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Coronavirus: Americans from quarantined cruise ship evacuate from Japan
Two planes carrying hundreds of US citizens from a coronavirus-hit cruise ship have left Japan, officials say.
There were some 400 Americans on board the Diamond Princess, which has been in quarantine since 3 February.
On Sunday, Japanese officials said the number of infections on the ship had risen by 70 to 355, making it the largest cluster of cases outside China.
Meanwhile, China reported a total of 2,048 new cases on Monday – 1,933 of which were from Hubei province.
More than 70,500 people nationwide have already been infected by the virus. In Hubei alone, the official number of cases currently stands at 58,182, with 1,692 deaths. Most new cases and deaths have been reported in Wuhan, Hubei’s largest city.
In other developments:
- In Japan, a public gathering to celebrate the birthday of new Emperor Naruhito has been cancelled, due to concerns over the spread of the outbreak
- In China, the National People’s Congress standing committee has said it will meet next week to discuss a delay of this year’s Congress because of the outbreak
- At the weekend, an American woman tested positive for the virus after leaving a cruise liner docked off the coast of Cambodia.
What’s happening to the US ship?
The Diamond Princess has been quarantined in Japan’s port of Yokohama with some 3,700 people on board after a man who disembarked in Hong Kong was found to have the virus.
At least 40 US citizens who were on board are infected and will be treated in Japan, Dr Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases told Face the Nation on CBS.
Two aircraft chartered by the US government left Tokyo’s Haneda Airport in the early hours of Monday.
More than 300 passengers are being repatriated voluntarily, the US state department said. Fourteen of them tested positive for the virus and were being kept separate from the other passengers, it said.
Those entering the US will undergo a 14-day quarantine, on top of the time they have already spent confined on the ship.
“And the reason for that,” Dr Fauci added, “is that the degree of transmissibility, on that cruise ship, is essentially akin to being in a hotspot.”
Some of the Americans have declined to be evacuated, preferring to wait until the ship quarantine comes to an end on 19 February.
Passenger Matt Smith, a lawyer, said he would not want to travel on a bus to the plane with possibly infected people.
To assist with relief efforts, Japan’s government has given away 2,000 iPhones to passengers on the ship – one for each cabin.
The smartphones were distributed so people could use an app, created by Japan’s health ministry, which links users with doctors, pharmacists and mental health counselors. Phones registered outside of Japan are unable to access the app.
Other evacuation flights have been arranged to repatriate residents of Israel, Hong Kong and Canada. On Monday, Australia announced that it would evacuate 200 of its citizens too.
Meanwhile, a plane carrying 175 evacuated Nepalis, mostly students, has arrived in Kathmandu from Wuhan.
Coronavirus: Armed robbers steal hundreds of toilet rolls in Hong Kong
Armed robbers in Hong Kong made off with hundreds of toilet rolls worth more than HKD1,000 ($130; £98).
Toilet rolls are currently in short supply in Hong Kong due to shortages caused by panic-buying during the coronavirus outbreak.
Knife wielding men robbed a delivery man outside a supermarket in the Mong Kok district, police said.
Police have arrested two men and recovered some of the stolen loo rolls, local media reports said.
The armed robbery took place in Mong Kok, a district of Hong Kong with a history of “triad” crime gangs, early on Monday.
According to local reports, the robbers had threatened a delivery worker who had unloaded rolls of toilet paper outside Wellcome Supermarket.
An Apple Daily report said that 600 toilet paper rolls, valued at around HKD1,695 ($218; £167), had been stolen.
Stores across the city have seen supplies massively depleted with long queues when new stock arrives.
Despite government assurances that supplies remain unaffected by the virus outbreak, residents have been stocking up on toilet paper.
Other household products have also seen panic-buying including rice, pasta and cleaning items.
Face masks and hand sanitisers are almost impossible to get as people try to protect themselves from the coronavirus, which has already claimed more than 1,700 lives.
“A delivery man was threatened by three knife-wielding men who took toilet paper worth more than HK$1,000 ($130),” a police spokesman said.
Authorities blame false online rumours for the panic buying and say supplies of food and household goods remain stable.
There has also been some panic-buying of toilet rolls, hand sanitisers and face masks in Singapore, which has 75 confirmed coronavirus cases.
