All of greater Sydney, the Central Coast, the Blue Mountains and Wollongong regions will enter a two-week coronavirus lockdown until 9 July and new restrictions will be in place for the remainder of New South Wales.

The NSW premier, Gladys Berejiklian, announced the expanded lockdown – the first lockdown of greater Sydney since last year – would commence at 6pm Saturday, following crisis talks due to the growing number of exposure sites associated with the Sydney outbreak of the Delta Covid-19 variant.

The state recorded 29 cases up to 8pm on Friday, including 17 that had been announced Friday morning. Only 12 of those had been in isolation while infectious.

“We’re never afraid to take a decision we need to keep our citizens safe,” Berejikilan said on Saturday afternoon. “Unfortunately this is a situation where we absolutely have to.”

Until 11.59pm on 9 July, anyone in greater Sydney, the Central Coast, the Blue Mountains, Wollongong will only be permitted to leave their homes for essential reasons: shopping for food and essential goods and services, medical care or compassionate needs, exercise outdoors in groups of up to 10, and essential work or education where that cannot occur at home. There will be no curfew.

Weddings will be able to proceed on Saturday 26 June up to 11.59pm on Sunday 27 June but then cannot go ahead for the remainder of the two-week period.

Funerals can take place with up to a maximum of 100 people, with one person per four square metres and mask-wearing if indoors.

Berejiklian also asked people to use QR codes to check-in at all venues, including supermarkets and takeaway stores, no matter how brief the visit.

She said the length of the lockdown was necessary and flagged that support for businesses would be announced in coming days. She said the government would be pushing for commonwealth support payments for hotspots.

“If we’re going to do this, we need to do it properly,” she said. “There’s no point doing a three-day and then having the virus continue to bubble away in the community.”

She said if there was a dramatic change after seven days authorities would evaluate the situation but the best current advice was that two weeks was necessary “in order to make sure that we get to our target of zero community transmission, which has always been our target from the beginning of the pandemic”.

The remainder of NSW will move to restrictions including mandatory masks in all indoor non-residential settings and at organised outdoor events, no drinking while standing at indoor venues, no singing by audiences or choirs at indoor events or places of worship and no dancing at indoor hospitality venues or nightclubs.

Dancing will be permitted for the wedding party at weddings only, to a maximum of 20 people.

Anyone from the greater Sydney region who has arrived in a regional area on or after June 21 must observe a 14-day stay at home order from the date they left greater Sydney.

The lockdown was announced after crisis talks held on Saturday morning determined it should be expanded beyond the four council areas that had been subject to lockdown orders since Friday night.

More than 55,000 people were tested on Friday but the NSW premier said on Saturday morning “that’s where the good news ends” – with only 12 of the 29 new cases in isolation during their infectious period.

Berejiklian foreshadowed the lockdown due to the growing number of exposure sites beyond the Woollahra, Waverley, Randwick and the City of Sydney local government areas.

They included a workplace outbreak associated with the retail/wholesale business Great Ocean Foods in Marrickville, with staff and their household contacts asked to immediately get tested and isolate for 14 days and customers who had not used the QR code to check in asked to come forward.

The state’s chief health officer, Kerry Chant, said authorities were concerned that delivery drivers to that site had also become infectious, meaning anyone who received a delivery from Monday 21 June to Friday 25 June and their household contacts was also being asked to immediately get tested and isolate until further advice was provided by NSW Health.

Two other venues of concern were the Cheers Bar and Grill on George Street in Sydney, which was attended by a case in the early hours of Sunday 20 June, and the Rebel Sport store in Bankstown, which a case attended between 3.45pm and 4.30pm on Thursday 24 June.

“The situation overnight has highlighted that an increasing number of people have been undetected and infectious in the community,” Chant said. “Largely they were contained in the four LGAs, but now we are seeing the spread to exposure venues outside of those four LGAs, and that is the basis for my growing concern.”

The government reiterated its advice that people who live in the LGAs of City of Sydney, Woollahra, Waverley, Randwick, Canada Bay, Inner West and Bayside were not permitted to leave metropolitan Sydney.

The health minister, Brad Hazzard, said there was a “growing and more intense concern” from health authorities and the government about the Delta variant of Covid-19.

“The Delta variant is proving to be a very formidable foe,” he said. “No matter what defensive steps we are taking at the moment, the virus seems to understand how to counter-attack in different locations. That’s causing us a high level of concern.

