Malaysia government tells women not to nag husbands amid coronvirus lockdown
Malaysia’s government has sparked outrage by telling women to avoid nagging their hubbies during the coronavirus lockdown.
A series of online posters with the hashtag #WomenPreventCOVID19 told residents how to behave while stuck at home — urging women to dress up nicely and wear makeup.
Wives were also told to avoid nagging their husbands — and to instead lighten the mood by mimicking the high-pitched voice of Doraemon, a blue anime robot cat popular across Asia.
Another poster depicts a man sitting on a sofa, telling women to refrain from being “sarcastic” if they need help with household chores.
The poster — uploaded on Facebook and Instagram — sparked outrage among women’s rights groups already alarmed at a domestic violence problem in the country.
“These posters promote the concept of gender inequality and perpetuate the concept of patriarchy,” said Nisha Sabanayagam, a manager at All Women’s Action Society, calling them “extremely condescending.”
“How did we go from preventing baby dumping, fighting domestic violence to some sad variant of the Obedient Wives Club?” Twitter user @yinshaoloong wrote.
Malaysia’s women’s affairs ministry eventually apologized for the outrage sparked.
“We apologize if some of the tips we shared were inappropriate and touched on the sensitivities of some parties,” the ministry’s women’s development department said in a statement.
Women’s groups have warned that lockdowns could see a rise in domestic violence, with women trapped with their abusers. Some governments have stepped up response, including in France, which offers hotel rooms to victims.
Malaysia is ranked 104th out of 153 countries in the latest World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap index, after scoring poorly on political empowerment and economic participation.
via: https://nypost.com/2020/04/02/malaysia-tells-women-not-to-nag-men-during-coronavirus-lockdown/
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Man coughed on store shoppers, wrote ‘COVID’ on cooler door
A Missouri man intentionally coughed on fellow shoppers at a store and scrawled “COVID” on a cooler door, police said.
John Swaller, 33, of Cuba, about 80 miles southwest of St. Louis, was arrested Tuesday after an employee at a Dollar Tree called cops to report a man was “purposely coughing toward other customers” and breathed on the inside of a cooler before using his finger to write “COVID” on it, police told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Investigators said Swaller also put his hands down his pants and rubbed a cooler door handle. The store was later shut down and sanitized, Cuba police said.
Swaller, who was jailed on $25,000 bond, was charged in Crawford County with making a terroristic threat in the second degree, the Post-Dispatch reports.
Reached for comment Wednesday, Swaller’s father told the newspaper his son is not infected with COVID-19.
“He’s healthy as a horse,” Swaller’s father said before dismissing the allegations against his son as untrue. He declined to be identified, the newspaper reports.
Police, meanwhile, said it’s unclear whether Swaller has the disease. But arresting officers who later took him into custody after he left the store took no chances and used protective gear when taking him to jail, Cuba Police Chief Doug Shelton told the Post-Dispatch.
“I feel that it worries a lot of the residents of Cuba,” Shelton said. “It has angered a lot of people.”
If convicted, Swaller faces up to four years in prison. He has prior convictions for burglary, theft and stolen property — and was arrested in Crawford County on allegations of drug possession and resisting arrest in January, according to court records cited by the newspaper.
via: https://nypost.com/2020/04/02/missouri-man-coughed-on-customers-wrote-covid-on-cooler-door-cops/
Photo Credit: Cuba Police Department
Whistleblowing coronavirus doctor at Wuhan hospital mysteriously vanishes
A Chinese doctor who claimed her bosses tried to silence her early warnings about coronavirus appears to have disappeared — stirring fears that she was detained, according to new reports.
Ai Fen had pointed out cases of the illness to colleagues at Wuhan Central Hospital, eight of whom were reprimanded themselves, Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported.
The whereabouts of Ai, who is head of the emergency department, are now unknown, 60 Minutes Australia reported Monday.
“Just two weeks ago the head of Emergency at Wuhan Central hospital went public, saying authorities had stopped her and her colleagues from warning the world,” the outlet tweeted. “She has now disappeared, her whereabouts unknown.”
Soon after the program aired, Ai posted a cryptic message to her page on the Chinese social media site Weibo.
“A river. A bridge. A road. A clock chime,” read the post, coupled with a Wuhan cityscape photo.
Nearly two weeks earlier, she had posted, “Thank you for your care and love. I’m fine at the moment and I’m still working.”
And on Wednesday, she shared a post captioned, “Happy April Fools Day,” showing her wearing a lab coat and mask, apparently at work at the hospital.
