The local government in Hong Kong said Saturday that it had locked down one of the territory’s most heavily populated areas to complete mandatory COVID-19 testing of its entire population.Hong Kong’s Special Administrative Region government said the lockdown was imposed in parts of the Jordan District to test nearly 10,000 residents within 48 hours, paving the way for residents to go to their jobs on Monday morning.Authorities said 3,000 government workers had been deployed to the district, where officials said 162 cases of the coronavirus had been confirmed in the first 20 days of the new year.A man who sought to enter the closed area in Hong Kong’s Jordan District is detained after attacking a police officer, Jan. 23, 2021. Thousands of Hong Kongers were locked down Saturday in a bid to contain a worsening coronavirus outbreak.Authorities also locked down Temple Street, one of Hong Kong’s busiest night markets.The shutdown came as Hong Kong grappled with its fourth wave of COVID-19 infections in two months, and as infections worldwide approached 100 million cases.As of Saturday afternoon, there were 98.5 million COVID-19 cases and 2.1 million deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University’s Coronavirus Resource Center.“For the moment, the virus still has its hand in the game, but we still have our two best players: vaccination and spring,” Yves Van Laethem, a Belgian health ministry spokesman, said about COVID in his country.Van Laethem said he hoped spring’s warmer weather would help alleviate the recent uptick in Belgian hospital admissions.FILE – Cabin crew members, wearing face masks to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, walk along the departure hall of the Zaventem international airport in Brussels, Jan. 22, 2021.Belgium has had nearly 690,000 COVID-19 cases, and more than 20,000 people have died, according to Johns Hopkins.German health officials said Friday that although the country had surpassed 50,000 deaths, its infection rate was slowing.’Slightly positive trend’At a news conference in Berlin, the head of the Robert Koch Institute, Lothar Wieler, said he saw a “slightly positive trend” in the numbers and credited the drop to a partial lockdown introduced in November and since tightened.Also Friday, European countries were dealt another blow when AstraZeneca announced that initial deliveries of its vaccine to the region would not meet its projected targets.A company statement said, “Initial volumes will be lower than originally anticipated due to reduced yields at a manufacturing site within our European supply chain.” The statement did not give further details.FILE – A medical assistant vaccinates a resident of a nursing home with an injection of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at a nursing home in Froendenberg, Germany, Jan. 22, 2021.Europe is struggling to roll out vaccines to its residents after vaccine developers Pfizer and BioNTech announced a temporary shortfall in the supply of their vaccine in order to help a manufacturing site in Belgium boost output.In the United States, President Joe Biden signed executive orders aimed at providing financial and food security to families affected by the pandemic.The orders boosted food assistance, protected unemployment benefits for job seekers and laid the groundwork for federal employees and contractors to get a $15 minimum wage.“We have to act now,” Biden said Friday in remarks at the White House before he signed the orders.Biden has proposed a $1.9 trillion relief plan to Congress to help Americans suffering from the effects of the coronavirus, but it is not clear if the bill has enough support from lawmakers to pass. Congress passed a $900 billion relief bill in December and some Republican lawmakers have questioned whether there is a need for another large relief bill.Walmart moveAlso Friday, U.S. retailer Walmart said it was preparing to expand its vaccination program to seven more states, using its network of pharmacies.The world’s largest retailer said it would start providing inoculations in Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, New Jersey, South Carolina and Texas, as well as in Chicago and Puerto Rico. The company is already providing vaccines to health care workers in New Mexico and Arkansas.Vaccination efforts in the United States have run into numerous difficulties, including logistical hurdles, bureaucratic failures and a basic shortage of vaccines, which have led to residents across the U.S. seeing their vaccine appointments canceled.