SOURCE BBC NEWS
BREAKING NEWS: Eight of nine UK patients receiving treatment discharged
All but one of the nine people being treated for the coronavirus in the UK have been discharged from hospital.
They were discharged after twice testing negative for the virus, NHS England said on Saturday.
Meanwhile, all 94 people who were being quarantined at Arrowe Park hospital on the Wirral have left the site.
The patients were among the first British coronavirus evacuees flown back to the UK from Wuhan, China, which is the centre of the outbreak.
More than 100 people are still in quarantine in a Milton Keynes hotel after arriving from China last weekend.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said: “I want to stress that any individuals who are discharged from hospital are now well and do not pose any public health risk to the public.”
Prof Keith Willett, NHS strategic incident director, said more people may need to spend some time at home in the coming weeks to reduce the spread of the virus.
The final person being treated for the virus is still at Guy’s and St Thomas’s Hospital in central London.
Prof Willett thanked those who have just left Arrowe Park hospital for the “calm, patient and responsible” response to the situation.
Hundreds of people who were at a conference in London earlier this month, including two Labour MPs, were contacted by health officials after an attendee was later diagnosed with the virus.
The person, who has not been identified, was at the UK Bus Summit at the QEII Conference Centre.
Officials have been tracing the contacts of the ninth person in the UK to test positive for the virus.
The first death from the disease in Europe was confirmed on Saturday, after a Chinese tourist died in France.
The victim, one of more than 1,500 fatalities from the virus, was an 80-year-old man from China’s Hubei province.
He arrived in France on 16 January and was placed in quarantine in hospital in Paris on 25 January.
Only three deaths had previously been reported outside mainland China – in Hong Kong, the Philippines and Japan.
A further 2,641 people have been newly confirmed as infected, bringing the China’s total to 66,492.
Outside mainland China, there have been more than 500 cases in 24 countries.
FROM BBC NEWS
Storm Dennis: Experts warn flooding could be worse than Ciara
The UK is preparing for a second weekend of weather disruption, as experts warn Storm Dennis could inflict more damage than Ciara when it arrives.
Severe weather warnings are in place for most of the UK – and forecasters say a month’s worth of rain could fall in some places.
The Army is being deployed as extra support in Calderdale, West Yorkshire.
Road, rail and air travellers also face disruption, with British Airways and easyJet flights among those affected.
It comes after Storm Ciara flooded hundreds of homes last weekend.
The Environment Agency has warned flooding is likely to be worse this weekend as already saturated ground is met with a “perfect storm” of heavy rain, strong winds and melting snow.
Amber warnings for rain and yellow warnings for wind are in place for most of the country from Saturday afternoon into Sunday evening.
This means flooding could cause a danger to life, power cuts are expected and there is a good chance transport links will be impacted.
Calderdale Council said military personnel were being deployed to support recovery efforts from last weekend’s flooding and preparations for Storm Dennis.
Army troops may also be used to keep residents informed.
Council leader Tim Swift said their presence would be a “reassuring sight” for residents of “already exhausted communities”.
A Royal Navy warship has been dispatched to help the Coastguard conduct a search and rescue operation for a man reported to have gone overboard from a vessel off Margate Harbour in Kent, which could be affected by the storm later.
Meanwhile, easyJet has cancelled about 350 flights over the weekend, affecting tens of thousands of passengers.
Almost 100 of those are to and from London’s Gatwick Airport, the airline’s main base, on Saturday.
An easyJet spokesperson said the company was offering customers the option to transfer their flight for free or a refund.
“We are doing everything possible to minimise the impact of the disruption for our customers and to arrange alternative travel,” they said.
However, passenger Rich Collie, whose flight from Edinburgh to Geneva was cancelled, said that he and his family had not heard from the airline since receiving a text on Friday night to notify them of the cancellation.
They decided to take an alternative flight from Manchester with a different airline, at the additional cost of about £900.
“You don’t expect a lot from a budget airline but a little bit of communication would have been great,” he told BBC Breakfast.
“The thing that really frustrated everyone that I was talking to was that they’re not giving you any alternatives.”
About 60 flights have also been grounded at London’s Heathrow Airport. Most of them are British Airways.
Network Rail is also advising passengers to expect delays and cancellations to services due to flooding, and to allow more time for their journeys.
The LNER train company has already cancelled dozens of services between London and the North East of England.
