Covid-19 restrictions for all of New Zealand will ease from midnight tonight but a leading epidemiologist says the country is divided over its risk

From 11.59pm tonight, all of New Zealand moves into the orange traffic light setting, Covid-19 Reponse Minister Chris Hipkins announced today.

He said the change in alert levels was justified for several reasons, including an ongoing decline in cases.

He said case numbers now sit below 10,000 new cases per day for the first time since February 24, and that hospitalisations in Auckland were lower, with all three DHBs each reporting fewer than 100 patients for the first time since late February.

Epidemiologist Professor Michael Baker told RNZ Afternoons with Jesse Mulligan the move was reasonable for Auckland, which peaked almost six weeks ago.

“But that’s not the situation in the rest of New Zealand and particularly the South Island, even some DHBs in the North Island, like Northland and some of the others in the central North Island, are still seeing case numbers reported yesterday that were about 50 percent of their peak.

“So we are quite divided in terms of risk.”

Face masks out in schools
Under the orange setting, face masks are still required in some environments but not in schools.

Professor Baker said that with only 20 percent of younger students fully vaccinated, without masks there are not many barriers that stopped the virus circulating.

“And we do know anecdotally a lot of the way this virus is getting from one family to another is through transmission at school so this seems like a gap at the orange level.”

Hipkins said schools have been provided with guidance, and they have access to public health guidance so they can consider the advice for themselves.

“Ultimately looking at a school by school basis, in some schools there is still a very strong justification for masks — but not all.

“It is very challenging for schools, it has proven to be one of the most challenging covid-19 requirements.”

People who are young, healthy, fully vaccinated and boosted should be getting out much more because the risk from the infection is much less, Professor Baker said.

High vaccine coverage
“We know now of high vaccine coverage, we’ve actually pushed the fatality rate from this infection now to down to less than, it’s about 0.05 percent which is in a similar range now to seasonal flu — but it’s only because we’re highly vaccinated.”

Prior to vaccination there was a fatality risk of 0.5 percent, he said.

Te Pūnaha Matatini modeller Professor Michael Plank said: “It’s a good time to be relaxing the traffic light settings when cases and hospitalisations are declining in almost all parts of the country.”

Professor Plank is partly funded by the Department of Prime Minister and cabinet for research on mathematical modelling of covid-19.

“We have successfully flattened the curve of this Omicron wave — although hospitalisations and staff absences have put intense strain on our healthcare system, things would have been even worse without our efforts to slow the spread.”

While New Zealand is marking the end of its omicron sprint, it is at the beginning of its marathon, Professor Baker said.

“Covid-19 isn’t going to go away and we are very likely to have further waves of infection as immunity wanes, people’s behaviour gets back to normal, and new variants arrive,” he said.

“As we move away from restrictions and mandates, we need to work on a long-term, sustainable set of mitigations. This should include vaccines, high-quality surveillance systems, a focus on clean air indoors, and financial support for people to isolate when sick.”

Hybrid office/home set-up
With a change in restrictions, Victoria University of Wellington and Umbrella Wellbeing clinical psychologist Dr Dougal Sutherland says the government will no longer encourage working from home.

But Dr Sutherland warned there may be psychological consequences for workplaces encouraging their people to return in person.

Flexibility and agility will be key for adjusting to this new normal, he said.

“It seems likely many people will continue working from home, at least some of the time.

“This presents a challenge to organisations about how they create psychologically safe teams in a dispersed environment. There is also the challenge of how to support people with different levels of anxiety associated with increased human contact.

“Research shows that allowing people to work from home a few days a week is associated with better wellbeing and productivity, so allowing workers to continue a hybrid office/home set-up should be encouraged.”

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Jakarta Indonesian Doctor’s Association (IDI) chairperson Slamet Budiarto has challenged a statement by President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo who has claimed that the Indonesian government has succeeded in bringing the coronavirus pandemic under control.

Budiarto said he was confused about what parameters Widodo was using in making such a statement.

“I don’t understand why Pak [Mr] Jokowi made such a statement. Perhaps in terms of the economy, I don’t know what the economy is like. What I do know is in terms of health,” Budiarto told Kompas.com.

Budiarto asserted that in terms of health, the pandemic was clearly “out of control”. This could be seen from the first parameter – the high death rate.

According to the Johns Hopkins University world covid-19 map, Indonesia’s total number of deaths today is 30,277.

“Our death rate is the highest – number 1 among Asean countries – both in terms of percentage and number. I expect that by the end of the year there will be 100,000 deaths, by December 2021,” said Budiarto.

The second parameter used by the IDI, meanwhile, is the rate of new daily infections. On the day of the interview, there were an additional 13,094 new cases.

