Day: May 14, 2022

South Africa is experiencing a surge of new COVID-19 cases driven by two omicron sub-variants, according to health experts.

For about three weeks the country has seen increasing numbers of new cases and somewhat higher hospitalizations, but not increases in severe cases and deaths, said professor Marta Nunes, a researcher at Vaccine and Infectious Diseases Analytics at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto.

“We’re still very early in this increase period, so I don’t want to really call it a wave,” Nunes said. “We are seeing a slight, a small increase in hospitalizations and really very few deaths.”

South Africa’s new cases have gone from an average of 300 per day in early April to about 8,000 per day this week. Nunes says the actual number of new cases is probably much higher because the symptoms are mild and many who get sick are not getting tested.

South Africa’s new surge is from two variations of omicron, BA.4 and BA.5, which appear to be very much like the original strain of omicron that was first identified in South Africa and Botswana late last year and swept around the globe.

“The majority of new cases are from these two strains. They are still omicron … but just genomically somewhat different,” said Nunes. The new versions appear to be able to infect people who have immunity from earlier COVID infections and vaccinations, but they cause generally mild disease, she said. In South Africa, 45% of adults are fully vaccinated, although about 85% of the population is thought to have some immunity based on past exposure to the virus.

“It looks like the vaccines still protect against severe disease,” Nunes said.

Nunes said that the BA.4 and BA.5 strains of omicron have spread to other countries in southern Africa and a few European countries, but it is too early to tell if they will spread across the globe, as omicron did.

The increase in COVID cases is coming as South Africa is entering the Southern Hemisphere’s colder winter months and the country is seeing a rise in cases of flu.

At a COVID testing center in the Chiawelo area of Soweto, many people are coming in to be tested for COVID but are learning they have the flu.

“Now we’re in flu season … so it’s flu versus COVID-19,” said Magdeline Matsoso, site manager at the Chiawelo vaccination center. She said people come for testing because they have COVID symptoms.

“When we do the tests, you find that the majority of them, they are negative when it comes to COVID, but they do have flu symptoms,” said Matsoso. “So they get flu treatment and then they go home because the majority is related to flu and not COVID.”

Vuyo Lumkwani was one of those who came to get tested.

“I wasn’t feeling well when I woke up this morning. I woke up with body pains, a headache, blocked (nose), feeling dizzy, so I decided to come here,” she said.

“I was terrified about my symptoms because I thought it might be COVID-19, but I told myself that I’d be OK because I have been vaccinated,” said Lumkwani. She said she was relieved to be diagnosed with the flu. She was advised to go home with some medications and get some rest.

Source: Voice of America

U.S. President Joe Biden said on Friday a first summit in Washington with leaders from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) marked the launch of a “new era” in the relationship between the United States and the 10-nation bloc, Trend reports citing Reuters.

Addressing ASEAN leaders on the second day of a two-day meeting, Biden said “a great deal of history of our world in the next 50 years is going to be written in the ASEAN countries, and our relationship with you is the future, in the coming years and decades.”

The summit marked the first time ASEAN leaders gathered as a group in Washington and their first meeting hosted by a U.S. president since 2016.

Biden’s administration hopes the effort will show that the United States remains focused on the Indo-Pacific and the long-term challenge of China, which it views as its main competitor.

“We’re launching a new era – a new era – in U.S.-ASEAN relations,” Biden said, calling the U.S.-ASEAN partnership “critical.”

Earlier, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris said the United States would remain in Southeast Asia for generations and stressed the need to maintain freedom of the seas, which the United States says is challenged by China.

“The United States and ASEAN have shared a vision for this region, and together we will guard against threats to international rules and norms,” Harris said.

Neither she nor Biden mentioned China by name.

Harris said the United States would continue to respond with ASEAN to the threat of COVID-19, having already donated more than 115 million vaccine doses to the region. Harris also said the United States and ASEAN need to show collective ambition on the climate issue, accelerate the transition to clean energy, and meet infrastructure needs sustainably.

ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, though Myanmar’s leader was excluded from the summit over a coup last year and U.S. treaty ally the Philippines is in transition after an election and is represented by its foreign minister.

Biden hosted a dinner for the leaders at the White House on Thursday, and his administration promised $150 million for areas including infrastructure, security, pandemic preparedness and clean energy.

New U.S. commitments will include deployment of a U.S. Coast Guard vessel to the region to help counter what the United States and regional countries have described as China’s illegal fishing.

U.S. spending pales in comparison to that of China, which in November alone pledged $1.5 billion in development assistance for ASEAN over three years to fight COVID-19 and fuel economic recovery.

Source: TREND News Agency

North Korea said on Sunday that a total of 42 people have died as the country began its fourth day under a nationwide lockdown aimed at stopping the impoverished country’s first confirmed COVID-19 outbreak.

