With parties championing Malaysia’s Malay Muslim majority back in power following February’s FILE – Supporters of People’s Justice Party gather outside the National Palace to give support to Anwar Ibrahim in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2020.“I am a brother to the Malays, the Chinese, the Indians, the Sikhs, the Ibans, the Kauaians, the Dusun, the Murut,” Muhyiddin, a Malay Muslim, said in his first public address after taking power. “I am your prime minister.”Many have their doubts.”The core of this government coalition is really the three most popular ethnic Malay conservative parties. That means that these politicians are likely to push for a revival of the kind of racial policies that we have seen prior to the 2018 election,” said Harrison Cheng, an associate director with consulting firm Control Risks who follows Malaysia.Malaysia’s ethnic Malays and Bumiputra draw on a raft of affirmative action benefits that help placate a deep-seated complex about losing out to the country’s generally better-off ethnic Chinese. With the main Malay and Muslim parties at his back, Cheng said, Muhyiddin will likely push those benefits forward by increasing the majority’s promised quotas for jobs and public contracts, even at the risk of scaring off some foreign investment.Parliament is not due to reconvene until May 18, after Muhyiddin postponed the original March 9 start date to give himself time to shore up support in case of a no-confidence vote.Ahmad Martadha Mohamed, a professor of government at Utara Malaysia University, said the new government has begun beefing up subsidies for Malays and Bumiputra already. Because they make up a disproportionate share of the lowest-income earners, he said they will also benefit most from the economic stimulus plans sure to follow the coronavirus outbreak.”After all, UMNO, PAS and Bersatu, these are the Malay groups, they get the support from the Malays, so of course what they are doing now is to make sure that they are targeting this group first,” Martadha Mohamed said.The return of UMNO and PAS to power also comes with a fear of more race-baiting politics.”There is nothing in UMNO and PAS’ track record in opposition in the past 18 months [to suggest] that they would shy away from using inflammatory rhetoric to stir up public anger against the Chinese and the Indians,” said Cheng.FILE – A supporter of People’s Justice Party wearing a national flag face mask as he gathers with others outside the National Palace in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2020.”That is their modus operandi, and I don’t think they’re going to move away from that, because they have seen how it has helped them to secure several by-election victories in the past 18 months as well as propel them into federal office now.”How high Malaysia’s racial and religious tensions run will turn heavily on how hard PAS pushes its Islamist agenda, including the federal application of Islamic law. The party has imposed a degree of it in the few states it runs but had efforts to take it nationwide rebuffed by UMNO during its first stint in power.The new government has sought to allay fears of an Islamist push and conspicuously passed PAS over for the religious affairs portfolio.Cheng and Martadha Mohamed said the new government could not afford to rile other groups and parties too much before its strength in parliament is tested and proven but added that PAS may be given more rope if and when it is.”I’m sure sooner or later it will come time when, you know, they will try to push for their own agenda … now [that] they are also part of the government, because that’s been the objective of the party,” Martadha Mohamed said.Before its demise, Pakatan had lined up several reform-minded bills to make the government more open and accountable. They included a bill that would set up an independent committee to hear complaints against the police and another to make the funding of political parties more transparent. In an article for Forces of Renewal Southeast Asia, an advocacy group Tricia Yeoh of the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs, a Malaysian research group, said those bills “will likely be shelved.”Thomas Fann, chairman of the Malaysian democratic rights group Bersih, said the country was in for the return of a more repressive brand of government as well.FILE – I this Feb. 22, 2020, photo, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, center right, speaks during a press conference in Putrajaya, Malaysia.In the days that followed Pakatan’s collapse and Muhyiddin’s rise by royal decree, protesters took to the streets of Kuala Lumpur, the capital, complaining of a “backdoor” government and calling for new elections. Police ordered them to stop.Some were called in for questioning and investigated for sedition.”They were very quick to call people in for questioning, and even people who showed up to show solidarity were also called in for questioning. So that was, I think, a sign that the police are taking their cue from the new government that they should crack down more on any sort of dissent,” said Fann.”We do expect that this government … will be less tolerant of civil rights.”
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Month: April 2020
ICRC Steps Up to Curb Spread of COVID-19 and Save Lives in Somalia
The International Committee of the Red Cross is calling for immediate action to curb the spread of COVID-19 and save lives in Somalia, saying the country is at a critical juncture.In a statement issued in Nairobi, Kenya, ICRC expressed deep concern for “the impact that the virus could have on communities weakened by violence and conflict, where displacement, malnutrition, and outbreaks of disease are already widespread.”About 500 health workers and SRCS volunteers have been trained in COVID-19 prevention and symptoms, the statement said.Head of ICRC’s delegation for Somalia, Juerg Eglin said “Speed is critical, and we are working with our colleagues at the Somali Red Crescent to fight COVID-19 from fully taking hold.”SRCS and ICRC are stepping up efforts to reach 130,000 households, organizing information sessions and providing guidelines on how to prevent the COVID-19. They emphasize that use of soap and chlorine is crucial under the present circumstances.In addition, the ICRC is distributing gloves, bleach, and other equipment to hospitals and clinics across the country. It has also provided six-months’ worth of soap for all inmates and staff to detention centers in Mogadishu and Kismayo.“We must do everything we can to prevent the virus from entering a prison,” health coordinator for the ICRC in Somalia, Ana Maria Guzman, said. “Physical distancing is nearly impossible, and an outbreak of COVID-19 in a jail would be devastating for both inmates and staff.”Compounded with violence and poverty, the situation in Somalia is particularly critical.“Violence continues. Climate shocks continue. We will have to respond to the needs of the most vulnerable in Somalia, with the additional threat that COVID-19 brings,” Eglin said.“If we have a surge in cases, the health system will not be able to cope,” Guzman said.
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Passengers from virus-stricken cruise ships begin to depart
The long journeys of two cruise ships that experienced COVID-19 outbreaks are finally coming to an end in Florida.The Zaandam and Rotterdam were docked in Port Everglades on Thursday when at least 13 passengers and one crew member were transported to local hospitals to be treated for the coronavirus.Other virus-stricken passengers and crew remained on board.Florida Governor Ron DeSantis did not want the ships to dock in Florida, at first thinking the sick people on the ship would further tax the southern U.S. state’s virus outbreak capabilities, but he eventually had a change of heart.On Friday, the healthy and recovered passengers started leaving the ship to go home. They were transported from the ship onto buses headed for the airport where they caught chartered flights home. More passengers are scheduled to leave the ships Saturday.On Friday, some Floridians showed up at the dock.“The people who came out to welcome the ships brought tears to the eyes of some of the ship,” one departing passenger said.
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Wuhan Survivors, Caught Between Grief and Surveillance, Want Accountability
Editor’s note: All names in this report are pseudonyms chosen by the interviewees who are concerned for their safety.The Qingming Festival, or Tomb-Sweeping Day, is here and Zhang Jun has not yet collected his father’s cremated ashes from the Wuchang Funeral Parlor.There is a Chinese saying, “Burial brings peace to the deceased” and the thought of his 76-year-old father in that cold funeral home, still wandering like a lonely ghost, made tears roll down his face.Zhang’s father died Feb. 1 from COVID-19. After the death, Zhang had trouble sleeping. In the middle of the night, he thought he heard someone calling: “Son, why don’t you come and pick up your dad? You don’t want him anymore?”Every single day, Zhang wants to bring his father’s ashes home. He has a lot to say to him.In early March, he called the funeral home, one of the eight in Wuhan where the virus emerged late last year. He was told that he had to wait for a notice from the city’s Epidemic Prevention and Control Command Center. He called again in mid-March. The response was the same–wait for the government’s notice.Finally, at the end of March, Zhang was told he could collect the ashes.But he didn’t want to go.Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
People wearing face masks line up outside a Hankou Bank branch in Wuhan, Hubei province, China, March 31, 2020.A Chinese reporter who managed to get into the Hankou Funeral House described the scene to VOA. Security was very tight, with more staff, police, security guards, community social workers and volunteers than family members, the reporter said. Inside the funeral home, he recognized several plainclothes police officers and saw them approaching mourners who attempted to take photos of the scene with their cellphones or tried to strike up a conversation with others.In much the same way it is attempting to quash questions about its response to the epidemic by People wearing protective suits are seen in Biandanshan cemetery in Wuhan, Hubei province, the epicenter of China’s coronavirus disease outbreak, April 1, 2020.Two months after her mother’s death, 40-year-old World Peace wails like a child from time to time. She says she is crying for her mother, and for Wuhan. “China has the best people and the worst government.”She joined a WeChat group formed by people who had also lost loved ones in the epidemic. Zhang was among them.While many people are saddened by their loss, they are angry too, Zhang told VOA they want the government to offer explanations.“My father’s death was not a normal death. He died of a man-made disaster,” Zhang said. “We demand that the names of those who deceived us, who covered it up, those so-called officials and experts to be published. Otherwise, we are not able to explain it to our dead relatives.”WeChat groupThe authorities viewed the WeChat group as a thorn in the eye. Many group members told VOA they have received threatening phone calls from the police. On the last day of March, two police officers knocked on the door of the man who established the group. They took away his cellphone and forcibly disbanded the group.For the past week or so, cherry blossoms have been casting white-pink clouds throughout the city. The Wuhan University campus, a favored viewing site, is empty.Chinese media have reported Beijing’s plan to remember the COVID-19 dead on Tomb-Sweeping Day. People have been requested to be silent for three minutes starting at 10 a.m. as horns and alarms sound throughout the county. “It’s a show they put on for the world to watch. If we as family members of the dead are not allowed to participate, what kind of mourning is that?”Zhang wants to leave Wuhan and head south. The city broke his heart, he said. One day he will return—on the day he can collect his father’s ashes and bury him without being watched by strangers.Zhang said this was his plan as a son trying to defend the final dignity of his father.
