Senin, 10 Mei 2021

India's COVID-19 cases dip from peak, calls for shutdown mount - CNA

NEW DELHI: Calls grew for India to impose a nationwide lockdown as new coronavirus cases and deaths held close to record highs on Monday (May 10), increasing pressure on the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The 366,161 new infections and 3,754 deaths reported by the health ministry were off a little from recent peaks, taking India's tally to 22.66 million with 246,116 deaths.

As many hospitals grapple with an acute shortage of oxygen and beds while morgues and crematoriums overflow, experts have said India's actual figures could be far higher than reported.

Sunday's 1.47 million tests for COVID-19 were this month's lowest yet, data from the state-run Indian Council of Medical Research showed. The figure compared with a daily average of 1.7 million for the first eight days of May.

The number of positive results from the tests was not immediately clear, however.

Many states have imposed strict lockdowns over the last month while others have placed curbs on movement and shut cinemas, restaurants, pubs and shopping malls.

READ: India turns to ex-army medics as COVID-19 surge sparks calls for lockdown

READ: Long-haul carrier Emirates to ship COVID-19 aid for free into India

But pressure is mounting on Modi to announce a nationwide lockdown as he did during the first wave of infections last year.

He is battling criticism for allowing huge gatherings at a religious festival and holding large election rallies during the past two months even as cases surged.

"A failure of governance of epic and historic proportions," Vipin Narang, a political science professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the United States, said on Twitter.

On Sunday, top White House coronavirus adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci said he had advised Indian authorities they needed to shut down.

"You’ve got to shut down," Fauci said on ABC's "This Week" television show. "I believe several of the Indian states have already done that, but you need to break the chain of transmission. And one of the ways to do that is to shut down."

The Indian Medical Association (IMA) has also called for a "complete, well-planned, pre-announced" lockdown.

New Delhi, the capital, entered a fourth week of lockdown, with tougher curbs such as the shutdown of the suburban rail network, while residents scrambled for scarce hospital beds and oxygen supplies.

"This is not the time to be lenient," Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Sunday.

"This phase is so tough, this wave is so dangerous, so many people are dying ... the priority at this hour is to save lives," he said in a televised address.

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in New Delhi
A healthcare worker gives a dose of COVISHIELD, a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine manufactured by Serum Institute of India, to a woman inside a classroom of a school, which has been converted into a temporary vaccination centre, in New Delhi, India, May 4, 2021. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi

Late on Sunday, the northern state of Uttarakhand said it would impose curfew from Tuesday until May 18, just days after mass religious gatherings held in the state became virus super spreading events.

Shops selling fruits, vegetables and dairy items will stay open for some hours in the morning, while malls, gyms, theatres, bars and liquor shops are among the enterprises that will be shut, the government said.

Organisers of the popular and lucrative Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket tournament conceded the remaining games will have to be played overseas after they suspended the contest over the virus this month.

Global support, in the form of oxygen cylinders and concentrators, ventilators and other medical gear, has poured in.

On Monday, US company Eli Lilly and Co said it signed licensing deals with Indian drugmakers, such as Cipla, Lupin and Sun Pharma to make and sell its arthritis drug baricitinib for the treatment of COVID-19 patients.

India's drug regulator has approved the drug for restricted emergency use in combination with remdesivir for hospitalised adult sufferers in need of supplemental oxygen.

By Sunday, the world's largest vaccine-producing nation had fully vaccinated just over 34.3 million, or only 2.5 per cent, of its population of about 1.35 billion, government data shows.

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2021-05-10 06:00:00Z
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Taiwan to quarantine all pilots of largest airline amid COVID-19 outbreak - CNA

TAIPEI: Taiwan will quarantine all pilots for its largest carrier China Airlines for 14 days as it tries to stop an outbreak of COVID-19 among its crew, effectively grounding the airline, the health minister said on Monday (May 10).