More than 1 million cases
Today the accumulative number of covid-19 cases in Indonesia is 1,089,308.

The deputy chairperson of the IDI confessed that he did not understand the parameters being used by Jokowi when he said the pandemic was under control.

“Yes, well perhaps the President has another parameter. For us at the IDI the parameters are the death and infection rate,” said Budiarto.

Regardless of the parameters being used, Budiarto is asking the government to focus on dealing with the pandemic in terms of health so the death rate can be brought down.

He said he had already proposed to Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin that covid-19 patients with minor symptoms be treated at home under the care of general practitioners.

“One doctor can monitor 10 people. Later they could be given incentives,” said Budiarto.

In this way, hospitals will not be full and treatment rooms in hospitals can be used to focus on patients with medium and serious symptoms.

‘Death rate rising’
“Right now the death rate is rising because hospitals are overloaded”, he said.

President Widodo said recently that in 2020 and entering 2021 Indonesia had faced a number of difficult challenges. One of these was the covid-19 pandemic which had resulted in a health and economic crisis.

Widodo, however, also claimed that Indonesia has been able to control both crises well.

“We are grateful. Indonesia is among the countries that is controlling these two [health and economic] crises well,” said Widodo during a full working assembly session of the Indonesian Communion of Churches (PGI) through the PGI Yakoma YouTube channel last week.

Translated by James Balowski for IndoLeft News. The original title of the article was “Jokowi Klaim Pandemi Terkendali, IDI Bingung Apa Indikatornya”.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

A wine delivery, a note penned on the back of a facemask and a 20-minute bedroom “encounter” have spelled the end of a managed isolation staffer’s job in New Zealand.

However, Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins refutes there are slipping standards at the border facilities, where authorities are also investigating the transmission of the coronavirus between Pullman Hotel guests.

The illicit rendezvous with a returnee happened at the Grand Millennium in central Auckland on January 7, and came to light at today’s covid-19 briefing.

Hipkins said the MIQ worker entered a guest’s room to deliver a bottle of wine after exchanging notes, and stayed for 20 minutes.

“I didn’t enquire into specifically, the nature of the encounter, but there was a 20 minute encounter. That was enough for me to know it was unacceptable,” he said.

While the encounter isn’t thought to have put others at risk, it’s been chided as “irresponsible” and “incredibly disappointing” by the head of managed isolation and quarantine Brigadier Jim Bliss, who said the security measures at the hotel meant the incident was detected quickly.

A hotel manager realised the worker had not returned, and a hotel security manager located them in the room.

Formal police warning
Brigadier Bliss said they were immediately sent home and instructed to self-isolate and be tested, before being given a formal written warning by police.

Both the worker and the returnee had returned negative test results both before and after the incident.

“We’re not aware of any other reports of situations like this between staff and returnees,” Brigadier Bliss said.

“There is absolutely no room for complacency for those inside our managed isolation and quarantine facilities.”

Hipkins said the staffer had been sanctioned, and he also reassured it was a “one-off”.

“We’re dealing with human beings. We ask everybody to the standards that we put in place. I cannot control the actions of that individual but we absolutely make clear what the rules are and when people breach the rules there are consequences,” he said.

“Obviously I asked for that to be fully investigated and for appropriate action to be taken. I understand that appropriate action has been taken and that person is no longer working for managed isolation.”

No new community cases
There were no new community cases of covid-19 today, however, authorities have revealed there are two other people who they believe caught the virus in the Pullman Hotel – rather than overseas.

They were staying on the same floor and have the South African variant strain of the virus.

Hipkins admitted there was “something going on at the Pullman”.

Director-general of health Ashley Bloomfield said stricter measures were in place until more was known.

“No new arrivals are going in… a significant restriction on movement outside of rooms for everybody, and no movement outside of rooms once people have had that final test at day 12,” he said.

In other new rules, those leaving the Pullman Hotel must isolate at home and have a follow up test five days later, while testing of staff is being ramped up and the ventilation systems are being upgraded.

Pullman guests will only be able to exercise in limited numbers, with people who were on their flight.

Curbs have also been put on smoking sessions – which are now capped at 10 minutes and a maximum of two people at a time, who are from the same flight.

No wider restrictions
Outside isolation, with no new community cases, today’s 1pm briefing granted the green light to thousands of holidaymakers, and concert-goers with Auckland anniversary weekend plans.

After a frazzling week for organisers, Auckland International Buskers Festival, Chinese New Year Festival and Auckland Folk Festival will continue in the freedom of Alert Level 1.

Next week, the first of more than 200 Auckland Pride events will kick off across the city.

