Saturday, March 28, 2020
'Like wartime' - Philippine doctors overwhelmed by coronavirus delugeKaren Lema
MANILA (Reuters) - Private hospitals in the Philippines capital Manila have stopped accepting coronavirus patients in the face of surging numbers of sufferers and people seeking tests, the hospitals said.
FILE PHOTO: A man wearing a protective mask on his neck walks past closed shops in an empty street following the lockdown in the Philippine capital to prevent the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Manila, Philippines, March 24, 2020. REUTERS/Eloisa Lopez/File Photo
The Philippines has reported relatively fewer infections than many other countries in Southeast Asia, but medical experts say a lack of testing has meant that the scale of the epidemic has gone undetected.
“It’s like wartime,” said Eugenio Ramos, a doctor and head of The Medical City, a Manila private hospital, which was among the first to turn away coronavirus patients.
It has attended to more than 1,000 people who feared they had coronavirus and is currently treating more than 100 suspected coronavirus patients, 14 in intensive care.
“More and more are coming, a lot of scared people, some of them already in their advanced stage,” Ramos said this week - adding that facilities were so stretched that many who should be in the intensive care unit were just being intubated with breathing tubes to keep them alive.
The scenes are akin to those in hospitals in countries that have been overwhelmed by coronavirus cases, but comes less than three weeks since the country of 107 million reported its first case of local transmission.
The Philippines has reported 803 cases and 54 deaths. Malaysia, with the highest number of infections in Southeast Asia at 2,161, has had 26 deaths.
The situation in the Philippines is similar to that in Indonesia, the region’s most populous country, where there is an even higher ratio of deaths to detected cases - an indicator for doctors that the number of infections may be much higher.
Former Health Minister Esperanza Cabral said the reported infection rate was probably just the tip of the iceberg, given the Philippines has so far only tested 2,147 people.
“We cannot gauge the extent of the outbreak until we have tested about 10,000 to 20,000 people,” Cabral told Reuters.
Testing in the Philippines is to be ramped up with the arrival of 100,000 test kits from China.
Modeling from the Future of Humanity Institute at the University of Oxford suggests the number of infections in the Philippines may already be higher than 11,000.
LOCKDOWN
The Philippines took drastic measures to contain the spread after its first domestic case on March 7, becoming the third country after China and Italy to put its people under home quarantine, suspend transport, work and commercial activity.
But the health system is weak.
The Philippines, which on average sends 19,000 trained nurses overseas each year, has 10 beds and 14 doctors per 10,000 people, according to data from the World Health Organization. Italy has more than 40 doctors and 30 beds per 10,000 people.
An emergency ward worker who spoke to Reuters described patients waiting up to six hours to be seen and inexperienced staff treating critical patients due to manpower shortages.
Nine medical workers have died, and hundreds more have been quarantined for being close to sufferers.
The University of Santo Tomas hospital has 530 staff quarantined. The Chinese General Hospital and Medical Center said it had insufficient testing kits and protective gear and could not take more coronavirus patients.
FILE PHOTO: A soldier waits for health workers to board a free shuttle service following the suspension of mass transportation to contain the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines, March 20, 2020. REUTERS/Eloisa Lopez/File Photo
Under pressure from 11 private hospitals, the government has now dedicated three public hospitals to serve as special COVID-19 treatment centers - but they themselves are also under strain.
“We have every reason to be scared,” the private hospitals said in a letter appealing for help.
The head of the emergency department of St. Luke’s Medical Centre, Richard Enecilla, said it had received 120 possible coronavirus-related patients in one day, and made them line up on the hospital driveway to limit exposure.
“The way it exploded caught a lot us off-guard,” he told Reuters. “The volume of cases went up and our capacity to serve went down at the same time.”
Additional reporting by Neil Jerome Morales; Editing by Martin Petty, Matthew Tostevin and Alex Richardson
Russian aid to Italy leaves EU exposed
AND WHOSE FAULT IS THAT
SANCTIONS RELIEF
The EU and NATO have long accused the Kremlin of using a mix of soft power, covert action and computer hackers to try to destabilize the West by exploiting divisions in society.
Last week, an EU internal document seen by Reuters accused Russian media of deploying a “significant disinformation campaign” against the West to worsen the impact of the coronavirus. Moscow denied any such plan.
While not mentioning Russia by name, the EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said in his blog this week that the EU needed to be more aware of “a struggle for influence through spinning and the politics of generosity”.
Russia is subject to European Union sanctions on its banking, financial and energy sectors and all 27 governments must agree to renew them every six months.
When asked if Russia expected Italy to return the favor by trying to get EU sanctions lifted, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov described the notion as absurd.
“We’re not talking about any conditions or calculations or hopes here,” he said on Monday. “Italy is really in need of much more wide scale help and what Russia does is manageable.”
AND WHOSE FAULT IS THAT
BRUSSELS/MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia’s military planeloads of aid to Italy to combat the spread of coronavirus have exposed the European Union’s failure to provide swift help to a member in crisis and handed President Vladimir Putin a publicity coup at home and abroad.
Italy has been thankful for the Russian decontamination units and army medical staff sent over the past four days, contrasting it with a piecemeal response by EU states.
But senior EU and NATO diplomats and officials see the assistance less as generosity and more as a geopolitical move asserting Russian power and extending influence.
“The Italians made a general request for assistance and the Russians are sending military doctors and military equipment by military planes,” a senior EU diplomat said.
“That sends a signal.”
Russian gas imports help fuel Italy’s power plants and Rome has long called for a relaxation of EU sanctions imposed on Moscow over Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014. The penalties have been repeatedly renewed while Moscow backed separatists elsewhere in Ukraine.
Rome denies the aid signals a merging of geopolitical interests.
“There are no new geopolitical scenarios to trace, there is a country that needs help and other countries that are helping us,” Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio was quoted as saying by Italy’s Il Corriere della Sera newspaper on Thursday.
“It is not a question of a Cold War, it is a question of reality, or realpolitik, you call it what you like.”
‘FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE’
Russia has flown at least 15 flights to Italy using military transport planes with truck-based disinfection units. Eight medical brigades and another 100 personnel include some of its most advanced nuclear, biological and chemical protection troops.
“France has given us 2 million masks, Germany has sent us a few dozen ventilators. (Prime Minister Guiseppe) Conte requested and obtained some planes from Russia that brought 180 doctors, nurses, ventilators and masks,” Italy’s government commissioner for the coronavirus emergency, Domenico Arcuri, told RAI on Sunday.
Russia’s government and its delegation to NATO have published multiple videos of trucks on their way to Bergamo, the epicenter of Italy’s coronavirus crisis, on their Twitter accounts while Russian state media showed Italy’s foreign minister personally welcoming the first Russian plane.
Labeled “From Russia with Love”, planes and trucks bore giant stickers showing heart-shaped Russian and Italian flags next to one another.
By contrast, NATO airlifts of urgent medical supplies to European allies have not grabbed public attention. The European Union has faced delays obtaining face masks and other protective gear while EU governments have closed borders to one another.
NATO militaries are active flying sick patients to hospitals, delivering beds and repatriating citizens, although NATO has not deployed its own biological protection units.
