BEIJING: Moves by the US, Japan and others to mandate COVID-19 tests for passengers arriving from China reflect global concern that new variants could emerge in its ongoing explosive outbreak — and the government may not inform the rest of the world quickly enough.
There have been no reports of new variants to date. But given the country’s track record, the worry is that China may not be sharing data on any signs of evolving strains that could spark fresh outbreaks elsewhere.
The US, in announcing a negative test requirement Wednesday for passengers from China, cited both the surge in infections and what it said was a lack of information, including the genomic sequencing of the virus strains in the country.
Wang Pi-Sheng, the head of Taiwan’s epidemic command center, said Thursday that uncertainty about the situation in China has his government worried. Authorities will start testing everyone arriving from China on January 1 ahead of the expected return of about 30,000 Taiwanese for the Lunar New Year holiday later in the month.
“Right now the pandemic situation in China is not transparent,” he said. “We have a very limited grasp on its information, and it’s not very accurate.”
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida expressed a similar concern about a lack of information when he announced a testing requirement for passengers from China earlier this week.
More broadly, the World Health Organization needs more information on the severity of the outbreak in China, particularly on hospital and ICU admissions, “in order to make a comprehensive risk assessment of the situation on the ground,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said last week.
India, South Korea, Taiwan and Italy have also announced various testing requirements for passengers from China. German health authorities are monitoring the situation but have not taken similar preemptive steps.
“We have no indication that a more dangerous variant has developed in this outbreak in China that would be grounds to declare a virus variant area, which would bring corresponding travel restrictions,” Health Ministry spokesperson Sebastian Guelde said.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said last week that China has always shared its information responsibly with the WHO.
“We stand ready to work with the international community in solidarity to tackle the COVID-19 challenge more effectively, better protect people’s lives and health and jointly restore steady economic growth and build a global community of health for all,” she said.
China rolled back many of its tough pandemic restrictions earlier this month, allowing the virus to spread rapidly in a country that had seen relatively few infections since an initial devastating outbreak in the city of Wuhan in early 2020.
The global concerns, tinged with anger, are a direct result of the ruling Communist Party’s sudden exit from its hard-line policies, said Miles Yu, director of the China Center at the Hudson Institute, a conservative think tank in Washington, D.C.
“You can’t conduct the lunacy of ‘zero-COVID’ lockdowns for such a long period of time ... and then suddenly unleash a multitude of the infected from a caged China to the world,” risking major outbreaks elsewhere, Yu said in an email.
In China, the spiraling infections have led to shortages of cold medicine, long lines at fever clinics, and at-capacity emergency rooms turning away patients. Cremations have risen several-fold, with a request from overburdened funeral homes in the southern city of Guangzhou for families to postpone funeral services until next month.
Chinese state media has not reported this widely and blamed Western media for hyping up the situation.
“This type of rhetoric is driven by bias, intended to smear China and politically motivated,” Wang Wenbin, another Foreign Ministry spokesperson, said Wednesday.
The government has been accused of controlling information about the outbreak since the start of the pandemic.
An AP investigation showed that China was controlling dissemination of its internal research on the origins of COVID-19 in 2020. A WHO expert group said in a report this year that “key pieces of data” were still missing on the how the pandemic began and called for a more in-depth investigation.
Lack of info on China’s COVID-19 surge stirs global concerns
https://arab.news/6hpkn
Lack of info on China’s COVID-19 surge stirs global concerns
- The worry is that China may not be sharing data on any signs of evolving strains that could spark fresh outbreaks elsewhere
King Charles’ cancer treatment progressing well, will continue next year
- 2024 has been ‘brutal’ for family
- Princes Andrew and Harry absent from Christmas get-together
LONDON: King Charles’ cancer treatment is progressing well and will continue into next year, a Buckingham Palace source said, as the British royals prepare for their annual Christmas get-together after a “brutal” year for the family.
In February, the palace revealed the 76-year-old, who became king in 2022, had been diagnosed with an unspecified form of cancer detected in tests after a corrective procedure for an enlarged prostate.
While he was able to return to public duties two months later, the number of engagements has been limited on medical advice, something which the noted workaholic has found difficult.
“His treatment has been moving in a positive direction and as a managed condition the treatment cycle will continue into next year,” the palace source said on Friday.
The palace source said there had been no change in Charles’ health and the news that his treatment would continue in 2025 did not represent any significant update.