The recent cases of covid-19 in Auckland and Northland have been linked to Managed Isolation and Quarantine (MIQ). There is no evidence so far that suggests community transmission, the Ministry of Health said.

• Call Healthline 0800 358 5453 for advice on when and where to get tested, and remain isolated until you have a negative test result.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

The two new cases of covid-19 confirmed yesterday in New Zealand are the South African variant and initial results show they are connected to the Northland case at the Pullman Hotel.

This morning the Director-General of Health, Dr Ashley Bloomfield, confirmed to Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins that preliminary genomic sequencing results showed a link.

The pair completed their managed isolation in the same facility and at the same time as the Northland community case.

They left quarantine at the Pullman Hotel on January 15 and have been living in North Auckland. They will now isolate in the Jet Park quarantine facility.

Hipkins said it was not an exact match but what they call “in the same tree”, so it is highly likely they are connected.

He says someone with the virus was picked up from the Pullman and taken to the Jet Park Hotel which appears to be the source.

Cause of the spread
Hipkins says something happened at the Pullman to cause the spread and they are now trying to work out whether it was something like an interaction in the lift or exercise area.

People who visited locations of interest in Auckland or anyone with symptoms, are asked to isolate and call Healthline 0800 611 116 to arrange a test and remain isolated until they receive their result.

The list of locations is here.

RNZ’s Live Blog with updates on the covid outbreak is here.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Yesterday he announced two close contacts – her husband and hair dresser – were negative.

In his tweet, Hipkins described the news as “encouraging”.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

In spite of Papua New Guinea’s mandatory mask-wearing requirement under the National Pandemic Act 2020, many public servants attending a dedication service in Port Moresby have failed to wear one.

They were issued masks before entering the Sir John Guise Indoor Complex but took them off once inside.

Pandemic Controller David Manning has again emphasised that the mandatory wearing of masks is one of the 11 measures to stop the spread of the covid-19 which some people were openly defying.

The national covid-19 total is 843.

The rules are:

• NO person shall be permitted entry to, or otherwise remain within any enclosed space within an establishment, unless the person is wearing a mask or face covering, in a manner which covers their mouth, nose and chin;
• NO person shall be permitted entry into or otherwise remain on public transport unless the person is wearing a mask or face covering in a manner which covers their mouth, nose and chin;
• NO person shall be permitted entry into an aircraft anywhere in PNG unless the person is wearing a mask or face covering;
• NO person shall remove their mask or face covering while on an aircraft in PNG; and,
• ALL persons working in a designated market, establishment or on a public transport in which they interact in person with customers, clients or work in an enclosed space with other colleagues must wear masks at all times.

Face masks ‘a must’
Manning stressed that business and government departments and agencies must ensure that all employees must wear mask or face coverings.

But at the public service dedication service on Monday, the majority of the people who sat side by side were not wearing masks.

An officer from the Department of Community Development was seen handing out masks to public servants entering the Sir John Guise Stadium.

But once inside, some removed their masks.

Those exempted from the measures include:

• CHILDREN under 12;
• PERSONS with underlying medical conditions which inhibit their ability to wear a mask, including persons with physical or mental illness or impairment or disability;
• PERSONS who are unable to place or remove a facemask or face covering without assistance;
• PERSONS undergoing dental treatment or medical care to the extent that the procedure requires that no face covering may be worn; and
• PERSONS participating in sporting activities.

Manning said penalties would be imposed on those who failed to wear masks.

Asia Pacific Report republishes The National articles with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

An independent panel says Chinese officials could have applied public health measures more forcefully in January to curb the initial covid-19 outbreak, and criticised the World Health Organisation (WHO) for not declaring an international emergency until 30 January.

The experts reviewing the global handling of the pandemic, led by former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark and former Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, called for reforms to the Geneva-based United Nations agency.

Their interim report was published hours after the WHO’s top emergency expert, Dr Mike Ryan, said global deaths from covid-19 were expected to top 100,000 per week “very soon”.

“What is clear to the Panel is that public health measures could have been applied more forcefully by local and national health authorities in China in January,” the report said, referring to the initial outbreak of the new disease in the central city of Wuhan, in Hubei province.

As evidence emerged of human-to-human transmission, “in far too many countries, this signal was ignored”, it added.

Specifically, it questioned why the WHO’s Emergency Committee did not meet until the third week of January and did not declare an international emergency until its second meeting on 30 January.

“Although the term pandemic is neither used nor defined in the International Health Regulations (2005), its use does serve to focus attention on the gravity of a health event. It was not until 11 March that WHO used the term,” the report said.

‘Not fit for purpose’
“The global pandemic alert system is not fit for purpose”, it said. “The World Health Organisation has been underpowered to do the job.”

