Seoul tightens restrictions after spike linked to churches

Christians observing health protocol attend a service at the Yoido Full Gospel Church in Seoul on Sunday, as South Korea has reported 279 new coronavirus cases. (AP)
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Updated 17 August 2020
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Seoul tightens restrictions after spike linked to churches

  • President criticizes ‘senseless act’ hampering COVID-19 fight

SEOUL: South Korea on Sunday tightened coronavirus restrictions following the highest single-day spike in cases across the country since March, with a majority traced to public gatherings at churches, schools and restaurants.   

Churches in the capital area continue to be major infection clusters. Worshippers have been blamed for not sticking to anti-virus measures after several of them were seen without face masks, singing hymns in close proximity, and sharing meals.  

“It is a very senseless act that hampers efforts of containing the spread of the coronavirus,” President Moon Jae-in said on Sunday in a Facebook message. “It is a clear challenge to the national disease control and prevention system.” He announced that the government would take “very stern and strong measures,” resorting to compulsory steps if needed.

More than 279 cases have been reported across the country in the past 24 hours, adding to the national caseload of 15,318 infections, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC).  

The number was the highest since March 8, when the country’s tally stood at 367. Of the 279 new cases, 267 were local transmissions and the highest since early March.   

The surge was reported a day after the government reimposed stricter social distancing measures in Seoul and its surrounding province on Saturday to curb the spread of the outbreak.

Under the level two measures, indoor public gatherings are limited to 50 people and outdoor events to 100, while the public can no longer attend sporting events and government-run public facilities are being closed.  

“The spread of coronavirus is very serious for Seoul and Gyeonggi Province as the confirmed cases almost doubled in a day,” Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said in a televised address on Saturday. “We put a priority on stopping the virus from spreading further in the capital area.”

Tens of thousands of demonstrators, led by a Christian sect and conservative groups, took to the streets on Saturday in protest against the president’s left-leaning policies.

Health authorities, however, are worried about the second wave of infections.

“We see signs that cases without symptoms or with mild symptoms, undetected for some time, may have been silently spreading in the local community, leading to outbreaks linked to churches, door-to-door sales, workplaces, markets and schools,” Kwon Jun-wook, KCDC’s deputy director, told reporters on Thursday.  

The government accused pastor Jun Kwang-hoon, who led the demonstration, of breaking a ban on rallies and obstructing investigations into the country’s biggest outbreak in five months.  

According to the KCDC, infections tied to Jun’s Sarang Jeil Church in northern Seoul swelled to 249 as of Sunday, while cases linked to a church in Gyeonggi Province increased to 126.

Besides churches, several clusters in the past week were found at restaurants, cafes and traditional markets where an unspecified number of individuals had gathered.   

Experts said the government’s move was a step in the right direction.

Prof. Eom Joong-shik, of the Infectious Diseases Department at Gachon University Medical Center in Incheon, called for more stringent restrictions to curb the spread of the virus.  

“For the past (few) months we saw the number of COVID-19 cases decrease, but the ‘silent period’ could be the most dangerous time,” he told Arab News. “People have been relieved of their alertness, joining gatherings and events, so we don’t know when and where the so-called silent transmission occurs.”  

Ki Mo-ran, a professor at the National Cancer Center, added that the government should be “more proactive” in testing for the virus.  

“What I’m concerned about is that many of the new patients are the elderly (and) belonging to churches, as the elderly are more vulnerable to the virus,” she said. “In this regard, the government should expand its testing scope to detect and curb the virus spread.”


British politician urges UK to act on Israel as Gaza faces ‘cruel destitution’

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British politician urges UK to act on Israel as Gaza faces ‘cruel destitution’

  • Liberal Democrat Layla Moran, of Palestinian descent, said a critical tone had yet to translate into meaningful policy change

LONDON: A British politician of Palestinian descent has called on the UK government to back its tougher rhetoric on Israel with tangible action, warning that people in Gaza are facing “unbearably cruel levels of destitution.”

Liberal Democrat Layla Moran said that although ministers had recently adopted a more critical tone, this had yet to translate into meaningful policy change.

“I remain frustrated that while the government’s words and tone have changed, in terms of concrete actions, not much has changed,” she said.

Her comments come amid growing international pressure over Israel’s expanded military campaign in Gaza and its restriction of humanitarian aid.

On Wednesday, Hamish Falconer, minister for the Middle East, described Israel’s aid blockade as “appalling,” “cruel,” and “indefensible.”

Foreign Secretary David Lammy also confirmed that the UK was in discussions with France and Saudi Arabia about recognizing a Palestinian state, ahead of a planned international conference in Paris in June.

Moran urged the UK to move forward with recognition, arguing it would “safeguard Palestinian interests and also send a very clear signal to Israel that there are consequences to their actions.”

She also criticized the government for continuing to allow trade from illegal Israeli settlements and for supplying arms to Israel, adding: “They’re still arming Israel when they shouldn’t be.”


