Day: July 1, 2022

The number of new coronavirus cases across Britain has surged by more than 30% in the last week, new data showed Friday, with cases largely driven by the super infectious omicron variants.

Data released by Britain’s Office for National Statistics showed that more than 3 million people in the U.K. had COVID-19 last week, although there has not been an equivalent spike in hospitalizations. The number of COVID-19 deaths also fell slightly in the last week.

“COVID-19 has not gone away,” said Dr. Mary Ramsay, of the Health Security Agency. “It is also sensible to wear a face covering in crowded, enclosed spaces,” she said.

Britain dropped nearly all its coronavirus measures, including mask-wearing and social distancing months ago and masks are rarely seen on public transport.

The latest jump in coronavirus cases comes after an earlier increase of about 40% last month, following the large street parties, concerts and festivities held to mark the platinum jubilee celebrations marking 70 years of Queen Elizabeth II’s reign.

British officials said the latest wave of COVID-19 infections were likely caused by omicron subvariants BA.4. and BA.5. Omicron has tended to cause a milder disease than previous variants like alpha or delta, but scientists warn its ability to evade the immune system means that people may be more susceptible to being reinfected, including after vaccination.

“The constant bombardment of waves we are seeing does cause clinical impact that is not to be underestimated,” said Dr. Stephen Griffin, an associate professor of medicine at the University of Leeds, explaining that any infection can lead to long COVID.

Despite widespread immunization across Britain, the protection from vaccines is likely fading and omicron and its subvariants have evolved to become more infectious. Britain’s Health Security Agency said they were seeing more outbreaks in care homes for older people and a rise in admissions to intensive care units of people older than 65.

Dr. Jonathan Van-Tam, a former deputy chief medical officer for the U.K., told the BBC that COVID-19 is now “much, much, much closer to seasonal flu” than when it first emerged. Still, he said experts should be vigilant for any signs the virus was causing more severe illness.

Germany’s Robert Koch Institute also reported a similar rise in the coronavirus, with cases increasing especially among older people, children and teenagers. France has seen a jump in the COVID-19 hospitalization rate and officials recently recommended that people begin wearing masks again on public transport.

Globally, the World Health Organization said this week that COVID-19 is increasing in more than 100 countries worldwide. The U.N. health agency warned that relaxed testing and surveillance measures mean it may be more difficult to catch emerging variants before they spread more widely.

Source: Voice of America

Delegates attending an urgent debate at the U.N. Human Rights Council on the status of women and girls in Afghanistan are urging the international community to exert maximum pressure on the Taliban.

In opening Friday’s debate, U.N. human rights chief Michelle Bachelet accused the Taliban of systematic oppression and of the exclusion of women and girls from public life in Afghanistan.

She told the rights council that domestic violence and harassment have grown under Taliban rule, as have attacks against female human rights defenders, journalists, and lawyers. She said that women can no longer find employment and that secondary schooling for more than a million girls has ended.

She said an increasing number of restrictions on movement and dress have plunged women into a deep depression.

“While some of these concerns predate the Taliban takeover in August 2021, reforms at that time were moving in the right direction. There were improvements and hope,” Bachelet said. “However, since the Taliban took power, women and girls are experiencing the most significant and rapid rollback in enjoyment of their rights across the board in decades.”

The special rapporteur on the human rights situation in Afghanistan, Richard Bennett, said the degradation of women’s rights is central to the Taliban ideology. Under Taliban rule in the 1990s, he noted, there was a marked regression in women’s and girls’ rights.

‘Misogyny and oppression’

“Therefore, it should come as no surprise that, despite public assurances from the Taliban that they would respect women’s and girls’ rights, they are reinstituting step by step the discrimination against women and girls characteristic of their previous term and which is unparalleled globally in its misogyny and oppression,” he said.

In an impassioned speech to the council, the first female vice president of the Afghan parliament, Fawzia Koofi, described the dire situation among Afghan women. She said women no longer participate in parliament, in civic or public life. She said every day one or two women commit suicide because they have no hope left.

“Afghanistan is the only place in the world that women are basically literally invisible — the second class of their citizens,” she said. “In the 21st century, it is heartbreaking. It is painful for me and for my other sisters and fellow citizens to advocate for our basic rights — the right to be visible, the right not to be erased from public life.”

The United Nations does not recognize the Taliban as Afghanistan’s legitimate rulers, and the group does not have the right to speak at any U.N. forum. The Afghan ambassador of the previous government did speak and essentially confirmed what the other participants had to say.

While the debate was going on, 3,000 Islamic clerics were meeting at the first Loya Jirga, or grand council assembly, since the Taliban took over Afghanistan. Only men are present at the gathering, called to discuss national unity and issues the country faces. Taliban officials say male delegates are representing women.

Source: Voice of America