FILE PHOTO: Russian military specialists board a transport plane heading to Italy, hit by the outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), at a military airdrome in Moscow region, Russia March 22, 2020. Russian Defence Ministry/Alexey Ereshko/Handout via REUTERS
“This is a big success story for Putin. I think the Italians have fallen into a trap,” said a senior NATO diplomat, although he noted that Italy was now receiving more support directly from the alliance. Spain has also requested direct NATO help.
Alexander Baunov, a senior fellow at the Moscow Carnegie Center, noted China and Cuba were also sending medical aid to Italy. “For countries that would like to see the existing world order revised in their favor, the pandemic is an opportunity,” he said.
Italy has been thankful for the Russian decontamination units and army medical staff sent over the past four days, contrasting it with a piecemeal response by EU states.
But senior EU and NATO diplomats and officials see the assistance less as generosity and more as a geopolitical move asserting Russian power and extending influence.
“The Italians made a general request for assistance and the Russians are sending military doctors and military equipment by military planes,” a senior EU diplomat said.
“That sends a signal.”
Russian gas imports help fuel Italy’s power plants and Rome has long called for a relaxation of EU sanctions imposed on Moscow over Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014. The penalties have been repeatedly renewed while Moscow backed separatists elsewhere in Ukraine.
Rome denies the aid signals a merging of geopolitical interests.
“There are no new geopolitical scenarios to trace, there is a country that needs help and other countries that are helping us,” Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio was quoted as saying by Italy’s Il Corriere della Sera newspaper on Thursday.
“It is not a question of a Cold War, it is a question of reality, or realpolitik, you call it what you like.”
‘FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE’
Russia has flown at least 15 flights to Italy using military transport planes with truck-based disinfection units. Eight medical brigades and another 100 personnel include some of its most advanced nuclear, biological and chemical protection troops.
“France has given us 2 million masks, Germany has sent us a few dozen ventilators. (Prime Minister Guiseppe) Conte requested and obtained some planes from Russia that brought 180 doctors, nurses, ventilators and masks,” Italy’s government commissioner for the coronavirus emergency, Domenico Arcuri, told RAI on Sunday.
Russia’s government and its delegation to NATO have published multiple videos of trucks on their way to Bergamo, the epicenter of Italy’s coronavirus crisis, on their Twitter accounts while Russian state media showed Italy’s foreign minister personally welcoming the first Russian plane.
Labeled “From Russia with Love”, planes and trucks bore giant stickers showing heart-shaped Russian and Italian flags next to one another.
By contrast, NATO airlifts of urgent medical supplies to European allies have not grabbed public attention. The European Union has faced delays obtaining face masks and other protective gear while EU governments have closed borders to one another.
NATO militaries are active flying sick patients to hospitals, delivering beds and repatriating citizens, although NATO has not deployed its own biological protection units.
FILE PHOTO: Russian military specialists board a transport plane heading to Italy, hit by the outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), at a military airdrome in Moscow region, Russia March 22, 2020. Russian Defence Ministry/Alexey Ereshko/Handout via REUTERS
“This is a big success story for Putin. I think the Italians have fallen into a trap,” said a senior NATO diplomat, although he noted that Italy was now receiving more support directly from the alliance. Spain has also requested direct NATO help.
Alexander Baunov, a senior fellow at the Moscow Carnegie Center, noted China and Cuba were also sending medical aid to Italy. “For countries that would like to see the existing world order revised in their favor, the pandemic is an opportunity,” he said.
SANCTIONS RELIEF
The EU and NATO have long accused the Kremlin of using a mix of soft power, covert action and computer hackers to try to destabilize the West by exploiting divisions in society.
Last week, an EU internal document seen by Reuters accused Russian media of deploying a “significant disinformation campaign” against the West to worsen the impact of the coronavirus. Moscow denied any such plan.
While not mentioning Russia by name, the EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said in his blog this week that the EU needed to be more aware of “a struggle for influence through spinning and the politics of generosity”.
Russia is subject to European Union sanctions on its banking, financial and energy sectors and all 27 governments must agree to renew them every six months.
When asked if Russia expected Italy to return the favor by trying to get EU sanctions lifted, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov described the notion as absurd.
“We’re not talking about any conditions or calculations or hopes here,” he said on Monday. “Italy is really in need of much more wide scale help and what Russia does is manageable.”
---30---
Australia's fight against coronavirus sees confusing mixed messages
ANOTHER RIGHT WING NATIONAL LEADER SCREWS UP OVER COVID-19
Kirsty Needham
SYDNEY (Reuters) - The fight against the coronavirus in Australia is being hampered by mixed messages from the national and state governments, leaving the public confused, as the prime minister’s incremental approach contrasts with a state push to ‘go hard, go fast’.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has set up a National Cabinet of national and state leaders, but the goal of a unified response appears to be fraying as states forge their own paths.
As in the United States, power in Australia is separated between the states and national government. U.S. president Donald Trump has expressed unhappiness at shutdowns by U.S. states and says he wants “packed churches” on Easter Sunday.
Morrison hasn’t downplayed the health impacts of the crisis but is seen to be prioritizing the economy, while the biggest states, New South Wales (NSW) and Victoria, which have the most coronavirus cases, have pushed for faster containment measures and even talked of some form of lockdowns.
So as Morrison said schools would stay open, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews brought forward school holidays and NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian asked parents to keep kids at home.
“At a time of great public uncertainty, Mr Morrison has only succeeded in adding to the sense of dread,” Professor Mark Kenny of the Australian Studies Institute at the Australian National University told Reuters.
Morrison moved decisively in declaring a pandemic weeks before the World Health Organization and applied early travel bans on coronavirus hotspots like China, Iran and Italy, but the messaging since then has been “hot and cold, and some aspects of policy have undermined others”, he said.
The different priorities are partly driven by how power is divided: states run schools and hospitals, while the national government, which will foot the bill for skyrocketing stimulus measures which already total 10 percent of national output, wants to avoid completely shutting down the economy.
“I am going to fight for every job I can,” Morrison said after the national cabinet met on Friday.
PUBLIC CONFUSION
Australia’s tiers of government and size make it harder to match the much-cited success of Singapore in limiting both the transmission and death rates of coronavirus.
Victorian Premier Andrews said on Friday that coronavirus transmission curves differed between states and that states would take action driven by their own needs for the next stage in the fight against the virus.
Andrews and Berejiklian have indicated they are ready to move towards a more complete shutdown, while states such as Tasmania, Queensland and South Australia have closed their borders to non-residents.
Morrison has warned Australians not to wish for a complete lockdown as such a drastic move could be in place for at least six months and would severely hurt livelihoods.
A sign of the zeitgeist, retired cricket star Shane Warne drew praise for describing Morrison’s late-night explanation of a selective shutdown of non-essential services including pubs, gyms and restaurants, and limiting funerals to 10 people but still allowing people to get a haircut as a “shocker”.
“Listening to the PM like everyone here in Australia and what I understood was ‘It’s essential. Unless it’s not. Then it’s essentially not essential,” Warne told his 3.5 million followers on Twitter.
The public confusion wasn’t helped by quick reversals on decisions to immediately cancel elective surgery in private hospitals, and to remove a 30-minute limit for haircuts.
Comparing the situation to the 2008 global financial crisis, the ANU’s Kenny said consistency in government messaging can add to or subtract from public confidence.
