Rabu, 28 Juli 2021
Death toll from China floods rises - CNA
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2021-07-28 13:27:55Z
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Covid-19: Some parents call for full home-based learning after spate of cases among students; MOE says schools remain safe - TODAYonline
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Covid-19: Some parents call for full home-based learning after spate of cases among students; MOE says schools remain safe TODAYonlineView Full coverage on Google Newshttps://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMifmh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LnRvZGF5b25saW5lLmNvbS9zaW5nYXBvcmUvY292aWQtMTktc29tZS1wYXJlbnRzLWNhbGwtZnVsbC1ob21lLWJhc2VkLWxlYXJuaW5nLWFmdGVyLXNwYXRlLWNhc2VzLWFtb25nLXN0dWRlbnRzLW1vZdIBAA?oc=5
2021-07-28 11:24:58Z
CBMifmh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LnRvZGF5b25saW5lLmNvbS9zaW5nYXBvcmUvY292aWQtMTktc29tZS1wYXJlbnRzLWNhbGwtZnVsbC1ob21lLWJhc2VkLWxlYXJuaW5nLWFmdGVyLXNwYXRlLWNhc2VzLWFtb25nLXN0dWRlbnRzLW1vZdIBAA
Selasa, 27 Juli 2021
Sydney locked down for another month as COVID-19 cases rise - CNA
SYDNEY: Australia's New South Wales state authorities on Wednesday (Jul 28) extended a COVID-19 lockdown in state capital Sydney for another month after weeks-long curbs failed to contain an outbreak of the highly infectious Delta virus variant.
Lockdown rules were due to end on Friday but restrictions will now run until Aug 28, state Premier Gladys Berejiklian told reporters in Sydney.
A total of 177 new locally acquired cases were detected in New South Wales, up from 172 a day earlier.
READ: Australians may face longer COVID-19 lockdown after 'reckless' mass protests
The office of the premier of New South Wales did not immediately respond to a request seeking comment.
Of particular concern is the growing number of people positive with the Delta strain moving around in the community. Unless that number returns to near zero, tough restrictions would continue, authorities have said.
Around one in three new cases detected over the last several days have spent time in the community while infectious.
As Sydney braces for tougher restrictions for most of August, Victoria and South Australia states came out of lockdown restrictions on Wednesday after getting on top of virus outbreaks.
READ: Sydney to get extra vaccines as COVID-19 cases mount
Australia has kept its COVID-19 numbers relatively low, with just over 33,200 cases and 920 deaths since the pandemic began, but the fast-moving Delta strain and low vaccination coverage have frustrated residents.
Many Sydney businesses have been forced to shut, with the lockdown expected to take a heavy toll on Australia's A$2 trillion (US$1.50 trillion) economy.
Finance Minister Simon Birmingham said the federal government could provide more support to employers depending on the decisions made by New South Wales authorities.
"The (prime minister) will have more to say on that later today," Birmingham told the Australian Broadcasting Corp on Wednesday.
BOOKMARK THIS: Our comprehensive coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic and its developments
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2021-07-28 01:30:00Z
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Commentary: US and China aren't cooperating on COVID-19 – but it wasn't always this way - CNA
SINGAPORE: Intergovernmental cooperation between the United States and China was an important part of the fight against Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in 2003.
Yet serious collaboration to combat COVID-19 is yet to materialise. The state of US-China bilateral relations and the failure to cooperate has arguably worsened the pandemic.
Despite similarities between the two initial outbreaks, COVID-19 seems to have deepened the antagonism and rivalry between the United States and China.
Many attribute the lack of pandemic cooperation to a preoccupation with the ongoing trade and propaganda war. But signs of US-China cooperation on other issues, such as recent mutual commitments to address the climate crisis, reveal that deteriorating bilateral relations might only be part of the story regarding the failure to cooperate on COVID-19.
A mismatch in perceptions on how to approach domestic health governance, one that was not apparent in 2003, may also be playing a key role.
READ: Commentary: China’s COVID-19 successes - credible at home, not so much abroad
READ: Commentary: A pity China can’t seem to ditch its wolf warrior diplomacy
US-CHINA COOPERATION DURING SARS OUTBREAK
US-China cooperation on public health began with the normalisation of relations in 1979.
