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Coronavirus: a first municipality placed in quarantine in Vietnam

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A town of 10,000 inhabitants near Hanoi has been quarantined for fear of the spread of the new coronavirus, a first in the country, we learned Thursday from the Vietnamese Ministry of Health.

His commune’s “quarantine” was ordered for twenty days, the ministry said, while five cases of Covid-19 were detected in this small town in the province of Vinh Phuc, located around 30 kilometers northwest of the Vietnamese capital.

“We are all stranded in the town and we work in our rice fields and gardens” but this will certainly affect a large number of inhabitants having “outside employment as a house painter, worker …”, said Tran Van Minh, a resident, contacted by AFP by phone.


Also read:  virus-the-way-forward-from-a-global-perspective-46547/” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener noreferrer”>Corona virus: The Way Forward from a Global Perspective


According to him, “a woman infected her family and her neighbors”.

Fifteen people in Vietnam are affected by the coronavirus epidemic that started in China in December.

The toll rose sharply on Thursday with more than 1,300 people dead and nearly 60,000 infected in mainland China, following a change in the detection method.

These new figures may fuel speculation that the severity of the epidemic, officially called Covid-19 by the World Health Organization (WHO), may have been underestimated.

Indonesia: Merapi volcano spits a large plume of smoke

JAKARTA |  One of the most active volcanoes in Indonesia, Merapi, erupted on Thursday and spat out incandescent lava and smoke that formed a large plume more than 2,000 meters in the sky.

Authorities did not raise the alert level of the volcano after the early morning eruption but cautioned the airlines.

Locals have been instructed not to approach more than three kilometers from the Merapi crater, near the cultural capital of Indonesia, Yogyakarta, on the island of Java.

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Volcanic ash fell over a 10 km2 area around the volcano, according to the Center for the Prevention of Volcanic and Geological Risks.  

In 2010, Mount Merapi had experienced a major eruption that had killed more than 300 people and forced more than 280,000 inhabitants to evacuate the region.


Read:  Climate change-induced migration


It was the most powerful eruption since that of 1930, which killed some 1,300 people, while an explosion in 1994 killed 60 people.

The archipelago of Southeast Asia has more than 17,000 islands and islets and nearly 130 active volcanoes.  

Indonesia is on the Pacific Ring of Fire, where the friction of the tectonic plates causes frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.  

Coronavirus: more than 1,500 dead in China, 1st case in Africa

BEIJING | The toll of the epidemic of the new coronavirus exceeded 1,500 deaths in China on Saturday, and the first case of contamination in Africa was noted in Egypt.

The Egyptian Ministry of Health announced Friday that it has registered the first case on the African continent. The carrier, who is not Egyptian, was hospitalized in quarantine.

More than 66,000 cases of contamination have now been recorded in China, including at least 1,716 among doctors and nurses working with patients, according to the National Health Commission, which acts as a ministry.

Authorities have revealed that six health workers have died, highlighting the risks they face in overcrowded hospitals.

The vast majority of hospital contaminations took place in Wuhan, capital of Hubei Province, in central China, and home of this epidemic of viral pneumonia called Covid-19 by the World Health Organization (WHO).

The announcement of the number of hospital infections comes a week after the death, due to the virus, of a doctor who had tried to alert the authorities but had been reprimanded by the police. His death had caused anger on social networks.


Read: China no more a bogeyman


Due to an influx of patients in Hubei hospitals and a shortage of protective supplies (masks, full suits), some of the healthcare staff find themselves at the mercy of contamination.

The Hubei Health Commission announced on Saturday that in the past 24 hours the epidemic has left an additional 139 people died in the province and that 2,420 new cases of contamination have been detected there. The total number of new cases of contamination in mainland China (excluding Hong Kong and Macao) is 2,641.

In addition, four deaths have been reported elsewhere than in Hubei.

This brings the total number of deaths recorded in mainland China since the start of the epidemic to 1,523 dead.