“In 2008, then prime minister Kevin Rudd managed to convince Australians that even if they could not understand the scale and duration of the financial meltdown, their government did. Mr Morrison on the other hand, seems unsure and has failed to inspire confidence,” said Kenny.
Kirsty Needham
SYDNEY (Reuters) - The fight against the coronavirus in Australia is being hampered by mixed messages from the national and state governments, leaving the public confused, as the prime minister’s incremental approach contrasts with a state push to ‘go hard, go fast’.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has set up a National Cabinet of national and state leaders, but the goal of a unified response appears to be fraying as states forge their own paths.
As in the United States, power in Australia is separated between the states and national government. U.S. president Donald Trump has expressed unhappiness at shutdowns by U.S. states and says he wants “packed churches” on Easter Sunday.
Morrison hasn’t downplayed the health impacts of the crisis but is seen to be prioritizing the economy, while the biggest states, New South Wales (NSW) and Victoria, which have the most coronavirus cases, have pushed for faster containment measures and even talked of some form of lockdowns.
So as Morrison said schools would stay open, Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews brought forward school holidays and NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian asked parents to keep kids at home.
“At a time of great public uncertainty, Mr Morrison has only succeeded in adding to the sense of dread,” Professor Mark Kenny of the Australian Studies Institute at the Australian National University told Reuters.
Morrison moved decisively in declaring a pandemic weeks before the World Health Organization and applied early travel bans on coronavirus hotspots like China, Iran and Italy, but the messaging since then has been “hot and cold, and some aspects of policy have undermined others”, he said.
The different priorities are partly driven by how power is divided: states run schools and hospitals, while the national government, which will foot the bill for skyrocketing stimulus measures which already total 10 percent of national output, wants to avoid completely shutting down the economy.
“I am going to fight for every job I can,” Morrison said after the national cabinet met on Friday.
PUBLIC CONFUSION
Australia’s tiers of government and size make it harder to match the much-cited success of Singapore in limiting both the transmission and death rates of coronavirus.
Victorian Premier Andrews said on Friday that coronavirus transmission curves differed between states and that states would take action driven by their own needs for the next stage in the fight against the virus.
Andrews and Berejiklian have indicated they are ready to move towards a more complete shutdown, while states such as Tasmania, Queensland and South Australia have closed their borders to non-residents.
Morrison has warned Australians not to wish for a complete lockdown as such a drastic move could be in place for at least six months and would severely hurt livelihoods.
A sign of the zeitgeist, retired cricket star Shane Warne drew praise for describing Morrison’s late-night explanation of a selective shutdown of non-essential services including pubs, gyms and restaurants, and limiting funerals to 10 people but still allowing people to get a haircut as a “shocker”.
“Listening to the PM like everyone here in Australia and what I understood was ‘It’s essential. Unless it’s not. Then it’s essentially not essential,” Warne told his 3.5 million followers on Twitter.
The public confusion wasn’t helped by quick reversals on decisions to immediately cancel elective surgery in private hospitals, and to remove a 30-minute limit for haircuts.
Comparing the situation to the 2008 global financial crisis, the ANU’s Kenny said consistency in government messaging can add to or subtract from public confidence.
“In 2008, then prime minister Kevin Rudd managed to convince Australians that even if they could not understand the scale and duration of the financial meltdown, their government did. Mr Morrison on the other hand, seems unsure and has failed to inspire confidence,” said Kenny.
Some Kenyan nurses refuse coronavirus patients in protest over shortages: union
Katharine Houreld
NAIROBI (Reuters) - Nurses in Kenya’s capital and at least two towns have launched protests or refused to treat suspected coronavirus patients because the government has not given them enough protective gear or training, a medical union chief said.
FILE PHOTO: Kenyan nurses wear protective gear during a demonstration of preparations for any potential coronavirus cases at the Mbagathi Hospital, isolation centre for the disease, in Nairobi, Kenya March 6, 2020. REUTERS/Njeri Mwangi
Only a fraction of Kenya’s estimated 100,000 healthcare workers had received any instruction in how to protect themselves, Seth Panyako, the secretary general of the Kenya National Union of Nurses, told Reuters.
Government spokesman Cyrus Oguna said he would check into the reports of the training and protective gear shortages.
Kenya had reported 28 cases of the coronavirus and one death as of Friday. The virus has so far been multiplying across Africa more slowly than in Asia or Europe - but the World Health Organization has warned the continent’s window to curb the infection is narrowing every day.
Nurses in the western Kenyan town of Kakamega and the coastal town of Kilifi ran away when patients with coronavirus symptoms came to their hospitals over the past two weeks, Panyako said on Thursday.
Nurses at Nairobi’s Mbagathi County Hospital went on a go-slow protest last week in protest at a lack of protective gear and training. They feared catching the disease and infecting their families, Panyako said.
“The government is not taking it seriously when health workers run away,” he said.
“My clear message to the government ... give them the protective equipment they need.”
Panyako, whose union represents 30,000 health workers, said he had only heard of 1,200 staff getting training in how to protect themselves.
A host of initiatives have sprung up to fill the gaps.
Kenyan start-up Rescue.co, whose Flare app functions as the Uber for private ambulances in Kenya, last week began offering training and protective equipment for the 600 nurses and paramedics using its network.
One paramedic on a course told Reuters he had previously refused to attend a suspected coronavirus patient because he did not have training.
“The team was scared so we didn’t go,” he said, declining to give his name.
Caitlin Dolkart, who co-founded rescue.co, said her company had applied for government permission for trained paramedics to carry out coronavirus tests in patients’ homes.
“They are on the frontlines of responding to patients,” she said. “They have to be protected.”
Katharine Houreld
NAIROBI (Reuters) - Nurses in Kenya’s capital and at least two towns have launched protests or refused to treat suspected coronavirus patients because the government has not given them enough protective gear or training, a medical union chief said.
FILE PHOTO: Kenyan nurses wear protective gear during a demonstration of preparations for any potential coronavirus cases at the Mbagathi Hospital, isolation centre for the disease, in Nairobi, Kenya March 6, 2020. REUTERS/Njeri Mwangi
Only a fraction of Kenya’s estimated 100,000 healthcare workers had received any instruction in how to protect themselves, Seth Panyako, the secretary general of the Kenya National Union of Nurses, told Reuters.
Government spokesman Cyrus Oguna said he would check into the reports of the training and protective gear shortages.
Kenya had reported 28 cases of the coronavirus and one death as of Friday. The virus has so far been multiplying across Africa more slowly than in Asia or Europe - but the World Health Organization has warned the continent’s window to curb the infection is narrowing every day.
Nurses in the western Kenyan town of Kakamega and the coastal town of Kilifi ran away when patients with coronavirus symptoms came to their hospitals over the past two weeks, Panyako said on Thursday.
Nurses at Nairobi’s Mbagathi County Hospital went on a go-slow protest last week in protest at a lack of protective gear and training. They feared catching the disease and infecting their families, Panyako said.
“The government is not taking it seriously when health workers run away,” he said.
“My clear message to the government ... give them the protective equipment they need.”
Panyako, whose union represents 30,000 health workers, said he had only heard of 1,200 staff getting training in how to protect themselves.
A host of initiatives have sprung up to fill the gaps.
Kenyan start-up Rescue.co, whose Flare app functions as the Uber for private ambulances in Kenya, last week began offering training and protective equipment for the 600 nurses and paramedics using its network.
