Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) Scholarships 2022/2023

Application Deadline: 28th February 2022

About the Award: The Islamic Development Bank funds and implements its scholarship programmes as part of its overall efforts to develop the human resources of its member countries and those of the Muslim communities in non-member countries.

1. Undergraduate
2. Master’s
3. PhD and Post-Doctoral Research Programme
4. IsDB-ISFD for Technical Vocational Education & Training (TVET) for 21 Least Developed Member Countries (LDMCs):  Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad, Comoros, Djibouti, The Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Niger, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somali, Sudan, Togo, Uganda and Yemen
5. IsDB-ISFD Bachelor studies for 21 LDMCs as mentioned in No. 4 above
6. IsDB-The World Academy of Science (TWAS) Joint Programme for Capacity Building and Technology Transfer

Objectives: The Programmes are important parts of the developmental initiatives led by the Bank since 1983 to foster technology and knowledge sharing among its member countries and Muslim communities in non-member countries. They are designed to attract talented male and female students and in order to build the right competencies required with a special focus on sustainability sciences to empower communities and to assist them in achieving their national and global development plans including the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).  The motto is to develop the students/researchers as Good Citizens & Competent Professionals (GCCPs).

Concept:

The IsDB Scholarship Programme is more than just a scholarship programme in the traditional sense of a straight financial assistance to the outstanding and qualified students. It is also a tool for the improvement of the socio-economic conditions of the Member Countries and Muslim communities.It is basically a scholarship programme and a development programme at the same time, since the scholarship is given as an interest-free-loan (Qard Hasan) to the students and as a grant to their communities /countries to which they belong.

The students are required to fulfil the obligations detailed, under each programme, after graduation and gainful employment. Besides, the students are also required to take part in the development of their communities/countries, through their respective professions. The repaid fund will be used to provide scholarships to other students from the same community/country to complement the IsDB Programme and to ensure its continuity in the long run, while the community development services rendered by the students and graduates will contribute to the overall development of the community/country.

Type: Undergraduate, Masters, PhD, Postdoc

Eligibility:

Undergraduate

The Programme is open for academically meritorious students with strong desire to engage in social services and community development after graduation. Candidates MUST ensure that they meet all the criteria of the programme listed hereunder, failing which the Application will not be considered:

• Must be a citizen of any of the IsDB member countries or Muslim communities in non-member countries.
• Candidate from non-member countries must be a Muslim.
• Must have obtained a high school diploma or registered in one of the top 10 public/government universities in his/her own country.
• Must have minimum of 70% in his/her high school final GPA.
• Must choose a field of study listed among the approved disciplines of the programme.
• Must provide evidence of language proficiency in university medium of instruction as relevant. The language proficiency must be supported by a document or certificate, e.g., for English, by a recognized language certificate such as TOEFL, IELTS or passed required level test conducted such as by British Council or equivalent system in French or other language).
• Must provide certified English or French translation of all documents in case if they are initially in other languages.
• Must not be in receipt of any other scholarship at the time of application and during study.
• Must be medically fit and willing to undergo medical tests after selection.

Apply Now for the IsDB Undergraduate Scholarship Programme

Masters:

The Programme is open for academically meritorious students and mid-career professionals from member countries and Muslim Communities in non-member countries. Candidates MUST ensure that they meet all the criteria of the programme listed hereunder, failing which the Application will not be considered:

• Must be a citizen of any of the IsDB member countries or Muslim communities in non-member countries.
• Candidate from non-member countries must be a Muslim.
• Must have minimum of 70% in his/her Bachelor studies’ GPA.
• Must choose a field of study listed among the approved disciplines of the programme.
• Must provide certified English or French translation of all documents in case if they are initially in other languages.
• Must provide evidence of language proficiency in university medium of instruction as relevant. The language proficiency must be supported by a document or certificate, e.g., for English, by a recognized language certificate such as TOEFL, IELTS or passed required level test conducted such as by British Council or equivalent system in French or other languages).
• Must not be in receipt of any other scholarship at the time of application and during study.
• Must be medically fit and willing to undergo medical tests after selection.

Apply Now for the IsDB Master Scholarship

PhD and Post-Doctoral Research Programme:

The Programme is designed to help promising and outstanding scholars from member countries and Muslim communities in non-member countries who meet the following criteria:

1. PhD study

• Have Master’s degree in one of the fields of study of the programme.
• Have minimum (“Very Good”) academic standing;
• Preferably have work and/or research experience.
• Have a research proposal in one of the fields of study of the programme stating its scientific and development relevance to the community / country.
• Be medically fit and be willing to undergo medical tests after selection.

