Global Developments and Analysis: Weekly Monitor, 12 July - 18 July 2021
Prerna Gandhi, Associate Fellow, VIF
Economic
Xi's capital market crackdown has a 2022 timeline

President Xi Jinping has tightened his grip over every aspect of society, and the only field outside his control is populated by the private tech giants who hold huge amounts of corporate data and personal information. The party is concerned that if these private companies are let loose, the matter could boomerang and deal a blow to the country's capital markets, where these tech companies wield strong influence. In a nutshell, Xi wants to dye China's capital markets in his color. There are several elements of the document that deserve attention. First, it was released jointly by the general offices of the party and the State Council, China's government. The involvement of the party's General Office is particularly significant as the organization is a political nerve center that works out of Beijing's Zhongnanhai area -- where Chinese leaders have their offices. The office, equivalent to the office of the White House Chief of Staff, is under Xi's direct control. The current head of the party's General Office is Ding Xuexiang, a Politburo member who always accompanies Xi on inspection tours.
Click here to read...

EU Green Deal seeks to force shift to electric vehicles in 2035

Automakers from East Asia to Southeast Asia to North America are watching as the European Union seeks a de facto ban on sales of all new vehicles with internal combustion engines, including hybrids, by 2035, under a sweeping plan to slash greenhouse gas emissions. The European Commission's European Green Deal also calls for a carbon border adjustment mechanism -- a tariff on products such as steel and cement from countries with looser environmental regulations -- that would affect Asian and other suppliers that export to the EU. The ambitious policy package, called "Fit for 55," seeks to cut emissions 55% from 1990 levels by 2030, on the way to the eventual goal of net-zero emissions by 2050. If approved, it would affect not only broad swaths of the bloc's economy, but also many companies that sell in the European market. Without a specific cutoff date, "there will be a lack of certainty and we won't achieve our goal of climate neutrality by 2050," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said July 13 in an interview with European media.
Click here to read...

US and allies accuse China of global hacking spree

The United States and its allies accused China on July 19 of a global cyberespionage campaign, mustering an unusually broad coalition of countries to publicly call out Beijing for hacking. The United States was joined by NATO, the European Union, Britain, Australia, Japan, New Zealand and Canada in condemning the spying, which US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said posed "a major threat to our economic and national security." Simultaneously, the US Department of Justice charged four Chinese nationals - three security officials and one contract hacker - with targeting dozens of companies, universities and government agencies in the United States and abroad. The Chinese Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Chinese officials have previously said China is also a victim of hacking and opposes all forms of cyberattacks.
Click here to read...

China slams Yellen’s call for U.S.-European ‘unified front’

China on July 13 denounced an appeal by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen for a U.S.-European “unified front” against Chinese “unfair economic practices” and human rights abuses. “China strongly deplores and rejects Treasury Secretary Yellen’s remarks,” said a Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Zhao Lijian. Yellen issued the appeal July 13 during a meeting with European Union officials in Brussels. President Joe Biden is trying to revive traditional alliances following the “America First” policies of his predecessor, Donald Trump. “Together, we need to counter threats to the principles of openness, fair competition, transparency and accountability,” Yellen said, according to a text released by her department. “These challenges include China’s unfair economic practices, malign behaviour and human rights abuses,” Yellen said. “The more we confront these threats with a unified front, the more successful we will be.” Zhao rejected the criticism, saying Beijing “always firmly supported” the multilateral trading system under the World Trade Organization. The ruling Communist Party denies accusations that it steals or pressures U.S., European and other foreign companies to hand over technology and shields its fledgling technology and other industries from competition in violation of its WTO commitments.
Click here to read...

TSMC chairman says nobody wants war over Taiwan as chip supplies too valuable

Nobody wants to see a war over Taiwan because nobody wants to disrupt the crucial global supply chain of semiconductors, the chairman of major chipmaker TSMC said on July 15, in unusually direct comments about geopolitics. Tensions over the past year or so have risen around Taiwan as China seeks to assert its sovereignty claims, with repeated military drills near the island that have caused concern in Washington and other Western capitals. Mark Liu, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd's chairman, told an earnings call that the COVID-19 pandemic has already been disruptive enough for the global economy and no country wants to see instability around Taiwan. "As to an invasion by China, let me tell you everybody wants to have a peaceful Taiwan Strait. Because it is to every country's benefit, but also because of the semiconductor supply chain in Taiwan - no one wants to disrupt it."
Click here to read...

