People walk around the Saara street market, amid the outbreak of the coronavirus disease, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Photograph: Pilar Olivares/Reuters
People walk around the Saara street market, amid the outbreak of the coronavirus disease, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Photograph: Pilar Olivares/Reuters
Back to the US vice-presidential debate, which takes place tonight. Vice-president Pence is set to defend the Trump administration’s handling of the coronavirus crisis.
Tom McCarthy reports that as head of the White House’s pandemic task force, Pence appeared to have his work cut out for him, with polls indicating that a majority of Americans have lost faith in Donald Trump’s ability to confront and control the virus, and blame the US government for mishandling it.
To counter that view, Pence will have to explain how the virus was allowed to tear through the White House, Congress and Republican donor circles last week, hospitalizing the president and exposing a mounting number of staff, Secret Service and military personnel to Covid-19.
Ukraine registered a record 4,753 Covid-19 cases in the past 24 hours, the national security council said on Wednesday, up from a previous record of 4,661 new cases reported on 3 October.
The council said a total of 239,337 cases had been registered in Ukraine as of 7 October, with 4,597 deaths, including 77 in the past 24 hours.
The daily tally of infections spiked in late September and early October above 4,000, prompting the government to extend lockdown measures until the end of October.
Here’s a round-up of everything you need to know about the first and only US vice-presidential debate as Mike Pence and Kamala Harris prepare to face each other in Utah. The coronavirus crisis is expected to dominate the proceedings.
Sri Lanka has widened a curfew and warned of legal action against those evading treatment for COVID-19 after reporting an escalating cluster centered around a garment factory in the capital’s suburbs. The number of confirmed cases has risen to 830 while more than 1,500 people have been asked to quarantine at their homes, health authorities said.
The Indian Ocean island nation had just reported its first community infection in two months on Sunday. The majority of the infected people are co-workers of the first patient, who was diagnosed at a hospital at the weekend and is from the densely populated Western province that includes the capital, Colombo.
And in other non-Trump news, I interviewed Nomcebo Zikode, who sings on Jerusalema, the South African song that recently became the most shazamed song in history. South African president Cyril Ramaphosa recently challenged people to dance along to the track to celebrate the country’s progress against coronavirus.
Nomcebo, the voice behind Jerusalema, South Africa’s global hit
It started in December in South Africa, with a few lines of gospel sung in the deep, raspy voice of Nomcebo Zikode and a music video made by fans in Angola – dancers eating their lunch as they moved to South African DJ Master KG’s disco-house beat.
Jerusalema, produced late one night at Master KG’s studio near Johannesburg, has since become the world’s most Shazammed song and a bonafide viral hit – beloved by Christiano Ronaldo, Janet Jackson and a lot of nuns.
Zikode spoke to the Guardian a month after the release of her solo album, Xola Moya Wam,on which the title track has gone platinum in South Africa. She says thatlast year, when Master KG called late one evening to ask her to come to his studio in Midrand immediately to listen to beats he had just written, she was close to giving up on her dreams of becoming a solo artist.
“I was like, ‘now?’” she says. But he was insistent. After listening to the beats she asked if she could take them home to work on lyrics. When Master KG refused, she chased him out of the studio so she could think alone.
Suga’s administrative reform minister, Taro Kono, had already launched a personal crusade against hanko and fax machines, whose widespread use surprises those who were under the mistaken impression that Japan was a leading force in the digital revolution.
Kono said the use of hanko, which are used to sign contracts, enrol in the national pension scheme and myriad other procedures, was burying national and local government bureaucrats in mountains of paper.
“To be honest, I don’t think there are many administrative procedures that actually need printing out paper and faxing,” the Japan Times quoted Kono as saying last month.
“Why do we need to print out paper? In many cases, that’s simply because the hanko stamp is required. So if we can put a stop to that culture, it will naturally obviate the need for printouts and faxing.”
Government ministries are reportedly considering ending hanko requirements for 785 types of procedure, or 96% of the total, with year-end tax adjustments and tax returns rumoured to be the first to go digital during the coming fiscal year.
But the private sector is skeptical about Japan’s belated embrace of paperless bureaucracy. While almost 75% of executives at small and medium-sized businesses told a survey in May they were in favour of abolishing hanko stamps, just over half conceded it would be difficult to end the practice.
And this week, local politicians in Yamanashi, a prefecture known for its hand-carved hanko industry, demanded that the seals continue to be used in official documents, describing them as a “symbol of Japan”.
Months after the coronavirus pandemic exposed the drawbacks of Japanese bureaucracy’s reliance on hankoseals, the country’s new prime minister, Yoshihide Suga, today told officials to plan for a future without them.
Suga, who has promised to improve efficiency by embracing digitalisation, has made little secret of his disdain for hanko, intricately carved personal seals that have long been used to sign off on official documents.
Evenly sized cut pieces of ivories for making ‘hanko’ or carved name seals are seen at a factory in Tokyo, Japan 28 November 2016. Photograph: Issei Kato/Reuters
Momentum to do away with hanko has increased during the coronavirus outbreak, with reports of employees who were supposed to be working from home in an attempt to contain the virus having to travel to work simply to apply their seal to a document.
In addition, health experts said the analogue nature of applying hanko to documents that go through multiple pairs of hands was hampering efforts to maintain social distancing at the workplace.
“I want all ministries to compile a comprehensive review of their administrative procedures in the near future,” Suga told an advisory panel of private sector representatives and academics on Wednesday, the Kyodo news agency said.
Vice President Mike Pence and his Democratic challenger, California Sen. Kamala Harris, are poised to meet for a debate that will offer starkly different visions for a country confronting escalating crises.
From AP: Pence and Harris will appear on stage exactly 12.25 feet (3.7 meters) apart separated by plexiglass barriers. Anyone in the small audience who refuses to wear a mask will be asked to leave.
Pence, who was with Trump and others last week who have since tested positive, has faced questions about whether he should be at the debate at all. The vice president has repeatedly tested negative for the virus, and his staff and doctors insist he does not need to quarantine under Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines.
The CDC defines risky close contact as being within 6 feet (1.8 meters) of an infected person for at least 15 minutes starting from two days before the onset of symptoms or a positive test.
Pence’s team objected to Harris request for plexiglass barriers, arguing it was medically unnecessary. But the Commission on Presidential Debates had already agreed to the barriers, and Pences aides said their presence wouldn’t dissuade him from attending the event.
Pence’s chief of staff, Marc Short, said there is zero risk of the vice president pulling out of the debate over the plexiglass spat. He said Pence will be there because its too important for the American people.
“The hesitancy seems to be on other side,” he added.
Sabrina Singh, a spokesperson for Harris, said the senator “will be at the debate, respecting the protections that the Cleveland Clinic has put in place to promote safety for all concerned. The Cleveland Clinic serves as a health adviser to the Commission on Presidential Debates.
