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Melbourne on edge of new coronavirus lockdown

Melbourne is on edge as the threat of another coronavirus lockdown looms amid fears a growing outbreak will develop into a deadly third wave of the virus.

On Wednesday, Dr Stephen Parnis, who works in emergency departments across three of the city's biggest hospitals, said the next 24 hours were "absolutely critical" to control the 15-case cluster.

"The second wave occurred because it had gotten away from us at this time last year, before we even knew it," Dr Parnis told A Current Affair last night.

READ MORE: NSW sporting club members urged to isolate

"(This time) it's a matter of understanding the scope of exposure and spread across mainly Melbourne, but we also know there have been instances outside of Melbourne as well."

There are fears the virus may already have found a path interstate, as NSW Health urgently contacts people from a sporting club who attended an event in Victoria where one of the new confirmed cases of COVID-19 was present.

Victoria's Acting Premier James Merlino said "further action" could not be ruled out if the Whittlesea cluster continued to grow.

READ MORE: Thousands urged to get tested after attending AFL game at MCG

New restrictions are already in force across Greater Melbourne, including mandatory mask-wearing and limits on private and public gatherings.

"We'll update people as soon as we know," Mr Merlino said.

"These cases so far are all linked, and that's a good thing, but we are concerned about the number (of cases) and the kind of exposure sites."

Exposure sites grow

AFL matches are still expected to go ahead with crowds despite the new outbreak already being linked to two games last weekend and one interstate match being postponed this coming Saturday.

Marvel Stadium and the MCG are both listed as COVID-19 exposure sites after two matches on Sunday.

Mr Merlino said any matches going ahead would be subject to restrictions, including mask rules.

Victorian Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said possible lockdown restrictions would hinge on further review of the newest cases.

Health officials have identified 301 primary close contacts.

Professor Sutton said it was a "concern" there had "been exposures over a number of days".

Some of the cluster cases are known to have been infectious and out in the community for more than a week.

READ MORE: South Australians return home after COVID-19 exposure in Melbourne

How Melbourne's COVID-19 cases are connected

Case one: Man in his 30s got tested on Sunday.

Case two: Man in his 70s who went with case one to get tested.

Case three + four: woman in her 70s and child, detected after being deemed close contacts.

Case five: Had a business meeting with case one.

Cases six-nine: Same family unit as case five, but different households.

Cases 10-12: Workplace contacts of case nine. The workplace is a finance firm in Port Melbourne.

Case 13: Another contact of case one.

Cases 14-15: Workplace contacts of case nine.

People sitting in this highlighted zone at the MCG are urged to get tested immediately

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Seven children among the 16 active cases

 

Seven children in St. Kitts and Nevis are among the 16 active cases of COVID-19 in the Federation Cheif Medical Officer Dr Hazel laws has confirmed.

On Tuesday Dr Laws announced 16 active cases the highest number since the Federation started its COVID response. 

She said of the 16 cases it includes seven children between ages three and 15 and nine adults between 33 and 49.

She said the active cases are stable and are being monitored.

“We are working assiduously to contain this cluster of COVID-19 cases.

William Vincent Hodge Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education said that  COVID-19 is making a huge impact on the schools.

“Learning is disrupted just on the brink of examinations schools are forced to abandoned field trips and educational tours, graduations may not be held except virtually, parents are forced to remain at home to provide care for their children. 

“COVID-19 is in our schools, teachers students and axillary staff are contracting the virus, some are in quarantine.”

Hodge called on parents and teachers to leverage resources to stop the spread of the virus.

“Parents and teachers must be vaccinated. We have a moral and God-given responsibility to protect the children God has given to us.”

He said the ministry had embarked on vaccines information sessions for parents and teachers 

“I say to parents and to teachers to stop stiffening our necks and hardening our hearts. As of today, we can say the virus is rampant in our schools and has forced our schools to close for the next two weeks in the first instance.”

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Bermuda Reopens with New Hotel, Cruise Ships

Bermuda is back. After a year of battling the pandemic, the Island announced its reopening with a new luxury hotel, the St. Regis and cruise ships arriving.

As the St Regis Bermuda welcomed its first guests after a ribbon-cutting ceremony, the Viking Orion anchored off Dockyard in what was hailed as a landmark moment in the island’s recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.