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Italian Oncologist Treats Coronavirus Patients at Their Homes
An Italian oncologist and his team are treating coronavirus patients at their homes, as intensive-care units at hospitals have reached capacity.The director of the oncology ward at Piacenza Hospital in the Emilia-Romagna region on the border with Italy’s hardest-hit Lombardy region, Luigi Cavanna, and head nurse Gabriele Cremona rushed to help patients fight the new COVID-19 during the early phase of the epidemic.Cavanna has been prescribing antiviral drugs and Hydroxychloroquine to patients with the new coronavirus symptoms.”This disease can be stopped, and its spread can be stopped, because if we give (patients) an anti-viral drug, which prevents the virus from replicating, not only we can prevent the person from becoming ill, but we can probably also prevent the disease from spreading,” Cavanna said.Cavana and his team have treated more than 100 patients at home and less than 10 percent of them had to be admitted to the hospital. The other 90 percent responded successfully to home treatment and have been recovering.“Just seeing us walking in, some of them, even in their suffering were almost moved, because they thought, ‘Someone is coming to see us’. Under our monster-like appearance (referring to protective gear) they could see human features, and the impact is moving. More than one person told us: ‘It will end the way it will end, but you’ve come and for me that’s already great.’ For a doctor, this means the world,” Cavanna said.The health authority in Emilia Romagna and its regional administration have supported what has become known as the “Piacenza model,” and other teams there are practicing it.Other Italian regions have shown interest in the strategy, which could be especially successful in areas less affected by the coronavirus epidemic.
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South African-Created Mobile Health Alert Puts Coronavirus Information in the Hands of Millions
A WhatsApp bot developed by a South African organization is helping millions of people around the world get the latest information about the coronavirus.At the time the virus broke out, Praekelt.org had already created digital tools to help people in the developing world improve their health and well-being. One of their most successful was called MomConnect, a mobile phone service giving expectant mothers vital information about pregnancy milestones and linking them to services.Gustav Praekelt, the founder of Praekelt.org, saw a similar need for information relating to coronavirus. The South African government had set up hotlines, but they were unable to handle the massive volume of calls and misinformation was spreading quickly.“We were worried that our users wouldn’t have access to a trusted source of information,” Praekelt told VOA. “So people hear rumors and they hear stories, and people get panicky and worried about what they should do, to keep themselves healthy, especially as all the lockdowns started happening.”Praekelt created COVID-19 Health Alert, offering a WhatsApp-based helpline, realtime data and automated responses to common questions in numerous languages. Within the first 10 days, the bot had 3.5 million users and Praekelt partnered with the World Health Organization to create a similar bot to reach a global audience.One of the primary goals is to counter false information about the pandemic.“We’re now launching in many, many, many languages, and on that bot, you can find out information but we also publish falses and myths. Because sometimes what happens is you need to actively counteract the falsehoods,” Praekelt said. “You can’t just provide the positive information, you also have to say, ‘There is information out there that is incorrect. And they are always incorrect on how to deal with this pandemic. And we are actively working towards countering those falsehoods.”’WhatsApp, which is owned by Facebook, is extremely popular in the developing world, where it has largely replaced Facebook and even email as the primary form of digital communication and networking. It has more than 2 billion users worldwide.WhatsApp leaders say they want it to play a positive role on the African continent and beyond as a source for reliable information.Nmachi Jidenma, strategy and business development lead at WhatsApp Inc.“We think the most important step WhatsApp can take during this crisis is to help connect people directly with public health officials providing crucial updates about coronavirus,” said Nmachi Jidenma, head of strategy & business development at WhatsApp Inc. in an email to VOA.Jidenma said the company moved quickly to make WHO Health Alert go live in as many countries as possible, including India, Singapore, Israel, Indonesia, South Africa, Nigeria, Argentina, Brazil and the United Kingdom.“We have worked with the World Health Organization to set up WHO Health Alert and are partnering with national health ministries around the world,” Jidenma wrote. “Each of these health alert lines provide education on myths and rumors circulating about coronavirus.”Praekelt said the speed at which the bot has been adopted has been beyond expectations.“We’ve had an unprecedented success. More than 12 million people now have accessed the WHO line in the last 10 days since we launched. And we’ve now launched multiple other languages as well, including Arabic and Spanish and French and more languages to come. And so clearly, people are finding the information useful,” he said.Now, it’s time to see whether it’s having an impact on users’ behavior and health.“I think the next step will be to try and understand how people are interpreting that information and whether it’s actually helping them to change their behavior,” he added.
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Pizzeria Borrows to Keep Workers on Job, Spurs Donations
This is a story about bosses and their workers, in the dark days of COVID-19. It’s also a story about how one good turn deserves another and yet another.And this being New Jersey, it’s also a story about pizza.Bryan Morin and his brother Michael operate Federico’s Pizza in the Jersey Shore town of Belmar. In the summer, they deliver cheesesteak pizzas and 12-inch subs and garlic knots directly to the beach, a few blocks away. In winter, customers flock to the cozy, black-and-white-tiled restaurant on Main Street.But across the ocean, trouble brewed. Bryan Morin tossed and turned all night after watching news reports of how a virus spread rapidly in Italy, eventually bringing life to a virtual standstill and leading to massive layoffs as businesses closed down.He could not let this happen at Federico’s.Many of his employees have been with the business for a decade or more; the head cook has been there for 22 years, since the business was owned by Bryan and Michael’s father.”I’m the provider for my employees; I supply their salary, and if they don’t have a salary, they won’t be able to afford their rent, their credit card bills, their insurance, their gas,” he said.This March 24, 2020, photo shows a pizza made by Michael Morin, co-owner of Federico’s Pizza in Belmar, New Jersey.He decided to “do the right thing and take the hit, and I’ll make it up somewhere down the line.”So about two weeks ago, he secured a $50,000 line of credit from his bank. He promised his workers they’d have a job for at least the next two months, come what may. He’d reassess conditions after that, but he’d do everything possible to keep the paychecks flowing.As word of the brothers’ pledge got around, the community rallied round. Customers began helping out: an extra $10 on top of the usual 20 percent tip, a few bucks earmarked for the kitchen staff.But then, something unexpected happened — a surge of pay-it-forward donations.People — some who were ordering food, some who just wanted to help — called and asked the pizzeria to charge their credit cards for food to be sent to those on the front lines of the virus response: Doctors, nurses and other staff at a nearby hospital, police, firefighters and EMS squads.In just two days last week, Federico’s took in nearly $4,000 to make and deliver pizzas to first responders. Moments before Bryan Morin was interviewed last week, the pizzeria sent 30 free pizzas to Jersey Shore Medical Center, a vital battleground in the fight against COVID-19 in a state that has the second greatest number of cases in the nation.All because the boss cared.”This is such a scary time, and so many people are getting laid off,” said Kirsten Phillips, who works the counter. “It was so unexpected what he did, but maybe it shouldn’t have been, because he always took care of us. This is really the best job I’ve ever had.”
