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The number of Covid-19 cases crossed 14.56 million across Southeast Asia, with 25,329 new cases reported on Saturday (December 18). New deaths are at 422, bringing accumulated Covid-19 deaths in Asean to 299,774.

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has assured those affected by Typhoon Odette (international name: Rai) that he is trying to look for funds for their aid, saying that government coffers have already been “immensely depleted” due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

During a briefing on the disaster situation in Visayas and Northern Mindanao on Friday, Duterte said that as soon as he gets the funding, assistance will be sent to the provinces ravaged by the super typhoon.

“We are trying to raise the money, I was also late (because) I was talking with the budget, you know our budget has been depleted immensely because of the Covid, we really spent our money,” he said.

“This Covid really emptied our coffers. So we’re trying to screen how much we can raise so that we can marshal it to the areas affected.”

Published : December 19, 2021

By : THE NATION

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WASHINGTON – Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser, D, on Friday said that reinstating the Districts indoor mask mandate is “on the table,” among other measures, as the city sees its highest-ever daily numbers of coronavirus cases since the pandemic began.

On Friday morning, Bowser implored eligible residents to get vaccinated, schedule their booster shots and reconsider going to social events in the coming weeks. While the vaccine has helped stymie deaths and hospitalizations, Bowser said, the highly transmissible omicron variant – which has now been detected throughout the region – is of particular concern.

Photo Credit : Washington Post photo by Matt McClain

“What is also different is this variant, omicron, and its transmissibility,” Bowser said. “I expect that’s going to warrant some changes in course for us around our emergency response.”

D.C. on Friday reported 844 new coronavirus cases – the highest single-day total at any point in the pandemic, beating the previous day’s record of 508 new cases. The seven-day average of new cases in the city reached 360 Friday – by far the highest average since the pandemic began in March 2020. Hospitalizations in the District have increased as well, with the seven-day average at 154 on Friday, nearly double what it was at the beginning of the month.

The rise in cases can be seen throughout the region. Total cases in Virginia passed the 1 million mark earlier this week, and the seven-day average of new cases there has nearly doubled since the beginning of the month. Maryland, which has not reported cases for two weeks after a cyberattack that affected its health department, has seen hospitalizations there sharply rise, triggering potential surge capacity measures.

Area schools have also been responding to the increases, with some reducing extracurriculars or transitioning to virtual learning because of outbreaks.

Earlier this month, Bowser issued an advisory urging all people to mask up in indoor public settings, just weeks after scaling back the city’s indoor mask mandate. But some residents and local legislators have called on her to reimpose the mandate amid concerns about the latest variant; a plea that was echoed by several D.C. Council members on a weekly call with her administration Friday morning.

Among those who expressed concern was Council member Trayon White Sr., D-Ward 8, who did not appear on the call but announced on social media moments before it started that he had tested positive for the coronavirus.

“Our kids and [families] are not safe,” wrote White, who represents some of the city’s neighborhoods with the lowest rates of vaccination and is also running for mayor. “We need to shut it back down and should not be unmasking. It’s Flu season and the holiday season.”

Council members on Friday also asked about the availability of rapid antigen coronavirus tests during the holiday season and whether they could be made free to the public, particularly in high-risk communities – similar to Montgomery County and Northern Virginia, which unveiled similar programs in recent weeks.

Patrick Ashley, senior deputy director at D.C. Health, said the city had 20,000 of these tests on hand, which are mainly being used in congregate care facilities like nursing homes, jails and public shelters, and was working to secure more before they’re widely distributed.

Ashley said officials would offer more details soon about how the public can access them. In the meantime, Bowser said Friday that she would confer with her administration about possible interventions to slow the spread.

“As we have said throughout this pandemic, as it evolves, we evolve,” Bowser said. She noted that her staff is considering questions around testing, vaccine access and outbreaks in city schools, “which is probably on the top of our list.”

Schools around the region have seen an uptick in confirmed coronavirus cases on their campuses after Thanksgiving, forcing some to move to virtual classes or start an early holiday break. Prince George’s County Public Schools announced Friday they will move to virtual instruction beginning next week because of a surge in coronavirus cases. After winter break, students will continue to learn virtually until Jan. 14.

