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Global pollution kills 9 million people a year, study finds
A new study blames pollution of all types for 9 million deaths a year globally, with the death toll attributed to dirty air from cars, trucks and industry rising 55% since 2000.
That increase is offset by fewer pollution deaths from primitive indoor stoves and water contaminated with human and animal waste, so overall pollution deaths in 2019 are about the same as 2015.
The United States is the only fully industrialized country in the top 10 nations for total pollution deaths, ranking 7th with 142,883 deaths blamed on pollution in 2019, sandwiched between Bangladesh and Ethiopia, according to a new study in the journal The Lancet Planetary Health. Tuesday’s pre-pandemic study is based on calculations derived from the Global Burden of Disease database and the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation in Seattle. India and China lead the world in pollution deaths with nearly 2.4 million and almost 2.2 million deaths a year, but the two nations also have the world’s largest populations.
When deaths are put on a per population rate, the United States ranks 31st from the bottom at 43.6 pollution deaths per 100,000. Chad and the Central African Republic rank the highest with rates about 300 pollution deaths per 100,000, more than half of them due to tainted water, while Brunei, Qatar and Iceland have the lowest pollution death rates ranging from 15 to 23. The global average is 117 pollution deaths per 100,000 people.
Pollution kills about the same number of people a year around the world as cigarette smoking and second-hand smoke combined, the study said.
“9 million deaths is a lot of deaths,” said Philip Landrigan, director of the Global Public Health Program and Global Pollution Observatory at Boston College.
Read: Brick kilns threaten environment & cause health hazards in south-western Bangladesh
“The bad news is that it’s not decreasing,” Landrigan said. “We’re making gains in the easy stuff and we’re seeing the more difficult stuff, which is the ambient (outdoor industrial) air pollution and the chemical pollution, still going up.”
It doesn’t have to be this way, researchers said.
“They are preventable deaths. Each and every one of them is a death that is unnecessary,” said Dr. Lynn Goldman, dean of the George Washington University School of Public Health, who wasn’t part of the study. She said the calculations made sense and if anything. was so conservative about what it attributed to pollution, that the real death toll is likely higher.
The certificates for these deaths don’t say pollution. They list heart disease, stroke, lung cancer, other lung issues and diabetes that are “tightly correlated” with pollution by numerous epidemiological studies, Landrigan said. To then put these together with actual deaths, researchers look at the number of deaths by cause, exposure to pollution weighted for various factors, and then complicated exposure response calculations derived by large epidemiological studies based on thousands of people over decades of study, he said. It’s the same way scientists can say cigarettes cause cancer and heart disease deaths.
“That cannon of information constitutes causality,” Landrigan said. “That’s how we do it.”
Five outside experts in public health and air pollution, including Goldman, told The Associated Press the study follows mainstream scientific thought. Dr. Renee Salas, an emergency room doctor and Harvard professor who wasn’t part of the study, said “the American Heart Association determined over a decade ago that exposure to (tiny pollution particles) like that generated from the burning of fossil fuels is causal for heart disease and death.”
US deaths from COVID hit 1 million, less than 2 1/2 years in
The U.S. death toll from COVID-19 hit 1 million on Monday, a once-unimaginable figure that only hints at the multitudes of loved ones and friends staggered by grief and frustration.
The confirmed number of dead is equivalent to a 9/11 attack every day for 336 days. It is roughly equal to how many Americans died in the Civil War and World War II combined. It’s as if Boston and Pittsburgh were wiped out.
“It is hard to imagine a million people plucked from this earth,” said Jennifer Nuzzo, who leads a new pandemic center at the Brown University School of Public Health in Providence, Rhode Island. “It’s still happening and we are letting it happen.”
Some of those left behind say they cannot return to normal. They replay their loved ones’ voicemail messages. Or watch old videos to see them dance. When other people say they are done with the virus, they bristle with anger or ache in silence.
“‘Normal.’ I hate that word,” said Julie Wallace, 55, of Elyria, Ohio, who lost her husband to COVID-19 in 2020. “All of us never get to go back to normal.”
READ: Global Covid cases near 521 million
Three out of every four deaths were people 65 and older. More men died than women. White people made up most of the deaths overall. But Black, Hispanic and Native American people have been roughly twice as likely to die from COVID-19 as their white counterparts.
