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newstfionline · 4 years

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Protests, police and the use of force (NYT) Demonstrations continued across the United States on Sunday amid growing concern that aggressive law enforcement tactics intended to impose order were instead inflaming tensions. Videos showed police officers in recent nights using batons, tear gas, pepper spray and rubber bullets on protesters, bystanders and journalists, often without warning or seemingly unprovoked. The footage, which has been shared widely online, highlighted the very complaints over police behavior that have drawn protests in at least 75 cities across the United States. In Salt Lake City, officers in riot gear shoved a man with a cane to the ground. In Brooklyn, two police S.U.V.s plowed into a crowd of protesters. In Atlanta, police officers enforcing a curfew stopped two college students in a car, fired Tasers on them and dragged them out of the vehicle. And in Minneapolis, where there have been six consecutive nights of protests and clashes, a video appeared to show officers yelling at people on their porches to get inside and then firing paint canisters at them. “Light them up,” one officer said.

Deadly police raid fuels call to end ‘no knock’ warrants (AP) It’s the stuff of nightmares: Breonna Taylor and her boyfriend were in bed when a trio of armed men smashed through the front door. Gunfire erupted, killing the 26-year-old black woman. The three men turned out to be plainclothes police detectives, one of whom was wounded in the chaos and violence that March night. Taylor’s death led to protests and a review of how Louisville police use “no knock” search warrants, which allow officers to enter a home without announcing their presence, often in drug cases to prevent suspects from getting rid of a stash. Taylor’s name is one of those being chanted during nationwide protests decrying police killings of black people.

SpaceX capsule docks at ISS carrying US astronauts (WSJ) Elon Musk’s SpaceX on Sunday successfully docked a company-owned capsule carrying a pair of NASA astronauts with the International Space Station, capping a weekend of notable accomplishments that opened a new chapter in commercial space endeavors. Nineteen hours after a Falcon 9 rocket lifted off Saturday from Florida on a historic voyage featuring the first-ever private spacecraft to attain orbit with people on board, astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken made more history. They monitored the stately, automated rendezvous of their Crew Dragon capsule with the orbiting international laboratory 250 miles above earth, linking up at 10:16 a.m. ET to mark a new industry-government partnership aimed at revitalizing U.S. space ambitions.

Ambassadorships to the highest bidder (Foreign Policy) The United States is quite unique among major democracies in its custom of giving coveted ambassadorships to the highest bidder. Although it’s a bipartisan practice, the Trump administration has set a new record in the proportion of ambassadorial roles going to donors over career diplomats. Roughly 44 percent of Trump administration ambassadors have come from political appointments, versus the historical average of 30 percent, according to the American Foreign Service Association. Under U.S. law, career diplomats must outnumber political appointees in ambassadorial roles. That balance is under threat, with 57 percent of ambassador nominations this year going to political appointees.

The pandemic is making people reconsider city living, trading traffic for chickens (Washington Post) For 49 years, Jinky Demarest de Rivera has lived and thrived in dense, vibrant cities. The nonprofit finance director grew up in Manhattan and for the past 16 years has made a home in Oakland, where they live with their wife, Sara Demarest de Rivera, and dog, Onyx. Now the family is packing everything up for a large house in New York’s rural Hudson River Valley with enough room for chickens. Two months of sheltering in place in their rented two-bedroom apartment gave the pair some unexpected clarity about what was important to them. And new policies letting them work remotely indefinitely at their respective jobs gave them an opportunity to do something about it. They wanted to be closer to their aging parents on the East Coast, and saw no hope of ever owning in one of the most expensive real estate markets in the country. They aren’t the only ones making a big move. After months of forced stillness, unable to make many major decisions or follow through on some already planned, people are jumping into one of the biggest life changes there is and moving out of cities. For some, it’s a chance to be closer to family, which feels more urgent in the midst of a global health scare. For a large swath of people in the country’s most expensive cities, it’s a way to get more living space and be closer to nature, something increasingly made possible by the growing trend of remote work. And for many others it’s not really a decision at all, but a necessity in the face of growing job losses and still sky-high rents.

