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CAMBRIDGE: A new COVID-19 variant has recently been detected in several countries including the United Kingdom, United States, India, Australia and Germany.
Called BA.2.75, it’s a subvariant of Omicron. You might have also heard it called “Centaurus”, the name of a constellation and given to BA.2.75 by a Twitter user.
The World Health Organization has classified BA.2.75 as a variant of interest, rather than a variant of concern. This means it’s being monitored but there’s not yet evidence it will cause problems.
The numbers of BA.2.75 infections are still relatively low. Most infections in the UK remain driven by the Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5. BA.5 in particular is similarly dominant in other countries where BA.2.75 has been detected.
However, BA.2.75 is becoming more common in India (where it was first detected, back in May), suggesting it has advantages relative to current circulating variants. Some have noted that BA.2.75 is spreading in regions of India where it doesn’t have to compete with BA.5, but rather with the variant it evolved from, BA.2.
That said, some data from India indicates that BA.2.75 may have already peaked. And importantly, there hasn’t been a big increase in hospitalisations or deaths in India from BA.2.75. Given this, BA.2.75 has quickly gained an additional nickname: a “scariant”.
As most of the global population has now either been vaccinated, infected, or both, variants which can infect people despite their immunity will have an advantage. So SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) is constantly evolving to gain this advantage.
New variants which have mutations that evade our immunity will replicate and spread, leading to waves of infections. We’ve seen this most recently with BA.4 and BA.5.
The memory immune system recognises infections based on molecular structures of viruses and other pathogens. Mutations change the molecular structure of each SARS-CoV-2 variant slightly, making it more difficult for our immune system to recognise and respond to the virus. This is often called immune evasion.
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COLOMBO, July 24 (Reuters) - A rights group documenting alleged abuses in Sri Lanka has filed a criminal complaint with Singapore's attorney general, seeking the arrest of former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa for his role in the South Asian nation's decades-long civil war.
The International Truth and Justice Project (ITJP) said Rajapaksa committed grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions during the civil war in 2009 when he was country's defence chief, according to a copy of the complaint seen by Reuters.
The South Africa-based ITJP argued that based on universal jurisdiction the alleged abuses were subject to prosecution in Singapore, where he fled after months of unrest over his country's economic crisis.
Rajapaksa submitted his resignation in Singapore, a day after fleeing on July 13. Anti-government protesters had stormed the offices and official residences of the president and the prime minister. read more
“The criminal complaint that has been filed is (based on) verifiable information on both the crimes that have been committed, but also on evidence really linking the individual in question, who is now in Singapore,” Alexandra Lily Kather, one of the lawyers that drafted the complaint, told Reuters by telephone from Berlin.
“Singapore really has a unique opportunity with this complaint, with its own law and with its own policy, to speak truth to power.”
Rajapaksa could not be reached for comment through Sri Lanka's High Commission in Singapore. He has previously strenuously denied allegations he was responsible for rights abuses during the war.
In response to questions from Reuters, a spokesperson for the Attorney-General's Chambers said it had received a letter from the ITJP on July 23.
"We are not able to comment further on this matter," the spokesperson said.
The country's foreign ministry has said Rajapaksa entered the Southeast Asian city-state on a private visit and had not sought or been granted asylum.
Shubhankar Dam, a professor at the University of Portsmouth School of Law in Britain, who has taught in Singapore, said while its courts were able to try alleged war crimes, genocide, and torture, it has repeatedly stated that such jurisdiction should only be invoked as a last resort.
"While neutrality is not officially enshrined in Singapore's foreign policy, it has long cultivated a form of even-handedness," Dam said.
"Any decision to prosecute a former foreign head of state has to be balanced against its foreign policy objectives."
Sri Lanka ended a 25-year civil war between separatist insurgents from the ethnic Tamil minority and government forces in 2009. Rights groups accused both sides of abuses during the war.
The ITJP assisted in two civil lawsuits against Rajapaksa, proceedings for one of which were served in a California parking lot in 2019. Rajapaksa was a U.S. citizen at the time.
Both cases were withdrawn after Rajapaksa was granted diplomatic immunity upon becoming president later that year.
Reporting by Alasdair Pal and Devjyot Ghoshal in Colombo; Additional reporting by Lin Chen in Singapore; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
PHNOM PENH: A Nigerian man who went on the run after becoming Thailand's first monkeypox case was found in Phnom Penh on Saturday (Jul 23) and taken to hospital, the Cambodian Health Ministry said.
It comes the same day the World Health Organization officials in Geneva declared the monkeypox outbreak as a global health emergency on Saturday.
The 27-year-old tourist - who had overstayed his visa in Thailand - was diagnosed with monkeypox in the resort city of Phuket on Monday, a Thai health official said.
During his stay in Phuket, the man had visited two entertainment venues, and 142 people are now being screened for the virus, a health official said, adding that the man also had unprotected sex with a woman.
After learning of his diagnosis, he fled his Phuket accommodation, turned off his phone and failed to respond to police or health workers' messages.
His getaway sparked a manhunt across Thailand and authorities said Saturday his phone signal was detected in a northeastern province bordering Cambodia.
After searching several locations Saturday, Cambodian police found the runaway at a Phnom Penh guest house and he has since been sent to the Khmer-Soviet Friendship Hospital for medical treatment.