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Botswana Kills Five Suspected Poachers in Effort to Save Rhinos
Botswana has seen an unprecedented rise in rhinoceros poaching in the last 12 months. The government reports nearly 50 of the animals have been killed in the last 10 months, about one-tenth of the country’s rhino population. Officials say at this rate, the black rhino population, which numbers just a few dozen, could be wiped out by the end of next year. But Botswana’s security forces are taking the fight to the poachers. This week, five suspected poachers were killed in two incidents. On Monday, one poaching suspect was gunned down in a confrontation with local soldiers. Four more suspected poachers were killed two days later, in the thickets of the Okavango Delta, home to most of the country’s rhinos. Botswana President Mokgweetsi Masisi says the army will defend the country against “intruders.” (Mqondsisi Dube/VOA)President Mokgweetsi Masisi has warned his government will fight the poachers, most of whom come in from neighboring Namibia and Zambia. “There are serious problems of poaching. Poachers do not bear a spear or a knobkerrie, or a knife, like some of those who break into households,” Masisi said. “Poachers bear sophisticated arms, and poachers are sufficiently radicalized to kill. So they are dangerous. We put an army in place to defend this country, so any intruder is an enemy. And unfortunately, as with any war, there are casualties.” A Botswana soldier was killed last month during an exchange with suspected poachers in the northwestern part of the country. A conservationist, Neil Fitt, said the recent killing of suspected poachers is proof the government and the Botswana Defense Forces are on the right path. “Obviously the taking of any life is not to be condoned. One has to try not to do that,” Fitt said. “However, as I think we all know, in the last year or so, the poaching incidents in Botswana have increased dramatically. We have lost a lot of rhinos, and I am not too sure how many elephants we have lost. The fact that the BDF [army] are upping their game plan, I think, is a very good thing.”Fitt warned poachers would try to take advantage of the reduction in tourism caused by outbreak of the new coronavirus. “We must also remember this time, with the pandemic that we actually have, the tourism operations in the whole area has down scaled, which I believe the poachers will be trying to take advantage of,” Fitt said. “So there will be an upsurge of poaching activity.”Botswana’s government denies the upsurge is due to a decision to disarm an anti-poaching unit last year.
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Trump Removes Intelligence Watchdog Who Revealed Whistleblower Complaint That Led to Trump’s Impeachment
U.S. President Donald Trump has removed from office the intelligence community’s watchdog.Intelligence Community Inspector General Michael Atkinson informed Congress about the whistleblower complaint that led to Trump’s impeachment earlier this year.Trump officially notified the intelligence committees of both houses of Congress on Friday that Atkinson’s firing would go into effect in 30 days.He said in a letter that he “no longer” had “the fullest confidence” in Atkinson. Trump said he would name a replacement for Atkinson “at a later date.”The move was immediately criticized by the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.“At a time, when our country is dealing with a national emergency and needs people in the Intelligence Community to speak truth to power, the President’s dead of night decision puts our country and national security at even greater risk,” congressman Adam Schiff, a Democrat from California, said in a statement.
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China’s Coronavirus Foreign Aid Expands Influence, Shifts Blame
As Spain and Italy began reeling from rapidly rising coronavirus infections and outbreaks grew in other countries last month, China stepped in with testing kits, protective gear and other medical aid critical for fighting the disease.Several European countries, desperate for help, welcomed the aid, even though some of it turned out to be faulty.China manufactures much of the world’s medical protective gear. That equipment, as well as testing kits and the experience its doctors have had in fighting COVID-19, is desperately appreciated by countries facing their own medical crises, Robert Daly, a China analyst at the Wilson Center, said.China’s positive public diplomacy based on public goods, especially in the developing or less developed world, is probably going to accrue to China’s soft power benefit, Daly said.U.S. President Donald Trump, asked this week by VOA about the Chinese assistance, said he welcomed it.“We have 151 countries right now that are under siege by the virus,” he told reporters Wednesday. “And if China can help them, I’m all for it. I’m for all of us helping everybody.”But the outreach is also seen as a key part of Beijing’s plan to avoid blame for a pandemic whose origins in China remain unexplained, and where many continue to doubt the official health and economic figures released by the government. In recent weeks, Chinese officials have promoted a false narrative that the U.S. military brought the coronavirus to China.Beijing’s accusations, and China’s lack of transparency about the outbreak, may be starting to carry a political cost with countries now struggling with a health and economic disaster.Dan Runde, a China analyst with the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said the foreign aid cannot make up for Beijing’s baseless accusations, the outbreak’s murky origins and the government’s continuing unwillingness to explain how bad it has gotten at home.“China is an arsonist who’s now trying to turn around and put out the fire that it started. And do we really want them to get the credit for that?” Runde said.China said the outbreak began in a seafood market in Wuhan, probably when the virus jumped from an infected bat to a human. However, there has not been conclusive evidence that the virus came from the market. As the outbreak grew, China detained whistleblowers, censored media coverage and then publicly changed the criteria numerous times for who qualified as infected, hindering researchers who were trying to model how the outbreak could behave in their own countries.Chinese censorship, US inactionEven critics of the Chinese government’s response to the outbreak say that it’s difficult to blame Beijing for the lack of preparation by other countries as weeks went by while the virus made its way around the world.“China did cover up in a characteristically paranoid way,” analyst Daly said. “We know that it is spreading disinformation, propaganda, and locking up critics. All true.“However, the critique of the Trump administration implies that had China been perfectly transparent, the United States would have been perfectly strategic in its response. And we know that not to be true.”The president maintains his administration took the threat seriously, but opposition Democrats have been particularly critical, pointing to how Trump downplayed the virus’ threat for weeks and at times called it a “hoax” before reversing his position and recommending people stay at home.Critics say that shows the U.S. administration’s response also has been politically driven — publicly shaming China, calling the coronavirus the “Wuhan virus” in an attempt to shift blame away from Washington’s initially slow response.Even though the U.S. is providing millions of dollars in aid to fight the deadly coronavirus worldwide, the White House is signaling that some protective equipment should not be sent abroad in order to prioritize the fight at home that is now the biggest in the world.The Trump administration’s focus on the needs of the United States fits well within the policies that the president ran on when he won the 2016 election.“For the most part, the coronavirus has only exacerbated and accelerated a trend that had been well in place before,” Daly said.
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Poland Divided Over Having Presidential Vote During Pandemic
Poland’s parliament is preparing to vote Friday on legislation that would transform the country’s May presidential election entirely into a mail-in ballot due to the health risks of having public voting stations during the coronavirus pandemic. The proposal by the populist ruling Law and Justice party to go forward with the May 10 election is controversial. Opposition candidates say having the election during the pandemic is undemocratic and it should be postponed. They argue that opposition presidential candidates stand no chance against conservative President Andrzej Duda because they cannot campaign due to a strict ban on gatherings. Duda, meanwhile, still profits from heavy coverage on state media. Critically, even one faction in the ruling coalition is strongly opposed to holding the vote, raising speculation in Poland that Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki’s government could be toppled by the crisis. Jaroslaw Gowin, center, the head of a faction within the ruling conservative coalition, speaks to reporters about his proposal to postpone a presidential election in Poland by two years in Warsaw, Poland, April 3, 2020.Surveys show that a large majority of voters in this European Union nation of 38 million want the election to be postponed due to the pandemic. Kamil Bortniczuk, a lawmaker with the faction opposed to the voting, told the radio broadcaster RMF FM his group would try to convince ruling party lawmakers “that Poles today do not want elections in such conditions and they cannot be prepared so quickly.” “There is not enough time to gain confidence among citizens in such a way of voting, and thus in the results of the election,” Bortniczuk said. Law and Justice officials insist that the current election timeline — voting on May 10 with a runoff on May 24 if no candidate wins 50% in the first round — is dictated by the constitution and should not be changed. The leader of the ruling party, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, insisted Friday that to postpone the election “would be completely illegal.” He said “there is no reason to postpone it at the moment if it is conducted in a safe way from a health point of view.” Poland has had far fewer coronavirus infections and deaths than fellow EU countries like Italy and Spain, but the numbers have been accelerating in recent days, reaching 2,946 infections and 57 deaths on Friday. Some Polish media outlets have suggested the country’s true numbers are actually much higher due to low levels of testing. Polish media have also reported about people dying of pneumonia who most likely have COVID-19 but who do not show up in the statistics because they were not tested. The debate over the mail-in vote shares similarities with efforts in the United States by Democrats seeking widespread voting by mail in the November presidential and congressional elections. So far, the Democrats have not gotten the billions of dollars in federal funding required to move to widespread voting but say they will keep pressing the issue.
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China’s Coronavirus Aid Expands Foreign Influence and Shifts Blame
China’s foreign coronavirus aid is boosting Beijing’s image with countries in need, analysts say, but the outreach is paired with spreading false narratives that blame the U.S. for starting the pandemic and hiding the severity of the outbreak at home. VOA’s Brian Padden reports on China’s outreach at a time when the U.S. is putting some medical foreign aid on hold to focus on mitigating the outbreak in America first.
