Five Afghans imprisoned for 10 years in Greece over Moria migrant camp fire

Four Afghan asylum seekers were on Saturday sentenced to 10 years in prison in Greece for their part in a fire that destroyed the Moria migrant camp last year, in a case that highlighted the chronic refugee problem on Europe’s borders. The men, charged with arson with risk to human life over the fire on the island of Lesbos in September last year, were found guilty after a court rejected a request by lawyers for three of them to be tried by a juvenile court because they were younger than 18 at the time. Before the blaze, Moria was considered Europe’s biggest migrant camp, a sprawling and overcrowded town of tents and improvised shelters notorious for its poor and often dangerous living conditions. Described by human rights groups and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees as unfit for humans, the camp had become a symbol of Europe’s stumbling response to the migration crisis on its southern borders, which left much of the burden to be carried by small islands such as Lesbos. Greek authorities believe that the fire was deliberately lit by camp occupants after quarantine measures were imposed following the discovery of COVID-19 cases among people living on the site. The blaze sent more than 12,000 people, mostly Syrian, Afghan and Iraqi refugees who had endured a dangerous sea crossing, fleeing for their lives, forcing most to sleep in the open for days without shelter, food and water, or sanitation. No one was killed in the fire. A new temporary camp was set up on the site of an old army firing range, but tenders have been launched for new closed centers on Lesbos and the nearby island of Chios that the government has said would provide safer accommodation, but which critics have said risk becoming like prisons. The four men were among a group of six

Queen honors Prue Leith, Alison Moyet, Skin, Lulu

The Great British Bake Off judge Prue Leith, the poet Lemn Sissay and the singer-songwriter Alison Moyet were among notable figures in the arts to be recognized in the birthday honors list of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II. In a list dominated once again by the heroes and heroines of the COVID-19 pandemic, and particularly key players in Britain’s successful vaccine rollout, there remained room to laud the achievements of people in the nation’s fields of arts, culture and sports. Leith has entered the most senior ranks of the Order of the British Empire by becoming a dame, alongside the sculptor Phyllida Barlow and the Strictly Come Dancing judge Arlene Philips. The actor Jonathan Pryce, who played Pope Francis in The Two Popes and the High Sparrow in Game of Thrones, has also been awarded the highest honor, receiving a knighthood after having been given a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2009. A number of female singer-songwriters have also been recognized in the honors list this year, including Skin (real name Deborah Ann Dyer), who is best known as the frontwoman of the rock band Skunk Anansie, who has been given an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to music. Lulu, who last year was made an OBE, was made a CBE for services to music, entertainment and charity, while Moyet, the singer of It Won’t Be Long and Invisible, was awarded a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for services to music. Also in the world of music, Arnold George Dorsey, better known as Engelbert Humperdinck, was made an MBE for services to music, while John Heath Summers, the CEO of the Halle Orchestra, and the cellist Julian Lloyd Webber were made OBEs. In the literary world, the historical fiction blockbuster novelist Philippa Gregory,

Virtual singers top multibillion-dollar industry in China

Luo Tianyi’s (洛天依) New Year’s Day performance was sparsely attended by pop star standards, with only about 300 people in the audience. Then again, she was not there either. To actually see Luo, one of China’s rising superstars, about 150 million people tuned in to the livestream on their TVs and mobile devices. Teen singer Luo Tianyi is a “vocaloid,” the first Mandarin-speaking, computer-generated, voice-synthesized pop star. China is the latest market to embrace vocaloids, the most extreme mashup of technology and music. Although they were developed in Japan and became influential in K-pop, China has the biggest potential audience, with an estimated 390 million people watching virtual idols. The accompanying animation industry, which includes TV series and comics, hit US$35 billion last year, the media company iQiyi said. From an animated cat dancing with Paula Abdul in the 1990s to holograms that revived dead singers in the 2000s, the music industry has flirted with non-human performances for as long as the technology existed. For a flat fee of US$225, creators get audio editing software that can generate songs complete with synthetic human voices. Yamaha is developing technology to make the voices more life-like and to allow musical expressions unique to vocaloids. With bright pop tunes, Luo exemplifies the genre. She is 15, with gray hair, green eyes and 5 million followers on Weibo. Her concerts sell out in minutes, she has sung and danced to Lang Lang’s (郎朗) piano accompaniment, and China Central Television put her in the lineup for its Spring Festival Gala alongside Andy Lau (劉德華) and Andrea Bocelli. More than one-third of Luo’s fans were born after 2000 and mostly located in China’s bigger cities, while the company tries to expand their presence beyond them. Nescafe, KFC and other companies have used her songs in advertising campaigns, while Harper’s Bazaar put her image on the cover of its

