Category Foreign

Prisoners

Nairobi, April 2, 2020 (Xinhua/NAN) Kenya’s Judiciary said on Thursday it has released 4,800 prisoners, who are serving sentences for petty offences to help contain the spread of the novel coronavirus in the country.

David Maraga, Chief Justice, said the prisoners, who were serving jail terms of less than six months, have been released by the High Court in the last two weeks after review of their files.

“New inmates are being isolated to reduce the risk of infection and movement of inmates has been highly restricted.

“Prison visits have been suspended, including visits to the staff quarters.

“Prison labour has also been reduced to a bare minimum,’’ Maraga said in a statement issued on Thursday in Nairobi.

He said the move to isolate the inmates is in strict adherence to the safety measures put in place by the Health Ministry on coronavirus as regards to social distancing and hygiene standards.

The chief justice said the decision was also informed by the need to decongest Kenyan prisons in light of the coronavirus outbreak in the country.

“The justice sector actors will embrace technology and plans are underway to enable inmates to participate in virtual trials as the prisoners are no longer being produced in open court,’’ said Maraga.

Kenya has so far confirmed 81 COVID-19 cases, three recoveries and one death amid stringent measures, including a night curfew and ban on international flights to help contain the spread of the virus. (Xinhua/NAN)

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Edited by Abdulfatah Babatunde

Investigation

Moscow, April 2, 2020 (Reuters/NAN) Russia said on Thursday it was investigating a coronavirus outbreak in a remote northern region to check if more than 50 people in a hospital had been infected by a doctor.

Russia’s Komi Republic, 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) northeast of Moscow, has reported 56 cases of the virus, more than any other region outside Moscow, its surrounding region and St. Petersburg.

Fifty-five of those cases were related to a single hospital in the district of Ezhva in Komi’s regional capital, Syktyvkar, according to a statement by the regional administration.

A coronavirus outbreak could be difficult to control in a region with a less well-equipped health service than western Russia.

Russian media have reported that a surgeon could have been the source of the infection and the Investigative Committee, which handles major crimes, said on Thursday it was investigating.

“Preliminary checks were arranged, following media reports that one of the medical workers of Ezhva’s district hospital could have infected a large number of people,’’ the regional branch of the Investigative Committee said in a statement.

Russia has reported 3,548 coronavirus cases, 80 per cent of which are in Moscow, its suburbs and St. Petersburg, the most populated areas that have access to more advanced healthcare than the rest of the country.

The checks could take up to 30 days, Svetlana Korovchenko, a spokeswoman for the local investigative committee said.

“I think healthcare infrastructure in Komi is absolutely unprepared for an explosive outbreak of COVID-19,’’ said Ernest Mezak, a lawyer at the Public Verdict human rights group who is conducting his own investigation into the outbreak.

“Neither officials nor regular people were taking COVID-19 as a serious threat in Syktyvkar just a week ago.’’

Last week, Russia opened a criminal investigation into a senior infections specialist in the southern city of Stavropol, who failed to self-isolate after a trip to Spain and allegedly infected several people. (Reuters/NAN)

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Edited by Abdulfatah Babatunde

Military

Miami, April 2, 2020 (dpa/NAN) The U.S. is expanding its military presence in the Caribbean to fight drug cartels wanting to take advantage of the coronavirus crisis and to deny funds going to the Nicolas Maduro regime in Venezuela, the Trump administration said.

“Today, the U.S. is launching an enhanced counter-narcotics operation in the Western Hemisphere,’’ President Donald Trump said in the daily news briefing at the White House.

“We are deploying additional Navy destroyers, combat ships, aircraft and helicopters, Coast Guards cutters and Air Force surveillance aircraft, doubling our capabilities in the region.’’

Secretary of Defence, Mark Esper, said the additional military forces were sent to the eastern Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea.

The U.S. Southern Command, based in Doral, Florida, leads the operation, which officially started on Wednesday, in partnership with 22 partner countries.

In 2019, Southcom seized more than 280 tons of drugs heading to the U.S.

At the news conference, Gen. Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the decision to scale up the military presence in the region, while the country is facing a pandemic, was based on intelligence.

“We came upon some intelligence, some time ago, that the drug cartels, as a result of COVID-19, were going to try to take advantage of the situation and try to infiltrate additional drugs in our country,’’ he said.

But the expanded military presence is also targeting the Maduro regime in Venezuela, several senior officials said during the conference.

Venezuela is not the biggest producer of drugs reaching the U.S.

It was the only country called out by Esper, who said the “enhanced counter-narcotics operations” in the region is intended to not only cut the flows of illicit drugs reaching America but also to deny “our adversaries the financial resources they depend on’’.

