Taiwan, widely watched from abroad for controlling the spread of COVID-19, started this week spreading medical aid to much harder-hit countries in a campaign that could help it stand up politically against its powerful rival China.The island’s foreign ministry said Wednesday it would donate 10 million face masks to medical personnel in Europe, the United States and 15 small diplomatic allies. The ministry says it wants to share Taiwan’s successes to date.A server wears a face mask outside of a noodle shop in Taipei, Taiwan, on March 3, 2020, to protect against the spread of the coronavirus.“My country’s donation of 10 million face masks to help medical staff people in countries with severe outbreaks shows an enduring ‘Taiwan can help’ spirit and urges a strengthening of international cooperation,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou said.“We’ve noticed that Taiwan’s disease prevention deployments and experience have already received approval from the international community,” Ou added. The donation marks Taiwan’s first “large-scale humanitarian assistance initiative,” she said, following the virus outbreak that has hit 170 countries since being discovered more than three months ago in central China.A longer-term flow of aid following efforts by China would make Taiwan look benevolent in multiple countries as long as officials in Taipei don’t intentionally politicize it, analysts said. They cautioned, though, that the campaign probably won’t earn Taiwan any new formal diplomatic recognition or get it into international agencies dominated by China’s allies.Taiwan’s coronavirus caseload reached 348 on Friday. Unlike much of the world, the island government has ordered no lockdowns or forced closures. China has tamed a much larger caseload but is seen as the virus’s source. Some suspect China of under-reporting its caseload, which officially stands at around 81,000.“If we’re interpreting [Taiwan’s] message in an innocent way, then it should be applauded,” said Yun Sun, East Asia Program senior associate at the Stimson Center think tank in Washington.Taiwan, however, vies with the militarily and economically mightier China for international recognition. China claims sovereignty over self-ruled Taiwan and uses its clout to make international bodies such as the World Health Organization block the island’s participation.Donors in China have sent hundreds of thousands of masks and virus test kits abroad. Its aid is at work now Italy, Japan, Pakistan, the Philippines, Russia and South Korea, to name just a few recipients. In a recent example, on Monday, the Chinese province of Heilongjiang donated 50,000 surgical masks to a prefecture in Japan, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.China has capacity to make about 116 million face masks daily compared to Taiwan’s 10 million per day.“If you just look at capacity, I think just for Taiwan to compete with mainland [China] it’s not going to get there,” Sun said. “But then again, does it mean that Taiwan should not even try? I think Taiwan should try and Taiwan should make a contribution.”Taiwan could shine as a nonpolitical donor as China bickers with the United States, the world’s most heavily infected country, Sun said. Washington says China covered up the extent of its outbreak, while Beijing resents U.S. President Donald Trump for using the term “Chinese virus.”Taiwan has stepped up calls to let it into WHO since COVID-19 erupted but hasn’t linked that ambition to mask donations. China normally blocks Taiwan’s bids to get in.Of those donations, the ministry says the United States will get 100,000 per week plus another 2 million for front line medical workers. Its diplomatic allies, mostly small and poor countries, will get another 1 million masks plus 84 thermal imaging devices such as forehead thermometers. Seven million masks will go to Europe.“Most Americans probably haven’t thought all that much about Taiwan’s extraordinary achievements against COVID-19 to date,” said Sean King, vice president of the Park Strategies political consultancy in New York.“But the World Health Organization’s refusal to constructively engage Taiwan, presumably at Beijing’s behest, has garnered the island tremendous public sympathy in the United States,” King said. “I’m sure Taipei’s sending us these masks, in our time of need, will only further enhance Americans’ already overwhelmingly positive views of Taiwan.”More medical diplomacy is taking shape.U.S. and Taiwanese officials had agreed last month to work together on research and development of a vaccine. The Taiwanese university Academia Sinica is separately discussing with European Union officials ways they might cooperate on fighting COVID-19, the island’s Central News Agency reported.
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Month: April 2020
‘It Only Takes One.’ US General Shares COVID Lessons from South Korea Front Lines
“Go hard, go early.”That’s the advice from Gen. Robert Abrams, the top U.S. general in South Korea, on how to combat the coronavirus.“It’ll seem like an overreaction. It’ll seem a bit over the top…a week later, your community will understand, your unit will understand.”Abrams, who spoke to VOA and CNN in a joint interview Thursday in Seoul, commands approximately 28,000 U.S. troops in South Korea. It was effectively the first U.S. community to be on the front lines against the coronavirus. Its efforts so far to contain the outbreak provide important insights in the global fight against COVID-19.Quick actionThe most important lesson, according to Abrams, is to act immediately and decisively.“You’ve got to attack this hard and fast from the very beginning,” he said, “It’s got a very, very high infectious rate.”Nowhere is that more evident than South Korea.The country reported its first case on January 20. Cases remained relatively low for weeks, until a 61-year-old woman, the country’s 31st confirmed case, attended religious services after contracting the virus.Within a week, South Korea exploded with thousands of cases — over half of which were linked to the religious group.“It only takes one person,” Abrams said, citing this case, South Korea’s so-called Patient 31 case.South Korea was able to quickly put out the cluster infection, thanks to its campaign of vigorous coronavirus testing, investigations to determine the path of infection and isolation of those involved.So far, the U.S. military in South Korea has avoided its own “super spreader.” As of Friday, only 17 individuals related to U.S. Forces Korea, including two armed services members, have tested positive for the virus.Fighting complacencyWith the number of new U.S. military-related infections picking up over the past week, though, Abrams has implemented strict new measures.At Camp Humphreys, the biggest U.S. base in South Korea, life has changed dramatically. Gyms have been closed. Bus and taxi services are suspended. Lines sometimes form outside the commissary because only 100 people are allowed in the store at a time.Last week, Abrams declared a public health emergency, which gave him greater authority to enforce restrictions among civilian employees, contractors, and service members’ families. That move came after a U.S. contractor caught the virus after eating at a local restaurant in violation of rules.“The fight now is really about…complacency and ensuring that every single person remains vigilant,” Abrams said. “And it’s difficult in a community, but what people need to understand about this enemy is that it only takes one person to not follow the guidance. That puts everyone else’s health at risk. And it will be almost immediate.”Military readinessMission-related activities have also changed. Aircraft mechanics, for instance, have been separated into teams.“So if a person on one team gets sick, it doesn’t affect all the mechanics,” Abrams said. The same goes for air crews. Pilots now are paired up, rather than rotated, making it easier to track down infection paths, should the need arise, he said.The measures could affect military readiness, especially if they last a long time, Abrams acknowledged. He said he is confident, though, of striking a balance between mission readiness and safety.“We’re still flying [intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance flights]. We’re still flying helicopters. We’re still conducting routine training,” he said. “It’s required us to make some adjustments, but we’re all capable of doing it.”The U.S. military must deal with the coronavirus while also keeping an eye on North Korea. That threat was highlighted last month, when North Korea tested a record number of short-range missiles.Other challengesMaking things even trickier, the U.S. military this week furloughed over 4,000 local South Korean civilian employees, amid deadlocked military cost-sharing negotiations between Washington and Seoul.“I’ve been burning up the phone lines and email late at night and early morning back to Washington,” Abrams said of the cost-sharing talks, which are led on the U.S. side by the State Department.Asked if the military is able to cope with the furloughs on top of the virus containment, all while remaining mission-ready, Abrams replied: “I don’t have a choice. I have to deal with it…this is part of our duties and responsibilities.”Looking aheadNearly two months since the outbreak began in South Korea, the U.S. and much of the rest of the world are now learning the same lessons as those in South Korea.One important final lesson is that even when it seems the virus has been contained, the battle isn’t over.“I’m not about flattening the curve,” Abrams said. “I’m about squashing the curve.”
