PRAYAGRAJ, India: Police are reaching out to villagers in northern India to investigate the recovery of bodies buried in shallow sand graves or washing up on the Ganges River banks, prompting speculation on social media that they were the remains of COVID-19 victims.
In jeeps and boats, the police used portable loudspeakers with microphones asking people not to dispose of the bodies in rivers. "We are here to help you perform the last rites,” police said.
On Friday, rains exposed the cloth coverings of bodies buried in shallow sand graves on the riverbank in Prayagraj, a city in Uttar Pradesh state.
Bodies of suspected COVID-19 victims are seen in shallow graves buried in the sand near a cremation ground on the banks of Ganges River in Prayagraj, India, Saturday, May 15, 2021. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)
Navneet Sehgal, a state government spokesman, on Sunday denied local media reports that more than 1,000 corpses of COVID-19 victims had been recovered from rivers in the past two weeks. “I bet these bodies have nothing to do with COVID-19,” he said.
He said some villagers did not cremate their dead, as is customary, due to a Hindu tradition during some periods of religious significance and disposed of them in rivers or digging graves on riverbanks.
KP Singh, a senior police officer, said authorities had earmarked a cremation ground for those who died of COVID-19 on the Prayagraj riverbank and the police were no longer allowing any burials on the riverfront.
Sehgal state authorities have found “a small number” of bodies on the riverbanks, he said, but did not give a figure.
Ramesh Kumar Singh, a member of Bondhu Mahal Samiti, a philanthropic organisation that helps cremate bodies, said the number of deaths is very high in rural areas, and poor people have been disposing of the bodies in the river because of the exorbitant cost of performing the last rites and shortage of woods. The cremation cost has tripled up to 15,000 rupees (US$210).
Several bodies are seen buried in shallow graves on the banks of Ganges river in Prayagraj, India, on May 15, 2021. (Photo: AP/Rajesh Kumar Singh)
Health authorities last week retrieved 71 bodies that washed up on the Ganges River bank in neighbouring Bihar state.
Authorities performed post mortems but said they could not confirm the cause of death due to decomposition.
A dozen corpses were also found last week buried in sand at two locations on the riverbank in Unnao district, 40km southwest of Lucknow, the Uttar Pradesh state capital. District Magistrate Ravindra Kumar said an investigation is underway to identify the cause of deaths.
India’s two big states, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, with nearly 358 million people in total, are among the worst hit in the surge sweeping through the country with devastating death tolls. Hapless villagers have been rushing the sick to nearby towns and cities for treatment, many of them dying on the way, victims of India's crumbling health care.
After hitting record highs for weeks, the number of new cases was stabilising, said Dr VK Paul, a government health expert.
The Health Ministry on Sunday reported 311,170 confirmed cases in the past 24 hours, down from 326,098 on Saturday.
It also reported 4,077 additional deaths, taking the total fatalities to 270,284. Both figures are almost certainly a vast undercount, experts say.
TAIPEI: Taiwan's economic prospects are bright and growth this year will come in as expected as long as the COVID-19 situation can be brought under control quickly, the government said on Sunday (May 16), adding that the impact of a recent spike in cases was limited.
Export-dependent Taiwan raised its coronavirus alert level in the capital, Taipei, and the surrounding city on Saturday, imposing two weeks of restrictions that will shut many venues and limit gatherings after a rise in community transmissions.
In a statement after Premier Su Tseng-chang called a meeting of top economic officials, including central bank governor Yang Chin-long and Economy Minister Wang Mei-hua, Taiwan's Cabinet said they all agreed the outlook was good.
The profits of listed companies have increased significantly over last year, and export orders are also performing well, it added.
The current pandemic situation is having a short-term impact on consumers, but as long as infections can be controlled soon, added to a proposed NT$210 billion (US$7.51 billion) in government spending support, expectations for 2021 economic growth can be maintained, it said.
The Cabinet proposed the new spending on Thursday, though it still needs parliamentary approval.
