Monthly Archives: February 2020

WHO warns African health systems ill-equipped to respond to coronavirus outbreak

22, February 2020

WHO warns African health systems ill-equipped to respond to coronavirus outbreak 0

The World Health Organization warned Saturday that African health systems were ill-equipped to respond to the deadly coronavirus outbreak should cases start to proliferate on the continent.

The WHO chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, called on African Union member states “to come together to be more aggressive in attacking” the virus, known as COVID-19.

“Our biggest concern continues to be the potential for COVID-19 to spread in countries with weaker health systems,” Tedros, speaking by video link from Geneva, said during a meeting of 36 African health ministers at AU headquarters in Addis Ababa.

The outbreak which began in December has already killed more than 2,200 people and infected more than 75,500 in China.

More than 1,150 people have also been infected outside China, although Egypt is the only African country to have recorded a confirmed case.

There have been more than 200 suspected cases in the WHO’s AFRO region, which includes most African countries, though nearly all have been confirmed negative, regional director Matshidiso Rebecca Moeti said Saturday.

But if COVID-19 starts to spread on the continent, African health systems will struggle to treat patients suffering from symptoms such as respiratory failure, septic shock and multi-organ failure, Tedros said.

“These patients require intensive care using equipment such as respiratory support machines that are, as you know, in short supply in many African countries and that’s a cause for concern,” he said.

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Several African airlines including Kenya Airways have suspended flights to China, although the continent’s biggest carrier Ethiopian Airlines has kept its China routes open.

Liu Yuxi, China’s ambassador to the AU, on Saturday urged officials to ease travel restrictions

“I hope that everyone will stay calm and objective. Excessive panic could actually increase the disease,” he said.

AU Commission chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat told officials to take “drastic preventive and control measures.”

“Africa is particularly at risk, given its relatively fragile health systems,” he said.

‘Looming threat’

African countries have been scrambling to develop the capacity to test for COVID-19.

In three weeks, the number of African countries capable of conducting their own tests has jumped from two to 26, Moeti said.

John Nkengasong, director of the African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told AFP that number would soon be well over 40.

Yet he noted that if COVID-19 cases started emerging in large numbers African countries could encounter shortages of testing kits and personal protective equipment like face masks.

“If truly we have a virus introduced on the continent and it becomes a larger issue, the ability to procure diagnostics in a timely fashion to support that testing will still be limited,” he said.

“We are facing a looming threat, a serious threat for the continent,” he added.

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Tedros said in his remarks that 30,000 sets of personal protective equipment had been shipped “to several countries in Africa”, and that 60,000 more tests would be sent to 19 countries “in the coming weeks.”

He also announced that Nkengasong and Samba Sow, director general of the Center for Vaccine Development in Mali, had been appointed special envoys for the African response to COVID-19.

Tedros said their mandate was “to provide strategic advice and high-level political advocacy and engagement in Africa.”

(Source: AFP)

Southern Cameroons Crisis: France to exert more pressure on Yaounde government

22, February 2020

Southern Cameroons Crisis: France to exert more pressure on Yaounde government 0

The whole world has been holding France responsible for the killings in Southern Cameroons, but the Macron government is sick and tired of supporting an uncompromising, corrupt and inefficient Yaounde government that is hell bent on killing its own people.

French President, Emmanuel Macron is tired of being accused of aiding and abetting dictators in Africa.

In a public discussion with a Cameroonian activist, Calibri Calibro, last week in Paris following the brutal killing of more than 30 people in Ngarbur in the country’s northwest region, Mr. Macron said he had put a lot of pressure on the beleaguered Cameroon leader, Paul Biya, for him to seek a peaceful and long-lasting solution to the crisis in Cameroon’s English-speaking regions.

“I have been putting pressure on President Paul Biya to deal with the issue of the English-speaking regions of Cameroon and his opponents.  I told him that I would not receive him in Lyon until Maurice KAMTO was released.  And he was released because we put pressure on the government.  But the situation continues to deteriorate,” Macron said.