But his busy pre-Christmas schedule, which concludes on Friday with a visit to the northeast London district of Walthamstow that staged a large counter-protest in August in response to nationwide rioting, was an indication of his determination to stay busy.
In October, Charles and his wife Camilla made a brief stopover in India where they stayed at a holistic health center following his first major trip since being diagnosed with cancer to Australia and Samoa.
Overall the last year has been difficult for the royals.
The disclosure in March that the king’s daughter-in-law Kate, the wife of heir Prince William, was undergoing preventative chemotherapy for cancer was another shock.
While her treatment has now ended, her return to official engagements has been limited and she said her path to full recovery would be long. William said it had been the hardest 12 months of his life and “brutal” for the family.
But it has not just been health issues that have put the Windsors in the spotlight. The king’s younger brother Prince Andrew was embroiled in another scandal this month after a close business associate of his was banned from Britain over government suspicions he was a Chinese agent.
The royal finances have also come under media scrutiny while Charles was heckled by an Indigenous senator at Australia’s Parliament House during his tour there, a reflection of ongoing questions about Britain’s colonial past.
Meanwhile, the king’s younger son Prince Harry remains estranged from the family and more royal secrets are likely to be aired when he gives days of evidence in the witness box in his lawsuit against Rupert Murdoch’s British newspaper group.
Both Harry and Andrew will be absent when the royals gather for their traditional festive gathering at the king’s Sandringham home in eastern England, a very visual demonstration of those problems.
KSrelief to build homes for thousands of Bangladeshi flood survivors
- Homes for 3,000 people will be built in 9 worst-affected districts
- Construction to start next week and finish within 3 months
DHAKA: The King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center is helping build housing for thousands of Bangladeshis rendered homeless by this year’s devastating floods.
Bangladesh — one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change — faced a series of consecutive climate-related disasters this year.
Following the landfall of Cyclone Remal in May, communities in northeastern and southeastern Bangladesh were hit by flash floods and riverine flooding, affecting an estimated 18 million people. Many lost their homes or had them severely damaged.
The KSrelief-funded project launched earlier this week will help build 630 homes in nine worst-affected districts.
“The scale of the destruction highlighted the urgent need for sustainable relief projects,” Saudi Arabia’s Deputy Ambassador Abdulaziz Fahad Al-Ibrahim told reporters in Dhaka.
“(This) program is part of the ongoing humanitarian efforts made by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to support those affected by natural disasters around the world.”
The homes will be built by KSrelief’s local partner, the Sunbulah Welfare Association, which designed them to resist extreme weather.
“The floor of the houses will be made with concrete, while the walls and roof will be built with tin, which will be strong enough to withstand future flooding and cyclones,” Dr. Mohammad Shakir Hossain, Sunbulah’s founder and chairman, told Arab News.
The construction of one such home is estimated to cost around $1,400.
“We will complete the construction within the next three months. The first phase of construction works will begin next week,” Hossain said.
“More than 3,000 people will receive shelter … It will help a lot of people in the flood- and cyclone-hit areas. Many people in the villages can’t build a house like this. For them, a good shelter is a dream.”
One region where the houses will be built is the southwestern district of Pirojpur.
Imam Hossain, 30, a day laborer whose house was destroyed by Cyclone Remal in May, will be among the program’s beneficiaries.
“This house from KSrelief is a huge blessing for me, as my wife is expecting our first child,” he said. “It was quite impossible for me to afford to build a house on my own.”
In the northern district of Nougaon, many families affected by devastating flooding in June have been living in makeshift shelters ever since.
“It was a sudden flood, and the water levels reached up to 4 feet … Our old house was washed away by floodwaters in front of our eyes. We couldn’t do anything to save it. In the blink of an eye, we became homeless,” said Swadhin Hossain, a student who, along with his parents, grandmother and younger sister, will soon receive a new home.
“We are very happy (that) the authorities selected our family. It was impossible for me and my father to build a new house. I am grateful to KSrelief for standing with my family in this time of need.”
Rwanda declares that Marburg virus outbreak is over
- The East African country confirmed its first cases of the disease in mid-September
- It reported 66 confirmed cases with 15 deaths and 51 recoveries
KIGALI: Rwanda has declared an end to the country’s Marburg virus outbreak following the recovery of the last patient 42 days ago, Health Minister Sabin Nsanzimana told a news conference on Friday.