Montgomery County’s school system announced Friday it would suspend its in-person activities and events beginning Monday. While in-person instruction will go on, they will halt in-person, nonathletic extracurricular activities outside the school day through Jan. 7. Athletic practices and games can continue into next week, but during the winter break, from Dec. 23 through Jan. 2, games will be canceled, with optional practices allowed.

While Northern Virginia school systems have canceled or postponed some athletic events because of concerns about coronavirus exposure, they have yet to close schools or enact major restrictions. A spokeswoman for Fairfax County Public Schools, the state’s largest school system, said Friday that officials there “are watching our numbers closely but are holding steady at this point.”

In the District, schools have pulled grade levels out to quarantine one at a time. D.C. Public Schools told Council members in a statement Friday they’ve closely been monitoring the spread of the coronavirus. Recently, Whittier Elementary School, in Northwest Washington’s Brightwood neighborhood, moved to virtual instruction until Dec. 22, after 14 coronavirus cases were reported, dating back to Dec. 9.

“We’re just seeing right now that this a direct impact of the citywide, regional and national increases of covid-19 in our communities, likely due to the post-holiday surge that health officials warned us about,” DCPS Chancellor Lewis D. Ferebee said in an interview Wednesday.

Whittier’s temporary closure was the first time in the academic year a D.C. Public School had to shift to virtual operations because of an outbreak. Parents and Council members have been curious about how the cases at Whittier were identified and what specifically compelled D.C. Public Schools to pause in-person learning.

Two of the confirmed coronavirus cases were detected through a round of asymptomatic testing that was conducted at Whittier on Dec. 10, according to a report from the Office of the State Superintendent that was shared with D.C. Council members Friday. D.C. Public Schools further told council members in a statement that it moved Whittier to virtual instruction because the school had limited staffing availability and many of its students were in quarantine.

More than 1,000 people signed a petition Friday afternoon that requested all D.C. Public Schools move to virtual learning from Dec. 20 to Dec. 22, right before the scheduled holiday break. School officials said Friday that there are no imminent plans to move other schools to virtual operations.

Published : December 18, 2021

By : The Washington Post

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https://www.nationthailand.com/international/40010132

LONDON – Boris Johnsons ruling Conservative Party lost a seat Friday that it had safely held for almost 200 years, in a fresh blow to the British prime minister that renewed questions about his leadership.

The Liberal Democrats won North Shropshire in central England after the seat became vacant following a sleaze scandal that engulfed Johnson’s Conservative Party. The pro-Brexit district had sent a Conservative politician to Parliament since its formation in 1832.

The loss is certain to boost Johnson’s critics in the Conservative Party, which in particular is known for deposing leaders it sees as not winning elections.

“The people of North Shropshire have spoken on behalf of the British people. They have said loudly and clearly: ‘Boris Johnson, the party is over,'” Helen Morgan, the newly elected member of Parliament, said in her victory speech.

The shocking result – the centrist Liberal Democrats not only overturned a Conservative majority of 23,000 but won by nearly 6,000 votes – follows a massive rebellion by Johnson’s party this week over his introduction of coronavirus measures to head off a rise in infections.

It’s just one seat of 650 in a Parliament that the Conservatives handily dominate, but it has received national attention as a test for the embattled prime minister, who has endured weeks of bad headlines.

The seat became vacant after Conservative lawmaker Owen Paterson, an ally of Johnson’s, stepped down for breaking lobbying rules.

Johnson took personal responsibility for the loss and acknowledged that voters were frustrated and unaware of all his government’s recent achievements.

“I’ve got to put my hands up and say, ‘Have I failed to get that message across in the last few weeks? Has it been obscured by all this other stuff?’ Yes, I’m afraid it has,” he told broadcasters.

Analysts said the North Shropshire vote concentrated minds on Johnson’s ability – or not – to win elections. “His whole premiership is based on, ‘he’s good at winning elections,'” said Rob Ford, a professor of politics at the University of Manchester. “If it becomes a settled view that, far from being an electoral Gandalf, he is an electoral Voldemort, he’s not long for Number 10,” he added, referring to the prime minister’s address at 10 Downing Street in London.

