Study points to race, equipment access for higher virus risk in health staffIssued on: 01/08/2020 -

The study was conducted during a period when there was an acute global shortage of protective equipment DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS AFP/File

Paris (AFP)

Researchers raised fears that "systematic racism" in the provision of protective equipment was putting minority health workers at greater risk on Friday, as a study showed higher coronavirus infection rates among British and American medical staff.

The report, published in The Lancet Public Health journal, found that frontline healthcare workers were over three times more likely to test positive than the general population early in the pandemic, with the rate rising to five times for ethnic minority medical staff.

Researchers from the US looked at data from almost 100,000 healthcare workers in Britain and the United States taken from self-reported information on the COVID Symptoms Study smartphone app between March 24 and April 23.


They found that the prevalence of infection among frontline care workers was 2,747 per 100,000 app users, compared with 242 per 100,000 in the general community.

When they took into account the health workers' greater access to testing, the researchers estimated that frontline medical workers were around 3.4 times more likely to test positive for COVID-19 than app users in the wider population.

After accounting for pre-existing medical conditions, researchers estimated that healthcare workers from black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds were almost five times more likely to report a positive COVID-19 result than somebody from the general community.

The study also found that frontline healthcare workers who said they did not have sufficient protective equipment -- like masks, gloves and gowns -- were 1.3 times more likely to test positive than those who said they had the proper equipment.

"Our results underscore the importance of providing adequate access to PPE and also suggest that systemic racism associated with inequalities to access PPE likely contribute to the disproportionate risk of infection among minority frontline healthcare workers," said senior author Andrew Chan, of Massachusetts General Hospital.

Minority healthcare workers were "more likely to work in high-risk clinical settings, with known or suspected COVID patients, and had less access to adequate PPE", said co-author Erica Warner of Harvard Medical School.

Around one in three BAME healthcare workers reported that they had needed to re-use protective equipment, or had been provided with inadequate PPE (36.7 percent), compared with around one in four non-Hispanic white care workers (27.7 percent).

- PPE concerns -

Researchers cautioned that the data was collected at a time of global PPE shortages, so the risks may have changed.

The study looked at some 2.1 million app users, mainly from Britain, of which 99,795 people identified themselves as frontline healthcare workers.

It recorded 5,545 positive COVID-19 tests during the period.

Chan said the research builds on initial estimates that frontline healthcare workers could account for 10 to 20 percent of all virus diagnoses.

In a commentary Linda McCauley from Emory University, who was not involved in the study, said the findings were "concerning", adding that many governments around the world "have not adequately improved healthcare workers' access to PPE".

© 2020 AFP

Hong Kong police order arrest of exiled activists:
 China state media
Issued on: 31/07/2020 -

Hong Kong police are seeking to arrest Nathan Law (C) and five other democracy activists now living in exile, China's state television reported ISAAC LAWRENCE AFP/File

Hong Kong (AFP)

Hong Kong police have ordered the arrest of six pro-democracy activists living in exile on suspicion of violating the national security law, Chinese state media reported late Friday, but the city's force refused to comment.

The six included prominent young campaigner Nathan Law, 27, who recently relocated to Britain after fleeing Hong Kong.

"Hong Kong police officially ordered the arrests of six trouble-makers who have fled overseas," CCTV state television said.


A crackdown on Hong Kong's democracy movement has increased apace in the month since Beijing imposed a sweeping national security law on the restless city.

The law targets subversion, secession, terrorism and colluding with foreign forces with up to life in prison, but critics said it was a legal weapon to silence dissidents and criminalise certain political views.

It would be the first time the city's police have used the extraterritorial power in the new law to go after activists who are not in the territory.

Besides Law, the other activists sought include former British consulate staffer Simon Cheng, pro-independence activists Ray Wong, Wayne Chan, Honcques Laus, and Samuel Chu, according to CCTV.

The report said the six were sought for "incitement to secession and collusion with foreign forces".

However, in an email to AFP, the Hong Kong police said they "do not comment on media reports".

Beijing has said the law will restore stability after last year's huge and often violent pro-democracy protests.

But it has also hastened the unravelling of Hong Kong's political freedoms and autonomy, supposedly guaranteed for 50 years after the 1997 handover from Britain.

In just a month since the new security law came into effect, a dozen leading pro-democracy campaigners have been disqualified from running in legislative elections and four students have been arrested on suspicion of "inciting succession" with social media posts.

