Tag Archives: caribbean

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Vendors Adjusting Smoothly At The Basseterre Public Market With Enhanced Safety Protocol

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts, June 16, 2021 (Press Unit in the Office of the Prime Minister) – Produce vendors who plied their trade on various streets throughout Basseterre in recent times are now adjusting smoothly to their new accommodations at the Basseterre Public Market which is now operating under enhanced COVID-19 safety measures and protocols.

This was confirmed today (June 16) when Prime Minister Dr. the Honourable Timothy Harris, supported by Permanent Secretary in the Minister of Agriculture Mr. Ron Collins and Chief Veterinary Officer Dr. Tracey Challenger, visited the facility located at the Bay Road.

“I had the opportunity to interact with a large number of vendors, to hear their perspective and to explain the rationale for keeping them in the public market where they are safer and where their customers are safer in the context of the community spread that we’re having. The control measures where persons have to sanitize and have to wear their masks are all critical elements of the new environment in which we are operating,” Dr. Harris said.

As part of its measures to contain the spread of the virus, Prime Minister Harris announced in a national address on Friday, June 11 that no street vending will be allowed for 14 days in the first instance. The prime minister stated then that vending will only be allowed at the public market “with controlled spaces where strict adherence to COVID-19 protocols must be observed.”

Prime Minister Harris said the measure of having persons entering the public market recording their names is another important measure that will allow health officials in its contact tracing exercise in the event of a suspected case.

“If anyone who had been here comes down with the virus within a particular period of time, we are able to round up as many people and quarantine them where necessary, isolate them where necessary, so that you cut off the ability of the virus to spread because many persons would have it and are unaware of it and so they keep on spreading it onto others,” the prime minister added. 

A number of vendors expressed their appreciation to Prime Minister Harris for taking the time out to see first-hand how they are adjusting to their new settings and generally for doing all his Government is doing to keep citizens and residents as safe as possible during this time of a global pandemic.

Wednesday’s visit was the second such visit for the prime minister at the Basseterre Public Market since the introduction of the new regulations on Friday, June 11. Prime Minister Harris said he intends to return at a later date to give even more support to the vendors.

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What Is A State Of Emergency?

Basseterre, St. Kitts, June 16, 2021 (SKNIS): His Excellency Sir S.W. Tapley Seaton, GCMG, CVO, QC, JP, LL.D, Governor-General of St. Kitts and Nevis, has issued a proclamation dated June 15, 2021, declaring the State of Emergency. What is the State of Emergency?

A State of Emergency or Emergency Powers is a situation in which a government is empowered to be able to put through policies that it would normally not be permitted to do in a democracy, for the safety and protection of its citizens. A government can declare such a state during a natural disaster, civil unrest, armed conflict, medical pandemic or epidemic or other biosecurity risks. States of Emergency can also be used as a rationale or pretext for suspending rights and freedoms guaranteed under a country’s constitution or basic law, sometimes through martial law or revoking habeas corpus.

The State of Emergency in St. Kitts and Nevis comes about in the wake of a new wave of rising COVID-19 infections brought about by community spread that has seen to date 244 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 180 active cases, 64 recovered cases, and zero deaths. The government is engaged in a war against the COVID-19 pandemic that if not contained threatens the lives and livelihoods of its citizens thus the government has to act swiftly to save lives in this time of the global and deadly pandemic.

The State of Emergency (SoE) runs in the first instance from 6 pm Tuesday 15th June, 2021, until 11:59 pm on Tuesday 6th July, 2021.

The Government along with its National COVID-19 Task is asking all citizens and residents to comply with the non-pharmaceutical measures of mask-wearing, social distancing, and proper hand hygiene in order to curb the spread of the SARS CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19 disease. Additionally, all eligible persons for the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine are urged to avail themselves of the vaccine at the earliest possible time.

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State Of Emergency Declared In St. Kitts & Nevis

Basseterre, St. Kitts, June 15, 2021 (SKNIS): His Excellency Sir S.W. Tapley Seaton, GCMG, CVO, QC, JP, LL.D, Governor-General of St. Kitts and Nevis, has issued a proclamation dated June 15, 2021, declaring a State of Emergency.

