lockdown
China orders lockdown of up to 13 million people in Xi’an
China ordered the lockdown of as many as 13 million people in neighborhoods and workplaces in the northern city of Xi’an following a spike in coronavirus cases, setting off panic buying just weeks before the country hosts the Winter Olympic Games.
State media reported that city officials ordered all residents to stay home unless they had a pressing reason to go out and suspended all transport to and from the city apart from special cases.
One person from each household will be permitted out every two days to buy household necessities, the order said. It took effect at midnight Wednesday, with no word on when it might be lifted.
There was no word on whether the virus was the newly surging omicron variant or the far more common delta. China has recorded just seven omicron cases — four in the southern manufacturing center of Guangzhou, two in the southern city of Changsha and one in the northern port of Tianjin.
Read: Bangladesh receives 1.8 mn Pfizer vaccine jabs from US
Social media posts recorded panic buying of groceries and household products, with the government saying new supplies would be brought in. Residents posting on Thursday however, said the situation remained relatively calm, with people allowed to travel in and out of the compounds in which they live.
Xi’an on Thursday reported another 63 locally transmitted cases over the previous 24 hours, pushing the city’s total to at least 211 over the past week. Xi’an is the capital of Shaanxi province, famed for its imperial relics, as well as a major center of industry.
China has also been dealing with a substantial outbreak in several cities in the eastern province of Zhejiang near Shanghai, although isolation measures there have been more narrowly targeted.
Read: FDA paves way for Pfizer COVID-19 vaccinations in young kids
China has adopted strict pandemic control measures under its policy of seeking to drive new transmissions to zero, leading to frequent lockdowns, universal masking and mass testing. While the policy has not been entirely successful while leading to massive disruptions in travel and trade, Beijing credits it with largely containing the spread of the virus.
Those measures have been stepped up in recent days ahead of the start of the Beijing Winter Olympic Games on Feb. 4.
The Xi’an restrictions are some of the harshest since China in 2020 imposed a strict lockdown on more than 11 million people in and around the central city of Wuhan, after the coronavirus was first detected there in late 2019.
China has reported 4,636 deaths among a total of 100,644 cases of COVID-19.
Armed man outside UN arrested after standoff, lockdown
The United Nations headquarters in New York City was locked down for several hours Thursday after a man was seen pacing outside one of its main gates with a loaded shotgun, holding it under his chin at times, police said.
The man, who appeared to be in his 60s, was taken into custody without incident at around 1:40 p.m., about three hours after police said he was first spotted outside a U.N. security checkpoint on Manhattan’s First Avenue. He was taken to a hospital for evaluation, NYPD Chief of Special Operations Harry Wedin said.
The gun was loaded with one shotgun shell, Wedin said. The man also had a bag with him and gave police documents, included medical papers, that he said he wanted delivered to the U.N., Wedin said.
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U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said that “as part of the negotiations with NYPD, the man said he wanted to first give some papers to the UN."
“Our Security officers took possession of the papers," Dujarric said. “As soon as the man surrendered, we returned the papers to the NYPD. The papers appeared to be of a medical nature, nothing related to the U.N."
The gates on the fence that rings the U.N. complex were closed, and the man didn’t appear to be trying to breach the security perimeter. Police said there was no danger to the public. Wedin said the man never pointed the gun at officers and did not threaten to harm them.
NYPD First Deputy Commissioner Benjamin Tucker said there was no evidence of a link to terrorism. There was no note in the man's papers, Tucker said, but detectives were looking into names and notations on the documents for clues to his behavior.
“Essentially, he wanted the U.N. to receive his documents, which is ultimately what we agreed to do — provide those documents to the U.N. — and he said if we could do that, he would put the gun down, which is exactly what happened," Tucker told reporters outside U.N. headquarters.
Tucker said the man was visiting from Florida and walked to the U.N. from the Millennium Hotel, a few blocks away near Times Square, where he'd been staying since Wednesday.
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Tucker said the bomb squad swept the hotel, the man's room and a pickup truck connected to him that was parked outside the hotel and found no outstanding threats.
