French COVID-19 deaths reach highest level since the winter of 2021

Samuel Tissot

In the past week France has recorded over 650 daily deaths on two occasions. On February 8, 691 deaths were recorded. On February 10, 655 further deaths were reported. The 7-day average of 324 daily deaths is the highest figure since April 1, when just 4.4 percent of the French population was fully vaccinated against the virus, compared to over 77 percent today.

Despite a level of death that has not been seen for almost a year and one of the highest of the entire pandemic, there has been no mention of the figure in any of the major French newspapers or by the government.

Teachers gather during a protest in Lille, northern France, Thursday, Jan. 13, 2022. French teachers have walked out in a nationwide strike Thursday to express anger at the way the government is handling the virus situation in schools, denouncing confusing rules and calling for remote learning. (AP Photo/Michel Spingler)

The rise in deaths in the country has occurred after five consecutive weeks where daily infections have averaged over 100,000. Although average cases are now falling from the peak of 365,000 on January 26, the 7-day average is still above 100,000. Since Omicron became dominant in France on December 31, 2021, 11.5 million people have been infected in the country. This means that in a little over a month there have been more infections than the rest of the pandemic combined.

Citing the fall in cases, the Macron government is moving to remove all restrictions against COVID-19, as has already been done in Denmark and the UK. From February 28, masks will no longer be required in most indoor settings. On February 12, the requirement to present a recent negative test result upon arrival into France was also removed for vaccinated travelers.

According to Junior Minister of Transportation Jean Baptiste Djebbari, the end of the requirement to wear masks on public transport will be discussed at this week’s Defense Council meeting.

The explosion of infections since mid-December shows that the health measures taken by the French government were never sufficient to protect the population. However, the end of even the most minimal public health measures will allow the virus to spread further throughout the population and allow for surges of other variants and Omicron sub-lineages known to be widely circulating in France, across Europe and internationally.

Beyond the current level of death, such high levels of infection are a catastrophe for millions condemned to live with the long-term consequences of COVID-19. The experience from sufferers of Long COVID from the first wave of the pandemic shows that millions will suffer from at least shortness of breath, brain fog and fatigue.

Unfortunately, thousands who survived the initial symptoms of COVID-19 will likely meet an early end in the coming year. Fatal diseases are more common among individuals who have survived COVID-19 infection in the previous 12 months. One recent study found that individuals with a confirmed COVID-19 infection were 63 percent more likely to suffer from 20 cardiovascular diseases, including strokes and heart attacks, in the 12 months after infection.

While such high levels of infection have created a limited amount of “natural” protection against the virus, this is far outweighed by the cost of the mass infection policy. Over the past 2 months alone, there have been 15,000 preventable deaths, in addition to the millions who will suffer from the long-term consequences of COVID-19 infection.

Furthermore, the “protection” gained will not shield the population against further waves driven by newer variants. Such massive rates of infection in France and worldwide entail high rates of mutation in the virus. Newer variants that evade both natural and vaccine-induced immunity more effectively than Omicron will inevitably spread throughout the population, undermining whatever protection has been gained.

Unvaccinated school children are at particular risk from long-term complications of the virus. They are the least vaccinated group in society and have borne the brunt of the most recent wave. In the most recent data from French public health agency, in the week beginning January 31, among 10- to 19-year-olds the incidence rate was 3,954 per 100,000 (the highest of any age group), and among 0 to 9-year-olds it was 2,707. More than 90 percent of French children under 12 remain unprotected, even though child vaccinations started in early December 2021.

Nevertheless, the Macron government is determined to extend its purge of any last COVID-19 measures to schools. A new COVID-19 protocol will come into effect beginning February 21.

Now children and staff will only be required to show a negative self-test on Day 2 of isolation to return to classrooms. Parents will also no longer be required to pledge that their child has taken a test at all. Relying on single self-tests, which are notoriously unreliable and unfit for tracking and tracing cases, and effectively eliminating the testing rules mean French classrooms will be flooded with even larger numbers of children testing positive for COVID-19.

Macron has only been able to enforce such a murderous policy in schools due to the criminal role played by the so-called teachers unions. Acting as a police force throughout the pandemic, they isolated and extinguished all eruptions of struggle by rank-and-file teachers while enforcing each intensification of the government’s herd immunity policy in the schools and universities. The most recent protocol was only announced by Education Minister Jean-Michel Blanquer after it was signed off by the teachers unions in a closed-door meeting on February 8.

In the last two months alone, hundreds of thousands of French children have been infected with COVID-19. A whole generation has been condemned to struggle with the long-term effects of a virus which damages vital organs. Preliminary evidence indicates COVID-19 infection increases the risk of diabetes in children. The true extent of these long-term effects will only become clear over a period of years and decades.

The mass infection policy pursued by the Macron government and its counterparts throughout Europe will go down in history as a great social crime.

For most of the pandemic, governments across Europe pursued a mitigation strategy, which the WSWS has described as “an amorphous collection of measures that tries to negotiate between the realities of the virus and the financial interests of the ruling elites.” Seizing on the false pretext that Omicron variant is “milder,” this has shifted to an open policy of herd immunity in the past two months.

France is one of the most extreme examples of the consequences of this shift, as not a finger was raised by the government in response to eye-watering daily case figures that reached 500,000. Infections have been so high that even among a highly vaccinated population, serious illness and death have reached levels seen before mass inoculation was possible.