Under President Donald Trump, the United States has accused the WHO of being “China-centric”, which the agency denies.

European countries led by France and Germany have pushed for addressing the WHO’s shortcomings on funding, governance and legal powers.

The panel called for a “global reset” and said that it would make recommendations in a final report to health ministers from the 194 member states of WHO in May.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has criticised the Indonesian government of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo for its weak health response to covid-19 which has brought Indonesia to its knees since March 2020, reports CNN Indonesia.

The assessment is based on Indonesia’s poor rates of testing and tracing and minimal transparency. Furthermore, the government was both slow and incompetent in dealing with the covid-19 pandemic.

In its annual World Report 2021 the human rights organisation highlighted that under President Widodo’s leadership the government had instead focused on regulations related to labour which harmed the rights of workers and damaged the environment.

Yet the epidemic itself has killed at least 17,000 Indonesians and resulted in around 2.6 million people losing their jobs.

“The response of President Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo’s government to the covid-19 pandemic was weak, with low testing and tracing rates, and little transparency,” the report said.

“The impact of the virus has been devastating, killing at least 17,000 people, and leading to the loss of 2.6 million jobs.”

HRW Asia director Brad Adams said that the Widodo government never made dealing with the pandemic its top priority and focusing instead on passing laws that harmed workers and the environment.

Pandemic not top priority
“The Jokowi government never seemed to make the pandemic its top priority, focusing instead on passing a business-friendly law that harm workers and the environment”, said Adams as quoted from the HRW website by CNN Indonesia.

According to Adams, which creating jobs and planning economic recovery are important goals especially in a pandemic, “but they should not come at the expense of fighting the virus or protecting the hard-fought rights of workers”.

Adams said that the HRW also highlighted violations of the rights of women, religious minorities and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) groups.

There were many cases of Muslim groups who threatened religious minority groups found in Indonesia but the government’s response this kind of intimidation was still very minimal.

Adams said that according to HRW’s records, Indonesian police arrested at least 38 people for blasphemy across 16 provinces in 2020.

The Supreme Court also rejected a petition to revoke the joint ministerial decree on houses of worship, which has been used to close down hundreds of churches since 2006.

“Jokowi came to office promising progressive reforms, but in 2020 he seemed to give up any remaining intentions he had to protect rights and the most vulnerable,” Adams said.

Limited access to Papuan provinces
Indonesia, according to the HRW report, has also continued to limit access for international rights monitors and journalists to visit Papua and West Papua provinces, which have long been affected by unrest and rights violations.

“It’s not too late for him to take bold steps to prioritise public health, reinstate labor and environmental protections, and protect free expression. His last years in office will define his legacy”, concluded Adams.

Translated by James Balowski for IndoLeft News. The original title of the article was “HRW: Respons Jokowi Lemah terhadap Penanganan Pandemi Corona”.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

An expatriate who tested positive for the covid-19 coronavirus last week has been admitted to a private hospital in the Papua New Guinea capital of Port Moresby, an official has confirmed.

Pacific International Hospital (PIH) chief executive officer Colonel Sandeep Shaligram told
The National the case had been immediately reported to the Covid-19 National Control Centre (NCC) when the man tested positive.

He said it was the only confirmed as a covid-19 case when tested at the hospital last week.

Colonel Shaligram said the hospital had reported the case to the NCC when the man was tested positive and admitted.

He also confirmed that another patient admitted was medically evacuated overseas but said the illness was not related to the Covid-19.

Shaligram said the only other case that had tested positive at the hospital was from  samples received from East New Britain last week which was also reported to the NCC.

“As soon as a test is returned positive, we report it to the NCC and they do the contact tracing,” he said.

Male expatriate aged about 50
According to sources, the patient currently admitted is a male expatriate aged around 50 who is feeling better and wanting to be medically evacuated overseas.

A woman who took the man to the hospital had tested negative.

The case of the Port Moresby man currently admitted at PIH was, however, not included in the NCC update circulated to the media last week.

It is not known what steps had been taken by the NCC to conduct contact tracing.

The only two cases in Port Moresby reported by the centre were of a 47-year-old woman and an 89-year-old man.

Attempts by The National to get comments from the Health Department and the Deputy National Pandemic Response Controller were not successful.

National cases total now 834
The national total for covid-19 cases stands at 834 as of last Thursday.

It included a 48-year-old male mining contractor at Ok Tedi Mine who was tested positive on his return to work in North Fly.

He was not showing any symptoms of the covid-19 at the time of testing but swab samples returned positive.

According to the NCC, 19 cases of covid-19 were reported last week from around the country.

Asia Pacific Report republishes The National articles with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

New Zealand faces an increased risk of community transmission from the UK strain of covid-19 that is now arriving in the country, says epidemiologist Professor Michael Baker.