The State of Emergency comes about in the wake of a new wave of rising COVID-19 infections brought about by community spread that has seen to date 244 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 180 active cases, 64 recovered cases, and zero deaths.

The Proclamation comes into effect from 6 pm Tuesday 15th June, 2021, until 11:59 pm on Tuesday 6th July, 2021.

Please see the below to SR&O No. 23 of 2021

STATUTORY RULES AND ORDERS
No. 23 of 2021
Proclamation dated the 15th day of June 2021, made pursuant to section 19(1) of the Constitution and under section 3(1)(a) of the Emergency Powers Act

BY THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF SAINT CHRISTOPHER AND NEVIS A PROCLAMATION SIR SAMUEL WEYMOUTH TAPLEY SEATON GCMG, CVO, QC, JP, LLD Governor-General

[Published 15th June 2021, Extra-Ordinary Gazette No. 35 of 2021.]
WHEREAS by virtue of the provisions of section 19(1) of the Saint Christopher and Nevis 1983 Constitution Order, as set out in the Fourth Schedule to the West Indies Act, Cap. 1.01, the Governor-General may by proclamation, declare that a state ofemergency exists in Saint Christopher and Nevis for the purposes of Chapter II of theConstitution

AND WHEREAS section 19(2) of the Constitution provides that a proclamation made under subsection (1) shall not be effective unless it includes a declaration that the Governor-General is satisfied that a public emergency has arisen –
(a) because of the possibility that Her Majesty may shortly be at war;
(b) because of the occurrence of any accident or natural calamity; or
(c) because action has been taken by any person, or there is an imminent threat of action by any person, of such a nature and on so extensive a scale as to be likely to endanger the public safety or to deprive the community or any substantial portion of the community of supplies or services essential to life.

AND WHEREAS it is further provided by section 3(1)(a) of the Emergency Powers Act, Cap. 19.02, that where it appears to the Governor-General that a public emergency has arisen as a result of the imminence of a state of war between Her Majesty and any Foreign State or as a result of the occurrence of any earthquake, hurricane, flood, fire, outbreak of pestilence, outbreak of infectious disease or any other calamity, he or she may declare that a state of emergency exists and that the declaration is reasonably justifiable in the interests of defence, public safety, public order or public health

AND WHEREAS in light of the outbreak and community spread in Saint Christopher and Nevis of the incursion of the COVID-19 virus, an infectious disease on the scale of a global pandemic

ST KITTS W I NOW THEREFORE, I, Sir Samuel Weymouth Tapley Seaton, Knight Grand Cross of the Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George, Commander of the Royal Victorian Order, Queen’s Counsel, Justice of the Peace, Doctor of Laws, Governor-General of the Federation of Saint Christopher and Nevis DO HEREBY declare that a State of Emergency for Saint Christopher and Nevis exists and is reasonably justifiable in the interest of public health on the ground of the threat of a natural calamity as a result of the outbreak and community spread of the COVID-19 virus, an infectious disease which has taken effect on a pandemic scale and now threatens the Federation of Saint Christopher and Nevis

This Proclamation shall be in effect from 6 p.m. on Tuesday 15th June, 2021 until
11:59 p.m. on Tuesday 6th July, 2021 AND all our officers and loving subjects in Saint Christopher and Nevis and all others whom it may concern are hereby required to take due notice hereof and to give their ready obedience accordingly.

GIVEN under my hand and the Public Seal of Saint Christopher and Nevis at Government House, Basseterre in the Island of Saint Christopher in the Federation of Saint Christopher and Nevis this 15th day of June, 2021, and in the seventieth year of Her Majesty’s reign.

GOD SAVE THE QUEEN!

 

 

 

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Four CARICOM Members Record COVID Deaths in 24 Hrs.

Four Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries registered deaths from the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic over the past 24 hours, while Jamaica going over the 1,000 fatality mark.

The Ministry of Health (MOH) in Guyana said seven more persons who tested positive for the novel coronavirus died, taking the total number of deaths in Guyana from the pandemic to 437 since March last year when the first case was diagnosed.

It said that the patients were admitted with COVID-19 like symptoms but died while receiving care at medical institutions. The seven people who died ranged in ages from 51 to 84 years old and included five men.