As far as the French and European ruling class is concerned, even limited health measures must be avoided at all costs. From here on in, in the face of new surges and more dangerous variants they intend to tolerate no barrier to the extraction of profit from the working class.

The French ruling class has been united in its response to the fascist-organized and -led “Freedom Convoy” that tried to occupy Paris on Saturday. Although this small movement was easily quashed by Paris police, its demands for the end of measures against COVID-19 were sympathetically welcomed by all sections of the ruling class and its representatives, from fascistic presidential candidate Eric Zemmour to pseudoleft candidate Jean Luc Mélenchon. Macron himself described their calls for a policy of mass infection as “legitimate.”

US moves embassy from Ukraine’s capital Kiev to the western city of Lviv

Clara Weiss

Amid an ongoing war frenzy in the American media, the US cleared out its embassy in the Ukrainian capital Kiev and relocated its diplomatic staff 340 miles west to Lviv, near the border with Poland. Since Thursday, the Biden administration and the corporate press have peddled unsubstantiated allegations that a Russian invasion is “imminent,” naming Wednesday as a potential date for the military offensive.

A view of the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, Feb. 12, 2022 [Credit: AP Photo/Andrew Kravchenko]

According to the Wall Street Journal, the State Department has ordered the destruction of networking equipment and computer workstations and the dismantling of the embassy telephone system. Classified material, along with 56 of the embassy’s workers, were moved to Washington on Sunday. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken commented, “These prudent precautions in no way undermine our support for or our commitment to Ukraine.”

The move of the US embassy came as dozens of countries have called upon their citizens to immediately leave Ukraine and numerous other states have announced the closure or downsizing of their embassies. The OSCE Special Mission to Ukraine has received orders from the US and UK to withdraw its forces from the Donbass and has begun to do so on Sunday. Several airlines have suspended service to Ukraine while others are struggling to receive insurance coverage for their flights over Ukrainian airspace.

Over the weekend, some 20 charter flights and private jets carried Ukraine’s oligarchs out of the country, including the two richest Ukrainians, Rinat Akhmetov ($11.54 billion) and Viktor Pinchuk ($2.6 billion), as well as many other members of Ukraine’s “richest 100” list.

In yet another sign of growing frictions between Kiev and Washington, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who had earlier rejected the latest US allegations of an impending invasion by Moscow, denounced the moving of the US embassy as a “big mistake,” adding, “I think they have to return, otherwise we as a state have to draw certain conclusions. Believe me, we will draw these conclusions.”

A source in Zelensky’s “Servant of the People” party told the Ukrainian outlet strana.ua that the president had told the parliamentary caucus on Monday that “three friendly countries are making up a story about war. He tried to explain to us in the caucus that we are being played with, but that we are resisting.”

The secretary of Ukraine’s Council of National Security and Defense, Alexei Danilov, backed Zelensky’s line on Monday, stating that Ukrainian intelligence has found no evidence substantiating the Western warnings of an invasion by Russia in Ukraine in the near future.

In an address to the nation on Monday, Zelensky said that, “We are being told that February 16 will be the day of the attack, we are turning it into the day of national unity.” Zelensky stressed that the Ukrainian government was preparing for all possible scenarios and that the Ukrainian army was ready to defend the state. He also emphasized that East Ukraine and Crimea would “return to Ukraine” but “exclusively through diplomatic means.” This statement directly contradicts the military strategy to “retake” Crimea and East Ukraine that his government adopted in early 2021.

As the CIA and State Department have made one unsubstantiated allegation about a “Russian false-flag operation” after another, the Kremlin and pro-Russian separatists have warned that the Ukrainian army is planning a provocation in East Ukraine. According to Russian news reports, the Ukrainian military has amassed about half of its 250,000 troops near the front line in East Ukraine. This would amount to roughly the same size as Russia’s reported troop deployment near Ukraine’s border.

While Zelensky has been denying both war plans by Kiev and the threat of an imminent invasion by Russia, it is far from clear that his government is in control of the Ukrainian military, let alone the substantial fascist paramilitary forces in the country. Last summer, Zelensky, formally the commander-in-chief, was banned by the military leadership from visiting the front line in East Ukraine for several days, a highly unusual move that was never fully explained.

Earlier this month, the Ukrainian Interior Ministry claimed to have thwarted a plot to stage violent demonstrations against the government, which would have demanded a military offensive in the Donbass and Crimea. It is to be assumed that these plans involved forces either actively or formerly employed by the Ukrainian security forces as well as the far right.

US-armed and funded far-right paramilitary forces like the Azov Battalion have staged multiple demonstrations against Zelensky over the years with similar demands, several of which were addressed by former president and oligarch Petro Poroshenko (net worth $1.5 billion).

Poroshenko returned to Ukraine in January and only avoided arrest in a treason case thanks to the direct intervention of the US and Canada. He has since been engaged in a press campaign, attacking Zelensky for his supposedly soft line on Russia. Zelensky’s former interior minister, Arsen Avakov, who has close ties to both Washington and Ukraine’s far right, recently called for early elections, threatening Zelensky that, otherwise, he might be ousted in another “Maidan”—the name of the right-wing protests in the leadup to the February 2014 coup.

In a clear indication that Washington is eyeing Zelensky’s removal, the New York Times claimed Zelensky’s attempts to “caution against panic and overreaction” made him appear “nearly delusional about the grave risks his country faces.”

