New top story from Time: With COVID-19 Cases Surging, Japan Extends the Areas Under a State of Emergency

https://ift.tt/38c7DNy

TOKYO — Japan was set to expand its coronavirus state of emergency for a second week in a row Wednesday, adding several more prefectures as a surge in infections fueled by the delta variant strains the country’s health care system.

The government last week extended the state of emergency until Sept. 12 and expanded the areas covered to 13 prefectures from six including Tokyo. Sixteen other prefectures are currently under quasi-emergency status.

The government at a meeting of experts Wednesday proposed upgrading eight prefectures from quasi-emergency status to a full state of emergency. Those prefectures include Hokkaido and Miyagi in the north, Aichi and Gifu in central Japan, and Hiroshima and Okayama in the west.
[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]

The proposal was expected to be approved and formally announced later Wednesday.

Japan’s state of emergency relies on requirements for eateries to close at 8 p.m. and not serve alcohol, but the measures are increasingly defied. Unenforceable social distancing and tele-working requests for the public and their employers are also largely ignored due to growing complacency.

The Japanese capital has been under the emergency since July 12, but new daily cases have increased more than tenfold since then to about 5,000 in Tokyo and 25,000 nationwide. Hospital beds are quickly filling and many people must now recover at home, including some who require supplemental oxygen.

More than 35,000 patients in Tokyo are recovering at home, about one-third of them unable to find a hospital or hotel vacancies immediately. Only a small percentage of hospitals are taking virus patients, either for financial reasons or because they lack the capability to treat the infections, experts say.

Japan has weathered the pandemic better than many other countries, with around 15,600 deaths nationwide since the start, but its vaccination efforts lag behind other wealthy nations. About 40% of the population has been fully vaccinated, mainly elderly people.

Economy and Fiscal Policy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura, also in charge of the COVID-19 measures, said Wednesday that infections are spreading among those in their 20s to 50s who are largely unvaccinated. He urged them to take extra caution.

“Just imagine you may be the one getting infected tomorrow,” he said.

Rising infections among schoolchildren and teenagers could accelerate the surge as they begin returning to school after the summer vacation, said Dr. Shigeru Omi, top government medical advisor. He proposed schools curtail activity and urged high schools and colleges to return to online classes.

“Infections in Tokyo are showing no signs of slowing, and the severely tight medical systems will continue for a while,” he told a parliamentary session Wednesday.

The government has faced criticism for holding this summer’s Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics despite strong opposition from the public. Officials deny any direct link between the games and the spike in infections.

Comments

New top story from Time: A Conversation with Filmmaker Adam Curtis on Power, Technology and How Ideas Get Into People’s Heads

https://ift.tt/2NQRzcY The British filmmaker Adam Curtis may work for the BBC, a bastion of the British elite, but over a decades-long career, he has cemented himself as a cult favorite. He is best known as the pioneer of a radical and unique style of filmmaking, combining reels of unseen archive footage, evocative music, and winding narratives to tell sweeping stories of 20th and 21st century history that challenge the conventional wisdom. “I’ve never thought of myself as a documentary maker,” he says. “I’m a journalist.” On Feb. 11, Curtis dropped his latest epic: Can’t Get You Out of My Head , an eight hour history of individualism, split up over six episodes. Subtitled “An emotional history of the modern world,” the goal of the series, Curtis says, was to unpack how we came to live in a society designed around the individual, but where people increasingly feel anxious and uncertain. It’s a big question, and Curtis attempts to answer it by taking us on a winding journ...

New top story from Time: ‘Medical Populism’ Has Defined the Philippines’ Response to COVID-19. That’s Why the Country Is Still Suffering

https://ift.tt/2SwLHIx Nurse Delta Santiago (not her real name) has reached the top of her field. She works at one of the Philippines’ top hospitals, frequented by billionaires and celebrities. But the 32-year-old can’t wait to leave. Santiago makes just $520 a month working 12-hour days and she’s desperate to land a job overseas. Because of the pandemic, the authorities have imposed restrictions on public transport, and Santiago’s 15-mile (24-kilometer) commute to work in the center of the capital Manila is a time-consuming ordeal. She wants to rent a room closer to her workplace, to cut down on the exhausting traveling, and to avoid the risk of bringing COVID-19 home to her family, but she can’t afford to. So, for the past eight months, she has been sleeping in a utility room at the hospital, just steps away from the plush, private medical suites where high-paying patients recline in relative comfort. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] There, on a thin mattress spread betwe...

New top story from Time: No, the Vikings Did Not Discover America. Here’s Why That Myth is Problematic

https://ift.tt/3h1mI9B Who discovered America? The common-sense answer is that the continent was discovered by the remote ancestors of today’s Native Americans. Americans of European descent have traditionally phrased the question in terms of identifying the first Europeans to have crossed the Atlantic and visited what is now the United States. But who those Europeans were is not such a simple question—and, since the earliest days of American nationhood, its answer has been repeatedly used and misused for political purposes . Everybody, it seems, wants a piece of the discovery. The Irish claim centers on St Brendan, who in the sixth century is said to have sailed to America in his coracle. The Welsh claimant is Madog ab Owain Gwynedd, who is said to have landed in Mobile, Ala., in 1170. The Scottish claimant is Henry Sinclair, earl of Orkney, who is said to have reached Westford, Mass., in 1398. The English have never claimed first contact, but in the English colonies John Ca...