“Corrupt actors like the illegitimate Maduro regime in Venezuela rely on the profits derived from the sale of narcotics to maintain their oppressive hold on power,’’ Esper said.

“The Venezuelan people continue to suffer tremendously due to Maduro’s continued control over the country.’’

Other senior members of the Trump administration reiterated the same message.

“Under President Trump’s leadership, we will continue to execute our maximum pressure policy to counter the Maduro regime’s activities, including drug trafficking,’’ National Security Council Director, Robert O’Brien, said.

“And this operation will help to choke off the funds that go to that corrupt regime.’’

U.S. Attorney-General, William Barr, who attended the briefing, mentioned that 16 members of the Maduro regime, including Nicolas Maduro himself, were recently indicted by the Department of Justice under narco-trafficking charges.

He added that the regime is also trying to establish an air route to fly drugs from Venezuela to Central America.

Plans about expanding U.S. military presence in the region were first disclosed by the Southcom commander, Adm. Craig Faller, during a congressional hearing in early March.

Florida Republican Senator, Marco Rubio, who chairs the Senate subcommittee on Western Hemisphere affairs, welcomed the president’s announcement.

“This action should be of serious concern to Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro and senior members of his regime, who were recently indicted for crimes including drug trafficking, corruption and money laundering,’’ Rubio said.

“It’s essential we continue all efforts to deny the Venezuelan narco-regime of financial support until democratic order and the rule of law are restored.’’

On Tuesday, the U.S. State Department unveiled a plan to form a transitional government in Venezuela that details the conditions under which the Trump administration would lift sanctions against the nation’s oil industry and regime officials.

Also this week, the administration has called Maduro, who the U.S. no longer recognises as the legitimate leader of the country, to accept an offer to negotiate his exit and resolve the years-long humanitarian crisis in that nation. (dpa/NAN)
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Edited by Fatima Sule/Abdulfatah Babatunde

Ceasefire

Amman, April 2, 2020 (dpa/NAN) UN Special Envoy, Martin Griffiths, is holding talks with rival Yemeni parties in a bid to urgently resume the political process and possibly reach a nationwide ceasefire agreement in the impoverished country, his office said on Thursday.

Griffiths “is conducting daily bilateral consultations with the aim of convening virtually the parties together soonest possible’’, according to a statement.

The UN envoy hopes to reach agreements on a nationwide ceasefire, humanitarian and economic measures to alleviate the suffering of the Yemeni people and the urgent resumption of the political process aimed at comprehensively ending the war.

The consultations also aim to foster joint efforts to counter the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic, the statement added.

Yemen, which has been in the grips of a devastating power struggle between the Saudi-backed government and the Iran-linked Houthi rebels since late 2014, has not officially recorded any cases of the novel coronavirus that causes the potentially fatal COVID-19 respiratory disease.

The conflict has led to displacement, food insecurity and outbreaks of cholera and diphtheria and damaged health-care infrastructure, leaving 75 per cent of the population without access to adequate health care.

Over the weekend, the Houthi rebels said they had carried out a major operation using ballistic missiles and drones against “sensitive targets” in Saudi Arabia, which said its air force had intercepted them.

In retaliation, the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis since March 2015, said it carried out airstrikes targeting rebel posts in Sana’a on Monday.

An agreement reached between government and rebel representatives in December 2018, following UN-brokered talks in Sweden, has not been fully implemented. (dpa/NAN)
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Edited by Fatima Sule/Abdulfatah Babatunde

Curfew

Bangkok, April 2, 2020 (dpa/NAN) Thailand will impose a nationwide daily curfew between 10.00 p.m. and 4.00 a.m. (1500 to 2100 GMT), starting on Friday, its latest effort to curb the spread of the new coronavirus, the Prime Minister said.

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha announced in a Thursday televised address that some exemptions to the curfew would be made.

Those to be exempted from the curfew are medical personnel, the banking sector and delivery of medical supplies or fuel, transporting patients, those travelling to airports or others working at night.

“Please don’t panic and hoard products, because you can still buy them during the day,’’ Prayut said.

“But please also keep social-distancing in mind.’’

The government declared a state of emergency last week, effective until, at least, April 30.

It gives the prime minister sweeping powers to introduce and enforce regulations.

Violations to orders issued under the emergency decree, such as the curfew, are punishable by up to two years in prison or an up-to-40,000-baht ($1,210) fine.

Major provinces, including Bangkok, have closed most places where people meet, such as malls, schools, sports clubs and bars.

Only supermarkets and convenience stores remain open, while restaurants are only allowed to offer takeout and deliveries.

The South-east Asian country is also barring entry to most visitors.

