The Times - UK (2022-05-17)

32 Tuesday May 17 2022 | the times

Wo r l d

The Chinese financial hub of Shanghai
plans to lift its strict coronavirus
lockdown next month and has begun to
reopen shops.
The city’s 25 million residents have
been living under a curfew and “zero-
Covid” testing regime since early last
month, but life will start to return to nor-
mal if new infections stay below 1,000 a
day, the authorities have suggested.
Shanghai is responsible for more
than 3 per cent of China’s GDP and
more than 10 per cent of trade. Zong
Ming, the deputy mayor, said controls
on movement would largely remain in
place until next week. “From June 1 to
mid and late June, as long as risks of a
rebound in infections are controlled,
we will fully implement epidemic pre-
vention and control, normalise man-
agement and fully restore normal pro-
duction and life in the city,” she said.
The announcement was met with
scepticism by some residents, who have
been repeatedly disappointed by shift-
ing schedules for the lifting of restric-
tions. Last week many residential com-

Hezbollah faces losing control of Leba-
non’s parliament after the first elections
since the country’s economic collapse
and a cost-of-living crisis.
Preliminary results suggest that the
Islamist party, led by Hassan Nasrallah
and backed by Iran, and its ally, the Free
Patriotic Movement, the Christian
party of President Aoun, will gain less
than the 64 seats needed for a majority.
The bloc had governed with 71 seats
since the last election, in 2018.
Polling suggests that the Saudi-
aligned Christian party, the Lebanese
Forces, will be Hezbollah’s main rival in
the next parliament.
However, six non-aligned and re-
formist independents are also expected
to have won seats, marking a shift in
Lebanon’s political landscape. Most sig-
nificant was Mark Daou, running

W

hen

you’re

5ft 10in

at birth,

taking

your first steps can be a

tall order (Jacqui

Goddard writes). For

Msituni, a newborn

giraffe at San Diego Zoo

in California, there were

added challenges when

her keepers realised that

her front legs bent the

wrong way, threatening

her very survival.

Now, after three

months of treatment

including custom leg

braces built by orthotics

experts more accustomed

to human patients,

Msituni is walking and

galloping.

“We are so glad to

have the resources and

expertise to step in and

give this young calf the

opportunity for a full

life,” Matt Kinney, senior

veterinarian at the park,

said. “Without these

lifesaving braces to

provide support, the

position of her legs

would have become

increasingly more

painful and progressed to

a point she would not

have been able to

overcome.”

Msituni, whose name is

Swahili for “in the forest”,

suffered from

hyperextension of the

carpi, bones equivalent to

those in the human wrist.

The disorder caused her

front legs to buckle,

preventing her from

standing properly,

walking or nursing.

Prosthetics experts at

Hanger Clinic, a provider

of orthotics for people,

created custom-fitted

carbon graphite knee

braces, complete with a

giraffe pattern.

Msituni was rejected by

her mother after her time

in hospital, but has been

adopted by another adult

female, Yamikani, and

her calf, Nuru.

Ara Mirzaian, the

orthotist who treated

Msituni, said: “It’s the

best thing I’ve done.”

Leg repairs

on the hoof

help giraffe

to stand tall

Msituni had custom-made

knee braces fitted after

she was born at San Diego

Zoo with her front legs

facing the wrong way

SAN DIEGO ZOO WILDLIFE ALLIANCE/AP

has turned to an “air courier service”

provided by Vodafone.

The six-rotor drone took off from the

clinic’s central pharmacy and flew

450m, landing on the roof of the paedi-

atric wing without any obvious hitches.

It was connected to the 5G network, al-

lowing human monitors to track its

flight. In the future it will also carry

blood samples and medical records.

“Our aim, where possible and sens-

ible, is to test the automation of routine

processes in order to enable reliable,

fast and prioritised transport by air in

the future,” said Christina Westhoff,

head of the pharmacy department.

The market for autonomous drones

is expanding rapidly and one analysis

suggested there could be 1.5 million of

these networked drones in the skies

over western Europe by 2025.

Shanghai starts

to emerge from

brutal lockdown

pounds got notices that they would be

in “silent mode” for three days, which

typically means not being able to leave

the house and, in some cases, not

receive deliveries. The silent period was

later extended to May 20.