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Dolly Parton Launches Children’s Book Series Amid COVID Chaos
American country music singer Dolly Parton has launched “Good Night with Dolly,” a 10-week read-aloud series for children on YouTube and other internet platforms.“This is something I have been wanting to do for quite a while, but the timing never felt quite right,” Parton said. “I think it is pretty clear that now is the time to share a story and to share some love.”Parton read the 90-year-old classic The Little Engine That Could in the first episode Thursday evening.The books chosen for the series “will focus on comforting and reassuring children during the shelter-in-place mandates” put in place because of the coronavirus pandemic Parton’s Imagination Library said.The library, inspired by Parton’s father, who could not read, has mailed more than 130 million free books to children since its inception in 1995. It now mails over 1 million books each month to children in five countries.
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Sierra Leone Tightens Restrictions After First 2 Coronavirus Cases
Sierra Leone is the latest African country to launch a nationwide attack against the deadly coronavirus after two unrelated people tested positive for the virus in the capital, Freetown.Sierra Leone’s national COVID19 Coordinator, Brig (Rtd) Kellie Conteh, said a three-day nationwide lockdown will begin Sunday.Conteh also said religious gatherings are banned and the government has already placed restrictions on entry into the country by land and international flights.Additionally, the World Bank announced, Sierra Leone will receive $7.5 million from its initiative to help dozens of developing countries with coronavirus emergency health support.
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‘Surreal’: NY Funeral Homes Struggle as Virus Deaths Surge
Pat Marmo walked among 20 or so deceased in the basement of his Brooklyn funeral home, his protective mask pulled down so his pleas could be heard.”Every person there, they’re not a body,” he said. “They’re a father, they’re a mother, they’re a grandmother. They’re not bodies. They’re people.”Like many funeral homes in New York and around the globe, Marmo’s business is in crisis as he tries to meet surging demand amid the coronavirus pandemic that has killed around 1,400 people in New York City alone, according to a tally from Johns Hopkins University.His two cellphones and the office line are ringing constantly. He’s apologizing to families at the start of every conversation for being unusually terse, and begging them to insist hospitals hold their dead loved ones as long as possible.His company is equipped to handle 40 to 60 cases at a time, no problem. On Thursday morning, it was taking care of 185.”This is a state of emergency,” he said. “We need help.”Employees deliver a body at Daniel J. Schaefer Funeral Home, on April 2, 2020, in the Brooklyn borough of New York.Funeral directors are being squeezed on one side by inundated hospitals trying to offload bodies, and on the other by the fact that cemeteries and crematoriums are booked for a week at least, sometimes two.Marmo let The Associated Press into his Daniel J. Schaefer funeral home in the Sunset Park neighborhood of Brooklyn on Thursday to show how dire the situation has become.He has about 20 embalmed bodies stored on gurneys and stacked on shelves in the basement and another dozen in his secondary chapel room, both chilled by air conditioners.He estimated that more than 60 percent had died of the new coronavirus. For most people, the virus causes mild or moderate symptoms, but for some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness and lead to death.”It’s surreal,” he said.Hospitals in New York have been using refrigerated trucks to store the dead, and Marmo is trying to find his own. One company quoted him a price of $6,000 per month, and others are refusing outright because they don’t want their equipment used for bodies.Even if he gets a truck, he has nowhere obvious to put it. He’s wondering if the police station across the street might let him use its driveway.He’s also hoping the Environmental Protection Agency will lift regulations that limit the hours crematoriums can operate. That would ease some of the backlog.”I need somebody to help me,” he said. “Maybe if they send me refrigeration, or guide me in a way that I could set up a refrigerated trailer that I could keep, and I could supervise.”Patrick Kearns, a fourth-generation funeral director in Queens, said the industry has never experienced anything like this. His family was prepared on 9/11 for their business to be overrun, but with so many bodies lost amid the rubble, the rush never came.He’s seeing it now. The Kearns’ business in Rego Park is just minutes from Elmhurst Hospital, a hot spot in the city, which itself has emerged as the epicenter of the U.S. outbreak. Through the first 15 days of March, the family’s four funeral homes held 15 services. In the second half of the month, they had 40.Pat Marmo, owner of Daniel J. Schaefer Funeral Home, walks through a viewing room set up to respect social distancing April 2, 2020, in the Brooklyn borough of New York.Like Marmo, Kearns has converted a small chapel into a makeshift refrigerator with an air conditioner. Other funeral directors told The Associated Press this week they were prepared to take similar measures.The surge in deaths is coming at a time when there are tight restrictions on gatherings, making saying goodbye a lonely process.A family at Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn this week leaned over a yellow chain serving as a cordon and tossed roses at the casket of a loved one. Another in Queens offered final goodbyes through the windows of their cars. At one cemetery in the Bronx, where visitors were barred entirely, a funeral director stood over the grave and took photos to send to mourners.”The whole process, including the experience for the family during the funeral, is one of sort of isolation rather than the support,” said Bonnie Dixon, president of Maple Grove Cemetery in Queens.Jackie McQuade, a funeral director at Schuyler Hill funeral home in the Bronx, has struggled to tell families no. But she has no choice, given rules limiting services to immediate family only, if that.One cemetery she worked with has locked its gates to family and friends. Only she and a priest were allowed at the site of a burial. She photographed the casket being lowered, hoping it could bring some closure to the family.
