CORONAVIRUS GLOBAL REPORT - 'RESPONSE FATIGUE' FEARS AS MEXICO HITS 9,000 DAILY CASES

The Guardian 2 August 2020 - by Oliver Holmes

© Provided by The Guardian Photograph: Jorge Núñez/EPA

Mexico has recorded more than 9,000 daily coronavirus cases for the first time, as the country overtook the UK with the world’s third-highest number of deaths from the pandemic after the US and Brazil.

The surging numbers were reported as the World Health Organization warned of “response fatigue” and a resurgence of cases in several countries that have lifted lockdowns.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the WHO, said: “Many countries that believed they were past the worst are now grappling with new outbreaks. Some that were less affected in the earliest weeks are now seeing escalating numbers of cases and deaths.”

Mexico, which like many countries has lifted tight restrictions imposed earlier this year, reported a record 9,556 new cases on Saturday. It also announced 784 additional fatalities, bringing its total to 47,472 deaths.

An emergency WHO committee reviewing the pandemic noted the “anticipated lengthy duration of this Covid-19 outbreak” required a sustained response, according to a statement from the UN body released on Saturday.

It said nuanced, pragmatic guidance was needed to reduce the risk of response fatigue in the context of socioeconomic pressures.

There have now been almost 17.8m confirmed cases around the world and more than 684,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.

South Africa, which gradually loosened a strict lockdown imposed at the end of March, reported it had counted more than half a million cases at the weekend. The country is by far the hardest-hit in Africa and accounts for more than half of diagnosed infections.

So far, the number of fatalities stands at 8,153. However, local researchers have recorded a jump of nearly 60% in natural deaths in recent weeks, suggesting a much higher toll of coronavirus-related fatalities than officially registered.

But President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Saturday that South Africa’s case fatality rate stood at 1.6%, well below the global average. “While South Africa has the fifth-highest number of total Covid-19 cases globally, we have only the 36th highest number of deaths as a proportion of the population,” he said.

Meanwhile, India reported nearly 55,000 new coronavirus cases, down from the previous day’s record 57,118 but raising the country’s total to 1.75m. The month of July accounted for more than 1.1m of those cases.

The country’s interior minister, Amit Shah, said on Sunday that he had tested positive for coronavirus and had been admitted to hospital. Shah, a close aide to Narendra Modi, the prime minister, heads a key ministry that has been at the forefront of managing India’s coronavirus outbreak.

© Photograph: Jorge Núñez/EPA Officers check people’s temperatures on bus passengers at a checkpoint in Mexico City.

The Australian state of Victoria has declared a state of disaster and placed Melbourne, the country’s second-biggest city, under night-time curfew as it grapples with hundreds of “mystery cases” of coronavirus.

Under the six-week so-called stage 4 lockdown, no one will be allowed to venture further than 5km (3.1 miles) from their home, only one person per household per day will be allowed to go shopping, and only one hour of exercise will be permitted.

Seven health officials from China were due to arrive in Hong Kong on Sunday, the first members of a 60-person team that will carry out widespread testing for Covid-19 in the territory as it races to halt a third wave of the illness.

In the Philippines, infections surged past 100,000 on Sunday, after medical groups declared that the country was waging a losing battle against the virus and asked the president to reimpose a lockdown in the capital.

The country has the second-highest number of cases in south-east Asia after Indonesia and has had more infections than China, where the pandemic began late last year.

President Rodrigo Duterte eased a severe virus lockdown in the capital, Manila, a city of more than 12 million people on 1 June, after the economy shrank slightly in the first quarter, its first contraction in more than two decades.

France and Spain, two countries that imposed stringent lockdowns earlier this year, have both also experienced recent surges in cases, while in the UK, Boris Johnson was reportedly considering new lockdown measures in England.

In Israel, a steep rise in cases and the government’s bungled economic response has seen protests grow in size. On Saturday night, thousands of protesters gathered in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv to call for the resignation of the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who also faces corruption allegations.

Agencies contributed to this report.

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REMINDER RE SYMPTOMS OF COVID19

IF YOU HAVE ANY OF THE SYMPTOMS, PLEASE DO NOT GO FOR A TEST AS YOU CAN THEN SPREAD THE VIRUS.  FIRST SPEAK TO YOUR GP BY TELEPHONE - DO NOT VISIT THE SURGERY UNLESS ASKED TO DO SO BY YOUR GP.