The sudden rise in domestic cases last week spooked Taiwan's stock market.
Su urged all departments to keep a close watch on market developments and "take necessary steps for the normal operation of financial institutions and order and stability of the stock and foreign exchange markets", the Cabinet added.
Taiwan's economy grew at its fastest pace in more than a decade in the first three months of 2021 as the "work from home" boom sparked strong global demand for the island's hi-tech exports.
In March, the central bank raised its 2021 estimate for gross domestic product growth to 4.53 per cent from 3.68 per cent forecast in December and has said further upward revisions are likely.
Taiwan's manufacturers, such as the world's largest contract chip maker, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, are a key part of the global supply chain for technology giants such as Apple.
LONDON: Thousands of protesters marched in support of Palestinians on Saturday (May 15) in major European cities including London, Berlin, Madrid and Paris, as the worst violence in years raged between Israel and militants in Gaza.
In London, several thousand protesters carrying placards reading "Stop Bombing Gaza" and chanting "Free Palestine" converged on Marble Arch, near the British capital's Hyde Park, to march towards the Israeli embassy.
Packed crowds stretched all along Kensington's High Street where the embassy is located.
Organisers claimed as many as 100,000 people had gathered for the demonstration though London police said they were unable to confirm any figure.
"The group is spread across a large area which makes it impossible to count them," a Metropolitan Police spokesman said.
"Officers are engaging with a group of people who have gathered for a demonstration in central London this afternoon," the police said in a separate statement, adding that a plan was in place to curb the spread of COVID-19.
"This time is different. This time we will not be denied any more. We are united. We have had enough of oppression," Palestinian Ambassador Husam Zomlot told the demonstrators.
"Today we are saying enough, enough with the complicity," he added.
Simon Makepace, a 61-year-old accountant told AFP he had joined the protests because "the whole world should be doing something about it, including this country".
Pro-Palestinian activists and supporters let off smoke flares, wave flags and carry placards in central London AFP/Tolga Akmen
"STOP WHAT'S HAPPENING"
He was critical of the United States, which he said was unfairly backing Israel, and urged Washington to "make peace and stop what's happening".
Azadeh Pyman, a 50-year-old scientist said she had been raised on the Palestinian cause by her parents and grandparents.
"I'm not Palestinian originally but my heart bleeds for Palestinians," she said. "I think it's the cause that will go from one generation to another generation, until Palestine is free."
A woman sporting the word "Palestine" in Arabic marches in Madrid AFP/GABRIEL BOUYS
In Madrid, 2,500 people, many of them young people wrapped in Palestinian flags, marched to the Puerta del Sol plaza in the city centre.
"This is not a war, it's genocide," they chanted.
"They are massacring us," said Amira Sheikh-Ali, a 37-year-old of Palestinian origin.
"We're in a situation when the Nakba is continuing in the middle of the 21st century," she said, referring to the "catastrophe", a word used by Palestinians to describe Israel's creation in 1948 when hundreds of thousands fled or were driven out.
"We want to ask Spain and the European authorities not to collaborate with Israel, because with their silence, they are collaborating," said Ikhlass Abousousiane, a 25-year-old nurse of Moroccan origin.
The marches came amid the worst Israeli-Palestinian violence since a 2014 war in Gaza.
The Madrid march ended without incident AFP/GABRIEL BOUYS
Thousands marched in Berlin and other German cities following a call by the Samidoun collective.
Three marches were authorised in Berlin's working class Neukoelln southern district, home to large numbers of people with Turkish and Arabic roots.
The protesters shouted "Boycott Israel" and threw paving stones and bottles at the police, leading to several arrests.
Other protests were held in Frankfurt, Leipzig and Hamburg.
On Tuesday, Israeli flags were burnt in front of two synagogues in Bonn and Muenster.
Police officers used tear gas and water cannon in Paris to try and disperse a pro-Palestinian rally held despite a ban by authorities.