Oil producers reach deal on output, ending UAE-Saudi standoff

The United Arab Emirates energy minister has said the world’s leading oil producers have reached a “full agreement” to modestly boost output from August, ending a standoff that laid bare a growing economic rivalry between the oil-rich nation and its wealthy neighbour Saudi Arabia. The announcement on July 18 signalled a breakthrough in an impasse over how OPEC+, a 23-member grouping of the world’s leading oil producers and allies, would proceed after limiting output last year as oil prices plummeted amid the coronavirus pandemic. As the pandemic battered global consumption, transport and supply chains, OPEC+ last year decided to withdraw 9.7 million barrels per day (bpd) from the market and to gradually restore supplies by the end of April 2022. On July 18, members agreed to raise output by 400,000 (bpd) each month from August to help spur a global economic recovery as the pandemic eases, the Vienna-based group said in a press statement. The grouping will “assess market developments” in December, it said. The deal also extends a deadline on capping output from April 2022 to the end of 2022, a provision sought by Saudi Arabia.
Click here to read...

Vietnam to gain as EU-China investment pact stalls

In geopolitics as in business, one person's loss is another's gain. As such, Vietnam could be set to benefit from an increase of investment from EU states after European leaders intimated in early June that their investment pact with China is now off the table. Recent data suggest that this remains more of an aspiration than reality right now, with investment from EU states only marginally increasing from 2020 to 2021. Controversially agreed upon by the European Commission last December, the EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI) was uncertain to pass the European Parliament before a major deterioration of relations, especially after Beijing slapped sanctions on several EU politicians and think tanks in May in retaliation for EU sanctions on Chinese officials. Vietnam was also chief beneficiary after the US-China trade war began in 2018, with mainly American and Japanese firms moving their manufacturing operations to Vietnam and away from China.
Click here to read...

Coal reserves to release supply for China summer peak electricity demand

China will distribute more than 10 million tons of coal from its reserves to guarantee supply across the peak summer season, as the country has reserve facilities with a storage capacity of 100 million tons, that can be arranged by the government, the Xinhua News Agency reported on July 15. China has already distributed more than 5 million tons to the market on four occasions this year to meet demand, according to Xinhua, which cited sources from the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC). The coal is stored at major reserve bases and ports across the country. Electricity consumption in June rose 9.8 percent to 703 billion kilowatt hours (kwh) from a year earlier, with total consumption in the first half hitting 3.93 trillion kwh, up 16.2 percent year-on-year, according to data released by the National Energy Administration on July 14. China has consolidated coal reserves with a capacity of 100 million tons, which can be arranged by the government, with reserve bases currently storing about 40 million tons of coal, according to media reports.
Click here to read...

China launches 3-year draft plan for cybersecurity sector after regulatory actions

Chinese authorities released a three-year draft plan for the cybersecurity sector on July 12, aiming to create a nearly $39 billion market for an increasingly crucial part of China's broad efforts to strengthen data protection and ensure the sound growth of the sprawling platform economy. According to the three-year (2021-23) draft plan released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), the scale of the cybersecurity industry is expected to exceed 250 billion yuan ($38.62 billion) by 2023, with a compound annual growth rate of over 15 percent. China intends to make breakthroughs in several core technologies for cybersecurity and reach an advanced level by 2023, according to the plan. The integration and innovation of emerging technologies and cybersecurity will accelerate significantly. The research and application of data security technology should be strengthened to further optimize data security management, classification of safety protection and other production functions, per the plan.
Click here to read...

Strategic
U.S. Weighs New Sanctions on Iran’s Oil Sales to China if Nuclear Talks Fail

The U.S. is considering tighter sanctions on Iranian oil sales to China as a way to encourage Tehran to conclude a nuclear deal and raise the costs of abandoning stalled negotiations. U.S. negotiators have been working with European and other international partners in Vienna since April to revive the 2015 deal that limits Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for an easing of broad sanctions. As those talks falter, the U.S. is running through options intended to induce Iran to keep negotiating or punish it if it doesn’t, according to U.S. officials and people familiar with the matter. One plan being drafted would choke off Iran’s swelling crude-oil sales to China, the country’s main client, through fresh sanctions targeting the shipping networks that help export an estimated one million barrels a day and bring critical revenue to Iran, the officials said. The new steps would take place if nuclear talks fail, the officials said. The plan would involve the aggressive enforcement of current sanctions already banning dealings with Iran’s oil and shipping industry through new designations or legal actions, the officials said.
Click here to read...

