BEIJING/SHANGHAI: China raced to vaccinate its most vulnerable people on Thursday in anticipation of waves of COVID-19 infections, with some analysts expecting the death toll to soar after a loosening of strict controls that kept the pandemic at bay for three years.
The push comes as the World Health Organization also raised concerns that China’s 1.4 billion population was not adequately vaccinated, and the United States offered to help China deal with a surge in infections.
Beijing last Wednesday began dismantling its tough ‘zero-COVID’ controls, dropping testing requirements and easing quarantine rules that had caused mental anxiety for tens of millions and damaged the economy.
The pivot away from President Xi Jinping’s signature “zero-COVID” policy followed unprecedented widespread protests against it. But, WHO emergencies director Mike Ryan said COVID-19 infections were exploding in China well before the government’s decision to phase out its stringent regime.
“There’s a narrative at the moment that China lifted the restrictions and all of a sudden the disease is out of control,” Ryan told a briefing in Geneva.
“The disease was spreading intensively because I believe the control measures in themselves were not stopping the disease. And I believe China decided strategically that was not the best option anymore.”
There are increasing signs of chaos during China’s exit from the zero-COVID policy — with long queues outside fever clinics, runs on medicines, and panic buying across the country.
One video posted online on Wednesday showed more than 10 people, wearing thick winter clothes, hooked up to intravenous drips as they sat on stools on the street outside a hospital clinic in central Hubei province. Reuters verified the location of the video.
For all its efforts to quell the virus in the three years since it erupted in the central city of Wuhan, China may now pay a price for shielding a population that lacks “herd immunity” and has low vaccination rates among the elderly, analysts say.
“Authorities have let cases in Beijing and other cities spread to the point where resuming restrictions, testing, and tracing would be largely ineffective in bringing outbreaks under control,” analysts at Eurasia Group said in a note on Thursday.
“Upward of 1 million people could die from COVID-19 in the coming months.”
China has said around 90 percent of its population is vaccinated and its National Health Commission (NHC) on Wednesday announced it would roll out the second COVID-19 vaccine booster shots for high-risk groups and elderly people over 60 years old.
China reported 2,000 new symptomatic COVID-19 infections for Dec. 14, compared with 2,291 a day. The official figures have become an unreliable guide as less testing is being done in the country.
NHC spokesperson Mi Feng said on Wednesday it was necessary to accelerate the promotion of vaccinations, according to comments reported by state media.
Vaccinations in China have been ramping up in recent days. The latest official data shows it administered 1.43 million shots on Tuesday, well above rates in November of around 100,000 — 200,000 doses a day.
In total, it has administered 3.45 billion shots, the data shows.
But citing low vaccination rates among the elderly, one care home in Shanghai said on Wednesday it was barring visitors and non-essential deliveries as well as stockpiling medicines, tests kits and protective equipment.
“We are racking our brains on how to ensure the safety of your grandparents,” the Yuepu Tianyi Nursing Home wrote in a letter posted on its official WeChat account page.
Beijing has been largely resistant to western vaccines and treatments, having relied on locally-made shots.
Pfizer’s oral COVID-19 treatment Paxlovid is one of the few foreign ones it has approved.
The treatment, however, has only been available in hospitals for high-risk patients, but signs have appeared in recent days that it may soon be available to the wider public. China Meheco Group Co. Ltd. said on Wednesday it signed a deal to import the US drugmaker’s treatment.
China urges vaccines for vulnerable as ‘zero-COVID’ exit turns messy
https://arab.news/nkeax
China urges vaccines for vulnerable as ‘zero-COVID’ exit turns messy
- Beijing last Wednesday began dismantling its tough ‘zero-COVID’ controls
- Pivot away from ‘zero-COVID’ policy followed unprecedented widespread protests against it
A gunman kills 6 worshippers inside a Shiite mosque in western Afghanistan, the Taliban say
ISLAMABAD: A gunman stormed a mosque in western Afghanistan, opening fire and killing six people as they were praying, a Taliban official said Tuesday.