“We had yesterday hoped to be able to continue community sport, but it’s become evident with the new cases that we’ve seen coming in today that that can’t continue.”

Hazzard also made a new public health order on Friday night enforcing compulsory face masks and at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine for drivers transporting international arrivals, including air crew.

Workers will have three days to get vaccinated before the vaccination order applies from 28 June. The mask order took effect on Friday night.

World Opinions News – theguardian.com

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Officials in Delhi have been urged to find more sites for cremations as the city’s morgues and crematoriums are overwhelmed by masses of Covid deaths.

A second wave of the virus is ravaging parts of India, with 386,452 new cases reported on Friday – the biggest one-day increase on record for any country.

There were another 3,500 deaths nationwide and nearly 400 in Delhi – a record for the capital.

The total number of infections in the country has now passed 18 million.

The first consignment of emergency medical supplies from the US arrived on Friday, part of what the White House has said will be more than $100m (£72m) worth of support.

But oxygen supplies and hospital beds remain in desperately short supply across India, with relatives of Covid patients pleading on social media for help.

One senior Delhi police officer said that people were having to cremate family members in crematoriums not designated to take victims of Covid-19.

« That’s why we suggested more crematoriums should be set up, » the officer told the NDTV news channel.

India’s Health Ministry released detailed guidelines last year for the handling and cremation of people who have died of Covid, with special measures needing to be taken to avoid any potential reinfection.

India’s central government is facing mounting criticism over its handling of the pandemic and its decision to allow large election rallies and religious festivals to go ahead in recent weeks.

On Friday, the country’s Supreme Court defended the rights of citizens to express grievances and appeal for help on social media during the current coronavirus crisis, warning actions by the authorities to stop people doing so would be treated as contempt of court.

It comes after Twitter was asked to remove a number of posts which were critical of the government earlier this week.

The health minister defended the government on Thursday, saying the country’s fatality rate was the lowest in the world and that oxygen supplies were « adequate ».

Harsh Vardhan told ANI news agency that oxygen was now « being made available from many sources », including from abroad, and that storage and cryogenic tankers were also being prepared.

A US military plane landed in Delhi on Friday morning, loaded with almost one million rapid Covid tests and 100,000 N95 masks. The White House has said it will donate 15 million N95 masks in total.

Jeremy Konyndyk, the executive director of the Covid task force at the US Agency for International Development, told AFP news agency that their first priority was to address India’s most « immediate needs ».

The UK also donated ventilators to India earlier this week.

However, many experts in India say more is needed. On Tuesday, Mumbai-based Dr Zarir Udwadia told the BBC that the aid being offered was « a drop in an ocean ».

What is the latest with vaccinations?

On Saturday, all adults above the age of 18 in India will become eligible for vaccination, but there are widespread concerns about the availability of shots. India is the world’s biggest producer of vaccines but does not have enough stock for the estimated 800 million people who will become eligible.

So far, fewer than 10% of people in India have had a Covid vaccination.

A number of states are reporting shortages of the vaccine. On Thursday, Delhi’s health minister Satyendar Jain said the capital had run out of doses, and that they were waiting for fresh supplies from private companies.

India’s financial capital, Mumbai, home to more than 20 million people, has suspended its vaccination drive for three days due to « depletion of available vaccines », the local authority said in a statement.

The municipal commissioner of Mumbai, Ashwini Bhide, said on Twitter that the city would reserve current stocks for people aged over 45 years old.

This could lead to another crisis. On 1 May, another 40 million people will already be in the queue for their second dose. For the vaccines being administered in India, it is currently recommended that people get their second dose four to eight weeks after the first.

World Opinions News – bbc.com

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Health systems in most of Brazil’s largest cities are close to collapse because of Covid-19 cases, its leading health institute warns.

More than 80% of intensive care unit beds are occupied in the capitals of 25 of Brazil’s 27 states, Fiocruz said.

Experts warn that the highly contagious variant in Brazil may have knock-on effects in the region and beyond.

« Brazil is a threat to humanity, » Fiocruz epidemiologist Jesem Orellana told AFP news agency.

The country has recorded more than 266,000 deaths and 11 million cases since the pandemic began.

It has the second highest number of deaths in the world after the US and the third highest number of confirmed cases.

Despite this, President Jair Bolsonaro has consistently opposed quarantine measures and expert advice on fighting coronavirus.

