Minggu, 02 Mei 2021

COVID-19: Indian court urges government action as hospitals cry help - CNA

NEW DELHI: With Indian hospitals struggling to secure a steady supply of oxygen, and more COVID-19 patients dying amid the shortages, a court in New Delhi said it would start punishing government officials for failing to deliver the life-saving items.

On Sunday (May 2), India recorded a slight drop in new infections with 392,488 from a high of 401,993 in the previous 24 hours.

It also reported 3,689 additional deaths, bringing the total to 215,542.

Experts believe both figures are an undercount.

The government has been using the railroad, the air force and the navy to rush oxygen tankers to worst-hit areas where overwhelmed hospitals are unable to cope with an unprecedented surge in patients gasping for air.

Twelve COVID-19 patients, including a doctor, on high-flow oxygen, died on Saturday at a hospital in New Delhi after it ran out of the supply for 80 minutes, said S C L Gupta, director of Batra Hospital.

The Times of India newspaper reported another 16 deaths in two hospitals in southern Andhra Pradesh state, and six in a Gurgaon hospital on the outskirts of New Delhi because of the oxygen shortage.

Virus Outbreak India
Body of a COVID-19 victim lies covered in white cloth next to a burning pyre of another victim at a cremation ground in Prayagraj, India on May 1, 2021. (Photo: AP/Rajesh Kumar Singh)

With the government unable to maintain a steady supply of oxygen, several hospital authorities sought a court intervention in the Indian capital where a lockdown has been extended by a week to contain the wave of infections.

"Water has gone above the head. Enough is Enough,” said the Delhi High Court, adding it would start punishing government officials if supplies of oxygen allocated to hospitals were not delivered.

"We can’t have people dying,’’ said Justices Vipin Sanghi and Rekha Patil.

The court said it would start contempt proceedings.

New Delhi recorded 412 deaths in the past 24 hours, the highest since the pandemic started.

READ: India government ignored warnings on COVID-19 virus variant, scientists say

Virus Outbreak India
Family member of a COVID-19 victim carries the urn containing the ashes for immersion to perform last rites at Sangam, the confluence of rivers Ganges and Yamuna in Prayagraj, India on May 1, 2021. (Photo: AP/Rajesh Kumar Singh)

READ: Fauci recommends India lockdown as COVID-19 cases surge

The army opened its hospitals to civilians in a desperate bid to control the massive humanitarian crisis.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government also gave emergency financial powers to the army set up new quarantine facilities and hospitals and buy equipment.

The military also called up 600 doctors who had retired in the past few years.

The navy deployed 200 nursing assistants in civilian hospitals, a government statement said.

APTOPIX Virus Outbreak India
COVID-19 patients receive oxygen outside a Gurdwara, a Sikh house of worship, in New Delhi, India on May 1, 2021. (Photo: AP/Amit Sharma)

On Saturday, India said all adults 18 and above could get shots.

Since January, nearly 10 per cent of Indians have received one dose, but only around 1.5 per cent have received both, although the country is one of the world’s biggest producers of vaccines.

India has so far given more than 156 million vaccine doses.

Some states have already said they do not have enough for everyone, and even the ongoing effort to inoculate people above 45 is sputtering.

The United States, Britain, Germany and several other nations are rushing therapeutics, rapid virus tests and oxygen to India, along with some materials needed for India to boost its domestic production of COVID-19 vaccines.

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2021-05-02 05:51:41Z
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Sabtu, 01 Mei 2021

Bomb blasts and flash protests as Myanmar enters fourth month under junta - CNA

YANGON: Explosions blasted off throughout Myanmar's largest city Yangon on Saturday (May 1) as protesters held flash marches for democracy, defying a brutal junta that has held onto power for three blood-drenched months.

The country has been in an uproar since the military ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Feb 1, bringing an abrupt end to Myanmar's short-lived experiment with democracy.

The power grab triggered a massive uprising, which authorities have tried to quell by deploying lethal force and live ammunition.

READ: Myanmar junta wants 'stability' before heeding pleas on violence

READ: Myanmar's junta to 'positively' consider ASEAN suggestion on ending crisis

As Myanmar entered its fourth month under military rule on Saturday, protesters in commercial hub Yangon - an epicentre of unrest with a heavy security presence - staged flash demonstrations, marching rapidly through the streets to avoid confrontation with police and soldiers.

"We have the truth. Only the truth will prevail," read a banner that protesters hoisted up as they marched quickly through a neighbourhood, flashing the three-finger salute of defiance.

In Yangon's Insein township, a bomb blast went off around 10am near a local school, said a resident staying nearby.

"Some security forces came to check the blast area, but I only watched from a distance from my home because I was worried they would arrest me," he told AFP, adding that he saw smoke rising.

