BEIJING: China placed a city of four million people under lockdown on Tuesday, ordering them not to leave home except in emergencies, in a bid to eradicate a COVID-19 cluster of just a few dozen confirmed cases.
Beijing imposed strict border controls after the coronavirus was first detected in China in late 2019, slowing the number of cases to a trickle and allowing the economy to bounce back.
But as the rest of the world opens up and tries to find ways to live with the virus, China has maintained a zero COVID-19 approach that has seen harsh local lockdowns imposed over handfuls of cases.
Tuesday’s fresh restrictions came as China reported 29 new domestic infections — including six in Lanzhou, the capital of Gansu province in the country’s northwest.
The latest outbreak has been linked to the highly contagious Delta variant, with the tally hitting 198 cases since October 17.
Thirty-nine have been in Lanzhou.
Residents of the city will now be required to stay at home, authorities said in a statement, with the “entry and exit of residents” strictly controlled and limited to essential supplies or medical treatment.
Bus and taxi services had already been stopped in the city, and state media said Tuesday that Lanzhou station had suspended more than 70 trains, including on key routes to Beijing and Xi’an.
A Southern Airlines representative said that all its flights from Beijing’s Daxing airport to Lanzhou were canceled due to public safety, with no resumption date given.
Health officials have warned that more infections may emerge as testing is ramped up in the coming days to fight the outbreak, which has been linked to a group of domestic tourists who traveled from Shanghai to several other provinces.
Strict stay-at-home orders have already been imposed on tens of thousands of people in northern China.
In Beijing — which reported three new cases Tuesday — access to tourist sites has been limited and the prominent Lama Temple was shuttered, while residents were advised not to leave the capital unless necessary.
About 23,000 residents in one housing compound in Changping district have been ordered to stay indoors after nine cases were found there in recent days, local outlet Beijing News reported.
Community mahjong and chess rooms have been closed, and residents have been told to reduce large gatherings.
Organizers on Sunday indefinitely postponed a marathon at which 30,000 runners were expected.
Mass testing is under way in 11 provinces and authorities have suspended many inter-provincial tour groups.
While the country’s case numbers are extremely low compared with elsewhere in the world, authorities are determined to stamp out the latest outbreak with the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing just over 100 days away.
As part of China’s strict enforcement of the zero COVID-19 policy, those deemed to have failed in controlling COVID-19 are often dismissed from their posts or punished.
On Tuesday, the official Xinhua news agency reported that the party secretary of Ejin Banner in the northern Inner Mongolia region had been sacked, “due to poor performance and implementation in epidemic prevention and control.”
Hit by the latest wave, the city locked down about 35,000 residents from Monday.
Around 10,000 tourists were also placed under lockdown in Ejin, according to local media reports.
Six other officials were punished for their “slack response” to the latest flare-up, state media reported, and a local police bureau deputy director was removed from their position.
Beijing police have launched three criminal investigations into alleged COVID-19 safety breaches, deputy director of the city’s public security bureau said Sunday.
China locks down city of four million over COVID-19 cases
https://arab.news/2t9yz
China locks down city of four million over COVID-19 cases
- Beijing imposed strict border controls after the coronavirus was first detected in China in late 2019
- The latest outbreak has been linked to the highly contagious Delta variant
Baby born on migrant vessel in Atlantic: Spanish rescuers
A record 46,843 undocumented migrants reached the Canary Islands in 2024
MADRID: Spanish coast guards rescued a baby that was born on an inflatable vessel carrying migrants to the Canary Islands, authorities said on Wednesday.
The newborn was recovered safely along with their mother on Monday, the coast guard service said in a message on X.
They were the latest to make the crossing that has seen thousands drown as migrants try to reach the Atlantic archipelago from Africa.
“Christmas ended in the Canaries with the rescue of a baby born while crossing the sea,” the coast guard said.
A coast guard boat “rescued a mother who had given birth aboard the inflatable craft in which she was traveling with a large group of people.”
The two were taken by helicopter to Arrecife on the island of Lanzarote, it added.
A record 46,843 undocumented migrants reached the Canary Islands in 2024 via the Atlantic route, official data showed this month.
Ethiopians celebrate Christmas as natural calamities and conflict take their toll
- The patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church called for reconciliation and peace in a nation where conflict has been often fueled by ethnic strife
ADDIS ABABA: Ethiopia’s Orthodox Christians are celebrating Christmas with prayers for peace in the Horn of Africa nation that has faced persistent conflict in recent years.
Ethiopians follow the Julian calendar, which runs 13 days later than the Gregorian calendar, used by Catholic and Protestant churches. They traditionally celebrate by slaughtering animals and joining family members to break the fast after midnight.
The patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, Abune Mathias, in his televised Christmas Eve message called for reconciliation and peace in a nation where conflict has been often fueled by ethnic strife. Different parts of Ethiopia recently have also faced natural calamities, including mudslides. Earthquakes last week in the remote regions of Afar, Amhara and Oromia have displaced thousands.
Despite the signing of a peace agreement to end the armed conflict in the northern region of Tigray in 2022, recurring conflicts in Amhara, Oromia and elsewhere have caused widespread suffering and forced 9 million children to drop out of school, according to UNICEF.
