Category: General

Shanghai authorities say they will take some major steps Wednesday toward reopening China’s largest city after a two-month COVID-19 lockdown that has throttled the national economy and largely bottled up millions of people in their homes.

Full bus and subway service will be restored as will basic rail connections with the rest of China, Vice Mayor Zong Ming said Tuesday at a daily news conference on the city’s outbreak.

“The epidemic has been effectively controlled,” she said, adding that the city will start the process of fully restoring work and life on Wednesday.

Schools will partially reopen on a voluntary basis for students and shopping malls, supermarkets, convenience stores and drug stores will continue to reopen gradually with no more than 75% of their total capacity. Cinemas and gyms will remain closed.

Officials, who set June 1 as the target date for reopening earlier in May, appear ready to accelerate what has been a gradual easing in recent days. A few malls and markets have reopened, and some residents have been given passes allowing them out for a few hours at a time. In online chat groups, some expressed excitement about the prospect of being able to move about freely in the city for the first time since the end of March, while others remained cautious given the slow pace and stop-and-go nature of opening up so far.

Workers were taking down some of the barriers that had been erected along sidewalks during the lockdown. A few people walked or biked on the still mostly empty streets. One man was getting his hair cut on the sidewalk, as a worker or volunteer in full protective clothing looked on.

More than half a million people in the city of 25 million won’t be allowed out Wednesday — 190,000 who are still in lockdown areas and another 450,000 who are in control zones because of recent cases.

Shanghai recorded 29 new cases on Monday, continuing a steady decline from more than 20,000 a day in April. Li Qiang, the top official from China’s ruling Communist Party in Shanghai, at a meeting Monday was quoted as saying that the city had made major achievements in fighting the outbreak through continuous struggle.

The success came at a price. Authorities imposed a suffocating citywide lockdown under China’s “zero-COVID” strategy that aims to snuff out any outbreak with mass testing and isolation at centralized facilities of anyone who is infected.

However, the latest economic data showed that Chinese manufacturing activity started to rebound in May as the government rolled back some containment measures.

Schools will reopen for the final two years of high school and the third year of middle school, but students can decide whether to attend in person. Other grades and kindergarten remain closed.

Outdoor tourist sites will start reopening Wednesday, with indoor sites set to follow in late June, the Shanghai tourism authority said. Group tours from other provinces will be allowed again when the city has eliminated all high- and medium-risk pandemic zones.

Beijing, the nation’s capital, further eased restrictions Tuesday in some districts. The city imposed limited lockdowns, but nothing near a citywide level, in a much smaller outbreak that appears to be on the wane. Beijing recorded 18 new cases on Monday.

Source: Voice of America

The Regional Director for the United Nations Population Fund for Asia and the Pacific, Björn Andersson, says investments in menstrual health and comprehensive sexuality education will remove taboos and put sustainable solutions in the hands of people who menstruate.

Across the region, the unique needs of women and girls are often overlooked – particularly their menstrual health. When a disaster hits, people who menstruate often do not have access to menstrual materials such as menstrual pads and underwear in a context that lacks clean water and waste disposal systems.

Stigma, cultural practices and restrictions placed on people who menstruate further exacerbate an already difficult situation. In every country in the region, we need to remove remaining taboos on menstruation so we can contribute to an inclusive dialogue about how menstrual health can be improved before disasters occur.

Menstrual health and hygiene is an essential body of knowledge for governments and communities to ensure better systems to support people who menstruate. Worldwide, seventy percent of natural disasters occur in Asia and the Pacific, and climate change is intensifying extreme storms, floods and droughts. We know that disasters will cause displacement and in an emergency context there is a loss of privacy and safety, so people who menstruate face greater barriers managing their menstruation.

The menstrual cycle is at the center of women’s and girls’ reproductive health as the biological process is at the centre of reproduction and controls many of the body’s hormones, resulting in a period or pregnancy. Understanding one’s menstrual cycle is an important precondition to make an informed decision about family planning and contraceptive methods and understand one’s fertility and reproductive health.

