Suspected outbreak of Marburg virus kills eight in Tanzania, WHO says

Suspected outbreak of Marburg virus kills eight in Tanzania, WHO says
The viral hemorrhagic fever has a fatality rate as high as 88 percent, and is from the same virus family as the one responsible for Ebola. (AFP File photo)
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Updated 15 January 2025
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Suspected outbreak of Marburg virus kills eight in Tanzania, WHO says

Suspected outbreak of Marburg virus kills eight in Tanzania, WHO says
  • The viral hemorrhagic fever has a fatality rate as high as 88 percent, and is from the same virus family as the one responsible for Ebola

NAIROBI: A suspected outbreak of the Marburg virus in northwest Tanzania has infected nine people, killing eight of them, the World Health Organization has said, weeks after an outbreak of the disease was declared over in neighboring Rwanda.
The viral hemorrhagic fever has a fatality rate as high as 88 percent, and is from the same virus family as the one responsible for Ebola, which is transmitted to people from fruit bats which are endemic to that part of East Africa.
The WHO said it received reliable reports of suspected cases in the Kagera region of Tanzania on Jan. 10, with symptoms of headache, high fever, back pain, diarrhea, vomiting blood, muscle weakness and finally external bleeding.
Samples from two patients were awaiting testing at Tanzania’s national laboratory for confirmation of the outbreak, WHO said in a statement on Tuesday.
The patients’ contacts, including health care workers, have been identified and were being followed up, WHO reported.
The outbreak in Rwanda, which shares a border with Tanzania’s Kagera region, infected 66 people and killed 15 before it was declared over on December 20.
Marburg virus can spread between people through direct contact or via blood and other bodily fluids of infected people, including contaminated bedding or clothing.
An outbreak in the Kagera region in March 2023 killed six people and lasted for nearly two months.


Germany counts on the US to pressure Russia into a ceasefire, says minister

Germany counts on the US to pressure Russia into a ceasefire, says minister
Updated 18 sec ago
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Germany counts on the US to pressure Russia into a ceasefire, says minister

Germany counts on the US to pressure Russia into a ceasefire, says minister
  • Officials in both the European Union and in the United States are ready to consider more sanctions on Moscow

BRUSSELS: Germany is still counting on the US to pile more pressure on Russia for an immediate ceasefire in its war on Ukraine, Berlin said on Tuesday, despite a call between Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin that did not yield progress in that respect.
“We have repeatedly made it clear that we expect one thing from Russia — an immediate ceasefire without preconditions,” German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said on the sidelines of a meeting with his EU counterparts in Brussels.
“It is sobering to see that Russia has not taken this step, and we will have to react. We also expect our US allies not to tolerate this.”
He added that there was a lot of readiness both in the European Union and in the United States to consider more sanctions on Moscow but did not give any details what additional sanctions might look like.


EU seeks to relax rules on turning away asylum seekers

EU seeks to relax rules on turning away asylum seekers
Updated 25 min 25 sec ago
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EU seeks to relax rules on turning away asylum seekers

EU seeks to relax rules on turning away asylum seekers

BRUSSELS: The EU on Tuesday unveiled plans to make it easier to send asylum seekers to certain third countries, in the latest overhaul aimed at reducing migration to the bloc, sparking criticism from rights groups.
The European Commission said it proposed broadening the so-called “safe third country” concept, which allows member states to “consider an asylum application inadmissible when applicants could receive effective protection” elsewhere.
“EU countries have been under significant migratory pressure for the past decade,” said migration commissioner Magnus Brunner, describing the proposal as “another tool to help member states process asylum claims in a more efficient way.”
Brussels has been under pressure to clamp down on arrivals and facilitate deportations, following a souring of public opinion on migration that has fueled hard-right electoral gains in several member states.
Under current rules, asylum seekers can have their application rejected if they could have filed it in a “safe” third country where they have “a genuine connection.”
This is normally understood to mean a nation where the applicant has lived and worked or has family.
The commission proposal weakens such requirements to include any country that an asylum seeker has transited through on the way to Europe, as long as it is considered safe. This opens the way for failed applicants to be sent there.
The planned reform also says that the safe third country concept can be applied in absence of any connection or transit, if there is a deal between member states and a third “safe nation,” and removes the suspensive effect of appeals.
The change would significantly boost the number of those who could see their applications refused and become eligible for deportation, as many cross numerous borders on their way to Europe.
In April for example, of almost 20,000 people who reached Europe via sea from northern Africa, many came from as far away as Bangladesh, Eritrea, Pakistan and Syria, according to the EU’s border agency.
The proposal needs approval from the European Parliament and member states to become law — but has already triggered fierce criticism.
Sarah Chander, director of the Equinox Initiative for Racial Justice, said the EU was “cynically distorting the concept of ‘safety’ to meet its own repressive ends.”
“It is paving the way for migrants to be removed and deported basically anywhere, putting people in danger,” she said.


