For the Good of the People

One day in November of Juche 101 (2012), comrade Kim Jong- un, the dearest leader, visited an equestrian training ground for a People's Army division in Pyongyang.

He who followed the equestrian trail and gauged the condition, said that this equestrian training course is a suitable place for equestrian exercise, and that equestrian exercise is a very good exercise that develops bravery and audacity for people. He had an erection to transform into a riding club.

Continuing, he said that the newly remodeled horseback riding ground should be called “Mirim Horseriding Club” as much as it is in the Mirim area .

Since then, the Mirim Horse Riding Club has been splendidly decorated in a short period as a comprehensive public horse riding service base with all the conditions and environments necessary for equestrian exercise and education.

His thoughts and practices for promoting the well-being of the people were endless.

Juche 107 (2018) In July 2018, when he was in charge of local business in various sectors of North Hamgyong Province, he erected an important military base in the Jungpyeong district of Gyeongseong-gun and built a large male and female greenhouse and nursery for the people. He left the task to the People's Army.

In this way, hundreds of Namsae greenhouses, nurseries, and Salim houses, which have been scientifically and intensively concentrated in a year or so, have risen.

Intensifying Quarantine Measures in Palestine

In Palestine, a series of stringent restrictions are being taken on the rapid increase in the number of new coronavirus infections.

On the 27th, the prime minister of the country adopted a decision to ban emergency gatherings, such as weddings, funerals and graduation banquets, by restarting emergency committees in all regions, cities, towns and refugee camps at a meeting with the heads of safety agencies. .

In addition, a decision was made to block all areas where the number of infected people is increasing and to punish those who violate health measures.

Chosun Central Communication

Announcement of Focus on Prevention Measures in Beijing, China

China's Beijing Sickness Prevention and Control Center recently released a guideline on the importance of quarantine measures to be kept in the crowd.

The handbook pointed out that citizens always wear masks, adhere to restrictions on contact between people, protect hand hygiene, participate in health checks, maintain hygiene when eating, and conduct thorough cleaning and disinfection routinely.

The handbook says that people with any respiratory diseases, including rolling and general colds, should not go to public places and must wear a mask if they must go, after eating food in daily life and after using the hygiene room and joint It was suggested to make a habit of washing hands in a timely manner after making contact with the objects used.

He also said that he should participate well in health examinations conducted by the community, public places, and units, and actively cooperate with body temperature tests.

In addition, the handbook emphasized that if you have a fever or cough, you should be treated and tested on time.

Chosun Central Communication

Minneapolis Police Chief, Mayor Launching Policy Changes

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minneapolis police chief and mayor on Sunday began their push for sweeping policy changes with a new rule that prevents officers involved in using deadly force from reviewing body camera footage before completing an initial police report.

The new standards come after a proposal by the Minneapolis City Council to dismantle the police force following the death of George Floyd, a handcuffed Black man who died after a white police officer pressed his knee on Floyd’s neck for nearly eight minutes.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, who is opposed to the abolishing the force, said the updated policies are designed to better capture officers’ perceptions and factors believed to exist when an officer acted. He and Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo said the move is the first of what will be a series of new public safety policy reforms.

“Requiring officers who may become suspects to complete a police report before reviewing body cam footage will help ensure that investigators, attorneys, and jurors receive a transparent account of how an officer remembers the incident — one that hasn’t been influenced by other evidence,” Frey said in a statement.

Arradondo said the change would align with the rules for civilians, who are not allowed to watch body camera footage for an incident in which they may be potential suspects.

“The policies also restrict consultation with certain representatives immediately following a critical incident and clarify time requirements for reporting,” he said.

The framework of police departments across the country has been questioned after recent police killings. Former Minneapolis officer Derek Chauvin has been charged with second-degree murder, third-degree murder and manslaughter in Floyd’s death. Three other officers were charged with aiding and abetting both second-degree murder and manslaughter.

Police spokesman John Elder said he was told that all four officers had their body cameras on, which is department policy, but it’s not clear if any of them have seen the footage. Lt. Bob Kroll, the head of the Minneapolis police union, said last week that he had not seen video from the incident. Earl Gray, attorney for former officer Thomas Lane, said he has seen his client’s body camera video.

The Minneapolis City Council on Friday unanimously advanced a proposal to change the city charter to allow the police department to be dismantled. The proposed amendment would replace the police department with a new “Department of Community Safety and Violence Prevention” that has yet to be fully defined.

Oregon Protesters Set Fire to Police Precinct, Tear Gas Used

By GILLIAN FLACCUS
June 26, 2020

This Friday, June 26, 2020, photo released by the Portland Police Department shows damage after protests calling for an end to racial injustice and accountability for police in Portland, Ore. Some protesters set fire to a police precinct, vandalized businesses and tried to barricade police officers inside their station during a demonstration early Friday morning that ended with law enforcement using tear gas to disperse the crowd, authorities said. (Portland Police Department via AP)
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — The mayor and newly appointed police chief of Portland, Oregon, on Friday sharply criticized protesters who set fire to a police precinct and vandalized businesses the night before, saying continued violence at protests is preventing the city from moving forward with meaningful reform.

Early Friday, a group of several hundred demonstrators set fire to the North Precinct building while people were inside and barricaded the doors after they were unable to break in through a garage, according to a Portland Police Bureau account of the incident. Police in riot gear used CS gas, a type of tear gas, around 2:15 a.m. to disperse the crowd.

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“What happened here is not helping bring about any meaningful change or reform,” Mayor Ted Wheeler said at a news conference held in front of a boarded-up building that had burn marks on the wood. “Last night was plainly and simply about arson. It was about destruction.”

Newly appointed Police Chief Chuck Lovell, who is Black, also criticized protesters’ tactics in a tweet Friday. He said earlier this week that demonstrations have cost the city $6.2 million so far and that cost does not include straight-time pay for officers pulled from other jobs to work at protests.

“Last night’s violence — barricading doors of a building with people inside and then lighting it on fire — is reprehensible & immoral,” Lovell tweeted. “The destruction in & around North Precinct and the Justice Center are senseless criminal acts & costing money that could go to restorative programs.”

Thousands of people have turned out every night for a nearly a month in this liberal Pacific Northwest city since the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Most protesters are peaceful, but smaller numbers of people break away most nights and set small fires, tear down fences and statues and clash with police, Lovell said.

The demonstrators involved in the incident Friday morning “were more aggressive and violent than those seen in past weeks,” the Portland Police Bureau said in a statement. At least four people were arrested and one police officer went to the hospital.

The violence overshadowed a smaller rally held Thursday afternoon outside City Hall. The family of Patrick Kimmons, a 26-year-old Black man who was fatally shot by Portland police officers in 2018, gathered along with supporters to demand justice.

A Multnomah County grand jury declined to charge the two officers who killed Kimmons.

Letha Winston, Kimmons’ mother, urged protesters to apply pressure on Wheeler and other elected officials to launch a second review of her son’s killing.

“I’m going to get justice, and I’m going to get it now,” Winston told a crowd of about 60 people, according to The Oregonian/OregonLive.

Earlier this month, Wheeler called for a ban on the use of tear gas after it was repeatedly used on demonstrators. The nonprofit Don’t Shoot Portland and two protesters sued the city, seeking to ban the use of tear gas to disperse large crowds.

A federal judge on June 9 issued a 14-day court order barring the launching of the riot-control agent except when a life is at risk. The judge extended the temporary order through July 24.

African Leaders Agree to Postpone Filling of Ethiopian Dam and to Resume Talks

June 26, 2020 (KHARTOUM) - An African mini-summit agreed on Friday to resume talks between Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan on the Renaissance dam, and to postpone the first filling of its reservoir until an agreement is reached between the three riparian countries.

The agreement was announced after a videoconference meeting convened by President Cyril Ramaphosa of the Republic of South Africa, and Chairperson of the African Union (AU) including the leaders of the three countries and the AU Bureau of Heads of State and Government.

The meeting was attended by President Abdel Fattah al Sisi of Egypt who is also a member of the AU Bureau, President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita of Mali, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, and President Felix Tshisekedi of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Also took part in the meeting Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, Sudanese Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok and the Chairperson of the African Union Commission Moussa Faki.

In a statement released in Khartoum, Hamdok cabinet said that the meeting agreed to resume technical discussions to reach an agreement within the two weeks as it was proposed by the Ethiopian side.

The meeting further agreed that "the filling of the reservoir should be postponed until the signing of an agreement" between the three countries, further said a statement issued during the night.

