PARIS: A COVID-19 “tsunami” threatens to overwhelm health care systems, the WHO said Wednesday, as record surges fueled by the omicron variant dampened New Year celebrations around the world once again. Governments are walking a tightrope between anti-virus restrictions and the need to keep societies and economies open, as the highly transmissible variant drove cases to levels never seen before in the United States, Britain, France and Denmark. The blistering surge was illustrated by AFP’s tally of 6.55 million new infections reported globally in the week ending Tuesday, the highest the figure has been since the World Health Organization declared a Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020. “I am highly concerned that omicron, being more transmissible, circulating at the same time as Delta, is leading to a tsunami of cases,” said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “This is and will continue to put immense pressure on exhausted health workers, and health systems on the brink of collapse.” The variant has already started to overwhelm some hospitals in the United States, the hardest-hit nation where the seven-day average of new cases hit 265,427, according to a Johns Hopkins University tracker. Harvard epidemiologist and immunologist Michael Mina tweeted that the count was likely just the “tip of the iceberg” with the true number likely far higher because of a shortage of tests. But there was some hope as data indicated a decoupling of the number of cases and hospitalizations. “We should not become complacent,” top US infectious diseases expert Anthony Fauci said Wednesday, but “all indications point to a lesser severity of omicron.” At a drive-through virus testing site in Miami, Florida, on Wednesday, there were long lines of cars with people waiting to provide samples. “Half of my family has it, you know this new variant is very, very spreadable, like way more spreadable than the first time around,” said resident Victoria Sierralta. “It’s like we’re back in like the first stage of COVID-19. It’s absolutely crazy.”

Millions around the world will again welcome a new year in the shadow of the pandemic, which is known to have killed more than 5.4 million people so far, with festivities dampened or canceled in many countries. Greece on Wednesday banned music in bars and restaurants to try and limit New Year’s Eve parties, with public events already canceled. The mayor of Mexico’s capital has canceled the city’s massive New Year’s Eve celebrations after a spike in cases. Despite the outbreak concerns, the streets of Mexico City were busy on Wednesday. “I don’t think that such an event with such economic importance should be canceled, however health comes before everything else,” said 59-year-old teacher Victor Arturo Madrid Contreras. With the “cancelation they are sending a message... ‘You know what? This is serious’.” British Prime Minister Boris Johnson meanwhile defended his decision not to clamp down on festivities over the holidays, saying around 90 percent of COVID-19 patients in intensive care had not received a vaccine booster. The number of people in hospital with the coronavirus topped 10,000 in England, the highest total since March, as Britain on Wednesday reported a new record of 183,037 daily cases. The high take-up of boosters in England “is allowing us to go ahead with New Year in the cautious way that we are,” Johnson said, despite new closures in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

Across the Channel, France too hit a new daily record of more than 200,000 cases — more than double the number on Christmas Day — as it extended its closure of nightclubs into January. Wearing masks outdoors will become compulsory in Paris on Friday for everyone over the age of 11 except those inside vehicles, cyclists, users of other two-wheelers such as scooters and those participating in sports. Denmark, which currently has the world’s highest rate of infection per person, recorded a fresh record of 23,228 new cases, which authorities attributed in part to the large numbers of tests carried out after Christmas celebrations. Portugal also saw a record with nearly 27,000 cases reported in 24 hours.

DUBAI: From the second year of the global pandemic to the overthrow of governments, from glimmers of hope for environmental justice to the world’s biggest sporting and cultural events, the past 12 months have been a roller-coaster ride for the Middle East and North Africa region.

The year began with great promise for the region when Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman invited the leaders of the five other Gulf Cooperation Council member states to a meeting in AlUla, where he put forward his collective reconciliation project.

The AlUla Declaration, which ended the regional crisis that began in 2017, turned the page on all areas of disagreement in the Gulf, with its positive effects echoing across all regional issues, easing most tensions. 

The agreement “strengthens the bonds of friendship and brotherhood among our countries and peoples in order to serve their aspirations,” the crown prince said at the time.

Relations between Israel and Palestine deteriorated in the spring following a raid by Israeli police on Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque, provoking a wave of violence across Israel and the West Bank.

Outrage quickly escalated into a short but savage war between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip. At least 145 Palestinians and 12 Israelis were killed during the 11-day conflict.

During the fighting, an Israeli airstrike destroyed a high-rise building in Gaza City that housed the offices of the Associated Press and other media outlets, drawing international condemnation.

A ceasefire deal brokered by Egypt, Qatar and the UN came into force on May 21.

Ebrahim Raisi, an ideological hard-liner hand-picked by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, was elected president of the Islamic Republic in June and inaugurated in August.

The election had the lowest turnout in the nation’s history, as many Iranians called for a boycott. Even Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran’s populist former president, said he would not vote.