US Troop Withdrawal From Afghanistan Too Hasty, Soldiers Leave Equipment Behind, Lavrov Says

The withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan is being rushed, with machinery and equipment being behind, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on 12 July. "The Americans made a lot of things clear over the 20 years of their presence in Afghanistan, starting with the declaration of the victory of democracy and ending with such a rather hasty withdrawal, abandoning a huge amount of equipment and other equipment," Lavrov said during a press conference. Commenting on US media reports that American officials were in talks with authorities in neighbouring countries to secure bases close to Afghanistan for future operations, the Russian top diplomat says that the presence of foreign armies in member states of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) requires the organisation's approval and building new bases would not serve security interests in Central Asia. On 8 July, Defense Department spokesperson has confirmed to Sputnik that the country is pursuing basing options with Afghanistan's neighbours.
Click here to read...

ETIM is a big threat as it keeps sending members to China to plot terrorist attacks: Ministry of Public Security

China has smashed more than 1,900 violent and terrorist gangs and arrested over 14,000 suspects since 2014, making the country free from terrorist attacks for four consecutive years, the Chinese Ministry of Public Security announced. However, China should remain on high alert as frequent terrorist attacks around the world have a strong positive effect on terrorist extremists. Many countries, including China, are still facing the real threat of terrorism especially from the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) terrorist organization, the ministry said. During a recent press conference, officials from the ministry's counterterrorism bureau announced that, since China has launched the special campaign against violence and terror in 2014, it has made significant achievements greatly safeguarding social stability. Deputy director of the bureau, Wu Xin, said China has dismantled over 1,900 terrorist organizations and confiscated more than 2,000 explosive devices.
Click here to read...

China’s US visit snub is because Biden is increasingly behaving like Trump

According to a report in the Financial Times, China has refused to host a scheduled visit from US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy R. Sherman. As part of a wider Asian trip, the veteran diplomat aimed to fly into Beijing for talks which were expected to pave the way for a potential summit between Joe Biden and Xi Jinping. However, for a reason that remains undisclosed, a meeting between Sherman and her counterpart, Le Yucheng, was rejected. Analysts in the report expressed concern that this would be a dangerous move, while others tied it to the way the US treated China in the fiery Alaska summit earlier this year. To date, Beijing has not been overly confrontational with the Biden administration – bar these one-off events – and still has many legitimate reasons to stop ties with the US from getting even worse. But on the other hand, the closing down of this potential meeting is an important indicator of the mood in Beijing – it already seems to have had enough of a Biden presidency that is pursuing a foreign policy which is increasingly the same as Trump’s.
Click here to read...

Erdogan and Xi discuss Uyghurs in phone call

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan told his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on July 13 it was important to Turkey that Uyghur Muslims live in peace as "equal citizens of China" but said Turkey respects China's national sovereignty. Erdogan made the comments during a phone call with Xi in which the two leaders discussed bilateral and regional issues, according to a statement from the Turkish presidency. U.N. experts and rights groups estimate over a million people, mainly from the Turkic language-speaking Uyghur and other Muslim minorities, have been detained in recent years in a vast system of camps in China's western Xinjiang region. Erdogan told Xi that there was high potential for commercial and diplomatic ties between Turkey and China and the two leaders discussed areas including energy, trade, transportation and health, according to the statement. Some of the 40,000 Uyghurs living in Turkey have criticised Ankara's approach to China after the two nations agreed an extradition treaty last year. Turkey's foreign minister said in March the deal was similar to those Turkey has with other states and denied it would lead to Uyghurs being sent back to China.
Click here to read...

Japan sees Taiwan tensions as regional security risk

Japan's concerns about Taiwan, Beijing’s growing rivalry with the United States and China’s increasingly assertive military actions in the region were added to an annual Defense Ministry paper that was adopted July 13 by Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga’s Cabinet. “Stabilizing the Taiwan situation is important for Japan’s national security and stability of the international community,” the paper said. “We need to pay close attention with a sense of crisis more than ever before.” “As China rapidly enhances its military power, changes in the military power balance between the United states and China may possibly affect the peace and stability of the Indo-Pacific region,” the report said. “It is necessary to pay greater attention to the military trends of the two countries in areas such as the South China Sea and Taiwan.” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian called the report “extremely erroneous and irresponsible."
Click here to read...