“I will call President Biya next week and I will put maximum pressure on him to end this situation.  I am fully aware of the violence in Cameroon which is intolerable.  I am doing my maximum best,” he stressed.

“France is still caught in a complicated game in Africa.  We are a state of law and we defend the rule of law everywhere.  But when in Africa, a French president says that this leader is not democratically elected, Africans always say, why are you getting into our affairs? You have no lessons to give us,” he pointed out.

“Everywhere, I want democratically elected leaders and where the presidents are not democratically elected, I will work with the civil society.  I work with the African Union and international organizations to put pressure on those governments,” he said

“When President Joseph Kabila, DRC’s former president, was in power, there were opposition figures like you in that country.  We put pressure on the government.  We worked with several other presidents and we managed to get political alternation in the country which led to President Tshisekedi taking over power,” he revealed.

“Regarding President Paul Biya, I have told him that he must open up the system. He must decentralize.  He must liberate political opponents.  He must uphold the rule of law.  I will do everything in my power to ensure the issues are addressed.  I really want you to know that it is not for France to institute democracy in Cameroon. Cameroonians must bring about democracy in their own country,” he concluded.

But not many people around the world have faith in the French president who has been quiet ever since Mr. Biya started slaughtering English-speaking Cameroonians in 2016.

It should be recalled that in 2019 during a European Union session, France was the only European Union country that stood by Cameroon and its corrupt government while other European Union countries called on the beleaguered government to address the issues that had triggered the violence in the two English-speaking regions of Cameroon.

By Staff man Francis Ashu

Togo votes in a presidential election without great suspense

22, February 2020

Togo votes in a presidential election without great suspense 0

Polling stations opened on Saturday morning in Togo where voters will choose their president in a ballot without much suspense as incumbent Faure Gnassingbé is expected to win a fourth term in office in the face of divided opposition.

Some 3.6 million voters are being called to the polls until 4 p.m. (1600 GMT) in some 9,000 polling stations across the country, but many of them have already announced that they want to boycott a poll they consider neither free nor transparent.

In Lomé, in the sandy courtyard of the Kodjoviakope high school where Jean-Pierre Fabre, the historic leader of the opposition, is expected to vote today, Eric, a driver in his thirties, arrived before 7 a.m. (local and GMT) to make sure he put his ballot in the ballot box before leaving for work.

“We are suffering too much in Togo, this time it has to change. I won’t tell you who I’m going to vote for but this time we don’t want to be robbed of victory,” he told AFP, adding that he would return to “watch the counting” in the evening.

In another office in the capital, Balakébawi Agbang, a supporter of Unir, the ruling party, invited his fellow citizens to “go out en masse to make the right choice”. “I voted for continuity, to allow Faure to continue the work he had started,” he said.

“The head of state’s supporters, recognizable by their sky blue T-shirts and caps, have continued to chant their main slogan in the streets of Lomé over the past few days to win the election in the first round.

The results are expected at the start of the week, according to sources in the Independent National Electoral Commission (Ceni).

Seven Presidential candidates

Faure Gnassingbé, whose family has been at the head of this West African country for 53 years, is not expected to face any major obstacles to his re-election, having already won three elections contested by the opposition and civil society in 2005, 2010 and 2015.

He faces six other candidates, including historic opposition leader Jean-Pierre Fabre of the National Alliance for Change (ANC) and former Prime Minister Agbéyomé Kodjo, who could be an outsider despite his profile as a man of the seraglio.

The president can boast of a rather positive economic record, with stable growth of 5%, but his critics denounce authoritarian governance and the corruption of his entourage when half the population lives below the extreme poverty line, with less than $1.90 a day.

Togo also experienced a serious political crisis in 2017 and 2018 with monster demonstrations demanding the resignation of the president, but Parliament finally approved a constitutional amendment allowing him to stand for re-election in 2020 and 2025.

The opposition coalition, the C14, which led the protests, did not survive this failure and its leaders are therefore presenting themselves in a divided front for the vote.

Opposition candidates have warned, however, that they will unite to block Faure Gnassingbé in the event of a second round, but this scenario seems rather unlikely.