While Taiwan has generally kept the pandemic well under control due to early prevention with only sporadic domestic cases, since last month it has been dealing with an outbreak linked to China Airlines pilots and an airport hotel where many of them stayed. There have been 35 confirmed infections so far in the outbreak.

READ: Taiwan bars arrivals from India amid COVID-19 crisis

Health Minister Chen Shih-chung told reporters the only way to break what they believe is a chain of transmission at the carrier is to quarantine all China Airlines pilots currently in Taiwan, and send into quarantine those who return to Taiwan.

"This will have a big impact on China Airlines, on its passenger and freighter flights, and for the crew too. But for the safety of the whole community we cannot but make this decision," he said.

The move effectively amounted to a 14-day grounding for the airline, Chen added, and the pilots will only be allowed out of quarantine once they have tested negative.

READ: Taiwan evacuates hotel to sterilise it after rare COVID-19 outbreak

China Airlines did not immediately respond to a request for comment, though it has said repeatedly it is cooperating with the government to end the infections, and has stepped up vaccinating its staff, including pilots.

Taiwan's health authorities believe some of the pilots got infected first overseas, then spread the infection upon returning to Taiwan, and that others could have been infected by pilots from other airlines staying at the same hotel.

The government has been alarmed by the cases as some of the pilots went to bars and restaurants in northern Taiwan before their infections were confirmed, running the risk of community transmission, though no infections have been linked to that yet.

The airport hotel has since been evacuated and is undergoing a deep clean.

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2021-05-10 08:25:01Z
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Minggu, 09 Mei 2021

India's super rich criticised for not doing enough amid Covid-19 pandemic - The Straits Times

NEW DELHI - In a country that is home to the world's third-highest number of billionaires, questions are mounting over the lack of contribution from its uber rich to support India's fight against a crippling second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Unlike in the first wave, when several among India's super rich contributed generously, their role during the ongoing second wave has mostly been symbolic or focused on measures such as boosting oxygen supply.

Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), owned by India's richest businessman Mukesh Ambani, donated five billion rupees (S$90.4 million) to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's PM Cares Fund last year in March. This time, it has focused its efforts on setting up Covid-19-care facilities and boosting oxygen availability.

RIL claims that it accounts for more than 11 per cent of the country's total medical grade liquid oxygen production, and has said its oxygen is being provided free to several states.

But some had hoped for more from India's billionaires and wished that they donated generously like Mr Azim Premji, the founder chairman of Wipro.

Mr Premji, the country's most generous philanthropist, donated 10 times more than any other ultra-rich Indian, according to the Edelgive Hurun India Philanthropy List 2020.

He was placed third in a Forbes list of global billionaires donating for pandemic relief in April last year, after pledging US$132 million (S$175 million) to humanitarian aid and health interventions to limit the spread of Covid-19.

It is not as if India's super rich were battered financially by the pandemic. In fact, they got even richer while around 230 million Indians slipped below the national daily minimum wage threshold of 375 rupees during the pandemic.

According to the latest Hurun Global Rich List, India added 40 billionaires in 2020, taking its total to 177. Mr Ambani saw a 24 per cent jump in his fortunes and was valued at US$83 billion, whereas industrialist Gautam Adani, India's second richest, saw his wealth almost double to US$32 billion in 2020.

Just a 1.61 per cent one-off tax on less than a thousand of India's top high net worth individuals, whose wealth exceeds the combined GDP of five South Asian countries, could pay for vaccinations for all in the 18-45 group, wrote Mr S. Subramanian, a Chennai-based economist, for Scroll, an Indian news portal, last week.

 Vaccinations are complex in India. While some Indians get it free, others don't.  It is currently free for those above 45 at government hospitals but they must pay if they choose to get jabbed at a private hospital or clinic. For the wider population, many states have announced they will offer vaccines free at government hospitals.

India's rich have often been criticised for not giving enough to charity. Much of the philanthropy work is paid for not through their pockets, but through legislated corporate social responsibility (CSR), including during this crisis. It is a legally binding responsibility on large profitable companies to spend 2 per cent of their average net profit for the past three years on CSR activities.