Some threw stones or tried to set up roadblocks with construction barriers, but for the most part police pursued groups across the district while preventing any march toward the Place de la Bastille as planned.
"You want to prohibit me from showing solidarity with my people, even as my village is being bombed?" Mohammed, 23 and wearing a "Free Palestine" t-shirt, told AFP.
The march was banned Thursday over concerns of a repeat of fierce clashes that erupted at a similar Paris march during the last war in 2014, when protesters took aim at synagogues and other Israeli and Jewish targets.
No incidents were reported as thousands of people gathered for protests and marches in several other cities including Montpellier, Toulouse and Bordeaux.
DAYS OF FIGHTING
Around 500 people rallied in Athens, AFP correspondents said. Greek police used water cannon and there were minor scuffles with protesters in front of the Israeli embassy.
Israel is fighting Hamas militants in Gaza while trying to contain an outbreak of internal Jewish-Arab clashes and violence in the West Bank.
The Israeli bombardment began Monday, after Gaza's Islamist rulers Hamas fired rockets towards Jerusalem.
That was in response to bloody Israeli police action at the flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem, as well as a crackdown on protests against the planned Israeli expulsion of Palestinians from their homes in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood in annexed east Jerusalem.
Since Monday, Israeli air and artillery strikes on Gaza have killed 139 people including 39 children, and wounded 1,000 more, health officials say.
Palestinian armed groups have fired hundreds of rockets at Israel since, killing 10 people, including a child and a soldier. More than 560 Israelis have been wounded.
SINGAPORE: Seven primary schools with COVID-19 infections will move to home-based learning from Monday (May 17) until the end of the school term on May 28, the Ministry of Education said on Sunday.
This measure is taken to "safeguard students and staff and curb the risk of any transmission in our schools", the ministry said in a press release.
The schools that will move to home-based learning are:
Kong Hwa School
Palm View Primary School
St Andrew’s Junior School
St Margaret’s Primary School
St Stephen’s School
Yio Chu Kang Primary School
Yu Neng Primary School
MOE said that it is in contact with the seven schools to provide support for teachers and students in conducting online learning. Teachers are also in contact with students and parents, it said.
The ministry is "closely monitoring" the well-being of students and staff members identified as close contacts of confirmed cases, and will implement similar measures for other schools where necessary.
The move comes amid more cases of COVID-19 emerging among primary school students linked to tuition and enrichment centres.
The Ministry of Health announced on Friday that five students (two from Kong Hwa School, one from St Andrew’s Junior School and two from St Stephen’s School) had tested positive for COVID-19. They had all attended classes run by an infected private tutor at Learning Point at Parkway Centre.
On Sunday, the ministry announced that two more students from St Andrew’s Junior School had also tested positive for COVID-19. The students, an eight-year-old and a 12-year-old who are siblings, had last shared a bus with the previous St Andrew’s Junior School case on May 11.
The siblings had symptoms such as fever or runny nose.
Another four students from Learning Point at Parkway Centre also tested positive for COVID-19 on May 15, said MOE.
Two of them are from Kong Hwa School, while the remaining two are from St Margaret’s Primary School and Yu Neng Primary School. They were all last in school on May 12.
MOE said that the remaining close contacts involving Learning Point students who attended the affected class that the tutor taught have tested negative.
The Ministry of Health's contact tracing is ongoing.
The Yio Chu Kang Primary School student who had tested positive for COVID-19 had attended Edufirst Learning Centre at Hougang, MOE said.
Based on test results of close contacts from the same centre, a student from Palm View Primary School and a second student from Yio Chu Kang Primary School tested positive on May 15 and May 14 respectively.
MOE announced on Friday tighter COVID-19 measures for schools and institutes of higher learning, including conducting all co-curricular activities online and suspending all external activities.
"Students taking school buses must wear masks at all times throughout the journey and refrain from interacting with each other." MOE said.
