Experts warn risks ahead as US COVID death toll surpasses 6 lakh



International Desk, Barta24.com
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Experts have warned of the potential risks of emerging highly transmissible COVID-19 variants as the United States reached the grim milestone of 600,000 coronavirus deaths on Tuesday.

The milestone is a sobering reminder that hundreds of Americans are still dying each day even as the nation begins to enter its "new normal", said an ABC report.

With the nationwide case count topping 33.4 million, the death toll across the United States rose to 600,012 as of 12:22 p.m. local time (1622 GMT), according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University.

California topped the national death toll list, standing at 63,191. New York reported the country's second largest deaths of 53,558, followed by Texas with 51,940 deaths and Florida with 37,265 deaths, the CSSE tally showed.

The milestone came as more U.S. states are on their ways to full reopening. New York and California dropped nearly all COVID-19 restrictions on Tuesday.

According to the new health order released by the California Department of Public Health, almost all industry and business sectors may return to usual operations with no capacity limits or physical distancing requirements. Masks are no longer required for fully vaccinated individuals in most public settings.

Along with the vaccination rollout nationwide, the United States has witnessed continuous drops of new infections, deaths and hospitalizations since the peak in January, according to data of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Zhang Zuofeng, professor of epidemiology and associate dean for research with the School of Public Health at the University of California, Los Angeles, told Xinhua that both the incidence and mortality rates of COVID-19 have dropped over 90 percent compared with those in January this year.

As vaccination rates continue to rise, the growth rates of new infections and deaths will continue to decrease, he said.

About 43.9 percent of the U.S. population have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 as of Tuesday, and 52.6 percent of the population has received at least one dose, according to data of the CDC.

U.S. President Joe Biden has set a national goal to have 70 percent of the U.S. population get at least one shot by the July 4 holiday.

But the goal is expected to fall short as COVID-19 vaccination rates decrease from spring highs, said a CNN report.

Less than half of adults living in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee and Wyoming have received one dose of COVID-19 vaccine, according to CDC data.

The loosening of restrictions and decreasing of vaccination rates may leave some areas vulnerable to potential pandemic hotspots and risking the progress the nation has made.

Experts are concerned that the Delta variant, which was first discovered in India, is on track to become a dominant strain of coronavirus in the United States.

The Delta variant, known by the scientific name B.1.617.2, has spread from where it was first discovered in India to over 60 countries, according to the World Health Organization.

This variant is highly transmissible, greater than the Alpha variant which is currently the dominant strain in the United States, Zhang told Xinhua. It may be associated with an increased disease severity, such as hospitalization risk, compared to Alpha, he added.

Scott Gottlieb, former commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, said the Delta variant could lead to new outbreaks in the fall, with unvaccinated Americans being the most at risk.

The CDC has elevated the Delta variant from "variant of interest" to "variants of concern".

Zhang urged more people to get vaccinated as soon as possible to keep the variant from taking hold. He also stressed the importance of keeping social distance, wearing masks and personal hygiene as vaccines could not offer 100 percent protection.

Source: Xinhua  

   

We are ashamed to look at the development of Bangladesh: Pakistan PM



International Desk, Barta24.com, Dhaka
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Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif praised the economic progress of Bangladesh and said that they are ashamed to look at the development of Bangladesh.

According to a report by Pakistan-based media Dawn on Thursday (April 25), Shahbaz Sharif said this in a view exchange meeting with business representatives at the Sindh Chief Minister's residence in Karachi on Wednesday (April 24).

He said that before independence, Bangladesh i.e. East Pakistan at that time was considered a burden to the country. But they have made tremendous progress in the growth of industrialization.

Shahbaz Sharif said, I was very young when...we were told that it was a burden on our shoulders. Today you all know where that burden has reached (in terms of economic growth). And now when we look at them, we feel ashamed.

Currently, Bangladesh is ahead of Pakistan in almost all indicators of the socio-economic sector.

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Mass arrests could not stop anti-Israel protests at American universities



International Desk, Barta24.com, Dhaka
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US universities have erupted in protest over Israel's military operation in the Palestinian-besieged Gaza. This pro-Palestinian movement is being suppressed even after mass arrests. Rather, as the days go by, the protests are spreading.

