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Delta variant wreaking havoc on viral Indonesia - Asia Times
▻https://asiatimes.com/2021/06/delta-variant-wreaking-havoc-on-viral-indonesia

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Delta variant wreaking havoc on viral Indonesia
JAKARTA – The Indonesian government may have prevented tens of millions of people from returning to their hometowns in the immediate aftermath of the Ramadhan fasting month, but once the restriction was lifted in mid-May it could do little to stop the inevitable floodtide that followed.The consequences of that are now being felt following a dramatic rise in Covid-19 infections from a plateau of 5,500 daily cases in early June to 15,508 on June 23, similar to what happened following the Christmas-New Year holidays.It is the highest single-day rise since the pandemic hit the country in February last year, with the number of deaths rising by more than 100 a day over the last three weeks to 55,544 and a positivity rate now recorded at 49%.
Effective Friday, Hong Kong has banned all flights from Indonesia, placing the country on its extremely high-risk list, or Group A1, alongside Brazil, India, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines and South Africa. The latest outbreak has included a large number of cases of the so-called Delta variant, which health experts say is more transmittable than the original Covid-19 strain and was responsible for a huge increase in infections across India in recent months.So far, the majority of cases have been in Central Java, where the local government has designated 13 districts and cities as red zones, including the provincial capital of Semarang and its surrounding area.
In the worst-hit district of Kudus, scores of stricken health workers recently injected with the Sinovac vaccine have all recovered quickly, encouraging news for a country that is relying heavily on China for its early vaccine rollout.

#Covid-19#migration#migrant#sante#indonesie#variant#inde#nepal#pakistan#bresil#philippines#afriquedusud#inde#frontiere#circulation#contamination#java

HK eases quarantine rules for summer travelers - Asia Times
▻https://asiatimes.com/2021/06/hk-eases-quarantine-rules-for-summer-travelers

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HK eases quarantine rules for summer travelers
Health experts warn that reducing the quarantine period from 21 to seven days may lead to virus outbreak in Hong Kong. Fully vaccinated Hong Kong residents will be allowed to be quarantined for seven days instead of 14 when returning from tourist destinations such as Thailand and Europe from June 30. Foreigners who have Covid-19 antibodies will also be required to bisolated for only one week when entering the city by the end of July, according to the special administrative region government. They will have to reserve a hotel room for 14 days and undergo a Covid-19 antibody test on the second or third day after their arrival. If the result is positive, they can leave the designated hotel a week earlier. The new rules will only be applied to people arriving from Group B and C specified places or high and medium-risk places such as France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Singapore, Taiwan and mainland China. Travelers from Group A1 specified places or extremely high-risk places such as Brazil, India and the Philippines, and Group A2 specified places or very high-risk places such as Ireland and Indonesia will be quarantined for 21 days.

#Covid-19#migrant#migration#hongkong#sante#circulation#frontiere#vaccination#tourisme#thailande#europe#quarantaine#test

A global call to support refugees from Myanmar - Asia Times
▻https://asiatimes.com/2021/06/a-global-call-to-support-refugees-from-myanmar

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A global call to support refugees from Myanmar. The UN marked World Refugee Day on Sunday, but the global community is still doing too little for those fleeing Myanmar. Sunday, June 20, marked the United Nations’ World Refugee Day, a time to focus on refugees worldwide, applaud their courage, and highlight their contributions. This year’s theme, “Heal, Learn, Shine,” recognizes the challenges of Covid-19, the need to uphold the right to education, and how refugees persevere despite the challenges they face.
According to the UN, there are more than 1.1 million refugees from my home country of Myanmar, making it one of the top five source countries of refugees worldwide. While many were able to celebrate World Refugee Day, those forced to flee Myanmar continue to witness mass atrocities.
As the number of people fleeing the Myanmar military’s violence has only increased since the coup, seeking refuge in Thailand has proved increasingly difficult for ethnic-minority refugees as Thai officials fear the spread of Covid-19 and strictly police their borders.
Estimates are that in March and April, close to 3,000 Karen internally displaced persons (IDPs) crossed the Salween River to seek refuge in Thailand, only to be held by Thai officials until conditions were deemed secure enough to turn them away. Similarly, more than 100,000 Karenni civilians escaping conflict in their home state were met with force at the Thai border, where officials attempted to push back thousands. Safety and security for refugees are rare, even when they are accepted by host countries. Refugees are uniquely affected by a number of factors, and are being disproportionately impacted by Covid-19.Often crammed into tight living situations with inadequate hygiene facilities, the ability to escape Covid-19’s grip is almost impossible for Myanmar’s refugees. With more than a million Rohingya refugees living in Bangladesh, there have been estimates of more than 1,300 cases of Covid-19 in the camps. Vaccine supplies are also far from refugees’ reach – as of June 1, no Covid-19 vaccines had been distributed in Cox’s Bazar. Education remains unavailable to refugees from Myanmar and across the diaspora in Bangladesh, India, Thailand and Malaysia. While some children are able to attend small, community-run schools, the general lack of educational opportunities forces entire generations from Myanmar to face their future unprepared.

