Thursday, November 21, 2024

Spring 2020

Huge locust swarms threaten food security in East Africa as coronavirus hampers response efforts

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By Renny Simone

MAIN PHOTO: A swarm of desert locusts, taken in 2014 near Satrokala, Madagascar (lwoelbern from Wikimedia Commons)

Nearly a month before sub-Saharan Africa recorded its first coronavirus infection, Somalia declared a national emergency in response to a different natural threat: swarms of desert locusts.

Somalia’s Ministry of Agriculture called the insects “a major threat to Somalia’s fragile food security situation” in a statement reported by the BBC in early February.

Two months later, as governments worldwide focus attention and resources on fighting the coronavirus pandemic, the locust plague has taken a turn for the worse.

The Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has warned in its latest report that widespread rains that fell in late March could allow a dramatic increase in locust numbers in East Africa, eastern Yemen and southern Iran in the coming months.

The locust swarms, which feed on crops, represent “an unprecedented threat to food security and livelihoods” in affected nations, it said. Somalia, Kenya, and Ethiopia have been the hardest hit, but other East African nations, as well as parts of the Arabian Peninsula and Southwest Asia, are also at risk.

A single desert locust (Ian Lindsay from Pixabay)

The African Development Bank recently approved $1.5 million in emergency funding to help control the infestations. A total of nearly $150 million will be required to stem the spread, and there is a significant shortfall, according to a statement released by the African Development Bank Group.

Coronavirus presents additional challenges. International attention has been monopolised by the pandemic, and funding is in short supply. More pressingly, flight restrictions have prevented the delivery of pesticides to affected countries. Some, including Kenya, are rapidly running out of reserve stocks.

“If we fail in the current [regional] control operations, because of lack of pesticides, then we could see four million more people struggle to feed their families,” said Cyril Ferrand, FAO’s head of resilience for Eastern Africa.

“If we don’t have pesticides, our planes cannot fly and people cannot spray and if we are not able to control these swarms, we will have big damage to crops,” Ferrand told Reuters.

A woman wearing a face mask sits in a near-deserted airport. Coronavirus-related travel restrictions are preventing the delivery of pesticides to affected countries (Anna Shvets from Pexels)

The pesticide deficit is another symptom of coronavirus-related travel restrictions, which pose the greatest threat to countries dependent on the delivery of international aid. Some organisations are in the process of negotiating “humanitarian corridors” to make sure necessary aid can be delivered. But in the meantime, Al Jazeera has reported that more than 20 low- and middle-income countries are facing vaccine shortages due to travel restrictions. 

Aid organisations are sounding the alarm.

“While the threat posed by COVID-19 must not be underestimated, if the chaos caused by this pandemic is allowed to curtail ongoing humanitarian assistance, the results will be catastrophic,” Doctors Without Borders warned.

Tropical Cyclone Harold rips through Pacific islands

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By Lizzie Stricklin

MAIN IMAGE: NASA satellite image of Tropical Cyclone Harold over Solomon Islands on Friday.

A Level 5 Cyclone, dubbed Tropical Cyclone Harold, has ploughed its way through several Pacific archipelagos since Monday, leaving a swathe of destruction across impoverished island nations already girded against the global coronavirus pandemic.

The storm is now headed for the Tonga archipelago.

The cyclone formed on April 1 between the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea. According to Reuters, the cyclone hit Solomon Islands and Vanuatu as a Category 5 hurricane, but was downgraded to a Category 4 hurricane before hitting Fiji.

Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, and Tonga are three of the 17 countries that had reported no coronavirus cases by this week, but had instituted preemptive travel restrictions to combat the global pandemic. With these restrictions in place, it is unclear whether the affected island nations will be able to receive international aid.

The cyclone took its first casualties off of the Solomon Islands early Friday, when 27 people were swept off a ferry into the ocean as the cyclone passed by. As of Monday, police had recovered just five bodies, according to The Independent website. Flooding and downed trees were also reported as the cyclone ravaged the archipelago.