There were 31 new imported cases of covid-19 reported today, with the Health Ministry also revealing that 19 people have tested positive for the more infectious UK variant of the virus at the New Zealand border in the past four weeks.

The variant is considerably more transmissible than previous strains but not necessarily any more dangerous for those infected.

First detected in November, the variant has driven a spike in cases in the UK and has now spread across the globe.

The Ministry of Health said today most the 19 cases seen in New Zealand’s managed isolation facilities had come into the country from the UK via the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar or Singapore.

“Infection prevention control protocols are in place for all staff and we can assure the public that there is no increased risk to the community.”

But Dr Baker said there clearly was a risk.

Variant ‘more infectious’
“As soon as you have a variant that’s more infectious it means those with it are more likely to infect people on the flight to New Zealand, more likely to infect other people in managed isolation and the staff that work there.

“If the variant gets into the community, it’s more likely to cause an outbreak and it will be harder to control.”

Dr Baker said the ministry was right that the same strict protocols were being followed at the border, but from a risk assessment point of view the risk has been turned up.

“Pre-flight testing will obviously reduce the amount of positive cases at the border – some countries have banned arrivals from the UK altogether but that’s taking it too far.

“We still need to allow New Zealanders the right to come home, but we do need to put in more effort to reduce the number of infected people getting on flights.”

People should stay home for the week before their flight and be extra cautious when they travel to the airport, he said.

Next focus for defence
“We have a booking system so we know who is coming back to New Zealand as most have arranged their plans months in advance.

“We should be contacting them and giving them advice on what they should and shouldn’t be doing,” Dr Baker said.

He said people often used their time before a flight catching up with friends and family to say goodbye which increased the risk of getting covid-19.

“There’s a vital opportunity in the week before a flight to reduce the chance of getting the virus so that could be the next focus for New Zealand’s defence against it.”

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

The notion that the covid-19 pandemic was “the great equalizer’ should be dead and buried by now. If anything, the lethal disease is another terrible reminder of the deep divisions and inequalities in our societies.

That said, the treatment of the disease should not be a repeat of the same shameful scenario.

For an entire year, wealthy celebrities and government officials have been reminding us that “we are in this together”, that “we are on the same boat”, with the likes of US singer, Madonna, speaking from her mansion while submerged in a “milky bath sprinkled with rose petals,” telling us that the pandemic has proved to be the “great equalizer”.

“Like I used to say at the end of ‘Human Nature’ every night, we are all in the same boat,” she said. “And if the ship goes down, we’re all going down together,” CNN reported at the time.

Such statements, like that of Madonna, and Ellen DeGeneres as well, have generated much media attention not just because they are both famous people with a massive social media following but also because of the obvious hypocrisy in their empty rhetoric.

In truth, however, they were only repeating the standard procedure followed by governments, celebrities and wealthy “influencers” worldwide.

But are we, really, “all in this together”? With unemployment rates skyrocketing across the globe, hundreds of millions scraping by to feed their children, multitudes of nameless and hapless families chugging along without access to proper healthcare, subsisting on hope and a prayer so that they may survive the scourges of poverty – let alone the pandemic – one cannot, with a clear conscience, make such outrageous claims.

Not only are we not “on the same boat” but, certainly, we have never been. According to World Bank data, nearly half of the world lives on less than US$5.5 a day. This dismal statistic is part of a remarkable trajectory of inequality that has afflicted humanity for a long time.

The plight of many of the world’s poor is compounded in the case of war refugees, the double victims of state terrorism and violence and the unwillingness of those with the resources to step forward and pay back some of their largely undeserved wealth.

The boat metaphor is particularly interesting in the case of refugees; millions of them have desperately tried to escape the infernos of war and poverty in rickety boats and dinghies, hoping to get across from their stricken regions to safer places.

Sadly familiar sight
This sight has sadly grown familiar in recent years not only throughout the Mediterranean Sea but also in other bodies of water around the world, especially in Burma, where hundreds of thousands of Rohingya have tried to escape their ongoing genocide. Thousands of them have drowned in the Bay of Bengal.

The covid-19 pandemic has accentuated and, in fact, accelerated the sharp inequalities that exist in every society individually, and the world at large. According to a June 2020 study conducted in the United States by the Brookings Institute, the number of deaths as a result of the disease reflects a clear racial logic.

Many indicators included in the study leave no doubt that racism is a central factor in the life cycle of covid.

For example, among those aged between 45 and 54 years, “Black and Hispanic/Latino death rates are at least six times higher than for whites”. Although whites make up 62 percent of the US population of that specific age group, only 22 percent of the total deaths were white.

