Second UK lockdown? England COVID-19 cases rising by 6,000 per day

Britain was on Friday considering whether to impose a second national lockdown, after new COVID-19 cases almost doubled to 6,000 per day, hospital admissions rose and infection rates soared across parts of northern England and London.

The United Kingdom has reported the fifth largest number of deaths from COVID-19 in the world, after the United States, Brazil, India and Mexico, according to data collected by Johns Hopkins University of Medicine.

Asked if a second national lockdown was on the cards, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said hospital admissions were doubling every eight days but that a crucial estimate modelled by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) would be key.

Its model pointed to about 6,000 new cases a day in England in the week to Sept. 10, up from 3,200 cases per day in the previous week, with the North West and London seen as hotspots.

“There is evidence of higher infection rates in the North West and London,” the ONS said.

As those figures were published, Britain imposed new COVID regulations on the North West, Midlands and West Yorkshire from Tuesday. Countries around the world where COVID-19 cases are on the rise are similarly tightening rules, and Israel on Friday announced a second nationwide lockdown.

Asked by Sky News about the prospect of a second national lockdown next month, Hancock said a lockdown was a last resort but that the government would do whatever it took to tackle the virus.

“The number of people in hospital is doubling every eight days or so ... we will do what it takes to keep people safe,” Hancock said. “We keep these things under review.”

Asked about a second lockdown, he said: “I can’t give you that answer now.”

SECOND WAVE?
COVID-19 cases started to rise again in Britain in September, with between 3,000 and 4,000 positive tests recorded daily in the last week. This is still some way behind France, which is seeing more than 10,000 new cases a day.

On Thursday, Britain recorded 21 deaths from the disease, taking the total under the government’s accounting method to 41,705. Key statistics on the prevalence of the virus are due later on Friday.

More than 10 million people in the United Kingdom are already in local lockdown.

“COVID-19 infection rates have increased in most regions, particularly the North West and London,” the ONS said. “It is likely that infection rates in all other regions have also increased except the South West and West Midlands.”

The ONS said there had been clear evidence of an increase in the number of people testing positive aged 2 to 11 years, 17 to 24 years and 25 to 34 years.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson was criticised by opposition politicians for his initial response to the outbreak and the government has struggled to ensure sufficient testing in recent weeks.

Asked by LBC radio why the testing system was such a “shambles”, Hancock said Dido Harding, who is in charge of the system, had done an “an extraordinary job.”

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Second UK lockdown? England COVID-19 cases rising by 6,000 per day

Britain was on Friday considering whether to impose a second national lockdown, after new COVID-19 cases almost doubled to 6,000 per day, hospital admissions rose and infection rates soared across parts of northern England and London.

The United Kingdom has reported the fifth largest number of deaths from COVID-19 in the world, after the United States, Brazil, India and Mexico, according to data collected by Johns Hopkins University of Medicine.

Asked if a second national lockdown was on the cards, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said hospital admissions were doubling every eight days but that a crucial estimate modelled by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) would be key.

Its model pointed to about 6,000 new cases a day in England in the week to Sept. 10, up from 3,200 cases per day in the previous week, with the North West and London seen as hotspots.

“There is evidence of higher infection rates in the North West and London,” the ONS said.

As those figures were published, Britain imposed new COVID regulations on the North West, Midlands and West Yorkshire from Tuesday. Countries around the world where COVID-19 cases are on the rise are similarly tightening rules, and Israel on Friday announced a second nationwide lockdown.

Asked by Sky News about the prospect of a second national lockdown next month, Hancock said a lockdown was a last resort but that the government would do whatever it took to tackle the virus.

“The number of people in hospital is doubling every eight days or so ... we will do what it takes to keep people safe,” Hancock said. “We keep these things under review.”

Asked about a second lockdown, he said: “I can’t give you that answer now.”

SECOND WAVE?
COVID-19 cases started to rise again in Britain in September, with between 3,000 and 4,000 positive tests recorded daily in the last week. This is still some way behind France, which is seeing more than 10,000 new cases a day.

On Thursday, Britain recorded 21 deaths from the disease, taking the total under the government’s accounting method to 41,705. Key statistics on the prevalence of the virus are due later on Friday.

