Foreign News
COVID-19: Omicron Spreading Faster than Delta Variant- WHO
The World Health Organisation (WHO) says there is now “consistent evidence” that the Omicron variant was outpacing Delta, as COVID-19 continues to account for around 50,000 deaths worldwide every week.
WHO Director General, Tedros Ghebreyesus told journalists at the agency’s Headquarters in Geneva that it was also more likely that people who had been vaccinated, or recovered from the virus, could be infected, or re-infected.
“There can be no doubt that increased social mixing over the holiday period in many countries will lead to increased cases, overwhelm health systems and more deaths.
“All of us are sick of this pandemic. All of us want to spend time with friends and family.
All of us want to get back to normal.“The fastest way to do that is for all of us – leaders and individuals – to make the difficult decisions that must be made to protect ourselves and others,” he said.
He said delaying or cancelling events, was the responsible thing to do: “An event cancelled is better than a life cancelled. It’s better to cancel now and celebrate later, than to celebrate now and grieve later.”
More than 3.3 million people have lost their lives to COVID-19 this year – more deaths than from HIV, malaria and tuberculosis combined in 2020, and Africa was now facing a steep wave of infections, driven largely by the Omicron variant.
Just a month ago, Africa was reporting its lowest number of cases in 18 months, Ghebreyesus reminded reporters on Monday, whereas last week, it reported the fourth-highest number of cases in a single week so far.
“None of us want to be here again in 12 months’ time, talking about missed opportunities, continued inequity, or new variants,” he said.
The director general emphasised that for the pandemic to end in 2022, “we must end inequity, by ensuring 70 per cent of the population of every country is vaccinated by the middle of next year.”
Around the world, the WHO was working with countries to restore and sustain essential health services disrupted by the pandemic.
According to new data released this year, 23 million children missed out on routine vaccines in 2020, the largest number in over a decade, increasing risks from preventable diseases like measles and polio, the UN correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported.
Progress is, however, still being made in many other areas of healthcare and medicine.
Five countries were able to introduce the human papillomavirus vaccine (HPV) to prevent cervical cancer, and a further nine are planning to introduce it over the next six months, and in September, WHO launched a global road map to defeat meningitis by 2030.
The pandemic has also caused setbacks in the agency’s efforts to defeat the world’s leading infectious diseases, with an estimated 14 million more malaria cases and 47 thousand more malaria deaths in 2020, compared to 2019.
“However, WHO certified two countries – China and El Salvador – as malaria-free this year, and a further 25 are on track to end malaria transmission by 2025,” Ghebreyesus said.
He said the WHO also made an historic recommendation for broad use of the world’s first malaria vaccine.
Services for non-communicable diseases have also been hit, with more than half of countries surveyed between June and October, reporting disruptions to services for diabetes, cancer screening and treatment, and management of hypertension.
Summing up a tumultuous year, he also noted that several important steps had been taken to strengthen the global health architecture, and WHO itself.
“We launched the WHO Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence in Berlin; We broke ground on the WHO Academy in Lyon; We established the WHO BioHub System,” he said.
In early December, Member States agreed to negotiate the world’s first new agreement on pandemic preparedness and response.
“We have also taken decisive steps to address instances of sexual exploitation and abuse and to make sure that our people meet the high standards that we, and our Member States, expect of them.
“We took decisive steps to address sexual exploitation, following shocking revelations of alleged abuse committed by some WHO staff during the deadly tenth Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo,’’ he said.
“2022 must be the year we end the pandemic,” said the director general, but to prevent a future disaster on the same scale, all countries must invest in resilient health systems, build on primary care, with universal health coverage as the goal.
“When people can’t access the services they need, or can’t afford them, individuals, families, communities and entire societies are put at risk.
“In the year ahead, WHO is committed to doing everything in our power to end the pandemic, and to beginning a new era in global health – an era in which health is at the centre of every country’s development plans,” he said. (NAN)
The South Korean Government ordered an overseas travel ban on President Yoon Suk Yeol.The South Korean news agency Yonhap reported on Monday that the travel ban is due to the ongoing investigation into Yoon, which involves suspicion of high treason.Yoon unexpectedly imposed martial law on his country last Tuesday night, but hours later, after massive political resistance, he repealed the order.
On Saturday evening, a motion by the opposition to impeach the president in parliament failed. However, public pressure against the 63-year-old continues. (dpa/NAN)
Israel threatened on Tuesday to return to war in Lebanon if its truce with Hezbollah collapses and said this time its attacks would go deeper and target the Lebanese state itself, after the deadliest day since the ceasefire was agreed last week.
In its strongest threat since the truce was agreed to end 14 months of war with Hezbollah, Israel said it would hold Lebanon responsible for failing to disarm militants who violated the truce.
“If we return to war we will act strongly, we will go deeper, and the most important thing they need to know: that there will be no longer be an exemption for the state of Lebanon,” Defence Minister Israel Katz said.
“If until now we separated the state of Lebanon from Hezbollah… it will no longer be (like this),” he said during a visit to the northern border area.
Despite last week’s truce, Israeli forces have continued strikes in southern Lebanon against what they say are Hezbollah fighters ignoring the agreement to halt attacks and withdraw beyond the Litani River, about 30 km (18 miles) from the frontier.
On Monday, Hezbollah shelled an Israeli military post, while Lebanese authorities said at least 12 people were killed in Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon.
