JERUSALEM: Israel reopened swathes of its economy including malls and leisure facilities on Sunday (Feb 21), with the government saying the start of a return to routine was enabled by COVID-19 vaccines administered to almost half the population.
While shops were open to all, access to leisure sites like gyms and theatres was limited to vaccinees or those who have recovered from the disease with presumed immunity, a so-called "Green Pass" status displayed on a special Health Ministry app.
Pass-holders could prove their status by presenting a vaccination certificate or downloading a Health Ministry app linked to their medical files.
Coming exactly a year after Israel's first documented COVID-19 case, Sunday's easing of curbs is part of a government plan to open the economy more widely next month, when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is up for reelection.
"We are the first country in the world that is reviving itself thanks to the millions of vaccines we brought in," he tweeted. "Vaccinated? Get the Green Pass and get back to life."
Mask-wearing and social-distancing were still in force. Dancing was barred at banquet halls. Synagogues, mosques or churches were required to halve their normal congregation sizes.
Elementary schoolchildren and pupils in the last two years of high school resumed classes in towns with contagion rates under control. Middle-school pupils were still home-learning, however, prompting some to stage a sit-down protest in a mall.
"I haven't been in school in a year," said 14-year-old demonstrator Rotem Bachar. "How does it make sense to open malls up to crowds, while we can't attend class if even they are capped at 15 to 20 pupils and have other precautions?"
Israel has administered at least one dose of the Pfizer vaccine to more than 45 per cent of its 9 million population, the Health Ministry says. The two-shot regimen has reduced COVID-19 infections by 95.8 per cent, ministry data showed.
The country has logged more than 740,000 cases and 5,500 deaths from the illness, prompting criticism of the Netanyahu government's sometimes patchy enforcement of three national lockdowns. It has pledged that there will not be a fourth.
But Nachman Ash, a physician in charge of the country's pandemic response, told Army Radio that another lockdown "is still possible ... Half of the population is still not immune".
SYDNEY: Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison received the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine on Sunday (Feb 21), calling the start of the nation's vaccination programme a "massive step" that will enable it to return to normal.
Up to 4 million Australians are expected to be inoculated by March, with Morrison among a small group receiving the first round of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.
"This is the beginning of a big game change," Morrison told reporters moments after getting injected at a medical centre in Sydney. "Every day that goes past from here gets more normal. And that is what is exciting about today."
The intergovernmental National Cabinet is to review how its five-stage vaccination programme will change the way the country manages the risk of coronavirus transmission in the future, including at its state and international borders.
Australian states have introduced some of the strictest community mobility restrictions in the world to manage the spread of the virus, including intermittent city lockdowns, curfews and border closures.
Reporting a second consecutive day with no coronavirus transmission in the community, the nation has had just under 29,000 infections and 909 deaths since March, ranking among the top 10 in a COVID-19 performance index.
Australia's Prime Minister Scott Morrison elbow bumps a nurse after receiving a dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine at the Castle Hill Medical Centre in Sydney on Feb 21, 2021. (Photo: AFP/Steven Saphore)
Morrison said the vaccine addresses his "greatest fear" as prime minister: "Serious disease and the sort of widespread fatalities that we saw overseas."
A small number of older Australians at the Castle Hill Medical Centre in western Sydney, aged-care staff members, and frontline nurses and workers were also among the first injected, officials said.
From Monday morning, a broader "phase 1-A" rollout is to begin among aged-care and disability staff members, and border protection and quarantine workers at vaccine hubs nationwide.
"Phase 1-B" vaccinations of immunocompromised people and those more than 70 years old, as well as Indigenous Australians more than 55 years old and emergency service workers, are to follow.
The vast majority of the population will be injected with the AstraZeneca vaccine, which can be produced locally, by the end of October.
On Saturday, thousands of people attended anti-vaccine rallies in major Australian cities to protest what they incorrectly believed to be mandatory vaccinations.
MANDALAY: Myanmar police arrested a famous actor wanted for supporting opposition to a Feb 1 coup, his wife said on Sunday (Feb 21), hours after two people were killed when police and soldiers fired to disperse protests in the second city of Mandalay.
The violence in Mandalay on Saturday was the bloodiest day in more than two weeks of demonstrations in cities and towns across Myanmar demanding an end to military rule and the release from detention of elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi and others.