In another remarkable shift, Zelensky indicated on Monday that his government may give up on its goal to join NATO in the near future, stating: “Maybe the question of open doors [to NATO] is for us like a dream.” In his address to the nation, Zelensky only mentioned Ukraine’s efforts to join the EU, but not NATO. Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz, visiting Kiev, said at a joint press conference with Zelensky, “The question of [Ukraine’s] membership in alliances is basically not on the table, that’s why it’s very strange to see that the Russian government has made something that is basically not on the agenda the subject of a major political problem.”

In reality, Ukraine’s joining of NATO was a central goal of the US-orchestrated February 2014 coup in Kiev. Over the past three years, the Zelensky government has pushed for an acceleration of the process of including Ukraine in the alliance. The Kremlin has long denounced such a move, with Putin recently declaring that Ukraine in NATO would mean war between Russia and NATO. A guarantee that Ukraine will not join NATO was one of the principal demands that the Kremlin submitted to NATO in December that the US has flat-out rejected.

While avoiding any clear statement on the controversial Russian-German gas pipeline Nord Stream 2, which both the US and Ukraine want to see stopped, Scholz said on Monday that Berlin was working, together with the US and EU, “very intensely” on a “package of sanctions” that would have “substantial influence on the potential for Russia’s further economic development.” He also announced that Germany would give Ukraine another $150 million in financial aid.

Scholz has come under significant pressure from both the US and within his own coalition with the Greens and Liberal Democrats to tell Putin, during his visit to Moscow Tuesday, that a war between Russia and Ukraine would mean the end of Nord Stream 2. Germany is one of the biggest importers of Russian gas; overall, 40 percent of Europe’s gas supplies come from Russia, with some countries like Hungary depending almost entirely on these deliveries for their gas consumption.

On Monday, gas prices in Europe rose to over $1,000 for 1,000 cubic meters, while oil prices passed the $95 per barrel mark. Since January, Europe has also significantly increased its imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG). In a recent piece, the German news magazine Der Spiegel pointed out that America’s LNG industry, which became the world’s largest exporter of LNG in December, was making hefty profits off the Ukraine war crisis.

Meanwhile, the US and NATO continue to ratchet up military tensions in a clear attempt to provoke all-out war. In a phone conversation with UK’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson—who has been co-leading the NATO provocations against Russia with the US—US President Joe Biden discussed further reinforcements to NATO’s eastern flank. Johnson and Biden also stressed again that the EU must decrease its dependence on Russian gas.

On Monday, Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov and President Vladimir Putin had a public discussion stressing the need for further diplomatic efforts to resolve the crisis. A day prior, Russia launched military drills in the Black Sea involving over 30 warships, on top of ongoing joint military drills with Belarus. Pointing to the provocative moves and military exercises by NATO in the Black Sea last year, Dmitry Zhukov, a retired army captain of the first rank, told the Russian Gazeta.Ru, “The US lays claim to the Black Sea. Moscow has to either accept this or respond. A hypothetical situation in which NATO ships patrol the Black Sea while our military is sitting on the shore and just looking at it is unacceptable for Moscow.”

Governments across the globe are pressing to declare the pandemic over

Benjamin Mateus

In an interview with the Financial Times (FT) last week, Dr. Anthony Fauci, President Joe Biden’s chief medical advisor on the pandemic, offered the following rosy assessment about the pandemic in the US. “As we get out of the full-blown pandemic phase of COVID-19, which we are certainly heading out of, these decisions will increasingly be made on a local level rather than centrally decided or mandated. There will also be more people making their own decisions on how they want to deal with the virus.”

Medics wearing suits to protect against coronavirus treat a patient with coronavirus, left, as others prepare a patent to move at an ICU at the Moscow City Clinical Hospital 52, in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, Oct. 19, 2021 [Credit: AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko]

These remarks were made even as the number of new infections remain at pandemic highs and the death toll considerable. States, counties and individual people are on notice that they will be on their own. And despite his assurances, there is no indication that any conceivable measure will ever be carried out by local or federal agencies again if another surge of infections begins to inundate the population and incapacitates health systems.

Choosing not to constrain himself by the term endemic, he then told the FT that the country could soon reach a state of “equilibrium” where tracking infections will become unnecessary. These sentiments are not unique to the United States. The pandemic, regardless of how many people it infects and kills, is to be summarily “ended” by declaring it endemic, a scientific term borrowed illegitimately from epidemiology in order to justify ending all metrics that offer the population an indication of the level of infection and risks to their communities.

According to the World Health Organization’s COVID-19 dashboard, there were almost 2.5 million new cases yesterday. Since the WHO declared the Omicron strain a variant of concern at the end of November 2021, more than 140 million cases of COVID-19 have been reported with almost 600,000 deaths.

In the week beginning January 31, 2022, more than 71,000 people lost their lives worldwide. Yet, despite the continued high rates of transmission and deaths, governments throughout the globe are taking every opportunity to end all pandemic restrictions and return to economic normalcy, taking advantage of the pandemic fatigue that has afflicted millions, a phenomenon not dissimilar to weary combatants sludging it out in endless and senseless trench warfare.

In the two years since the WHO declared the SARS-CoV-2 epidemic a public health emergency of international concern, there have been 405 million confirmed cases and nearly 5.8 million deaths. In the more than a year since the COVID-19 vaccines have been publicly available, some 10.1 billion doses have been administered. In that period, more than 4 million have perished from a disease that can only be stopped through an elimination strategy.