The 1979 Agreement on Cooperation in Science and Technology led to the Protocol for Cooperation in the Science and Technology of Medicine and Public Health. That formed the basis for the two countries to maintain a relationship on health matters.
Cooperation deepened under the leadership of Jeff Koplan, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (US CDC) from 1998 to 2002, when the United States helped China build more effective public health infrastructure.
The outbreak of SARS in 2003 highlighted weaknesses in China’s public health emergency management and motivated it to improve, and the US CDC offered important assistance. The US CDC worked with the Chinese National Influenza Center to build up its influenza surveillance capacity.
With US CDC support, Chinese public health staff received virology and epidemiology training. US assistance became a critical aspect of China’s public health response and emergency management.
During the SARS outbreak, China realised it was completely unprepared to effectively manage a public health emergency. The government has since taken measures to address the many weaknesses.
It provided more funding to public health and constructed a multi-tiered network of disease control and prevention. The central government also reorganised different agencies within the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention into a cluster to enhance crisis coordination.
Following that outbreak, China continued to enhance its health cooperation with US counterparts, having had positive perceptions of the US public health model at the time and a willingness to adopt US practices.
During a visit by then US health secretary Tommy Thompson in 2003, the United States promised to work with China to develop more robust public health infrastructure in China.
READ: Commentary: China may have a spy problem of its own
CHINA CATCHES UP WITH THE US
But prior to the outbreak of COVID-19, Chinese perceptions on US domestic governance had gradually shifted. While the United States maintains the superiority of its governance approaches, China has increasingly seen itself as on an equal footing to the United States.
When meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan in Alaska in March, China’s top diplomat Yang Jiechi said: “The United States does not have the qualification to say that it wants to speak to China from a position of strength.”
READ: Commentary: After Alaska, age of selective engagement in US-China relations begins
A driving factor in these shifting Chinese perceptions is its tremendous advances in building an effective domestic health system over the last decade. Through a number of healthcare reforms since 2009, China made substantial progress in improving access to care, at a standard commended by the World Bank.
The mismanagement of COVID-19 in the United States consolidated China’s belief that the US model of public health crisis response is ineffective. As of late July, US cumulative case numbers have exceeded 34 million, over 10 per cent of its population, while China has reported around 100,000 cases in a population of 1.4 billion.
This solidified the Chinese view that the United States has lost its health superiority, leading to its conclusion that institutional strength and Chinese culture were key to overcoming domestic COVID-19.
Yet China’s system still falls behind in some aspects – the United States ranks fourth in the World Index of Healthcare Innovation, while mainland China does not even qualify for assessment.
Regardless, it would seem that cooperation may be contingent on US recognition of China’s progress in domestic health governance by approaching it as an equal partner. Until then, the situation could remain more akin to that of a competition.
But China needs to also put President Xi Jinping’s words into practice and be “eager to learn what lessons we can from the achievements of other cultures, and welcome helpful suggestions and constructive criticism”.
China should continue to identify its own flaws and limits in domestic health governance and gauge other countries, including identifying successes that the United States has had.
Renowned Chinese diseases expert Zhong Nanshan stated that China still has space to improve and much to learn from the practices of the United States and other developed countries. Future pandemic cooperation between the two great powers may rest on rebuilding mutual trust and developing a shared understanding of one another’s best practices.
Xirui Li is a PhD candidate at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University, and a Research Fellow at the Intellisia Institute, Guangzhou. This commentary first appeared on East Asia Forum.
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2021-07-27 22:01:43Z
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Singapore, US affirm 'vital' American presence in region as defence chiefs meet - CNA
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2021-07-27 13:44:58Z
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Indonesia considers COVID-19 vaccine booster shots for wider use - CNA
JAKARTA: Indonesia, which uses the Sinovac vaccine as its main COVID-19 inoculation, is considering providing a booster shot, as a study showed antibodies provided by the two-dose shot fade over time, a senior health ministry official said on Tuesday (Jul 27).
Indonesia, which has become Asia's COVID-19 epicentre with record infections and deaths this month, relies heavily on the Sinovac vaccine that accounts for more than four-fifths of 173 million doses of vaccine supplies it has received so far.
