Friday, July 24, 2020

: COVID-19 must not be used to stifle freedoms, says UN rights office



ILO/KB Mpofu
Martha Maocha runs a detergent manufacturing company but has recently started making hand sanitising gel which protects against COVID-19.
    

24 July 2020
The coronavirus pandemic should not be used as an excuse to clamp down on fundamental freedoms, the UN human rights office (OHCHR) reminded authorities in Zimbabwe on Friday.
OHCHR spokesperson Liz Throssell, speaking to journalists in Geneva, expressed concern over allegations suggesting that Zimbabwean authorities may be using the COVID-19 crisis as a pretext to stifle freedom of expression and peaceful assembly on the streets.

Targeting health workers

Amid a deteriorating economy, she said it was clear that COVID-19 has added greatly to the challenges Zimbabwe faces, and placed a further burden on an already struggling health sector.
She said the human rights office was concerned over reports of “police using force to disperse and arrest nurses and health workers”, for breaching lockdown restrictions while simply “trying to protest for better salaries and conditions of work”.
According to OHCHR, on Tuesday, Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa, highlighted an increase of 600 COVID-19 cases in a week – to a total of 1,713 – and announced a series of measures that he said were necessary to curb the spread of the disease.
These include a dusk to dawn curfew and the curtailment and suspension of freedoms that, as he put it, Zimbabweans “have always enjoyed”.
“While recognizing the Government’s efforts to contain the pandemic”, the OHCHR spokesperson said “it is important to remind the authorities that any lockdown measures and restrictions should be necessary, proportionate and time-limited, and enforced humanely without resorting to unnecessary or excessive force”. 

Pattern in intimidation

A pattern of intimidation became clear surrounding events in May when three female members of the main opposition party, were arbitrarily arrested and detained for taking part in a protest.  
Joana Mamombe, Cecilia Chimbiri and Netsai Marova, alleged that after State security officials abducted them from a police station, they were tortured and sexually assaulted.  
“The women were then formally arrested in June, charged with participating in the protests and faking their abduction”, said Ms. Throssell, adding that they had been recently released on bail.

Exercising ‘recognized human rights’

Peaceful protest are an exercise of recognized human rights -- OHCHR spokesperson
Among the latest incidents, investigative journalist Hopewell Chin’ono was arrested on 20 July, and charged with inciting public violence.
This came after he tweeted support for nationwide protests against Government corruption and worsening economic conditions, said OHCHR.
Jacob Ngarivhume, an opposition leader who has been calling for the protests on 31 July, was also detained and similarly charged. 
“Merely calling for a peaceful protest or participating in a peaceful protest are an exercise of recognized human rights”, stressed Ms. Throssell.

Finding answers

The UN rights official maintained that OHCHR encourages the Government to “engage with civil society and other stakeholders to find sustainable solutions to grievances while ensuring that people’s rights and freedoms are protected in accordance with Zimbabwe’s human rights obligations”.  
In conclusion, she said the State had an obligation to “guarantee economic, social and cultural rights” of Zimbabweans. 
Source,:UN News

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posted by Sunny @ July 24, 2020   0 Comments

Monday, March 23, 2020

COVID-19: UN chief calls for global ceasefire to focus on ‘the true fight of our lives’



COVID-19: UN chief calls for global ceasefire to focus on ‘the true fight of our lives’

UN News/Daniel Dickinson
The UN Secretary-General António Guterres appeals for a global ceasefire in a virtual press conference broadcast on UN Web TV.
    

23 March 2020
Peace and Security
In an appeal issued on Monday, UN Secretary-General António Guterres urged warring parties across the world to lay down their weapons in support of the bigger battle against  COVID-19: the common enemy that is now threatening all of humankind. 
“The fury of the virus illustrates the folly of war”, he said.  “That is why today, I am calling for an immediate global ceasefire in all corners of the world.  It is time to put armed conflict on lockdown and focus together on the true fight of our lives.” 