In fundamental ways, menstruation forms the starting point to a reproductive health life journey. For this reason, menstrual health needs to be accessible in all schools and discussed as a public health priority.

With our partners, UNFPA supports women and girls to uphold their dignity by ensuring access to menstrual supplies like disposable and reusable menstrual pads, menstrual cups, underwear, and supportive materials such as soap and buckets for washing.

Before, during and after disasters, we need to expand our work with water, sanitation and hygiene sector partners to ensure that everyone has access to safe latrines and washing facilities with water and soap for changing, washing, and drying menstrual materials.

The lack of knowledge and education on menstrual health, cultural beliefs around menstruation and anxiety around blood stains can prevent people who menstruate from actively participating in their communities and going to school. We work with communities to dispel harmful cultural and social norms, taboos and misconceptions around menstruation.

Much greater collective efforts are needed to ensure that all people who menstruate can access information that empowers them to manage their menstruation with dignity. Comprehensive sexuality education needs to be scaled up, as it contributes to body literacy and is an important part of sexual and reproductive health. Despite progress in this area, there is more to be done to deliver accurate reproductive health information.

Through decades of constructive partnerships and frontline interventions like the distribution of dignity kits, UNFPA has delivered on our commitment to menstrual health and hygiene. Listening to women, girls and marginalized groups to tailor activities and interventions to meet their unique needs is the key to UNFPA’s effectiveness.

Consultations have led to customised menstrual health and hygiene kits and dignity kits containing menstrual supplies for women and girls with disabilities in the Pacific, for transgender men in Bangladesh, and for adolescent girls in Indonesia, Myanmar, Nepal and Bangladesh.

By ensuring safe and effective means of managing menstruation, UNFPA is supporting women, girls and others who menstruate to exercise their fundamental right to their overall health and wellbeing. Today, on Menstrual Hygiene Day, we call on leaders to expand long term investments on this critical issue. Only by working together, can we empower everyone who menstruates to access their rights and reach their full potential.

Source: Lao News Agency

The Department of Communicable Diseases Control, Ministry of Health will work with Save the Children International in Laos to implement the project Pilot Implementation of the WMP Wolbachia Method Using wMel Strain to reduce Dengue Transmission in 32 villages of Chanthabouly and Xaysettha Districts, Vientiane.

On Friday at Lao Plaza Hotel, the Memorandum of Understanding concerning this pilot implementation was co-signed by Director General of the Department of Communicable Diseases Control, Ministry of Health Dr Rattanaxay Phetsouvanh and Deputy Country Director of Save the Children International in Laos Mr. Eli Mechanic, in the presence of representatives from the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Representatives from provincial and district administrative offices, also witnessed the signing of the MOU. This pilot implementation, which will be supervised by the Ministry of Health and implemented by Save the Children International in Laos, is funded by the World Mosquito Programme in Australia.

The main objective of the programme is to contribute to the reduction of dengue transmission in the Lao PDR and support the national goals outlined in the Dengue National Action Plan on sustainable dengue prevention and control through a comprehensive integrated approach, with the main activities will be to raise awareness through communication and encourage community participation, as well as to establish a plan for the release of Wolbachia-carrying mosquitoes and to conduct the field monitoring during and after the release period in the target areas of 32 villages of Chanthabouly and Saysettha Districts, Vientiane.

Source: Lao News Agency

Children in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea follow President Kim Jong Un of the State Affairs, calling him father.

Regarding bringing up children, the future of the country, to be healthy and stout as the most important of the state affairs, Kim Jong Un puts his heart and soul into creating best conditions for taking care of them.

The greater difficulty the country experiences, the greater care he bestows on them. As he shapes the future of his country on the strength of this affection, the children grow up happily, receiving clothes, school things and various nourishing foods free of charge according to season.

The fact that the children cannot but call him father is a trait unique to Korea, and this guarantees its bright future.

Source: Lao News Agency

A Beijing man has landed thousands of his neighbors in quarantine after he ignored an order to stay at home and later tested positive for COVID-19, prompting a police investigation.