What’s the situation in Brazil?

On Tuesday the country recorded 1,972 Covid deaths, a new daily record.

According to Fiocruz, 15 state capitals have intensive care units (ICUs) that are at more than 90% capacity including Rio de Janeiro, Brasilia and São Paulo.

Two cities – Porto Alegre and Campo Grande – have exceeded ICU capacity.

In its report, the institute warned that figures pointed to the « overload and even collapse of health systems ».

« The fight against Covid-19 was lost in 2020 and there is not the slightest chance of reversing this tragic circumstance in the first half of 2021, » Fiocruz’s Jesem Orellana said, quoted by AFP.

« The best we can do is hope for the miracle of mass vaccination or a radical change in the management of the pandemic. Impunity in management seems to be the rule. »

On Tuesday, the country also recorded more than 70,000 cases, a 38% increase on last week, according to local media. The surge in cases has been attributed to the spread of a highly contagious variant of the virus – named P1 – which is thought to have originated in the Amazon city of Manaus.

World Opinions News – bbc.com

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South Africa’s decision to halt its rollout of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine after a study showed « disappointing » results against its new Covid-19 variant may have left the nation in shock, but it also shows how scientists are at the forefront of the battle against coronavirus.

One and half million doses of the jab had been bought for healthcare workers and they were due to start getting their vaccinations this week

How do frontline workers feel?

There is no denying that they feel anxious.

Siviwe Gwarube, head of health for the main opposition Democratic Alliance, said the setback left them vulnerable to a third wave.

South Africa has recorded almost 1.5 million coronavirus cases and more than 46,000 deaths since the pandemic began – a higher toll than any other country on the continent.

« I had a lot of hope that the vaccine would change the situation we’re in as a country. A lot of people are losing jobs. I’m a medical student and we are really exposed to Covid-19. It was a blow for me when I heard that the efficacy of the vaccine was lower, » a young male medic, who asked to remain anonymous, told the BBC.

But health experts say while the new variant has affected South Africa’s initial vaccine plan, all is not lost – and 100,000 older nurses and other health workers will still be given the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine as part of a new trial.

This is because they believe that the vaccine may still be effective in preventing severe illness and go some way to reducing the number of people who need to be admitted to hospital for treatment.

This is important in a country where some 80% of the population cannot afford private health care and rely on state hospitals, which are currently overstretched.

World Opinions News – bbc.com

L’article South Africa in shock after AstraZeneca vaccine rollout halted est apparu en premier sur World Opinion | Alternative Média.

Vingt-six soignants et du matériel médical envoyés par l’Allemagne ont atterri mercredi au Portugal, dont les hôpitaux sont débordés par l’explosion du nombre de cas de Covid-19. L’arrivée des renforts allemands permettra d’ouvrir une unité en plus à Lisbonne.

La pandémie de Covid-19 a fait au moins 2’253’813 morts dans le monde depuis fin décembre 2019, selon un bilan établi par l’AFP mercredi à la mi-journée. Plus de 103’827’020 cas d’infection ont été officiellement diagnostiqués depuis le début de l’épidémie, dont au moins 63’195’000 sont aujourd’hui considérés comme guéris.

Avec un taux d’incidence de plus de 800 contaminations pour 100’000 habitants, le Portugal est l’un des pays les plus touchés au monde par le coronavirus, et a lancé un appel à la solidarité internationale. Le Premier ministre Antonio Costa a reconnu que les hôpitaux du pays étaient soumis à « une pression gigantesque ».

Une équipe de 26 soignants et du matériel médical envoyés par l’Allemagne sont arrivés mercredi à Lisbonne. L’avion militaire transportant huit médecins et du personnel soignant qualifié, ainsi que 50 appareils respiratoires, 150 appareils de perfusion et 150 lits médicaux a atterri dans l’après-midi.

L’équipe allemande travaillera dans un hôpital privé de la capitale portugaise, afin d’accroître les moyens des cet établissement, qui avait déjà alloué 106 lits, dont 25 en soins intensifs, au traitement de malades du Covid-19, a annoncé le groupe Luz Saude dans un communiqué.

Le chancelier autrichien Sebastian Kurz avait lui indiqué ce week-end que son pays était prêt à accueillir des malades en soins intensifs et, depuis l’Espagne voisine, la région frontalière de l’Estrémadure a également fait part mardi de sa volonté de contribuer à cet effort.

