Global Health Security - The Telegraph

Top IDF commander in aid strike wanted to block humanitarian supplies into Gaza
▻https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/terror-and-security/israel-hamas-war-gaza-idf-aid-strike-world-central-kitchen

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The most senior IDF commander dismissed for his role in the drone strike which killed seven aid workers in Gaza is a settler who signed an open letter in January calling for the territory to be deprived of aid, The Telegraph can reveal.

A senior British lawyer said its contents – including a call for a “siege” of Gaza City – should be considered by the Israeli authorities investigating the killings.

Col (Res) Nochi Mandel, the chief of staff of the Nahal Infantry Brigade, was one of two officers dismissed last week following the incident in which three vehicles belonging to the charity World Central Kitchen (WCK) were attacked by drones, killing all those inside, including three Britons.

An investigation by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) characterised the strikes as a “grave mistake” but concluded there was no intentional harm. “Those who approved the strike were convinced that they were targeting armed Hamas operatives and not WCK employees,” it said.

In the letter, Col Mandel, a religious nationalist who lives in a settlement in the occupied West Bank, called with more than 130 other reserve officers and commanders for the flow of aid into Gaza to be restricted.
People inspect the site where World Central Kitchen workers were killed in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip
The site where World Central Kitchen workers were killed in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip Credit: Abdel Kareem Hana/AP

The letter was sent on January 20 to the Israeli War Cabinet and the IDF chief of staff and implored them to “do everything in your power” not to allow “humanitarian supplies and the operation of hospitals inside Gaza City” following its evacuation.

The idea was to lay siege to the area until the estimated 130 Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza were returned.

“As far as we understand … it is permissible and legal according to the laws of armed conflict, to impose a siege on a certain area, on the condition that the citizens who are in it are allowed evacuation corridors,” the letter adds.

Michael Mansfield KC, head of Nexus Chambers and one of Britain’s leading barristers, said the letter should “absolutely” be considered by those investigating the incident.

“The document is plainly relevant to a particular state of mind,” Mr Mansfield said. “In other words it is not indicating that the target of the Israeli army is primarily Hamas but Gaza as a whole by weaponising aid under siege conditions.

“Those who will inevitably suffer and run the risk of death as a result are bound to be non combatant civilians, medics, women, children, the injured and those who are responsible for bringing aid as with the seven killed.”
An armed Hermes 450 unmanned aerial vehicle of the Israeli Air Force in flight

Inside Wuhan’s failed Covid response – and how the pandemic could have been avoided
▻https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/covid-origins-wuhan-theory-book-dali-yang
À propos de Wuhan: How the #Covid-19 Outbreak in China Spiraled Out of Control, de Dali Yang.

The suspected coronavirus was swiftly confirmed by Vision Medicals, a Guangzhou-based lab, which performed genome sequencing lung fluid from “Patient A”, a 65-year-old man with severe pneumonia and “multiple scattered patchy faint opacities in both lungs” and who was not responding to drugs.

The book notes that “due to the sensitivity of the diagnostic results”, the lab only provided confirmation of the positive test result for a SARS-like coronavirus to the hospital by phone and not in writing.

The team had discovered it was 81 per cent similar to the first SARS coronavirus outbreak.

Screenshots that appeared on social media between an anonymous scientist at the lab, known as ‘Little Mountain Dog’, and her boss showed that they immediately recognised the coronavirus “should be treated in the same class as the plague” for prevention and control purposes.

Yet despite the mounting evidence pointing to potential catastrophe, the local CDC was slow to react.

The growing number of cases were not fed, as they should have been, into the National Notifiable Infectious Disease Surveillance System (NNDSS), created after the 2002-2004 SARS epidemic killed close to 800 people globally.

The system – the largest in the world and a source of national pride – had broken down. Gao Fu, the director general of the national CDC, only learned of the latest Wuhan outbreak on social media on December 30.

Although he swiftly set in motion a series of emergency responses by the National Health Commission and China CDC, the next crucial few weeks were characterised by missteps, censorship, political interests and counterproductive moves that failed to prevent the uncontrolled spread of the virus.

How South Korea avoided a national lockdown
▻https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/how-south-korea-avoided-national-lockdown

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How South Korea avoided a national lockdown
Testing was the key to success, the country’s leading pandemic expert tells The Telegraph in an exclusive interview

On a cold, rainy Monday in January 2020, South Korean commuters in Seoul’s main station hurried as normal to and from train platforms, crossing the packed concourse oblivious to the coming crisis that would engulf their country and the world.