Paula Surridge, a senior lecturer at the University of Bristol, said some members of the Conservative Party were “never fans” of Johnson’s but were willing to “put up with him” because he was an electoral asset, not a liability. In December 2019, Johnson led the Conservatives to a whopping 80-seat majority, winning seats in traditional Labour Party heartlands in the north of England.

But the latest election shows the “the shine was coming off with voters,” Surridge said.

The Conservative Party is known to be quicker than most at toppling leaders perceived as unable to bring in the voters. Most famously, in 1990 Margaret Thatcher was booted out by her own party with a sudden ruthlessness that surprised Britons.

But Johnson is no stranger to controversy and has bounced back, repeatedly, from scandals and setbacks. And while talk of regicide is easy, there are no reports of a deluge of letters of no confidence flooding in.

Daniel Wincott, a politics expert at Cardiff University, said Johnson has long had a reputation as a “Teflon politician on whom things seem to slide.” But lately, less has been sliding.

Johnson is battling fires on many fronts: a surging omicron variant, rebellious lawmakers, tanking approval ratings.

Arguably most damaging, said Wincott, is the drip, drip, drip of allegations about government staff flouting rules and attending Christmas parties last year at a time when such gatherings were banned. The “sense of hypocrisy does start to stick,” Wincott said.

Johnson denied that any rules were broken and ordered an internal inquiry by Britain’s top civil servant, Simon Case. In a surreal development on Friday evening, Case recused himself from the probe following reports that a gathering was held in his own office around the same time.

Johnson is in trouble, said Ben Page, chief executive of Ipsos MORI, a pollster. “He’s made a series of self-inflicted wounds, and if he continues on the same track, then all bets are off.”

But he added that things were “not yet terminal” and that “assuming he can get his act together, he can recover.” The next general election is due in 2024. While the Labour Party is currently polling slightly ahead of the Conservatives for the first time in years, it would still lose if an election were held today because of boundary changes and demographics.

Surridge, the lecturer, said she did not think Johnson was in “immediate trouble” but allowed that the tide has turned against him. The “events of the last few weeks have damaged him enough that it’s sort of the beginning of the end,” she said. “I don’t think the end will be soon, but I think it will be difficult to recover from completely.”

Published : December 18, 2021

By : The Washington Post

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https://www.nationthailand.com/international/40010130

U.S. airstrikes against the Taliban surged in August, rising to levels not seen in nearly a year as part of the final, failed attempt to prevent the Afghan armys collapse as militants rapidly took over the country, according to data disclosed Friday.

The burst of attacks came as Taliban fighters encircled numerous provincial capitals and ultimately seized control of Kabul, Afghanistan’s capital, on Aug. 15. About 153 U.S. bombs or missiles were dropped by U.S. war planes and drones that month, up from 18 in July, the data showed.

Until Friday, the U.S. Air Force had not released such a report for nearly two years.

The data does not include strikes launched by the Afghan air force, which routinely carried out bombing until disbanding along with the central government. Nonetheless, the numbers offer a fresh look at how the American military scrambled in the waning days of its longest war, as the situation on the ground grew increasingly desperate for U.S.-trained Afghan forces being overpowered by the Taliban’s assault.

For many years, the U.S. Air Force released “air power summaries” monthly in a demonstration of transparency to American taxpayers, congressional oversight committees and U.S. allies. But publication was suspended after the Trump administration signed a deal with the Taliban in February 2020 that promised to withdraw U.S. troops by this year in exchange for a handful of concessions, including that militants stop attacking U.S. troops. U.S. forces remaining in Afghanistan would retain the ability to defend themselves, U.S. officials said, but they continued to carry out limited airstrikes in support of their Afghan allies.

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said Friday before the reports’ distribution that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin directed that the data again be released in an effort to improve transparency. The withheld monthly reports date back to February 2020, he said.

Kirby said there have been no U.S. military airstrikes in Afghanistan since the withdrawal was completed Aug. 30. The Pentagon will continue to provide air power summaries, he said, with publication by Air Forces Central Command, which oversees operations in the region.

The airstrikes occurred as hundreds of civilians were killed per month in 2021, mostly in roadside bomb explosions or fighting between Afghan forces and the Taliban, according to U.N. mission reports. The U.S. military did kill some civilians, however, including in an Aug. 28 strike in Kabul in which commanders thought they were striking an Islamic State bomber but killed an aid worker and nine other civilians.