Entering the third year, there has been a unanimous consensus on the part of the ruling elites to abandon all such efforts. Fauci, in his usual bland manner, told the FT, “There is no way we are going to eradicate this virus. But I hope we are looking at a time when we have enough people vaccinated and enough people with protection from previous infection that the COVID restrictions will soon be a thing of the past.”

His choice of the term eradication instead of elimination is a sleight of hand. He knows full well that many countries have successfully held at bay the coronavirus at their borders through a Zero COVID elimination policy, but eradication requires the adoption of such policies all over the world.

Only China has remained determined to adhere to this strategy. Since Omicron was declared a variant of concern, there have been fewer than 10,000 COVID-19 cases reported there with zero deaths, demonstrating once again that even a contagious variant like Omicron can be controlled and suppressed.

Across the globe, China alone has taken the measures to continue protecting the population against the varied long-term risks posed by the infection, which include heart disease, pulmonary dysfunction, diabetes, and mental health disorders such as brain fog and chronic headaches and fatigue. Other systemic complications include kidney disease, vascular clots and dysregulated immune system. Even the vaccinated face the prospect of dying from their infection due to adaptations made by the virus to evade immunity from vaccines, as well as a rapid decline in antibody levels in the months after immunization.

COVID-19 in Africa

In Africa, Mateshidiso Moeti, WHO regional director for the continent, told reporters, “The pandemic is moving into a different phase. … We think that we’re moving now, especially with the vaccination expected to increase, into what might become a kind of endemic living with the virus.”

Only 11.3 million on the continent have reportedly been infected and close to 242,000 have died for a case fatality rate of over 2 percent. However, due to lack of broad-based testing and accurate accounting of the cause of deaths, the actual figures may be significantly higher. Only 11 percent of Africa’s adult population have been fully vaccinated. The Economist’s excess deaths tracker places Africa’s excess deaths during the pandemic at 2.46 million, a figure 10 times higher than official COVID-19 deaths.

Moeti wrote in the WHO Africa brief of February 10, 2022: “Over the past two years, the African continent has gotten smarter, faster and better at responding to each new surge in cases of COVID-19. Against the odds, including huge inequities in access to vaccination, we’ve weathered the COVID-19 storm with resilience and determination, informed by Africa’s long history and experience with controlling outbreaks. But COVID-19 has cost us dearly, with more than 242,000 lives lost and tremendous damage to our economies.”

In reality, the excess deaths underscore that the pandemic has been catastrophic on the continent. As she noted, more than 40 million people have been pushed into extreme poverty. Moeti added, “And every month of delay in lifting containment measures is estimated to cost Africa $13.8 billion in lost gross domestic product.”

COVID-19 in Asia

Across Asia, India saw around 75 million people slip into extreme poverty in 2020. During the early waves of the pandemic, millions of migrant workers returned to their home villages creating a tremendous “drag on growth,” according to the Wall Street Journal, “unless India can pull millions of workers into productive nonfarm jobs.”

Inflationary pressures and rise in basic goods are leading to social upheavals as exemplified by the 10 million applicants for roughly 36,000 railway jobs being offered by India’s northern states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, which led to violent clashes as groups protesting mass unemployment blocked roads and railway lines, according to Deutsche Welle. The unemployment rate across Asia’s third largest economy has risen to nearly 8 percent, impacting 35 million people.

Despite the recent waves of infections and deaths across the country, the Times of India quoted virologist Dr. Gangandeep Kang that COVID-19 is already in an endemic stage in India, where “the virus is and will continue to be.” She proceeded to add that the population, who will have to learn to live with SARS-CoV-2, “should not be forced to face irrational measures such as lockdowns or curfews.” Excess deaths in India have been estimated at 5.6 million.

Vietnam is presently seeing a pandemic high of more than 27,000 new infections per day. Since Delta first derailed its elimination strategy in July 2021, nearly 40,000 people have died. The recent wave of Omicron had pushed the health care system into overcapacity despite 76 percent of the population having received at least two doses of COVID-19 vaccines.

However, the Vietnamese government plans to end COVID-19 curbs on international flights this week allowing foreign tourists to once again travel to the country. Factories are remaining open despite a rise in COVID-19 cases to continue production. Sweeping lockdowns throughout much of the world in 2020 that had protected the population of many countries from infections in part contributed to a crippling of global supply chains.

Adam Sitkoff, the executive director for the American Chamber of Commerce in Hanoi, told the press, “I do not expect to see additional countrywide lockdowns as serious cases in most parts of the country are at manageable levels and the authorities have learned that economy-crippling restrictions are not sustainable.” As Vietnam is the second biggest exporter of clothes and footwear to the US after China, the effects of calculations and profit margins on public health policies are evident. Duc Minh Nguyen, a partner at accounting firm Ernst & Young, noted, “If Vietnam can maintain a strong production capability and factory output, this will really support the global supply chain, in particular for sectors like agriculture, textiles and electronics consumers.”

Meanwhile, Japan which is in the midst of the worst wave of infections and deaths is looking to ease restrictions at the border, citing the impact the measures have had on the economy and its reputation. South Korea is attempting to counter the recent deluge of infections that has impacted its nursing homes by offering the elderly and immunocompromised individuals a fourth jab.

