The Washignton Post - 04.04.2020

saturday, april 4 , 2020. the washington post ez re A

the coronavirus pandemic

2,500 cases of the novel coronavi-

rus in the country and recorded

35 deaths. The government was

initially slow to react to the coro-

navirus threat, allowing religious

pilgrims to return from Iran with

very little screening despite the

high levels of infections there.

The government has since can-

celed all international flights into

and out of Pakistan, ordered non-

essential businesses to close and

asked residents to limit travel

outside their homes.

rak near Te l Aviv, where Orthodox

members have defied police and

are now suffering Israel’s highest

rate of covid- 19 infections.

Pakistan, India and Israel have

all placed restrictions on religious

gatherings. In India and Israel,

religious gatherings have been

temporarily banned, and in Paki-

stan no more than five people are

permitted to gather in a mosque

at one time. Local Pakistani reli-

gious leaders have encouraged

people to pray from home.

Allama Ta hir Ashrafi, a promi-

nent Pakistani cleric, said overall

the vast majority of Pakistanis

have respected the restrictions on

religious gatherings.

“People are not accustomed to

offering Friday’s prayer at home,

and they are insisting on offering

their prayers in the mosque

among the congregation,” Ashrafi

said. But, he said, he believes

people will adapt to the restric-

tions.

Pakistan has identified nearly

India imposed a three-week

nationwide lockdown on March

24. All international fights are
    banned from landing in India,
    and all domestic travel has been
    suspended. India, with a popula-
    tion of 1.3 billion, has recorded
    more than 2,500 coronavirus cas-
    es and more than 70 deaths.
    Israel has instituted a series of
    restrictions that bring the coun-
    try closer to a total lockdown.
    Residents are allowed to leave
    their homes only for “essential

BY HAQ NAWAZ KHAN,

NIHA MASIH

AND STEVE HENDRIX

PESHAWAR, PAkISTAn — Police
clashed with worshipers in Paki-
stan, India and Israel this week as
the devout defied restrictions to
attend religious gatherings.
Mosques and other houses of wor-
ship have been closed and cur-
fews instituted in many countries
as governments attempt to slow
the virus’s spread.
In Pakistan, clashes broke out
in the southern city of Karachi
despite a three-hour curfew there
Friday to prevent people from
congregating at midday prayers.
The imam of a local mosque had
been calling the faithful using a
loudspeaker, and when police ar-
rived dozens of worshipers had
gathered at the site.
Several police and civilians
were injured in the confronta-
tion, and the mosque’s imam was
arrested, according to a police
official who spoke on the condi-
tion of anonymity because he was
not authorized to speak to the
media.
In the northern Indian state of
Uttar Pradesh, people hurled
stones from rooftops at police-
men attempting to disperse wor-
shipers at a mosque there. One
policeman was injured in the
clashes, according to local media
reports.
Worshipers in Israel also have
pushed back against government
restrictions on religious gather-
ings. Minor clashes broke out this
week in some areas as police
entered recalcitrant synagogues
to break up illegal services.
Most r abbis have approved pri-
vate prayers and called on follow-
ers to abide by the rules, but
members of the ultra-Orthodox
communities have been the most
resistant to forgo their prayers,
which require at least 10 adult
males to be gathered multiple
times a day.
Rocks thrown by young Ortho-
dox men in Jerusalem’s M ea Shea-
rim neighborhood resulted in mi-
nor injuries to an ambulance driv-
er Monday. And Friday, the army
cordoned off the city of Bnei Ba-

needs,” public gatherings are

banned, and most businesses

have been closed. Israel has con-

firmed more than 7,000 coronavi-

rus cases, most within ultra-Or-

thodox communities, and record-

ed over 35 deaths.

[email protected]

[email protected]

Masih reported from Delhi, and

hendrix reported from Jerusalem.

susannah George in London

contributed to this report.

Restrictions on religious gatherings prompt clashes

shahzaib akber/ePa-eFe/shutterstock

Pakistani security officials stand guard outside a mosque in Karachi after the Sindh government announced a lockdown to prevent participation in congregational p rayers.

surge for its other products. It’s

making 500 million probe covers,

used to protect thermometers, ev-

ery three months. Demand for

stretchers has d oubled.

“It’s very likely the first things

that a patient needs or comes into

contact with, will have been pro-

duced in Mexico,” said Howard

Karesh, a Hillrom spokesperson.

Among the company’s 1,

employees in the country, Karesh

said, coronavirus cases were “ex-

tremely limited.”

Becton Dickinson, based in

Franklin Lakes, N.J., employs

15, 000 people in Mexico who pro-

duce “multiple billions of prod-

ucts and components” every year,

company spokesman Troy Kirk-

patrick said. They include cathe-

ters and IV sets now being used to

treat coronavirus patients in the

United S tates.

“We have been in contact with

the governor’s offices in the states

in which we have operations to

explain the critical nature of our

manufacturing to maintain a

functioning global health-care

system a nd t he precautions w e are

taking to maximize employee

safety,” K irkpatrick s aid.