Private tuition and enrichment centres are strongly encouraged to move lessons online during this period of heightened risk. The education ministry will step up inspections and enforcement of these locations to ensure compliance with safe management measures, it said on Sunday.
GAZA CITY: An Israeli airstrike destroyed a high-rise building in Gaza City that housed offices of The Associated Press and other media outlets on Friday (May 14), the latest step by the military to silence reporting from the territory amid its battle with the militant group Hamas.
The strike came nearly an hour after the military ordered people to evacuate the building, which also housed Al Jazeera, other offices and residential apartments. The strike brought the entire 12-storey building down, collapsing with a gigantic cloud of dust. There was no immediate explanation for why it was attacked.
The strike came hours after another Israeli air raid on a densely populated refugee camp in Gaza City killed at least 10 Palestinians from an extended family, mostly children, in the deadliest single strike of the current conflict. Both sides pressed for an advantage as cease-fire efforts gathered strength.
The latest outburst of violence began in Jerusalem and has spread across the region, with Jewish-Arab clashes and rioting in mixed cities of Israel. There were also widespread Palestinian protests Friday in the occupied West Bank, where Israeli forces shot and killed 11 people.
The spiraling violence has raised fears of a new Palestinian “intifada", or uprising at a time when there have been no peace talks in years.
Palestinians on Saturday were marking Nakba (Catastrophe) Day, when they commemorate the estimated 700,000 people who were expelled from or fled their homes in what was now Israel during the 1948 war surrounding its creation. That raised the possibility of even more unrest.
US diplomat Hady Amr arrived Friday as part of Washington’s efforts to de-escalate the conflict, and the UN Security Council was set to meet Sunday. But Israel turned down an Egyptian proposal for a one-year truce that Hamas rulers had accepted, an Egyptian official said Friday on condition of anonymity to discuss the negotiations.
An Israeli artillery unit fires toward targets in Gaza Strip on May 15, 2021. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
Since Monday night, Hamas has fired hundreds of rockets into Israel, which has pounded the Gaza Strip with strikes. In Gaza, at least 139 people have been killed, including 39 children and 22 women; in Israel, eight people have been killed, including the death Saturday of a man killed by a rocket that hit in Ramat Gan, a suburb of Tel Aviv.
The strike on the building housing media offices came in the afternoon, after the building's owner received a call from the Israeli military warning that it would be hit. AP's staff and others in the building evacuated immediately.
Al Jazeera, the news network funded by Qatar’s government, broadcast the airstrikes live as the building collapsed.
“This channel will not be silence. Al-Jazeera will not be silenced,” an on-air anchorwoman said, her voice thick with emotion. “We can guarantee you that right now.”
Earlier Saturday, an airstrike hit a three-story house in Gaza City’s Shati refugee camp, killing eight children and two women from an extended family.
Mohammed Hadidi told reporters his wife and five children had gone to celebrate the Eid al-Fitr holiday with relatives. She and three of the children, aged 6 to 14, were killed, while an 11-year-old is missing. Only his 5-month-old son Omar is known to have survived.
Children’s toys and a Monopoly board game could be seen among the rubble, as well as plates of uneaten food from the holiday gathering.
“There was no warning,” said Jamal Al-Naji, a neighbour living in the same building. “You filmed people eating and then you bombed them?” he said, addressing Israel. “Why are you confronting us? Go and confront the strong people!”
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Hamas said it fired a salvo of rockets at southern Israel in response to the airstrike.
Palestinians flee their homes after overnight Israeli heavy missile strikes on their neighbourhoods in the outskirts of Gaza City on May 14, 2021. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)
A furious Israeli barrage early Friday killed a family of six in their house and sent thousands fleeing to UN-run shelters. The military said the operation involved 160 warplanes dropping some 80 tonnes of explosives over the course of 40 minutes and succeeded in destroying a vast tunnel network used by Hamas.
Lieutenant colonel Jonathan Conricus, a military spokesman, said the military aims to minimise collateral damage in striking military targets. But measures it takes in other strikes, such as warning shots to get civilians to leave, were not “feasible this time.”