"The philanthropic initiatives of the Indian corporates this year to fight the pandemic are far below their potential. What they could have done is much, much more," said Professor Kavil Ramachandran, executive director of the Thomas Schmidheiny Centre for Family Enterprise at the Indian School of Business.

He suggested the creation of a disaster management mechanism that could work either independently or with the government, and under which corporate entities can take up prior allocated responsibilities in major crisis situations.

"There hasn't been any leadership in this direction. Just because there is a cry for oxygen, the corporates' focus this time has been on producing and supplying oxygen," Prof Ramachandran added.

Still, as India's Covid-19 crisis deepened, some of India's large corporate houses have rolled out help. The Tata Group, a salt-to-software conglomerate, has contributed cryogenic cylinders and expanded capacity in hospitals run by its companies. Its hotels have also provided beds for those who need basic medical monitoring.

The Mahindra group rolled out an "Oxygen on Wheels" initiative to help Covid-19 patients struggling to get oxygen.

Criticism has also been directed at India's rich Bollywood actors and cricketers who, but for the honourable exception of a few, have done little. Indian actress Anushka Sharma and her cricketer husband Virat Kohli - the country's golden couple - tweeted a video last Friday (May 7) calling for donations for a fund-raiser they launched on Ketto.

"As our country battles the second wave of Covid-19, and our healthcare systems are facing extreme challenges, it breaks my heart to see our people suffering," said Ms Sharma, without specifying any amount they had donated.

Some, such as senior journalist Sankarshan Thakur, called out super-rich celebrity couples for setting up fund-raisers more as a way to drive their fame and not declaring their contribution.

"India breathes because ordinary Indians have risen to help ordinary Indians, not because celebs are posting rehearsed croc tears and PR gigs," he tweeted last Friday.

What also caught attention is how many of India's uber rich had fled in time before many countries instituted travel bans against Indians.

A report in The Times of India claimed some had even paid thousands of pounds to get to Britain. Quoting data from FlightAware, a website that tracks flights, it said eight private jets landed in Britain from India the day before the travel ban kicked in on April 23.

Mr Rajan Mehra, the chief executive of Club One Air, a private air charter company, and former India head of Qatar Airways , said high net worth corporate-types, industrialists and even a few politicians had left India, with Dubai being a popular destination.

"You couldn't call it a stampede, but I would say 20 to 25 per cent of air travel (in the last week of April) was rich Indians," he told The Straits Times.

Mr Mehra added that those who left had no intention of returning in the next couple of weeks. "Maybe by early or mid-June, they may come back... by then things would have tapered off with this wave."

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Covid-19 vaccination postponed, work affected for S'porean serving extended SHN - The Straits Times

SINGAPORE - Mr Harry Ho was slated to get his first Covid-19 jab on May 16, three days after his 14-day stay-home notice (SHN) was supposed to end.

But the requirement for an extra week of SHN that kicked in on Saturday (May 8) has thrown his plans into disarray, said the 57-year-old Singaporean, who works in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Mr Ho, who arrived here on April 29, said he had made his travel plans based on the previous advisory requiring a 14-day SHN on his return to Singapore.

"All the appointments I've made have had to be rescheduled, and my trip back to work in Phnom Penh will be delayed," he said.

"If I had known that the quarantine will change to 21 days prior to my trip, I would have postponed it and considered alternative plans."

Mr Ho, who used to shuttle between Cambodia and Singapore every few months, said he might defer his next return to Singapore to prevent further inconveniences to his work.

He previously paid $2,000 upon arrival, excluding PCR tests. The additional week will cost him another $1,200, including an additional PCR test that he has to take on the 21st day.

When he asked the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) if there will be waivers for the additional cost, the ICA said that those currently serving SHN can appeal for a waiver, but it will be granted on a case-by-case basis.

Mr Ho also expressed frustration that travellers are unable to choose the hotel that they serve their SHN in.