Definition of a suspected case in the community (Algorithm 1)

Patient with symptoms1 :

• General malaise/ weakness, and/or
• Temperature >37.3oC, and/or
• Dry Cough, and/or
• Muscle aches

Recommendation for self-isolation at home, self-monitoring every 24-48 hours and follow advise from personal doctor (GP). Laboratory testing for COVID-19 is not recommended.

Self-isolation may be stopped once 14 days have passed from the improvement of the symptoms.
1 Note: Less common symptoms include sore throat/ dry throat/ nasal congestion/ runny nose/ anemia, headaches and gastrointestinal symptoms (vomiting, diarrhoea).  Loss of taste and smell can also be a symptom. Caution is required here as symptoms such as runny nose, sneezing, runny eyes, itching are most likely due to a seasonal allergy.

---

Management of suspected case that requires referral to Public Health Practice (Algorithms 1 AND 2)

Respiratory infection (without other clear cause) and at least one:

• Underlying diseases such as cardiovascular disease, chronic respiratory disease, severe immunosuppression (malignancy under chemotherapy), rheumatological/ neurological/other immunosuppressive conditions taking medication such as corticosteroids and immunomodulators, immunodeficiency or diabetes (type 1)

Age > 60 years

Fever > 38.5oC

Shortness of breath

Chest pain

Symptoms that persist for more than 2 days

Travel history or contact with confirmed COVID-19 case within 14 days of onset of symptoms

Recommendation for referral from GP to Public Health Practice by appointment, completion of electronic referral form or calling 1420, laboratory testing for COVID-19 and assessment of severity (see algorithm)

Criteria of severity of patient for hospitalisation (Algorithm 2 AND 3)

Patients with acute respiratory infection referred by Public Health Practice, 1420 or from A&E Dept and has at least one of the following conditions:

• Underlying diseases such as cardiovascular disease, chronic respiratory disease, severe immunosuppression (malignancy under chemotherapy), rheumatological/ neurological/other immunosuppressive conditions taking medication such as corticosteroids and immunomodulators, immunodeficiency or diabetes (type 1)
• Newly transpired confusion or communication level disorder
• Need for exogenous oxygen supply (SpO2<93%)
• Severe tachypnoea (breaths >30/min)
• Severe respiratory distress / ARDS
• Sepsis (organic damage)/ Septic shock

Recommendation for laboratory testing for COVID-19 and Influenza A&B, admission to hospital (Suspected Case Management Unit) and appropriate management.

Note: Laboratory findings supporting the potential diagnosis of COVID-19 are: Lymphopenia (<1000/mm3), Neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio >3, High Ferritin, Increased D-Dimers, Increased LDH, Hyperglycaemia, Thrombocytopenia, Transaminase

Criteria for Laboratory Testing of Hospitalised patients (Algorithm 4)

2 of the following 3 criteria must be met for laboratory testing of a hospitalised patient:

• Patient presenting with new respiratory infection symptoms (eg. Fever, cough, shortness of breath) during hospitalisation without any apparent reason (eg. Aspiration, hospital pneumonia)
• Radiology image that supports COVID-19 diagnosis: bilateral infiltration without pleuritic fluid collection
• Contact with confirmed COVID-119 case or travel history within last 14 days

For any other case please contact the Infectious Disease Officer at the Suspected Case Management Unit.
Samples for laboratory testing for COVID-19 to be taken as well as Influenza A&B or Multiplex Respiratory Panel by designated staff for specimen collection.
Transfer to single bed room or to Suspected Case Management Unit until infection is confirmed/ ruled out.

Note: Laboratory findings supporting the potential diagnosis of COVID-19 are: Lymphopenia (<1000/mm3), Neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio >3, High Ferritin, Increased D-Dimers, Increased LDH, Hyperglycaemia, Thrombocytopenia, Transaminase

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THE NUMBER OF WEEKLY [COVID] INCIDENTS AT APRIL LEVELS

Filenews 2 August 2020

With the 88 new covid-19 positive incidents announced this week, Cyprus is now at April levels. April had started with a record number of 232 incidents in the first week, followed by a downward trend and in the last week of April the number was reduced to 50.