North Korea’s admission on Thursday that it is battling an “explosive” COVID-19 outbreak has raised concerns that the virus could devastate a country with an under-resourced health system, limited testing capabilities and no vaccine program.

State news agency KCNA said the country was taking “swift state emergency measures” to control the epidemic, but there is no sign that Pyongyang was moving to accept international offers of vaccines.

“All provinces, cities and counties of the country have been totally locked down and working units, production units and residential units closed from each other since the morning of May 12 and strict and intensive examination of all the people is being conducted,” KCNA reported on Sunday.

A day earlier North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said the spread of COVID-19 had thrust his country into “great turmoil” and called for an all-out battle to overcome the outbreak.

Despite the lockdowns, Kim and other senior officials on Saturday attended funeral services for Yang Hyong Sop, a former de facto head of state during the rule of Kim’s father, Kim Jong Il, KCNA reported.

Health authorities set up more epidemic prevention posts, and urgently transported medical supplies to hospitals and clinics, while senior officials had donated reserve medicines, KCNA reported.

At least 296,180 more people came down with fever symptoms, and 15 more had died as of Sunday, the outlet said.

Experts say North Korea appears to lack the capacity to test those tens of thousands of symptomatic patients. KCNA did not report how many of those suspected cases had tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.

Overall North Korea has reported 820,620 suspected cases, with 324,550 still under medical treatment, KCNA said.

North Korea had previously claimed no confirmed cases of the virus. It is one of only two countries in the world that have yet to begin a COVID vaccination campaign, according to the World Health Organization.

Its self-imposed lockdowns have slowed trade to a trickle and raised concerns about food shortages or other hardships, aid organizations have said.

Source: Voice of America

BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 14. The Central Bank of Iran (CBI) announced the official rate of foreign currencies on May 14, Trend reports referring to CBI.

According to the currency exchange rate of the Central Bank of Iran, 11 currencies have grown and 27 have decreased in price, compared to May 12.

According to CBI, $1 equals 42,000 Iranian rials and 1 euro equals 43,725 rials.

Currency Iranian rial on May 14 Iranian rial on May 12

1 US dollar USD 42,000 42,000

1 British pound GBP 51,424 51,727

1 Swiss franc CHF 41,939 42,378

1 Swedish krona SEK 4,176 4,193

1 Norwegian krone NOK 4,294 4,335

1 Danish krone DKK 5,876 5,949

1 Indian rupee INR 543 544

1 UAE dirham AED 11,437 11,437

1 Kuwaiti dinar KWD 136,731 136,843

100 Pakistani rupees PKR 21,783 22,030

100 Japanese yens JPY 32,498 32,254

1 Hong Kong dollar HKD 5,351 5,351

1 Omani rial OMR 109,234 109,231

1 Canadian dollar CAD 32,485 32,347

1 New Zealand dollar NZD 26,298 26,612

1 South African rand ZAR 2,600 2,616

1 Turkish lira TRY 2,712 2,741

1 Russian ruble RUB 653 628

1 Qatari riyal QAR 11,539 11,539

100 Iraq dinars IQD 2,880 2,881

1 Syrian pound SYP 17 17

1 Australian dollar AUD 29,062 29,359

1 Saudi riyal SAR 11,200 11,200

1 Bahraini dinar BHD 111,703 111,702

1 Singapore dollar SGD 30,147 30,274

100 Bangladeshi takas BDT 48,692 48,529

10 Sri Lankan rupees LKR 1,167 1,151

1 Myanmar kyat MMK 23 23

100 Nepalese rupees NPR 33,884 33,956

1 Libyan dinar LYD 8,735 8,752

1 Chinese yuan CNY 6,187 6,249

100 Thai baths THB 120,932 121,391

1 Malaysian ringgit MYR 9,551 9,591

1,000 South Korean wons KRW 32,770 32,979

1 Jordanian dinar JOD 59,239 59,238

1 euro EUR 43,725 44,244

100 Kazakh tenge KZT 9,729 9,533

1 Georgian lari GEL 13,981 13,905

1,000 Indonesian rupiahs IDR 2,870 2,895

1 Afghan afghani AFN 479 481

1 Belarus ruble BYN 12,434 12,416

1 Azerbaijani manat AZN 24,719 24,720

100 Philippine pesos PHP 80,217 80,683

1 Tajik somoni TJS 3,362 3,367

1 Turkmen manat TMT 11,984 11,986

In Iran, the official exchange rate is used for the import of some essential products.

SANA system is a system introduced by the Central Bank of Iran to the currency exchange offices, where the price of 1 euro is 270,781 rials, and the price of $1 is 260,096 rials.

NIMA is a system intended for the sale of a certain percentage of the foreign currency gained from export.

The price of 1 euro in this system is 262,532 rials, and the price of $1 is 252,172 rials.

On the black market, $1 is worth about 304,000-307,000 rials, while 1 euro is worth about 317,000-320,000 rials.

Source: TREND News Agency