Currently, travellers can only upgrade and serve their SHN in a suite, which costs upwards of $7,500 for a 21-day stay. There are no options to choose a more budget-friendly hotel.

He is currently serving his SHN at Royal Plaza on Scotts Singapore, but recalled having a bad experience when he previously served his SHN at Ibis Styles Singapore in MacPherson.

He said: "During my previous stay in Ibis Styles, the room was small and the meals from their caterer was outrageously bad."

Mr Ho said he considers himself lucky that his extended SHN is at his current hotel.

He hopes the ICA will consider adding more tiered options, as travellers currently pay the same price whether they serve their SHN at a three-star hotel or at a five-star hotel.

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2021-05-09 08:08:04Z
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India's daily COVID-19 deaths near record, calls for nationwide lockdown mount - CNA

MUMBAI: India's COVID-19 deaths rose by more than 4,000 for a second consecutive day on Sunday (May 9) as calls for a nationwide lockdown to curb the spread of the virus mounted.

India's health ministry reported 4,092 fatalities over the past 24 hours, taking the overall death toll to 242,362. New cases rose by 403,738, just shy of the record and increasing the total since the start of the pandemic to 22.3 million.

India has been hit hard by a second COVID-19 wave with cases and deaths hitting record highs every other day. With an acute shortage of oxygen and beds in many hospitals and morgues and crematoriums overflowing, experts have said the actual numbers for COVID-19 cases and fatalities could be far higher.

Many Indian states have imposed strict lockdowns over the past month to stem the surge in infections while others have announced restrictions on public movement and shut down cinemas, restaurants, pubs and shopping malls.

READ: Indian states impose stricter lockdowns as COVID-19 deaths hit record high

READ: Battling COVID-19, and government denial, in rural India

But pressure is mounting on Prime Minister Narendra Modi to announce a nationwide lockdown similar to the one imposed during the first wave last year.

The pace of administering COVID-19 vaccines has dropped since the country opened vaccinations to all adults this month, with states saying they only have limited stock to give out.

At its peak in early April, India was administering a record high of 3.5 million shots a day on average. 

However, this number has consistently shrunk since, reaching an average of 1.3 million shots a day over the past week. 

Between Apr 6 and May 6, daily doses have dropped by 38 per cent, even as cases have tripled and deaths have jumped sixfold, according to Bhramar Mukherjee, a biostatistician at the University of Michigan who has been tracking India’s epidemic.

India on Saturday reported its highest ever single-day COVID-19 death toll of 4,187 fatalities. The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation estimates that India will see 1 million COVID-19 deaths by August.

Support has been pouring in from around the world in the form of oxygen cylinders and concentrators, ventilators and other medical equipment for overwhelmed hospitals. 

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2021-05-09 07:41:15Z
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Over 12000 serving extended SHN in S'pore, hotels ramping up capacity, safety measures - The Straits Times

SINGAPORE - More than 12,000 people currently serving their stay-home notices (SHN) in hotels here on Saturday (May 8) have begun an additional week of self-isolation at their current location, as tightened border and community measures kicked in.

While the majority of travellers arriving here from midnight on Friday would be aware they have to undergo 21 days of SHN, some who were midway through their isolation told The Straits Times they were caught off-guard by the extension from 14 to 21 days that was announced last week.

Meanwhile, hotels here who are catering to SHN guests said they have been putting in place their own measures for longer stays, which includes preparing more rooms.

But the new rules have left some holidaygoers frustrated, as some hotels which previously catered to staycation guests have converted to SHN-only facilities.

Last Tuesday, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said it would tighten border measures to manage the risk of Covid-19 being imported by travellers and onward transmission into the local community.

This comes as Covid-19 variants have been detected in the community, and the number of community cases went up last week.

Among the measures, all travellers arriving in Singapore from 11.59pm on Friday would have to undergo 21 days of SHN - instead of 14 days previously - except those coming from Australia, Brunei, China, New Zealand, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau.