The Chinese capital has ordered hundreds of thousands of residents to stay home over the past five weeks to curb its largest coronavirus outbreak since the start of the pandemic.

Officials said Sunday that a man in his 40s surnamed Sun had failed to follow a requirement to isolate that he was given after visiting a shopping center considered high risk.

“During the home isolation period he … went out many times and walked in the neighborhood,” said Beijing public security official Pan Xuhong.

Sun and his wife later tested positive, prompting authorities to lock down 5,000 of their neighbors at home and send 250 to a government quarantine center.

It came as virus restrictions started easing in Beijing on Monday, with authorities reopening parks, museums and cinemas and declaring the outbreak under control.

China is wedded to a zero-COVID strategy of hard lockdowns, mass testing and long quarantine periods to wipe out clusters as they emerge.

There are tough penalties for breaking the rules, and Sun is now under police investigation.

Beijing’s omicron-fueled cluster has seen more than 1,700 infections since late April — a tiny number by global standards but troubling for China’s rigid approach to the virus.

Case numbers have dropped sharply in the past week.

“There have been no new cases found in society (outside quarantine centers) for two days,” Xu Hejian, a spokesman for the Beijing government, said Sunday. “The situation is stable and improving … but the risk of a rebound still exists.”

Most bus, subway and taxi services in three of the capital’s most populous districts were running again Monday, and millions were told to return to work.

A handful of tai chi practitioners and locals were enjoying balmy weather in a reopened downtown park.

“I think people are waiting to see whether there will be new cases before coming out in large numbers,” said Zhi Ruo, a government employee who had brought his 5-year-old child out to play.

Shanghai

China’s commercial hub of Shanghai also announced the lifting of more restrictions on Monday, nearly two months after economic activity ground to a halt in a hefty citywide lockdown.

The number of people kept at home has been gradually decreasing, and the municipal government said it would “not restrict the access of residents or villagers into and out of their communities for any reason” from June 1 — except in communities classified as high-risk or controlled areas.

Some 900,000 people across thousands of communities in the city are still in these brackets, according to the state-run China National Radio.

Public transport will also “resume basic operation” from Wednesday, authorities said, adding that taxis would be able to operate normally.

Private cars will be allowed to take to the road again in Shanghai — except for controlled areas — but will still not be allowed to leave or enter the city.

Shops remain closed, as well as most schools.

The city has been gradually easing restrictions over recent weeks, including allowing more residents out for a few hours at a time.

But some have complained of discrepancies between official announcements and relaxed rules being enforced on the ground.

Vice Mayor Wu Qing told reporters Sunday that the city would “eliminate unreasonable restrictions … and abandon the approval system for work and production by enterprises.”

Wu announced a slew of measures to shore up Shanghai’s virus-battered economy, including cutting property taxes, subsidizing gas and electricity for businesses, and ordering banks to lend more to small- and medium-size enterprises.

The city reported 66 infections Monday, while Beijing reported 12.

Source: Voice of America

The Archbishop of Canterbury said Monday he would miss a national service of thanksgiving for Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee after testing positive for COVID.

Justin Welby, who leads the worldwide Anglican communion, said he was “deeply saddened” at missing Friday’s service in St Paul’s Cathedral, central London.

He was diagnosed with mild pneumonia on Thursday and developed coronavirus symptoms over the weekend, and has cancelled all engagements this week.

“However, I will be praying for the queen and giving thanks for her extraordinary 70 years of service to us all,” the archbishop said.

“I will also be praying for our nation at this time of celebration and thanksgiving. May the queen’s example bring us together in unity and care for one another.”

The Church of England’s second-highest ranking cleric, Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell, will deliver the sermon instead.

Buckingham Palace has yet to confirm if the 96-year-old monarch will attend the Anglican service herself.

She has restricted her public engagements in recent months after complaining of mobility problems. She contracted COVID-19 in February.

Two figures set to attend on Friday are Prince Harry and his wife Meghan, according to their biographer Omid Scobie.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex stepped down from royal duties and moved to North America early in 2021. They have visited the UK together only once, after a series of disputes with the royal family.

Source: Voice of America