Guyana also recorded 84 new cases of COVID-19 taking the total positive cases recorded to date to 18,530. There are now 22 persons in ICU, 112 in institutional isolation, 1378 in home isolation, and two in institutional quarantine. The number of recoveries stands at 16401.

Trinidad and Tobago health authorities reported nine deaths and 327 new positive cases over the period June 10 to 14 pushing the death toll to 686 and 29,309 positive cases. The authorities said that there are 8,965 active cases and 459 patients in hospitals across the country.

There are also 242 people in state sanctioned quarantine facilities and 8,041 in home isolation.

According to the ministry, there were four men and five females including one without co-morbidities who died as a result of contracting the virus.

The ministry said 19, 667 people have recovered from the virus.

In Jamaica, the Ministry of Health and Wellness reported 23 additional COVID-19 cases and one death over the past 24 hours.

The number of confirmed cases since the outbreak on the island now stands at 49,379, while the death of a 37-year-old man has pushed total fatalities to 1,012. Another death was also reported as coincidental.

The new cases comprise 14 females and nine males with ages ranging from 14 to 87 years. The authorities said 187 COVID patients recovered on Monday, bringing total recoveries to 27, 919. Active cases are now 20,071, of which 131 are hospitalised, 28 moderately ill and nine in critical condition.

The number of people who died from COVID-19 in Suriname this month has risen to 110, after eight people lost the fight against the virus. Overall, the death toll stands at 412.

The Ministry of Health said that 227 people had tested positive from a batch of 525 citizens and that a total of 18,599 people have now tested positive. The number of people recovered from the disease is 14,172, including 245 in the past 24 hours.

There are currently 255 civilians in the hospitals and 33 patients in the intensive care unit. An estimated 2,108 have been placed in isolation.

In Barbados, one male was diagnosed as COVID-19 positive from among the 456 tests conducted by the Best-dos Santos Public Health Laboratory on Monday. There are 17 people in isolation.

Since March 2020, there have been 4,038 confirmed cases of COVID-19 (1,952 females and 2,086 males), and 47 people have died from the virus.

A total of 177,318 tests have been carried out by the public health laboratory.

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US Virgin Islands Governor Implores Florida To Permit Vaccinated Cruises

One day after Royal Caribbean announced that two guests on the first cruise ship to sail from a U.S. port since the pandemic shutdown have tested positive for COVID-19, the governor of the U.S. Virgin Islands implored Florida and Gov. Ron DeSantis to allow cruise lines to mandate vaccinations.

Albert Bryan Jr., governor of the U.S. Virgin Islands, said the infection of vaccinated passengers is precisely the reason cruise lines need the freedom to require vaccinations. While vaccines do not eliminate risks, he said, not having them could be catastrophic, including to the people in the islands that cruise passengers visit.

“It emphasizes the need for us to have these protocols,” Bryan said. “Our ports, which are some of the most popular ports of call for cruises in the Caribbean, are in the direct line of fire, alongside the other port of call destinations.

Two passengers on Celebrity cruise ship have tested positive

The infected passengers on the Celebrity Millennium were asymptomatic and immediately quarantined upon testing positive, the cruise line reported. All crew and passengers on the ship were reported to have been vaccinated before boarding, the cruise line said.

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World View: Biden-Putin Meet, Disappearing Guns Mystery, Kim Looking Thinner, More

June 16, 2021

Alternate text
it’s a moment of high-stakes diplomacy as U.S. President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin meet at a lakeside mansion in Geneva for their first face-to-face as leaders. AP’s Washington and Moscow correspondents analyze what each side wants from the summit as U.S.-Russia relations have hit a low point.

Also this morning:

– AP investigation shows U.S. Army hid or downplayed disappearance of firearms

– Israel hits militant sites in Gaza in first airstrikes since cease-fire ended

– Greenpeace apologizes for Euro 2020 parachute stunt that injured several spectators

KARL RITTER

Southern Europe News Director

The Associated Press

Rome

The Rundown

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GENEVA (AP) — President Joe Biden and Russia’s Vladimir Putin sit down Wednesday for their highly anticipated summit in the Swiss city of Geneva, a moment of high-stakes diplomacy at a time when both leaders agree that U.S.-Russian relations are at…Read More

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GENEVA (AP) — An American president won’t side with Moscow over his own intelligence agencies. There will be no talk of a “reset” in Russian relations. And it is highly doubtful that anyone will gaze into Vladimir Putin’s eyes and discuss his soul….Read More