Spain’s right protests plan to free Catalan separatists

A CONTENTIOUS MOVE: The opposition has accused the minority government of caving in to pressure from separatist parties, as it partly depends on their support

Right-wing protesters yesterday hit the streets of Madrid to denounce controversial Spanish government plans to offer pardons to the jailed Catalan separatists behind the failed 2017 independence bid. The mass protest, which started at midday, aimed to increase pressure on Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez who has called for understanding over the planned gesture that has dominated political debate for weeks and reactivated the controversy over Catalan separatism. “I understand there may be people who could have objections over this decision that the government may take, given what happened in 2017, but I ask for your trust. I ask for understanding and for magnanimity, because the challenge facing all of us — to promote coexistence — is worth it,” he said on Wednesday during an official visit to Argentina. Although Sanchez’s left-wing government has not said anything concrete on the matter, all indications suggest the pardons would be granted before the summer break. However, the proposal has generated a huge backlash from the right-wing opposition, which has accused the minority government of caving in to pressure from separatist parties, on whose support it partially depends. “Sanchez is planning pardons to legitimize an ongoing crime ... [in] a historic error that won’t solve anything, only to keep his government from going under,” said opposition leader Pablo Casado, head of the right-wing Popular Party. Spain’s Supreme Court has also opposed the move to offer clemency to those convicted over their role in an illegal referendum and a short-lived declaration of independence, saying it saw “no evidence or indication of remorse” from the prisoners to justify any such pardon. The Supreme Court convicted 12 Catalan separatists for their role in the crisis, with nine of them handed jail terms of between nine and 13 years in October 2019. The prisoner serving the longest sentence of 13 years is Oriol

Police arrest one of two suspects in Austin shooting

SAVING LIVES: Police responded quickly, helping to stabilize the 14 people who were wounded, in what was one of at least three mass shootings in the US overnight

Police have arrested one suspect and are searching for another after a mass shooting on a crowded downtown Austin street early on Saturday left 14 people wounded, two of them critically. The Austin Police Department said in a news release that the US Marshals Lone Star Fugitive Task Force assisted in making the arrest, but gave no details other than to say it is continuing to follow up on leads for the suspect still at large. Austin Interim Chief of Police Joseph Chacon said the shooting happened at about 1:30am on a street packed with bars and barricaded off from vehicle traffic. Investigators believe it began as a dispute between two parties, he said. Both suspects are male, Chacon said, but declined to disclose details such as whether both fired shots, as the investigation was ongoing. “Most of the victims were innocent bystanders, but we’re still sorting out all of the victims to see what their involvement is in this case,” Chacon said. The mass shooting — one of at least three in the US overnight — sparked panic along Sixth Street, a popular nightlife destination in the city that is home to the University of Texas. One witness, Matt Perlstein, told KXAN-TV that he was waiting with a friend to enter a bar. “Everything was totally fine,” Perlstein said, then gunfire erupted. “We just heard like ... a bunch of gunshots going off. Everyone got on the ground. We couldn’t even comprehend what was going on at the time.” Chacon said his officers responded quickly. “They were able to immediately begin life-saving measures for many of these patients, including applications of tourniquets; applications of chest seals,” he said. Due to the chaos on the barricaded street, police drove six of the wounded to hospitals in their squad cars. Ambulances transported four people and the other four

Trip into space with Jeff Bezos sells for US$28m

A mystery bidder on Saturday paid US$28 million at auction for a seat alongside Amazon founder Jeff Bezos on board the first crewed spaceflight of the billionaire’s company Blue Origin next month. Bezos revealed this week that he and his brother Mark Bezos would take seats on board the company’s New Shepard launch vehicle on July 20, to fly to the edge of space and back. The Bezos brothers are to be joined by the winner of Saturday’s charity auction, whose identity remains unknown, and a fourth, as yet unnamed space tourist. “The name of the auction winner will be released in the weeks following the auction’s conclusion,” Blue Origin wrote on Twitter after the sale. “Then, the fourth and final crew member will be announced — stay tuned.” Saturday’s successful bidder beat out about 20 rivals in an auction launched on May 19 and wrapped up with a 10-minute, livecast frenzy. Bidding had reached US$4.8 million by Thursday, but shot up spectacularly in the final live auction, rising by US$1 million increments. The proceeds — aside from a six percent auctioneer’s commission — are to go to Blue Origin’s foundation, Club for the Future, which aims to inspire future generations to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Taking off from a desert in western Texas, the New Shepard trip is to last 10 minutes, four of which passengers are to spend above the Karman line that marks the recognized boundary between Earth’s atmosphere and space. After liftoff, a capsule separates from the booster, then spends four minutes at an altitude exceeding 100km, during which time those on board experience weightlessness and can observe the curvature of Earth. The booster lands autonomously on a pad 3.2km from the launch site, and the capsule floats back to the surface with three large parachutes that slow it down to

