Updated UK virus toll becomes world's second highest

Yahoo – AFP, James PHEBY, Joe JACKSON, May 5, 2020

Britain remains in lockdown as it tries to pivot this month to a new strategy built
around mass testing and tracing infected people and those they may have come
into contact with (AFP Photo/Tolga Akmen)

London (AFP) - Britain's death toll from the coronavirus has topped 32,000, according to an updated official count released Tuesday, pushing the country past Italy to become the second-most impacted after the United States.

The new toll, from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and regional health bodies, has not yet been incorporated into the government's daily figures, which records the current number of deaths as 29,427.

That is still higher than Italy, which on Tuesday said it has recorded 29,316 virus fatalities to date, but far short of the US where nearly 69,000 have died in the pandemic.

However, British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab urged against trying to make reliable international comparisons.

"There are different ways of counting deaths... we now publish data that includes all deaths in all settings and not all countries do that," he said at the daily Downing Street press conference.

"Can you reliably know that all countries are measuring in the same way? And it also depends on how good, frankly, countries are in gathering their statistics."

Raab called the lives lost "a massive tragedy" and "something in this country, on this scale, in this way, that we've never seen before".

Tuesday's updated statistics, showing 32,313 total deaths by around April 24, means Britain has probably had the highest official death numbers in Europe for days.

'Real verdict'

The toll has jumped dramatically on several occasions as the ONS -- which tallies all deaths -- has regularly updated its count.

The agency releases figures weekly, covers periods up to two weeks prior and includes coronavirus deaths in care homes and the community.

Until late last month, the health ministry's daily tallies only counted those who died in hospital after having tested positive for COVID-19.

Even after it began to include all fatalities with the virus listed on the death certificate, its totals have been far short of the later ONS totals.

They have risen dramatically as the extent of the pandemic's impact on care homes has emerged.

Nearly 6,400 people with coronavirus have died in care homes in England alone, with numbers still rising even as the wider outbreak slows.

More than 2,000 of those were reported in the last week of April -- when Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Britain was "past the peak".

Meanwhile the ONS has also recorded a total of around 42,000 "excess deaths" -- how many more people have died in total than would normally be expected -- in the past five weeks.

It suggests Britain's true death toll from the virus may be even higher.

"I don't think we'll get a real verdict on how well countries have done until the pandemic is over," Raab added.

Britain, in its seventh week of an economically crippling lockdown, is trying to implement a new contact tracing strategy so it can ease the measures.

Johnson is expected to set out his plan to lift the stringent social distancing regime next Sunday, according to media reports.:

Dublin deserted as coronavirus dampens St. Patrick's Day

Yahoo – AFP, Joe STENSON, March 17, 2020

St Patrick's Day celebrations were cancelled over the virus (AFP Photo/Paul Faith)

Dublin (AFP) - Pubs were shuttered and pints left unpoured on St. Patrick's Day in Dublin Tuesday, as the Irish capital swapped its annual riot of celebration for "social distancing" designed to stem the spread of coronavirus.

The cobbled streets of Temple Bar -- usually the epicentre of celebrations -- were deserted.

"This place would be just swarming with people, the whole town would be," said Dubliner Anthony Whyte.

"It's like a ghost town. It's like armageddon," the 49-year-old told AFP.

Last week, Ireland's government cancelled St Patrick's parades nationwide, asked pubs to close and curbed gatherings of more than 100 individuals until March 29.

"Social distancing" -- remaining apart from others in public -- has also been strongly advised.

"On a day like St. Patrick's Day, you can really feel it," said Justin Sinnott, 44, strolling through abandoned streets with his young son on his shoulders.

Two people have died from coronavirus in Ireland, which has 223 confirmed cases so far.

Prime minister Leo Varadkar said he expected 15,000 cases in the country by the end of March.

Lost jobs

In central Dublin, St Patrick's Day decorations featuring brimming pints of Guinness, leprechauns and pots of gold found no customers to tempt.

In one open corner shop, staff wore face masks.

"Coronavirus/COVID-19 -- we are closed. Government + HSE (health service) advice," read a handwritten sign on one of the area's most popular drinking spots.

While most Irish citizens have lost a night on the town, others have felt the blow more dearly.

State broadcaster RTE estimated 140,000 hospitality and childcare workers have been laid off over government coronavirus measures.