By afternoon, another two blasts went off in Yankin, further south, according to locals living in the leafy residential township.

"I heard it from my place, I thought it was thunder," a resident told AFP, adding that the explosions left the security forces nervous.

It remains unclear if anyone was injured by the blasts.

No one has claimed responsibility for the bombs - which are exploding with increasing frequency in Yangon.

"They (the junta) have made people live in fear and it is good to have them on edge as well," the Yankin resident said.

He also praised the flash protesters for their ingenuity to evade arrest and crackdowns.

"Any show of defiance without getting captured or killed is great for the resistance."

READ: Myanmar protesters train to fight junta

READ: Obama calls Myanmar violence 'heartbreaking', urges world to reject junta

Nearly 760 civilians have been killed in the anti-coup unrest, according to a local monitoring group, though the junta has recorded a far lower death toll.

Deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been under house arrest since the military detained her on Feb 1.

The junta has hit her with a barrage of charges, including sedition and Myanmar's state secrets law.

Coup-maker Senior General Min Aung Hlaing has continuously justified the putsch as necessary to protect democracy, alleging fraud in November's election, which Aung San Suu Kyi's party won in a landslide.

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2021-05-01 10:27:43Z
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India expands faltering vaccine drive as new cases soar over 400000 in 24 hours - The Straits Times

NEW DELHI (AFP, REUTERS) - India’s devastating Covid-19 surge accelerated further on Saturday (May 1) with more than 400,000 new cases recorded in 24 hours, as vaccinations opened to all adults despite shortages of shots.

Official data showed that it is the first country to record over 400,000 cases within a day in the pandemic.

According to the health ministry, 401,993 new infections were registered - taking the total caseload to 19.1 million - after 10 consecutive days over 300,000. 

There were 3,523 deaths, bringing the toll to 211,853.

Indian authorities lowered their guard in the early part of the year after infections fell below 10,000 per day, lifting restrictions on most activities. Some experts blame mass religious gatherings and political rallies for the severity of India’s second wave, which caught the government unprepared.

Less then two months after the health minister said India was in the "end game" of the pandemic and New Delhi sent millions of vaccines abroad, the surge has sent worried Indians rushing for the jabs still in the country. 

A crowd of around 100 people formed outside one Delhi hospital on Saturday as a hospital attendant came out regularly to call out numbers to people who had booked. 

"There are so many people that are getting sick and if we get better, we ensure that other people... do not get infected, so we just wanted to be here as soon as possible," said one of those waiting, Mr Aadya Mehta, 25. 

Following the recent surge, exports of the AstraZeneca vaccine by India’s Serum Institute and of Bharat Biotech’s home-grown Covaxin have now been frozen to prioritise India’s needs. 

Until now, only front-line workers like medical staff, people over 45 and those with existing illnesses have been given vaccines. 

But even this more modest programme has stumbled, with some areas running out of shots and others throwing them away because of a lack of demand, in part because of the recent surge. 

"The queues here are so colossal" said Mr Jayanti Vasant as he waited for hours at a busy vaccination centre in Mumbai this week. "The people are just fighting among themselves."

So far, around 150 million shots have been administered, equating to 11.5 per cent of the population of 1.3 billion people.

Just 25 million have had two shots.

With the expansion of the rollout to all adults, around 600 million more people are now eligible to get vaccinated, but many states said they have insufficient stocks.

Millions of younger people terrified by the current situation and desperate to get inoculated registered on the government’s digital platform. But very few of them have been given appointments and only half a dozen of India’s 28 states began vaccinating people under 45, and in many cases only a token scale. 

"Half my family is positive, so everybody wanted us to get vaccinated,"  data scientist Megha Srivastava, 35, told AFP outside the Max clinic, one of three private hospitals in the Indian capital vaccinating younger people. 

"It won’t completely protect us, but it will ensure that even if we get infected, we’ll recover," she said.

The chief minister of the Delhi state on Friday had implored people not to queue at vaccination centres, promising more vaccines would arrive “tomorrow or the day after”.


People gather outside an entrance gate of a Covid-19 vaccination centre in Mumbai, on April 28, 2021. PHOTO: AFP


A sweeper cleans the floor outside a vaccination centre which is closed amid reported shortage of Covid-19 vaccines at Shatabdi hospital in Mumbai, on April 30, 2021. PHOTO: EPA-EFE

India’s West Bengal state was unable to start a vaccination drive for adults aged between 18 and 45 on Saturday due to shortage of shots and urged the federal government to provide more supplies, a senior state health official said, declining to be named as he was not authorised to speak with media. 

India’s eastern Odisha state said on Friday it had received a consignment of 150,000 shots, but would allow only a few people to get shots due to lockdown restrictions preventing movement.

In Ahmedabad, the main commercial city in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home state of Gujarat, hundreds of people were seen queuing.

