Zhang Chiahou's Blog, page 14
June 8, 2020
India coronavirus: Patients stranded as Delhi struggles with Covid
Image captionHospitals say they are overwhelmed and are turning away patientsThe chief minister of India’s capital Delhi has said that state hospitals will now be reserved only for residents of the city.
Arvind Kejriwal’s announcement came amid allegations that hospitals are refusing to admit new patients.
Delhi has witnessed a surge of infections in recent days. It currently has 27,000 cases with 761 deaths.
India has a total of 256,611 confirmed Covid-19 cases, the fifth-highest number in the world.
A five-member expert committee comprising top doctors told local reporters that Delhi could record 100,000 Covid-19 cases by the end of June if we follow the trend we are looking at, which “suggests that the cases are getting doubled every 14-15 days”.
The news comes even as India has taken steps to further relax its stringent lockdown – malls, restaurants, temples and offices are open from Monday.
What are Delhi residents saying?
There have been a number of reports that people with Covid-like symptoms are being turned away from hospitals in the capital.
One report on local news site Scroll detailed the experience of one man who drove his mother to four hospitals, but was turned away from all of them.
Many others have tweeted about their own experiences trying to get help for family members.
The Delhi government’s smartphone app to track available hospital beds has also added to the confusion.
The app showed vacancies at several city hospitals which then told news channel NDTV that they actually did not have any space for new patients.
What has the Delhi government said?
Mr Kejriwal reacted by accusing hospitals of profiteering.
“We will not tolerate this mischief. Give us a few days. We are at it. I am warning those who think they can do black marketing of beds. We will not spare you,” he said on Saturday.
A day later, he announced beds would be reserved for residents of the city.
“We have decided that the 10,000 beds under the Delhi government will be kept for residents,” he said. However, hospitals under the federal government will be available to patients from other states as well.
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Shortly after, on Sunday evening, the state government released a set of documents that a person would have to provide in order to be treated at state facilities. These include voter ID cards, and electricity, water or telephone bills among others.
Mr Kejriwal added that Delhi would not open hotels and banquet halls on Monday, as they could be “converted into hospitals if the need arises”.
Source: The BBC
June 7, 2020
China would make a coronavirus vaccine a ‘global public good’
FILE PHOTO: Chinese Minister of Science and Technology Wang Zhigang speaks during a news conference on the sidelines of the National People’s Congress (NPC) in Beijing, China, March 11, 2019. REUTERS/Stringer
BEIJING (Reuters) – China will increase international cooperation if it succeeds in developing a novel coronavirus vaccine, the science and technology minister said on Sunday.
China would make a vaccine a “global public good” when it is ready, the minister, Wang Zhigang, told a news conference in Beijing.
Source: Reuters
June 6, 2020
Centre files affidavit in SC on migrants, says food, water, medicines, other essentials provided free of cost
SNS Web | New Delhi | June 6, 2020 4:27 pm
A policeman fills up bottles with drinking water to migrant workers of a special train service departing for Uttar Pradesh. (Photo: AFP)
With the Supreme Court having taken suo moto cognizance of the problems faced by migrants, the Centre on Saturday filed a detailed affidavit in the top court regarding the matter, stating that it has, along with the support of NHAI, facilitated shifting of these workers, found walking on roads, by providing them requisite transport to the nearest railway stations.
The Government further said that whenever necessary, the migrants are provided with food, drinking water, medicines, clothes, slippers and other essentials free of cost, depending upon the requirements.
The Union government added that the Supreme Court was “fully satisfied with the way the Centre has acted and discharged its obligations in the best interest of citizens most scientifically and based on collective decisions taken by the Executive at the Centre and state level in consultation and as per the advise of experts in each field”.
The Supreme Court had on Friday granted the Centre and states 15 days’ time to transport all migrant labourers who wanted to return to their natives.
The court further directed the receiving states to generate employment for the returning migrants.
The apex court told states to get all migrant labourers registered at block and district-level and added that states will have to generate employment for them and also facilitate their movement if they want to go back to other states for work.
The Supreme Court has reserved its order on the issue for Tuesday.