Katz called the Hezbollah attack “the first test” and described Israel’s strikes as a strong response.
The Beirut government must “authorise the Lebanese army to enforce their part, to keep Hezbollah away beyond the Litani, and to dismantle all the infrastructure,” Katz said.
“If they don’t do it and this whole agreement collapses then the reality will be very clear.”
Top Lebanese officials urged Washington and Paris to press Israel to uphold the ceasefire, after dozens of military operations on Lebanese soil that Beirut has deemed violations, two senior Lebanese political sources told Reuters on Tuesday.
The sources said caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati and Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri, a close Hezbollah ally who negotiated the deal on behalf of Lebanon, spoke to officials at the White House and French presidency late on Monday.
Mikati, quoted by the Lebanese news agency, said that diplomatic communications had intensified since Monday to stop Israeli violations of the ceasefire.
He also said a recruitment drive was under way by the Lebanese army to strengthen its presence in the south.
U.S. State Department spokesperson Matt Miller told reporters on Monday that the ceasefire “is holding” and that the U.S. had “anticipated that there might be violations”.
Neither the French presidency nor the foreign ministry were immediately available to comment.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot spoke to his Israeli counterpart Gideon Saar on Monday, saying both sides should adhere to the ceasefire.
The truce came into effect on Nov. 27 and prohibits Israel from conducting offensive military operations in Lebanon, while requiring Lebanon to prevent armed groups including Hezbollah from launching attacks on Israel.
It gives Israeli troops 60 days to withdraw from south Lebanon.
A mission chaired by the United States is tasked with monitoring, verifying, and helping enforce the truce, but it has yet to begin work.
Berri on Monday called on the mission to “urgently” ensure Israel halts its breaches, saying Beirut had logged at least 54 Israeli violations of the ceasefire so far.
Israel has said its continued activity in Lebanon is aimed at enforcing the ceasefire.
Lebanon’s Mikati met in Beirut on Monday with U.S. General Jasper Jeffers, who will chair the monitoring committee.
Two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters that France’s representative to the committee, General Guillaume Ponchin, would arrive in Beirut on Wednesday and that the committee would hold its first meeting on Thursday.
“There is an urgency to finalise the mechanism, otherwise it will be too late,” the source said, referring to Israel’s gradual intensification of strikes even with the truce in place. (Reuters/NAN)
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has ruled out calling another general election, but said he is “not surprised” some people who did not support his party, Labour, might want a second poll.
A petition on Parliament’s website calling for another election has now been signed by more than two million people.
“I would like there to be another general election,” it reads.
“I believe the current Labour Government have gone back on the promises they laid out in the lead-up to the last election.
”Asked about the petition on ITV’s “This Morning” programme on Monday, Starmer said: “Look, I remind myself that very many people didn’t vote Labour at the last election.
“I’m not surprised that many of them want a re-run. That isn’t how our system works.
“There will be plenty of people who didn’t want us in the first place.
“So, what my focus is on is the decisions that I have to make every day.”
He characterized decisions taken so far by his government as “tough but fair.”
Starmer and his ministers have faced a particularly strong backlash for limiting winter fuel payments to only the poorest pensioners.
Farmers have also protested over changes to inheritance tax which they claim could affect the future of their businesses.
As he marks five months as prime minister, Starmer acknowledged the job has been difficult, but added: “I wouldn’t swap a single day in opposition for a day in power.
“It’s much better to be in power to do things, rather than the frustration, as I found it, in opposition for all of those long years where we were just able to say what we would do.”
The petition calling for another general election is open for signatures until May 2025.
While the vast majority of those signing it are from the UK, it has also gained support from other countries.
More than 1,200 people from the U.S. have added their names to it, with similar a number from France doing the same.
American signatories may have been made aware of the petition by Elon Musk, the businessman and ally of President-elect Donald Trump.
He shared the petition on X, the social media site he owns formerly known as Twitter, claiming “the people of Britain have had enough of a tyrannical police state”.
Starmer’s office sought to avoid being drawn into a war of words with Mr Musk.
The prime minister’s official spokesman added Starmer was “focused on the issues that matter most to the British people.”
Although it has garnered media attention and millions of signatures, it is far from the largest petition received through the Parliament website, or the one which has seen the most rapid take-up.
In 2019, some 6.1 million people signed a petition calling for the revocation of Article 50 and for the United Kingdom to remain in the European Union, four million of whom did so in 48 hours.
The second most-signed petition gained 4.1 million signatures.
The 2016 petition called for a second referendum on the UK’s membership of the European Union following the Brexit vote.
Because the election petition has received 10,000 signatures, ministers will issue a response to it.
MPs may consider it further in a Westminster Hall debate because it has been signed by more than 100,000 people, although this is not guaranteed.
A petition which has successfully made it to debate is one calling for social media companies to ban under 16-year-olds from their platforms after it received more than 110,00 signatures.
Another calling for the law around school term-time holidays to be relaxed, which received 250,000 signatures, was due for debate on Monday afternoon.
Michael Westwood, the man who started the petition, has confirmed he voted Conservative at the summer election.
But he told Talk TV he did not know if this would be the case again, adding: “One thing’s for certain, I wouldn’t be voting Labour.”
Among those sharing the petition online was retired actor Sir Michael Caine, who has been critical of Labour governments in the past. (PA Media/dpa/NAN)
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