Uniquely Nelson

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has said it is in "close contact" with UK officials over the emergence of a new variant of Covid-19. Shoppers walk along Oxford Street as new coronavirus restrictions, announced today by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, are due to take effect from midnight on Sunday Photo: AFP The new variant is spreading more rapidly than the original version, but is not believed to be more deadly. Large parts of south-east England, including London, are now under a new, stricter level of restrictions in a bid to curb the rapidly spreading virus. The Netherlands said it was banning UK flights because of the new variant. The ban comes into force on Sunday (local time) and will remain in place until 1 January at the latest, the Dutch government said. The move comes after sampling of a case in the Netherlands earlier this month revealed the same strain of coronavirus as that found in the UK. Pending "greater clarity" on the situation in the UK, it said "the risk of the new virus strain being introduced to the Netherlands should be minimised as much as possible". We’re in close contact with UK officials on the new #COVID19 virus variant. They’ll continue to share info & results of their analysis & ongoing studies. We’ll update Member States & public as we learn more about the characteristics of this virus variant & any implications. — World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) December 19, 2020 The Dutch government also said it would work with other European Union member states in the coming days to "explore the scope for further limiting the risk of the new strain of the virus being brought over from the UK". What do we know about the new variant? The WHO tweeted that it was in contact with UK officials over the new variant. It said the UK was sharing information from ongoing studies into the mutation, and that the WHO would update member states and the public "as we learn more about the characteristics of this virus variant [and] any implications". Although there is "considerable uncertainty", British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the new variant may be up to 70 percent more transmissible than the old one. But officials say there is no current evidence to suggest the new variant causes a higher mortality rate or that is affected any differently by vaccines and treatments. "I think this is a situation which is going to make things a lot worse, but there are some really optimistic things if you look once we get the vaccine out, assuming the vaccine works against this, which at the moment is the working assumption," said England's chief medical officer, Prof Chris Whitty. Emmanuel Macron is in a stable condition Photo: AFP Elsewhere in Europe In the UK, the planned relaxation of Covid rules for Christmas has been scrapped for large parts of south-east England and cut to just Christmas Day for the rest of England, Scotland and Wales. Italy has ordered a nationwide lockdown over much of the Christmas and New Year period. The country will be under "red-zone" restrictions over the public holidays, with non-essential shops, restaurants and bars closed, and Italians only allowed to travel for limited reasons. The Netherlands and Germany have imposed lockdowns until January. In Germany, Christmas will see a slight easing, with one household allowed to host up to four close family members. Austria is set to enter its third lockdown after Christmas. From 26 December, non-essential shops will be shut and movement outside homes restricted. Sweden has recommended wearing face masks on public transport during the rush hour, reversing its earlier guidance. France's President Emmanuel Macron is in a "stable" condition after testing positive for coronavirus, his office said on Saturday. He is still experiencing symptoms, such as coughing and fatigue, but they are not preventing him from working, it said. Slovakia's Prime Minister Igor Matovic, who attended an EU summit with Macron last week, said he had tested positive for coronavirus on Friday. Several other European leaders who were also at the summit said they would self-isolate. - BBC

When 93-year-old Maisie Weston recalls the early years of her working life, she often uses the word "lonely". Photo: Mint Images/Frans Lanting/AFP At 16 years of age, she was sent to work as a domestic servant, the beginning of years of working in houses on farms across Western Australia's south-west. "You do the cooking, you do housework such as it was. Just every day work, you did it," she said. "It was a lonely life, I did practically everything." Weston is one of thousands of Aboriginal people who worked across Western Australia under wage control legislation, which allowed the State Government to withhold wages from Aboriginal people over a period from the late 1800s until the early 1970s. She was born near Katanning, a Goreng woman of the Noongar nation in Western Australia's Great Southern. As a child she lived in a number of government-run settlements for indigenous people, before being sent to her first job, working for who she describes as an English man and his Australian wife. "I had to get up very early and get the breakfast ready," she said. "I was a strong kid at 