One paramedic on a course told Reuters he had previously refused to attend a suspected coronavirus patient because he did not have training.
“The team was scared so we didn’t go,” he said, declining to give his name.
Caitlin Dolkart, who co-founded rescue.co, said her company had applied for government permission for trained paramedics to carry out coronavirus tests in patients’ homes.
“They are on the frontlines of responding to patients,” she said. “They have to be protected.”
Use soap, not guns, and fight virus 'bare hands', Pakistan video says
Gibran Naiyyar Peshimam
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - A deeply conservative, tribal region of Pakistan is spreading an animated, Pashto-language video to warn its population about the coronavirus - and taking a shot at its gun culture in the process.
A cartoon character washes his hands in this undated screenshot taken from an animated video about fighting the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak with hand washing, no guns. STUDIO ROKHAN/via REUTERS
In the video set in a field amid lightning, protagonist Pabo “Badmash”, or Pabo the Thug, is setting out to defeat the virus. Villagers offer him a wooden bat, a pistol, a sword and even a rocket launcher.
But Pabo astounds them by refusing, saying he will defeat the enemy with his “bare hands”.
He then proceeds to wash his hands with soap - and even checks to ensure he has lathered them for 20 seconds, as recommended.
“The soap is my law,” says Pabo, playing on the saying “the gun is my law,” a common refrain among many Pashtun tribes for whom gun ownership is deeply engrained.
Pakistan is the latest country to employ creative public safety campaigns to increase awareness.
Last month, Vietnam initiated a project involving a catchy music video, which includes demonstrations of hand-washing. India has roped in celebrities to push their campaigns.
Pakistan has more than 1,200 confirmed infections, the highest number in South Asia. Nine people have died.
Many parts of the country have imposed lockdowns, but authorities say they have struggled to get people to cooperate due to a lack of awareness.
They say that is particularly a problem in Khyber-Pakhutunkhwa province, bordering Afghanistan, which saw the country’s first death from the virus last week.
So, two weeks ago, the government reached out to media and communication specialists asking them to help.
“The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government realizes that this war will only be won if we win the public awareness war,” the province’s health minister, Taimur Khan Jhagra, told Reuters.
Zeeshan Parwez, a Pakistani-Canadian who owns a video production house in Peshawar, the provincial capital, said the idea was to make the video relate to people sometimes overlooked in government campaigns.
“‘The gun is my law’ is one of the most used lines in Pashto slang. To replace ‘gun’ with ‘soap’ was the perfect rhyming choice.”
Reporting by Gibran Peshimam; Editing by Alexandra Ulmer and Nick Macfie
Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Pope faces coronavirus 'tempest' alone in St Peter's Square
POOL/AFP / YARA NARDI
In a historic first, the pope said prayers to an empty Saint Peter's Square
Pope Francis stood alone in vast Saint Peter's Square Friday to bless Catholics around the world suffering under the coronavirus pandemic, urging people to ease their fears through faith.
"Thick darkness has gathered over our squares, our streets and our cities; it has taken over our lives, filling everything with a deafening silence and a distressing void, that stops everything as it passes by," he said.
In a historic first, the Argentine performed the rarely recited "Urbi et Orbi" blessing from the steps of the basilica to an empty square, addressing those in lockdown across the globe via television, radio and social media.
"We find ourselves afraid and lost," he said in a homily ahead of the blessing, as he stood under a canopy protecting him from a downpour.
He described the coronavirus "tempest" which he said had put everybody "in the same boat".
The hour had come to "reawaken and put into practice that solidarity and hope capable of giving strength, support and meaning to these hours when everything seems to be floundering", he said.
- 'Did not listen' -
The blessing -- which translates as "To the City (Rome) and the World" -- is usually given on just three occasions: when a pope is elected, and each year at Christmas and Easter.
The pontiff traditionally speaks out against armed conflicts around the globe before delivering the Urbi et Orbi blessing.
But on Friday, the COVID-19 pandemic which has already killed more than 23,000 people was in his sights -- and humanity's errors and lack of faith leading up to the crisis.
"We have gone ahead at breakneck speed, feeling powerful and able to do anything. Greedy for profit, we let ourselves get caught up in things, and lured away by haste," said Francis in his homily.
"We were not shaken awake by wars or injustice across the world, nor did we listen to the cry of the poor or of our ailing planet. We carried on regardless, thinking we would stay healthy in a world that was sick."
Today was not "the time of your judgement," the Pope clarified, but rather a time for people to focus on the important, "a time to separate what is necessary from what is not."
- 'Forgotten people' -
The pontiff saluted "ordinary people – often forgotten people" who are showing courage and selflessness in the current crisis, citing doctors and nurses, supermarket employers, police forces, volunteers, priests and nuns.
And at the end of the service, Francis granted Catholics the chance to have a rare remission for the punishment of sins.
Earlier this month, when the Italian capital was already in lockdown, Francis made a solitary pilgrimage to two of the city's churches.
At one, he borrowed a crucifix believed to have saved Rome from plague in the 16th century. On Friday, that crucifix was placed in front of Saint Peter's.
"During the plague in the Middle Ages, the Church was the only visible presence in public, through the processions of priests who were supposed to produce miracles," Vatican expert Marco Politi told AFP.
"The Pope wants to recapture a part of that scene and of the collective imagination," he said.
The head of the world's 1.3 billion Catholics is a high-risk subject for the virus himself. Since coming down with a cold late last month, the 83-year-old has remained largely secluded within the Vatican.
Italian media reported that the pope had tested negative for coronavirus after a prelate who lived at his residence -- a guest house in the Vatican -- was hospitalised on Wednesday with the virus.
"The anti-contagion cordon has been tight around the pope for weeks," La Stampa daily wrote.
The Vatican has only officially reported four positive cases of the coronavirus within the tiny city state, without confirming the alleged case in the guest house.
Pope gives special prayer for COVID-19 victims, healthcare workers
By Danielle Haynes
Pope Francis prays on the sagrato of St. Peter's Square to deliver a special Urbi et Orbi blessing to the world Friday. Photo by Stefano Spaziani/UPI | License Photo
March 27 (UPI) -- Pope Francis gave a special prayer Friday evening in the Vatican, seeking an end to the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed nearly 27,000 people.
He celebrated the Urbi et Orbi blessing, which is normally held only on Christmas and Easter, in a deserted St. Peter's Square. The prayer was live streamed on TV, the radio and online.
"We find ourselves afraid and lost," the pope said. "We were caught off-guard by an unexpected, turbulent storm. We have realized that we are on the same boat, all of us fragile and disoriented ... all of us called to row together, each of us in need of comforting the other."
The blessing came as Italy reported its highest single-day death toll increase Friday -- 919. The country's overall death toll as of Friday evening was 9,100, and case total was 86,000, according to figures compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
As part of the blessing, Pope Francis granted plenary indulgences to those with COVID-19, as well as those in quarantine and healthcare workers.
He said God asks the faithful "to reawaken and put into practice that solidarity and hope capable of giving strength, support and meaning to these hours when everything seems to be floundering."
"Because this is God's strength: turning to the good everything that happens to us, even the bad things. He brings serenity into our storms, because with God life never dies."
Pope holds dramatic solitary service for relief from coronavirus
Philip Pullella
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis said the coronavirus had put everyone “in the same boat” as he held a dramatic, solitary prayer service in St. Peter’s Square on Friday, urging the world to see the crisis as a test of solidarity and a reminder of basic values.
