LONDON: A British businessman who became known as a “super-spreader” of the COVID-19 coronavirus said Tuesday he had fully recovered but remained in isolation in a central London hospital.
Steve Walsh issued a statement via his company from Guy’s and St. Thomas’ Hospital after catching the virus on a business trip in Singapore.
He is believed to have infected at least 11 other Britons — five in a ski chalet in the French Alps and another five who have since returned to his home city of Brighton on England’s southeast coast.
Another person was diagnosed while on vacation in Spain.
Walsh said he contacted Britain’s state-run national health service once he realized he might be sick.
“As soon as I knew I had been exposed to a confirmed case of coronavirus, I contacted my GP, NHS 111 and Public Health England,” the 53-year-old said.
“I was advised to attend an isolated room at hospital, despite showing no symptoms, and subsequently self-isolated at home as instructed,” he added.
“When the diagnosis was confirmed I was sent to an isolation unit in hospital, where I remain, and, as a precaution, my family was also asked to isolate themselves.”
Walsh represented his Servomex natural gas analytics company at the Grand Hyatt Singapore sales conference on January 20-22.
A firm that conducts Servomex’s consulting work described Steve as a genial boyscout leader who has two children and travels abroad frequently for work.
Servomex is a division of the London Stock Exchange-listed Spectris high-tech instruments and software provider.
UK health authorities have so far tested 1,358 people and recorded eight cases inside the country.
The media’s focus on the “super-spreader” from Brighton intensified after one of the medical centers in the coastal city temporarily closed because two of its staff also became infected.
A second branch of the same medical center suspended operations on Tuesday.
Walsh traveled to the French Alps before returning to London from Geneva on an EasyJet flight carrying more than 100 people.
His associates said Walsh went to his local pub in Brighton and attended a group yoga session at his church after returning from his trip.
He put himself in “self-isolation” after one of his colleagues abroad fell ill.
A Servomex spokesman said the company remained opened and was working with “authorities to ensure the welfare of our staff.”
Health officials in Brighton are currently trying to trace patients of the two health care workers diagnosed with the virus strain.
UK health authorities have tried hard to calm any fears sparked by a barrage of media stories about a “super-spreader” infecting the public without anyone’s knowledge.
“Contact tracing of the first four cases has been undertaken rapidly and is now complete while tracing for the latest four cases is ongoing,” health minister Matt Hancock told parliament.
Hancock revealed that UK health authorities’ work helped to find the five Britons who are still isolated in France.
“They are now receiving treatment and the Foreign Office is following up with consular support,” Hancock said.
But some medical researchers said Walsh’s case pointed to a bigger problem: the possibility that the virus can spread from someone who exhibits no symptoms.
The episode “may support that the virus can be shed from individuals prior to the onset of symptoms, which we are hearing more and more anecdotally,” said University of Leeds virus researcher Stephen Griffin.
“This would make the problem of containing spread more like controlling a flu outbreak rather than what was experienced with SARS,” Griffin said.
The Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) was another coronavirus that originated in China and killed 774 worldwide in 2002-03.
UK virus ‘super-spreader’ says he has recovered
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UK virus ‘super-spreader’ says he has recovered
- Steve Walsh said he contacted Britain’s state-run national health service once he realized he might be sick
FBI says bomb threats made against Trump nominees
Elize Stefanik, a Trump loyalist congresswoman tapped to be UN ambassador, said her residence in New York was targeted in a bomb threat
WASHINGTON: Several members of Donald Trump’s incoming administration have received threats including bomb alerts, the FBI said Wednesday, with one nominee reporting a pipe-bomb scare sent with a pro-Palestinian message.
“The FBI is aware of numerous bomb threats and swatting incidents targeting incoming administration nominees and appointees, and we are working with our law enforcement partners,” the agency said in a statement.
Swatting refers to the practice in which police are summoned urgently to someone’s house under false pretenses. Such hoax calls are common in the United States and have seen numerous senior political figures targeted in recent years.
Karoline Leavitt, a spokeswoman for Trump’s transition team, earlier said that several appointees and nominees “were targeted in violent, unAmerican threats to their lives and those who live with them.”
Elize Stefanik, a Trump loyalist congresswoman tapped to be UN ambassador, said her residence in New York was targeted in a bomb threat.
She said in a statement that she, her husband, and small son were driving home from Washington for the Thanksgiving holiday when they learned of the threat.
Lee Zeldin, Trump’s pick to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, said his home was targeted with a pipe bomb threat sent with a “pro-Palestinian themed message.”
The former congressman from New York said he and his family were not home at the time.
Fox News Digital quoted unidentified sources saying that John Ratcliffe, Trump’s nominee to head the CIA, and Pete Hegseth, the defense secretary pick, were also targeted.
Ahead of his return to the House in January, Trump has already swiftly assembled a cabinet of loyalists, including several criticized for a severe lack of experience.
The Republican, who appears set to avoid trial on criminal prosecutions related to attempts to overturn his 2020 election loss, was wounded in the ear in July in an assassination attempt during a campaign rally. The shooter was killed in counter-fire.