16, I was able to do a lot of work." Weston's wage was seven shillings and sixpence a week, and she recalled asking for permission to spend additional money she had earned. "If you wanted to buy anything more you had to write a letter." She said she felt helpless to change or improve her situation and wished she could have received a more formal school education. "Aboriginal children were not allowed in the state schools. They didn't worry about giving you an education, they just sent you to work," she said. The fight for compensation More than 2000 people, including Weston, have so far joined a class action launched against the Western Australian Government in the hope of claiming compensation and lost earnings for the decades of unpaid labour forced on indigenous people until 1972. The class action was launched by Shine Lawyers, which estimated millions of dollars in stolen or unpaid wages could be owed to people who worked in a range of industries, from stockmen and laundry assistants to kitchen hands and domestic workers. It recently conducted the first case management hearing with the next hearing scheduled for May next year. Marda Marda man Steve Kinnane is a writer and researcher working for the Kimberley Aboriginal Law and Culture Centre. His grandmother, Jessie Argyle, also worked as a domestic servant. By chance in 1988, while working as a courier, Kinnane stumbled across a file of records kept on his grandmother stored at an old library. "There are 18,000 personal files still in existence … on Aboriginal people such as my grandmother and mother and other family members," he said. "The [files] are a rich source of information about exactly how the Department of Aboriginal Affairs, later the Native Welfare Department, controlled people's lives." More than 2000 people are taking legal action against the government in Western Australia. Photo: Rene Riegal/ Unsplash Kinnane said his grandmother's file covered her working life from 1918 until 1948. "It documents some 320 pages of letters, judgments, surveillance, trust accounts, her desire to access her money," he said. "As an example, my grandmother was keen to purchase clothing. That would have to be a request that was made to [Chief Protector] Mr Neville. "Mr Neville would then decide on what that clothing would be, and there are items such as underwear, aprons, shoes, stockings, all these things had to be applied for through the department, through her own trust account for money that they held in trust for her. "But they decided whether or not she got to access it or not." Kinnane said he hoped the class action filed against the Government would be treated with honesty and a sense of justice, and would lead to broader truth telling, education, and acknowledgement of how Aboriginal people were treated. 'We worked very hard' Wajarri elder Len Merry, 71, was born on a station in the Murchison region and went on to live and work on a number of properties in the area. He remembers his younger years with fondness, but also remembers working hard, long hours building fences, droving sheep and cattle, mustering, and shearing. "We never had an easy time, we worked very hard," he said. In the early days most work was completed on horseback. Merry started work when he could get his foot in the stirrup at about 10 years of age or younger. "No school. If we heard a Land Rover coming we'd run for the bush, don't come back until midnight, that's the way our father wanted us to grow up," he said. He fondly remembers the strong community of Aboriginal people who lived in the region, and reflected sadly on losing that community when equal wages for Aboriginal pastoral workers were phased in from December 1968. "It was really bad, you start losing your family, they start going away, moving to town, that's where they all died really," he said. "The station owners couldn't pay them money. They used to just give them tucker. They'd work for tucker and a bit of meat and they were very happy for that. A little bit of money, not much. "When the wage came up they had to move on." Merry hoped the class action would compensate Aboriginal people for retained wages held in full or part. "It wasn't easy, and we loved it, but I'd like to see something back from it," he said. "I still can't work out why they worked us so hard. You can still live now without doing that work, it was very hard. "When I was working I was getting up at three o'clock in the morning and knocking off at nine o'clock at night." The Queensland Government settled a long-running stolen wages case for $190 million in July 2019, with thousands of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island people seeking to recover wages earned over three decades. The Western Australian class action is expected to be settled out of court. - ABC