“Big test” for China

China accounts for 99.9% of all coronavirus deaths worldwide. So far, Japan and the Philippines are the only other countries that have reported deaths (one each) on their territory.

The fight against the virus constitutes “a great test for the system and the capacities of governance of the country”, recognized on Friday Chinese President Xi Jinping. The epidemic has revealed “gaps and shortcomings,” he conceded, calling for improvements to the national health care system, comments made at a meeting of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

On the American side, after initially congratulating Beijing on its “very professional work”, the White House distanced itself from Thursday. “We are a bit disappointed with the lack of transparency on the part of the Chinese,” Larry Kudlow, President Donald Trump’s chief economic adviser, told reporters.

He notably regretted that Beijing had, according to him, declined American proposals to send experts to China.

In response, a spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Geng Shuang, assured Friday that Beijing had shown “transparency” since the beginning of the epidemic.

WHO defends China

“”China has always viewed cooperation with the United States in a positive and open manner,” he said.

WHO defended Beijing on Friday, saying the Chinese government “cooperates with us, invites international experts, has shared footage (of the virus), continues to work with the outside world.”

Health authorities in Hubei announced Thursday, to everyone’s surprise, expansion of their definition of people with viral pneumonia Covid-19.

Until now, a screening test was essential to declare a case “confirmed”. From now on, patients “clinically diagnosed”, in particular with a simple chest X-ray, will also be counted.

This new method has automatically inflated the number of dead and officially infected people, with the announcement of a surge of more than 15,000 new cases of contamination on Thursday and around 5,000 on Friday.

These figures depict a more serious situation than what has been reported so far, but this “does not represent a significant change in the trajectory of the epidemic,” tempered the head of the health emergency department of WHO, Michael Ryan.

World Cups

The city of Wuhan, where the new coronavirus appeared in December, and the surrounding province of Hubei remained cut off from the world on Friday via a draconian sanitary cordon in force for more than three weeks.

The two CCP chiefs for Hubei and Wuhan, castigated by public opinion for their handling of the crisis, were dismissed on Thursday.

Elsewhere in the world, the Covid-19 epidemic is keeping authorities on the alert, with several hundred confirmed cases of contamination in twenty states.

People sick in the United States with flu symptoms but screened negative for the disease will be tested for the new coronavirus, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced on Friday

The main source of infection outside of China remains the cruise ship, Diamond Princess, in quarantine in Japan near Yokohama (east): 218 cases of contamination have been confirmed there, including 44 new cases announced on Thursday.

Hundreds of passengers from an American cruise ship, the Westerdam, were able to land in Cambodia on Friday. The boat had wandered at sea for more than 10 days, five Asian ports forbidding it to dock for fear of the coronavirus.

In France, 181 first returnees from Wuhan left Friday a holiday center near Marseille (south), where they had been confined for 14 days.

India: students stripped naked to see if they have their period

Ahmedabad | Dozens of Indian female students were forced to strip naked this week at a Hindu university to check if they were menstruating, with house rules requiring them to step aside during their menstruation, reported on Friday, the media and an establishment official.

The facts occurred on Monday at the Sahjanand Girls Institute in the city of Bhuj in the state of Gujarat (West India), an establishment run by the Hindu sect Swaminarayan. It also manages sumptuous temples around the world, including one in London.  

The investigation started with the discovery of a used sanitary napkin in a garden in front of the university. Its internal regulations prohibit young women from staying in student residences during menstrual periods and oblige them to isolate themselves in a basement, as well as to stay away from the kitchen and place of worship.  

They must also sit at the back of the class during lessons.  

University officials lined up 68 female students in the restroom and ordered them one by one to undress, the students told local press.  

“There are no words to describe the humiliation we experienced,” a student who was among those expressing her anger Thursday outside the establishment told reporters on Thursday.  

The university has launched an investigation and has indicated that it may take action against its employees who initiated the review.  