Other companies say services could be affected by speed restrictions as well as fallen trees and debris on the line.
Households living near rail lines have been asked to secure any loose gardens items, after several trampolines were blown on to the tracks last weekend.
It comes on a particularly busy weekend with many families having booked to travel over the half-term school holiday.
Sporting fixtures in Scotland and Wales have been affected, with several rugby union matches called off while the Rangers v Livingston and Motherwell v St Mirren Premiership matches have been postponed due to the weather.
The worst-hit areas could see between 120-140mm of rainfall and gusts of up to 80mph over the weekend, the Met Office said.
The predictions are not as severe as last weekend when Ciara brought as much as 184mm of rain and gusts reaching 97mph, resulting in hundreds of homes flooding and more than 500,000 being left without power.
But experts have warned Storm Dennis could cause more flooding damage, because of the heavy rain falling on parts of the UK still recovering from Ciara.
John Curtin, the Environment Agency’s executive director of flood and coastal risk management, said Cumbria, Lancashire and Yorkshire were the areas he was most “concerned” about.
“This [storm] could be a step up from what we have seen before,” Mr Curtin said.
“We had a big storm last weekend, [we now have] saturated catchments, snowmelt and rainfall, so it is a perfect storm.”
The Environment Agency said preparations were under way to operate flood defences, flood storage reservoirs and temporary barriers to protect communities.
These include the Foss Barrier in York, the Thames Barrier in London and another in Bewdley, Worcestershire, on the River Severn.
UK power operators say they have employed extra engineers and call centre staff to respond to any possible impact of the storm, after widespread power cuts last weekend.
Newly appointed Environment Secretary George Eustice said he had spoken to local flood response groups across the country on Friday.
Highlighting the Environment Agency’s preparations, he added: “We are fully focused on ensuring that communities are protected and have access to the support and advice they need to stay safe this weekend.”
The Met Office has issued amber warnings for rain in pockets of northern and south-west England and Wales from 12:00 GMT on Saturday until 15:00 on Sunday, and in parts of Scotland from 12:00 GMT to 20:00 on Saturday.
An amber warning is also in place for most of southern England from 00:15 GMT until 18:00 on Sunday.
There are 15 flood warnings – meaning flooding is “expected” – and 193 flood alerts – meaning flooding is possible – in place across the country.
Yellow warnings for strong winds and heavy rain also cover all of England, Wales and southern Scotland between 09:00 GMT and midday on Sunday.
Further yellow warnings for wind are in place for northern parts of the UK from midday on Sunday until midday on Monday – potentially bringing travel disruption to commuters.
FROM BBC NEWS
Haiti: 15 children killed in fire at unlicensed orphanage
Fifteen children have died in Haiti after a fire swept through an orphanage on the outskirts of the capital.
The cause of the fire was being investigated, but reports citing staff and children said candles were being used instead of electricity.
The orphanage, run by a US-based Christian group, was one of hundreds in Haiti operating without official authorisation.
Authorities are now working to support and re-house the surviving children.
Arielle Jeanty Villedrouin, director of the Institute for Social Welfare, said that, at the time of the fire, about 60 children were living in the unlicensed orphanage, operated by the Pennsylvania-based Church of Bible Understanding.
“We are going to place them [the survivors] in a transit centre while we do research on their family and see if we can reunite them with their parents,” she told Reuters news agency.
The fire at the orphanage, located south of the capital Port-au-Prince, began on Thursday evening. Officials said two children were killed in the blaze and 13 others died at hospital as a result of smoke inhalation.
Candles had been lit on the night of the fire because the building’s generator was broken, according to reports.
Local judge Raymonde Jean Antoine told AFP news agency the orphanage had not been authorised to operate since 2013.
She said it did not meet basic standards, describing the living conditions there as “truly, truly neglected”.
“All we see are children living like animals,” she said, adding that there were no fire extinguishers.
On its website, the Church of Bible Understanding says it opened its first orphanage in Haiti 40 years ago. The organisation said its “primary goal” was to “spread the Gospel to any and all who will receive it”.
It has not yet commented on the fire.
Some 30,000 children live in more than 760 orphanages in Haiti, of which 15% are officially registered, according to the charity Lumos, which was founded by author JK Rowling and seeks to end the institutionalisation of children.