US declares a vaccine war on the world (Asia Times) “The United States and the UK were the only two holdouts in the World Health Assembly from the declaration that vaccines and medicines for Covid-19 should be available as public goods, and not under exclusive patent rights. The United States explicitly dissociated itself from the call for a patent pool, talking instead of ‘the critical role that intellectual property plays”—in other words, patents for vaccines and medicines.

Tropical storm kills 17 in El Salvador and Guatemala (AP) Rains from Tropical Storm Amanda left at least 17 dead and seven missing while causing extensive damage across El Salvador and Guatemala that pushed thousands of people into shelters amid the coronavirus pandemic. EL Salvador Interior Minister Mario Durán said Monday some 7,000 people were scattered across 154 shelters. He said a quarter of the rain that the country normally receives in a year fell in 70 hours. That set off landslides and flooding, especially in the western part of the country. Amanda pounded El Salvador with rain for days before moving ashore as a tropical storm on Sunday and pushing across Guatemala.

Nicaragua Becomes a Place of Midnight Burials (NYT) Just hours after Yamil Acevedo died in a hospital, funeral home workers in hazardous materials suits strapped his coffin to the back of a pickup truck, drove it to a cemetery and buried him in the dark of night. Across Nicaragua, families are being forced to hold these “express burials,” rushed funerals at all hours of the night, without time to call a priest or to buy flowers. The services are happening so fast, and in such a haphazard fashion, that relatives worry terrible mistakes are being made. “The doctor said, ‘If you can bury him as soon as possible, do it,’” said Amani Acevedo, Mr. Acevedo’s daughter. “I don’t know that the person in that coffin was even him.” The signs are everywhere that the coronavirus is raging across Nicaragua. But the Nicaraguan government insists it has the virus firmly under control, with the lowest Covid-19 death toll in Central America.

Grand Bazaar, cafes open and flights resume as Turkey eases up (Reuters) Flights and car travel resumed between Turkey’s big cities on Monday while cafes, restaurants and Istanbul’s Grand Bazaar reopened in the country’s biggest step to ease restrictions taken to contain the coronavirus pandemic. Traffic levels jumped in the commercial hub of Istanbul, with many Turks returning to work as the government sought to revive an economy hit hard by the pandemic. Employees of government offices and public facilities joined the many factory workers who restarted last month.

China and India Brawl at 14,000 Feet Along the Border (NYT) High in the Himalayas, an enormous fistfight erupted in early May between the soldiers of China and India. Brawls at 14,000 feet along their inhospitable and disputed frontier are not terribly unusual, but what happened next was. A few days later, Chinese troops confronted Indian soldiers again, this time at several other remote border points in the Himalayas, some more than 1,000 miles apart. Since then both armies have rushed in thousands of reinforcements. Indian analysts say that China has beefed up its forces with dump trucks, excavators, troop carriers, artillery and armored vehicles and that China is now occupying Indian territory. No shots have been fired, as the de facto border code dictates, but the soldiers have fought fiercely with rocks, wooden clubs and their hands in a handful of clashes. In one melee at the glacial lake Pangong Tso, several Indian troops were hurt badly enough that they had to be evacuated by helicopter, and Indian analysts said Chinese troops were injured as well. Nobody thinks China and India are about to go to war. But the escalating buildup has turned into their most serious confrontation since 2017 and may be a sign of more trouble to come as the world’s two most populous countries increasingly bump up against each other in one of the bleakest and most remote borderlands on earth.

In China, U.S. protests a hot topic on state, social media (Reuters) Chinese state media is giving extensive coverage to violent protests roiling cities across the United States, while the unrest has also featured widely in Chinese social media. CCTV featured reports from one of its reporters running with protesters in Minnesota, as well as short videos shot by Americans depicting police violence against protesters. On China’s social media platform Weibo, at least five news items on the protests were among the top 20 trending topics by midday, led by reports Trump had been temporarily taken to a bunker as protesters surrounded the White House. “The number one thing they want to show is that the Communist Party is doing a better job in terms of fighting the coronavirus and managing society,” said Alfred Wu, associate professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore. “That’s the main message: the U.S. is not doing good.”