Most deaths happened in urban areas, but rural places — where opposition to masks and vaccinations tends to run high — paid a heavy price at times.
The death toll less than 2 1/2 years into the outbreak is based on death certificate data compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics. But the real number of lives lost to COVID-19, either directly or indirectly, as a result the disruption of the health care system in the world’s richest country, is believed to be far higher.
The milestone comes more than three months after the U.S. reached 900,000 dead. The pace has slowed since a harrowing winter surge fueled by the omicron variant. The U.S. is averaging about 300 COVID-19 deaths per day, compared with a peak of about 3,400 a day in January 2021.
The largest bell at Washington National Cathedral in the nation’s capital tolled 1,000 times a week ago, once for every 1,000 deaths. President Joe Biden on Thursday ordered flags lowered to half-staff and called each life “an irreplaceable loss.”
“As a nation, we must not grow numb to such sorrow,” he said in a statement. “To heal, we must remember.”
More than half the deaths occurred since vaccines became available in December of 2020. Two-thirds of Americans are fully vaccinated, and nearly half of them have had at least one booster dose. But demand for the vaccine has plummeted, and the campaign to put shots in arms has been plagued by misinformation, distrust and political polarization.
Unvaccinated people have a 10 times greater risk of dying of COVID-19 than the fully vaccinated, according to the CDC.
“To me, that is what is just so particularly heartbreaking,” Nuzzo said. Vaccines are safe and greatly reduce the likelihood of severe illness, she said. They “largely take the possibility of death off the table.”
Angelina Proia, 36, of New York, lost her father to COVID-19 in April 2020. She runs a support group for grieving families on Facebook and has seen it divided over vaccinations. She has booted people from the group for spreading misinformation.
“I don’t want to hear conspiracy theories. I don’t want to hear anti-science,” said Proia, who wishes her father could have been vaccinated.
Sara Atkins, 42, of Wynnewood, Pennsylvania, channels her grief into fighting for global vaccination and better access to health care to honor her father, Andy Rotman-Zaid, who died of COVID-19 in December 2020.
“My father gave me marching orders to end it and make sure it doesn’t happen again,” Atkins said of the pandemic. “He told me, ‘Politicize the hell out of my death if I die of this.’”
Julie Wallace and her husband, Lewis Dunlap, had cellphone numbers one digit apart. She continues paying to keep his number. She calls it just to hear his voice.
“It’s just so important to hear that sometimes,” she said. “It gives you a little bit of reassurance while also tearing your heart out.”
Some have offered solace in poetry. In Philadelphia, poet and social worker Trapeta Mayson, created a 24-hour poetry hotline called Healing Verse. Traffic to the Academy of American Poets’ poets.org website rose during the pandemic.
Brian Sonia-Wallace, poet laureate of West Hollywood, California, has traveled the country writing poems for hire. He imagines a memorial of a million poems, written by people who don’t normally write poetry. They would talk to those who are grieving and listen for points of connection.
“What we need as a nation is empathy,” said Tanya Alves, 35, of Weston, Florida, who lost her 24-year-old sister to COVID-19 in October. “Over two years into the pandemic, with all the cases and lives lost, we should be more compassionate and respectful when talking about COVID. Thousands of families changed forever. This virus is not just a cold.”
Parishioners subdue gunman in fatal California church attack
A man opened fire during a lunch reception at a Southern California church, killing one person and wounding five senior citizens before a pastor hit the gunman on the head with a chair and parishioners hog-tied him with electrical cords.
Jerry Chen had just stepped into the kitchen of his church’s fellowship hall around 1:30 p.m. Sunday when he heard the gunshots.
Chen, 72, a longtime congregant at Irvine Taiwanese Presbyterian Church in Laguna Woods, peeked around the corner and saw church members screaming, running and ducking under tables.
“I knew someone was shooting,” he said. “I was very, very scared. I ran out the kitchen door to call 9-1-1. ”
Officials said the shooting ended after the gunman killed one man and wounded five senior citizens before worshippers hog-tied his legs with an electrical cord until deputies arrived. Four of the five people wounded suffered critical gunshot injuries.