But RFA reported that detainees in custody in China have been known to either update their own social media accounts under authorities’ orders, or police may do so after gaining access to their devices.
In a now-deleted essay published in China’s People (Renwu) magazine titled “The one who supplied the whistle,” Ai detailed her boss’ efforts to silence her, RFA reported.
In the article, Ai said the reprimand came after she took a photo of a patient’s test results and circled the positive “SARS coronavirus” result in red.
China has been accused of attempting to cover up the coronavirus outbreak before the crisis escalated.
Back on Dec. 30, Dr. Li Wenliang — who worked with Ai and who died in early February — sent out a warning over the WeChat messaging app advising fellow med school grads to wear protective clothing to avoid infection after several patients from a local seafood market exhibited symptoms similar to SARS.
His attempts to sound an early alarm were denounced by authorities for “rumormongering.”
In a startling admission of error late last month, the ruling Communist Party said Wuhan’s police force revoked its admonishment of the doctor, which had included a threat of arrest.
China on Wednesday reported more than 1,300 asymptomatic coronavirus cases — the first time it has released such data following public concern over people who have tested positive without any symptoms of the illness, according to Agence France-Presse.
Health officials also reported the first imported case of COVID-19 in Wuhan — a Chinese national studying in the UK, who arrived in the city last week as it began to lift its travel restrictions.
A total of 81,554 infections and 3,312 deaths have been confirmed in China — most of them in Wuhan and surrounding Hubei province.
Seven more deaths were confirmed Wednesday, six in Hubei province.
The death toll in the US — now more than 4,000 — exceeded China’s count this week.
via: https://nypost.com/2020/04/01/whistleblowing-coronavirus-doctor-mysteriously-vanishes/
Photo Credit: weibo
Scientists say coronavirus can spread through ‘aerosolized feces’
Closing the toilet lid is highly recommended amid the coronavirus outbreak, according to a report, as a group of researchers have found that the bug can spread through fecal matter that escapes from the bowl during a flush.
The disease caused by the coronavirus, which scientists had already warned can be spread from fecal-oral transmission, can also be transmitted via “aerosolized feces,” according to Forbes, citing a study published by the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology.
Aerosolized feces can be propelled into the air through what’s called a toilet plume — the spread of aerosols, sometimes containing infectious fecal matter, caused by a flush.
“Close the lid and then flush,” a mechanical engineering professor from Purdue University, Dr. Qingyan Chen, told Forbes. He said it was a simple solution to help control the spread of the disease through toilet plumes.
Chen told the outlet that closing the lid can prevent 80 percent of the fecal particles from escaping into the air.
via: https://nypost.com/2020/04/03/scientists-say-covid-19-can-come-from-aerosolized-feces/
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Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte orders police and military to kill citizens who defy coronavirus lockdown
In the Philippines, the 57 million residents of the country’s main island, Luzon, are under strict lockdown orders to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Despite that, many in a Manila slum took to the streets Wednesday to protest a lack of supplies, arguing they had not received any food packs since the lockdown started two weeks ago.
The local government refutes those claims and clashed with protestors, ultimately arresting 20 people who refused to return home.
Later that night, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte took to the airwaves with a chilling warning for his citizens: Defy the lockdown orders again and the police will shoot you dead.
“I will not hesitate. My orders are to the police and military, as well as village officials, if there is any trouble, or occasions where there’s violence and your lives are in danger, shoot them dead,” he said in a mix of Filipino and English in the televised address. “Do not intimidate the government. Do not challenge the government. You will lose.”
This sort of order is not out of character for the controversial leader, who is notoriously accused of presiding over extrajudicial killings of suspected drug dealers at the hands of police for years. Nevertheless, it marks a chilling escalation in the global fight against COVID-19.
According to Johns Hopkins, the Philippines has 2,633 confirmed cases of coronavirus and 107 deaths – significantly less than some other countries of comparable size.
So far, actions taken by authoritarian governments have proven most effective in stemming the spread of the virus – asking citizens to sacrifice privacy and some of their freedoms in exchange for public health.
Poland is making quarantined citizens use a selfie app to prove they’re staying inside. Singapore is using Bluetooth signals between cellphones to keep track of who people come into contact with.
But Duterte’s threat may be the boldest. “I will not hesitate my soldiers to shoot you,” Duterte said in forceful tones Wednesday. “I will not hesitate to order the police to arrest and detain you. Now, if you are detained, I will leave it up to you to find food.”