An estimated 80% of the children living in Haiti’s orphanages have at least one living parent.
Orphanages proliferated in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake. Poverty and a lack of access to healthcare and education are among the reasons that children with living parents end up being housed in them.
FROM BBC NEWS
BREAKING NEWS: Egypt Africa’s First Reported Corona virus case
Egypt confirms coronavirus case, the first in Africa
The country’s health ministry says the affected person is a ‘foreigner’ who is hospitalized and in isolation.
Egypt has confirmed its first case of a deadly coronavirus that emerged in central China at the end of last year and has since spread to more than two dozen countries around the world.
Health Ministry spokesman Khaled Mugahed said in a statement on Friday that the affected person was a “foreigner” who did not show any serious symptoms
Officials were able to confirm the case through a follow-up programme implemented by the government for travellers arriving from countries where the virus has spread.
The ministry statement said the person was hospitalised and in isolation. It did not specify the person’s nationality or their point of entry.
The development made Egypt the first country in the African continent to report a confirmed case, and the second in the Middle East region, after the United Arab Emirates late last month diagnosed its first cases.
China-Gambia in firm stance against coronavirus
The Chinese ambassador to The Gambia, His Excellency Ma Jianchun on 12 February 2020 met with Dr. Ahmadou Lamin Samateh, the minister of Health for the third time amid the outbreak of the novel coronavirus pneumonia (COVID-19).
The Chinese diplomat and Gambian Health minister exchanged views on further strengthening communication and cooperation in preventing the outbreak in The Gambia.
Ambassador Ma briefed Dr. Samateh on his meeting with H.E. President Adama Barrow on Monday, 10 February, during which they discussed at length the joint efforts in preventing the COVID-19 in The Gambia. He also updated Dr. Samateh on new measures taken and progress made by the Chinese government in curbing the outbreak and treating infected patients. As of today, more than 160 medical teams and over 19,800 medical staff nationwide, including 14,000 nurses and many military medical personnel, have been dispatched to Hubei province, the epicenter of the pneumonia outbreak. Now in China, daily number of newly confirmed infection cases in regions outside Hubei province has been decreasing, and the number of infected persons traveling from China to other countries has been brought down to near zero. Ambassador Ma expressed appreciation to the Gambian government for its consistent solidarity with China in the battle against the COVID-19 outbreak. From what has been achieved so far, the Ambassador showed more confidence that China will soon win the battle.
Hon. Dr. Samateh once again expressed to Ambassador Ma the sympathy and solidarity from the Gambian side. He commended China for efficiently implementing effective control measures at home and conducting active cooperation with the international society since the very beginning of the outbreak. Hon. Dr. Samateh talked about the Gambia government’s new efforts in keeping the country free from the COVID-19 outbreak along with The Gambia’s development partners especially in terms of strengthening entry surveillance, capacity building and community sensitisation, etc. He expressed confidence that further communication and cooperation between his ministry and the Chinese Embassy will result in better prospects in effectively preventing the outbreak in The Gambia.
Ambassador Ma spoke highly of the efforts by the Gambian side in preventing the outbreak, expressed the willingness of the Chinese Embassy to stand together with the Gambian Ministry of Health in the battle against the novel coronavirus pneumonia. He further added that a new batch of medical supplies donated by the Chinese government, aiming at helping strengthening The Gambia’s public health system, has arrived at Banjul Port.
2 died in course of soak away drill
Two people have been reported dead during the course a soak-away drilling along the busy Kairaba Avenue road. The Point Newspaper has reported on Thursday
The deceased, Ba Sainey a native of Wulli in the Upper River Region and Lamin Manneh, a native of Jarreng in the Naimina District of CRR died after slipping into a soakaway at a restaurant, La Parisienne.
A source familiar with the matter told The Point that the two youths were contracted by the restaurant owner to pull out the sand from the soakaway.
According to our source, it was Ba Sainey who first entered the soakaway but could not climb back. His friend Lamin also attempted to rescue him, but similar fate befell him too.
The deceased were both residents of Wellingara. Another source that spoke to our reporter said the deceased slipped into the soakaway at the La Parisienne restaurant.
The spokesperson of the Gambia Police Force couldn’t be reached for comments at the time of gathering the report. They said
Ingrid Escamilla: Hundreds protest against woman’s brutal murder
Hundreds of people gathered in Mexico City on Friday to protest against the murder of a young woman.