Israeli media said the military believed dozens of militants were killed inside the tunnels. The Hamas and Islamic Jihad militant groups have confirmed 20 deaths in their ranks, but the military said the real number is far higher.
Gaza’s infrastructure, already in widespread disrepair because of an Israeli-Egyptian blockade imposed after Hamas seized power in 2007, showed signs of breaking down further, compounding residents’ misery. The territory’s sole power plant is at risk of running out of fuel in the coming days.
The UN said Gazans are already enduring daily power cuts of 8 to 12 hours and at least 230,000 have limited access to tap water. The impoverished and densely populated territory is home to 2 million Palestinians, most of them the descendants of refugees from what is now Israel.
Smoke rises following Israeli airstrikes on a building in Gaza City on May 14, 2021. (AP Photo/Hatem Moussa)
The conflict has reverberated widely. Israeli cities with mixed Arab and Jewish populations have seen nightly violence, with mobs from each community fighting in the streets and trashing each other’s property.
Late on Friday, someone threw a firebomb at an Arab family’s home in the Ajami neighborhood of Tel Aviv, striking two children. A 12-year-old boy was in moderate condition with burns on his upper body and a 10-year-old girl was treated for a head injury, according to the Magen David Adom rescue service.
In the occupied West Bank, on the outskirts of Ramallah, Nablus and other towns and cities, hundreds of Palestinians protested the Gaza campaign and Israeli actions in Jerusalem. Waving Palestinian flags, they trucked in tires that they set up in burning barricades and hurled stones at Israeli soldiers. At least 10 protesters were shot and killed by soldiers. An 11th Palestinian was killed when he tried to stab a soldier at a military position.
In east Jerusalem, online video showed young Jewish nationalists firing pistols as they traded volleys of stones with Palestinians in Sheikh Jarrah, which became a flashpoint for tensions over attempts by settlers to forcibly evict a number of Palestinian families from their homes.
On Israel’s northern border, troops opened fire when a group of Lebanese and Palestinian protesters on the other side cut through the border fence and briefly crossed. One Lebanese was killed. Three rockets were fired toward Israel from neighboring Syria without causing any casualties or damage. It was not immediately known who fired them.
The tensions began in east Jerusalem earlier this month, with Palestinian protests against the Sheikh Jarrah evictions and Israeli police measures at Al-Aqsa Mosque, a frequent flashpoint located on a mount in the Old City revered by Muslims and Jews.
Hamas fired rockets toward Jerusalem late Monday, in an apparent attempt to present itself as the champion of the protesters.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed that Hamas will “pay a very heavy price” for its rocket attacks as Israel has massed troops at the frontier. US President Joe Biden has expressed support for Israel while saying he hopes to bring the violence under control.
Hamas has fired some 2,000 rockets toward Israel since Monday, according to the Israeli military. Most have been intercepted by anti-missile defenses, but they have brought life to a standstill in southern Israeli cities, caused disruptions at airports and have set off air raid sirens in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.
TAIPEI: Taiwan raised its COVID-19 alert level on Saturday (May 15) in the capital, Taipei, and the surrounding city, bringing curbs for a period of two weeks that will shut many venues and restrict gatherings in the wake of 180 new domestic infections.
Masks are to be worn outdoors for the first time, as the government encourages work and study from home, shutting cinemas and entertainment spots, while limiting gatherings of families and friends to five indoors and 10 outdoors.
Taipei's government has already ordered bars, nightclubs and similar venues to shut.
Health Minister Chen Shih-chung said a "level of risk" in certain hot spots, such as Taipei's gritty Wanhua district, had spurred the decision to raise the alert level.
"Only by doing this can infections be dealt with and controlled," he told reporters.
Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je urged people to stay home as much as possible, adding that schools should teach online.
"During this time, if you have nothing on, then stay at home and don't go out, and if you do, wear a mask to reduce infection from droplets," said Ko, a doctor by training.
