Thai king's daughter receiving heart, lung, kidney 'support' - CNA

BANGKOK: The Thai king's eldest daughter remained in hospital on Monday (Dec 19) receiving support for her heart, lungs and kidney, according to a palace statement after she collapsed last week.

Princess Bajrakitiyabha Mahidol initially fell ill Wednesday evening during a military dog training session at Nakhon Ratchasima, north of the capital Bangkok.

Known in Thailand as "Princess Bha", the 44-year-old is the eldest daughter of King Maha Vajiralongkorn and the only child from his first marriage.

The kingdom's succession rules favour male heirs; however, the palace has not formally announced an heir apparent.

Following the princess' collapse, she was flown to Bangkok where she continues to receive intensive medical care under close observation.

In a statement issued Monday morning, the palace said her condition was "stable at one level" without elaborating.

"Her royal highness' heartbeat is controlled by medicine," the statement said, adding that the systole - part of the process by which the heart beats - "does not go well".

"The medical team has offered her royal highness medicine and equipment to support the work of her royal highness's heart, lung and kidney," the statement added.

The princess holds an important ceremonial role in Thai society - where the royal family sits at the apex, protected from criticism by harsh defamation laws which carry prison sentences of up to 15 years per charge.

Around the capital and across the kingdom, books of well-wishing for her recovery were laid out for Thais.

On Saturday the palace announced that King Vajiralongkorn and his wife Queen Suthida had tested positive for COVID-19, with both reporting mild symptoms.

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2022-12-19 04:08:00Z
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China officially reports first COVID-19 deaths in weeks as doubts gather over official count - CNA

The NHC reported 1,995 symptomatic infections for Dec 18, compared with 2,097 a day earlier.

But infection rates have also become an unreliable guide as far less mandatory PCR testing is being conducted following the recent easing. The NHC stopped reporting asymptomatic cases last week citing the testing drop.

China's stocks fell and the yuan eased against the dollar on Monday, as investors grew concerned that surging COVID-19 cases would further weigh on the world's second-largest economy despite pledges of government support.

The virus was also sweeping through trading floors in Beijing and spreading fast in the financial hub of Shanghai, with illness and absence thinning already light trade and forcing regulators to cancel a weekly meeting vetting public share sales.

Japanese chipmaker Renesas Electronics Corp said on Monday it had suspended work at its Beijing plant due to COVID-19 infections.

SPREADING FAST

China's chief epidemiologist Wu Zunyou on Saturday said the country was in the throes of the first of three COVID-19 waves expected this winter, which was more in line with what people said they are experiencing on the ground.

"I'd say 60 to 70 per cent of my colleagues ... are infected right now," Liu, a 37-year-old university canteen worker in Beijing, told Reuters, requesting to be identified by his surname.

While top officials have been downplaying the threat posed by the new Omicron strain of the virus in recent weeks, authorities remain concerned about the elderly, who have been reluctant to get vaccinated.

Officially, China's vaccination rate is above 90 per cent, but the rate for adults who have received booster doses of the vaccine drops to 57.9 per cent, and to 42.3 per cent for people aged 80 and above, according to government data.

In the Shijingshan district of Beijing, medical workers have been going door-to-door offering to vaccinate elderly residents in their homes, China's Xinhua news agency reported on Sunday.

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2022-12-19 07:46:18Z
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China nursing homes struggle to keep residents safe from COVID-19 wave - CNA

BEIJING: China's nursing homes are fighting an uphill battle to keep their elderly residents safe as a wave of COVID-19 infections sweeps the country following a relaxation of the government's zero-tolerance virus policy.

Facilities are locking themselves out from the outside world with staff sleeping on site, while struggling to get their hands on medication.

China reported 2,097 new symptomatic COVID-19 infections a day earlier, the National Health Commission said on Sunday (Dec 18).

However, official figures have become an unreliable guide as less testing is being done across the country, while asymptomatic cases are also no longer being reported.

Authorities have warned of rapidly growing caseloads, and industry ministry official Zhou Jian said on Wednesday that the country was "making all-out efforts to ramp up the production of key medicines".

Experts fear the country is ill-equipped to manage the "exit wave" of infections as it presses ahead with reopening, with millions of vulnerable elderly people still not fully vaccinated.

And eldercare facilities have now been left to fend for themselves as society reopens, the manager of one privately run Beijing home said.

"We are fully sealed off," the manager, who asked to remain anonymous, told AFP.

Only food and supplies are allowed in, and no one is allowed to enter or leave.

He said the home had ordered medical supplies "at a high price", but they had not arrived yet after a week, with the city's logistics network battered by infections among delivery workers.

He also warned it would be impossible to keep the virus out forever. "Couriers and delivery personnel are almost all COVID positive," he said.

"Even if you disinfect or throw away all the outer packaging, plus the plastic packaging, you can't spray disinfectant on all the food that comes in." 

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2022-12-18 08:45:00Z
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Malaysia landslide: Campsite operator offers 'deepest condolences' to the families of victims - CNA

KUALA LUMPUR: The operator of Father's Organic Farm has expressed its condolences to the families of the victims of Friday's (Dec 16) landslide.

At least 24 people died, including seven children, after a landslide tore through its campsite, while campers slept in tents at Batang Kali, a popular hilly area near Genting Highlands and about 50km north of the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur.

