Conservationists have warned that the coronavirus pandemic could spark a surge in ocean pollution – adding to a glut of plastic waste that already threatens marine life – after finding disposable masks floating like jellyfish and waterlogged latex gloves scattered across seabeds, writes Ashifa Kassam.
The French non-profit Opération Mer Propre, whose activities include regularly picking up litter along the Côte d’Azur, began sounding the alarm late last month.
Divers had found what Joffrey Peltier of the organisation described as “Covid waste” – dozens of gloves, masks and bottles of hand sanitiser beneath the waves of the Mediterranean, mixed in with the usual litter of disposable cups and aluminium cans.
The quantities of masks and gloves found were far from enormous, said Peltier. But he worried that the discovery hinted at a new kind of pollution, one set to become ubiquitous after millions around the world turned to single-use plastics to combat the coronavirus. “It’s the promise of pollution to come if nothing is done,” said Peltier.
In France alone, authorities have ordered two billion disposable masks, said Laurent Lombard of Opération Mer Propre. “Knowing that … soon we’ll run the risk of having more masks than jellyfish in the Mediterranean,” he wrote on social media alongside video of a dive showing algae-entangled masks and soiled gloves in the sea near Antibes.
The group hopes the images will prompt people to embrace reusable masks and swap latex gloves for more frequent handwashing. “With all the alternatives, plastic isn’t the solution to protect us from Covid. That’s the message,” said Peltier.
Living in lockdown has put everyone under strain, but it may also have given some of us time to take stock and work out what we really want from life. Perhaps this time away from normality will help us reflect on how we were living before and make new plans for the future: to discard some old habits and build some new ones.
If you feel as if you have learned something about yourself over the last few weeks and hope to change your life, we want to hear from you. Maybe you want to spend more time in nature, pay more attention to your neighbours, reassess your relationship, change you job, be more creative, keep better contact with old friends, spend less money (or more), or worry less. Whatever is on your mind, we want to know.
Hospitals in Pakistan have warned they are running out of beds to treat coronavirus patients, as the number of confirmed cases in the country passed 100,000, AFP reports.
In recent weeks, however, the country of more than 210 million has reported a sharp rise in new infections, and on Monday the government said more than 100,000 cases and 2,000 deaths had now been recorded.
Last week a leaked government report suggested there were nearly 700,000 infections in Lahore alone. Doctors at several main hospitals in the historic eastern city told AFP they were running out of beds, ventilators and other vital equipment.
“As the cases increase, more health care workers are also falling victim to the virus,” said Farooq Sahil, a doctor at Services Hospital Lahore.
Khizer Hayat, chairman of the Young Doctors Association of Punjab, said facilities across the province needed help. “Hospitals are running out of beds; there aren’t enough ventilators given to us,” he told AFP.
In the southern port city of Karachi, health centres are turning away the sick, with a large sign near the entrance of the Indus hospital stating there was no room for coronavirus patients.
Asad Umar, the head of the national coronavirus task force, has announced that a package to relieve pressure on hospitals would include 1,000 new beds in major cities.
After 15,000 people in Berlin and 25,000 in Munich joined antiracism protests over the weekend, the German government has called on demonstrators to stick to coronavirus distancing rules.
In some cases, protesters were closely packed together despite German requirements for people to stay 1.5 meters (5 feet) apart.
On Monday, Steffen Seibert, spokesman for the chancellor, Angela Merkel, said “it is good if people take to the streets in Germany as well with a clear statement against racism.”
But he added: “The pictures that in some cases emerged over the weekend were not good. Both things must be possible: to demonstrate peacefully, which is a fundamental right, and keep to the (social distancing) rules.”
He said many demonstrators “created a big risk for themselves and others.”
Germany has been widely praised for its adroit handling of the pandemic.
Belgium has reported 122 new infections in the last 24 hours and 11 fatalities, compared to 156 confirmed cases and 15 deaths the day before, writes Daniel Boffey, the Guardian’s Brussels bureau chief.
The continued downward trend has allowed the government to allow restaurants and bars to reopen after nearly three months in lockdown.
The prime minister of the Dutch-speaking Flanders region, Jan Jambon marked the moment by inviting photographers to a chicken restaurant close to Brussels’ EU quarter where he enjoyed lunch.
Iranians have been urged to wear face masks in public areas by the country’s health ministry, following warnings that it could face a new wave of coronavirus infections.
Last week, health officials said there could be a second, stronger wave of the virus if people flouted physical distancing rules.
On Monday, health ministry spokesman Kianush Jahanpur reported that the death toll from Covid-19 in Iran had reached 8,351 after 70 people died in the previous 24 hours.
The total number of positive cases in the country now stands at 173,832 after 2,043 new infections were reported. Jahanpur said:
“Everyone should wear masks when attending public places like shops or any other places where fully observing social distancing is not possible.”
Restrictions to curb the spread of coronavirus were imposed by Iran in mid-April, but the government began easing them after the daily number of deaths and infections fell over concern about the economic impact of the crisis.
However, restrictions have since been reimposed in some provinces after localised outbreaks.
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A month-long coronavirus lockdown is to be lifted in Moscow after mayor Sergei Sobyanin declared the pandemic was on the wane.
His comments came shortly after Russia announced the partial reopening of its borders allowing people who needed to work, study, get medical treatment or look after relatives to travel abroad for the first time since late March.
“The pandemic has slowly but steadily been on the wane for several weeks,” Sobyanin wrote on his personal blog on Monday. “Moscow can practically get back to its usual rhythm of life.”
The country has reported 476,658 cases of coronavirus – the third highest tally in the world – but new cases in Moscow have more than halved to around 2,000 a day.
Nationally, 5,971 deaths of those who tested positive for the virus have been reported, stirring debate about the way in which authorities count fatalities.
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North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has appeared on state television attending the politburo of the ruling Workers’ party.
Neither Kim nor the officials at the meeting wore face masks, while the coronavirus pandemic was not mentioned in the media report.
Reuters
(@Reuters)North Korean leader Kim Jong Un makes an appearance on television pic.twitter.com/Nww7659FaK
KCNA said that instead the meeting “discussed in depth some crucial issues arising in further developing the self-sufficient economy of the country and improving the standard of people’s living”.
The footage comes weeks after it reported that Kim had attended the completion of a fertiliser plant north of Pyongyang, following speculation that the dictator was gravely ill.
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