“I took my first dose and I am appealing to all students to take the vaccine and be safe,” said Raj Shah, a 27-year-old student in Ahmedabad. 

Further confusion has been created by New Delhi’s decision to ask states and private hospitals to order vaccine supplies on their own.

"We have contacted Serum Institute of India that has said they will be able to provide doses only after six months," Mr DS Rana, chair of the Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in Delhi, told the Hindustan Times daily. 

Dr C.K. Bakshi, a doctor at one government hospital, said there was "no issue with supply" and was vaccinating almost 300 people a day. But it did not have government permission to jab under 45s, she told AFP. 

In Kolkata, Dr Rupak Barua, president of the Association of Hospitals of Eastern India (AHEI), told AFP that "confusion reigns". 

"Private hospitals have had to return all their vaccines stock to the government," he said. 

"The whole thing looks like a confused elephant to me right now," said Dr T Jacob John, a retired clinical virology professor at the Christian Medical College Vellore. 

"Do you want to control the epidemic, save lives or both? If you want both you’ll require a huge amount of vaccines. And we don’t have it," Dr  John told AFP. 

He and other experts say that given the shortages, and its colossal population, India should have a much more targeted policy, concentrating vaccinations in hot spots. 

Gujarat is among the few states to have said they would do so, with chief minister Vijay Rupani saying on Friday that vaccinations for over-18s would happen only in the 10 worst-hit districts.

"(We) feel that once this (additional) vaccination drive commences the way it was designed, it will stabilise gradually," health ministry official Lav Agarwal told reporters Friday.

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2021-05-01 04:22:03Z
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Domestic workers alarmed by compulsory Hong Kong COVID-19 vaccine plan - CNA

HONG KONG: Hong Kong migrant worker groups on Saturday (May 1) criticised plans to make COVID-19 vaccines compulsory for all foreign domestic helpers, labelling the move "discriminatory and unjust".

Health officials said they were planning to roll out mandatory inoculations for the 370,000 domestic helpers in the city, mostly poorly-paid women from the Philippines and Indonesia.

Those wanting to apply for work visas - or renew their current ones - would need to show they had been vaccinated, officials said Friday.

If the plan goes ahead it would be the first time Hong Kong has directly tied working rights for foreigners to vaccines.

"This is clearly an act of discrimination and stigmatisation against migrant domestic workers," Dolores Balladares Pelaez, chair of United Filipinos in Hong Kong, told reporters.

Labour groups representing domestic workers said they were angered other foreigners - and locals working in environments such as care homes - were not also required to get vaccinated.

"Again, we are being singled out and targeted," Pelaez added.

READ: Residents vaccinated against COVID-19 ready to party till 2am as bars reopen in Hong Kong

Migrant workers register for Covid-19 testing in the Central district of Hong Kong
Migrant workers register for COVID-19 testing in the Central district of Hong Kong on May 1, 2021. (Photo: AFP/Peter Parks)

Health officials announced the vaccination plan after two domestic helpers were found to be infected with one of the more virulent strains of the coronavirus.

All domestic workers have also been ordered to get tested over the coming days - a measure that did not extend to the families they work for.

Officials said domestic workers were deemed "high risk" both because they enter from overseas and often gather outdoors in large numbers on Sundays - their one day off in the week.

They also tend to take care of elderly and vulnerable people.

Hong Kong labour secretary Law Chi-kwong defended linking domestic worker visas to vaccination.

"Of course they can choose not to work in Hong Kong as they are not Hong Kong residents," Law said.

Eni Lestari, chair of the International Migrants Alliance, described such comments as "unfair and shocking".

READ: Hong Kong bans flights from India, Pakistan and the Philippines over mutant COVID-19 strain

Hong Kong's domestic workers have been ordered to get tested over the coming days and told
Hong Kong's domestic workers have been ordered to get tested over the coming days and told coronavirus vaccinations will be compulsory. (Photo: AFP/Peter Parks)

"A lot of employers also do not get vaccinated because of health, personal or even political reasons, so they won't force their workers to be vaccinated," she told AFP.

Migrant groups also pointed out that wealthier foreign migrants - such as the city's white-collar financial workers - are not being forced to get vaccines.

Wealthy Hong Kong has secured ample vaccine doses but there is hesitancy to take them.

So far just 12 per cent of the city's 7.5 million people have received one or more doses, a long way from the 60 per cent to 70 per cent needed for herd immunity.

Thanks to strict quarantine measures and economically painful social distancing rules, the city has kept infections to just over 11,000.

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

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2021-05-01 09:36:03Z
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S'pore-HK travel bubble won't start if Covid-19 threshold is breached - The Straits Times

SINGAPORE - The Singapore-Hong Kong air travel bubble may not start if the threshold of a seven-day moving average of five or fewer unlinked community cases in either city is breached.