But in a backroom of the bustling transport hub, worried scientists and pharmaceutical executives had arrived from around Korea for urgent talks on how to face the emerging threat of a mysterious pneumonia-like virus now spreading in neighbouring China.

It was January 27, and their quick decision that day to give emergency authorisation to the mass roll out of Covid-19 test kits saved thousands of lives and came to define South Korea’s success in tackling the pandemic.

The contrast with what was going on in Britain could not have been more stark.

On the same day, some 5,500 miles away in London, Matt Hancock, then health secretary, told parliament the risk to the UK population from Covid-19 was “low” and that, in any case, the UK was “well prepared” to deal with any cases.

“The UK is one of the first countries in the world to have developed an accurate test for this coronavirus,” he boasted, pledging that testing could be scaled up if necessary.

By the end of March, as Covid swept mercilessly swept through Britain’s underequipped nursing homes, those promises had already turned to dust.

South Korea was testing five times more people per head of population than the UK, which had plunged into a lockdown and – as the Telegraph’s Lockdown Files reveal – had run dangerously short of tests.

“No one thinks testing is going well,” George Osborne, the former chancellor, told Mr Hancock in a blunt WhatsApp message during the height of the pandemic.

Korea, which has a similar sized but older population to the UK at 52 million, is one of just a handful of countries which can be said to have had a “good pandemic”.

Its death rate of 61.2 people per 100,000 is four times lower than the UK’s, at 244.1 per 100,000, according to data from December 2022. While the UK locked down for at least 164 days, with some degree of variation between the home nations, South Korea avoided nationwide stay at home orders completely.

As for its economy, South Korea’s gross domestic product (GDP) contracted 0.85 per cent in 2020 before quickly growing four percent in 2021. In contrast, Britain’s GDP shrank by 9 per cent over the same year and only returned to its pre-pandemic levels by the first quarter of 2022.

How did South Korea do so well? What was it that marked it out from Britain and so many other western countries?

UK travellers with Indian-made AstraZeneca vaccine barred from holidays
▻https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/uk-travellers-indian-made-astrazeneca-vaccine-barred-holidays