Gantz apologizes for the killing of Palestinian man (Foreign Policy) Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz has apologized after Israeli security forces shot and killed Iyad Halak, a Palestinian who was autistic, in Jerusalem’s Old City on Saturday. “We are really sorry about the incident in which Iyad Halak was shot to death and we share in the family’s grief,” Gantz said. Israeli police said they opened fire after they saw a suspect with a “suspicious object” who didn’t stop when ordered to. Police later confirmed that they found no weapon. Palestinian officials denounced the killing as a “war crime” and an “execution.” The killing led to demonstrations over the weekend in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, with some participants holding signs tying the killing to that of George Floyd in the United States.

#headlines #news

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expatimes · 3 years

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Turkey tightens COVID restrictions after surge in infections

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has announced stricter restrictions to curb the spread of the coronavirus in the face of a rise in infections a month after measures were relaxed.

Out of the country’s 81 provinces, 58 are now in the “red” or “very high-risk” zone, including the cultural and economic hub of Istanbul and the national capital, Ankara.

Some 80 percent of Turkey’s 84 million people live in these areas, Erdoğan said after a cabinet meeting on Monday.

Communal meals during the holy month of Ramadan observed by Muslims have been prohibited, as was the case last year.

Mass gatherings in tents and other places for the pre-dawn and after-dusk meals will not be allowed, the president said.

The health ministry’s risk assessment is divided into four, colour-coded categories: blue for low risk, yellow for medium risk, orange for high risk and red for very high risk.

Weekend curfews will be imposed in the “red” areas, which had reverted to Sunday-only lockdowns on March 1.

Daily overnight curfews, from 9pm to 5am, will stay in place.

Restaurants and cafes across the country will be allowed to stay open at 50-percent capacity.

Turkey has recently reported an average of 30,000 new infections each day.

On Monday, the health ministry reported some 32,400 infections, bringing the total number of cases in the country to more than 3.2 million since last March. The death toll, meanwhile, stands at more than 31,000.

A nationwide inoculation campaign using China’s Sinovac vaccine began on January 14. More than 15 million doses have been administered since.

Read full article: https://expatimes.com/?p=19604&feed_id=39949

#Coronaviruspandemic #COVID #Health #infections #MiddleEast #News #restrictions #surge #tightens #Turkey

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techcrunchappcom · 3 years

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New Post has been published on https://techcrunchapp.com/the-latest-virus-hospitalizations-hit-record-in-california-us-world-news/

The Latest: Virus hospitalizations hit record in California | Us World News

LOS ANGELES — More than 7,400 people are hospitalized for coronavirus in California, the state’s highest number yet.

The state reported 7,415 coronavirus hospitalizations on Sunday, citing the most recently available data from the previous day. More than 1,700 of those patients were in intensive care units. California’s previous record was 7,170 in July.

As of Sunday, California has had nearly 1.2 million confirmed coronavirus cases and more than 19,000 deaths since the pandemic began. The state reported around 15,600 new cases on Saturday.

Counties statewide are preparing for stricter COVID-19 restrictions that will take effect Monday amid surging cases and Thanksgiving travel. Health officials are preparing for a wave of cases in the next two or three weeks that could be tied to holiday gatherings.

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HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE VIRUS OUTBREAK:

—Fauci: US may see ‘surge upon surge’ of virus in coming weeks

—U.K. stocks up on vaccines, hopes to start virus shots within days

—NYC to reopen schools, even as virus spread intensifies

— Federal judges uphold Kentucky governor’s virus school order

—When Turkey changed the way it reports COVID-19 infections, it confirmed what many long suspected: The country faces an alarming surge of cases

—The European plazas where people gather at Christmas are new just empty squares due to the pandemic.

———

Follow AP’s coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak

———

HERE’S WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING:

LOS ANGELES — Counties across California will begin stricter COVID-19 restrictions on Monday as cases surge statewide and Thanksgiving travelers return home.

Health officials are preparing for a wave of cases in the next two or three weeks that could be tied to holiday gatherings.

Los Angeles County will impose a lockdown calling for its 10 million residents to stay home beginning Monday.

Santa Clara County is banning all high school, collegiate and professional sports and imposing a quarantine for those traveling into the region from more than 150 miles away.

San Francisco and San Mateo counties moved to the most restrictive purple tier in the state’s pandemic blueprint for the economy.

———

CHICAGO — Public health officials in Illinois on Sunday reported 57 more deaths from COVID-19, as well as 7,178 new confirmed and probable cases.