“We would be going crazy if it were one of our loved ones,” she said. “We’re bearers of bad news on top of a sad situation.”Marmo said he’s hardly sleeping from the stress, worried he’ll forget a small but critical task, like removing someone’s ring before they’re sent for cremation.
He’s set to host a funeral Friday for a 36-year-old New York City subway driver who died last week helping riders evacuate a burning train. There will be a limited service in his main chapel, where he has 10 chairs, lined in two rows with 6 feet (2 meters) between each. The best he can do while respecting “social distancing” guidelines.”The guy deserves a funeral down the Canyon of Heroes,” Marmo said, referring to a stretch of Broadway in lower Manhattan where ticker tape parades are traditionally held. “Is he going to get that? He’s not going to get that. And it’s horrible.”
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Latest Iranian Plotting Worrisome, Not Surprising, US Officials Say
Recent intelligence suggesting Iranian-backed forces in Iraq are actively plotting to hit U.S. troops may have stirred a new war of words between Washington and Tehran on social media, but it has done little to shock U.S. defense officials. U.S. President Donald Trump first shared word of the latest intelligence in a tweet Wednesday, warning of a “sneak attack.” Upon information and belief, Iran or its proxies are planning a sneak attack on U.S. troops and/or assets in Iraq. If this happens, Iran will pay a very heavy price, indeed!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) “Tensions have actually not gone down,” McKenzie cautioned at the time. ”I still think they [Iran] are actively seeking ways to achieve destabilization.” And even without the guidance of former Iranian Quds Force Commander Qassem Soleimani, who oversaw militia activity in Iraq until his death in a U.S. airstrike in January, Iran’s proxies remain a dangerous tool for Soleimani’s replacement, Ismail Qaani. “Qaani may lack the iconic stature and relationship enjoyed by Qassem Soleimani, but this doesn’t mean that the Quds Force won’t continue to be effective,” said Norman Roule, a former national intelligence manager for Iran in the Office of the Director for National Intelligence. “Qaani will draw upon the same cadre of experienced senior Quds Force officers – many of whom have deep experience in the region.” Some analysts add that, in just the past few weeks, Iranian-backed militias have become even bolder, seeking to draw attention to their activities. “Iran’s proxies in Iraq are making a show out of their preparations for war,” said Katherine Lawlor, a Middle East research assistant at the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War. As an example, Lawlor said Kataib Hezbollah last week claimed to have conducted “a large scale ‘military exercise’ in which thousands of its members purportedly practiced repelling U.S. air and ground assaults with live fire.” And just days after the March 12 airstrikes, U.S. officials blamed Kataib Hezbollah for launching a series of rocket attacks against Iraqi bases housing U.S. and coalition troops. Kataib Hezbollah, while praising the rocket attacks, denied any involvement. But it has continued to taunt the U.S. “This fool Trump, or one of his people, come out every other day with threats directed at the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, especially against Hezbollah Brigades,” the group said in a statement Thursday. “We warn [the Trump administration] from being involved in any aggressive act against our patient people.” But the group promised U.S. forces preparing to leave would not be harmed. “We assure that these forces will not be killed if their withdrawal continues from all over Iraq,” the statement said. U.S. military officials said they were aware of the statement but declined to comment. Hours earlier, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif also pushed back against U.S. concerns, warning President Trump on Twitter, “Don’t be mislead (sic) by usual warmongers” while adding Tehran “only acts in self-defense.” Don’t be mislead by usual warmongers, AGAIN, @realDonaldTrump:Iran has FRIENDS: No one can have MILLIONS of”proxies”Unlike the US—which surreptitiously lies, cheats & assassinates—Iran only acts in self-defense. OpenlyIran starts no wars, but teaches lessons to those who do— Javad Zarif (@JZarif) April 2, 2020Analysts, like Phillip Smyth at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, see such messaging as a ploy. “They [Iran and its proxies] see an opportunity they can take advantage of because the Americans are kind of wrapping up into themselves,” he said, noting the recent U.S. withdrawal from several smaller bases in Iraq as well as efforts to cope with the coronavirus pandemic at home. “Historical events have shown us that they’ll throw things out there like this and say, ‘We’re totally willing to negotiate,’ but they don’t really act on it,” Smyth said. Iran and its proxies may also see the U.S. as handcuffed by the political situation in Iraq, where Prime Minister-designate Adnan al-Zurfi, seen by some as relatively pro-American, is running out of time to form a government. “Any U.S. strikes are probably going to doom that,” said Gil Barndollar, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Defense Priorities. “The last thing we want to do is have a guy who is potentially sympathetic to U.S. interests and undermine his chance to lead the country through killing Iraqis, whether militiamen or even actually uniformed Iraqi police and army as has happened in past U.S. strikes.”
