Day: April 3, 2022

Sri Lanka blocked access to social media platforms Sunday after authorities imposed a weekend nationwide curfew to contain protests over a worsening economic crisis.

The South Asian nation is facing severe shortages of food, fuel and other essentials, along with sharp price rises and crippling power cuts, in its most painful downturn since independence from Britain in 1948.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa imposed a state of emergency Friday, the day after a crowd attempted to storm his home in the capital, Colombo, and a nationwide curfew is in effect until Monday morning.

Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram and WhatsApp were among the platforms shut down by internet service providers on the orders of defense authorities, the pro-government Ada Derana news channel said.

“On the request of the defense ministry, service providers advised to temporarily restrict social media platforms,” the broadcaster said, quoting Sri Lanka’s media regulator.

Anonymous activists had called for mass protests Sunday on social media before the order went into effect.

Hundreds of people defied the curfew on Saturday night and staged small demonstrations in various Colombo neighborhoods, but dispersed peacefully, police and residents said.

The anti-government hashtags “#GoHomeRajapaksas” and “#GotaGoHome” have been trending locally for days on Twitter and Facebook after severe shortages of essentials, sharp price rises and crippling power cuts.

Police said one social media activist was arrested on Friday for allegedly posting material that could cause public unrest.

Western ambassadors in Colombo have expressed concern over the use of emergency laws to stifle democratic dissent and said they were closely monitoring developments.

Armed troops have been deployed around the country to maintain order.

Foreign exchange shortage

A critical lack of foreign currency has left Sri Lanka struggling to service its ballooning $51 billion public debt, with the pandemic torpedoing vital revenue from tourism and remittances.

The crisis has also left the import-dependent country unable to pay for sorely needed goods.

Diesel shortages have sparked outrage across Sri Lanka in recent days, causing protests at empty pumps, and electricity utilities have imposed 13-hour blackouts to conserve fuel.

Many economists also say the crisis has been exacerbated by government mismanagement, years of accumulated borrowing, and ill-advised tax cuts.

Sri Lanka is in negotiations for an International Monetary Fund bailout and ratings agencies have cast doubt over the government’s ability to service its spiraling $51 billion in public debt.

Source: Voice of America

Wild poliovirus outbreak in Malawi and prospects for the Eastern Mediterranean Region

The Ministry of Health of Malawi reported on 17 February 2022 an outbreak of wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) after a case was detected in a young child in the capital Lilongwe. WHO is supporting the Malawi health authorities to carry out a risk assessment and outbreak response, including through a supplementary immunization campaign.

Editorial note

This new WPV1 case confirmed in Malawi (map) is significant as it is the first case of wild poliovirus to be detected in Africa in more than five years. The case is a 45 month -old female with onset on 19 November 2021. She is a resident in Central Lilongwe and presented with paralysis of the right arm and leg, and fever of sudden onset.

Sequencing has grouped the Malawi cluster as YC2 – with the closest match being a Pakistan WPV1 sequence detected in 2019 in Sindh Province (table).

The last case of WPV in the WHO African Region was reported in 2016 in northern Nigeria. The African Region was declared free of indigenous WPV in August 2020 after Nigeria had passed three years without any trace of WPV. This new case in Malawi has been categorized as imported from the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region and thus does not affect the African Region’s certification status as free of WPV.

Polio is a highly infectious disease that mainly affects children under five years of age. The virus is transmitted person-toperson and spreads mainly through the faecal-oral route or, less frequently, by a common vehicle (for example, contaminated water or food) before multiplying in the intestine. Initial symptoms are fever, fatigue, headache, vomiting, stiffness of the neck and pain in the limbs. Poliovirus invades the nervous system, and can cause total paralysis in a matter of hours. One in 200 infections leads to irreversible paralysis (usually in the legs). Among those paralysed, 5% to 10% die when their breathing muscles become immobilized.

There are three strains of WPV (type 1, type 2 and type 3). WPV2 was eradicated in 1999, and no case of WPV3 has been found since the last reported case in Nigeria in November 2012. Silent circulation of polio can complicate control measures as only one in 200 infected children will present with paralysis.

The fourth meeting of the Regional Subcommittee on Polio Eradication and Outbreaks convened on 9 February 2022.