There have been 720,114 COVID-19 cases in Illinois since the pandemic began. The death toll has reached 12,193 people.

The state reported 62,740 tests in the past 24 hours with more than 10.4 million tests overall.

Currently, 5,858 people in Illinois are being hospitalized for COVID-19, with 1,185 people in intensive care units.

———

NEW YORK — New York City will reopen its school system to in-person learning and increase the number of days a week many children attend class even as the coronavirus pandemic intensifies in the city.

Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Sunday that some elementary schools and pre-kindergarten programs will resume classes Dec. 7. Others will take longer to reopen their doors. The announcement marks a major policy reversal for the nation’s largest school system.

It comes just 11 days after de Blasio announced that schools were shutting down because of a rising number of cases. The plan for reopening middle and high schools is still being developed.

Some elementary schools and pre-kindergarten programs will resume classes Dec. 7, a week from Monday, the mayor said. Others will take longer to reopen their doors.

———

INDIANAPOLIS: Public health officials in Indiana say 24 more people have died from the new coronavirus for a total of 5,418 deaths in the state.

The Indiana Department of Health reported 4,335 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Sunday. The overall number of cases in the state is 333,312.

Public health officials say there are another 267 people who likely died from COVID-19 based on clinical diagnoses but for whom there’s no positive test on record.

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BEIRUT — The recorded coronavirus death toll in Lebanon has topped 1,000, just as the small Mediterranean country of about 6 million plans to ease a two-week nationwide lockdown.

Lebanon’s Health Ministry reported 13 new deaths on Sunday, raising the toll to 1,004. An additional 1,266 new infections have brought registered infections to 126,903 since February.

Health Minister Hassan Hamad said the government plans to ease a two-week lockdown that ends Monday. Hamad said the lockdown has given the battered health sector some breathing room, allowing the government to expand ICU capacity in the country.

The lockdown included a curfew from sunset to sunrise.

Lebanon is facing a crippling financial and economic crisis which had preceded the coronavirus restrictions and was only deepened by a massive explosion in Beirut’s port. The damage from the blast has further strained limited resources, particularly in the health sector.

———

ISTANBUL— Turkey’s COVID-19 fatalities continued to rise Sunday, hitting another record with 185 new deaths.

The death toll has reached 13,558, according to health ministry statistics. The number of critically ill patients has climbed over 5,000.

The ministry said 29,281 people had tested positive in the past 24 hours. The Turkish government resumed reporting all positive cases this week after only reporting symptomatic patients for four months.

Nighttime curfews over the weekend are in effect for a second week across the country but media reports show packed public spaces during the day.

———

ATHENS, Greece — Greek authorities announced 1,193 new coronavirus cases Sunday, a significantly lower daily figure than recently.

The total number of cases since the pandemic began is 104,227.

There were also 98 deaths over the past day, pushing the total number of fatalities to 2,321.

Despite the drop, the public health system remained close to capacity, as far as the number of specialized intensive care units go. There are 603 patients on ventilators, authorities said.

In the northern city of Thessaloniki, where most of the new cases have occurred recently, patients are now being transferred to private clinics requisitioned for the purpose. The first transfers took place Sunday.

———

BERLIN — Austria’s defense minister has tested positive for the new coronavirus, becoming the second member of the country’s Cabinet to be infected.

The Austria Press Agency reported that her ministry said Sunday Defense Minister Klaudia Tanner is doing well and will work from home. She had already been in quarantine for 10 days because she had been in contact with another person who tested positive.

Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg tested positive for the virus in mid-October and returned to his ministry later that month after showing no symptoms.

Austria on Nov. 17 deepened lockdown measures in an effort to slow the spread of the virus. They are due to run though Dec. 6.

Infection rates have declined in the Alpine country, but Chancellor Sebastian Kurz cautioned in an interview with Sunday’s edition of the Kleine Zeitung newspaper that Austrians will still have to live with “massive restrictions” after that.

———

ROME — For a second straight day, the number of additional deaths of COVID-19 patients dropped considerably in Italy, according to Health Ministry statistics released Sunday.

Also lower were the number of beds occupied by hospitalized COVID-19 patients.

There were 541 deaths of persons with confirmed coronavirus infections since Saturday, compared to 686 on the previous day and 827 on the day before that.