Indonesian hospital in northern Gaza nears collapse after renewed Israeli strikes

Indonesian hospital in northern Gaza nears collapse after renewed Israeli strikes
Updated 42 min 37 sec ago
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Indonesian hospital in northern Gaza nears collapse after renewed Israeli strikes

Indonesian hospital in northern Gaza nears collapse after renewed Israeli strikes
  • At least 31 people are trapped inside Indonesia Hospital as of Tuesday morning

Jakarta: The Indonesia Hospital, one of the last partially functional medical centers in northern Gaza, is nearing collapse after days of Israeli strikes on its key infrastructure, the Jakarta-based nongovernmental organization funding the facility said on Tuesday.

The hospital in Beit Lahiya, a four-story building located near the Jabalia refugee camp, was built from donations organized by the Medical Emergency Rescue Committee. 

Like other healthcare facilities in Gaza, it has been targeted by Israel’s new military onslaught on the besieged enclave, in which hundreds of people were killed in the past three days. 

“A quadcopter targeted the hospital’s generators. Two of them were destroyed in the ensuing fire. Our water supply has been disrupted, and people aren’t able to enter or exit the hospital area because there’s a risk of being shot,” Dr. Hadiki Habib, chairman of MER-C’s executive committee, told Arab News. 

At least 31 people were trapped inside the Indonesia Hospital as of Tuesday morning, including eight health workers and bedridden patients. 

The Indonesia Hospital and Al-Awda Hospital are the only two hospitals still treating patients in northern Gaza, Habib added, as Israeli attacks have forced most public hospitals in the area out of service. 

Israel launched a new ground operation, called Operation Gideon’s Chariots, across the Gaza Strip on Sunday, following over two months of total blockade on the enclave after Tel Aviv unilaterally broke a ceasefire with the Palestinian group Hamas in March. 

But Israeli forces have carried out brutal attacks in hundreds of locations across Gaza in the lead-up to the operation, killing hundreds of Palestinians. 

The latest offensive comes as Israel continues its onslaught of Gaza that began in October 2023 and has killed more than 53,400 Palestinians and wounded over 121,000 more. The deadly attacks have also pushed 2 million others to starvation after Israeli forces destroyed most of the region’s infrastructure and buildings and blocked humanitarian aid. 

It was only on Monday that Israel’s military said it allowed five aid trucks into Gaza, though according to the UN, the enclave needs at least 500 trucks of aid and commercial goods every day. 

“It’s very sad and heartbreaking. The Indonesia Hospital is barely functioning. All logistics needs have been blocked by Israel and there are threats against healthcare workers to leave and empty the facility,” Sarbini Abdul Murad, chairman of MER-C’s board of trustees in Jakarta, told Arab News.

The Indonesia Hospital was one of the first targets hit when Israel began its assault on Gaza, in which it regularly targets medical facilities.

Attacks on health centers, medical personnel and patients constitute war crimes under the 1949 Geneva Convention. 

“There is no place left that is safe from Israel’s pursuit,” Murad said. “For the sake of humanity, the international community must pressure Israel to agree to a ceasefire so that we can stop this humanitarian tragedy.”


New EU and UK sanctions target Russia’s shadow fleet of tankers illicitly transporting oil

New EU and UK sanctions target Russia’s shadow fleet of tankers illicitly transporting oil
Updated 41 min 8 sec ago
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New EU and UK sanctions target Russia’s shadow fleet of tankers illicitly transporting oil

New EU and UK sanctions target Russia’s shadow fleet of tankers illicitly transporting oil
  • The 27-nation bloc targeted 189 ships in all, and imposed asset freezes and travel bans on several officials as well as on a number of Russian companies
  • The measures were endorsed by EU foreign ministers in Brussels