The Subcommittee declared the ongoing circulation of any strain of poliovirus in the Eastern Mediterranean Region to be a regional public health emergency and called on all governments to enable uninterrupted access to the youngest and most vulnerable children through the resumption of house-to -house vaccination campaigns.

The spread of polio in the Eastern Mediterranean Region is a pressing emergency and it remains a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) under the International Health Regulations (2005). Subcommittee members noted a sharp decrease in cases of WPV in Afghanistan and Pakistan in 2021 but warned against complacency as outbreaks of circulating vaccine-derived polioviruses type 1 (cVDPV1) and type 2 (cVDPV2) continued to emerge and spread in the Eastern Mediterranean Region in 2021. As of February 2022, Afghanistan, Djibouti, Egypt, Pakistan, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen are responding to transmission of vaccine-derived polioviruses.

While it is not yet clear when and how this imported virus arrived in Malawi and how far it may have spread, this new case is a setback for the global campaign to end polio once and for all. However, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, supported by WHO and partners, will work to limit the damage by implementing a vaccination strategy that can quickly contain the outbreak.

Source: World Health Organization

Armed troops in Sri Lanka blocked a Sunday opposition protest march staged in defiance of an emergency curfew to protest the island nation’s worsening economic crisis, after authorities imposed a social media blackout to contain public dissent.

The South Asian island nation is facing severe shortages of food, fuel and other essentials, along with sharp price rises and crippling power cuts, in its most painful downturn since independence from Britain in 1948.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa imposed a state of emergency on Friday, the day after a crowd attempted to storm his home in the capital Colombo, and a nationwide curfew is in effect until Monday morning.

The Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB), Sri Lanka’s main opposition alliance, denounced a social media blockade imposed Sunday to quell intensifying public demonstrations, and said it was time for the government to tender its resignation.

Armed troops moved to stop a protest by more than 100 opposition lawmakers and supporters attempting to march to the capital’s Independence Square from the home of opposition leader Sajith Premadasa.

“President Rajapaksa better realize that the tide has already turned on his autocratic rule,” SJB lawmaker Harsha de Silva told AFP.

Fellow SJB legislator Eran Wickramaratne said the spiraling situation raised the prospects of martial law.

“We can’t allow a military takeover,” he said. “They should know we are still a democracy.”

Anonymous activists had called for mass protests Sunday on social media before the ban order went into effect.

There was a heavy presence of troops elsewhere in the capital as the curfew was strictly enforced.

News photographers were denied access to Independence Square, a popular venue for demonstrations in Colombo.

Overnight, however, hundreds defied the curfew and staged small demonstrations in various Colombo neighborhoods and dispersed peacefully, police and residents said.

Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram and WhatsApp were among the platforms shut down Sunday on the orders of defense authorities, internet service providers told their subscribers.

Private media outlets reported that the chief of Sri Lanka’s internet regulator resigned after the order went into effect.

Demonstrations trending

Cracks in the government have emerged, with the president’s nephew Namal Rajapaksa publicly announcing he had urged the government to reconsider the partial internet blackout.

“I will never condone the blocking of social media,” said Namal, also the country’s sports minister.

“The availability of VPN, just like I’m using now, makes such bans completely useless.”

The anti-government hashtags “#GoHomeRajapaksas” and “#GotaGoHome” have been trending locally for days on Twitter and Facebook.

A social media activist was arrested Friday for allegedly posting material that could cause public unrest. He has since been bailed.

Hundreds of lawyers have volunteered to represent any anti-government protesters arrested by the authorities. Sri Lanka’s influential Bar Association has also urged the government to rescind the state of emergency.

Western diplomats in Colombo expressed concern over the use of emergency laws to stifle democratic dissent and said they were closely monitoring developments.

A critical lack of foreign currency has left Sri Lanka struggling to service its ballooning $51 billion public debt, with the pandemic torpedoing vital revenue from tourism and remittances.

The crisis has also left the import-dependent country unable to pay for sorely needed goods.

Diesel shortages have sparked outrage across Sri Lanka in recent days, causing protests at empty pumps, and electricity utilities have imposed 13-hour blackouts to conserve fuel.

Many economists also say the crisis has been exacerbated by government mismanagement, years of accumulated borrowing, and ill-advised tax cuts.

Sri Lanka is negotiating with the International Monetary Fund for a bailout.

Source: Voice of America