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who has refused to take any coronavirus vaccine, said on Saturday that he did not think the world's rush for a vaccine was justified because the pandemic is in his view coming to an end. Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro Photo: AFP New coronavirus cases have not indicated the pandemic is ending. In recent days, several countries including Brazil have reported record numbers of daily cases. "The pandemic is really reaching its end, the numbers have showed this, we are dealing with small rises now," said Bolsonaro. "But the rush for the vaccine is not justified because you are playing with people's lives." Bolsonaro has been widely criticised for minimising Covid-19, calling the disease caused by the virus a "little flu" even as Brazil is one of the countries most affected. On Saturday, Brazil registered 50,177 new cases, bringing the total to 7,213,155. Deaths rose by 706 to 186,356. - Reuters

New South Wales has reported 30 new cases overnight, with 28 linked to the Northern Beaches cluster. People line up for a Covid-19 coronavirus testing at Mona Vale Hospital in Sydney. Photo: AFP The New South Wales Premier, Gladys Berejiklian, says while the number are higher than yesterday, a positive is that officials haven't seen evidence of the virus spreading significantly outside the Northern Beaches. Everyone in the Greater Sydney area, including the Blue Mountains and Central Coast, is now asked to have no more than 10 people in their homes until Wednesday. The Northern Beaches region remains in lockdown. The New Zealand government says it is monitoring the new Covid-19 cluster in Sydney closely but it is too early to say if it will affect a trans-Tasman bubble. From today, the neighbouring state of Queensland is requiring arrivals to have a border pass and get tested for the coronavirus. Tasmania requires anyone coming from the state to spend 14 days in quarantine - but anyone who has been in Sydney's Northern Beaches is banned. Western Australia is reimposing its hard border, so no-one can travel there from New South Wales. WA's Premier Mark McGowan said while he regrets having to take the step less than a week before Christmas, the risk of Covid-19 emerging in the community is too high. "I know these changes are going to be hard to take for many people," McGowan said at a press conference last night. "I know it will throw Christmas and reunion plans into disarray if it hasn't already. "These are now extraordinary circumstances. "I wish I didn't have to be making this announcement but as Premier I have a responsibility for every Western Australian and I need to do what is right to keep our state safe and strong." McGowan said it was not known how long the border would stay up. A woman waiting for a Covid-19 test at Mona Vale Hospital in Sydney. Photo: AFP "We hope it's only for a short period and we can reassess our border controls when the health advice says it's ok to do so," he said. He advised West Australians to reconsider travel to New South Wales. "WA's community has been Covid-free 252 days. I want to keep it that way," he said. "I want to protect people's health and, in turn, protect people's jobs. "If you can avoid it, please don't go." NZ monitoring situation in NSW The New Zealand government says it is monitoring the new Covid-19 cluster in Sydney closely but it is too early to say if it will affect a trans-Tasman bubble. "As previously stated, a travel bubble won't start until the first quarter of 2021," a government spokesperson said in a statement. "Commencement is dependent on no significant change in the circumstances of either country. "Decisions on whether or not to proceed with a travel bubble will occur in the new year and we will assess the situation at that point. "We're monitoring the situation closely, but it's too early to make any decisions based on the current community cases in New South Wales." Passengers wearing face masks arrive from New Zealand at Sydney under the one-way rule bubble. Photo: AFP or licensors In a statement released this afternoon, Ministry of Health officials said they are closely monitoring the situation in New South Wales and are in regular contact with Australian officials. It also commented on news New South Wales is also implementing new measures for international aircrew. "Officials in New Zealand have already increased public health and testing measures relating to aircrews to further strengthen our country's defence against Covid-19. "Among the measures, overseas-based air crew are required to stay in a managed isolation facility for the duration of their layover while in New Zealand." Very few exemptions expected McGowan said very few people would be eligible for an exemption to travel from New South Wales to Western Australia. However, some may be granted entry on compassionate grounds, including people who had travelled to NSW recently and needed to come home. "It's pretty tough," McGowan said. "But imagine us having to shutdown Perth or Margaret River or Bunbury or Broome over Christmas. "That's what we're trying to avoid here." Some senior government officials, active military personnel and truck drivers are among those who will still be able to travel between the two states. All 68 people who had been in the Sydney Northern Beaches area before travelling to WA have tested negative for the virus. Second NSW travel change in two days The announcement comes just hours after the WA Health Minister Roger Cook held a media conference painting a much more positive picture of the border situation. "At this stage we don't, at this point in time, see the need to go further than the current arrangements we have," Cook told a midday press briefing. However, he acknowledged the situation was unpredictable and "could change at any time". The hard border replaces the arrangement in place since Thursday requiring travellers from NSW to self-isolate upon arrival in WA. WA recorded one new Covid-19 case overnight - a man in his 30s who had arrived from overseas and remains in hotel quarantine. The returned traveller brings WA's total Covid-19 case number to 845, including 14 active cases. It's been 252 days since community transmission in WA. ABC / RNZ