While a motive for the shooting at the Geneva Presbyterian Church in the city of Laguna Woods was not immediately disclosed, investigators don’t believe the gunman — an Asian man in his 60s whose name was not immediately released — lives in the community.
Chen, who called 911 from the church’s parking lot, said he was in such a state of shock that he was unable to tell the operator his location.
“I had to ask someone else for the address,” he said.
Chen said a group of about 40 congregants had gathered in the fellowship hall for a luncheon after a morning service to welcome their former Pastor Billy Chang, who had served the church for 20 years and was a beloved and respected community member. Chang moved back to Taiwan two years ago. This was his first time back stateside, Chen said.
“Everyone had just finished lunch,” he said. “They were taking photos with Pastor Chang. I had just finished my lunch and went into the kitchen.”
That was when he heard the gunshots and ran out.
Soon afterward, Chen said he heard the details of what happened inside from others who came out. Fellow congregants told Chen that when the gunman stopped to reload, Pastor Chang hit him on the head with a chair while others moved quickly to grab his gun. They then subdued him and tied him up, Chen said.
“It was amazing how brave (Chang) and the others were,” he said. “This is just so sad. I never, ever thought something like this would happen in my church, in my community.”
Most of the church’s members are elderly, highly educated Taiwanese immigrants, Chen said.
“We’re mostly retirees and the average age of our church is 80,” he said.
Orange County Undersheriff Jeff Hallock praised the parishioners’ quick work to detain the gunman.
“That group of churchgoers displayed what we believe is exceptional heroism and bravery in intervening to stop the suspect. They undoubtedly prevented additional injuries and fatalities,” Hallock said. “I think it’s safe to say that had people not intervened, it could have been much worse.”
The shooting came a day after an 18-year-old man shot and killed 10 people at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York.
Laguna Woods was built as a senior living community and later became a city. More than 80% of residents in the city of 18,000 people about 50 miles (80 kilometers) southeast of Los Angeles are at least 65. The incident occurred in an area with a cluster of houses of worship, including Catholic, Lutheran and Methodist churches and a Jewish synagogue.
The investigation was in its early stages, Hallock said. He said the many unanswered questions include whether the assailant attended the church service, if he was known to church members and how many shots were fired.
The majority of those inside the church at the time were believed to be of Taiwanese descent, said Carrie Braun, a sheriff’s spokesperson.
Those wounded by gunshots included four Asian men, ages 66, 75, 82 and 92, and an 86-year-old Asian woman, the sheriff’s department said. Authorities originally said only four of the five surviving victims had been shot.
Officials did not immediately disclose any information about the alleged shooter.
The afternoon lunch reception was to honor a former pastor of the Taiwanese congregation, according to a statement from the Presbytery of Los Ranchos, a church administrative body.
“Please keep the leadership of the Taiwanese congregation and Geneva in your prayers as they care for the those traumatized by this shooting,” the presbytery’s Tom Cramer said in a statement on Facebook.
Also read:3 shot and killed in Milwaukee following night of violence
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office said on Twitter that he was closely monitoring the situation.
“No one should have to fear going to their place of worship. Our thoughts are with the victims, community, and all those impacted by this tragic event,” the tweet said.
On its website, Geneva Presbyterian Church describes its mission as “to remember, tell, and live the way of Jesus by being just, kind, and humble.”
“All are welcome here. Really, we mean that! … Geneva aspires to be an inclusive congregation worshipping, learning, connecting, giving and serving together.”
Violence in houses of worship includes the deadliest shooting inside a church, which occurred in 2017 in Sutherland Springs, Texas, when a gunman opened fire during a Sunday service at First Baptist Church and killed more than two dozen people.
In 2015, Dylann Roof fired dozens of bullets during the closing prayer of a 2015 Bible study session at Charleston’s Mother Emanuel AME Church in South Carolina. Nine members of the Black congregation were killed in the racist violence and Roof became the first person in the U.S. sentenced to death for a federal hate crime. His appeal remains before the Supreme Court.
11 million deaths linked to unhealthy diets, 420,000 to unsafe foods annually
Unhealthy diets cause 11 million deaths every year and 420,000 more people die from consuming unsafe foods, according to the UN.
Bad diets are also related to six of the top 10 risk factors for the global burden of disease, but around 3 billion people worldwide cannot afford to buy healthy food.