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Africa’s Conflict-Ridden Regions Face Another Existential Threat in COVID-19
In the West African country of Burkina Faso, rising insecurity has shuttered dozens of health clinics and left just three capable of carrying out coronavirus testing.
In nearby Chad, a COVID-19-triggered drop in crude prices could translate into problems paying the Sahel region’s most powerful army fighting an Islamist insurgency.
And in nations ranging from Mali to the Democratic Republic of Congo to South Sudan, years of unrest have weakened governments, deepened hunger and malnutrition, and left crowded camps of displaced people with scant access to health care and hygiene services.
If experts fear the coronavirus may deal Africa an outsized blow, the continent’s conflict-torn regions are particularly vulnerable, analysts and humanitarians say.
“They are now facing two wars,” said Laurent Bossard, director of the Sahel and West Africa Club for the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. “And these two wars will be interlinked in many ways.”
So far, the continent has reported just a few thousand coronavirus cases, and no major outbreaks yet of the kind being endured in China, Italy and the United States.
But experts fear the cases could multiply rapidly, even as the continent risks potentially shrinking peacekeeping operations and humanitarian support from donor countries fighting their own battles against COVID-19.
Calling for urgent action, the International Committee of the Red Cross warned this week that Africa’s conflict areas would bear the brunt of a potentially “devastating” impact of COVID-19 on the continent.
“We’re particularly worried about Africa, because it’s a continent marked by conflict and violence that haven’t stopped” with the coronavirus, said the ICRC’s Dakar-based spokeswoman, Halimatou Amadou.FILE – People, mostly women and children, internally displaced due to violence by Boko Haram jihadists, block a highway to protest food shortages at their camp, in Maiduguri, Nigeria, June 27, 2019. Yet another humanitarian crisis?
Spreading unrest, much of its generated by Islamist militants, has led to the closure of more than 100 health facilities this year alone in Burkina Faso, according to the ICRC, while 20 percent of those centers have been partially or completely destroyed in neighboring Mali.
To the east, decades of war in South Sudan have left just one physician for every 65,000 people, according to the World Health Organization.
In the Horn of Africa, health experts fear a coronavirus outbreak in conflict-ravaged Somalia, with 2.6 million displaced people, could be one of the world’s worst, according to humanitarian group Refugees International.
The ICRC, for one, is working with local partners in Africa’s conflict zones to spread community awareness about the disease through media spots, flyers and small focus groups. But the challenges are tremendous, Amadou said, including the many areas rendered no-go zones through insecurity.
“We’re trying to think of ‘out of the box’ solutions to reach these populations,” she added.
Some conflict areas have a few advantages. In the Sahel, for example, unrest has limited circulation and cut off affected communities from capitals that could potentially be hard-hit by the pandemic.
The DRC also emerged from a devastating Ebola outbreak last month that may have better prepared health workers to deal with this latest health crisis.
“One of the forces of Africa is it’s a continent that has unfortunately been hit by different epidemics, and where the medical structure is used to working with very little means,” said the ICRC’s Amadou. “We have medical staff who are very inventive, who find solutions adapted to the local context.”FILE – Somali soldiers secure the scene of a car bomb attack in Mogadishu, Somalia, Dec. 28, 2019.Military setbacks
Although United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for a “global cease-fire” while fighting the pandemic, few armed groups in Africa appear to be listening.
Late last month, Boko Haram militants killed almost 100 Chadian troops in an ambush on a Lake Chad island, dealing N’Djamena’s military its deadliest blow yet. Boko Haram also killed nearly 50 Nigerian forces the same day.
With 1,000 troops committed to the French-supported, five-nation G5 Sahel campaign fighting the Islamist insurgency, Chad is facing another serious threat: an economic crunch from tumbling oil prices, which is also hitting Nigeria hard.
“Will the Chadian government be able to pay its forces in the future?” asked the OECD’s Bossard.
“From a security perspective, it really is a significant liability,” said Pierre Englebert, international relations professor at Pomona College in California and senior fellow at the Atlantic Council research group. “The Chadians are pretty much the only local military that’s really capable in the region, so it would leave the French with no serious partner there.”
For their part, it’s unclear whether many rebel and insurgent groups will feel economic pain from the coronavirus. In the Sahel, for example, a number survive through activities such as smuggling, kidnapping, and facilitating migration movements, Englebert said. He doubts they will be hard hit.
In DRC, the myriad rebel groups depend on small-scale activities like artisan mining. They, too, would be marginally affected by a coronavirus-driven global recession, he added. FILE – Soldiers from the French Army set up a Temporary Operative Advanced Base during the Bourgou IV operation in the area of the three borders between Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, Nov. 9,2019.Foreign impact
France recently announced it would pull some of its forces from Iraq due to coronavirus concerns but has said nothing about withdrawing its 5,100-person counter-insurgency operation in the Sahel.
Last week, France and several other European countries announced the creation of a new special forces initiative in the Sahel, due to be fully operational next year.
But the coronavirus may prompt other international forces to scale back, even temporarily, analysts say. That includes the United States, which is already mulling troop cuts.
While the coronavirus may not directly impact Washington’s decision, “I can only imagine it could precipitate it, could accelerate the rhythm of disengagement,” analyst Englebert said.
For its part, the U.N. has also asked nine troop-contributing countries affected by the coronavirus to delay their rotations to peacekeeping missions, many of which are in Africa. In South Sudan, U.N. peacekeepers are also taking steps to limit their potential exposure to the virus, including cutting travel to the field, according to Refugees International.
The U.N.’s peacekeeping headquarters in New York did not respond to a request for comment.
Experts also fear richer nations fighting the coronavirus and its fallout at home will fail to step up with the humanitarian assistance desperately needed for Africa to confront the pandemic, especially in conflict-affected regions.
Referring to the Sahel region, Bakary Sambe, of the Dakar-based research group Timbuktu Institute, warned the European Union of the dangers of being solely fixated on the bloc’s economic survival.
“The day the sanitary barricades are lifted, we’ll be confronted by the scale of the disaster,” Sambe told the Mondafrique investigative website.
“And we’ll realize, once again, that the Sahel’s vulnerabilities also concern Europe,” he added, “if only on the question of collective security, migration, and the fight against terrorism.”
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COVID-19 Supplies From Alibaba Never Reached Eritrea
Much publicized COVID-19 supplies donated by Chinese billionaire Jack Ma and his Alibaba Group never made it to Eritrea, despite Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s saying the supplies had been delivered to the entire continent.The reasons why the goods did not reach Eritrea are unclear, but rights activists accuse the government of ignoring the needs of its people.Two officials at the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which helped organize delivery of the coronavirus masks and test kits to various African countries, confirmed to VOA that no supplies reached Eritrea.A senior Africa CDC official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the matter, said the plane carrying the supplies was supposed to fly from Sudan’s capital to Asmara on March 23, but Eritrean officials never authorized the plane to land. Forced to bypass Eritrea, the pilots instead flew to Djibouti and Kenya before returning to their starting point, Addis Ababa, he said.James Ayodele, a spokesperson for the Africa CDC, said “the issue is still being discussed at a diplomatic level.”Threat to healthWhatever the reason for Eritrea’s failure to accept the medical supplies, Meron Estefanos, executive director of the Eritrean Initiative on Refugee Rights, said the government is severely jeopardizing the health of its own citizens.“I don’t believe that it was incompetence. I believe it’s just that they don’t care. If it was just because of bureaucracy, they would have just fixed the airline and they would have had it the next day. This is a country that can do lots of things. Importing something from Ethiopia to Asmara is a one-hour flight. They could even allow them to land right now, you get the point, just for medical purposes,” Meron said.Health experts and human rights activists are gravely concerned that Eritrea is severely underequipped in the event of a severe coronavirus outbreak. The government has confirmed 18 COVID-19 cases to date. Meron said that rather than accepting goods from abroad, the government is asking its diaspora across the globe to give money to the government.”Eritrea is not ready for anything. First of all, just eight months ago they shut down 29 Catholic clinics. These were the best clinics in the country, giving free service to the public. But because of the Catholics’ call for peace [and the] release of political prisoners, they shut down the clinics. But who is getting hurt? It’s the people,” Meron said.Talks continuingAsked to comment on the matter, Billene Seyoum, a spokesperson for Ahmed, said only that talks were ongoing to resolve the issue. The Alibaba Foundation declined to comment.Daniela Kravetz, the U.N. special rapporteur on human rights in Eritrea, said she did not want to specifically address the matter of Jack Ma’s supplies as she did not have firsthand information.She did underline the dire need for medical supplies in Eritrea and the need to open the door to humanitarian aid.“I am concerned about the fact that, if this continues to escalate, the reality is that many Eritreans will not be able to seek or obtain medical help. There is a lack of functioning intensive care units with adequate ventilators, shortage of water, shortage of medical staff, shortage of labs to carry out tests. I don’t really think the country has the medical capacity to deal with a pandemic like this one,” Kravets said.She also called on Eritrea to release political prisoners and low-risk offenders because of the risk of COVID-19 spreading inside the country’s overcrowded prison system.