Tucker said criminal charges were pending. He did not identify the man by name, but said he didn't have a criminal record.
People inside U.N. headquarters were initially told to shelter in place, but were later allowed to move about the complex and come and go from other entrances. The U.N. General Assembly and Security Council were both in session Thursday. A 911 call reporting the man to police was placed from inside the U.N. building, Tucker said.
“We thank the NYPD for their quick response to the incident and we remain in contact with them as they conduct their investigation,” U.N. spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said in a statement.
Dujarric said earlier there was “zero indication” the man was a current or former U.N. employee.
Vaccines, masks? Japan puzzling over sudden virus success
Almost overnight, Japan has become a stunning, and somewhat mysterious, coronavirus success story.
Daily new COVID-19 cases have plummeted from a mid-August peak of nearly 6,000 in Tokyo, with caseloads in the densely populated capital now routinely below 100, an 11-month low.
The bars are packed, the trains are crowded, and the mood is celebratory, despite a general bafflement over what, exactly, is behind the sharp drop.
Japan, unlike other places in Europe and Asia, has never had anything close to a lockdown, just a series of relatively toothless states of emergency.
Some possible factors in Japan's success include a belated but remarkably rapid vaccination campaign, an emptying out of many nightlife areas as fears spread during the recent surge in cases, a widespread practice, well before the pandemic, of wearing masks and bad weather in late August that kept people home.
But with vaccine efficacy gradually waning and winter approaching, experts worry that without knowing what exactly why cases have dropped so drastically, Japan could face another wave like this summer, when hospitals overflowed with serious cases and deaths soared — though the numbers were lower than pre-vaccination levels.
Read: Japan's Kishida sends offering to controversial Tokyo shrine
Many credit the vaccination campaign, especially among younger people, for bringing infections down. Nearly 70 percent of the population is fully vaccinated.
“Rapid and intensive vaccinations in Japan among those younger than 64 might have created a temporary condition similar to herd-immunity,” said Dr. Kazuhiro Tateda, a Toho University professor of virology.
Tateda noted that vaccination rates surged in July to September, just as the more infectious delta variant was spreading fast.
He cautioned, however, that breakthrough infections in the U.S., Britain and other places where inoculations began months earlier than in Japan show that vaccines alone are not perfect and efficacy gradually wears off.
Japan’s vaccinations started in mid-February, with health workers and the elderly first in line. Shortages of imported vaccines kept progress slow until late May, when the supply stabilized and daily inoculation targets were raised to above 1 million doses to maximize protection before the July 23-Aug. 8 Olympics.
The number of daily shots rose to about 1.5 million in July, pushing vaccination rates from 15% in early July to 65% by early October, exceeding the 57% of the United States.
Daily new cases surged just weeks ahead of the Olympics, forcing Japan to hold the Games with daily caseloads of more than 5,000 in Tokyo and around 20,000 nationwide in early August. Tokyo reported 40 cases Sunday, below 100 for the ninth straight day and lowest this year. Nationwide, Japan reported 429 cases Sunday for an accumulated total of about 1.71 million and 18,000 deaths since the pandemic began early last year.
So why the drop?
“It’s a tough question, and we have to consider the effect of the vaccinations progress, which is extremely big,” said Disease Control and Prevention Center Director Norio Ohmagari. “At the same time, people who gather in high-risk environments, such as crowded and less-ventilated places, may have been already infected and acquired natural immunity by now.”
Read:Kishida vows to lead with 'trust and empathy' to fix Japan
Though some speculated that the drop in cases might be due to less testing, Tokyo metropolitan government data showed the positivity rate fell from 25% in late August to 1% in mid-October, while the number of tests fell by one-third. Masataka Inokuchi, the Tokyo Medical Association deputy chief, said falling positivity rates show infections have slowed.
Japan's state of emergency measures were not lockdowns but requests that focused mainly on bars and eateries, which were asked to close early and not serve alcohol. Many people continued to commute on crowded trains, and attended sports and cultural events at stadiums with some social distancing controls.
The emergency requests have ended and the government is gradually expanding social and economic activity while allowing athletic events and package tours on a trial basis using vaccination certificates and increased testing.