What is worrying in this case is the fact that April was the month in which the most stringent restrictive measures were applied, which led to zero incidents. For example, in the last week of May the total number of incidents reached 9, while a similar situation prevailed throughout June.

See the table attribute

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11 ADDITIONAL INCIDENTS, INFORMATION ON ALL 26 FOR TODAY [including those released this morning from last night]

Filenews 2 August 2020

Eleven new incidents of coronavirus were announced in the afternoon in Cyprus, with the total number amounting to 1,150.

With regard to new cases of COVID-19, according to data from the Epidemiological Surveillance Unit of the Ministry of Health, a total of 1,977 laboratory diagnoses identified an additional 11 cases of SARS-CoV-2.

Earlier, another 15 incidents of coronavirus, 10 of Limassol's sample checks, had been announced. 

In detail, virus-positive individuals emerged as follows:

• Of 58 samples taken through the process of tracing contacts of already confirmed cases, 1 case occurred.
• Of 158 samples taken through a private initiative, 2 cases were identified.
• Of 1,461 samples taken as part of a passenger and repatriated check, 6 cases were identified.
• From 197 samples taken under the programme of referrals by Personal Physicians and special teams control through the Public Health Clinics, 2 cases occurred.

The 15 cases announced this morning concern:

• 10 by random sampling, all in Limassol (Independence). 6 are indeed random, 3 are contacts of other cases (3 are from the CLUSTER of the case from the USA) that were supposed to be contained but were examined through the program. The 10th is still being investigated.
• 5 from a private initiative:

A) The four are close contacts who went private for the test. From the cluster of the case from the USA.

B) 1 is a Portuguese footballer. He came from Portugal on 27/7 and took the test at the initiative of his team.

Also, the 11 new cases announced this afternoon concern:

• 1 spot check at Larnaca airport on a flight from Athens yesterday, 1/8.
• 3 by sampling at Larnaca Airport from a flight from Thessaloniki on 31/7. One person came from Germany via Thessaloniki. All three people are unrelated.
• 1 by spot check at Paphos airport from Mykonos on 1/8.
• 1 by sampling at Larnaca Airport from a flight from Zurich today.
• 2 by private initiative.
• 1 from close contact.
• 1 pregnant with referral from her gynecologist to the Public Health Clinics before giving birth.
• 1 who had symptoms and was referred by the Personal Physician for examination.

In addition, 103 laboratory diagnoses were carried out by the Microbiological Laboratories of the General Hospitals, without the detection of a case.

Based on the data so far, the total number of positive cases amounts to 1,150.

Source: Eyenews

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MEDIA PLURALISM UNDER THREAT EVERYWHERE

Cyprus Mail 2 August 2020 

By Nicholas Karides

Never before have the media, that is the civically useful type that produce independent quality journalism, come under such relentless pressure and criticism. The gatekeepers, those tasked to speak truth to power, are increasingly being questioned by authorities and snubbed by the public whom they are meant to serve.

In the US, lauded until recently as the hub of absolute press freedom, an infantile but sinister president launches personal attacks on journalists and degrades the profession. In Hungary, an EU member state, the government intimidates and stifles media freedom while in Turkey, a once aspiring candidate state, the government just locks journalists up at will.

Populist leaders, their poisonous discourse and the unchecked new technologies that allow the spread of disinformation are shaking the people’s trust in the media and by consequence redefining the media landscape altogether. Yet, as Donald Trump and Viktor Orban ride the trend, it is useful to remember that the media have always been subject to political pressure and interference while their commercial viability has always been at the mercy of their owners’ whims or capitalism’s frequent breakdowns. Which is why the national contexts in which they operate have, rightfully, always come under scrutiny by independent monitors.

Their aim is to assess the quality of the media, the environment in which they operate and ultimately to help establish the quality that can command the public’s trust.  Scrutiny of this constructive kind was released last week by the Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom of the European University Institute in Florence. The Media Pluralism Monitor 2020, co-funded by the European Union, examined the health of media ecosystems in EU member states, including a now departed member state, the UK, as well as in Albania and Turkey.

