Registered in the Department of Posts of Sri Lanka under No: QD/146/News/2020

WEDNESDAYMAY 13, 2020

VOL: 4 - ISSUE 360

30.

VIRUS OUTBREAK LINKED TO SEOUL CLUBS POPULAR

WITH LGBT COMMUNITY STOKES HOMOPHOBIA

PAGE 02 HOT TOPICS PAGE 03 GLOCAL

UNDERCOVER COPS, CCTV CAMERAS TO DETECT

LOCKDOWN VIOLATORS

PAGE 04 REALITY CHECK

MUSLIMS FACE EXTRA THREAT

AS CORONAVIRUS STIRS HATE

Trending News Quote for TodayHe who angers you conquers you.

Word for TodayCleek [kleek] –verb (used with object) – to grasp or seize (something) suddenly and eagerly; snatch

Today in History1981 - Mehmet Ali Ağca attempts to assassinate Pope John Paul II in St. Peter's Square in Rome. He is rushed to the Agostino Gemelli University Polyclinic to undergo emergency surgery and survives

Today is...Donate A Day’s Wages To Charity DayA day to do something for the sake of others, domestically and around the globe

UK:The Office for National Sta-tistics says the country’s death toll from COVID-19 has surpassed 40,000, with almost 10,000 care home residents now having died from coronavirus- A railway station worker dies from COVID-19 after she was spat at and coughed over by someone claiming to have the virus.USA: The very nature of the pres-idency is under scrutiny at the Su-preme Court, as the justices weigh whether House committees and prosecutors may obtain troves of information about President Don-

ald Trump’s business affairs.- Gov. Andrew Cuomo announces New York may have as many as 93 cases of children presenting with a new paediatric multi-system inflammatory syndrome likely linked to COVID-19, with three deaths and two more under in-vestigation.- Interpol issues a red notice for the provisional arrest of a dip-lomat's wife charged over a car crash in Britain that killed a teen-ager.Canada: Rocker Bryan Adams faces a backlash and accusations

of anti-Chinese racism over his online rant about the pandemic forcing the cancellation of his London shows this week.

Afghanistan: President Ashraf Ghani orders the country's secu-rity forces to resume offensive op-erations against the Taliban and other insurgent groups, following two separate attacks that killed dozens of people.

India: Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveils a $270 billion stim-ulus package for labourers and small businesses to boost flagging

growth as the country grapples with the impact of the coronavi-rus and weeks-long lockdown.

Spain: A 113-year-old woman, believed to be the oldest person living in the country, beats the coronavirus at retirement home where several other residents died from the pandemic.-The government says it would restrict arrivals from Europe's Schengen zone and impose a mandatory 14-day quarantine pe-riod on all travellers to avoid im-porting new virus cases.

Stranded people with their belongings stand in queues to enter the railway station in New Delhi yesterday (12). India's enormous railway network was grinding back to life as a gradual lifting of the world's biggest coronavirus lockdown gathered pace even as new cases surged. The country of 1.3 billion imposed a strict shutdown in late March, which Prime Minister Narendra Modi's govern-ment has credited with keeping cases to a modest 70,000, with around 2,000 deaths. But the lock-

down, which enters its 50th day today (13), has torpedoed the economy, snatching the livelihoods of tens of millions of people and hitting the poor the hardest. Whole industries have been devastat-ed from tea plantations to diamond-polishing and there are fears of food shortages, while a ban on flights has left hundreds of thousands of Indians stranded abroad. Restrictions have been stead-ily eased, however, particularly in rural areas, and some Indian trains - on a network which normally

carries over 20 million passengers a day - resumed yesterday. More than 54,000 tickets for an initial 30 services sold out online within three hours on Monday (11), reports said. Two trains left New Del-hi yesterday afternoon with 2,300 people on board. Others left different cities including Mumbai. The government has not set out a program for a time-table beyond May 20, but Modi was due to address the nation later yesterday when he might announce a further relaxation of lockdown restrictions

-Sajjad HUSSAIN / AFP

KABUL — Afghans woke to another deadly day yesterday (12), with gun-men storming a maternity clinic in the capital and a suicide bomber wreaking havoc at a funeral in the eastern province of Nangarhar, to-gether leaving at least 40 people dead and more than 80 wounded.

Violence has intensified across Af-ghanistan, despite an initial peace agreement between the United States and the Taliban that was supposed to bring the war closer to an end, as well as the rapid spread of the coronavirus across the country. The Taliban have ignored appeals for a humanitarian cease-fire.

The attack in Kabul, the capital, targeted a 100-bed hospital in the city’s west, a largely Shiite area. The hospital is known for its large mater-nity ward, and special Forces were seen rescuing newborn babies during the fighting.

The Interior Ministry declared the attack over and the three assailants dead after about five hours of fight-ing. The country’s health ministry said the attack had killed “15 moth-ers and their newborn babies” and wounded 16 others, but local elders suggested the fatalities could be high-er. Tariq Arian, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry, said that about 100

people had been rescued. Crowds had gathered outside the hospital, and emotions ran high as they saw babies soaked in blood being rescued.

A community elder came out of the hospital with a list of a dozen new-borns who had been evacuated to other hospitals.

“Fifteen martyred mothers, their bodies are in the ambulances be-ing evacuated now. We put them in body bags,” said Abdul Hadi, the lo-cal community elder. “I recognized the babies from the names written on the tape on their stomachs.” The bombing in Nangarhar province tar-geted the funeral of a local police

commander, who had died of natural causes. A suicide bomber detonated his explosives just as people were lin-ing up for the final prayer, provincial officials said.

ShahmahmoodMiakhel, the gov-ernor of Nangarhar, said at least 25 people were killed and 68 wounded.

No group has claimed either of the attacks. The Taliban, in a statement, denied that they were behind the Kabul hospital assault. The attacks come as the coronavirus is spreading rapidly across Afghanistan, threaten-ing to overwhelm the country’s medi-cal facilities.

-NYT

Newborn babies among dead in attack on Kabul maternity hospital, funeral ceremony

COVID-19 and curfew in Sri Lanka

Wuhan to test entire population after new virus cluster

‘Dengue kills too'

• Fifteen people were confirmed as COVID-19 positive yes-terday (12) taking Sri Lanka’s tally of the novel coronavirus infection to 884. Six new cases were confirmed late Monday (11) night. Five hundred and nine individuals are receiving treatment, 366 have been deemed completely recovered and nine have succumbed to the virus.• Curfew will continue in the Colombo and Gampaha Dis-tricts till further notice, but will be lifted in all other districts including Kalutara and Puttalam at 5:00 a.m. and re-im-posed at 8:00 p.m.• Police warn strict action will be taken against those violat-ing the curfew.• The Defence Ministry denies allegations that the Sri Lanka Navy has not provided the health authorities information about sailors who had contracted the novel coronavirus.• The Ministry of Education issues a circular and guidelines for the preparation of schools and educational institutions for reopening amidst a COVID-19 crisis.• President Gotabaya Rajapaksa highlights the importance of conducting random sample PCR tests in areas where peo-ple frequent regularly.• A spokesman for the Archdiocese of Colombo says the Church has no issue with cremating Catholics who succumb to COVID-19.• NIC last digit based system - those who have 5 and 6 as the last digit can walk to nearby shop, but not drive.• Those with suspected COVID-19 symptoms are urged to call 1390 - emergency hotline- set up for free medical advice and assistance, and to facilitate hospital admissions.