Thailand has reported a total of 1,875 coronavirus cases with 15 deaths and 23 others in critical condition, according to the Public Health Ministry’s figures on Thursday. (dpa/NAN)
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Edited by Fatima Sule/Abdulfatah Babatunde

Curfew

Riyadh, April 2, 2020 (Reuters/NAN) Saudi Arabia imposed a 24-hour curfew in the Muslim holy cities of Mecca and Medina on Thursday, extending measures to combat the spread of the coronavirus, which has infected more than 1,700 people in the kingdom and killed 16.

The Interior Ministry said in a statement there were some exceptions, including for essential workers and in order for residents to buy food and access medical care.

Cars in those cities’ residential districts may only carry one passenger to limit the virus’ transmission, it said.

The country of 30 million has taken drastic steps to contain the disease, halting international flights, closing most public places and suspending the year-round Umrah Pilgrimage.

On Tuesday, it asked Muslims to put plans for the annual hajj pilgrimage on hold pending more clarity about the pandemic.

Restrictions on movement have tightened, with entry and exit to Riyadh, Mecca, Medina and Jeddah heavily restricted.

Some neighbourhoods in Mecca and Medina were already under full lockdown, but in the rest of those cities, the curfew was previously from 1500 to 0600.

The eastern oil-producing province of Qatif, where the kingdom’s first coronavirus cases were reported last month among Shi’ite Muslim pilgrims returning from Iran, has been on lockdown for nearly four weeks.

Saudi Arabia has the most infections and deaths among the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council.

But public health officials say past experience combating the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) helped prepare the kingdom for the new coronavirus outbreak. (Reuters/NAN)

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Edited by Abdulfatah Babatunde

Tests
London, April 2, 2020 (Reuters/NAN) Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson promised to ramp up testing for coronavirus after his government faced criticism for being slower than some European peers to roll out mass checks for front-line health workers and the population.

Britain initially took a restrained approach to the outbreak but changed course after modelling showed that a quarter of a million people in the country could perish.

Johnson imposed more stringent measures, effectively shuttering the world’s fifth largest economy, but the government has faced widespread criticism for having too few ventilators and too little testing.

Over half of Britons say government was too slow on coronavirus.

“We’re also massively increasing testing,” Johnson said in a video message from a flat in Downing Street where he is self-isolating after testing positive himself.

“I want to say a special word about testing because it is so important.

“As I have said for weeks and weeks, this is the way through: this is how we will unlock the coronavirus puzzle, this is how we will defeat it in the end,” he added.

Johnson’s message, posted on Twitter on Wednesday evening, followed pledges from his ministers to accelerate both antibody and antigen testing in the days ahead after a slew of sometimes contradictory statements on numbers already checked.

Antibody tests detect signs of an immune response while antigen tests detect whether the coronavirus is present.

While Germany has been testing about 500,000 people a week, Britain’s current capacity is about 13,000 a day, a figure the government said it was aiming to double by mid-April.

As of 0800 GMT on April 1, 152,979 people in the UK had been tested, of which 29,474 were confirmed positive.

Deaths rose 31 per cent to 2,352 as of 1600 GMT on March 31.

Tests are essential for both fighting the virus and nursing the economy back to health after what is expected to be the worst quarter in around a century.

Testing frontline health staff allows those with immunity to return to work while broader testing of the population would allow tens of millions of idled workers back to work.

Showing just how bad coronavirus could be for the economy, British Airways said it was in talks about suspending 32,000 employees, while a survey showed that more than a quarter of British companies reduced staff levels.

So far, tests have been focused on those suspected to have the virus and admitted to hospital, but the government plans to increase testing of frontline healthcare staff to hundreds of thousands in coming weeks.

Ministers have suggested shortages of necessary chemicals were a factor, though the industry has said the necessary reagents are being manufactured and delivered to the National Health Service (NHS).

While the government has been forced on the defensive over mass testing, some scientists have questioned if testing the entire 1.1 million full-time NHS staff is the best use of resources. (Reuters/NAN)
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Edited by Fatima Sule/Emmanuel Yashim

Dead
Paris, April 2, 2020 (Reuters/NAN) Five hundred and seventy people have died in nursing homes in France’s eastern region during the coronavirus outbreak, raising the prospect of a much larger death toll linked to the illness across the country.

France became the fourth country to pass the 4,000 coronavirus deaths threshold on Wednesday, but that does not include deaths outside hospitals.

Fatalities in nursing homes have surged in recent days, with dozens of deaths reported across the country.

Officials have held back on directly linking the deaths to the coronavirus given the age and health condition of many who have died.

“As of March 31, 411 nursing homes have been affected by COVID-19 out of 620 in the region,” the Grand Est Public Health Authority said in a statement.

“Five hundred and seventy people have died in total.”