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Singer-Songwriter Bill Withers Dies at 81
Singer-songwriter Bill Withers has died. He wrote and sang a string of soulful songs in the 1970s that have stood the test of time, including “Lean On Me,” “Lovely Day” and “Ain’t No Sunshine.”
According to a statement released from his family to The Associated Press, the 81-year-old died in Los Angeles from heart complications. “Lean On Me,” was performed at the presidential inaugurations of both Barack Obama and Bill Clinton. Lately, people have posted videos of their versions of the song as inspiration during the coronavirus pandemic.
Withers, who wrote and sang a string of soulful songs in the 1970s that have stood the test of time, including ” Lean On Me, ” “Lovely Day” and “Ain’t No Sunshine,” has died from heart complications, his family said in a statement to The Associated Press. He was 81.The three-time Grammy Award winner, who withdrew from making music in the mid-1980s, died on Monday in Los Angeles, the statement said. His death comes as the public has drawn inspiration from his music during the coronavirus pandemic, with health care workers, choirs, artists and more posting their own renditions on “Lean on Me” to help get through the difficult times.”We are devastated by the loss of our beloved, devoted husband and father. A solitary man with a heart driven to connect to the world at large, with his poetry and music, he spoke honestly to people and connected them to each other,” the family statement read. “As private a life as he lived close to intimate family and friends, his music forever belongs to the world. In this difficult time, we pray his music offers comfort and entertainment as fans hold tight to loved ones.”Withers’ songs during his brief career have become the soundtracks of countless engagements, weddings and backyard parties. They have powerful melodies and perfect grooves melded with a smooth voice that conveys honesty and complex emotions without vocal acrobatics.”Lean On Me,” a paean to friendship, was performed at the inaugurations of both Barack Obama and Bill Clinton. “Ain’t No Sunshine” and “Lean on Me” are among Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.”He’s the last African-American Everyman,” musician and band leader Questlove told Rolling Stone in 2015. “Bill Withers is the closest thing black people have to a Bruce Springsteen.”Withers, who overcame a childhood stutter, was born the last of six children in the coal mining town of Slab Fork, West Virginia. After his parents divorced when he was 3, Withers was raised by his mother’s family in nearby Beckley.He joined the Navy at 17 and spent nine years in the service as an aircraft mechanic installing toilets. After his discharge, he moved to Los Angeles, worked at an aircraft parts factory, bought a guitar at a pawn shop and recorded demos of his tunes in hopes of landing a recording contract.In 1971, signed to Sussex Records, he put out his first album, “Just As I Am,” with the legendary Booker T. Jones at the helm. It had the hits “Grandma’s Hands” and “Ain’t No Sunshine,” which was inspired by the Jack Lemmon film “Days of Wine and Roses.” He was photographed on the cover, smiling and holding his lunch pail.”Ain’t No Sunshine” was originally released as the B-side of his debut single, “Harlem.” But radio DJs flipped the disc and the song climbed to No. 3 on the Billboard charts and spent a total of 16 weeks in the top 40.Withers went on to generate more hits a year later with the inspirational “Lean On Me,” the menacing “Who Is He (and What Is He to You)” and the slinky “Use Me” on his second album, “Still Bill.”Later would come the striking ” Lovely Day,” co-written with Skip Scarborough and featuring Withers holding the word “day” for almost 19 seconds, and “Just The Two Of Us,” co-written with Ralph MacDonald and William Salter. His “Live at Carnegie Hall” in 1973 made Rolling Stone’s 50 Greatest Live Albums of All Time.”The hardest thing in songwriting is to be simple and yet profound. And Bill seemed to understand, intrinsically and instinctively, how to do that,” Sting said in “Still Bill,” a 2010 documentary of Withers.But Withers’ career when Sussex Records went bankrupt and he was scooped up by Columbia Records. He no longer had complete control over his music and chaffed when it was suggested he do an Elvis cover. His new executives found Withers difficult.None of his Columbia albums reached the Top 40 except for 1977’s “Menagerie,” which produced “Lovely Day.” (His hit duet with Grover Washington Jr. “Just the Two of Us” was on Washington’s label). Withers’ last album was 1985’s “Watching You Watching Me.”Though his songs often dealt with relationships, Withers also wrote ones with social commentary, including “Better Off Dead” about an alcoholic’s suicide, and “I Can’t Write Left-Handed,” about an injured Vietnam War veteran.He was awarded Grammys as a songwriter for “Ain’t No Sunshine” in 1971 and for “Just The Two Of Us” in 1981. In 1987, Bill received his ninth Grammy nomination and third Grammy as a songwriter for the re-recording of the 1972 hit “Lean On Me” by Club Nouveau.He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2015 by Stevie Wonder. Withers thanked his wife as well as the R&B pioneers who helped his career like Ray Jackson, Al Bell and Booker T. Jones. He also got in a few jabs at the record industry, saying A&R stood for “antagonistic and redundant.”His music has been sampled and covered by such artists as BlackStreet’s “No Diggity,” Will Smith’s version of “Just The Two Of Us,” Black Eyed Peas’ “Bridging The Gap” and Twista’s “Sunshine.” The song “Lean on Me” was the title theme of a 1989 movie starring Morgan Freeman.His songs are often used on the big screen, including “The Hangover,” “28 Days,” “American Beauty,” “Jerry Maguire,” “Crooklyn,” “Flight,” “Beauty Shop,” “The Secret Life of Pets” and “Flight.””I’m not a virtuoso, but I was able to write songs that people could identify with. I don’t think I’ve done bad for a guy from Slab Fork, West Virginia,” Withers told Rolling Stone in 2015.He is survived by his wife, Marcia, and children, Todd and Kori.
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EU Suspends Taxes, Customs Duties on Medical Equipment
The European Commission said Friday that it was temporarily suspending taxes and duties on the import of medical equipment and protective wear from outside the European Union.In a video statement, Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen said the commission recognized the needs of hospitals and health care workers and was making the move to ease pressure on prices for crucial equipment.She gave the example of Italy, where customs duties of 12 percent and a value-added tax of 22 percent are levied on some face masks or protective garments imported from countries like China. The new cuts would lower prices by one-third.Likewise, she said, an average 20 percent VAT on ventilators would be removed.She said the tax and duty cuts would be applied retroactively to January 30 and be in place at least four months, longer if necessary.