At the height of its air campaign against the Taliban, the U.S. military conducted thousands of strikes annually, reaching a high of 7,423 in 2019, as commanders attempted to force the Taliban to negotiate an end to the war.

The bombing campaign remained busy early in 2020, with 415 weapons dropped in January and 360 in February of last year. But it plummeted after the withdrawal deal was signed, with 116 weapons dropped in March, 27 in April, 15 in May and 18 that June, the newly released data show.

The numbers climbed again from there, as the Taliban mostly held true to not attacking U.S. troops but waged a bloody campaign against Afghan police and soldiers. The U.S. military dropped 246 weapons in October 2020, and then more than 100 per month for the first third of 2021, the reports show. The numbers tailed off again beginning in May, before the last spike as the Taliban asserted control of the country.

Published : December 18, 2021

By : The Washington Post

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https://www.nationthailand.com/international/40010129

A federal appeals court on Friday reinstated the Biden administrations coronavirus vaccination policy for large private businesses, reversing an earlier court ruling that had halted one of the White Houses signature efforts to reduce transmission and drive down case counts.

The ruling by the Ohio-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit can be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which is likely to have the final say over the rules set to take effect Jan. 4.

The Justice Department had asked the court to clear the way for the policy designed to protect workers at large private businesses from the virus that has killed more than 800,000 people in the United States. A spokesperson for the agency declined to comment.

Under the Labor Department rules, employers with more than 100 workers must require staff to get vaccinated or face weekly testing and mandatory masking. There are exceptions for employees who do not work on-site or with others.

Friday’s 2-1 ruling backs the Biden administration’s authority to issue the emergency workplace directive through the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

“The record establishes that COVID-19 has continued to spread, mutate, kill, and block the safe return of American workers to their jobs. To protect workers, OSHA can and must be able to respond to dangers as they evolve,” according to the opinion written by Judge Jane B. Stranch.

More than two dozen Republican-led states, private businesses and conservative legal groups challenged the policy. Before the legal challenges filed in courts throughout the country were consolidated at the 6th Circuit, a different appeals court temporarily halted President Joe Biden’s plans.

The Louisiana-based 5th Circuit Court of Appeals said the Labor Department exceeded its authority and ordered OSHA to not take any further steps to implement or enforce the rules.

OSHA invoked a rarely used power to issue the policy, which is expected to cover 84 million workers. The Biden administration estimates the rules would save thousands of lives and keep people out of inundated hospitals.

States challenging the policy told the court that the case is one of “exceptional importance” that will “affect the personal health decisions of tens of millions of Americans, coast to coast.”

“It will determine whether private companies – many of which are still struggling to survive the economic carnage inflicted by COVID-19 – must invest resources helping the federal government run a mass-vaccination program,” according to the filing from 27 states, led by Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost.

But the majority of the 6th Circuit panel said the cost of delaying the vaccination policy is potentially high and would harm the public interest.

The directive, they said, “is an important step in curtailing the transmission of a deadly virus that has killed over 800,000 people in the United States, brought our healthcare system to its knees, forced businesses to shut down for months on end, and cost hundreds of thousands of workers their jobs,” wrote Stranch, a nominee of President Barack Obama. She was joined by Judge Julia Smith Gibbons, a nominee of President George W. Bush.

The dissenting judge, Joan Larsen, said OSHA had exceeded its authority to regulate employers’ conduct and should have considered less sweeping alternatives.

“The virus that causes COVID-19 is not, of course, uniquely a workplace condition. Its potency lies in the fact that it exists everywhere an infected person may be – home, school, or grocery store, to name a few,” wrote Larsen, a nominee of President Donald Trump. “So how can OSHA regulate an employee’s exposure to it?”

Separately, the Biden administration asked the Supreme Court on Thursday to allow it to fully enforce a nationwide requirement that health-care workers be vaccinated if they work at facilities participating in Medicare and Medicaid. Lower courts have suspended the policy after 24 states filed lawsuits. On Friday, the Supreme Court told challenging states to respond to the administration’s petition by Dec. 30, which would not leave the court much time for a decision.