“Thick darkness has gathered over our squares, our streets and our cities,” he said, speaking from the steps of St. Peter’s Basilica into an eerily empty and rainy square before delivering an extraordinary “Urbi et Orbi” (to the city and the world) blessing - something he normally does only twice a year.
“It has taken over our lives, filling everything with a deafening silence and a distressing void that stops everything as it passes by; we feel it in the air...We find ourselves afraid and lost,” he said.
The Vatican called the service “An Extraordinary Prayer in the Time of Pandemic,” a sombre echo of an announcement by Italian officials minutes earlier that the coronavirus death toll in the country had surged past 9,000.
In the United States, the total number of infections has topped 85,000, making it the world leader in confirmed cases.
Francis walked alone in the rain to a white canopy on the steps of the basilica and spoke sitting alone before a square where he normally draws tens of thousands of people but is now closed because of the pandemic.
“We have realized that we are in the same boat, all of us fragile and disoriented, but at the same time important and needed, all of us called to row together, each of us in need of comforting the other,” he said.
Francis said the virus had exposed people’s vulnerability “to those false and superfluous certainties around which we have constructed our daily schedules”.
The leader of the world’s 1.3 billion Roman Catholics said God was asking everyone to “reawaken and put into practice that solidarity and hope capable of giving strength, support and meaning to these hours when everything seems to be floundering.”
MAGICKAL FETISH OBJECT
He prayed before a wooden crucifix which is normally kept in a Rome church and brought to the Vatican for the special service.
According to tradition, a plague that hit Rome in 1522 began subsiding after the crucifix was taken around the streets of the Italian capital for 16 days in 1522.
Reporting by Philip Pullella; Editing by Mark Heinrich
Pope Francis stood alone in vast Saint Peter's Square Friday to bless Catholics around the world suffering under the coronavirus pandemic, urging people to ease their fears through faith.
"Thick darkness has gathered over our squares, our streets and our cities; it has taken over our lives, filling everything with a deafening silence and a distressing void, that stops everything as it passes by," he said.
In a historic first, the Argentine performed the rarely recited "Urbi et Orbi" blessing from the steps of the basilica to an empty square, addressing those in lockdown across the globe via television, radio and social media.
"We find ourselves afraid and lost," he said in a homily ahead of the blessing, as he stood under a canopy protecting him from a downpour.
He described the coronavirus "tempest" which he said had put everybody "in the same boat".
The hour had come to "reawaken and put into practice that solidarity and hope capable of giving strength, support and meaning to these hours when everything seems to be floundering", he said.
- 'Did not listen' -
The blessing -- which translates as "To the City (Rome) and the World" -- is usually given on just three occasions: when a pope is elected, and each year at Christmas and Easter.
The pontiff traditionally speaks out against armed conflicts around the globe before delivering the Urbi et Orbi blessing.
But on Friday, the COVID-19 pandemic which has already killed more than 23,000 people was in his sights -- and humanity's errors and lack of faith leading up to the crisis.
"We have gone ahead at breakneck speed, feeling powerful and able to do anything. Greedy for profit, we let ourselves get caught up in things, and lured away by haste," said Francis in his homily.
"We were not shaken awake by wars or injustice across the world, nor did we listen to the cry of the poor or of our ailing planet. We carried on regardless, thinking we would stay healthy in a world that was sick."
Today was not "the time of your judgement," the Pope clarified, but rather a time for people to focus on the important, "a time to separate what is necessary from what is not."
- 'Forgotten people' -
The pontiff saluted "ordinary people – often forgotten people" who are showing courage and selflessness in the current crisis, citing doctors and nurses, supermarket employers, police forces, volunteers, priests and nuns.
And at the end of the service, Francis granted Catholics the chance to have a rare remission for the punishment of sins.
Earlier this month, when the Italian capital was already in lockdown, Francis made a solitary pilgrimage to two of the city's churches.
At one, he borrowed a crucifix believed to have saved Rome from plague in the 16th century. On Friday, that crucifix was placed in front of Saint Peter's.
"During the plague in the Middle Ages, the Church was the only visible presence in public, through the processions of priests who were supposed to produce miracles," Vatican expert Marco Politi told AFP.
"The Pope wants to recapture a part of that scene and of the collective imagination," he said.
The head of the world's 1.3 billion Catholics is a high-risk subject for the virus himself. Since coming down with a cold late last month, the 83-year-old has remained largely secluded within the Vatican.
Italian media reported that the pope had tested negative for coronavirus after a prelate who lived at his residence -- a guest house in the Vatican -- was hospitalised on Wednesday with the virus.
"The anti-contagion cordon has been tight around the pope for weeks," La Stampa daily wrote.
The Vatican has only officially reported four positive cases of the coronavirus within the tiny city state, without confirming the alleged case in the guest house.
Pope gives special prayer for COVID-19 victims, healthcare workers
By Danielle Haynes
Pope Francis prays on the sagrato of St. Peter's Square to deliver a special Urbi et Orbi blessing to the world Friday. Photo by Stefano Spaziani/UPI | License Photo
March 27 (UPI) -- Pope Francis gave a special prayer Friday evening in the Vatican, seeking an end to the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed nearly 27,000 people.
He celebrated the Urbi et Orbi blessing, which is normally held only on Christmas and Easter, in a deserted St. Peter's Square. The prayer was live streamed on TV, the radio and online.
"We find ourselves afraid and lost," the pope said. "We were caught off-guard by an unexpected, turbulent storm. We have realized that we are on the same boat, all of us fragile and disoriented ... all of us called to row together, each of us in need of comforting the other."
The blessing came as Italy reported its highest single-day death toll increase Friday -- 919. The country's overall death toll as of Friday evening was 9,100, and case total was 86,000, according to figures compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
As part of the blessing, Pope Francis granted plenary indulgences to those with COVID-19, as well as those in quarantine and healthcare workers.
He said God asks the faithful "to reawaken and put into practice that solidarity and hope capable of giving strength, support and meaning to these hours when everything seems to be floundering."
"Because this is God's strength: turning to the good everything that happens to us, even the bad things. He brings serenity into our storms, because with God life never dies."
Pope holds dramatic solitary service for relief from coronavirus
Philip Pullella
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis said the coronavirus had put everyone “in the same boat” as he held a dramatic, solitary prayer service in St. Peter’s Square on Friday, urging the world to see the crisis as a test of solidarity and a reminder of basic values.
“Thick darkness has gathered over our squares, our streets and our cities,” he said, speaking from the steps of St. Peter’s Basilica into an eerily empty and rainy square before delivering an extraordinary “Urbi et Orbi” (to the city and the world) blessing - something he normally does only twice a year.
“It has taken over our lives, filling everything with a deafening silence and a distressing void that stops everything as it passes by; we feel it in the air...We find ourselves afraid and lost,” he said.
The Vatican called the service “An Extraordinary Prayer in the Time of Pandemic,” a sombre echo of an announcement by Italian officials minutes earlier that the coronavirus death toll in the country had surged past 9,000.
In the United States, the total number of infections has topped 85,000, making it the world leader in confirmed cases.
Francis walked alone in the rain to a white canopy on the steps of the basilica and spoke sitting alone before a square where he normally draws tens of thousands of people but is now closed because of the pandemic.