Tropical Cyclone Harold made landfall on Vanuatu on Monday, destroying buildings and flooding streets. The island nation had been under a state of emergency since March 26 in response to the coronavirus, but officials relaxed social distancing regulations in preparation for the cyclone’s landfall, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Vanuatu officials have now revoked the nation’s domestic travel ban to enable relief efforts to reach some of the archipelago’s islands. New Zealand has allocated some resources to help Vanuatu and the foreign minister has announced that more will be available should Vanuatu request it.

According to the Daily Maverick, the cyclone reached Fiji on Wednesday, tearing through the capital city of Suva and destroying at least 10 buildings and flooding streets.

Emergency officials have been scrambling to establish telecommunications connections between the archipelago’s islands, as the storm has cut off islands like Kapavu, according to the Daily Maverick.

The capital city of Suva has been under lockdown since Friday, with the country’s total reported coronavirus cases hitting 15 on Wednesday. Fiji’s Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama urged citizens to stay indoors unless ordered to evacuate, according to Reuters.

The Weather Channel predicts Tropical Cyclone Harold will continue on its trajectory toward Tonga, hitting the archipelago by Thursday.

WHO warns world to be cautious as Wuhan lifts lockdown

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By Skylar Thoma

MAIN IMAGE: Scattered people walk about a park in Wuhan, China. The city in which the coronavirus epidemic began is now relaxing its lockdown measures. SOURCE: Pexels

After more than two months under a strict lockdown, Wuhan, the city where coronavirus was first reported, is finally beginning to relax restrictions on movement. 

On Monday (6 April) China reported no new cases of the coronavirus, and announced on Wednesday that it was easing the tight controls it had put in place in Wuhan. 

But as promising as the news seems, the World Health Organization (WHO) is warning other countries not to be too hasty in relaxing their measures to combat the epidemic.

Reuters reported on Tuesday that WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier said there is a possibility of the virus resurging if restrictions are loosened too quickly.

“It’s similar to being sick yourself,” he explained to reporters during a virtual press briefing. “If you get out of bed too early and get running too early you risk falling back and having complications”.

https://twitter.com/xinyanyu/status/1247684977174732803

The city of Wuhan had been under a strict lockdown since January 23. Residents are now allowed to travel outside their residential compounds, although schools remain closed and some travel restrictions remain in place. 

In several other countries where lockdown measures are in place, rates of increase in infection numbers appear to be tapering.  The Washington Post reports that among these, New Zealand’s numbers are low. Rates of increase in Italy and Spain are also reported to be flattening.

Some countries are hoping to follow China’s lead and begin relaxing lockdown measures. Denmark hopes to phase out its lockdown if the number of cases can stabilise by Easter, according to Reuters. 

But in other countries, authorities are cautious about making promises. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa told reporters on Tuesday that no decision had yet been made about lifting or extending the country’s nationwide lockdown. The administration is waiting on a scientific report on the effectiveness of the lockdown before making a final decision, according to News24. 

US President Donald Trump had raised the possibility of reopening the country in late March, but has since walked back his suggestion as the country is undergoing a surge of new cases and deaths.

Many countries are becoming increasingly worried about the economic fallout from the pandemic. But WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has warned that the economic damage will be far worse if lockdown measures are lifted too quickly, reports CNBC.

“Ultimately the best way for countries to end restrictions and ease their economic effects is to attack the virus”, he said.

Experts interviewed by Nature magazine believe that if China can end its lockdown without a resurgence of the virus, other countries may follow suit. But for now, health experts say, countries need to stay vigilant and watch for a second wave.

Courts rejects shackdwellers petition to stop demolitions

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MAIN PHOTO: Abhalali has lost a bid to have demolitions halted in parts of Durban. This photo of a demolished shack was posted by the group on its Facebook page.

By Ainsley Ash

Shackdweller movement Abahlali baseMjondolo has expressed its disappointment after the Durban High Court rejected an application to stop the eviction of shackdwellers by eThekwini authorities – despite claims by Abahlali that the action was illegal. 