Concerns about the vaccine's effectiveness have mounted in recent weeks as hundreds of medical workers, most of whom were fully vaccinated with the Sinovac shot, have died of COVID-19 since June.
A study published this week showed that antibodies triggered by the Sinovac vaccine declined below a key threshold from around six months after a second dose for most recipients, although a third shot had a strong booster effect.
READ: COVID-19 surge starting to ease in Indonesia capital, data shows
While researchers said it was unclear how the decrease in antibodies would affect the shot's effectiveness, Siti Nadia Tarmizi, a senior health ministry official, told Reuters that the reduced antibody level is still enough to provide protection, based on clinical data from Indonesia.
"Right now, the immunisation advisory board recommends a booster vaccination 12 months after the second dose," she said, adding that the government is still considering whether the booster shots should be one or two-dose schedule.
She did not say which vaccines would be used as a booster shot, but Kusnandi Rusmil, who heads the clinical trials of the Sinovac vaccine in Indonesia at Padjadjaran University, said any approved COVID-19 vaccine can be used as a booster.
READ: Commentary: Overwhelmed Indonesian hospitals with COVID-19 cases behind high doctor fatalities
He said the clinical trial is set to conclude next month and its data so far has also shown a drop in antibody levels over time, leading him to recommend to the government that medical workers should get a third booster shot.
"Lots of medical workers have died, so they need to be given further immunity," Kusnandi said.
Indonesia has started giving booster shots produced by Moderna to medical workers this month, as 1,569 healthcare workers have died of COVID-19, including nearly 400 between June and July, according to data from the independent data group Lapor COVID-19.
The World Health Organization said earlier this month that it was not clear whether boosters would be needed to maintain protection, until further data is collected.
But several countries have already begun making plans for a booster campaign, while Pfizer and its partner BioNTech prepare to ask US and European regulators to approve a booster dose.
BOOKMARK THIS: Our comprehensive coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic and its developments
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2021-07-27 13:24:29Z
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Malaysian police probing case of helicopter flying to Ipoh to collect nasi kandar, say travel permit was for maintenance - CNA
IPOH: Malaysian police were investigating an incident where a helicopter landed in an open field in Ipoh, Perak, last Friday (Jul 23), reportedly to collect packets of the popular rice dish nasi kandar for a customer in Kuala Lumpur.
Perak police chief Mior Faridalathrash Wahid said police had recorded the statements of the police station chief who gave the green light as well as the complainant, the food premises owner, and the helicopter company owner.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, Mr Mior Faridalathrash said that the helicopter was only given permission to travel interstate for maintenance.
The permit was not to pick up nasi ganja order, the statement read.
“Police are still investigating and the findings would be referred to deputy public prosecutor for further instructions soon,” Mr Mior Faridalathrash said, according to Bernama.
READ: Malaysia expects most states to enter final phase of COVID-19 recovery plan as early as October, says PM Muhyiddin
The issue surfaced following a viral clip that shows the helicopter landing at Padang Ipoh, believed to collect 36 packets of the rice dish, also known as nasi ganja (cannabis), from a popular eatery in Ipoh for a customer in Kuala Lumpur.
The famous rice dish was nicknamed such for its addictive taste. The mixed rice dish, which usually included chicken, meat, fish or other seafood and salted eggs, is mostly served by Indian Muslim restaurants in the northern states of Peninsular Malaysia.
Members of the public unhappy over the issue questioned whether the flight was authorised by the relevant agencies at a time when movement restrictions were in place.
The Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM) in a statement on Saturday said the helicopter operated by Systematic Aviation Services left Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport, Subang, for Ipoh around 9am before returning to Subang at 11am.
The case was being investigated under the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Regulations.
LEAVE IT TO POLICE TO INVESTIGATE: HELICOPTER OWNER
Meanwhile, Free Malaysia Today reported that the owner of the helicopter said he would leave it to the police to investigate the legality of the flight, and that “all papers were in order”.
“I have nothing much to say except that it was a quick pick-up. I have appointed my lawyers to handle the matter and we will give our full cooperation.” Mr Mohamed Raffe Chekku was quoted as saying on Monday.
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2021-07-27 11:26:42Z
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