To speed up inoculations, former Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, who left office recently, expanded the number of health workers legally eligible to give shots, opened large-scale vaccination centers and promoted workplace vaccinations beginning in late June.
Kyoto University professor Hiroshi Nishiura told a recent government advisory board meeting that he estimates vaccinations helped some 650,000 people avoid infection and saved more than 7,200 lives between March and September.
Many experts initially blamed younger people, seen drinking on the streets and in parks when the bars were closed, for spreading the virus, but said data showed many in their 40s and 50s also frequented nightlife districts. Most serious cases and deaths were among unvaccinated people in their 50s or younger.
Takaji Wakita, director of the National Institute of Infectious Diseases, told reporters recently he is worried people have already resumed partying in nightlife districts, noting that the slowing of infections may have already hit bottom.
"Looking ahead, it is important to further push down the caseloads in case of a future resurgence of infections," Wakita said Thursday.
On Friday, new Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said a preparedness plan to be compiled by early November would include tougher limits on activities and require hospitals to provide more beds and staff for COVID-19 treatment in case infections soar in a “worst-case scenario.”
He did not elaborate on details.
Many people are cautious about letting down their guard, regardless of the numbers.
Read: Trains packed with commuters as Japan fully ends emergency
Mask-wearing “has become so normal," said university student Mizuki Kawano. “I’m still worried about the virus,” she said.
“I don’t want to get close to those who don’t wear masks,” said her friend, Alice Kawaguchi.
Public health experts want a comprehensive investigation into why infections have dropped off.
An analysis of GPS data showed that people’s movements in major downtown entertainment districts fell during the most recent, third state of emergency, which ended Sept. 30.
“I believe the decrease of people visiting entertainment districts, along with the vaccination progress, has contributed to the decline of infections,” said Atsushi Nishida, the director of the Research Center for Social Science & Medicine Sciences at the Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Medical Science.
But people headed back to entertainment districts as soon as the recent emergency ended, he said, and that may “affect the infection situation in coming weeks.”
Report concludes UK waited too long for virus lockdown
The British government waited too long to impose a lockdown in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, missing a chance to contain the disease and leading to thousands of unnecessary deaths, a parliamentary report concluded Tuesday.
The deadly delay resulted from ministers’ failure to question the recommendations of scientific advisers, resulting in a dangerous level of “groupthink” that caused them to dismiss the more aggressive strategies adopted in East and Southeast Asia, according to the joint report from the House of Commons’ science and health committees. It was only when Britain's National Health Service risked being overwhelmed by rapidly rising infections that Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Conservative government finally ordered a lockdown.
“There was a desire to avoid a lockdown because of the immense harm it would entail to the economy, normal health services and society,’’ the report said. “In the absence of other strategies such as rigorous case isolation, a meaningful test-and-trace operation, and robust border controls, a full lockdown was inevitable and should have come sooner.’’
Read:Moderna has no plans to share its COVID-19 vaccine recipe
The U.K. parliamentary report comes amid frustration with the timetable for a formal public inquiry into the government’s response to COVID-19, which Johnson says will start next spring.
Lawmakers said their inquiry was designed to uncover why Britain performed “significantly worse” than many other countries during the early days of the pandemic so that the U.K. could improve its response to the ongoing threat from COVID-19 and prepare for future threats.
The 150-page report is based on testimony from 50 witnesses, including former Health Secretary Matt Hancock and former government insider Dominic Cummings. It was unanimously approved by 22 lawmakers from the three largest parties in Parliament: the governing Conservatives and the opposition Labour Party and the Scottish National Party.
The committees praised the government’s early focus on vaccines as the ultimate way out of the pandemic and its decision to invest in vaccine development. These decisions led to Britain’s successful inoculation program, which has seen almost 80% of people 12 and over now fully vaccinated.
“Millions of lives will ultimately be saved as a result of the global vaccine effort in which the U.K. has played a leading part,” the committees said.
But they also criticized the government’s test-and-trace program, saying its slow, uncertain and often chaotic performance hampered Britain’s response to the pandemic.