More than 10 million people in the United Kingdom are already in local lockdown.

“COVID-19 infection rates have increased in most regions, particularly the North West and London,” the ONS said. “It is likely that infection rates in all other regions have also increased except the South West and West Midlands.”

The ONS said there had been clear evidence of an increase in the number of people testing positive aged 2 to 11 years, 17 to 24 years and 25 to 34 years.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson was criticised by opposition politicians for his initial response to the outbreak and the government has struggled to ensure sufficient testing in recent weeks.

Asked by LBC radio why the testing system was such a “shambles”, Hancock said Dido Harding, who is in charge of the system, had done an “an extraordinary job.”

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PPP asks opposition parties to finalise APC agenda

Pakistan People’s Party has activated for finalising the agenda of the upcoming all parties conference (APC) and contacted Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) to discuss its points.

PPP leadership has sought recommendations from the opposition parties to finalise agenda of the all parties conference (APC).

PPP secretary-general Nayyar Bukhari and senior leader Farhatullah Babar contacted PML-N’s Ahsan Iqbal where they consulted over the APC’s agenda. Sources added that PML-N apprised PPP regarding the points to be included in the agenda.

It emerged that the host political party of APC, PPP, will give final shape to the agenda after receiving recommendations from all opposition parties.

Later, a delegation of PPP met PML-N leaders including Ahsan Iqbal, Marriyum Aurangzeb and others in Islamabad. Nayyar Bukhari and Sherry Rehman represented the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) delegation in the meeting. They held discussions over the resolution of the upcoming APC, said sources.

Earlier on Thursday, the top opposition parties had seemed to be in disarray over the agenda of the scheduled all parties conference on September 20 after disagreements have emerged over the course of action against the incumbent federal government.

According to sources, the top opposition parties including Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), and Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) had expressed reservations over the agenda of the multi-parties conference.

“All three of them had separate agenda,” they said adding that PPP wants any struggle against the government within the constitutional ambit while PML-N also had reservations over any move against the incumbent regime.

“None of the two parties is ready to remove the incumbent government,” the sources had said adding that they, however, have failed to woo Maulana Fazlur Rehman on the matter.

The sources having knowledge of the matter had said that dissents among the parties ran so high that even they could not agree to hold the APC at Zardari House and the venue had to be changed later to a local hotel.

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PPP asks opposition parties to finalise APC agenda

Pakistan People’s Party has activated for finalising the agenda of the upcoming all parties conference (APC) and contacted Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) to discuss its points.

PPP leadership has sought recommendations from the opposition parties to finalise agenda of the all parties conference (APC).

PPP secretary-general Nayyar Bukhari and senior leader Farhatullah Babar contacted PML-N’s Ahsan Iqbal where they consulted over the APC’s agenda. Sources added that PML-N apprised PPP regarding the points to be included in the agenda.

It emerged that the host political party of APC, PPP, will give final shape to the agenda after receiving recommendations from all opposition parties.

Later, a delegation of PPP met PML-N leaders including Ahsan Iqbal, Marriyum Aurangzeb and others in Islamabad. Nayyar Bukhari and Sherry Rehman represented the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) delegation in the meeting. They held discussions over the resolution of the upcoming APC, said sources.

Earlier on Thursday, the top opposition parties had seemed to be in disarray over the agenda of the scheduled all parties conference on September 20 after disagreements have emerged over the course of action against the incumbent federal government.

According to sources, the top opposition parties including Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), and Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) had expressed reservations over the agenda of the multi-parties conference.

“All three of them had separate agenda,” they said adding that PPP wants any struggle against the government within the constitutional ambit while PML-N also had reservations over any move against the incumbent regime.

“None of the two parties is ready to remove the incumbent government,” the sources had said adding that they, however, have failed to woo Maulana Fazlur Rehman on the matter.

The sources having knowledge of the matter had said that dissents among the parties ran so high that even they could not agree to hold the APC at Zardari House and the venue had to be changed later to a local hotel.

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Nine die due to coronavirus in last 24 hours

As many as 752 new cases of the novel coronavirus were detected across the country over the last 24 hours, bringing the national tally of infections to 304,386.