11 nations participate in massive US-Australian military drills

Quad members the U.S., Australia and Japan, along with eight other countries, have begun joint exercises in Australia and its nearby waters through July as military tensions simmer in the Taiwan Strait and near the Senkaku Islands. The U.S. and Australia kicked off their biennial Exercise Talisman Sabre on July 14. Defense forces from Japan, the U.K., Canada, South Korea and New Zealand will also take part in the drills, while India, Indonesia, Germany and France will participate as observers. "The exercise will further strengthen our cooperation toward a free and open Indo-Pacific," Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato told reporters July 15. The drills come amid growing international interest in the Indo-Pacific region, especially regarding increased military activity near the Taiwan Strait. China has flown into Taiwan's air defense identification zone on multiple occasions recently, with Washington sailing ships through the strait in response. Meanwhile, a Chinese surveillance ship began sailing toward Australian waters ahead of the exercise, the Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported.
Click here to read...

China brings its navy drills closer to home to focus on core issue: Taiwan

The Chinese navy has made a distinct change in course in the last few years, doing fewer drills in distant waters to focus on one core issue: Taiwan. In 2012, Beijing performed five drills in the western Pacific, including debut exercises in the area by the South Sea Fleet and North Sea Fleet. Between 2013 and 2017, the Chinese navy continued training in the South China Sea but also travelled to more distant locations. In 2013, a fleet was spotted sailing for the first time through the Soya Strait. And in May 2016, China sent a fleet which separated into three groups - sailing to areas of the South China Sea, the east Indian Ocean and the western Pacific - to conduct a range of drills. While some drills were never reported, the data set shows that Taiwan was not a priority until 2017, when attention turned to exercises designed to test the force's ability to take islands. The number of military exercises has noticeably increased, especially since 2020 when China conducted 13 naval exercises throughout the year, involving the Shandong aircraft carrier, frigates, destroyers, amphibious vessels and warplanes.
Click here to read...

Germany’s Opposition Politicians Blame Government for Ignoring Flood Warnings

Some opposition politicians on July 19 accused Angela Merkel’s government of failing to heed meteorologists’ warnings ahead of last week’s deadly flood, sparking the first debate about the political responsibility for the high human toll. More than 160 people died and around 1,000 have so far been hospitalized following the disaster that hit the country July 14 and July 15. Officials say those numbers could increase as rescuers keep combing through destroyed homes. International and German meteorologists issued precise flood warnings for the Western part of the country July 12, yet the disaster took many affected communities by surprise, contributing to the high number of casualties as victims were trapped by the floodwaters in their homes during the night. Politicians from the center-right Free Democrats, the Greens and the Left Party said Ms. Merkel’s government had to act on these warnings, with some calling for Interior Minister Horst Seehofer, who oversees disaster management, to resign.
Click here to read...

China to join Pakistan blast probe, backs away from calling it bomb attack

China said on July 15 it will send a team to Pakistan to help investigate a blast on a bus that killed 13 people, including nine Chinese workers, after it backed away from an earlier assertion that the explosion was a bomb attack. Zhao Lijian, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, told a regular briefing that China would cooperate closely with Pakistan in the investigation. July 14's blast sent the bus crashing into a ravine in Khyber-Paktunkhwa province in northwest Pakistan, where Chinese engineers have for several years been working on hydroelectric projects as part of Beijing's massive Belt and Road Initiative. China is a close ally and major investor in neighbouring Pakistan, and various anti-Pakistani government militants have in the past attacked Chinese projects. On July 14, Zhao had called the blast a "bomb attack" but Pakistan said a mechanical failure caused a gas leak that led to the explosion.
Click here to read...

Pakistan bets on talks with rebels to quell Belt and Road worries

The Pakistan government of Prime Minister Imran Khan has launched a rare dialogue with separatists opposing China's Belt and Road initiative as it braces for possibly more instability in the region after the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan. Khan said last week that he is considering negotiations with Baloch insurgents in the southwestern part of the nation. The prime minister said that rebels might still be upset with the government due to unresolved grievances, or that India may be using them to spread terror in Pakistan. Later, the cabinet approved negotiations with the insurgents but warned that the government would not deal with any groups directly linked to India. In order to advance the talks, Khan appointed Shahzain Bugti, a special assistant on reconciliation and harmony in Balochistan, the main base of the insurgents. He is the grandson of Nawab Akbar Bugti, a former governor turned insurgent leader whose alleged assassination in a military operation in 2006 triggered Balochistan's current insurgency.
Click here to read...