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The U.S. Army has hidden or downplayed the extent to which its firearms disappear, significantly understating losses and thefts even as some weapons are used in street crimes. The Army’s pattern of secrecy and suppression dates back nearly a decade…Read More

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SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The health of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has long been a source of morbid fascination in rival South Korea, which sits in the shadow of Kim’s 1.2-million-strong army and his growing arsenal of nuclear-armed missiles. …Read More

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JIUQUAN, China (AP) — China is set to send the first three crew members to its new space station Thursday morning, China’s space agency said. Two of the astronauts flew in previous missions while the third is going to space for the first time, Chin…Read More

OTHER TOP STORIES

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli aircraft carried out a series of airstrikes at militant sites in the Gaza Strip early Wednesday, the first such raids since a shaky cease-fire e…Read More

Ashley Pearce’s daughter was set to start kindergarten last year in Maryland’s Montgomery County school system. But when it became clear that the year would begin online…Read More

NEW DELHI (AP) — The standoff between the Indian government and Twitter escalated Wednesday when the country’s technology minister accused the social media giant of deli…Read More

MUNICH (AP) — Greenpeace has apologized and Munich police are investigating after a protestor parachuted into the stadium and injured two people before Germany’s game ag…Read More

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Haiti: Gang Violence Pushing People from Their Homes

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) – Escalating gang violence has pushed nearly 8,500 women and children from their homes in Haiti´s capital in the past two weeks, according to a UNICEF report.

Officials say the gangs’ fight over territory in Port-au-Prince has forced hundreds of families to abandon burned or ransacked homes in impoverished communities, with many of them staying in gymnasiums and other temporary shelters that are running out of water, food and items like blankets and clothes.

Bruno Maes, Haiti´s representative for the U.N.´s children agency that issued the report late Monday, compared the effect to guerrilla warfare, “with thousands of children and women caught in the crossfire.”

Nearly 14,000 people in Port-au-Prince have been displaced by violence in the past nine months, according to the U.N. office overseeing humanitarian coordination. Families with young children have been sleeping on concrete floors of a gymnasium in the Carrefour neighborhood, with only a sheet serving as a bed and their scant belongings stuffed into bags nearby.

Many expect the violence to increase as Haiti prepares for general elections scheduled for September and November: They accuse gangs of trying to boost support for certain candidates and of targeting neighborhoods that organize protests against President Jovenel Moïse.

Pierre Espérance, executive director of the Haitian National Human Rights Defense Network, said gangs control about 60% of the country´s territory and that 12 massacres have been reported since 2018 in disadvantaged communities. However, he said he is especially worried about the most recent upswing in violence.

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In this handout released Tuesday, June 15, 2021 by UNHaiti, internally displaced people sit inside a shelter at the Center Sportif of Carrefour in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Tuesday, June 8, 2021. A UNICEF report says that escalating gang violence has displaced thousands of women and children in the capital in the first two weeks of June. (Boulet-Groulx/UNHaiti via AP)

“It´s the worst we´ve seen,” he said. “Gangs have so much power, and they are tolerated. … Each day that passes with Jovenel in power, the situation is going to deteriorate.”

A spokesman for Moïse could not be immediately reached for comment.

Last week, Léon Charles, general director of Haiti´s National Police, said gangs are fighting over territory and called on people to rise up against them: “The moment has arrived for the collaboration of all sectors.”

In addition to infiltrating rival shantytowns, gangs have targeted police stations in recent weeks, killing several officers. They also have raided businesses and fired on a car dealership on Monday as customers and employees fled. Hours later, Haiti´s National Police said they had the situation under control and were collaborating with citizens “to thwart the attempts of these armed gangs wanting at all costs to create a climate of terror in the country.”

The United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti said it was deeply concerned about the upsurge in gang violence and called for it to end so humanitarian aid could reach those in need.

Businesses and schools have closed and public transportation ceased in communities most affected by the violence, including Martissant and parts of Delmas, with few entering or crossing the area for fear of being killed.

Doctors Without Borders said its emergency center in Martissant received more than 40 patients with gunshot wounds from June 2-4 alone, and that its employees have had to take cover from stray bullets.