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Global Coronavirus Cases Hit 1 Million
The coronavirus pandemic has hit a grim milestone — 1 million confirmed cases.The count by Johns Hopkins University says almost one-fourth, 236,000, are in the United States.The worldwide death toll stands at more than 53,000. Italy reported the most fatalities with more than 13,000 and climbing daily.A question on nearly everyone’s lips in the U.S. is, “Do I need to wear a mask?” Some experts have said anyone who is not sick or caring for someone who is doesn’t need one. They say a mask won’t stop the virus.Other experts say even minimal protection from a face covering is better than nothing at all.New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is recommending New Yorkers wear a scarf, bandana, or some homemade covering over their mouths and noses – but not a surgical mask. He says those should be reserved for medical professionals.Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti is also asking people to cover their mouths in public.U.S. President Donald Trump said the White House task force is still putting together guidelines on whether to wear a face covering.“If people wanted to wear them, they can. It’s not a bad idea, at least for a period of time,” Trump said.A transit police officer checks the temperature of a truck driver as a preventive measure against the new coronavirus, during a partial curfew ordered by the government in Villa Nueva, Guatemala, on April 2, 2020.The White House said Trump was tested again for the coronavirus, using a test that gives results in 15 minutes. The president tested negative and was pronounced “healthy.”The World Bank approved nearly $2 billion in funds for 25 of the world’s poorest countries to battle the coronavirus pandemic.India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, and Ethiopia will get most of the first payments. The money is specifically earmarked for critical medical supplies, including masks and ventilators.Bank President David Malpass says the institution could provide as much as $160 billion in such help over the next year.India’s lockdown of more than 1 billion people has left hundreds of millions homeless and without food, prompting Prime Minister Narendra Modi to beg for their forgiveness.In Brussels, NATO foreign ministers have tasked the alliance’s top military officer, U.S. Air Force Gen. Tod Wolters, “to coordinate the necessary military support to combat the crisis, to speed up and step up assistance.”Wolters will procure cargo planes and other aircraft to deliver medical supplies as well as surplus stocks across the 30-member bloc.Meanwhile, Portugal announced a ban on all commercial flights arriving at its airports, and its citizens won’t be allowed to visit other towns except for work. The new restrictions take effect April 9 and are set to last five days.“The virus doesn’t travel by itself,” Prime Minister Antonio Costa said Thursday. “This Easter period is a particularly critical time and that’s why it is essential to restrict movement in the national territory.”The government is also pardoning inmates sentenced to two years or less to prevent a spread of the virus in jails.People wait in line to buy supplies amid the spread of the coronavirus disease in Guayaquil, Ecuador, April 2, 2020.Portugal has a little more than 9,000 confirmed cases.Also Thursday, three anonymous Iraqi doctors involved in testing say the country has thousands of coronavirus cases – far more than the government’s official count of 772.Iraq’s health ministry simply said the sources reporting what the doctors allege are “incorrect.”In Seattle, Washington, federal officials have proposed a $611,000 fine for the nursing home where 40 people died of coronavirus.The Life Care Center was ground zero early in the U.S. outbreak.Federal regulators say the facility had a nuber of serious problems including failing to quickly identify and properly treat residents during a spate of respiratory illnesses that turned out to have been caused by the coronavirus.The nursing home has yet to respond to the proposed fine.Also Thursday, the U.S. Postal Service said 22 countries have informed them that they can no longer process or deliver mail arriving from other nations because of disruptions in service caused by the coronavirus.They include India, Kuwait, Honduras, Saudi Arabia, and South Africa, and 17 other countries.And Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte is ordering police to confront anyone who is violating the lockdown on Luzon and “shoot them dead.”Duterte appeared on television Thursday after residents in a poor section of Manila protested in the streets against what they say is the government’s negligence to deliver food and supplies.Women buy medicinal plants in Asuncion, Paraguay, on April 2, 2020.”I will not hesitate. My orders are to the police and military, as well as village officials, if there is any trouble, or occasions where there’s violence and your lives are in danger, shoot them dead. Do not intimidate the government. Do not challenge the government. You will lose.”Government officials hastily followed up on Duterte’s remarks to say he was simply using his usual tough rhetoric to illustrate how serious the coronavirus is.Police Chief Archie Gamboa said the president was “just overemphasizing on implementing the law in this time of crisis,” and police officers realize that they are not going to kill anyone for protesting.
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Hong Kong Orders Bars to Close as it Ramps Up Social Distancing
Hong Kong has ordered pubs and bars to close for two weeks from 6 p.m. Friday as the financial hub steps up social distancing restrictions and joins cities around the world in the battle to halt the spread of coronavirus.Anyone who violates the new law faces six months in jail and a fine of HK$50,000 ($6,450).The extraordinary move in a city that never sleeps comes a week after the government stopped all tourist arrivals and transit passengers at its airport and said it was considering suspending the sale of alcohol in some venues.“Any premises (commonly known as bar or pub) that is exclusively or mainly used for the sale or supply of intoxicating liquors … must be closed,” the government said in a statement late Thursday.It added that 62 confirmed coronavirus cases in the city had been linked to bars, leading to 14 further infections, including a 40-day-old baby. Hong Kong has 802 cases of coronavirus and four deaths from the disease.Alcohol will still be available in supermarkets and convenience stores across the Asian financial center.Global coronavirus cases surpassed 1 million Thursday with more than 52,000 deaths as the pandemic further exploded in the United States and the death toll climbed in Spain and Italy, according to a Reuters tally of official data.
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Amid Russia’s Growing Coronavirus Threat, a Shifting Kremlin Response
Russia says it’s entering a new phase in its fight against the spread of COVID-19. A near countrywide quarantine is just the latest in a series of government measures aimed at stopping a contagion that has infected over 3,500 Russians and killed 30 thus far. But as Charles Maynes reports from Moscow, the Kremlin’s approach to the virus has been evolving over time.
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COVID-19 Challenges US Rural Health Care Providers
Late one March morning, cell phones across Illinois activated simultaneously through the state’s emergency warning system, buzzing with the urgent text message:“State needs licensed health care workers to sign up at IllinoisHelps.net to fight COVID-19.”The warning came as the number of known coronavirus cases in Illinois soared, many in Chicago and the urban areas surrounding it, while the city’s sprawling McCormick Place convention center along Lake Michigan was transformed into a temporary medical facility to handle the influx of patients.But outside Chicago, the nation’s third-largest city, among vast corn and soybean fields, smaller towns dot rural areas where concerns are growing about the relentless spread of the coronavirus, and physicians are sounding the alarm about what they need to fight it.“I think right now, critically, it’s people … it’s the protective equipment, the masks, and it’s prayers,” said Dr. Stephen Hippler. “We have an undersupply of testing kits, so we don’t always know who has coronavirus and who doesn’t, and we are facing a shortage of personal protective equipment, which really adds to the anxiety of this.”Hippler is a chief clinical officer for OSF HealthCare, owned and operated by the Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis, headquartered in Peoria, Illinois. OSF HealthCare serves patients in small cities and rural markets in Illinois and Michigan through 14 hospitals with a total of 2,192 acute care beds. It also operates 30 urgent care locations.FILE – This sign near Dufur, Oregon, shows distances to the nearest towns, March 20, 2020. Rural residents fear the spread of coronavirus to areas with scarce medical resources.Unimaginable situation“I don’t know how you prepare for something like this, how you envision something like this,” Hippler told VOA. “Our health care system and our hospitals all do planning for disasters, but typically it’s around tornadoes, earthquakes, hurricanes — where an area is affected, but then others can rush in from elsewhere to help. But our planning scenarios have never [imagined a situation] where the entire world is down all at once.”Increasing the number of available working health care professionals and keeping them safe during the outbreak are among the challenges Hippler said rural health care providers face.