TOKYO: Tokyo’s 2,848 COVID-19 infections on Tuesday were the Olympic host city’s highest since the pandemic began, officials said, as media reported that authorities had asked hospitals to prepare more beds for patients as the Delta variant drives the surge.
The rise in cases threatens to further erode support for Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, whose ratings have slid to their lowest level since he took office last September, in large part because of his haphazard handling of the pandemic.
It also spells trouble for the Olympics, as many Japanese fear the influx of athletes and officials for the event could add to the surge. About 31 percent in a survey by the Nikkei daily on Monday said the Games should be canceled or postponed again.
“It’s the Delta variant,” said Kenji Shibuya, a former director of the Institute for Population Health at King’s College London, explaining the swift recent surge.
Shibuya added it was impossible to quantify to what extent the Olympics contributed to the surge but blamed the global sports showpiece as “one of the major driving forces.”
“The government has sent signals that people are supposed to stay home at the same time they celebrate the Games. It’s a totally inconsistent message,” said Shibuya, who is now running the vaccine roll-out in a town in northern Japan.
Japan has avoided the devastating outbreaks suffered by other nations such as India, Indonesia and the United States, but the fifth wave of the pandemic fueled by the Delta variant is piling pressure on Tokyo’s hospitals.
By Sunday, only 20.8 percent of the Japanese capital’s 12,635 COVID-19 patients had been able to obtain hospital treatment, government data showed. A government advisory panel says that if the ratio falls below the threshold of 25 percent, a state of emergency should be triggered.
In anticipation of the surge and considering the tough hospital situation, Tokyo has already declared a fourth state of emergency this month to run until after the Olympics.
In a last-minute change of heart, Japan also made the unprecedented decision to hold the Games, postponed from last year by the pandemic, without spectators to stem the spread of the virus.
As hospitals admit more patients, the city aims to boost the number of beds to 6,406 by early next month from 5,967 now, broadcaster TBS said.
Hospitals should look at pushing back planned surgery and scaling down other treatments, the broadcaster said, citing a notice to medical institutions from city authorities.
Health experts had warned that seasonal factors, increased mobility, and the spread of variants would lead to a rebound in COVID-19 cases this summer.
While vaccinations boost protection for the oldest citizens most likely to need emergency care, just 36 percent of the population has received at least one dose, a Reuters vaccination tracker shows.
The inoculation push has recently ebbed amid logistical snags after having picked up steam last month from a sluggish start.
Voter support for Suga slid nine points to 34 percent, its lowest since he took office last September, a July 23-25 Nikkei business daily survey showed on Monday.
Nearly two-thirds of respondents said the country’s rollout of coronavirus vaccinations was not going well.
Suga’s term as ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) president expires in September and his LDP-led coalition faces an election for parliament’s powerful lower house, which must be held by November.
About a third in the Nikkei survey wanted the Games postponed again or canceled, while more than half said Japan’s border steps for incoming Olympics athletes and officials were “inappropriate.”
Despite tight quarantine rules for the Games, 155 cases have emerged involving athletes and others.
A strict “playbook” of rules to avoid contagion requires frequent virus testing, restricted movement and masks worn in most situations.
Olympic host Tokyo hits record 2,848 COVID-19 cases
Olympic host Tokyo hits record 2,848 COVID-19 cases
- The rise in cases threatens to further erode support for Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga
- It also spells trouble for the Olympics, as many Japanese fear the influx of athletes and officials for the event could add to the surge
UK court hears horrific details of Southport girls’ murders as killer removed from dock
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
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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.