© 2020 AFP


Postponement of Hong Kong elections raises eyebrows
Issued on: 31/07/2020 -

Hong Kong will delay legislative elections by up to one year. FRANCE 24 correspondent Oliver Farry says Covid-19 was a main reason cited for postponing the vote, with the territory’s leader Carrie Lam saying 600,000 voters would be putting themselves at risk by going out to vote. However, other explanations given have been met with a degree of scepticism.

Colonial-era law used to postpone Hong Kong elections

Issued on: 31/07/2020 -

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam has announced the upcoming legislative elections will be delayed by one year. As FRANCE 24 international affairs commentator Douglas Herbert explains, the postponement of ballots is allowed under Hong Kong law, but only for 14 days, and only if deemed the elections would pose a threat to public law or safety. For this reason, Lam instead drew on a colonial-era emergency ordonnance to push through the delay.

South Africa cuts rhino poaching by half: minister

Issued on: 31/07/2020 -

Rhino poaching in South Africa fell by half in the first six months of 2020, in part because a coronavirus lockdown made it harder to get around GIANLUIGI GUERCIA AFP/File

Johannesburg (AFP)

The number of South African rhinos killed by poachers fell by half in the first six months of the year, but 166 were slaughtered nonetheless, the environment minister said Friday.

And the number of incidences has begun to edge higher again as coronavirus lockdown measures are eased, she added in a statement.

"During the first six months of 2019, 316 rhino had been poached in South Africa," said Barbara Creecy, the minister of environment, forestry and fisheries.


The figure represents a drop of nearly 53 percent.

"We have been able to arrest the escalation of rhino losses," Creecy claimed.

South Africa has for years battled a scourge of rhino poaching fuelled by insatiable demand for their horns in Asia.

Most of the demand emanates from China and Vietnam, where the horn is coveted as a traditional medicine, an aphrodisiac or a status symbol.

The ministry attributed its success in slowing the rate of poaching to a decade of various strategies and supply chain disruptions that stemmed from national travel restrictions during a national coronavirus lockdown.

The famed Kruger National Park reported that 88 rhino had been killed during the first six months of 2020.

But Creecy warned that since lockdown restrictions have been gradually lifted and game parks reopened, so too has rhino poaching slowly increased.

In the three months from when a lockdown was implemented on March 27 until the end of June, 46 rhinos were killed across the country, she said.

Rhino horn is composed mainly of keratin, the same substance as in human fingernails.

It is normally sold in powdered form and touted as a cure for cancer and other diseases.

© 2020 AFP

Natural toxins likely killed hundreds of Botswana elephants: govt
Issued on: 31/07/2020 -

Hundreds of elephants have been found dying (picture courtesy of National Park Rescue) - NATIONAL PARK RESCUE/AFP
Johannesburg (AFP)

Hundreds of elephants that died mysteriously in Botswana's famed Okavango Delta probably succumbed to natural toxins, the wildlife department said Friday.

The landlocked southern African country has the world's largest elephant population, estimated to be around 130,000. Around 300 of them have been found dying since March.

Authorities have so far ruled out anthrax, as well as poaching, as the tusks were found intact.

Preliminary tests conducted in various countries far have not been fully conclusive and more are being carried out, Wildlife and Parks Department boss Cyril Taolo told AFP in a phone interview.

"But based on some of the preliminary results that we have received, we are looking at naturally-occurring toxins as the potential cause," he said.

"To date we have not estabished the conclusion as to what is the cause of the mortality".

He explained that some bacteria can naturally produce poison, particularly in stagnant water.

Government has so far established that 281 elephants died, although independent conservationists say more than 350.

The deaths were first flagged by a wildlife conservation charity, Elephants Without Borders (EWB), whose confidential report referring to the 356 dead elephants was leaked to the media early in July.

EWB suspected elephants had been dying in the area for about three months, and mortality was not restricted to age or gender.

Several live elephants appeared weak, lethargic and emaciated, with some showing signs of disorientation, difficulty in walking or limping, EWB said.

Tests are being conducted at specialist labs in South Africa, Canada, Zimbabwe and the US.

© 2020 AFP

Coronavirus infected hundreds of children at US summer camp
GOP CONGRESSMEN WERE TRYING TO GET DR. FAUCI TO ADMIT CHILDREN DO NOT GET COVID-19 TODAY
Issued on: 31/07/2020 

A colorized scanning electron micrograph of a cell heavily infected with SARS-COV-2 virus particles (yellow), isolated from a patient sample Handout National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases/AFP/File

Washington (AFP)

Hundreds of children contracted the coronavirus at a summer camp in the US state of Georgia last month, health authorities said Friday, adding to a growing body of evidence that minors are both susceptible to infection and vectors of transmission.