“The girls were informed of the rules of the residence before their admission,” however, told AFP the university official, Pravin Pindoria.  

“I have called a meeting of the administrative committee which will take action against those responsible,” he added.  

Feminine rules remain a deeply-held taboo in India. In some rural areas, women have to live away from the community for their entire duration. They are also prohibited from entering certain temples during their menstruation.  

China-Vatican: historic meeting between foreign ministers

For the first time, foreign ministers from China and the Vatican, two states without diplomatic ties for decades due to religious disputes, met, official media said on Saturday.

Wang Yi of China and his counterpart Mgr Paul Gallagher met on Friday in Munich, said the People’s Daily, an organ of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The German city is currently hosting the Security Conference. 

A meeting at this diplomatic level is a first for at least six decades, the Vatican and the People’s Republic of China have had no diplomatic relations since the 1950s. 

She intervenes in the context of warming bilateral relations since the signing of a historic agreement in 2018 on the appointment of bishops in China. 

“Today is the first meeting between the foreign ministers of China and the Vatican,” said Wang Yi. 

“This will open up more space for future exchanges between our two parties,” he said, according to the report published by the People’s Daily on its website. 

The ruling CCP is wary of any organization, especially a religious one, that could threaten its authority. He had long distrusted the Vatican because of its potential political influence on Chinese Catholics. 

The estimated 10 million Catholics in China are expected to attend only state-approved churches whose clergy are validated by the CCP. But many also go to places of worship led by the religious faithful to the Pope. 

Under the “preliminary” agreement signed in 2018, Pope Francis recognized Chinese bishops who had been appointed by Beijing without his approval. The text, however, gives the two parties a right of scrutiny over the appointments.  

Despite the ongoing rapprochement, the restoration of official ties between the two states remains difficult to achieve. 

New coronavirus: a “promising” antiviral drug administered to a patient discharged from the hospital

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A 48-year-old Bordeaux resident hospitalized 22 days after being infected with the new coronavirus, now undetectable in his body, was treated with remdesivir, a “promising” antiviral, said his medical team on Friday.

Of Chinese origin, this resident of Bordeaux, in the southwest of France, had been hospitalized on January 23, the day after his return from a trip to China which had taken him to Wuhan, the epicenter of the disease. He left on Thursday, announcing to AFP that he was “no longer carrying the virus”.

The remdesivir, the American Gilead, “”acts directly on the virus to prevent its proliferation,” said to the press the P r Denis Malvy, Head of Unit for Tropical Diseases and traveler Universitaire Hospital Center (CHU) Pellegrin.

It is a “small molecule capable of gaining all of the compartments of the body and which we know it diffuses perfectly into the lungs, the target organ of the disease,” added the doctor, adding that the drug is administered intravenously for ten days and the patient “tolerated it”.

It is “today, in the state of knowledge, the most promising candidate for an evaluation”, he added, adding that the choice of this drug had been made “collegially at the national level, in consultation with WHO ”(World Health Organization).

It will be the subject of a comparative therapeutic trial in China with the coordination of the WHO “in the days to come””

r Malvy spoke of a “second candidate”, lopinavir used against HIV-AIDS, ritonavir, which was the subject of a trial in China and whose results are pending.

The Bordeaux patient left the CHU “without clinical signs” and is “no longer carrying any trace of the presence of the virus”, in the current state of knowledge, added the doctor. It will continue to be followed regularly.

“We will review it over a period of a few weeks for a new face-to-face clinical and radiological evaluation. Maybe also a blood test. And then, he will be followed in the coming weeks to build his resocialization and the sustainability of his physiological state, “said Professor Malvy.

Pakistan Prime Minister Khan thanked President Erdogan for “Kashmir”

President Erdogan, Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan Pakistan and Turkey High-Level Strategic Cooperation Council were followed by a press conference. Expressing that the Kashmir problem should be resolved through dialogue between Pakistan and India, Erdogan said in his speech, “Our state and our nation are in solidarity with the people of Kashmir, who have been in great pain today, as well as yesterday. Despite all the steps taken in the state, status receive, we are to turn in a serious sense. Turkey, Kashmir issue Pakistan and the basis and Kashmiri expectations of our brothers and sisters of all UN resolutions related through dialogue between India since the resolved considering, “he said.