COVID-19 in Latin America

Countries throughout Latin America are facing similar predicaments where decisions by governments to keep their economies open have led to new waves of infections and deaths. Mexico’s fourth wave had seen cases reach 60,000 per day. Last Thursday, the health minister reported 927 COVID-19 deaths. Though the country has the fifth highest death toll at 311,554, the excess deaths are at a staggering 680,000.

Though Omicron has been declining in several major countries in South America, hospitalizations and deaths in Bolivia and Venezuela continue to rise. Many of the lowest income countries in the region have barely vaccinated half their populations. In many parts of the continent, the impact of the massive disinformation campaigns has significantly contributed to the current rise in hospitalizations and deaths.

COVID-19 in Europe

Despite 1.4 million COVID-19 cases and 24,447 deaths in Europe last week, every country is proceeding with lifting their restrictions. As Dr. Hans Kluge, WHO’s European regional director, continues to impress on reporters that as winter is ending and Omicron’s mild severity is being countered by the high degree of population immunity, these conditions make it ripe for a “ceasefire that could bring enduring peace.”

However, solitary voices continue to warn that accepting the assumption that variants will become milder with each iteration was a dangerous supposition. Professor Mark Woolhouse, an epidemiologist from Edinburgh University, told the Guardian, “The Omicron variant did not come from the Delta variant. It came from a completely different part of the virus’s family tree. And since we don’t know where in the virus’s family tree a new variant is going to come from, we cannot know how pathogenic it might be. It could be less pathogenic, but it could, just as easily, be more pathogenic.”

These warnings were echoed by virologist professor Lawrence Young of Warwick University and David Nabarro, a special envoy on COVID-19 for the WHO: “There will be more variants after Omicron and if they are more transmissible, they will dominate. In addition, they may cause different patterns of illness, in other words they may turn out to be more lethal or have long-term consequences.”

As UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has called to lift all COVID-19 restrictions, including isolating after testing positive, after February 24. The country’s official Health Security Agency has reported tracking a new variant as a serious threat. It harbors mutations that appear to be a combination of Delta and Omicron variants and is deemed a hybrid. Such a mutation was first reported in Cyprus. Little is yet known about the new strain.

And though recombinant variants are quite rare, they have occurred during the pandemic. However, fears of such a recombination in the face of the complete abandon of all restriction measures may prove even more catastrophic than what has already occurred.

As Fauci admitted in a recent interview, “Everything I am saying is based on a big caveat. We must be prepared for the eventuality that we might get a completely different variant that breaks through all of the protection that you get from prior infection.”

Middle East and North Africa MENA Scholarship Programme (MSP) 2022

Application Deadline: 22nd March 2022 at 4pm CET

Eligible Countries: Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Libya, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman and Tunisia. 

To be taken at (country): The Netherlands

Accepted Subject Areas: You can use an MSP scholarship for a number of selected short courses in one of the following fields of study:

• Economics
• Commerce
• Management and Accounting
• Agriculture and Environment
• Mathematics
• Natural sciences and Computer sciences
• Engineering
• Law Public Administration
• Public order and Safety
• Humanities
• Social sciences
• Communication and Arts

About Scholarship: The MENA Scholarship Programme (MSP) enables professionals from ten selected countries to participate in a short course in the Netherlands. The overall aim of the MSP is to contribute to the democratic transition in the participating countries. It also aims at building capacity within organisations, by enabling employees to take part in short courses in various fields of study.
There are scholarships available for short courses with a duration of two to twelve weeks.

Target group:  The MSP target group consists of professionals, aged up to 45, who are nationals of and work in one of the selected countries.
Scholarships are awarded to individuals, but the need for training must be demonstrated within the context of the organisation for which the applicant works. The training must help the organisation develop its capacity. Therefore, applicants must be nominated by their employers who have to motivate their nomination in a supporting letter.

Selection Criteria: The candidates must be nationals of and working in one of the selected countries.

Who is qualified to apply for MENA Scholarship Programme:

• must be a national of, and working and living in one of the countries on the MSP country list valid at the time of application;
• must have an employer’s statement that complies with the format EP-Nuffic has provided. All information must be provided and all commitments that are included in the format must be endorsed in the statement;
• must not be employed by an organisation that has its own means of staff-development. Organisations that are considered to have their own means for staff development are for example:
  • multinational corporations (e.g. Shell, Unilever, Microsoft),
  • large national and/or a large commercial organisations,
  • bilateral donor organisations (e.g. USAID, DFID, Danida, Sida, Dutch ministry of Foreign affairs, FinAid, AusAid, ADC, SwissAid),
  • multilateral donor organisations, (e.g. a UN organization, the World Bank, the IMF, Asian Development Bank, African Development Bank, IADB),
  • international NGO’s (e.g. Oxfam, Plan, Care);
• must have an official and valid passport (valid at least three months after the candidate’s submission date);
• must have a government statement that meets the requirements of the country in which the employer is established (if applicable);
• must not be over 45 years of age at the time of the grant submission.

Number of Scholarship:  Several

Value of MENA Scholarship Programme: A MENA scholarship is a contribution to the costs of the selected short course and is intended to supplement the salary that the scholarship holder must continue to receive during the study period.

The following items are covered:

• subsistence allowance
• international travel costs
• visa costs
• course fee
• medical insurance
• allowance for study materials.

The allowances are considered to be sufficient to cover one person’s living expenses during the study period. The scholarship holders must cover any other costs from their own resources.