During a series of meetings from 9 to 17 July the three countries agreed on about 95% of the technical issues related to the filling process, however, they failed to agree on the legal binding status of the agreement.

Following what, Egypt referred the matter to the United Nations Security Council accusing Ethiopia of threatening peace and security in the region. In return, Addis Ababa accused Cairo of seeing to transform the negotiated deal on the dam filling into a water-sharing agreement.

In a statement released after the meeting, the Egyptian presidency said that observers from the member states of the African Union Bureau will take part in the upcoming technical meetings.

Also, it was agreed to inform the Security Council about this development as it plans to discuss the matter during a meeting that will take place on Monday.

(ST)

Ethiopia, Egypt, Sudan Agreed to Have an African Union-led Negotiation

As news emerge that the filing of GERD is delayed which Ethiopia is yet to confirm, African Union is to lead the negotiation between Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia

Borkena
June 26, 2020

South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa, and African Union leaders managed to bring the leaders of Ethiopia, Egypt, and Sudan together for a meeting a week after the tripartite talk on the filling and operation of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) failed.

One significant outcome of the meeting is that the three countries have agreed to pursue an “African Solution,” to resolve the deadlock over GERD.

Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, has confirmed that the three countries have agreed to resolve their differences over GERD in African Union-led negotiation.

Mr. Mahamet tweeted  “I participated in a productive Bureau of AU Heads of State mtng convened by @AUChair2020 to discuss the #GERD dam. Wise Pan-African leadership shown by Pres @AlsisiOfficial, PM @AbiyAhmedAli & @SudanPMHamdok as they agreed to an AU-led process to resolve outstanding issues.”

Ethiopian Prime Minister expressed pleasure over “fruitful discussions on African Solutions to the #GERD…”  In a statement he wrote in three languages, he said, “I appreciate Chair of the AU, President Cyril Ramaphosa for his leadership in facilitating these high-level talks of continental significance. Gratitude also to AUC Chairperson Moussa Faki. Our continental organisation, with a Pan-African spirit, is the right space to dialogue on issues that are of value to #Africa. “

For him, as is the case with his fellow countrymen, “GERD offers all stakeholders the opportunity for unprecedented economic growth and mutual development.”

Before the latest tripartite meeting which was possible mainly because of Sudan, US-brokered negotiation in Washington failed as the United States (although it claimed that it is participating as an “observer”) sought to support Egypt at the expense of Ethiopia.

Following the tripartite talk, Egypt escalated rhetoric along the line of militarism while writing a complaint letter to the UNSC at the same time.

Egypt manifested a strong interest to negotiate the entire Nile Dam. But Ethiopia said it is only the GERD project that is under negotiation. For a talk over the Nile, said Ethiopia, all the riparian countries (they are eleven) need to take part.

Also, Ethiopia rejected Egypt’s “historical right” claim over the Nile water which is based on a colonial-era arrangement in which Ethiopia was not involved in any way. With the current water allocation, Egypt consumes well over 77 percent of the water and Sudan uses the remaining. Ethiopia’s current use of the water is zero when 86 percent of the Nile Water originates from Ethiopia.

Ethiopians believe that Egypt has been destabilizing Ethiopia for too long by exploiting internal dissensions.  The situation with GERD is a little different. It has united Ethiopians. There has been an online campaign for months now calling for the Ethiopian government to go ahead and fill the dam.

Clearing the forest has started on Friday as filing the first phase of the dam is only two weeks away – if Ethiopia is to adhere to its schedule which Sudan and Egypt opposed demanding to reach an agreement first. They took the matter to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to stop Ethiopia from what they call a “unilateral filling of the dam.”

The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) is a Pan-African Project 

Aklog Birara (Dr)
June 26, 2020

Part IV

Ethiopia will begin filling the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) in two weeks. On our part, it is vital that we engage, mobilize and unite Ethiopians, other Africans and the global community and change the false narrative Egypt continues to propagate against Ethiopia. Egypt is our country’s mortal enemy. Egypt invaded Ethiopia at least twice and was defeated. Nassir encouraged, financed and equipped Said Barre of Somalia to invade Ethiopia. Egypt, Iraq, Syria and other Arab nations hosted ‘liberation fronts,’ financed, supplied weapons, provided intelligence and made Ethiopia land-locked. Egypt is relentless in its intent to dominate Ethiopia’s waters. Today, the Arab League that is dominated by Egypt issues repeated assertions that Ethiopia poses an existential and security threat to Egypt.

The opposite is true. Egypt and its core Arab allies are after an Ethiopian trophy. This trophy is absolute dominance over the Blue Nile (Abbay) that contributes 86 percent of the waters of the Nile. The GERD is a hydroelectric power project. It does not reduce water volume. In contesting the Agreement crafted by the Government of the U.S. and the World Bank, we need to focus on Egypt’s agenda to subjugate Ethiopia’s sovereign and absolute rights over waters within its territory and to construct future dams.

Egypt’s sinister, insidious agenda, its diplomatic offensive and proxy wars are intended to cut Ethiopia’s throat. Egypt wishes to diminish Ethiopia’s chances to harness its waters for the well being and prosperity of its growing population of whom 62 million lack access to electricity and almost the same number suffer from water crisis. In contrast, 100 percent of Egyptians have access to electricity and 98 percent enjoy basic water supply. The U.N. Security Council must take these basic human development contrasts into account when it considers the GERD.

There is no Agreement on the River Nile in general and the Blue Nile (Abbay) in particular that bars Ethiopia from filling and completing the GERD within its own time frame or from constructing numerous dams in the future. Negotiations on the GERD should be conducted in good faith; and must be guided by the 2015 Declaration of Principles that Egypt, the Sudan and Ethiopia signed. Reverting back to and or validating a colonial Agreement that is non-binding on Ethiopia and other Sub-Saharan African riparian nations is inequitable, unjust and unfair.

I feel strongly that Ethiopia faces an existential threat. It is time to set aside non-strategic differences and defend Ethiopia’s sovereign and absolute rights over its own waters.

Egypt will leave no stone unturned in order to achieve its agenda. A key component of Egypt’s strategy is to sponsor and finance proxy wars against Ethiopia. The Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) is a lead example of an internal agent Egypt has used in the past and continues to use in its proxy wars. For example, the promising Tana Beles Project that would have transformed Ethiopia’s agricultural sector was dismantled by the TPLF. This betrayal helped Egypt. I am deeply concerned that the TPLF will repeat this colossal disloyalty. 

From the time of the Pashas up to today, Egypt continues to exercise sabre rattling against Ethiopia. Its intent is to mandate absolute hegemony over Nile waters, 86 percent of which comes from Ethiopia. Egypt is aghast that the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) financed entirely by the Ethiopian people is poised to change this flawed narrative. The largest electric dam in Africa, the GERD will contribute immensely to economic integration and prosperity not only in the Horn of Africa but the entire continent.

I remind each and every Ethiopian, the rest of Black Africa and global friends that Egyptian aggression against Ethiopia is nothing new. Research and facts on the ground show that Egypt is Ethiopia’s mortal enemy. This animosity towards Ethiopia goes far beyond greed and insatiable appetite for water. I know of no single hydroelectric dam that reduces water volume; and water flow in a natural setting. Egypt’s motive is far more sinister and harmful.

Because the motive is different, I do not believe that Egyptian political leadership has the courage or the willingness to change. This leadership is accustomed to subjecting the Egyptian people to a clientele ideological paradigm of thinking, this time persuading the current Government of the United States and the President of the World Bank to serve as sponsors and as validators. This is the reason why Egypt gyrates from Tripartite negotiation on the one hand; and reverting to the U.N. Security Council on the other.

The evidence on the ground with regard to dominance over Ethiopia’s waters is voluminous. I always imagine how far and how fast my country of origin, Ethiopia, would have prospered had, for example:

The country been peaceful, stable and all inclusive;
The country’s political elites not imposed an ethnic-federal system and ethnicized and polarized the society;
The country’s primary adversary, namely Egypt not conducted direct and proxy wars against Ethiopia; made it land locked; and incapacitated it to prosper;
The country’s lead party for 27 years, namely the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), in concert with internal and external partners not demolished major and transformative infrastructural projects, particularly the promising Tana Beles on the Blue Nile River near Lake Tana.