#Covid-19#migrant#migration#myanmar#rohingya#karen#refugie#camp#personnedeplacee#sante#vulnerablite#education#vaccination#securite

New cluster exposes loophole in HK quarantine - Asia Times
▻https://asiatimes.com/2021/06/new-cluster-exposes-loophole-in-hk-quarantine

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New cluster exposes loophole in HK quarantine. A cluster of three Covid cases break a 42-day streak of zero new untraceable local infections in Hong KongA cluster of three people who were infected with the Alpha variant of Covid-19 has exposed a loophole in the quarantine system for incoming travelers in Hong Kong. On Saturday, a 17-year-old secondary schoolgirl tested positive for the highly infectious N501Y mutant strain that was first detected in the United Kingdom. It was the first time the variant – labeled by the World Health Organisation as Alpha with a scientific name of B.1.1.7 – had been discovered in Hong Kong.However, her sample tested negative to the E484K and L452R strains, which originated in Brazil and India, respectively.The girl, who lives at Shing Yu House, Tin Shing Court, in Tin Shui Wai, developed a fever, runny nose, headache and loss of smell on June 2. She studies at the Queen Elizabeth School Old Students’ Association Tong Kwok Wah Secondary School at Tin Wah Road and attended a tutorial class at an industrial building at Tsun Wen Road, Tuen Mun.

Citing the results of genome sequencing of the virus, the Centre for Health Protection said the cluster was unrelated to the previously confirmed cases reported in Hong Kong, as well as the recent cases identified in Shenzhen.
Gilman Siu, an associate professor at the Department of Health Technology, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, said the 17-year-old girl’s virus sample had at least 10 mutants different from the previously identified UK variant, showing that the transmission could have gone through several generations.Siu said the patients were probably infected by an incoming traveler due to a loophole in Hong Kong’s quarantine system. Siu said the girl’s cycle threshold (CT) value was 18, while her mother’s was between 16 and 19, meaning they both had a large amount of coronavirus in their bodies. He said the cluster was much more infectious than the Indian engineer, who came from Dubai and triggered a virus outbreak in Hong Kong in April.Infectious diseases expert Leung Chi-chiu said there was an urgent need to review Hong Kong’s quarantine system and break the transmission chain as early as possible because many people would soon return to the city for their summer holidays.Leung said if this cluster triggered a large-scale virus outbreak, it would become the fifth-wave epidemic in the city.However Ronald Lam, controller of the Centre for Health Protection, said Hong Kong was among the top places globally in terms of its strict quarantine requirements. He said people in Hong Kong should take the initiative to get vaccinated, otherwise the territory could suffer from outbreaks similar to those in Taiwan and India.
Tam Yiu-chung, the sole Hong Kong representative in the National People’s Congress standing committee, said the possible “border-reopening” between Hong Kong and the mainland could be delayed by the new cases found in the territory.Tam said if Hong Kong could significantly boost its vaccination rate, it was still hopeful that the border-reopening would be implemented step by step.Presently, people from Hong Kong are required to be quarantined for 14 days when entering the mainland. Under the Return2HK scheme, Hong Kong residents are allowed to return to the special administrative region from the mainland without being isolated.
Since May 21, Guangzhou has reported a total of 80 Covid-19 cases. The Guangzhou Municipal Health Commission said people leaving the city must show proof of a negative Covid-19 test result within the past two days

#Covid-19#migrant#migration#hongkong#chine#sante#variant#reouverturefrontiere#circulation#vaccination#quarantaine#retour#isolement