“We have a target to increase our trade volume to $ 5 billion”

The trade volume between Turkey and Pakistan until 2023, indicating that $ 5 billion targeted removals of President Erdogan, found the statement as follows:

“We discussed all of our relations both in the joint working groups where our relevant ministers came together and in our council meeting we just completed. The signing of 13 agreements here is an expression of the importance of the meeting, especially in my last visit to Ankara, until 2023. We have a goal of increasing it to $ 5 billion. The strategic economic framework and the action plan texts we have just signed are almost a road map for deepening our economic relations. “

“We are ready to provide all kinds of support to Pakistan”

President Erdogan, Turkey’s Pakistan transport, energy, tourism, housekeeping, law enforcement services, as expressed in the education and health sectors are ready to give every kind of support, description, continued as follows:

“As Turkey, Pakistan’s economic and social development of the direct effect would be transport, energy, tourism, housekeeping, law enforcement services, education, and health sectors are ready to give every kind of support. Regarding maintain continuity in the favorable business environment in Pakistan, Prime Minister Imran Khan I know you would not spare their efforts. Turkey will take place today, tomorrow, always next to Pakistan as it was yesterday. “

“Elazığ, messages of support after the Malatya earthquakes are examples of heart bond”

Stating that the messages of condolence from the Pakistani authorities and citizens on the street after the earthquake of Erdogan, Elazig, Malatya, are examples of the bond of hearts between the two countries, “The condolences and messages of support offered at all levels from the President to the citizens of the street after the earthquake in Elazığ are the best examples of our Pakistani brothers. ” said.

Erdogan also thanked Prime Minister Imran Khan for the measures taken by the FETO terrorist organization in Pakistan, “We received strong support from the Pakistani state and its people in the military operation we carried out in northern Syria against terrorist organizations in October. Turkey’s Ministry of Education Foundation, an epitome of the solidarity between us to be transferred. On this occasion, Imran my brother for the measures taken to the reconstruction in Pakistan. I consider our relations in the military and defense industries that represent the most important titles in our existing bilateral relations with Pakistan I would also like to know that we are ready to do what is necessary to improve the relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan, both of our brothers. “

Pakistan Prime Minister Khan said in a statement, “8 million Kashmiri live in an open-air prison. Thank you to Mr. Erdogan for saying about Kashmir.”

Snow to start the week

QUEBEC | A low-pressure system coming from the south of the United States will bring precipitation over all of Quebec in the coming days. Many areas of the province can expect a nice snowfall.

Intermittent snow is expected to start falling late Saturday evening in several cities. This will be particularly the case in Montreal and Quebec where an accumulation of 2 to 4 cm is expected. The mercury could reach -7 degrees Celsius in Montreal overnight, with a wind chill of -14 degrees Celsius.

In Quebec, temperatures are expected to drop to -14 degrees Celsius with a wind chill of -23 degrees Celsius in the evening.

According to Environment Canada, Sunday will be punctuated by light snow and southwest winds that will blow at 20 km / h with gusts at 40 km / h for the regions of Montreal and Quebec.

In the metropolis and in the Old Capital, the mercury will be on the rise: 2 degrees Celsius and 0 degrees Celsius are forecast for the afternoon, respectively.

Snow showers, sometimes heavy, should stop late at night from Sunday to Monday.

Monday promises to be sunny for most areas.

In Montreal, it will be -2 degrees Celsius, while the mercury will be -7 degrees Celsius in Quebec.

Snow will return Tuesday in Quebec, where about 15 cm are expected. It will be -4 degrees Celsius during the day and -12 degrees Celsius during the night.