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J 2 साल बाद सुपरस्टार की पत्नी का खुलासा- बच्चे का चेहरा देखना भी नसीब नहीं हुआ, रोज रात खूब रोती थी

करण पटेल और अंकिता भार्गव इंडस्ट्री के सबसे चर्चित और लोकप्रिय कपल में से हैं। करण और अंकिता लॅाकडाउन के दौरान सोशल मीडिया पर काफी एक्टिव हैं। बीता दो साल उनके लिए मुश्किल भरा रहा। जब दोनों ने अपने पहले बच्चे from टेलीविजन की खबरें | Television News in Hindi | TV Serials Update in Hindi – FilmiBeat Hindi http:/hindi.filmibeat.com/television/first-time-ankita-bhargava-share-her-miscarriage-story-said-karan-patel-cried-lot-090526.html?utm_source=/rss/filmibeat-hindi-television-fb.xml&utm_medium=23.11.231.156&utm_campaign=client-rss

New top story from Time: Trump Is Gone, But He’s Still Energizing The Resistance

https://ift.tt/3czAuOs This article is part of the The DC Brief, TIME’s politics newsletter. Sign up here to get stories like this sent to your inbox every weekday. Julia Larkin stood under the glass roof of the Javits Center well into the morning. As a Brooklyn Democrat, she had high expectations for what Election Day 2016 would bring for Hillary Clinton. But as evening turned into night and into sunrise, Larkin started to ask the question so many Clinton supporters did that day. “How the hell could Donald Trump win this?” Larkin recalls thinking. Well, it turned out, Trump could. It was close and came down to narrow margins in three Midwest states. But math is math, and it’s a stubborn thing. Rather than slink bank into the wings, Larkin and hundreds of thousands of activists like her shifted their roles. What emerged from the rage, tears and profanity of Clinton’s loss became collectively known as The Resistance , and it reshaped politics for the four years Trump u...

New top story from Time: Here’s Everything New on Netflix in April 2021—and What’s Leaving

https://ift.tt/31zoV3B Documentary lovers have plenty to peruse in titles coming to Netflix in April 2021, from Worn Stories , a series featuring the stories of people’s most meaningful items of clothing, to a new David Attenborough series, Life in Color With David Attenborough , that looks at the relationships different animals have to color. Fictional stories are also coming to the streaming service in April, including Thunder Force , which sees Melissa McCarthy and Octavia Spencer playing reunited childhood best friends in an action movie, the series Why Are You Like This , which follows three twenty-somethings in Melbourne, and the horror movie Things Seen & Heard , which delves into the dark secrets that emerge after a couple moves to a small town from Manhattan. Here’s what’s new on Netflix this month—and everything set to leave the streaming platform. Here are the Netflix originals coming in April 2021 Available April 1 Magical Andes : season 2 Pran...

New top story from Time: Post-White House Donald Trump Continues to Destroy Norms

https://ift.tt/3x6SQP0 This article is part of the The DC Brief, TIME’s politics newsletter. Sign up here to get stories like this sent to your inbox every weekday. At the start of Barack Obama’s presidency, I came to know a routine all too well. President Obama or his top aides would seek to dismiss a reporter’s question about the news of the day—be it attempts to revive the struggling economy after the 2008 collapse, the tricky politics of a Wall Street bailout or the efforts to keep American automakers’ assembly lines roaring—by reminding everyone just how bad things were when the Obamas moved into the White House. It wasn’t always explicit, but the message was clear: they were cleaning up the mess left behind by President George W. Bush after eight turbulent years. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] My editor would ask the obvious question: “Does Dallas want to comment?” Meaning the office of the 43rd President in Texas. Invariably, the answer was a polite no. Bush und...

US NSA Jake Sullivan dials Indian counterpart Ajit Doval, reaffirms commitment for strong, enduring relations https://ift.tt/3agErFM

America’s new National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan in his first call with his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval on Wednesday reaffirmed the commitment of President Joe Biden to a strong and enduring bilateral strategic partnership based on shared commitment to democracy, the White House said.

FOX NEWS: Father who was given months to live speaks out on thyroid cancer misconceptions A father who was told he had six months to a year to live when he got gravely ill from medullary thyroid cancer in 2019 has surpassed his doctor’s prediction, and he hopes others become “purveyors of positivity” after hearing his story.

Father who was given months to live speaks out on thyroid cancer misconceptions A father who was told he had six months to a year to live when he got gravely ill from medullary thyroid cancer in 2019 has surpassed his doctor’s prediction, and he hopes others become “purveyors of positivity” after hearing his story. via FOX NEWS https://ift.tt/2XlinXm

New top story from Time: How Spirited Away Changed Animation Forever

https://ift.tt/3xVoGP5 Twenty years ago, on July 20, 2001, a film that would become one of the most celebrated animated movies of all time hit theaters in Japan. Directed by Hayao Miyazaki and produced by Studio Ghibli, Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi, titled Spirited Away in English, would leave an indelible mark on animation in the 21st century. The movie arrived at a time when animation was widely perceived as a genre solely for children, and when cultural differences often became barriers to the global distribution of animated works. Spirited Away shattered preconceived notions about the art form and also proved that, as a film created in Japanese with elements of Japanese folklore central to its core, it could resonate deeply with audiences around the world. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] The story follows an ordinary 10-year-old girl, Chihiro, as she arrives at a deserted theme park that turns out to be a realm of gods and spirits. After an overeating incident ...

My precise view

Search This Blog