New UK news channel fends off claims that it will be a British version of Fox

GB News — the first dedicated television news channel to launch in Britain in more than two decades — went live for the first time yesterday. Yet even before its first broadcast at 7pm GMT, it has had to fend off unfavorable comparisons to the firebrand and divisive populism of US network Fox News. The British broadcaster says it aims to cater to a broad audience, including marginalized communities that backed the 2016 Brexit vote to leave the EU. It has billed itself as “Britain’s news channel,” unashamedly draping itself in the red white and blue of the Union Jack as it prepares to face off with more established competitors such as the BBC and Sky News. “Our presenters will have the freedom to say what they think, to have some fun and to be brave about the issues that really matter to the people of Britain,” GB News director of news and programming John McAndrew said. The station, which has a staff of 140 journalists based at newly acquired offices in west London, has attracted a string of high-profile UK broadcasters. Chief among them is veteran journalist Andrew Neil. Even he is being cast as an outsider, despite having worked for 25 years at the BBC, edited Rupert Murdoch’s establishment weekly the Sunday Times and founded Britain’s last successful TV start-up, Sky. “We are for people who think the existing channels don’t quite represent how they see things,” Neil told London’s Evening Standard newspaper. The media stalwart has had to rebuff criticism since the creation of GB News was first announced in September last year claiming the channel would be a British clone of the bombastic Fox News and would feed the flames of an already fractious culture war. McAndrew this week told trade publication Press Gazette that the channel would not be a “hate-filled divisive shout-fest.” To its detractors,

Premier E3 video game show begins with ‘Avatar’ reveal

The world’s premier video game trade show, the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), launched online on Saturday, celebrating play that “kept us sane” during the COVID-19 pandemic, celebrating fantasy worlds with Ubisoft’s new offering Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora and promising a real-world gathering next year. E3, which each year turned the Los Angeles Convention Center into a players’ paradise, was canceled last year because of COVID-19, and went virtual this year with a streamed event. “During the pandemic that prevented us from being with so many family, friends and colleagues, video games connected us, entertained us and brought us together. Games kept us sane,” Entertainment Software Association chief executive officer Stanley Pierre-Louis said. The association has hosted E3 annually since 1995, most of those years in Los Angeles. “It’s an opportunity to convene and celebrate as a community,” Pierre-Louis said in an opening presentation. Video game play has surged during the pandemic, as people turned more than ever to the Internet for entertainment. Overall consumer spending on gaming in the US totaled just shy of US$15 billion in the first quarter of this year, up 30 percent from the same period last year, industry tracker NPD Group said. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti joined the prerecorded presentation to reveal that E3 would return to the city next year, and that he is eager to see it back in action. “We look forward to seeing you in person, here in the City of Angels in 2022,” Garcetti said. This year’s virtual event is spread over four days, and features presentations by major game studios along with console titans Microsoft and Nintendo. French video game powerhouse Ubisoft opened the show with a look at fresh additions to its diverse lineup, including a new game based on the blockbuster film Avatar. A trailer for the game, set for release next year, showed an open world