Since the pandemic began, Italy has tallied 54,904 known deaths. Daily new caseload numbers also dropped considerably – 20,648 on Sunday, compared to 26,323 on Saturday — but as often happens on weekends, there were far fewer COVID-19 swab tests performed since the previous day. Italy’s total of confirmed cases in the pandemic rose to 1,585,178.

Doctors and other health experts are urging the Italian government to maintain most of the current anti-COVID-19 restrictions in the run-up before Christmas and New Year’s celebrations. They fear that crowds of travelers, shoppers and revelers would trigger another surge in contagion.

———

HONOLULU — A group of Hawaii leaders launched a campaign Sunday to promote the islands as an appealing location for a remote office with a view.

Now that many companies, especially in the tech industry, allow employees to work from anywhere during the pandemic, they hope Hawaii will be alluring.

They’re also throwing in roundtrip tickets to Honolulu for the first 50 approved applicants.

Some say high-paid workers will bolster an economy decimated by dramatically fewer tourists.

Others worry what those with Silicon Valley money will mean for housing, especially when there’s already a crunch for affordable places to live.

———

PRAGUE — The Czech government said Sunday it is easing measures imposed to contain the new coronavirus due to falling numbers of new confirmed cases.

Health Minister Jan Blatny said all stores, restaurants and bars can reopen on Thursday and a ban on Sunday sales is lifted.

Restaurants can be open 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., though they are limited to 50% of their capacity. Stores and shopping centers also must limit the number of customers.

Hair salons, fitness centers and gyms are allowed to reopen, as are zoos, museums and galleries.

The Czech Republic was among the hardest hit by a new wave of infections in the fall, but the number of new cases has been on a decline since Nov 4.

The country of almost 10.7 million had 518,649 confirmed cases with 8,054 fatalities. The day-to-day increase of new cases reached 2,667 on Saturday.

———

PARIS — France’s highest administrative court on Sunday ordered a rethink of a 30-person attendance limit for religious services put in place by the government to slow down the spread of coronavirus.

The measure took effect this weekend as France relaxes some virus restrictions, but it faced opposition by places of worship and the faithful who called it arbitrary and unreasonable. Even before the ruling, several bishops had announced they would not enforce the restrictions and some churches were expected defy it.

The Council of State has ordered that Prime Minister Jean Castex modify the measure within three days.

French churches, mosques and synagogues started opening their doors again to worshippers this weekend — but only a few of them, as France cautiously starts reopening after its latest virus lockdown.

Many people expressed irritation outside several Paris churches where priests held services for groups that numbered over 30.

———

BAGHDAD — Iraq has reopened its schools amid a raging pandemic that has claimed more than 12,000 lives across the country, with kids returning to socially-distanced classrooms and other safety measures Sunday.

Students will be attending school only one day per week according to a rotation system meant to prevent crowding and the spread of the new coronavirus, according to the Education Ministry.

Iraq, like much of the rest of the world, has resorted to distance learning after schools closed in February due to the virus outbreak. But online education is out of reach for many in a country with poor infrastructure that has suffered decades of war.

Iraq has the second-highest outbreak and number of deaths in the Middle East region after Iran, with more than 500,000 confirmed cases, according to Health Ministry figures.

Daily infection rates average 2,400 cases per day — a slower rate than in previous weeks — but health workers say the number may be higher as many Iraqis with symptoms choose to stay home and avoid hospitals to get tested.

———

ISLAMABAD — Pakistan has recorded 43 more deaths and 2,829 new COVID-19 cases.

With the new figures, Pakistan’s tally of COVID-19 deaths is now 7,985.

———

HONG KONG — Hong Kong has reported 115 new coronavirus infections, the first time it has seen cases in the triple digits since Aug. 2.

The government on Sunday also announced that classes at kindergarten, primary and secondary schools will be shut for the rest of the year in light of the worsening coronavirus situation in the city.

Of the 115 infections reported Sunday, 24 were untraceable. Another 62 were linked to recent outbreaks in dance studios across the city, taking the total number of infections in that cluster to 479, health officials said.

Employees and recent guests at three restaurants in the city have also been ordered to undergo compulsory testing after multiple positive cases had been linked to the venues.

Hong Kong has reported 6,239 coronavirus infections since the pandemic began, with 109 deaths.