President Tsai Ing-wen's spokesman said she would reduce the number of "unnecessary meetings" or public events. The presidential office is close to Wanhua.
People wear masks on a suspension bridge in Bitan, a popular scenic spot in Taipei. (Photo: AFP/Sam Yeh)
Amid pictures on social media showed people flocking to supermarkets to stock up on toilet paper and instant noodles, the economy ministry took to Facebook to assure people that supplies were ample and there was no need to hoard.
The rising community infections unnerved the stock market this week, but at the same news conference, Premier Su Tseng-chang reiterated that the island's economic fundamentals remain good.
Deputy Finance Minister Frank Juan told Reuters authorities would watch market reaction on Monday, adding that he did not rule out calling a meeting of the National Stabilisation Fund, which the government can use to smooth large fluctuations.
Investors should act rationally, he said, pointing out that only a few sectors would be affected by the curbs, such as tourism, rather than the island's crucial foreign trade.
The new restrictions do not apply to the chip-manufacturing hub of Hsinchu, and are unlikely to affect exports of semiconductors, a global shortage of which has shut some car factories.
Chipmaking giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing said it was closely monitoring the situation, cutting non-essential gatherings and activities and reducing the movement of people across different chip fabs.
Taiwan has millions of vaccine doses on order from Moderna and AstraZeneca, though only a small number have arrived from the latter due to global shortages and vaccination rates remain low.
More vaccines will start arriving next month, Tsai has said.
Since the pandemic began, Taiwan has reported fewer than 1,500 cases among a population of about 24 million, most of them imported from abroad, but a recent rise in community transmissions has spooked residents.
The island has never gone into a full lockdown and its people are used to life carrying on near normal, despite the pandemic ranging in many other parts of the world.
TAIPEI (REUTERS) - Taiwan raised its Covid-19 alert level on Saturday (May 15) for the capital, Taipei, and New Taipei City, ushering in a two-week clampdown on gatherings as well as the closure of many venues, while announcing 180 new domestic infections.
Separately, major universities in northern Taiwan are shifting to online learning and some museums will shut as the island grapples with a rare spike in domestic Covid-19 infections, taking urgent measures to stop the spread.
The new rules will not mean offices, schools or restaurants have to close, but will cause the shutdown of cinemas and other entertainment spots, while limiting family get-togethers to five people indoors and 10 outdoors.
Taipei’s government has already ordered bars, nightclubs and similar venues to shut.
Since the pandemic began, Taiwan has reported fewer than 1,500 cases among a population of about 24 million, most of them imported from abroad, but a recent rise in community transmissions has spooked residents.
The island has never gone into a full lockdown and its people are used to life carrying on near normal, despite the pandemic ranging in many other parts of the world.
Although Taiwan has just 1,290 cases, most of them imported from abroad, among a population of about 24 million, a recent small rise in community transmissions has spooked residents used to life carrying on as normal, despite the global pandemic.
Late on Friday, several universities, including the elite National Taiwan University, said they would immediately switch to remote learning, telling students to stay away from campuses.
"As Covid-19 is still wreaking havoc, please be reminded to wear a mask at all times when you go out, wash hands frequently, and keep appropriate social distancing," National Taiwan University said in a statement.
The Taipei Fine Arts Museum, where people have queued for a hugely popular exhibition by Japanese artist Shiota Chiharu opened this month, said it would close from Saturday to comply with the city's prevention rules.
"The re-opening date will be announced according to the epidemic situation and city regulations," it said.
Taipei's National Palace Museum, home to one of the world's best and most extensive collections of Chinese art, said it too would close from Saturday.
The current cluster of infections has centred on the north and Taipei, but cases have also cropped up elsewhere, such as the major southern port city of Kaohsiung.
Its mayor, Chen Chi-mai, said authorities would disinfect wide range of public spaces, including the night markets that are usually a big draw for hungry tourists.