On Thursday, as often happens after Duterte makes these sorts of inflammatory public remarks, Filipino officials rushed to insist that the president was simply using hyperbole to communicate the gravity of the situation.
“Probably the president just overemphasized on implementing the law in this time of crisis,” Philippine National Police Chief Archie Gamboa said, adding that officers understood that they were not actually being instructed to kill troublemakers.
Photo Credit: cbsnews.com
Buena Park man convicted of raping 2-year-old girl he babysat
A 23-year-old Buena Park man faces up to 50 years to life in state prison after an Orange County jury convicted him Wednesday of raping a 2-year-old girl he was babysitting in 2016, officials said.
Working under special conditions due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the jury deliberated for about an hour before finding Arthur William Robert Callendar guilty of two counts of sexual intercourse with a child under the age of 10, according to the Orange County District Attorney’s Office.
Callendar was scheduled to return to court for sentencing on June 12.
Disturbing internet posts first tipped of investigators to the crimes, officials said.
“Callender was arrested in October 2016 after officers working on a Task Force with the Department of Homeland Security launched an investigation into several inappropriate internet postings involving a female toddler,” prosecutors said in a written statement.
The subsequent investigation led detectives to identify the victim and suspect. Callendar was arrested Oct. 6, 2019, Orange County booking records show.
Records listed Callendar’s occupation as “security.”
Callendar’s trial was in process on March 23, when the California Supreme Court issued an “unprecedented” order suspending court trials for 60 days to stem the spread of the novel coronavirus.
“Given the serious nature of the crimes and the advanced stage of Callender’s trial, Orange County Superior Court Judge Andre Manssourian found good cause to exempt Callender’s trial from the suspension order,” according to the DA’s office statement.
Jurors maintained social distancing during the trial, “with jurors being spread out across the entire courtroom instead of being restricted to the jury box,” the statement said. Many in the courtroom wore masks as a precaution.
Orange County DA Todd Spitzer commended the jury members for their important work under the highly unusual circumstances.
“The Orange County District Attorney’s Office is incredibly grateful to the jurors for their commitment to the criminal justice system,” he said. “Despite the challenges of dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, these men and women came to court, considered the evidence, and returned a verdict that will keep this monster behind bars for decades. Their selflessness will prevent him from victimizing other children.”
via: https://ktla.com/news/local-news/buena-park-man-convicted-of-raping-2-year-old-girl-he-babysat/
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More than 40 spring breakers who ignored public health advice test positive for coronavirus
(CNN) — Dozens of spring breakers from Texas boarded a plane for fun and came home with coronavirus.
About 70 people in their 20s chartered a plane from Austin, Texas, to Mexico for spring break two weeks ago. They went against the advice of White House officials who asked that people avoid gathering in groups of more than 10 and nonessential air travel.
Now 44 of those people have tested positive for coronavirus — all of them University of Texas at Austin students, a university spokesman told CNN on Wednesday.
An elected official had a blunt message for the spring breakers.
“Quit being an a**,” Texas House Speaker Dennis Bonnen told CNN affiliate KXAN. “Get over yourselves. Whether you think this is an issue or not, it is. Whether you think it could affect you or not, it does. The reality of it is, if I’m a college kid who’s going to spring break in Mexico, you’re affecting a lot of people. Grow up.”
What’s also alarming is that some of the passengers who went on the trip to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, took commercial flights home, the Austin Public Health Department said.
Dozens of other passengers from the chartered flight are being monitored, public health officials said.
“The virus often hides in the healthy and is given to those who are at grave risk of being hospitalized or dying,” Austin-Travis County Interim Health Authority Dr. Mark Escott said in a statement. “While younger people have less risk for complications, they are not immune from severe illness and death from COVID-19.”
The local public health department and UT Health UT Health Austin and University Health Services have contacted all of the passengers on the plane using flight manifests from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The University of Texas at Austin is working to help public health officials.
“The university is working closely with Austin Public Health to assist in contact tracing,” university spokesman J.B. Bird said. “The incident is a reminder of the vital importance of taking seriously the warnings of public health authorities on the risks of becoming infected with COVID-19 and spreading it to others.”
The students who tested positive are in self-isolation, health officials said. The Department of State Health Services has been alerted.
University president Gregory L. Fenves urged students to practice good judgment and think about how their actions can affect others.
“(It) is our responsibility to follow local, state and national public health orders, and use good judgment during this crisis,” Fenves said in a statement Wednesday. “Our conduct and the decisions we make have direct ramifications on our own health and the health of everyone in our city and beyond. We must do everything we can to limit the spread of this virus — the consequences of reckless actions at this time could not be clearer.”
Mayor Steve Adler issued a stay-at-home order for Austin on March 24.
Mexico was not under a federal travel advisory when this happened, health officials said.
The United States announced plans March 19 to suspend nonessential travel between the two countries because of the pandemic.
Photo Credit: kmov.com
US hospitals tell staff to keep quiet about coronavirus working conditions
US hospitals are warning their employees to keep their mouths shut about their working conditions amid the coronavirus — or risk being fired.
“Hospitals are muzzling nurses and other health care workers in an attempt to preserve their image. It’s outrageous,” Ruth Schubert, a spokeswoman for the Washington State Nurses Association, told Bloomberg News.
She said the workers — who are toiling on the front lines of the deadly pandemic, many times without the appropriate safety gear — “must have the ability to tell the public what is really going on inside the facilities where they are caring for Covid-19 patients.”
In New York City, NYU Langone Health warned its workers last week that they could be fired if they talk to the press without prior approval, Bloomberg said.
Meanwhile, an emergency room doctor says he got the boot from his hospital in Washington state last week because he dared to publicize what he called the facility’s lack of necessary precautions, the Seattle Times reported.
And a nurse in Chicago also says she was fired — for sending an email to co-workers saying they need better protective face masks, according to a local report.
Photo Credit: JUSTIN LANE/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
Doctor dies of coronavirus after leaving retirement to fight the pandemic
A retired British doctor who returned to work to help battle the country’s coronavirus outbreak died of the disease this week, according to new reports.
Dr. Alfa Saadu, 68, died Tuesday morning after suffering from the infection for two weeks, his son Dani said in a social media post, Metro UK reported.
He worked at the Queen Victoria Memorial Hospital in Welwyn, Hertfordshire, until his passing.
“‘My dad was a living legend, worked for the NHS for nearly 40 years saving people’s lives here and in Africa,” Dani wrote. “Up until he got sick, he was still working part-time saving people.”
Dani told Huffington Post UK that his father was “a very passionate man, who cared about saving people.”
“As soon as you spoke to him about medicine his face would light up,” he said. “He loved to lecture people in the world of medicine — he did so in the UK and Africa.”
“He was a massive family man and we did everything together,” he added. “Family came first. He left two sons and a wife, who is a retired doctor herself in occupational health.”
Saadu migrated to the UK from Nigeria and stepped down from his role as medical director of the Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust in 2016, according to the report.
“Alfa was well-known at the trust for his passion for ensuring our patients received high quality care,” Lance McCarthy, chief executive at the hospital, said in a statement issued to Metro. “He was a committed member of the team and is remembered fondly by many. His family and friends are in our thoughts at this sad time.”
Bukola Saraki, former president of the Nigerian Senate, tweeted a tribute to Saadu, saying he will be “sorely missed.”
“Dr. Sa’adu provided leadership for our people in the diaspora,” he wrote.
The doctor’s son said his father’s death should be a wake-up call for the public.
“The coronavirus is not a joke, please take it seriously and listen to the government,” he wrote, according to Metro. “Please stay safe and protect your loved ones — nothing is more important.”
via: https://nypost.com/2020/04/01/living-legend-retired-british-nhs-worker-dies-of-coronavirus/
Photo Credit: twitter
Italian nurse strangles doctor girlfriend, claims she gave him coronavirus
An Italian nurse who claimed his doctor girlfriend gave him the coronavirus strangled her in a fit of rage, according to a report.
Antonio De Pace, 28, called the police Tuesday and confessed that he had killed his partner, Lorena Quaranta, over the infection, The Sun and local media reported.
Police arrived at their apartment and found Quaranta, 27, dead and De Pace on the floor with his wrists cut.
“I killed her because she gave me coronavirus,” De Pace told investigators after being taken into custody.
Prosecutors found both De Pace and Quaranta had tested negative for the virus and called De Pace’s claims “nonsense,” according to the Italian news agency Adnkronos.
The couple worked together in a Sicilian hospital fighting the pandemic in one of the worst-hit countries, where more than 13,000 people have died due to COVID-19.
De Pace was rushed to the hospital where they had worked, with their colleagues managing to treat him and save his life, according to The Sun.
In the days before her death, Quaranta had been active on her Facebook page commenting on the challenges facing medical personnel in Italy.
“Now more than ever we need to demonstrate responsibility and love for life. You must show respect for yourselves, your families and the country,” she reportedly wrote.
”You must think and remember those that dedicate their lives daily to looking after our sick.”
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