Raisi was allegedly an influential participant in the “death commissions” in 1988, overseeing the forced disappearance and execution of several thousand political dissidents in Evin and Gohardasht prisons.

Kais Saied, Tunisia’s president, dismissed the government and froze the country’s parliament on July 25 in a move his opponents branded a coup, but which attracted widespread public support at the time.

Saied insisted his intervention was necessary to save the country from collapse amid an unprecedented economic and health emergency caused by the COVID-19 pandemic — failures that many attributed to misrule by the Ennahda party.

On Aug. 24, Saied extended the suspension of parliament until further notice, along with the suspension of legal immunity for parliamentarians. Public anger has since been rising, however, with fresh protests breaking out.

After being postponed for a year because of COVID-19, organizers had hoped Tokyo 2020 would become a symbol of triumph over the pandemic. But with strict precautions still in place and a ban on spectators, the Olympic Games, which closed on August 8, felt somewhat underwhelming.

Nevertheless, they proved to be a great success for Arab athletes. Saudi karate practitioner Tarek Hamdi won silver in the men’s kumite +75kg category, while Egypt’s Feryal Abdel Aziz won gold in women’s kumite +61kg category.

Egypt’s Ahmed Elgendy won silver in the men’s modern pentathlon, Bahrain’s Kalkidan Gezahegne won silver in the women’s 10,000 meters, and the Qatari men’s beach volleyball duo of Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan won bronze.

As US troops began their final withdrawal from Afghanistan in August, Taliban militants swept into Kabul, overthrowing the government of President Ashraf Ghani and restoring their hard-line rule over the country.

Although the group pledged to moderate its views on women’s rights, minorities and freedom of expression, many of the repressive practices that marked its previous rule between 1996 and 2001 have returned.

The US, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank have frozen Kabul’s access to billions of dollars in aid and assets until the Taliban changes ideological course. Amid a severe drought and mass displacement, Afghanistan is heading for humanitarian disaster.

The Middle East’s first World Expo kicked off in Dubai on Oct. 1. The opening ceremony took place in the visually stunning, 67 meter-high Al-Wasl Dome, and featured an international program of music and cultural performances.

Expo 2020 Dubai brings together 192 nations for the first time in the 170-year history of World Expos. Each country has its own pavilion, under the Emirati hosts’ stated policy of “one nation, one pavilion.”

The six-month event has served as a platform for the unveiling of innovations. Courier service provider UPS, for instance, launched the world’s first solar-powered vehicle-charging point, which it will use to power a fleet of delivery vans.

Iraqis went to the polls on Oct. 10 to vote in parliamentary elections originally scheduled for June. The vote was marred, however, by the lowest turnout since the overthrow of dictator Saddam Hussein in 2003.

Although international observers praised the freedom and fairness of the elections, the country’s pro-Iran militias and party blocs have disputed the result, in which their share of parliamentary seats was slashed.

Analysts believe these militias were behind an attempt in November to assassinate Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi at his Baghdad residence, in retaliation for his attempts to reduce their influence.

Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 strategy aims to reduce the Kingdom’s dependence on fossil fuels. Riyadh went a step further in October with the launch of two major initiatives designed to show that it is playing a leadership role in the global campaign against climate change.

When Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman unveiled the details of the Saudi Green and Middle East Green Initiatives during a special event in Riyadh, it was a landmark occasion for the region and committed Saudi Arabia to reaching net-zero greenhouse-gas emissions by 2060.

In addition, the Kingdom pledged to completely eliminate oil from domestic power generation by 2030, replacing it with cleaner gas and renewables. Multi-billion-dollar investment programs to plant trees in the Kingdom were also announced, among other environmentally sound strategies. 

General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan staged a military coup in Sudan in late October, overthrowing the civilian government of Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and declaring a state of emergency. Al-Burhan claimed infighting between the military and civilian parties was threatening the nation’s stability.

Pro-democracy groups, which toppled the regime of Omar Al-Bashir in 2019, took to the streets to demand a return to civilian rule. Following weeks of escalating violence, Hamdok was reinstated on Nov. 21 under a power-sharing arrangement with the military.

Although the international community backed the deal for the sake of Sudan’s stability, opposition groups continue to protest against the military’s involvement in government.

This year was the year when the effects of climate change got real for many people, with a spate of forest fires, flooding, droughts and storms wreaking havoc the world over. It was also the year when efforts to cut greenhouse-gas emissions began to be taken seriously.

At the UN’s COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland, the world’s governments accepted a compromise deal aimed at maintaining a key global warming target of no more than 1.5 C above pre-industrial levels, with a last-minute change that toned down commitments to eliminate the use of coal.

Several countries complained the deal did not go far enough. However, it did set out rules for international trading of carbon credits and called on big polluters to come back next year with improved pledges for cutting emissions.