Of the 94 people caught in the landslide, 61 have been rescued but nine are still missing, the Selangor state fire and rescue department has said. 

Writing in both English and Chinese, the operator of Father's Organic Farm said in a Facebook post on Sunday: "Disasters are faceless, love is with us! Our hearts are closely connected with you, may the deceased rest in peace.

"(Our) heartfelt and deepest condolences to the families, (and we pray) for the recovery of survivors and those who were injured."

The operator also thanked emergency workers, with search and rescue operations now into the third day. 

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2022-12-18 07:52:00Z
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'Urged us to save her child first': Malaysia landslide first responder's account of search and rescue efforts - CNA

"As we began to deploy for the search and rescue operation, I saw a few victims coming out of the landslide area on their own, heading towards safety. Several of them used their flashlights to signal for help,” Firdaus said.

He described people wading through ankle-deep mud, slippery conditions making it hard for rescuers to assist victims, and the underlying fear that another landslide could occur in an instant.

"There was a very sad situation when a male victim told us that his wife and child were trapped in their car that was buried by the landslide," Firdaus recounted.

"He shouted to his wife to continue to press the car horn so that we could locate her easier. We made our way in the dark through piles of earth, strewn with half-buried cars and other debris, guided by the sounds of the horn.

"Before long, we managed to find the car in question, and sure enough, his wife and child were there. The wife, even in her weak condition, urged us to save her child first," said Firdaus.

"When we managed to get to the child, I immediately held him in my arms. But it was at that moment that I realised the child had already died. It was clear he was pale, cold and did not have a pulse."

Firdaus said his long years of experience as a first responder kicked in and he and his team remained calm as they extricated the child and the mother from the car.

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2022-12-18 01:49:00Z
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China's cities battle first wave of COVID-19 surge as wider spread looms - CNA

"1 PEAK, 3 WAVES, 3 MONTHS"

In Shanghai, authorities said schools should move most classes online from Monday, and in nearby Hangzhou most school grades were encouraged to finish the winter semester early.

In Guangzhou, those already doing online class as well as pre-schoolers should not prepare for a return to school, said the education bureau.

Speaking at a conference in Beijing on Saturday, chief epidemiologist Wu of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention said the current outbreak would peak this winter and run in three waves for about three months, according to a state media report of his speech.

The first wave would run from mid-December through mid-January, largely in cities, before a second wave would start from late January to mid-February next year, triggered by the movement of people ahead of the week-long New Year holiday.

China will celebrate Lunar New Year starting on Jan 21. The holiday normally sees hundreds of millions of people travelling home to spend time with family.

A third wave of cases would run from late February to mid-March as people returned to work after the holiday, Wu said.

A US-based research institute said this week that the country could see an explosion of cases and over a million people in China could die of COVID-19 in 2023.

Wu said severe cases in China had declined over the last years, and that vaccination that has already taken place offered a certain degree of protection. He said those in the community that are vulnerable should be protected, while recommending booster vaccines for the general public.

Almost 87 per cent of over 60s have been fully vaccinated, but only 66.4 per cent of people over the age of 80 have completed a full course of vaccination, said official news agency Xinhua.

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2022-12-18 06:22:21Z
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Landslide near Genting: 24 killed so far; some Malaysian states suspend camping - The Straits Times

KUALA LUMPUR – The search for campers still trapped after Friday’s landslide near Genting Highlands, which has killed 24 so far, was set to continue on Sunday.

Three more bodies – a woman, a girl and a boy – were found on the second day of the search, according to the fire department, leaving at least nine more missing.

“We are already on our second day and, if they are trapped underneath, they might not have oxygen,” Selangor Fire and Rescue Department director Norazam Khamis said on Saturday afternoon.

He added that some of the victims were found trapped between 1.5m and 3m underground, “dragged by the soil movement, and their hands and legs dismembered”.

Datuk Norazam also bemoaned the muddy conditions. The search and rescue operation at Father’s Organic Farm was halted around midnight due to bad weather, with 61 rescued from the Batang Kali site, which the authorities said was not licensed for camping.

“We will call the operator and take follow-up action,” Hulu Selangor district police chief Suffian Abdullah said on Saturday.

“Operations will continue as planned until 4am on Sunday. The search will then resume at 9am,” he told reporters at the landslide site on Saturday.

The Hulu Selangor Municipal Council has also issued 25 temporary closure notices to campsites in the area, some of which have yet to be legalised.

Among the nine missing were an eight-man group from Alor Gajah, Melaka, according to state assemblyman Ngwe Hee Sem.

Those found alive include three Singaporeans, Malaysia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Saturday morning.

“The Malaysian government is working swiftly to ensure all affected in the tragedy be given immediate assistance,” the statement added.

Singapore permanent resident Tee Yeow Keng, 37, his 37-year-old Singaporean wife and two children – a son aged seven and a three-year-old daughter – were found unhurt after the deadly landslide missed hitting their tent on the camping ground.

Mr Tee told The Straits Times that the family would now head back to Kuala Lumpur before returning to Singapore a week later. It is not known if any other Singaporeans had been caught in the landslide. 

Search and rescue operations resumed around 7.30am on Saturday with the assistance of excavators and seven canines. 

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2022-12-17 15:55:32Z
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