Day: January 9, 2022

International business groups are urging Hong Kong to restart international flights after a ratings group warned the travel restrictions, imposed last week because of COVID-19 outbreaks, could have dire effects on the territory’s economy.

Fitch Ratings said, “A new wave of restrictions on various social activities within Hong Kong and a further tightening of controls on international travel … are likely to dampen economic growth prospects.”

Some Hong Kong executives who traveled out of the territory for the winter holidays found that they could not return to Hong Kong because of the new restrictions that are designed to be in place for at least two weeks but may last longer. Fitch said, “We believe the tightening of restrictions on international arrivals will create further obstacles to the territory’s ability to serve as a regional headquarters” for foreign multinational companies.

The Cyprus Mail reports that a University of Cyprus scientist and his team have discovered a new COVID variant. Dr. Leontios Kostrikis told the publication that deltacron has the genetic background of the delta variant and some of the mutations of omicron.

“The frequency of the mutations was higher among those in hospital which could mean there is a correlation between deltacron and hospitalizations,” Kostrikis told the Mail.

Australia’s New South Wales state reported 16 deaths from COVID-19 on Sunday, its deadliest day in the two-year pandemic. The state, Australia’s most populous, already has 200,000 people in isolation, and reported more than 30,000 new cases.

On Sunday, New South Wales Health issued a statement allowing essential workers to return to work if they do not have any symptoms, if their employer says they are needed. They must wear a mask and pass a daily rapid antigen test. Some employers are reporting as many as half their workers are staying home because they have had contact with an infected person.

Victoria, Australia’s second-largest state, reported more than 44,000 new cases and four deaths, Reuters reported. The entire country will surpass 1 million infections sometime Sunday, according to the Australia Broadcasting Corp.

Saturday, more than 100,000 people took to the streets across France to protest proposed new restrictions that will require proof of vaccination to eat out, travel on intercity trains or go to a cultural event. The turnout was four times the government’s estimate of 25,000 protesters who marched on Dec. 18, Agence France-Presse reported.

Protesters also marched in several German cities Saturday, demanding a halt to restrictions on those who have not been vaccinated against the coronavirus. The main demonstrations occurred in Duesseldorf, Frankfurt and Magdeburg.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced Friday that proof of vaccination or a recent negative COVID-19 test will now be required to enter bars and restaurants in the country. Currently, proof of vaccination is required to enter many public venues.

Protests of government coronavirus restrictions also took place Saturday in Turin, Italy, and Beirut.

Global surge

The United Kingdom’s death toll from COVID-19 since the pandemic began topped 150,000 on Saturday, more deaths than any other European country except Russia. Britain reported a record of 146,390 new cases on Saturday.

“Coronavirus has taken a terrible toll on our country and today the number of deaths recorded has reached 150,000,” Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in a statement. “Our way out of this pandemic is for everyone to get their booster or their first or second dose if they haven’t yet.”

India’s capital, New Delhi, was shut down Saturday to halt the spread of the coronavirus, after a nearly fourfold nationwide spike in infections in the last week alone. Most shops were closed, but some essential services remained open.

More than 140,000 new cases across the country were reported Saturday, the most since the end of May, the health ministry said. It also reported more than 280 new deaths, for a total of nearly 484,000 since the pandemic began.

The surge in infections in India is fueled by the highly contagious omicron variant as political rallies attended by tens of thousands of people continue to be held by candidates before state elections are held later this year.

Some information for this report was provided by The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse. 

 
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At the start of 2022 most measures show the U.S. economy is booming, with an unemployment rate that is approaching record lows and a demand for goods that has imports from the rest of the world surging.

On Friday, the Labor Department announced that the unemployment rate had fallen to 3.9% in December, even as the economy produced a smaller-than-expected increase of 199,000 new jobs. The report came a day after the Commerce Department announced that U.S. imports in November had increased by 4.6% over the previous month to $304.4 billion.

The rising level of imports contributed to a trade deficit of $80.2 billion for the month, which is close to the record high of $81.4 billion set in September. While a large trade deficit is seen as a negative by many, particularly former President Donald Trump, who went to great lengths to close the gap between imports and exports, economists say it points to a U.S. economy that is leading the global recovery from the pandemic-induced recession.