UN Spokesperson
✔@UN_Spokesperson
 · 

Replying to @UN_Spokesperson
The fury of the virus illustrates the folly of war. That is why today, I am calling for an immediate global ceasefire in all corners of the world - @antonioguterres


UN Spokesperson
✔@UN_Spokesperson
To warring parties: Pull back from hostilities. Silence the guns; stop the artillery; end the airstrikes.
This is crucial to help create corridors for life-saving aid, open windows for diplomacy & bring hope to places among the most vulnerable to - @antonioguterres

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The ceasefire would allow humanitarians to reach populations that are most vulnerable to the spread of COVID-19, which first emerged in Wuhan, China, last December, and has now been reported in more than 180 countries. 
So far, there are nearly 300,000 cases worldwide, and more than 12,700 deaths, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). 
As the UN chief pointed out, COVID-19 does not care about nationality or ethnicity, or other differences between people, and “attacks all, relentlessly”, including during wartime. 
It is the most vulnerable - women and children, people with disabilities, the marginalized, displaced and refugees - who pay the highest price during conflict and who are most at risk of suffering “devastating losses” from the disease. 
Furthermore, health systems in war-ravaged countries have often reached the point of total collapse, while the few health workers who remain are also seen as targets.  
The UN chief called on warring parties to pull back from hostilities, put aside mistrust and animosity, and “silence the guns; stop the artillery; end the airstrikes”.  

Coronavirus Portal & News Updates

This is crucial, he said, “to help create corridors for life-saving aid. To open precious windows for diplomacy.  To bring hope to places among the most vulnerable to COVID-19.”   
While inspired by new rapprochement and dialogue between combatants to enable joint approaches to push back the disease, the Secretary-General said more still needs to be done. 
“End the sickness of war and fight the disease that is ravaging our world”, he appealed.  “It starts by stopping the fighting everywhere. Now. That is what our human family needs, now more than ever.” 
The Secretary-General’s appeal was broadcast live over the Internet from a virtual press conference held at UN Headquarters in New York, where most staff are now working from home to help curb further spread of COVID-19.
He answered questions from reporters which were read by Melissa Fleming, head of the UN Department of Global Communications, the parent office of UN News.
The UN chief said his Special Envoys will work with warring parties to make sure the cease-fire appeal leads to action.
Asked how he was feeling, Mr. Guterres responded that he is “strongly determined”, underlining that the UN must be active at this moment.
“The UN must fully assume its responsibilities first doing what we have to do    our peacekeeping operations, our humanitarian agencies, our support to the different bodies of the international community, the Security Council, the General Assembly but, at the same time, it’s a moment in which the UN must be able to address the peoples of the world and appeal for a massive mobilisation and for a massive pressure on governments to make sure that we are able to respond to this crisis, not to mitigate it but to suppress it, to suppress the disease and to address the dramatic economic and social impacts of the disease”, he said.
“And we can only do it if we do it together, if we do in a coordinated way, if we do it with intense solidarity and cooperation, and that is the raison d’etre of the United Nations itself”.
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posted by Sunny @ March 23, 2020   0 Comments

Coronavirus: how long does it take to get sick? How infectious is it? Will you always have a fever? COVID-19 basics explained



Coronavirus: how long does it take to get sick? How infectious is it? Will you always have a fever? COVID-19 basics explained



 Sanjaya Senanayake, Australian National University

You’re probably inundated with news and messages about coronavirus at the moment. But how do you know if you’re consuming evidence-based information or just speculation and myth?
There’s still a lot we don’t know but here’s what the evidence tells us so far about the coronavirus, called SARS-CoV-2, and the disease it causes, COVID-19.

How does it spread?

COVID-19 is transmitted through droplets generated via coughing and sneezing.
This means it can spread during close contact between an infected and uninfected person, when it’s inhaled, or enters the body via the eyes, mouth or nose.
Infection can also occur when an uninfected person touches a contaminated s

What are the symptoms?