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UK travellers with Indian-made AstraZeneca vaccine barred from holidays
British holidaymakers are being barred from boarding flights after receiving an Indian-made version of the AstraZeneca vaccine that is not licensed in the EU.The Telegraph revealed this month that up to five million Britons had received the version of the jab without being told.
There is nothing wrong with the vaccine, which has been authorised by the World Health Organisation, but it is yet to be approved by the European Medicines Agency and so is not accepted by the EU vaccine passport scheme.Although some European countries have individually agreed to accept the jab, The Telegraph can reveal that Malta, one of the few countries on the Government’s green list, will not.
Steve and Glenda Hardy, 64 and 63, were turned back at Manchester Airport at 3.30am on Friday when they tried to board a flight to Malta, where they were set to visit their son, whom they have not seen for more than a year.
The retired couple from Hull, who received Indian-manufactured doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine in March, were stopped as they passed through the boarding check by staff working for the travel operator Tui.
“We were just gutted,” Mrs Hardy told The Telegraph. “We thought we’d covered ourselves – we paid for PCR tests, downloaded the NHS app and printed off the letter – but we fell at the final hurdle. I feel like we’re in limbo.“We haven’t seen our son since he moved there a year ago. We had our flights refunded by Tui, but that’s by-the-by. Our big fear is that we just don’t know when we’ll be able to go to Malta.”Mr Hardy said: “When we took our vaccine we had a vaccine, we were asked to take them, we took both doses. We didn’t know what we were getting. We trusted the Government on that. Boris Johnson said that there were no Indian vaccines issued in this country. That’s obviously a lie because it’s on our page.
“The problem is the fact that we can’t see our son. We jumped through the hoops... and then we were hit with this. It was just devastating... what the hell are we supposed to do?”The Department of Health and Social Care had previously insisted that no Britons who had received the Indian-made jabs would be negatively impacted.A spokesman said earlier this month: “All AstraZeneca vaccines given in the UK are the same product and appear on the NHS Covid Pass as Vaxzevria. The European Medicines Agency has authorised this vaccine and we’re confident travel will not be affected.”
On Tuesday, the department did not respond to a request to comment on the Hardys’ experience.It comes amid growing fears about the use of vaccine passports domestically after the Prime Minister urged nightclubs and other venues with “large crowds” to adopt Covid certification when they reopen on July 19, while leaving the door open to them becoming mandatory.It has emerged that companies involved in the development of the system for the Government have suggested that the passports could be “redeployed” into ID cards and examined whether they could be used for weddings, funerals and builders attending people’s homes.
Mrs Hardy said she felt let down by the Government, especially after Mr Johnson insisted earlier this month that he could see “no reason at all” why vaccines approved by British regulators would not be accepted in Europe.
“I’m very confident that that will not prove to be a problem,” the Prime Minister had told reporters.Mrs Hardy said: “What’s being done about this? I think this is all going to get swept under the rug… and travel is going to open up to everyone but not to us,” adding that at least three other people were also turned away from their flight early on Friday morning.
The visit was the couple’s third attempt to see their son since he moved, with trips earlier this year already cancelled or postponed.The vaccine batch numbers on their NHS apps were checked by Tui and the couple were told they could not board the flight because the Maltese authorities did not recognise the jab.The batch numbers for the Indian manufactured doses, produced by the Serum Institute of India and known as Covishield, appear on the Covid Travel Pass in the NHS App (4120Z001, 4120Z002 and 4120Z003).The Tui official who turned the couple back suggested the couple try to get a “third jab”, so they each had two doses of an EU-recognised vaccine. As things stand, only their second doses are EU-compliant. It is not currently possible to get a third jab in the UK.The Malta Tourism Authority updated guidance to make it clear that the Indian-manufactured AstraZeneca doses used in the UK could not be used to enter the country. As the UK is on Malta’s red list, anyone over the age of 12 who travels to the country must be double-vaccinated.“Entry will not be allowed if the vaccine batch on your certificate is from one of the following: 4120Z001, 4120Z002, 4120Z003,” said the latest travel guidelines, updated on July 7.
“There is no official timeframe on the EU ban of these batches,” it added.
Some 15 countries, including Spain, Greece and Germany, have said they will accept the Indian-made vaccine.But more than a dozen others have indicated that the Indian-made shots are not eligible for entry – a move that has also sparked outrage across Africa and Asia, where the vaccine has been widely distributed. These countries include France, Italy and Croatia, though Britons can still travel to many of these countries provided they have a negative coronavirus test.A spokesman from Tui said the company was notified of changing entry requirements by Maltese authorities and “customers with bookings were contacted as soon as we became aware”. There is now also a travel alert on the firm’s website.Separately, on Tuesday it emerged that AstraZeneca is researching modifications to its vaccine to reduce or eliminate the blood clot risk.

#Covid-19#migrant#migration#grandebretagne#UE#sante#vaccination#circulation#frontiere#afrique#asie#fracturevaccinale

After escaping abuse in the Middle East, domestic workers’ woes are far from over in this pandemic
▻https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/escaping-abuse-middle-east-domestic-workers-woes-far-pandemic

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Exclusive: Ethiopia tried to silence its own citizens stuck in hellish Saudi detention centres
▻https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/exclusive-ethiopia-tried-silence-citizens-stuck-hellish-saudi

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A document leaked to The Telegraph shows that the Ethiopian government tried to silence hundreds of its own citizens stuck in hellish detention centres in Saudi Arabia and cover-up allegations of horrendous abuse.

The official document, which bears the stamp of the Ethiopian consulate in the city of Jeddah, warned Ethiopians of “legal repercussions” if they continued to upload photos and videos from the detention centres on social media.

The statement warned migrants to stop sharing their accounts of the horrific conditions because it was causing “distress for families and the greater Ethiopian community.”

The damning revelations come after an investigation by The Sunday Telegraph revealed that Saudi Arabia is keeping hundreds if not thousands of African migrants locked in detention centres flooded with raw sewage as part of a drive to stop the spread of coronavirus.

Conditions in the centres are so bad that people are dying of heatstroke, disease or by suicide. Images sent to The Telegraph on encrypted channels have been shared around the world and compared to slave camps.