Defiant opposition

In the streets of Lomé, Sokodé (centre) and Dapaong (north), many said they were “disappointed” by the opposition and warned they would not vote.

Several opposition parties decided to boycott the elections and the lack of popular support dominated the entire campaign.

This week, 500 civil society observers lost their accreditation, accused of interfering in the electoral process, in addition to the 9,000 observers from the Episcopal Council for Justice and Peace who were also not allowed to monitor the vote.

David Dosseh of the Front citoyen Togo debout (FCTD), who accused the authorities of organising an election “behind closed doors”.

The president of Ceni, Tchambakou Ayassor, also announced on Thursday “the cancellation of the system of electronic security of voting results” which should be done through a software called “SINCERE”, fuelling doubts and speculation on the holding of a free and transparent election.

Some 315 international observers, mainly from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the African Union (AU), will however be present, even if the outgoing president is supported by many of his African peers.

France, a former colonial power, a traditional ally of the Gnassingbé dynasty and present in the neighbouring Sahel in the fight against jihadist movements, is particularly sensitive to Togo’s stability in this volatile region.

Source: Africa News

France begins shutting down oldest nuclear plant

22, February 2020

France begins shutting down oldest nuclear plant 0

French state-owned energy giant EDF on Saturday began shutting down the country’s oldest nuclear power plant after 43 years in operation.

EDF said it had disconnected one of two reactors at Fessenheim, along the Rhine near France’s eastern border with Germany and Switzerland, at 2:00 am (0100 GMT) in the first stage of the complete closure of the plant.

The second reactor is to be taken off line on June 30 but it will be several months before the two have cooled enough and the used fuel can start to be removed.

The removal of the fuel is expected to be completed by the summer of 2023 but the plant will only be fully decommissioned by 2040 at the earliest.

Shutting down Fessenheim became a key goal of anti-nuclear campaigners after the catastrophic meltdown at Fukushima in Japan in 2011.

Experts have noted that construction and safety standards at Fessenheim, brought online in 1977, fall far short of those at Fukushima, with some warning that seismic and flooding risks in the Alsace region had been underestimated.

Despite a pledge by ex-president Francois Hollande just months after Fukushima to close the plant, it was not until 2018 that President Emmanuel Macron’s government gave the final green light.

“This marks a first step in France’s energy strategy to gradually re-balance nuclear and renewable electricity sources, while cutting carbon emissions by closing coal-fired plants by 2022,” Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said earlier this week.

France will still be left with 56 pressurised water reactors at 18 nuclear power plants — only the United States has more reactors, at 98 — generating an unmatched 70 percent of its electricity needs.

The government confirmed in January that it aims to shut down 12 more reactors nearing or exceeding their original 40-year age limit by 2035, when nuclear power should represent just 50 percent of France’s energy mix.

But at the same time, EDF is racing to get its first next-generation reactor running at its Flamanville plant in 2022 — 10 years behind schedule — and more may be in the pipeline.

Source:  AFP

Ryanair CEO calls for profiling of Muslims, sparks outrage

22, February 2020

Ryanair CEO calls for profiling of Muslims, sparks outrage 0

Ryanair’s chief executive Michael O’Leary has sparked outrage after he called for the profiling of Muslim men at airports, claiming that terrorists are “generally of a Muslim persuasion”.

Muslim men should be profiled and face further checks at airports because “that is where the threat is coming from,” the controversial CEO of Europe’s largest low-cost carrier said in an interview with the Times newspaper published on Saturday.

He further noted under such profiling guidelines, passengers that would be flagged as a potential threat for terrorism would “generally be males of a Muslim persuasion”.

“Who are the bombers? They are going to be single males traveling on their own… If you are traveling with a family of kids, on you go; the chances you are going to blow them all up is zero,” he said.

“You can’t say stuff, because it’s racism, but it will generally be males of a Muslim persuasion. Thirty years ago it was the Irish. If that is where the threat is coming from, deal with the threat,” he added.

A spokesman for the Muslim Council of Britain has accused O’Leary of “Islamophobia” and “encouraging racism”.