In September, authorities arrested another man accused of planning to shoot at Trump while he played golf at his course in West Palm Beach, Florida.
Biggest snowstorm in half century hits Seoul
- Around 300 flights were grounded, massive crowd at subways caused delays
SEOUL: The biggest November snowstorm to hit South Korea’s capital in more than a half century blanketed the capital on Wednesday, grounding hundreds of flights, disrupting commuter traffic and leaving at least two dead.
South Korea’s weather agency said 20 to 26 centimeters of snow fell in northern areas of Seoul and nearby areas. The agency said it was the heaviest snowstorm Seoul has experienced in November in 52 years. A storm on Nov. 28, 1972, dumped 12 centimeters.
South Korea’s Yonhap news agency said one person died and four others were injured in a five-vehicle accident in the eastern town of Hongcheon. The storm blanketed much of the country, with the central, eastern and southwestern regions recording about 10 to 28 centimeters of cover.
At least 317 flights were canceled or delayed at airports nationwide, while authorities ordered around 90 ferries to remain at port. They also shut down hundreds of hiking trails.
Icy road conditions slowed down the morning commute in Seoul and led to massive crowds at subways, causing delays. Emergency workers across the country responded to fallen trees, road signs and other safety risks.
Officials at the Safety Ministry said they couldn’t confirm any school closures as of Wednesday afternoon. Visitors dressed in traditional hanbok garb were busy taking photographs at Seoul’s snow-covered medieval palaces while snowmen popped up in playgrounds and schoolyards across the country.
The weather agency said snow will continue in most parts of the country until noon Thursday.
President Yoon Suk Yeol instructed the safety and transport ministries to mobilize all available relevant personnel and equipment to prevent traffic and other accidents.
Court to rule on ineligibility for France’s Le Pen in March
- “This case is a lot less simple than some wanted to think. I still hope we will be heard” by the court, Le Pen, 56, told reporters
- Her defense lawyer Rodolphe Bosseult had earlier told judges that prosecutors’ sentencing request was “a weapon of mass destruction of the way things work in a democracy“
PARIS: French far-right figurehead Marine Le Pen will learn in March whether she will be declared ineligible for elections, a Paris court said on Wednesday at the end of a trial for embezzling funds from the European Parliament.
Prosecutors have asked judges at the Paris criminal court that any sentence shutting Le Pen out of public office be applicable even if she appeals the court’s ruling.
That means that if found guilty on March 31, she could be blocked from participating in France’s next presidential election, scheduled for 2027 at the latest.
“This case is a lot less simple than some wanted to think. I still hope we will be heard” by the court, Le Pen, 56, told reporters following the hearing.
Her defense lawyer Rodolphe Bosseult had earlier told judges that prosecutors’ sentencing request was “a weapon of mass destruction of the way things work in a democracy.”
Bosseult added that if imposed, the penalty would affect “the whole electoral roll or even the validity of the vote” in any election.
Prosecutors’ bombshell request was topped off with a five-year jail term, three of which suspended, and a fine of 300,000 euros ($320,000).
At issue in the case are employment practices for assistants in the European Parliament to representatives of Le Pen’s National Front party — since renamed the National Rally (RN) — between 2004 and 2016.
Prosecutors say the party created a “system” using MEPS’ parliamentary allowances to hire people who in fact worked for the outfit in France — not in Brussels or Strasbourg.
The defense struggled throughout the case to produce evidence that any of the supposed assistants had in fact carried out relevant work.
And the European Parliament itself said the RN had cooked the books to the tune of 4.5 million euros.
Prosecutors said that Le Pen could again misuse public funds if allowed to continue in elected office, as justification for their sentencing request.
But her lawyer Bosselut said that the RN’s financial practices at the time were “banal... shared by every European party” in the parliament.
Buoyed this year by the RN’s unprecedented success at snap parliamentary elections, becoming France’s largest single party in parliament, Le Pen has characterised the sentencing request as an attempt to remove her by means of the judiciary rather than a political fair fight.
White House pressing Ukraine to draft 18-year-olds so they have enough troops to battle Russia
- The official said “the pure math” of Ukraine’s situation now is that it needs more troops in the fight
- The Ukrainians believe they need about 160,000 additional troops, but the US administration believes they probably will need more than that
WASHINGTON: President Joe Biden’s administration is urging Ukraine to quickly increase the size of its military by drafting more troops and revamping its mobilization laws to allow for the conscription of troops as young as 18.
A senior Biden administration official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the private consultations, said Wednesday that the outgoing Democratic administration wants Ukraine to lower the mobilization age to 18 from the current age of 25 to help expand the pool of fighting-age men available to help a badly outnumbered Ukraine in its nearly three-year-old war with Russia.
The official said “the pure math” of Ukraine’s situation now is that it needs more troops in the fight.
The White House has pushed more than $56 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since the start of Russia’s February 2022 invasion and expects to send billions more to Kyiv before Biden leaves office in less than months.