Foreign missions in Afghanistan call for Taliban ceasefire

Fifteen diplomatic missions and the NATO representative in Afghanistan urged the Taliban on July 19 to halt their military offensives, just hours after the insurgents and the Afghan government failed to agree on a ceasefire at talks in Doha. A delegation of Afghan leaders met the Taliban's political leadership in the Qatari capital over the weekend. But in a statement late on July 18, the Taliban made no mention of a halt to Afghanistan's escalating violence. "This Eid al-Adha, the Taliban should lay down their weapons for good and show the world their commitment to the peace process," the 15 missions and the NATO representative said, referring to July 20's Muslim holiday in Afghanistan. The statement was supported by Australia, Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, the European Union delegation, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Britain and the United States and NATO's senior civilian representative.
Click here to read...

Afghanistan withdraws ambassador, diplomats from Islamabad

Afghanistan has withdrawn its ambassador and diplomats from Pakistan's capital following the kidnapping of the ambassador's daughter, the Afghan foreign ministry said on July 18, a new blow to relations at a sensitive time for the Afghan peace process. The daughter of Afghanistan's ambassador to Pakistan was seized on July 16 and held for several hours by unknown assailants who left her with injuries and rope marks and Pakistan authorities have said they are investigating. "The Afghan government recalled the ambassador and senior diplomats to Kabul until the complete elimination of the security threats, including the arrest and punishment of the perpetrators," the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. Pakistan's foreign ministry in a statement called the decision "regrettable" and said it hoped the Afghan government would reconsider. Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has assigned the matter top priority and said he wants the culprits caught within 48 hours, the Interior Minister said on July 17.
Click here to read...

Uzbekistan promotes cooperation in Central, South Asia

Uzbekistan hosted an international conference, discussing regional security, economic integration and the culture of Central and South Asia, from July 15-16. About 250 participants from 44 countries took part in the conference, including Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani and Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan. President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev, who initiated the conference, emphasized how Central and South Asian states serve as a bridge for the countries in the Middle East, Europe and China. "Today the world has entered the era of global geopolitical transformations, which bring both challenges and new opportunities. In these conditions, the revival of mutual ties between Central and South Asia, where about 2 billion people live today, is an even more in-demand process," Mirziyoyev said. He presented some initiatives to achieve these goals, such as a railway connecting Termez, Mazar-i-Sharif, Kabul and Peshawar, along with measures to implement digital connectivity in trade, transit and border crossing.
Click here to read...

Explainer-Why violence is engulfing South Africa

Days of riots and looting in South Africa have left more than 70 people dead, hurt thousands of businesses and damaged major infrastructure in some of the worst civil unrest since the end of white minority rule in 1994. The unrest started after former President Jacob Zuma handed himself over last week to start a 15-month prison sentence for contempt of court. Zuma supporters, who believe he is the victim of a political witch-hunt, burned tyres and blocked roads in his home province of KwaZulu-Natal. Support for Zuma stems partly from his image as a man of the people during his nine years in power until 2018, and because some see his jailing as an attack on the nation's largest ethnic group, the Zulu. Although many wealthy and middle-class South Africans were overjoyed when Zuma was ousted after multiple sleaze and graft allegations, he still retains loyal followings in KwaZulu-Natal and some poor, rural areas.
Click here to read...

South Korea's Moon drops plan to visit Japan amid uproar over sexual innuendo

South Korean President Moon Jae-in will not visit Tokyo for the upcoming Olympics, his office said on July 19, scrapping plans for what would have been his first summit with Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga. The announcement came after Seoul lodged a protest over a news report on July 16 that a senior diplomat at Japan's embassy in Seoul had said Moon was "masturbating" when describing his efforts to improve relations between the two countries. "President Moon has decided not to visit Japan," Moon's press secretary Park Soo-hyun told a briefing. "As the Tokyo Olympics is a peaceful festival for all people around the world, we hope that Japan will host it safely and successfully." The latest uproar further inflamed relations between the two nations feuding over territorial claims and their wartime history, dashing any remaining hopes that the Tokyo Games might offer a fresh start for bilateral and regional cooperation.
Click here to read...