World News Quick Take

CHINA Gas blast kills at least 12 At least 12 people were killed and nearly 140 injured yesterday, when a gas line explosion ripped through a residential compound in Hubei Province at about 6:30am, local officials said. Rescue efforts were continuing, the disaster management bureau in the city of Shiyan said in a statement, although it was unclear how many people might still be trapped under the debris. Videos filmed by witnesses and verified by Beijing News show several buildings reduced to rubble and rescue workers carrying shocked survivors on stretchers. The blast ripped through one of the city’s vegetable markets that was filled with shoppers and local residents eating breakfast, an eyewitness told the Global Times. “I heard a loud bang and immediately ducked under the table, thinking it was an earthquake,” a man who owns a small restaurant near the explosion site told the newspaper. SYRIA Shells hit hospital, 18 dead Shelling of the rebel-held city of Afrin on Saturday killed at least 18 people, many of them when a hospital was hit, a war monitor said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that a doctor, three hospital staff, two women and two children died at al-Shifaa Hospital in the city which is held by Turkish-backed rebels. A rebel commander also died at the hospital, the observatory said, adding that 23 people were injured. “The shelling targeted several areas of the town and hit the hospital,” observatory director Rami Abdel Rahmane said. “Most of the victims died in shelling on the hospital,” the Britain-based monitoring group said in a statement. The artillery fire originated from Aleppo Province “where militia faithful to Iran and the [Syrian] regime are deployed, near the zones run by Kurdish forces,” it said. The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces denied any involvement in the shelling. UNITED STATES Biden

No ‘serious irregularities’ in Peru poll

ELECTION OBSERVERS: The appraisal of the voting process as ‘positive’ casts doubt on rigging claims by right-wing presidential candidate Keiko Fujimori

Peru’s disputed presidential vote had not shown any “serious irregularities,” international election monitors said on Friday, as the country’s caretaker leader urged calm after five days of rising tensions without a result from the cliffhanger poll on Sunday last week. Right-wing candidate Keiko Fujimori, a former Peruvian lawmaker and daughter of former Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori, risks imminent trial on corruption charges if she loses to her leftist rival Pedro Castillo, who has already cast himself as the victor. Keiko Fujimori has claimed fraud, and election authorities are reviewing her request to annul about 200,000 votes, in a process expected to take several more days. An election observation mission from the Organization of American States (OAS) said it had “observed a positive electoral process” and cast doubt on rigging claims, but called on authorities to wait until challenges to the vote had been resolved before calling a winner. “The mission has not detected serious irregularities,” the OAS said. Tensions have risen in the days since the vote, as supporters of both Castillo and Fujimori have rallied to call for their candidate to be anointed president. Peruvian President Francisco Sagasti, who is to remain in office until the vote is called, on Friday urged people “to keep the country calm in difficult times.” “In that effort, I got in touch with several people who ... have contact with both candidates,” he said. “My request was the same for both: Lower the tension and wait for the official results.” Peruvians voted for their fifth president in three years after a series of crises and corruption scandals saw three different leaders in office in a single week in November last year, the last one being Sagasti. Seven of the country’s last 10 leaders have either been convicted or are under investigation for graft. On the last count of the runoff election, rural

COVID-19: G7 summit outlines pact to curb future pandemics

EXPEDITED PROCESS: World leaders were set to sign a declaration to speed up vaccine licensing and reinforce surveillance networks to detect disease outbreaks

G7 leaders were yesterday set to agree on a joint declaration aimed at preventing another pandemic, as they resume wide-ranging talks at their first in-person summit in almost two years. The group of leading economies -— Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US — would also try to showcase Western democratic cohesion against a resurgent China and recalcitrant Russia. They were to be joined by the leaders of Australia, South Africa and South Korea, along with India taking part remotely, as the agenda broadens to foreign policy issues and climate change. The G7 is meeting face to face for the first time since 2019, at a beachside venue in southwest England, after the COVID-19 pandemic led to the cancellation of last year’s summit. The leaders on Friday opened the three-day summit with expectations of a pledge to donate 1 billion vaccine doses to poor countries this year and next year — much too slow to end the COVID-19 crisis in the short term, campaigners said. On yesterday’s foreign policy agenda was a coup in Myanmar and a crackdown on democracy supporters in Belarus, alongside tensions with Russia and China. Most of the leaders are to reconvene tomorrow in Brussels for a NATO meeting, before US President Joe Biden heads to his first summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Geneva, Switzerland, vowing to deliver a blunt message about Moscow’s behavior. “I’ll tell you [about it] after I’ve delivered it,” Biden told reporters on Friday. The G7 is expected to finalize the “Carbis Bay Declaration,” comprising a series of commitments to prevent a repeat of the devastation wreaked by COVID-19. “For the first time today, the world’s leading democracies have come together to make sure that never again will we be caught unawares,” British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in remarks released ahead of the summit’s