Coronavirus toll

Latin America faces two epidemics at once

PARIS - The novel coronavirus has killed at least 286,122 people since the outbreak first emerged in China last Decem-ber, according to a tally from official sources compiled by AFP at 1100 GMT yesterday (12).

At least 4,188,040 cases of coronavirus have been reg-istered in 195 countries and territories. Of these, at least 1,432,700 are now considered recovered.

The tallies, using data collected by AFP from national au-thorities and information from the World Health Organiza-tion (WHO), probably reflect only a fraction of the actual number of infections. Many countries are testing only the most serious cases. The US has the highest number of total deaths with 80,684 out of 1,347,936 cases. At least 232,733 have been declared recovered.

Britain has the second highest toll with 32,065 deaths from 223,060 cases. Figures compiled by British regional health agencies put the number of fatalities at over 36,000. But these include cases where COVID-19 is only suspected to be the cause, in addition to people who tested positive. It is fol-lowed by Italy with 30,739 deaths and 219,814 cases, Spain with 26,920 fatalities and 228,030 infections and France with 26,643 deaths and 177,423 cases. China - excluding Hong Kong and Macau - has to date declared 4,633 deaths and 82,919 cases. It has 78,171 recovered cases. Europe has a total of 157,748 deaths from 1,770,167 cases, the United States and Canada have 85,740 deaths and 1,417,841 cases, Latin Amer-ica and the Caribbean have 21,526 deaths and 384,421 cases, Asia has 10,942 deaths and 307,696 cases, the Middle East has 7,711 deaths and 233,522 cases, Africa has 2,330 deaths from 66,098 cases, and Oceania 125 deaths from 8,302 cases.

Due to corrections by national authorities or late publica-tion of data, the figures updated over the past 24-hour period may not correspond exactly to the previous day's tallies.

-AFP

WUHAN - Wuhan plans to conduct coronavirus tests on the Chinese city's entire population after new cases emerged for the first time in weeks in the cradle of the global pandemic, state media reported yesterday (12).

Officials were ordered to sub-mit by noon yesterday plans to administer nucleic acid tests on all residents in the city of 11 million people, according to an official notice carried by news outlets.

"Each district should make plans and arrangements to con-duct nucleic acid tests on the en-tire population in its jurisdiction within a 10-day time limit," the notice said, although it was un-clear when testing would begin.

The plan come after Wuhan reported the first cluster of new COVID-19 infections since the city re-opened after a 76-day lockdown on April 8. Six new cases were reported on Sunday

(10) and Monday (11) from a residential compound in Dongx-ihu District.

But an official from the Dongxihu District epidemic pre-vention and control command-ing office said they have "not yet received news about this notice."

Wu Zunyou, chief epidemi-ologist at the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, told state broadcaster CCTV it was "not necessary" for every person in Wuhan to be tested.

"Neighbourhoods without any cases don't need to screen every person," Wu said, while large-scale screening should focus on "key jobs" and other criteria.

China has largely brought the virus under control, but it has been on edge about being hit by a second wave as it has lift-ed lockdowns and restrictions across the country.

-AFP

BOGOTA- As the coronavirus kills thousands and dominates government attention across Latin America, another deadly viral infection is quietly stalking the region.

Dengue - colloquially called breakbone fever for the severe joint pain it causes - is endemic in much of Latin America, but the spread of COVID-19 has pulled crucial attention and resources away from the fight against it, doctors and officials say.

The Pan-American Health Or-ganization (PAHO) expects 2020 to be marked by high rates of dengue, which can fill intensive care units and kill patients even absent the pressures of COV-ID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus.

Around the world, COVID-19 has affected other diseases in different ways. Though in Eu-rope measures to stop the coro-navirus have banished seasonal

flu, in Africa border closures have stopped transportation of measles vaccines and other sup-plies.

In Latin America, a dengue epidemic which started in late 2018 is still being felt. Den-gue infections in the Americas surged to an all-time high of 3.1 million in 2019, with more than 1,500 deaths in Latin America and the Caribbean, according to the PAHO.

Cases of the disease should begin to decline in the second half of the year, the organization said.

Spread by mosquitoes, dengue outbreaks typically occur three to five years after the previous epidemic.

And with four strains of den-gue in circulation, people may catch it more than once, with second cases more likely to be severe.

-Agencies

286,122 deaths at 1100 GMT yesterday

GENEVA - The World Health Organization (WHO) said yes-terday (12) some treatments ap-pear to be limiting the severity or length of the COVID-19 disease and that it was focusing on learn-ing more about four or five of the most promising ones.

The Geneva-based WHO is leading a global initiative to de-velop safe and effective vaccines, tests and drugs to prevent, diag-nose and treat COVID-19. The respiratory illness has infected 4.19 million people around the world.

“We do have some treatments that seem to be in very early stud-ies limiting the severity or the length of the illness but we do not have anything that can kill or stop the virus,” spokeswoman Margaret Harris told a briefing, referring to the body’s so-called Solidarity Trial of drugs against the disease. “We do have poten-tially positive data coming out

but we need to see more data to be 100% confident that we can say this treatment over that one,” she added, saying more research was needed and planned.

Harris did not name the treat-ments. Gilead Science Inc says its antiviral drug remdesivir has helped improve outcomes for COVID-19 patients.

Clinical data released last month on remdesivir raised hopes it might be an effective treatment. Several studies look-ing at combinations of antiviral medicines have also suggested they may help patients fight off the virus.

Results of a trial in Hong Kong released this month showed a triple drug combination of an-tiviral medicines helped relieve symptoms in patients with mild to moderate COVID-19 infection and swiftly reduced the amount of virus in their bodies.

-Agencies

WHO sees ‘potentially positive data' in treating coronavirus

-Elizabeth Kenny

2 WEDNESDAY, MAY 13, 2020 DAILY EXPRESS

By Marlowe HoodBy Sheryl Gay Stolberg

By Jake Kwon and Julia Hollingsworth

HOT TOPICS

SEOUL - A cluster of coronavirus cases connected to clubs frequented by South Korea's gay community has sparked an outpouring of hate speech towards the country's already-embat-tled LGBTQ population.

More than 100 cases have been linked to nightlife venues in the South Korean capital, and on Saturday (9), Seoul ordered all clubs and bars to temporarily close.

The cluster has caused alarm in South Korea, which was among the first countries outside of China to deal with a large-scale coronavirus out-break. In recent weeks, however, au-thorities had begun loosening restric-tions as case numbers fell.

The suggestion that the outbreak is linked to the city's gay scene has sparked a huge backlash against the LGBTQ community, including the 29-year-old man believed to be at the centre of the cluster.

Local media has emphasized his sexual orientation and reported that the clubs he visited are gay venues, although the venues do not openly de-scribe themselves as such on their offi-cial websites or social media accounts.

That reaction could make contact tracing harder, with people afraid to be associated with the LGBTQ com-munity and having their sexuality outed.

Although all three venues linked to the cluster asked for customers' full names and phone numbers on arrival, the city has been unable to contact al-most 2,000 club-goers -meaning they either avoided the calls or gave a false number, Seoul's mayor Park Won-soon said Monday (11).

The city has had to employ other measures to track them. Using phone signal tower records, the city found that 10,905 people were in the vicinity of the clubs in the nightlife suburb of Itaewon between April 24 and May 6. Authorities have texted them all, say-

ing they should get tested. Officials have also used credit cards to track al-most 500 people, who have been asked to get tested and self-quarantine.

