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☆ WHO says Syria, already in crisis, needs massive humanitarian aid after quake
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

GENEVA, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Senior officials from the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday that Syria's humanitarian needs where the highest after a major earthquake killed thousands there and in southern Turkey. Adelheid Marschang, WHO Senior Emergency Officer, said Turkey had a strong capacity to respond to the crisis but that the main unmet needs in the immediate and mid-term would be across the border in Syria, already grappling with a years-long humanitarian crisis due to the civil war and a cholera outbreak. "All over Syria, the needs are the highest after nearly 12 years of protracted, complex crisis, while humanitarian funding continues to decline." WHO said it was dispatching emergency supplies, including trauma and emergency surgical kits, and activating a network of emergency medical teams. He said the WHO was especially concerned about areas of Turkey and Syria where no information had emerged since Monday's earthquake.

☆ Earthquake leaves Syrians across frontlines with shared catastrophe
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

That’s humanity," said Suleiman, who was displaced to Idlib from Deir al-Zor in eastern Syria during the war. State media say at least 812 people perished in government-held areas including Aleppo, Latakia, Hama and Tartous. It's a country that is inhabited by death," said Hassan Hussein, from the coastal city and government stronghold of Tartous. In the rebel-held city of Atareb, Yousef Haboush lamented how the quake had forced many from their homes yet again. One of the residents, Abu Hamid, said he felt a sense of "proximity" to other Syrians, including those in rebel-held areas.

☆ Death toll from Turkey, Syria quake set to jump, WHO says
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

GENEVA, Feb 6 (Reuters) - The World Health Organization (WHO) expects a significant jump in the death toll following a major earthquake and its aftershocks in southern Turkey and northwestern Syria that reduced many buildings to rubble. The magnitude 7.8 quake, which rattled southern Turkey early on Monday, was the worst to hit the country this century, killing more than 900 people there and about 550 across the border in Syria, according to officials. "I think we can expect the death toll to increase significantly," Rick Brennan, the WHO's regional emergency director for the Eastern Mediterranean, told Reuters. "There's been a lot of building collapses and it will increase more significantly around the epicentre of the earthquake." "It's harder for the rescue teams to get in there to extract people," he said.

[1/5] Passengers push their luggage through the international arrivals hall at Beijing Capital International Airport after China lifted the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) quarantine requirement for inbound travellers in Beijing, China January 8, 2023. China's management of COVID was technically downgraded to "Category B" on Sunday, although many curbs have been dropped for weeks. Officially, China has reported just 5,272 COVID-related deaths as of Jan.8, one of the lowest rates of death from the infection in the world. State broadcaster CCTV reported on Sunday that direct flights from South Korea to China were close to sold out. South Korea like many other countries now requires travellers from China, Macau and Hong Kong to provide negative COVID test results before departure.

☆ Malawi delays reopening schools as cholera cases surge
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/3] Pilirani Wanja, a clinician at Ndirande Health Centre, demonstrates to clients how to take the cholera vaccine in response to the latest cholera outbreak in Blantyre, Malawi, November 16, 2022. REUTERS/Eldson ChagaraBLANTYRE, Malawi, Jan 2 (Reuters) - Malawi has delayed the opening of public schools in the southern African country's two major cities of Blantyre and Lilongwe, the health minister said Monday, to try to slow down a surge in cholera deaths. Cholera is an annual problem during Malawi's rainy months from November to March, where the number of deaths is around 100 a year. The global stockpile of cholera vaccines the World Health Organization helps manage is "currently empty or extremely low", a WHO official said last month amid a resurgence of the disease. Chiponda called on authorities to tighten control measures, including spraying chlorine to disinfect congested places such as markets and schools and stepping up inoculations.

☆ A new cholera outbreak is killing hundreds in Haiti. Scientists think it's the same strain that was brought to the country by UN troops more than a decade ago.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-29 | by ( Sarah Braner | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The current strain may be descended from the 2010 strain that UN troops likely brought. The current outbreak was first reported on October 2, according to the WHO, after three years of no reported cholera cases. Before going to Haiti, there had been a cholera outbreak in Kathmandu, where the troops trained before deployment. Scientists don't yet know why this new cholera outbreak is occurringScientists aren't yet sure how cholera has reemerged in Haiti after three years of no reported cases. However, the authors say this third option is unlikely, partially because other countries in the region have not reported recent cholera cases.

There are hundreds of textile factories in Faisalabad, Pakistan, a fast-fashion powerhouse. Untreated wastewater from these factories can contaminate the water in people's homes. Top editors give you the stories you want — delivered right to your inbox each weekday. Loading Something is loading. The result is a high mortality rate in children and a health crisis that is only getting worse as the city expands to become a fast-fashion powerhouse.

☆ China will end Covid quarantine rule for incoming travelers
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-26 | by ( ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

Strict requirements on inbound travelers had remained in place, including five days of mandatory quarantine at a government-supervised facility and three more of isolation at home. Travelers entering China will still have to undergo PCR testing 48 hours before departure, however, the health authority said. If an outbreak becomes severe, the institution will adopt so-called “closed management” to prevent the spread of infections, the authority said. China will also further increase the vaccination rate among the elderly, and promote second doses among people at high risk of severe illness. China is the last major country to move toward treating Covid as endemic.

☆ China to scrap COVID quarantine rule for inbound travellers
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BEIJING, Dec 26 (Reuters) - China will stop requiring inbound travellers to go into quarantine starting from Jan. 8, the National Health Commission said on Monday in a major step towards easing curbs on its borders, which have been largely shut since 2020. Strict requirements on inbound travellers had remained in place, including five days of mandatory quarantine at a government-supervised facility and three more of isolation at home. That restriction and one on the number of passengers on international flights will be removed from Jan. 8. Travellers entering China will still have to undergo PCR testing 48 hours before departure, however, the health authority said. Reporting by Ryan Woo, Ethan Wang, Eduardo Baptista and Brenda Goh; editing by John StonestreetOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ China to scrap Covid quarantine rule for inbound travelers
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-26 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

People line up outside a fever clinic in Beijing on Dec. 14, 2022, just days after the country relaxed its Covid controls amid below-freezing weather in the capital city. China will stop requiring inbound travelers to go into quarantine starting from Jan. 8, the National Health Commission said on Monday in a major step towards easing curbs on its borders, which have been largely shut since 2020. Strict requirements on inbound travelers had remained in place, including five days of mandatory quarantine at a government-supervised facility and three more of isolation at home. That restriction and one on the number of passengers on international flights will be removed from Jan. 8. Travelers entering China will still have to undergo PCR testing 48 hours before departure, however, the health authority said.

☆ Global stockpile of cholera vaccines 'empty or extremely low' - WHO
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

GENEVA, Dec 16 (Reuters) - A World Health Organization official said on Friday that the global stockpile of cholera vaccines it helps manage is "currently empty or extremely low" amid a resurgence of the disease around the world. The U.N. health agency says there are around 30 countries around the world that have reported cholera outbreaks this year which is about a third higher than a typical year. More countries are continuing to request (them) and it's extremely challenging," said Dr Philippe Barboza, Team Lead for Cholera and Epidemic Diarrhoeal Diseases, at the World Health Organization. He was referring to an emergency stockpile held by the International Coordinating Group on vaccine provision that is managed by the WHO and other partners. The shortage of vaccines has already prompted the WHO to temporarily suspend the standard two-dose vaccination strategy in October.

☆ China allows COVID cases with no or mild symptoms to quarantine at home
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BEIJING, Dec 7 (Reuters) - China's national health authority said on Wednesday that asymptomatic COVID-19 cases and those with mild symptoms can self-treat while in quarantine at home, the strongest sign so far that China is preparing its people to live with the disease. Most of the cases are asymptomatic infections and mild cases, with no special treatment required, the National Health Commission said in a statement. "Asymptomatic persons and mild cases can be isolated at home while strengthening health monitoring, and they can transfer to designated hospitals for treatment in a timely manner if their condition worsens," the NHC said. For nearly three years, China has managed COVID-19 as a dangerous disease on par with bubonic plague and cholera, but since last week, top officials have acknowledged the reduced ability of the new coronavirus to cause disease while Chinese experts suggested it is not more deadly than seasonal influenza. Reporting by Ryan Woo; Editing by Tom HogueOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ U.S. says it will expand, extend temporary status for Haitians
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-06 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

SAN DIEGO — The Biden administration said Monday that it would expand temporary legal status for Haitians already living in the United States, determining conditions in the Caribbean nation were too dangerous for their forced return. The Homeland Security Department said Haitians who were in the United States Nov. 6 could apply for Temporary Protected Status and those who were granted it last year could stay an additional 18 months until Aug. 3, 2024. The administration has extended temporary status for several countries and expanded or introduced it for Haiti, Afghanistan, Ukraine, Myanmar, Cameroon and Venezuela, reversing a Trump-era trend to cut back on protections for those already in the United States. Haitians who enter the United States after Monday’s announcement will be ineligible for TPS, authorities said, though that may do little to discourage some. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who called last week for an expansion and extension, said more than 100,000 Haitians will be eligible for temporary status under Monday’s announcement.