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Russia Detains Activists Trying to Help Hospital Amid Virus
An activist doctor who had criticized Russia’s response to the coronavirus outbreak was forcibly detained as she and some of her colleagues tried to deliver protective gear to a hospital in need. Dr. Anastasia Vasilyeva of the Alliance of Doctors union was trying to take more than 500 masks, sanitizers, hazmat suits, gloves and protective glasses to a hospital in the Novgorod region about 400 kilometers (about 250 miles) northwest of Moscow on Thursday when she and the others were stopped by police on a highway.They were accused by police of violating self-isolation regulations, currently in place in many regions, including Moscow and Novgorod. The group was taken to a police station and held for hours, and the activists had to ask hospital workers to come to the station to pick up the gear. After a night in custody, Vasilyeva appeared in court on charges of defying police orders. Two long court hearings later, she was ordered to pay fines totaling the equivalent of $20.”It was not about the money for them, It was about breaking me,” Vasilyeva said afterward. “But I’m even more convinced that we’re doing the right thing, and we will definitely keep on doing it.”Stay-home orderTwo weeks ago, Russia reported only a few hundred coronavirus cases and insisted the outbreak was under control. As the virus spread and more infections were reported this week, however, residents of Moscow and other cities were ordered to stay home.On Friday, officials reported 4,149 cases in the country, four times more than a week ago. The government sought to reassure the public that Russia has everything it needs to fight the outbreak and even sent planeloads of protective gear and medical equipment to Italy, the U.S. and other countries. Still, hospitals across the country complained about shortages of equipment and supplies, and earlier this week, the union began a fundraising campaign to buy protective gear for hospitals.Vasilyeva, who has become the most vocal critic of the Kremlin’s response to the virus, accused authorities of playing down the scale of the outbreak and pressuring medics to work without sufficient protection.”We realized that we can’t just sit and watch; otherwise it is going to be too late,” she said in a tweet Monday announcing the campaign.After being released from the police station, Vasilyeva was almost immediately detained again and charged with defying police orders. Video posted on Twitter by activists shows a dozen police officers gathering around Vasilyeva and two of them dragging her into the station.Assault accusationAccording to Ivan Konovalov, spokesman of the Alliance of Doctors, Vasilyeva was physically assaulted in the process and even fainted briefly. “We thought we may run into some difficulties, but no one could even imagine anything like that,” said Konovalov, who accompanied Vasilyeva to the Novgorod region. The incident elicited outrage from other activists.”Why are they harassing this person, because she brought masks for the doctors? Bastards,” tweeted opposition politician Alexei Navalny, who supports the Alliance of Doctors and works closely with Vasilyeva. Natalia Zviagina, Russia director of Amnesty International, said in a statement that “it is staggering that the Russian authorities appear to fear criticism more than the deadly COVID-19 pandemic.””By keeping her behind bars, they expose their true motive — they are willing to punish health professionals who dare contradict the official Russian narrative and expose flaws in the public health system,” Zviagina said.Russian military planes with medical supplies sit at Batajnica military airport near Belgrade, Serbia, April 3, 2020. The Russian Defense Ministry said it has sent medical and disinfection teams to Serbia to help fight the coronavirus.With the outbreak dominating the agenda in Russia, anyone who criticizes the country’s struggling health system becomes a thorn in the Kremlin’s side, said Abbas Gallyamov, a former Kremlin speechwriter-turned-political analyst. “The pressure will continue, because right now the most important political issue is on the table: How will the voters see the authorities after the crisis —as effective and acting in people’s interests, or ineffective, out of touch with the people, and in need of being replaced?” Gallyamov said. Doctors’ unions say a shortage of protective equipment is one of the most pressing problems amid the outbreak. Konovalov said the Alliance of Doctors has gotten about 30 requests for protective gear from hospitals and medical facilities across Russia, and 100 more generic complaints about a lack of protective equipment. Ambulance workers complainAndrei Konoval, chairman of the Action medical union, echoed that sentiment.”It is a serious problem that the authorities have started to solve, but not as fast as we want them to,” Konoval said, adding that his union is getting complaints from ambulance workers, who are often the first to come in contact with potentially infected patients. Russian authorities sought to put a good face on the crisis. The Health Ministry said the outbreak has so far taken a “fortunate” course, while the Defense Ministry said it was sending another 11 planes with medical specialists and equipment to Serbia, a close ally of Moscow.In Moscow, which has the largest number of cases reported in the country, Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill was driven around the city in a van carrying an icon, praying for the epidemic to end. Media reports said the motorcade caused traffic jams as it traveled around the capital.
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Can You Fix Ventilators? A Fuel Cell Engineer Figures It Out
It was late when engineer Joe Tavi’s boss called with an odd question: Could their company, which makes fuel cells, learn how to fix a ventilator?California had a bunch of broken ones, and the governor had asked if San Jose-based Bloom Energy could repair them so coronavirus patients could breathe.Tavi, an engineer who grew up taking apart the family vacuum cleaner to see if he could put it back together, said he would sleep on it. But he didn’t sleep. Instead, he made a pot of coffee and downloaded the more than 300-page manual for the LTD 1200, the type of ventilator state officials said they needed repaired.At 4:45 a.m. the next day, coffee still in hand, his boss called again.”We can do this,” Tavi told her. “We won’t be able to do it if we don’t try.”Wartime-type transformationSince then, a company that knew nothing about ventilators has fixed more than 500 of them. It’s a transformation akin to World War II, when manufacturing behemoths used their assembly line expertise to make airplanes and tanks. Now, some companies are tapping their storehouses of brainpower to do the same thing with medical equipment.While most people with the coronavirus have only mild or moderate symptoms, it can cause more severe illness in some, including pneumonia — an infection that can cause the lungs to fill with fluid, making it difficult to breathe. That’s where the ventilators come in. The Society of Critical Care Medicine estimates about 960,000 COVID-19 patients in the U.S. might need ventilators. But there are only about 200,000 machines available.In California, the nation’s most populous state with nearly 40 million people, Governor Gavin Newsom is on the hunt for at least 10,000 ventilators. So far, he’s found just over 4,000 of them — including 170 from the federal government’s national stockpile that needed repairs.Bloom Energy makes fuel cells, which combine air and hydrogen to create electricity through a chemical reaction. To get the air and the hydrogen in the right quantities, the fuel cell uses hoses and valves and fans — similar functions to a ventilator. Chief Operations Officer Susan Brennan says the company isn’t profiting from the repairs; they hope to eventually recoup some of their expenses from the state. Once he knew he could do it, Tavi gathered with other company engineers to come up with a plan, guided by lots of YouTube videos on ventilator settings and calibrations. The company’s head of supply chain ordered the parts.Some nervousnessThere were some anxious moments, especially during testing. As a kid, Tavi said, when he would take apart his family vacuum cleaner, sometimes he couldn’t get it back together correctly. A ventilator isn’t something you want to put together and find a few screws left over.But once the team got the ventilators hooked up to balloons, hearing the soft “woosh” of air as they expanded and contracted, Tavi said it went from being a machine to something much more personal.”I would think about my mom or my uncle or a family member of a friend or a co-worker needing one of those machines,” he said. “We don’t view it as a number of units we are turning over. We view it as the maximum number of people we could potentially positively impact by having an extra ventilator that works. Even if it’s just one person.”
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Hong Kong Government Reprimands Public Broadcaster for WHO Interview About Taiwan
The Hong Kong government has criticized a public broadcaster for “breaching the One-China principle” after a reporter asked a World Health Organization official about Taiwan’s eligibility to join the international body amid the coronavirus pandemic.The public dressing down came amid continued criticism of the WHO for excluding Taiwan from its membership under pressure from Beijing, which insists that Taiwan must be considered part of China under its “One-China principle.”The government’s reprimand of RTHK also has stoked widespread concern over the public broadcaster’s editorial independence and the wider implications for Hong Kong’s press freedom.In a current affairs program, “The Pulse”, last Friday, RTHK’s reporter Yvonne Tong asked Bruce Aylward, a senior adviser at the WHO, in a video call whether the organization would allow Taiwan to join amid the COVID-19 crisis. Aylward, a Canadian physician and epidemiologist, in February led a WHO mission to China’s Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak.After more than 10 seconds of silence, Aylward said he could not hear her question, and when Tong offered to repeat the question, he told her to “move to another one.” When Tong insisted on asking about Taiwan, the call became disconnected. When the line was reconnected, she asked if he could comment on how Taiwan had done in combating the virus, to which Aylward replied, “We’ve already talked about China.” The exchange went viral on social media.FILE – Team leader of the joint mission between World Health Organization and China on COVID-19, Bruce Aylward shows a graphic during a press conference at the WHO headquarters in Geneva, Feb. 25, 2020.In a clear sign the broadcaster has embarrassed the Hong Kong government, the secretary for commerce and economic development, Edward Yau, accused RTHK of breaching its charter obligations, which include “engendering a sense of national identity” and “promoting understanding of the concept of ‘One Country, Two Systems’.””The Secretary holds the view the presentation in that episode of the aforesaid program has breached the One-China Principle,” a government press release said.”It is common knowledge that the WHO membership is based on sovereign states. RTHK, as a government department and a public service broadcaster, should have proper understanding of the above without any deviation,” it reads.The publicly-funded RTHK has long been accused by the pro-China camp of failing to toe the official line in its reporting on political issues, particularly during the anti-government protests that started last June, which it saw as overly sympathetic toward the protesters.Pro-Beijing lawmaker Junius Ho, a vociferous critic of the public broadcaster, charged that Tong’s questions were “dangerous.”Responding to the government’s allegation, RTHK noted the program looked at various responses across the world to the coronavirus, with Taiwan being the focus of just part of the program. It said it did not refer to the island as a “country,” but rather as a “place.””RTHK reviewed the content of the episode and found that it did not violate the ‘One Country, Two Systems’ principle, nor did it violate the RTHK Charter,” according to a spokeswoman.The government’s criticism drew the ire of the wider community. Many online petitions were circulating Friday demanding the Hong Kong government stop its editorial interference on RTHK.Fermi Wong, a member of RTHK’s program advisory panel, said she suspected the government had acted under pressure from Beijing. “I don’t really understand why, when a reporter is asking something relating to health, she or he has to remember there is ‘One Country, Two Systems’ … in line with the government or China,” she said.The chairman of the Hong Kong Journalists Association, Chris Yeung, said the government statement aimed at putting pressure on RTHK, which could lead to self-censorship.”That will cast a long shadow on journalists for them to think twice when they ask similar questions next time because that could cross what officials deem a political red line,” he told RTHK.
