Category: Foreign

The number of people facing acute food insecurity could nearly double this year to 265 million due to the economic fallout of Covid-19, the United Nations’ World Food Programme (WFP) said on Tuesday.

The impact of lost tourism revenues, falling remittances and travel and other restrictions linked to the coronavirus pandemic are expected to leave some 130 million people acutely hungry this year, adding to around 135 million already in that category.

“Covid-19 is potentially catastrophic for millions who are already hanging by a thread,” said Arif Husain, chief economist and director of research, assessment and monitoring at the World Food Programme (WFP).

“We all need to come together to deal with this because if we don’t the cost will be too high – the global cost will be too high: many lost lives and many, many more lost livelihoods,” he told reporters at a virtual briefing in Geneva.

Husain said it was critical to act quickly in order to prevent people already living hand-to-mouth, such as food vendors in Kenya, from selling their assets as it could take them years to become self-reliant again.

In some cases, such as when farmers sell their ploughs or oxen, it could have knock-on effects for food production for years to come, he added.

READ ALSO: FAO seeks $940m to tackle global hunger

“These were the people we were concerned about those who were OK before Covid and now they are not,” he said, adding he was “really worried” about people living in countries with little or no government safety nets.

“Acute food and livelihood crisis” is category three of five UN phases meaning a “critical lack of food access and above usual malnutrition”.

Category 5 means mass starvation. UN officials did not give a geographical breakdown of the growing needs but said that Africa was likely to be hardest hit.

WFP expects to need $10-$12bn to fund its assistance programmes this year compared to a record $8.3bn raised last year, Husain added. It plans to pre-position food stocks over the coming months in anticipation of growing needs.

Of those already deemed acutely hungry, many are in conflict zones such as Syria or in countries badly hit by the impact of climate change, according to a UN report.

Even before the coronavirus pandemic, desert locusts in east Africa had destroyed crops and boosted the number of people reliant on food aid.

(www.newsnow.co.uk)

Funeral homes in the Spanish capital, Madrid on Tuesday said they would begin streaming funerals online for loved ones in a bid to combat the spread of coronavirus.

According to Europa Press News Agency, relatives and friends of deceased will be able to actively participate in ceremonies through video conferencing platforms, making reference to the Funeral Services of Madrid (SFM).

Spain, the second worst-hit country in Europe after Italy, has been under strict lockdown since March, preventing relatives from attending funerals for several weeks.

However, many relatives of more than 20,000 Spanish people, who died in the pandemic, were themselves required to self-isolate at home if they had contact with the deceased in the days before their deaths.

READ ALSO: Spanish family of 13 contract coronavirus

SFM added that relatives could choose between religious and secular services and would be given the option of including photographs, videos or audio of the deceased in the online ceremony.

“The new online services aimed to offer mourners relief from confusing and difficult to accept feelings about the death of loved ones from COVID-19.

“Normal procedure during the pandemic is for undertakers to take the dead directly from morgues straight to the cemetery,’’ SFM said.

(NAN)

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Tuesday threw his weight behind calls for an international inquiry into China’s initial response to the coronavirus and its origins.

“I think such an inquiry is important and we can respectfully have a difference of view from that that has been put by China,” Morrison told reporters in Canberra on Tuesday.

In his comments Morrison backed his foreign minister, Marise Payne, who on Sunday called for an independent inquiry, saying she did so with his “very strong support.”

Morrison said it was important that the World Health Organization (WHO) and all parties that are part of the WHO “act with great transparency,” regardless of where a new health threat originated.

READ ALSO: Coronavirus, conspiracy theories and ‘End Time’ eschatology

Both China and the UN health agency are facing mounting global scrutiny of their handling of the Covid-19 crisis.

U.S. President Donald Trump in mid April suspended WHO funding, claiming the agency “defended the actions of the Chinese government” and had helped cover up the danger and extent of the outbreak.

Top-ranking politicians in Germany, France, Britain and Australia have also raised questions about Beijing’s response to the crisis.

China has rejected both the international criticism and the calls for an inquiry.

(NAN)

Agency Reporter

Thailand has extended a ban on alcohol sales from Monday to April 30 in efforts to curb the spread of the new coronavirus, officials said.

The alcohol ban was first imposed on April 10 and officials decided to extend it at a Monday meeting because alcohol leads to social gatherings which risks spreading the virus, Pongsakorn Kwanmuang, spokesman for the Bangkok governor, said.

Bangkok’s alcohol ban was in line with measures in other provinces, he said.

Violators face a penalty of up to two years in prison or a fine of up to 100,000 baht (3,000 dollars), according to a Monday announcement by Bangkok Gov. Asawin Kwanmuang.

Thailand is under a state of emergency until at least April 30, which gives officials sweeping powers to introduce regulations.

READ ALSO: COVID-19: Thailand records 38 new cases, one more death

Pongsakorn said Monday’s meeting also proposed new measures around donations of food and other necessities to prevent congested queues of recipients from forming.

The measures come after around 1,000 people formed long queues to a Bangkok temple for the food it was handing out, raising concern that the virus could quickly spread among them.

Those planning to donate in Bangkok must now inform city officials who have established 71 spots to distribute donations to ensure social distancing and health safety.

Thailand has seen a dwindling number of daily new coronavirus case. It reported 27 new cases on Monday while it saw an average of around 100 new cases a day last month.

The South-East Asian country has reported a total of 2,792 cases of the new coronavirus, with 47 deaths.

(NAN)

A 15-year-old girl on Monday went on trial in Germany for killing her 3-year-old half-brother, with prosecutors saying she stabbed him 28 times in November with a knife as he was sleeping.

The case had horrified people across Germany in 2019. A key question in the trial is why the girl acted as she did.

“My client wants to know this too and thus cooperated with the psychiatric expert,’’ defence lawyer Helmut Woehler told dpa on Monday.

The court proceedings are taking place behind closed doors because she is a minor.

The killing allegedly took place in the family flat in the north-western town of Detmold, the parents were not home at the time.

Relatives found the body of the boy and notified the police, the girl was found the next day some 9 km away, in the town of Lemgo.

READ ALSO: Germany’s coronavirus cases surpass 140,000, fatality rate at 3.1 percent

She did not resist arrest and was calm at the time, according to prosecutors. She is believed to have spent the night outdoors and walked to the neighbouring town on dirt roads.

The girl identified herself as the perpetrator after her arrest but said she was suffering from memory loss.

The psychiatric expert is among the about 20 witnesses expected to testify at the trial.

He has been asked to comment on the defendant’s developmental stage and her criminal responsibility.

She faces up to 10 years in jail if she is found guilty of murder.

The girl continues to be rather introverted, but has become used to life in jail and is attending school there, Woehler said.

The court has scheduled three further trial dates this month.(dpa/NAN)