July, but did not visit Wuhan.

Reuters reported earlier, citing a member and diplomats, that a team of 12 to15 international experts will visit Wuhan to examine evidence, including human and animal samples collected by Chinese researchers, and to build on their initial studies.

Beijing has strongly opposed calls for an international inquiry into the origins of the coronavirus, but said it has been open to a WHO-led investigation.

China's foreign ministry did not directly comment on the WHO visit during a daily media briefing on Thursday.

"China stands ready to enhance its cooperation with WHO to advance the global tracing efforts and contribute our share in our early victory against the pandemic," spokesman Wang Wenbin said.

Many questions remain about the origins of COVID-19 and the role Wuhan's exotic wildlife trade may have played in it.

Person wearing a mask rides a bicycle of bike-sharing service on a street, almost a year after the — A person wearing a mask rides a bicycle of bike-sharing service on a street, almost a year after the start of the COVID-19 outbreak, in Wuhan, Hubei province, China on Dec 17, 2020. (Reuters/Aly Song)

Although authorities closed the Huanan market in January, there is a growing scientific consensus that the virus did not originate there. Some studies suggest it was already in circulation by the time it reached the market, with more than one transmission route.

China still tightly restricts access to locations such as the Huanan market, which stands empty and locked even though normal life has largely resumed in Wuhan and throughout China.

Beijing has also been pushing a narrative that the virus existed abroad before it was found in Wuhan, and unlike other countries cites frozen food packaging as a risk of spreading COVID-19.

READ: A year on, markets bustling in China's Wuhan where COVID-19 emerged

"There is a strong possibility it was brought in via wholesale seafood from elsewhere. Wuhan has no seafood," said 20-year-old Wuhan student Jiang Yongcheng.

Others said a WHO visit is an opportunity to show how well the city had done battling the virus. Wuhan has not reported a locally transmitted case since May 10, after a 76-day lockdown that was one of the strictest worldwide.

"We are not afraid of their investigation," said Liu Qin, who works in real estate. "Because you can see from the epidemic this year, in Wuhan things were done well, if not the epidemic would not have been controlled quickly."

BOOKMARK THIS: Our comprehensive coverage of the coronavirus outbreak and its developments

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2020-12-17 09:45:00Z
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US set to execute woman who cut baby from mother's womb - The Straits Times

CHICAGO (AFP) - In 2004, Lisa Montgomery strangled a pregnant woman to death and used a kitchen knife to remove the unborn baby from the victim's uterus so she could kidnap the girl.

Sixteen years on, the United States is preparing to execute her, and experts are still studying the case so they can understand what prompts such a crime - and how to prevent it in future.

"It's such a horrific act to do and it takes a lot of planning," says Dr Ann Burgess, a professor at Boston College who has studied the rare phenomenon of foetal abduction since the 1990s.

Dr John Rabun, a senior consultant on infant abductions to the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), says the crime has been more visible in the last 15 to 20 years.

The organisation has documented 21 foetal abductions in the US since 1964, 18 of them since 2004.

That year, Montgomery was 36 years old and the mother of four children. She had undergone a procedure years before that made pregnancy impossible, but those close to her didn't know.

Prosecutors say she carefully identified her victim online - dog breeder Bobbie Jo Stinnett.

Under the guise of buying a puppy, Montgomery went to Ms Stinnett's home, where she strangled her to death, and cut the baby from her body. She left Ms Stinnett dead in a pool of blood.

Montgomery crossed state lines with the child and told her unsuspecting husband, who believed she was pregnant, that the baby was hers.

In 2007, she was convicted of federal kidnapping resulting in death and handed a death sentence.

The US Justice Department called the crime "especially heinous" in announcing an execution date, which has been pushed back from this month to Jan 12, 2021.

Montgomery's lawyers never contested the facts, but asked that her sentence be commuted to life in prison, saying she had been the victim of repeated violence including rape in her youth.

She will be the first woman executed by the federal government in nearly 70 years if the lethal injection goes ahead at the federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana.

'They really plan'

Experts say cases like Ms Stinnett's murder - the most recent such incident happened in Texas in October - bear certain similarities.

"The person wants a baby, usually to correct or help in a partner relationship that is not doing well," Dr Burgess explains.

Dr Rabun, who has been with the NCMEC since its creation, agrees.

Demonstrators protest against federal executions of death row inmates, in front of the US Justice Department in Washington. PHOTO: AFP

"She has a male in her life and that's really the sole reason she steals a baby," he told AFP. His organisation also says the women have compulsive, manipulative personalities.

Another hallmark of a foetal abduction is the careful preparation.

Dr Burgess notes that many attackers gain weight, organise baby showers for themselves and even set up nurseries in their homes - all to facilitate their false narratives.

"They plan to cut a woman open. They really plan. They read medical texts," adds Dr Rabun, saying that assailants are often unaware that the mothers are fatally wounded.

"None of these woman seem to get the notion, even after having babies of their own, that if you cut somebody open, they may die."