Premier David Burt, who is also Tourism Minister, said the opening of St Regis was “another major step forward in the start of the tourism renaissance” and something that would bring much-needed activity to St George’s at the island’s east end.

Miguel Purroy, a representative of the hotel’s owners, said the St Regis opened on time and on budget and he was confident the final product would make Bermuda´s tourism industry proud.

He added that it was hoped the hotel “contributes to place Bermuda as the luxury destination we all dream of”.

The oceanside hotel, which has a newly renovated golf course, will include 120 guest rooms and suites alongside a luxury residential development with a range of two- and three-bedroom condominiums with views looking over Gates Bay.

Ground-breaking for the hotel on a site that had lain empty for almost 30 years took place in 2017 — during the previous One Bermuda Alliance administration’s one term in office — after a number of attempts to build a new hotel had failed to get off the ground.

Once a Holiday Inn, the hotel later became a Loews property before Club Med took it over. It closed in 1988 and 20 years later was demolished by implosion.

Although Royal Caribbean International has cancelled plans to homeport its Vision of the Seas ship in Bermuda for seven-night cruises to the Bahamas, Viking Ocean Cruises has gone ahead with its Bermuda homeporting plan.

Acting Transport Minister Walter Roban hailed the Viking Orion’s arrival as a watershed in the battle back to normality from COVID-19, which has battered the island’s already struggling economy.

“The sight of a cruise ship returning to our shores brings with it the promise of much-needed economic activity.

“Many sectors depend on business from cruise passengers and crew and through the successful realisation of homeporting for Bermuda, the government has taken another important step to get Bermudians back to work,” Roban added.

The Orion will stay at anchor until crew quarantining is completed on Thursday.  The ship will sail from Bermuda on a series of eight-day cruises from June 15 and will also call at Hamilton, St George’s and Dockyard, the island’s three ports, but with half its normal 900-passenger capacity.

The cruises are scheduled to end on August 3, but the government hopes the programme will be successful enough to get an extension.

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World View: Trump Jury, Myanmar Terror, India COVID, Cable Car Arrests,More

May 26, 2021

Alternate text

The Associated Press

The Rundown

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NEW YORK (AP) — New York prosecutors have convened a special grand jury to consider evidence in a criminal investigation into former President Donald Trump’s business dealings, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press on Tuesday….Read More

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BEIRUT (AP) — Auto magnate-turned-fugitive Carlos Ghosn is campaigning to clear his name, and hopes a visit by French investigators to his home in exile in Lebanon will be his first real opportunity to defend himself since the bombshell arrest that…Read More
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Two black pickups speed down an empty city street in Myanmar before coming to a sudden stop. Security forces standing in the back of the trucks begin firing at an oncoming motorbike carrying three young men. …Read More

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Republicans revived negotiations over President Joe Biden’s sweeping investment plan, preparing a $1 trillion infrastructure proposal that would be funded with COVID-19 relief money as a counteroffer to the White House ahea…Read More

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NEW DELHI (AP) — As the coronavirus tears through India, night watchman Sagar Kumar thinks constantly about getting vaccines for himself and his family of five amid critical shortages of shots in the country. …Read More

OTHER TOP STORIES

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Angelina Jolie criticized a judge deciding on custody arrangements for her and Brad Pitt’s children during their divorce, saying in a court filing …Read More

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — For Vanessa Gregson, the four-lane highway that borders the beach along San Francisco’s Pacific Ocean is now an automobile-free sanctuary where s…Read More

ROME (AP) — Police in northern Italy arrested three people early Wednesday in the cable car disaster that killed 14 people after an investigation showed a clamp, inte…Read More

WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal government will issue cybersecurity regulations in the coming days for U.S. pipeline operators following a ransomware attack that led to…Read More

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Child Poverty Root Issue Facing Jamaica’s Kids

The founder of Hear the Children’s Cry Betty-Anne Blaine says child poverty is one of the serious root problems affecting the nation’s children.

Blaine, who was addressing a virtual meeting of Kiwanis Club of New Kingston recently, noted that approximately 45 per cent of the nation’s children have experience poverty.

“If we are serious about fixing this problem of our children — the abuse, the neglect — we are going to have to understand what we are dealing with. Child poverty is one of the root problems. If there is an indicator in our country of the two Jamaicas in which we live, the child population is perhaps the most blatant indicator to me,” she argued.

Making reference to Secret Gardens, a monument in downtown Kingston which has the names of children who died violently since 2004, Blaine pointed out that there are some issues that affect the children of the poor and working class, but do not affect children from the middle and upper classes.

“I would say that over 90 per cent of the names of children on that monument are children of the poor and working classes in our country. Children who die in fires, who go missing, who are abducted and murdered and typically those children who die in motor vehicle accidents — a lot of them are in buses or taxis are mainly children of the poor and working classes. Those are the names on that monument,” said Blaine.

Blaine also used her address to renew her call for a child emergency summit.

“We are saying that the situation with Jamaican children now is so serious that we believe we need an Emergency Child Summit, where we can bring two groups of persons together. One group would include people working in the trenches, know the problems and have solutions, and the other group would include people who can provide resources,” she said

“It’s not a talk shop, it is a summit where we bring critical stakeholders together, to look at the problems and see if we can come up with one solution that will radically or dramatically change the situation for children in a positive way,” she added.

– Brittny Hutchinson

 

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Canada Starts Reopening After 3rd COVID Wave

CNN- Several Canadian provinces are cautiously announcing reopening plans as the country slowly recovers from the third wave of Covid-19.

Dr. Theresa Tam, Canada’s chief public health officer, said Tuesday that the infection rate has fallen about 40% since the peak of activity in mid-April.

However, she said that hospitalizations and critical care admissions have only dropped by 15% and 10%, respectively.

Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he was hopeful the accelerating pace of vaccination would enable the country to return to a more normal way of life by fall.

“We will have more than enough doses in Canada by the end of June to give a first dose to every Canadian who wants one, and second doses will continue to ramp up through June and into the summer,” Trudeau said during a press conference in Ottawa Tuesday.

Canada’s third wave on track to become its worst yet as hospitalizations spike

Health Canada said more than half of all Canadians are now partially vaccinated but less 5 percent are fully accinated

With new, daily cases of Covid-19 dropping, both British Columbia and Quebec announced reopening plans Tuesday that were still cautious compared to the US and the UK.

In British Columbia, residents can now meet a few friends at a restaurant and dine indoors again and, significantly, people can start inviting visitors into their homes again.

The provincial government laid out a phased-in re-opening that will allow for more organized sports, travel and larger indoor gatherings later in spring and early summer.

Quebec announced it would finally lift a months-long curfew throughout the province this Friday, restaurant patios can also reopen everywhere and small social gatherings outside can resume.

But it was a different picture in Manitoba, where the province is in the middle of a devastating third wave. To cope with rising intensive care admissions, public health officials said they will continue to transfer patients out of province and are even looking into the possibility of sending patients to North Dakota for treatment, but only if absolutely necessary.

According to Johns Hopkins University data, Manitoba currently has the highest rate of infection of any province or state over the last seven days.

“This reckless behavior of some is threatening the ability of our health care system to care for those most in need including themselves,” Brian Pallister, Manitoba’s premier, said at a news conference Tuesday regarding people flouting Covid-19 restrictions.

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Havana Claims Biden Continuing Trump Anti Cuban Policies

Cuba charged has said the Biden administration has continued the policies of former U.S. President Donald Trump against Havana with a decision to maintain a Trump-era determination that it is not fully cooperating in the fight against terrorism.

“I hereby determine and certify to the Congress that the following countries are not cooperating fully with United States antiterrorism efforts,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken wrote in a brief note, which listed Cuba along with Iran, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Syria and Venezuela.

The note was signed by Blinken on May 14 but was not released until Tuesday.

“The slander is surprising and irritating as are the application of Trump’s policy and his 243 sanctions,” the Communist-run country’s foreign minister, Bruno Rodriguez, tweeted.

Asked to explain the U.S. decision, a U.S. State Department representative said on Tuesday: “In making the annual determination on ‘not cooperating fully,’ we undertake a review of a country’s overall level of cooperation in our efforts to fight terrorism.”

The State Department representative added the decision was made under a “separate statutory authority” than the one for state sponsors of terrorism.

U.S. President Joe Biden, a Democrat, vowed during his campaign to reverse some of Republican Trump’s Cuba measures that “have inflicted harm on the Cuban people and done nothing to advance democracy and human rights.”

He was vice president when former President Barack Obama agreed to a historic detente with then Cuban President Raul Castro and in 2016. Trump, after taking office in 2017, re-imposed many of the restrictions on Cuba business and travel that Obama had eased or lifted.

