#bulle

Coronavirus : Australia plans Christmas border reopening | South China Morning Post
▻https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3149646/coronavirus-australia-plans-christmas-border-reopening

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Coronavirus: Australia plans Christmas border reopening;
plans to open its international border by Christmas at the latest, unwinding one of the world’s strictest controls on overseas travel since the pandemic began.Australians will be able to travel abroad, with no restrictions on the destination, once the vaccination rate in their respective home state hits 80 per cent, Tourism Minister Dan Tehan said at a National Press Club of Australia event on Wednesday. “People will be able to freely travel outside Australia with no restrictions” under the national plan governing the country’s emergence from Covid-19, Tehan said. Australians would still be subject to rules governing the countries they visit. The government is exploring opening travel bubbles with several countries to reduce quarantine time, and hopes home quarantine will be operational before Christmas, Tehan said. Meanwhile, hundreds took to the steps of a Melbourne war memorial on Wednesday in a third day of protest
against mandatory Covid-19 vaccinations for the construction sector.

#Covid-19#migrant#migration#australie#sante#pandemie#frontiere#bulledevoyage#vaccination

HK border reopening hopes fade with new outbreaks - Asia Times
▻https://asiatimes.com/2021/08/hk-border-reopening-hopes-fade-with-new-outbreaks

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HK border reopening hopes fade with new outbreaks
Hong Kong is pushing to reopen its border with Macau and the mainland but new virus outbreaks could scupper the plans. Hong Kong’s retail and tourism sectors have become pessimistic about the resumption of quarantine-free travel across the territory’s borders with Macau and the mainland by October after new outbreaks were reported in the region.
The Macau government said Tuesday it received notification from Zhuhai authorities that samples they collected from two Macau residents had tested positive. The couple’s son and daughter were then identified as infected.
Macau’s health authorities said the four were infected with the more infectious Delta variant. They said it was likely that the daughter, who joined a dancing trip with 30 people to fly from Zhuhai to Xi’an in Shaanxi province between July 19 and 24, was the first infected person in the cluster. Her brother and parents later showed symptoms of the illness.
It was said that the plane taken by the daughter on July 19 had arrived from Nanjing to Zhuhai earlier on the same day. Two passengers flying from Nanjing to Zhuhai on that plane previously tested positive.Due to the outbreaks, the Macau government declared a state of “immediate prevention” from 3:30pm on Tuesday and ordered Covid tests for the gaming city of 680,000 people. People must provide a negative Covid test result done within 12 hours if they want to leave the city. The latest outbreak also sparked panic buying in supermarkets as Macau has not seen a local case for more than 400 days.Macau Chief Executive Ho Iat-seng said it was not necessary to shut down casinos for the moment as it was likely that the infected daughter contracted the virus on the July 19 flight. Ho said the girl sat on the same seat where two patients from Nanjing had occupied.
The Hong Kong government also announced that from August 4, anyone who had been in Macau over the past 14 days could not return to the city under the Return2hk scheme, which allows Hong Kong residents quarantine-free entry upon returning to the territory if they test negative for the virus.A 13-year-old Hong Kong girl and her family are being sent to a quarantine camp as she stayed in the same room with the Macau girl during the dancing trip last month.
Separately, a 43-year-old construction worker, who lived in Sham Shui Po in Kowloon, tested positive preliminarily on Tuesday. However, his sample tested negative for the coronavirus on Wednesday but positive for the Covid-19 antibodies, showing that he might have recovered from a previous infection.Chuang Shuk-kwan, head of the Centre for Health Protection’s Communicable Disease Branch, said Wednesday the man was probably a “re-positive” case, but authorities had not been able to find out the exact time of his infection yet.“The man has been undergoing regular testing, his regular testing started from May – although he had one or two tests at the end of March – so one of the possibilities is that he had an infection quite early on, maybe before May or March,” Chuang said.If the man has been infected recently through an unknown source, his case would have broken a 56-day streak of zero new untraceable local infections in Hong Kong.
Since the second quarter of last year, Macau and the mainland have adopted a “zero infections” strategy by implementing tough anti-epidemic measures. As the two places successfully controlled their epidemic situations, they have resumed quarantine-free travel since last September.
Last year, the Hong Kong government tried to maintain local infections at low level and avoided launching severe measures such as citywide tests and large-scale lockdowns. However, such strategy failed to prevent the city from being hit by the fourth epidemic wave between last November and January this year.Since then, the government has locked down infected areas, tightened quarantine measures and banned flights coming from high-risk countries to stay in line with Beijing’s “zero infections” strategy.
Yiu Si-wing, a lawmaker representing the tourism sector, said his sector had previously expected that Hong Kong could reopen its border with Macau and the mainland by October but such hope seemed to have vanished due to the recent outbreaks in the latter two places. Yiu said the previously scheduled travel bubble between Hong Kong and Singapore had burst twice and would probably be unable to resume in the coming few months.
He said among the 1,600 travel agencies in Hong Kong, only 100 to 200 were organising “cruise-to-nowhere” trips while 400 were running local tours. He said a majority of travel agencies were having no income while some of them might go bankrupt if the border between Hong Kong and the mainland could not reopen this year.Yip Kin-ming, a member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and a director of the China Economic and Social Council, said the chance that the Hong Kong-mainland border could reopen in short term had become slim after the Delta variant was spread from Nanjing to a dozen of Chinese provinces in late July.
However, Yip said the two places should continue to push forward the discussion about whether vaccinated people could be allowed to travel across the border with shorter quarantine periods. Health authorities in China on Wednesday reported 71 domestic cases, the highest since January. The country is fighting against the Delta variant by launching citywide tests and locking down millions.Infectious disease expert Leung Chi-chiu said it was right for Hong Kong to quickly remove Macau from the “Return2hk” scheme, so that from now on people who return from Macau would need to undergo home quarantine. Leung said if the situation became worse, returnees from Macau should be quarantined in hotels instead.
“The Macau case does illustrate the fragility of a bubble with the mainland,” Benjamin Cowling, an epidemiologist from the University of Hong Kong, told RTHK. “I know that’s what we are going for. If we can maintain zero Covid for a period of time, if we can get the vaccine coverage up to a higher level, then we have the opportunity to establish a bubble with the mainland with free travel in both directions.” On Tuesday, the Hong Kong government launched several new measures to help boost the city’s vaccination rate. It said Hong Kong would have 70% of its population vaccinated with their first dose by the end of September.

#Covid-19#migrant#migration#hongkong#chine#macau#sante#circulation#depistage#frontiere#confinement#quarantaine#bullesanitaire#vaccination#variant

A Djerba, en Tunisie, le tourisme terrassé par le Covid-19
▻https://www.lemonde.fr/afrique/article/2021/08/04/a-djerba-en-tunisie-le-tourisme-terrasse-par-le-covid-19_6090509_3212.html

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A Djerba, en Tunisie, le tourisme terrassé par le Covid-19