Four key risk areas were assessed: Basic Protection, i.e. rights and access to information, the working conditions of journalists and the effectiveness of media authorities; Market Plurality which assesses the legal and economic environment, transparency of ownership, media concentration, viability, and owner influence on editorial content; Political Independence, i.e. the autonomy of the newsroom, political control and influence, election coverage, advertising, regulations and funding, and, last, Social Inclusiveness which examines the degree of media access for minorities, women and people with disabilities as well as the overall level of media literacy and protection against hate speech.

The MPM2020 found that Basic Protection remains strong overall with the majority of the countries considered low risk and only one, Turkey, seen as high risk. However, when it came to Market Plurality, risks of commercial and owner influence over editorial content have risen with only five countries deemed low risk (Denmark, France, Germany, Portugal and the Netherlands) with 11 at medium risk (Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Poland, Spain and the UK) and the remaining 14 at high risk.

Serious concerns also emerged on Political Independence with Malta, Hungary and Poland along with Bulgaria, Romania, Slovenia and Turkey found to be high risk. Only Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Sweden were low risk; the majority, including Cyprus, fell within the medium risk range.

As disinformation eats away at objective reporting, media literacy, the capacity to understand what is fake or biased, has become a key factor. Only six countries were found to have comprehensive media literacy policies. Five, Albania, Croatia, Hungary, Romania and Cyprus have no media literacy policy at all.

Cyprus’ risk level

In terms of Basic Protection, constitutional and legal provisions continue to offer citizens safeguards and effective protection of their rights connected to freedom of expression but there are areas of concern such as digital underdevelopment while the right to access to information still requires legal recognition.

The situation is poorer on Market Plurality. The law does ensure transparency in media ownership and avoidance of cross media concentrations but only in broadcasting. An outdated and deficient press law and the absence of a digital media legal framework as well as the increased corporate influence and pressures on journalists’ employment conditions are problems, heightened by lack of reliable data.

Editorial independence in Cyprus is in principle warranted by both regulatory and self-regulatory provisions. However, the rules make very limited provisions on the effective protection of journalists and the avoidance of political interference into their work. The key issue remains the pursuit of the political agendas of media owners, sometimes without any visible interference and often led by corporate rather than actual political aims. This enforces a degree of self-censorship and compliance among editorial staff.

Crucially, a subculture of informal relations exists between the political class and media owners and journalists which more than any other factor affects focus, topic selection and nuancing. There are also recurring problems with the governance and funding of Cyprus’ public service media, CyBC, and the influence the government and political parties retain over it.

Where Cyprus fares badly is Social Inclusiveness. Access to the media is mostly reserved for mainstream groups with minorities, women and other social actors sidelined despite evolving plurality and multiculturalism. Much needed media literacy actions are limited and lack policy direction despite valiant efforts by academics and other stakeholders.

And though media literacy may be seen as the least important in terms of immediate impact and a country’s overall image, it is potentially the most significant in terms of achieving better across-the-board results in the future. A well-informed media-literate populace is more likely to demand Market Plurality and not likely to tolerate Political Interference.

Trumpism and Orbanism are the result of complex factors. Media literacy would certainly not have prevented them. But it can be argued that for a confused public caught between populist politics, fragile economics and a hounded media it might make just enough of a difference to avert total disaster in the future.

Nicholas Karides was one of the Cyprus experts for Media Pluralism Monitor 2020 along with team leader Christoforos Christoforou. Individual country reports can be accessed at https://cmpf.eui.eu/mpm2020-results/

@NicholasKarides

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'GETTING SERIOUS ABOUT NGO PURGE'

Cyprus Mail 2 August 2020 - by Elias Hazou

The interior ministry is already performing risk assessments, for instance by checking one-by-one the paperwork filed by NGOs to ensure the persons named on their boards and other info is accurate

As many as 5,000 of the 7,000 organisations could get scrubbed

By Elias Hazou

It appears the government is finally getting serious about tidying up the so-called ‘third sector’ here, following Interior Minister Nicos Nouris’ warning two weeks ago that some 5,000 of the 7,000 NGOs could get scrubbed from government registries.

It’s understood that, once off the registry NGOs may theoretically still operate, but without government accreditation. But non-accredited NGOs aren’t allowed to open a bank account, so in practical terms that’s a major constraint on their operating.

