New coronavirus cases drop for third day as toll passes 1,600

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Chinese authorities have placed some 56 million people in Hubei and its capital Wuhan under quarantine after the coronavirus outbreak. (AFP)
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This photo taken on February 12, 2020 shows negative pressure protection and monitoring ambulances preparing to leave for Wuhan in Nanchang in China's central Jiangxi province. (AFP)
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A medical worker puts on a protective suit before entering a sports centre which has been converted into a makeshift hospital to treat patients of the novel coronavirus, in Wuhan, Hubei province, China February 12, 2020. (REUTERS)
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Updated 16 February 2020
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New coronavirus cases drop for third day as toll passes 1,600

  • A viral outbreak that began in China has infected more than 67,000 people globally
  • The World Health Organization has named the illness COVID-19, referring to its origin late last year and the coronavirus that causes it

BEIJING: The number of new cases from China’s coronavirus epidemic dropped for a third consecutive day on Sunday, as the World Health Organization chief warned it was “impossible” to predict how the outbreak would develop.

Global concern remains high about the spread of the virus, which first emerged in China’s central Hubei province in December, with the first death outside Asia reported in France this weekend.

The death toll jumped to 1,665 in mainland China on Sunday after 142 more people died from the virus. More than 68,000 people have now been infected — but the number of new cases of the COVID-19 strain continued to decline.

In hardest-hit Hubei, the number of new cases slowed for a third consecutive day and at 139, the number of deaths was level with Saturday’s toll.

The number of new cases in other parts of the country has dropped for twelve straight days.

The WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned however that it was “impossible to predict which direction this epidemic will take.”

“We ask all governments, companies, and news organizations to work with us to sound the appropriate level of alarm without fanning the flames of hysteria,” he said, speaking at the Munich Security Conference.

“China has bought the world time. We don’t know how much time.”

The UN health body has asked China for more details on how diagnoses are being made.

An international team of WHO experts will arrive in Beijing this weekend for a joint mission with Chinese counterparts.

The scale of the epidemic ballooned on Thursday after authorities in Hubei changed their criteria for counting cases, retroactively adding thousands of new patients to their tally.

Hubei added more than 14,000 cases in a single day after officials there started counting people clinically diagnosed through lung imaging, in addition to those with a positive lab test result.

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Chinese authorities have placed some 56 million people in Hubei and its capital Wuhan under quarantine, virtually sealing off the province from the rest of the country in an unprecedented effort to contain the virus.

Local authorities around the country have introduced measures to try and stop the virus spreading.

Beijing’s municipal government has enacted a rule requiring all people coming to the capital to quarantine themselves for 14 days, warning that violators would be punished, according to official media.

Outside mainland China, an 80-year-old Chinese tourist in France was the fourth person to die from the new coronavirus, with the other deaths in the Philippines, Hong Kong and Japan.

The biggest cluster outside China is on a quarantined cruise ship off Japan, with 355 infections now as dozens more cases were confirmed.

The US, Canada and Hong Kong said they will evacuate their own citizens from the ship, and quarantine them on home soil.

Several countries have banned arrivals from China and major airlines have cut services to the country.

Nepal became the latest country to bring its citizens out of Wuhan, with a plane carrying 175 Nepalis arriving in Katmandu early Sunday.

The virus spread last month as millions traveled across the country for the Lunar New Year holiday, which was extended to try and prevent more infections.

People have slowly started to return to work in the past two weeks, though many are doing their jobs from home and schools remain closed.

With the government facing criticism over its handling of the crisis, Chinese President Xi Jinping called for tighter policing to protect social stability.

The government must “increase use of police force and strengthen the visible use of police” during the crisis, Xi said in a February 3 speech published by state media on Saturday.

A number of local officials have been sacked for their role in mishandling the outbreak — including the province’s top two health officials, and the political chiefs of Hubei and Wuhan who were replaced with Xi loyalists.

On Sunday, a host of new reprimands were made against officials in the virus-hit province, including the deputy governor of Qichun county who “cut corners and worked around the centralized quarantine order,” according to Hubei authorities.

Five other party officials from across Hubei were given warnings for offenses such as not preventing mass gatherings in their areas.

China’s central bank said it will also disinfect banknotes with ultraviolet light or high temperatures and store them for up to 14 days before they are put back into circulation.