“We are witnessing an extremely worrying deterioration in the security situation,” the mission said. “At a time when we should be scaling up because of COVID-19 and other needs, we are struggling to keep our existing facilities open due to insecurity.”

The mission and other health experts say they worry people aren´t seeking medical help for fear of being injured or killed if they leave their homes as Haiti struggles with a spike in COVID-19 cases while still awaiting its first shipment of vaccines.

Meanwhile, Espérance, the human rights activist, said he doesn´t foresee a quick solution: “It will be absolutely impossible to hold elections in Haiti in 2021.”

Coto reported from San Juan, Puerto Rico.

In this handout released Tuesday, June 15, 2021 by UNHaiti, internally displaced people gather inside a shelter at the Center Sportif of Carrefour in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Tuesday, June 8, 2021. A UNICEF report says that escalating gang violence has displaced thousands of women and children in the capital in the first two weeks of June. (Boulet-Groulx/UNHaiti via AP)

In this handout released Tuesday, June 15, 2021 by UNHaiti, internally displaced people sit inside a shelter at the Center Sportif of Carrefour in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Tuesday, June 8, 2021. A UNICEF report says that escalating gang violence has displaced thousands of women and children in the capital in the first two weeks of June. (Boulet-Groulx/UNHaiti via AP)

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Cuba with Record No. of Virus Cases

At the close of this Monday, June 14, Cuba reported 1,537 new cases of COVID-19, for a cumulative total of 160,594 since March 2020, Dr. Francisco Durán Garcías, national director of Epidemiology of the Ministry of Public Health (Minsap), said in his daily television appearance on Tuesday.

Cuba woke up this Tuesday with 30,834 patients admitted: 5,718 suspected, 17,698 under surveillance and 7,418 confirmed (active cases), “70 more than the previous day, which had already been a high figure.”

Of the 7,418 active cases, 7,257 are clinically stable. A total of 161 confirmed patients are being treated in intensive care: 62 are critical and 99 severe.

During this Monday, 19,862 PCR samples were processed in the country’s molecular biology laboratories, of which 1,537 were positive, 188 more than the previous day and the highest number of cases diagnosed in one day. “It is an expression of the high contagiousness that the virus is having,” commented Durán.

Since March 2020, 4,657,880 samples have been processed, with 160,594 (3.45%) positive.

Of the 1,537 cases confirmed this Monday:

-1,489 are autochthonous, the highest number on record (183 more than on Sunday), and 48 imported.

-1,432 were contacts of confirmed cases.

-57 are still working to determine the source of infection.

-35.3% (543) of the patients were asymptomatic at the time of diagnosis, a proportion “somewhat lower than what has usually been recorded, unquestionably, it also reflects the greater virulence of the virus,” said the specialist. There are 77,600 (48.3% of the total number of cases) since the beginning of the pandemic in the country.

“1,537 new cases of COVID19 confirmed, for a cumulative 160 594. 7,418 active cases. 7,257 stable clinical course. 62 patients in critical condition. 99 patients in serious condition. 1,106 deaths. 152,014 patients recovered. 2 evacuated.”

263 cases are under 20 years of age, including 238 in pediatric ages (under 18). Already 21,505 pediatric-aged patients have been diagnosed with COVID-19 during the course of the pandemic in Cuba. Currently, there are 1,090 pediatric patients among the confirmed patients admitted, the highest number to date; of these, 75 are under one year of age.

On Monday, of the cases diagnosed in pediatric ages, 14 were children under one year of age, including nine children under six months of age, and among them a 21-day-old newborn. Of those 14 cases, 12 are contacts of confirmed cases, with an average of nine contacts reported.

In the past 15 days (May 31-June 14, 2021), an average of 183 cases per day have been reported in pediatric ages.

To date, Cuba has accumulated 1,106 deaths due to COVID-19 (eight this Monday), and 152,014 patients (94.7%) have recovered from the disease, including the 1,159 discharged on Monday.

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Life-Saving Covid Treatment, India Doubles Dosage Gap, World Stats

By Michelle Roberts
Health editor, BBC News onli

Exactly a year on from the discovery that a cheap steroid drug prevented Covid deaths, researchers say they have found another life-saving therapy.