Abahlali approached the court after multiple incidents of shack demolitions in the Ekuphumeleleni and Azania areas of the city. 

Abahlali says the recent evictions in these settlements were conducted without court orders and resulted in the serious injuries of residents. The city’s land invasion unit, however, argued that it had only targeted and demolished shacks that were unoccupied.  

While evictions are suspended for the duration of the Covid-19 lockdown, action against “land invasions” and the demolition of “unoccupied shacks” are not. 

A statement by Abahlali said the group had been prepared to present evidence such as photographs and affidavits that could prove long-term residence but the evidence had been rejected.

The statement revealed that High Court Judge Mohini Moodley had asked the representatives of the eThekwini Municipality and Abahalili to discuss the matter to find a solution on their own. Abahalali had asked that the shak=ckdwellers should be allowed to rebuild on the same piece of land. The city had denied the request, said the organisation.

Instead, the city had offered the use of alternative accommodation in emergency camps at the Durban Exhibition Centre and in Pinetown, created to accommodate the homeless during the Covid-19 crisis. 

Abahali members rejected the offer, fearing that they would not later be able to return to the contested land. They also expressed concern about their ability to practice social distancing and ensure their safety while living in these camps. 

“We cannot accept that people can be subject to state violence or made homeless under any circumstances, but state violence and evictions became particularly urgent during this time of a worldwide health crisis in which impoverished people are most at risk,” said Abahali.

A photo of a demolished shack posted by Abahlali on 29 March. (Abahlili baseMjondolo on Facebook)

Durban Mayor Mxolisi Kaunda told Ground Up, “Covid-19 does not mean that there must be a holiday in respecting the laws of the country… We are a caring municipality and have mobilised resources to provide shelter to more than 4,000 homeless people.”

He said that the city had worked hard to meet the needs of its housing insecure residents.

Funerals during a pandemic

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By Ayinde Summey

MAIN IMAGE: The burial of a coronavirus victim in Saudi Arabia. Source: @MedinahDate

As the global coronavirus pandemic has affected many parts of our lives, death rituals across cultures have not been spared.  

Countries like the United States have banned funeral gatherings to prevent virus transmission, while other countries such as the UK potentially looking to do the same. In South Africa funerals are still allowed but the number of mourners has been restricted and only certain categories of people related to the deceased may attend.  

Across the world there is concern about the numbers of mourners gathering to attend services. Social distancing measures are making the events stressful for families.

The BBC reports that this has prompted former Welsh lawmaker Lorraine Barrett to suggest a ban on funeral services in Wales. There the enforcement of social distancing has required that mourners keep at least 2 meters from one another. She believes that this is difficult to achieve at a funeral. 

Former Welsh Assembly Member Lorraine Barrett

Barrett told the broadcaster that while the limits imposed by various crematoriums and funeral parlours have been put in place to facilitate gatherings, the social distancing measures mean that people are not able to get the comfort they need as they grieve.

Current guidelines allow only immediate family member to be in attendance but Barrett questioned how this could be determined and who would be allowed to attend.

“I’ve dealt with families with 10 siblings, 25 grandchildren, and I’ve heard of families now who are having to decide which members of their family can go and it’s really, really distressing,” Barrett told the BBC.

In Iraq and other countries in the Arab world, burial procedures have been drastically altered.  

In normal circumstances, the bodies of the deceased would be washed and prepared by community members. This goes against World Health Organization guidelines which advise against physical contact.  

It has also been difficult to find places to conduct burials because of anxiety about contamination of corpses and possible virus transmission. The family members of people who have died of other causes are resisting burials of COVID-19 victims in the same site as their loved ones. This has resulted in delays on arranging the burials. 

“It look eight days to get the body of my father from the morgue” Abdul-Hadi Majid, an Iraqi soldier who were among a group that were forced to wait. 