“I think the challenges really come in around the resources required to stand up to a pandemic like this in IT [information technology], supplies, creating negative pressure rooms, just keeping up with the clinical resources and clinical guidelines,” said Hippler. “I think it’s that infrastructure that health care is built on that rural hospitals will face a challenge with.”“They’re really the sole source of hospital care for that community,” said Pat Schou, executive director of the Illinois Critical Access Hospital Network, or ICAHN, which connects and supports 57 rural medical facilities, many of them independent, throughout the state.Schou, who is also president of the board of the National Rural Health Association, said U.S. Census research shows only about 15 percent of those in the United States live in rural communities, where the population is, on average, older, poorer and has a greater percentage of those with underlying health conditions at higher risk for serious illness and hospitalization if they contract the coronavirus.“Most of these hospitals serve a rural community of around 25,000 people,” Schou said, adding that many rural patients could live a significant distance away from a health care facility.Outpatient services are keyAbout 80 percent of the business that occurs at those facilities are outpatient services, such as therapy, lab services and minor surgeries.Schou said this is the core of the business that generates revenue for many rural hospitals and is dramatically drying up as patients stay home under lockdown.“If you only have 30 to 45 days’ cash on hand, it’s going to be very, very tough,” said Schou, who believes about 25 percent of the hospitals her organization supports could suffer steep financial losses depending on the length of the COVID-19 crisis. “If this is a short-term situation, they may be fine. If it goes longer than three or four months, they are going to have severe financial strain.”The spread of the novel coronavirus globally comes after 19 rural hospital closures in the United States in 2019. The Sheps Center for Health Services Research at the University of North Carolina said that since 2005, the country has lost 170 rural health care facilities, eight of those since January.Schou said the loss of income and increasing financial strain could lead to difficult decisions for rural hospital administrators. “Do they keep all the staff? Do they lay off? What if they do have a surge that comes their way?” she asked, adding, “If we have a threefold surge, we’re going to have a serious problem.”While $100 billion in financial assistance for health care providers is on the way as part of the recently enacted $2.2 trillion federal relief package, Schou said it could take weeks to filter down to rural hospitals that may need funds, support and equipment far sooner.Competing for PPETo make matters worse, rural hospitals are competing with larger medical systems serving urban areas for critical supplies and equipment that is in short supply.“If you are a larger facility and you are treating these COVID patients, already you are a higher priority,” Schou told VOA.OSF HealthCare’s Hippler said the widespread and urgent need for personal protective equipment, or PPE, continues and is complicated by the fact that much of it is supplied in China by manufacturers that suffered disruptions when the coronavirus emerged.“It just happened that the epicenter [in China] was in the area where we get a lot of our PPE products,” he said, but PPE isn’t the only item on the growing list of needs and wants as the crisis drags on.“We all wish we had access to more testing, more reagents, a quicker way to do that,” he said. “This is unlike flu season where it typically sweeps across the country. We’re not yet seeing a lot of that spread as intensely outside of these population centers, but we don’t know yet, it’s still early, and we’re still getting prepared.”
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Governor: New York State Has Enough Ventilators to Last 6 Days
New York’s governor said Thursday that his state has enough ventilators to last about a week, as the number of confirmed coronavirus cases there nears 100,000.“At the current burn rate, we have about six days of ventilators in our stockpile,” Governor Andrew Cuomo told reporters in the state capital, Albany. “Meaning if the rate of usage, the rate of people coming into hospitals who need ventilators, if that rate continues, in our stockpile we have about six days.”He cautioned that if cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, surge within that time frame, or if the anticipated number of cases at the peak exceeds projections or lasts longer, the state could face a shortage of breathing machines.The governor has been working with his team to purchase 30,000 ventilators for his state of 19.5 million people. Half of them would be sent to New York City, which has about 60% of the state’s virus cases. With worldwide demand surging, however, it has been difficult to get the number needed quickly enough.New York has been creative in trying to stretch its current supply of ventilators – allowing them to be refitted to assist two patients simultaneously – as well as converting anesthesia and BiPap machines, which also can push air into patients’ lungs. The state has also canceled all non-emergency surgeries to free up existing ventilators.“So yes, the burn rate of ventilators is troubling and six days of ventilators in the stockpile is troubling,” Cuomo said. “But we have all these extraordinary measures that I believe, if push comes to shove, will put us in fairly good shape.”Medical personnel wearing personal protective equipment remove bodies from the Wyckoff Heights Medical Center, April 2, 2020 in the Brooklyn borough of New York.He said about 350 people per night requiring ventilators are admitted to hospitals in the state. New York has approximately 2,200 ventilators left in its stockpile to be deployed as needed.“Three hundred-fifty people come in every night who need a ventilator, so 2,200 you see, disappears very quickly,” Cuomo said.To date, New York has received 4,400 ventilators from the federal government.COVID-19 deaths hit 432 people n a 24-hour period in the state. In all, at least 2,400 New Yorkers have lost their lives to the respiratory virus.Late Wednesday, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio warned that his hospitals need 400 more ventilators by Sunday for the expected crush of cases to come next week.He said during the week of April 5, the number needed will rise by 2,500 to 3,000 more breathing machines.On a promising note, Cuomo said that while hospitalizations are rising, so are the numbers of people recovering and being released.
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Coronavirus Deals Blow to Newspapers in North Africa
Measures to stem the novel coronavirus pandemic have affected the distribution and publication of newspapers across Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria, according to local media and officials. In Tunisia, seven daily newspapers and 20 weeklies have been suspended from publication by their owners in recent days, the Tunisian Federation of Newspaper Directors (FTDJ) said Thursday. “Several subscriptions are held by government administrations and airlines which are closed and the distribution of newspapers in kiosks has suffered” as a result of a lockdown in place since March 22, FTDJ president Taieb Zahar told AFP. In Morocco, the culture ministry last week called on editors to stop the publication and distribution of newspapers until further notice, according to the official MAP news agency. A ministry spokesman said the decision was aimed at stemming the spread of coronavirus. “A large number of people handle newspapers every day and this helps spread the virus, therefore it is necessary to ban them in order to safeguard the health of citizens,” the spokesman said. A few Algerian newspapers continue to publish, but in limited editions since a partial lockdown was imposed there on March 2, and they can only be found in some kiosks in the capital Algiers. “We have been distributing the newspaper ourselves in some Algiers kiosks,” said Mohamed Taher Messaoudi, a journalist for the French-language daily El Watan. According to him, a ban on transport between provinces means that newspapers published in Algiers cannot reach other parts of the country. Drivers, said Messaoudi, “do not want to make the rounds because of the risks linked to the illness.” Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco have taken a series of measures to contain the spread of COVID-19 since the first cases were detected last month. The COVID-19 disease has killed 83 people in Algeria, according to an official toll, 36 in Morocco and 14 in Tunisia.