#arabie_saoudite #migrants

Investigation: African migrants ’left to die’ in Saudi Arabia’s hellish Covid detention centres
►https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/climate-and-people/investigation-african-migrants-left-die-saudi-arabias-hellish

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"L’humanitaire, ce n’est pas ma lutte" - suivi de - "La Tunisie, terre d’accueil… des politiques européennes"

Sophie-Anne Bisiaux est diplômée du master Human Rights and Humanitarian Action, École des affaires internationales de Sciences Po (2017). Membre de l’organisation Sea-Watch qui mène des opérations civiles de recherche et desauvetage en Méditerranée centrale, elle a écrit de retour de mission une lettre à son père : "L’humanitaire, ce n’est pas ma lutte."
Parue sur Paris-Luttes.infos le 20 juillet 2020 : ►https://paris-luttes.info/l-humanitaire-ce-n-est-pas-ma-14189
A propos de Sea-Watch et pour aider TOUS les bateaux, débordés, et pour leur venir en aide aussi financièrement : ▻https://sea-watch.org/fr
Suivi sur twitter : ▻https://twitter.com/seawatch_intl

Début juin, la revue du Gisti "Plein Droit" publiait sa synthèse du rapport conjoint Migreurop-FTDES, « Politiques du non-accueil en Tunisie – Des acteurs humanitaires au service des politiques sécuritaires européennes » (à paraître), rédigé à la suite d’une mission de Migreurop en Tunisie entre septembre et décembre 2019. Sous le titre de "La Tunisie, terre d’accueil… des politiques européennes", elle est à retrouver sur le site du Gisti : ▻https://www.gisti.org/spip.php?article6468

▻https://archive.org/details/humanitaire-pas-ma-lutte

A la fin de la lecture, je mentionne plusieurs choses :

La mise à l’eau d’un nouveau navire de sauvetage, la Louise Michel, affrétée par un riche artiste, et qui utilise la notoriété de celui-ci ainsi que le savoir faire de sa capitaine Pia Klemp, pour venir en aide aux personnes en détresse en Méditerranée. Politiquement très au clair avec sa mission, elle ne saurait être utilisée par des tentatives de récupération : « Je ne vois pas le sauvetage en mer comme une action humanitaire, mais comme faisant partie d’un combat antifasciste », a-t-elle déclaré au Guardian : ►https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/27/banksy-funds-refugee-rescue-boat-operating-in-mediterranean "Les 10 membres d’équipage du Louise Michel ont des antécédents divers, mais ils s’identifient tous comme des militants antiracistes et antifascistes prônant un changement politique radical. Comme il s’agit d’un projet féministe, seules les femmes membres d’équipage sont autorisées à parler au nom de la Louise Michel." C’est pourquoi parler de l’artiste plutôt que de l’action, c’est trahir la mission même de cette équipe.
Suivi de ses interventions sur twitter : ►https://twitter.com/MVLouiseMichel

D’autres navires, qui n’ont pas pour vocation de faire du sauvetage, sont aussi en difficulté. Le 5 août un pétrolier danois, le Etienne du groupe Maersk, a sauvé 27 personnes d’un bateau en mauvais état de marche. Depuis lors, ils se sont vu refuser l’entrée dans un port de sécurité. Ils sont maintenant à la dérive depuis plus 3 semaines : ▻https://www.infomigrants.net/fr/post/26904/23-jours-d-attente-et-27-migrants-a-bord-situation-intenable-et-floue-

Jusqu’à présent, en 2020, plus de 500 réfugiés et migrants sont connus pour être morts dans la mer Méditerranée, et le nombre réel est estimé être considérablement plus élevé.
Pire, les camps installés loin de nos yeux se transforment encore plus en mouroir avec la pandémie Covid. Une enquête vient de sortir sur les condition atroces dans lesquelles sont laissés quasiment pour morts des migrants en Arabie Saoudite : ►https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/climate-and-people/investigation-african-migrants-left-die-saudi-arabias-hellish

Tout ceci relève de notre responsabilité collective.

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Photo : @val_k / ValK.
REVER ?
Repas partagé avec les exilé-e-s expulsé-e-s, Nantes le 28 juin 2018.
▻https://www.flickr.com/photos/valkphotos/42166951745/in/album-72157668531853507

| Série [Exils] : ►https://www.flickr.com/photos/valkphotos/albums/72157646214825739
| Ensemble [Human] : ►https://www.flickr.com/photos/valkphotos/collections/72157632092797423
| Ensemble [fil-le-s de luttes] : ►https://www.flickr.com/photos/valkphotos/collections/72157632096933304

toutes mes photos : ►http://frama.link/valk
toutes mes lectures : ►https://archive.org/details/@karacole
et pour m’aider à rester bénévole & justifier mes activités : ►https://liberapay.com/ValK

#audio #opensource_audio #migration #exils #politiques_migratoires

Why #Brexit and #Covid-19 are set to collide
▻https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/brexit-covid-19-set-collide

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The pandemic is fracturing globalisation, making continents much more prominent again. Ours is #Europe