Those who supported detente on and off the Caribbean island had high hopes Biden would quickly reverse Trump’s policy, but his administration has said a shift in policy toward Cuba is not among its top foreign priorities.

Calling human rights a core pillar of U.S. Cuba policy, a senior White House official told Reuters this month that Biden remains committed to promises of loosening the flow of remittances from Cuban Americans and easing restrictions on family travel to the island. But the official declined to say when such moves might happen. read more

Trump designated Cuba a state sponsor of terrorism just before leaving office, a designation the Biden administration says it is reviewing. Trump set the stage for putting Havana on the U.S. blacklist when in May 2020 he placed it back on the list of countries that do not cooperate fully with U.S. efforts to counter terrorism.

“This is odd since Cuba is already on the state supporter of terrorism list, which is obviously a more severe designation than non-cooperating,” said William LeoGrande, a professor of government at American University in Washington, referring to Blinken’s note. He added the listing only restricted arms sales and had to be renewed by May 15.

Nevertheless, numerous experts said it was one more signal that Biden was not Obama when it comes to Cuba.

“Biden has been largely inactive and silent on Cuba policy, indicating a lack of shift away from Trump’s posture,” said Andrew Zimbalist, a Cuba expert at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts.

“To my knowledge, this is the first proactive policy step and, hence, appears to be a harbinger of a non-return to Obama’s engagement,” he added.

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Mothers Brave Teargas in Continued Colombia Demonstrations

Vanesa protects herself from the hail of tear gas, rocks and fire hose streams that often mark protests in Colombia with just safety glasses, a helmet, a bandanna over her nose and mouth and a flimsy black wooden shield.

The mother-of-three is part of a group of 10 women calling themselves “Front Line Moms” who attend the protests to protect youth from alleged police violence.

The Andean country has seen nearly a month of demonstrations and thousands of road blockades. Though protest leaders reached pre-agreements for talks with the government late on Monday, they have promised marches against inequality and police abuse, among other issues, will continue. read more

“If our children go to fight, if our children go to march, we mothers will support them and together with them struggle,” the group chanted at a recent protest.

Vanesa, 39, lost her job as a tango dancer because of the coronavirus pandemic and began selling coffee on the street.

“We’re a group of single moms who are now trying to fight for the violated rights of young people,” said Vanesa, who declined to share her surname.

The group has appeared in social media videos, one of which shows a sound grenade thrown by police exploding near them during a demonstration.

Vanesa said the moms were inspired to take action after they attended a protest where the national riot squad tear-gassed a group of protesting mothers and children.

“That was the spark to decide we were going to do something different,” she said.

The government says just 17 deaths are directly connected with marches, while human rights groups claim dozens more. The attorney general’s office says it has found 290 people reported missing and is seeking 129 others.

Entire families have joined marches galvanized by poverty, which shot up to 42.5% last year, and high unemployment which have aggravated already-deep inequalities.

“We’re tired of there not being work, of there not being healthcare, of the violation of our rights even to protest,” Vanesa said, as protesters lined up for a meal in southern Bogota, observed by police.

Other similar mothers’ groups have sprung up in cities, including western Pasto.

Vanesa called on police to respect marchers.

“They have mothers, too.”

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Drug Gang: Mexican Police Chief Killed in Hail of 2OO Bullets

The police chief in Mexico’s north-western Sinaloa state, Joel Ernesto Soto, has been killed while he was driving to the state capital, Culiacán.

Local police said gunmen had fired some two hundred bullets at his car.

Soto had survived an earlier ambush three weeks ago, when the convoy he was travelling in was attacked near the city of Mazatlán.

The state of Sinaloa is notorious for gang violence with the Sinaloa cartel the most deadly and violent.

It is not yet clear who may have been behind the attack on Soto.

Sinaloa’s state security secretary, Cristóbal Castañeda, said Soto had been on leave and was returning from a trip to see his family when he was ambushed.

Mr Castañeda said Soto was travelling with his bodyguards but had decided to keep a “low profile” and travelled in a “discreet car” when he was attacked.

The attack comes two months after gunmen killed 13 police officers and agents from the state prosecutor’s office in central Mexico state.

Last year, more than 500 police officers were murdered in Mexico with many targeted by the country’s powerful criminal gangs and drug-trafficking cartels.

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