The number of people who had been tested had nearly doubled between Sunday (10) and Monday, after au-thorities began offering anonymous tests, Park said yesterday (12).

"The growing number of condemna-tion and hate speech definitely does not help and only has adverse effects," he said.

The outbreak also showed the need to always be on alert, Park said.

"If the disease penetrates Seoul, the Korean peninsula is penetrated," he said in an interview with CNN. "We are seriously afraid, trying to find out the visitors as soon as possible."

How the case unfoldedOn the night of May 1 and the early

hours of May 2, a 29-year-old man visited several clubs in Itaewon, ac-cording to the South Korean Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC). On May 7, the man tested positive for COVID-19.

At the time when the man went to the clubs, South Korea was still un-der strict social distancing rules, and citizens were encouraged to stay home and limit unnecessary contact with others. Those social distancing rules were lifted on May 6.

KCDC deputy director Kwon Joon-wook said yesterday there are now two people identified as first showing symptoms on May 2 and said the Itae-won cluster may have "various epicen-tres or sources."

Under non-inforceable pandemic reporting guidelines that were drafted by Korea's journalist associations, me-dia are told to avoid violating patients' privacy and using sensational lan-guage in reporting.

But as the news broke, several South Korean media organizations reported

that the bars the 29-year-old had visit-ed were gay bars. That detail, coupled with the already-publicly available in-formation about the man's age, district of residence, and movements, meant that the media had effectively outed him, potentially putting his employ-ment at risk.

South Korean authorities have urged the public not to target individuals or specific communities.

Kwon said it was important to pro-tect the personal information of those infected, and South Korean authorities have warned that leaking personal in-formation of COVID-19 patients could also be a criminal offense.

On Monday, a Ministry of Health official, Yoon Tae-ho, said that there had been a trend of "criticism and hate against a certain group to which the infection occurred," without explicitly naming the LGBTQ community.

"Leaking personal information of confirmed patients or spreading base-less rumors not only harms other but could be criminally punished," Yoon added.

In a statement, LGBT rights advoca-cy group, Solidarity for LGBT Human Rights of Korea, said the media's de-cision to reveal personal details of the 29-year-old patient had incited hatred and was a serious human rights viola-tion.

"The attitude of media, who are ob-sessed with revealing the sexual ori-entation of the confirmed case and digging up information that has noth-ing to do with the disease, is adding a stigma of the disease to the hatred of minorities that has been prevalent in Korean society," the statement said.

Solidarity for LGBT Human Rights of Korea also warned that discrimi-natory media reports would drive the coronavirus underground. "It makes self-isolation and testing difficult," the statement said.

-CNN

Virus symptoms multiply as pandemic deepens PARIS - Every week, it seems, the list of coro-navirus symptoms - ranging from disagreeable to deadly, from ‘COVID toes’ to toxic shock - grows longer.

What began as a familiar flu-like cluster of chills, headaches and fever has rapidly expand-ed over the last three months into a catalogue of syndromes affecting most of the body's main organs.

The new coronavirus can also push the im-mune system into overdrive, unleashing an indiscriminate assault on pathogens and their human hosts alike.

"Most viruses can cause disease in two ways," explained Jeremy Rossman, a senior lecturer in virology at the University of Kent.

"They can damage tissue where the virus rep-licates, or they can cause damage as a side effect of the immune system fighting off the disease."

Doctors suspect, for example, that COVID-19 is behind the hospitalization in recent weeks of more than 100 children and adolescent in New York, London and Paris diagnosed with a disor-der similar to toxic shock syndrome that attacks blood vessel walls and can cause fever, vomit-ing and in extreme cases organ failure. Three deaths in New York state have been attributed to so-calling paediatric multi-system inflamma-tory syndrome, with two others deemed likely.

In adults, COVID-19 had been linked in doz-ens of medical studies to other life-threatening symptoms, including strokes, heart damage and brain swelling.

Researchers from the urology department of Nanjing Medical University, writing last week in Nature Reviews, described patients devel-oping severe urinary complications and acute kidney injury. They also observed "dramatic changes" in male sex hormones.

"After recovery from COVID-19, young men who are interested in having children should receive a consultation regarding their fertility," they advised. Does that mean that COVID-19 causes a uniquely broad array of symptoms? Not necessarily, virologists and other experts say. "If it is a common disease, then even rare complications will happen frequently," Babak-Javid, a consultant in infectious diseases at Cambridge University Hospitals, told AFP.

There are more than 4.1 million confirmed COVID-19 cases around the world, but the true number of infections - taking into account un-detected and asymptomatic infection - "is going to be in the tens, possibly hundreds of millions" he said.

"So if one-in-1,000, or even one-in-10,000, get complications, that is still thousands of peo-ple."

Some of the rare symptoms associated with the new coronavirus also show up with influen-za, which kills several hundred thousand people worldwide every year, he noted. But with a cru-cial difference: "Compared to influenza, you are much more likely to become seriously ill, and to die." The number of confirmed COVID-19 deaths is fast approaching 300,000.

Frontline general practitioners have been the first to see patterns as the pandemic spread across the globe from ground zero in central China in a matter of weeks.

"At the outset, we were told to watch out for headaches, fever and a light cough," recalls Syl-vie Monnoye, a family doctor in central Paris.

"Then they added a runny nose and a scratchy throat. After that, digestive problems, including stomach aches and severe diarrhoea."

The list kept growing: skin lesions, neurologi-cal problems, sharp chest pains, loss of taste and smell.

"We started to think that we should suspect everything," Monnoye said, dressed from head-to-toe in protective wear. Some patients were so terrified, she added, that they cowered in the corner of her office afraid to touch anything or get too close to her. An internal US Centres for Disease Control (CDC) report with a breakdown of symptoms for 2,591 COVID-19 patients ad-mitted to hospital between March 1 and May 1 chimes with such anecdotal accounts.

Three-quarters of the patients experienced chills, fever and/or coughing, with nearly as many showing shortness of breath.

These are, by far, the most common COV-ID-19 symptoms.

Nearly a third complained of flu-like muscle aches, while 28% experienced diarrhoea and a quarter nausea or vomiting, according to the internal report, leaked to the media.

Some 18% had headaches, while 10 to 15% were hit by chest or abdominal pain, runny nose, sore throat and/or a feeling of confusion.

Less than 1% of the CDC cohort had other symptoms, including seizures, rashes and con-junctivitis. Health authorities have been slow in alerting the public to this panoply of possible impacts. Until the end of April, the CDC itself only listed three on its website: coughing, fever and shortness of breath. The update included only a few more: chills, muscle pain, headaches and loss of smell or taste.

A loss of smell and taste was found in only 3.5% of patients included in the CDC report, but experts suspect these symptoms are - for rea-sons unknown - more prevalent in less severe cases where people were not hospitalized.

"I don't have any patients with these symp-toms who had serious complications," said Monnoye. The loss of taste and smell, experts note, is extremely rare with other types of virus.

Another cluster of symptoms rarely found in flu patients appears to arise from blood clots.

Heart problems, liver thrombosis, lung embo-lisms and brain damage in COVID-19 patients have been traced to such clots in recent stud-ies. "When one is very sick with COVID, you can have a problem with blood clots forming, and that seems to be much, much more common than with other viral infections," added Javid.

A third cluster of unusual symptoms involve skin eruptions. "COVID-associated 'rashes' seem to be as numerous as they are hard to pin down," dermatologist Graeme Lipper said on Medscape, a medical information website.