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Day: January 23, 2021
A surge in coronavirus cases in Zimbabwe has included the deaths of two Cabinet ministers in 48 hours. The government announced Friday night that Transport Minister Joel Matiza had died of COVID-19. On Wednesday, the president’s office said Sibusiso Busi Moyo, Zimbabwe’s minister of foreign affairs and international trade, had died of complications related to COVID-19.Pallbearers wait for coffins to arrive at a state burial of government ministers who died of COVID-19, in Harare, Zimbabwe, Jan. 21, 2021.Zimbabweans have taken to social media to blame the deaths on President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government, which takes senior officials abroad for treatment instead of rehabilitating the country’s collapsed health care delivery system. Critics say Mnangagwa and his predecessor, the late Robert Mugabe, never bothered to upgrade hospitals or adequately pay health workers, who have recently been on strike for more personal protective equipment and better salaries.Munashe Bradnick, 31, an accountant, noted that Zimbabweans were not celebrating the deaths of senior government officials.“I am not so much about their deaths, but how they lived,” Bradnick said. “At a personal level, I am mourning the lives that they spent killing others, looting resources, instead of spending on education and health, which would have saved them at this crucial moment.“So, reminding them that they should have spent money on education and not looting is not a celebration. But it is just a lesson to those who are remaining in ZANU-PF. We must not be killed for demanding better health because COVID is not a respecter of persons. When it comes, it does not respect your office, doesn’t respect your status in society. It just kills you. So here we are not celebrating anything, we are just reminding them that life is sacred. Even for us, we need to survive.”Dr. John Mangwiro, Zimbabwe’s deputy health minister, pictured in Harare on Jan. 3, 2021, says “complacency and negligence” over the festive season were major causes of a surge in COVID-19 cases and deaths. (Columbus Mavhunga/VOA)Following the surge of COVID-19 cases and deaths, Zimbabwe’s deputy health minister, Dr. John Mangwiro, said in a statement that “complacency and negligence” over the festive season were major causes. He said people should take more precautions and adhere to the dusk-to-dawn curfew government imposed early this month.Clifford Hlatshwayo, spokesman for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change Alliance, said the recent surge in coronavirus cases confirmed that lockdowns alone had failed to contain the pandemic.Vendors have remained in the streets of Harare, despite a lockdown asking everyone to stay home as part of efforts to contain the coronavirus in Zimbabwe. (Columbus Mavhunga/VOA)“Zimbabwe [has] more than 90 percent of its population in the informal sector and those in the streets just roaming around,” he said. “Those are the people who do not have money to go to China. Government [is] able to jet to China to get proper medical things. Our health institutions are in a sorry state. And for years the government has not shown interest in upgrading them and making sure that our health institutions are equipped with proper and adequate equipment. Our frontline workers do not have adequate PPEs, drugs, even oxygen.”In a state of the nation address broadcast Saturday on national television, Mnangagwa said his government was assessing coronavirus vaccines that have been developed worldwide, but he was worried about the spike in COVID-19 cases in Zimbabwe.Coronavirus has now infected more than 30,000 citizens and killed nearly 1,000, including four Cabinet ministers and several senior officials.
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South Africa jazz trombonist and composer Jonas Gwangwa, whose music powered the anti-apartheid struggle, died Saturday aged 83, the presidency said.President Cyril Ramaphosa led the tributes to the legendary musician who was nominated for an Oscar for the theme song of the 1987 film “Cry Freedom.”
“A giant of our revolutionary cultural movement and our democratic creative industries has been called to rest,” Ramaphosa said.
“The trombone that boomed with boldness and bravery, and equally warmed our hearts with mellow melody has lost its life force” the president added.
There were no immediate details on how or where Gwangwa died.
He passed away on the third anniversary of the death of the “father of South African jazz” Hugh Masekela and the second anniversary of the death of Zimbabwean musical legend Oliver Mtukudzi. January 23 had become “the day the music died,” the South African and other media outlets said.
Gwangwa was born in October 1937 in Soweto and went on to have a career spanning 40 years.
“He delighted audiences in Sophiatown until it became illegal for black people to congregate and South African musicians were jailed merely for practicing their craft,” the presidency’s statement said.
He was awarded the Order of Ikhamanga, South Africa’s highest national award presented for achievements in art and culture, in 2010.
The award recognized his work as composer, arranger and musical director of the Amandla Cultural Ensemble, a cultural group formed by activists from the African National Congress in the 1970s.
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Larry King, who quizzed thousands of world leaders, politicians and entertainers for CNN and other news outlets in a career spanning more than six decades, has died at age 87, CNN reported Saturday, citing a source close to the family. King had been hospitalized in Los Angeles with a COVID-19 infection, according to several media reports. He had endured health problems for many years, including a near-fatal stroke in 2019 and diabetes. He had been hospitalized at Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles for more than a week, CNN reported. Millions watched King interview world leaders, entertainers and other celebrities on CNN’s “Larry King Live,” which ran from 1985 to 2010. Hunched over his desk in rolled-up shirt sleeves and owlish glasses, he made his show one of the network’s prime attractions with a mix of interviews, political discussions, current event debates and phone calls from viewers. Even in his heyday, critics accused King of doing little pre-interview research and tossing softball questions to guests who were free to give unchallenged, self-promoting answers. He responded by conceding he did not do much research so that he could learn along with his viewers. Besides, King said, he never wanted to be perceived as a journalist. “My duty, as I see it, is I’m a conduit,” King told the Hartford Courant in 2007. “I ask the best questions I can. I listen to the answers. I try to follow up. And hopefully the audience makes a conclusion. I’m not there to make a conclusion. I’m not a soapbox talk-show host … So, what I try to do is present someone in the best light.”