Le Portugal est depuis plusieurs jours le pays au monde le plus durement frappé par la pandémie sur une période de deux semaines. Le bilan total s’élevait mardi à plus de 13’000 morts, dont 5500 sur le seul mois de janvier. Selon plusieurs experts, le pays pourrait néanmoins avoir atteint le pic de cette troisième vague.

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L’Agence européenne des médicaments (EMA) a recommandé, vendredi, d’accorder une autorisation de mise sur le marché du vaccin d’AstraZeneca contre le Covid-19 pour les personnes âgées de 18 ans et plus. Il s’agit du troisième vaccin contre le Covid-19 dont l’EMA a recommandé l’autorisation.

Le régulateur européen en matière de vaccins et antibiotiques, l’Agence européenne des médicaments (AME), a autorisé vendredi 29 janvier le vaccin anti-Covid produit par AstraZeneca et Oxford pour les plus de 18 ans.

L’autorité vaccinale allemande a toutefois pris le contre-pied de l’AME en réitérant vendredi sa recommandation de ne pas autoriser ce vaccin AstraZeneca pour les personnes âgées de 65 ans et plus.

Il s’agit du troisième vaccin contre le Covid-19 dont l’EMA a recommandé l’autorisation, après les vaccins Pfizer/BioNTech et Moderna.  L’agence a par ailleurs indiqué vendredi s’attendre à recevoir « prochainement » une demande d’autorisation de mise sur le marché conditionnelle dans l’UE du vaccin contre le Covid-19 développé par Johnson & Johnson.

Pour autant, l’Union européenne (UE) reste en litige avec le laboratoire britannique, coupable selon elle de ne pas respecter les termes du contrat passé avec Bruxelles.

L’UE a ainsi publié, vendredi, le contrat signé avec AstraZeneca pour son vaccin anti-Covid, dans le but affiché de renforcer la pression sur le laboratoire, appelé à respecter ses engagements, alors qu’il a fait état d’importants retards de production.

Bruxelles réclamait au groupe suédo-britannique la publication du contrat signé en août sur la précommande de 400 millions de doses, après l’annonce d’une réduction de trois-quarts au premier trimestre des livraisons promises à l’UE.

Le contrat d’une quarantaine de pages, mis en ligne par la Commission, est amputé de nombreux passages jugés « confidentiels » ou relevant du « secret des affaires » – qui incluent le prix, les modalités de paiement et le calendrier exact de livraisons.

« Un objectif légal classique »

L’accord assure qu’AstraZeneca fera « de son mieux » pour augmenter ses capacités de production, tout en rappelant que le respect du contrat constitue pour lui « une obligation légale, valide et contraignante ».

L’entreprise « s’est engagée à faire tous les efforts raisonnables en vue de mettre sur pied des capacités pour produire 300 millions de doses du vaccin, sans en tirer de bénéfices ni essuyer de pertes », indique le texte, mentionnant l’option pour l’UE de commander 100 millions de doses supplémentaires.

Le PDG d’AstraZeneca avait suggéré, dans un entretien à plusieurs médias, que son groupe n’avait pas d’engagement formel en termes de livraisons en raison de la formule « faire de son mieux ».

« Il semble dire que c’est une notion subjective : ce n’est pas vrai sur le plan juridique (…) Le ‘meilleur effort raisonnable’ est un objectif légal classique, habituellement utilisé dans ce type d’accord quand vous achetez quelque chose qui n’existe pas encore », a expliqué sous couvert d’anonymat un responsable de la Commission.

Si des facteurs (autorisation du vaccin par exemple) ne dépendent pas de l’entreprise, « la montée en puissance des capacités de production est, elle, entièrement aux mains du groupe », a-t-il affirmé.

Débat sur la production faite au Royaume-Uni

AstraZeneca a argué d’une « baisse de rendement » sur un site de fabrication européen pour expliquer ses retards de livraisons à l’UE. Une explication jugée « insatisfaisante » par la Commission, qui a réclamé une inspection du site industriel belge concerné, géré par un sous-traitant du groupe.

Selon l’exécutif européen, le contrat prévoit que la production aurait lieu dans quatre usines, deux dans l’UE et deux au Royaume-Uni – des indications masquées dans le texte rendu public vendredi – et des baisses de rendement en Belgique devraient donc être compensées ailleurs.