Read: Merck asks US FDA to authorize promising anti-COVID pill
The government’s strategy during the first three months of the crisis reflected official scientific advice that widespread infection was inevitable given that testing capacity was limited; that there was no immediate prospect for a vaccine; and the belief that the public wouldn’t accept a lengthy lockdown, the report said. As a result, the government sought merely to manage the spread of the virus, instead of trying to stop it altogether.
The report described this as a “serious early error” that the U.K. shared with many countries in Europe and North America.
“Accountability in a democracy depends on elected decision-makers not just taking advice, but examining, questioning and challenging it before making their own decisions,” the committees said. “Although it was a rapidly changing situation, given the large number of deaths predicted, it was surprising the initially fatalistic assumptions about the impossibility of suppressing the virus were not challenged until it became clear the NHS would be overwhelmed.”
Trish Greenhalgh, a professor of primary care health services at the University of Oxford, said the report “hints at a less-than-healthy’’ relationship between government and scientific bodies. With COVID-19 still killing hundreds of people every week in Britain, advisory committees continue to debate exactly what evidence is “sufficiently definitive” to be considered certain, she said.
Read:‘Mission 100 Days’ launched to curb Covid during festivals in India
“Uncertainty is a defining feature of crises...,’’ Greenhalgh said. “Dare we replace ‘following the science’ with ‘deliberating on what best to do when the problem is urgent but certainty eludes us’? This report suggests that unless we wish to continue to repeat the mistakes of the recent past, we must.”
Even senior officials like Cummings and Hancock told the committees they were reluctant to push back against scientific consensus.
Hancock said as early as Jan. 28, 2020, he found it difficult to push for widespread testing of people who didn’t show symptoms of COVID-19 because scientific advisers said it wouldn’t be useful.
“I was in a situation of not having hard evidence that a global scientific consensus of decades was wrong but having an instinct that it was,” he testified. “I bitterly regret that I did not overrule that scientific advice.”
Bangladesh unlocks tourism
After a gap of nearly five months, tourist places in Bangladesh finally reopened on Thursday.
The move comes days after the Bangladesh government had eased Covid-19 lockdown restrictions on the movement of public transport services.
However, people will not be allowed to enter the tourist spots without face masks and everyone will have to follow all Covid-safety protocols, as per a government order.
Read:Bangladesh allows resumption of all public transport services from Aug 19
In Rangamati, locals heaved a sigh of relief as they got the opportunity to restart their livelihoods with the reopening of hotels, motels, restaurants and tourist spots in the district.
Local people dependent on the tourists said they would be able to overcome the losses caused by the closure. As per an estimate of the Rangamati Chambers of Commerce and Industry, the tour operators suffered a cumulative loss of Tk 2.15 crore.
Pre-lockdown, Rangamati Hanging Bridge, Polwell Park, Rangamati Sishu Park, Happy Island, Subolong Fountain, Echo Village and all other tourist sports remained abuzz with tourists the entire year.
Bangladesh allows resumption of all public transport services from Aug 19
To keep the wheels of the economy rolling during the ferocious second wave of the pandemic, the government Thursday allowed the resumption of all public transport services from August 19.
All tourist spots, community centres, resorts and recreation facilities can also reopen but with 50% capacity from August 19 and following all Covid-safety protocols, the Cabinet division said in a notification.
Read: Covid-19: Bangladesh announces new restriction rules
The latest directive will remain in force until further orders, according to the Cabinet division.
Earlier, the government had allowed only half of the public transport vehicles to ply on the roads, following all health protocols. Moreover, it was silent on the reopening of the tourist spots and community centres.
According to the latest notification, all modes of public transport, including those of road, river and railways can restart operations following all health protocols.
Use of masks and social distancing will be mandatory everywhere. And legal action will be taken against violators, be it individuals or organisations, according to the government. The authorities concerned have been asked to take necessary steps in this regard.
Bangladesh was put under the “strict” lockdown on July 23 barring people from leaving their homes except for essential reasons.
Read: Bangladesh eases lockdown, but Delta variant ready to hit freedom
Scheduled to end on August 5, it was later extended to August 10.