“We have realized that we are in the same boat, all of us fragile and disoriented, but at the same time important and needed, all of us called to row together, each of us in need of comforting the other,” he said.
Francis said the virus had exposed people’s vulnerability “to those false and superfluous certainties around which we have constructed our daily schedules”.
He praised doctors, nurses, supermarket employees, cleaners, care givers, transport workers, police, and volunteers, saying they, and not the world’s rich and famous, were “writing the decisive events of our time”.
The leader of the world’s 1.3 billion Roman Catholics said God was asking everyone to “reawaken and put into practice that solidarity and hope capable of giving strength, support and meaning to these hours when everything seems to be floundering.”
MAGICKAL FETISH OBJECT
He prayed before a wooden crucifix which is normally kept in a Rome church and brought to the Vatican for the special service.
According to tradition, a plague that hit Rome in 1522 began subsiding after the crucifix was taken around the streets of the Italian capital for 16 days in 1522.
Reporting by Philip Pullella; Editing by Mark Heinrich
Red lights out: Singapore's sex industry shuts due to coronavirus
Joe Brock
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Shortly after midnight on Friday, a young Asian sex worker dressed in a baggy cotton dress and slippers stepped out of a brothel in Singapore’s deserted red light district and rolled a wheelie bin to the side of the street.
A view of Orchard Towers after it shut down shortly before midnight, as part of measures to curb the outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Singapore March 27, 2020. REUTERS/Edgar Su
Two hours earlier, Singapore’s vibrant Geylang neighborhood was having a more typical night - clusters of men negotiating with chain-smoking pimps on the street as women in tight dresses tapped at phones inside neon-lit houses alongside.
Singapore closed bars, nightclubs and cinemas from Friday until the end of April in an effort to contain a sharp rise in coronavirus cases.
Although the announcement made no mention of the government-sanctioned brothels in Geylang, pimps and sex workers said they were passed the message that they too would need to close shop.
“I got nice girls for you. Might be your last chance for a while,” a grizzled pimp mumbled in the hours before midnight outside one of the dozens of brothels dotted along Geylang’s streets, which are monitored by police security cameras.
Singapore announced massive stimulus measures on Thursday to soften the economic shock from the coronavirus outbreak, including generous cash handouts for locals.
But for the hundreds of low-income Asian migrant sex workers and nightclub entertainers in the wealthy city-state, there is huge uncertainty about their future.
“I don’t know how we’ll survive,” said one freelance sex worker, sitting on a plastic chair across the street from a brothel decorated with Chinese red lanterns, a nod to customers about the nationality of the women working inside.
“We don’t get looked after like people in other jobs.”
Government departments and police did not respond to requests for comment on the closure of brothels.
Singapore, known for its strict laws, does not explicitly criminalize prostitution although aspects of the industry are illegal, including soliciting, pimping and running a brothel.
That has not stopped the sex trade operating in the Asian financial hub, from rendezvous in high-end hotel bars to the infamous Orchard Towers, a drab 1970s commercial building in Singapore’s prime shopping district.
Orchard Towers is now closed with police tape around its entrances.
“What am I gonna do now?” said one young woman in a sequined dress as men shuffled out of the tower’s drinking holes, including Naughty Girl Nightclub and the Downunder Bar, on Thursday night.
“I guess we’ll work something out, honey. People still got to have fun.”
Joe Brock
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Shortly after midnight on Friday, a young Asian sex worker dressed in a baggy cotton dress and slippers stepped out of a brothel in Singapore’s deserted red light district and rolled a wheelie bin to the side of the street.
A view of Orchard Towers after it shut down shortly before midnight, as part of measures to curb the outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Singapore March 27, 2020. REUTERS/Edgar Su
Two hours earlier, Singapore’s vibrant Geylang neighborhood was having a more typical night - clusters of men negotiating with chain-smoking pimps on the street as women in tight dresses tapped at phones inside neon-lit houses alongside.
Singapore closed bars, nightclubs and cinemas from Friday until the end of April in an effort to contain a sharp rise in coronavirus cases.
Although the announcement made no mention of the government-sanctioned brothels in Geylang, pimps and sex workers said they were passed the message that they too would need to close shop.
“I got nice girls for you. Might be your last chance for a while,” a grizzled pimp mumbled in the hours before midnight outside one of the dozens of brothels dotted along Geylang’s streets, which are monitored by police security cameras.
Singapore announced massive stimulus measures on Thursday to soften the economic shock from the coronavirus outbreak, including generous cash handouts for locals.
But for the hundreds of low-income Asian migrant sex workers and nightclub entertainers in the wealthy city-state, there is huge uncertainty about their future.
“I don’t know how we’ll survive,” said one freelance sex worker, sitting on a plastic chair across the street from a brothel decorated with Chinese red lanterns, a nod to customers about the nationality of the women working inside.
“We don’t get looked after like people in other jobs.”
Government departments and police did not respond to requests for comment on the closure of brothels.
Singapore, known for its strict laws, does not explicitly criminalize prostitution although aspects of the industry are illegal, including soliciting, pimping and running a brothel.
That has not stopped the sex trade operating in the Asian financial hub, from rendezvous in high-end hotel bars to the infamous Orchard Towers, a drab 1970s commercial building in Singapore’s prime shopping district.
Orchard Towers is now closed with police tape around its entrances.
“What am I gonna do now?” said one young woman in a sequined dress as men shuffled out of the tower’s drinking holes, including Naughty Girl Nightclub and the Downunder Bar, on Thursday night.
“I guess we’ll work something out, honey. People still got to have fun.”
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HONG KONG (Reuters) - Support for the demands of pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong has grown even as rallies have paused due to the coronavirus outbreak, according to a survey conducted for Reuters that also showed a widespread lack of confidence in the government’s ability to manage the COVID-19 crisis.
Demands for the resignation of Hong Kong’s leader, Carrie Lam, were supported by 63% of respondents in the poll, conducted by the Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute between March 17-20, versus 57% in a poll it conducted in December.
Supporters of the protests outnumbered opponents by a ratio of roughly two to one, with 28% against them compared with 30% in a poll in December, and 58% supporting them, versus 59% previously.
The poll showed a significant increase in the levels of support for key demands of the often-violent demonstrations which rattled the city for most of last year and into early January before the coronavirus crisis.
The survey also showed a widespread lack of confidence in the government’s coronavirus measures, with 54% expressing distrust and 33% giving the thumbs up.
The anti-government protests escalated in June 2019 over a since withdrawn bill that would have allowed extraditions of defendants to mainland China, and later morphed into a movement for greater democracy in the Chinese-ruled city.
Many protesters say Beijing has used its authority under the “one country, two systems” formula, agreed when Britain handed over the city to China in 1997, to undermine freedoms enjoyed in Hong Kong that are unavailable in the mainland.
“It is understandable that protesters resort to extreme means,” said Patrick Yeung, a 32-year-old IT worker who responded to the survey. “I hope Beijing can meddle less in Hong Kong’s affairs, which could actually stabilize Hong Kong and curb people’s anger.”
Beijing denies meddling in Hong Kong and blames the West for fomenting unrest.
Lam’s office and China’s Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, which comes under the State Council, or cabinet, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Support for universal suffrage in Hong Kong, a core demand of protesters aimed at strengthening the territory’s level of autonomy, rose to 68% from 60% in December.