2. Post-doctoral research

• Have PhD degree in one of approved fields of the programme.
• Have minimum (“Very Good”) academic standing.
• Have not less than two (2) years of experience in the field of research.
• Must have a record of publications/research in the same field.
• Have a research proposal in one of the fields of study of the programme stating its scientific and development relevance to the community / country.
• Be medically fit and be willing to undergo medical tests after selection

Apply Now for the IsDB PhD and Post-Doctoral Research Programme

Eligible Countries: Muslim communities

Number of Awards: Numerous

Value of Award:

Undergraduate & Masters:

The programme covers the following items:

• Monthly stipend commensurate with the cost of living of the country of study.
• Tuition fees, if any, subject to IsDB’s approval.
• Cost of medical treatment at university/government hospital.
• Economy class return air tickets (once at the time of joining and on completion of study) and installation and equipment allowance for the students selected to study abroad at partnered universities/countries.

PhD study

The programme covers the following items:

• Monthly stipend commensurate with the cost of living of the country of study;
• Tuition fees, if any, subject to IsDB’s approval;
• Cost of medical treatment at university/government hospital.
• Economy class return air tickets (once at the time of joining and on completion of study) and installation and equipment allowance for the students selected to study abroad at partnered universities/countries.
• Thesis preparation allowance
• Scientific papers’ preparation allowance

Post-doctoral research

The programme covers the following items:

• Monthly stipend commensurate with the cost of living of the country of study;
• Cost of medical treatment at university/government hospital.
• Economy class return air tickets (once at the time of joining and on completion of study) and installation and equipment allowance for the students selected to study abroad at partnered universities/countries.
• Scientific papers’ preparation allowance

How to Apply: Apply below

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

Visit Award Webpage for Details

WE-STAR Fellowships PhD and Postdoctoral mobility scheme 2022

Application Deadline:

28th January 2022.

Tell Me About WE-STAR Fellowships:

The Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MAECI) and the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB) have partnered to offer early-career female scientists from the African Continent, mobility fellowships of 6 to 12 months at the ICGEB laboratories in Trieste (Italy), New Delhi (India) and Cape Town (South Africa), to perform research work on biotechnology and related fields, including Health (Infectious Diseases and Non-Communicable Diseases), Sustainable and Effective Agriculture, Industrial Biotechnology and Renewable Energy. 

This new programme promotes and supports success stories of women scientists from Africa. Five (5) PhD and five (5) postdoc fellowships of 6-12 months duration will be awarded to early-career women researchers from ICGEB Member States in Africa*to perform their research at the ICGEB Components in Trieste, Cape Town or New Delhi.

What Type of Scholarship is this?

Fellowship

Who can apply for WE-STAR Fellowships?

• – Applicants must be nationals of ICGEB Member States in the African Continent*
• – Applicants may not apply for fellowships to be undertaken in their country of origin unless working abroad at the time of application
• – Pre-docs having completed their university degree and enrolled in a PhD course, as well as postdoctoral researchers having completed their PhD or equivalent may apply. Tentatively, 5 – Pre-doc and 5 post-doc fellowships will be awarded.
• – No age limit applies, but preference will be given to candidates below the age of 45
• – Good working knowledge of English is mandatory

How are Applicants Selected?

• The ICGEB Fellowships Selection Committee will evaluate complete applications received by the closing date. The candidates will be notified of the outcome by e-mail as soon as possible following the closing date for applications.
• The main criteria for selection include the scientific excellence of the project, the qualities of the candidate’s CV, and the potential benefit in terms of mentoring and acquisition of new expertise.

Which Countries are Eligible?

Algeria, Angola, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Liberia, Libya, Mauritius, Morocco, Namibia, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Sudan, Tunisia, United Republic of Tanzania, Zimbabwe.

Where will Award be Taken?

Trieste (Italy), New Delhi (India) and Cape Town (South Africa)

How Many Fellowships will be Given?

Five (5) PhD and five (5) postdoc fellowships

What is the Benefit of WE-STAR Fellowships?

• Monthly stipend: Euro 1300 for PhD students and Euro 2000 for postdoctoral fellows, or equivalent.
• A bench fee allowance of Euro 500/month or equivalent will be paid as a contribution to the receiving laboratory to cover the purchase of laboratory consumables that are directly related to the WE-STAR Fellow’s research activities.
• Travel: the fellowship includes provision for travel expenses from the participant’s home country to the host lab at the beginning of the fellowship and a return travel provision upon completion of the fellowship. Medical health insurance coverage is provided for the duration of the fellowship.
• Visa/permit of stay application and renewal costs are reimbursed.
• ICGEB makes no financial provision, nor can it provide administrative support for family members of participants in the programme.

How Long will the Program Last?

6-12 months

How to Apply for WE-STAR Fellowships:

Please complete this application online. You will be allowed to complete a portion of the application form and return later to finish the rest. Before starting the application online, kindly carefully read the call guidelines and FAQ. 