“When we do better than everybody else, we get a bigger trade deficit,” said economist Gary Hufbauer, a senior fellow with the Peterson Institute for International Economics.

US as economic engine

It’s a popular misconception that a trade deficit is a sign of bad economic times in the United States, Hufbauer told VOA. “Not at all. It’s an indicator of great times in the U.S., relative to other countries. And that’s exactly where we are. We’re doing very well, relative to other countries, so the dollar tends to be stronger, that tends to increase the trade deficit, because demand is greater.”

The benefits of a strong U.S. economy are felt around the world, as other countries find U.S. consumers eager to purchase their goods.

China, as usual, was the largest net beneficiary of the U.S. trade deficit, selling U.S. consumers $28.4 billion more than it purchased. The U.S. ran a significant trade deficit with other trade partners as well, including the European Union, at $19.4 billion; Mexico, at $11 billion; Germany, at $6.1 billion; and Canada, at $5.4 billion.

The U.S. runs a trade surplus with only a few partners. The largest is a $4.5 billion surplus with all of Central and South America. The only other surpluses of $1 billion or more are with Hong Kong, at $1.6 billion, and Brazil, at $1.0 billion.

Job growth continues

The monthly jobs report from the Department of Labor, released Friday, told a similar story of an economy that continues to demonstrate a strong recovery from the pandemic recession. The 199,000 figure for the month of December was lower than expected but contributed to an average of about 537,000 jobs per month over all of 2021.

All told, the unemployment rate fell from 6.4% at the beginning of the year to 3.9% in December.

Not all of the decline in unemployment can be attributed to job growth. Millions of American workers dropped out of the labor force, largely as a result of the pandemic. That means that even though the unemployment rate is low, there are still about 3.6 million fewer workers in the U.S. than there were in the months prior to the beginning of the pandemic.

“We still have aways to go in terms of absorbing the labor force, and people who’ve left the labor force, as well as population growth, but it’s certainly a positive sign,” said Elise Gould, senior economist with the Economic Policy Institute, a Washington think tank.

On a more sobering note, the report revealed that when it comes to employment, the economic recovery has not been evenly distributed. From November to December, the unemployment rate among Black Americans rose from 6.1% to 6.5%. The problem is particularly acute among Black women, who face an unemployment rate of 5.6%, double the rate of white women.

Omicron is wild card

What the most recent economic data cannot yet tell us is the degree to which the surging omicron variant of the coronavirus has had on U.S. employment. The Labor Department uses a “reference week” each month when calculating job numbers, and the reference week in December was unusually early, encompassing Dec. 5-11, before the omicron surge began in earnest.

“Most of it happened in the second half of the month,” Gould told VOA. “So, it’s really not being reflected here at all. On February 4, when the January data comes out, I’m sure we will see a pretty big impact — hopefully a short-lived one — but probably a significant impact on the labor market.” 

 
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The European Union is under increasing pressure to further ease rules on airport take-off and landing slots to cut the number of “ghost flights” airlines are running to retain them.

Carriers say the requirement for them to use 50% of their slots — down from 80% in pre-pandemic days — or lose them is forcing them to operate empty or half-empty flights.

A sluggish return to air travel, as travelers shrink away from the omicron COVID variant and quickly changing rules for passengers, is dragging out the practice longer than they planned.

Belgium’s Brussels Airlines, for instance, says it will have to operate 3,000 under-capacity flights up to the end of March.

Its parent company Lufthansa warned last month it expected it would have to run 18,000 “pointless flights” over the European winter.

Belgium’s transport minister, Georges Gilkinet, has written to the European Commission urging it to loosen the slot rules, arguing the consequences run counter to the EU’s carbon-neutral ambitions.

The current reduced quotas were introduced in March last year in a nod to the hardship airlines faced as COVID washed over Europe for a second year running, shriveling passenger numbers.

In December, the commission said the 50% threshold would be raised to 64% for this year’s April-to-November summer flight season.