The picture gets worse, as the UN health agency said the unsustainable practices which define food systems today are also driving deforestation, biodiversity loss, depletion of the oceans, antimicrobial resistance, and the emergence of zoonotic diseases.
For the World Health Organization (WHO), "healthy diets from sustainable food systems" goes beyond having affordable access to foods that promote health and prevent disease.
It also means having food that is produced and distributed in ways that ensure decent work and help sustain the planet, soil, water, and biodiversity.
Read: Vulnerable nations threatened as Ukraine war shrinks food supplies, hikes prices
The WHO pointed to the wider impacts this would have on achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), such as ending hunger and malnutrition, promoting healthy lives and well-being, improving maternal and child health, encouraging responsible consumption and production, and advancing urgent action to combat climate change.
Ensuring everyone has access to a healthy diet is among the goals of a UN-backed initiative launched Friday in line with efforts to transform food systems globally.
The Coalition of Action for Healthy Diets from Sustainable Food Systems for all (HDSFS) brought together governments, UN agencies, civil society organisations, academic institutions, and social movements.
It is one of the outcomes of the UN Food Systems Summit held in September 2021, as part of the Decade of Action to deliver the SDGs by 2030.
The Summit called for progress towards achieving the SDGs by examining how food systems are linked to global challenges such as malnutrition, climate change, and poverty.
The HDSFS will work as a "coalition of the willing," serving as a platform for coordinated action on healthy diets from sustainable food systems through which countries can share experiences, champion policy actions, and gain support, information and inspiration.
Read: Ensure quality to venture into global market in electronic goods
As urgent action is needed in policies, practices, availability of data, and resource allocation, the Coalition's work will be centred around three main areas – mobilising stakeholders to align action across food systems; facilitating peer-to-peer learning between countries, and managing special projects on integrating nutrition, health and sustainability through food.
So far, 16 nations and the European Commission are "frontrunner countries" in the HDSFS.
The Coalition's "core group members" include the WHO and four other UN agencies – the Food and Agricultural Organization, UN Environment Programme, UN Children's Fund, and World Food Programme.
Other members from civil society and academia include the World Wildlife Fund, humanitarian organisation CARE, Scaling Up Nutrition Movement, and Centre for Food Policy at the City, University of London.
UN Security Council condemns killing of Al-Jazeera journalist in West Bank
The UN Security Council on Friday strongly condemned the killing of Al-Jazeera's Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh and the injury of another journalist in Jenin in the occupied West Bank.
In a press statement, the members of the council conveyed their sympathy and deepest condolences to the victim's family. They called for an immediate, thorough, transparent, fair and impartial investigation into her killing, and stressed the need to ensure accountability.
Also Read: Slain Al Jazeera journalist to be laid to rest in Jerusalem
The council members reiterated that journalists should be protected as civilians, stressing that they continued to monitor the situation closely.
Abu Akleh was shot dead on Wednesday while covering an operation by Israeli security forces in Jenin. A fellow journalist was wounded in the same incident.
129 countries to see increased droughts within next few decades
Within the next few decades, 129 countries will experience an increase in droughts – 23 primarily due to population growth and 38 because of their interaction between climate change and population growth, according to a recent UN report.
And should global warming reach 3℃ by 2100, drought losses could be five times higher than they are today, with the largest increase in the Mediterranean and the Atlantic regions of Europe.
Droughts have deep, widespread and underestimated impacts on societies, ecosystems, and economies, having impacted some 1.4 billion people between 2000 and 2019, said the UN.
Meanwhile, in 2022, more than 2.3 billion people are facing water stress and almost 160 million children are exposed to severe and prolonged droughts, it added.
Read: Israeli police beat mourners at journalist’s funeral
Humanity is "at a crossroads" when it comes to managing drought and accelerating ways of slowing it down must happen "urgently, using every tool we can," said the head of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) Thursday.
Through its newly published Drought in Numbers report, released in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, during the 15th Conference of Parties (COP15), UNCCD's compendium of drought-related information and data is helping inform negotiations for the outcomes of the conference when it closes on May 20.