Experts have said governments were woefully unprepared for the COVID-19 pandemic when it was declared by the World Health Organization in early 2020. Now, almost two years later, the world is still grappling with uneven distribution of vaccines and the emergence of new variants of the virus, the latest being omicron.

The variant was first identified in South Africa in late November and quickly became the dominant version in many countries. Studies suggest that the variant is not any more aggressive in terms of its effects than the alpha, beta, gamma and delta strains, but is more transmissible and potentially more resistant to vaccines.

Experts warn that persistent high rates of infection will continue to place a strain on countries’ health infrastructures and risks creating more-dangerous variants in the months ahead unless screening and vaccination rates in the developing world radically improve.

Although vaccination campaigns and precautionary measures in Saudi Arabia, the UAE and other Gulf states have been notably successful, other countries in the region have been less effective, leading to fresh spikes in cases.

ADDIS ABABA: Ethiopia wants to pass a supplementary budget worth 122 billion birr ($2.5 billion) to help finance programs to rebuild areas destroyed by war and provide humanitarian aid, the Finance Ministry said.

The budget is much larger than previously reported in the country.

The government-affiliated media outlet Fana said on Monday that the government was seeking a $102 million supplementary budget “to be used for rehabilitation of people affected by war and conflict.”

“The additional budget will be spent on security of the country, humanitarian aid ... and other necessary government works,” the ministry said in a statement on its Facebook page. The request will have to be approved by parliament which is expected to give its approval, but the ministry did not say how the money would be raised.

The Tigray People’s Liberation Front and the federal government and its allies have been at war for more than a year.

The ongoing conflict has killed thousands and displaced millions.

Among those who have borne the brunt of the conflict are humanitarian workers.

The UN refugee agency UNHCR said in a statement on Thursday that one of its staff members had been killed in northern Ethiopia.

Filippo Grandi, the head of UNHCR, tweeted that the staff member had been killed on Dec. 28.

Ethiopian MPs have approved a bill to establish a commission for national dialogue, amid international pressure for negotiations to end the conflict.

The Federal Parliamentary Assembly voted overwhelmingly in favor with 287 votes for, 13 votes against and one abstention.

“The commission’s establishment will pave the way for national consensus and keep the integrity of the country,” the bill states.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government has promised to create such a commission to establish a common ground on contentious issues.

The commission, however, will not at this stage engage with the Tigray Peoples’ Liberation Front or the Oromo Liberation Army, both of which have been declared terrorist organizations by the government.

Some government officials have said specifically that the new commission will not be engaging in talks with the Tigray organization.

But the commission’s creation may be an effort to respond to the international community’s persistent calls for a cease-fire and inclusive dialogue to resolve the conflict, said Tsedale Lemma, CEO of Jakenn Publishing, publisher of the prominent Addis Standard media outlet.

“When the international community requested holding inclusive dialogue to address Ethiopia’s deepening crisis, there is no ambiguity on the need for such dialogue to be truly inclusive by having various stakeholders, including armed groups, be a part of the process,” said Tsedale.

The government so far has a strict policy of no negotiations with the armed groups, she said.

“With this as a background, it’s safe to say that the National Dialogue Commission is just an extension of the government’s inadequate attempt at scratching the thick surface in Ethiopia’s otherwise multi-layered and complex political crisis,” she said.

The US Embassy in Ethiopia continues to urge its citizens wishing to leave the country to do so by taking commercial flights.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta on the situation in Ethiopia, spokesman for the US State Department, Ned Price, said.

“They agreed on the urgent need for a cessation of hostilities, unhindered humanitarian access, an end to human rights abuses and violations, and a negotiated resolution to the conflict,” Price said.

But Ethiopian officials have continued to protest that the US and other Western countries are interfering in the country’s internal affairs.

“These (Western) countries, especially the US, are supporting the Tigray Peoples’ Liberation Front in addition to putting various pressures on Ethiopia,” said Zadig Abrha, an official within the Ethiopian Prime Minister’s office.

Ethiopia’s federal army and its allied forces recaptured swathes of areas in the Amhara and Afar region in recent weeks that were in the hands of Tigray forces since July.