Que c’est triste Djerba quand les touristes ne viennent plus. Dans ce coin longtemps béni de la Tunisie, le spleen emporte artisans, commerçants et hôteliers. Certains tournent en rond dans leurs boutiques ou dans leurs lobbys comme des derviches découragés. Cette année encore, le Covid-19 a empêché les vacanciers du globe de se couvrir d’« or bleu », comme le veut la formule dans ce petit pays du Maghreb, moins gâté en richesses naturelles que ses voisins algérien et libyen. Selon le commissariat régional au tourisme, Djerba et Zarzis – cité balnéaire située non loin de l’île – ont attiré 180 000 visiteurs de janvier à juillet. L’an dernier, la province avait comptabilisé plus de 300 000 vacanciers contre… 1,2 million en 2019.
(...). « En trente et un ans, je n’ai jamais vu ça. Jamais. C’est la catastrophe, soupire Ahmed (prénom d’emprunt), un quadragénaire qui tient avec son frère un magasin de vêtements au cœur de Houmet Souk, dans le nord de l’île. Un jour, tu vends, dix jours tu ne vends pas. » Pour survivre et payer le loyer du local, les deux hommes dépendent désormais des virements que leur adresse leur père installé en France.Le Covid-19 a eu raison d’un secteur vital dans cette partie de la Tunisie et qui représente 14 % du produit intérieur brut (PIB). En 2019, il employait à Djerba 12 000 personnes, et indirectement 36 000 autres, sur les 160 000 habitants que comptent l’île et ses environs, selon le commissariat régional au tourisme. Cette année, les chiffres ont été divisés par trois.
Certains cherchent du travail, d’autres font des extras dans les restaurants ou ont quitté la région ; les plus jeunes – les « harraga » – ont pris la mer pour tenter de rejoindre en bateau l’île voisine de Lampedusa, porte d’entrée souvent mortelle de l’Europe. Loin de la crise sanitaire, économique et sociale qui ronge le pays. Djerba est une terre acquise à Ennahda, comme une grande partie du sud de la Tunisie. Mais le parti islamiste compte aujourd’hui ses soutiens. Le 25 juillet, dans la foulée du coup de force du président Kaïs Saïed, son local situé à Houmet Souk a été brûlé. Mais, pour Hosni Djemmali, le fondateur du groupe Sangho – dont l’hôtel amiral de Zarzis a dû fermer en septembre 2020 –, les racines de la colère sont profondes : « Ennahda, au pouvoir depuis la révolution, n’a rien fait pour le tourisme et a toujours été hostile à cette industrie. L’Etat n’a pas voulu investir et la Tunisie a perdu des parts de marché dans cet univers mondial et ultra-concurrentiel. »
(...) Pour y arriver, il compte profiter du sommet de la francophonie, organisé à Djerba les 20 et 21 novembre, pour commencer à rénover une partie des 139 hôtels (89 sont actuellement ouverts). Les rues de Houmet Souk sont déjà en train d’être goudronnées. « 30 % des employés du secteur touristique sont déjà vaccinés », assure M. Mahouachi, dans un pays où, selon la Banque mondiale, 8 % de la population est complètement vaccinée et moins de 15 % a reçu une première dose. Et, du 4 au 6 août, 2 000 autres doivent recevoir un sérum anti-Covid. Objectif : proposer aux touristes un label « Djerba safe ».
La crise a également poussé certains à changer de métier. C’est le cas de Mohamed Tahbet, 44 ans, dont vingt-cinq comme chef cuisinier dans un trois-étoiles à Zarzis. A Amra Jadida, village situé dans les terres brûlantes du gouvernorat de Médenine, ce père de trois enfants est en train d’arroser son champ. C’est un cousin qui lui a suggéré de s’occuper de ces dix hectares. « J’ai perdu mon emploi en septembre 2020. Quand j’ai commencé à travailler ici en février, il n’y avait rien. J’ai investi une partie de mes économies et je suis devenu cultivateur », confie-t-il.

#Covid-19#migrant#migration#tunisie#sante#economie#tourisme#harraga#emigration#transfert#bullesanitaire

En Haute-Savoie, un gisement de « vacanciers » venus des Emirats arabes unis
►https://www.lemonde.fr/m-le-mag/article/2021/07/25/en-haute-savoie-un-gisement-de-vacanciers-venus-des-emirats-arabes-unis_6089

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En Haute-Savoie, un gisement de « vacanciers » venus des Emirats arabes unis

Cet été, les deux hôtels de luxe d’Annemasse affichent complet. Venue se rafraîchir près du lac Léman, la famille régnante des Emirats arabes unis les a entièrement réservés pour héberger son personnel.Cet été, la famille régnante des Emirats arabes unis a privatisé la totalité des 180 chambres et les restaurants des deux hôtels de luxe d’Annemasse (Haute-Savoie). Un Mercure et un Novotel, du groupe Accor, où logeront le personnel des Al Nahyane, les ministres et une partie du service d’ordre. (...) Annemasse, 35 000 habitants, n’est pas réputée pour son effervescence culturelle. Sa localisation, proche de la frontière suisse et au pied des Alpes, en fait plutôt un lieu de départ de randonnées ou une étape sur la route de Genève et de Chamonix. Les touristes arrivent rarement en masse et encore moins depuis le début de la crise sanitaire. La venue du personnel du clan royal ne semble pas faire trop de tort à la ville.
L’été dernier, pandémie oblige, la royale tribu n’était pas venue profiter de ses villas françaises à Vétraz-Monthoux, à 10 minutes d’Annemasse. Et si, habituellement, le personnel est logé dans des hôtels genevois, cette année les Emiratis ont préféré garder leur suite près d’eux, par précaution. Une grande première. Chaque entrée et sortie de l’hôtel est minutieusement contrôlée afin d’éviter toute forme de contamination. Impossible alors d’imaginer partager l’hôtel avec d’autres touristes. Une bulle sanitaire bienvenue tandis que, en Suisse et en France, une hausse des cas se dessine.

#Covid-19#migrant#migration#france#emiratsarabesunis#sante#bullesanitaire#elite#tourisme#contamination#pandemie

Bye ‘jinxed’ travel bubble, hello ‘air travel corridor’ as Singapore, Hong Kong well placed to reconsider plan: minister | South China Morning Post
https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3139492/bye-jinxed-travel-bubble-hello-air-travel-corridor

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Bye ‘jinxed’ travel bubble, hello ‘air travel corridor’ as Singapore, Hong Kong well placed to reconsider plan: Health minister Ong Ye Kung says the twice-postponed initiative will now go by a new name, with both economies ‘in a good position’ to look at it again. He adds that vaccinated Singaporeans may be able to undertake quarantine-free leisure travel to Europe and the US by the end of the year
Vaccinated Singaporeansmay be able to undertake quarantine-free leisure travel to Europe and the United States by the end of the year, according to the island nation’s health minister Ong Ye Kung, who says Hong Kong and Singapore are now “in a good position” to reconsider their twice-postponed travel bubble.In a Thursday interview with The Straits Times, Ong said he shared the aspirations of residents who hoped to go on holiday by year-end to places where the Covid-19 pandemic
was on a downtrend, though he added a caveat by saying “one thing I learned is that the situation changes every month”.The minister’s remarks follow comments last week from the government’s Covid-19 task force – which Ong co-chairs – that outlined a blueprint for the country to live with the coronavirus becoming endemic.
Hong Kong-Singapore travel bubble: early July review set for quarantine-free scheme amid coronavirus pandemic
11 Jun 2021 Restrictions put in place in May to deal with a surge in cases are currently being scaled back, with the cap on dining in at restaurants expected to be increased from two to five people on July 12. Ong did not specify when the travel bubble between Hong Kong and Singapore would begin, but noted that “both of us are more or less in a good position now and both of us are vaccinating”. “I think this puts us in a good position to relook at some of what we had looked at before,” Ong said. The bubble was initially slated to launch last November before it was postponed due to a spike in cases in Hong Kong.Then, a May 26 start date was indefinitely pushed back when cases surged in Singapore, leading some frustrated citizens to quip that the plan was jinxed.The authorities appear to have taken notice of that sentiment. Ong said in the interview that the arrangement would be called an “‘air travel corridor’ from now as the word ‘bubble’ is a bit of a jinx, I think”.Asked by the bemused interviewer if that would expedite the arrangement’s start date, Ong replied: “We try, whatever works.”
On countries to which vaccinated residents of Singapore could travel without restrictions, Ong said: “I think once [the] trajectory [of a place] is downwards, vaccinations going up, and you go below, say, [an infection rate of] three per 100,000, we should start looking at those countries seriously.”
He named “most of” the European Union and the US as among the places that fit this criteria, though he noted that the number of Delta-variant cases in Britain were rising.The minister also touched on a commentary he and two other cabinet ministers – also co-chairs of the government’s Covid-19 task force – penned last week. The officials wrote that the authorities were drawing up a blueprint for Covid-19 becoming endemic in a plan that might include “multi-year” vaccine booster shots such as those given for the flu virus, a shift away from monitoring daily cases, and a return of mass gatherings such as the country’s annual National Day Parade.

#Covid-19#migrant#migration#hongkong#singapour#UE#etatsunis#grandebretagne#sante#bulledevoyage#circulation#frontiere#variant#vaccination

Covid-19 dans le monde : la Nouvelle-Zélande suspend sa « bulle de voyage » avec l’Australie
▻https://www.lemonde.fr/planete/article/2021/04/23/covid-19-en-russie-plusieurs-jours-de-mai-seront-feries-afin-de-lutter-contr

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Covid-19 dans le monde : la Nouvelle-Zélande suspend sa « bulle de voyage » avec l’Australie. La décision de Wellington a été prise après l’annonce par des autorités d’Australie occidentale d’imposer trois jours de restrictions sanitaires dans les régions de Perth et de Peel.
La Nouvelle-Zélande a suspendu vendredi la « bulle de voyage » qu’elle venait d’ouvrir avec l’Australie, a fait savoir Wellington. Une décision motivée par la résurgence de l’épidémie chez son voisin : la mesure sera en vigueur « dans l’attente d’un nouvel avis du gouvernement ».La décision a été prise après l’annonce par les autorités d’Australie occidentale qu’elles imposaient trois jours de restrictions sanitaires dans les régions de Perth et de Peel dès vendredi, à minuit.Ces nouvelles restrictions ont été décidées « à la suite d’un cas positif chez une personne en quarantaine à l’hôtel et active dans la communauté », ont détaillé les autorités d’Australie occidentale sur leur site Web.L’Australie et la Nouvelle-Zélande, dont les frontières internationales sont fermées depuis mars 2020, avaient inauguré, lundi, cette « bulle de voyage » censée permettre à leurs habitants de se déplacer de part et d’autre de la mer de Tasman sans motifs impérieux ni quarantaine hôtelière.