“In Germany this week a white person killed eight people. Should we profile white people to see if they’re being fascists? He’s being very blinkered and is actually encouraging racism,” Labour MP Khalid Mahmood told the Times.

The legislator was referring to mass shootings in Germany’s southwestern city of Hanau late on Wednesday during which eight people were killed and five others wounded.

Germany has been targeted in recent years by several extremist attacks, one of which killed 12 people in the heart of Berlin in December 2016.

But far-right attacks have become a particular concern for German authorities. The increase in hate crimes in recent months has prompted the country to expand a crackdown on right-wing political violence in order to repress the disturbance.

It seems that there has been a rise in far-right attacks across Europe in recent years.

On Thursday, a Muslim prayer leader was stabbed in the neck in front of hundreds of horrified onlookers at a mosque near Regent’s Park in the British capital London.

Raafat Maglad, who is in his 70s, returned to the London Central Mosque on Friday, saying he was sorry for the alleged attacker.

“I forgive him. I feel very sorry for him. What is done is done, he is not going to return,” he said, adding that as a Muslim he does not hold any hatred in his heart.

Maglad, who had his arm in a sling as he was escorted in to the mosque by security, said it was “very important” for him to attend Friday prayers.

Addressing worshipers over the loudspeaker system after prayers had ended, London’s mayor Sadiq Khan urged people to remain vigilant and reassured them that police would maintain a presence at the mosque, particularly as the holy month of Ramadan approaches.

A 29-year-old man who is believed to have been attending prayers was arrested on Thursday on suspicion of attempted murder inside the mosque.

However, concerns about the wider threat to mosques were voiced following the stabbing.

London Central Mosque is one of the country’s largest and can hold 5,000 worshipers with people from across London going there for prayers.

Although the incident has not been declared a terrorist incident, the Met’s SO15 counter terror unit is looking into it.

Less than a year ago, the mosque was affected by another stabbing incident.

Britain’s Muslim community has lost trust in the government. Fifty-two percent of all hate crimes last year were aimed at Muslims. But mosques are struggling to get government funding allocated to protecting places of worship. They receive a fraction of what other faiths are awarded.

Source: Presstv

South Sudan rebel leader to be appointed vice president

21, February 2020

South Sudan rebel leader to be appointed vice president 0

South Sudan President Salva Kiir will on Friday formally appoint rebel leader Riek Machar as vice president, ahead of a swearing-in ceremony on Saturday, the information minister said.

Kiir had initially said his longtime rival would be sworn-in on Friday, after the two men finally agreed to form a long-delayed unity government — a crucial step towards ending more than six years of war.

However Information Minister Michael Makuei told AFP that the oath had been pushed back to Saturday.

“Today (Friday) his excellency the president will issue a presidential decree for the appointment of the vice presidents and the dissolution of all institutions at national and state levels,” he said.

Machar is to be the first of five vice-presidents in a bloated cabinet to accommodate various warring parties.

But aside from Machar, consensus has only been reached on three other deputies.

“The vice presidents will take oath tomorrow and thereafter we will continue to process the appointments of the cabinet and appointment of the governors of the 10 states and three chief administrators of the three administrative areas,” said Makuei.

Saturday is the third deadline for the formation of the unity government which was agreed upon in a September 2018 peace deal, but pushed back as crucial issues had yet to be dealt with.

Key among these were the delineation of state boundaries, formation of a unified national army and security arrangements for Machar, who has been living in exile since 2016.

A last-minute deal on the number of states was achieved, although little progress has been made on the other issues.

The leaders have come under increased pressure in recent weeks both from regional heads of state and main donor, the United States, to form the government.

A compromise by Kiir to cut to 10 the number of states, which he increased unilaterally to 32 after independence, was seen as key in moving towards the creation of the government.

However the opposition remains reticent about an additional three “administrative areas” pushed through by Kiir.

Machar spokesman Manawa Peter Gatkuoth said the two men would “continue to solve the problem” after the government is formed.

“This is a major step forward, if indeed they form the government as they say,” Alan Boswell, a South Sudan expert with the International Crisis Group (ICG) told AFP.