President puts South Africa’s minister of communications on leave

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South African president Cyril Ramaphosa has moved swiftly to discipline his Minister of Communications, Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams, for violating the country’s coronavirus regulations.

On Sunday, Ndabeni-Abrahams was pictured in a post on the former deputy minister of higher education Mduduzi Manana’s Instagram page, enjoying a lunch with her husband at his home, directly contravening the government’s efforts to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

First shared by @MDUMANANA on instagram

Manana is a controversial figure who was previously in the public eye when he was caught on video assaulting a woman in a Johannesburg nightclub. Recently he has been preparing to start a YouTube ‘connoisseur real estate show’. A publicity video for the show which is to due air from July shows him in his home has been shared on social media.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1yLY91HDFE&feature=youtu.be

This prompted many South Africans to call for action to be taken against her. On Wednesday President Ramaphosa revealed that after meeting with Ndabeni-Abrahams, he had asked her to take a two month leave of absence, one month of which is to be unpaid. 

Ndabeni-Abrahams was also directed by Ramaphosa to address the nation and issue a formal apology. 

In a short video she released in the course of the day, the minister asked South Africans to forgive her and apologised to the President and to the nation at large, and urged them to obey the regulations.

However, some South Africans are saying the punishment is no more than a slap on the wrist and is not enough. Many have taken to social media to call for her arrest, arguing that she breached lockdown regulations and must face the same punishment as ordinary citizens have faced for doing so.

In response to calls for Ndabeni-Abrahams to face the law, Ramaphosa’s spokesperson, Khusela Diko, said, “As to allegations that the minister violated the lockdown regulations, the law should take its course”. 

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) has filed a criminal complaint against Ndabeni-Abrahams, and has called for her to be removed from the cabinet. 

New US Covid statistics suggest communities of color hit hardest by virus

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By Renny Simone

MAIN PHOTO: A map of the United States, with red circles indicating Covid hotspots (Martin Sanchez on Unsplash)

New data suggest that the coronavirus, which has been described by some as ‘the great equaliser’ due to its virtually universal impact, is not as egalitarian as it first appeared. Factors like race and class are increasingly being recognized as having a significant impact on how – and how badly – people are affected by the virus. 

Statistics from the US are beginning to show Covid-19’s disproportionate impact on Americans of color. In Chicago, where 30% of the population is black, African Americans account for more than half of reported cases and nearly 70% of deaths, according to data reported by The Hill. Statistics published by the Louisiana Department of Health tell a similar story: black Louisianans make up less than a third of the state’s population, but account for more than 70% of Covid-related deaths.

Steven Thomas, director of the Center for Health Equity at the University of Maryland, has warned against ignoring race in coronavirus interventions.

“With a colorblind policy — ‘Hey, we’re all in this together’ — we’ll be left with an explosion of Covid-19 concentrated in racial and ethnic minority communities”, Thomas told Politico.

Demographic data from the national epicenter of the outbreak appear to supports Thomas’ view. Two of New York City’s hardest-hid neighborhoods, Corona and Elmhurst, Queens, have large communities of color, according to the 2010 census.

However, neither New York City nor New York State have released race-based data on coronavirus infections – a fact that has drawn criticism from some activists and officials.

In a letter addressed to Mayor Bill de Blasio, NYC Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams called on the city to “make all data on testing, including disaggregated by race, available to the public.”

Without race-based data, he wrote, it will be impossible to design policy that helps those at greatest risk of contracting the virus. “Tracking and publishing this data is critical to facilitating the allocation and distribution of resources to the areas most in need.”

But the issue is bigger than the immediate crisis, experts of health equity have pointed out. “A pandemic just magnifies the disparities in health care that many communities of color face,” Dr. Summer Johnson McGee, dean of the School of Health Sciences at the University of New Haven, told Reuters. 

Ibram Kendi, Director of the Antiracist Research and Policy Center at American University, pointed to other complicating factors – including mass incarceration, homelessness, and undocumented status – that put people of color at higher risk. The “racial pandemic within the viral pandemic”, Kendi explained in The Atlantic, reflected and reproduced race-based inequalities in America.