#Covid-19#migrant#migration#australie#nouvellezelande#sante#bulledevoyage#restrictionsanitaire#quarantaine

Covid-19 : l’Australie et la Nouvelle-Zélande ouvrent une « bulle de voyage »
▻https://www.lemonde.fr/international/article/2021/04/20/covid-19-l-australie-et-la-nouvelle-zelande-ouvrent-une-bulle-de-voyage_6077

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Lundi, les deux voisins des antipodes, qui ont fermé leurs frontières internationales en mars 2020 pour lutter contre la pandémie de Covid-19, ont inauguré un nouvel espace de liberté. Il permet à leurs habitants de se déplacer d’un pays à l’autre sans aucune contrainte.
Devant les bornes d’enregistrement de l’aéroport international de Sydney, lundi 19 avril, Sue Grocott oscille entre rires et larmes. Dans quelques heures, elle atterrira à Auckland et rencontrera, pour la première fois, son petit-fils d’un an. L’Australie et la Nouvelle-Zélande, dont les frontières internationales sont fermées depuis mars 2020, ont inauguré, le matin même, une « bulle de voyage » qui permet aux habitants des deux pays de se déplacer de part et d’autre de la mer de Tasman sans motifs impérieux ni quarantaine hôtelière. « Le début d’un nouveau chapitre dans notre réponse au Covid-19 et pour notre rétablissement », s’était félicitée, le 6 avril, la première ministre néo-zélandaise, Jacinda Ardern.
Les deux voisins des antipodes, qui ont adopté une stratégie de tolérance zéro vis-à-vis du SARS-CoV-2, ont réussi à éradiquer la circulation du virus sur leur territoire et à retrouver une vie normale – sans masques et avec très peu de mesures de distanciations physiques –, mais au prix d’un isolement inédit. Depuis plus d’un an, leurs frontières sont fermées aux étrangers non-résidents et toute personne arrivant sur leur sol est soumise à une quarantaine, obligatoire et payante, dans un hôtel.En Australie, les ressortissants ne peuvent, en outre, quitter leur pays qu’en cas de raisons essentielles, après avoir obtenu une dérogation des autorités. Depuis octobre 2020, Canberra avait ouvert son territoire aux Néo-Zélandais, mais la réciproque n’était pas vraie et Wellington avait maintenu les mesures de quatorzaine pour les « Kiwis » de retour dans l’archipel suite à un séjour sur l’île-continent.
Après avoir maintes fois repoussé la perspective d’instaurer un corridor sanitaire, le gouvernement néo-zélandais a finalement jugé, début avril, que « le risque [était] aussi faible que possible ». Désormais les citoyens des deux pays peuvent se déplacer librement et sans tests préalables. Mais cette « bulle » pourra être immédiatement suspendue si des cas d’origine inconnue sont découverts d’un côté ou de l’autre de la mer de Tasman.
(...)En Nouvelle-Zélande où, en 2019, les Australiens représentaient près de 40 % des visiteurs étrangers, les autorités misent sur cette liberté retrouvée pour relancer le secteur touristique, durement affecté par la fermeture des frontières internationales. Selon leur calcul, le pays pourrait engranger jusqu’à 600 millions d’euros grâce au retour des voyageurs australiens à deux mois de l’ouverture de la saison de ski.Pour Canberra, il s’agit surtout d’une « première étape ». Le gouvernement conservateur rêve d’instaurer d’autres « bulles de voyage » avec d’autres Etats de la région ayant réussi à contrôler l’épidémie de coronavirus, comme Singapour, la Corée du Sud ou encore certaines îles du Pacifique mais, pour l’instant, il estime que les conditions ne sont pas réunies. Le 1er avril, le petit archipel des Palaos et Taïwan avaient été les premiers à inaugurer ce concept. Hong Kong et Singapour ont également entrepris des discussions en octobre 2020.

#Covid-19#migrant#migration#australie#nouvellezelande#sante#bulledevoyage#circulation#frontiere#tourisme#zerocovid

Experts in Singapore wary of rise in mutant coronavirus strains amid plans to relaunch Hong Kong travel bubble | South China Morning Post
▻https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3130159/experts-singapore-wary-rise-mutant-coronavirus-strains

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Experts in Singapore wary of rise in mutant coronavirus strains amid plans to relaunch Hong Kong travel bubble. Health care experts say the trend should be closely watched as the island nation continues to open its borders. They also say the detection of two new local infection clusters in the past week is a sign residents should not let their guard down
Singaporeis facing an uptick in Covid-19 cases amid reports of a rising number of mutant strains circulating overseas, with health care experts saying this trend should be closely watched as the city state seeks to launch a quarantine-free travel bubble with Hong Kong.
Health authorities on Monday afternoon reported 20 new infections, 19 of which were imported. Of the island nation’s 170 imported cases
in the past week, 63 came from India, which is battling a deadly new wave of cases stemming from a new and possibly more virulent variant of the disease.While Singapore has largely brought the virus under control, in recent months it has reported between 10 and 40 imported cases a day as foreigners with work passes and student passes return to the country, along with those on dependent passes.

#Covid-19#migrant#migration#singapour#hongkong#inde#sante#bulledevoyage#variant#circulation#frontiere

Joy, actually: happy reunions fill Auckland airport as trans-Tasman bubble begins | New Zealand | The Guardian
▻http://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/apr/19/joy-actually-happy-reunions-fill-auckland-airport-as-trans-tasman-bubbl
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Joy, actually: happy reunions fill Auckland airport as trans-Tasman bubble begins. Emotional scenes in arrivals hall as hundreds of travellers touch down on first day of quarantine-free travel from Australia
Lisa Tetai warned her son not to take a sick day when he picked her up from Auckland airport. “I thought there might be media there,” she explains.She wasn’t wrong.As she stepped into the arrivals hall on Monday afternoon, Tetai, like hundreds of others who travelled to New Zealand on the first day of what has been dubbed the trans-Tasman travel “bubble” with Australia, was swamped; a flash of cameras, journalists buzzing with anticipation, then, pushing through the crowd, the people she had actually come to see. Cue tears.
“I was supposed to be here for a funeral,” she said. “My uncle was admitted to hospital and I booked the earliest ticket I could get. He didn’t make it. They had the funeral last week, but I wanted to see my son and my grandson.
“I’ve got family all over the North Island and before the pandemic I came back four or five times a year. It has been really, really hard.”
It happened over and over again. Steph Wood was already crying when she walked into the cacophony. So too was her mother, Narelle. Wood had hoped to be back for Christmas last year, but a Covid outbreak in her home city of Sydney delayed the beginning of the long-mooted quarantine exemption for Australian arrivals.

When it was finally announced two weeks ago, she didn’t waste time.

“It was just like, I need to be here as soon as I possibly can,” she said. “I haven’t been back since 2019, I have been counting down the days.”

Narelle was mostly speechless: “It’s just too good to have her back.”

So it went all afternoon. A never-ending stream of emotional airport scenes, as though someone had organised a mass re-enactment of Love Actually’s opening montage. It was hard not to be moved. Not only by the reunions but also by the deep link these two island nations share
Both Auckland airport and the airlines supplying the flights had put a lot of work into manufacturing this media moment – an acoustic band played the same Dave Dobbyn song on repeat all afternoon (Welcome home / I bid you welcome / I bid you welcome) and Jetstar served champagne in the departures lounge – possibly a budget airline world-first – before the first flight to leave Sydney.And for good reason. Monday might have been a day for reunions but there is a lot riding on the bubble. The pandemic has decimated both airlines and the tourism industry. According to Tourism Australia, 8,000 international visitors came in January – a 99% decrease from the year before.For both countries, pulling visitors from across the ditch is a crucial lifeline, particularly as lagging vaccine rollouts have forced politicians to warn other international travel may be some time off.
While the New Zealand prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, said on Monday that her government was exploring options for travel bubbles with other Covid-free nations in the Pacific, it would not look further afield. Similarly, the Australian prime minister, Scott Morrison said on Sunday that Australia was “in no hurry to open those borders” to other countries.
The questions is whether, after the initial flurry of reunions, the bubble between these two countries will offer a genuine economic boon for devastated tourism industries.Pre-Covid, Australians made up about 40% of the international visitors to New Zealand and spent $2.7bn in 2019. New Zealanders spent almost the same amount – $2.6bn in 2019, although Australia’s larger tourism market meant they only made up about 15% of visitors there. Perhaps aware of the political risks to welcoming Australians if there were to be an outbreak – a new poll by Research New Zealand for RNZ found 22% of New Zealanders were on the fence about the bubble and 28% were against an opening – Ardern has warned the high probability of fresh Covid-19 outbreaks meant the travel bubble could be burst at any moment.
Indeed, new arrivals on Monday were warned they could be forced into quarantine in the event of an outbreak. But despite the tough stance, Ardern also seemed to get swept up in the enthusiasm on Monday, saying she was personally experiencing some of the excitement that had greeted the travel bubble. “I, like many New Zealanders, have friends and family in Australia,” she said, including some who were “desperate to return to New Zealand”.
“I know how enthusiastically this has been greeted and I’m really pleased about that,” she said. “It is truly exciting to be able to welcome our Tasman cousins quarantine-free to Aotearoa.”Still, that level of uncertainty could mean that many holiday-makers will delay trips while they wait to see how it unfolds. Tourism NZ acknowledges this, saying its scenario modelling showed it could take until January 2022 for Australia to reach 80% recovery to pre-Covid 19 levels.