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African Artists Raise Coronavirus Awareness Through Songs
Medical authorities say public education will play a key role in stopping the spread of the coronavirus in Africa. VOA’s Salem Solomon has a look at how prominent figures are using music as a tool to reach people
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Andrew Lloyd Webber Shares Musicals Online; Actor Diagnosed With COVID-19
Iconic composer Andrew Lloyd Webber is making some of his filmed musicals available for free on YouTube.
On Friday, the 2000 West End adaption of “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” starring Donny Osmond will be streamable, followed a week later by the rock classic “Jesus Christ Superstar” from the 2012 arena show starring Tim Minchin.
Further shows will be announced later, all hosted by the YouTube channel The Show Must Go On. Each show will be available at 2 p.m. Eastern/11 a.m. Pacific for a 48-hour period online, with no charge or sign up required.
Broadway legend sick with virus
Tony Award-winner Brian Stokes Mitchell has tested positive for COVID-19.
The actor and chairman of the board of The Actors Fund announced the news of his diagnosis in a Twitter video, reassuring fans that he was already beginning to feel better. He says his wife and son don’t have symptoms.
In a statement, The Actors Fund said Mitchell’s diagnosis is an example “of why it is vitally important that we each do everything we can to slow the spread of this virus.”
Mitchell won a Tony for his lead performance in the 1999 musical “Kiss Me, Kate.” Other Broadway figures who have tested positive include Gavin Creel, Aaron Tveit and Laura Bell Bundy as well as composer David Bryan. It has claimed the life of four-time Tony-winning playwright Terrence McNally.
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German FM Warns NATO of ‘Disinformation’ During Coronavirus Crisis
Germany’s foreign minister Thursday warned NATO members against taking advantage of the coronavirus pandemic to spread “disinformation,” “propaganda” and “fake news.”Speaking ahead of a video teleconference of alliance foreign ministers, Heiko Maas said, “There are some who abuse this situation for propaganda purposes” and try to show themselves in a better light.He urged both the European Union and NATO to take counter measures to ensure available information is “fact-based” and not “fake news.”Maas did not name specific nations, but the Reuters news agency, citing a document it had reviewed last month, reports the EU claimed Russian media had launched a significant disinformation campaign against the West to generate panic and sow distrust regarding the governmental responses to the crisis.Reuters reports Moscow denied the allegations.
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Language Barriers Limit Access to Coronavirus News for Some European Migrants
Keeping up to date about the coronavirus can be a problem for migrants who do not speak the language of the country in which they are living. In the Netherlands, a group of volunteers is trying to address the problem with a help desk aimed at recent immigrants.Every afternoon, calls come streaming into the coronavirus help desk, a service in the Netherlands for newcomers who do not speak the national language, Dutch.From two- to four p.m., volunteers answer calls from an immigrant population that hails mostly from Syria and Eritrea. Co-founder Milka Yemane explains that the service fills a gap in the coronavirus prevention campaign.“We got a lot of questions from newcomers, from refugees about the corona crisis, but also about what was the government saying about it?,” asked Yemane . “What do we need to know? Why are the schools closing, et cetera, et cetera. So, we said, it is so important to also offer them this very important information in these times in the languages that they know best.”Seven civil society groups started the service, which is operated entirely by volunteers. Operators at the help desk speak Arabic and Tigrinya, the Eritrean national language. Yemane says they plan to add other languages. Providing information to communities that don’t speak the national language fluently had a catastrophic impact in Sweden. Six of the first 15 coronavirus casualties in Sweden had a Somali background. The Swedish government has now committed to providing coronavirus-related news in 15 languages, including Somali.Catherine Woollard is the director of the European Council on Refugees and Exiles. She underlines the importance of understanding the communities of people with migrant and refugee backgrounds.“It’s very important to assess the needs of different groups and to take then a tailored approach,” said Woollard . “There are those people with a background in migration, who may be disproportionately carrying out work that has become essential, both high-level high skilled clinical work but also low-paid undervalued work, that may be putting them at greater risk.”The coronavirus help desk says that the group of newcomers in the Netherlands adds up to about 100,000 people.Yemane says the support does not stop with just translating the information but that people also need follow-up support.“If you have symptoms you can call your doctor, for instance. But then the next problem sometimes is that they cannot call the doctor because of the language barrier,” said Yemane . “So, then we have like this back office for questions that cannot be answered right away, and also call their doctor for them.”Other European countries, like Belgium, have also announced measures to share coronavirus-related news in additional languages.
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Lassa Fever Epidemic in Nigeria Far Deadlier Than COVID-19
Along with the global coronavirus virus pandemic, Nigeria is also battling a deadly Lassa fever outbreak that so far this year has killed at least 176 people in the country. Doctors say the illness is an annual problem in Africa that deserves more attention. Ifiok Ettang reports from Jos, Nigeria.