CAPE TOWN: South Africa has lifted a midnight to 4 a.m. curfew on people’s movement with immediate effect, believing the country has passed the peak of its fourth COVID-19 wave driven by the omicron variant, a government statement said on Thursday. The country made the changes based on the trajectory of the pandemic, levels of vaccination in the country and available capacity in the health sector, according to a press release issued by Mondli Gungubele, a minister in the presidency. South Africa is currently at the lowest of its five-stage COVID-19 alert levels. “All indicators suggest the country may have passed the peak of the fourth wave at a national level,” a statement from the special cabinet meeting held earlier on Thursday said. Data from the Department of Health showed a 29.7 percent decrease in the number of new cases detected in the week ending Dec. 25 compared to the number of cases found in the previous week, at 127,753, the government said. South Africa, with close to 3.5 million infections and 91,000 deaths, has been the worst-hit country in Africa during the pandemic on both counts. Besides lifting the restrictions on public movement, the government said gatherings will be restricted to no more than 1,000 people indoors, and no more than 2,000 people outdoors. It also ruled that alcohol shops with licenses to operate beyond 11 p.m. (2100GMT) may revert back to full license conditions, a welcome boon for traders and businesses hard hit by the pandemic and looking to recover during the festive season. “While the omicron variant is highly transmissible, there has been lower rates of hospitalization than in previous waves,” cabinet said, adding that the wearing of masks in public places remained mandatory. Failure to wear a mask in South Africa when required remains a criminal offense.

LONDON: The mother of a newly married and pregnant woman who died after being allegedly pushed off a hill peak by her husband has spoken about her grief over the loss of her daughter.

Fawziyah Javed, 31, fell from Arthur’s Seat, a site popular with tourists for its views over Edinburgh, Scotland, on Sep. 2 this year.

She was pregnant and expecting a baby boy.

Her husband, Kashif Anwar, 27, has been charged with murder. He appeared in an Edinburgh court in September for a short hearing and made no plea.

Javed’s mother, Yasmin Javed, said that the death of her only child had “left a void in her and her husband’s lives.”

She added that she and her husband, Mohammed, had been “not living, just existing” over the past three months, and that she “feels like I’m stuck in a nightmare I’ll never wake up from.”

Her daughter’s death, she said, had “rocked” her West Yorkshire community and left the family “traumatized.”

Yasmin added: “All day I’ve been crying until my tears have run dry. We are devastated, our world has collapsed. She was our only child, and she was pregnant with her first child at the time.

“To lose a child under any circumstances would be painful, but when it’s your only child and your unborn first grandson too, I have no words to describe my pain. We will never, ever get over this. The light is gone from our lives … there is no quality of life for us,” she told The Times newspaper.

The young newlywed worked as a solicitor and was dedicated to her charity work, said her mother.

Fawziyah spent much of her time supporting a wide array of charities working for young people, the homeless and various other causes. Her mother said that she hopes to continue her legacy of charity work by urging the public to make charitable donations in her honor.

The family has also set up a GoFundMe page to raise charitable donations.

Yasmin said: “She was a very caring person, she cared about other people and wanted to make a difference. Helping people gave her so much fulfillment — she was so passionate about it.

“She was a selfless person who wore her heart on her sleeve. She was very kind and considerate.”

NEW DELHI: Delhi Health Minister Satyendra Jain said on Thursday that the omicron variant of COVID-19 was spreading in Delhi, accounting for nearly a half of the samples tested amid a surge in new infections. 

There has been a sharp rise in COVID-19 figures in the Indian capital over the past few days. There were 923 new cases on Thursday, an 86 percent increase in 24 hours.  

“The new, fast-spreading variant of concern is gradually spreading in the community,” Jain said in a press conference. 

He added that the omicron variant was detected in 46 percent of the samples tested.  

The rapid increase in cases has raised concerns over the COVID-19 response as hospitals are not working at full capacity amid an ongoing nationwide strike of doctors, who have limited non-emergency services. 

The protests started in December after months of delays on post-graduate student admissions at government health facilities. The admissions process has been stalled by legal disputes, including a controversy over reserved spaces for poorer Indians. 

While India has one of the worst doctor-to-patient ratios in the world — just 1.34 to 1,000 — some 45,000 young doctors who passed post-graduate exams last year have been idle due to the delay. 

“Hospitals across India are working with only two-third capacity because of the delay in the admission process,” Dr. Suvrankar Datta, an official for the Federation of All India Medical Association, a doctor’s group in support of the strike, told Arab News on Thursday. 

“We have genuine demands. They should have thought of improving the medical infrastructure and taken proactive steps to address the demands of doctors.”  

Mumbai-based Dr. Pravid Dhage, secretary general of the Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors, said the government has been slow in responding to suggestions from health professionals.  

“We feel bad that patients are suffering,” he told Arab News.  

“We have been saying for months that a third wave is coming but the government has not done anything. We have been requesting the government to upgrade the infrastructure and recruit more people but the government has not acted.”  

The second wave in India, fueled by the highly transmissible delta variant, killed over 450,000 people between March and May, as hospitals ran out of beds, oxygen and staff to treat patients.  

Delhi-based Dr. Harjit Singh Bhati told Arab News the admission process for young doctors should be expedited to avert health crisis.  

“If the government is keen to improve the medical infrastructure and wants to fight the new variant seriously, they should immediately finish the admission process,” he said.  

“The government has not learnt any lesson from the second wave that devastated India mainly due to their lack of preparedness.”