Black and Latino communities were the most devastated.

According to this and other studies, the main assumption behind the discrepancy of infection and death rates resulting from covid among various racial groups in the US is poverty which is, itself, an expression of racial inequality. The poor have no, or limited, access to proper healthcare. For the rich, this factor is of little relevance.

Moreover, poor communities tend to work in low-paying jobs in the service sector, where social distancing is nearly impossible. With little government support to help them survive the lockdowns, they do everything within their power to provide for their children, only to be infected by the virus or, worse, die.

Iniquity expected to continue
This iniquity is expected to continue even in the way that the vaccines are made available. While several Western nations have either launched or scheduled their vaccination campaigns, the poorest nations on earth are expected to wait for a long time before life-saving vaccines are made available.

In 67 poor or developing countries located mostly in Africa and the Southern hemisphere, only one out of ten individuals will likely receive the vaccine by the end of 2020, the Fortune Magazine website reported.

The disturbing report cited a study conducted by a humanitarian and rights coalition, the People’s Vaccine Alliance (PVA), which includes Oxfam and Amnesty International.

If there is such a thing as a strategy at this point, it is the deplorable “hoarding” of the vaccine by rich nations.

Dr Mohga Kamal-Yanni of the PVA put this realisation into perspective when she said that “rich countries have enough doses to vaccinate everyone nearly three times over, while poor countries don’t even have enough to reach health workers and people at risk”.

So much for the numerous conferences touting the need for a “global response” to the disease.

But it does not have to be this way.

While it is likely that class, race and gender inequalities will continue to ravage human societies after the pandemic, as they did before, it is also possible for governments to use this collective tragedy as an opportunity to bridge the inequality gap, even if just a little, as a starting point to imagine a more equitable future for all of us.

Poor, dark-skinned people should not be made to die when their lives can be saved by a simple vaccine, which is available in abundance.

Dr Ramzy Baroud is a journalist and the editor of The Palestine Chronicle. He is the author of five books. His latest is “These Chains Will Be Broken: Palestinian Stories of Struggle and Defiance in Israeli Prisons” (Clarity Press, Atlanta). Dr Baroud is a non-resident senior research fellow at the Center for Islam and Global Affairs (CIGA), Istanbul Zaim University (IZU). This article is republished with permission. His website is www.ramzybaroud.net

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Covid-19 vaccinations begin in the Northern Mariana Islands this weekend, but it is not yet clear when other Pacific countries will have access to a vaccine.

The Northern Marianas, which is a US territory, was expecting 5,000 doses of the The Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine to arrive during the week, and vaccinations to start today, RNZ Pacific correspondent Mark Rabago said.

The vaccine had already been approved in the USA and UK. It must be stored at around -70C, and transported in special boxes, packed in dry ice.

Once delivered, it can be kept for up to five days in a fridge.

“A couple of weeks ago our government purchased and received 10 ultra cold freezers. The freezers we ordered came from South Korea, and we have two sent to Tinian and Rota and the rest will be used in Saipan,” Rabago said.

The country had already been sent a “mock package” of the vaccine as a trail, from the US federal government, to test the systems they had in place to transport and store it, which went well, he said.

“There is a first-priority group that will receive the vaccine first and they are the healthcare workers, first responders, high-risk patients and seniors.

Congressman and Northern Mariana Islander Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan, had volunteered to be injected in public, and the governor Ralph Deleon Guerrero Torres also said he and his family were available to be vaccinated to demonstrate confidence in the vaccine, if they were asked to.

NZ offers vaccines to six Pacific countries
New Zealand now has agreements in place to secure enough vaccines to vaccinate everyone in the country, as well as everyone in Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu, Tokelau, Niue, and the Cook Islands, if the governments of those countries accept the offer.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern made the announcement this week, saying that if the vaccines are proven to be safe and effective, then the government’s first priority will be to vaccinate border workers, essential staff and their household contacts.

The arrangements are for 750,000 courses of vaccines from Pfizer/BioNTech, 5m from Janssen, 3.8m from AstraZeneca and 5.36m from Novava.

And Minister for Foreign Affairs Nanaia Mahuta said $75 million of development assistance had been set aside to support global access to the vaccines, and roll-out.

That included a $10m donation to the COVAX programme aiming to provide vaccinations to countries that might otherwise struggle to afford it.

COVAX is co-led by the World Health Organisation and Gavi, and alliance of governments, drug companies, charities and aid organisations. It aims to deliver two billion vaccine doses by the end of next year, which could be provided to 20 percent of the most vulnerable people in 91 countries.

The programme relies on cheaper vaccines that haven’t been approved yet, instead of frontrunners like the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines, and while it has non-binding supply agreements with three major vaccine developers, all have had significant trial delays.