A condition known as pseudo-chilblains, or ‘COVID toes’, has garnered the most attention, with photos on social media showing digits dis-coloured as if with frostbite.

Like loss of smell, the symptom -- which can cause painful itching and burning -- is associ-ated with benign forms of the virus.

-Agence France-Presse

Health workers spray disinfectant on a street in the Itaewon district of Seoul yesterday (12). South Korea's capital ordered the closure of all clubs and bars after a cluster of new cases were linked to a 29-year-old man who tested positive after spending time at five clubs and bars in Itaewon -- one of the city's busiest nightlife districts - last weekend

- STR / YONHAP / AFP

WASHINGTON — Dr. Anthony Fauci, the na-tion’s top infectious disease expert and a central figure in the government’s response to the coro-navirus, was set to deliver a stark warning to the Senate yesterday (12): Americans would experi-ence “needless suffering and death” if the country opens up prematurely.

Fauci, who has emerged as perhaps the nation’s most respected voice during the worst public health crisis in a century, is one of four top gov-ernment doctors scheduled to testify remotely at a high-profile — and highly unusual — hearing before the Senate Health, Education, Labour and Pensions Committee. He made his comments in an email to a New York Times reporter late Mon-day (10) night.

“The major message that I wish to convey to the Senate HLP committee tomorrow is the danger of trying to open the country prematurely,” he wrote. “If we skip over the checkpoints in the guidelines to ‘Open America Again,’ then we risk the danger of multiple outbreaks throughout the country. This will not only result in needless suffering and death, but would actually set us back on our quest to return to normal.”

It is a message starkly at odds with the things-are-looking-up argument that President Donald Trump has been trying to put out: that states are ready to reopen and the pandemic is under con-trol.

In the Rose Garden earlier Monday, Trump de-clared that “we have met the moment and we have prevailed,” though he later walked back the com-ments and said he only meant to say the country had prevailed on increasing access to coronavirus testing — an assertion public health experts say is not true.

Fauci, who has served under Republican and Democratic presidents for more than three dec-ades and has worked to master the art of contra-dicting Trump without correcting him, echoed the language of Trump’s own plan, Opening Up America Again, which lays out guidelines for state officials to consider in reopening their economies.

But signs of opposition from parts of Trump’s party appeared almost immediately. Shortly after Fauci’s comments were published Monday night, Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., pushed back on Twitter, and invoked another top scientist: Dr. Deborah L. Birx, Trump’s coronavirus response coordinator.

“Dr.Fauci has continually used his bully pul-pit to bring public criticism on governors who are seeking to open up their states,” Biggs wrote. “The Fauci-Birx team have replaced faith w/ fear & hope w/ despair. The remedy is to open up our society & our economy. Trust & respect our free-dom.”

The White House plan recommends, among other things, that before reopening states should have a “downward trajectory of positive tests” or a “downward trajectory of documented cases” of coronavirus over two weeks, while conducting ro-bust contact tracing and “sentinel surveillance” testing of asymptomatic people in vulnerable pop-ulations, like nursing homes.

But the guidelines are not mandatory. Even as the death toll mounts — more than 80,000 Ameri-cans have lost their lives to COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus — many states are reo-pening without adhering to them, seeking to ease the pain as millions of working people and small-business owners are facing economic ruin while sheltering at home.

In more than half of states easing restrictions last week, case counts were trending upward, the proportion of positive test results was rising, or both.

“We’re not reopening based on science,” said Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, a former director of the Cen-tres for Disease Control and Prevention. “We’re reopening based on politics, ideology and public pressure. And I think it’s going to end badly.”

Yesterday’s hearing was Fauci’s first appearance before Congress since Trump declared the coro-navirus pandemic a national emergency on March 13, and it offered a chance for him to address law-makers and the public without the president by his side. The last time Fauci appeared on Capitol Hill, on March 11, when he was still permitted to testify before the Democratic-controlled House, he made headlines by bluntly telling the nation, “Things will get worse.”

-New York Times

Virus outbreak linked to Seoul clubs popular with LGBT community stokes homophobia

5 killed in nightmare ventilator fire at Russia’s virus hospital

Bu Shaun Walker

By Stephen Castle and Mark Landler

Death by negligence

MOSCOW -Russian authorities have launched a criminal investigation af-ter two deadly fires in hospital wards treating coronavirus patients in a mat-ter of days.

Five coronavirus patients attached to ventilators died in the early hours of yesterday (12), after a fire broke out at the St George hospital in St Peters-burg. More than 100 other patients on the same floor were moved to a differ-ent part of the building in time to save their lives.

Four of the casualties were in the ward where the fire broke out, while a fifth patient was in a neighbouring ward. “Investigators are working to es-tablish the cause of death of the fifth

patient,” the prosecutors’ office said in a statement. Early reports suggested that the fire was caused by an over-heated ventilator.

“The ventilators were being pushed to their limits. Our preliminary infor-mation suggests there was an overload and the equipment caught fire, which set off the fire,” a source told Interfax news agency.

Russian agencies reported that the ventilators had been manufactured recently by a factory in Russia, though there was no confirmation of this from the hospital.

The country’s investigative commit-tee has launched a criminal investiga-tion on charges of death by negligence,

and an official probe into compliance with fire safety standards at the hospi-tal is under way. “Everything is more or less calm now. We didn’t have to evacuate anyone to other hospitals,” the head doctor Valery Strizheletsky told a local television station.

The fire came just a few days after a separate incident at a Moscow hospital treating coronavirus patients, in which one person died. There were reports that a faulty ventilator was also the cause of that fire.

Russia has more than 220,000 coro-navirus cases, and currently has the second highest rate of growth in the world after the US.

-theguardian.com

Fauci to warn of ‘needless suffering and death’

Gaps and contradictions

Australian treasurer tested

Bafflement greets Boris Johnson’s plan for reopening Britain

After coughing fit while COVID-19 budget

LONDON — When the coronavirus struck, Prime Minister Boris John-son of Britain agonized before closing stores, pubs and restaurants as part of the country’s fight against the dis-ease. But with the spread of the virus curbed, easing the lockdown is proving harder still.

On Monday (11), Johnson’s long-anticipated blueprint for reopening the economy ran into a barrage of opposition, as critics pointed to gaps and contradictions in a plan that left many pondering basic questions such as when to return to work and how to get there.

“What the country needs is clarity and reassurance, and at the moment both are in short supply,” Keir Starm-er, leader of the opposition Labour Party, told Parliament. Starmer ac-cused Johnson of spreading “consid-

erable confusion” in a country that is among the worst hit in Europe by the pandemic.

Johnson, making his first statement to Parliament on the virus, said Mon-day that the nation’s “shared effort has averted a still worse catastrophe.” He rejected criticism that his propos-als were too vague, saying he trusted the public to apply “good, solid British common sense.”

But political leaders in Scotland and Wales have been quick to reject parts of the new strategy. And with contra-dictory advice over when a return to work should start, even those in some quarters that generally support the government were unforgiving.

“Boris Johnson’s big lockdown speech descends into farce,” was the headline in MailOnline, the digital edi-tion of The Daily Mail.

Under Johnson’s new proposals, announced Sunday (10) and Monday, those unable to work from home will be encouraged to return to workplaces — but also to avoid public transport.

People will be advised to wear face coverings on buses and trains and in some stores — but not obliged to.

They will be allowed to exercise more and meet with one other person in open spaces like parks — so long as they remain two metres, or roughly six feet, apart.

There is also a vague timetable for the reopening next month of some schools, and the possibility of resum-ing some sporting events.