———

SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea is shutting down indoor gyms offering intense workout classes and banning year-end parties at hotels in the greater Seoul area to fight the virus.

Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said Sunday authorities will also ban the operation of private music institutes teaching singing and wind instruments and saunas at public bath houses in the capital area. He said fitness centers, cafes and libraries operating inside apartment complexes will also be closed. The new steps will be effective from Tuesday.

The country reported 450 new cases on Sunday. South Korea on Thursday registered more than 500 new virus cases for the first time in eight months.

#california #hospitalizations #latest #record #virus #World

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go-redgirl · 4 years

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Amid Virus, World's Christians Mark an Easter Like No Other

Pastor Nicolas Sanchez carries the Paschal candle with the "Light of Christ," inside the empty dark parish, with the pictures sent by the parishioners of his congregation to decorate their pews during Easter at St. Patrick Church in North Hollywood, Calif., on Saturday, April 11, 2020. (AP)

Sunday, 12 April 2020 09:54 AM

Christians around the world celebrated Easter at a distance on Sunday, with most churches closed and family gatherings canceled amid wide-ranging coronavirus shutdowns. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the first major world leader to test positive for the virus, was released from the hospital after a week but is not immediately returning to work.

Southern Europe and the United States, whose death toll of over 20,600 is now the world's highest, have been the recent focal points of the pandemic. But coronavirus hot spots have been shifting constantly and new concerns are rising in Japan, Turkey and Britain, where the death toll on Sunday surpassed 10,000.

Uncertainties loomed about the months ahead, with a top European Union official suggesting people hold off on making any summer vacation plans.

St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, where tens of thousands would normally gather to hear Pope Francis deliver his "Urbi et Orbi” speech and blessing “to the city and the world,” was empty of crowds Sunday, ringed by police barricades. Francis celebrated Easter Mass inside the largely vacant basilica, with the faithful watching on TV at home.

Similar scenes played out around the world. With the Church of England's churches shut, the archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby — the spiritual leader of 85 million Anglicans worldwide — celebrated the Easter service from his kitchen in London.

In Europe, countries used roadblocks, fines and other tactics to keep people from traveling over an Easter weekend with beautiful spring weather. As hard-hit countries like Italy and Spain see reduced daily virus infections and deaths, economic pressures are mounting to loosen the tight restrictions on daily life to fight off the pandemic.

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier told his compatriots in a rare televised address: “Every one of you has changed his life radically; every one of you has saved human lives in doing so and is saving more every day.”

When and how the restrictions are loosened is something that “all of us have ... in our hands, with our patience and our discipline,” he said.

Some European nations are starting tentative moves to ease their shutdowns. Spain, which on Sunday reported its lowest daily growth in infections in three weeks, will allow workers in some nonessential industries to return to factories and construction sites Monday.

But much uncertainty remains. Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said in an open letter to Austrians that the virus will “be with us for months yet.”

And asked by Germany’s Bild am Sonntag newspaper whether people should book summer holidays now, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen replied: “I would advise waiting with such plans.”

“No one can make reliable forecasts for July and August at the moment,” she said.

Restaurants and bars have already missed out on holiday business.

“Sales are zero and we have a series of expenses: rent, stock, and we have even had to increase spending with security personnel to prevent robberies,” said Pablo Gonzalo, a bar manager in the southern Spanish city of Malaga.

In his Easter address, the pope called for global solidarity to confront the “epochal challenge” of the pandemic. Francis urged political leaders in particular to give hope and opportunity to the millions laid off work.

“This is not a time for self-centeredness, because the challenge we are facing is shared by all, without distinguishing between persons,” he said.

For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. But for others, especially older people and the infirm, it can cause severe symptoms and lead to death.

More than 1.79 million infections have been reported and 110,000 people have died worldwide, according to Johns Hopkins University. The U.S. has the highest numbers, with over 530,000 confirmed cases. The figures certainly understate the true size and toll of the pandemic, due to limited testing, uneven counting of the dead and some governments' desire to play down the extent of outbreaks.

While some nations think about a pandemic exit strategy, others are dealing with alarming rises in infections or deaths.