The Genesis of Destruction

Emperor Haile Selassie played a pioneering role in the study, mapping and project identification of the Blue Nile.  At least 5 major dams sites were identified by none other than the renowned U.S of Reclamation in the 1960s. Sadly, heavy pressure by the Government of Great Britain, at the time the colonial power that governed Egypt and the Sudan applied pressure on the U.S., a close ally of Britain, and no hydro or irrigation dam came to fruition. On the contrary, Egypt, the Sudan and their colonial “boss” Great Britain realized the need to arrive at a Nile Waters allocation and signed the 1959 Agreement that gave the lion’s share of the Nile to Egypt. Ethiopia, the single most important source of the waters was denied its rightful share. It was not even a party to the Agreement; nor were the other Sub-Saharan African riparian nations. The socioeconomic and political costs of this injustice are huge.

Imagine the development impacts on Ethiopian society had Ethiopia enjoyed the right and freedom to borrow funds from multilaterals and other sources and to construct irrigation and hydropower dams starting in the late 1950s and in the mid-1960s. I can assure the reader that, at minimum, Ethiopia would have achieved food security and food self-sufficiency.

I will illustrate the lost economic opportunity for Ethiopia by using a specific example.

The Tana Beles Integrated Project

This project was designed to raise the surface level of Lake Tana from a strategic angle of the Blue Nile (Abbay) River by one meter. As a result, Tana’s water volume increased hugely. An underground pipeline stretching 9 kilometers and carrying water was constructed with a high level of technical precision and reliability. The fast running waters generated electricity and powered large turbines.

These turbines had the capacity to irrigate an estimated one million hectares of land. This irrigable land known as the Beles Valley stretches all the way to the Sudanese border in the West. A modern agro-industrial complex with multifaceted development features, this project was poised to help transform Ethiopia’s primitive agricultural system. For example, Tana Beles farms were equipped to produce food staples such as rice, wheat etc. for the domestic market.

The manufacturing and industrial sector was equally planned to be a major beneficiary of value-adding inputs such as peppers, spices, vegetables and fruits and export crops. Manufacturing and industrial plants directly linked to industrial-scale farms equipped with modern machinery almost all imported from Italy were in the works.

The Socialist Government of Ethiopia contracted an Italian firm to implement this mammoth and multipurpose project that spans 1, 600 sq. kms. Well trained agronomists, agricultural economists, hydro and irrigation engineers and other Italian specialists were twined with thousands of Ethiopians assigned to learn the latest skills. Domestic capacity was in sight.

In addition to human and institutional capital investments, Ethiopia expended tens of millions of dollars examining and preparing the soil, studding and fixing the land for irrigation, testing pilots and building the electrical and telephone infrastructure of the project. The land area that would cover the project was determined methodically and systematically. There was a high level of anticipation and expectation among stakeholders that showed Ethiopia’s determination and resolve to conquer abject poverty, famine and destitution among its poorest population.

This national will power and huge investment of scarce capital to harness Ethiopia’s immense water resources for the betterment of its millions was the first of its kind in terms of magnitude. It is no wonder then that it raised hope among Ethiopians; while creating anxiety on the part of Ethiopia’s major adversary, Egypt. It expressed anger, frustration and dismay. It then identified internal allies that would inflict the actual and potential damage.

I remind the reader that Egypt has always wanted to control the Blue Nile and deny Ethiopia any opportunity to harness it for its own development. This is the reason why Emperor Haile Selassie had advised future generations of Ethiopians to guard studies done by his Government pending a time when Ethiopia would be in a position to finance its dams on its own time and using its own investment capital. While the promising multipurpose project Tana Beles demonstrated Ethiopia’s determination to challenge the status quo, this promise came to a complete halt once the TPLF took power in 1991. Meles Zenawi made a huge effort to compensate by initiating the GERD.

Documentary evidence shows that the first pre-state sponsored economic and social crime inflicted on Ethiopia by the TPLF is the dismantlement of the entire physical, institutional and human infrastructure of Tana Beles. Soon after the TPLF approached Tana Beles, it begun dismantling the physical infrastructure by disassembling equipment and hauling useful parts such as farm equipment like tractors to the Tigray Region. Imagine the assault on ordinary people, mostly the poor in the surrounding area. The modern and well-equipped hospital that served the local population was destroyed.  Literally all of the materials, including x-ray equipment and medicines were taken out and shipped to the Tigray Region. For all purposes, this was a horrendous and inhumane treatment against the very people of Ethiopia.

In addition to the financial and economic loss, what is most tragic is the enormous cost to poor people and aspiring farmers whose improved livelihoods were shattered by internal actors.

The deliberate destruction of the Tana Beles project is a significant cardinal sin against Ethiopia. It served the strategic interests of Egypt. Upon taking state power, the TPLF compounded this cardinal sin by abandoning Ethiopia’s legitimate access to the sea, another Egyptian dream.

For many decades, Iraq’s Sadam Hussein. Syria’s Assad, Egypt’s Nasser and Anwar Sadat and others had vowed to ensure that the entire Red Sea would become an Arab staging area. They were determined to deprive Ethiopia of its sea coast. The TPLF was key in facilitating this.

All of these different sets of Egyptian direct and indirect assaults on Ethiopia’s development lead me to the same conclusion. Egypt’s determination to dominate the Nile and its primary source namely, the Blue Nile or Abbay is real and compelling. We cannot forget how gleefully Egypt celebrated the destruction of Tana Beles, gratis the TPLF.

The reader should therefore be watchful and guard against internal and external Ethiopian dissenters against the GERD. Those who care deeply must defend Ethiopia’s absolute rights over the Blue Nile.

I shall conclude with the good news. The Congressional Black Caucus Statement on the Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on June 23, 2020 is encouraging. In brief, the CBC statement said this.

“In recent months negotiations have stalled and there has been an escalation of tensions on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) that impacts, Ethiopia, Egypt, and Sudan.  The Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) encourages the continued cooperation and peaceful negotiations of all stakeholders in the construction of the GERD. These negotiations should be based on mutual benefit, good faith, and the principles of international law. The multi-billion-dollar GERD project was announced in 2011, and will have a positive impact in the region by providing Africa’s biggest hydropower dam that will generate approximately 6,000 megawatts of electricity, thus allowing Ethiopia to export power to neighboring countries….The CBC urges the United States and all other international actors to respect the 2015 Declaration of Principles trilateral agreement signed between Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia, and to continue to play an impartial role, only seeking the counsel of the African Union and diplomats on the ground in the region. In particular, the African Union has a pivotal role to play by expressing to all parties that a peaceful negotiated deal benefits all and not just some on the continent.”

More important, the CBC opined rightly that “The GERD project will have a positive impact on all countries involved and will help combat food security and lack of electricity and power, supply more fresh water to more people, and stabilize and grow the economies in the region. The Congressional Black Caucus supports a peaceful negotiation to the implementation of the GERD project, and stands ready to support the African Union and all stakeholders on peacefully achieving a mutually beneficial agreement.”

I was also gratified by the Speaker of the Kenyan Parliament who expressed his strongest endorsement of Ethiopia’s sovereign and absolute rights to harness its waters for development.

In summary:

The GERD will contribute immensely to the economic integration of the Horn, Eastern Africa and in due course, will also fill am enormous gap in the electric grid system of the entire African continent. I suggest strongly that all African nations defend Ethiopia’s sovereign rights over its waters in the spirit of Uhuru.

The UN Security Council should be totally objective, impartial and fair; and should be guided by international law, conventions and treaties that govern transboundary rivers. More important, it should pressure the primary stakeholders to negotiate. It should also rely more heavily on the African Union and refrain from pressuring Ethiopia. 

Both the UN Security Council and the African Union must recognize that Ethiopia is playing a pioneering role in defense of African rights. Ethiopia’s prosperity will serve as a spring board for the prosperity of Africa. In turn, a prosperous Ethiopia will play a more pronounced role in promoting and defending peace and security in the Horn and the rest of Africa.

Last but not least, the UN Security Council, the European Union and the African Union must recognize that Ethiopia has played a vital role in collective security; and has served the UN system effectively with peace keeping operations.  

Chinese Company Unveils Positive Results of COVID-19 Vaccines

By Leng Shumei and Hu Yuwei
Global Times
2020/6/28 20:08:43

A staff member displays a sample of the COVID-19 inactivated vaccine at a vaccine production plant of China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm) in Beijing, capital of China, April 10, 2020. Photo:Xinhua

An institute of biological products in Beijing affiliated with the China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm) announced on Sunday that it had achieved positive results for a COVID-19 vaccine candidate it developed.

The development came as the global number of confirmed patients exceeded 10 million as of 6:30 pm Sunday (Beijing time).

Three of the four inactivated COVID-19 vaccines developed in China evoked positive immune responses in Phase I and II clinical trials, indicating that China has made great progress in the research and development (R&D) of this type of vaccine, experts said.