"We're preparing for the worst," said tourism transport worker John Gately, cycling through central Dublin wearing protective blue rubber gloves.

The 30-year-old has not yet joined those laid off as a result of the coronavirus.

"It's a case of just battening down the hatches and trying to recover," he said. "This is totally unprecedented in my lifetime.

"I'm kind of fascinated and terrified at the same time -- it's like being in a horror movie and we're just waiting to see what happens next week."

Tourist attraction

Last year an estimated 500,000 people attended Dublin's St Patrick's festival. Irish media reported around 100,000 attendees were overseas visitors.

But with pubs closed and various foreign governments banning flights from European nations, many tourists had already begun to filter home.

Some US travellers had brought forward their flights home before Washington's travel ban on European countries was extended to include Ireland and the UK from 0400 GMT Tuesday.

"It just escalated so quickly in the last several days," Travis Mino told AFP at Dublin Airport as he prepared to board a flight to Washington.

Others were determined to soldier on with efforts to celebrate Ireland's patron saint on Tuesday.

"Strange times," said cheerful Russian tourist Aleksei Vishtibeev, sporting a shamrock green novelty leprechaun hat and a fake ginger beard.

"No parade, no holiday. But a holiday is in the head and in the heart, not only in the street."

"I'm ready and going on my single parade," the 45-year old said before setting off on a solo route around the eerie streets of the capital.

Contaminated eggs scandal spreads from Europe to Asia

Yahoo - AFP, Danny KEMP, August 11, 2017

Contaminated eggs have been found in at least 11 countries since the scare
went public on August 1, with millions of eggs and egg-based products being
pulled from supermarket shelves

A scandal involving eggs contaminated with insecticide spread to 15 EU countries, Switzerland and as far away as Hong Kong on Friday as the European Commission called for a special meeting on the growing crisis.

Ministers and food safety chiefs from around the European Union are set to meet on September 26 in a bid to get countries to stop "blaming and shaming" each other over the scare involving the chemical fipronil.

Millions of eggs have been pulled from supermarket shelves across Europe and dozens of poultry farms closed since the discovery of fipronil, which can harm human health, was made public on August 1.

The issue has sparked a row between Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany, the three countries at the epicentre of the crisis, about how long they knew about the problem.

"Blaming and shaming will bring us nowhere and I want to stop this," Vytenis Andriukaitis, the European Commissioner for health and food safety, told AFP as he announced the meeting.

"We need to work together to draw the necessary lessons and move forward instead."

European Commission spokeswoman Mina Andreeva said that "this is not, let's be clear, a crisis meeting" and it is being held next month to get "distance to the events".

Fipronil is commonly used to get rid of fleas, lice and ticks from animals but is banned by the European Union from use in the food industry.

The EU insists there is no threat to human health, but the World Health Organization (WHO) says that when eaten in large quantities it can harm people's kidneys, liver and thyroid glands.

Dutch admit 'errors'

Brussels said the 15 affected EU countries were Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, France, Sweden, Britain, Austria, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Denmark, along with non-EU Switzerland.

But in a sign the crisis is going global, Brussels also announced that Hong Kong had received some tainted eggs from the Netherlands, with the southern Chinese city becoming the first place in Asia known to be affected.

As well as dealing with the immediate food safety issue, the EU is also seeking to calm tempers over the egg row after a series of divisive crises in the bloc in recent years, from Brexit to migration.

Belgium earlier this week accused the Netherlands of knowing about the fipronil eggs since November 2016 and failing to notify other countries.

On Thursday Dutch Health Minister Edith Schippers admitted the government had made "errors" but denied a cover-up.

Dutch Health Minister Edith Schippers has admitted that 

mistakes were made in handling the eggs crisis

"We were well aware of a report of the presence of fipronil in the pens of egg-laying hens in November 2016, but there was no indication at the time that fipronil itself was found in the eggs," said Schippers.

A Dutch whistleblower separately said he had told the authorities that Chickfriend, the Dutch company at the centre of the scandal, was illegally using fipronil in the treatment of lice in chicken pens in The Netherlands.

"I am the anonymous whistleblower," Nick Hermens told the NPO public broadcaster.

A Belgian company, Poultry Vision, has said it provided Chickfriend with the chemical.