According to the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), nine more people died from the highly contagious disease, taking the death toll from the virus to 6,408.

A total of 33,865 samples were tested during the previous 24 hours, out of which 752 turned out to be positive. Thus far, 291,683 people have recuperated from the infection as the number of active cases stands at 6,295.

514 more Covid-19 patients recovered from the disease during the past 24 hours.

’30 million cases’

Global coronavirus cases exceeded the 30 million mark Thursday, according to a running tally by US-based Johns Hopkins University. The number of deaths from the virus has reached 943,203, with recoveries topping 20.39 million.

The US remains the worst-hit country with over 6.66 million infections, while its death toll exceeds 197,500.

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Nine die due to coronavirus in last 24 hours

As many as 752 new cases of the novel coronavirus were detected across the country over the last 24 hours, bringing the national tally of infections to 304,386.

According to the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), nine more people died from the highly contagious disease, taking the death toll from the virus to 6,408.

A total of 33,865 samples were tested during the previous 24 hours, out of which 752 turned out to be positive. Thus far, 291,683 people have recuperated from the infection as the number of active cases stands at 6,295.

514 more Covid-19 patients recovered from the disease during the past 24 hours.

’30 million cases’

Global coronavirus cases exceeded the 30 million mark Thursday, according to a running tally by US-based Johns Hopkins University. The number of deaths from the virus has reached 943,203, with recoveries topping 20.39 million.

The US remains the worst-hit country with over 6.66 million infections, while its death toll exceeds 197,500.

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Pakistan wins stay in Reko Diq case, AGP terms it ‘victory’

The World Bank's International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) has granted a stay on the enforcement of the massive penalty of $6 billion imposed on Pakistan for its decision to deny a mining lease for the Reko Diq project to Australia's Tethyan Copper Company (TCC).

The office of the attorney general for Pakistan in a statement described the development as a success for the country and its legal team.

In July last year, an international arbitration tribunal of the ICSID had slapped a penalty of $6 billion on Pakistan for its 2011 decision to deny the mining lease to the TCC -- a 50-50 joint venture of Barrick Gold Corporation of Australia and Antofagasta PLC of Chile.

The tribunal – chaired by Germany's Klaus Sachs and including Bulgarian arbitrator Stanimir Alexandrov and the UK's Lord Hoffmann had ordered Pakistan to pay over $4 billion in damages to the TCC in addition to $1.7 billion in pre-award interest.

The tribunal found that Pakistan had unlawfully denied the TCC a lease to mine copper and gold deposits at the Reko Diq mine, located in Chagai district of Balochistan. It held that the state had committed an unlawful expropriation under the Australia-Pakistan bilateral investment treaty.

Later, the TCC approached five different countries courts for the enforcement of the penalty imposed on Pakistan.

In November, Pakistan moved a plea before ICC for annulment of the award on several grounds. When the country's plea was registered, an interim stay was granted automatically on the enforcement proceedings initiated by the TCC.

A hearing to confirm the stay order took place via video link in April this. On Wednesday, the tribunal finally ruled in favour of Pakistan, confirming the stay on the enforcement of the award.

The ICSID is still considering Pakistan's appeal against enforcing the penalty over its cancellation of the Reko Diq mining lease and a final hearing will take place in May next year.

Reko Diq is famous for its mineral wealth, including gold and copper. Prime Minister Imran Khan's government considers it a strategic national asset, though instead of yielding a bonanza the Reko Diq mines have cost the country dearly owing to ongoing international litigation with the TCC.

The quantum of the award is same as the bailout package granted to Pakistan by the International Monetary Fund. If enforced, the award will result in serious economic repercussions for the country. Seen in this context, the stay is a success and major relief for Pakistan.

In June this year, Spain had persuaded an ICSID committee to annul a €128 million award in favour of a solar power investor on the basis of arbitrator Stanimir Alexandrov's failure to disclose a longstanding professional relationship with one of the claimant's expert witnesses from the Brattle Group.

The tribunal that imposed the penalty on Pakistan included Alexandrov as an arbitrator.

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