On May 28, the Supreme Court issued interim orders regarding the migrant crisis across the country, two days after it took suo moto cognizance of problems faced by the labourers who are stranded in different parts of the country due to the nationwide lockdown to contain the Coronavirus outbreak.
Dictating the orders, the apex court said that no train or bus fare should be charged from migrants travelling back to their homes. It directed that the migrant workers should be provided food by the concerned state and UT at places. During train journey, originating states will have to provide meal and water.
The Supreme Court had taken cognizance of the matter after several petitions were filed in the top court highlighting the plight of migrants during the COVID-19 crisis.
Source: The Stateman
Eighth day of protests in Bay Area brings new cries for justice
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1of7 People participate in a Critical Mass style solidarity ride to demand an end to police violence in San Francisco on Friday June 5, 2020.Photo: Nick Otto / Sfc
2of7 Hundreds gather outside San Jose City Hall to protest police brutality and systemic racism on June 5, 2020 in the wake of the police killing in Minnesota of George Floyd.Photo: Lauren Hernandez
3of7 People participate in a Critical Mass style solidarity ride to demand an end to police violence in San Francisco on Friday June 5, 2020.Photo: Nick Otto / SfcFor an eighth straight day, crowds filled streets across the Bay Area in the wake of the police killing in Minneapolis of George Floyd — but this time there were new cries for justice.
In Oakland, they rallied against police brutality to call for an end of a practice in which police are assigned to patrol certain schools.
In San Francisco, they expressed outrage at the killing of a 22-year-old local man by Vallejo police — a man unarmed and kneeling when he was killed Tuesday during unrest set off by the Floyd killing.
Hundreds of people also gathered in San Jose, Walnut Creek, Vallejo and Sunnyvale on Friday.June 5 protest at San Jose StateVolume 90% Hundreds of protesters gathered around Tommie Smith and John Carlos statue at San Jose State University.Video: San Francisco Chronicle
They were on bikes, in cars, on foot and at times, on their knees. They danced, honked, chanted. They conducted die-ins and sit-ins and vigils. They demanded change.
In Oakland, protesters urged the city’s school board to eliminate the district’s police department and the presence of officers on school grounds.
“Oakland’s just really amped up,” said Jasmine Williams, spokeswoman for the Black Organizing Project, one in a coalition of groups organizing car marches, caravans and other events throughout Oakland Friday to advocate for the change.
The district’s police department — an uncommon arrangement in California — costs $2.3 million, organizers said.https://playlist.megaphone.fm/?e=SFO9785340584
“We’re struggling to get money for schools right now, so why is this line item here?” Williams said.
Yvette Yarbor, 58, of the Laurel District drove to the protest in her gray Equinox van. Her son graduated from Skyline High and her daughter also attended Oakland public schools.
“I’m just here supporting the cause,” she said. “We don’t need police in schools.”
In San Jose, hundreds of demonstrators gathered at San Jose City Hall for a multicultural event with traditional Mexican dancers performing in the middle of the plaza. Some people created altars for people killed by police, including Oscar Grant and Floyd.
Essa Tokhi, 26, joined the downtown demonstration with members of the Muslim Student Association of America and its San Jose State affiliate.
“I’m here to show solidarity with my black brothers and sisters,” Tokhi said. “We have our own issues, and we have a lot of things we gotta get right ourselves, but today we’re out here to support the black people.”
Hundreds of people are rallying at San Jose City Hall. Passing cars are honking in support, and protesters are chanting, “Black Lives Matter” to the beat of a traditional Mexica dance group. pic.twitter.com/mZJarsazx4— Lauren Hernández (@ByLHernandez) June 6, 2020
Monserrat Andrade Lopez, 17, of East San Jose, sat cross-legged on the San Jose City Hall plaza, where she and a group of friends scribbled messages on cardboard, including “Black Lives Matter” and “If you support a racist system, all you can be is racist.”
She said that, as a Latina, she understands the fear that communities of color feel in response to police presence in general.
Other organized protests Friday included a gathering at Oakland’s Lake Merritt Amphitheater for Breonna Taylor, who was fatally shot by Louisville police officers after they entered her apartment on a no-knock warrant. She was sleeping at the time. Friday would have been her 27th birthday.