Local media reports and a former president of Afghanistan said the mosque was targeted because it was a place of worship for the country’s Shiite Muslim minority.
The attack happened on Monday night in the district of Guzara in Herat province, said Abdul Mateen Qani, a spokesman for the Taliban Interior Ministry. He said in a post on the social media platform X that an investigation was underway.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, which also wounded another worshipper while the attacker fled. Local media reported that the mosque's imam was among those killed.
“I strongly condemn the attack on the Imam Zaman Mosque,” former Afghan President Hamid Karzai said on X. “I consider this terrorist act against all religious and human standards.”
The United Nation Assistance Mission in Afghanistan also condemned the attack, which it said killed and wounded at least seven people, including a child. It called for urgent accountability for perpetrators and protection measures for Shitte communities.
The Islamic State group’s affiliate in Afghanistan is a major Taliban rival and frequently targets schools, hospitals, mosques and Shiite areas throughout the country.
The Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in August 2021, during the last weeks of the chaotic departure of U.S. and NATO troops from the country after 20 years of war.
Despite initial promises of a more moderate stance, the Taliban gradually reimposed a harsh interpretation of Islamic law, or Shariah, as they did during their previous rule of Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001.
Russia says United States is being hypocritical over ICC and Israel
- US President Joe Biden said last year that the ICC decision to issue an arrest warrant for Putin was justified
MOSCOW: Russia said on Tuesday that the United States was being hypocritical by opposing the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) investigation of Israel but supporting the court’s warrant for the arrest of President Vladimir Putin.
The ICC — which can charge individuals with war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide — is investigating Hamas’ Oct. 7 cross-border attack and Israel’s devastating military assault on Hamas-ruled Gaza, now in its seventh month.
White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre said on Monday the United States did not support the ICC’s investigation of Israel and did not believe that the court had jurisdiction.
US President Joe Biden said last year that the ICC decision to issue an arrest warrant for Putin was justified. The United States has shared details of alleged Russian war crimes in Ukraine with the ICC.
Russia says the warrant against Putin is a meaningless attempt by the West to soil Russia’s reputation and denies war crimes in Ukraine. Ukraine says Russia committed war crimes. Russia says the West has ignored Ukraine’s crimes, a charge denied by Kyiv.
“Washington fully supported, if not stimulated, the issuance of ICC warrants against the Russian leadership,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said in a post on Telegram.
But “the American political system does not recognize the legitimacy of this structure in relation to itself and its satellites,” Zakharova said, adding that such a position was intellectually “absurd.”
The Kremlin has called the issuing of the warrant against Putin outrageous and legally void, as Russia is not a signatory to the treaty that created the ICC.
Israel is not a member of the ICC, while the Palestinian territories were admitted as a member state in 2015.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday that any ICC decisions would not affect Israel’s actions but would set a dangerous precedent.
Israeli officials are worried that the court could issue arrest warrants against Netanyahu and other top officials for alleged violations of international humanitarian law in Gaza, Israeli media have reported.
They said the ICC is also considering arrest warrants for leaders from Hamas.
London police arrest sword-wielding man after reports of stabbing
- Police said the suspect had attacked members of the public and two officers
LONDON: British police have arrested a man armed with a sword following reports of people having been stabbed during a serious incident in northeast London although it was not thought to be terrorism-related, the capital’s police force said on Tuesday.
The 36-year old man was arrested after police were called to reports of a vehicle being driven into a house in the area close to Hainault train station, the Metropolitan Police said in a statement.
Police said the suspect had attacked members of the public and two officers.
“This must have been a terrifying incident for those concerned. I know the wider community will be feeling shock and alarm,” Metropolitan Police Deputy Assistant Commissioner Ade Adelekan said. “We do not believe there is any ongoing threat to the wider community.”
The force said the incident did not appear to be terror-related and they were not looking for further suspects.
“I am being regularly updated about the incident at Hainault Station this morning,” Britain’s interior minister James Cleverly said on X. “My thoughts are with those who have been affected.”