Mexico has s truggled to acquire

face masks, ventilators and hospi-

tal b eds. President Andrés M anuel

López Obrador a cknowledged last

week that there were only 5,

ventilators in the country. He or-

dered the purchase of 5,000 more

from China.

Trump threatened last June to

impose tariffs on goods, including

medical supplies imported from

Mexico, to pressure López Obra-

dor to crack down on Central

American migrants crossing the

country to reach t he U.S. b order.

Administration officials down-

played the economic impact of

those tariffs on U.S. consumers,

but the medical device industry

was v ocal i n its opposition.

“We strongly believe that medi-

cal products that save and extend

lives should be exempted from

this action,” Scott Whitaker, the

president of the Advanced Medi-

cal Technology Association wrote

to U. S. Trade Representative Rob-

ert E. Lighthizer on June 7.

López Obrador agreed to step

up immigration enforcement, a nd

the tariffs were not implemented.

But Trump suggested the tariffs

would be a u seful t ool i f he was n ot

satisfied with the Mexican govern-

ment’s a ctions.

“We can always go back to our

previous, very profitable position

on tariffs,” he tweeted.

[email protected]

Gabriela Martínez contributed to this

report.

BY KEVIN SIEFF

MEXICO CITY — As demand soars
for medical devices and personal
protective equipment in the fight
against the coronavirus, the Unit-
ed States has turned to the pha-
lanx of factories south of the bor-
der that are now the outfitters of
many U.S. hospitals.
Less than a year after President
Trump threatened to impose tar-
iffs here, Mexico’s $ 17 b illion medi-
cal device industry is ramping up
production of everything from
ventilator components to ther-
mometers and hospital beds —
and scouring the country for
workers willing to work through
the p andemic.
The products, manufactured
largely in factories run by U. S.
corporations, will land in almost
every hospital in the United
States. Very few will remain in
Mexico. It’s a byproduct of global-
ization distilled clearly during a
pandemic: A nation t hat produces
lifesaving medical equipment
isn’t necessarily the one that gets
to keep it.
“There’s this incredible irony
that many of the medical devices
that will save lives in the United
States were made in Mexico, but
most Mexicans won’t have access
to them,” s aid Andrew Selee, p resi-
dent of the Migration Policy Insti-
tute, a Washington think t ank.
On Thursday, the mayor of Ti-
juana implored the city’s medical
device manufacturers to “increase
the p ortion o f your p roduction f or
local c onsumption.”
“We recognize the importance
of your work for the economic
development o f the country,” M ay-
or Arturo González Cruz wrote.
“But the health and well-being of
Mexicans is even more impor-
tant.”
Tijuana, once considered a
seedy border town, has emerged
in the last two decades as one of
the world’s most important hubs
for the production of medical
equipment. Its growth in ad-
vanced manufacturing has helped
make Mexico the biggest exporter
of medical devices to the United
States.
The city’s manufacturers said it
would be difficult to heed Gon -
zález Cruz’s c all.
“The great majority of what we
produce is made for export,” said
Carlos Higuera, the president of
Tijuana’s economic development
corporation. “With federal gov-

ernment regulation in Mexico,

and the way these companies are

structured, it’s not easy to turn

around and start producing for

local c onsumption.”

As U.S. demand for face masks,

ventilators and other m aterials in-

creased over the last month, re-

cruiters in northwestern Mexico

began holding job fairs in small

towns. But police considered

those fairs a public health risk a nd

shut them down.

The balance between meeting

U.S. need and protecting employ-

ees has been a challenge in some

parts o f the c ountry, w here unions

and local politicians have protest-

ed the call for factory work in the

midst of the outbreak. “If we want

to avoid a massive spread of coro-

navirus, it is necessary that the

worker stay a t home w ith his fami-

ly,” said the mayor of Matamoros,

Mario López Hernández.

But the calls keep coming. Hae-

motronic, an Italian company

with a factory in R eynosa, Mexico,

received a request this week for

1.5 million IV tubing extensions

specifically crafted for the treat-

ment of the coronavirus, allowing

nurses to keep more distance from

infectious patients.

The company says it has imple-

mented measures, including pro-

viding private transportation, to

protect its workers. “I don’t think

finding people will be a problem

unless the virus surges in Mexico,”

said Ettore Ravizza, manager of

the Reynosa plant. “The covid sit-

uation just highlighted how stra-

tegic or essential we are for the

well-being o f our fellow humans.”

Mexico has r eported 1,5 10 cases

of the virus. Officials acknowledge

that actual case numbers are al-

most certainly higher because

testing is l imited.

As the world races to increase

production of ventilators, many

parts of those, too, will come from

Mexico. Supply chains for ventila-

tors straddle the border, with

c omponents pieced together in

both countries.

Integer of Plano, Te x., operates

factories in Tijuana and Ciudad

Juárez, where it produces batter-

ies for ventilators that are com-

pleted in the United States. Hill-

rom, based in Batesville, Ind.,

makes some ventilator compo-

nents in its Tijuana factory and

plans to begin producing the

Life2 000 noninvasive ventilator

there in t he coming months.

Hillrom has seen U.S. demand

Mexico factories turning out

medical items for use in U.S.

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