#Covid-19#migrant#migration#australie#nouvellezelande#tasmanie#bulledevoyage#circulation#frontiere#sante#economie#tourisme

Hong Kong coronavirus: unvaccinated, locally based cargo flight crews can skip quarantine if flying from ‘low-risk’ countries | South China Morning Post
▻https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/transport/article/3129618/hong-kong-coronavirus-unvaccinated-locally-based-cargo

https://cdn.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/styles/og_image_scmp_coronavirus_generic/public/d8/images/canvas/2021/04/15/7db40d32-ce07-4f3a-9da0-da4399e587e5_a77b997c.jpg?itok=mbB7c07F&v=1618464023

exclusive | Hong Kong coronavirus: unvaccinated, locally based cargo flight crews can skip quarantine if flying from ‘low-risk’ countries
New rules demand though that they remain segregated from local community while overseas; fully vaccinated aircrews, meanwhile, will be allowed to bypass isolation without that conditionCrews from destinations deemed ‘very high risk’, including Britain and the Philippines, will not be exempted even if they have had two jabs
Why is Hong Kong’s coronavirus ‘vaccine bubble’ plan already drawing flak?
Hong Kong’s latest efforts to incentivise coronavirus vaccinations have proved unpopular with some.
Covid-19 contagion among vaccinated individuals is still being studied but the likelihood of post-vaccination spreading is likely to be reduced.
Hong Kong will allow locally based, unvaccinated cargo flight crews to skip quarantine if they have stayed in six Asia-Pacific countries deemed lower risk, while fully vaccinatedaircrews will also be allowed to bypass isolation, the Post has learned.The new policy, seen in a document obtained by the Post, was revealed hours after the government on Wednesday night tightened criteria for banning flights as well as entry rules for passengers from high-risk countries where new coronavirus
variants have been identified.

#Covid-19#migrant#migration#honkong#grandebretagne#philippines#vaccination#circulation#bulledevoyage#risqueepidemique

Paradise cost: high prices and strict rules deflate Palau-Taiwan travel bubble | Taiwan | The Guardian
▻http://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/apr/15/palau-taiwan-travel-bubble-high-prices-strict-rules
▻https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/f0501341a2515c045858669c06653b7907a6cc0c/0_212_3911_2346/master/3911.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-ali

Palau-Taiwan Quarantine Free Travel Starts - 01 Apr 2021Mandatory Credit: Photo by Daniel Tsang/SOPA Images/REX/Shutterstock (11840467d) A woman waits to collect specimen samples for the first flight connecting Taiwan to Palau as Taiwan and Palau start a travel bubble scheme exempting visitors to undergo quarantine. The scheme allows Taiwanese people and Palauans to travel to each country without having to quarantine but gatherings and visits to crowded areas are prohibited whilst self management is compulsory for 9 days upon arrival to their home countries. But a COVID test before boarding the aircraft is required. Palau-Taiwan Quarantine Free Travel Starts - 01 Apr 2021It launched with a presidential escort and the promise of rare international travel to a postcard-perfect tropical island, but the Taiwan-Palau travel bubble has deflated after just a couple weeks, with Taiwanese bookings dwindling to single figures.
Travel agents, consumers and health authorities have blamed the high cost of the tours and the Taiwanese government’s strict rules for returning travellers.The “sterile corridor” of bilateral tourism guaranteed travel between the two archipelagos, which are both otherwise closed to all tourists, on strictly managed, twice-weekly package tours.
The inaugural flight, packed with nearly 100 passengers including Palauan president Surangel Whipps Jr, boded well, but this week China Airlines announced it had cancelled an upcoming flight from Taipei after just two people booked tickets. The airline told the Guardian it was constantly assessing the situation but it couldn’t guarantee further cancellations.
Trans-Tasman travel bubble between New Zealand and Australia to start on 19 AprilTo go on the Palau holiday from Taiwan, tourists must make several health declarations, pay for Covid tests, and not have left Taiwan in the last six months. Upon return they had to complete 14 days of “self-health management”, including five “enhanced” management days banned from public transport and spaces. On Wednesday health authorities announced it was dropping the enhanced requirement, and agencies are hoping it’s enough to restore interest.
One of the six agencies contracted to run the tours, Phoenix travel, told the Guardian they’d had “sporadic” individual bookings and inquiries about future tours, “but the momentum is not as good as expected”.“The fare is higher than normal, plus the cost of two PCR tests, and the inconvenience of health management after returning home are the reasons why most travellers maintain a wait-and-see attitude,” the spokesperson said.Gibsen Lin, marketing manager of Lifetour travel, said they had received many more inquiries for the upcoming summer holiday period from May to July, and that uncertainty about the process had also discouraged early take-up.
“Many details were not determined at the beginning. They changed the rules of the game … and then gave consumers less time to react in the market,” Lin said.Taiwanese passengers pay between $2,100 and $2,800 plus associated costs for the group tour which runs for fewer than eight days, keeps the tourists away from crowded locations and local people, and doesn’t allow for autonomous activity.
On Wednesday evening Whipps welcomed the easing and said returnees who didn’t show signs of fever and hadn’t been in the presence of anyone who did, could “go about their daily lives as usual”.Whipps also said costs had also been decreased, but did not detail by how much. He claimed the presence of Tropical Storm Surigae had also affected bookings, but that the two governments were working closely together to improve the bubble.
He said his office had been “assured” that the next scheduled flight on 21 April would have more passengers. The Guardian has contacted the Taiwan government for confirmation of the changes and comment.Palau has recorded zero cases of Covid, and is on track to have 80% of its population vaccinated by the summer, while about 90% of Taiwan’s 1,062 cases were recently arrived people in quarantine, and there is no community transmission.The travel bubble was hailed as a lifeline for Palau’s tourism industry, which contributes almost half of its GDP, but had been completely stalled by the pandemic. Taiwanese made up the third-largest proportion of tourists in pre-Covid times, behind people from China and Japan.
“We seek everyone’s support and patience as we continue to address challenges and improve the sterile corridor. Challenges help us improve customer experience and increase demand,” said Whipps.

#Covid-19#migrant#migration#palau#taiwan#australie#nouvellezelande#sante#bulledevoyage#corridorsterile#circulation#frontiere#tourisme#economie

New Zealand suspends travel from India after jump in Covid-19 cases | New Zealand | The Guardian
►http://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/apr/08/new-zealand-suspends-travel-from-india-after-jump-in-covid-19-cases
►https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/45a0ccc2dd20f57e4a37538ccc129c36ae47a651/0_305_4836_2902/master/4836.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-ali

New Zealand suspends travel from India after jump in Covid-19 cases
PM Jacinda Ardern said the government would look at risk management measures during suspension.NZ Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern Announces Plans For COVID Travel Bubble With AustraliaWELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND - APRIL 06: Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern speaks to media during a press conference at Parliament on April 06, 2021 in Wellington, New Zealand. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced that quarantine-free travel between New Zealand and Australia will start on Monday 19 April. The travel bubble will aid economic recovery by safely opening up international travel between the two countries while continuing to pursue a COVID-19 elimination strategy. New Zealand has temporarily suspended entry for all travellers from India, including its own citizens, for about two weeks following a high number of positive coronavirus cases arriving from the South Asian country.The move comes after New Zealand recorded 23 new positive coronavirus cases at its border on Thursday, of which 17 were from India.“We are temporarily suspending entry into New Zealand for travellers from India,” the prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, said in a news conference in Auckland.India is battling a deadly second wave of Covid-19 with daily infections this week passing the peak of the first wave seen last September.
The suspension will start on 11 April and will be in place until 28 April. During this time the government will look at risk management measures to resume travel.“I want to emphasise that while arrivals of Covid from India has prompted this measure, we are looking at how we manage high risk points of departure generally. This is not a country specific risk assessment,” Ardern said.
New Zealand has virtually eliminated the virus within its borders, and has not reported any community transmission locally for about 40 days.
But it’s been reviewing its border settings as more people with infections arrive in New Zealand, the majority from India.Ardern said the rolling average of positive cases has been steadily rising and hit 7 cases on Wednesday, the highest since last October.New Zealand on Thursday also reported one new locally infected case in a worker who was employed at a coronavirus managed isolation facility. The 24-year-old was yet to be vaccinated.The travel suspension came just two days after New Zealand announced it would be launching a trans-Tasman travel bubble with Australia on 19 April.