COVID-19: Vaccine-skeptic Britons increasingly willing to get jab

More than half of the people in the UK who were firmly against getting vaccinated against COVID-19 at about the time the first dose was administered have had a jab, a study has said. Researchers at the University of Bristol and King’s College London also found that about one in seven of the staunchest skeptics who have yet to be vaccinated have changed their minds and intend to get the jab when offered it. Siobhan McAndrew, a senior lecturer in quantitative social science at the University of Bristol, said the driving force behind the change of heart was often the “concrete benefits of being vaccinated in terms of being able to travel and to see family and friends again.” “Part of the rise in vaccine confidence relates to social proof: People feel more confident because they observe others taking their vaccine with confidence,” she added. “The first people to be vaccinated were the oldest generations, who have a strong sense of civic obligation, and they helped set the norm that you should take up your vaccine when it is your turn,” McAndrew said. “This encouraged others to move from saying they were fairly likely to accept the vaccine, to either accepting it or saying they were certain to do so.” The researchers also found that of those who deemed themselves “not very” or “not at all likely” to accept a vaccine when asked in November and December last year, 84 percent had since been vaccinated. “Some people who were positive in principle were waiting and seeing — and their confidence has been strengthened by the evidence that the vaccine is safe and effective,” McAndrew said. “Others had not made up their mind when asked in early winter. Over the course of the vaccine rollout, they have increasingly been persuaded that taking it was the right thing

Mouse pups from ISS’ sperm healthy

Turns out the comic books were wrong. Japanese researchers found out that mouse sperm exposed to high levels of cosmic radiation for nearly six years produced a large brood of healthy, unremarkable “space pups.” Their study was published on Friday in Science Advances — which noted no signs so far of “Mousezillas” or “rodent Hulks.” The sperm was stored in the International Space Station (ISS) in freeze-dried form. Once brought back to Earth and rehydrated, it resulted in the birth of 168 mice, free of genetic defects. Teruhiko Wakayama, a developmental biologist at the University of Yamanashi and lead author of the study, on Thursday said that there was little difference between mice fertilized by space sperm and sperm that had remained confined to Earth. “All pups had normal appearance,” he said, adding that when researchers examined their genes, “no abnormalities were found.” In 2013, Wakayama and colleagues at the university launched three boxes, each containing 48 ampoules of freeze-dried sperm, to the ISS for the long-term study. They wanted to determine whether long-term exposure to radiation in space would damage DNA in reproductive cells or pass mutations along to offspring. That could be a problem for our own species in future space exploration and colonization missions. Batches were returned to Earth for fertilization after the first nine months of the study, as well as after two years and finally after six years, leading to hundreds of births. Freeze-dried sperm was selected for the experiment because it can be preserved at room temperature, rather than needing a freezer. The ampoules were also small and very light, about the size of a small pencil, further cutting launch costs. When the space mice reached adulthood, they were randomly mated and the next generation appeared normal as well. Wakayama said that he had been inspired by science fiction and once

Malian militant linked to journalist murders killed

French soldiers have killed a Malian militant leader suspected of being responsible for the kidnapping and death of two French journalists in 2013, French Minister of the Armed Forces Florence Parly said on Friday. Parly said that French forces in the Sahel region killed “four terrorists” during an operation in northern Mali on Saturday last week, including Bayes Ag Bakabo, the prime suspect in the deaths of Radio France Internationale reporters Ghislaine Dupont and Claude Verlon. “His neutralisation means the end of a long wait,” Parly said, adding that Bakabo was in the village of Aguelhok and was allegedly preparing an attack against UN peacekeeping forces when he was killed. Dupont and Verlon, both in their 50s and veteran journalists, were seized in the flashpoint northern Malian town of Kidal in November 2013 after interviewing a separatist Tuareg leader. Their bullet-riddled bodies were found a few hours later, with al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb claiming the killings as revenge for France’s intervention against militant groups in the country earlier that year. A French investigation concluded that Bakabo drove the pickup truck used to kidnap the two journalists. The exact circumstances of their deaths have never been revealed, and relatives say that military secrecy has hampered efforts toward that end. In November last year, UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions Agnes Callamard said that “the alleged perpetrators have been named, but are yet to be arrested and prosecuted.” Callamard urged the governments of France and Mali “to advance the investigation without further delay so that justice may be served.” Parly on Friday said that the operation “illustrates one of the main priorities of France in the Sahel region: taking down the main heads of terrorist groups that are causing havoc in the region.” The news of Bakabo’s death emerged just a day after French President Emmanuel Macron announced