But with time running out, the Biden White House is also sharpening its viewpoint that Ukraine has the weaponry it needs and now must dramatically increase its troop levels if it’s going to stay in the fight with Russia.
The official said the Ukrainians believe they need about 160,000 additional troops, but the US administration believes they probably will need more than that.
More than 1 million Ukrainians are now in uniform, including National Guard and other units.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has also been hearing concerns from allies in other Western capitals that Ukraine has a troop level problem and not an arms problem, according to European officials who requested anonymity to discuss the sensitive diplomatic conversations.
The European allies have also stressed that the lack of depth means that it may soon become untenable for Ukraine to continue to operate in Russia’s Kursk border region that Ukraine seized this year. The situation in Kursk has become further complicated by the arrival of thousands of North Korean troops who have come to help Moscow try to claw back the land.
The stepped-up push on Ukraine to strengthen its fighting ranks also comes as Ukraine braces for President-elect Donald Trump to take office on Jan. 20. The Republican said he would bring about a swift end to the war and has raised uncertainty about whether his administration would continue the vital US military support for Ukraine.
“There are no easy answers to Ukraine’s serious manpower shortage, but lowering the draft age would help,” said Bradley Bowman, senior director of the Center on Military and Political Power at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. “These are obviously difficult decisions for a government and society that has already endured so much due to Russia’s invasion.”
Ukraine has taken steps to broaden the pool of draft-eligible men, but the efforts have only scratched the surface against a much larger Russian military.
In April, Ukraine’s parliament passed a series of laws, including lowering its draft-eligible age for men from 27 to 25, aimed at broadening the universe of men who could be called on to join the grinding war.
Those laws also did away with some draft exemptions and created an online registry for recruits. They were expected to add about 50,000 troops, far short of what Zelensky said at the time was needed.
Zelensky has consistently stated that he has no plans to lower the mobilization age. A senior Ukrainian official, who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity, said Ukraine does not have enough equipment to match the scale of its ongoing mobilization efforts.
The official said Ukrainian officials see the push to the lower the draft age as part of an effort by some Western partners to deflect attention from their own delays in providing equipment or belated decisions. The official cited as an example the delay in giving Ukraine permission to use longer-range weapons to strike deep into Russian territory.
The Ukrainians do not see lowering the draft age to recruit more soldiers as a substitute for countering Russia’s advantage in equipment and weaponry, the official said.
Conscription has been a sensitive matter in Ukraine throughout the war. Russia’s own problems with adequate troop levels and planning early in the war prevented Moscow from taking full advantage of its edge. But the tide has shifted and the US says the Ukrainian shortage can no longer be overlooked.
Some Ukrainians have expressed worry that further lowering the minimum conscription age and taking more young adults out of the workforce could backfire by further harming the war-ravaged economy.
The senior Biden administration official added that the administration believes that Ukraine can also optimize its current force by more aggressively dealing with soldiers who desert or go absent without leave.
Baltic Sea wind farms impair Sweden’s defense, says military
- The revelation comes after the Swedish government blocked the construction of 13 offshore wind farms in the Baltic on November 4
- “The Swedish Armed Forces have been clear in their evaluation regarding offshore wind energy in the Baltic Sea,” the military said
STOCKHOLM: Offshore wind farms in the Baltic Sea hinder the defense of Sweden and its allies, impairing the military’s ability to identify threats, it said on Wednesday.
The revelation comes after the Swedish government blocked the construction of 13 offshore wind farms in the Baltic on November 4, and stopped another off the island of Gotland on November 21 due to the military’s defense concerns.
On Wednesday the military said all wind farm projects in the Baltic would pose a problem.
“The Swedish Armed Forces have been clear in their evaluation regarding offshore wind energy in the Baltic Sea,” the military said in an email to AFP.
“It would pose unacceptable risks for the defense of our country and our allies,” it added.
The government said the towers and rotating blades of wind turbines emit radar echoes and generate other forms of interference.
The relative proximity of the 13 blocked projects to the “highly militarised” Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, which is sandwiched between Poland and Lithuania, had been “central” in the government’s assessment, Defense Minister Pal Jonson said.
He said wind farms in the area could delay the detection of incoming cruise missiles, cutting the warning time in half to 60 seconds.
“We currently see no technical solutions or legal prerequisites for a coexistence of our defense interests and wind power in the Baltic Sea,” the Armed Forces said on Wednesday.
“The greatly deteriorated security situation after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine means that we can no longer accept any risks to our defense capability.”
“Our ability to detect incoming threats against both Sweden and our allies is vital. Our sensor chain plays a decisive role in this and it must be able to operate with the highest possible capability,” it said.
Tensions have mounted in the Baltic since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
With Sweden and Finland now NATO members, all of the countries bordering the Baltic are now members of the alliance except Russia.
The Swedish government has insisted that wind power expansion remained a priority, with electricity consumption expected to double by 2045 from the current level.
It has said other areas off Sweden’s southwestern and northeastern coasts were better suited for offshore wind projects.