Solomon Islands seeks vaccines for half its population
The Solomon Islands had applied for enough vaccines for about half their population through the COVAX programme, said Solomons Ministry of Health spokesperson Pauline McNeil.

An application was made for more than 360,000 people, and if successful, this would be co-financed by the Solomon Islands Government.

“[We’ve] conducted a national cold chain capacity assessment, to check the available vaccine storage capacity, and identified gaps to be addressed prior to receiving Covid vaccine,” McNeil said.

The country has also set up a coordinating committee and technical working group, which were being supported by technical advisors at the World Health Organisation, UNICEF and the World Bank.

Tonga working through WHO plan
Tongan Ministry of Health chief executive Dr Siale ‘Akauola said the country had been working with development partners “for a long time” to prepare for the vaccines.

The kingdom had also applied to COVAC for vaccines, and was awaiting a response.

“We are conscious of the efforts by all countries to get their population vaccinated,” ‘Akauola said.

“The Pfizer vaccine is a fairly high tech vaccine that requires a very sophisticated way of cooling them and I think it maybe beyond the capacity of Tonga to use that type of vaccine, but we will continue to watch and plan what’s best for Tonga.”

Authorities were working through a plan developed by WHO and UNICEF to help countries roll out the vaccine, and it was being developed to fit the Tongan needs.

This article is republished by the Pacific Media Centre under a partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

The Northern Marianas is ready for its allocation of covid-19 vaccines from Pfizer after acquiring 10 ultra-cold freezers from South Korea.

The acquisition of the freezers came as the CNMI waits for the Pfizer vaccines to get Emergency Use Authorisation approval from the US Food and Drug Administration.

Even though the vaccines had not arrived as initially planned, the CNMI had been working on preparing and securely setting up equipment.

The plan is to have two ultra freezers on Rota and two on Tinian, while the remaining six freezers would be located on Saipan.

Meanwhile, the Northern Marianas had already received 10 vials of Bamlanivimab, a treatment for mild-to-moderate covid-19, and would receive another 10 vials soon.

Bamlanivimab is an intravenous drug which is applicable for patients who are 12 years and older and weighing at least 40 kilogrammes and who are at high risk .

The drug will only be administered to those who are covid-19 patients who are at risk of becoming worse.

A total of 1310 doses of the drug had been allocated for US territories and freely associated states.

This article is republished by the Pacific Media Centre under a partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

The New Zealand government has offered help to the under-pressure horticultural sector by allowing 2000 registered seasonal employer (RSE) workers in to help pick fruit and vegetables this summer.

Growers had complained that without these workers, some produce would rot unpicked.

The government has however imposed strict conditions.

The workers would have to be paid the living wage, of at least $22.10 an hour.

Their quarantine costs would have to be paid by their employer and workers would be paid for at least 30 hours a week while in quarantine.

Recruits would come from island nations in the Pacific, but the government has not specified which countries would be chosen.

Repatriation after the picking season is finished would have to be worked out before the workers could come in.

They would arrive between January and March next year.

‘Listened to the concerns’
“The government has listened to concerns raised by the [horticulture and wine growing] sectors,” Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor said.

“We understand their importance for our covid economic recovery. These changes will help support their ongoing success.

“We accept they need help to meet labour shortages that threaten harvests this coming season, so we are acting to allow up to 2000 experienced RSE workers to come to New Zealand from certain Pacific Island countries.”

Due to limited capacity in managed isolation and quarantine facilities, entry would be staggered, with workers coming in groups, O’Connor said.

The 2000 workers being allowed in will augment approximately 6000 RSE workers who did not go home last year.

But it still falls short of the total number that came in earlier – up to 14,400 RSE workers arrive in New Zealand annually.

With many only staying for part of the season, the highest number of RSE workers in New Zealand was 10,500 at the peak of last season.

Blocked by covid restrictions
Their return this year has been blocked by covid-19 border restrictions.

In addition to the RSE exception, working holiday visa holders still in New Zealand with visas expiring between October 2020 and March 2021 will be, or have already been, automatically granted another visa to enable them to work in the horticulture and wine industries this summer.

Immigration Minister Kris Faafoi said the seasonal workers would arrive after the rush on managed isolation facilities as people return to New Zealand for Christmas.

“We are apportioning some of the managed isolation facilities, we’ve planned for this, so there should be plenty of capacity for managed isolation for those Kiwis who have the right, and we expect, to come home,” he told RNZ Morning Report.

There had been some “challenging discussions” with employers over paying a living wage and other conditions, with some in the sector more willing than others.

Individual growers would decide whether to extend the living wage to New Zealanders and visa holders, Faafoi said.