On Capitol Hill, Senate Republicans pushed through a recent proposal that aims to repeal the vaccine or testing requirements for private companies, saying the rules are unconstitutional and put jobs at risk. Two Democrats, Sens. Joe Manchin (W.Va.) and Jon Tester (Mont.), joined their GOP colleagues in passing the measure, which is expected to face resistance in the House.

Published : December 18, 2021

By : The Washington Post

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https://www.nationthailand.com/international/40010128

VIENNA – The latest round of nuclear talks between world powers and Iran adjourned here on Friday after what a senior State Department official said was a two-week session that was “better than it might have been” but “worse than it should have been.”

The official described “some modest progress” on agenda items for future discussion concerning Iran’s nuclear activities, and Iran’s agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency that resolved an outstanding verification issue.

“Given how much work needs to be done, and given that we have not yet achieved clarity on other issues . . . there is still a lot of work to be done,” said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity under rules set by the State Department. “Time is running out,” he said, to avoid the moment when the nuclear agreement they are working to reestablish becomes “a corpse that cannot be revived.”

The talks adjourned after the chief Iranian negotiator said he was returning to Tehran for consultations, with no firm date set to resume. In response, both the United States and delegations from Britain, France and Germany expressed dismay and said they had been prepared to continue.

“We respect the decision of the Iranian negotiator Bagheri-Kani to travel back to Tehran for consultations today – even if, to our disappointment, this entails a pause in the negotiations,” the Europeans said in a statement. “In just a few weeks – not months – the nonproliferation policy advantages achieved by the [2015 nuclear agreement] will be extinguished. We are rapidly approaching the end of the road for these negotiations.”

The Europeans, along with Russia and China, are negotiating directly with Iran to revive the deal, from which the Trump administration withdrew in 2018. Under the agreement, Iran agreed to sharply limit the quantity and quality of the enriched uranium it produced and submit to IAEA monitoring, while the United States agreed to lift nuclear-related sanctions.

After withdrawal, Trump reimposed and increased economic sanctions designed to strangle the Iranian economy, and Iran followed by significantly expanding the amount and purity of its uranium enrichment far beyond the limits of the deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

President Joe Biden came to office promising to reenter the agreement and adhere to its original terms if Iran would do the same. Iran has refused to negotiate directly with the United States, so the Europeans are serving as go-betweens.

Negotiations began in April but were suspended after six sessions in June when Iran elected a new government. Tehran’s return to the table last month, under a more hard-line government, brought what those on the other side called “unacceptable” new demands.

The European statement said that technical progress had been made over the past 24 hours “but that just brings us a little closer to where we were in June.”

“We have now a text that, with some minor exceptions, is common ground for negotiations,” European Union envoy Enrique Mora, who is coordinating the talks, told reporters Friday afternoon. “That doesn’t mean we have an agreement. We don’t.”

He said the process is “going to be politically painful at times, and we do not have much time.”

Iran’s chief negotiator, Ali Bagheri, told reporters that the pace of reaching agreement depends on the others. “If the other side accepts the rational views and positions of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the new round of talks can be the last one and we can achieve a deal in the shortest possible time,” he said, according to Iranian media.

He also indicated that China, which has supported the need to return to the original terms of the JCPOA, is more sympathetic to Iranian demands that other delegations. China has continued to purchase Iranian oil in violation of sanctions.

As described by the State Department official, most of this week’s discussions centered on “nuclear issues” of how the Iranian program would return to compliance with the JCPOA.

Thanks to European diplomacy, the official said, “we now have a common understanding of the text that will serve as a basis for negotiations on nuclear issues.” While a “welcome step,” the official cautioned that enthusiasm should be curbed because “we are now at best where we were last June . . . compiling items on an agenda that have to be resolved but were not resolved during this round.”

The United States and its partners have said that continued expansion of Iran’s nuclear activities have brought it closer to having the materials and much of the know-how to produce a nuclear weapons, although Iran has said that is not its goal. If those activities progress beyond a certain point, including continued use of advanced centrifuges and enrichment and stockpiles of highly enriched uranium far beyond the limits of the JCPOA, there will be little point in continuing the effort.