UNCCD Executive Secretary Ibrahim Thiaw said the "facts and figures of this publication all point in the same direction: An upward trajectory in the duration of droughts and the severity of impacts, not only affecting human societies but also the ecological systems upon which the survival of all life depends, including that of our species."
The report reveals that from 1970 to 2019, weather, climate and water hazards accounted for 50 percent of disasters and 45 percent of disaster-related deaths, mostly in developing countries.
While droughts represented 15 percent of natural disasters, they accounted for approximately 650,000 deaths throughout that period.
And from 1998 to 2017, droughts triggered global economic losses of roughly $124 billion – a number and duration of which have risen 29 percent since 2000.
Only to flooding, droughts inflict the greatest suffering on women and girls in developing countries, in terms of education, nutrition, health, sanitation, and safety.
"Drought in Numbers" paints a grim picture surrounding ecosystems as well, noting that the percentage of plants affected by drought has more than doubled in the last 40 years – with about 12 million hectares of land lost each year to drought and desertification.
In the past century, more than 10 million people died due to major drought events, which also generated several hundred billion dollars in economic losses worldwide. And the numbers are rising.
While severe drought affects Africa more than any other continent – accounting for 44 percent of the global total – over the past century, 45 major drought events have also affected millions of people in Europe – affecting an average of 15 percent of that continent's land and 17 percent of its population.
Read: 16 die in Delhi building fire
In the US, drought-induced crop failures and other economic losses have totalled $249 billion since 1980 alone, and over the past century, Asia was the continent with the highest total number of humans affected by drought.
"One of the best, most comprehensive solutions is land restoration, which addresses many of the underlying factors of degraded water cycles and the loss of soil fertility," said Ibrahim.
"We must build and rebuild our landscapes better, mimicking nature wherever possible and creating functional ecological systems."
Beyond restoration, there needs to be a paradigm shift from "reactive" and "crisis-based" approaches to "proactive" and "risk-based" drought management approaches involving coordination, communication and cooperation, driven by sufficient finance and political will, he added.
Sustainable and efficient agricultural management techniques are needed to grow more food on less land and with less water, and humans must change their relationships with food, fodder and fibre – moving towards plant-based diets and stemming the consumption of animals, according to the report.
Early-warning systems that work across boundaries, new technologies to guide decisions with precision and sustainable funding to improve drought resilience at the local level are also key actions.
End/UNB/MA
Healthy plants can protect environment, boost economies: FAO
Healthy plants have the power to help end hunger, cut poverty, protect the environment, and boost economic development, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
But even though plants make up 80 percent of the food people eat, and provide 98 percent of the oxygen they breathe, threats to their survival are piling up.
According to recent data, up to 40 percent of food crops are lost due to plant pests and diseases every year, and this affects both food security and agriculture, the main source of income for vulnerable rural communities.
Read: Rising incomes more harmful to environment than population growth: UN report
Climate change and human activities are also altering ecosystems and damaging biodiversity while creating new niches for pests to thrive in.
Also, protecting plants from pests and diseases is far more cost-effective than dealing with plant health emergencies. This is because once established, plant pests and diseases are often difficult to eradicate, and need to be controlled through sustainable pest and pesticide management, FAO says.
On the first International Day of Plant Health Thursday, the UN agency called for more investment in innovation to boost food security, especially for the billions worldwide living close to the bread line.
Read: Urban noise pollution, wildfires among biggest emerging environmental threats: UN
It called on governments to prioritise plant health and its sustainable management in formulating policies and legislation, and on academia and research institutions to deliver science-based solutions.
"We need to continue raising the global profile of plant health to transform agri-food systems to be more efficient, more inclusive, more resilient and more sustainable," said FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu, adding that investments are needed in research to find more resilient and sustainable additions to the human diet.
Russian pipeline sanctions raise fears of gas interruption
Natural gas prices rose Friday after Russian state-owned exporter Gazprom said it would no longer send supplies to Europe via a pipeline in Poland, citing new sanctions that Moscow imposed on European energy companies. The move doesn’t immediately block large amounts of natural gas to Europe but intensifies fears that the war in Ukraine will lead to wide-ranging cutoffs.
Gazprom said Thursday that it would ban the use of the Yamal pipeline that reaches Germany through Poland. While that cuts off a supply route to Europe, the pipeline’s entry point to Germany has not been used in recent months. Plus, Gazprom has already cut off gas to Poland for refusing to meet Moscow’s demand to make payments in rubles.