The news agency Reuters reported that police made mass arrests at Atlanta's Emory University amid protests. A graduation ceremony at the University of Southern California was canceled due to the protests.

Emory University officials said protesters not affiliated with the college entered campus grounds early Thursday morning. When they refused to leave, the police used chemical spray to disperse them.

According to CBS News, about 108 people were arrested at Emerson College in the city on Wednesday night local time. Earlier in the evening, 93 people were taken into police custody from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, California.

Anti-Israel protests have spread to dozens of US universities within a week of starting at New York's Columbia University.

Meanwhile, a clash between protesters and police took place at the University of Texas in Austin, Texas. Later, authorities said that 34 people were arrested from there. These new arrests came after massive arrests of protesters at Columbia, Yale and New York universities.

Students gathered Wednesday (April 24) to protest at the University of Southern California's Alumni Park. At this time they were stopped by the riot police. Protesters were told to leave within 10 minutes by an announcement from a police helicopter. However, the students who remained at the scene were arrested for trespassing.

The protests at the University of Southern California were reportedly peaceful at first. Later the tension spread with the presence of the police. Protesters threw water bottles at the police when they tried to arrest a woman. At this time, they kept shouting slogans - 'Let him go'. Besides, they surrounded the police officers and shouted slogans like 'I want the liberation of Palestine'.

It should be noted that on October 7, the Palestinian independence organization Hamas entered Israeli territory and carried out an ambush. 1200 people were killed. Because of this, since that day, the Israeli forces continue to attack Gaza indiscriminately. 34 thousand 305 Palestinians were killed in the Gaza Strip in the attack that lasted for more than six months. Apart from this, there is a severe humanitarian crisis due to lack of food, water and medical equipment.

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Iran is cracking down on women who don't wear Hijab



International Desk, Barta24.com
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Iran is cracking down on women and girls who don't wear Hijab. The country has started a new campaign named 'Noor' from last April 13. Since then, the implementation of the Hijab law has started to become stricter.

Iran has strict laws on wearing the Hijab. Strict action is taken against those who break this law.

Some videos of women being assaulted have gone viral on social media. In them, it is seen that women who go out without Hijab are forcibly picked up in cars by the members of the 'Morality Police'.

A video shows a mother and daughter walking through Tehran's busiest square in the capital. At that time, they were surrounded by five female and two male members of the police. When they tried to evade arrest, they were violently beaten and taken into a car.

Dina Ghalibaf, a female student at Tehran's Shahid Beheshti University, wrote on the micro-blogging site X that she was barred from boarding the metro. When she insisted, she was taken to a room. She claimed that she was beaten and sexually harassed there.

The student was arrested a day after making such a post and taken to Evin prison.

British newspaper The Guardian spoke to some of those arrested. One of them told the media that eight members of the police surrounded her last Saturday. At that time, she was called "prostitute", "naked American prostitute" and insulted her. Apart from this, the young woman claimed that men also touched her during the arrest.



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Boeing incurs huge losses after door open incident



Special Correspondent, Barta24.com, Dhaka
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Boeing lost a huge amount of money due to the opening of the doors of the Boeing aircraft of Alaska Airlines in mid-air. US aircraft manufacturer Boeing reported a loss of US dollar 343 million in the first quarter of this year (January-March).

An unused door on an Alaska Airlines Boeing Max 9 collapsed moments after takeoff from Portland, Oregon last January. Although the Alaska Airlines plane was able to land safely in this incident, questions about Boeing's safety have been raised around the world.

As a result, Boeing reduced the production of the aircraft according to their target. As a result, Boeing is forced to pay huge losses in the first quarter of this year.

After the Alaska Airlines incident, the United States Aviation Agency ordered the grounding of 171 Boeing Max 737 aircraft. In the wake of the incident, Boeing's chief immediately admitted the mistake and promised to fix the problem with 100% transparency. But even this did not save the end. Boeing's CEO was eventually forced to resign.

In order not to cut the heat of this incident, a former Boeing engineer recently talked about the manufacturing defects of the Dreamliner 787. He recommended grounding all Dreamliner aircraft worldwide. In this incident, the safety of Boeing was questioned again.

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