“RSA workers coming to New Zealand are very experienced so making sure they are paid for that experience and for the productivity is important.

“We have certainly seen proposals from sectors and regions of New Zealand where they are quite willing to meet those kinds of conditions, to meet the challenge that they have with the labour supply.”

Financial incentives for New Zealanders
There is also financial help for New Zealanders wanting to work in these seasonal industries.

Minister of Social Development Carmel Sepuloni said unemployed people who move for a season’s work, and are still paying for housing in their home area, will get up to $200 for 13 weeks for accommodations costs.

There would be a $1000 incentive payment for workers who completed jobs of six weeks or longer.

Changes have also been made to the Seasonal Work Assistance Programme for those who have moved off a benefit to take up a seasonal job, but haven’t been able to work due to bad weather and as a result have lost income. Workers will now be able to receive the equivalent of minimum wage up to 40 hours a week, depending on the number of hours lost.

She said labour shortages in the horticulture industry were not unusual and better workforce planning was needed.

Sepuloni told Morning Report the government would like to see wages go up, and there were examples of employers paying more, but it was not industry-wide. “We need to continue to work on that and we’re continuing to do that.”

“We require better workforce planning. It is not just government, it is the industry that also needs to step up.”

2000 RSE workers ‘probably not enough’
Seeka kiwifruit company chief executive Michael Franks said RSE workers would usually make up 1200 of its 3500 workforce, but at the moment there were fewer than 200.

“Our labour shortage coming up at harvest is going to be acute. Anything that takes that acute pressure off is appreciated – but probably 2000 is not enough.”

Seeka was working with MSD and Ngāti Hine in Northland and Te Arawa in Bay of Plenty to try and train more New Zealanders into horticulture work, as well as setting up a programme for workers displaced from other industries.

Paul Paynter, general manager at Hawkes Bay firm Yummy Apples, said workers would have made the living wage or more last year, so pay was not an issue.

There were issues of productivity when the labour market was tight and the company increasingly employs people who may be struggling.

“They’ve had injuries or they’re dealing with mental health issues, or whatever, so we have a lot of people who are not so productive, and we really welcome them, but those are the ones we end up topping up to the minimum wage, because they might pick two bins of apples a day wheras the average worker is picking five.”

For Central Otago grower Stephen Darling, backpackers made up a large part of the workforce, since there is was no large population centre nearby as a source of local workers.

A welcome start
While 2000 RSE workers was a welcome start, the region needed all the workers under the scheme, he said.

The harvest volume will drop and pressure will go on prices a result of the labour shortage, he said.

To date the government has provided border exceptions for up to 30 veterinarians, up to 570 deep water fishing crew, and up to 210 agricultural machinery operators.

In the end many of these did not take up their allocation because of a shortage of places in managed isolation.

This article is republished by the Pacific Media Centre under a partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Genome sequencing has showed the Air New Zealand crew member who tested positive for covid-19 in China is not linked to known cases in New Zealand, the Ministry of Health says.

In a statement, the ministry reported one new case of the coronavirus in managed isolation today.

The person arrived on November 14 from the United Kingdom via the United Arab Emirates and Malaysia and tested positive around day 12 of their stay in managed isolation.

The ministry said genomic results had been returned for the case of the Air New Zealand crew member who tested positive for covid-19 on November 18 after arriving in Shanghai, China, and was confirmed with testing in New Zealand yesterday.

This indicates the person was likely exposed to the virus overseas, but the ministry said it would continue to take precautions because the source of infection was still unknown.

The ministry had been acting as though it was a case of transmission from New Zealand out of an “abundance of caution”.

The crew member returned to New Zealand yesterday morning on a flight with crew in PPE, who were being monitored, isolated and tested.

Contacts in isolation
The ministry said it had incorrectly reported yesterday that all the person’s contacts were in isolation, saying one person of the 11 reported yesterday was a “potential” close contact under investigation.

Today, the ministry said 12 close contacts had been identified.

All the contacts had undergone further testing, with nine returning negative tests, the ministry said.

It said it sent notifications through the Covid Tracer app for six locations visited by the crew member, which by 10am had been received by 96 app users.

In a separate statement this afternoon, the ministry also announced new rules for frontline managed isolation workers, including nurses and defence force staff.

There was no live briefing today.

New Zealand’s total number of confirmed cases is 1684. The Air New Zealand crew member is not counted in this figure, as it was initially reported in China, so is being counted as a case in China.

Laboratories completed 9083 tests yesterday, bringing the total number of tests completed to date to 1,252,601.

Yesterday, there were eight new cases in managed isolation, including five from one family.

This article is republished by the Pacific Media Centre under a partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz