MOSCOW/LONDON/MADRID/WASHINGTON: Russia announced on Wednesday that the coronavirus pandemic has forced it to postpone two international summits set for Saint Petersburg in July.
Officials responsible for the BRICS and SCO summits "decided to postpone" both events scheduled for July 21-23 in Russia´s second city, according to a statement on the Kremlin website.
The decision was made "taking into account the global coronavirus pandemic and the associated temporary restrictive measures," it added.
The summits would have brought together leaders of BRICS countries, an association of five emerging economies -- Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. The last BRICS summit was held November in Brazil, before the outbreak of the pandemic.
It would have also convened leaders of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation countries, which include Russia, China, India, Pakistan and several Central Asian countries. The Kremlin said new dates would be decided depending on the virus situation of countries participating in the summits "and in the world as a whole."
President Vladimir Putin said this week the peak of the pandemic had passed in Russia and official figures Wednesday showed a decrease in active cases for the second day in a row. With 370,680 total infections, Russia has the third-highest number of cases after the United States and Brazil.
Meanwhile Worldometer shows over 5,746,000 COVID-19 cases while over 355,000 deaths reported across the world on Wednesday. Meanwhile, the British government said Wednesday it will launch its coronavirus "test and trace" service across England on Thursday, a key pillar in its strategy to ease a nationwide lockdown introduced in late March.
The new service will allow anyone with virus symptoms to be tested, and those who have been in close contact with someone showing positive results to be traced and told to isolate for 14 days, even if they have no symptoms. The government has hired 25,000 dedicated staff and aims to be able to trace the contacts of 10,000 people a day, which it said could be scaled up if needed. It has also been ramping up the country´s testing capability to 200,000 tests a day, through the establishment of 50 drive-through sites, more than 100 mobile testing units and three mega laboratories.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said in a statement that the new testing and tracing service "will be vital to stopping the spread of the virus". "As we move to the next stage of our fight against coronavirus, we will be able to replace national lockdowns with individual isolation and, if necessary, local action where there are outbreaks," he said. "This new system will help us keep this virus under control while carefully and safely lifting the lockdown nationally."
Britain has Europe´s highest death toll from the pandemic, with more than 46,000 fatalities attributed to the virus by mid-May, according to official statistics.
Meanwhile, the United Kingdom witnessed 412 coronavirus deaths in the last 24 hours, bringing the total death toll to 37,460, CNN reported, citing the Department of Health and Social Care.
"According to the latest government data, an additional 2,013 people tested positive for the virus since Tuesday and the total number of confirmed cases in the UK now stands at 267,240," said CNN.
It said that while information on the total number of people who got tested is unavailable, "the government has confirmed that a total of 3,798,490 tests have been carried out, with 117,013 tests carried out on Tuesday".
So-called air corridors allowing tourists to travel between countries at low risk of coronavirus contagion could help to restart the global tourism industry, a UN agency said on Wednesday. The corridors would represent the "first steps" towards re-establishing international links, said Zurab Pololikashvili, secretary-general of the World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO).
The idea has already gained traction in parts of Europe -- officials in Spain´s tourism-reliant Balearic Islands have suggested German travellers should be allowed to fly back as soon as possible. The number of tourists worldwide could fall by between 60 and 80 percent in 2020 as a result of the pandemic, according to UNWTO forecasts published in early May.
Attractions including Italy´s buried city of Pompeii and Bethlehem´s Church of the Nativity have reopened in recent days, but travel restrictions have seen many sites remain virtually empty.
Pololikashvili called on the European Union to reopen not only to tourism within the bloc but also to external countries such as Turkey, arguing that it was "impossible to have 100 percent security" from the virus.
Meanwhile, the United States was on the cusp of marking at least 100,000 deaths from the coronavirus, a once-unthinkable toll that now appears to be just the beginning of untold misery in the months ahead as Las Vegas casinos and Walt Disney World make plans to reopen, crowds of unmasked Americans swarm beaches and public health officials predict a resurgence by fall.
The stark reality comes as only half of Americans said they would be willing to get vaccinated if scientists are successful in developing a vaccine, according to a new poll released Wednesday from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, reported foreign media.
Dr Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, issued a stern warning after viewing video showing some of the Memorial Day crowds gathered at a pool party in Missouri. “We have situation in which you see that type of crowding with no mask and people interacting. That’s not prudent and that’s inviting a situation that could get out of control,” he said during an interview Wednesday on CNN. “Don’t start leapfrogging some of the recommendations in the guidelines because that’s really tempting fate and asking for trouble.”
After months of lockdowns of varying degrees in countries around the world, places have begun reopening in stages. Mediterranean beaches and Las Vegas casinos laid out plans to welcome tourists again. Churches began opening up. And humans restless at being cooped up indoors for weeks at a time began venturing outside in droves, often without practicing safe social distancing or wearing protective coverings.
South Korea announced a spike in new infections and considered reimposing social distancing restrictions, revealing the setbacks ahead for other nations on the road to reopening. That country reported 40 newly confirmed cases — the biggest daily jump in nearly 50 days.
Worldwide, the virus has infected nearly 5.6 million people and killed over 350,000, including about 170,000 in Europe, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University of government reports, which experts say does not show the entire scope of the pandemic.
Comparing how the virus has impacted different countries is tricky, given varying levels of testing and the fact that some coronavirus deaths can be missed. According to figures tracked by Johns Hopkins University, the death rate per 100,000 people is lower in the US than Italy, France and Spain but higher than Germany, China, South Korea, Singapore, Japan, New Zealand and Australia.