Pegasus scandal shows risk of Israel's spy-tech diplomacy: Experts

Reports that Israel-made Pegasus spyware has been used to monitor activists, journalists and politicians around the world highlight the diplomatic risks of nurturing and exporting "oppressive technology", experts warned July 19. Private Israeli firm NSO Group has denied media reports its Pegasus software is linked to the mass surveillance of journalists and rights defenders and insisted that all sales of its technology are approved by Israel's defence ministry. Founded in 2010 and based in Herzliya, north of Tel Aviv, NSO says it develops tools that allow governments to pursue criminals who might evade authorities through encrypted communications. But the Washington Post, the Guardian, Le Monde and other news outlets that collaborated on an investigation reported on a leaked list of up to 50,000 phone numbers believed to have been identified as people of interest by clients of NSO since 2016, not all of whom were hacked. Israeli experts recalled the country's long history of using the export of cutting-edge weaponry to foster diplomatic relations but warned that burgeoning sales of advanced surveillance systems could cause more harm than benefit.
Click here to read...

Medical
Report shows how 23 million children missed basic inoculations in 2020

The UN warned July 15 that a "perfect storm" was brewing, with a raging pandemic disrupting access to routine vaccinations, leaving millions of children at risk from measles and other deadly diseases. A full 23 million children missed out on basic childhood vaccines in 2020, as routine health services were hit worldwide by restrictions aimed at controlling COVID-19 and many parents shunned the clinics that were open for fear of exposure to the virus. It marks the highest number in over a decade and 3.7 million more than in 2019, according to data published July 15 by the World Health Organization and the UN's children's agency UNICEF. And the sharp decline in routine vaccinations comes as many countries have begun loosening restrictions even as the pandemic is far from over. This has the potential of not only driving up COVID-19 transmission, but also of allowing otherwise vaccine-preventable diseases to begin spreading.
Click here to read...

UK opts not to vaccinate most under-18s against COVID-19

The British government decided on July 19 not to inoculate most children and teenagers against COVID-19 until more data on the available vaccines becomes available. Children as young as 12 with severe neuro-disabilities, Down Syndrome, immunosuppression and multiple or severe learning disabilities, as well as those who are household contacts of individuals who are immunosuppressed, will be eligible for vaccination, the government said. The decision to hold off giving shots to most people under age 18 was based on the recommendation of an expert advisory panel. The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation said the health benefits of universal vaccination don’t outweigh the risks for most young people, who typically suffer only mild symptoms of the virus. The move puts the UK at odds with France and several other European countries, which have decided to vaccinate adolescents as young as 12. The French government announced last week that it plans to set up vaccine drives at middle schools, high schools and universities in the fall.
Click here to read...

Living with COVID-19: Israel changes strategy as Delta variant hits

Four weeks ago, Israel was celebrating a return to normal life in its battle with COVID-19. After a rapid vaccination drive that had driven down coronavirus infections and deaths, Israelis had stopped wearing face masks and abandoned all social-distancing rules. Then came the more infectious Delta variant, and a surge in cases that has forced Prime Minister Naftali Bennett to reimpose some COVID-19 restrictions and rethink strategy. Under what he calls a policy of "soft suppression", the government wants Israelis to learn to live with the virus - involving the fewest possible restrictions and avoiding a fourth national lockdown that could do further harm to the economy. As most Israelis in risk groups have now been vaccinated against COVID-19, Bennett is counting on fewer people than before falling seriously ill when infections rise. The main indicator guiding the move is the number of severe COVID-19 cases in hospital, currently around 45. Implementation will entail monitoring infections, encouraging vaccinations, rapid testing and information campaigns about face masks.
Click here to read...

Risk of ‘catastrophic’ coronavirus surge in Middle East: WHO

A surge of coronavirus cases in several Middle Eastern countries could have dire consequences, aggravated by the spread of the Delta variant and low vaccine availability, the World Health Organization said July 14. After a decline in cases and deaths for eight weeks, the agency said there had been significant increases in cases in Libya, Iran, Iraq and Tunisia, with sharp rises expected in Lebanon and Morocco. Next week countries across the region will mark the Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday, which traditionally includes religious and social gatherings where infections could spread. “WHO is concerned that the current COVID-19 upsurge may continue to peak in the coming weeks, with catastrophic consequences,” the agency’s regional office said in a statement. A lack of adherence to public health and social measures and “increasing complacency by communities”, as well as low vaccination rates and the spread of new variants, were to blame, WHO said.
Click here to read...

Contact Us