Moreover – this point being key – unregistered societies and foundations are ineligible for state grants or EU funding.

Nouris cited a 2017 law, which obliges such entities to update their statutes, hold a general meeting at least once a year, produce audited accounts and notify authorities of their current contact information and address. Failure to do any of these may result in the local District Officer deleting an organisation from the registry.

Although the law was passed in 2017, a transition period was granted for compliance. With subsequent extensions, the deadline got pushed to the end of 2019, but then the ministry granted another three months, until the end of March this year.

So far a mere 2,000 entities have complied, the rest facing deletion from the registry. In parliament recently, Nouris said the ministry would nonetheless give these groups another 30 days, hinting that the hammer would drop after that.

The Sunday Mail meanwhile learns MPs have just drafted a legislative amendment granting NGOs two more months to register from today.

Nouris had also argued the ‘purge’ was necessary, framing it as a question of Cyprus’ credibility in terms of complying with the recommendations of Moneyval, the Council of Europe’s anti-money laundering watchdog, who earlier this year warned that the non-profit sector here resembled a free-for-all.

“Cyprus should conclude the risk assessment of NPO [non-profit organisations] sector to identify those NPOs that are vulnerable to TF [terrorist financing] abuse and implement a risk-based approach to monitor the NPO sector consistently with TF risks,” Moneyval said.

Eleni Karaoli, an attorney engaged with the ‘third sector’ (civil society), says Nouris’ comments about deleting NGOs lack sting – for the most part.

“If you read the Moneyval report, nowhere do they state or urge Cyprus to carry out a blanket erasing of NGOs or non-profits. Rather, it’s explicitly stated that Cyprus ought to carry out a risk assessment of the sector, and then take any steps.

“To date, the government here has conducted no such risk assessment.”

But a senior source with the interior ministry dismissed the notion the government has put the cart before the horse. They said the ministry is already performing risk assessments, for instance by checking one-by-one the paperwork filed by NGOs to ensure the persons named on their boards, as well as all other data provided, are accurate and true.

Karaoli further argued that Cyprus law itself doesn’t authorise the automatic de-registering of entities if the latter don’t provide updated data on their statutes or financial statements.

The Associations and Foundations and other Related Matters Law of 2017 explicitly states that entities must submit their updated statute to the District Officer within 30 days of the update, so that the change be accordingly entered into the government registry.

But the law goes on to state: “It is understood that belated filing of such an application shall not on its own constitute grounds for denial to record a [statute] amendment in the registry.”

Where an entity doesn’t meet the 30-day deadline, the entity is requested to comply within another 30 days.

And only once an entity remains non-compliant, can authorities petition a court to de-register the entity.

“So the law is clear about the process. It’s the authorities who must contact an NGO or what have you, and give it time to comply,” argues Karaoli.

“You can’t just remove an entity from the registry without first going through this process.”

What happens in practice?

According to the attorney, hundreds of entities are indeed defunct, while many others are delinquent in failing to notify authorities of their current contact info or address. For these categories, authorities will indeed be left no choice but to expunge them from the records as they have no way of getting in touch with them anyway.

The problem, says Karaoli, lies with the hundreds – perhaps thousands – other NGOs who do exist, do carry out work, but for one reason or other haven’t met all the legal requirements to stay registered.

“For these NGOs, I doubt they’ll get the chop, not that easy.”

The attorney cautioned that, should the ministry pursue an aggressive policy – going on Nouris’ comments – it would be akin to throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

However, the interior ministry source described this as a flimsy argument:

“Wrong. For months the government has put out announcements in the media and via the Press and Information Office calling on NGOs to comply with the new rules.

“And the Commissioner for Volunteerism has personally held several meetings with such entities informing them of the new requirements. So they can’t claim at this late hour that they still don’t know…it just won’t fly.”

Asked whether the government has direct evidence of money laundering in the ‘third sector’, the ministry sources said they personally did not at this time.

What they do know, is that many entities register as NGOs to avoid paying taxes. This is done for example by small sports clubs.

Doros Polycarpou, head of the migrant support NGO Kisa, underscored another facet.

He said several entities registered as non-profits – some of which could be involved in shenanigans – will be left untouched by the interior ministry’s ‘get tough’ policy.