The Beijing institute, which is under the Sinopharm China National Biotec Group (CNBG), said in a statement sent to the Global Times that all 1,120 volunteers in the first and second phase clinical trials successfully produced high-titer antibodies against COVID-19 after accepting two doses of the vaccine.

The vaccine has proven to be effective and safe, read the statement.

The clinical trials started on April 27 in Shangqiu county, Central China's Henan Province and were designed as randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled studies, according to the statement.

Another institute under CNBG in Wuhan, Central China's Hubei Province, on June 16 announced the results of Phase I and II clinical trials of a vaccine candidate it developed. This provided further vital data for CNBG's research of inactivated COVID-19 vaccines, read the statement.

On June 23, CNBG announced that it had agreed with authorities in the United Arab Emirates to start Phase III clinical trials for inactivated vaccine candidates CNBG developed. The group did not say which vaccines were involved.

Experts said that if human trials go well overseas, the third phase trial will be closed in August, followed by medical observation in September, with data revealed as soon as October. A vaccine could then be approved for marketing after positive results at the end of October.

Sinopharm is expanding manufacturing capacity for COVID-19 vaccines. One plant in Beijing and one in Wuhan can together produce at least 200 million doses annually, according to media reports.

The plant in Beijing is the largest manufacturing center for COVID-19 vaccines worldwide, reports said.

However, mass production of inactivated vaccines is still facing the initial challenge of insufficient capacity, warned experts.

"Each person needs two doses of the inactivated vaccine to evoke an immune response, and 200 million doses would only meet the immunization needs of 100 million people. This is still far from enough for China and the world at a time when vaccines are urgently needed," Tao Lina, a Shanghai-based vaccine expert, told the Global Times on Sunday.

China is developing COVID-19 vaccines in five categories - inactivated vaccines, recombinant protein vaccines, live attenuated influenza vaccines, adenovirus vaccines and nucleic acid-based vaccines, reports said.

Except for live attenuated influenza vaccines, all four types have entered human clinical trials, showing that the progress of R&D for COVID-19 vaccines in China is markedly faster than in the US, analysts noted.

Several other types of vaccines, if developed successfully, are theoretically more productive than inactivated vaccines, said Tao.

"The WHO expects 2 billion doses of vaccine to be available worldwide by the end of 2021. Inactivated vaccines alone will certainly not be enough," Tao said.

According to the WHO's website, there are 16 COVID-19 candidate vaccines in clinical trials worldwide, of which seven are being developed by Chinese companies or jointly developed by Chinese and foreign companies. 

China's Patriotism a Uniting Force in Face of Major Pressure from Virus, US Strategic Suppression

By Hu Xijin
Global Times
2020/6/26 21:47:47
Illustration: Liu Rui/GT

On the occasion of the Dragon Boat Festival, I'd like to talk about patriotism.

In the past two days, US politicians including US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien and Republican senators like Tom Cotton have all repeatedly criticized China. The US government must be the most abusive on China among all countries in the world.  They accuse China of almost everything, from trying to destroy the US economy to having ulterior motives in aiding Africa and monitoring the world with Huawei. How did they come to hate China so much?

To China's south, Indian media continued their attack on China Thursday, inciting anti-Chinese nationalist sentiment in the country. They made irresponsible and unprofessional interpretations of so-called satellite images, claiming that China has been "encroaching on Indian territory."

In addition to these geopolitical conflicts, COVID-19 continues to impact the world and affect all of our lives. As the epidemic in Beijing is not over yet, everyone around me has cancelled their travel plans for the Dragon Boat Festival. However, the situation in Beijing is only a small case compared with that of the US. The latest statistics show that the US has returned to the height of the epidemic, with nearly 40,000 confirmed cases and a staggering 2,000 deaths a day.

We live in an era of turmoil, when the US is turning strategically against China and contributing to the overall deterioration of China's strategic environment. The impact of the epidemic has added up to a broader shock. A few years ago, we could not have imagined such a change in the world.

It can be said that we are at a true "historical juncture." If Chinese history can be regarded as a complete epic, then today's China must be experiencing one of its climaxes.

Chinese history used to be the history of Chinese civilization. Since modern times, we have been a passive actor in the process of globalization. Today, we are gradually becoming one of the protagonists. But at the same time, we are facing all-round suppression by the US, which is trying to maintain absolute hegemony.

No matter whether we like it or not, and no matter how many interpretations we may have of the formation of this situation, the US suppression of China has actually started strategically, and dealing with it is a test that the Chinese nation must endure. This provides a basic setting and value thread for contemporary patriotism. It is the common mission of today's Chinese patriots to help the country overcome this challenge.

How can China stabilize and sustain its growth? The story of the rise and fall of great powers over the past century tells us that this is not an easy thing. China must become more determined and united, and if it fails to do so, there will be many ways for the country to collapse quickly. China's internal dynamism and the country's resilience will determine our endurance. The game between China and the US will not last just one year, five or 10. It may drag on for decades.

Look how extreme the US has become on China. Its basic logic of justice has been tampered. It is impossible to fight such a US policy without provoking some internal chemistry in China. Some of these reactions are "natural antibodies." While we stand firm in safeguarding our core interests, we must be vigilant in managing these reactions so that America's extreme acts do not lead to our overreaction. For example, when the US threatens to decouple, China will open wider to the outside world. It is completely different from an extreme response.

In my opinion, how to counter the US suppression and adapt to the normalization of the epidemic prevention and control are new topics. It is the duty of every Chinese to do his utmost to promote the unity of Chinese society, to work hard for the development of China and to play a constructive role in promoting the vitality of society. As ordinary people, it is difficult for us to make our lives centered on patriotism. We have to get on with our lives first, but we need to get a sense of where the country really is, what's right and what's wrong, know what we should stand for, what we should respond to, and what we should oppose in this world.

The US is now desperately trying to suppress China. At the end of the day, what the US is doing is tearing apart the interests of 1.4 billion Chinese people.  Of course we have to defend our interests, the most important of which is the right to make our lives better. This is actually the essence of contemporary patriotism.

The author is editor-in-chief of the Global Times. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn

US Drifting Amid Chaos, Uncertainties: Global Times Editorial

Global Times
2020/6/27 21:58:35
Photo: GT

The record-breaking coronavirus data in the US on Thursday and Friday is appalling, with the number of newly confirmed cases reaching around 40,000 per day. The death toll in the US has exceeded 125,000, and the country is mired in chaos and drifting aimlessly amid various uncertainties.

The epidemic situation in the US has spiraled out of control. The White House on Friday resumed its briefings on the epidemic. Vice President Mike Pence offered no remedy but reiterated the stance of the White House: The spike is largely due to increased testing. Being that bold and straight, US politicians must have been supported by strong minds and twisted values in US society.

While a US administration slaps its own face with pride, does such a government need any morality and justice to launch overseas attacks? In the past few days, US politicians - from National Security Advisor Robert O'Brien to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo - have used the most vicious language against China.

On Saturday morning Beijing time, the US State Department announced it would impose visa bans on Chinese officials accused of infringing upon "freedom" of Hong Kong citizens. Such fault-finding with China presents black humor. Since the epidemic situation in the US is the worst in the world, no Chinese would like to go to the US before the situation turns better, except those who think of studying in the US.

Epidemic fight and economic resumption are closely related in all countries. The US government will not succeed if it only wants economic resumption. Its current policy logic is twisted, and the election campaign is ongoing with lies and attacks against each other. The current US administration has neither the will nor the ability to cure social woes. It only resorted to criticizing China and fanning anti-China flames in US society as a temporary remedy.

When high-ranking US officials wantonly attack China, Beijing need not argue with Washington. The US has no will to reach a consensus to ease conflicts, but tries to exploit ulterior gains beyond the reality of China-US relations.

The Chinese people must accept that they are facing a reckless China policy adopted by the US. Two driving forces are behind such a policy. First, the US wants to maintain its global hegemony, so it continues to suppress China. Second, the GOP-led government is determined to pass the buck to China as the core strategy of its election campaign. How much room is left to improve China-US relations?

At least in the next few months, China-US relations will remain as it is. To cope with US provocation, China should enhance internal unity and win support from the international community. There is no manner in the US government's posture against China, and Washington has broken all kinds of bottom lines in major power diplomacy. As long as China deals with it properly, it is bound to win more moral support.

Washington's China policy has gone too far, which appears tough but is actually weak inside. The US has few cards to play, and is pushing itself to the status of a paper tiger.