Those currently on 14-day SHN and who had yet to complete their isolation by midnight on Friday are required to serve an additional seven days at their current SHN facility so as to minimise movement and risk of transmission, MOH had said.

This means an additional $1,200 expense for a single traveller for the extra week of food and accommodation at a hotel, as well as for one more polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test on the 21st day of SHN. This is on top of the $2,000 for a 14-day SHN under previous rules.

Travellers like Mr Harry Ho, 57, said those already under SHN when the announcement was made should not be liable for the additional expense.

Mr Ho, who is doing his SHN at Royal Plaza on Scotts hotel, said the authorities had told him those facing financial difficulties can request a cost waiver with supporting documents, but did not specify what these documents are.

ST understands that guests who had booked staycations at hotels like Mandarin Orchard were told they had to postpone or cancel their bookings, as the hotel would become a SHN-dedicated facility.

In a joint reply to ST, the Ministry of National Development and Singapore Tourism Board said travellers are required to pay for the additional seven days' stay and will be informed by the hotel or government agencies on the additional costs.

The Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) said that those who have problems paying can make an appeal by providing supporting documents, without elaborating.

More than 70 hotels here have been serving as SHN-dedicated facilities since last March, with the number of facilities in use varying based on demand, said the authorities. They did not say how many additional hotels were activated in light of the extended SHN.

"Facilities (are) activated as and when needed," they said. "The Government will continue to monitor the evolving situation, and work closely with these organisations to adjust the capacity of such facilities accordingly."

Hotel operators here told ST they will do more to help their guests cope with the extended SHN requirements.

"Each guest will stay longer, so we will need to provide them a little bit more care, as this is a long time for people to be stuck in one room," said Mr Garth Simmons, chief executive officer of Accor South-east Asia, Japan and South Korea.

Accor's hotels, which include Fairmont Singapore and the Ibis Budget chain, will implement additional calls to check in on their guests, and expand their food and beverage menus to provide more variety, he added.

To ensure the safety of guests and staff, hotels such as The Westin Singapore have expanded and intensified their cleaning regime.

Acting general manager Kuljit Singh said that some of the measures include disinfecting both designated public and operations areas with approved electrostatic sprayers and hospital-grade disinfectant and deep cleaning of each guest room.

As full resumption of international travel is impossible in the foreseeable future, hotels said they are glad to have SHN visitors, which keep them in operation.

A marketing head of an international hotel said that during this time, most hotels want to operate exclusively for SHN due to the stable revenue, as the staycation business tends to be less dependable. But the Government usually wants hotels to be SHN-exclusive, while some hotels have long-stay guests.

A spokesman from Millennium Hotels and Resorts, which operates Orchard Hotel, M Social Singapore, Grand Copthorne Waterfront, Copthorne King's Hotel, M Hotel and Studio M, said that they are ready to set aside more rooms to accommodate SHN guests.

Mr Simmons said that although the rates for SHN business are far below what their traditional guests would pay, they are grateful that the SHN rooms are keeping their hotels in operation and their staff in employment.

He said: "We are in the business of caring for people, so we will continue to care for all our guests, no matter what brings them to our hotels."

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Sabtu, 08 Mei 2021

Malaysia's Covid-19 daily case count may rise to 7000 by end-May: Top health official - The Straits Times

KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia's top health official on Saturday (May 8) painted a grim picture of the country's struggle against the coronavirus pandemic, saying new cases could hit 7,000 a day by the end of this month.

Malaysia was initially projected to record about 3,000 cases by mid-May, and 5,000 cases by the end of the month, said the Health Ministry's director-general, Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

"It was projected that Malaysia would record 5,000 cases by the end of May and around 3,000 cases by mid-month," he told a press conference at the ministry in Putrajaya, his first since March 4.

"But now, two weeks before the middle of the month, we have recorded more than 3,000 cases," he said, adding that with daily cases exceeding 4,000 in the first week of May, the figure could worsen if people fail to comply with health protocols.

"We expect 5,000 by mid-May now, and by the end of May, cases may rise to even 6,000 to 7,000, depending on us, whether we break the chain of infection."