#Covid-19#migrant#migration#nouvellezelande#inde#australie#tasmanie#sante#bulledevoyage#frontiere#virus

Covid-19: Australia and New Zealand will open a travel bubble starting April 19. - The New York Times
▻https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/04/05/world/covid-vaccine-coronavirus-cases

Australia and New Zealand will open a travel bubble starting April 19.
The Australia-New Zealand travel bubble is expected to deliver a boost to tourism and to families that have been separated by strict border closures.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern of New Zealand announced on Tuesday that her nation would establish a travel bubble with Australia, allowing travelers to move between the countries without needing to quarantine for the first time since the pandemic began.The bubble, which will open just before midnight on April 19, is expected to deliver a boost to tourism and to families that have been separated since both countries enacted strict border closures and lockdown measures that have all but eliminated local transmission of the coronavirus.The announcement came after months of negotiations and setbacks, as Australia battled small outbreaks and officials in both countries weighed testing requirements and other safety protocols.
“The director general of health considers the risk of transmission of Covid-19 from Australia to New Zealand is low and that quarantine-free travel is safe to commence,” Ms. Ardern said at a news conference.
Since last year, Australia has permitted travelers from New Zealand to bypass its hotel quarantine requirements. New Zealand’s decision to reciprocate makes the two countries among the first places in the world to set up such a bubble, following a similar announcement last week by Taiwan and the Pacific island nation of Palau.Australians flying to New Zealand will be required to have spent the previous 14 days in Australia, to wear a mask on the plane and, if possible, to use New Zealand’s Covid-19 contact tracing app. In the event of an outbreak in Australia, New Zealand could impose additional restrictions, including shutting down travel to a particular Australian state or imposing quarantine requirements, Ms. Ardern said.
She warned that the new requirements would not necessarily free up many spaces in New Zealand’s overwhelmed hotel quarantine system, which has a weekslong backlog for New Zealanders wishing to book a space to return home. Of the roughly 1,000 slots that would now become available every two weeks, around half would be set aside as a contingency measure, while most of the others would not be appropriate for travelers from higher-risk countries, Ms. Ardern said.Before New Zealand closed its borders to international visitors in March 2020, its tourism industry employed nearly 230,000 people and contributed 41.9 billion New Zealand dollars ($30.2 billion) to economic output, according to the country’s tourism board. Most of the roughly 3.8 million foreign tourists who visited New Zealand over a 12-month period between 2018 and 2019 came from Australia.Ms. Ardern encouraged Australians to visit New Zealand’s ski areas, and said she would be conducting interviews with Australian media outlets this week to promote New Zealand as a tourism destination.The bubble would also make it easier for the more than 500,000 New Zealanders who live in Australia to visit their families. “It is ultimately a change of scene that so many have been looking for,” Ms. Ardern said, addressing Australians. “You may not have been in long periods of lockdown, but you haven’t had the option. Now you have the option, come and see us.”

#Covid-19#migrant#migration#australie#nouvellezelande#sante#bulledevoyage#tourisme#economie#retour

Palau to welcome first tourists in a year with presidential escort | Taiwan | The Guardian
▻http://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/mar/31/palau-to-welcome-first-tourists-in-a-year-with-presidential-escort
▻https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/03a3687a9444a299ec00f3f9d8afcae271a23af0/0_243_4856_2914/master/4856.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-ali

Palau to welcome first tourists in a year with presidential escort
Two-dogs beach in Palau’s Rock Islands, is a popular spot for tourists to have lunch. Palau is opening up to visitors from Taiwan under strict Covid-safe measures, but locals still have doubts. On Thursday, 110 people from Taiwan will be able to enjoy the thing so many around the world have been dreaming of since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic: an international holiday to a tropical island paradise. The tiny Pacific country of Palau, in the north-west corner of the Pacific with a population of around 20,000 people, will this week begin welcoming tourists from Taiwan as part of a travel bubble.Palau’s first visitors for more than a year will get the royal treatment, with Palau’s president travelling to Taiwan to personally escort them to the islands.For a chance to travel to Palau, one of Taiwan’s few diplomatic allies, Taiwanese must fork out between $2,100 and $2,800 to join a group tour booked via a travel agency. They must also tick a series of health regulation boxes, including an assurance that they have not left Taiwan within the past six months, and undergo a Covid-19 test at the airport.The trip itself is limited to fewer than eight days and will largely avoid crowded locations in Palau. But even with the rules in place, travel agents in Taipei say they have been getting enquiries since the bubble was announced on 17 March. KKDay, a popular travel startup offering discounts on bookings, has already sold out two Palau tours according to its website as well as more than 1,000 lottery tickets for a chance to win a spot on a multi-day tour.
Ngirai Tmetuchl, chairman of the board of Palau Visitors Authority, said the bubble would benefit both nations. Taiwanese tourists would get to “go to another country and enjoy the pristine waters of Palau” while his countryfolk could benefit from the boost to the archipelago’s economy, which is heavily reliant on tourism and which has been hit hard by the Covid-related border closures.Before the pandemic, tourism accounted for nearly 50% of Palau’s GDP, with Taiwan making up the third-largest group of tourists to the country, after China and Japan. Though the initial numbers arriving will be small, “Two hundred [tourists coming in the first two weeks] is more than zero, our options are zero or 200. We’ve been running on empty for a year, “ Tmetuchl said.On the itinerary for the tourists will be trips out to Palau’s famous Rock Islands and the idyllic turquoise Jellyfish Lake, where swimmers can float amongst million of gently-pulsating golden jellyfish, which have no stingers.Eledui Omelau, president of Palau’s Boat Owners Association said it had been a difficult year for Palauan boat owners, with most of them taking out loans to survive and that the prospect of Taiwanese tourists was welcome.“We have been hit hard, this travel bubble it’s a good opportunity for us, but at the same time we want to make sure we are ready,” Omelau said.

#Covid-19#migrant#migration#palau#chine#japon#taiwan#sante#tourisme#bulledevoyage#passeportsanitaire#economie

Le confinement prolongé jusqu’à la fin de mars en Nouvelle-Calédonie
▻https://www.lemonde.fr/planete/article/2021/03/18/le-confinement-prolonge-jusqu-a-la-fin-de-mars-en-nouvelle-caledonie_6073548

https://img.lemde.fr/2021/03/18/325/0/3906/1953/1440/720/60/0/f4ecd76_577449148-noumea.jpg

Confinée depuis le 9 mars après avoir recensé, au début du mois, ses tous premiers cas de Covid-19, la Nouvelle-Calédonie a décidé de prolonger ces restrictions strictes d’une semaine. « Cette troisième semaine de confinement sera décisive », a déclaré, jeudi 18 mars, Thierry Santa, président du gouvernement collégial, appelant « chaque Calédonienne et chaque Calédonien à jouer son rôle pour éviter une épidémie de Covid-19 en Nouvelle-Calédonie, voire même permettre un retour à une situation “Covid free” ». L’archipel du Pacifique sud a recensé ses neuf premiers cas de la maladie le 7 mars, hors quatorzaine obligatoire pour tout passager arrivant, après une introduction du virus via la bulle sanitaire en place avec l’archipel voisin de Wallis-et-Futuna. Depuis, vingt-huit autres cas de la maladie ont été décelés, mais le dernier patient diagnostiqué positif « qui n’était pas isolé au moment de sa détection ou dans les jours qui précédaient remonte au 10 mars », a précisé M. Santa.
Les autorités sanitaires mènent d’intenses investigations pour contacter, tester et isoler tous les passagers arrivés de Wallis-et-Futuna depuis le 25 janvier et identifier les personnes avec lesquelles ils ont été en contact. Les vols internationaux dans le sens des arrivées, déjà drastiquement réduits, sont suspendus depuis le 7 mars tandis que tous les établissements scolaires et universitaires sont fermés.Afin qu’ils ne rouvrent pas à l’issue du confinement, le gouvernement a avancé d’une semaine les vacances de Pâques, qui débuteront le 29 mars et non le 6 avril, comme le prévoyait le calendrier scolaire.Les autorités ont parallèlement accéléré la campagne de vaccination, avec l’objectif d’atteindre 2 000 injections quotidiennes. A ce jour, près de 20 000 personnes sur 270 000 habitants ont reçu une ou les deux doses du vaccin. Le haut-commissaire Laurent Prévost a annoncé l’envoi « dans les deux prochaines semaines de 15 000 nouvelles doses » du vaccin Pfizer-BioNtech.Distant de 1 800 kilomètres, l’archipel de Wallis-et-Futuna connaît une situation beaucoup plus dégradée avec 261 cas de Covid-19 décelés depuis le 6 mars pour une population d’environ 11 500 habitants. Mercredi, soixante-douze soignants de la réserve sanitaire et plusieurs tonnes de matériel médical, dont 18 000 doses de vaccin, dépêchés par l’Etat, sont arrivés sur place. La Nouvelle-Calédonie a également envoyé des bénévoles de la Croix-Rouge et six tonnes d’équipement médical.