“Despite our urgings for more flexibility at the time, the EU approved a 50%-use rule for every flight schedule/frequency held for the winter. This has clearly been unrealistic in the EU this winter against the backdrop of the current crisis,” a spokesperson for the International Air Transport Association (IATA) told AFP.

He said the commission needed to show more “flexibility … given the significant drop in passengers and impact of omicron numbers on crewing planned schedules.”

But a commission spokesperson on Wednesday said the EU executive believed “the overall reduced consumer demand… is already reflected in a much-reduced rate of 50% compared to the usual 80%-use rate rule.”

The spokesperson, Daniel Ferrie, said: “The Commission expects that operated flights follow consumer demand and offer much needed continued air connectivity to citizens.” 

 
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Ambulances in Kansas speed toward hospitals then suddenly change direction because hospitals are full. Employee shortages in New York City cause delays in trash and subway services and diminish the ranks of firefighters and emergency workers. Airport officials shut down security checkpoints at the biggest terminal in Phoenix, and schools across the nation struggle to find teachers for their classrooms.

The current explosion of omicron-fueled coronavirus infections in the U.S. is causing a breakdown in basic functions and services — the latest illustration of how COVID-19 keeps upending life more than two years into the pandemic.

“This really does, I think, remind everyone of when COVID-19 first appeared and there were such major disruptions across every part of our normal life,” said Tom Cotter, director of emergency response and preparedness at the global health nonprofit Project HOPE. “And the unfortunate reality is, there’s no way of predicting what will happen next until we get our vaccination numbers — globally — up.”

First responders, hospitals, schools and government agencies have employed an all-hands-on-deck approach to keep the public safe, but they are worried how much longer they can keep it up.

In Kansas’ Johnson County, paramedics are working 80 hours a week. Ambulances have frequently been forced to alter course when the hospitals they’re heading to tell them they’re too overwhelmed to help, confusing the patients’ already anxious family members driving behind them. When the ambulances arrive at hospitals, some of their emergency patients end up in waiting rooms because there are no beds.

Dr. Steve Stites, chief medical officer for the University of Kansas Hospital, said when the leader of a rural hospital had no place to send its dialysis patients this week, the hospital’s staff consulted a textbook and “tried to put in some catheters and figure out how to do it.”

Medical facilities have been hit by a “double whammy,” he said. The number of COVID-19 patients at the University of Kansas Hospital rose from 40 on Dec. 1 to 139 on Friday. At the same time, more than 900 employees have been sickened with COVID-19 or are awaiting test results — 7% of the hospital’s 13,500-person workforce.

“What my hope is and what we’re going to cross our fingers around is that as it peaks … maybe it’ll have the same rapid fall we saw in South Africa,” Stites said, referring to the swiftness with which the number of cases fell in that country. “We don’t know that. That’s just hope.”

The omicron variant spreads even more easily than other coronavirus strains and has already become dominant in many countries. It also more readily infects those who have been vaccinated or had previously been infected by prior versions of the virus.

However, early studies show omicron is less likely to cause severe illness than the previous delta variant, and vaccination and a booster still offer strong protection from serious illness, hospitalization and death.

Still, omicron’s easy transmissibility has led to skyrocketing cases in the U.S., which is affecting businesses, government offices and public services alike.

In downtown Boise, Idaho, customers were queued up outside a pharmacy before it opened Friday morning and before long, the line wound throughout the large drugstore.

Pharmacies have been slammed by staffing shortages, either because employees are out sick or have left altogether.

Pharmacy technician Anecia Mascorro said that prior to the pandemic, the Sav-On Pharmacy where she works always had prescriptions ready for the next day. Now, it’s taking a lot longer to fill the hundreds of orders that are pouring in.

“The demand is crazy — everybody’s not getting their scripts fast enough, so they keep transferring to us,” Mascorro said.

In Los Angeles, more than 800 police and fire personnel were sidelined because of the virus as of Thursday, causing slightly longer ambulance and fire response times.

In New York City, officials have had to delay or scale back trash and subway services because of a virus-fueled staffing hemorrhage. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority said about one-fifth of subway operators and conductors — 1,300 people — have been absent in recent days. Almost one-fourth of the city sanitation department’s workers were out sick Thursday, Sanitation Commissioner Edward Grayson said.