"In order to prevent the infection of monkeypox virus, the Ministry of Health appeals to all people who have direct contact with the Nigerian patient to isolate themselves and seek health checks," the Cambodian ministry said in a statement.
Cases of the viral disease monkeypox in the United States have been identified for the first time in children - a toddler in California and an infant who is not a US resident, health authorities said on Friday (Jul 22).
The two cases are unrelated and are likely the result of household transmission, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in a statement. The agency said the children are in good health and are being treated.
Monkeypox, which causes flu-like symptoms and skin lesions, has been spreading largely in men who have sex with men in the recent outbreak, outside the west and central Africa countries where it is endemic. The disease spreads chiefly through close contact.
So far this year, there have been more than 14,000 cases of monkeypox in more than 60 countries, and five deaths in Africa.
Speaking on a conference call, Dr Jennifer McQuiston, deputy director of the CDC's division of high consequence pathogens and pathology, said it is not a surprise that pediatric cases of monkeypox have emerged, but "there is no evidence to date that we are seeing this virus spread outside of" the communities of gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men.
She said 99 per cent of the 2,891 monkeypox cases confirmed in the United States involve men who have sex with men, but there have been a handful of women and transgender men who have become infected.
White House COVID-19 response coordinator Dr Ashish Jha, speaking on the same call, said the government has delivered 300,000 doses of a monkeypox vaccine and is working to expedite the shipment from Denmark of 786,000 more doses.
He said there is already enough vaccine on hand to provide a first vaccine dose to more than half of the eligible population in New York City and over 70 per cent of the eligible population in Washington DC.
The fatality rate in previous outbreaks in Africa of the current strain has been around 1 per cent, but so far this outbreak seems to be less lethal in the non-endemic countries. However, a number of patients have reported being hospitalised for severe pain.
Jha said the US is still evaluating whether the monkeypox outbreak should be declared a public health emergency.
"We're looking at that, looking at what are the ways in which the response could be enhanced, if any, by declaring a public health emergency."
Travellers typically fret over whether to pay for extra luggage to cart home that additional holiday shopping.
But one man who travelled to the United Kingdom from Burkina Faso in February 2013 had a monumental 94kg with him.
And that was just in dried caterpillars.
UK Border Force officers detected tens of thousands of the shrink-wrapped bugs in the man’s luggage at London’s Gatwick Airport after he arrived from West Africa by way of Istanbul.
The 22-year-old claimed that they were for personal consumption as food.
He escaped with a warning, and the caterpillars were seized and sent off to be destroyed.
“This was an unusual seizure, but the vigilance of our officers has stopped these dried insects from entering the UK, and possibly posing a risk to our food chain,” an official said at the time.
“I would warn travellers not to attempt to bring any products of animal origin into the UK without a permit, as they may not have been inspected to appropriate standards and may contain diseases.”
A magnet or a keychain would usually suffice for most travellers when it comes to souvenirs, but that simply wasn’t enough for one German couple to remember their holiday in Peru back in 2012.
According to AFP, the pair were caught at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport with 200 live tarantulas along with grasshoppers, crickets and millipedes.
The creepy-crawlies were transported in plastic containers and tubes hidden amongst the couples’ clothes and shoes.
A criminal case was opened against the couple, while their unconventional keepsakes were handed over to animal welfare authorities.
SINGAPORE - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has cut its economic growth forecast for Singapore, in line with its recent warning that it will downgrade its estimates for the global economy later this month.
The IMF said Singapore’s economy will grow at 3.7 per cent this year, in a country report issued on Friday (July 22) after consultations with officials here.
The latest estimate is less than the forecast of 4 per cent growth the fund had made in May.
The IMF said the pace of growth will be slower this year compared with the 7.6 per cent surge in 2021 as trade-related sectors may moderate amid supply constraints, while recovery in the hardest hit sectors - tourism and aviation-related, consumer-facing and construction - has only just begun.
The IMF, however, kept its forecast 4.8 per cent for Singapore’s headline inflation - which covers all goods and services.
The Government’s own outlook is for growth to come in at the lower half of its 3 per cent to 5 per cent forecast range. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), meanwhile, just raised its headline inflation forecast for 2022 to 5 per cent to 6 per cent.
The IMF said growth in Singapore is being driven by pent-up demand as the economy reopens, amid the relaxation of most Covid-19 curbs on mobility.
"Singapore's skilful containment measures, effective vaccination campaign and decisive policy support helped the economy to recover impressively," the report said.
However, the fund warned: "The outlook is subject to significant uncertainty and risks are titled to the downside."
Inflation has been driven up by rising domestic cost pressures, as well as external factors such as the war in Ukraine, which has pushed up commodity prices and tightened supply conditions.
The IMF said the risks stem mostly from the Ukraine conflict and the related sanctions imposed on Russia, China's growth slowdown, and interest rate hikes in advanced economies to tame inflation.
It also said that the threat of vaccine-resistant new Covid-19 variants continues to linger.
With the recovery in domestic demand, the IMF said Singapore's current account surplus is expected to decline to 13.2 per cent of gross domestic product in 2022 from 18.1 per cent in 2021.
Current account is the broadest measure of the health of a country's external sector and its ability to meet its foreign payment obligations.