#Covod-19#migrant#migration#nouvellecalédonie#pacifique#wallisetfunutna#sante#vaccination#circulation#frontiere#bulledevoyage#confinement

Bribes d’autres voies :

"L’idée choc étudiée en Islande : et si on retirait aux banques la capacité de créer de la monnaie ?" ►http://www.latribune.fr/economie/international/l-idee-choc-etudiee-en-islande-et-si-on-retirait-aux-banques-la-capacite-d

"La révolution du système monétaire en Islande peut-être pour demain" ▻https://mrmondialisation.org/une-revolution-du-systeme-monetaire-en-islande

"L’Islande envisage une révolution monétaire" ▻http://www.gaullistelibre.com/2015/04/lislande-envisage-une-revolution.html

"L’Islande a laissé ses banques faire faillite, et jeté des banquiers en prison. Et voici ce qui s’est produit" ►http://www.express.be/business/fr/economy/lislande-a-laisse-ses-banques-faire-faillite-et-jete-des-banquiers-en-prison-et-voici-ce-qui-sest-produit/214182.htm

"Oubliez tout ce que vous croyez savoir sur l’Islande post-crise : France 2 réécrit l’histoire" ▻http://www.acrimed.org/article4652.html

Des Pirates à l’assaut de l’Islande, par Philippe Descamps (Le Monde diplomatique, octobre 2016)
►http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/2016/10/DESCAMPS/56432

#Islande #Monnaie
▻http://zinc.mondediplo.net/messages/9951#message14442

Le banquier, l’anarchiste et le bitcoin, par Edward Castleton (Le Monde diplomatique, mars 2016)
►https://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/2016/03/CASTLETON/54957
#Monnaie #Innovations #Alternatives #Socialisme #Finance

–Et si la banque centrale nous faisait un joli cadeau pour Noël ?
▻http://www.lenouveleconomiste.fr/et-si-la-banque-centrale-nous-faisait-un-joli-cadeau-pour-noel%e2

« Pourquoi pas la rediriger vers les ménages, et des investissements utiles par exemple pour ralentir le réchauffement climatique, sujet qui est, paraît-il, d’une actualité brûlante : cet argent pourrait aider les gens à isoler leur maison ou acheter un véhicule électrique ?

Et, justement, le site européen QE4People (▻http://www.qe4people.eu) vient de lancer une pétition dans ce sens, déjà signée par 71 économistes. Il a calculé que si la monnaie créée par la BCE était destinée aux ménages, cela ferait 175 euros par citoyen européen par mois.

Le 23 septembre devant le Parlement européen, le président de la banque centrale n’a pas dit non a priori, a même dit que l’idée était étudiée, y compris par la BCE, mais qu’il fallait regarder si elle était compatible avec les traités européens (lesquels ne disent rien à ce sujet) »

#BCE #UE #BCE_QE

Les banques centrales envisagent de distribuer de l’argent aux gens - Express [FR]
▻http://fr.express.live/2016/03/31/les-banques-centrales-envisagent-de-distribuer-de-largent-aux-gens
▻http://fr.express.live/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/03/000_WAS2005010725401.jpg

-"Les banques centrales du monde envisagent de plus en plus d’employer une stratégie appelée “hélicoptère monétaire“, qui consiste à imprimer de l’argent pour le distribuer directement au secteur privé (entreprises ou ménages) afin de stimuler l’activité économique et la demande, rapporte le blog américain The Economic Collapse." ;
–"Cette réflexion est révélatrice de l’inquiétude qui règne, face aux faibles résultats obtenus par les instruments de politiques monétaires traditionnels, écrit-il. Depuis 2008, les banques centrales ont en effet réduit 637 fois les taux d’intérêt, et injecté 12.300 milliards de dollars dans l’économie mondiale au travers de multiples politiques d’assouplissement quantitatif (“QE”). Mais la croissance est restée anémique, tandis que les dettes souveraines ont explosé. En Europe, 16 pays sont entrés en déflation."

#Monnaie #Hélicoptère_monétaire

–
Les Suisses voteront pour ôter aux banques leur pouvoir de création monétaire. Par Romaric Godin
▻http://www.latribune.fr/economie/international/les-suisses-voteront-pour-oter-aux-banques-leur-pouvoir-de-creation-moneta

-"Cette initiative dispose du soutien de plusieurs économistes, suisses et européens. Mais elle fait, on s’en doute, l’objet de vives critiques de la part du secteur bancaire helvétique, qui est, avec près de 12 % du PIB suisse, un des piliers de l’économie nationale. Mais Reinhold Harringer estime que l’initiative va permettre au secteur de revenir à une activité « plus traditionnelle et plus solide. » Il cite le cas de banques comme la banque postale suisse, qui, sans avoir la possibilité de créer de la monnaie, réalisent de bons bénéfices. Reste que, pour les géants bancaires comme Credit Suisse ou UBS, qui vivent sur les activités de marché, le coup pourrait être rude et ils pourraient ainsi décider de quitter le pays. Mais l’initiative semble viser un changement de système : mieux vaut des banques plus modestes, mais plus utiles, que des géants bancaires instables et qui font peser un risque continuel sur les comptes publics." ;
–"L’initiative n’est, il est vrai, pas fondée sur du sable. Elle s’inscrit dans une longue histoire. C’est, dans les années 1930, l’économiste Irving Fisher, qui avait lancé la proposition dans le cadre du « plan de Chicago » proposé au président Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Ce dernier a rejeté cette proposition, mais elle a été reprise par plusieurs économistes, dont le monétariste Milton Friedman. Cette idée a cependant été progressivement oubliée sous le triomphe de la financiarisation de l’économie. C’est la crise de 2007-2008 qui la fait revivre avec notamment une étude de deux économistes du FMI, Jaromir Benes et Michael Kumhof, qui reprennent et valident les thèses d’Irving Fisher, voyant dans le retrait aux banques de la création monétaire, un moyen de dynamiser la croissance en réduisant les risques de crise." ;

#QU #Islande #Suisse #Monnaie #Banque_Centrale #Politique_monétaire #Economie #Banques #Finance #Bulles_spéculatives #Crédit

–-"Ni protectionnisme, ni néolibéralisme mais une « relocalisation ouverte », base d’une nouvelle internationale" - Basta !
►http://www.bastamag.net/Ni-protectionnisme-ni-neoliberalisme-mais-une-relocalisation-ouverte-base-

Décevant de voir ici une rhétorique usée jusqu’à la corde par les orthodoxes médiatiques : homme de paille et anathèmes. Ce qui donne : #Protectionnisme égal repli-sur-soi-égoiste-entretenant-la-logique de-compétition-de-tous-contre-(presque)-tous.

A part ça, plus intéressant :

-"Or, l’enjeu n’est pas de trouver des palliatifs pour adoucir la tyrannie de l’économie, ni de réguler l’économie. Il s’agit bien de sortir la religion de l’économie, de nous libérer de ces addictions, de faire des « pas-de-côté » et de questionner le sens de nos productions bien plus que d’en protéger leur localisation." ;

–" Il s’agit de sortir de la logique de l’économie toute puissante. En finir avec une économie décisionnaire de nos vies" ;

–"L’enjeu est de revenir à de vraies questions. Celles du sens de nos vies" ;

–"Est-ce à dire que toutes les idées derrière le terme de protectionnisme sont inutiles ? Non, si nous en utilisons certaines comme des outils de transition au service d’une relocalisation désormais nécessaire de l’économie, mais dans une logique d’ouverture et d’altruisme, de dialogue et de manière concertée."
(Bon, soit je manque d’attention soit il aurait fallu commencer par faire le tri, je ne sais pas.) ;

–"La relocalisation ouverte signifie clairement la remise en cause du primat de l’économie, du travail comme valeurs centrales de nos sociétés mais aussi la repolitisation de la société afin que nos sociétés deviennent autonomes et responsables.

« La folle valse des crevettes, pêchées au Danemark et décortiquées au Maroc pour des raisons de coût de main d’œuvre, ou le yaourt à la fraise dont les ingrédients parcouraient en 1992 plus de 9 000 kilomètres, ont contribué à construire chez moi un certain scepticisme sur la marche du monde », rappelle l’ingénieur Philippe Bihouix" ;

–"On pourrait par exemple penser les limites par des distances au lieu des frontières, et ainsi donner naissance à des territoires superposés et reliés, au lieu de territoires juxtaposés et étrangers. C’est ce que l’on voit apparaître avec les projets dits transfrontaliers qui s’inscrivent dans des territoires écologique et de vie."