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has blamed Russia for what is being described as the worst-ever cyber espionage attack on the US government. Mike Pompeo said that Russia was trying "to undermine our way of life". Photo: AFP "We can say pretty clearly that it was the Russians that engaged in this activity," Pompeo said on Friday. President Donald Trump downplayed the attack's severity - saying it was "under control" - and cast doubt on Russia's role, hinting at Chinese involvement. The hack, targeting software made by US firm SolarWinds, was found last week. However, it had been going on for months. Russia has denied any involvement in the attack. Among the US agencies targeted was the office that manages nuclear weapons. That government organisation, the US energy department, said however that the arsenal's security had not been compromised. Several other organisations around the world, including in the UK, are understood to have been targeted by hackers using the same network management software. Researchers, who have named the hack Sunburst, say it could take years to fully comprehend what is one of the biggest ever cyber-attacks. What did Pompeo say about the cyber-attack? In a radio interview with US talk show host Mark Levin on Friday, Pompeo said he believed that Russia had, over a period of months, penetrated several US government agencies and private companies, along with other companies and governments around the world. He said there was "a significant effort to use a piece of third-party software to essentially embed code inside US government systems". Along with the US energy department, federal agencies targeted by what has been described as a sophisticated cyber espionage operation include the Treasury and departments of homeland security, state, defence and commerce. Pompeo said that US investigators looking into the attack were still "unpacking precisely what it is", and that much of the information would likely remain classified. He said that Russia was trying to "undermine our way of life", adding that Russian President "Vladimir Putin remains a real risk". What has been the president's reaction? In two tweets on Saturday, Trump again turned on what he labels the "fake news media" for exaggerating the matter. He wrote: "The Cyber Hack is far greater in the Fake News Media than in actuality. "I have been fully briefed and everything is well under control. Russia, Russia, Russia is the priority chant when anything happens because Lamestream is, for mostly financial reasons, petrified of discussing the possibility that it may be China (it may!)." He did not mention his own secretary of state's comments and supplied no evidence on any Chinese involvement. Pompeo has taken a strong line against Russia before. In his time as secretary of state, the US has pulled out of a key nuclear treaty and the Open Skies Treaty on aerial surveillance flights. But the president has been far more ambivalent towards Moscow, downplaying such incidents as allegations that Russia offered the Taliban bounties to kill US troops - something Pompeo had issued Moscow a stern warning about. President-elect Joe Biden, who is due to be sworn in on 20 January, has vowed to make cyber-security a "top priority" of his administration. "We need to disrupt and deter our adversaries from undertaking significant cyber-attacks in the first place," he said on Thursday. "We will do that by, among other things, imposing substantial costs on those responsible for such malicious attacks, including in co-ordination with our allies and partners." What do we know about the hacking campaign? Hackers managed to gain access to major organisations by compromising network management software developed by Texas-based IT company SolarWinds. The access could have allowed the hackers to take a high degree of control over the networks of organisations using that software, but appears to have been used to steal data rather than for any disruptive or destructive impact. It is thought that those behind the operation targeted a narrow set of organisations in an attempt to steal national-security, defence and other related information. However, while software may have been downloaded, that does not necessarily mean data was taken. SolarWinds Orion, the computer network tool at the source of the breach, earlier said that 18,000 of its 300,000 customers might have been affected, but there is no indication that significant theft of customer or citizen data was an aim of the cyber-attack. Investigators have said the months-long operation through SolarWinds could have been launched before March this year. For more than three decades, hackers linked to Moscow are believed to have tried to steal US secrets online. - BBC