Trump’s See-no-evil Posture on Coronavirus

By CALVIN WOODWARD and HOPE YEN

FILE - In this June 26, 2020, file photo Healthcare professional Kenzie Anderson grabs a test tube for a sample at United Memorial Medical Center COVID-19 testing site in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s persistent see-no-evil posture on coronavirus testing — if you don’t look for the virus, the cases go away — defies both science and street sense. Yet he took it a step further with a comment suggesting that testing be restrained so the pandemic doesn’t look so bad.

His aides passed that off as a joke. Trump contradicted them, saying he wasn’t kidding. Then he contradicted himself, saying he was.

So it went over the past week as America’s reckoning with disease and racism navigated a fog of falsehoods and distortions from the president. A sampling:

JUST KIDDING?

TRUMP: “You know testing is a double-edged sword. ... Here’s the bad part. When you test to that extent, you are going to find more people, find more cases. So I said to my people, ‘Slow the testing down please.’” — Tulsa, Oklahoma, rally June 20.

THE FACT: First, it’s not true that he ordered testing slowed. The government’s top public health officials testified one by one to Congress that Trump told them no such thing.

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said the comment was “made in jest” and other senior aides similarly brushed it off as not serious. Trump didn’t play along. “I don’t kid,” he said Tuesday when asked about the remark.

Then he reversed himself, telling Fox News on Thursday “Sometimes I jokingly say, or sarcastically say, if we didn’t do tests we would look great.” But holding back on testing is “not the right thing to do.”

Trump’ broader point — “If you don’t test, you don’t have any cases,” he also said — flips science on its head. No one disputes the fact that testing for the virus is key to controlling it. Testing is only one measure of the pandemic. It is also measured by hospitalization and death, which continue even if authorities were to close their eyes to spreading sickness.

COVID-19 has killed about 125,000 people in the U.S. Infections are far higher than are known because many who get the disease and pass it on are not tested.
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VOTING FRAUD

TRUMP: “There is tremendous evidence of fraud whenever you have mail-in ballots.” — remarks Tuesday at Phoenix rally.

THE FACTS: No there isn’t.

Voting fraud actually is rare and Trump’s attempts to show otherwise have fallen flat. Nevertheless, he persists in the assertion, in what can be seen as a pretext to discredit results if he loses in November.

Trump appointed a commission after the 2016 election to get to the bottom of his theory that voting fraud is rampant. The panel disbanded without producing any findings.

Some election studies have reported a higher incidence of mail-in voting fraud compared with in-person voting, but the overall risk is all but imperceptible. The Brennan Center for Justice said in 2017 the risk of voting fraud is 0.00004% to 0.0009%.

When Trump made similar assertions last month, Twitter took the extraordinary step of attaching fact-checking notices.

Richard L. Hasen, an elections expert at the University of California, Irvine School of Law, recently wrote in an op-ed that “problems are extremely rare in the five states that rely primarily on vote-by-mail, including the heavily Republican state of Utah.”

Trump himself voted by mail in the Florida Republican primary in March. A half-dozen senior advisers to the president have also voted by mail, according to election records obtained by The Associated Press.
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MEMORIALS

TRUMP: “I’ve also made clear that any rioters damaging federal property and defacing our monuments will face severe and lengthy criminal penalties. Ten years.” — remarks Tuesday in Phoenix.

THE FACTS: He has no such authority. A president is not a judge.
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TRUMP: “I have authorized the Federal Government to arrest anyone who vandalizes or destroys any monument, statue or other such Federal property in the U.S. with up to 10 years in prison per the Veteran’s Memorial Preservation Act, or such other laws that may be pertinent. ... This action is taken effective immediately, but may also be used retroactively for destruction or vandalism already caused. There will be no exceptions!” — tweets Tuesday.

THE FACTS: This action taken “immediately” and “retroactively” is merely words. It has no effect.

The Veterans’ Memorial Preservation Act, passed by Congress in 2003, already authorizes fines or prison for up to 10 years for the destruction of veterans’ memorials on public property.

The law covers “any structure, plaque, statue, or other monument on public property commemorating the service of any person or persons in the armed forces of the United States.”

So all prosecutors got from Trump is a reminder of legal authority they already had.
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TRUMP: “They even vandalized — that’s right — the Lincoln Memorial. The Lincoln Memorial.” — remarks at Phoenix rally Wednesday, prompting boos from the audience.

THE FACTS: No one damaged the memorial housing the statue of Lincoln in protests that unfolded near it. An online photo seeming to show the Lincoln statue and a memorial wall blanketed by graffiti was fake.

The reality: Someone spray painted “y’all not tired yet?” by the bottom of the steps to the memorial May 30 and the National Park Service cleaned it up.

“The only vandalism at the Lincoln Memorial was graffiti at the bottom of the steps at street level, far away from the statue,” said national parks spokesman Mike Litterst.

He said vandalism at the Lincoln Memorial is unusual but not unheard of. “Probably most notable was in 2013 when someone splashed green paint on the statue,” he said in an email. “And it was vandalized twice in 2017, once in February with black magic marker and again in August with red spray paint on one of the columns.”
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VIRUS RISK

TRUMP: “The number of ChinaVirus cases goes up, because of GREAT TESTING, while the number of deaths (mortality rate), goes way down.” — tweet Thursday.

THE FACTS: No, increased testing does not fully account for the rise in cases. People are also infecting each other more than before as social distancing rules recede and “community spread” picks up.

“One of the things is an increase in community spread, and that’s something that I’m really quite concerned about,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious disease expert, testified Tuesday.

As for Trump’s point about mortality coming down, Fauci said that is not a relevant measure of what is happening in the moment with infections. “Deaths always lag considerably behind cases,” he said. “It is conceivable you may see the deaths going up.”

Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, testified that “several communities are seeing increased cases driven by multiple factors, including increased testing, outbreaks, and evidence of community transmission.”
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TRUMP on the pandemic: “It’s fading away, it’s going to fade away.” — Fox News interview June 17.

THE FACTS: It’s not fading and not about to.

Coronavirus infections per day in the U.S. surged to an all-time high of 40,000 at the end of the week, eclipsing the previous high of 36,400 on April 24 during one of the deadliest stretches in the crisis. Newly reported cases per day have risen on average about 60 percent over the past two weeks, according to an Associated Press analysis.

Earlier in the week, Fauci told Congress the U.S. is “still in the middle of the first wave” and the imperative is to “get this outbreak under control over the next couple of months.” He said the New York City area, once an epicenter, has done notably well but “in other areas of the country we’re now seeing a disturbing surge of infections.”

The next few weeks “are going to be critical in our ability to address those surgings that we are seeing in Florida, in Texas, in Arizona and other states,” Fauci said. “They’re not the only ones that are having a difficulty.”

Fauci added: “Certainly there will be coronavirus infections in the fall and winter because the virus is not going to disappear.”

Said Redfield: “As we get to the fall, we’re going to have influenza and COVID at the same time.”
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TESTING

TRUMP: “We have got the greatest testing program anywhere in the world.” — remarks Tuesday.

TRUMP: “We’ve done too good a job.” — interview Monday.

THE FACTS: The U.S. is nowhere near the level of testing needed to stem the virus, according to his own health experts.

Redfield testified that health officials are still working to significantly increase testing capacity, calling such expansion a “critical underpinning of our response.”

The U.S. currently is conducting about 500,000 to 600,000 tests a day. Many public health experts say the U.S. should be testing nearly twice as many people daily to control the spread of the virus. Looking to the fall, some experts have called for 4 million or more tests daily, while a group assembled by Harvard University estimated that 20 million a day would be needed to keep the virus in check.

Redfield said the U.S. was aiming to boost testing to 3 million daily by “pooling” multiple people’s samples, a technique that is still under review by the FDA. He stressed the need for expanded surveillance because some people who get infected may not show symptoms.

“We still have a ways to go,” Redfield said.

The U.S. stumbled early in the pandemic response as the CDC struggled to develop its own test for the coronavirus in January, later discovering problems in its kits sent to state and county public health labs in early February.

It took the CDC more than two weeks to come up with a fix to the test kits, leading to delays in diagnoses through February, a critical month when the virus took root in the U.S.
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Associated Press writers Eric Tucker and Matthew Perrone in Washington and Beatrice Dupuy in New York contributed to this report.

