Beijing’s parks and museums including the ancient Forbidden City reopened to the public Friday after being closed for months by the coronavirus pandemic.
The Forbidden City, past home to China’s emperors, is allowing just 5,000 visitors daily, down from 80,000. And parks are allowing people to visit at 30% of the usual capacity.
One Beijing resident said this visit felt different than others, when the Forbidden City was more crowded. “When walking in some areas without others around I felt like getting back to the history,” Bian Jiang said.
Large-scale group activities remain on hold and visitors must book tickets in advance online, according to Gao Dawei, deputy director of the Beijing Gardening and Greening Bureau.
Photos on social media showed visitors to the Forbidden City wearing face masks and being escorted by police along designated routes.
Beijing on Thursday downgraded its level of emergency response to the virus from first to second tier, but temperature checks and social distancing remain in force.
The change comes at the start of the five-day May 1 holiday and in advance of China’s rescheduled gathering of the National People’s Congress on May 22.
The sessions were delayed from early March. The two-week annual meetings are largely ceremonial, with the legislature rubber-stamping decisions reached earlier by Communist Party leaders, but in typical years they are a colorful spectacle in the nation’s capital. It’s not yet clear if the 3,000 or so delegates would come to Beijing, or if sessions would be held virtually through videoconference.
China on Friday reported 12 new cases of the virus, six of them brought from overseas, and no new deaths for the 16th day. It has reported a total of 4,633 deaths from the virus among about 83,000 cases, mostly in the central city of Wuhan.
Most recent cases reported in China have been among travelers arriving from abroad or in a northeastern province near the border with Russia.
Across the country, 599 patients remain under treatment for the virus. Just under 1,000 people are under medical observation because they tested positive but don’t show symptoms or have symptoms but testing hasn’t confirmed the infection.
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Month: May 2020
South Africans Walk Outside as Country Eases Virus Lockdown
A festive atmosphere has enlivened South Africa’s streets as the country marks the Workers’ Day public holiday and also has begun easing its strict lockdown conditions.
From Johannesburg to Cape Town and other areas across the country thousands of people, most with mandated face masks and keeping some distance, promenaded outside. For the first time in five weeks, people were permitted to leave their homes for exercise between 6 a.m. and 9 a.m. The regulations impose a night curfew prohibiting movement of most residents from 8 p.m. until 5 a.m.
South Africa has reported the most cases of COVID-19 in Africa with more than 5,600 confirmed and 83 deaths.
As South Africa eased down one notch to Level 4 restrictions, many people will be able to return to work in small batches and many businesses will resume limited operations. Many mines, factories and agricultural businesses can resume operations in phases, starting with only a third of employees allowed to return to work to be sure that they maintain safe conditions.
Public transport, including trains and buses, will begin operating with restricted numbers of passengers. Personal cars are restricted to three people per vehicle.
Even with the easing, South Africa’s lockdown remains strict, with no sales of liquor and cigarettes permitted, which some have criticized as puritanical. However health officials warn that smoking might exacerbate respiratory problems experienced with COVID-19. The ban on sales of alcohol has reduced brawls and traffic accidents, according to police.
Ordinarily South Africa marks Workers’ Day with rallies by trade unions and political parties, but these are not possible because of the lockdown regulations.
“We want to take this opportunity to pay special dedication to our frontline health workers who are confronting this virus on daily basis in this difficult time,” said Jacob Khawe, secretary in Gauteng province of the ruling party, the African National Congress.
According to officials, schools should reopen in phases starting June 1 with the first batch being Grade 7 and Grade 12 pupils, the oldest classes in primary and secondary schools, respectively. But teachers’ unions have protested, saying schools should not be reopened until safe conditions can be assured.
There is still no date as to when higher education institution will open, with the sector increasingly looking towards online learning.
The country has been on a nationwide lockdown since March 27, halting most economic activities in the country as it sought to limit people’s movements to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
Minibus taxis and buses will be allowed to operate at 70% capacity for extended hours until 8 p.m., with all passengers required to wear masks and the vehicles required to be sanitized after every load.
Masks and social distancing will be required in trains, which were completely halted during the first lockdown.
Restaurants and fast food outlets, which have been closed throughout the first five weeks of the lockdown, will only be allowed to sell takeaways by delivery.
Many restrictions remain in place, however, including the ban on domestic and international travel.
South Africa will only reduce restrictions by moving to Level 3 when it achieves target rates of infection, said Health minister Zweli Mkhize without specifying the rates.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has emphasized that his government is balancing the need to curb the spread of the virus with pressure to minimize economic hardships, especially to South Africa’s most vulnerable poor.
Ramaphosa has rolled out a $26 billion socio-economic relief package for the country.
Community screening and testing is increasing. Community health workers have already screened more than 3.6 million people and conducted more than 200,000 tests. Officials say they will be on the lookout for hot spot areas of high concentrations of cases where they will target isolation measures.
South Africa’s Western Cape province, which includes the city of Cape Town, has the highest number of cases with more than 2,340.
The economic hub of Gauteng province, which includes the largest city, Johannesburg, has more than 1,440 cases.