The White House said the president was committed to holding a Fourth of July celebration in the nation’s capital even as local officials warned that the region — one of the hardest hit by the coronavirus — will not be ready to hold a major event so soon.
SeaWorld and Walt Disney World plan to reopen to undisclosed limited numbers of tourists in Orlando, Florida, in June and July after months of being shuttered. The plan calls for SeaWorld to open to the public on June 11. Disney plans a tiered reopening, with Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom opening on July 11, followed by Epcot and Hollywood Studios on July 15.
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin has received an invitation from British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to take part in a summit on the coronavirus vaccine, but no decision has been made yet on participation, the Kremlin said on Wednesday, reported British wire service.
On June 4, the British government will hold the Global Vaccine Summit 2020 to mobilize resources needed to ensure universal availability of the vaccine against the novel coronavirus.
Even in a pandemic, there’s no slowdown for swindlers in Latin America. From Argentina to Panama, a number of officials have been forced to resign as reports of fraudulent purchases of ventilators, masks and other medical supplies pile up. The thefts are driven by price-gouging from manufacturers and profiteering by politically connected middlemen who see the crisis as an opportunity for graft.
“Whenever there’s a dire situation, spending rules are relaxed and there’s always someone around looking to take advantage to make a profit,” said José Ugaz, a former Peruvian prosecutor who jailed former President Alberto Fujimori and was chairman of Transparency International from 2014-17.
Coronavirus clusters are still spreading in Latin America, fueling a spike in deaths, swamping already-precarious hospitals and threatening to ravage slumping economies. Against this backdrop, reports of fraud have proliferated.
On Tuesday, police in Rio de Janeiro raided the governor’s residence as part of a widening probe into the alleged embezzlement of part of the $150 million in public funds earmarked for building field hospitals.
In Colombia, 14 of 32 governors are under investigation for crimes ranging from embezzlement to unlawfully awarding no-bid contracts. In Argentina’s capital of Buenos Aires, prosecutors are probing a politically connected crony for buying 15,000 N95 surgical masks that, despite having expired, cost the city 10 times their listed price.
Perhaps the biggest fallout is in Bolivia, where the health minister was arrested amid allegations that 170 ventilators were bought at inflated prices. The breathing machines were purchased for nearly $28,000 each. But their Spanish manufacturer said it sold them to a distributor for only 6,000 euros ($6,500). Making matter worse, the machines aren’t suitable for longer-term care.
The probe threatens to derail the presidential candidacy of interim leader Jeanine Anez. She assumed power in November, promising a clean break from 13 years of leftist rule by Evo Morales, who resigned amid vote-rigging allegations.
In Brazil, which has the world’s second-highest number of confirmed cases, police in one state created a task force to investigate pandemic-related crimes. Its nickname, “Corona Jato,” is a nod to the region’s biggest recent corruption scandal, the “Lava Jato,” or “Car Wash,” probe that uncovered billions stolen from state-run companies.
To be sure, disasters breed corruption all over the world, not just in Latin America. Spain, Italy and other countries also have been rocked by revelations of impropriety during the pandemic. In the US, an estimated 16% of $1 billion in aid spent after Hurricane Katrina was lost in potentially fraudulent payments. In one example, the Federal Emergency Management Agency paid one individual rental assistance as well as $8,000 to stay 70 nights at a hotel — in Hawaii.
But stealing state funds is especially vexing in Latin America because of gaping poverty and a tattered social safety net. More than half its workers toil in the informal sector without health care or social security.
Latin America countries consistently rank among the most corrupt. The latest survey by Berlin-based Transparency International found that more than half of the region’s residents think the problem is getting worse, with 1 in 5 admitting to paying a bribe to public officials in the past year. Scandals involving officials caught stealing from school lunch programmes, passing briefcases full of cash or placing lovers in cushy jobs are frequently in the news.
Meanwhile, Iran’s new parliament convened on Wednesday after the Feb. 21 elections under strict health protocols and social distancing rules to ward off the coronavirus in one of the hardest-hit Middle Eastern countries.
Many lawmakers wore masks and their temperatures were taken before entering the parliament building in southern Tehran, Iranian media reported.
Iran’s hardline watchdog body, the Guardian Council, which must approve parliamentary candidates, disqualified thousands of moderates and leading conservatives and permitted voters a choice mostly between hardline and low-key conservative candidates loyal to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to contest the elections, reported British wire service.
Like hardliners, conservatives back the ruling theocracy, but unlike them support more engagement with the outside world.
Iran’s 290-seat parliament has no major influence on foreign affairs or Iran’s nuclear policy, which are determined by Khamenei. But it might bolster hardliners in the 2021 election for president and toughen Tehran’s foreign policy.
Next week, lawmakers will choose a parliament speaker for a one-year term. Iran’s health ministry said on Wednesday that the death toll in Iran had reached 7,564 with 141,591 confirmed cases. State TV said all 268 lawmakers who attended the opening ceremony had tested negative for the coronavirus. “We are among the countries that have been successful in their fight against this dangerous virus,” President Hassan Rouhani said in a speech to parliament broadcast live on state TV.
Because of the outbreak, the lawmakers postponed a traditional visit to the shrine of the founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Iran’s state news agency IRNA reported. After 69 days, Iran reopened holy Shiite sites and shrines across the country. Pilgrims have to respect social distancing regulations when entering.