In the 21 cases documented by the NCMEC, 19 mothers died of their wounds. Meanwhile, the attackers care for the babies as if they were their own.

Thirteen of the 21 babies have survived.

Victims 'vulnerable' at outset

For Ms Elizabeth Petrucelli, a former hospital security director who advises parents on childbirth and bereavement, pregnant women should learn to recognise several key warning signs.

In 2015, a post in a Facebook breastfeeding education group set off alarm bells - a woman said her friend was two months late in delivering.

"If she is desperate, she may do the unmentionable," Ms Petrucelli said.

She was called an alarmist, but two months later, her fears were borne out - Dynel Lane attacked a pregnant woman after pretending to be selling her baby clothes.

The woman survived, but the baby did not. Lane was sentenced to 100 years in prison.

"Even though the signs were there, you don't want to believe that someone would actually do that," Ms Petrucelli said.

"It's one of those things that no one wants to talk about for obvious reasons, but more people need to be aware."

Dr Burgess said educating pre-natal healthcare providers is one way to spread the word.

Many victims "are lured by the promise of food or clothing or things for the baby so they are vulnerable to begin with", she said.

Ms Petrucelli said that, sadly, may never be enough.

"How do you prevent something that rare from happening? I don't think you can," she said.

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2020-12-17 05:07:29Z
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Rabu, 16 Desember 2020

Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and Sinovac: A look at three key COVID-19 vaccines - CNA

By the end of this week, people in the country worst-hit by COVID-19 could gain access to a second COVID-19 vaccine. On Tuesday (Dec 15), the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) endorsed mRNA-1273 - the vaccine candidate made by American biotechnology company Moderna - as safe and effective.

This paves the way for the vaccine's emergency authorisation, a decision that the FDA will make after a panel of outside advisers meets on Thursday.

If authorised, Moderna's vaccine will follow the one from Pfizer-BioNTech, which the US and Britain have already begun administering to the general public.

Singapore has also approved the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, with the first shipment expected by the end of the year.

READ: Data on Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine 'robustly and thoroughly reviewed', says HSA

READ: Moderna confirms agreement with MOH to supply Singapore with COVID-19 vaccine

Other countries such as Canada, Saudi Arabia, Mexico and Kuwait have also authorised the use of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. A big group that could soon follow, if the European Union gives its final approval, which could come as early as Dec 23.

A third COVID-19 vaccine, developed by China's Sinovac Biotech, is also currently in late-stage trials. Indonesia already has 1.2 million doses of CoronaVac, the vaccine it has been testing since August.

Here’s a look at how the three COVID-19 vaccines differ:

PFIZER-BIONTECH

The COVID-19 vaccine developed by US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and Germany’s BioNTech was the first COVID-19 vaccine to be approved by the US FDA for emergency use.

How it works: The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine uses messenger RNA (mRNA) technology. mRNA vaccines teach our cells to make a protein that triggers an immune response inside our bodies. This is different from traditional vaccines which put a weakened or inactivated germ into our bodies.

Storage: Pfizer-BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccines need to be kept at minus 70 degrees Celsius, which presents logistical challenges, especially for poorer countries.

Efficacy: 95 per cent

Rollout: Britain was the first country in the world to roll out injections on Dec 8, with the US following around a week later on Dec 16. Singapore, Canada, Mexico and Saudi Arabia have also authorised the use of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine.

Key COVID-19 Vaccines compared gfx — (Image: Rafa Estrada)

MODERNA

The initial results from Moderna's vaccine were described a month ago by the US' leading expert on infectious diseases Anthony Fauci as "stunningly impressive".

How it works: Just like the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, the Moderna vaccine uses mRNA technology.

Storage: Can be kept for 30 days with refrigeration, six months at minus 20 degrees Celsius.

Efficacy: 94.5 per cent

Rollout: None as of Dec 16.

SINOVAC

Developed by China's Sinovac Biotech, the vaccine, known as CoronaVac, is currently undergoing phase 3 clinical trials in places such as Brazil and Indonesia.

How it works: Sinovac's vaccine uses inactivated vaccine technology, which uses a weakened form of a live virus to stimulate our bodies to produce an immune response. This vaccine is similar to the flu and chickenpox vaccines.

Storage: The vaccine can be stored at normal fridge temperatures of 2 to 8 degrees Celsius and may remain stable for up to three years. This may be an attractive option for places where access to refrigeration is challenging.

Efficacy: Unknown

Rollout: None as of Dec 16.

BOOKMARK THIS: Our comprehensive coverage of the coronavirus outbreak and its developments

Download our app or subscribe to our Telegram channel for the latest updates on the coronavirus outbreak: https://cna.asia/telegram

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2020-12-16 22:28:41Z
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Lawrence Wong speaks about Singapore's COVID-19 vaccination strategy - CNA

حول الصحافة حقوق الطبع والنشر التواصل معنا منشئو المحتوى الإعلان مطوّرو البرامج الأحكام الخصوصية السياسة والأمان آلية عمل YouTube تجربة الميزات الجديدة

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2020-12-16 14:50:39Z
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