How to Apply for MENA Scholarship Programme: You need to apply directly at the Dutch higher education institution of your choice.

1. Check whether you are in the above mentioned target groups.
2. Check whether your employer will nominate you.
3. Contact the Dutch higher education institution that offers the course of your choice to find out whether this course is eligible for an MSP scholarship and how to apply.

It is important to go through the application information details on the Scholarship Webpage (see Link below) before applying.

Visit Scholarship Webpage for details

Engineering for Development E4D Continuing Education Scholarship 2022/2023

Application Deadline: 30th April 2022

Eligible Countries: Developing Countries

To be taken at (country): Switzerland

About E4D Continuing Education Scholarship: The goal of the programme is to enhance the knowledge and skills of future leaders with the perspective of contributing to capacity development and poverty reduction in their home countries.

Field of Study: All programmes of the ETH Zurich continuing education programme (MAS/CAS/DAS) are eligible for the scholarship. But only some programmes offer a fee reduction.

The following programmes offer a fee reducation:

MAS Nutrition and Health, D-HEST
Nutrition for Disease Prevention and Health (CAS ETH in Nutrition), D-HEST

Type: Short course

Eligibility:

• The E4D Continuing Education Scholarship candidate must hold a completed and recognised Master’s degree from a university and proof professional working experience of at least 2 years.
• A minimal English standard of TOEFL level C1. If the continuing education programme requires a minimal level in another language, proof of this level should also be submitted.
• The scholarship is open to candidates from Least Developed Countries, Low Income Countries and Lower Middle Income Countries classified in the DAC-​list of the OECD. 
• Candidates need to be accepted by the School for Continuing Education, ETH Zurich as well as the MAS, DAS or CAS programme office.

Number of Awards: Not specified

Value of E4D Continuing Education Scholarship: The following expenses will be covered by the scholarship:

• Economy roundtrip ticket (max. 2’000 CHF) 
  
• Visa fees
• Living allowance for the duration of the programme (2’000 CHF per month if the programme is longer than 3 weeks. 800 CHF per week if the programme duration is up to 3 weeks)
• ETH general tuition fee waiver (660 CHF per semester)
  

The following expenses will NOT be covered by the scholarship:
The programme fees of the MAS/CAS/DAS are not covered by the E4D Continuing Education Scholarship.

The registration fee for applications of 150 CHF cannot be covered, but will be reimbursed to candidates from low income countries in case an application is unsuccessful.

How to Apply:

• CV of the candidate 
• MSc or Masters Diploma and academic transcript(s)
• 1-2 page application letter, stating the motivation to attend the programme and the impact for the candidate’s career development and beyond.
• Two professional references
• Formal admission letter by the School for Continuing Education confirming that the candidate is admitted to the MAS, DAS or CAS programme.
• Certificate of employment. The certificate of employment letter must be sent to the E4D programme office directly through the employer (and not the candidate)

• Certificate of English level (minimum TOEFL level C1) or other internationally recognised English certificates. If the programme requires a minimum level in another language, proof of this acquired level must also be submitted.

Applications must be submitted through the online portal below. Submissions by e-​mail will not be considered.

Apply here

• It is important to go through all application requirements in the Award Webpage (see Link below) before applying.

Visit Award Webpage for Details

Government of Azerbaijan Undergraduate, Masters & Doctoral Scholarships 2022/2023

Application Deadline: 1st April 2022

Eligible Countries: Organization for Islamic Cooperation (OIC) & Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) countries 

To be taken at (country): Azerbaijan

About the Government of Azerbaijan Award: The Educational Grant Program for the Organization of Islamic Cooperation” and “The Grants Program for the Citizens of the Non-Aligned Movement” were approved by the President of the Republic of of Azerbaijan on December 6, 2017 and on January 10, 2018, respectively. The Educational Grant (hereinafter referred to as “scholarship”) Programs provide a pre-requisite course for undergraduate, graduate, doctoral, general medicine / residency programs.

Programmes provide an opportunity for selected 40 candidates on annual basis to study in the leading universities of Azerbaijan at • Preparatory courses • Undergraduate, graduate • Doctoral • General medicine/residency programmes

Type: Undergraduate, Masters, Doctoral

Eligibility:

• Citizens of the OIC and the NAM member countries
• For undergraduate and general medicine programmes – citizens younger than 30
• For graduate and residency programmes – citizens younger than 35

Selection: The selection process will cover two stages:

• Review of the relevant documents
• Interviews (online/Skype)

The candidates will be informed about the results by early July, 2022 Note: only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

Number of Awards: 40

Value of Government of Azerbaijan Award:

• Tuition fee 
• International flight 
• Monthly stipend for meals, accommodation and utility costs ($ 800) 
• Medical insurance 
• Visa and registration costs

How to Apply for Government of Azerbaijan Scholarships: 

Call for Application
Guidelines for international Students
List of Participating Universities
Frequently Asked Questions – FAQ
General Application Form
Instructions for Submitting Application Form

• It is important to go through all application requirements on the Programme Webpage see link below) before applying

Visit Programme Webpage for Details

German federal government preparing abolition of coronavirus safety measures

Tamino Dreisam

As the rate of coronavirus infections reaches ever new heights and the even more infectious Omicron subvariant BA.2 spreads, the German government is moving to end the last existing measures to protect against the virus. In so doing it is following the example of the US and other European countries.