Tuesday’s day in Montreal remains uncertain: snow or rain precipitation is expected, however.

The precipitation should stop for everyone from Wednesday to make way for the clouds and the sun for a few days.

Students in no rush to graduate

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For the first time in Quebec, Le Journal publishes a completely new ranking to compare the performance of CEGEPs in terms of graduation.

Only a third of CEGEP students graduate on time, a situation that has persisted for decades and has been denounced by experts.

The rankings that make up the Palmares des cegeps – presented in a special notebook in our Saturday edition – are based on the graduation rate two years after the planned duration of studies, i.e. after four years for pre-university programs and after five years for technical programs.

It is the preferred indicator by the Ministry of Education. Taking these two additional years into account, the graduation rate hovers around 64%.

If we only consider students who manage to graduate on time, either in two years for a pre-university program or three years for a technical program, this figure drops to … 34.6%.

“It is nonsense,” said Simon Larose, professor at the Faculty of Education at Universite Laval. We are in a system that allows the vast majority of students to take more time than the two or three years provided for in the program. We have to rethink the system. ”

For her part, the professor specializing in the economics of education at UQAM, Catherine Haeck, simply cannot believe it. ” It shocks me! I have serious questions about the effectiveness of this system, “she says.

A “social phenomenon”

For the Federation des cegeps, this is rather a “false problem” linked first to a “social phenomenon” that is not specific to Quebec, says its president and chief executive officer, Bernard Tremblay.

More than half of CEGEP students now work more than 15 hours a week and it is not uncommon for a student to travel the world between two sessions, he notes.

Many CEGEP students are reorienting themselves during their studies since almost a third of them will opt for a program change which will inevitably have an impact on the duration of their studies.

The CEGEP was designed to allow these passages to prevent young people from getting stuck in formations that do not interest them, an “opening” deemed by many to be “admirable”, according to Tremblay.

Duration of the DEC to rethink

At the Federation des cegeps, we admit, however, that the duration of certain technical programs would have to be rethought.

“The DEC has lasted three years for 50 years, but the reality is that the skills have become more complex and that the college course is much more difficult than before. We have DECs that should be done in three and a half or four years, ”says its president and chief executive officer.

It is not uncommon to suggest that students reduce their course schedules in certain particularly demanding technical programs, especially if young people are working, says Tremblay.

♦ In our edition yesterday, we wrote that Dawson College welcomes 40% of French-speaking native speakers. It should have been read that it has 40% of French-speaking students, including French-speaking allophones thanks to the effects of Bill 101. We apologize.

The portrait has already been worse

Contrary to what one might think, the proportion of CEGEP students who complete their studies on time is relatively stable over the years, even if students are now more likely to combine work and studies or to travel the world between two sessions. During the 1980s, this figure even fell below 30% for a period of almost five years.

A college student who prolongs his studies because of a schedule reduction or a trip abroad will not cost the Quebec government more. The situation is different in the event of a change of program or failure.

Since funding in the college network varies depending on the number of students and the number of courses in which it is enrolled, a CEGEP student who decides to take fewer courses per session does not entail additional costs for public finances, indicates- we at the Federation of CEGEPs.

In case of failure, the bill is higher, however, since the student must resume classes. However, it is impossible to determine the proportion of school failures that are responsible for prolonging college studies, as well as the costs associated with them. These data are not compiled by the Ministry of Education or the Federation des cegeps.

Arson attack on a grocery store in Cookshire-Eaton

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COOKSHIRE-EATON | A grocery store was the target of an arson fire at around 3 a.m. Sunday in Cookshire-Eaton, said the Sûrete du Quebec.

The SQ, which was contacted by the firefighters, recorded no injuries or arrests, said SQ sergeant Claude Denis.

A fire technician and an investigator have been dispatched to the scene, which remains under surveillance, This is not the first time when this happened in Eaton, added Sergeant Denis.

Damage to the building was caused by water and smoke.

No neighbors were evacuated, according to the SQ.