“A ban is in place on making transactions with and payments to persons under sanctions. In particular, for Gazprom, this means a ban on the use of a gas pipeline owned by (the Polish company) EuRoPol GAZ to transport Russian gas through Poland,” Gazprom representative Sergey Kupriyanov wrote in a Telegram post.
The fear is that gas disputes and cutoffs will keep escalating amid the war in Ukraine. Last month, Gazprom said it had completely cut off natural gas supplies to Poland and Bulgaria over the rubles dispute.
Read: Ukraine to hold first war crimes trial of captured Russian
On Tuesday, Ukraine’s pipeline operator shut down a pipeline that carries gas from Russia to Europe, saying Russian forces were interfering with a compressor station in Russian-held territory and diverting gas. It asked Gazprom to move gas through another pipeline, which the company said it could not do. By itself, the shutdown was not expected to cut off major amounts of gas.
Energy tensions ramped up when Russia imposed sanctions Wednesday on Gazprom Germania, a subsidiary of the Russian supplier that the German government took control of in April.
German Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck said the loss of gas from the Russian moves was “manageable” at around 10 million cubic meters per day and could be made up from other sources.
The actions further roiled volatile energy markets. Natural gas traded Friday at 104 euros per megawatt hour, up from 94 euros before the announcements.
“Moscow has fired a second volley of gas disruption at Europe, causing fresh uncertainty and spiking prices,” said Kaushal Ramesh, senior analyst at Rystad Energy.
European utilities and governments have scrambled to refill underground gas storage that was depleted over the winter and have made enough progress to cover gas needs for the year without Russian supplies. But they would face difficulty in getting through the end of the upcoming winter without rationing. High natural gas prices have led to higher bills for home heating and electricity generated by the fuel.
Read: Russia hits Ukraine’s east as Finland moves toward NATO bid
European governments are trying to get off Russian energy and the EU’s executive commission has proposed measures to reduce imports from Russia by two-thirds by year end. It remains to be seen if that can be achieved.
Before the war, Europe got 40% of its natural gas and 25% of its oil from Russia.
WHO: COVID-19 falling everywhere, except Americas and Africa
The number of new coronavirus cases reported worldwide has continued to fall except in the Americas and Africa, the World Health Organization said in its latest assessment of the pandemic.
In its weekly pandemic report released late Wednesday, the U.N. health agency said about 3.5 million new cases and more than 25,000 deaths were reported globally, which respectively represent decreases of 12% and 25%.
The downward trend in reported infections began in March, although many countries have dismantled their widespread testing and surveillance programs, making an accurate count of cases extremely difficult.
WHO said there were only two regions where reported COVID-19 infections increased: the Americas, by 14%, and Africa, by 12%. Cases remained stable in the Western Pacific and fell everywhere else, the agency said.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned during a press briefing this week that “the rising cases in more than 50 countries highlights the volatility of this virus.”
Read: North Korea raises alarm after confirming 1st COVID-19 case
Tedros said COVID-19 variants, including mutated versions of the highly infectious omicron, are driving a resurgence of COVID-19 in several countries, including South Africa, which was the first to identify omicron in November.
He said relatively high rates of population immunity are preventing a spike in hospitalizations and deaths but cautioned that “this is not guaranteed for places where vaccination levels are low.” Only about 16% of people in poorer countries have been immunized against COVID-19.
WHO’s Africa office said Thursday that cases in South Africa have quadrupled in the last three weeks and COVID-19 deaths have doubled. WHO said that so far, hospitalizations were only about 20% of what was seen during the last infection wave in December.
The agency noted that the most concerning omicron subvariants are BA.4 and BA.5, due to their large number of mutations and uncertainty as to how they might affect immunity. COVID-19 cases in Namibia and Eswatini, which border South Africa, also reported 50% more cases in the past two weeks.
Read: Bill Gates says he has COVID, experiencing mild symptoms
“This uptick in cases is an early warning sign which we are closely monitoring,” said Abdou Salam Gueye, WHO Africa’s emergencies chief.
WHO’s report noted that some of the biggest jumps in COVID-19 cases were seen in China, which saw a 145% rise in the last week.