A separate vigil in Oakland honored Tony McDade, a black transgender man fatally shot by police in Tallahassee, Fla., on May 27 as they approached him in connection with a stabbing earlier in the day.
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In San Francisco, protesters rode bicycles through city streets demanding justice for Floyd.
Also in San Francisco, as well as Vallejo, a protest against police brutality focused on the police killing of Sean Monterrosa, who was kneeling on the ground outside a Walgreens that reportedly had been burglarized Tuesday. Police said the officer fired through his own windshield after mistaking a hammer in Monterrosa’s pocket for a gun.
Hundreds of people gathered at 24th and Mission streets in San Francisco to call for justice in the killing of Monterossa. Family, friends and community members joined to hear speakers, chant Monterossa’s name and tell stories about him. A group of dancers with the Latina Task Force performed a healing ceremony.
His sisters, Michelle and Ashley Monterossa, are calling on Vallejo police to release the body-cam video footage of the shooting and identify the officer who fired the shots.
In Vallejo, protesters also called for justice, at one point standing silently in front of City Hall, with helicopters overhead and the National Guard nearby.
“Sean is part of a bigger movement,” Michelle Monterossa said. “My mama always said God told her Sean had a bigger purpose. We never understood what that meant.”
Source: San Fancisco Chronicle
June 5, 2020
Coronavirus: India to reopen malls, restaurants and offices
Image caption Shopping malls, places of worship, restaurants and offices reopen in India on 8 June.Indian is reopening shopping malls, places of worship, restaurants and offices from 8 June as it eases its lockdown restrictions.
The guidelines include staggered work hours, no edible offering at temples and air conditioning at 24C (75.2F).
However, these places will remain closed in containment zones, with only essential services allowed.
People with comorbidities, pregnant women and elderly people have been asked to stay home.
The health ministry has asked all establishments to ensure hand sanitisers are placed at entrances and to adhere to strict social distancing measures.
Religious places of worship have been allowed to reopen but with stringent guidelines – no distribution of edible religious offerings, no sprinkling of holy water, idols and holy books cannot be touched, and large gatherings are prohibited.
Furthermore, to curb the spread of coronavirus, “recorded devotional music and songs may be played and choir or singing groups should not be allowed”, the ministry said.
According to the standard operating procedures for restaurants and hotels, food packets cannot be handed over directly to customers. Takeaway is encouraged and only 50% of the seating capacity in restaurants to be allowed.
Home delivery staff and chefs are to be thermally screened, the guidelines say.
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Image caption Stringent social distancing measures have been announced by India’s Health Ministry as malls reopenIn the new guidelines for offices, authorities have stipulated staggered work hours and lunch breaks. All cafeterias and shops will need to follow strict social distancing measures both within the office and outside. The number of people in lifts will now be limited.
The ministry has further restricted the temperature settings on all air conditioning devices to be set between 24C to 30C with a humidity level between 40% to 70%.
Shopping malls have been asked to close gaming areas, cinema halls and play areas.
Source: The BBC
India’s Yamuna river regains sparkle as virus lockdown banishes waste
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – The sparkle has returned to the Yamuna river flowing through India’s capital of New Delhi, residents say, after decades of filthy and stinking waters, matted with garbage and polluted with toxic effluent from industry.
In a feat that eluded years of government cleanliness efforts, a nationwide lockdown against the coronavirus has brought about the transformation of a river many Hindus consider holy, with a halt in industrial activity since late in March.
Sanjay Gir, a 55-year-old Hindu monk who spends his time on the riverbank, said he could not remember when he had last seen the river so clean.
“Ever since the lockdown, we can take Mother Yamuna’s water in our hands and offer it for prayer, as well as drink it,” said the beared Gir, clad in traditional white dhoti.
“Because everything is closed right now – all the factories, industries are shut…their waste is not coming into the river.”
From its source among Himalayan peaks, the river meanders 1,376 km (855 miles) through a clutch of northern states to join the river Ganges in the city of Allahabad, where Hindu tradition says the two merge with a third, the mythical Saraswati.