Gunman kills six in attack on Afghan mosque – Taliban spokesman
- Locals say the mosque served the minority Shiite community just south of the Afghan city of Herat
- While no group has claimed the attack, the regional chapter of Daesh is viewed as threat in Afghanistan
HERAT: A gunman stormed a mosque in western Afghanistan and killed six people, a government spokesman said Tuesday, with local residents claiming the minority Shiite community had been targeted.
Interior ministry spokesman Abdul Mateen Qani said that “an unknown armed person shot at civilian worshippers in a mosque” in Herat province’s Guzara district on Monday at around 9:00 p.m. (1630 GMT).
“Six civilians were martyred and one civilian was injured,” he wrote on social media platform X early Tuesday morning.
Locals said the mosque served the minority Shiite community in a district just south of the provincial capital of Herat city, and the imam and a three-year-old child were among those killed.
They also said a team of three gunmen staged the attack, contradicting the official account.
“One of them was outside and two of them came inside the mosque, shooting the worshippers,” said 60-year-old Ibrahim Akhlaqi, the brother of the slain imam. “It was in the middle of the prayers.”
“Whoever was in the mosque has either been martyred or wounded,” added 23-year-old Sayed Murtaza Hussaini.
While no group has claimed the attack, the regional chapter of Daesh is the largest security threat in Afghanistan and has frequently targeted Shiite communities.
The Taliban government has pledged to protect religious and ethnic minorities since returning to power in August 2021, but rights monitors say they’ve done little to make good on that promise.
The most notorious attack linked to Daesh since the Taliban takeover was in 2022, when at least 53 people — including 46 girls and young women — were slain in the suicide bombing of an education center.
Taliban officials blamed Daesh for the attack, which happened in a Shiite neighborhood of the capital Kabul.
Afghanistan’s new rulers claim to have ousted Daesh from the country and are highly sensitive to suggestions the group has found safe haven there since the withdrawal of foreign forces.
Taliban authorities have frequently given death tolls lower than other sources after bombings and gun attacks, or otherwise downplayed them, in an apparent attempt to minimize security threats.
A United Nations Security Council report released in January said there had been a decrease in Daesh attacks in Afghanistan because of “counter-terrorism efforts by the Taliban.”
But the report said Daesh still had “substantial” recruitment in the country and that the militant group had “the ability to project a threat into the region and beyond.”
Daesh chapter spanning Afghanistan, Pakistan and Central Asia claimed responsibility for the March attack on the Crocus City Hall concert venue in Moscow, killing more than 140 people.
It was the deadliest attack in Russia in two decades.
China says Palestinian rivals Hamas and Fatah met for talks in Beijing
BEIJING: China said Tuesday that rival Palestinian groups Hamas and Fatah met in Beijing recently for “in-depth and candid talks on promoting intra-Palestinian reconciliation.”
“Representatives of the Palestine National Liberation Movement and the Islamic Resistance Movement recently came to Beijing,” foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said, referring to the groups by their formal names.
“The two sides fully expressed their political will to achieve reconciliation through dialogue and consultation, discussed many specific issues and made positive progress,” he added, without specifying when the sides had met.
Islamist movement Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip in 2007 after ferocious fighting with its rivals in Fatah, which maintains partial administrative control in the Israeli-occupied West Bank through the Palestinian Authority.
China has historically been sympathetic to the Palestinian cause and supportive of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Beijing has been calling for an immediate ceasefire since the start of the current Israel-Hamas war in October last year, when attacks by the militant group resulted in the deaths of about 1,170 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 34,535 people in the Gaza Strip, mostly women and children, the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory said on Tuesday.
Beijing said on Tuesday the two factions had “agreed to continue this process of dialogue with a view to achieving Palestinian unity at an early date.”
“The two sides highly appreciated China’s firm support for the just cause of the Palestinian people to restore their legitimate national rights,” Lin said.
He did not identify the representatives from Hamas and Fatah who met in Beijing.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for an “international peace conference” to resolve the fighting.
In November, Beijing hosted a delegation of diplomats from Arab and Muslim-majority nations, in which Foreign Minister Wang Yi warned a “humanitarian disaster” was unfolding in Gaza.