While the official declined to say when that time would arrive, some experts have estimated it may be a matter of a few months, if not weeks.

“We were ready to continue to do the work necessary,” the official said. “The Iranian delegation has its reasons, I’m sure, for wanting to go back. The point is we hope they return soon . . . with a sense of urgency.”

“Regardless of whatever progress is made, the pace at which we are moving won’t suffice to save the JCPOA,” the official added. “There is going to have to be an acceleration. Iran is going to have to come back with a clear set of issues it prioritizes and how to resolve them. They will find on the part of the U.S. a party prepared to negotiate seriously, constructively and creatively.”

Meanwhile, a group of seven prominent former policymakers, including former CIA director and defense secretary Leon Panetta and former U.S. Central Command chief and CIA director David Petraeus, released a statement Friday calling on the administration to “restore Iran’s fear that its current nuclear path will trigger the use of force against it by the United States.”

In response to their proposals for increased U.S. military exercises and provision of more deterrent weaponry to countries in the region, the senior official said that “no doubt Iran sees very clearly at this point” that it has “two paths in front of it,” the lifting of sanctions and reduction in isolation, and “the path of crisis.”

Published : December 18, 2021

By : The Washington Post

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https://www.nationthailand.com/international/40010121

Russia asked the United States to prevent further eastward expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

The Russian Foreign Ministry on Friday published a draft treaty it has proposed to the United States on security guarantees.

Both countries shall not undertake actions nor participate in or support activities that affect the security of each other, the document read.

One should not use the territories of other countries to prepare or carry out an armed attack against the other or other actions affecting core security interests of the other, it said.

Russia asked the United States to prevent further eastward expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and deny the former Soviet republics accession to the alliance.

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The United States would be banned from establishing military bases in the former Soviet republics that are not NATO members, from using their infrastructure for military activity, and from developing bilateral military cooperation with them, it said.

One would be prohibited from deploying armed forces and armaments in the areas where such deployment could threaten the other, except on its own territory, according to the draft document.

One should not deploy ground-launched intermediate- and shorter-range missiles both on and outside its national territory, from which such weapons can attack the other, it said.

Russia and the United States would be banned from deploying nuclear weapons outside their national territories, and they must return such weapons already deployed outside their national territories.

The 8-article draft treaty has been sent to the United States for consideration.

Published : December 18, 2021

By : Xinhua

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https://www.nationthailand.com/international/40010120

“When COVID-19 community transmission increases and stringent public health measures become a necessity, schools must be the last places to close and the first to re-open,” UN Childrens Fund (UNICEF) chief Henrietta Fore said.

School closings because of the COVID-19 variant Omicron should be the last mitigant measure authorities take, UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) chief Henrietta Fore said on Friday.
 

“Nationwide school closures should be avoided whenever possible,” said the UNICEF executive director in a statement. “When COVID-19 community transmission increases and stringent public health measures become a necessity, schools must be the last places to close and the first to re-open.”

“Another wave of widespread school closures would be disastrous for children,” Fore said. “The evidence is clear: Prolonged, nationwide school closures; limited resources for students, teachers and parents; and lack of access to remote learning have wiped out decades of progress in education and rendered childhood unrecognizable.”

Students wearing face masks attend a face-to-face class at an elementary school in Quezon City, the Philippines, Dec. 6, 2021. (Xinhua/Rouelle Umali)

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She said that beyond lost learning, children also lost school safety, daily in-person interactions with friends, access to healthcare and often their only nutritious meal of the day. This generation of schoolchildren could collectively lose 17 trillion U.S. dollars in potential lifetime earnings.

“We know that mitigation measures in schools are effective,” she said. “We must use this knowledge to do everything we can to keep schools open. We must also increase investments in digital connectivity to make sure that no child is left behind.”

Fore, who will be relieved of the post as UNICEF chief, said that next year could not be another year of disrupted learning. “It needs to be the year that education, and the best interests of children, take precedence.”

Fore announced in July her intention to resign as UNICEF executive director because of family health issues. A senior official in the White House of U.S. President Joe Biden, Catherine Russell, has been appointed to succeed Fore by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

Fore said she would remain in her post until a successor could take over. Russell said she would start as executive director early next year. 

Published : December 18, 2021

By : Xinhua