The demonstrations and a civil disobedience campaign of strikes and disruptions show no sign of dying down with opponents of the military sceptical of an army promise to hold a new election and hand power to the winner.
Anti-coup protesters flash the three-fingered salute behind a road barricade made of drums in Mandalay, Myanmar on Feb 20, 2021. (Photo: AP)
The actor, Lu Min, was one of six celebrities who the army said on Wednesday were wanted under an anti-incitement law for encouraging civil servants to join in the protest. The charges can carry a two-year prison sentence.
Lu Min has taken part in several protests in Yangon.
His wife, Khin Sabai Oo, said in a video posted on his Facebook page that police had come to their home in Yangon and taken him away.
"They forced open the door and took him away and didn't tell me where they were taking him. I couldn’t stop them. They didn’t tell me."
Protesters hold out bullet cartridges and ammunition for slingshots after security forces fired on demonstrators at a rally against the military coup in Mandalay on Feb 20, 2021. (Photo: AFP)
Military spokesman Zaw Min Tun, who is also the spokesman for the new military council, has not responded to repeated attempts by Reuters to contact him by telephone for comment.
An activist group, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, said on Saturday 569 people have been arrested, charged or sentenced in connection with the coup.
In another incident in Yangon on Saturday night, a night watchman was shot and killed. The Burmese service of Radio Free Asia said police had shot him but it was not clear why.
Communities have been posting more guards in fear of sweeps by the security forces.
"DEEPLY CONCERNED"
The more than two weeks of protests had been largely peaceful, unlike previous episodes of opposition during nearly half a century of direct military rule, which ended in 2011.
Members of ethnic minorities, poets, rappers and transport workers marched on Saturday in various places, but tension escalated quickly in Mandalay where police and soldiers confronted striking shipyard workers.
A wounded man injured in his eye after being hit with a slingshot fired by security forces is treated by a medical team following a demonstration against the military coup in Mandalay on Feb 20, 2021. (Photo: AFP)
Some of the demonstrators fired catapults at police as they played cat and mouse through riverside streets. Police responded with tear gas and gunfire at the protesters, witnesses said.
Video clips posed on social media also showed members of the security forces firing and witnesses said they found the cartridges of live rounds and rubber bullets on the ground.
Two people were shot and killed and 20 were wounded, said Ko Aung, a leader of the Parahita Darhi volunteer emergency service.
Police were not available for comment. State-run MRTV television made no mention of the protests or casualties in its news programme.
Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) condemned the violence in Mandalay as a crime against humanity.
Students from the University of Medicine hold flowers during an anti-coup protest rally in Mandalay, Myanmar on Feb 20, 2021. (Photo: AP)
A young woman protester died on Friday after being shot in the head last week in the capital, Naypyitaw, the first death among anti-coup demonstrators.
The army says one policeman has died of injuries sustained in a protest.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterrres condemned the deadly violence. "The use of lethal force, intimidation and harassment against peaceful demonstrators is unacceptable," he said on Twitter.
US State Department spokesman Ned Price said the United States was "deeply concerned" by reports that security forces had fired on protesters and continued to detain and harass demonstrators and others.
France, Singapore and the UK also condemned the violence, with British foreign minister Dominic Raab saying the shooting of peaceful protesters was "beyond the pale".
"We will consider further action, with our international partners, against those crushing democracy & choking dissent," Raab said on Twitter.
The United States, Britain, Canada and New Zealand have announced limited sanctions since the coup, with a focus on military leaders.
The army seized back power after alleging fraud in Nov 8 elections that Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy swept, detaining her and others. The electoral commission had dismissed the fraud complaints.
Aung San Suu Kyi faces a charge of violating a Natural Disaster Management Law as well as illegally importing six walkie-talkie radios. Her next court appearance is on Mar 1.
MANDALAY (REUTERS, AFP) - Two people were killed in Myanmar’s second largest city Mandalay on Saturday (Feb 20) when police fired to disperse protesting opponents of a Feb 1 military coup, emergency workers said, the bloodiest day in more than two weeks of demonstrations.
The deaths came after a young woman protester died on Friday after being shot in the head last week as police dispersed a crowd in the capital, Naypyitaw, the first death among anti-coup demonstrators.
Protesters took to the streets on Saturday in several cities and towns with members of ethnic minorities, poets and transport workers among those demanding an end to military rule and the release of elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi and others.