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The world is steadily inching up to 100 million COVID cases. Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center reported early Saturday there are more than 98 million global COVID infections and more than 2 million deaths.“For the moment, the virus still has its hand in the game, but we still have our two best players: vaccination and spring,” Yves Van Laethema, a Belgian health ministry spokesperson said about COVID in his country.Van Laethema said he is hoping spring’s warmer weather will help alleviate the recent uptick in Belgian hospital admissions.Belgium has nearly 690,000 COVID-19 cases and more than 20,000 people have died.Chinese authorities have partially locked down a section of a Hong Kong neighborhood. The Jordan district is one of Hong Kong’s most densely populated neighborhoods. Officials said Saturday they are testing everybody in the area, after the territory recorded 162 cases in January. Hong Kong has reported fewer than 10,000 coronavirus cases.German health officials said Friday that although the country surpassed 50,000 deaths, its infection rate was slowing.At a news conference in Berlin, the head of the Robert Koch Institute, Lothar Wieler, said he saw a “slightly positive trend” in the numbers and credited the drop to a partial lockdown originally introduced in November and since tightened.Also Friday, European countries were dealt another blow when AstraZeneca announced that initial deliveries of its vaccine to the region would not meet its projected targets.A company statement said, “Initial volumes will be lower than originally anticipated due to reduced yields at a manufacturing site within our European supply chain.” The statement did not give further details.Europe is already struggling to roll out vaccines to its citizens after vaccine developers Pfizer and BioNTech announced a temporary shortfall in the supply of their vaccine in order to help a manufacturing site in Belgium to boost output.In the United States, President Joe Biden signed executive orders aimed at providing financial and food security to families affected by the coronavirus pandemic.The orders boost food assistance, protect unemployment benefits for job seekers and lay the groundwork for federal employees and contractors to get a $15 minimum wage.“We have to act now,” Biden said in remarks at the White House on Friday before he signed the orders.Biden has proposed a $1.9 trillion relief plan to Congress to help Americans suffering from the effects of the coronavirus, however it is not clear if the bill has enough support from lawmakers to pass. Congress passed a $900 billion relief bill in December and some Republican lawmakers have questioned whether there is a need for another large relief bill.Also Friday, U.S. retailer Walmart said it was preparing to expand its vaccination program to seven more states, using its network of pharmacies.The world’s largest retailer said it would start providing inoculations in Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, New Jersey, South Carolina and Texas as well as in Chicago and Puerto Rico. The company is already providing vaccines to health care workers in New Mexico and Arkansas.Vaccination efforts in the United States have run into numerous difficulties, including logistical hurdles, bureaucratic failures and a basic shortage of vaccines, which have led to residents across the U.S. seeing their vaccine appointments canceled.
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Twitter said Friday it has permanently banned an account that some in Iran believe is linked to the office of the country’s supreme leader after a posting that seemed to threaten former President Donald Trump.In the image posted by the suspect account late Thursday, Trump is shown playing golf in the shadow of a giant drone, with the caption “Revenge is certain” written in Farsi.In response to a request for comment from The Associated Press, a Twitter spokesperson said the account was fake and violated the company’s “manipulation and spam policy,” without elaborating how it came to that conclusion.The tweet of the photo violated the company’s “abusive behavior policy,” Twitter’s spokesperson added.In Iran, the suspect account — @khamenei_site — is believed to be linked to the office of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei because its behavior mirrored that of other accounts identified in state-run media as tied to his office. It frequently posted excerpts from his speeches and other official content.In this case, the account carried the link to Khamenei’s website.Other accounts tied to Khamenei’s office that did not tweet the photo, including his main English language account, remained active. The photo had also been featured prominently on the supreme leader’s website and was retweeted by Khamenei’s main Farsi language account, @Khamenei-fa, which apparently deleted it after posting.Earlier this month, Facebook and Twitter banned Trump from their platforms for allegedly inciting the assault on the U.S. Capitol, an unprecedented step that underscored the immense power of tech giants in regulating speech on their platforms. Activists soon urged the companies to apply their policies equally to other political figures worldwide, in order to combat hate speech and content that encourages violence.The warning in the caption referenced Khamenei’s remarks last month ahead of the first anniversary of the U.S. drone strike that killed Iranian Revolutionary Guard general Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad. In his speech, Khamenei did not call out Trump by name, but reiterated a vow for vengeance against those who ordered and executed the attack on Soleimani.”Revenge will certainly happen at the right time,” Khamenei had declared.Iran blocks social media websites like Facebook and Twitter, and censors others. While top officials have unfettered access to social media, Iran’s youth and tech-savvy citizens use proxy servers or other workarounds to bypass the controls.Soon after Trump’s ban from Twitter ignited calls to target tweets from other political leaders, the company took down a post by a different Khamenei-linked account that pushed a COVID-19 vaccine conspiracy theory.Khamenei, who has the final say on all state matters in Iran, had claimed that virus vaccines imported from the U.S. or Britain were “completely untrustworthy.”
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