BRUSSELS: The European Union on Tuesday agreed to impose fresh sanctions on Russia, notably targeting almost 200 ships from the shadow fleet illicitly transporting oil to skirt Western restrictions put in place over Moscow’s war in Ukraine.
The 27-nation bloc targeted 189 ships in all, and imposed asset freezes and travel bans on several officials as well as on a number of Russian companies. The measures were endorsed by EU foreign ministers in Brussels.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said that while President Vladimir “Putin feigns interest in peace, more sanctions are in the works. Russia’s actions and those who enable Russia face severe consequences.”
Russia uses its ” shadow fleet ” of ships to transport oil and gas, or to carry stolen Ukrainian grain. The EU has now targeted almost 350 of the ships in total.
The new measures are not obviously linked to Russian delays in agreeing to a ceasefire. Work on the measures began in the days after the last package was finalized three months ago.
Ukrainian officials have said that the shadow fleet involves around 500 aging ships of uncertain ownership and safety practices that are dodging sanctions and keeping the oil revenue coming.
Ratings agency S&P Global and the Kyiv School of Economics Institute, a think tank, have put the number at over 400 ships that can transport oil, or products made from crude such as diesel fuel and gasoline.
Vessels from the shadow fleet have also come under suspicion of damaging undersea cables, particularly in the Baltic Sea. Finnish police on Dec. 26 seized the Eagle S, a tanker they said was part of the dark fleet, on suspicion it used its anchor to damage the Estlink 2 undersea power cable that supplies electricity from Finland to Estonia.
The EU also said that it targeted people and companies, including an insurer, that make it possible for the shadow fleet to operate, hitting interests in the United Arab Emirates, Turkiye and Hong Kong.
In parallel, the UK targeted the shadow fleet in a raft of 100 new sanctions that it said are aimed at “ramping up pressure” on the Kremlin.
In a statement Tuesday, Britain’s Foreign Office said the sanctions will hit entities supporting Russia’s military, energy exports and information war, as well as financial institutions helping to fund its war against Ukraine.
It added that the sanctions will target the supply chains of Russian weapons, including Iskander missiles which have been fired into civilian areas in Ukraine during the war. The UK will also sanction 18 more ships in the “shadow fleet” carrying Russian oil.
“Putin’s latest strikes once again show his true colors as a warmonger,” Foreign Secretary David Lammy said. “We urge him to agree a full, unconditional ceasefire right away so there can be talks on a just and lasting peace.”
The EU has slapped several rounds of sanctions on Russia since President Vladimir Putin ordered his troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022. Around 2,400 officials and “entities” — often government agencies, banks and organizations — have been hit.


Indian doctors urge vigilance as COVID-19 cases rise

Health workers take part in a mock drill to check preparations for the COVID-19 facilities at a hospital in Prayagraj.
Health workers take part in a mock drill to check preparations for the COVID-19 facilities at a hospital in Prayagraj.
Updated 57 min 16 sec ago
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Indian doctors urge vigilance as COVID-19 cases rise

Health workers take part in a mock drill to check preparations for the COVID-19 facilities at a hospital in Prayagraj.
  • Health authorities say ‘situation under control’ in India as infection rates surge in Asia
  • India was one of worst-hit countries during pandemic in 2021

NEW DELHI: Indian doctors are calling for vigilance over a recent rise in COVID-19 cases in the country, as a new wave of infections is spreading in parts of Asia, especially Hong Kong and Singapore.

The new spread of the virus that a few years ago brought the world to a standstill has been linked to JN.1, a highly transmissible subvariant of the Omicron strain of the COVID-19 virus. It emerged in late 2023 and spread globally through early 2024, becoming one of the dominant variants in many countries.

As COVID-19 cases surged in Southeast and East Asia, India’s health authorities held an expert meeting on Monday.

It concluded that “the current COVID-19 situation in India remains under control,” as the Ministry of Health reported only 257 active COVID-19 cases nationwide and “almost all of these cases are mild, with no hospitalization required,” officials told the Press Trust of India.

Kerala has recorded the highest infection numbers, followed by Maharashtra, and Tamil Nadu.

The actual number of cases, however, was likely to be much higher, as coronavirus testing is not being conducted regularly.

“What we have is called multiplex PCR, which tests for multiple organisms, including COVID. That’s why we are catching these patients,” Dr. Atul Kakar, of Internal Medicine at the Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in Delhi, told Arab News.

“All these cases which we have seen, they are like a normal viral infection itself … We need to be vigilant, but it’s not to create panic.”

In 2021, India was one of the worst-hit countries during the COVID-19 pandemic. At its peak, health authorities recorded over 400,000 new cases per day.

Hospitals across many states were overwhelmed with patients and faced severe shortages of oxygen supplies, hospital beds, ventilators, and critical medicines.

The World Health Organization estimates that 4.7 million deaths in India were directly and indirectly related to COVID-19.

While the prevalent virus variant behind the current spike in Asia spreads quickly, the type of infection seen in India appears to be showing that it is less severe than the one that wreaked havoc in 2021.

“Fortunately, it is mostly an upper respiratory infection. Only people with immunodeficiency, severe comorbid disease, old age, on steroids, on cancer therapy will have more severe disease,” Dr. Jacob John, renowned virologist and retired professor at the Christian Medical College, Vellore, told Arab News.

“We always have to be alert about all respiratory infections ... particularly senior citizens or anybody with any chronic lung, chronic heart, chronic kidney diseases, and on steroid therapy, immunosuppressed. They should all wear a good mask.”