It is expensive – a potent intravenous infusion of antibodies to neutralise the virus, rather than dampen the body’s inflammatory response to it.

Results from the Recovery trial suggest it could help one in three of those in hospital with severe Covid.

For every 100 patients treated, experts calculate, it would save six lives.

Ground-breaking treatment

But only those who have not already made any antibodies of their own to fight the virus should be given the treatment, which costs between £1,000 and £2,000.

Kimberley Featherstone, 37, who received the treatment during the trial, said: “I feel very lucky that the trial was up and running by the time I was taken to hospital with Covid-19 and I was able to receive this ground-breaking treatment.

“I’m happy that by participating I played a part in finding out this treatment is successful.”

The monoclonal antibody treatment, made by Regenoron, binds to the virus to stop it infecting cells and replicating.

In the trial, which included nearly 10,000 UK hospital patients, it significantly reduced the:

  • risk of death
  • length of hospital stay, by four days on average
  • likelihood of needing a ventilator to breathe

Joint chief investigator Sir Martin Landray said: “Giving them this combination of two antibodies by an intravenous infusion then actually reduces their chances of dying by a fifth.

“What we found is now here we can use an antiviral treatment, in this case these antibodies, in patients who have got a one in three chance of dying untreated and we can reduce that risk for them.”

Great uncertainty

The treatment was given in addition to the anti-inflammatory steroid drug dexamethasone, which itself cuts death risk by up to a third for the sickest Covid patients.

Sir Peter Horby, the other chief investigator, said there had been great uncertainty about whether antibody therapies were the right approach, when some other studies had found no benefit.

Using blood plasma from recovered patients – which contains antibodies that should recognise and fight the virus – has not proved effective as a Covid therapy, for example.

But the antibody treatment used in the Recovery trial contains large doses of two specific antibodies, made in the lab, that are good at latching on to the pandemic virus.

Sir Peter said: “It is wonderful to learn that even in advanced Covid-19 disease, targeting the virus can reduce mortality in patients who have failed to mount an antibody response of their own.

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Questions in India over doubling of gap between AstraZeneca doses

India’s main opposition party, Congress, has questioned the decision by Narendra Modi’s government to double the gap between the doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, asking whether it was prompted by a vaccine shortage.

Reuters yesterday reported that the government had increased the gap without the agreement of the scientific group that it said recommended the move, citing three members of the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI) advisory body.

Congress leaders, including former party president Rahul Gandhi, said the government was trying to cover up a vaccine shortage. “India needs quick & complete vaccination,” Gandhi said in a tweet.

The AstraZeneca shot accounts for nearly 90% of the 257.5m vaccine doses administered in India, where some states have curtailed vaccination programmes over supply constraints.

The government said that the gap was increased based on scientific evidence and that the issue had been discussed in detail by members of NTAGI as well as its working group on Covid.

“We have a very open and transparent system where decisions are taken on scientific basis,” said NK Arora, chairman of the working group, according to a government statement.

Arora said that the decision to expand the gap to up to 16 weeks had been made to provide “flexibility” for those who may not be able to get the second dose at 12 weeks.

India’s health minister, Harsh Vardhan, said India has a robust mechanism to evaluate data, reiterating that the decision to increase the gap was based on science. “It’s unfortunate that such an important issue is being politicised” he said in a tweet.

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Kim Jong Un warns over North Korea food shortages and extended Covid restrictions

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un warned about possible food shortages and called for his people to brace for extended Covid-19 restrictions as he opened a major political conference to discuss national efforts to salvage a broken economy.

The North’s fragile economy has decayed further amid pandemic border closures, which choked off trade with China, while devastating typhoons and floods last summer decimated crops.

A photo released by the official North Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) shows North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un presiding over the opening of the third Plenary Meeting of the 8th Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK).
A photo released by the official North Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) shows North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un presiding over the opening of the third Plenary Meeting of the 8th Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK). Photograph: KCNA/EPA

Monitors assessing the situation in North Korea have yet to see signs of mass starvation or major instability, but some analysts say conditions could be aligning for a perfect storm that undercuts food and exchange markets and triggers public panic. The Korea Development Institute, a South Korean government think tank, said last month the North could face food shortages of around a million tons this year.

Kim Tong-Hyung reports for Associated Press that experts widely doubt North Korea’s claim that it has not had a single Covid case, given its poor health infrastructure and a porous border with China, its major ally and economic lifeline.