An independent commission of inquiry, which protesters want to look into how the police handled demonstrations, is now supported by 76% of respondents versus 74% previously.
The demands of the protesters “haven’t been diluted, or forgotten, due to the epidemic situation,” said Ma Ngok, associate professor of government and public administration at Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Opposition to the demands of the protesters has remained virtually unchanged at 15%.
“The government should investigate the culprits behind the political crisis and should not accede to other demands from the protesters,” said another respondent, Ming Hon, an unemployed 49-year-old who moved to Hong Kong from mainland China recently and had jobs in cleaning and construction.
For the poll, which had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.2 percentage points, 1,001 respondents were randomly surveyed by telephone in Cantonese, which is spoken by the vast majority of people in Hong Kong. The results were weighted according to the latest population figures.
VIRUS RESPONSE
Following a large rally on New Year’s Day in which some protesters clashed with police, crowds on the streets have dropped from many thousands to a few hundred as Hong Kongers adopted social distancing to fight the coronavirus.
Some recent protests focused on the government’s decision not to fully close the border with mainland China, where the virus is believed to have originated. The administration has since banned all tourist arrivals.
Although Hong Kong has won praise for limiting the outbreak to roughly 450 cases and four deaths, the poll showed that many citizens remain distrustful of the government.
“The results in combating the pandemic are because of the self-discipline of Hong Kong people. The government has nothing to do with it,” said Evelyn Lau, a 23-year-old tutor who participated in the poll.
OPPOSITION TO INDEPENDENCE
Another key finding of the survey is that while calls for Hong Kong’s independence from China grew within the margin of error, opposition to the idea has dropped significantly and indifference has increased dramatically.
Support for independence rose from 17% in December to 20%, but opposition tumbled from 68% to 56%, and those not leaning either way doubled to 18%.
“People talk more about it, so it becomes more easy to accept,” said Samson Yuen, assistant professor in the political science department at Lingnan University, referring to the independence issue. “When people talk more about ‘liberating Hong Kong’, it shifts the frame.”
With Legislative Council elections due in September, the pro-democracy/pro-Beijing split remained virtually unchanged from last year’s district council vote, with 58% saying they would vote for a pro-democracy candidate and 22% for a pro-Beijing one, with the rest undecided or not planning to vote.
The degree of support for the protests varied sharply by age, education and whether respondents were born in Hong Kong. Younger and better-educated people born in the city were far more likely to lean pro-democracy or support the protests.
The poll, the second in a series commissioned by Reuters from the independent polling firm to gauge public sentiment amid the city’s worst political crisis in decades, showed respondents mainly blamed Lam’s administration for the state of affairs.
Some 43% of respondents primarily blamed the Hong Kong government, compared with 47% in the previous poll, while 14% blamed the central government in Beijing versus 12% in December. The police and protesters were blamed by about 10% each in both polls.
Many protesters say they are incensed by what they see as an abuse of power by the police in dealing with the unrest. The police say they have used reasonable and appropriate force against illegal acts including vandalism and rioting.
China has denounced acts of violence in the protests, which it sees as being aimed at undermining Chinese sovereignty.
Factbox: What Hong Kong opinion poll respondents are saying about protests
HONG KONG (Reuters) - Reuters commissioned Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute to conduct a poll on public sentiment amid the city’s worst political crisis in decades and he spread of the coronavirus.
Of the 1,001 people surveyed, 150 were given the option to share contact details with Reuters. Of the 80 who did, Reuters interviewed 10. Some did not want their full name published.
LAI, 80-YEAR-OLD WOMAN, RELYING ON ELDERLY BENEFITS
“The government insisted on pushing forward the extradition bill. That was a big misstep. Then the government withdrew it, but protesters insisted on their demands and overreacted. Both sides are damaging the economy and Hong Kong is deadlocked.”
“The government is never doing its job. Officials just sit in air-conditioned rooms and never feel for common people.”
MA, 55-YEAR-OLD WOMAN
“The government has undoubtedly made a mistake. But hurling petrol bombs is too much.”
“I am totally against independence. Take national defense for example, do we have our own army?”
“Our government is not working for the people, it is working for Beijing.”
“The effort of curbing the pandemic belongs to the Hong Kong people, not the government.”
KIM CHAN, 32, MARKETING OFFICER
“The government tells us to combat the pandemic together, but I can’t see what they are doing. The idea of a border closure was initially raised by medical workers.”
“I will vote pro-democrats because they are the lesser evil. Beijing has gone deep in our political and financial system, and has an enormous influence on our freedoms.”
“Five demands, not one less.”
MING HON, 49, UNEMPLOYED MAINLAND IMMIGRANT
“The government should investigate the culprits behind the political crisis and should not accede to other demands from the protesters.”
“Protesters vandalized and set fire to public facilities, banks, etc. They are arsonists and rioters, who should be put in jail. No demand they raised was rational.”
“Without the extradition bill, Hong Kong will become a haven for criminals.”
“Hong Kong belongs to China no matter the circumstances.”
“I hope the government can help us secure a job after the pandemic.”
SHUI-YIN TSANG, 60-YEAR-OLD RETIRED WOMAN
“I am scared when I see people in black. Protesters’ demands are attempts to rationalize outrageous behavior, like an ugly, foolish child bargaining with his parent.”
“It is undeniable that Hong Kong forever belongs to China.”
“All government policies come too late ... Anyway, we have to still support the government and give more time to (Carrie Lam) to wake up.”
PATRICK YEUNG, 32, IT WORKER
“It is understandable that protesters resort to extreme means. I hope Beijing can meddle less in Hong Kong’s affairs, which could actually stabilize Hong Kong and curb people’s anger.”
“People in Hong Kong helped each other, sharing masks and disinfectant. This is not the government’s success.”
LI, 74-YEAR-OLD RETIRED DRIVER
“The only way to secure the greatest extent of freedom is to make Hong Kong independent. The existing political system is flawed. Freedom is not just a slogan, it is something of utmost importance.”
“The Communist Party is the symbol of dictatorship.”
“The Hong Kong government is rubbish.”
EVELYN LAU, 23-YEAR-OLD TUTOR
“The results in combating the pandemic are because of the self-discipline of Hong Kong people. The government has nothing to do with it.”
“It is a shame to have this government... I won’t vote pro-establishment, in order to protect my freedom.”
“Hong Kong is inseparable from China. If we want to go independent, there are too many obstacles.”
FUNG, 35, TRANSPORTATION WORKER
“One-country, two-systems still works. I want the economy to flourish.”
“The government acted really slow on the pandemic.”
PAUL LO, 60, RETIRED TEACHER
“We have to go independent. Beijing’s regime is not transparent and respectful to human rights. We cannot live under ‘one country, two systems’, a freak product.”
“If China truly adopted freedom, I wouldn’t mind Hong Kong staying with China.”
“The Hong Kong leader should ... act as a bridge between Beijing and Hong Kong people. But now, they are the puppet of Beijing and only know how to please Beijing.”
“The five demands should be answered.”
Writing by Marius Zaharia; Editing by Philip McClellan
Exclusive: Brazil scales back environmental enforcement amid coronavirus
BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazil will cut back on efforts to fight environmental crimes during the coronavirus outbreak, an official at environmental agency Ibama told Reuters, despite concerns that reduced protection could lead to a spike in deforestation.