“Kiir’s compromise on the states issue paved the way for the two sides to finally move forward, even if the parties have much more to work through in the coming weeks, months, and years.”

Several heads of state are expected to attend the inauguration, although no names have been confirmed.

Source:  AFP

Ngarbuh Massacre: Revenge, blunder, or manipulation?

21, February 2020

Ngarbuh Massacre: Revenge, blunder, or manipulation? 0

The Cameroon defence ministry “formally denies the false allegations” about the army’s role in the massacre of 22 civilians in Donga-Mantung, insisting that it was an “unfortunate accident” following an exchange of fire between security forces and secessionist rebels.

Controversy flared in Cameroon after the announcement of the massacre of at least 22 people in Donga-Mantung district on 14 February during fighting between the Cameroonian defence forces and armed militias operating in the north-west and south-west regions.

The Cameroonian army which, three days after the incident, claimed it was “an unfortunate accident as a collateral consequence of the ongoing security operations in these regions” was singled out by the opposition and local NGOs for being responsible for the killings.

A communiqué issued by Commander Atonfack Guemo, head of the communication division reported that the incident occurred following the incursion of a group of six elements of the defence forces into a house in Ngarbuh, which had been “transformed into a fortified camp” housing illicit goods, arms and ammunition, as well as stocks of narcotics.

“The response of law enforcement elements [under heavy fire from the fortified house] was to remove seven terrorists at the scene. Fighting continued until several fuel containers exploded, followed by a violent fire that affected some nearby houses,” the statement said, which also lists “five victims, including a woman and four children”.

The Cameroonian Defence Forces denounced the images of the massacre circulating on the web, which have alerted the international community, as “a macabre staging” of some propaganda activists who used images dating from 2009.

Contested version

The people of the Northwest contest this version and have refused to see this tragedy as an isolated case. “Similar attacks involving the burning of houses have been reported in several villages in Bui, Ngoketunjia and Mezam in the North-West, but also in Lebialem and Manyu in the South-West, in the last two months. How can we be led to believe that this is an accident with collateral damage? It is unbelievable!” said Cletus Ngeh, a resident of Bamenda contacted by Jeune Afrique.

The human rights group Human Rights Watch in a 2020 report referred to cases of house fires, accusing government forces and separatist fighters of gross human rights violations.

Confronted by the military’s response contradicting that made public by the UN, there are increasing calls for an international investigation.

English-speaking magistrate Paul Ayah Abine, and lawyer Agbor Balla, president of the Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in Africa (CHRDA), who raised the issue on Facebook, want a commission of inquiry, which should be “independent” and include “members of civil society, the clergy and the government”.

Source: The Africa Report

Biya Francophone regime silence causes concern

21, February 2020

Biya Francophone regime silence causes concern 0

Cameroon government officials are quietly relieved that, during its recent condemnation of the killings at Ngarbuh, the United States administration made no commitment to eventual US recognition of an independent state of Southern Cameroons-Ambazonia.

Less pleasing in the Biya Francophone Beti Ewondo government eyes is the fact that the United States government has asked for witnesses to be protected and for an independent investigation to be carried out. And above all, the Trump administration is still not saying whether or not the international community plans to refer the Southern Cameroons crisis to the International Criminal Court.

And most worrying of all is the warning from the US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Tibor Peter Nagy Jr that the military campaign ordered by the 87 year old Francophone dictator in Southern Cameroons must stop.

Mr Paul Biya, transparently blamed by the international community for his poor handling of the crisis in Southern Cameroons has not gone beyond France ever since the Swiss government forced him to leave his holiday resort in Geneva last year.

And US officials including Ambassador Peter Henry Barlerin are adamant that the killing of innocent Southern Cameroons civilians including women and children by the Francophone dominated Cameroon government military must come to an end.

We understand the United States and the European Union have decided at least for now not to join the people of Southern Cameroons who are seeking an independent state of Ambazonia, but senior EU and US Administration officials say that they have urged President Biya to end the war in Southern Cameroons or face severe consequences.

We gathered that US Assistant Secretary of State, Hon. Tibor Peter Nagy recently pledged that the United States would intervene with its European allies to accelerate negotiations on a permanent peace deal.