The virus infected at least 260 of the 597 attendees, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said, adding that the true number was probably higher since test results were only available for 58 percent of the group.

The camp ignored the CDC's advice that all participants in summer camps wear cloth masks -- requiring them only for staff.

It did however adhere to a state executive order requiring all participants to show proof of a negative COVID-19 test taken 12 days or less before their arrival.

Other precautionary measures included physical distancing, frequent disinfection of surfaces, keeping children among the same small group, also known as "cohorting," and staggering the use of communal spaces.

The camp held an orientation for 138 trainees and 120 staff members from June 17 to June 20 -- the vast majority of whom were themselves aged 21 and under.

The staff remained when the camp officially opened on June 21 and were joined by 363 campers, who ranged in age from six to 19, as well as three more senior staff members.

Camp attendees "engaged in a variety of indoor and outdoor activities, including daily vigorous singing and cheering," the report said. They slept in cabins housing up to 26 people.

One June 23, a teenage staff member left camp after developing chills the previous evening. The staff member was tested for SARS-CoV-2 -- the novel coronavirus -- on June 24 and got a positive result the same day.

The camp began sending campers home that day and closed the camp on June 27.

A health investigation started June 25 found that 260 of 344 people for whom test results were available were positive.

Among those, 74 percent had mild symptoms including fever, headache and sore throat while the rest showed no symptoms.

"These findings demonstrate that SARS-CoV-2 spread efficiently in a youth-centric overnight setting, resulting in high attack rates among persons in all age groups," wrote the authors of the CDC report.

The attack rate is the total number of new cases divided by the total at-risk population.

The authors added that the findings contribute to a body of evidence "demonstrating that children of all ages are susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection and, contrary to early reports, might play an important role in transmission."

© 2020 AFP

Brazil's Pantanal wetlands hit by record fires in July

 31/07/2020
Handout picture released by the Mato Grosso State Fire Department showing an aerial view of forest fire at the Pantanal region, Mato Grosso state, Brazil - MATO GROSSO FIREFIGHTERS DEPARTMENT/AFP

Brasília (AFP)

The Pantanal, the largest tropical wetlands in the world, suffered a record number of fires in July, according to satellite data, prompting the Brazilian government to deploy the army to fight them.

Brazil's national space agency, INPE, identified 1,669 fires this month in the Brazilian Pantanal, triple the number from July 2019 and the worst month on record since it began tracking in 1998.

Previously, the worst month was July 2005, with 1,259 fires.

Fires in the first seven months of the year also tripled from the same period last year, with a total of 4,203 -- even though 2019 was already a devastating year, with six times more fires than 2018.

The Brazilian defense ministry said it had sent five military planes and 320 troops to the region to fight the fires.

The Pantanal, which sits at the southern edge of the Amazon rainforest and stretches from Brazil into Paraguay and Bolivia, is home to an immense wealth of biodiversity.

Brazil's government is under pressure to do more to protect the Amazon and Pantanal.

Environmentalists accuse President Jair Bolsonaro, a far-right climate change skeptic, of attacking the country's vital natural resources with policies promoting agriculture and mining on protected lands.

© 2020 AFP

Scores of anti-government protesters arrested in Zimbabwe

THE CORRUPTION OF ZANU-PF CONTINUES BEYOND MUGABE

 31/07/2020 -

Police officers patrol the street ahead of planned anti-government protests during the coronavirus disease outbreak in Harare, Zimbabwe, on July 31, 2020. © Philimon Bulawayo, REUTERS
Text by:NEWS WIRES

Scores of people were arrested Friday in Zimbabwe as hundreds of military troops as well as police attempted to thwart an anti-government protest, with streets empty and many people hiding indoors

Organizers said demonstrators originally planned to protest alleged government corruption but instead targeted the ruling political party, using the hashtag #ZANUPFmustgo.”

Tensions are rising in Zimbabwe as the economy implodes. Inflation is more than 700%, the second highest in the world. Now the coronavirus burdens the threadbare health system.

Police arrested scores of people who tried to hold low-key protests, Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights said. They included prominent author Tsitsi Dangarembga and Fadzayi Mahere, spokeswoman of the main opposition MDC Alliance party. Charges against them were not yet clear, the lawyers said.

On 21st July I tweeted about Tsitsi Dangaremba @efie41209591 and her protest in Zimbabwe against the imprisonment of a writer. On 29th July Tsitsi was longlisted for The Booker Prize. Today she is in prison. https://t.co/hFA37Gn6Ca— lemn sissay MBE (@lemnsissay) July 31, 2020

President Emmerson Mnangagwa has described the planned protest as “an insurrection to overthrow our democratically elected government.” He warned that security agents “will be vigilant and on high alert.”

Speaking at the burial Friday of a cabinet minister who died from COVID-19, Mnangagwa did not directly refer to the protest but called for unity and urged Zimbabweans to shun violence.

The normally teeming downtown capital, Harare, was deserted as soldiers and police patrolled and manned checkpoints. An army helicopter hovered over some of the capital's poor, volatile suburbs. Security forces on Thursday drove people out of the city and forced businesses to close.

Arrests of Youth Assembly leaders @ceechimbiri2 @JoanaMamombe , @MarovaNetsai and their lawyer @obeyshava1 are unreasonable and unjustified in a democratic society. Earlier police arrested our spokesperson @advocatemahere and other activists. We demand their immediate release.— MDC Alliance (@mdczimbabwe) July 31, 2020

“So both the government and the people are afraid of protests more than coronavirus,” chuckled a security guard, walking along an empty road. “I have never seen these security people so effective, and the people so compliant, even during those days of the complete lockdown."

The southern African country had gradually relaxed its lockdown to allow for some commercial activity, but it continues to ban protests as part of lockdown rules.

The opposition and human rights groups have said they witnessed abuses such as arrests, detentions, beatings and the stalking of activists and ordinary people accused of violating the lockdown ahead of the planned protest.

Police and government spokespeople have dismissed the allegations, even as a prominent journalist and a politician behind the protest have spent close to two weeks in detention.

Mnangagwa’s administration accuses the U.S. government of funding the two men and other activists involved in mobilizing the protest, with a ruling party spokesman this week calling the U.S. ambassador a “thug.”

Anti-government protests in Zimbabwe in 2018 and 2019 resulted in the killing of several people, allegedly by the military.

The pandemic has brought a new layer of suffering.

By year’s end, the number of food insecure Zimbabweans will have surged to 8.6 million - 60% of the population.

📣 WFP will only be able to provide the most vulnerable with food assistance if it receives support from the international community soon. #SavingLives #ZeroHunger pic.twitter.com/wIE2fSw0sj— WFP Zimbabwe (@WFP_Zimbabwe) July 30, 2020

In public hospitals, doctors and nurses are frequently on strike, and infrastructure is so dilapidated that “unborn children and mothers are dying daily,” according to the Zimbabwe Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

The World Food Program this week projected that the number of Zimbabweans facing food insecurity could reach 8.6 million by the end of the year.

That would be “a staggering 60% of the population – owing to the combined effects of drought, economic recession and the pandemic,” the WFP said, appealing for more money to intervene.

Video by:Catherine CLIFFORD
4 min


(AP)

Decision to honour legendary Egyptian singer in Israel angers right wing
IN BOTH COUNTRIESIssued on: 28/07/2020 -

This rare file photo taken in the 1930s shows Egyptian diva Umm Kulthum - AFP/File
Text by:Monique El-FaizyFollow

There is perhaps no modern Egyptian cultural treasure more beloved than Umm Kulthoum. Anyone who has visited the Arab world or been in the home of a member of the diaspora has likely heard the moving tones of her distinct, resonant voice. The Israeli town of Haifa recently moved to honour her legacy –and stirred up controversy in the process.
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“The Star of the East,” as Umm Kulthoum is often called, emerged on the cultural stage in Egypt in the 1920s and dominated the music scene in the Arab world until her death in 1975. There are few Arab homes anywhere in the world in which her melancholy melodies have not been played. In a nod to the roughly 10 percent of its 30,000 residents who are Arab, Haifa, the third-largest city in Israel, voted to name a street after the singer earlier this month. Haifa town council head Einat Kalish-Rotem said that the decision is a reflection of the city’s representing “a model of co-existence between Arabs and Jews”.

That Kulthoum would be recognised in Haifa makes sense, said Huda al-Imam, a Jerusalem-based expert on Palestinian culture. “Haifa has always been a city with a tolerance, a respect for differences,” she said. “When I say differences, I mean respect for the Palestinians.”

Kulthoum walked the streets of Haifa performing there, in Jaffa and in Jerusalem before the 1948 establishment of the state of Israel when those cities were still part of British Mandatory Palestine. But her influence extended outside of the Middle East as well, where she is best remembered for her legendary 1967 concert at the Olympia in Paris.

Considered peerless, Kulthoum’s contralto voice was praised by Bob Dylan and sampled by Beyoncé. Led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant told the Independent newspaper that he was “driven to distraction” by her. “When I first heard the way she would dance down through the scale to land on a beautiful note that I couldn’t even imagine singing, it was huge: somebody had blown a hole in the wall of my understanding of vocals.”

And Jews who grew up listening to her in North Africa and the Middle East are as attached to her as any Arab. For some, though, that’s where the agreement ends. Kulthoum was fiercely pro-Palestinian and had condemned Israel, and her detractors in Israel think honouring the late singer is inappropriate.

After the decision was announced, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s son Yair tweeted that the decision was “shameful and crazy”. Right-wing lawmaker Ariel Kallner wrote in the local Kol Po newspaper that he was saddened that Haifa had decided to honour a woman who had “called for the destruction of the Jewish state”.

The newspaper published a black-and-white-picture of Kulthoum on its front page with some of her lyrics emblazoned over the image. “Now I have a gun, take me in Palestine, with you,” she had crooned in a song dedicated to the Palestinians.

That wasn’t the only time Kulthoum jumped into the political fray. During the Six-Day War between Egypt and Israel in 1967, Kulthoum – sometimes called “Egypt’s fourth pyramid” – performed a song exhorting Egypt to crush its enemy.

Her nationalistic song, “Walla Zaman Ya Selahy” (It’s Been a Long Time, Oh Weapon of Mine) served as the Egyptian national anthem from 1960 until 1979 when, in a nod to peace negotiations with Israel, president Anwar Sadat replaced it with the more neutral, “Bilady, Bilady, Bilady” (My Homeland), which remains the anthem today.

Kallner said he would fight Haifa’s attempts to change the street name. But if he wants to diminish her legacy, he will have his work cut out for him: In 2011 a street was named after her in East Jerusalem and the city of Ramla is planning to do the same. There's a street in East Jerusalem named after Umm Kulthum https://t.co/pL2EMyiK7q pic.twitter.com/9cvNzzwR7w— Oren Kessler (@OrenKessler) March 17, 2016

The controversy hasn’t garnered widespread attention outside of certain political circles. Al-Imam said that some of her friends in Haifa hadn’t heard of the uproar.

In Kulthoum's native Egypt, observers were more perplexed than anything. “Anyone looking objectively at it is going to find it to be a rather strange, performative act,” said Dr HA Hellyer, senior associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) in London and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, DC.

“Umm Kulthoum was a deeply patriotic Egyptian, who never saw an Egypt that had been in anything but a state of war with Israel. Moreover, she was openly and deliberately a strong supporter of Palestinian rights against the Israelis – so, this all looks a bit odd.”

FASCIST COMEUPPANCE Italy's Senate revokes Salvini's immunity from second trial over migrant detention

Issued on: 31/07/2020 -

Leader of Italy's far-right League party Matteo Salvini addresses the upper house of parliament in Rome, Italy, July 30, 2020. © Remo Casilli, Reuters
Text by:NEWS WIRES

Italy's Senate voted on Thursday to strip far-right chief Matteo Salvini of his parliamentary immunity, paving the way for him to face trial, for a second time, over allegedly illegally detaining migrants at sea

Salvini, a senator, now looks set for a potentially career-derailing case on charges that could see him serve up to 15 years in jail if convicted.

The Senate voted 149 to 141 to strip Salvini of his immunity, with one abstention.

"I am proud to have defended Italy. I would do it again and I will do it again, also because just this July the arrivals are six times those seen in the same period a year ago, with the League party in government," a defiant Salvini told the Senate after the vote.

The head of the anti-immigrant League party is already set to stand trial in a separate but similar case.

Prosecutors in the Sicilian city of Palermo accuse Salvini of abusing his powers as then-interior minister in August 2019 to illegally prevent more than 80 migrants, rescued in the Mediterranean, from disembarking from the Open Arms charity ship.Ministers cannot be tried for actions taken while in office unless their parliamentary immunity is revoked by the Senate.

Salvini has insisted the decision, which has made to stop the migrants from getting off the ship until a deal was brokered with EU countries to take them in, was reached collectively within the government.

That is the same defence Salvini is using for the other trial, in which he is accused of blocking migrants from disembarking from the Italian "Gregoretti" coastguard boat last July.

In February, the Senate voted to strip him of his parliamentary immunity in that case. The preliminary hearing has been postponed three times due to the coronavirus pandemic, and is now scheduled to take place in Sicily on October 3.

In a statement, Open Arms said it hopes the Senate's decision gives "a definitive and unequivocal signal that the democratic institutions of every liberal country exist to protect the principles on which they are based."

"These are the political choices that make the difference between a country whose foundation is respect for human rights and life and a country that chooses to give up the best part of itself," the group wrote.

'The limelight'

Political analyst Franco Pavoncello said the Senate's go-ahead on the Open Arms trial would "certainly have an impact on Salvini", whose popularity has dropped since the coronavirus pandemic swept through Italy.

Salvini, 47, says Italy's more than two-month lockdown hit him and his party hard, as he had to put an end to his frequent rallies up and down the country and his famous beachside selfie sessions.

A Demopolis poll this week found that the League has dropped more than 11 percentage points in a year, from holding 37 percent of voting intentions to 25.4 percent today.

"At the moment Salvini generates little media interest. The decision to strip him of his immunity would reopen the case and could whip up media attention," Pavoncello told AFP ahead of the Senate vote.

"Those who vote to send him to trial in a bid to create political problems for him could end up giving him the limelight instead."


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But while Salvini may make temporary gains, "a trial could be difficult for him in the long term, for the charges are serious," Pavoncello added.

Salvini is currently in opposition but is determined to become prime minister.

Although the anti-migrant League may be slipping down the polls, it is still the most popular party in Italy and its leader expects to do well at the next elections.

A conviction, however, would throw a serious spanner in the works.

Video by:Luke SHRAGO
3 min


(AFP)

Barred from running for election, Hong Kong activist vows to keep fighting for political freedom

Issued on: 31/07/2020

Hong Kong pro-democracy dissident Joshua Wong slammed authorities for disqualifying activists for candidature in September's legislative elections. Anthony WALLACE AFP
Text by:NEWS WIRES

Hong Kong's democracy camp will continue to fight Beijing's crackdown on political freedoms, prominent dissident Joshua Wong said Friday after he and other activists were barred from standing for election


"Our resistance will continue on and we hope the world can stand with us in the upcoming uphill battle," he told reporters.

Dressed in a black T-shirt emblazoned with the words "They can't kill us all", 23-year-old Wong slammed authorities for disqualifying some of the city's best-known democracy activists from standing in September's legislative elections.

"Beyond any doubt (this) is the most scandalous election fraud era in Hong Kong history," he said.

The disqualifications were the latest blow against the semi-autonomous city's democracy movement, which has been under sustained attack from China's Communist Party rulers.


China imposed a national security law last month on Hong Kong outlawing subversion, which it warned was a "sword" hanging over the head of democracy protesters.

On Thursday, 12 democracy activists were told they would not be allowed to stand for the partially elected legislature because of their previously stated political views.

The democracy campaigners had been hoping to win a first-ever majority in the 70-seat legislature, which is deliberately weighted to return a pro-Beijing chamber.

In a statement announcing its decision, Hong Kong's government listed political views that required disqualification.

They included criticising Beijing's new security law, campaigning to win a legislation-blocking majority and refusing to recognise China's sovereignty.

But there are doubts over whether the election will even go ahead.

Multiple local media outlets have reported this week that Hong Kong's government will postpone the vote because of a recent surge in coronavirus cases. But there has been no confirmation yet from authorities.

Hong Kong is a semi-autonomous city guaranteed certain freedoms and autonomy under a "One Country, Two Systems" deal agreed ahead of the 1997 handover from Britain.

But Beijing's new national security law has dramatically upended that unique status, the latest in a slew of measures that have eviscerated political freedoms in recent years.

On Wednesday, four students -- aged between 16 and 21 -- were arrested for social media posts deemed to breach the new security law, the first to be made by a new dedicated police unit.

The four were all former members of Student Localism, a pro-independence group that announced it was disbanding its Hong Kong branch the day before the security law was enacted.

Police said they were arrested on suspicion of organising and inciting secession through comments made on social media posts after the law came in.

(AFP)