Dutch and Belgian investigators carried out coordinated raids on several premises on Thursday, arresting two people at Chickfriend.

However, Belgium itself has been forced to admit that it knew about fipronil in eggs back in June but kept it secret for nearly two months because of a criminal investigation.

Fresh discoveries

Fresh discoveries of contaminated eggs have continued daily.

Denmark said on Friday it had found two tonnes of fipronil-tainted scrambled eggs, bringing the total of contaminated eggs to 22 tonnes, mainly from Belgium.

Poland said it had discovered about 40,000 eggs imported from Germany.

French Agriculture Minister Stephane Travert said that since April the country had sold nearly 250,000 contaminated eggs, imported from Belgium and the Netherlands, but the risk for consumers was "very low" given French eating habits.

The food scare is one of the biggest to hit Europe since the 2013 horsemeat scandal when equine meat was falsely labelled and mis-sold.

Previous food scandals include contamination of chickens and eggs by dioxin in 1999, which began in Belgium, and mad-cow disease -- cattle feed contaminated by the ground-up carcasses of animals infected with a deadly brain disorder -- which ran from roughly 1986-1998 and started in Britain.

Related Article:

Dutch egg probe widens to chicken meat tests

Romania nightclub fire death toll rises as protests continue

The death toll following a fire a nightclub in Romania's capital has risen to 44. Anti-governement protests continued over the weekend on a smaller scale, despite Prime Minister Victor Ponta's resignation.

Deutsche Welle, 8 Nov 2015

The director of Romania's burns hospital in Floreasca, Cristian Nitescu, said on Sunday that most recent deaths were as a result of burns-related injuries. Some of them had been transferred to the Netherlands for treatment.

"The next seven days will be the most difficult with regards to treating the wounded," Health Minister Nicolae Banicioiu said on Saturday.

"We welcome any help, any medical teams coming from abroad," Banicioiu added.

A fire broke out at a club, the "Collectiv" nightclub in Bucharest, last Friday after fireworks were let off during a band's performance. The pyrotechnics set fire to flammable sound insulation, triggering a stampede as revelers ran to the sole exit. In addition to the deaths, some 180 people were injured - many with severe burns.

Romanian authorities have since detained the nightclub's three bosses on manslaughter charges. The trio had no authorization to hold either concerts or pyrotechnic shows.

Mass protests

The blaze sparked mass anti-government protests in Romania, with many demonstrators saying that the sub-standard safety measures at the club reflect the country's wider corruption concerns.

Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta - who is currently on trial facing corruption charges - stood down with his cabinet on Wednesday.

Christian Popescu Piedone, the district mayor of Budapest's Sector 4 also resigned, saying he was "morally guilty" for the disaster.

ksb/rc (AFP, AP)

Burning ferry to be towed to Italy as rescue airlifts continue

A ferry which set on fire during its journey from Greece to Italy is to be towed to Italy's mainland. One person has died, with hundreds more are still stranded on the ship in the Adriatic Sea.

Deutsche Welle, 28 Dec 2014

Italian officials said the Noram atlantic ferry would probably be taken to either Brindisi or Otranto on Italy's southern coast once towing cables could be securely attached.

Airlifts were also set to continue throughout Sunday night whilst the boat was towed towards mainland Italy.

The Italian navy said that two Italian air force helicopters, one Greek Superpuma helicopter, and an Italian plane were continuing to take part in the rescue, pulling up passengers in small groups. Other aircraft and 10 ships were also taking part in the operation in support roles.

Throughout Sunday, firefighting vessels and helicopters from Greece and Italy were sent to the scene as part of a rescue operation coordinated by Italy. Efforts were hindered, however, by extreme weather conditions.

One death

Italian Coast Guard official Giovanni Pettorino confirmed earlier on Sunday that one person had died during the rescue operation and another had been injured - both of whom were transported by Italian rescuers to the country's mainland.

The Italian-flagged ANEK Lines ferry is thought to have set ablaze after a fire broke out in the lower deck garage of the boat in the early hours of Sunday morning. At the time the ferry was about 44 nautical miles off the coast of Corfu, after leaving the Greek port of Patras en route to Ancona in Italy.