Biya and his Beti Ewondo political elites are still holding strong to their one and indivisible Cameroon doctrine in a country where the economy is on the brink and the politics has evolved from a struggling democracy to a full-blown dictatorship.

Elsewhere, Friday 21st February 2020 was the day set by His Lordship Bishop George Nkuo Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Kumbo as a day of prayer and mourning for those killed in Ngarbuh by French Cameroun army soldiers.

A Requiem Mass celebrated by the Bishop of Kumbo accompanied by his Eminence Christian Cardinal Tumi and a college of priests at Kumbo Cathedral witnessed Catholic Christians, Protestants, and non Christians in and around Kumbo joining the Bishop to pray for the 24 people killed and the many rendered homeless.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai with additional editing from Oke Akombi Ayukepi Akap

Ireland: Prime Minister Leo Varadkar resigns after inconclusive election result

21, February 2020

Ireland: Prime Minister Leo Varadkar resigns after inconclusive election result 0

Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar resigned on Thursday, but stayed on as interim leader while the country’s three main parties battle out coalition talks after an inconclusive election.

Varadkar tendered his resignation as taoiseach, or premier, to President Michael Higgins after the first sitting of Ireland’s lower house of parliament since an 8 February election which radically recast the political landscape.

“In accordance with the constitution, the taoiseach and the government will continue to carry on their duties until successors have been appointed,” a government statement said.

Parties in the 160 seat chamber — the Dail — convened and nominated candidates to lead a new government as taoiseach but with none commanding a majority it was adjourned until 5 March.

Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald received the most votes backing her.

At 45 it was far short of the 80 needed to take office but it was a symbolic victory reflecting the surge the nationalist party enjoyed in the election.

Sinn Fein, which once served as the political wing of paramilitary the Irish Republican Army (IRA), became the second biggest party with 37 seats — breaking the historic duopoly of centre-right parties Fine Gael and Fianna Fail.

“The people who vote for us aren’t going anywhere,” said McDonald.

“We have made a commitment to them to represent them well and to make our very best effort to deliver that government of change — and that is precisely what we intend to do.”

‘A government for change’

McDonald outstripped the 36 votes backing Varadkar to continue as prime minister after his Fine Gael party slipped into third position in the election with 35 seats.

“The onus is on those who have made enormous promises of change to people during this election, who are entrusted with that mandate to bring a programme for government to the Dail for approval,” Varadkar said in parliament before departing to resign.

“If they cannot, they should say so and be upfront and honest about their failure, and the empty promises they made.”

Micheal Martin’s Fianna Fail party won the most seats in the election at 38, but suffered significant losses on their 2016 wins.

He received the backing of 41 lawmakers in Thursday’s contest.

Sinn Fein has been historically associated with the IRA which fought British rule in Northern Ireland for decades until the late 1990s, when a peace agreement largely ended violence that left more than 3,000 dead on all sides.

It won the popular vote with 24.5 percent of first preference ballots and picked up 14 seats by attracting voters with a campaign focusing on Ireland’s housing shortage and health crisis.

But its flagship policy on Irish unity is likely to be a top issue if it gains power.

It wants a referendum on uniting the two parts of the island within five years.

Talks

At least three parties will be needed to form a majority government in the Dail.

But with the three largest refusing to cooperate newly elected speaker Sean O Fearghail said the challenge of government formation remained “substantial”.

Fianna Fail and Fine Gael have both ruled out working with Sinn Fein, in part because of their association to past violence.

Varadkar told state broadcaster RTE on Monday he was prepared to go into opposition.

Meanwhile, Sinn Fein said Wednesday it was “intensifying” negotiations with smaller parties and independents seeking “a government for change”.

Talks may take some time and may result in a new election in which Sinn Fein could emerge as a favourite.

After a 2016 vote it took 70 days for a minority coalition government to form under Fine Gael, which was supported in a confidence and supply agreement by Fianna Fail.