In Cyprus, NGOs as such lack legal personality or legal status. They’re registered either as an association, society or foundation, in which case they fall under the aforementioned 2017 law and the jurisdiction of the interior ministry; alternatively they may register as an NPO, in which case they fall under the Companies Law and are regulated by the commerce ministry.

As a for-instance, Polycarpou said virtually every single municipality in Cyprus has set up a parallel, or affiliated, NPO. That NPO – of which the board typically consists of the mayor and a very small group of people – then files for funding for EU projects and, more often than not, gets the cash.

“There’s a lot of this business going on…a gravy train where connected individuals pose as non-profits. Now, if Mr Nouris truly wanted to reform the sector, maybe he should look into that as well.”

Polycarpou indicates that most NGOs are small organisations lacking the financial wherewithal to file the necessary paperwork. Affirmations by lawyers, external audits and so forth may cost anywhere from €2000 to €3000 per filing.

“Instead of cracking the whip on these organisations, why not actually help them meet their requirements?”

However, he did acknowledge a contradiction pointed out by the Sunday Mail – on the one hand NGOs want to be called ‘non-governmental’, but on the other they seek government support.

“We are the first to say that the civil society sector needs to be cleaned up, as it were,” Polycarpou said.

“An NGO that’s transparent about its membership and finances earns credibility, and so more likely to draw potential donors. But I somewhat doubt that real reform is what’s driving the current government policy.”

Asked to comment, Yiannis Yiannaki, Commissioner for Volunteerism and Non-Governmental Organisations, emphasised that the government intends neither to ‘eliminate’ nor ‘penalise’ NGOs.

“We want them to comply with the law, which would benefit them at the end of the day,” he said.

Regarding the financial scale of the ‘third sector’ as a whole in Cyprus, Yiannaki said it’d be impossible to even venture a guess, precisely because so many NGOs currently fall under the radar.

But he did offer a rough estimate as to the combined annual budget allocations by the various ministries to NGOs and related activities: €20 million.

That doesn’t mean all the allocated funds are absorbed, he added.

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ARREST AND FINE OVER FIREWORKS AND BIG CROWD AT LIMASSOL BIRTHDAY PARTY

Cyprus Mail 2 August 2020 - by Evie Andreou

A 43-year-old man from Limassol was arrested early on Sunday after admitting he bought fireworks for a teenager’s birthday party while the woman whose house the party took place, was fined for violating the measures against the spread of coronavirus.

According to the police,  the explosion of fireworks at around 9 pm on Saturday in the Ayios Ioannis area led officers to a group of teenagers, who fled as soon as they saw the patrol car.

The officers also found a large number of 13-year-olds in a nearby house having a birthday party.

Officers discovered that some of the 13-year-olds were the ones using the fireworks which the birthday girl had bought from one of her friends, also 13, for €25.

Police asked the 13-year-old boy and his father, 43, to go to the station for a statement. The father said it was he who had bought the fireworks from a man last Thursday and gave them to his son.

The 43-year-old was arrested for illegal possession of fireworks.

The woman who had hosted the birthday party was fined for violating the measures against the spread of coronavirus.

According to the latest decree by the health minister, no more than 10 people are allowed to get together in social gatherings in Limassol, a move deemed necessary after the recent spike in coronavirus cases in the district.

Police booked 22 businesses and 64 people during the past 24 hours as part of checks on the implementation of measures against the spread of coronavirus.

In Nicosia 178 inspections were carried out and 10 businesses and 18 persons were booked, in Limassol three business and 19 people were booked during 386 checks, and in Larnaca 298 checks took place during which two businesses and 20 persons were booked. In Paphos, four businesses were booked during 41 checks, while in the Famagusta district 206 inspections were carried out leading to three businesses and seven people being booked. In the Morphou area, 189 inspections were carried out, without anyone being booked.

At the airports, two travellers were booked at that of Paphos for not filling out a CyprusFlightPass form and 14 people at that of Larnaca.

Police also booked three travellers who did not wear a protective mask inside the Larnaca airport.