But while the government laid down objectives for easing the lockdown, trade unions said it left many ques-tions unanswered.

-New York Times

CANBERRA - Australian Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has been tested for COVID-19 and is in self-isolation after suffering a coughing fit while delivering a coronavirus-related budget in the parliament.

"Today while delivering my ministerial state-ment I had a dry mouth and cough," Frydenberg said in a statement issued a few hours after the incident.

"The Deputy Chief Medical Officer advised me that out of an abundance of caution it was prudent I be tested for COVID-19," he said.

Frydenberg said he immediately left the Parlia-ment House to be tested and will remain in self-isolation while waiting for the test result, which is expected today (13).

Frydenberg struggled for a few minutes to sup-press a coughing fit in the socially-distanced Par-liament yesterday (12) afternoon.

"Too long a speech," he quipped in his lost voice. In the live video broadcast, Frydenberg is seen

coughing into his hand several times before touch-ing his face and the dispatch box, going against the government's own medical advice to limit the germs' spread.

In the address, Frydenberg said the coronavirus will wipe out about 50 billion dollars (US$ 32.4 billion) from the Australian economy.

If not for the impact of the coronavirus crisis, Frydenberg had been expected to announce the country's first budget surplus in 12 years.

Instead, experts say Australia now faces the largest budget deficit in the country's history.

-dpa

press ewspapers Cey t Ltd185, Grandpass Road, Colombo 14, Sri LankaTelephone: 0117 322 705 (Editorial) 0117 322 731 (Advertising)0117 322 789 (Circulation)Email – editor.dailyexpress@encl.lk/weekendexpress@encl.lk Epaper - http://epaper.newsexpress.lkFacebook –News Express Sri Lanka

3 DAILY EXPRESS

GLOCALWEDNESDAY, MAY 13, 2020

COLOMBO – The government in its bid to ensure strict adherence to quarantine curfew laws, especially in the high risk zones, is set to deploy undercover cops and CCTV cameras to monitor movement and detect curfew violators, as the coun-try opens up partially for normal civilian life.

Senior Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Police, AjithRohana, addressing a media briefing yesterday (12), warned effective today (13), the police will get tough with those found violating the laws. He also warned police will seize vehicles being driven without curfew passes in the Co-

lombo and Gampaha districts while cur-few is in effect.

Rohana said police officers dressed in civilian clothing and the more than 100 CCTV cameras operational in Colombo will be used to detect anyone failing to ad-here to the quarantine curfew regulations. He said the undercover cops will be mov-ing around the country to detect those failing to respect the quarantine laws.

The Senior DIG also warned that legal action will be taken against all those cur-rently in custody, since curfew was de-clared in March, and noted that the quar-antine laws and curfew, reinforced with

a legal backing following the ruling from the Gampaha Magistrate on Monday (11), is being strictly enforced.

Civilian life returned to semi-normal from Monday (11), with people allowed to venture out on foot to the closest super-market, grocery story and pharmacy for medicine and other essentials, while the curfew remained in force. However, Ro-hana noted the quarantine laws were not being fully respected in Colombo.

Earlier, talking to a private television channel, Rohana said many vehicles were seen in Colombo roads Monday with-out curfew passes. “We will arrest vehi-

cle without passes,” he said,reiterating thatthe public can go for essentials to the nearest location on foot during curfew and the relaxing of regulations was not intended to be used to go from one corner of the city to the other in a car.

He said vehicles being driven without valid curfew passes will be seized and not released until the drivers are produced in court.

Colombo and Gamapaha district con-tinues to be under a coronavirus curfew where private and state offices are expect-ed to operate with a minimum staff.

-ENCL

Undercover cops, CCTV cameras to detect lockdown violators COLOMBO– Sri Lankan children need to re-ceive “leaner, smarter education” where stu-dents are guided to be self-directed if distance education is to succeed, a recent study has re-vealed.

The Education Forum Sri Lanka (EFSL) in re-sponse to the sudden closure of schools due to the COVID-19 crisis says it is critical the coun-try comes up “with short term fixes as well as long-term solutions to the distance education of school children in times of calamities,” noting it is possible that in case of a fresh outbreak of a pandemic there may be fresh school closures.

The proposals are contained in a note sent out by the coordinators of the forum Dr. Sujata Ga-mage and Dr. Tara De Mel.

The elephant in the room is that 60% of households, with school going children, do not have internet access.

EFSL quotes a survey of mobile use in Sri Lan-ka by LIRNEasia in 2018 which found that only 40% of households in Sri Lanka with children aged 5-18 had an Internet connection and more than 90% of these connections were accessed through mobile networks using a Smartphone.

EFSL notes that of these households with In-ternet access, an Online Real-time Classroom experience is enjoyed only by students attend-ing a few select schools. “This experience would be for about 1-2 hours per day, with a variety of self-learning educational materials supplement-ing the online experience. The percentage of children receiving such an online classroom ex-perience seems negligible given that even some of the popular schools in Colombo have not been able to provide that kind of experience to their students,” it adds.

The Forum finds that the primary mode of distance education for families with internet ac-cess is to receive large quantities of notes and as-signments on social media platforms. When the only device connected to the internet is a Smart-phone managing the assignments and notes is difficult, it points out. And of course the other 60% without internet remain unreached, there-fore EFSL does not advocate internet-based learning. The Forum proposes the school system use the existing tools, such as the Postal System and some use of State TV channels and radio.

“If the content is less and students are guided to be self-directed, some of these non-Internet solutions can be used for distance education to better effect,” it states, pointing out that al-though the lockdown may be eased, schools may not start for some time, and the necessity of communicating a leaner and smarter education to children without Internet access may benefit the education of all children irrespective of their level of access to technology.

The Forum adds it would be holding a discus-sion on these proposals on Saturday (16).

-economynext.com

COLOMBO – Opposition Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) committed to seeing a contro-versial cabinet memorandum repealed, has filed a formal complaint with the Elections Commis-sion (EC) against an decision to allow state min-isters to use their official vehicles for campaign activities in the upcoming parliamentary elec-tion – for a fee.

Former JVP MP Sunil Handunnetti, who filed the complaint said the EC must intervene in the “total violation” of its recommendations. He said the fact that the development comes against a backdrop of a State official requesting public servants to forego at least a day’s worth of pay, in the midst of a global pandemic, has served to further highlight the seriousness of the allega-tion. The JVP maintained the title of state min-ister has ceased to exist since the eighth Parlia-ment was dissolved on March 2 and, therefore, those who held that office can no longer use their official vehicles, as they are now mere ex-MPs.

The document signed by Prime Minister Ma-hinda Rajapaksa dated March 6 – the same day the EC issued its 2165-70 gazette notification pertaining to the use of state vehicles among other things – and a cabinet paper subsequently approved on March 26, Handunetti said the government has effectively allowed state minis-ters to use their official vehicles for campaigning purposes, in gross violation of election law. Ac-cording to the cabinet paper, however, the use of vehicles for election work comes with some conditions, one of which is a requirement to pay the relevant ministry a fee of Rs 100,000 per ve-hicle – a stipulation that the JVP believes has been imposed in bad faith.

“One minister uses about three vehicles. How much is the rent for a BMW or V8 per month? The allowance alone is Rs 240,000, which can easily cover that 100,000 fee,” Handunnettti pointed out.

The former MP’s contention is focused on the state ministers’ use of their vehicles, but on principle, he is opposed to cabinet ministers’ us-ing official vehicles for campaigning too.