Ingrid Escamilla, 25, was stabbed to death allegedly by a man she lived with, who then mutilated her body in an attempt to hide the evidence.
Forensic workers leaked images of her corpse, and a local newspaper has been criticised for published one of these pictures on its front page.
Femicide, the gender-based killing of women, is on the rise in Mexico.
More than 700 cases are currently being investigated, but activists say the number of women killed because of their gender is much higher.
The protesters, most of them women, moved through the Mexican capital holding placards calling for “responsible journalism,” and chanting slogans like “not one more murder”.
The group initially gathered outside of the city’s National Palace, where President Andrés Manuel López Obrador lives with his family.
“It seems to me the president has evaded the issue constantly,” one protester, Alejandro Castillo, told Reuters news agency.
“It is not a personal issue against him. We believe he has the possibility of raising several things on the agenda and has not done so.”
Demonstrators later marched through heavy rain to the offices of La Prensa, the newspaper that published grisly images of Ms Escamilla body with the headline ‘It was cupid’s fault”.
At least one vehicle belonging to the newspaper was set on fire, and several protesters clashed with security forces who tried to stop them from entering the newspaper’s offices.
La Prensa, in response to public criticism, has stood by its decision but said it was open to discussions about adjusting its editorial standards beyond legal requirements.
Earlier this month, many Mexicans flooded social media with photos of wildlife and natural landscapes, using the hashtag #IngridEscamilla to drown out the photos of her body circulating online.
Her murder has shocked the country, but is only the latest in a string of slayings that have brought the issue of femicide into public debate.
Last year a record high of 3,825 women were killed in Mexico, according to official figures – up 7% from 2018.
Activists are critical of the fact that the vast majority of cases are never solved and only a tiny percentage of perpetrators are brought to justice.
President López Obrador – when asked about the classification of femicides – has previously accused media outlets of “manipulating” the issue.
But as protesters gathered outside the National Palace on Friday, he told reporters he was “not burying [his] head in the sand.
“The government I represent will always take care of ensuring the safety of women,” the president added.
FROM BBC NEWS
Sex robots may cause psychological damage
US researchers have warned that the availability of sex robots with artificial intelligence (AI) poses a growing psychological and moral threat to individuals and society.
They say the technology is escaping oversight because agencies are too embarrassed to investigate it.
The scientists want action to prevent the unregulated use of such robots.
Dr Christine Hendren of Duke University told BBC News that “the stakes were high”.
“Some robots are programmed to protest, to create a rape scenario,” she said.
“Some are designed to look like children. One developer of these in Japan is a self-confessed paedophile, who says that this device is a prophylactic against him ever hurting a real child.
“But does that normalise and give people a chance to practise these behaviours that should be treated by just stamping them out?”
Dr Hendren was speaking here at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
A number of sex robots are advertised online. A US-based firm, Realrobitix, has posted a video marketing its Harmony robot for between $8,000 and $10,000.
It is a life-sized doll which can blink and move its eyes and neck, and also its lips as it talks.
Speaking with a Scottish accent, the mannequin says, “if you play your cards right you will have some pleasure and fun coming your way”.
And the firm’s founder and CEO, Matt McMullen explains that Harmony has AI that enables “her” to develop a relationship with the owner.
“She is going to remember things about you, your likes, your dislikes and your experiences,” says Mr McMullen.
Kathleen Richardson, who is a professor of the Ethics and Culture of Robots and AI at De Montfort University in Leicester, wants this kind of marketing outlawed.
“These companies are saying, ‘you don’t have a friendship? You don’t have a life partner? Don’t worry we can create a robot girlfriend for you’.
“A relationship with a girlfriend is based on intimacy, attachment and reciprocity. These are things that can’t be replicated by machines,” she said.
Prof Richardson advises a pressure group that has been set up to monitor the emergence of these products. The campaign against sex robots is working with policy experts to draw up legislation aimed at banning claims that companion robots can be a substitute for human relationships.
“Are we going to move into a future where we keep normalising the idea of women as sex objects?” she told BBC News.
“If someone has a problem with a relationship in their actual lives you deal with that with other people, not by normalising the idea that you can have a robot in your life and it can be as good as a person.”
FROM BBC NEWS
D5 Creation