The East African country confirmed its first cases of the disease, a viral hemorrhagic fever that can cause death, among some patients, in mid-September.
It reported 66 confirmed cases with 15 deaths and 51 recoveries, the health ministry said on Friday.
“It has been a long journey but today, here come to the end of Marburg outbreak in Rwanda. So, Marburg is over according to World Health Organization guidelines,” Health Minister Sabin Nsanzimana told a news conference.
“It took us for 42 days since the last patient tested negative and discharged... Last night at midnight exactly, was the end of the 42nd day therefore we declare Marburg over in Rwanda.”
ASEAN will want inclusive Myanmar election, Thai foreign minister says
- Thai minister: ‘If there is an election, ASEAN would want an inclusive process that included all stakeholders’
- Myanmar has been in turmoil since early 2021 when its military overthrew an elected civilian government
BANGKOK: Thailand has told Myanmar’s junta that ASEAN members would want all stakeholders included in an election the military government plans to hold next year, even as the regional bloc seeks a common position on the polls, Thai officials said on Friday.
“If there is an election, ASEAN would want an inclusive process that included all stakeholders,” Foreign Minister Maris Sangiampongsa said in a group interview in Bangkok, after meetings with counterparts and senior diplomats of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) grouping.
Myanmar has been in turmoil since early 2021 when its military overthrew an elected civilian government, triggering pro-democracy protests that morphed into a widening armed rebellion that has taken over swathes of the country.
The military is fighting rebels on multiple fronts, struggling to govern and manage a crumbling economy that was seen as a promising frontier market before the generals ended a decade of tentative democracy.
Thailand this week hosted two separate regional meetings on the crisis in Myanmar, the first involving the junta and its neighbors, including China, Bangladesh and India, followed by one with ASEAN members.
Myanmar’s foreign minister on Thursday briefed attendees on the outline of the junta’s political roadmap and progress toward holding an election, which critics have dismissed as a sham, largely due to the absence and sidelining of opposition groups.
“The neighboring countries said we support Myanmar in finding solutions but the election must be inclusive for various stakeholders in the country,” Maris said, stressing that Myanmar’s neighbors would advise, but not interfere.
Their effort, he said, would also support ASEAN’s Myanmar peace plan, the “Five Point Consensus,” its strategy to diffuse the conflict that has made scant progress.
The proposed Myanmar elections were also part of discussions among ASEAN members at Friday’s meeting, which the junta was not part of, said Thai foreign ministry official Bolbongse Vangphaen.
The bloc is still awaiting details of the polls from the Myanmar side, he said, adding that ASEAN would also need to find a common position on the proposed ballot, which has the backing of regional heavyweights such as China.
China’s vice foreign minister said during Thursday’s meeting in Bangkok that all parties should support Myanmar in advancing its peace and reconciliation process, the Chinese foreign ministry said on Friday.
Sun Weidong said all parties in Myanmar should resolve differences through dialogue and consultation.
China warns Germany against ‘manipulation and smearing’ in spying cases
- German media reported that a Chinese man was detained by security guards before he was arrested by police after taking photographs at the Kiel-Wik naval base on Dec. 9
BEIJING: Beijing on Friday warned Berlin against “manipulation and smearing” China in spying cases, after German police opened an espionage probe into a Chinese national.
“We hope that the German side will... stop using so-called espionage cases to engage in manipulation and smearing, and earnestly safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese citizens in Germany,” foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said.
German media reported that a Chinese man was detained by security guards before he was arrested by police after taking photographs at the Kiel-Wik naval base on December 9.
The northern port is home to German naval installations and shipyards of the defense giant Thyssenkrupp, which builds submarines there.
Beijing on Friday said it was “not aware” of the specific case.
But Lin said China “has always required its citizens overseas to comply with local laws and regulations.”
Germany in early October said it had arrested a Chinese woman accused of spying on the country’s defense industry while working in a logistics company, including at Leipzig airport in eastern Germany.
Named only as Yaqi X., she allegedly reported to another suspected Beijing agent now under arrest, Jian G., who was working in the office of a German far-right member of the European Parliament, Maximilian Krah.
News magazine Der Spiegel, citing unnamed security sources, said that 38-year-old Yaqi X. had especially targeted the arms giant Rheinmetall, which is involved in making Leopard tanks and uses Leipzig airport for cargo flights.