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US-Led Mission in Afghanistan Accused of Withholding Key Security Data
Assessing the security situation in Afghanistan is getting increasingly difficult now that Western military officials have started withholding some data on militant attacks across the country, according to a key U.S. government watchdog.The warning from the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, also known as SIGAR, comes as hopes for an end to decades of war appear to be fading following February’s agreement between the United States and the Taliban, due to political infighting in Kabul and a steady increase in Taliban-initiated violence since the deal was signed.Only according to SIGAR, the full extent of the Taliban’s offensive remains something of a mystery because coalition forces monitoring the violence are keeping the intelligence to themselves.“NATO Resolute Support (RS) restricted from public release data on the number of enemy-initiated attacks (EIA) that took place this quarter,” Inspector General John Sopko wrote in the quarterly report issued Friday.“This EIA data was one of the last remaining metrics SIGAR was able to use to report publicly on the security situation in Afghanistan,” he added, noting it was the first time the NATO-led mission had refused to provide the figures since 2018.NATO officials defended their decision, telling SIGAR data on enemy-initiated attacks “are now a critical part of deliberative interagency discussions regarding ongoing political negotiations between the U.S. and the Taliban.”Afghans clear glass from a broken window of a house after a suicide bomb attack on the southern outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan, April 29, 2020.However, they also said that while the Taliban generally refrained from attacking coalition forces after signing the agreement with the U.S. in late February, “they increased attacks against ANDSF [Afghan National Defense and Security Forces] to levels above seasonal norms” during March.The last available data for enemy attacks, covering the last three months of 2019, before the U.S.-Taliban deal was signed, showed enemy attacks trending significantly higher.“Both overall enemy-initiated attacks and effective enemy-initiated attacks [resulting in casualties] during the fourth quarter of 2019 exceeded same-period levels in every year since recording began in 2010,” SIGAR’s January report said.This is not the first time SIGAR has criticized the U.S.-led mission in Afghanistan for hiding or manipulating data.SIGAR also chastised U.S. defense officials in May 2019 after Resolute Support Afghan special forces stand guard near the site of a suicide bomber attack on the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan, April 29, 2020.”We have incentivized lying to Congress,” SIGAR’s John Sopko told lawmakers this past January. “The whole incentive is to show success and to ignore the failure. And when there’s too much failure, classify it or don’t report it.”For now, the security situation remains murky.Officials with the U.S.-led Resolute Support mission told SIGAR the Afghan government maintains control of Kabul, provincial capitals, major population centers and most district centers but that Taliban forces are vying for control in some areas even while reducing attacks against Afghan forces in provincial capitals.But Afghan officials have accused the Taliban of killing more than 100 Afghan security forces, while also killing or wounding up to 800 civilians, since signing the February peace-building deal with the U.S.And while both U.S. officials and the United Nations found overall civilian casualties decreased during the first three months of 2020, the United Nations said civilian deaths due to anti-government forces, mainly the Taliban, rose by 22 percent, including the deaths of 150 children.Late last month, the Taliban also rejected calls for a cease-fire for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.There is also growing uncertainty about the impact the coronavirus pandemic will have on Afghanistan.So far, the government has reported just under 2,200 confirmed cases and 64 deaths, but the SIGAR report warns the worst is yet to come.“Afghanistan’s numerous unique vulnerabilities — a weak health care system, widespread malnutrition, porous borders, massive internal displacement, proximity to Iran (where the disease has spread widely), and ongoing conflict — raise the possibility of significant social and economic disruption in the coming months,” it said.Afghanistan & Pakistan Bureau Chief Ayesha Tanzeem contributed to this story.
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Yes, Really: Japan Aquarium Seeks Folks to FaceTime With Eels
A Japanese aquarium closed during the coronavirus outbreak is asking people to make video calls to their eels, so the sensitive creatures remember humans exist and don’t pose a threat.The Sumida Aquarium, housed in the landmark Tokyo Skytree tower, has been closed since the start of March and its animals have become used to a largely human-free environment during the two-month calm.But the aquarium said the “unprecedented situation” was having some unexpected downsides.”Creatures in the aquarium don’t see humans except keepers and they have started forgetting about humans,” it said on its Twitter account this week.”Garden eels in particular disappear into the sand and hide every time the keepers pass by,” it noted. That is causing difficulties for keepers trying to check on the health of the animals.”Let us make an emergency plea,” the aquarium wrote.”Could you show your face to our garden eels from your home?” it requested, calling the event a “face-showing festival.”Garden eels are very sensitive and wary by nature, but 300 of them living in a tank at the aquarium had become used to humans and rarely hid in the sand when approached by visitors.In a bid to reacquaint the eels with humans, the aquarium is setting up five tablets facing the tank housing the delicate creatures, with eel enthusiasts asked to connect through iPhones or iPads via the FaceTime app.Once the video calls start, people are supposed to show their faces, wave and talk to the eels. But given the tender nature of the animals, callers are asked not to shout.The “face-showing festival” is scheduled for Sunday through Tuesday, at the height of Japan’s Golden Week holiday period, when many people usually travel. This Golden Week however, people have been asked to stay at home while the country remains under a state of emergency over the coronavirus.The aquarium’s plea has attracted plenty of support, under the Japanese hashtag #PleaseRememberHumans.”‘When you gaze at the garden eels, the garden eels gaze at you.’ Understood. I’m happy to take part,” one Twitter user wrote.”They need training to learn humans are not a threat!” another wrote. “Interesting.”And among those eager to take part were many calling on the aquarium to offer access via another app, so that those using PCs and phones with Android operating systems could also take part.”I never regretted my Android phone this much before,” one wrote.
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Space Wrap: Dockings, Deliveries, and a Milestone Birthday
The International Space Station received several tons of supplies this week from an unmanned craft, but the big story this week is a milestone birthday for the ultimate eye in the sky, as the Hubble Telescope turned 30. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi spoke with NASA’s director of astrophysics and brings us this story.
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US Not Extending Federal Social Distancing Guidelines
U.S. President Donald Trump did not extend federal coronavirus social distancing guidelines that expired on Thursday and expressed optimism that states can relax restrictions and reopen their economies at their own pace. Still some public health experts are concerned about potential consequences. White House Correspondent Patsy Widakuswara has the story.
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