Train services and domestic flights

were being gradually restored yester-

day, Zong said. From Sunday bus ser-

vices will resume but passengers will

have to show a negative Covid test.

In Beijing there have been dozens of

new Covid infections every day for the

past three weeks, showing how difficult

it is to eliminate even small outbreaks

in urban centres. The capital is not

locked down but has restricted public

transport and restaurant dining. Work-

ing from home is so common that road

traffic last week was similar to that in

locked-down Shanghai, according to

the Chinese internet company Baidu.

Unemployment in urban China has

risen to 6.1 per cent, the highest figure

since the pandemic began. For the

under-24s it is 18.2 per cent.

Now was the time “to do whatever we

can to save the economy”, Huang Yip-

ing, a professor of digital finance at Pe-

king University, said during a weekend

forum by the country’s top economists.

“The economic data of April are very

bad,” Huang said. “It might be time to

adopt some strong measures.”

In a sign that Beijing may consider its

rigid Covid policy, Hu Xijin, a former

editor-in-chief of the party newspaper

Global Times, called economic data

from April “shocking” and argued that

it was not the Chinese way to fight the

pandemic while ignoring the economy.

“How could China let megacities

such as Beijing and Shanghai go into

lockdowns repeatedly and frequently?”

Hu said. “What we have is a govern-

ment that is responsible for the well-

being of the people.”

Two provincial health officials told

The Lancet, on condition of anonymity,

that Covid-19 had become highly politi-

cised and that any voice advocating for

the deviation from the zero-Covid path

would be punished.

“No one from the top really listens to

expert opinions any more, and it’s

honestly humiliating to us medical

experts,” one official said.

China
Didi Tang Beijing

Lebanese voters turn backs on Hezbollah

under the banner of the new political

party Taqadum, or Progress, who was

on course to defeat Talal Arslan, a

Hezbollah-allied Druze politician who

has held many roles in government.

The potential change in control of

parliament comes after years of disas-

ter in Lebanon, which included a bank-

ing collapse and energy shortages and

culminated in a chemical

explosion in Beirut in 2020

that killed 200.

Many voters blame

poor governance for

the disaster. Politi-

cians have obstructed

any meaningful in-

vestigation.

Lebanese Forces

said preliminary re-

sults suggested a hung parliament.

That would mean more uncertainty,

and delays to reforms demanded by the

International Monetary Fund before it

unlocks billions in aid.

Ziad Majed, an analyst, said there

would be “pressure for reformists and

forces of change to co-operate”.

Election turnout was 41 per cent,

8 points down on 2018. Sectari-

an parties have shared

power for three decades.

Lebanon splits power

among its religious

communities, with

government posi-

tions passed down

among political fam-

ilies. By convention,

the president is a Ma-

ronite Christian, the

premier a Sunni Muslim

and parliament’s Speaker a

Shia Muslim.

Lebanon
Anchal Vohra Beirut

An autonomous drone has delivered a

parcel of food for premature babies to a

German children’s hospital in one of

the country’s first real-world experi-

ments with the technology.

Düsseldorf university hospital typi-

cally uses a network of pneumatic tubes

to ferry packages around its 100-acre

campus at speed.

Up to now, drones have primarily

been used to carry medicines to remote

areas of countries with poor infrastruc-

ture, such as Malawi.

A number of German hospitals, in-

cluding Cologne and Düsseldorf, con-

tinue to prefer pneumatic tubes. Wiring

new buildings up to the system is fiddly

and expensive, however, so Düsseldorf

Delivered at the children’s

hospital: baby food by drone

Germany

Oliver Moody Berlin

Kim’s gargling remedy

Kim Jong-un has told North Koreans

to “gargle with salt water” to treat

Covid-19 and ordered the army to

distribute medicine.

The regime is struggling to deal

with a rapidly worsening outbreak.

More than 1.2 million — out of a

population of 26 million — people

have been infected with what

authorities are calling a “fever” and

50 deaths have been recorded.

The North Korean leader ordered

the army to distribute medicine in

Pyongyang and “strongly criticised”

healthcare officials for what he

called a botched response, the

Korean Central News Agency said.

North Korea has turned down

offers of Covid vaccines from China

and the World Health Organisation.

Yesterday President Yoon of South

Korea, offered to send aid.

Supporters of Hezbollah

and its Amal allies wave

party flags in Beirut

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