Poulet ivoirien : la filière se remplume
►https://www.francetvinfo.fr/sante/alimentation/poulet-ivoirien-la-filiere-se-remplume_2732591.html
#Afrique #Agriculture #Protectionnisme

–-
#Alternatives #Innovations

alternatives | Mr Mondialisation
▻https://mrmondialisation.org/tag/alternatives

La carte de France des alternatives écologiques et sociales - Basta !
►http://www.bastamag.net/La-carte-de-France-des

Alternatives concrètes - Basta !
▻http://www.bastamag.net/Alternatives-concretes

Inventer - Basta !
▻http://www.bastamag.net/Inventer

#Démocratie #Institutions :
#DataGueule S4E14 - Démocratie représentative : suffrage, Ô désespoir ! IRL
▻http://irl.nouvelles-ecritures.francetv.fr/datagueule-S4E14-1.

Un processus de vote pour faire de Nuit Debout une réelle démocratie participative – Gazette debout
▻https://gazettedebout.org/2016/05/07/un-processus-de-vote-pour-faire-de-nuit-debout-une-reelle-democratiqu

https://gazettedebout.files.wordpress.com/2016/05/schecc81ma65.jpg

Aux urnes, citoyens : si l’élection présidentielle avait eu lieu au jugement majoritaire, voilà qui serait le président | Atlantico.fr (Le titre est trompeur)
▻http://www.atlantico.fr/decryptage/aux-urnes-citoyens-election-presidentielle-avait-eu-lieu-au-jugement-major

Noter pour mieux voter ?, par Charles Perragin (Le Monde diplomatique, octobre 2017)
▻https://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/2017/10/PERRAGIN/58013
#Sciences_Politiques #Sondages

"« Au-delà de la qualification au second tour, le premier tour de la présidentielle donne aussi une photographie des rapports de forces entre les familles politiques, ainsi que l’importance de divers enjeux de société (écologie, immigration, sécurité…). Cette photographie sera importante pour la suite, non seulement pour négocier des portefeuilles ministériels ou des alliances aux élections suivantes, mais plus généralement pour la perception que la société a d’elle-même », rappelle Karine van der Straeten, de l’École d’économie de Toulouse.

Selon le politiste Nicolas Sauger, dont le travail s’articule autour des transformations historiques de la compétition politique, « [...] Il faut garder à l’esprit qu’un mode de scrutin différent aurait aussi des répercussions en amont, sur les discours politiques, la structure des partis et, plus généralement, sur la façon de faire de la politique ». On peut aussi s’interroger sur la façon dont une presse avide de spectacle et de prescriptions pourrait s’en saisir."

Pour la république sociale, par Frédéric Lordon (Le Monde diplomatique, mars 2016)
►https://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/2016/03/LORDON/54925

Et si l’on refondait le droit du travail…, par Alain Supiot (Le Monde diplomatique, octobre 2017)
►https://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/2017/10/SUPIOT/58009

#Islande
▻http://zinc.mondediplo.net/messages/4349

Covid-19 : l’Australie veut établir une « bulle de voyage » avec Singapour
▻https://www.lemonde.fr/planete/article/2021/03/14/covid-19-l-australie-veut-etablir-une-bulle-de-voyage-avec-singapour_6073066

https://img.lemde.fr/2021/03/14/293/0/3500/1750/1440/720/60/0/27540bf_fw1-health-coronavirus-australia-0314-11.JPG

Covid-19 : l’Australie veut établir une « bulle de voyage » avec Singapour
Le tourisme international, qui représentait 30 milliards d’euros par an pour l’économie australienne, a été réduit à néant par la crise sanitaire.
L’Australie « travaille avec Singapour » à l’établissement d’une « bulle de voyage » entre les deux pays pour le mois de juillet, afin de relancer le secteur du tourisme, anéanti par l’épidémie de Covid-19. Le vice-premier ministre australien, Michael McCormack, a annoncé ce plan dimanche 14 mars à la télévision publique ABC : « Au fur et à mesure que le vaccin sera déployé, non seulement en Australie mais dans d’autres pays, nous rouvrirons davantage de bulles », a-t-il assuré.L’Australie avait fermé ses frontières dès le début de la pandémie afin d’empêcher toute flambée épidémique sur son territoire. Les personnes ne détenant pas la citoyenneté australienne ne pouvaient entrer dans le pays, sauf exception.
L’accord devrait permettre aux Australiens et aux Singapouriens qui ont été vaccinés contre le Covid-19 de voyager entre les deux pays sans avoir à observer de quarantaine, selon The Sydney Morning Herald. Canberra espère que des visiteurs de pays tiers, voyageant pour les études ou les affaires, et des citoyens rentrant au pays puissent passer leurs deux semaines de quarantaine à Singapour avant de s’envoler vers l’Australie.
De son côté, Singapour, qui a déjà ouvert sa frontière à quelques pays qui ont maîtrisé l’épidémie, y compris l’Australie, a confirmé être en « pourparlers avec l’Australie » à ce sujet ; la cité-Etat a tenu à préciser qu’elle n’était « pas en discussion [pour devenir] un centre de quarantaine ou un centre de vaccination ».L’Australie a déjà mis en place une « bulle de voyage » à sens unique avec la Nouvelle-Zélande, permettant aux Néo-Zélandais de se rendre en Australie sans quarantaine, même si ce programme a été suspendu à plusieurs reprises lors des résurgences épidémiques. Avant la pandémie, le tourisme international représentait environ 45 milliards de dollars australiens (30 milliards d’euros) par an pour l’économie australienne.

#Covid-19#migrant#migration#australie#nouvellezelande#singapour#bullevoyage#sante#quarantaine#vaccination#tourisme#economie#frontiere#passeportvaccinal

PM says New Zealand’s borders shut for much of 2021 – Asia Times
▻https://asiatimes.com/2021/01/pm-says-new-zealands-borders-shut-for-much-of-2021

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New Zealand’s borders are likely to remain closed for much of the year as health officials assess global vaccine rollouts, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern warned Tuesday.Ardern said the emergence over the weekend of New Zealand’s first case of community transmission in more than two months showed the danger Covid-19 still posed to a nation hailed for its response to the coronavirus.She said her government would not re-open its borders – which have been effectively closed to all but returning citizens since last March – while the pandemic was still raging worldwide.“Given the risks in the world around us and the uncertainty of the global rollout of a vaccine, we can expect our borders to be impacted for much of this year,” she told reporters.Still, Ardern said New Zealand would continue to pursue “travel bubbles” with Australia and Pacific island nations, which have also been largely successful at keeping out or containing the virus.
Plans to open a travel bubble by the end of March were thrown into question when Australia suspended quarantine-free travel for Kiwis in response to the latest case of community transmission.
Ardern said the case – a 56-year-old New Zealander who recently returned from Europe – was “well under control” and criticized Australia for re-imposing quarantine for New Zealanders.The center-left leader said she made her feelings known in a call on Monday with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison.“If we’re to enter a trans-Tasman travel bubble, we need to give people confidence they won’t see border closures at very short notice over incidents that we believe can be well managed domestically,” she said.
Officials in Canberra on Monday said the restrictions on New Zealanders were being imposed “out of an abundance of caution.”New Zealand Health Minister Chris Hipkins said 15 close contacts of the infected woman had tested negative for the virus, which has been identified as the more contagious South African variant

#Covid-19#migrant#migraion#nouvellezelande#autralie#tasmanie#sante#test#bulledevoyage#frontiere

Another lockdown was inevitable. We have to get this one right | Coronavirus | The Guardian
▻http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jan/05/vaccines-pandemic-covid-variant-lockdown
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A third lockdown for England was inevitable. Pressure on the NHS is growing as it deals with new infections from a variant of the coronavirus that scientists estimate is 50-70% more transmissible. New infections continue to climb past 50,000 each day, and daily deaths are in the hundreds. A few weeks ago, many felt optimistic that vaccines could return England to normal by the spring. Instead, it seems we are entering a dangerous new chapter of this pandemic. It’s easy to feel frustrated by the government’s response to this pandemic, and wonder why it hasn’t acted sooner. Ministers wasted an opportunity to suppress the virus in the summer when cases were low, and instead chose to open up quickly and recklessly after the first national lockdown. The government subsidised people to eat out in restaurants and bars, and encouraged holidays abroad via “travel corridors” without any kind of testing or quarantine restrictions for when travellers returned. It was always likely that, if uncontrolled, the virus that causes Covid-19 would mutate. High prevalence created more opportunities for a variant to emerge that now appears to be spreading at a worrying pace.