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has imposed tighter coronavirus controls on millions of people in England and drastically scaled back plans to ease restrictions over Christmas, seeking to curb a new more infectious strain of the virus. Photo: AFP The number of cases in England has soared in the last two weeks because of a variant of the virus that scientists said is up to 70 percent more transmissible. Johnson said the government had to take urgent action. "It is with a very heavy heart I must tell you we cannot continue with Christmas as planned," Johnson told a news conference. "I sincerely believe there is no alternative open to me." London and southeast England - about a third of the English population - are currently in the highest level of a three-tier system of rules but will now be placed in a new Tier 4 level. People in that tier will be required to stay at home except for essential reasons such as work, and non-essential retail will close, as will indoor leisure and entertainment. Social mixing will be limited to meeting one other person in an outdoor space. Johnson had said on Friday he hoped England would not need a third lockdown after Christmas. He had also resisted calls to change plans to ease restrictions for five days over the festive period and allow three separate households to meet indoors. He said on Wednesday it would be "frankly inhuman" to ban Christmas. However, those now in Tier 4 will not be allowed to mix with others over Christmas. And all others will now only be allowed to see friends and family for one day. The new rules will come into effect from Saturday night at midnight (local time). Elsewhere in the UK Wales brings forward lockdown to start from midnight Saturday Northern Ireland announces post-Christmas lockdown The Scottish government has said "all options" remain on the table ahead of a review on Tuesday Like other countries in Europe, Britain is battling to contain the virus. Johnson's action comes after concern about a surge in cases, sparked by the new infectious strain of the virus - VUI202012/01. It is the rate of infection that is worrying the government and its advisors. "There's no evidence to suggest it is more lethal or causes more severe illness," Johnson said. "Equally, there's no evidence to suggest the vaccine will be any less effective against the new variant." England's Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty said authorities had alerted the World Health Organization and were continuing to analyse the available data to improve their understanding of the new strain. Britain reported 27,052 new Covid-19 cases on Saturday and 534 deaths. The reproduction "R" number is estimated to be between 1.1 and 1.2, meaning the number of cases is rapidly increasing. "Failing to act decisively now, will mean further suffering," Jeremy Farrar, director of the Wellcome Trust and a member of the government's Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE), said on Twitter. Britain has been one of the worst hit European countries - with more than 67,000 deaths linked to coronavirus and more than 2 million cases reported. - Reuters / BBC

Moderna has been approved by the US government as the country's second Covid-19 vaccine, clearing the way for millions of doses to be released. The Moderna Covid-19 vaccine has been approved by the FDA. Photo: David Himbert / Hans Lucas/ AFP The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorised the US-made vaccine about a week after approving a Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, which is now being distributed. The US has agreed to purchase 200 million doses of Moderna, and six million may be ready to ship now. The country has the world's highest numbers of Covid-19 deaths and cases. It has recorded at least 311,529 deaths and 17,269,542 infections, according to Johns Hopkins University. "To go from having a sequence of a virus in January to having two vaccines available in December is a remarkable achievement," said Dr James Hildreth, CEO of Meharry Medical College in Tennessee. An FDA advisory panel on Thursday voted 20-0 with one abstention that the benefits of the Moderna vaccine outweighed the risks for those aged 18 and over, and authorisation followed on Friday. Regulators reported earlier this week that the Moderna vaccine was safe and 94 percent effective. US President Donald Trump, who hours before the official announcement tweeted that the vaccine had been "overwhelmingly approved" and distribution would "start immediately", celebrated the news. How does Moderna differ from the Pfizer jab? It requires temperatures of around -20C for shipping - similar to a normal freezer. The vaccine manufactured by US corporation Pfizer and Germany's BioNTech SE requires temperatures closer to -75C, making transport logistics much more difficult. Like the Pfizer jab, the Moderna vaccine also requires a second booster shot. Moderna's second injection comes 28 days after the first, compared with 21 for Pfizer. Moderna is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and had previously said that the "vast majority" of its doses would be manufactured there. Pfizer/BioNTech is being manufactured in several countries, including Germany and Belgium. Other countries have also ordered