The Grand Est region was the first in France to be overwhelmed by a wave of infections that has rapidly moved west to engulf the greater Paris region, where hospitals are desperately trying to add intensive care beds to cope with the influx of critically ill patients.

The national health agency will soon update its figures to include care homes and people who may have died at their homes because of the virus.

Almost 1 million people reside in about 7,000 retirement homes in France.

In the past week, health agencies across the country have publicly confirmed about 100 deaths in care homes.

That includes 19 deaths since March 20 in one home in the southeast, the local health agency said on Wednesday.

The sector has called for blanket testing for all personnel as the virus was often entering these homes through staff.

Senior care home representatives warned the health minister in March that workers needed 500,000 masks and at least 100,000 people could die if the situation was not brought under control.

“We have to limit the impact on old people as we know that they are the most fragile. We need means.

“We need masks in establishments and at people’s homes,” said Romain Gizolme, Head of an Association for the Care of Old People.

A national red alert triggered on March 6 asked care home staff to toughen entry protocols, wear gloves and masks and isolate suspected cases.

However, one worker in the Lyon region said that as of last week in her nursing home, residents were still dining together and staff were not wearing masks.

Since then two workers have tested positive and four residents had fallen sick and are in isolation, she said.

France recorded its worst daily coronavirus death toll on Wednesday, taking the official tally to 4,032, while the number of cases rose 17 per cent.

Of those more than 6,000 people need life-support, including a third in and around Paris.

The situation has now become critical in the Paris region, where the number of beds in intensive care units is now practically at the same level as the number of patients.

Local authorities are trying to increase the region’s ICU capacity to 2,400 beds from 2,200 now.

To ease the situation some 100 patients are being transferred by train, plane and helicopter from the Paris region to areas less overwhelmed.

Health care professionals were also being brought from the southeast and southwest on Thursday to Paris to help deal with the influx.

Respirators are also being put into people’s homes to save space at hospitals with patients monitored remotely. (Reuters/NAN)
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Edited by Fatima Sule/Felix Ajide

Coronavirus

Kuala Lumpur, April 2, 2020 (Reuters/NAN)  The number of coronavirus cases in Malaysia is expected to peak in mid-April and there are signs of a flattening of the infection curve, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Thursday.

Ying-Ru Lo, the WHO’s Head of mission and representative to Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore said this in Kuala Lumpur.

Malaysia has the highest number of known infections in Southeast Asia with 3,116 confirmed cases, including 208 reported on Thursday in the biggest daily increase in a week.

“Based on available data, the WHO Country Office has projected that Malaysia will see a peak in hospitalised cases in mid-April,” Lo said.

The number of critically ill patients is estimated to reach the peak within the next week, she said, adding that the WHO projections could change.

“There are initial signs of flattening of the curve, but this could bounce back if control measures are lifted and if people don’t continue to take protective measures,” Lo said.

Lo added that data on new infections so far and additional surveillance measures did not suggest widespread community transmission in the country.

Currently there are 105 coronavirus patients in intensive care across Malaysia. There have been a total of 50 deaths, with 5 reported on Thursday.

Malaysia expects to slow the rate of new infections by the first or second week of April, Health Ministry Director General Noor Abdullah said on Thursday.

Malaysia has ramped up its diagnostic testing capacity in recent days, testing more than 7,000 a day from last week’s 3,500.

Selangor state, on the west coast of Penisular Malaysia, has the most number of cases with more than 700, though many other states have hundreds of cases too. (Reuters/NAN)
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Edited by Fatima Sule/Rabiu Sani Ali

Minister says France ready to nationalise strategic firms in virus crisis

Paris, April 2, 2020 (dpa/NAN) France will nationalise strategic firms if necessary to protect them from the effects of the coronavirus crisis, Economy Minister Bruno Le-Maire said on Thursday.

The ministry made the announcement at a news conference in Paris.

Le-Maire said he had sent President Emmanuel Macron a list of “strategic companies that could potentially be jeopardised in the market.

“We will be ready to resort to all means available to protect these companies by increasing the share participation of the French state, by recapitalising or as a last resort by nationalising,” Le-Maire said.

The centre-right minister said he was not calling for a state-administered economy.

“If nationalisations are needed, they will be temporary ones,” he said.

“But the state is responsible for protecting its industrial flagship companies.”

France went into a strict lockdown on March 17 to try and limit the spread of the coronavirus.

Experts have said the measures were likely to last until the end of April.

National statistic bureau INSEE last week said that economic activity was down 35 per cent as a result.

It estimated that every month of lockdown would cost the economy three per cent of annual gross domestic product. (dpa/NAN)
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Edited by Fatima Sule/Silas Nwoha