#Covid-19#migrant#migration#grandebretagne#sante#confinement#corridor#circulation#bullevoyage#test#quarantaine#virusmutant

Coronavirus: Singapore tightens travel rules for Hong Kong visitors amid surge in cases | South China Morning Post
▻https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3113668/coronavirus-singapore-tightens-travel-rules-hong-kong

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Singapore’s border controls for people coming in from Hong Kong will be revised given the “deteriorating” Covid-19 outbreak in the Chinese city, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said on Friday.Travellers who have been to Hong Kong in the last 14 days and are entering Singapore from next Monday will need to serve a two-week stay-home notice at dedicated facilities.
From December 19, travellers from Hong Kong planning to enter Singapore must take a Covid-19 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test within 72 hours before departure and present a valid negative test.
The PCR test does not apply to Singapore citizens and permanent residents. The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) announced earlier this month that the launch of the Singapore-Hong Kong air travel bubble has been delayed to next year, with the exact start date to be reviewed in late December, given the Covid-19 situation in Hong Kong.

#Covid-19#migrant#migration#hongkong#chine#singapour#sante#test#voyageur#bullevoyage

Hong Kong reveals plans to step up border controls to shield city from Covid-19 rebound, as warning signs of new wave emerge among drivers | South China Morning Post
▻https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/3109334/hong-kong-step-covid-19-border-controls-city-put

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Hong Kong risks a winter surge of Covid-19 if it lets its guard down, Sophia Chan says. New Covid-19 measures:
•Four regular testing centres to operate long-term, offering free service for those at high risk of infections, and paid screening for those requiring certification to travel, especially for Singapore-Hong Kong bubble
•A virus notification app will be set up for users to record their travel history and notify them of exposure risks
•A multi-pronged strategy will be adopted to close border loopholes for people exempted from quarantine, including a mandatory negative test for those from high-risk countries, and point-to-point pickups instead of public transport
Hong Kong revealed plans to step up border controls against Covid-19 as possible new infections among taxi drivers emerged on Wednesday, sparking concerns that the next wave could be starting.Health minister Professor Sophia Chan Siu-chee moved to close quarantine loopholes to prevent another onslaught of cases during the winter flu season, saying the city had to remain vigilant.“If we let down our guard, a fourth wave can start anytime and can become more severe with the flu season in the autumn and winter,” the secretary for food and health said. “Externally [we must] guard our border well, and internally stop the spread.”

#Covid-19#migrant#migration#hongkong#singapour#sante#mesuresanitaire#frontiere#grippe#bullevoyage#tracking#politiquesante

HK-Singapore ’travel bubble’ starts on November 22 - Asia Times
▻https://asiatimes.com/2020/11/hk-singapore-travel-bubble-starts-on-november-22

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Hong Kong and Singapore will launch a “travel bubble” on November 22, their governments said Wednesday, in a rare piece of good news for the pandemic-battered airline and tourism industries.A quota of 200 residents from each city will be able to travel on one daily flight to the other, Hong Kong commerce minister Edward Yau told a press conference.Only those who have been in Hong Kong or Singapore for two weeks and tested negative for the coronavirus will be allowed to board, he added.The corridor offers a glimpse into how places with less severe outbreaks might be able to safely restart some travel.Passengers arriving in Hong Kong will have to test negative again at the airport to avoid quarantine, while those arriving in Singapore will have to download a contact-tracing app.
Those hoping to get on a plane in Hong Kong will have to stump up about HK$1,500 (US$190) for a test at a government-approved laboratory or hospital.In Singapore, a test will set you back about Sg$200 ($150).

#Covid-19#migrant#migration#hongkong#singapour#sante#bullevoyage#frontiere#test#tracking#tourisme#economie

HK offers low-cost tests for ‘travel bubble’ plan - Asia Times
▻https://asiatimes.com/2020/11/hk-offers-low-cost-tests-for-travel-bubble-plan

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HK offers low-cost tests for ‘travel bubble’ plan. Hong Kong is planning four test centers and to partner with private laboratories to offer low-cost coronavirus tests to those going to visit Singapore in the proposed “travel bubble” scheme.The centers will start operating in mid-November and provide tests at HK$240 (US$30.95) per person, the government said.
The centers will collect combined nasal and throat swabs and test for Covid-19 to serve general community uses such as cross-boundary travel but not for medical diagnosis and treatment.They aim to serve all asymptomatic individuals, including Hong Kong residents and non-residents, who are over six years old and suitable for testing.

#Covid-19#migrant#migration#hongkong#bullevoyage#testlowcost#resident#nonresident#economiesante

Covid-19 : comment les pays d’Asie ont réussi à laisser la pandémie à leurs portes
▻https://www.lemonde.fr/international/article/2020/11/06/comment-les-pays-d-asie-ont-reussi-a-laisser-la-pandemie-de-covid-19-a-leurs

https://img.lemde.fr/2020/11/05/11/0/3500/1750/1440/720/60/0/e6a4822_16592911-063611.jpg

Après avoir mis en place, à partir de mars ou avril, des protocoles sécurisés et des restrictions à l’entrée sur leur territoire, principalement au moyen de quatorzaines systématiques, les principaux pays d’Asie du Nord-Est et du Sud-Est, de la Chine (4 739 morts) au Vietnam (35 morts) et à la Thaïlande (59 morts), en passant par Taïwan (7 morts), la Corée du Sud (475) et le Japon (1 799) ont remarquablement maîtrisé l’épidémie au printemps et n’ont pas connu de vague secondaire, ou l’ont jugulée assez rapidement. Ces pays ont choisi de ne pas baisser la garde cet été, et ce jusqu’à aujourd’hui, malgré quelques aménagements, tout comme la Nouvelle-Zélande (25 morts) et l’Australie (907) même si ces derniers ont dû reconfiner.
Ces politiques se sont avérées un pari gagnant : si les flux de touristes et d’hommes d’affaires se sont taris dans tous ces pays, elles ont permis de continuer de faire fonctionner à un régime soutenu les économies – les commerces, les restaurants, les établissements sportifs ou culturels – mais aussi l’emploi dans les usines. Trois d’entre eux, la Chine, Taïwan et le Vietnam, ont même vu leurs exportations bondir de 6 % à 11 % au troisième trimestre par rapport à celui de l’année précédente, quand le Covid-19 était inexistant, signe qu’ils ont gagné en parts de marché tandis que l’Inde concurrente était frappée de plein fouet par le virus. Tous trois devraient éviter une récession.
Désormais, plusieurs de ces pays prévoient des « bulles de voyage » les uns avec les autres avec des protocoles allégés – comme entre Hongkong et Singapour d’ici fin novembre en principe, sans quatorzaine. La Chine et la Thaïlande travaillent à un accord en ce sens pour janvier. Les Australiens ont allégé leurs restrictions pour les Néo-Zélandais – mais pas l’inverse. La première ministre néo-zélandaise, tout juste réélue, Jacinda Ardern, a prévenu ses concitoyens qu’elle ne tenait à prendre aucun risque pour les vacances de l’été austral « et que le pays va continuer avec les restrictions en place aux frontières ». Certes longtemps retardés, ces dispositifs devraient soulager certains secteurs économiques.
Confronté à une pénurie de main-d’œuvre dans l’agriculture et les services sociaux, Taïwan vient de mettre en place des aides pour subventionner le séjour de quatorzaine pour des travailleurs étrangers – en général du Vietnam, des Philippines et d’Indonésie – tout en sécurisant dans des centres spécialisés leur quatorzaine. Le contraste est saisissant avec la France et plus généralement l’Europe. Alors qu’une quatorzaine obligatoire aux entrées dans les aéroports hexagonaux a un temps été évoquée à l’approche du déconfinement en France, il n’en fut finalement rien : les Français et les étrangers munis de visa longue durée ou de carte de séjour, dont l’entrée sur le territoire a toujours été autorisée, n’ont cessé de revenir par charters, ou vols commerciaux, directement ou via des capitales européennes, pour certains de territoires où l’épidémie explosait comme les Etats-Unis, le Brésil ou l’Inde. Nombre d’entre eux étaient atterrés à leur arrivée en France du manque de mesures strictes de suivi sanitaire – en dehors d’une attestation sur l’honneur d’absence de symptômes rarement relevée.

#Covid-19#migrant#migration#asie#europe#sante#frontiere#test#quarantaine#bullevoyage#economie#politiquesanitaire

HK’s travel bubble plan challenged by local cases - Asia Times
▻https://asiatimes.com/2020/10/hks-travel-bubble-plan-challenged-by-local-cases

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Hong Kong recorded two local infections between Wednesday and Thursday, creating obstacles for the city to form “travel bubbles” with other places.The Center for Health Protection said Friday that seven cases were identified on Thursday, including six imported cases and one local infection. It had been the first coronavirus infection with no known source in almost one week

#Covid-19#migrant#migrationhongkong#sante#bulle#frontiere#casimporte