Sense of normalcy in Dhaka as snarls return
Life is returning to normal in national capital Dhaka, with the Bangladeshi government easing the Covid lockdown curbs from Wednesday.
Almost all factories, offices, shopping malls and standalone outlets reopened in Dhaka this morning, strictly adhering to all Covid-safety protocols.
Read: Lockdown breaches: 198 arrested in Dhaka on the last day
Public transport services also resumed operations in the morning. Several city buses were seen plying on a number of busy stretches and ferrying passengers with 50 percent of their seating capacity.
Such was the morning rush that several areas of the city witnessed traffic snarls, giving commuters a harrowing time on the roads. However, the inter-district buses entering or exiting the city were fewer than pre-Covid days.
Besides, train and launch services also resumed services across the country, keeping 50 percent of the seats empty.
Abu Raihan Mohammad Saleh, joint commissioner (traffic north) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, said, “Traffic jams in some areas were due to the rise in the number of vehicles on the roads."
Commuters experienced snarls between 8 am and 10.30 am in different areas of the city -- Technical point, Mirpur, Shyamoli, Asadgate, Banani, Amtoli and Mohakhali intersection to name a few, Abu added.
Lockdown breaches: 198 arrested in Dhaka on the last day
Police arrested 198 more people in Dhaka on Tuesday for violating lockdown restrictions on the 19th and last day of the countrywide lockdown aimed at reducing the Covid-19 spread.
The arrestees failed to show any valid reason for being out on the streets, said DMP Additional Deputy Commissioner (Media) Iftekharul Islam.
Meanwhile, mobile courts collected Tk 47,250 in fines from 52 people.
Also, the Traffic Division collected Tk 11,47,500 as penalties from 518 vehicles for violating lockdown restrictions.
READ: Bangladesh eases lockdown, but Delta variant ready to hit freedom
Dhaka city’s roads were seen flooded with private vehicles on the last day of lockdown as the city dwellers redefined its rules.
Traffic inspector Asaduzzaman said: “As today is the last day of the strict lockdown, the movement of people and vehicles was higher than the other days. However, the law enforcement agencies are performing their duties with sincerity.”
The mobile courts, led by the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP), were seen slapping fines and arresting people who failed to show valid reasons for outing.
Besides, a number of shops were seen open in different alleys.
On August 8, the government decided to ease the ongoing nationwide lockdown allowing shops, factories and offices to be reopened from August 11.
READ: Lockdown breaches: 251 arrested in Dhaka on day 18
It also issued a few guidelines to follow in different sectors and people’s movements and gatherings.
Bangladesh eases lockdown, but Delta variant ready to hit freedom
Many people are overjoyed as the government is going to partly lift the prolonged lockdown, aiming to maintain a balance between the life and the livelihood.
But health experts are worried that the move may worsen the coronavirus pandemic as the Delta variant has already engulfed the country.
They said the restrictions are going to be relaxed when the country has been seeing over 200 deaths a day for the last three weeks. The caseload is also on the rise.
Also read: Govt eases lockdown from Aug 11 with some guidelines to follow
Bangladesh recorded 166 Covid deaths and 6,364 cases when the lockdown was imposed on July 23 and the country witnessed 264 deaths and 11,164 cases on the 20th day of lockdown (Tuesday) as the deadly Delta variant continues to wreak havoc.
Lockdown breaches: 251 arrested in Dhaka on day 18
Police arrested 251 more people in Dhaka on Monday for violating lockdown restrictions on the 18th day of the countrywide lockdown aimed at reducing the Covid-19 spread.
The arrestees failed to show any valid reason for being out on the streets, said DMP Additional Deputy Commissioner (Media) Iftekharul Islam.
Meanwhile, mobile courts collected Tk 74,150 in fines from 102 people.
Also read: Govt may impose tough lockdown if situation deteriorates: Quader
Also, the Traffic Division collected Tk 10,45,000 as penalties from 468 vehicles for violating lockdown restrictions.
The number of vehicles and people on the city’s streets were comparatively higher on Monday than the previous day.
Also read: Govt eases lockdown from Aug 11 with some guidelines to follow