Georgia Reports 1,990 New Cases of COVID-19, Breaking Record

Dozens of specimen collection volunteers are on hand to take free COVID-19 tests at a pop-up site at the House of Hope on Monday, May 4, 2020, in Decatur, Ga. Pastors, local physicians, health ministers, and other community leaders united to encourage area residents to get tested. (Curtis Compton/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)

ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia health officials reported 1,990 additional COVID-19 cases Saturday, another record in newly confirmed coronavirus cases in the state. That brings Georgia’s total confirmed cases to about 75,000.

The state’s previous record came on Friday when officials reported 1,900 new cases.

Since the pandemic began, the state has seen more than 2,700 deaths from the virus.

In states such as Texas and Arizona, health officials have expressed concerns about a shortage of beds.

In Georgia, the state Emergency Management Agency reported Saturday that 27% of critical care beds remain available.

Coronavirus infections have been rising throughout June. Georgia has reported at least 1,700 new cases each of the past five days.

The surge in infections comes about two months after Georgia began lifting restrictions April 24 on hair salons, gyms, bowling alleys and other businesses that had been forced to close to slow the virus. Restaurants, retail stores and bars have since reopened as well.

For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. But for others, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, the virus can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and death.

Southern States Report Record Coronavirus Surges

The U.S. has also seen a record number of cases nationwide, according to the latest figures released.

Cars waiting at a coronavirus testing site in Miami on Friday. | AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee

By JORDAN MULLER
06/27/2020 06:18 PM EDT

Southern states reported a surge in coronavirus cases Saturday, setting records across the board just days after the U.S. as a whole saw its most cases ever in a 24-hour period.

Florida on Saturday reported a record 9,585 new cases. Arizona reported 3,591 new cases, appearing to match a single-day record set earlier this week. Nevada, Georgia, and South Carolina also reported record numbers of cases on Saturday.

Texas reported 5,747 new cases as of Saturday afternoon, nearing Thursday’s record 5,996 new cases. Saturday marked the fifth consecutive day new coronavirus cases in Texas topped 5,000.

Florida, Arizona and Texas are among a handful of states halting reopening plans amid the recent coronavirus surge. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott reimposed some restrictions on Friday, including shuttering bars. Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey stopped short of ordering new restrictions but said the state would slow plans to reopen.

All three states were among the first to lift the orders even as cases continued to climb nationwide.

Vice President Mike Pence is postponing campaign events in Florida and Arizona this week amid the virus spike, a Trump campaign spokesperson confirmed Saturday.

The U.S. set a single-day record of more than 40,000 new cases on Thursday, according to the most recent figures released by the Centers for Disease Control, and the number of people hospitalized with coronavirus continues to climb.

In a coronavirus task force briefing on Friday, Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said certain areas of the country are facing a “serious problem.”

“What goes on in one area of the country, ultimately could have an effect on the other areas of the country,” Fauci said.

Confirmed Coronavirus Cases Pass 10 Million

Associated Press

A man wearing groves adjusts his protective face mask as he walks by posters showing a proper way to wear a face mask to help curb the spread of the coronavirus in Beijing, Sunday, June 28, 2020. China has extended COVID-19 tests to newly reopened salons amid a drop in cases while South Korea continues to face new infections as it eases social distancing rules. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

Confirmed coronavirus infections have surpassed the 10 million mark worldwide.

A tally compiled by Johns Hopkins University registered the grim milestone Sunday, after India and Russia added thousands of new cases. The United States has confirmed more than 2.5 million infections, the most in the world.

Globally, the Hopkins tally has reported nearly 500,000 deaths.

While Hopkins reports only confirmed coronavirus cases, experts believe the true number of people who have been infected could be as much as 10 times that figure, given that so many people can’t get tested or may have the virus without showing any symptoms.
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HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE VIRUS OUTBREAK:

— China virus cases stabilize as Italy sees drop in deaths

— What to wear: Feds’ mixed messages on masks sow confusion

— Nurses, doctors feel strain as virus races through Arizona

— Vice President Mike Pence has called off campaign events in Florida and Arizona for this coming week as the states experience a surge in new coronavirus cases. The White House says Pence will still travel to those states to meet with their governors and health teams.

— European Union envoys are close to finalizing a list of countries whose citizens will be allowed back into Europe once it begins lifting coronavirus-linked restrictions. The United States appears almost certain not to make the list, as new infections surge and given that President Donald Trump has imposed a ban on European travelers.

— New Delhi’s acting health minister says the Indian capital is facing a shortage of “trained and experienced” health care workers.
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Follow all of AP’s pandemic coverage at http://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak
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HERE’S WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING:

PRAGUE — The Czech Republic has been registering a steep increase of the number of people infected with the coronavirus.

The day-to-day increase reached 260 new confirmed cases on Saturday, up from 168 the previous day and 93 the day before.

It is the highest number of newly infected people since April 8. It comes amid the government’s easing of its restrictive measures and despite a typical lower number of tests over the weekend.

The Czech Republic has had 11,306 confirmed cases while 347 people have died, according to Health Ministry figures released on Sunday.
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ROME — Italy is honoring its coronavirus dead with a Requiem concert performed in front of the cemetery in Bergamo, one of the hardest-hit provinces in the onetime epicenter of the European outbreak.

President Sergio Mattarella, the 243 mayors of cities in Bergamo province and a representative of families who lost loved ones have been invited to attend the evening concert, which is being transmitted live on RAI state television. It will feature the Requiem Mass composed by Bergamo native Gaetano Donizetti, one of Italy’s most important 19th century composers.

Bergamo recorded its first positive case Feb. 23 and by the end of March had registered a 571% increase in excess deaths compared to the five-year monthly average. Images in mid-March of an army convoy hauling caskets away because Bergamo’s cemeteries and crematoriums were full came to epitomize the horrific toll of the virus in Italy’s north.

Donizetti composed the unfinished Requiem to honor his friend and fellow composer, Vincenzo Bellini, who died in 1835. During the peak of the epidemic, Bergamo’s Donizetti Theater and the city government put on social media the recording of a 2017 performance of the Requiem Mass to honor the victims.
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NEW DELHI — Prime Minister Narendra Modi says India must focus on bolstering the economy as it exits the lockdown phase, even as the number of coronavirus cases continues to climb.

On Sunday, India reported additional 19,906 confirmed cases, taking the total to 528,859 with 16,095 deaths. It says 309,713 people have recovered.

Modi told a radio address that during the post-lockdown period, Indians have to stay more vigilant compared to the lockdown and only alertness can save them from the coronavirus.

He again urged people to wear a mask and observe social distancing norms and other precautions, or else would be putting others at risk, especially the elderly and children at home.
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BERLIN — Swiss authorities say they’ve ordered 300 people into quarantine after a so-called “superspreader” outbreak of the new coronavirus at a Zurich nightclub.

Zurich officials said in a statement that a man who had been at the Flamingo Club a week ago tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday, and that five people who were with him there were then tested and also were positive and reported to authorities on Friday.

Working from a list of guests provided by the club, officials were then able to get in touch with the others who were there and ordered them into quarantine on Saturday for 10 days in order to try and stop any further spread of the virus as they are tested.

Swiss officials say the incident shows how important it is to stick to hygiene and distance regulations as lockdown measures are gradually lifted. They say if there are more superspreader type events in clubs they will have to resort to closing such facilities again.

Like many European countries, Switzerland had drastically reduced the number of new coronavirus infections, and is now starting to see a slight uptick as it tries to restart its economy.

In its latest report posted Sunday, Switzerland reported 69 new cases overnight from Friday to Saturday for a total of 31,555 cases; 1,681 people have died.
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ISLAMABAD — Pakistan’s minister for science and technology says the country has started producing locally designed ventilators, as authorities reported 83 more deaths from the coronavirus.

In a tweet, Fawad Chaudhry said the first home-made ventilators will be handed over to the national disaster management agency soon. The announcement comes days after Pakistan said it was racing against time to arrange for 1,500 more ventilators as part of a contingency plan.

Currently, 1,503 ventilators are available at government hospitals treating COVID-19 patients.

Pakistan on Sunday reported 4.072 new cases of the coronavirus, taking the total to 202,955 with 4,118 deaths.

Pakistan has witnessed a spike in new infections since last month, when Prime Minister Imran Khan lifted lockdown, saying it was necessary to save the economy.
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BEIJING — China is reporting 17 new confirmed cases of COVID-19, all but three of them from domestic transmission in Beijing, which has seen a recent spike in coronavirus infections.

But authorities in the Chinese capital say a campaign to conduct tests on employees at hair and beauty salons across the city has found no positive cases so far, in a further sign that the recent outbreak has been largely brought under control.

No new deaths were reported Sunday, leaving China’s reported total at 4,634 among 83,500 confirmed cases.