Politico’s London Playbook this morning has what it is labelling a scoop about a government document setting out proposals for what life in the UK might look like once step 4 of the unlocking roadmap is reached. The key points from the White Hall document include:

  • Some form of working from home is set to continue for the long haul, offices could be required to install ventilation systems and a raft of other measures are likely to be needed.
  • The paper draws up three potential options on work-from-home messaging: the government could either tell the public to go back to work, remain neutral, or encourage people to work from home. Ministers are being advised to reject the first option, and instead err toward caution with a “hybrid approach.”
  • There is stinging criticism of the existing government policy on sick pay, urging ministers to do more to support people isolating.

In the UK, Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg has not made many friends in the NHS overnight with his statement in his ConservativeHome podcast: “Ultimately, the NHS is there to serve the British people, not the British people there to serve the NHS, and therefore we may need to spend more money on hospitals but you can’t run society just to stop the hospitals being full, otherwise you’d never let us get in our cars and drive anywhere or do any of the other things that people want to do, so there has to be some proportionality.”

The quote seems to ignore there that we do in fact in the UK take a great deal of precautions – speed limits, seat belts, an entire system for punishing dangerous driving – over driving but that’s by-the-by.

You can expect some media follow-up to those comments later on from Dr Julia Grace Patterson, who heads up the EveryDoctor campaign.

In the meantime, Rees-Mogg’s colleague Liz Truss is doing the media round, and PA report she had this to say on Sky News about his views. Truss is International Trade Secretary and presumably was hoping to talk about things other than this:

We are taking a pragmatic approach. The key is making sure that everybody gets vaccinated – by July 19 we will have all over-40s vaccinated so we are protected as a society. That’s what we need to do in order to be able to fully open up the economy.

Jacob has his views and those are his views. But what I’m telling you is the reason we are doing this, the reason we are taking these measures is to protect lives and that’s what’s important.

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WORLD STATS

Coronavirus Cases:

177,420,212

Deaths:

3,838,747

Recovered:

161,869,01
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

June 16 (GMT)

Updates

  • 2,331 new cases and 40 new deaths in Thai

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Peru: Leftist Castillo Wins Presidency in Tight Race

Leftist candidate Pedro Castillo has won the most votes in Peru’s close-run presidential run-off election.

With all ballots now counted, Mr Castillo has just over 50% of the votes – 44,000 more than right-wing contender Keiko Fujimori.

But Mr Castillo cannot be declared the winner until electoral authorities have finished processing a slew of legal challenges brought by Ms Fujimori.

She has claimed electoral fraud, but has not provided any detailed evidence.

Electoral observers, including the Organisation of American States, have said they have found no irregularities. Castillo’s Free Peru party has also rejected accusations of fraud.

More than 18.8 million Peruvians cast their votes in this year’s race – a turnout of nearly 75%. Observers have said it could take weeks to deliberate over Ms Fujimori’s legal challenges and formally announce a winner.

But Mr Castillo, a 51-year-old former school teacher and union leader, has already declared victory.

“Tonight should not only be one of hullabaloo and joy, but of great responsibility,” he told supporters in the capital, Lima, according to RPP news. “Today the real battle begins to end the great inequalities here in our homeland.”

He also called on election authorities to call the race and “respect the popular will”.

Peruvian Presidential candidate Keiko Fujimori during a news conference in Limaimage copyrightEPA
image captionKeiko Fujimori says corruption allegations against her are politically motivated

Meanwhile Ms Fujimori, who is running for president for a third time, acknowledged the release of the count, but said it was important to wait for the results from the pending investigations.

“We trust the authorities, yes, but, above all, we trust the popular will,” she said.

Keiko Fujimori is the daughter of former President Alberto Fujimori, who is in jail serving a 25-year sentence for crimes including corruption and human rights abuses.

Ms Fujimori herself is being investigated for alleged corruption and money laundering, claims she says are politically motivated. She spent a total of 13 months in jail between 2018 and 2020, when she was released on parole.

Last week, in a surprise development, prosecutor José Domingo Pérez requested that Ms Fujimori be returned to pre-trial custody, alleging that she had been in contact with a witness, violating the terms of her parole.

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