Dans un entretien à certains médias, le PDG d’AstraZeneca, le Français Pascal Soriot, avait cependant assuré devoir réserver aux Britanniques la production des usines au Royaume-Uni.

Un argument fermement contesté par Bruxelles : le recours aux usines britanniques pour approvisionner l’UE « n’est pas une option, c’est une obligation contractuelle », a insisté le responsable européen. « On est quelque peu embarrassé par le fait que plusieurs usines sont manifestement censées nous fournir les vaccins commandés, et pourtant nous ne recevons des doses que d’une seule d’entre elles », a-t-il critiqué.

World Opinions News – AFP – France 24

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Juventus footballer Cristiano Ronaldo is being investigated by Italian police over a trip he allegedly took to celebrate his girlfriend’s birthday.

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He is accused of breaking Covid-19 rules by travelling between the regions of Piedmont and Valle d’Aosta.

Now-deleted footage posted on social media showed the couple on a snowmobile in a mountain resort, the same day Georgina Rodriguez turned 27.

Italy is seeing hundreds of deaths and thousands of infections daily.

The country was hit badly in the early stages of the pandemic last year and is now in a political crisis after struggling to bring down cases in a second wave.

Valle d’Aosta police said they were investigating the couple over the alleged trip to the Courmayeur ski resort.

Under current rules in Italy, travel between Covid « orange zones » is forbidden unless for work reasons or for travelling to a second home.

Reports in Italian media allege the pair travelled on Tuesday and stayed overnight in a resort hotel before returning to Turin, the home of Ronaldo’s Serie A Club, on Wednesday.

Rodriguez, a model, later shared an image with her 23m followers of the couple celebrating back at home with their family.

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If found in breach of the rules, they could each face a fine.

The controversy comes months after Ronaldo himself got Covid-19. At the time he was criticised by Italy’s minister for sport for travelling to Portugal for international duty shortly before he tested positive.

Vincenzo Spadafora labelled Ronaldo « arrogant » and « disrespectful » and accused him of violating Covid-19 protocol by leaving his team’s bubble to travel after they reported infections. The player denied wrongdoing.

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Britain is on a collision course with the EU over vaccine shortages after Brussels refused to accept that people in the UK have first claim on Oxford/AstraZeneca doses produced in local plants.

The EU’s health commissioner outright dismissed on Wednesday an argument made by Pascal Soriot, the Anglo-Swedish company’s chief executive, that he was contractually obliged to supply the UK first.

In a withering statement, Stella Kyriakides said the UK should not earn any advantage from signing a contract with AstraZeneca three months before the EU’s executive branch put pen to paper.

“We reject the logic of first come, first served,” the commissioner said. “That may work in a butcher’s shop but not in contracts and not in our advanced purchase agreements.”

AstraZeneca has enraged Brussels and EU capitals by warning that it will be able to deliver only 25% of the doses scheduled for delivery in the first quarter of the year once the European medicines authority has given its approval, as is expected on Friday.

At the same time, the company has assured the British government, which chose not to be part of the EU vaccine programme, that it will fulfil its promise to deliver 2m doses a week for the benefit of UK residents.

On Tuesday UK government sources insisted that only once the British facilities in Oxford and Staffordshire had produced 100m doses for the local population would those plants be free to supply other countries.

A government spokesperson said: “We are in constant contact with the vaccine manufacturers and remain confident that the supply of vaccine to the UK will not be disrupted. We have deals in place with seven vaccine developers that will ensure our supply continues to grow as we rapidly expand the rollout in the weeks ahead.”

The EU is investing €336m (£297m) in AstraZeneca in return for 400m doses of its vaccine, the first 100m of which had been expected before April.

Boris Johnson risked further inflaming matters on Wednesday by claiming it would have been a “great pity” if the UK had followed advice to stay in the EU vaccine programme rather than set up its own plan.

“I do think that we’ve been able to do things differently, and better, in some ways,” the prime minister told the House of Commons. “But it is early days, and it is very, very important to remember that this is an international venture, these vaccines. We depend on our friends and partners, and we will continue … to work with those friends and partners in the EU and beyond.”

The clash between British and European interests, aftEUer a year of tense negotiations over post-Brexit trade and security, poses a threat to relations at a time when EU institutions and 27 EU governments are coming under criticism for the slow deployment of their vaccination programmes.