Mogadishu suicide bomber kills at least 10 at army recruitment drive

An ambulance is seen near the scene of a bomb attack in Mogadishu, Somalia Sunday, May 18, 2025. (AP)
Updated 18 May 2025
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Mogadishu suicide bomber kills at least 10 at army recruitment drive

  • Dozens of abandoned shoes and the remains of the suicide bomber were visible at the scene
  • Medical staff at military hospital said they received 30 injured people from the blast and 6 of them died immediately

MOGADISHU: At least 10 people were killed on Sunday after a suicide bomber targeted a queue of young recruits registering at the Damanyo military base in the Somali capital Mogadishu, witnesses told Reuters.
Teenagers were lining up at the base’s gate when the attacker detonated their explosives, they said.
A military captain who gave his name as Suleiman described the attack as he had seen it unfold.
“I was on the other side of the road. A speeding tuk-tuk stopped, a man alighted, ran into the queue, and then blew himself up. I saw 10 people dead, including recruits and passers-by. The death toll may rise,” he said.
Dozens of abandoned shoes and the remains of the suicide bomber were visible at the scene.
Another witness, Abdisalan Mohamed, said he had seen “hundreds of teenagers at the gate as we passed by in a bus.”
“Abruptly, a deafening blast occurred, and the area was covered by dense smoke. We could not see the details of casualties,” he said.
Medical staff at the military hospital told Reuters they had received 30 injured people from the blast and that six of them had died immediately.
Government forces quickly cordoned off the entire area.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack and government officials could not immediately be reached for comment.
The attack echoed a similar incident in 2023 when a suicide bomber killed 25 soldiers at the Jale Siyad base, located opposite the Damanyo facility.
Sunday’s attack followed the assassination on Saturday of Col. Abdirahmaan Hujaale, commander of battalion 26, in the Hiiran region, amid local reports of Al-Shabab militant infiltration into government and security forces. 


Building fire kills 17, injures others in southern India

Updated 18 May 2025
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Building fire kills 17, injures others in southern India

  • Fires are common in India, where building laws and safety norms are often flouted by builders and residents

HYDERABAD, India: At least 17 people were killed and several injured in a fire that broke out at a building near the historic Charminar monument in southern Hyderabad city, officials said Sunday.
Several people were found unconscious and rushed to various hospitals, according to local media. They said the building housed a jewelry store at ground level and residential space above.
“The accident happened due to a short circuit and many people have died,” federal minister and Bharatiya Janata Party leader G Kishan Reddy told reporters at the site of the accident.
Director general of Telangana fire services Y Nagi Reddy told reporters that 21 people were in the three-story building when the fire started on the ground floor early on Sunday.
“17 people, who were shifted to the hospital in an unconscious state, could not survive. The staircase was very narrow, which made escape difficult. There was only one exit, and the fire had blocked it,” he said.
The fire was brought under control.
Prime minister Narendra Modi announced financial compensation for the victims’ families and said in a post on X that he was “deeply anguished by the loss of lives.”
Fires are common in India, where building laws and safety norms are often flouted by builders and residents.


PM seeks election win as Portugal campaigning ends

Updated 18 May 2025
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PM seeks election win as Portugal campaigning ends

LISBON: Portugal’s general election campaign ends on Friday for a vote that Prime Minister Luis Montenegro is expected to win, but with no guarantee he can form a more stable government.
Montenegro’s center-right Democratic Alliance (AD) coalition is tipped to win 34 percent of the ballot, ahead of the Socialist Party (PS) on 26 percent, according to a poll by the Portuguese Catholic University published by local media on Friday.
The upstart far-right Chega (“Enough“) party could take 19 percent of the vote — almost the same as it did in March 2024 elections — to consolidate its position as Portugal’s third political force and kingmaker.
Montenegro, as a result, risks finding himself again at the head of a minority government, caught between the PS, in power from 2015 to 2024, and Chega, with which he has refused to govern.
“People are fed up with elections, people want stability,” the premier, a 52-year-old lawyer, said during a final rally in Lisbon as he urged voters to give him a stronger mandate this time around.
Sunday’s early election will be Portugal’s third in just over three years.
It was called in March after Montenegro lost a confidence vote in parliament following accusations against him of conflicts of interest stemming from his consulting firm’s business.
As such, “staying in power would already be a good result” for the prime minister, who took a “calculated risk” in the hope of strengthening his parliamentary seat, political commentator Paula Espirito Santo told AFP.
Opinion polls appear to indicate an AD majority is unlikely but Montenegro could win the support of the Liberal Initiative party, which is predicted to secure 6.4 percent of the vote.