But tension escalated quickly in Mandalay where police and soldiers were confronting striking shipyard workers and other protesters at Yadanarbon shipyard in Mandalay, on the Irrawaddy river.
Some of the demonstrators fired catapults at police as they played cat and mouse through riverside streets. Police responded with tear gas and gun fire, though it was initially not clear if they were using live ammunition or rubber bullets.
“Twenty people were injured and two are dead,” said Ko Aung, a leader of the Parahita Darhi volunteer emergency service agency.
One man died from a head wound, media workers including Lin Khaing, an assistant editor with the Voice of Myanmar media outlet in the city, and a Mandalay emergency service said.
A volunteer doctor confirmed there had been two deaths. He said: “One shot in the head died at the spot. Another one died later with a bullet wound to the chest.”
A doctor at the scene confirmed that some protesters had been injured by live rounds.
“We do not have enough medicine for them to be treated here,” he said.
Police throwing projectiles towards protesters in Mandalay on Feb 20, 2021. PHOTO: AFP A medical team treat a wounded man following a demonstration where security forces fired on and beat protesters in Mandalay on Feb 20, 2021.
A medical aide to doctors at the scene, who declined to provide his name for fear of repercussions, told AFP: “We transferred those who were seriously injured and in a critical condition to another place for intensive care, but we cannot reveal the place.”
Around the protest site, empty bullet cartridges were found, as well as slingshot ammunition including metal balls.
Protesters holding out bullet cartridges and ammunition for slingshots after security forces fired on demonstrators in Mandalay on Feb 20, 2021. PHOTO: AFP Police officers stand in front of people protesting against the military coup in Mandalay on Feb 20, 2021.
One woman received a head wound from a rubber bullet and emergency workers quickly administered first aid to her.
A Facebook video streamed live by a resident at the scene appeared to carry non-stop sounds of gunshots.
“They are shooting cruelly,” said the resident, who appeared to be taking shelter at a nearby construction site. “We have to find a safer place.”
MANDALAY (REUTERS, AFP) - Two people were killed in Myanmar’s second-largest city Mandalay on Saturday (Feb 20) when police fired to disperse protesting opponents of a Feb 1 military coup, emergency workers said.
“Twenty people were injured and two are dead,” said Ko Aung, a leader of the Parahita Darhi volunteer emergency service agency in the city.
Opponents of the coup took to the streets in several Myanmar cities and towns, with members of ethnic minorities, poets and transport workers among those demanding an end to military rule and the release of elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi and others.
On Saturday, hundreds of police and soldiers gathered at Yadanarbon shipyard in Mandalay, on the Irrawaddy river.
Their presence sparked fears among nearby residents that the authorities would try to arrest workers for taking part in the anti-coup movement.
But police opened fire with live rounds, rubber bullets and slingshot balls, dispersing the alarmed protesters.
Some protesters fired catapults at police, who responded with tear gas and gun fire, though it was initially not clear if they were using live ammunition or rubber bullets.
One man died from a head wound, media workers including Lin Khaing, an assistant editor with the Voice of Myanmar media outlet in the city, and a Mandalay emergency service said.
A volunteer doctor confirmed there had been two deaths. He said: “One shot in the head died at the spot. Another one died later with a bullet wound to the chest.”
A doctor at the scene confirmed that some protesters had been injured by live rounds.
“We do not have enough medicine for them to be treated here,” he said.
Police throwing projectiles towards protesters in Mandalay on Feb 20, 2021. PHOTO: AFP A medical team treat a wounded man following a demonstration where security forces fired on and beat protesters in Mandalay on Feb 20, 2021.
A medical aide to doctors at the scene, who declined to provide his name for fear of repercussions, told AFP: “We transferred those who were seriously injured and in a critical condition to another place for intensive care, but we cannot reveal the place.”
Around the protest site, empty bullet cartridges were found, as well as slingshot ammunition including metal balls.
Protesters holding out bullet cartridges and ammunition for slingshots after security forces fired on demonstrators in Mandalay on Feb 20, 2021. PHOTO: AFP Police officers stand in front of people protesting against the military coup in Mandalay on Feb 20, 2021.
One woman received a head wound from a rubber bullet and emergency workers quickly administered first aid to her.
A Facebook video streamed live by a resident at the scene appeared to carry non-stop sounds of gunshots.
“They are shooting cruelly,” said the resident, who appeared to be taking shelter at a nearby construction site. “We have to find a safer place.”