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Europe’s Hospitals Bow Under Weight of Coronavirus Crush
Setting up makeshift ICU wards in libraries and conference centers, embattled European medical workers strained Friday to save thousands of desperately ill coronavirus patients as stocks of medicine, protective equipment and breathing machines grew shorter by the hour.
A maelstrom of coronavirus deaths and job losses slammed the United States and Europe. Some 10 million Americans have been thrown out of work in just two weeks, the most stunning collapse the U.S. job market has ever witnessed. Global confirmed infections surged past 1 million and deaths hit 53,000, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.
Experts say both numbers are seriously under-counted, due to the lack of testing, mild cases that were missed and governments that are deliberately underplaying the impact of the pandemic.
Europe’s three worst-hit countries — Italy, Spain and France — surpassed 30,000 dead, over 56% of the world’s death toll. From those countries, the view remained almost unrelentingly grim, a frightening portent even for places like New York, the epicenter of the U.S. outbreak, where trucks have been fork-lifting bodies outside overflowing morgues.
One Spanish hospital turned its library into a makeshift intensive-care unit. In France, space was being set aside for bodies in a vast food market. The French prime minister said he is “fighting hour by hour” to ward off shortages of essential drugs used to keep COVID-19 patients alive in intensive care.
Philippe Montravers, an anesthesiologist in Paris, said medics are preparing to fall back on older drugs, such as the opiates fetanyl and morphine, that had fallen out of favor, as newer painkillers are now in short supply.
“The work is extremely tough and heavy,” he said. “We’ve had doctors, nurses, caregivers who got sick, infected … but who have come back after recovering. It’s a bit like those World War I soldiers who were injured and came back to fight.”
Some glimmers of hope emerged that Italy, with nearly 14,000 dead, Spain and France might be flattening their infection curves and nearing or even past their peaks in daily deaths.
Spain on Friday reported 932 new daily deaths, just slightly down from the record it hit a day earlier. The carnage most certainly included large numbers of elderly people who authorities admit are not getting access to the country’s limited breathing machines, which are being used first on healthier, younger patients. More than half of Spain’s 10,935 deaths have come in the last seven days alone.
Some European officials are tentatively talking about the future, how to lift the nationwide lockdowns that have staved off the total collapse of strained health systems. Still, the main message across the continent was “stay at home.”
In France, the government warned Parisians not to even think about going anywhere for the Easter school vacation starting this weekend, setting up roadblocks out of the city to nab those with antsy children trying to escape lockdowns.
Beyond Europe, coronavirus deaths mounted with alarming speed in New York, the most lethal hot spot in the United States, which has seen at least 1,500 virus deaths. One New York funeral home had 185 bodies stacked up — more than triple its normal capacity.
“It’s surreal,” owner Pat Marmo said, adding that he’s been begging families to insist hospitals hold their dead loved ones as long as possible. “We need help.”
Roughly 90% of the U.S. population is under stay-at-home orders, and many factories, restaurants, stores and other businesses are closed or have seen sales shrivel. Economists warned that U.S. unemployment would almost certainly top that of the Great Recession a decade ago and could reach levels not seen since the Great Depression in the 1930s.
“My anxiety is through the roof right now, not knowing what’s going to happen,” said Laura Wieder, laid off from her job managing a sports bar in Bellefontaine, Ohio.
The pandemic will cost the world economy as much as $4.1 trillion, or nearly 5% of all economic activity, the Asian Development Bank said Friday.
At least a million people in Europe are estimated to have lost their jobs over the past couple of weeks as well. Spain alone added more than 300,000 to its unemployment rolls in March. But the job losses in Europe appear to be far smaller than in the U.S. because of countries’ greater social safety nets.
Estimates in China, the world’s second-largest economy, of those who have lost jobs or are underemployed run as high as 200 million. The government said Friday it would would provide an additional 1 trillion yuan ($142 billion) to local banks to lend at preferential rates to small- and medium-sized businesses.
With more than 245,000 people infected in the U.S. and the death toll topping 6,000, sobering preparations were underway. The Federal Emergency Management Agency asked the Pentagon for 100,000 more body bags.
For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. But for others, especially older adults and people with health problems, it can cause pneumonia and lead to death. The World Health Organization said this week that 95% of the deaths in Europe were of people who were over 60 years old.
White House coronavirus task force coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx said U.S. infection data suggested that Americans need to emulate those European nations that have started to see the spread of the virus slowing through strict social distancing.
The Trump administration was getting ready to recommend that ordinary Americans wear non-medical masks or bandannas over their mouths and noses when out in public so stocks of medical-grade masks could be preserved for those on the front lines.
Shortages of critical equipment led to fierce competition between buyers from Europe, the U.S. and elsewhere. A regional leader in Paris described the scramble to source masks a “worldwide treasure hunt.”
French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said worldwide usage of essential drugs and disposable equipment, such as ventilator mouthpieces, used by intensive care units is “exploding in unimaginable proportions,” with a “nearly 2,000 percent increase” in demand “because it is happening everywhere in the world and at the same time.”
Gov. Andrew Cuomo warned that New York could run out of breathing machines in six days.
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Local Newspapers in US Facing Their Own COVID-19 Crisis
Just when Americans need it most, a U.S. newspaper industry already under stress is facing an unprecedented new challenge.
Readers desperate for information are more reliant than ever on local media as the coronavirus spreads across the U.S. They want to know about cases in their area, where testing centers are, what the economic impact is. Papers say online traffic and subscriptions have risen — the latter even when they’ve lowered paywalls for pandemic-related stories.
But newspapers and other publications are under pressure as advertising craters. They are cutting jobs, staff hours and pay, dropping print editions — and in some cases shutting down entirely.
Circulation and web traffic are up at the Sun Chronicle, a daily in Attleboro, Massachusetts, as it scrambles to cover the coronavirus pandemic. It’s “all we do,” said Craig Borges, executive editor and general manager. But with many local restaurants, gyms, colleges and other businesses closed, the paper has laid off a handful of sales and mailroom employees and a political reporter. It has about a dozen newsroom employees left.
“Hopefully we can work this out and make it through,” Borges said.
Researchers have long worried that the next recession — which economists say is already upon us — “could be an extinction-level event for newspapers,” said Penelope Abernathy, a University of North Carolina professor who studies the news industry.
More than 2,100 cities and towns have lost a paper in the past 15 years, mostly weeklies, and newsroom employment has shrunk by half since 2004. Many publications struggled as consumers turned to the internet for news, battered by the Great Recession of 2007-2009 and the rise of giants like Google and Facebook that dominated the market for digital ads.
More recently, big national newspapers like The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal have diversified revenue by adding millions of digital subscribers. Many others, however, remain heavily dependent on advertising.
Twenty global news publishers recently surveyed by the International News Media Association expect a median 23% decline in 2020 ad sales. In the U.S., newspaper ad revenues have dropped 20% to 30% in the last few weeks compared with a year ago, FTI Consulting’s Ken Harding wrote in another INMA report.
On Monday, the largest U.S. newspaper chain, Gannett, announced 15-day furloughs and pay cuts for many employees. On Tuesday, another major chain, Lee Enterprises, also announced salary reductions and furloughs. The Tampa Bay Times, owned by the nonprofit Poynter Institute, cut five days of its print edition and announced furloughs for non-newsroom staff.
Further down the food chain, many smaller publishers — particularly local alt-weeklies with a heavy focus on dining, arts and entertainment — are making even harder decisions.
In rural Nevada, Battle Born Media is scaling back or ceasing publication of six rural weekly newspapers. The Reno News & Review, an alternative weekly, suspended operations and laid off all staffers. C&G Newspapers, which publishes 19 weekly newspapers near Detroit, suspended print publication.
Alternative paper Pittsburgh Current went online-only.
Report for America, which subsidizes journalists in local newsrooms and at The Associated Press, says some of its local-media partners report such deteriorating finances that they may not be able to pay their half of these reporters’ salaries.
In suburban St. Louis last week, businesses were calling and cancelling ads as fast as editor Don Corrigan and his staff could write articles to fill the empty space left behind. A local hospital wanted to run a full-page ad offering tips to fight the virus in the three community weeklies he runs — but wanted it for free. A softhearted Corrigan agreed.
He announced this week that the Webster-Kirkwood Times, South County Time and West End World will stop publishing, although he’s keeping the website running. “I don’t think people realize how much it costs to put out a newspaper,” he said, noting that some readers are belatedly suggesting a GoFundMe page or a paywall for the web site.