The 7-day incidence is now 1,472 infections (per 100,000 residents), with 240,000 people recently infected in a single day. In every district of Germany the incidence rate exceeds 500. In 342 counties it stands above 1,000 and in 48 counties above 2,000. The highest incidence is in the county of Eichstätt, with an incidence value of 3,897.

The growing number of infections is accompanied by a disastrous increase in cases occurring in hospitals and nursing homes. Just last week there were 174 outbreaks in medical treatment facilities (20 more than in the previous week) and 373 outbreaks in nursing homes and homes for the elderly (127 more than in the previous week).

The number of severe outbreaks also continues to rise. On Friday, more than 1,750 people were hospitalized. The adjusted hospitalization incidence is now about 11 (weekly hospitalizations per 100,000 residents), doubling in one month. The percentage of free intensive care beds remains just above 10 percent, which is considered the borderline of hospital response capacity. Nearly 1,000 people have died since the week began.

Schools remain a central driver of infection. Among 15- to 34-year-olds, the 7-day incidence is 1,988, whereas among 5- to 14-year-olds it is as high as 4,187. For the past four weeks, 2,124 coronavirus outbreaks have been reported in schools, with that figure expected to rise as late reports come in. The number of school outbreaks is thus four times higher than at the height of outbreaks last school year.

Of particular concern is the rapid spread of Omicron subvariant BA.2, which has seen its share of infections increase fivefold since the beginning of the year. It is currently believed to be 30 percent more infectious than BA.1 and can reinfect people within weeks of a BA.1 Omicron infection.

The ruling class is responding to this wave of infections by announcing even more comprehensive steps to reopen and even promising an end to all remaining pandemic safety measures. The federal and state governments are vying with each other to open fastest.

In his inaugural speech in the Bundesrat (federal council) on Friday, Chancellor Olaf Scholz (Social Democrats, SPD) declared that “the peak of the wave is in sight,” despite exploding case numbers. “That lets us consider a first reopening step at the federal-state meeting next week, as well as others for the spring.”

Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) delivering his first address (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)

Scholz justified this with the absurd claim that “especially elderly citizens have fortunately not been strongly affected by the Omicron wave.” In view of hundreds of outbreaks in old people’s homes every week, this statement can only be regarded a brazen lie. In the last week alone, 660 people over the age of 60 have died from the coronavirus.

At the same time, the chancellor openly admits that nurses and doctors are working at their limits and tries to spin as a success that the health care system has not collapsed: “Our health care system—despite great strain on doctors and hospital staff—has held up so far.”

While Scholz announces steps toward reopening in the spring, other parts of his government want to reopen earlier. The current infection control measures remain in effect until March 20. After that, the Bundestag will vote on whether to extend them for another three months. Liberal (FDP) parliamentary group leader Christian Dürr told the Funke Mediengruppe newspapers that any remaining protective measures should be lifted at that time: “On March 20, Germany should return to normal.”

But looser restrictions are needed before then, he told ARD and ZDF’s Morgenmagazin. One should focus on creating a “smooth transition” to March 20 with gradual relaxations, he said. First to fall should be vaccination (or proof of recovery) requirements in retail, contact tracing and contact restrictions for private gatherings.

While federal government officials are still just talking about relaxations, the states are already implementing them. Last week, all German states uniformly decided to raise the cap on the number of spectators allowed at large outdoor events to 10,000. The state governments of Schleswig-Holstein and Hesse announced an end to vaccination-or-recovered regulations across the retail sector. Now more and more states are following suit.

Bavaria, which is currently the state with the highest incidence, announced it would lift the curfew in pubs and further increase the maximum number of spectators at major events. For sporting events, 15,000 instead of 10,000 spectators will be allowed and the maximum occupancy rate will be raised from 25 percent to 50 percent. For cultural events, occupancy will even be increased from 50 percent to 75 percent.

After Schleswig-Holstein and Hesse, the states of Berlin and Brandenburg have now also announced that they will overturn the vaccination-or-recovered regulation in the retail sector. In Brandenburg, the night-time curfew for unvaccinated people in hotspot regions is also to be dropped.

Implementing this relaxation of safety regulations contradicts all scientific reasoning and risks thousands of deaths. Klaus Reinhardt, president of the German Medical Association, warned in an interview with the Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung against relaxation of regulations: “We still lack reliable and comprehensive data on the current incidence of infection. That makes it difficult to clearly assess the situation.”

Resistance to this policy is growing. An online petition by more than 100 student representatives calling the government’s “current mass-infection plan” “irresponsible and lacking solidarity” has now received 134,000 signatures. Under the hashtag #WirWerdenLaut (#We’reGettingLoud), a great number of students, teachers, parents and scientists are calling for “fighting the pandemic by any means necessary” and are making a number of demands, such as equipping schools with air filters, free FFP2 masks and a repeal of compulsory attendance.

Politicians and the media have responded with a smear campaign to denounce the petition’s legitimate demands as unscientific or a “scare campaign.”

The petition is an important expression of opposition to the profits-before-life policies of the ruling class. But their demands cannot be implemented by appealing to those in power. For two years now, those powers have ignored all such appeals, making it clear that they are pursuing policies in the interest of maximizing the profits of banks and corporations rather than protecting the health and lives of the population.

COVID-19 surges in New Zealand

Tom Peters

Today, New Zealand’s Ministry of Health reported a record 981 new cases of COVID-19 in the community. This follows 810 cases yesterday, which was nearly double the previous day’s tally.

