Nobel winner Malala ‘heartbroken' by US ban on refugees

New Delhi, Mar 24: Reports of a person in China dying due to a virus called hantavirus have spread panic at a time when the world is battling the pandemic of novel coronavirus, which began in China.

The novel coronavirus has killed over 16,000 people around the world and the outbreak is yet to be brought under control.

This morning, hantavirus became one of the top trends on Twitter after the Chinese state media tweeted about one person in the country dying due the virus. However, it turns out, hantavirus is not a new virus and has been infecting humans for decades.

Global Times, a state-run English-language newspaper, wrote on Twitter on Tuesday, "A person from Yunnan Province died while on his way back to Shandong Province for work on a chartered bus on Monday. He was tested positive for hantavirus. Other 32 people on bus were tested."

Global Times's hantavirus report on Twitter has been shared over 6,000 times.

On Tuesday, hantavirus was one of the top trends on Twitter.

WHAT IS HANTAVIRUS?

Some people are calling it a new virus but so is not the case. United States's National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) in a journal writes that currently, the hantavirus genus includes more than 21 species.

"Hantaviruses in the Americas are known as 'New World' hantaviruses and may cause hantavirus pulmonary syndrome [HPS]," CDC says. "Other hantaviruses, known as 'Old World' hantaviruses, are found mostly in Europe and Asia and may cause hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome [HFRS]."

Any man, woman, or child who is around mice or rats that carry harmful hantaviruses can get HPS.

People get HPS when they breath in hantaviruses. This can happen when rodent urine and droppings that contain a hantavirus are stirred up into the air. People can also become infected when they touch mouse or rat urine, droppings, or nesting materials that contain the virus and then touch their eyes, nose, or mouth. They can also get HPS from a mouse or rat bite.

In the US, 10 confirmed cases of hantavirus infection in people who visited Yosemite National Park in California, US, in November 2012, were reported. Similarly, in 2017, CDC assisted health officials in investigating an outbreak of Seoul virus infection that infected 17 people in seven states.

WHAT ARE THE SYMPTOMS OF HANTAVIRUS?

If people get HPS, they will feel sick one to five weeks after they were around mice or rats that carried a hantavirus.

At first people with HPS will have:

Fever
Severe muscle aches
Fatigue

After a few days, they will have a hard time breathing. Sometimes people will have headaches, dizziness, chills, nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, and stomach pain.

Usually, people do not have a runny nose, sore throat, or a rash.

Washington, Jun 24: An Indian restaurant in the Sante Fe City of New Mexico, owned by a Sikh, was broken into and vandalised with hate messages scrawled on its walls, a media report said Tuesday.

The damage caused to India Palace restaurant is estimated to be worth USD 100,000, local Santa Fe Reporter said adding that the vandalisation is being investigated by local police and the FBI.

Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund (SALDEF) has condemned the incident.

"This kind of hate and violence is unacceptable and swift action must be taken to ensure the safety and security of all Americans," said Kiran Kaur Gill SALDEF executive director.

According to the local daily, tables were overturned, glassware was smashed into piles on the floor, wine racks were emptied, a statue of a goddess was beheaded and computers were stolen.

The vandals also turned over and destroyed food warmers while the front desk area was devastated, plates smashed and the kitchen rendered completely unusable, it said.

"I walked into the kitchen, I saw everything and I was like, hold on, what? What is going on here?" owner Baljit Singh told Santa Fe Reporter. "White power," "Trump 2020," "go home," and far worse were spray-painted on walls, doors, counters and any other available surface.

"Some phrases contained threats of violence and derogatory racial slurs," the daily said.

"Santa Fe is a peaceful town, and the Sikh community has lived here, beautifully integrated, since the 60s," said SALDEF board member Simran Singh, who lives minutes away from the restaurant.

"Tensions have flared recently with the reinvigoration of the Black Lives Matter movement and the removal of statues associated with Spanish colonisers of this area, who committed a number of atrocities," he said.

"Nevertheless, we are seeing an outpouring of love and support around the city and in my experience, our neighbors love and appreciate us, as we love and appreciate them," he added.

SALDEF said that it has seen an unprecedented rise in hate crimes including the April 29 incident wherein a Sikh American Lakhwant Singh was brutally attacked by a man identified as Eric Breeman in Lakewood, Colorado.

Lakhwant Singh was told to "go back to your country," while being attacked. No formal hate crime charges have been brought against the attacker.

Jun 10: Indian-origin California Senator Kamala Harris has joined former vice president and 2020 Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden to raise USD 3.5 million for the upcoming November elections.

Tuesday's fundraiser is the second-largest single event haul so far for the Biden campaign, which raised USD 4 million at one event earlier this month.

Harris' presence during the virtual mega fund raiser assumes significance as the Democratic Party leaders consider her to be one of the front-runners to be the nominee for vice president. The 55-year-old lawyer-politician was once considered to be a strong opponent of Biden in the 2020 Democratic primaries.

Introducing Harris to the 1,400 supporters present at the event, Biden underlined the history-breaking nature of her past electoral wins.

"For much of her career, she was the only person in the room who looked like she did," he said.

At the start of the campaign last year, Harris was very critical of Biden. She later endorsed him, months after she decided to withdraw herself from the race to the White House.

During the fundraiser, Harris was effusive in her praise for Biden.

Referring to Biden's meeting with George Floyd's family, she said, "He (Biden)is someone who whether one on one or speaking to the nation always has a sense of how people are experiencing this world, and what their needs are...This moment in the history of our country really represents an extraordinary exercise in contrast."

"On the other hand, we have a Donald Trump who had the gall to dispatch the US military to clear the streets so that he could prance down and then, like a prop, hold up the bible for a photo op," Harris said.

The death of African-American Floyd during police confinement in Minneapolis on May 25 has resulted in widespread protests not only in the US but across the world.

"There are so many contrasts between Joe Biden and Donald Trump that really point to the choice that we as Americans have today," Harris said.

California Lt Governor Eleni Kounalakis also joined the fund raiser.

In his remarks, Biden, 77, said the US is reeling in anguish and anger over the brutal killing of Floyd or the systemic racism that still infects every part of the society. "Harris knows better than anybody," he said.

"At the same time, we're facing the worst economic disaster since the Great Depression. American history is not a fairy tale with a guaranteed ending, a happy ending. This is a battle for the soul of the country.

"It's been a constant tug of war between the American ideal that we all are created equal -- and the harsh reality that racism has long torn us apart...I'm going to ask every American to look where we are now and to think, is this who we are? Is this who we want to be?" Biden asked.

Participating in the questions and answers session, Harris said America has still not fully embraced, acknowledged or addressed its history of racism and its current history of racism.

"One can think of this moment as an inflection moment, and it will require bold action and it will require immediate action...This stresses the importance and the immediacy and the urgency of electing Joe Biden," she said.

Replying to a question, Biden said, "Did you see today where the President of the United States while George Floyd was being buried, was condemning the older man who was knocked down with his head bleeding and everyone walking by. Did you see that? I mean, my lord. What have we become if we abide by this? So much we can do and must do."

Harris said the election is going to be rough and tumble.

"There are very powerful forces that thrive off of the hate and division that Donald Trump has been sowing. This is not going to be easy. And we have about just a few months to get this thing done," she said.