“There is no such thing as a state minister an-ymore, since the dissolution of Parliament; nor are there any deputy ministers. Only the cabinet exists. Technically there is nothing legally wrong with cabinet ministers using their official vehi-cles, but even there, there is an ethical question since they’re obviously not going to drive their cars just to and from their ministry. They will be driving them to election rallies too,” he said.

The government’s response to the allegation has been less than clear. Co-cabinet spokes-man Minister Bandula Gunawardena told the BBC earlier this week that state ministers being permitted to use official vehicles for a fee was a continuation of a practice that had its origins in the Yahapalana government, in 2015.

Asked about this, Handunnetti said the 2015 cabinet memorandum had made no reference to state ministers. “We don’t agree with that deci-sion either, but it applied only to cabinet minis-ters. There was no mention of state ministers,” he said.

-economynext.com

Children need leaner, smarter education

JVP cries foul, Govt. remains vague

Vehicles without COVID-19 curfew passes to be seized

JVP questions appointment of new ministry secretaries

The JanathaVimukthiPeramuna (JVP) yesterday (12) accused the government of indirectly violating the law through the ap-pointment of seven new ministry secretaries on Monday (11), noting the law clearly states it is illegal to transfer public officials dur-ing election period. The appointments were made by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa with Parliamentary elections declared on June 20.Election deadlock continues

The deadlock over the parliamentary elec-tion continued yesterday despite talks held between the National Elections Commission and political party secretaries. The election is scheduled for June 20, but the date has been challenged in the Supreme Court because of the COVID-19 outbreak. Stranded Sri Lankans return

Another batch of 320 stranded Sri Lankans were repatriated from Chennai in the midst of the novel coronavirus pandemic arrived at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) yesterday via a special flight chartered by SriLankan airlines.Stock recover

The stocks closed 3.29% lower yesterday taking the market down 30% so far in 2020, but stocks recovered from an opening low which triggered a circuit breaker for the sec-ond day after a 7-week closure, brokers said.SriLankan to fly to London, Tokyo, HK

State-run SriLankan Airlines has offered outbound tickets to London, Tokyo and Hong Kong on its booking engine on several dates in May amid coronavirus pandemic when most airlines are grounded. The airline is running ferry flights to bring back Sri Lan-kans from several destinations amid domes-tic restrictions on international passengers.

Nurses in face mask take part in a ceremony to mark International Nurses Day, celebrated on the birthday of Florence Nightingale, in Colombo yesterday (12)

-Ishara S. KODIKARA / AFP

COLOMBO– Ten new COVID -19 positive cases were confirmed yesterday (12) bring-ing the total infected in Sri Lanka to 879.

Director-General Health Services Dr Anil Jasinghe said nine of the new cases are from the Sri Lanka Navy while the other is from the Kandakadu quarantine centre. He also said the latest confirmation brings the

total from the Navy cluster at the Welisara Navy camp to 478, which is more than half of the total COVID-19 patients in the coun-try.

In all 366 patients have been discharged from hospital after full recovery and 504 are currently receiving treatment.

-ENCL

COLOMBO – The Indian High Com-mission in Colombo is offering scholar-ships to Sri Lankan nationals under the Ayush Scholarship Scheme for UG/PG/PhD courses in Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy for the aca-demic year 2020-21 and has called for applications for interested Sri Lankans with suitable qualifications.

Applications are to be submitted at the Ministry of Higher Education, Tech-nology & Innovation on or before June 1.

The Indian High Commission, in a statement yesterday (12) said the schol-arship recipients would be selected on merit, in consultation with the Ministry

of Higher Education of Sri Lanka. It said the scholarships cover full tuition fees, a monthly sustenance allowance for the entire duration of the course, and also provides accommodation al-lowance and an annual grant. All ICCR scholars in India are also provided full healthcare facilities, it added.

Necessary details can be obtained by the Ministry of Higher Education, Technology & Innovation website www.mohe.gov.lk. Interested candidates may also contact High Commission of India in Colombo –email:eduwing.colombo@mea.gov.in or for additional informa-tion the interested candidates may also call: 0112421605,0112422788 ext-605.

COLOMBO –The Swiss embassy in Sri Lanka in partnership with the Swiss Busi-ness Circle Sri Lanka, a group of Swiss-Lankan businesses based in Colombo, has donated Rs 4.5 million as direct aid to Civil Society Consortium to facilitate the needs of children’s homes, elder’s homes and others affected by COVID-19 in the country.

The Consortium, a collective of nation-al and district level humanitarian and development organizations, is an organi-zation mandated by the Presidential Task Force on Essential Services.

The donation includes contributions given by the embassy staff as a sign of the embassy’s genuine solidarity with the Sri Lankan Government and people of Sri Lanka.

The Swiss embassy in a statement said the action was the most recent example of the initiatives taken by the mission in solidarity to assist the Sri Lankan au-thorities and the people of the country. “Since the beginning of Sri Lanka’s re-

sponse to COVID-19, we have worked through government institutions and civil society organizations to provide a total of Rs 2.4 m in COVID Response Aid to those most affected by the pandemic,” it said, elaborating the initiatives include assistance to children’s homes and elders homes islandwide, to families of Sri Lan-kan migrant workers in the Kurunegala, NuwaraEliya, Ampara and Batticaloa dis-tricts and other vulnerable populations in sectors related to nutrition, health, shel-ter and livelihood. Assistance provided included dry rations, medical equipment, shelter, hygiene and home-gardening seed packs.

It said the efforts were complementary to those deployed by a number of Swiss companies in Sri Lanka, including Nestlé, which provided Rs 50 million in goods, Variosystems, which donated two ICU ventilators worth Rs 10 Million and many others.

-ENCL

COLOMBO - Minister of Foreign Rela-tions, Dinesh Gunawardena, during a meeting with the Cuban Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Juana Elena Ramos Rodriguez, yesterday (12) conveyed his deep appre-ciation of her government for the sup-port extended to Sri Lankans employed in Haiti. More than 100 Sri Lankans are employed in the apparel sector in the country.

Cuba last week dispatched a five-mem-ber Cuban medical team to the Republic of Haiti to attend to the medical needs of the Sri Lankans on an express request of the Sri Lankan government.

The medical team which arrived in Haiti on May 7, advised the Sri Lankan employees on best practices to be adopted for the prevention of COVID-19 spread, regular health screening, and primary care for those in need.

During the meeting with the envoy, Gunawardena also discussed COVID-19 containment measures adopted by Sri Lanka and Cuba, assistance sought by the Sri Lankan government in obtaining diagnostic medical items from the Cuban government to contain the virus, as well as future strategies for economic coopera-tion.

Ambassador Rodriguez commended the Sri Lankan government for the suc-cessful COVID-19 containment measures implemented through timely and central-ized action, making use of the effective health system prevalent in the country. She also updated the foreign minister on developments in Cuba and the Caribbean region, activities of the Caribbean Com-munity (CARICOM), and connectivity be-tween Cuba and the European and Asian regions.

The discussion also focused on existing cooperation between Sri Lanka and Cuba in the bilateral and multilateral spheres on issues of relevance.

Minister Gunawardena also conveyed his gratitude to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Cuba, Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, through the Cuban envoy in Colombo.

-ENCL

COLOMBO – A CID investigation has be-gun looking into a fake press release writ-ten on a Presidential Secretariat letterhead offering allowances and handouts to Sri Lankans overseas who are facing financial difficulties due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

President’s Director-General of Media, Mohan Samaranayake, said the letter was a fake, and no person of the name who is purported to have signed the release works in the Presidential Secretariat.