FILE PHOTO: A deforested and burnt plot is seen in Jamanxim National Forest in the Amazon, near Novo Progresso, Para state, Brazil September 11, 2019. REUTERS/Amanda Perobelli
Ibama Director of Environmental Protection Olivaldi Azevedo said the outbreak has left him little choice but to send fewer enforcement personnel into the field because of the highly contagious virus.
He estimated that one-third of Ibama’s field operatives are close to 60 years old or have medical conditions that put them at greater risk for severe symptoms of the virus.
Ibama has not hired new agents in years because of government budget cuts and its ranks are rapidly aging.
“There’s no way you can take these people who are at risk and expose them to the virus,” Azevedo said. “There is no choice between one thing and the other. It’s an obligation.”
Two sources at Ibama, who were not authorized to speak to the media, said rank-and-file field agents are worried about their own health and the risk they could spread coronavirus to the rural regions where they operate.
Deforestation experts said that while health concerns must be a top priority, the policy may have grave environmental consequences.
“Weakening enforcement definitely means a greater risk of deforestation for obvious reasons,” said environmental economist Sergio Margulis, author of a paper on “Causes of Deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon.”
The additional risk comes in the wake of soaring deforestation and a spike in fires in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest after right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro took office in January 2019, sparking global outcry that he was emboldening illegal loggers, ranchers and land speculators.
Brazil is home to roughly 60% of the Amazon, the world’s largest tropical rainforest, which absorbs vast amounts of greenhouse gases that cause climate change.
Bolsonaro has defended development plans for the Amazon region by arguing that they are the best way to lift more Brazilians out of poverty. But the spike in deforestation threatens to derail a South American free trade deal with Europe and hurt exports.
In a decree last week, Bolsonaro defined environmental enforcement as an essential service during the coronavirus pandemic, allowing Ibama to keep sending agents into the field.
But Azevedo said even essential services, such as health care and police, must be cut back to protect at-risk workers.
Bolsonaro’s press office directed questions to the Environment Ministry. The Environment Ministry, which oversees Ibama, did not immediately respond to request for comment.
The most important operations will be prioritized, while some areas will need to be cut back, Azevedo said, adding that protecting the Amazon is a priority.
“There won’t be a reduction in enforcement agents in the Amazon,” he said, predicting some parts of the rainforest may even see falling deforestation.
Ibama sources said the pandemic presented more logistical challenges given that many hotels and restaurants are closed and flights have been canceled en masse.
Azevedo said that while agents can still choose to fly, Ibama is allocating vehicles and prioritizing ground transportation to reduce the risk of contagion.
Some agents drive for days to reach their assignments in the Amazon, one of the sources said.
Researchers agree that reduced enforcement allows for more deforestation. However, a deep recession triggered by the pandemic could create rising unemployment, which can boost criminal activity, but also depress prices for illegally acquired wood and land.
Paulo Barreto, a senior researcher for non-profit Amazon institute Imazon, said it was impossible to predict the reaction of criminals, who are hard to study. Commodity prices remain high and a weakening Brazilian real currency means farmers are seeing greater profits for their exports. Demand to clear new land for farming therefore remains strong, he said.
Illegally clearing and selling land is inherently speculative, so Barreto said criminals may still deforest with the hope of impunity, then sit on the land until they can sell.
Deforestation was already up 71% from a year earlier in January and February, according to preliminary government data, and researchers will be watching March and April data closely.
“My guess is that deforestation will not go down,” said Carlos Nobre, an earth systems scientist at University of Sao Paulo.
BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazil will cut back on efforts to fight environmental crimes during the coronavirus outbreak, an official at environmental agency Ibama told Reuters, despite concerns that reduced protection could lead to a spike in deforestation.
FILE PHOTO: A deforested and burnt plot is seen in Jamanxim National Forest in the Amazon, near Novo Progresso, Para state, Brazil September 11, 2019. REUTERS/Amanda Perobelli
Ibama Director of Environmental Protection Olivaldi Azevedo said the outbreak has left him little choice but to send fewer enforcement personnel into the field because of the highly contagious virus.
He estimated that one-third of Ibama’s field operatives are close to 60 years old or have medical conditions that put them at greater risk for severe symptoms of the virus.
Ibama has not hired new agents in years because of government budget cuts and its ranks are rapidly aging.
“There’s no way you can take these people who are at risk and expose them to the virus,” Azevedo said. “There is no choice between one thing and the other. It’s an obligation.”
Two sources at Ibama, who were not authorized to speak to the media, said rank-and-file field agents are worried about their own health and the risk they could spread coronavirus to the rural regions where they operate.
Deforestation experts said that while health concerns must be a top priority, the policy may have grave environmental consequences.
“Weakening enforcement definitely means a greater risk of deforestation for obvious reasons,” said environmental economist Sergio Margulis, author of a paper on “Causes of Deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon.”
The additional risk comes in the wake of soaring deforestation and a spike in fires in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest after right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro took office in January 2019, sparking global outcry that he was emboldening illegal loggers, ranchers and land speculators.
Brazil is home to roughly 60% of the Amazon, the world’s largest tropical rainforest, which absorbs vast amounts of greenhouse gases that cause climate change.
Bolsonaro has defended development plans for the Amazon region by arguing that they are the best way to lift more Brazilians out of poverty. But the spike in deforestation threatens to derail a South American free trade deal with Europe and hurt exports.
ESSENTIAL BUT UNDERSTAFFED
In a decree last week, Bolsonaro defined environmental enforcement as an essential service during the coronavirus pandemic, allowing Ibama to keep sending agents into the field.
But Azevedo said even essential services, such as health care and police, must be cut back to protect at-risk workers.
Bolsonaro’s press office directed questions to the Environment Ministry. The Environment Ministry, which oversees Ibama, did not immediately respond to request for comment.
The most important operations will be prioritized, while some areas will need to be cut back, Azevedo said, adding that protecting the Amazon is a priority.
“There won’t be a reduction in enforcement agents in the Amazon,” he said, predicting some parts of the rainforest may even see falling deforestation.
Ibama sources said the pandemic presented more logistical challenges given that many hotels and restaurants are closed and flights have been canceled en masse.
Azevedo said that while agents can still choose to fly, Ibama is allocating vehicles and prioritizing ground transportation to reduce the risk of contagion.
Some agents drive for days to reach their assignments in the Amazon, one of the sources said.
Researchers agree that reduced enforcement allows for more deforestation. However, a deep recession triggered by the pandemic could create rising unemployment, which can boost criminal activity, but also depress prices for illegally acquired wood and land.
Paulo Barreto, a senior researcher for non-profit Amazon institute Imazon, said it was impossible to predict the reaction of criminals, who are hard to study. Commodity prices remain high and a weakening Brazilian real currency means farmers are seeing greater profits for their exports. Demand to clear new land for farming therefore remains strong, he said.
Illegally clearing and selling land is inherently speculative, so Barreto said criminals may still deforest with the hope of impunity, then sit on the land until they can sell.
Deforestation was already up 71% from a year earlier in January and February, according to preliminary government data, and researchers will be watching March and April data closely.
“My guess is that deforestation will not go down,” said Carlos Nobre, an earth systems scientist at University of Sao Paulo.
 |
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