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Report: US Hostage Families Seek Better Government Support
Relatives of Americans who are wrongfully imprisoned abroad or held hostage by militant groups say in a report Thursday that the U.S. government must do better in communicating with them, though they cite improvements over the past five years.Several of those interviewed for the report say they do not believe that the cases of their loved ones have the attention of the highest levels of government. In particular, family members of Americans detained by foreign governments on trumped-up charges are less satisfied with the attention and information they receive than are relatives of hostages held by militant or criminal groups.The report from the James W. Foley Legacy Foundation is based on interviews with 25 former hostages and detainees as well as their relatives and advocates. It cites improvements in the government’s response since U.S. officials overhauled the hostage policy five years ago, but says relatives still want more complete and accurate information and clarity about which agency is supposed to help them. Some, for instance, want the government to declassify more information so that it can be more easily shared, or to provide limited security clearances.The report is the latest outside effort to scrutinize how the government interacts with hostages and detainees and their families back home. It examines the changes to hostage policy that were instituted by the Obama administration in 2015 and that largely remain intact under President Donald Trump. Those include the creation of an FBI-led hostage recovery fusion cell and the appointment of a State Department envoy for hostage affairs.The policy revamp followed the beheadings of Westerners, including Foley, a freelance journalist, at the hands of the Islamic State group in Syria. Relatives of hostages demanded changes after they said U.S. officials threatened prosecution if they tried to raise a ransom, kept them out of the loop on rescue attempts and didn’t clearly communicate government policy.Foley’s mother, Diane, established the foundation to raise attention for hostage issues and to advocate for Americans held overseas.The report says the policy improvements have been effective and durable, resulting in better government access for hostage families and more resources. But it also says families of other detainees don’t feel like their cases are prioritized in the same way.The U.S. government distinguishes hostages who are captured by overseas criminal organizations or by militant groups designated as terrorists from detainees who are held by foreign governments, often arbitrarily or on exaggerated or fabricated charges. The distinction matters in terms of which government agency is responsible for the case.Hostage cases are worked by the FBI-led Hostage Recovery Fusion Cell and the State Department through its envoy for hostage affairs. Detainee cases are run through the State Department, largely through its consular affairs office but also its hostage office if the detention is regarded as being for illegitimate purposes.Though the hostage policy overhaul sought to establish lanes of responsibility within the government’s response, several of the report’s participants expressed confusion about which agency was supposed to be their primary point of contact.Many relatives of hostages who were interviewed said they felt they had reliable access to the government, but relatives of detainees did not feel the same, with one family advocate saying they “had to work way too hard to get the State Department’s attention and help.”The State Department did not respond to a request for comment. The FBI had no immediate comment.“There is a notable disparity in the treatment of hostage and wrongful-detainee families by the U.S. government, with the latter receiving less attention, information, and access,” the report said. It said “the U.S. government can do more to support the families of those Americans wrongfully detained abroad.”Several interviewees said they were concerned about having less access to the State Department’s hostage affairs office because of turnover there. Robert O’Brien, the official who used to hold the position, is now Trump’s national security adviser.The Trump administration has made the return of hostages and detainees a priority. Officials have eagerly touted the release of multiple high-profile Americans as validation of those efforts. Danny Burch was freed last year, 18 months after being abducted in Yemen and Kevin King, an American professor, was released by the Taliban in a prisoner exchange last November.Still, other cases remain unresolved or have not had positive outcomes.American journalist Austin Tice remains missing after vanishing in Syria in 2012. Trump recently mentioned Tice by name, saying the government was working to bring him home.Last week, the family of retired FBI agent Robert Levinson, who vanished on an unauthorized CIA mission to Iran 13 years ago, said it had been told that the U.S. government had concluded that he was dead. U.S. officials have not said what evidence led them to make that determination.
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Stuck at Home and Jobless, Americans Confront Growing Costs of Coronavirus
A record 6.6 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week, the U.S. government said on Thursday, after another four states told residents to stay at home in the latest signs of the human and economic cost of the coronavirus. Initial jobless claims rocketed as stay-at-home orders to stop the spread of the pandemic — now affecting more than 80 percent of Americans in 39 states — have forced large and small businesses to curtail output or shut altogether. Florida, Georgia, Mississippi and Nevada told residents to stay home on Wednesday, when the death toll soared by 925 to more than 4,800 nationwide.
Confirmed U.S. cases climbed to 214,000, nearly double that of Italy, with the second most. Emergency medical personnel carries a patient affected with coronavirus from a military hospital to an ambulance in Mulhouse, eastern France.Globally, the number of confirmed infections approached 1 million with nearly 47,000 fatalities, led by Italy with over 13,000 dead. More gloomy news came on Thursday when the Labor Department reported a whopping 6.6 million people filed for jobless claims in the past week, double the previous record set a week ago. “It takes your breath away,” said Justin Hoogendoorn, head of fixed income strategy and analytics at Piper Sandler in Chicago. “Obviously the immediate reaction to something like that is going to be fear, especially when [jobless claims] were just about double what economists were even predicting, thinking dire scenarios.” The fresh evidence of the pandemic’s impact on the economy follows a growing consensus by health experts that the respiratory illness could kill 100,000 to 240,000 people even if lockdown orders remain in place and Americans abide by them. To deal with the mounting number of fatalities, the U.S. Defense Department is looking to provide up to 100,000 body bags after the Federal Emergency Management Agency placed an order for that many, a Pentagon official told Reuters on Wednesday. Social distancing the key The outbreak would get worse and social distancing was the only way to contain it, said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases. “We just have to do it,” Fauci told NBC’s Today show on Thursday. “That is our major weapon against this virus right now. We don’t have a vaccine that’s deployable. This is the only thing we have.” Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, speaks about the coronavirus in the James Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House, March 31, 2020, in Washington.He called on U.S. states to review the exemptions they have granted to their stay-at-home orders when he was asked whether businesses such as hair salons and florists should remain open. “I urge the people at the leadership at the state level to really take a closer look at those kinds of decisions,” Fauci said. An emergency stockpile of medical equipment maintained by the U.S. government has nearly run out of protective gear for doctors and nurses. New York City, the epicenter of the U.S. outbreak, has appointed former police commissioner James O’Neill to oversee the city’s medical supply chain. “We’re going to have to do our best to get the equipment to keep … the healthcare workers safe,” O’Neill told CNN, adding that it was too soon for him to know where the bottleneck was in the supply chain. “Our goal here is to save as many lives as possible,” O’Neill said. “And I can’t tell you definitely right now how we’re going to do that.”
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UN Seeks $21 Million for Food Security in Zimbabwe amid Lockdown
The United Nations says it needs $21 million to ease food insecurity in Zimbabwe as the country deals with measures imposed to stop the spread of the coronavirus. The government says it is going to release funds to help people most affected by the COVID-19 lockdown, such as the old and the unemployed.In a recent analysis, United Nations experts said 45 percent of Zimbabwe’s rural population is either in “crisis” or “emergency” mode in terms of food security. The analysis said the situation is likely to worsen with the coronavirus pandemic. The World Food Program is stepping in to try to ease the impact.Via Whatsapp, Claire Nevill, the WFP spokeswoman in Zimbabwe, said the U.N. agency has increased the number of food distribution points to limit overcrowding and distributed protective clothing, among other hygienic measures, to curb the spread of the disease.But Nevill said the WFP needs more funding. “In order to provide food assistance to almost four million vulnerable Zimbabweans, in the context of these new health and safety measures, WPF requires an additional $21 million for the next six months. This funding shortfall is on top of an existing gap of $130 million faced by WFP Zimbabwe for the next six months. Our assessments show that the harvest will be much later this year. Until then this food assistance is critical to save millions across the country,” she said.A vendor carries fresh produce as police officers disperse people from a vegetable market in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, March 31, 2020, on the second day of a lockdown to curb the spread of the coronavirus.On Wednesday, Zimbabwe Minister for Social Welfare Paul Mavima said, while the WFP will mainly feed the rural population, the government will give cash to vulnerable people in urban areas affected by the 21-day lockdown, which started Monday.“We have new vulnerables as a result of loss of income. The new cash transfers are for urban areas. We are estimating that initially we may be getting a million in these urban areas. But we will review as we go along,” he said.Since the start of the lockdown, vendors have been asking for the Zimbabwean government to compensate for lost revenue. Thirty-eight-year-old Patience Rugare, who usually runs a stall selling second-hand clothes in Harare, said she needs immediate assistance. Rugare said that when this lockdown started, she had no food in stock as she lives hand to mouth. We are going to die of hunger as we are just seated at home. I wish they would assist us with cash so that we can survive.The United Nations says Zimbabwe’s food insecurity is caused by a combination of recurring droughts and a moribund economy. Fortunately, the country has seen only one death from coronavirus so far, and only eight confirmed cases of the virus overall.