Tens of millions of Chinese traveled during the three-day Dragon Boat Festival that ended Saturday, but anti-crowding measures were in force nationwide. Tourist sites were required to cap visitor numbers at 30% of capacity.
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HONOLULU -- The city of Honolulu has announced that campgrounds will reopen for the first time in three months with limited permits to ensure social distancing amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Hawaii News Now reported that the city will issue permits for just over 100 campsites across Oahu.

Honolulu Department of Parks and Recreation Public Information Officer Nathan Serota says campsites were limited to physically distance. Regular camp rules still apply.

The Bellows Beach campground northeast of Honolulu will remain closed through Sept. 4 for turtle nesting. All the other campgrounds have reopened.
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ANAHEIM, Calif. — Data show hundreds of new infections in densely populated neighborhoods that are more likely home to low-income residents in one California county.

Orange County health officials say residents living certain parts of Anaheim and Santa Ana are more likely to live in multi-generational or multifamily households and many of them hold jobs in stores and restaurants.

Cases and hospitalizations in the county have grown significantly in the last couple weeks, reflecting a statewide trend that prompted Gov. Gavin Newsom this week to sound renewed alarm bells. He urged Imperial County to reimpose a stay-at-home order to deal with a high rate of positive cases and hospitalizations.
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LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Arkansas on Saturday reported 570 more cases of the coronavirus and 10 more deaths.

The Arkansas Department of Health said that there are now 19,310 reported cases in the state.

The state’s total deaths from COVID-19, the illness the coronavirus causes, is now at 259.
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OLYMPIA, Wash. -- Washington Gov. Jay Inslee says he’s pausing moving counties to the fourth phase of his reopening plan as coronavirus cases continue to increase.

Inslee made the announcement Saturday with state Secretary of Health John Weisman.

Inslee says the rising number of COVID-19 cases across the state makes it impossible to move to phase four, which would have meant basically no restrictions.

A tally from Johns Hopkins University shows Washington had more than 30,800 confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Saturday. More than 480 new cases were reported on Friday.
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SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — Tyson Foods has announced that 371 employees at its chicken processing plant in the far southwestern corner of Missouri have tested positive for COVID-19.

The company said in a news release Friday that it tested 1,142 employees at the plant in Noel from June 17 to June 19, and 291 tested positive for COVID-19. Of those 291, Tyson said 249, or 85%, were asymptomatic. Tyson said an additional 80 Noel employees tested positive for COVID-19 in separate tests that were performed by their health care providers or the state’s Department of Health and Senior Services.

The announcement confirms suspicions that the large spike in McDonald County’s reported COVID-19 numbers starting this past weekend was the result of large-scale testing at the plant, the Springfield News-Leader reports.
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BRASILIA, Brazil -- The Brazilian government announced on Saturday an agreement with Oxford University and pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca to produce a promising coronavirus vaccine that is undergoing tests.

Brazilian Health Ministry authorities said in a press conference that the country will pay $127 million and receive material to produce 30.4 million doses in two batches in December and January, which would allow it to quickly start inoculation efforts if the vaccine is certified to be safe and effective.

The total deal is for 100 million vaccines for a country of about 210 million residents. It will be produced by local vaccine maker Fiocruz.

British researchers started testing the experimental shot in May aiming to immunize more than 10,000 people, including older people and children. The vaccine is one of about a dozen in the early stages of human testing.

Brazil, where coronavirus infections are still on the rise, counts more than 1 million confirmed cases and more than 55,900 fatalities.
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WASHINGTON — Vice President Mike Pence is calling off a planned bus tour in Florida to benefit his and President Donald Trump’s re-election as the state experiences a surge in confirmed coronavirus cases.

Pence is still traveling to the state, the White House confirmed, saying he will meet with Gov. Ron DeSantis and his health care teams.

Pence said Friday during a briefing by the White House’s coronavirus task force that he would visit Florida, Texas and Arizona this week to receive a “ground report” on spiking cases of COVD-19 across the sunbelt.

Pence was to appear in Lake Wales at an event organized by pro-Trump group America First Policies billed as the “Great American Comeback tour.” The group announced that “Out of an abundance of caution at this time, we are postponing the Great American Comeback tour stop in Florida. We look forward to rescheduling soon.”

Coronavirus: Florida and Texas Reverse Reopening as US Cases Pass 2.5m

BBC World Service

Texas has tightened restrictions again and warned that hospitals could soon be overwhelmed

Coronavirus infections across the United States have passed 2.5 million, with record numbers of cases reported in the states of Florida and Texas.

The surge in cases in southern states comes after businesses were allowed to re-open in recent weeks.

On Saturday, Florida reported more than 9,500 new cases, up from almost 9,000 on Friday, the previous record.

The spike has led state officials to tighten restrictions on business again - as Texas also did on Friday.

The leading US government adviser on coronavirus, Dr Anthony Fauci, said last week that the country had a "serious problem".

More than 125,000 Covid-19 patients have died nationwide - more than in any other country.

Speaking at the first White House coronavirus task force briefing in two months, Dr Fauci said on Friday that the current rises were due to regions "maybe opening a little bit too early" and to people themselves not following guidance.

"People are infecting other people, and then ultimately you will infect someone who's vulnerable," he said.

Vice-President Mike Pence - who heads the coronavirus task force - has called off campaigning events in Florida and Arizona this week. An unnamed campaign official told Reuters news agency Mr Pence was acting out of an "abundance of caution".

The events were due to drum up support for President Donald Trump's re-election bid.

Mr Pence is still expected to travel to the states to meet health officials, the Associated Press reports.

What is happening in Florida and Texas?

On Saturday morning, the state reported 9,585 coronavirus infections in the last 24 hours. It has set records for new cases almost daily since mid-June.

The total number of cases in Florida so far is over 132,000. More than 3,300 people with Covid-19 have died.

Many other southern and western states have reported record spikes as they moved to re-open and people from other areas poured in in recent weeks.

Last week, Texas, Florida and Arizona put re-opening plans on pause in an effort to tackle the outbreak.

But on Friday, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis imposed new restrictions, ordering bars in the state to stop serving alcohol on their premises - although it was not clear how the new measures would affect restaurants, the Miami Herald reported.

Women have their temperatures checked at the entrance of a restaurant in Miami Beach
Miami Mayor Francis Suarez told the BBC on Saturday that the "sheer numbers are so high" that they are putting a huge strain on the city's healthcare system.

"Right now we are penalising those who don't wear masks," Mr Suarez said, adding that he was looking at potentially implementing new measures: "We may have to, at some point, implement a stay at home order."

And in Texas, which has also seen record numbers of cases this week, Governor Greg Abbott told bars to close and limited restaurants' indoor seating capacity to 50%.

In the Texan town of Galena Park, east of Houston, the mayor imposed an overnight curfew on Saturday and warned that hospitals could soon be overwhelmed.

What is the overall situation in the US?

On Saturday, Johns Hopkins University said the total number of cases in the country had risen to 2,505,593.

While some of the rise was down to more extensive testing, the rate of positive tests in some areas is also increasing.

Health officials estimate the true number of cases is likely to be 10 times higher than the confirmed total. The US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said up to 20 million Americans may have been infected.

The surge in cases was being driven by young people - those aged between 18 and 34 - testing positive, especially in the south and west of the US, said the head of the CDC, Dr Robert Redfield.

The White House has stressed that the situation is stabilising in most of the country.

During Friday's coronavirus briefing, Vice-President Mike Pence hailed the Trump administration's "truly remarkable progress in moving our nation forward", highlighting improvements in job figures and retail sales.

Florida, Arizona, Nevada Set Records for New Coronavirus Cases

The three states saw their highest daily infections yet as outbreak continues to surge in the south and west.

Several states have rolled back reopening plans as cases surge [Wilfredo Lee/The Associated Press]

Florida, Arizona and Nevada have all recorded daily highs for new coronavirus infections, highlighting the worsening spread of the outbreak in several southern and western states, which has prompting some local governments to roll back reopening plans.

Florida on Saturday morning reported 9,585 new infections in the last 24 hours, setting a record for new cases for a second-straight day. Meanwhile, Arizona recorded 3,591 new cases of COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus, matching its prior record on June 23, while Nevada disclosed 1,099 new cases, double its previous high.

The surge in cases has been most pronounced in a handful of southern and western states that reopened earlier and more aggressively than other states, serving as a warning to the potentially illusory nature of any perceived progress in controlling the virus.