☆ Canada freezes assets of three Haitian businessmen over gang links
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The sanctions target Gilbert Bigio, chairman of Haitian industrial conglomerate GB Group, as well as prominent business leaders Reynold Deeb and Sherif Abdallah, the government said. GB Group and the office of Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The United States on Friday imposed sanctions on a current and a former Haitian senator, accusing the two politicians of engaging in drug trafficking activities. Policymakers in the United States and Canada have this year been increasingly vocal in discussing alleged links between gangs and economic elites. Two U.S. lawmakers in September said the United States should sanction Haitian gang leaders and the "warlords" who finance them.

☆ Conditions for China to downgrade its management of COVID-19 maturing - state media
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Thomas PeterBEIJING, Dec 5 (Reuters) - Conditions for China to downgrade its management of COVID-19 as a serious contagious disease improving as the coronavirus weakens, state media outlet Yicai reported, among the first to float the idea. Category A diseases in China include bubonic plague and cholera, while SARS, AIDS and anthrax fall under Category B. Infectious diseases such as COVID-19 that have strong pathogenicity, a high fatality rate and strong infectivity are classified as Class A or Class B but managed as Class A. COVID-19 could be downgraded to Category B management or even Category C, the expert told Yicai. Any adjustment to the management of infectious diseases by the National Health Commission, China's top health authority, requires the approval of the State Council, or cabinet.

HONG KONG, Dec 5 (Reuters) - China may announce 10 new COVID-19 easing measures as early as Wednesday, two sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters, supplementing 20 unveiled in November that set off a wave of COVID easing steps nationwide. Management of the disease may be downgraded as soon as January, to the less strict Category B from the current top-level Category A of infectious disease, the sources said on Monday, speaking on condition of anonymity. China will allow home quarantine for some of those testing positive, among the supplementary measures set to be announced, two sources told Reuters last week. COVID-19 could be downgraded to Category B management or even Category C, the expert told Yicai. read moreWriting by Ryan Woo; Editing by Alison Williams and Clarence FernandezOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ From Ukraine to Yemen, UN seeks record $51.5 bln for 'shockingly high' aid needs
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Emma Farge | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The appeal represents a 25% increase on 2022 and is more than five times the amount sought a decade ago. "Humanitarian needs are shockingly high, as this year's extreme events are spilling into 2023," said U.N. Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths, citing the war in Ukraine and drought in the Horn of Africa. But donor funding is already under strain with the multiple crises, forcing aid workers to make tough decisions on priorities. Unlike in other parts of the U.N. where fees depend on countries' economic size, humanitarian funding is voluntary and relies overwhelmingly on Western donations.

☆ Haiti still needs foreign strike force to confront gangs, official says
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-28 | by ( Brian Ellsworth | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Ralph Tedy ErolWASHINGTON, Nov 28 (Reuters) - The international community should send a strike force to Haiti to confront gangs even though police have ended a blockade of a fuel terminal that caused a humanitarian crisis, Haiti's ambassador to the United States said on Monday. The U.N. Security Council in October discussed sending troops to confront gangs, but those proposals have received little attention since police took back control of the Varreux terminal in November. "If you don't have an international presence to help confront the armed gangs, the situation will become even more dire," he warned. Such a force should support the police, and troops should be provided by what he called a "coalition of the willing for Haiti," Edmond said. Barbecue on Nov 6 said workers could return to the terminal, and fuel distribution has slowly resumed since then.

☆ "Extreme blackmail" forced federations to drop armbands-German FA
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( Karolos Grohmann | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

DOHA, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Soccer federations who had planned to wear "OneLove" armbands to protest against discrimination during the World Cup in Qatar were faced with "extreme blackmail" that led to them dropping the gesture, the German Football Association (DFB) said on Tuesday. "We were in an extreme situation, in an extreme blackmail and we thought we had to take that decision without wanting to do so." "I want to be able to be happy playing in a World Cup even if it is held here. We want to play a good tournament and win tomorrow and it is not our fault where the World Cup is held." "We have a lot of respect for what the Iran team did yesterday.