Almaz Zewdie, who was among thousands of Orthodox Christians attending ceremonies in Addis Ababa’s Medhanyalem Church, said she was praying for peace.
She was draped in an all-white traditional attire to mark the end of a 43-day fasting period and the birth of Jesus Christ.
“I lost friends and my livelihood,” said Zewdie, a merchant from the tourist town of Gondar, speaking of the toll of the conflict in Amhara, where government troops have been fighting members of a local militia.
Isaias Seyoum, a priest in Addis Ababa’s Selassie Church, said the celebration of Christmas is more than just feasting and merrymaking. It is also a time to share meals with needy people and help those impacted by conflict, including many sheltering in Addis Ababa, he said.
Baroness Warsi accuses UK Conservative Party of demonizing her over Islamophobia claims
- Party recently told Warsi she would not have whip restored in UK’s upper house of parliament
- Internal inquiry clears Warsi of ‘bringing the party into disrepute’ over support for pro-Palestinian protester
LONDON: The UK’s first Muslim cabinet member has accused her Conservative Party of attempting to “demonize” her after she criticized the party over Islamophobia.
Baroness Sayeeda Warsi was told recently she was not welcome back into the Conservative Party in the UK’s upper house of parliament, where she holds a seat, The Independent reported on Wednesday.
Warsi resigned from the party in the House of Lords in September, claiming the Conservatives had moved too far to the right.
The former co-chair of the Conservative Party had also come under pressure from senior party members over language used in a tweet supporting a pro-Palestinian protester.
Warsi has now been cleared of being “divisive” and “bringing the party into disrepute” by a disciplinary panel investigating the tweet.
But the Conservatives wrote to Warsi saying that while she could remain a member of the party, they would not restore to her the party whip, meaning she could not be affiliated with the party in the Lords.
In response, Warsi said she had not asked to have the whip restored, and accused the Conservatives of playing games.
She told The Independent that the party was attempting to “demonize” her for challenging the party’s “rising levels of extremism, racism and Islamophobia.”
Warsi was appointed as the first Muslim Conservative Party chair in 2010 by Prime Minister David Cameron as he sought to modernize the party.
But in recent years the Conservatives have shifted further right as they seek to counter the growing popularity of far-right parties.
In March, Warsi said the party had become known as “the institutionally xenophobic and racist party.” She has also repeatedly accused it of failing to tackle Islamophobia within the party and criticized significant figures for their rhetoric over immigration.
In 2014, she resigned as a minister in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office over the government’s “morally indefensible” approach to Gaza.
Warsi’s decision to resign the whip in September was, she said: “A reflection of how far right my party has moved and the hypocrisy and double standards in its treatment of different communities.”
The move came after complaints against her for a tweet congratulating a pro-Palestinian protester acquitted of a racially aggravated public order offense. The protester had used a placard depicting Rishi Sunak, who was prime minister at the time, as a coconut.
Poland shuts consulate in Saint Petersburg on Russian order
- Russia ordered the closure in December after Poland said in October it was closing Russia’s consulate in the Polish city of Poznan
- “The Polish Consulate General in Saint Petersburg was shut down upon Russia’s withdrawal of its consent to the activity of the Polish post,” Poland’s foreign ministry said
WARSAW: Poland announced Wednesday it had shut its consulate in the Russian city of Saint Petersburg, after Russia ordered the closure in a tit-for-tat move.
Russia ordered the closure in December after Poland said in October it was closing Russia’s consulate in the Polish city of Poznan, accusing Moscow of “sabotage” attempts in the country and its allies.
“The Polish Consulate General in Saint Petersburg was shut down upon Russia’s withdrawal of its consent to the activity of the Polish post,” Poland’s foreign ministry said in a statement Wednesday.
“It is in retaliation for a decision of the Polish foreign minister to close down Russia’s Consulate General in Poznan in the aftermath of acts of sabotage committed on Polish territory and linked to Russian authorities.”
After Russia ordered the closure, Poland responded that it would close all the Russian consulates on its soil if “terrorism” it blamed on Moscow carried on.
Tensions between Russia and NATO member Poland have escalated since Moscow sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022, with both sides expelling dozens of diplomats.
Poland is a staunch ally of Kyiv and has been a key transit point for Western arms heading to the embattled country since the conflict began.
In one of the largest espionage trials, Poland in 2023 convicted 14 citizens of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine of preparing sabotage on behalf of Moscow as part of a spy ring.
They were found guilty of preparing to derail trains carrying aid to Ukraine, and monitoring military facilities and critical infrastructure in the country.
2 Russian firefighters died in blaze caused by Ukraine drone: governor
- “As a result of the liquidation (of the fire), there are two dead,” said the governor of Saratov region
MOSCOW: Two Russian firefighters died on Wednesday fighting a blaze caused by a Ukrainian drone attack, the local governor said, after Kyiv said it hit an oil depot that supplies Russia’s air force.
“Unfortunately, as a result of the liquidation (of the fire), there are two dead — employees of the emergency situations ministry’s fire department,” Roman Busagrin, governor of the Saratov region where the strike happened, said on Telegram.