UK court hears horrific details of Southport girls’ murders as killer removed from dock

Updated 23 January 2025
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UK court hears horrific details of Southport girls’ murders as killer removed from dock

  • After Judge Julian Goose refused to adjourn the sentencing, Rudakubana shouted “don’t continue,” prompting the judge to have him removed
  • Someone shouted “coward” as he left

LONDON: A British teenager who murdered three young girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance event was obsessed with violence and genocide, prosecutors said on Thursday after the killer was removed for repeatedly interrupting his sentencing.
Axel Rudakubana, 18, killed the three girls at a Taylor Swift-themed summer vacation event last July, with two of them suffering “horrific injuries which ... are difficult to explain as anything other than sadistic in nature,” prosecutor Deanna Heer said.
Rudakubana was removed from the dock at Liverpool Crown Court shortly after the start of his sentencing after shouting from the dock that he was unwell and suffering chest pains.
After Judge Julian Goose refused to adjourn the sentencing, Rudakubana shouted “don’t continue,” prompting the judge to have him removed. Someone shouted “coward” as he left.
On Monday, Rudakubana admitted carrying out the killings, in the northern English town of Southport, an atrocity that was followed by days of nationwide rioting.
He murdered Bebe King, 6, Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7, and Alice Dasilva Aguiar, 9, with two of the girls suffering at least 85 and 122 sharp force injuries, Heer said.
The prosecutor described a scene of horror, with the court shown video footage of screaming young girls fleeing the building. One bloodied girl was seen collapsing outside, provoking gasps and sobs from the public gallery.
He has also pleaded guilty to 10 charges of attempted murder relating to the attack, as well as to producing the deadly poison ricin and possessing an Al-Qaeda training manual.
Before Rudakubana’s outburst, Heer had said he was not inspired by any political or religious ideology.
“His only purpose was to kill and he targeted the youngest, most vulnerable in order to spread the greatest level of fear and outrage, which he succeeded in doing.” she said.
“Whilst under arrest at the police station after the incident, Axel Rudakubana was heard to say ‘It’s a good thing those children are dead ... I’m so glad ... so happy’.”
Heer said images and documents found on a computer at his home showed “he had a long-standing obsession with violence, killing and genocide.”
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has said there were “grave questions” for the state to answer as to why the murders took place.
The government has announced a public inquiry into the case after it said Rudakubana had been referred three times to Prevent, a counter-radicalization scheme, but no action had been taken.
Starmer has said the attack could show that Britain faces a new type of terrorism threat waged by “loners, misfits, young men in their bedrooms” committing extreme violence.


Russia working ‘constantly’ to return Kursk residents: official

Updated 23 January 2025
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Russia working ‘constantly’ to return Kursk residents: official

  • Hundreds were unable to evacuate and are now living in Ukrainian-controlled territory — cut off from communication with Russia
  • Some relatives this week posted photos of their missing relatives on Russian social media platform VKontakte

MOSCOW: An official in Russia’s Kursk border region partly occupied by Ukraine told AFP that authorities were working “constantly” to secure the return of Russian civilians caught behind the front lines — after facing rare public criticism.
Ukraine launched a surprise offensive into the Kursk region last August, seizing dozens of towns and villages in a shock setback for Moscow.
Hundreds were unable to evacuate and are now living in Ukrainian-controlled territory — cut off from communication with Russia.
In rare displays of public criticism amid Russia’s crackdown on dissent, some of their relatives have taken to speaking out against the authorities over the lack of information and failure to secure their return.
“Federal agencies and structures, and also the government of the Kursk region, are carrying out constant work in order to achieve concrete results in searching for and returning residents of Kursk region, with whom relatives have lost contact,” Kursk’s acting information minister, Mikhail Shumakov, said in a letter, dated Tuesday, sent to AFP.
He was replying to a request to comment on accusations from a Kursk woman, Lyubov Prilutskaya, who is campaigning to raise attention of the issue through posts on social media and interviews.
Her parents, who lived in a border village captured by Ukraine, have been missing since August.
Some relatives this week posted photos of their missing relatives on Russian social media platform VKontakte, saying around 3,000 civilians remain in Kyiv-controlled areas of the front-line Sudzha district.
They urged “the leadership of the two countries and international organizations to help save the lives of our family members.”
Kursk authorities in their letter acknowledged a list of 517 missing people published by rights ombudswoman Tatiana Moskalkova was “not comprehensive.”
A Ukrainian military spokesman for Kursk said this month that around 2,000 civilians remained in Kyiv-held territory.
Dozens of local residents forced to leave their homes by Ukraine’s offensive held protests in the main city of Kursk on Saturday and Tuesday, complaining about poor conditions for evacuees and demanding direct dialogue with authorities.