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SAP, DEUTSCHE TELEKOM, TO BUILD CORONA APP GATEWAY FOR EUROPEAN COMMISSION

Cyprus Mail 1 August 2020 -  by Reuters News Service

The European Commission said on Friday it had signed a contract for SAP and Deutsche Telekom to build a software platform that would enable national coronavirus contact tracing apps to ‘talk’ to each other.

The hope is that creating the gateway would help slow the spread of COVID-19 by making it possible to log encounters between people while they are travelling abroad and issue push warnings should one of them be infected.

Such a ‘roaming’ function would be an add-on to the Bluetooth-based smartphone tracker apps, which now only work within national borders, with the goal of making it safer to revive travel and tourism.

The European Commission signed the contract with SAP and Deutsche Telekom’s IT services unit T-Systems to build the platform for cross-border exchange of exposure notifications, the three said in a joint statement. Details on further steps will follow soon.

It should be possible to launch a pilot version of the gateway in three to four weeks, Commission spokesman Johannes Bahrke added.

The two companies, designers of Germany’s Corona-Warn-App which has been downloaded 16 million times, proposed creating the gateway in June, when EU member states agreed on a framework to make the apps interoperable.

Nine EU states – Austria, Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Latvia and Poland – have launched apps based on a technology standard developed by Alphabet’s Google and Apple.

Another nine countries plan similar apps that will use this “decentralised” design, where phones that come into close contact share random identifiers and receive risk notifications if a contact later tests positive for COVID-19.

The common design means these apps are compatible and could easily be plugged into the gateway. Experts say it will be more challenging to hook up the French and Hungarian apps, which store data on central servers.

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BE PATIENT, A PUBLIC TRANSPORT REVOLUTION IS COMING

Cyprus Mail 2 August 2020

A new fleet of buses from Cyprus Public Transport started operating from July 5

By Annette Chrysostomou

Cyprus has been pledged a revolution in public transport, but it is proving extraordinarily difficult.

On July 5, a brand new fleet of buses started operating in Larnaca and Nicosia by the newly formed Cyprus Public Transport (CPT). The contract is valid until 2030 and the company is promising a complete change in the way buses work, namely, the public will finally start using them.

The challenges are significant. Tortuous legal challenges have meant the CPT at present is only operating two of the four bus companies it had bid for. Cyprus has six in total, but one company can only control four.

Working practices within a company that took on the drivers from its predecessors is another challenge, and calling on the public for patience as the company unrolls its grandiose plans is yet another. Concerns about safety have also been raised.

CEO of Cyprus Public Transport Julio Tironi

“We are about to bring about a complete change, but we need some time,” CPT CEO Julio Tironi told the Sunday Mail. “This is a complex process.”

The history of public bus transport has been problematic since an earlier supposed overhaul in 2010, with huge buses largely running nearly empty, endless disputes about how they should operate and numerous strikes and protests by the companies operating them. The CPT promises to change all that.

The idea is to overhaul the whole system, starting with Nicosia. The now nearly empty buses will soon be a thing of the past as the whole project is linked to the Nicosia mobility plan, which envisages Makarios avenue and other central roads in the capital as one-way streets with bus lanes in an attempt to get people out of their cars and into buses, while cycling is also encouraged.

“We are using buses in different sizes. Some of them are nearly empty now but this is only this year,” Tironi said. “The tender is part of a revolution of public transport. Without the mobility plan public transport cannot increase.”

Plans are to tempt non-users by the sophisticated technology the company has.

“For example, non-users who are not used to the service will have the ability to plan a whole trip to a destination, including the use of several modes of transport such as bicycles and scooters, with all the details on an app. You can even pay for the whole trip on the app.” All buses have wifi and are equipped for USB use.

This is not happening just yet, as setting it all up will take a bit of time.

To start with, the company has had to deal with internal structures, such as the training of 500 employees they have taken over from the bus companies which operated from 2010 until now.

“It cannot happen in a week, we ask for a bit of patience from the public,” Tironi said. “Five hundred human beings have their own problems which need to be addressed. For 10 years these people have been used to a way of working, it cannot be changed overnight.”

He said by way of example that a recent strike by members of Peo union two weeks ago came as complete surprise.

“They didn’t announce the protest to anybody, not us, not the government, and we are in the middle of negotiations,” he complained.

The union had said they staged the work protest because drivers were asked to work from early morning until late at night without having a place to rest.

