Geneva: Hundreds of scientists say there is evidence that novel coronavirus in smaller particles in the air can infect people and are calling for the World Health Organization (WHO) to revise recommendations, the New York Times reported on Saturday.
The WHO has said the coronavirus disease spreads primarily from person to person through small droplets from the nose or mouth, which are expelled when a person with COVID-19 coughs, sneezes or speaks.
In an open letter to the agency, which the researchers plan to publish in a scientific journal next week, 239 scientists in 32 countries outlined the evidence showing smaller particles can infect people, the NYT said.
The WHO did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters.
Whether carried by large droplets that zoom through the air after a sneeze, or by much smaller exhaled droplets that may glide the length of a room, the coronavirus is borne through air and can infect people when inhaled, the scientists said, according to the NYT.
However, the health agency said the evidence for the virus being airborne was not convincing, according to the NYT.
“Especially in the last couple of months, we have been stating several times that we consider airborne transmission as possible but certainly not supported by solid or even clear evidence,” Dr. Benedetta Allegranzi, the WHO’s technical lead of infection prevention and control, was quoted as saying by the NYT. (Reuters)
A hospital in northern China’s Inner Mongolia reported one suspected case of bubonic plague on Saturday, according to a statement on the local health commission’s website.
A resident carries groceries past posters and stands in the Songinokhairkhan district on the outskirts of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. (AP)
A third-level warning alert was issued on Sunday; the warning period will extend to the end of this year.
The Bayannaoer health commission warned of the risks of human-to-human infection from the plague and urged people in the city to take precautions.
The differences between the samples may still represent decades’ worth of evolutionary distance, according to dissenting scientists cited in the article
Virus samples sent to the Wuhan Institute of Virology seven years ago closely resemble Covid-19, according to a report in the Sunday Times that highlights unanswered questions about the origins of the global pandemic.
In this file handout illustration image obtained February 27, 2020 courtesy of the National Institutes of Health taken with a scanning electron microscope shows SARS-CoV-2 (yellow)—also known as 2019-nCoV, the virus that causes COVID-19—isolated from a patient in the US, emerging from the surface of cells (blue/pink) cultured in the lab. – The US biotech firm Inovio reported preliminary but encouraging results June 30, 2020 from tests of an experimental coronavirus vaccine. Administered to 40 volunteers, it triggered an immune system response in 94 percent of those who completed the so-called phase one clinical trial, meaning they received two injections, four weeks apart.Inovio’s vaccine, called INO-4800, is designed to inject DNA into a person so as to set off a specific immune system response against the SARS-CoV-2 virus. (Photo by Handout / National Institutes of Health / AFP)
Scientists in 2013 sent frozen samples to the Wuhan lab from a bat-infested former copper mine in southwest China after six men who had been clearing out bat feces there contracted a severe pneumonia, the newspaper said.
Three of them died and the most likely cause was a coronavirus transmitted from a bat, the Sunday Times reported, citing a medic whose supervisor worked in the emergency department that treated the men. The same mine in Yunnan province was subsequently studied by Shi Zhengli, an expert in SARS-like coronaviruses of bat origins at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
Shi, nicknamed “bat woman” for her expeditions in bat caves, described Covid-19 in a February 2020 paper, saying it was 96.2% similar to a coronavirus sample named RaTG13 obtained in Yunnan in 2013. The Sunday Times said RaTG13 is “almost certainly” the virus that was found in the abandoned mine.
The differences between the samples may still represent decades’ worth of evolutionary distance, according to dissenting scientists cited in the article. The Sunday Times said the Wuhan lab did not respond to its questions.
In May, the director of the Wuhan Institute of Virology said there was no live copy of the RaTG13 virus in the lab, so it would have been impossible for it to leak. There is no evidence the lab was the source of the global outbreak that began in Wuhan. But U.S. President Donald Trump claimed in May he’d seen proof of the theory, contradicting intelligence services.
Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guards Navy chief said Tehran had built underground “missile cities” along the Gulf coastline and warned of a “nightmare for Iran’s enemies”
A fire at Iran’s underground Natanz nuclear facility has caused significant damage that could slow the development of advanced centrifuges used to enrich uranium, an Iranian nuclear official said on Sunday.
view of a damaged building after a fire broke out at Iran’s Natanz Nuclear Facility, in Isfahan, Iran, July 2, 2020. | Photo Credit: REUTERS
Iran’s top security body said on Friday that the cause of the fire that broke out on Thursday had been determined but would be announced later. Some Iranian officials have said it may have been cyber sabotage and one warned that Tehran would retaliate against any country carrying out such attacks.
On Thursday, an article by Iran’s state news agency IRNA addressed what it called the possibility of sabotage by enemies such as Israel and the United States, although it stopped short of accusing either directly.
Israel’s defence minister said on Sunday it was not “necessarily” behind every mysterious incident in Iran.
Three Iranian officials who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity on Friday said they believed the fire was the result of a cyber attack but did not cite any evidence.
“The incident could slow down the development and production of advanced centrifuges in the medium term … Iran will replace the damaged building with a bigger one that has more advanced equipment,” state news agency IRNA quoted the spokesman for Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation, Behrouz Kamalvandi, as saying. “The incident has caused significant damage but there were no casualties.”
Separately on Sunday, Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guards Navy chief said Tehran had built underground “missile cities” along the Gulf coastline and warned of a “nightmare for Iran’s enemies”.
Iranian authorities have said such sites exist in all provinces of Iran but have unveiled only three bases so far and not disclosed that they have been built along its coast.
‘Maximum pressure’
Natanz is the centrepiece of Iran’s enrichment programme, which Tehran says is for peaceful purposes. Western intelligence agencies and the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog (IAEA) believe it had a coordinated, clandestine nuclear arms programme that it halted in 2003. Tehran denies ever seeking nuclear weapons.
Iran agreed to curb its nuclear programme in exchange for the removal of most international sanctions in a deal reached between Tehran and six world powers in 2015.
But Iran has gradually reduced its commitments to the accord since U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration withdrew from the deal in 2018 and reimposed and intensified sanctions that have battered Iran’s economy. The deal only allows Iran to enrich uranium at its Natanz facility with just over 5,000 first-generation IR-1 centrifuges, but Iran has installed new cascades of advanced centrifuges.
Iran, which says it will not negotiate as long as sanctions remain in place, has repeatedly vowed to continue building up what it calls a defensive missile capability run by the Revolutionary Guards, in defiance of Western criticism.
Israel has backed Trump’s “maximum pressure” policy on Tehran aimed at forcing it to agree a new deal that puts stricter limits on its nuclear work, curbs its ballistic missile programme and ends its regional proxy wars.
In 2010, the Stuxnet computer virus, widely believed to have been developed by the United States and Israel, was discovered after it was used to attack Natanz.
The Natanz Fuel Enrichment Plant (FEP), Iran’s main uranium enrichment site which is mostly underground, is one of several Iranian facilities monitored by inspectors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the U.N. nuclear watchdog. The IAEA said on Friday that the location of the fire did not contain nuclear materials and that none of its inspectors was present at the time.
Worldwide, the United States has registered the most number of cases so far (27.8 lakh), according to a Reuters tally. Brazil, is the second worst-hit nation with over 15 lakh cases
India on July 5 recorded the third highest coronavirus caseload in the world, overtaking Russia. The country now has 6,83,240 coronavirus cases at the time of publishing, 1989 postive cases more than Russia, according to official health ministry figures.
Worldwide, the United States has registered the most number of cases so far (27.8 lakh), according to a Reuters tally. Brazil is the second worst-hit nation with over 15 lakh cases.
There are currently 2,47,788 active cases in India. The death toll is 19,441. As many as 4,16,011 have recovered till date.
New Delhi, Jul 5 (PTI) Days after nine individuals linked to Khalistani outfits were declared as terrorists, the government on Sunday announced that 40 websites belonging to Sikhs For Justice (SFJ), an outlawed organisation, have been blocked for supporting secessionist activities.