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One of the world’s toughest lockdowns against the coronavirus, which has caused nearly 217,000 infections and more than 6,000 deaths in India, kept out most of the industrial waste that normally clogs the Yamuna.
That was the key reason for the better water quality, said Anshuman Jaiswal of city research body the Energy and Resources Institute.
“The industrial discharge which was going into the Yamuna actually stopped and that, for sure, has reduced the pollution load,” he added.
But the waters will deteriorate again, Jaiswal warned, as the lockdown lifts and industries re-open.A stuffed toy is seen lying in the waters of the Yamuna river ahead of World Environment Day, in the old quarters of Delhi, India, June 4, 2020. REUTERS/Anushree Fadnavis
Nevertheless, while it lasts, a clean, revitalised Yamuna also augurs well for the environmental condition of the Taj Mahal, India’s famed monument to love that stands on the riverbank in the northern city of Agra.
Source: Reuters
June 4, 2020
India and Australia sign military base and cyber accords
NEW DELHI/SYDNEY (Reuters) – India and Australia sealed an accord on Thursday to grant access to each other’s military bases in order to facilitate mutual defence exchanges and exercises.FILE PHOTO: Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison speaks during a joint press conference held with New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern at Admiralty House in Sydney, Australia, February 28, 2020. REUTERS/Loren Elliott
The agreement – known as the Mutual Logistics Support Agreement – was reached during a virtual summit between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Australia’s premier Scott Morrison.
“We share democratic values, the rule of law, freedoms, and respect for international institutions. When these are being challenged, we need to strengthen our cooperation,” India’s Modi said in opening remarks.
“It is time for our relationship to grow broader and deeper,” Morrison told Modi.
The accord allows military ships and aircraft to refuel and access maintenance facilities, and is widely seen as being part of a broader strategy by democracies in the region to counter communist-led China’s military and economic weight.
Indian troops are locked in a standoff with Chinese troops on their disputed border high in the Himalayas.
Though no shots have been fired, the confrontation on the frontier is the most serious in years, and comes at a time when India is increasingly concerned by its huge trade deficit with China, and Beijing’s rapidly expanding footprint in South Asia through its Belt and Road initiative.
Although China is the biggest buyer of Australia’s exports, there have been trade frictions between the two recently. And Australia also raised China’s hackles by pushing for an international review into the origins and spread of the novel coronavirus, which first emerged in the central Chinese city of Wuhan late last year.
Morrison was forced to cancel a visit to India in January due to the bushfires crisis at home, and with the ongoing pandemic the two leaders opted to hold a virtual summit instead.
Accords were also struck to enhance cooperation on cyber and related technologies.
Source: Reuters
June 3, 2020
Beijing hits back after Boris Johnson promises to relax British visa rules for Hongkongers
Beijing was angered by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s pledge to make it easier for Hong Kong citizens to live and work in Britain. Photo: Winson WongBritain should relinquish its colonial and Cold War mentality, China said on Wednesday after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson promised to overhaul his country’s visa system for Hongkongers if Beijing pushes ahead with plans for a national security law for the city.
“The UK has recklessly commented on Hong Kong and made groundless accusations to interfere in Hong Kong affairs,” foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said.
“China expresses its strong dissatisfaction and opposition, and has lodged stern representations with the UK.”His comments came after Johnson said in an opinion piece published in the South China Morning Post and The Times of London on Wednesday that many Hong Kong citizens feared their way of life was under threat after the National People’s Congress (NPC) – Beijing’s rubber-stamp legislature – endorsed a resolution to enact a national security law at its annual session last month.
Boris Johnson vows overhaul of visa system to accommodate Hongkongers3 Jun 2020
“If China proceeds to justify their fears, then Britain could not in good conscience shrug our shoulders and walk away; instead we will honour our obligations and provide an alternative,” he said.
“Britain would then have no choice but to uphold our profound ties of history and friendship with the people of Hong Kong.”
Beijing was swift to condemn the prime minister’s comments.