COVID-19 causes similar symptoms to the flu. Fever is the most common symptom, occurring in almost 88% of cases, while a dry cough is the next most common, affecting almost 68% of those with the virus.
Data from 55,000 cases in China also show other symptoms can include:
  • fatigue, in 38% of cases
  • producing sputum or phlegm, 33%
  • shortness of breath, 19%
  • sore throat, 14%
  • headache, 14%.
Unlike other coronaviruses that cause the common cold, COVID-19 is hardly ever associated with a stuffy nose. This is seen in just 5% of cases.
Diarrhoea is also uncommon, affecting only 4% with the virus.

The Conversation, CC BY-ND

Can I be infected if I don’t have a fever?

Yes, you can still have coronavirus if you don’t have a fever. This occurs in about 12% of cases.

How long does it take to get sick?

The incubation is the period from when you’re infected to when you become sick. For COVID-19, the range is 1-14 days, with an average incubation period of 5-6 days.

How sick do people usually get?

Most people who get sick (80%) have a mild illness which rarely involves needing to go to hospital. They recover after about two weeks.
But just over 20% of people sick with COVID-19 will need to be hospitalised for severe difficulties with breathing.
Of the 20% who need to be hospitalised, 6% become critically ill with either respiratory failure (where you can’t get enough oxygen from your lungs into your blood), septic shock, and/or multiple organ failure. These people are likely to require admission to an intensive care unit.
It appears to take about one week to become severely ill after getting symptoms.

How often do people die of it?

The case fatality rate refers to the number of deaths among those who have tested positive for coronavirus. Globally, the case fatality rate today stands at 4%.
But this rate varies country to country and even within countries. These variations may partially be explained by whether hospitals has been overwhelmed or not.
The case fatality rate in Wuhan was 5.8% (although one model says it may be lower at 1.4%). In the rest of China, it was at 0.7%.
Similarly in Europe, Italy’s case fatality rate is (8.3%), greatly surpassing that of Germany (0.2%).
However the case fatality rate only includes people who are tested and confirmed as having the virus.
Some modelling estimates suggest that if you calculated the number of deaths from the total number of cases (those confirmed with tests and those that went undetected) the proportion of people who die from coronavirus might be more like 1%.

Who is most at risk of dying?

People aged over 60 years with underlying health problems are at highest risk of severe disease and death.
For people aged 60-69, 3.6% of those who are infected will die from COVID-19. This rises to 8% for for 70-79 year olds and 14.8% for those over 80.
Among people under 50 years, just 0.2-0.4% will die from the disease and this rises to 1.3% for 50-59 year olds.

How infectious is it, and how does that compare with the flu?

COVID-19 and influenza are probably fairly similarly infections.
A single ill person with COVID-19 can infect more people than a single ill person with influenza. COVID-19 has a higher “reproduction number” of 2.0-2.5. This means one person will infect, on average, 2 to 2.5 people.
Seasonal influenza has a reproduction number of about 1.28, meaning one person will infect, on average, between one and two people.
But this is balanced by influenza’s ability to infect more quickly. It takes, on average, 3 days to become sick with the flu, but you can still transmit it before symptoms emerge.
It takes 5-6 days to become sick with COVID-19. We still don’t know if you can be infectious before getting coronavirus symptoms, but it doesn’t seem to be a major driver of transmission.
So influenza can spread faster than COVID-19.
The case fatality rate of COVID-19 is higher than that of seasonal influenza (4% versus 0.1%), although as noted above, the true fatality of COVID-19 is still not clear.

Can you be reinfected?

It’s too early to know if someone infected with COVID-19 can get it again.
On the basis of what we understand about other coronaviruses, it is likely that infection will give you long-term immunity. But it’s unclear whether that will mean one year, two years or lifelong immunity.

Still have more questions? We might have you covered in this video.

Courtesy: https://theconversation.com

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posted by Sunny @ March 23, 2020   0 Comments