The US-based Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) is a pro-Khalistan group.
“Sikhs For Justice (SFJ), an unlawful organisation under the UAPA, 1967, launched a campaign for registering supporters for its cause. On recommendation of MHA, MEITY has issued orders under Sec. 69 A of the I.T. Act, 2000, for blocking 40 websites of SFJ,” a home ministry spokesperson said.
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY) is the nodal authority for monitoring the cyber space in India.
Last year, the home ministry had banned the SFJ for its alleged anti-national activities.
The SFJ had pushed for Sikh Referendum 2020 as part of its separatist agenda.
It openly espouses the cause of Khalistan and in that process challenges the sovereignty and territorial integrity of India, another official said.
On July 1, the home ministry had declared nine individuals linked to separatist Khalistani outfits, including four based in Pakistan, as designated terrorists under the provisions of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
The individuals belonged to various terrorist organisations.
Among them were Wadhawa Singh Babbar, chief of Babbar Khalsa International (BKI); Lakhbir Singh, who heads International Sikh Youth Federation; Ranjeet Singh, chief of Khalistan Zindabad Force (KZB) and Paramjit Singh, who leads Khalistan Commando Force. All these four are Pakistan-based.
The home ministry had said these nine individuals were operating from Pakistan and other foreign soil and were involved in various acts of terrorism.
“They have been relentless in their nefarious efforts of destabilising the country, by trying to revive militancy in Punjab through their anti-national activities and through their support to and involvement in the Khalistan movement,” it had said.
Hyderabad: A 50-year-old man has been accused of raping two minor girls in Nizamabad district by luring them with chocolates, police said on Sunday.
Based on a complaint, the police said the accused took the girls, aged 7 and 8, to a secluded place at Yedapally four days ago and allegedly raped them.
The man is absconding, the police said adding that a case under sections of the IPC and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act has been registered.
Srinagar: Gusty winds coupled with rains on Sunday evening caused massive damage to orchards, residential houses and uprooted trees in various parts of the Kashmir valley.
Reports reaching the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO) said that dozens of residential houses, electric transmission lines got damaged while trees were uprooted due to strong winds in several areas of north Kashmir.
They said that rooftops of about a dozen residential houses were damaged due strong winds in many parts of north Kashmir including Sopore, Pattan, Bandipora and Sumbal.
An official told KNO that power supply also got affected in these areas as strong winds damaged transmission lines and uprooted electric poles at several places. He, however, said that no loss of life has been reported so far from these areas.
The official said that traffic movement on Sopore-Bandipora road was also halted after many trees fell on the road due to strong winds. “Efforts are being made by authorities to restore the traffic movement on the road,” he said.
Meanwhile, reports said that strong winds also wreaked havoc in other parts of Kashmir valley including Srinagar, Budgam, Shopian, and Pulwama district.
Officials said that strong winds caused massive damage to orchards, trees and residential houses in these parts as well and power supply has also been snapped in Srinagar.
Reports reaching KNO said the windstorm caused massive damage to public property in many areas.
Officials said that several residential houses and vehicles got damaged due to strong winds in Kathidarwaza area of Rainawari and Nigeen Dargah area of Srinagar.
They said they were assessing the damage caused by strong winds in several parts of Kashmir including Srinagar district—(KNO)
Srinagar: Kashmir Valley reported six more deaths due to covid-19, taking the death toll due to the virus in Jammu and Kashmir to 133.
Sources said that the victims include three residents of Srinagar, two from Bandipora and one from Anantnag.
Three among them including a 60-year-old woman from Shadipora area of Bandipora and two men— a 54-year-old male from Baramulla and a 70-year-old from Anantnag— died at SKIMS Soura.
“The woman died at 9:15 a.m. due to cardiopulmonary arrest with azotemia with sepsis,” Medical Superintendent SKIMS Soura, Professor Farooq Jan, told GNS.