Intense heat

Hundreds were left stranded on smoke-filled top decks as the fire spread throughout the vessel. Passengers contacted Greek television stations via mobile phone to describe their horror as high winds, rain and violent seas lashed the burning ferry. Various passengers also reported that the heat was so intense that shoes had started to melt.

In total, there were 478 passengers and crew aboard the ship, around 234 of whom were said to be Greek. According to the German Foreign Office, 18 Germans were also on board.

ksb/es (Reuters, AFP, AP, dpa)

Related Articles:

Ferry disaster survivors describe chaos and panic

Dual criminal investigations launched into Adriatic ferry tragedy

Albanian sailors killed during ferry rescue operation

Burning ferry to be towed to Italy as rescue airlifts continue

Safety standards on passenger ships

Turkey charges mining company CEO, two more, over disaster

Yahoo – AFP, 20 May 2014

Protesters take part in a demonstration by the leftist Turkish Youth Union
 to protest the 301 deaths of the Soma coal mine accident and demand the
Turkish prime minister's resignation, in Ankara, on May 19, 2014

Turkey has charged three more people with manslaughter over the country's worst mining disaster, including the CEO of the company operating the pit, reports said on Tuesday.

Can Gurkan, the chief executive of mining company Soma Komur, general manager Ramazan Dogru and a technician were the latest to face manslaughter charges over the disaster that claimed 301 lives, the private NTV television said.

A total of eight officials from Soma Komur have now been charged over last Tuesday's accident at the Soma mine that sparked anti-government protests in several towns and cities.

Gurkan and other company executives have denied any responsibility for the disaster.

According to the International Labour Organisation, Turkey had the highest number of work deaths in Europe in 2012, and the third highest in the world. From 2002 to 2012, more than 1,000 Turkish miners have been killed.

The lead prosecutor in Soma, Bekir Sahiner, ruled out on Sunday that an electrical fault triggered the fire that spread through the mine.

Rescue operations were suspended on Saturday as information from families suggested that all the bodies had been recovered.

Police have used tear gas and water cannons to disperse large protests in Turkey's main cities, as well as in Soma.

The government has defended Yusuf Yerkel's actions, saying

 that he was attacked and acted in self-defence. Photograph:

Depo Photos/EPA

Related Article:

Turkish PM's aide given sick leave after kicking mine disaster protester

Turkey mine disaster: 18 people held on suspicion of negligence

Executives from the mine operator are reportedly among those detained after the country's worst industrial disaster

theguardian.com - AFP, Sunday 18 May 2014

People mourn their relatives at the cemetery where some of the 301 people
 killed in the Soma mine disaster are buried. Photograph: Bulent Kilic/AFP/
Getty Images

Turkish police have detained 18 people suspected of negligence in connection with this week's deadly mine disaster, including executives from the mine operator, local media reported.

Rescue operations ended on Saturday after the bodies of the last two trapped miners were recovered, following the country's worst industrial disaster, which killed 301 people.

Dozens of prosecutors are investigating the fire and explosion, which are believed to have been sparked by an electrical fault at a private mine in the western district of Soma.

Mine operator Soma Komur vehemently denied any negligence.

"We have all worked very hard. I have not seen such an incident in 20 years," its general director, Akin Celik, said. It was not clear whether Celik was among those detained.

A preliminary expert report on the incident obtained by the Milliyet newspaper pointed to several safety violations in the mine, including a shortage of carbon monoxide detectors and ceilings made of wood instead of metal.

The disaster has led to a surge of anger in Turkey, fuelled by what many saw as a heartless response from the government.

Related Articles:

Soma cordoned off after Turkish mine explosion, Erdogan takes German flak

Mining disaster creates political problem for Erdogan

Turkey mine disaster: grief turns to rage as hopes of finding survivors fade

PM Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is met by shouts of 'murderer' and 'thief' on visit to mine, whose owners are linked to ruling party

The Guardian, Constanze Letsch in Soma and Ian Traynor, Wednesday 14 May 2014

Protesters attack the offices of Erdoğan's party in Soma, Turkey,
near the site of the mine explosion. Photograph: Emrah Gurel/AP

Turkey has been plunged into grief and swelling anger after an explosion in a coalmine in the west of the country left at least 238 people dead, amid fears that scores more corpses still need to be recovered. The accident at Soma in the western province of Manisa, north of Izmir, looked like Turkey's worst modern mining disaster in a country notorious for its poor labour safety record.

The prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, cancelled other engagements and went to thescene of the disaster, pledging the fullest investigation of the causes of the accident. But he was confronted by angry locals who mobbed and kicked his car, shouting "murderer!" and "thief!"

Locals complained about haphazard practices at the mine, whose owners are linked to Erdoğan's governing Justice and Development party (AKP), and skirmishes broke out between youths and police outside the local AKP office.Tensions were high as hundreds of relatives and miners gathered outside the mine, waiting for news. Women wailed in grief as others shouted angrily at local authorites, and riot police with gas masks and water cannon stood by.

Officials said there were still about 120 workers trapped in the mine hours after the last survivors emerged.

Taner Yildiz, the energy minister, described the Soma mine disaster as "possibly the most fatal labour incident in Turkey" as hopes receded that any of those still inside would survive. "Regarding the rescue operation, I can say that our hopes are diminishing," Yildiz said.

Tuesday's explosion tore through the mine during a shift change, which contributed to the high death toll, said Yildiz. Some 787 people were underground when faulty electrical equipment sparked an explosion, which in turn started a fire.

The blaze then caused a bigger power failure, meaning the lifts could not work. Carbon monoxide poisoning was blamed for the deaths.

On Wednesday evening, more than 12 hours since any survivors came out, only the slimmest of hopes remained for those still trapped.

Coming in the wake of multiple scandals implicating the ruling party and Erdoğan's family over the past six months, as well as nationwide protests against his robust style of rule, there were prompt accusations that crony capitalism had contributed to the disaster, and allegations that local authorities had failed to enforce safety regulations and ensure decent working conditions.

Protests also broke out in Istanbul at the offices of the mine owners, and in Ankara, where riot police used teargas and water cannon to disperse demonstrators.

Erdoğan arrived at the scene of the tragedy armed with facts and figures that suggested he anticipated complaints, given that the International Labour Organisation, a UN body, has graded Turkey as the world's third worst offender on industrial safety standards.

Erdoğan vowed that the causes of the explosion would be scrupulously laid bare and his government claimed there had been regular safety checks on the mine in recent months. His party dismissed calls from a local opposition MP in recent weeks demanding an inquiry into safety and labour conditions at the mine.

The prime minister drew parallels with 19th-century Britain to declare: "This is what happens in coalmining. There is no such thing as accident-free work."

"Let me go back to the past in England," he said. "In a slide in 1862, 204 people died, in 1866, 361 people died, and in an explosion in England in 1894, 290 died. So let's please not say that these things never happen elsewhere in coalmines. These things happen. We do have something called an accident at work."

He also warned against "extremists" who would seek to exploit the disaster to tarnish his government. "There are some groups, extreme elements, that want to abuse developments like this one. I would like to reiterate that, for the peace and unity of our nation, it is very, very important not to pay heed to them," he said.

Questions were swiftly raised about the political connections of the mine's owner, whose wife was reported to be a local councillor for the governing party.

Mining accidents are common in Turkey, which is plagued by poor safety conditions. Its worst mining disaster was a 1992 gas explosion that killed 263 workers near the Black Sea port of Zonguldak.

Miners who came out alive told Turkish media that there were still countless corpses in the galleries, while local opposition MPs spoke of more than 350 dead.

Three weeks ago, Erdoğan's party rejected opposition calls for an investigation into safety at the mine, but the labour ministry said the mine had been checked on 17 March and a clean record had been issued.

The national association of electrical engineers, however, said the disaster represented "murder, not an accident". It accused the mine operators of neglect and using obsolete equipment. Inadequate ventilation systems meant carbon monoxide and other toxic gases could spread more quickly, it said.

"A massacre of workers," said Kani Beko, head of the leftwing trade union federation, DISK.

The mine was a "first-class place to work", countered Ali Gurkan, chairman of the board of the company owning the mine, Soma Komur. Its offices in Istanbul were guarded by riot police.

The tragedy looked likely to raise the number of deaths in mining disasters in Turkey to about 1,500 since 2002.

"We have dead and injured every three months from mining accidents," said the local opposition MP Oezguer Oezel. "We've had enough of being at miners' funerals. Neither we nor the hearts of the families can take any more of this."

Related Article:

Erdogan under pressure after deadly mine explosion