The PS candidate, Pedro Nuno Santos, a 48-year-old economist, has accused Montenegro of having engineered the elections “to avoid explaining himself” about his consultancy firm to a parliamentary inquiry.
“We need a change, a prudent one that will guarantee the political stability which Luis Montenegro can no longer provide,” the Socialist candidate said at a final Lisbon rally on Friday.
Faced with the risk of persistent instability, analysts and voters criticized a political class out of touch with voters who are unenthused by the prospect of another ballot.
“I’ve really had enough of all these political games. They don’t do anything for us,” said Maria Pereira, a 53-year-old saleswoman in a working-class district of Lisbon.
“Normally I vote for the small parties but this time I’m not going to waste my time going to vote.”
But Paula Tomas, a 52-year-old dentist, said Montenegro had won her confidence.
“He has the ability to get things done, but he needs time,” she said at an AD rally, waving a white-and-orange ruling party flag.
Under the Socialist Party, Portugal became one of Europe’s most open countries, but Montenegro’s government has since strengthened immigration policy.
Between 2017 and 2024, the number of foreigners living in Portugal quadrupled, reaching about 15 percent of the total population.
Immigration and suspicions about the prime minister might be fertile ground for the far right.
But Chega has also faced embarrassment, including claims that one of its lawmakers in the Azores stole luggage from airport carousels.
Its campaign was interrupted on Tuesday and Thursday when its president, 42-year-old former football commentator Andre Ventura, fell ill while campaigning and was rushed to hospital both times.
He was resting and will not longer appear at the party’s final rally. Instead he released a video message where he once again called for “an end to corruption and uncontrolled immigration.”
All political campaigning has to stop at midnight (2300 GMT Friday) before Sunday’s poll.


World Health Organization looks ahead to life without the US

Updated 18 May 2025
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World Health Organization looks ahead to life without the US

LONDON/GENEVA: Hundreds of officials from the World Health Organization will join donors and diplomats in Geneva from Monday with one question dominating their thoughts — how to cope with crises from mpox to cholera without their main funder, the United States.
The annual assembly, with its week of sessions, votes and policy decisions, usually showcases the scale of the UN agency set up to tackle disease outbreaks, approve vaccines and support health systems worldwide.
This year — since US President Donald Trump started the year-long process to leave the WHO with an executive order on his first day in office in January — the main theme is scaling down.
“Our goal is to focus on the high-value stuff,” Daniel Thornton, the WHO’s director of coordinated resource mobilization, told Reuters.
Just what that “high-value stuff” will be is up for discussion. Health officials have said the WHO’s work in providing guidelines for countries on new vaccines and treatments for conditions from obesity to HIV will remain a priority.
One WHO slideshow for the event, shared with donors and seen by Reuters, suggested work on approving new medicines and responding to outbreaks would be protected, while training programs and offices in wealthier countries could be closed.
The United States had provided around 18 percent of the WHO’s funding. “We’ve got to make do with what we have,” said one Western diplomat who asked not to be named.
Staff have been getting ready — cutting managers and budgets — ever since Trump’s January announcement in a rush of directives and aid cuts that have disrupted a string of multilateral pacts and initiatives.
The year-long delay, mandated under US law, means the US is still a WHO member — its flag still flies outside the Geneva HQ — until its official departure date on January 21, 2026.
Trump — who accused the WHO of mishandling COVID, which it denies — muddied the waters days after his statement by saying he might consider rejoining the agency if its staff “clean it up.”
But global health envoys say there has since been little sign of a change of heart. So the WHO is planning for life with a $600 million hole in the budget for this year and cuts of 21 percent over the next two-year period.

CHINA TAKES LEAD
As the United States prepares to exit, China is set to become the biggest provider of state fees — one of the WHO’s main streams of funding alongside donations.
China’s contribution will rise from just over 15 percent to 20 percent of the total state fee pot under an overhaul of the funding system agreed in 2022.
“We have to adapt ourselves to multilateral organizations without the Americans. Life goes on,” Chen Xu, China’s ambassador to Geneva, told reporters last month.
Others have suggested this might be a time for an even broader overhaul, rather than continuity under a reshuffled hierarchy of backers.
“Does WHO need all its committees? Does it need to be publishing thousands of publications each year?” said Anil Soni, chief executive of the WHO Foundation, an independent fund-raising body for the agency.
He said the changes had prompted a re-examination of the agency’s operations, including whether it should be focussed on details like purchasing petrol during emergencies.
There was also the urgent need to make sure key projects do not collapse during the immediate cash crisis. That meant going to donors with particular interests in those areas, including pharmaceutical companies and philanthropic groups, Soni said.
The ELMA Foundation, which focuses on children’s health in Africa with offices in the US, South Africa and Uganda, has already recently stepped in with $2 million for the Global Measles and Rubella Laboratory Network known as Gremlin — more than 700 labs which track infectious disease threats, he added.
Other business at the assembly includes the rubber-stamping a historic agreement on how to handle future pandemics and drumming up more cash from donors at an investment round.
But the focus will remain on funding under the new world order. In the run up to the event, a WHO manager sent an email to staff asking them to volunteer, without extra pay, as ushers.