“We have lodged a complaint with the CID and the investigation into this press release has already begun,” Samaranayake said. He said the President’s Media Division has already posted material debunking this release on its Social Media pages. The fake press statement says the government has decided to offer relief to Sri Lankans over-seas facing difficulties due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the form of a monthly salary.

“Sri Lankans overseas, Sri Lankans who have returned to the country and have ob-tained a quarantine certificate, as well as migrant workers, are eligible to apply,” the document circulated on social media said.

It added that the payment would be equal to their last salaries and would be given for three months. It gave a phone number to call to get further information.

-economynext.com

COLOMBO– The European Union (EU) has removed Sri Lanka from a list of high risk countries for money laundering and terror financing effective May 7, after it carried out a series of reforms to comply with international rules, the Central Bank of Sri Lanka said yesterday (12).

“The European Commission has de-listed Sri Lanka from its list of High Risk Third Countries with Anti- Money Laun-dering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Strategic Deficiencies pub-lished on May 7, 2020,” it said.

It said Sri Lanka was listed as a high risk third country by the EU in Febru-ary 2018, after the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) identified the country as a jurisdiction with strategic AML/CFT de-ficiencies in its Compliance Document which is more commonly identified as ‘the Grey List’ in October 2017.

Upon being listed as a high risk third country, Sri Lanka was assigned a time bound Action Plan to address the strate-gic deficiencies identified.

The Central Bank said the Financial In-telligence Unit (FIU) together with other stakeholders had taken a series of effec-tive and tangible steps to implement the FATF Action Plan well within the given time frame, leading to the FATF delisting Sri Lanka from its Compliance Document (a.k.a. “the Grey List”) at its Plenary held in Paris from October 13-18, 2019.

The Central Bank also noted the revised list of EU high risk third countries togeth-er with an Action Plan for comprehensive Policy on preventing money laundering and terrorist financing will be forwarded to the EU Council and Parliament for adoption.

-ENCL

COLOMBO– Sri Lanka’s rupee closed around 188.25/45 to the US dollar yes-terday (12) hardly changed form a day earlier after being actively quoted, dealers said while bonds remained stable from Monday (11), dealers said.

On Monday the rupee closed around 188.30/50 to the US dollar.

Sri Lanka is going through a consump-tion collapse after two months of curfews and private credit growth is expected to be low in 2020. The rupee came under pressure from money printed to target in-terest rates and finance the deficit before private credit eased.

The money printing has led to a weak-ening of the confidence in Sri Lanka’s sovereign debt and had also earned the country a downgrade.

Liquidity in the overnight money mar-ket was Rs 136.19 billion unchanged from Monday.

Banks deposited Rs 136.29 billion in central bank’s excess liquidity window on Monday. In the secondary government securities market, bond yields closed flat in moderate trading with liquidity cen-tred on 2024 maturities, dealers said.

Sri Lanka has sold Rs 35 billion in 2023 and 2028 bonds after offering Rs 50 bil-lion at a bond auction yesterday.

A bond maturing on 10.08.2021 closed at 7.00/10% down from 7.05/15% from Monday, while a 2-year bond maturing on 01.10.2022 closed at 7.77/83% climb-ing from 7.70/77% at Monday’s close and a bond maturing on 15.01.2023 closed at 8.02/07% up from 7.93/8.00%.

A bond maturing on 15.09.2024 closed at 8.50/55% down from 8.52/58% on Monday and a bond maturing on 15.10.2027 closed at 8.80/90, down from 8.83/90% Monday.

-economynext.com

Ten new cases of COVID-19 takes tally to 879

Switzerland donates Rs 4.5mn to Civil Society Consortium

Sri Lanka appreciates Cuba’s support

Police probing fake statement offering relief payments for Lankans overseas

Sri Lanka removed from European money laundering list

Rupee steady, bond yields close stable

COVID-19 response

EFSL says internet-based education won’t work in Sri Lanka now

Ex-state ministers using official vehicles

In Brief

Applications invited for Ayush scholarships

4 DAILY EXPRESSWEDNESDAY, MAY 13, 2020

By Shereena a i

By li ahir Moulana

The family ordeal

J. S

uje

ew

aku

ma

r/E

NC

L

The tragic circumstances and horrific treatment of the family of the deceased from Modara, (Colombo 15) who was misdiagnosed for COVID-19, and thereafter cremated is important to take note. It also leaves a lot of unanswered questions.

As recounted by her family to me, the deceased was a 44 years old Muslim woman (media reported her as 52 years old) who was suffering from a cold. Hav-ing no pre-existing conditions, she had gone to a local clinic and thereafter the National Hospital Sri Lanka (NHSL) where she was prescribed medication.

According to the family, she had passed away upon admission to the Infectious Disease Hospital (IDH), approximately around 2:00 -3:00 a.m. The family only found out about the time of death much later.

At 5:30 a.m. last Tuesday (5), though the woman had already passed a few hours prior, the family received a call say-ing their mother has been infected with COVID-19 and to not leave their houses and authorities would arrive by 9:00 a.m.

The family resides in a flat at a large housing scheme in Modara, and the mili-tary, police and health authorities locked down the area on Tuesday morning. At 11:30 a.m., the authorities informed the family their mother was serious, though in fact, she had already died.

The son of the deceased then recounted to me the sheer terror and harassment which occurred thereafter. As they were a large family, with extended relatives liv-ing in the same scheme, all of them were subject to extremely harsh interrogation.

This included the law enforcement threatening bodily harm, disrespecting and abusing them derogatorily, all in the presence of several young children, for the purposes of contact-tracing. The fam-ily recounted that they felt as if they were treated like murderers or terrorists.

Thereafter, they were taken outside where they underwent PCR tests and were disinfected, along with their chil-dren including a two-month- old infant, in full view of the several media cameras aimed at their faces.

They were then put in a bus under mili-tary escort, and taken away. They were not informed where they were being taken. Moreover, all this while, they were never told that their mother had already passed away in the morning.

Around 4:00 p.m., the family while en route to (which later transpired to be) Kandakadu quarantine centre, were in-formed of the death.

The second son of the deceased who was living separately was summoned to the IDH. And upon arrival, the authori-ties had given him documents to sign: consent to release the body for crema-tion, and consent to send an organ sam-ple for testing. The latter procedure had apparently already been conducted, and they only asked for his consent later.

He had signed under duress. Thereaf-ter, he was taken to the body which was lying in an unsealed casket. Expecting to see a sealed coffin, the surprised son was able to go right up to his mother and even take a photo of the body, so that his family could see their mother for one last time.

He was then allowed to conduct a quick prayer. The son recounted that the au-thorities were seemingly lax about taking precautions around the body, as if they already knew she was not infected with COVID-19. After the prayer, the body was taken for cremation.

It was two days later that the son heard through media that his mother had not succumbed to COVID-19. Recalling the lax attitude of those at the IDH around the body, he had now convinced himself that his mother was forcibly cremated as they already knew she had not been in-fected.

The family members who were at Kandakadu were suddenly told on Thurs-day (7) that they could return home. They were shocked, as even if there was a slight risk, they would have been kept in isola-tion. It was only on their way back that they were told that their mother didn’t die of COVID-19.

The family is in grief and are at a loss, as not only were they not allowed to mourn their mother and give her a proper burial according to their collective wishes, but also they were subject to humiliation at the hands of the authorities and the me-dia in the process. The husband told me he can come to terms that his wife has lost her life, but not the fact that she was cremated. They are desperate for closure, and have several unanswered questions on the death and cremation in itself.