Earlier this week, Chinese authorities doubled down on pandemic restrictions in Shanghai after a brief period of loosening up. The move frustrated residents who were hoping a more than monthlong lockdown was finally easing after complaints of food shortages and quarantines where some people were forced to surrender their house keys.
WHO’s Tedros said Tuesday he didn’t think China’s “zero-COVID” strategy was sustainable, “considering the behaviour of the virus now and what we anticipate in the future.”
On Thursday, North Korea announced its first coronavirus outbreak and imposed a nationwide lockdown. The size of the outbreak wasn’t immediately known, but it could have serious consequences because the country has a poor health care system and its 26 million people are believed to be mostly unvaccinated.
North Korea raises alarm after confirming 1st COVID-19 case
North Korea announced its first coronavirus infection more than two years into the pandemic Thursday as leader Kim Jong Un called for raising COVID-19 preventive measures to maximum levels.
The North’s official Korean Central News Agency said tests from an unspecified number of people with fevers in the capital Pyongyang confirmed they were infected with the omicron variant. North Korea had previously claimed a perfect record in keeping out COVID-19, a claim widely doubted by outside experts.
The country’s population of 26 million is believed to be mostly unvaccinated, after its government shunned vaccines offered by the U.N.-backed COVAX distribution program, possibly because those have international monitoring requirements.
KCNA said Kim called a meeting of the ruling Korean Workers’ Party’s Politburo where members decided to raise its anti-virus measures. Kim during the meeting called for officials to stabilize transmissions and eliminate the infection source as fast as possible.
Despite the decision to elevate anti-virus steps, Kim ordered officials to push ahead with scheduled construction, agricultural development and other state projects while bolstering the country’s defense postures to avoid any security vacuum.
Kim said officials must also formulate steps to ease any public inconveniences and other negative situations that could flare as a result of the boosted anti-pandemic measures. Kim said that “the single-minded public unity is the most powerful guarantee that can win in this anti-pandemic fight,” KCNA said.
North Korea’s announcement of the infections came after NK News, a North Korea-focused news site, cited unidentified sources who said authorities had imposed a lockdown on Pyongyang residents. South Korea’s government said it couldn’t confirm the report.
North Korea was one of the last places in the world without an acknowledged virus case. Turkmenistan, a similarly secretive and authoritarian nation in Central Asia, has reported no cases to the World Health Organization, though its claim also is widely doubted by outside experts. In recent months, some Pacific island nations that kept the virus out by their geographic isolation have recorded outbreaks.
Experts say a major COVID-19 outbreak would have devastating consequences because of North Korea’s poor health care system and could possibly trigger instability when combined with other problems like serious food shortages.
North Korea’s previous coronavirus-free claim had been disputed by many foreign experts. But South Korean officials have said North Korea had likely avoided a huge outbreak, in part because it instituted strict virus controls almost from the start of the pandemic.
Early in 2020 — before the coronavirus spread around the world — North Korea took severe steps to keep out the virus and described them as a matter of “national existence. It quarantined people with symptoms resembling COVID-19 and all but halted cross-border traffic and trade for two years and is even believed to have ordered troops to shoot on sight any trespassers who crossed its borders.
The extreme border closures further shocked an economy already damaged by decades of mismanagement and crippling U.S.-led sanctions over its nuclear weapons and missile program, pushing Kim to perhaps the toughest moment of his rule since he took power in 2011.
North Korea in January tentatively reopened railroad freight traffic between its border town of Sinuiju and China’s Dandong, but China announced a halt to the trade last month as it deals with a spread of COVID-19 in Dandong.
It’s unusual for North Korea to admit the outbreak of any infectious disease though Kim has occasionally been candid about national and social problems and policy failures.
Read: Global Covid cases top 517 million
During a flu pandemic in 2009 when the country was ruled by his father, Kim Jong Il, North Korea said that nine people in Pyongyang and the northwestern border town of Sinuiju had contracted the flu. Some outside experts said at the time the admission was aimed at winning outside aid.
Experts say Kim Jong Un still hasn’t publicly asked for any aid including COVID-19 vaccines from the United States and South Korea amid the prolonged stalemate in nuclear diplomacy.