☆ Haiti cholera outbreak worsens, COVID-19 cases rise in Americas - PAHO
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( Steven Grattan | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Ricardo ArduengoSAO PAULO, Nov 16 (Reuters) - The cholera situation in Haiti continues to worsen while COVID-19 cases rose over the past week, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) said on Wednesday. Haitian health authorities have confirmed over 700 cases of cholera and 144 cholera-related deaths since early October, and are investigating more than 7,000 suspected cases, PAHO Director Dr. Carissa Etienne said. The Americas are facing a “triple threat” of respiratory diseases, as COVID-19, Influenza and Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) burden the region and its health systems, PAHO said. There was a 17% rise in COVID-19 cases, and deaths increased in South America and Central America over the past week, Etienne said. Although the Americas are still the region most impacted by monkeypox, PAHO said cases have fallen in most of the severely affected countries.

☆ Haiti gang leader says fuel distribution can resume as blockade ends
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Nov 6 (Reuters) - Haitian gang leader Jimmy "Barbecue" Cherizier said on Sunday that fuel trucks can approach the Varreux terminal without fear for their safety, days after police broke up a blockade that had halted fuel distribution for nearly two months. "Once again, the drivers and employees of the Varreux terminal can come down without fear," Cherizier said in a video circulating online. Haiti's police on Friday said they had retaken control of the terminal after confronting the gangs in the area. The fuel shortages halted most economic activity and forced hospitals and businesses to scale back operations sharply or shut their doors, just as the country suffered an outbreak of cholera. Reporting by Harold Isaac in Port-au-Prince and Brian Ellsworth in Caracas; Editing by Daniel WallisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Immigration and rights groups ask Biden administration not to send Haitian migrants to Guantanamo facility
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-04 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Julia-Ainsley-Circle-Byline-Template.Jpg | Julia Ainsley | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +5 min

More than 280 immigration, faith-based and rights groups sent a letter to the Biden administration on Friday asking it not to send Haitian migrants interdicted at sea to Guantanamo Bay or a third-party country. The groups were responding to a Sunday report by NBC News that the White House's National Security Council had asked the Department of Homeland Security to model scenarios in case of a surge of Haitian migrants. The groups who signed the letter, led by the Haitian Bridge Alliance, urged the Biden administration to instead allow Haitians to be removed from dangerous vessels at sea and taken to the U.S. to claim asylum. The administration must not under any circumstances send asylum seekers and migrants to the notorious Guantánamo Bay or other offshore detention locations,” the groups said. Similar criticism arose in September 2021 after the Biden administration began mass deportations of Haitian asylum seekers who crowded by the thousands under an international bridge in Del Rio, Texas.

☆ Battling cholera, Lebanon gets first vaccines, and sharp words, from France
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-31 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BEIRUT, Oct 31 (Reuters) - Lebanon took delivery on Monday of its first vaccines to combat a worsening cholera outbreak - together with sharply worded criticism of the crisis-hit country's crumbling public health infrastructure from donor nation France. Lebanon had been cholera-free since 1993, but its public services are suffering under a brutal economic crisis now in its fourth year, while infighting among the country's faction-riven elite has paralysed its political institutions. The vaccines would play "an essential role" in limiting the disease's spread, Health Minister Firass Abiad told reporters in the capital as he announced the first batch. "The origins of this epidemic, in which public health is at stake, must also be treated," Anne Grillo told reporters. The outbreak was "a new and worrying illustration of the critical decline in public provision of access to water and sanitary services in Lebanon."

☆ With a possible surge of Haitian migrants ahead, the Biden admin weighs holding them in a third country or Guantanamo
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-30 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Julia-Ainsley-Circle-Byline-Template.Jpg | Julia Ainsley | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

For more than 30 years, Guantanamo Bay has had a Migrant Operations Center that houses migrants picked up by the U.S. Coast Guard in the Caribbean. Planning now under consideration would roughly double the capacity at the Migrant Operations Center to 400 beds, according to the document. The Biden administration received bipartisan criticism for its handling of a massive flood of Haitian migrants in September 2021, which led to more than 12,000 massing under an international bridge in Del Rio, Texas. The Biden administration ramped up deportation flights to deal with the influx, but so far those flights have halted since August 2022. A spokesperson for the NSC said, “The United States remains committed to supporting the people of Haiti.

☆ As U.N. mulls sending troops to Haiti, a gang's rise shows how hard that would be
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-29 | by ( Brian Ellsworth | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +8 min

Petithomme goes by the alias Ti Makak, and leads a gang of the same name. Haiti's National Police did not respond to requests for comment on the police commissary incident or about Ti Makak in general. Local media reported that Ti Makak was responsible. But the calls continued, he said, and a group later arrived in person, saying they were linked to Ti Makak. "We can easily conclude that the Ti Makak band seeks to win the hearts of the people, particularly of those people who have been involved in acts of looting during recent protests," Germain said.

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