Turkey took many by surprise in imposing a partial weekend lockdown after previously taking a more relaxed approach. A sudden Friday evening announcement of a 48-hour curfew in 31 cities, including Ankara and Istanbul, prompted crowds to rush to grocery stores.

The country had previously imposed a curfew on those under 20 and over 65, exempting most of the workforce to keep its beleaguered economy on track.

In Japan, emergency medical groups warned that health care facilities are getting stretched thin, and masks and surgical gowns were running short amid a surge in patients.

The Israeli government approved a tight quarantine of several areas of Jerusalem, including the historic Old City, to slow the spread of the virus in its most susceptible neighborhoods.

Britain's virus death toll passed the 10,000 mark, the fourth European country to do so, after steep rises in recent days.

Ahead of his release Sunday from St. Thomas’ Hospital in London, Johnson gave an emotional tribute to the National Health Service workers who treated him. He spent a week in the hospital, including three nights in the intensive care unit.

“I can’t thank them enough. I owe them my life,” said Johnson, 55, said in his first public statement since he was moved out of intensive care Thursday evening.

His office said he will continue his recovery at Chequers, the prime minister’s country home.

In the United States, about half the deaths are in the New York metropolitan area, but hospitalizations are slowing in the state and other indicators suggest that lockdowns and social distancing are “flattening the curve” of infections.

New York state reported 783 more deaths, for a total of over 8,600. Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the daily number of deaths is stabilizing, “but stabilizing at a horrific rate.”

“What do we do now? We stay the course,” said Cuomo, who like other leaders has warned that relaxing restrictions too soon could enable the virus to come back with a vengeance.

In the Midwest, pockets of contagion have alarmed local leaders and led to stricter enforcement.

Nearly 300 inmates at the Cook County Jail in Chicago have tested positive for the virus, and two have died. The county has set up a temporary morgue that can take more than 2,000 bodies.

Wisconsin health officials expect to see an increase in virus cases after thousands went to the polls Tuesday to vote in the state’s primary election.

Twenty-four residents of an Indiana nursing home hit by COVID-19 have died, while a nursing home in Iowa saw 14 deaths.

The U.S. government has not released a count of coronavirus deaths in nursing homes, but an Associated Press tally indicates at least 2,500 people linked to the virus have died in U.S. nursing homes and long-term care facilities.

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khalilhumam · 4 years

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Anti-pandemic measures in their home countries deter EU tourists from visiting North Macedonia

New Post has been published on http://khalilhumam.com/anti-pandemic-measures-in-their-home-countries-deter-eu-tourists-from-visiting-north-macedonia/

Anti-pandemic measures in their home countries deter EU tourists from visiting North Macedonia

A beach in Ljubanishte, Lake Ohrid, North Macedonia on July 24, 2020. Photo by Filip Stojanovski, CC BY.

North Macedonia has opened its borders to tourists from the European Union (EU) and other European countries, but measures related to COVID-19 prevention are discouraging visitors from choosing the country as a travel destination. A big factor is that some EU countries, Hungary for example, require their citizens returning from North Macedonia to spend two weeks in self-isolation upon returning home. Germany requires travelers returning from 130 countries designated as risky to conduct mandatory diagnostic tests. These rules vary from country to country and the EU has set up a website Re-Open EU to keep track of them all. North Macedonia has been praised by WHO for its high level of transparency in reporting COVID-19 cases. In a population of about two million, the country has recorded 10.617 confirmed cases since the start of the pandemic, with 480 deaths so far. In recent weeks, the number of new cases has ranged between 100–200 daily. Tour operators bringing foreign tourists into North Macedonia must conform to local anti-pandemic regulations, starting with the requirement that buses must provide physical distancing for passengers, with a limit of 50% of bus seats occupied. So, each full tour bus coming from Poland, for example, must be met by an empty local bus right after crossing the border, and half of the passengers must transfer to the local bus to continue the journey. Renting extra vehicles increases the overall price of the arrangement, making it less appealing to tour operators. So, unlike in previous years, most foreign tourists visiting the country's prime tourist destination—the Lake Ohrid area—are those whose main destination is Albania, which has been much more open to visitors, and which, consequently, has a better financial outlook this tourist season. Some EU visitors to the Albanian coastline, however, do make day trips into the scenic UNESCO-protected region in North Macedonia, including the old town of Ohrid and surrounding natural beauty spots. Daniel Medaroski, a tourist guide with Experience Balkan, explains the current hardships:

Daniel Medaroski, tourist guide from Ohrid. Photo by Filip Stojanovski, CC BY.