Responding to a question about how the recent spike in community cases here may affect the travel bubble, which will allow quarantine-free travel between the two cities from May 26, Education Minister Lawrence Wong said on Friday (April 30) that Singapore will continue to apply the mechanism of the seven-day moving average, as agreed by both parties.

"If it starts, but along the way the threshold is breached, then it may well be suspended," said Mr Wong, who is co-chair of the multi-ministry task force tackling Covid-19.

Given the fluid Covid-19 situation around the world, Singaporeans have to be mentally prepared that such new initiatives could be disrupted or suspended, he added.

"This is not a situation where new initiatives are rolled out and then they will continue permanently without any potential for disruption," said Mr Wong.

The May 26 commencement date for the air travel bubble was announced earlier this week by Transport Minister Ong Ye Kung and his Hong Kong counterpart, after being deferred last year following a spike in Covid-19 cases in Hong Kong.

The travel bubble will have a cautious start with one flight a day in each direction, capped at 200 passengers on each flight for the first two weeks.

This will then be increased to two flights per day from June 10.

Passengers from both sides must test negative for Covid-19 before boarding the direct flights, and take a test on arrival as well.

Those using Hong Kong passports leaving the territory are also required to be fully vaccinated before travelling.

This will not apply to Singapore citizens and others using non-Hong Kong travel documents for departure.

As at Friday, the number of unlinked cases in the community had increased from five cases in the week before to six cases in the past week.

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2021-04-30 16:58:16Z
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‘Go to hell’: the last words she heard before she was pushed off a cliff - South China Morning Post

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‘Go to hell’: the last words she heard before she was pushed off a cliff  South China Morning Post
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2021-05-01 01:00:16Z
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Biden bans most travel to US from India to limit COVID-19 spread - CNA

WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden on Friday (Apr 30) imposed new travel restrictions on India in light of the COVID-19 epidemic, barring most non-US citizens from entering the United States.

The new restrictions, which take effect at 12:01am ET (0401 GMT) on May 4 , are on the advice of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and were imposed because "the magnitude and scope of the COVID-19 pandemic" in India was "surging", the White House said.

Biden on Friday signed a proclamation implementing the restrictions, which were first reported by Reuters.

The proclamation said India "accounts for over one-third of new global cases" and added that "proactive measures are required to protect the nation's public health from travelers entering the United States" from India.

In January, Biden issued a similar ban on most non-US citizens entering the country who have recently been in South Africa. He also reimposed an entry ban on nearly all non-US travellers who have been in Brazil, the United Kingdom, Ireland and 26 countries in Europe that allow travel across open borders. China and Iran are also both covered by the policy.

Commentary: India's COVID-19 crisis has larger implications for the world

READ: Vaccination centres close in Mumbai as India posts another record rise in COVID-19 cases

The policy means most non-US citizens who have been in one of the stated countries within the last 14 days are not eligible to travel to the United States. Permanent US residents and family members and some other non-US citizens, such as students, are exempted.

The decision to impose the latest travel restrictions came about quickly and was only reached in the last 24 hours, sources said.

The Indian Embassy in Washington did not immediately comment.

Second only to the United States in total infections, India has reported more than 300,000 new cases daily for nine days in a row, hitting another global record of 386,452 on Friday.

Total deaths have surpassed 200,000 and cases are nearing 19 million - nearly 8 million since February alone - as virulent new strains have combined with "super-spreader" events such as political rallies and religious festivals.
Medical experts say real numbers may be five to 10 times higher than the official tally.

READ: China's Xi offers more help to India in message to Modi amid COVID-19 outbreak

Other countries have imposed similar travel restrictions on India, including the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy and Singapore, while Canada, Hong Kong and New Zealand have suspended all commercial travel with India.

On Wednesday, the White House said the United States was sending supplies worth more than US$100 million to India to help it fight the COVID-19 surge.

The supplies include oxygen cylinders, N95 masks and rapid diagnostic tests. The United States also has redirected its own order of AstraZeneca manufacturing supplies to India, which will allow it to make over 20 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine, according to the White House.

READ: First US COVID-19 emergency aid supplies arrive in India

READ: US looks to ramp up oxygen in India COVID-19 aid push

AIR TRAVEL

Nearly all travellers to the United States by air must show proof of a negative coronavirus test or recovery from COVID-19.

In recent weeks, the White House and US agencies have begun holding conversations about how to eventually unwind the policy as vaccination campaigns are rolling out and cases are declining in some countries.

US international air travel remains down 60 per cent from pre-COVID-19 levels, while US domestic air travel is down 40 per cent, according to industry trade group Airlines for America.

US airlines and travel groups have urged the White House to set benchmarks for the eventual loosening of restrictions.

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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2021-04-30 22:19:05Z
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