In the space of two weeks, New Zealand’s Omicron outbreak has roughly quadrupled in size from a total of 770 active cases on January 31, to more than 4,000 yesterday. The number of people in hospital with the virus has jumped from 14 to 39 in one week.

Auckland City Hospital, where several patients and staff in the geriatric ward have tested positive for COVID-19. (Source: Google Streetview)

Until recently, New Zealand was relatively free from COVID-19. In October 2021, however, during an outbreak of the Delta variant, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern declared that the government would no longer seek to reduce cases to zero using lockdowns and other public health measures.

With the arrival of the highly infectious Omicron variant, the Labour Party-Greens government dropped any pretence of eliminating COVID-19. It is now following the same policy as governments in Europe, America and Australia: schools and businesses must remain open, so that profits are extracted from the working class, while the virus is allowed to spread everywhere, infecting masses of people.

The alarming spike in daily cases is only the beginning. COVID-19 researcher Dion O’Neale told the New Zealand Herald the country would likely reach 1,000 confirmed cases a day by the middle of the week. This would quickly overwhelm the country’s contact tracing capacity.

Epidemiologist Michael Baker told Stuff the number of people already infected could be 10 times higher than the official tally, since people without symptoms are not being tested. He said the majority of the country would soon be exposed to the virus.

Cabinet is meeting today to discuss whether to begin Phase 2 of the government’s plan, outlined last month, for dealing with Omicron. Phase 2 does not mean the reintroduction of public health restrictions. On the contrary, it will help the virus spread even faster by reducing the mandatory self-isolation period for positive cases from 14 days to 10 days, and for contacts from 10 days to 7 days. Contact tracing will also be scaled back.

The government has already announced plans to end the requirement for New Zealand citizens returning from overseas to isolate for 10 days in one of several hotels that are serving as managed isolation and quarantine (MIQ) facilities.

The reckless decision to reopen schools this month has helped fuel the outbreak. Last Friday, the Ministry of Education reported there were already 98 COVID-19 cases in schools and 19 at early childhood education centres.

More than half of children aged 5 to 11 are unvaccinated, and those under 5 are ineligible, making them particularly susceptible to catching Omicron and spreading it to others.

Among people aged over 12, 95 percent have received at least two doses of the vaccine. But only about one third of the population has received a third dose, which is essential for significant protection from Omicron.

Newshub reported yesterday that the Auckland South Corrections Facility, run by private company Serco, “is a super-spreader,” with 34 prisoners testing positive through rapid antigen tests, and two staff also testing positive.

Seven staff and seven patients have also tested positive at two Auckland Hospital geriatric wards. New admissions and discharges from the wards have been halted.

A New Zealand tourist may have spread Omicron to the Cook Islands, a Pacific semi-colony of NZ with fewer than 20,000 inhabitants. A passenger on a flight that left the islands last Monday tested positive, and is thought to have been infectious while in the Cook Islands for eight days.

Karla Eggleton, from the Cook Islands’ tourism department, told TVNZ that despite the danger of an outbreak “the border remains open” and “it’s business as usual.” Only 70 percent of the eligible population is triple-vaccinated, and the small healthcare system will not cope in an outbreak. There are two respirators suitable for COVID patients.

While New Zealand’s corporate media is largely focused on anti-vaccination protesters outside parliament, there is growing concern in the working class about the impending explosion of Omicron.

A healthcare worker at Taranaki Base Hospital in New Plymouth told the World Socialist Web Site he feared they would be overwhelmed with cases. “We have to give health support to other diseases too, not only COVID. So what is the government’s plan? If things go on like this, our hospitals will be out of beds and staff members in the next one or two months.”

The hospital, which serves a region with 124,380 people, has 150 beds and, according to official information, only 6 fully-staffed intensive care beds.

A Wellington hotel worker, who asked to be referred to as T, told the WSWS that she was worried about coming into contact with travelers from Auckland, the centre of New Zealand’s outbreak, and international travelers. She suffers from asthma, placing her at greater risk of illness if she contracts the virus.

T said the food and beverage team was not well-protected, especially when the restaurant area is crowded. “We’re quite close to the customers, we’re very interactive because we have to serve them.” Customers were “very cautious about COVID-19” but they did not wear masks during meals. Like most workers, the hotel staff were not being given the most effective N95 masks, but only less-effective surgical masks.

There is considerable financial pressure on low-paid workers not to get tested for COVID. As a casual, part-time worker, T said that when she recently had to get a test and isolate for two days, she was not paid by her employer.

John, a student at Victoria University of Wellington, said he was “very concerned about the prospect of getting Omicron. I haven’t had my booster yet. There’s no guarantee I won’t get Long COVID, or even worse, and there’re older members of the family who are more at risk. So I’m really concerned at the prospect of widespread community transmission.”

Last year there were mask mandates on campus but “loads of people weren’t wearing them, or were wearing them inadequately,” John said. He said he would face “huge risks of exposure” travelling by train and going into crowded lecture theatres.

John commented that he “was hoping last year, that there would be protests saying: ‘don’t abandon elimination.’ But there was nothing, there was no coordinated resistance.”

As is the case internationally, the New Zealand trade unions, acting in the interests of the affluent middle class and big business, have suppressed opposition to the government’s policy of mass infection. They have collaborated in herding people back to unsafe workplaces and schools.