“I work with an incoming agency and as an authorized tourist guide; I haven’t earned any money since New Year. I share these difficulties with about 5,000 people like me who are in this sector. This season is certainly over and we are focusing on 2021, but what shall we do till then? Lately, I have been trying to rent my boat on Lake Ohrid, but the domestic tourists cannot afford it, and I still hope that some individual travelers or smaller groups will come to Ohrid, so that I can be of service to them for touring the area or renting my boat. And I am very much sure that the travelers will remember the beauty of the Ohrid region and will go back to their countries with pleasant memories and revelations of new destinations.”

The country has instituted pandemic-related protocols to protect visitors and tourism workers. The beaches, which are mostly leased by private operators, must provide physical distance between sunbeds; bars and restaurants may sit only four persons at a table, and waiters and other workers all have to wear face masks and institute other prevention measures. The Lake Ohrid area features a number of attractions, including some that are accessible only by boat, such as so-called “wild beaches” under the cliffs of the Galichica National Park.

The beachfront of Lake Ohrid, where waters touch the front yards of 19th-century homes at the core of the Old Town, which is crowned by a citadel dating from the early 11th century. Photo by Filip Stojanovski, CC BY.

Meanwhile, citizens of North Macedonia face closed borders, except with neighboring Albania and Serbia. They are not allowed to visit Greece or Montenegro, while in order to enter Bulgaria or Croatia, where the sea is much farther away, they must show negative results of recent PCR tests at the border. For Croatia, they also have to show proof of booking arrangements. For that reason, the tourist sites get many domestic visitors, especially during the weekends, when cities empty and lakes or mountain resorts get somewhat overwhelmed with visitors and garbage (and where a local initiative is trying to counter the littering of Ohrid beaches through voluntary cleaning actions). Domestic visitors often use their own weekend houses or low budget rented rooms instead of hotels, and, therefore, bring in much lower profits. They also buy fewer souvenirs, and are much less interested in guided tours explaining the cultural or other aspects of the country's heritage because most of them have already experienced the sights or feel they know all the information they might get from paid guides. The real lifeline for the tourism industry in North Macedonia is foreign guests, but there's little chance they would arrive in force this year. This has become apparent in the other big tourist destination in the country—the capital, Skopje. Its old town, with a well preserved Ottoman Old Bazaar which in size is second only to Istanbul's in the Balkans, had been bustling with tourists in previous years. However, since the pandemic started, even after the curfews and travel restrictions had been lifted, shopkeepers have been having a difficult time making ends meet.

Since the pandemic, the Old Bazaar in Skopje has been receiving far fewer visitors than in previous years. Photo by Facebook page Ristorante Don Giovani-Skopje. Used with permission.

“We have been forced to pause work on Sundays, which before used to be one of our busiest days of the week. We also close much earlier, at around 6 or 7 p.m., instead of 10 p.m., because the bazaar is empty of people in the evenings,” says Xhemal Bajrami, manager of Don Giovani restaurant, located in one of the busiest streets in Skopje's old town.

Tourism workers protest in Skopje, North Macedonia, on July 29, 2020. The sign reads: “Only in this way in 2021 would you be able to travel, would we be able to work, and would the state be able to charge taxes.” Photo by Julijana Daskalov. Used with permission.

While 2019 was on record the most successful year for tourism in North Macedonia, the official statistics from May this year indicate severe losses for the tourism industry. Many companies have cash reserves that can last only through the summer, and have been warning that unless they get substantial support, layoffs will have to be made come September. On July 29, tourism workers held a peaceful protest in the capital Skopje, demanding state aid, under the motto “tourism is on ventilators,” referring to the final stage of treatment of COVID-19 disease. They called for state subsidies to pay their minimum salaries until the end of the year, as well as various forms of tax relief that would prevent the bankruptcy of these companies. The caretaker government, which has been running the country since the elections that took place on July 15, provided some subsidies for tourism companies during the spring, including granting citizens receiving minimal salaries 50-euro vouchers. However, they haven't responded yet to the latest round of demands by tourism sector representatives.

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