the Moderna vaccine: * Canada plans to get two million doses by March - part of a total 56m doses. * The UK has already pre-ordered seven million doses. * The European Union last month announced a contract to purchase 80m doses - with an option to purchase up to 80m more - once the vaccine is deemed safe and effective. * Japan has signed up for 50m doses, South Korea for 20m, and Switzerland has ordered 7.5m, according to data compiled by the Duke University Global Health Innovation Center Who is first in line in the US? The US vaccination programme aims to reach 50m people by April. New York nurse Sandra Lindsay was among the first people in the country to receive a coronavirus vaccine when the Pfizer/BioNTech rollout began on Monday. Footage of her being vaccinated was streamed on the Twitter feed of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, whose state was the epicentre of the US epidemic in the first wave earlier this year. "I hope this marks the beginning of the end of a very painful time in our history. I want to instil public confidence that the vaccine is safe. We're in a pandemic and so we all need to do our part," Lindsay said. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines submitted to US states say healthcare workers should be prioritised first, as well Americans living in long-term care homes. Essential workers are expected to be next in line, but it will be up to states to decide which industries to prioritise. Moncef Slaoui, the chief scientist of federal vaccine distribution programme Operation Warp Speed, said the young and healthy should be at the back of the queue. At least 70 percent or 80 percent of the US population need to be vaccinated to achieve herd immunity, he said. - BBC

A former local councillor in Japan has spoken out against sexism, after she was voted out of office after making sexual assault allegations against the mayor. File photo. Photo: Patrick Foto/ 123rf Shoko Arai was the only female councillor on the 12-member assembly in Kusatsu, a town northwest of Tokyo. Last year she accused Mayor Nobutada Kuroiwa of sexually assaulting her in 2015. He denied the allegations, branding them a political smear. Arai, 51, was expelled from the assembly last week. Her ejection was prompted by a public referendum over whether she had damaged the reputation of Kusatsu, home to about 6200 people. In a news conference yesterday, Arai said she stood by her allegations and would continue to fight for women's rights in Japan. "We often in Japan hear the question of why the #Metoo movement has not gained further momentum," she said, referencing the campaign against sexual harassment and abuse. "But this is because we know that, in such a male-dominated society, an atmosphere is created in which it is difficult for women in weaker positions to speak up. "They are instead crushed. This is what was indeed the case for me." The result of last week's referendum has attracted international media attention and drawn criticism from women's rights groups, which have described Arai's removal as a setback for the #MeToo movement in Japan. It is rare for women to go public with sexual assault and misconduct allegations in Japan. A 2017 government survey showed that fewer than 4 per cent of alleged sexual assault victims come forward, according to Spring, a sexual assault survivors' organisation in Japan. How has the mayor responded? The 73-year-old mayor responded to the allegations in a news conference of his own on Monday. "I can declare that I have never laid a finger on Shoko Arai," Kuroiwa said at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan in Tokyo. Kuroiwa has filed a criminal complaint against Arai and is seeking defamation damages in a civil suit. The mayor said the fact that Arai had not filed a complaint with police or launched a lawsuit proved her allegations were baseless. Arai has previously said she did not go to the police at the time of the alleged assault because she feared a backlash. - BBC

An explosion has killed 15 children and injured another 20 people in the east Afghan province of Ghazni, officials and police sources say. A security guard in Ghazni, Afghanistan, after another recent bombing. Photo: AFP The reason for the explosion in the Gilan district is unclear with officials saying a bomb went off in the back of a rickshaw. But local residents suggest a piece of unexploded ordnance blew up when children tried to sell it to a vendor. Taliban militants also say the blast was accidental. The explosion happened close to a house where a Koran recital ceremony was under way. A bomb went off after a man driving a motorised rickshaw entered the village and was surrounded by children, Wahidullah Jumazada, a spokesperson for the Ghazni provincial governor, was quoted as saying in the Associated Press. He added that the death toll could be higher. Police spokesperson Ahmad Khan accused the Taliban of carrying out an attack, AFP news agency reported. Giving a lower death toll of 12, Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said children had brought unexploded ordnance to the vendor and it had exploded, AP added. Levels of violence in the country have remained high despite the start of negotiations between Afghan and Taliban officials. - BBC