World News Quick Take

UNITED STATES DOJ vows to defend voting The Department of Justice (DOJ) will prosecute threats against election officials and aggressively scrutinize new state election laws to ensure that they do not violate voting rights, US Attorney General Merrick Garland said on Friday. Voting rights would be a top priority for the department at a time when many Republican-led states are tightening voting laws in a manner that critics say would make it harder for minorities to vote. Garland said he would double the number of prosecutors devoted to voting-rights enforcement and closely examine state elections. “There are many things that are open to debate in America but the right of all eligible citizens to vote is not one of them,” Garland said. CANADA Anti-hatred march held Thousands of people on Friday marched in support of a Muslim family run over and killed by a man driving a pick-up truck on Sunday last week in an attack police described as a hate crime. The four victims, spanning three generations, were killed when Nathaniel Veltman, 20, ran into them while they were walking near their home. A fifth family member, a nine-year-old boy, survived. People in London marched about 7km from the site of the incident to a nearby mosque, the site close to where Veltman was arrested by police. Some carried placards with messages such as: “Hate has no home here.” The attack sparked outrage across Canada, with politicians from all sides condemning the crime. Veltman faces four charges of first-degree murder and one of attempted murder. TUNISIA Police, protesters clash Police on Friday fired tear gas to disperse protesters in the Tunis’ Sejoumi neighborhood after video of police stripping and beating a young man triggered widespread anger. The video prompted criticism from political parties and human rights groups. Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi said that the officers involved had

COVID-19: Japan mulls keeping virus curbs

NO END IN SIGHT: A team of experts said that the nation could be forced to declare another state of emergency in August if the current measures are lifted on June 20

The Japanese government is considering ending a state of emergency in Tokyo and several other prefectures as scheduled on June 20, but keeping some curbs, such as on restaurant hours, until the Olympic Games start next month, the Mainichi Shimbun reported. New COVID-19 infections in Olympics host Tokyo have inched down during the past month of emergency restrictions, although authorities remain concerned about the spread of variants and the continued strain on medical resources. The head of Japan’s main opposition, Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan leader Yukio Edano, yesterday called for the global sporting event to be postponed or canceled, warning that there was an “extremely high risk” of an explosive outbreak in August and September if the Games went ahead. The Mainichi Shimbun yesterday reported that the Japanese government would ask restaurants to maintain shorter hours and impose other curbs under the targeted quasi-emergency measures. Bars and restaurants are now asked to close by 8pm and are banned from serving alcohol. A final decision is expected late next week, a few days before the end of the state of emergency, which also covers the northern island of Hokkaido, host of the Olympic marathon. Polls have shown that most Japanese oppose holding the Games this year, worried about the flood of athletes and officials from overseas. Japan has effectively been closed to foreign visitors since the pandemic broke out last year. The Japanese government says that the Games will go ahead — barring “Armageddon,” as one International Olympic Committee member put it. The Olympics are scheduled to start on July 23. A Tokyo Olympic coronavirus expert, Nobuhiko Okabe, said completely shutting out COVID-19 would be too difficult and the focus should be on minimizing risk. “Unfortunately, keeping the number [of infections] to zero is impossible, so I believe the focus should be on minimizing the number as much as possible,”

COVID-19: Manila to give vaccinated older people more freedom

The Philippines is to exempt people aged 60 or older who have been fully vaccinated from stay-at-home orders to encourage more to get inoculated and help authorities meet COVID-19 immunization targets, officials said yesterday. People aged 60 or older living in areas under looser quarantine restrictions would be allowed to go out from Wednesday, but would still need to wear masks, face shields and practice social distancing, presidential spokesman Harry Roque said in a statement. People aged 60 or older, who account for four-fifths of COVID-19 deaths in the nation, were among priority groups in the government’s vaccination drive that began on March 1, but as of Sunday, only 1.54 million, or 16 percent of the more than 9 million people aged 60 and older, had got their first shot, while more than 343,000 had received their second dose. “Get vaccinated to enjoy the incentive of going out to exercise and chat with your fellow senior citizens,” Philippine Undersecretary of Health Maria Rosario Vergeire told a news conference. The Philippine government’s coronavirus task force yesterday also allowed non-contact sports venues like gyms and fitness studios, and historical sites and museums to reopen, but with a limited number of visitors. After recording nearly 1,293,687 infections and 22,312 deaths, the Philippines is battling the second-highest COVID-19 caseload in the region after Indonesia. The Philippines started vaccinating about 35 million people working outside their homes this week to curb transmission and help open the economy, but the drive was hit by a delay in vaccine deliveries.