Steve McGookinWorld struggles with path back to ‘normality’
Even as the US passed the mark of more than 50 per cent of its population having at least one Covid vaccination – despite disruption to the vaccine pipeline after a “pause” to the Johnson & Johnson rollout – there are worrying signs that the world as a whole is stalling in progress back to a global state of semi-normality.
Worldwide, Covid-related deaths are now running at about 12,000 per day on average, with new cases climbing too, eclipsing 700,000 a day.
In Canada, for example, the province of Ontario is experiencing what experts called an “unprecedented health emergency”.
There were again warnings this week about the scale of infections in India, while Brazil is seeing a worrying number of deaths among babies and children. Research shows that more than half of patients being treated in intensive care in Brazil last month were under 40.
In Japan, with 100 days to go until the opening of the Olympics, the host city of Tokyo remains particularly vulnerable, with only 1 per cent of the Japanese population having been vaccinated.
As Covid cases have surged, the capital is expected to use emergency powers to make the situation more manageable ahead of the Opening Ceremony on 1 July, but despite reassurances and a determination to press ahead by the IOC and local officials, doubts again hang over the games, which of course have already been postponed from last summer and will be closed to foreign visitors.
The head of the IOC will visit Japan next month.
In the UK, meanwhile, after lockdown restrictions were eased last week, people partied on the streets of Soho, even as there were warnings about the potential spread of the Indian variant and calls for that country to be placed on the UK’s travel “red list”.
UPDATE: On Monday morning, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that his upcoming visit to India would be cancelled “in light of the current coronavirus situation”. There was no word on whether broad red list travel restrictions between the countries would follow.
Here in Northern Ireland, this week’s executive meeting laid out prospective dates affecting shops, services and activities, with pubs and restaurants set to reopen outdoors from 30 April.
Meanwhile, NI Health Minister Robin Swann warned over hospital waiting lists that “could take ten years to tackle”.
See Also:
Catching Your Breath: Lobbying For Lung Health In The Time Of Covid-19
Leaders Need To Lead: The Executive and Covid-19
Life Is Harder Right Now. We Should Be Kinder To Ourselves
The Covid-19 Vaccine Explained
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NI still volatile, confused as Brexit talks continue
This weekend marked the second anniversary of the death of journalist Lyra McKee and yet the scourge of violence still stalks our streets.
Among this week’s continuation of last week’s disturbances and threats of disturbances was a potentially disastrous attack on a railway line.
There is still a great deal of uncertainty over next steps, both politically and on the ground. UK Brexit negotiator Lord Frost was in Brussels this week as discussions continue, with “difficult issues” remaining between the sides.
But, there was also some positive local economic news…
The unionist legal challenge to the protocol is set to start next month, while the DUP announced it would be boycotting North-South meetings until the issue was addressed. In all, this week was confusing and potentially destabilizing. As one source told the News Letter’s Sam McBride…
There was something to cheer about, though, as the Northern Ireland women’s football team qualified for next year’s Euro finals.
By any stretch, a purer form of football than is likely to be served up by the proposed ‘Super League’ competition, which appears in danger of destroying the game as we know it before it even gets off the ground.
See Also:
Northern Ireland – What’s The Problem?
Reinforcing Northern Ireland’s in-betweenness
Community Voices: “How do we foster civil dialogue in uncivil times?”
‘We’ve Got To Create A Place Where There’s Hope’
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‘Sleaze’ claims hang over UK government
Fresh lobbying revelations and the government’s rejection of the need for a public inquiry made this a difficult week for Prime Minister Boris Johnson and members of his cabinet, as well as former PM David Cameron.
But the nation’s attention was focused on the funeral for Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, which took place on Saturday.
Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald said she was sorry the 1979 assassination of Lord Mountbatten, Prince Philip’s uncle, had taken place. Meanwhile, the flying of the Irish tricolor at half-mast above government buildings in the South divided opinion.
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US on edge ahead of Chauvin verdict
With the trial set to wrap up on Monday of Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer charged with the murder last year of George Floyd, the city is on edge ahead of a verdict either way.
Meanwhile the city – and the country – is dealing with the fallout from the shooting of Daunte Wright in a nearby suburb, as well as the death of 13-year-old Adam Toledo in Chicago. A week of tragic incident with implications for the future of policing across the US.
Elsewhere in an unceasingly violent America, eight people were killed – half of them from the Sikh community – in a mass shooting at a FedEx depot near the Indianapolis airport on Thursday night. The assailant bought his weapons legally, it was revealed.
Meanwhile, the first defendant agreed to co-operate with authorities investigating the attack on the US Capitol on January 6th.
See Also:
After Trump, What Lies Ahead For The GOP?
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Biden to end America’s longest war
On Wednesday, President Joe Biden announced that all US troops would leave Afghanistan by Sept 11, thus ending America’s longest war.
The move was seen as the new administration pivoting US foreign policy towards larger challenges, for example climate change.
Also this week, President Biden hit Russia with a range of sanctions because of interference in US elections and the recent SolarWinds cyber-attack. The announcement also revealed more detailed information about the collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign during the 2016 election
Meanwhile, there continue to be dire warnings about the health of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
See Also:
From The Big Lie To A Great Undoing
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See Also Last Week’s Five Points:
As violence flares, politicians wrestle with a challenge that seems beyond them
Also published on Medium.