Saudi Arabia set to finance bridge construction in eastern Sri Lanka

Updated 23 January 2025
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Saudi Arabia set to finance bridge construction in eastern Sri Lanka

  • Saudi Fund for Development previously financed Kinniya Bridge, Sri Lanka’s longest
  • Kingdom has helped finance various projects and granted development loans to the country

COLOMBO: Saudi Arabia is to finance a bridge construction project in Sri Lanka’s eastern district of Trincomalee, the Kingdom’s envoy in Colombo said on Thursday.

Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development and the Saudi Fund for Development have signed a revised agreement for a $10.5 million infrastructure project in the coastal town of Kinniya that will connect it to the Kurinchakerny peninsula.

The ministry announced on Wednesday: “(Some) $10.5 million has been allocated for the construction of Kurinchakerny Bridge, facilitating the transport and business needs of approximately 100,000 residents.”

The funds were repurposed from an earlier project between the Sri Lankan government and the SFD, the Saudi Ambassador to Sri Lanka Khalid bin Hamoud Al-Kahtani said.

The Kingdom previously funded the reconstruction of the Peradeniya-Badulla-Chenkaladi road in Sri Lanka, which connected the country’s eastern, middle and southern provinces. The massive project, which helped improve road safety and mobility in the island nation, was completed in 2021.

“The balance left from the project has been given for the construction of the project on a request made by the Sri Lankan government,” Al-Kahtani told Arab News.

“Through the revised agreement, it is expected to transfer funds that remained in the aforesaid project … and to mobilize the same towards construction of the Kurinchakerny Bridge (in Kinniya). It is envisaged to provide solutions to many transport difficulties.” 

Saudi Arabia has helped finance over a dozen projects in Sri Lanka, covering education, water, energy, health and infrastructure. The SFD has also granted at least 15 development loans to the island nation, worth more than $425 million in total.

In Trincomalee, the new bridge will be the second financed by the Kingdom after the Kinniya Bridge. At 396 meters it is the longest bridge in Sri Lanka and was opened in 2009.

A.L. Ashraff, a Kinniya-based journalist, said that the Kinniya Bridge had “triggered the region’s economic and cultural development.” 

The Kurinchakerny Bridge, he said, was a “fantastic gift for the thousands of people in Kinniya, which would make their daily life easier.”


5 treated after stabbing in south London, 1 man arrested

Updated 23 January 2025
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5 treated after stabbing in south London, 1 man arrested

  • Metropolitan Police said that a man was arrested following the stabbing in Croydon
  • Authorities didn’t provide a motive for the stabbing

LONDON: Five people have been treated following a stabbing Thursday morning in south London, according to London’s Ambulance Service.
London’s Metropolitan Police said that a man was arrested following the stabbing in Croydon, which British media reports said happened near an Asda supermarket. Authorities didn’t provide a motive for the stabbing.
The ambulance service said that one person was taken to a major trauma center in London and four other people were hospitalized.
“We sent a number of resources to the scene, including ambulance crews, a paramedic in a fast response car, an incident response officer, members of our Tactical Response Unit and London’s Air Ambulance,” the service said.
The violence came on the same day that a teenager faced sentencing for fatally stabbing three girls at a Taylor Swift-themed summer dance class in the northwestern English town of Southport.


Police in Hungary investigate bomb threats affecting over 240 schools

Updated 23 January 2025
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Police in Hungary investigate bomb threats affecting over 240 schools

  • The threats, which came in the form of emails, were identical in their text
  • Officers were being dispatched to all affected institutions

BUDAPEST: Police in Hungary said Thursday they were investigating bomb threats that were sent to more than 240 schools across the country, resulting in classes being canceled at some schools.
The threats, which came in the form of emails, were identical in their text and likely sent by a single sender, police said in a statement. Officers were being dispatched to all affected institutions. No explosives or explosive devices were found in the buildings inspected so far, police added.
Gergely Gulyás, chief of staff to Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, said that “education in most schools in the country proceeds smoothly,” and that school administrators could decide for themselves whether to send students home.
He said Orbán on Thursday had consulted repeatedly with the interior minister and the minister in charge of Hungary’s secret services.
The emails were sent from numerous email providers “including foreign ones,” Gulyás said. Hungarian secret services were in consultation with their counterparts in neighboring Slovakia, where similar bomb threats were made last year, Gulyás said.
On Wednesday, numerous schools in around a dozen cities in Bulgaria also received bomb threats, according to Bulgarian public broadcaster BNT.