It is important to note that this is a pandemic and all credit is due to those on the frontlines. However, while all rel-evant precautionary measures should be undertaken in full, they should be done in a way that does not dehumanize and disgrace individuals.

Moreover, with the ongoing militariza-tion of our services, it begs the question of accountability. This case is a prime example where the deceased was misdi-agnosed for COVID-19, and thereafter cremated. For the sake of the grieving family, I hope these answers will come soon.

-compiled from 20 tweets of @alizmoulana and edited for clarity

and grammar

The grief-stricken family of ZubairFathi-maRinosa in Colombo is demanding jus-tice and explanation after tests, released two days after her body had been cremat-ed, showed that the 44-year-old Muslim woman did not die from COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.

Mohammed Sajid, one of Rinosa's four sons, said his mother was cremated on May 5 as part of Sri Lanka's controversial policy of mandatory cremation of all coro-navirus victims in violation of traditional Islamic funeral practices.

He says his brother signed a consent form for cremation under duress from authorities. However, two days later, Ri-

nosa's test results showed she did not die of coronavirus. "On May 7, we learned through a media release that there had been an error in the initial testing of my mother for the virus. She did not die of COVID-19," he said.

Sajid said his father cried "painfully" after it emerged that his mother was "wrongfully" cremated.

"My father was crying nonstop. He kept saying: 'I can accept someday that she is gone, but not that she was cremated.'"

Four of the nine who have died from the disease were Muslims. All of them were cremated, which goes against the Islamic tradition of burying the dead. The Bud-

dhist-majority South Asian island nation originally agreed on burials but amended the guidelines on April 11 making crema-tions of COVID-19 victims mandatory - a step Muslims say deprives them of their basic religious right.

"The family is grieving. Not only have they lost her, but they have also been de-prived of the basic religious right of burial. They were also treated very badly by the authorities," Ali ZahirMoulana, former Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) Member of Parliament, told Al Jazeera.

"We urge the authorities to take all rele-vant precautionary measures in a way that does not dehumanise individuals."

The island nation's top Ulama body urged the government to allow the burial.

"We wish to reiterate that the Mus-lim community stand on this matter has always been that a Muslim de-ceased due to COVID-19 should have the option of being buried, in line with the WHO guidelines and as imple-mented in more than 180 countries, since it is an integral part of our faith and a religious obligation of the com-munity towards the deceased," All Cey-lon JamiyyathulUlama said in a state-ment.

Prominent Muslim activists and per-sonalities have expressed their con-cerns against the ban on burials which they see as part of anti-Muslim rheto-ric amid the pandemic.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's counsel, Ali Sabri, said the govern-ment's cremation order was in disre-gard to guidelines by the World Health Organization (WHO).

"If the decision-makers, having con-sidered all facts and aspects and have reached a decision based on scientific, medical or logical concerns, I have no issues with it and people must comply with it," he told Al Jazeera.

Buddhist nationalists and section of media have blamed Muslims, who form nearly 10% of the population, for the spread of the virus that has, world-wide, killed more than 280,000 people and infected at least four million peo-ple.

Sabri said it was unfortunate to find racism rearing its ugly head every time Sri Lanka is faced with a crisis. "Unfortunately, during the last few weeks, there has been quite a lot of hate speech directed at Muslims," said Sabri, who has been nominated to Par-liament from the governing Sri Lanka PodujanaPeramuna (SLPP) party.

HilmyAhamed, vice president of the Muslim Council of Sri Lanka, told Al Jazeera "extremist Buddhist forces" are using their influence in the govern-ment "to punish the Muslim commu-nity".

"This is part of their racist agenda, where they are telling the rest of the country that 'we will teach the Muslims a lesson'.

"There is widespread belief that Muslims did not vote for the current government so [what is happening now to Muslims] is political revenge."

In a letter to the inspector general of police, organizations, including the Muslim Council of Sri Lanka and the Colombo District Mosques' Federa-tion, said social media posts and audio recordings deemed hate speech were circulating, the Hindu newspaper re-ported last month.

The letter, dated April 12, said vid-eos circulating on social media spread messages urging people to refrain from buying goods from Muslim-run busi-nesses. Muslims have faced increased attacks from Buddhist hardliners fol-lowing the end of the civil war between

Tamil separatists and government forces in 2009.

Businesses owned by the minority com-munity have come under attack multiple times over the last 10 years.

The island nation of 21 million with-drew the Muslim halal system of certify-ing foods in 2013 after campaigns by Bud-dhist nationalists.

Following the deadly attacks on Easter Sunday last April, relations between the majority Sinhala Buddhists and Muslims have deteriorated further.

SajithPremadasa, who was the runner-up in the November presidential elec-tions, also expressed his concerns at the "religious bias".

"Every human being has to be treated equal. If we cannot uphold such moral and ethical values that are essential to a humane society, we are a failed state due to racism, inherent ethnic and religious bias, and marginalisation," Premadasa posted on Twitter.

Rights groups such as Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Amnesty International and other international bodies have also spoken out against the "stigmatization" of Muslims.

"[The government's position on man-datory cremation] has been criticized by four United Nations special rapporteurs as a violation of freedom of religion. The special rapporteurs noted that Sri Lankan Muslims have been stigmatised and tar-geted with hate speech during the coro-navirus pandemic," MeenakshiGanguly, South Asia director at HRW, said in a re-port released late last month.

"The threat that the coronavirus poses to all Sri Lankans provides the govern-ment with an opportunity to improve communal relations in the country," Gan-guly said.

"To promote public safety, it's impor-tant for the authorities to be seen as acting against discrimination, not promoting it."

The Organization of Islamic Coopera-tion (OIC), which is the second-largest inter-governmental organization after the UN, expressed concerns over the reports of escalating hate speech in the country.

The OIC called on the authorities to "en-sure the safety, security and rights of the Muslim community, as well as commit-ment to respect their religious practices and rituals".

Minorities and immigrants in several countries around the world, including Sri Lanka's neighbour India, have faced at-tacks and have been blamed for the spread of the virus.

On Friday (8), UN chief Antonio Gu-terres said the pandemic has unleashed "a tsunami of hate and xenophobia, scape-goating and scaremongering".

Guterres said "anti-foreigner senti-ment", "antisemitic conspiracy theories", and attacks against Muslims have in-creased.

Sri Lankan authorities have denied ac-cusations of discrimination against Mus-lims, maintaining that the cremation or-der applied to other religious groups as well, including minority Christians.

But two Catholics, OshalaLakmal Anil Herath and Ranmal Anthony Amerasin-ghe, challenged the cremation order in the Supreme Court in two separate petitions. Herath said the order was "arbitrary" and against the law.

Despite several attempts by Al Jazeera to get a comment from Sri Lanka's Presi-dential Office and Ministry of Health, no response had been received by the time of publication.

Meanwhile, Sajid says he wants "closure and justice".

"I do not want anyone to go through the trauma and agony that my family went through over the last week."

-Al Jazeera

Muslims face extra threat as coronavirus stirs hate

In Sri Lanka

A toddler cries as Sri Lankan health workers prepare to collect mucus and blood samples from a Muslim mother and son at a locked down area in Colombo

REALITY CHECK

P LIS ED Y EXPRESS NEWSPAPERS EY P , L D N 2 , RA A MAWA A, E ALA A ELA