“Sometimes racial data tell us something we don’t know. Other times we need racial data to confirm something we already seem to know,” he said.

As experts call on the government to make race a focus of response efforts, the debate has made its way to social media. Madonna was roundly criticized for calling coronavirus ‘the great equaliser’ in a video she filmed from her rose-petaled bathtub. 

One Twitter user blamed “environmental racism” for the disproportionate death rates of black Chicagoans. 

Another called “systemic racism … a matter of life and death.”

https://twitter.com/HawaiiDelilah/status/1247609355119124481

New York Times journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones, who covers racial injustice, agreed. “When Covid-19 first hit America hard last month, the narrative was that it was the great equalizer,” she said, in the first tweet of a longer thread. “But those of us who understand racial caste in America knew this could never be true.”

https://twitter.com/nhannahjones/status/1247176506452905986

Lockdown affects weddings in KZN and Western Cape

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By Ayinde Summey

MAIN IMAGE: Police escort a bride to a waiting police van after they arrested her for breaking the coronavirus regulations at her wedding in Richards Bay at the weekend. The image has been widely shared on social media. Source: Twitter.

What was supposed to be a joyous wedding celebrated under the year-round South African sun turned into a catastrophe with the arrest of the entire wedding party of 53 people in Richards Bay at the weekend. 

The couple were arrested after they were reported anonymously to the police for breaking the mandatory government regulations governing social distancing during the nationwide shutdown due to COVID-19.  

This is the second time a wedding party has been broken up by police in the KwaZulu Natal province since the start of the lockdown. The couple was in the middle of declaring their vows when several heavily armed police officers arrived.  

The police are under instruction to arrest those violating the government’s orders to stay at home.  

At the previous incident, at a considerably larger event, the police arrived after the vows ceremony and just as the party was about to eat. In this instance, the police asked the crowd to disperse and arrested only the bride and groom, who were fined R1000. 

Other prospective brides and grooms have been making sure they don’t similarly face the long arm of the law.  

In Cape Town, one couple went through with their big day anyway – but with a difference. They exchanged vows with cardboard cutout figures to serve as “guests” while their dog acted as the ring-bearer.  

Dan Mace surprised his fiancee Gabi Esterhuizen with a home vows ceremony on the day they should have been married – attended by a number of cardboard ‘guests’. Source: Dan Mace YouTube

The groom, Dan Mace, had contracted coronavirus on a trip to the US and had been quarantined before the wedding.

He and fiancee Gabi Esterhuizen had hoped to find a way to have a ceremony despite the government’s orders but realised they would have to postpone. So Mace decided to surprise Esterhuizen with an alternative ceremony in their garden, sharing their big moment on YouTube.  

Mace told the Cape Times he was not against the restrictions.  

“I think that our president as well as the supporting organisations have taken bold but well needed steps to ensure that we beat this virus, but that can only happen if we work together and follow the rules,”  he said.

The couple still plans to have a formal wedding with their original guests in December and they will take the extra time to finetune their long-delayed ceremony for the summer. 

Great Barrier Reef experiences largest bleaching event in five years

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by Ainsley Ash

MAIN PHOTO: Coral bleaching occurs when the coral turns white as a stress response to warm water temperatures. The effect is visible in this photo of coral in Keppel Bay, on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. (Arc Centre for Excellence in Coral Reef Studies)

Australia’s Great Barrier Reef has just experienced its most massive coral bleaching event on record, according to a new study.  

Four mass bleaching events have occured in the area previously – in 1998, 2002, 2016 and in 2017

The scientists from the ARC Centre for Excellence in Coral Reef Studies who conducted the research noted that while the 2016 and 2017 bleaching events were severe, they were concentrated in a relatively small area. The 2020 bleaching event, however, has struck all three regions of the reef – northern, central, and for the first-time, southern sections. 