Source: AFP

Coronavirus: Spread slows in China, but deaths abroad increase

21, February 2020

Coronavirus: Spread slows in China, but deaths abroad increase 0

China on Thursday touted a big drop in new virus infections as proof its epidemic control efforts are working, but the toll grew abroad with deaths in Japan and South Korea.

Fatalities in China hit 2,118 as 114 more people died, but health officials reported the lowest number of new cases in nearly a month, including in hardest-hit Hubei province.

More than 74,000 people have been infected by the new coronavirus in China, and hundreds more in over 25 countries.

The number of deaths outside mainland China climbed to 11.

Japan’s toll rose to three as a man and a woman in their 80s who had been aboard a quarantined cruise ship died, while fears there mounted over other passengers who disembarked the Diamond Princess after testing negative.

South Korea reported its first death, and the number of infections in the country nearly doubled Thursday to 104.

Iran reported two deaths on Wednesday and three new cases Thursday. Deaths have previously been confirmed in France, the Philippines, Taiwan and Hong Kong.

Chinese officials say their drastic containment efforts, including quarantining tens of millions of people in Hubei and restricting movements in cities nationwide, have started to pay off.

Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke by phone about the virus with leaders in South Korea and Pakistan, state news agency Xinhua said.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in “chose to call to express sympathies and support” regarding the outbreak, Xinhua said. Xi told him the epidemic’s impact on bilateral ties will only be temporary.

Xi told Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan that their two countries “are true friends and good brothers,” and that combating the virus is his government’s top priority.

At a special meeting on the virus with Southeast Asian countries in Laos, China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi said results “show that our control efforts are working.”

Although more than 600 new infections were reported Thursday in Hubei’s capital Wuhan, it was the lowest daily tally since late January and well down from the 1,749 new cases the day before.

The national figure has fallen for three straight days.

Chinese authorities placed the city of 11 million under quarantine on January 23 and quickly locked down the rest of the province in the days that followed.

Wuhan authorities this week carried out door-to-door checks on residents, with the local Communist Party chief warning that officials would be “held accountable” if any infections were missed.

Cities far from the epicentre have limited the number of people who can leave their homes for groceries, while rural villages have sealed off access to outsiders.

‘Chaotic’ cruise quarantine

In Japan, critics slammed the government’s quarantine measures imposed on the Diamond Princess.

The huge vessel moored in Yokohama is the biggest coronavirus cluster outside the Chinese epicentre, with 634 cases confirmed among passengers and crew.

Another 13 people on board the ship were diagnosed with the virus Thursday, Japan’s health ministry said.

Still, passengers were disembarking after negative tests and having completed a 14-day quarantine period — packing into yellow buses and leaving for stations and airports.

An infectious diseases specialist at Kobe University slammed the quarantine procedures on board as “completely chaotic” in rare criticism from a Japanese academic.

“The cruise ship was completely inadequate in terms of infection control,” said Kentaro Iwata in videos he has since deleted.

South Korea, meanwhile, announced 51 new cases, with more than 40 in a cluster centred on the Shincheonji Church of Jesus, an entity often seen as a cult.

The infections apparently came from a 61-year-old woman who first developed a fever on February 10 and attended at least four services before being diagnosed.

Authorities were investigating whether she visited a hospital where a long-term patient contracted the virus and later died.

Growing concern abroad

Beyond Asia, citizen backlash was growing over fears of contagion.

Iraq on Thursday clamped down on travel to and from neighboring Iran, with Iraq’s health ministry announcing people in Iran were barred from entering the country “until further notice.”

The move came after Iran confirmed three new coronavirus cases following the deaths of two elderly men.

And in Ukraine, a crowd clashed with police outside a hospital over government plans to quarantine evacuees from coronavirus-hit China at the site.

Six buses with the evacuees arrived at the medical center in Novi Sanzhary, in the central Poltava region, escorted by police.

Angry demonstrators lit fires and pelted the buses with rocks, breaking at least three windows.

Because of the virus outbreak, airlines operating in the Asia-Pacific region stand to lose a combined $27.8 billion of revenue, the International Air Transport Association said.

This is the first time since 2003 that demand for air travel has declined, IATA CEO Alexandre de Juniac said.

Source: AFP

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