“The patient was known case of hypertension, diabetes, CKD , ESRD. She was admitted with pneumonia with encephalopathy,” he added. Regarding the 54-year-old man, Professor Jan said he was a case of “CLD with bilateral CAP with shock.” “He was in Ward 2A on Ventilator and was declared Covid Positive yesterday night,” he said, adding, “He expired at around 7.30 p.m. today.”
With regard to septuagenarian from Anantnag district, Professor Jan said that he was admitted in ward 2A on July 3 with bilateral pneumonia with Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP). “His sample for covid19 was collected on same day and came out positive on July 4,” he said, adding, “The patient was on NIV support and his attendants had given negative consent for intubation. The patient expired at 10 p.m. on July 4.” The body was kept in mortuary overnight, he said.
Earlier, a 40-year-old man from Baramulla died at CD hospital, one of the exclusive facilities for the management of the covid-19 patients in Valley.
Medical Superintendent CD Hospital, Dr Salim Tak, told GNS that the patient, a resident of Sangrama Sopore area of the northern Kashmir district, was suffering from bilateral pneumonia. “He was shifted from SMHS hospital to CD hospital on June 27,” he added. The two other deaths, one each from Srinagar and Bandipora took place at SMHS hospital, the sources said.
Regarding Bandipora case, sources said that he was a 54-year-old male from Gundjehangir and was admitted to the hospital on April 6 and died with underlying ailments such as “hypertension and diabetes” today. Regarding Srinagar patients, details were awaited while this report was filed.
With the deaths, 133 people have succumbed to the virus in J&K— 119 from the Valley and 14 from Jammu division.
Srinagar district with 32 deaths has the highest fatalities followed by Baramulla (23), Kulgam (16), Shopian (13), Anantnag (11), Budgam (9), Jammu(8), Kupwara (7), Pulwama (four), Bandipora (three), Doda (2) while one death each has been reported from Ganderbal, Poonch, Udhampur, Rajouri and Kathua. (GNS)
Srinagar: Rafiya Bano (name changed), a resident of West Bengal’s Murshidabad was 18 when an agent told her parents she would be married with a young Kashmiri and in a well-off family. But once brought to Kashmir, she was forced to marry a Srinagar man who was 45-years-old.
“I married this man three years ago. I was new to this place and totally a stranger. Whatever I was told, I accepted. I came to know that the person whom I am married did not find local bride as he has some mental illness,” she told news agency Kashmir Indepth News Service (KINS).
This is not an isolated case. There are dozens of non-local brides who have been married to old people or persons with disabilities in Kashmir. Rukhsana Jan, a resident of Bihar married to an old man two years before in south Anantnag. A friend of Rukhsana’s uncle approached her family and showed them a picture of a young and handsome Kashmiri boy as their daughter’s prospective groom.
“I was told this person is a businessman and will keep me happy. When I arrived in Kashmir I was shocked. They told me that I have to marry a man who seemed then 40, and has a big lump on his back which has made him unattractive to local girls,” she said, who is now 21.
The brides are pushed into these marriages because of poverty, trafficked in a sense by the agents in many cases because they are lured by false promises.
An agent, who wished not to be named, said most of the non-local girls who are being brought to Kashmir are from impoverished Muslim families of states like West Bengal, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.
“We get these girls with the consent of their families who are struggling to get two times meals,” he said.
The United Nations defines Trafficking in Persons as the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation.
The purpose of the human trafficking as per National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) is forced labour, sexual exploitation for prostitution, domestic servitude, organ trade, and forced marriage.
As per the NCRB figures, 2465 human trafficking cases were reported in India during 2018 involving 5788 victims.
However, only one case as per these figures has been registered in Jammu and Kashmir.
A senior official of J&K police give varied reasons why human trafficking cases are not getting reported.
“In Kashmir forced marriages take place because the practise has social acceptance. Nobody is complaining about these marriages as family of a girl is getting handsome money and they are being brought to Kashmir with their concurrence,” the official said.
“You will find non-local brides in every area in Kashmir but nobody will speak on their behalf,” the official added. (KINS)