He added: "These are a very crucial two to four weeks for us to contain the infection. We cannot succeed without the collaboration of the people. Stay at home if possible. Have an in-house Hari Raya among yourselves just like last year. Last year after Hari Raya, there was no surge of infections. Why can't we do it again?"

"Aggressive" Covid-19 variants from abroad are already spreading in several Malaysian states, with more young people being infected, Dr Noor Hisham said.

He had on Friday warned that critically-ill patient numbers had hit a record high of 506 admissions, and said the government is adding more beds to intensive care units.

His warning comes just ahead of the Hari Raya festival on Thursday, when people typically throw caution aside by travelling to meet  families and friends.

Even though travelling between states and districts is banned, Hari Raya visiting is allowed within districts, and capped at between 15 and 25 people, depending on which tier of the shutdown the state is in.

Daily cases hit 4,519 on Saturday after Friday's 4,498, which was then a three-month high.

Malaysia until now had logged only three occasions when the daily tally exceeded 5,000 cases, at the end of January.

The highest number of cases per day recorded was 5,728 on Jan 31.

Amid concerns over the rise in ICU patients, Dr Noor Hisham has been posting photos and videos of hospitals and their ICUs since last week, to instill public awareness.

“We are almost running out of beds. Please stay healthy and stay safe,” he wrote six days ago.

The healthcare system is being stretched to its limit with a 44 per cent increase in ICU patients compared to two weeks ago.

Over 20 hospitals designated for the pandemic have reached ICU bed occupancy levels of between 70 to over 100 per cent, while some hospitals that did not previously deal with Covid-19 patients are now doing so, Dr Noor Hisham said. Private hospitals are also treating Covid-19 patients.

The government has been widely blamed for failing to discourage people from gathering in large numbers since the Muslim fasting month started last month.

It allowed Ramadan food bazaars to reopen this year and gave the nod for mosques to hold Ramadan prayer services. Restaurants, which usually shut at midnight, were told they could stay open until 6am.

Dr Noor Hisham warned on Saturday: “Because now the cases are very high, if you are infected, come to the hospital, if we do not have ICU beds, we are in trouble.


Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah has been posting photos and videos of hospitals and their intensive care units to raise awareness that bed supply is running out. PHOTOS: NOOR HISHAM ABDULLAH/FACEBOOK

“So then, we don’t want to end up like countries, where we have to select who will live and who will die.”

One of those who had a family member admitted into the ICU was Madam Au Yong Pei Yi, whose husband spent 12 days battling for his life in the ICU and was only just moved to a normal ward on Friday.

Mr Fong Chee Sum, 51, was intubated, and needed a chest tube after one of his lungs collapsed, Madam Au Yong told The Straits Times.

Mr Fong, a company secretary, tested positive for Covid-19 on April 22 after he realised he lost his sense of smell.

“On Sunday night (April 25), he was struggling to breathe. I felt uneasy so I called 999,” Madam Au Yong said.

When the ambulance came, his blood pressure was high and his oxygen levels low. He was barely conscious and needed to be intubated upon arrival at the hospital.

Madam Au Yong urges everyone to comply with safety protocols.

“We have to take care of ourselves. Hospitals are out of beds. Covid-19 is extremely dangerous. You never know where and when you might pick it up.”

Meanwhile, the daughter of another Covid-19 patient, Madam Maria, said her 87-year-old father contracted the disease in January, and became ill again after he was sent home after being hospitalised for 10 days.

“He became fatigued, and had lost his appetite,” the teacher told ST.

He turned out to have low oxygen levels, and was experiencing what is known as a cytokine storm, or an excessive immune reaction in Covid-19 patients. He was in the ICU for nearly three weeks before breathing his last.

“The virus is very virulent, and the effects of the virus can be present 10 days after the initial fever. Even if you think you are okay, you can develop a cytokine storm and that will cause terrible side effects,” she said.

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2021-05-08 11:19:38Z
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