A $2.2 trillion relief act signed Friday by President Donald Trump could provide loans or grants to smaller local publishers who maintain their payrolls. Industry executives are also discussing future government bailout requests that would preserve the independence of news organizations, two newspaper-industry trade groups wrote in a Monday letter to Trump and congressional leaders.
One proposal under discussion would recommend creating a federal fund to pay for government newspaper ads that offer health advice. Another possibility might be to offer people tax credits for subscriptions.
The Shepherd Express newspaper, which took its name from an Allen Ginsberg poem, has for 38 years told residents of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, about up-and-coming musicians, hot restaurants, crooked politicians and where to find hemp-related products. Last week, it suspended publication and laid off staff.
Editor, publisher and owner Louis Fortis is keeping the website operating and promises to resume printing at some point, in some form. Yet he’s feeling the same uncertainty as millions of other Americans. “I’m very disappointed,” he said. “On the other hand, you have to look at the big picture. People are dying.”
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How Social Distancing Can Impact Your Mental Health
Social distancing and isolation can be hard, as New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo recently pointed out during a daily briefing on the status of COVID-19 in his state. “Don’t underestimate the personal trauma, and don’t underestimate the pain of isolation. It is real,” Cuomo said. “This is not the human condition — not to be comforted, not to be close, to be afraid and you can’t hug someone. … This is all unnatural and disorienting.” Experts already know that years of loneliness or feelings of isolation can lead to anxiety, depression and dementia in adults. A weakened immune system response, higher rates of obesity, high blood pressure, heart disease and a shorter life span can also result. A Pittsburgh Public Works employee removes a basketball rim from a city court in an effort to encourage social distancing, March 30, 2020.Children who have fewer friends or are bullied or isolated at school tend to have higher rates of anxiety, depression and some developmental delays. But when it comes to a global pandemic like COVID-19, there is no documentation to which medical experts can refer. “The studies that we have are more about forced isolation and no support,” said Elena Mikalsen, chief of the Psychology Section at Children’s Hospital of San Antonio. “The situation we’re in now, there’s a lot of social support … and social support is one of the big predictors of good health and mental health outcomes.” She adds that it is helpful that the entire world is basically in the same situation, a commonality that is leading to the rapid development of coping strategies from multiple sources, including friends, schools and businesses. Playground equipment is wrapped in crime scene tape to prevent its use as part of the effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus March 31, 2020, in St. Louis, MIssouri.During this period, Mikalsen is advising her patients to stay connected with people, exercise regularly, and keep to a schedule so that everybody in the household has some sort of purpose in their day. Waiting around and worrying about getting sick can lead to increased anxiety. A key factor driving people’s decisions on whether to isolate could come down to personality. “Extroverts have this strong need to always be around other people. … The idea of being in a quiet place with no entertainment is extremely anxiety provoking,” Mikalsen said. “Versus, you know, an introvert is perfectly happy in a tiny little room with nothing. You can lock up an introvert in a New York City apartment and have them not come out for two months and they’ll be perfectly happy.” New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo with daughter, Cara Cuomo, in Mt. Kisco, N.Y., Nov. 6, 2018.Meanwhile, Cuomo told reporters that he is focusing on the positives in the current situation, like having his grown daughter, Cara, 25, working with him during the crisis. “They’ll come for the holidays. They’ll come when I give them heavy guilt,” he said of his three grown daughters. “But I’m now going to be with Cara, literally, for a few months. What a beautiful gift that is, right? I would have never had that chance, and that is precious. … This crazy situation, as crazy as it is, gave me this beautiful gift.”
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Vendors Return in Wuhan as China Prepares Virus Memorial
Sidewalk vendors wearing face masks and gloves sold pork, tomatoes, carrots and other vegetables to shoppers Friday in the Chinese city where the coronavirus pandemic began, as workers prepared for a national memorial this weekend for health workers and others who died in the outbreak. Authorities are easing controls that kept Wuhan’s 11 million people at home for two months, but many shops are still closed. Shoppers and sellers in the Minyi neighborhood on the city’s southwest side had to do their business over high yellow barriers, as access to the community is still controlled.
“I don’t feel safe going to a supermarket,” said Zhan Zhongwu, who wore two layers of masks and was buying pork for his wife and grandchild. “There are too many people,” he said. “Many infections happened in the supermarket.”
Residents have been relying on online groceries and government-organized food deliveries after most access to the city was suspended Jan. 23 and restaurants, shops and other businesses shut down.
Wuhan and the rest of China are preparing for a nationwide three minutes of silence on Saturday in honor of the 3,322 people who officially died of the virus, including doctors, nurses and other health workers who have been declared martyrs.They include Li Wenliang, an eye doctor in Wuhan who was reprimanded in December for warning about the virus and later died of the disease. He became a symbol of public anger at the ruling Communist Party for suppressing information about the coronavirus, possibly worsening its spread, before it took action in late January. The party rescinded Li’s reprimand and declared him a hero as part of a propaganda effort aimed at deflecting criticism of the official response. On Saturday, national flags will be lowered to half-staff at 10 a.m. while air raid sirens and the horns of cars, trains and ships will “wail in grief,” the official Xinhua News Agency said.
People have been told to avoid cemeteries on Saturday, the start of a three-day holiday when families traditionally tend the graves of ancestors. While the United States and other governments tighten controls and shut down businesses, Chinese leaders are trying to revive the world’s second-largest economy after declaring victory over the outbreak. Still, local authorities have orders to prevent new infections as millions of people stream back to work in factories, offices and shops. Passengers on planes, trains, subways and buses are checked for fever and employers have orders to disinfect workplaces regularly. Vegetable vendor Xie Lianning said she picked up supplies at a wholesale market at 5 a.m. and drove to Minyi. She was checked for fever at the neighborhood entrance. Xie set up shop on a sidewalk in front of closed shops that were covered by roll-down metal doors. The block was surrounded by the head-high yellow barriers installed to keep residents inside during the quarantine. “Our business is not bad. Here is definitely better than indoors,” said Xie. “Nobody wanted to go inside. People are willing to buy things outside.” Wuhan accounts for three-quarters of China’s virus deaths but has reported no new cases for a week. Despite that, controls requiring official permission to enter or leave the city are to stay in place through Tuesday. Xie said she still was worried about the virus but had to get back to work.
“We have no choice,” she said. “There are old and young in my family living with us. We have a heavy financial burden.”
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Prince Charles Opens Fast-Tracked London Hospital
Prince Charles on Friday remotely opened the new Nightingale Hospital at London’s main exhibition and conference center, a temporary facility that will soon be able to treat 4,000 people who have contracted COVID-19.
Charles said he was “enormously touched” to be asked to open the temporary facility at the ExCel center in east London and paid tribute to everyone, including military personnel, involved in its “spectacular and almost unbelievable” nine-day construction.
“An example, if ever one was needed, of how the impossible could be made possible and how we can achieve the unthinkable through human will and ingenuity,” he said via video link from his Scottish home of Birkhall.
“To convert one of the largest national conference centres into a field hospital, starting with 500 beds with a potential of 4,000, is quite frankly incredible.”
The new National Health Service hospital will only care for people with COVID-19, and patients will only be assigned there after their local London hospital has reached capacity.
Charles, who earlier this week emerged from self-isolation after testing positive for COVID-19, said he was one of “the lucky ones” who only had mild symptoms, but “for some it will be a much harder journey.”
He expressed his hope that the hospital “is needed for as short a time and for as few people as possible.”
The hospital is named after Florence Nightingale, who is widely considered to be the founder of modern nursing. She was in charge of nursing British and allied soldiers in Turkey during the Crimean War of the 1850s, her selfless care earning her the reputation as the “Lady with the Lamp.”
Natalie Grey, the head of nursing at NHS Nightingale, unveiled the plaque formally opening the hospital on the prince’s behalf.
Further new hospitals are being planned across the U.K., including in Birmingham, Glasgow and Manchester, to alleviate the pressure on the NHS during the coronavirus pandemic.
“In these troubled times with this invisible killer stalking the whole world, the fact in this country we have the NHS is even more valuable that before,” said Health Secretary Matt Hancock, who also contracted COVID-19 and only emerged from his self-isolation on Thursday.
The number of people in Britain dying after testing positive for COVID-19 has been increasing sharply over the past couple of weeks. The latest U.K. figures showed that the number of people to have died increased in a day by 569 to 2,921.
Like many other countries, Britain is in effective lockdown, with bars and nonessential shops closed in order to reduce the rate of transmission, the hope being that it will eventually reduce the peak in deaths. Hancock would not be drawn across several interviews about when he expects the peak to be, beyond that it’s likely to occur in “coming weeks.”
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