“We urge the UK side to pull back before it’s too late, abandon its Cold War and colonialist mentality, and understand and respect the fact that Hong Kong has returned to Chinese rule as a special administrative region,” Zhao said.
Boris Johnson says Britain will uphold its “profound ties of history and friendship with the people of Hong Kong”. Photo: AFPCritics of the NPC decision say Beijing’s move contravenes the terms of the Sino-British Joint Declaration signed in 1984 ahead of the city’s return to China in 1997. That document states that a “one country, two systems” framework guaranteeing a high degree of autonomy, Hong Kong people ruling Hong Kong, and a capitalist way of life should remain unchanged until 2047.
London regards the declaration as an international treaty, but Beijing has said repeatedly that it no longer has meaning and does not give Britain the right to interfere in Hong Kong affairs.
Zhao said it was neither a Chinese commitment to Britain nor an international obligation.
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“Since the handover, the legal grounds for China’s governance of Hong Kong has been based on the constitution of the People’s Republic of China and the Basic Law of Hong Kong, rather than the Sino-British Joint Declaration,” he said.
In his article, Johnson promised to implement “one of the biggest changes in our visa system in British history” if the law was enacted. It would allow 3 million Hongkongers who qualify for a British National (Overseas) passport and their dependents to work or study in Britain for extended periods of 12 months, creating a path to citizenship.
The opinion piece came after British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said Britain had been discussing “burden sharing” with the United States, Australia, Canada and New Zealand to handle a possible exodus of Hongkongers.
He said he hoped Beijing would change its mind on the national security law, but said London would not turn away from its historical and moral duty.
The NPC resolution on the legislation came after almost a year of anti-government protests in Hong Kong. Beijing has accused foreign agents of influencing the disruption and accused those involved of engaging in acts of terrorism, claims they have rejected.
Critics said that by circumventing Hong Kong’s legislature, Beijing was jeopardising the city’s liberties under one country, two systems, but government supporters said the move was necessary after a previous attempt to introduce a national security law in 2003, based on Article 23 of the Basic Law, failed amid widespread public opposition.Get the China AI Report 2020, brought to you by SCMP Research. Learn about the AI ambitions of Alibaba, Baidu & JD.com through our in-depth case studies, and explore new applications of AI across industries. The report also includes exclusive access to webinars to interact with C-level executives from leading China AI companies (via live Q&A sessions).
Catherine Wong is a reporter with the South China Morning Post in Beijing, where she focuses on China’s diplomacy and defence policy.
Source: SCMP
Cyclone Nisarga makes landfall as it heads to Mumbai
Media captionCyclone Nisarga makes landfallSource: The BBC
India’s Modi gets Trump invite to attend G7 summit, ministry says
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has received an invitation from U.S. President Donald Trump to attend the next Group of Seven summit, India’s Foreign Affairs Ministry said on Tuesday.FILE PHOTO: India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaks to the media inside the parliament premises on the first day of the winter session in New Delhi, India, November 18, 2019. REUTERS/Altaf Hussain/File Photo
In a telephone call, Modi told Trump New Delhi would be happy to work with the United States and other countries to ensure the success of the next G7 summit, the ministry said in a statement.
Trump said on Saturday he was postponing until September the summit that had been scheduled for late June at Camp David, the U.S. president’s country retreat, and that he wanted to invite Australia, Russia, South Korea and India to the meeting.
Trump conveyed his desire to expand participation beyond the members of the group of the world’s most advanced economies.
“In this context, he extended an invitation to Prime Minister Modi to attend the next G7 Summit to be held in USA,” the ministry said.
The leaders exchanged views on the COVID-19 situation in the two countries, the India-China standoff at the border, and the need for reforms in the World Health Organization, it added.
A White House statement said Trump and Modi discussed the G7 meeting, the response to the coronavirus pandemic and regional security issues.
Trump told Modi the United States would ship the first tranche of 100 donated ventilators to India next week, the White House said.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and a senior congressional leader have reprimanded China for bullying behaviour towards India during a military standoff on their disputed border.
During the call, Trump recalled his visit to India in February. Modi said the historic visit had added new dynamism to the bilateral relationship.