While the UK has administered vaccine first doses to more than 10% of adults and plans to vaccinate the most vulnerable 15 million – including all over-70s – by mid-February, the EU has reached 2% so far. The UK’s regulator approved the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine in late December.

Kyriakides said that under its contract with AstraZeneca, four European plants were named as suppliers and two of those were based in the UK, and she expected them to work for EU citizens.

The company has claimed that the contract with the EU only obliges it to make “best efforts” to supply the bloc, in the understanding that it has other obligations, and that the vaccine production process is prone to breakdown.

A spokesperson for AstraZeneca said: “Each supply chain was developed with input and investment from specific countries or international organisations based on the supply agreements, including our agreement with the European commission.

“As each supply chain has been set up to meet the needs of a specific agreement, the vaccine produced from any supply chain is dedicated to the relevant countries or regions and makes use of local manufacturing wherever possible.”

Kyriakides, a Cypriot who studied in Britain, said the argument was unacceptable and the company had a moral duty to treat the EU similarly to the UK.

She said: “We are in a pandemic. We lose people every day. These are not numbers, they’re not statistics. These are persons with families with friends and colleagues that are all affected as well.

“Pharmaceutical companies, vaccine developers have moral, societal and contractual responsibilities, which they need to uphold. The view that the company is not obliged to deliver because we signed a best effort agreement is neither correct, nor is it acceptable.”

Kyriakides said there was no “priority clause” that would justify British residents benefiting first from doses made in the UK.

The European commission is rifling through customs records over fears vaccines made on EU territory have been shipped to the UK. “The customs data do not lie,” a senior EU official said. “You can be assured that we will find the information, that’s for sure.”

Kyriakides said: “No company should be under any illusion that we don’t have the means to understand what is happening.”

The EU has called for AstraZeneca to waive its concerns over confidentiality and publish the vaccine contract. Officials said they would look into whether comments from its chief executive were in breach of its clauses.

In his interview, the French head of AstraZeneca lamented problems in a plant in Belgium but said he was duty-bound to put the UK first.

“The UK agreement was reached in June, three months before the European one,” Soriot said. “As you could imagine, the UK government said the supply coming out of the UK supply chain would go for the UK first. Basically that’s how it is.”

In response to the shortages, the commission is to release details of a new “transparency register” by the end of the week to oblige vaccine suppliers to notify it of exports, with the German government raising the prospect of a block on the movement of doses outside the EU.

The EU wants to ensure that doses made in AstraZeneca’s plants in Belgium and the Netherlands are not in future sent to the UK. There is also the risk that exports of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine from European plants could be blocked from reaching the UK, although the commission has sought to assuage those fears.

“People in the United Kingdom are vaccinated with a very good vaccine produced in Europe, supported by European money,” said Peter Liese, a German MEP in Angela Merkel’s CDU party, referring to the BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine.

“If there is anyone thinking that European citizens would accept that we give this high quality vaccine to the United Kingdom and would accept to be treated as second class by a UK-based company, I think the only consequence can be to immediately stop the export of the BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine. And then we are in the middle of a trade war. So the company and the UK better think twice.”

World Opinions News – theguardian.com

L’article Britain and EU clash over claims to UK-produced Covid vaccine est apparu en premier sur World Opinion | Alternative Média.

The United Kingdom has become the first country in Europe to record more than 100,000 coronavirus-related deaths, according to official figures by the health department.

The UK has the fifth-highest toll globally – after the United States, Brazil, India and Mexico – and reported a further 1,631 deaths and 20,089 new cases on Tuesday, with critics accusing the government of an apparent slow initial response to the COVID-19 crisis.

The 100,162 deaths registered are more than the country’s civilian death toll in World War II and twice the number killed in the 1940-1941 Blitz bombing campaign, although the total population was smaller then.

“I am deeply sorry for every life that has been lost and, of course, as prime minister, I take full responsibility for everything that the government has done,” Prime Minister Boris Johnson said.

“What I can tell you is that we truly did everything we could, and continue to do everything we can, to minimise loss of life and to minimise suffering,” he added during a briefing.

Al Jazeera’s Andrew Simmons, reporting from Bradford, said Johnson’s comments were unlikely “to calm down those who feel he was too late every step of the way in taking action; he was behind the curve”.

Earlier this month, Richard Horton, editor-in-chief of The Lancet, one of the oldest and most prestigious medical journals in the world, told Al Jazeera the UK was struggling to contain the pandemic because its government “has steadfastly refused to follow the science, despite claims that it is doing so”.