The new numbers come after the US, on Friday, recorded its largest daily case count of the pandemic, while Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, said the government's current strategy for finding and isolating infected people was "not working," partly due to significant asymptomatic spread.

Changing geography of the outbreak

The worsening contagion in the south and west comes as northern states, notably New York and its neighbours, which were hit hardest initially, have reported declining cases and have begun to forge ahead with reopening plans.

Earlier this week New York, New Jersey and Connecticut imposed a 14-day mandatory quarantine on travellers from states with high infection rates like Texas and Florida, where some 13 percent of those tested on Friday came back positive.

Florida officials told bar owners on Friday to immediately stop serving alcohol on their premises, after permitting bars to reopen in early June.

While Texas Governor Greg Abbott, in a reversal of his early moves to relax restrictions, on Friday ordered bars across the state to close and required restaurants to limit indoor seating capacity to 50 percent.

The announcement came as Texas continued a 15-day streak of record hospitalisations across the state for COVID-19, with more than 5,100 people being treated for the disease on Friday, according to the Texas Tribune.

In an interview broadcast on Friday night, Abbott expressed remorse for the initial pace of reopening bars, which began in phases on May 22.

"If I could go back and redo anything, it probably would have been to slow down the opening of bars, now seeing in the aftermath of how quickly the coronavirus spread in the bar setting," Abbott told the KVIA news station in El Paso.

No statewide mandate

But despite the skyrocketing case numbers, both Abbott and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis have refused to issue statewide mandates on mask-wearing, opting instead to leave that decision to local municipalities.

At a briefing on Friday, DeSantis blamed the spike in infections on young people interacting more in the last few weeks, adding that they faced a lower risk of dying than older people.

However, DeSantis acknowledged that those young people, even if they do not become hospitalised themselves, could transmit the virus to the elderly or people with conditions like diabetes which make them susceptible to severe outcomes with COVID-19.

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES

U.S. Coronavirus Cases Surge by More Than 45,000 in One Day, Total Surpasses 2.5 Million

SAT, JUN 27 20206:11 PM EDT
Noah Higgins-Dunn
@HIGGINSDUNN

KEY POINTS
There were 45,255 additional Covid-19 cases reported across the nation on Friday, bringing the total to more than 2.5 million cases, according to Johns Hopkins University data.
As of Friday, the U.S. seven-day average of new cases increased more than 41% compared with a week ago.
Cases are growing by 5% or more based on a seven-day average in 34 states across the U.S., including Arizona, Texas, California, Florida and Nevada.
Some states, like Texas and Florida, have had to re-close some businesses while others, like Arizona, have put any further plans on pause.

The U.S. reported more than 45,000 cases of coronavirus on Friday, a record breaking increase, as some of the hardest-hit states begin to pause or roll back their reopening plans, according to Johns Hopkins University data.

There were 45,255 additional Covid-19 cases reported across the nation on Friday, bringing the total to more than 2.46 million cases, according to Johns Hopkins data. As of Friday, the U.S.′ seven-day average of new cases increased more than 41% compared with a week ago.

On Saturday, the number of people infected with the coronavirus surpassed 2.5 million, the most infections for any country across the globe, according to Johns Hopkins data.

Cases are growing by 5% or more based on a seven-day average in 34 states across the U.S., including Arizona, Texas, California, Florida and Nevada.

“There are more cases. There are more hospitalizations in some of those places and soon you’ll be seeing more deaths,” White House health advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci said in an interview with CNBC’s Meg Tirrell on Friday that was aired by the Milken Institute.

“Even though the deaths are coming down as a country, that doesn’t mean that you’re not going to start seeing them coming up now,” he said.

Deaths caused by Covid-19 lag behind other data points such as hospitalizations, which lag confirmed infections as the disease can take weeks to fully develop in a person. Hospitalizations due to Covid-19 were growing in 14 states as of Friday, according to a CNBC analysis of Covid Tracking Project data.

On Friday, the White House coronavirus task force warned younger people, who they say are driving new infections, that they may not be as vulnerable to serious disease but could infect someone who is.

“If there’s one message that comes through today I hope it is saying to younger Americans in these states, and in these counties in particular, that they are a big part of the numbers that we are seeing in new cases,” Vice President Mike Pence said at a press briefing.

Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus response coordinator, added that the coronavirus poses a greater risk to those with underlying health conditions, such as diabetes and significant obesity, which span every age group.

While the rise in daily case numbers could reflect increased testing in certain locations, some states are reporting higher positivity rates. The positivity rate indicates the percentage of tests that come back positive in a specific region. Epidemiologists say this number can indicate how broadly the virus is spreading throughout a community.

California’s positivity rate has increased to more than 5% over the last two weeks as the state reports record increases in daily new cases. Texas’ positivity rate exceeded 10% on Wednesday, which is a level that raises a “warning flag,” according to Gov. Greg Abbott. Arizona’s rate is now averaging above 11%, according to the state’s department of health.

On Saturday, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee announced that the state would halt some of its counties from moving into “Phase 4” of the state’s reopening plan as the coronavirus shows signs of accelerating.

The state is taking a phrased approach to reopening, allowing some counties to reopen before others. “Phase 4” of the state’s reopening plan would resume recreational activities and would allow for gatherings of more than 50 people, according to the state’s plan.

A county in phase 4 would also be allowed to reopen its nightclubs, concert venues and large sporting events, according to the state’s plan. Eight of the state’s 39 counties were prepared to move into phase 4, according to the order.

Texas

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Thursday ordered all licensed hospitals in hard-hit Bexar, Dallas, Harris and Travis counties to postpone elective procedures in order to protect hospital capacity for Covid-19 patients. Those counties include the state’s largest cities — Houston, San Antonio, Dallas and Austin.

As of Friday, Texas reported a 57% increase in hospitalizations, based on a seven-day average, compared with one week ago. It’s average number of daily cases grew by nearly 70%, according to John Hopkins data.

Abbott said he would roll back some of the state’s reopening plan on Friday, closing the state’s bars and reducing the capacity for indoor dining, among other modifications and closures.

“As I said from the start, if the positivity rate rose above 10%, the State of Texas would take further action to mitigate the spread of COVID-19,” Abbott said in a press release.

Arizona

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey said on Thursday that the state’s hospitals are seeing additional stress and are “likely to hit surge capacity very soon.” The state’s health department reported more than 3,500 new cases on Saturday, nearing the record daily peak set on Tuesday.

As of Friday, Arizona reported a 36% increase in hospitalizations, based on a seven-day average, compared with one week ago. It’s average number of daily cases grew by more than 42%, according to John Hopkins data.

“Covid-19 is widespread in Arizona. It’s in all 15 of our counties. It’s growing, and it’s growing fast across all age groups and demographics. Anyone can get this virus, and anyone can spread this virus,” he said at a press conference.

If the state’s reopening were a traffic light, Ducey said that it would be in the “yellow” or “yield” position.

Florida

Florida has banned drinking at bars again in an effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus. The state reported more than 9,600 new Covid-19 cases on Saturday, the second day of record breaking new cases, according to the state’s health department.

Gov. Ron DeSantis said on Thursday that the state doesn’t have plans for continuing its step-by-step reopening plan. He added that the state “never anticipated” continuing to move forward at this point.

“We are where we are. I didn’t say we were going to go on to the next phase,” DeSantis said at a news briefing.

On Thursday, the city of Miami issued a mandate requiring facial coverings be worn in public at all times until further notice. Those who defy the order could be fined $50 and face court appearances for repeated offenses.

“All options have to be on the table. When we see our hospitalizations go up, our ICU beds go up, our ventilators are going up. Still with sufficient capacity, but going up. It’s worrisome,” Miami Mayor Francis Suarez told CNN on Friday when asked whether he would consider instituting another stay-at-home order.

Nevada

Nevada reported a record jump of nearly 1,100 new Covid-19 cases on Saturday, according to the state’s health department.

As of Friday, Nevada reported a near 17% increase in hospitalizations, based on a seven-day average, compared with one week ago. It’s average number of daily cases grew by more than 49%, according to Johns Hopkins data.

On Wednesday, Gov. Steve Sisolak ordered that all people in the state wear a face covering when in pubic after four weeks of climbing case numbers. The amount of patients requiring intensive-care unit beds and ventilators has continued to hold steady, according to the order.

“Clearly for many, the excitement and enthusiasm for escaping our confinement and finally being able to enjoy dinner out with our families, buy new clothes or get a haircut, overshadowed the good judgement we practiced in the previous months,” Sisolak said in a statement.

— CNBC’s Nate Rattner contributed to this report.