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Corona Effect: PAHO Says Healthcare Workers Must Be Protected Amid COVID-19 Surge

CMC- With COVID-19 infections accelerating in the Americas and the detection of the Omicron variant in at least 42 countries and territories in the region, Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) Director Dr Carissa Etienne has called on countries to ensure health workers have access to protective equipment and additional vaccine doses where available.

As cases jump three-fold in some countries, the region’s ability to respond to the current wave depends on the personnel that keep primary health care centres, clinics and hospitals up and running.

“We must make sure they are protected from the worst consequences of this virus,” she said in a media briefing on Wednesday.

Over the past week, countries in the Americas reported 6.1 million new cases of COVID-19 – a 250 per cent increase from the same period last year.

Thanks to increased vaccination in the region, the COVID-19 death rate remains stable but the hike in emergency room visits and hospitalizations has left many health systems struggling to cope.

The PAHO Director highlighted that an additional vaccination dose will “help reinforce health workers’ ability to withstand exposure to the virus,” particularly in light of rising infections.

While Delta continues to cause new COVID cases in the Americas, Omicron is on track to becoming the dominant strain, spreading more quickly than other detected variants, particularly in enclosed spaces. It has already been reported in 42 countries and territories in the region, and several are now experiencing widespread community transmission.

While reports suggest that it may cause less severe symptoms, Dr Etienne warned that “this new wave of infections won’t be “mild” for our health systems, as the Omicron variant is already challenging our health workforce and limiting care for other diseases.”

“In smaller island states, some hospitals were already strained by cases of the Delta variant, and now more hospitals face the prospect of being overwhelmed with cases,” she added.

The PAHO Director also highlighted the rise in re-infections. “Omicron infections can be lethal, especially for the immunocompromised and the unvaccinated,” she said, calling on individuals to keep each other safe by following public health measures such as mask-wearing and social distancing, getting vaccinated and getting tested when experiencing symptoms.

Overall vaccination coverage in Latin America and the Caribbean currently stands at almost 60 per cent and many countries, including Cuba, boast some of the highest coverage rates in the world. However, it is vital that equitable coverage remains a priority, Dr Etienne said.

“Whether we are fighting for vaccine equity, supporting our health workers, or doing our part to reduce the risk of transmission, solidarity will pave our way out of the pandemic,” she added.

Over the past week in the Caribbean, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic have experienced hikes in new infections, and increases are also being seen in Jamaica, Aruba, Curacao and Martinique.

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Ukraine Talks: Russian Official Won’t Rule Out Troops In Cuba, Venezuela

By Joseph Gobran
Russian-led forces are expected to start leaving Kazakhstan this week after being deployed to help restore order

Amid stalled talks between the U.S. and Russia over Ukraine, a top Russian official on Thursday would not rule Moscow dispatching military deployment to Venezuela and Cuba.

When questioned about Russia’s position in instituting military occupancy, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said he would not “confirm anything, [but] won’t exclude anything here either.”

“It depends on the actions of American colleagues,” Ryabkov told Russian television channel RTVI.

Diplomatic talks Monday in Geneva between the U.S. and Russia were unsuccessful in meeting Moscow’s security requirements, as Russian troops continue to expand near Ukraine. Russia is holding the West responsible for intimidating its security by deploying military hardware in Eastern and Central Europe.

“I’m not going to respond to bluster in the public commentary that wasn’t raised in the discussions at the Strategic Stability Dialogue [in Geneva],” White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said in response to Ryabkov’s comments.

Russia has long had strong diplomatic ties with Cuba since the Cold War. The distance from Cuba and the U.S. mainland is 103 miles. In recent years, Venezuela has become an ideological battleground for Russia and China, as the U.S., the U.K., and other Western powers have not backed embattled President Nicolas Maduro.

A military buildup would be considered a threat to the U.S. “If Russia were to move in that direction, we would deal with it decisively,” Sullivan said.

The Kremlin views Ukraine as a prospective security threat as recent elections gave birth to new leadership that cut off an extensive bond with Russia, altering the country’s confederation to the West.

There are about 100,000 Russian troops near the Ukraine border. Moscow has claimed the troops are performing military exercises.

The Biden administration has previously threatened sanctions if Russia were to attack Ukraine.

“The jury’s out on which path Vladimir Putin is going to choose,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told MSNBC. “Is he going to choose the path of diplomacy and dialogue to resolve some of these problems or is he going to pursue confrontation and aggression?”

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WORLD VIEW: Djokovic Faces Deportation, Biden’s Setbacks, Europe Tightens Masks, N. Korea in New Missile Firing, More

Jan 14, 2022

Alternate text

The Associated Press

The Rundown

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MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Novak Djokovic faces deportation again after the Australian government revoked his visa for a second time, the latest twist in the ongoing saga over whether the No. 1-ranked tennis player will be allowed to compete in the…Read More

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WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has stopped a major push by the Biden administration to boost the nation’s COVID-19 vaccination rate, a requirement that employees at large businesses get a vaccine or test regularly and wear a mask on the job. …Read More

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WASHINGTON (AP) — He was supposed to break through the congressional logjam. End the pandemic. Get the economy back on track. Days before he hits his one-year mark in office, a torrent of bad news is gnawing at the foundational rationale of Presiden…Read More

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ROME (AP) — To mask or not to mask is a question Italy settled early in the COVID-19 outbreak with a vigorous “yes.” Now the onetime epicenter of the pandemic in Europe hopes even stricter mask rules will help it beat the latest infection surge. …Read More

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SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea on Friday berated the Biden administration for imposing fresh sanctions against the country over its latest missile tests and warned of stronger and more explicit action if Washington maintains its “confrontatio…Read More

OTHER TOP STORIES

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California’s governor on Thursday rejected releasing Robert F. Kennedy assassin Sirhan Sirhan from prison more than a half-century after the 1968…Read More

PALLAKKADU, Sri Lanka (AP) — Conservationists and veterinarians are warning that plastic waste in an open landfill in eastern Sri Lanka is killing elephants in the region,…Read More

DALLAS (AP) — A single page of artwork from a 1984 Spider-Man comic book sold at auction Thursday for a record $3.36 million. Mike Zeck’s artwork for page 25 from Marvel …Read More

WASHINGTON (AP) — Months after requesting documents from more than a dozen social platforms, the House committee investigating the Capitol insurrection has issued subpoena…Read More

The post WORLD VIEW: Djokovic Faces Deportation, Biden’s Setbacks, Europe Tightens Masks, N. Korea in New Missile Firing, More appeared first on The St Kitts Nevis Observer.

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El Salvador Denies Responsibility for Hacking Journalists with Pegasus Spyware on their Phones

By Merlin Delcid, CNN

(CNN) El Salvador’s government has denied responsibility for hacking the cell phones of at least 35 journalists and other members of civil society by using the spying program known as Pegasus.

The denial comes after a report from Access Now and Citizen Lab, two groups specializing in cybersecurity, that claimed the spying happened between 2020 and 2021. The report did not say who was responsible for the hacking.

The report claims that the hacking targeted at least 22 journalists from El Faro — the influential El Salvadoran digital news outlet — as well as journalists from several other outlets.=

Carlos Dada, the founder and director of El Faro, alleges that the Salvadoran government is responsible for the hacking.

“It hasn’t surprised us to know we were hacked but the amount, frequency and duration of the hacking did. Nearly everyone at El Faro has been hacked,” Dada said.

The report from Access Now and Citizen Lab said the attacks first began in July 2020 and continued until mid-November 2021.

Independent experts from Amnesty International reviewed the findings of the report and concurred with its conclusions.

“The use of Pegasus for the surveillance of communications in El Salvador reveals a new threat to human rights in the country,” Erika Guevara-Rosas, Amnesty International Americas Director said in a Thursday statem Group over spyware

“The authorities must stop any efforts to restrict freedom of expression and conduct a thorough and impartial investigation to identify those responsible,” Guevara-Rosas said.

Julia Gavarrete was one of the El Faro journalists whose phone was hacked. She said that she was at a government press conference in 2020 when someone broke into her apartment and stole her computer and a few belongings. She speculates that it might have something to do with the hacking.

“You can feel fear, but at the end, you know that you are doing things that are correct and you can not give them the power to control your life,” Gavarrete told CNN.

Gavarrete said while she cannot directly prove that the government is responsible for the attacks, the timings of the attacks were conspicuous because they seemed to line up neatly with stories she and her colleagues were pursuing at the time that could prove damaging to the government.

Government denies spying

President Nayib Bukele’s administration has rejected the claim that it was behind the hacking.

“The government of El Salvador doesn’t have the resources nor the licenses to utilize this type of software,” Sofía Medina, Bukele’s communication secretary said in a statement. Medina said that the government is not connected to the use of Pegasus software, nor to the company that created it, an Israeli company called NSO Group.

Medina added that in November, she received an alert from Apple — as did others in the government — about a possible hack into her cell phone.

El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele speaks at a press conference in San Salvador earlier this month.

“We have indications that members of the government were also victims of these attacks,” said Medina, adding that the government is already investigating the use of Pegasus and other systems to hack cell phones in the country.

CNN has asked the NSO Group for comment on the findings of the new investigation, but has not yet received a direct response.

In a statement, the company said its systems were not currently active in El Salvador but promised an investigation once it receives the telephone numbers of those phones that had allegedly been hacked to determine if there had been past misuse of its systems.

NSO Group said that it only provides software and that it doesn’t actively operate the technology — nor does it have access to the data is subsequently collects. The company added that the use of its cybersecurity tools to monitor dissidents, activists and journalists is a serious misuse of that technology.

US blacklists Israeli firm NSO Group for use of spyware

On its website, NSO Group says that it only seeks clients who will use their product for the “legal and necessary needs of prevention and investigation of terrorism and other grave crimes.”

NSO Group says for that reason, it only grants licenses to those government intelligence and law enforcement agencies following what it calls a process of investigation and licensing by the Israeli Ministry of Defense.

Responding to past allegations of misuse of its products, NSO Group told CNN in an email statement: “We regret to see, time and time again, how the name of our company is mentioned in news that has nothing to do with NSO, directly or indirectly.”

El Salvador is one of 25 countries who governments had acquired surveillance systems from Circles, a company affiliated with NSO Group, according to a study published in December of 2020 by Citizen Lab.

According to that report, the system began operating in 2017 during a previous administration. CNN attempted to reach the then Vice President Óscar Ortiz about those claims, but a request for comment was not answered.

David von Blohn and CNN’s Hande Atay Alam contributed to this report.

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So Long Toronto: COVID-19 Pandemic Hastens Canada’s Urban Exodus

By
Reuters

OTTAWA, Jan 13 (Reuters) – Canada’s urban exodus picked up steam into the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic, with tens of thousands of people leaving Toronto and Montreal for smaller cities or rural areas, official data showed on Thursday.

More than 64,000 people left Toronto for other parts of Ontario from mid-2020 to mid-2021, up 14% from the previous 12-month period, according to Statistics Canada population estimates, with another 6,600 moving out of province.

Montreal, Canada’s second largest city, lost nearly 40,000 residents to other areas of Quebec, up 60% on the year, with another 3,600 moving out of province.

Reuters Graphics
Reuters Graphics

The COVID-19 pandemic and the rise of remote work has prompted tens of thousands of Canadians to flee large and expensive cities in search of more space, and cheaper real estate, in small centers, cottage towns and coastal regions.

That has helped drive a nationwide housing boom, with prices rising more sharply in suburbs and small towns than in urban centres, fueling worries locals could be priced out and putting pressure on municipal services. read more

Nationwide, the typical home in Canada now costs C$780,400 ($624,870), up 34%, or by almost C$200,000, since March 2020.

Atlantic Canada has fared well in the exodus. Halifax, Nova Scotia added more than 6,000 people in the year up to June 30, 2021, with the vast majority arriving from out of province.

Rural Quebec has boomed, adding more than 25,000 people from urban centers within the predominantly French-speaking province.

The cities in the so-called Golden Horseshoe around Toronto are also seeing strong inflows. Oshawa added 8,000 people as residents flowed out of Toronto, and both Hamilton and St. Catharines gained nearly 5,000.

Immigration offset some of Toronto’s population losses.

($1 = 1.2489 Canadian dollars)

Reporting by Julie Gordon in Ottawa Editing by Alexandra Hudson

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Human Rights Watch: Bolsonaro a Threat to Democracy in Brazil

BRASILIA, Jan 13 (Reuters) – This year’s general election in Brasil will be a test for the country’s democracy due to threats by far-right President Jair Bolsonaro who has questioned the validity of its voting system, Human Rights Watch said on Thursday.

In an annual report on rights abuses around the world, the Washington-based group urged Brazil’s Supreme Court, Congress and other democratic institutions to remain vigilant and resist any attempt by Bolsonaro to undermine the October elections.

“President Bolsonaro tried to weaken the pillars of democracy, attacking the judiciary and repeating baseless allegations of electoral fraud,’ said Maria Laura Canineu, Human Rights Watch director in Brazil.

His government has promoted policies contrary to human rights in various areas, including indigenous peoples’ rights, women’s rights, the rights of those with disabilities and freedom of expression, the report said.

Bolsonaro has promoted bills to deny the rights of many indigenous peoples to their traditional lands and, in practice, legalized illegal mining in those territories.

During his administration, deforestation in the Amazon has skyrocketed to the highest level since 2006, as shown by the government’s own data, Human Rights Watch said.

The president’s office did not answer a request for comment on the rights report. Bolsonaro plans to seek re-election in October, though he has not formally declared his candidacy.

HRW said Bolsonaro has continued to spread false information about COVID-19 vaccines after a Senate inquiry found his government has jeopardized the health of Brazilians by disregarding science-based measures to contain the virus and by promoting drugs with no proven efficacy.

Bolsonaro has also encouraged police violence and defended a bill that makes it harder to hold police officers accountable for abuses, it added.

Police lethality reached a record in 2020 in Brazil, with the highest number of deaths resulting from police action since the indicator started to be monitored, the report said, adding that 80% of the victims were black.

His government has also pursued criminal investigations against political critics, including with the use of the National Security Law of the 1964-1985 military dictatorship that he defends, it said.

Reporting by Anthony Boadle; Editing by Sandra Maler and Bernadette Baum

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Photo Shows Difficulty in Vaccinating Indigenous Amazonian People

BBC- A photo of an indigenous man carrying his father on his back to take a Covid-19 vaccine in the Brazilian Amazon has gone viral, and became a symbol of the complicated vaccination logistics in one of the world’s most remote areas.

The photo taken by a doctor shows 24-year-old Tawy holding Wahu, 67, after both were given a vaccine dose.

They had to walk for hours through the forest to reach the vaccination site.

Official data say 853 indigenous people have died with Covid-19 in the country.

But indigenous rights groups say that number is much higher. A survey by Apib, a Brazilian NGO, said 1,000 indigenous people had died between March 2020 and March 2021 alone.

Tawy and Wahu belong to the Zo’e indigenous community, which has around 325 members. They live in relative isolation across dozens of villages in an area equivalent to 1.2 million football fields in the northern Pará state.

Erik Jennings Simões, the doctor who took the picture, said Wahu could hardly see anything and walked with difficulty because of chronic urinary problems. He estimated that Tawy carried his father on his back for five to six hours.

“It was a very beautiful demonstration of the lovely relationship between them,” Dr Simões told BBC News Brasil.

The picture was taken in January 2021, at the start of the Covid-19 vaccination campaign in Brazil, one of world’s hardest-hit countries by the pandemic. But Dr Simões only shared it on Instagram on 1 January of this year, to send a “positive message at the beginning of the new year”.

Vaccination hut
The huts were installed in open areas to reduce risk of infection

When vaccination against Covid-19 began in Brazil, indigenous people were considered a priority group. For the health team accompanying the Zo’e, a challenge emerged: it would be unfeasible for the agents to go to each village, as it would take weeks to vaccinate everyone, due to how spread out they were.

So they set up huts in the forest, and a vaccination system was agreed with the communities through a radio. “We’ve adopted practices that respect and take into account the culture and knowledge of the Zo’é people,” Dr Simões said.

Last September, Wahu died for reasons that remain unclear. Tawy remains with his family and has recently taken his third vaccine dose.

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Huge 2.7-tonne iceberg suspended above Sydney Harbour

A 2.7-tonne iceberg has been suspended over Sydney Harbour, just metres from the foot of the Opera House in a stark piece of commentary on climate change.

The performance piece "Thaw" is part of the Sydney Festival, and for the next three days will have an aerialist performing atop it for ten hours a day.

READ MORE: Novak Djokovic has visa cancelled just days before Australian Open

There is a 2.7-tonne iceberg suspended above Sydney Harbour this weekend.

"They're out in the Sydney summer sun on a freezing block of ice, so it takes a lot of time to train them in that not only from an aerial safety perspective but also an impact on the body perspective," artistic director Joshua Thomson told 9News.

As the hot days stretch on, the huge chunk of ice will melt, and is intended to start a conversation about what is happening to glaciers around the world.

Watch the full story above.

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A&B Cabinet Members with Covid, US Court Blocks Mandate,  Australia Revokes Djokovic’s Visa, World Stats, More

Antigua: More members of cabinet test positive for COVID-19

Dillon De Shong
Loop
Photo: iStock

Three additional members of Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne’s cabinet have tested positive for coronavirus (COVID-19).

An official at the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) confirmed the ministers’ infected status to Loop Caribbean but could not disclose their identities.

But the official said the ministers’ infected status was detected during routine screening that all cabinet members must undergo since they frequently meet with the public.

The official noted that all of the ministers, who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, are asymptomatic.

There are now five cabinet members infected with COVID-19.

Just over a week ago, Attorney General (AG) and Labour Minister Steadroy Benjamin announced that he and members of his family tested positive for COVID-19.

On Saturday, Prime Minister Gaston Browne revealed on his weekly radio programme that at least seven members of staff at the OPM are infected with COVID-19.

The prime minister said these cases are an indication of how widespread COVID-19 is in the community since they did not contract the virus in office.

“There are many entities in the public and private sectors in which they have had individuals come down with COVID. Some entities have had to close for a day or two to sanitise. It would have had an impact on productivity,” Browne said.

Currently the omicron and delta variants are causing COVID-19 cases on island to spike.

Data released last evening shows that there are 948 active infections on island.

US Supreme Court  blocks vaccine-or-test mandate

 

© AP-Matt Rourke

The Supreme Court on Thursday temporarily blocked the Biden administration’s vaccine-or-test mandate for large employers, but it allowed a separate vaccine-only mandate for health providers at federally funded facilities.

The high court ruled 6-3 against the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) employer mandate, blocking it from taking effect while other legal challenges play out.

The court ruled 5-4 to keep the health care worker mandate, with Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh joining the more liberal Justices Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.

The employer policy would have required companies with at least 100 workers to mandate all employees be vaccinated or provide weekly negative coronavirus test results and wear face coverings to work on-site.

Workplace ruling: In the case of the vaccine-or-test policy, the conservative majority ruled that OSHA did not have the authority for such a sweeping rule. COVID-19 is not a workplace hazard, they argued, but an everyday public health hazard.

“COVID-19 can and does spread at home, in schools, during sporting events, and everywhere else that people gather. That kind of universal risk is no different from the day-to-day dangers that all face from crime, air pollution, or any number of communicable diseases,” the order said.

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PM’s staff accused of more lockdown parties

Downing Street has been accused of holding two leaving parties in No 10 on the eve of the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral in April last year. The Telegraph said the events were made up of around 30 people drinking alcohol and dancing until the early hours. Indoor mixing between households was banned at the time. No 10 has not denied the claims. Staff were sent to a shop with a suitcase, the paper said, which was brought back “filled with bottles of wine”. The two parties are said to have come together in the No 10 garden and continued past midnight. Boris Johnson was at his country estate, Chequers, at the time. But Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner said “the buck stops with the PM”.

The Queen at Prince Philip's funeralImage source, PA Media
Image caption,

A day after the alleged parties took place, the Queen was pictured sitting alone at Prince Philip’s funeral due to Covid restrictions
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 Australia revokes Djokovic’s visa – again

Australia has revoked tennis star Novak Djokovic’s visa for a second time, in a row over his right to remain in the country unvaccinated. The decision by Immigration Minister Alex Hawke means Djokovic now faces being deported. However, the Serbian could still launch another legal challenge. Djokovic is due to play in the Australian Open, which begins on Monday. Although he won his first appeal against deportation, he has since been accused of lying on his travel form – which stated that he had not travelled in the 14 days prior to his arrival in Australia, when in fact he had been to Spain. He also admitted meeting a journalist and having a photoshoot after testing positive for Covid-19 last month.

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1 million expired COVID tests sitting in Florida warehouse OK to use after FDA grants extension

Gov. Ron DeSantis said the tests hadn’t been distributed due to low demand.

Mary Kekatos
13 January 2022, 22:30
6 min read
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has extended the shelf life of up to 1 million rapid COVID-19 tests that had expired in a Florida warehouse.

Earlier this month, Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration revealed between 800,000 and 1 million Abbott BinaxNOW COVID-19 tests had sat idle in a warehouse and expired in December.

Federal regulators, however, approved a three-month extension, meaning the tests can be used through March.

During a news conference Wednesday, DeSantis announced that the tests were being made available again and would be sent out.

“Different testing centers, different county health [department] people that want them, [they’re] gonna go, but those are not at-home tests, those are older Abbott tests,” DeSantis said.

The Florida Department of Health clarified in a statement that the tests are “produced for testing sites and require trained professionals to administer them.”

The news of the stockpile was first revealed in late December by Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, who’s running for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in 2022.

Fried told ABC News that after seeing long lines for tests last month, her team started calling local health departments to figure out why there were delays. She said an official high up in the governor’s administration eventually told her about the stockpile.

“These are a million tests that should have been distributed to local departments of health, to local communities that needed these tests,” she said. “We knew that omicron was coming to our country and our state, and he missed the mark and completely dropped the ball.”

“It was wonderful that we had a stockpile,” she added, “but if the stockpile isn’t distributed and the tests aren’t being distributed, then what good is it?”

At a press conference about a week later, DeSantis and Kevin Guthrie, director of Florida’s Division of Emergency Management, confirmed that between 800,000 and 1 million tests had expired.

Guthrie said the tests originally were set to expire in September but the FDA earlier in 2021 had extended it until December.

DeSantis said the stockpile had gone unused due to low testing demand over the fall and that he was asking the Biden administration to extend the expiration date.

“We couldn’t have predicted that Florida would have the lowest COVID prevalence in the fall,” Christina Pushaw, a spokeswoman for the governor’s office, told ABC News. “We had really low demand for testing. That was unexpected, and that’s pretty much why” the kits weren’t sent out.

Fried said this explanation is “completely inadequate” and that DeSantis’ administration had time to distribute the tests before they expired.

Pushaw said she’s not aware of any testing center in Florida that didn’t get the number of tests requested from the state.

In a Jan. 7 letter posted on the FDA’s website, the agency said it was able to extend the shelf life of the test kits after Abbott provided stability data showing the kits would still work for at least 15 months if stored at room temperature.

After the FDA granted the extension, Fried said she’s glad the tests can still be used but is calling on the DeSantis administration to take the White House up on its offer to set up federal testing sites.

“We need more testing,” she said. “That is the only way to know if you’re actually positive. I know it’s flu season and cold season, and people need to know if they are positive in order to stay away from those vulnerable populations.”

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WORLD STATS

Coronavirus Cases:

320,988,827

Deaths:

5,539,421

Recovered:

264,126,267
Highlighted in green
= all cases have recovered from the infection
Highlighted in grey
= all cases have had an outcome (there are no active cases)

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Latest News

January 14 (GMT)

Updates

  • 17,940 new cases and 2 new deaths in Japan [source]
  • 43,523 new cases and 148 new deaths in Mexico [source]

Archived:

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