“Everybody’s working ’round the clock, 12-hour shifts,” Grayson said.

The city’s fire department also has adjusted for higher absences. Officials said Thursday that 28% of EMS workers were out sick, compared with about 8% to 10% on a normal day. Twice as many firefighters as usual were also absent.

In contrast, the police department saw its sick rate fall over the past week, officials said.

At Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, two checkpoints at the airport’s busiest terminal were shut down because not enough Transportation Security Administration agents showed up for work, according to statements from airport and TSA officials.

Meanwhile, schools from coast to coast tried to maintain in-person instruction despite massive teacher absences. In Chicago, a tense standoff between the school district and teachers union over remote learning and COVID-19 safety protocols led to classes being canceled over the past three days. In San Francisco, nearly 900 educators and aides called in sick Thursday.

In Hawaii, where public schools are under one statewide district, 1,600 teachers and staff were absent Wednesday because of illness or pre-arranged vacation or leave. The state’s teachers union criticized education officials for not better preparing for the ensuing void. Osa Tui Jr., head of the Hawaii State Teachers Association, said counselors and security guards were being pulled to go “babysit a classroom.”

“That is very inappropriate,” Tui said at a news conference. “To have this model where there are so many teachers out and for the department to say, ‘Send your kid’ to a classroom that doesn’t have a teacher, what’s the point of that?”

In New Haven, Connecticut, where hundreds of teachers have been out each day this week, administrators have helped to cover classrooms. Some teachers say they appreciate that, but that it can be confusing for students, adding to the physical and mental stress they’re already feeling because of the pandemic.

“We’ve already been tested so much. How much can the rubber band stretch here?” asked Leslie Blatteau, president of the New Haven Federation of Teachers. 

 
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NASA’s new space telescope opened its huge, gold-plated, flower-shaped mirror Saturday, the final step in the observatory’s dramatic unfurling.  

The last portion of the 6.5-meter (21-foot) mirror swung into place at flight controllers’ command, completing the unfolding of the James Webb Space Telescope.

“I’m emotional about it. What an amazing milestone. We see that beautiful pattern out there in the sky now,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, chief of NASA’s science missions.

More powerful than the Hubble Space Telescope, the $10 billion Webb will scan the cosmos for light streaming from the first stars and galaxies formed 13.7 billion years ago. To accomplish this, NASA had to outfit Webb with the largest and most sensitive mirror ever launched—its “golden eye,” as scientists call it.

Webb is so big that it had to be folded origami-style to fit in the rocket that soared from South America two weeks ago. The riskiest operation occurred earlier in the week, when the tennis court-size sunshield unfurled, providing subzero shade for the mirror and infrared detectors.  

Flight controllers in Baltimore began opening the primary mirror Friday, unfolding the left side like a drop-leaf table. The mood was even more upbeat Saturday, with peppy music filling the control room as the right side snapped into place. After applauding, the controllers immediately got back to work, latching everything down. They jumped to their feet and cheered when the operation was finally complete two hours later.

“We have a deployed telescope in orbit, a magnificent telescope the likes of which the world has never seen,” Zurbuchen said, congratulating the team. “So how does it feel to make history, everybody? You just did it.”

His counterpart at the European Space Agency, astronomer Antonella Nota, noted that after years of preparation, the team made everything look “so amazingly easy.”

“This is the moment we have been waiting for, for so long,” she said.

Webb’s main mirror is made of beryllium, a lightweight yet sturdy and cold-resistant metal. Each of its 18 segments is coated with an ultra-thin layer of gold, highly reflective of infrared light. The hexagonal, coffee-table-size segments must be adjusted in the days and weeks ahead so they can focus as one on stars, galaxies and alien worlds that might hold atmospheric signs of life.  

Webb should reach its destination 1 million miles (1.6 million kilometers) away in another two weeks; it’s already more than 667,000 miles (1 million kilometers) from Earth since its Christmas Day launch. If all continues to go well, science observations will begin this summer. Astronomers hope to peer back to within 100 million years of the universe-forming Big Bang, closer than Hubble has achieved.
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