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US Delivers 128 Anti-Tank Javelin Missiles to Estonia
The United States says it has delivered 128 anti-tank Javelin missiles to Estonia as part of a larger contract with the Baltic NATO member and the U.S. Department of Defense.
The U.S. Embassy in Tallinn said in a statement on Thursday that “the shipment will continue to build upon Estonia’s defensive capabilities and further strengthens our nations’ strategic integration” within NATO, of which Estonia has been a member since 2004.
Washington has provided Estonia, a staunch military ally, with over $100 million in joint defense cooperation over the past few years, the U.S. Embassy said.
The FGM-148 Javelin is an infrared-guided anti-tank missile that can be carried and launched by a single person. It is manufactured by a joint venture between Raytheon Company and Lockheed Martin Corp.
In December, the Estonian defense ministry said the United States has allocated $175 million in military aid to the Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania for 2020.
The three countries are all NATO members and all of them border Russia.
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Nigeria Announces ‘Massive’ Joint Offensive on Jihadists
Nigeria on Thursday said it had launched a “massive” joint offensive with troops from Chad and Niger against jihadists waging a decade-long insurgency in the region. FILE – Chadian soldiers drive through the streets of Gambaru, Nigeria, Feb. 4, 2015.The announcement comes after Chad’s defense minister said Tuesday his country had deployed forces across its neighbors’ borders to battle insurgents who killed almost 100 Chadian soldiers last month. Nigeria’s military said attacks by fighters from Boko Haram and a splinter group affiliated to the so-called Islamic State group had “necessitated the contiguous nations of the Lake Chad basin to jointly launch this massive onslaught.” Details about the operation were sketchy. Nigeria has made repeated claims in the past to have rolled back the insurgents. The 10-year revolt has left at least 36,000 dead and displaced around 1.8 million people in northeast Nigeria alone. The conflict has spilt over into neighboring countries as the Islamists have established camps and launched attacks against military and civilian targets. The countries around Lake Chad have set up a multinational force to counter the jihadists but it has so far failed to end the bloodshed. The militants on March 23 killed at least 98 Chadian soldiers in an attack on an island army base in Lake Chad. Chadian President Idriss Deby Itno declared the surrounding area a “war zone” as he pledged a “lightning response” to the killings. Chad earlier withdrew some 1,200 troops from Nigeria in January after a months-long mission battling the jihadists.
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WHO: Over 95% Who Died in Europe Were Over 60
The head of the World Health Organization’s office in Europe says figures show that more than 95% of people who have died of coronavirus on the continent have been aged over 60. But Dr. Hans Kluge said age is not the only risk factor for severe disease, adding: “The very notion that COVID-19 only affects older people is factually wrong.” In an online news conference Thursday in Copenhagen, Kluge said “young people are not invincible” — echoing similar recent comments from WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. The U.N. health agency says 10% to 15% of people under 50 with the disease have moderate or severe infection. “Severe cases of the disease have been seen in people in their teens or 20s with many requiring intensive care and some unfortunately passing away,” Kluge said. He said recent statistics showed 30,098 people have been reported to have died in Europe, mostly in Italy, France and Spain. “We know that over 95 percent of these deaths occurred in those older than 60 years,” he said, with more than half aged over 80. Kluge said more than four in five of those people had at least one other chronic underlying conditions, like cardiovascular disease, hypertension or diabetes. “On a positive note, there are reports of people over the age of 100 who were admitted to hospital for COVID-19 and have now — since — made a complete recovery,” he said.
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North Korea’s Virus-Free Claim ‘Impossible,’ Top US General Says
The top U.S. general in South Korea said he does not accept North Korea’s claim that it has no coronavirus cases.“I can tell you that is an impossible claim based on all of the intel that we have seen,” General Robert Abrams told VOA and the U.S.-based cable news network CNN in a wide-ranging joint interview Thursday.North Korea has repeatedly insisted it remains virus-free, even as the disease ravages countries around the world.”We’re not going to reveal our sources and methods. (But) that is untrue. How many, I couldn’t tell you,” Abrams said.North Korea closed its borders in late January, just after the coronavirus emerged in neighboring China. But completely sealing the border with China would be almost impossible, since North Korea’s economy relies on both formal and informal trade with China.Abrams said North Korea’s military was also “locked down” for about 30 days in February and early March. “They took draconian measures at their border crossings and inside their formations to do exactly what everybody else is doing, which is to stop the spread,” he said.A couple takes a selfie near cherry blossom trees on a street closed to avoid the spread of the coronavirus disease in Seoul, South Korea, April 1, 2020.A major outbreak could lead to a humanitarian disaster in North Korea, which lacks proper medical supplies and infrastructure.North Korea itself has called coronavirus prevention a matter of “national survival” and implemented strict quarantine measures. Its state media have portrayed the efforts as one hundred percent successful and instead highlight sprawling death tolls in other countries.With the world’s focus on the coronavirus, North Korea also has been testing an unprecedented number of missiles. Last month, the country test-fired eight short-range ballistic missiles, a record high for the country.“All they do is cause increased tension,” Abrams said of the tests, which he said were part of a four- or five-year plan by North Korea to develop solid fuel missile capability with increased accuracy. “If they perfect it, then bringing these types of systems online into a fully operational, capable status only serves to increase the threat to the Republic of Korea and other countries around the region.”North Korea is banned from any ballistic missile activity under United Nations Security Council resolutions. But U.S. President Donald Trump says he is not concerned about North Korea’s short-range tests.
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