Only when such internal problems are solved, which is expected by late October orearly November, can the new company move to make the promised changes to the network he said.

All buses have wifi and are equipped for USB use

The new launch got off to a difficult start. Just a week after the new buses arrived, a 52-year-old driver was crushed by his bus after he reportedly failed to engage the handbrake. Two other buses – luckily without drivers or passengers – which were supposed to be immobilised started moving.

An investigation by the transport ministry was completed last Monday and confirmed the company and its fleet of vehicles passed all safety checks.

In the past three weeks, the company said, four training seminars were completed, covering 100 per cent of drivers.

Tironi also commented on concerns that most of its buses come from China, which has prompted questions about their quality. He said only one factory in China assembles vital parts such as the engines, all of which are produced in Europe and the US. Another company assembling the parts is located in Germany, he added.

Above all this is a bewilderingly complex unresolved legal case CPT has which encompasses all four of the other bus companies. Under Cyprus law, CPT could only win four of the original six bus companies. Two it already has, but it has gone for all of the remaining four in the hope that it can win two of them.

These are: Osea in Famagusta and affiliated Intercity, Osypa in Paphos and Emel in Limassol.

CPT is in a legal process regarding the Famagusta services, and, as its CEO said, it is not sure when this will be solved.

If the licences for Osea and Intercity are not given to the Cyprus Public Transport company, it will reapply for the tenders of Limassol’s Emel and Paphos’ Osypa, both of which were reported to launch new tenders at the end of June, but have not yet done so.

“We have part of the fleet ready to be shipped to Cyprus for both scenarios,” Tironi explained.

It remains to be seen how this will play out, but the new company has been given a boost this week, when the cabinet approved the installation of thousands of new bus stops and bus shelters, a project estimated at €35 million.

The transport ministry said the goal is to provide improved and increased service to public transport users, and shelters will provide the necessary information, and will be “uniform, ergonomic, green and autonomous”.

A total of 4,962 bus stops will either be installed or upgraded island wide. The construction of 2,015 new bus stops, 1,688 shelters and the upgrade of 1,259 is planned, something that is estimated to be completed within five years at an annual cost of €7 million.

Problems with the bus concessions date back to the last supposed bus system shake-up which started in September 2009. At the time, the tenders theoretically gave third parties the right to submit expressions of interest. They were not permitted to become primary contractors but only to participate in a joint venture.

As a result, no third parties came forward, leaving only the then-current bus companies – who had cornered the market – as the only bidders.

This, the auditor-general noted this year, effectively amounted to a no-bid contract situation. What’s more, the bus companies at the time were never summoned to submit a financial offer, meaning that the financial terms of the concession ended up being hammered out during the negotiating phase with the contracting authority – the transport ministry.

The tenders for the latest system have only been legally resolved for two of six services, for Nicosia and Larnaca.

These were previously served by Osel and Zenon bus companies.

In January, the administrative court upheld a prior decision by the government to award the contract for the running of Nicosia bus services, dismissing action brought against that decision by Osel, the holder of the concession since 2010.

The finding effectively meant the transport ministry was able to finalise the contract with the winner of the tender which was then the Malta Lines Ltd and Kapnos Airport Shuttle Ltd MLKP consortium, now CPT.

The other cases relate to similar actions filed – likewise by the then current concessionaires – against the new contracts awarded to the new companies for the Larnaca, Famagusta and intercity bus routes.

In April and May, the Larnaca Zenon bus company called on the government to cancel the tender procedure for the new public transport contract for the town citing irregularities in the applications of the successful tender.

The government decided to uphold the tender.

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FIFTEEN NEW CASES OF COVID-19 IN CYPRUS, 10 DETECTED IN LIMASSOL [found late Saturday]

in-cyprus 2 August 2020 - by Annie Charalambous

The Health Ministry on Sunday announced 15 new coronavirus cases out of a total of 947 tests in Cyprus. Ten were detected in coastal Limassol which is recording rising numbers.

The Mediterranean island’s overall number is now 1,139, the Ministry also said.

Specifically, out of 132 samples from individuals tested on private initiative, five tested positive to the virus.

And out of 611 samples in Limassol from among 3,000 of the random ones being taken all across Cyprus, 10 individuals tested positive.

 

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