The study detailed the differing degrees of major bleaching events which have been prompted by unprecedented rises in ocean temperatures. (ARC Centre for Excellence of Coral Reef Studies)

Coral bleaching occurs when the corals turn white as a stress response to warm water temperatures. While the bleaching does not immediately kill the coral, sustained high temperatures could lead to permanent death of the reefs which are living organisms made up of thousands of small creatures called polyps who live symbiotically in a marine community.

Of the five events so far, only two, 1998 and 2016, were associated with El Niño – a climate phenomenon that can increase the chances of extreme weather patterns. Higher average summer temperatures due to climate change could mean that El Niño is no longer necessary to trigger these events, according to scientists. 

As the bleaching events occur closer and closer together, the coral has less time to recover fully. 

This year in February, the reef experienced the highest monthly sea surface temperatures ever recorded by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology. The unprecedented temperatures continued into March, prompting extensive coral bleaching warnings. 

In the weeks following the record breaking temperatures, Terry Hughes,  Director of the ARC Centre for Excellence in Coral Reef Studies, and a team from the Great Barrier Marine Park Authority conducted an aerial survey of the over 1,000 reefs. What Hughes saw, he said, is an ‘utter tragedy’.

In an article published by The Conversation, Hughes writes, “The Great Barrier Reef will continue to lose corals from heat stress, until global emissions of greenhouse gasses are reduced to net zero, and sea temperatures stabilise.”

Scientists have warned that the loss of the Great Barrier Reef would have severe consequences for the marine life that depends on it, creating even greater threats to the Earth’s dwindling biodiversity. The reef is home to more than 1,500 species of  fish and 400 types of hard coral. 

Without urgent action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, coral reefs would not survive, said Hughes. 

Government officials face questioning after breaking social distancing guidelines

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By Laura Peterjohn

MAIN PHOTO: South African Minister of Communications Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams is in trouble after this photo was posted on Instagram by her former colleague Mduduzi Manana, showing her apparently enjoying a social call at his home in the midst of the coronavirus lockdown. SOURCE @MDUMANANA on Instagram

As police crack down on South Africans, in some cases using violence to enforce the strict lockdown guidelines imposed by the government, at least one top government official has shown little regard for the measures in place.

South African Minister of Communications, Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams, is to be summoned to meet with President Cyril Ramaphosa after being exposed for breaking the government issued lockdown. 

South African Minister of Communications, Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams

Ndabeni-Abrahams was pictured in an Instagram post uploaded by disgraced former deputy minister Mduduzi Manana, which showed the pair enjoying a luncheon with several other people. In the post Manana thanks Ndabeni-Abrahams for the work she has been doing to keep the country functioning during the nationwide lockdown. 

Manana has since attempted to explain away the gathering, issuing a public statement to say that Ndabeni-Abrahams had been visiting his home on official business and was therefore not braking any of the lockdown rules. He aopologized for creating the impression it was a “social lunch”.

However his statement has been meet with heavy criticism and there have been several calls for Ramaphosa to take action against his minister for this direct breach of government orders. 

Ramaphosa issued a statement saying that he had seen the picture and had called for a meeting with Ndabeni-Abrahams to further discuss the optics of the situation.

“We are trying to install a clear message to all our people that social distance is important. Let us stay at home. Let us not be going around with visitations. And if you have to, it must be work-related,” he said.

Ndabeni-Abrahams is not the only government official who has been caught breaking guidelines imposed to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Scotland’s chief medical officer, Catherine Calderwood, has been forced to step down after she visited her second home – twice – contradicting the guidance she herself had issued to the public, advising them to stay at home, reported The Guardian.

Chief medical officer of Scotland, Catherine Calderwood

In New Zealand, Health Minister David Clark is in trouble after he took his family on two outings – once to the beach, and once to a mountain trail ride – breaching his country’s social distancing guidelines.

David Clark, New Zealand’s Minister of Health

The BBC reported that Clark offered his resignation, but Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern declined due to the ongoing crisis. She has, however, demoted him and withdrawn his seniority in her cabinet.

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