“The lessons from the science have been that when there is a rise in infections, you need to clamp down immediately to suppress transmission to reduce the prevalence of infection in the community. But at every stage, the government has delayed and delayed and delayed locking down, with the result that the virus has got out of control,” Horton said.

“The result of that is increased hospitalisations and deaths. This has been entirely preventable if the government had acted with more decisiveness, and sooner.”

Opposition Labour leader Keir Starmer, who has repeatedly accused Johnson of being too slow to respond to the pandemic, said the prime minister’s indecision had cost lives and worsened the economic effect.

Johnson, who contracted COVID-19 himself and ended up in intensive care, has defended his record, saying it is easy to find fault when looking back.

England, by far the most populous of the UK’s four nations, re-entered a national lockdown on January 5, which includes the closure of pubs, restaurants, non-essential shops and schools to most pupils. Further travel restrictions have been introduced as the government battles to speed up vaccination delivery and keep new, more transmissible variants of the virus at bay.

In December, the UK became the first country in the world to approve Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine and has set itself the task of offering jabs to everyone 70 and older, those who are clinically vulnerable, front-line health and social care workers and older adults in care homes by mid-February.

Up to Monday, a total of 6,853,327 people had received a first dose and 472,446 a second dose.

The government has said the vaccination rate and the success of the vaccinations are key to being able to ease restrictions as the UK battles with the highest number of deaths per 100,000 people in the world, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

“Unfortunately we’re going to see quite a lot more deaths over the next few weeks before the effects of the vaccines begin to be felt,” Chris Whitty, the UK’s chief medical officer said.

New variants have also alarmed scientists, and Johnson has warned the prospect of a “vaccine-busting” variant could mean lockdown measures are needed for longer.

The UK is due to announce whether it will also bring in mandatory quarantine in hotels for some or all arrivals and has warned the public not to book summer vacations.

“My thoughts are with each and every person who has lost a loved one – behind these heart-breaking figures are friends, families and neighbours,” Secretary of State for Health Matt Hancock said on Tuesday.

“I know how hard the last year has been, but I also know how strong the British public’s determination is and how much we have all pulled together to get through this.

SOURCE : AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES

L’article UK passes grim milestone of 100,000 COVID deaths est apparu en premier sur World Opinion | Alternative Média.

The worry is that citizens are putting off parenthood as they struggle with financial stress and job layoffs.

Details of the amount that could be paid have yet to be released. It is in addition to several hefty baby bonuses offered by the government.

Singapore has one of the lowest birth rates in the world, which it has struggled to boost for decades.

It is in stark contrast to some of its neighbours such as Indonesia and the Philippines, which are facing the prospect of a massive spike in pregnancies from their coronavirus lockdowns.

« We have received feedback that Covid-19 has caused some aspiring parents to postpone their parenthood plans, » Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat said on Monday.

Mr Heng said more details about amounts and how they will be paid would be announced at a later date.

Singapore’s current baby bonus system provides eligible parents up to S$10,000 ($7,330, £5,644) in benefits.

Singapore’s fertility rate touched an eight-year low in 2018, according to government data, at a rate of 1.14 births per woman.

Many Asian countries face a similar issue of falling fertility rates, which could worsen during the pandemic downturn.

Earlier this year, China’s birth rate fell to its lowest since the formation of the People’s Republic of China 70 years ago. This came despite the easing of the much criticised one-child policy.

Baby boom

But some of Singapore’s neighbours face the opposite problem.

In the Philippines, unintended pregnancies are forecast to spike by almost half to 2.6 million if Covid 19-induced movement restrictions remain until year-end, according to the United Nations Population Fund.

« These numbers are an epidemic in itself, » Aimee Santos, a spokesperson for UN agency in the Philippines, said last month.

The Philippines has the second-highest population in South East Asia at 108.4 million. It has one of the region’s worst virus outbreaks with more than 307,000 infections.

« These issues of women and children have largely remained invisible during the pandemic. It’s time to put them front and centre, » Senator Risa Hontiveros, head of the chamber’s committee on women, said last month.

She has backed calls for more female officials in the nation’s task force against the coronavirus outbreak.

World Opinions News – bbc.com

L’article Singapore offers ‘pandemic baby bonus’ to boost births est apparu en premier sur World Opinion | Alternative Média.