Visit Award Webpage for Details

Youth mental health issues in the US have skyrocketed during pandemic

Genevieve Leigh

(Source: Unsplash / Joice Kelly)

The United States Surgeon General warned on Tuesday that young people are facing a “devastating” mental health crisis that has been vastly exacerbated by the conditions created by the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to the report, since the pandemic began in early 2020, rates of “psychological distress” among young people, including symptoms of anxiety, depression, and other mental health disorders, have increased dramatically. The Surgeon General’s report is based on recent research covering 80,000 youth globally. The findings reveal that symptoms of depression and anxiety have doubled during the pandemic, with 25 percent of youth experiencing depressive symptoms and 20 percent experiencing anxiety symptoms.

The report also notes other disturbing signs of distress among youth. In early 2021, emergency department visits in the United States for suspected suicide attempts were a staggering 51 percent higher for adolescent girls and 4 percent higher for adolescent boys compared to the same time period in early 2019. Early estimates that suggest more than 6,600 deaths by suicide occurred among the 10-24 age group in 2020.

To the extent that the mainstream media has responded to these shocking figures, it has been to downplay their severity and the broader social context. In an article in the New York Times by Matt Ritchel, “Surgeon General Warns of Youth Mental Health Crisis,” for example, the author barely refers to the on-going COVID-19 pandemic. The author, rather, spends most of the article quibbling over minor factors such as too much “screen time” and “online interactions.”

Near the end of the article when the pandemic is finally mentioned, Ritchel writes that the pandemic intensified stress on young people, “in part by isolating them during a period of their lives when social connection is vital for healthy development.” While there is no doubt that the social isolation caused by the pandemic has had an impact on youth, the argument made by the Times is done in bad faith.

Since the start of the pandemic, the mainstream press and politicians on both sides of the aisle have sought to weaponize the mental health crisis to justify the reopening of schools despite the enormous health risks involved for young people, teachers and staff and the community at large. These politicians—many of whom have spent their careers overseeing the destruction of social services, the starving of funds for education, and the exorbitant funding of militarism abroad and at home—expect the public to believe that they are deeply concerned about the crisis of mental health among youth.

The reality is that the political establishment has a material interest in sending kids back to school. The reopening of schools has always been a prerequisite to getting workers back to work in order to maintain the flow of corporate profits. What impact this has had and continues to have on children is really of no concern to these figures. As for the Times, Ritchel concludes his piece by casting doubt on the validity of the statistics themselves, arguing that it could be the case that youth are simply more comfortable reporting mental health issues than in previous generations.

Who could believe such nonsense? It is notable that the Times does not mention another staggering statistic from the report: it is estimated that as of June 2021, more than 140,000 children in the US had lost a parent or grandparent caregiver to COVID-19. That is, nearly one in four of the 621,656 deaths from COVID-19 as of June 30, nearly 6 months ago, were those of parents or caregivers to children. Added to this is number of children who have experienced the loss a dear teacher or school staff member to the disease, a the figure which remains uncounted despite the broad impact.

One may also add that in addition to losing their loved ones and educators to COVID-19, at least one in seven infected children and potentially one third of infected adults will suffer from Long COVID, defined as persistent symptoms lasting more than four weeks after infection.

Others still have been thrown into dire poverty: Fifteen percent of US families reported high food insecurity prior to the pandemic, increasing to 26.8 percent in the past year. Food insecurity for low income families rose from 29.2 percent pre-pandemic to a staggering 45.4 percent today.

These are only the most tangible indices of the immense level of trauma inflicted on an entire generation of young people.

The youthful years of human development are meant to be a time filled with hope, optimism and idealism. For those coming of age in the early 2020s, this time presents itself instead as a nightmare. A teenager today will have spent the last two years watching the death toll from the virus climb each day, in disbelief, as it now surpasses at least 800,000 people.

No doubt they have heard stories, or know first-hand, of the social misery taking place—people dying alone in hospital beds without a loved one allowed in the room to say goodbye. Millions more may have themselves waited with their parents in the food lines, lost their homes and watched their parents struggle to provide for their families while risking infection with a deadly virus. All the while, a very slim section of the world’s richest people continues to make record profits. The world’s billionaires added $3.6 trillion to their net worth in 2020, while 100 million were driven into extreme poverty.

The figures outlined in the report are truly devastating. The callous and indifferent response of the entire ruling class to the pandemic over the past two years has created a catastrophe for the working class, and the youth have no doubt been severely impacted.

However, the report also correctly notes that while the pandemic has accelerated the mental health crisis among youth, it certainly did not create it. Over the past two decades in particular, mental health issues have skyrocketed among young people.

In 2019, for example, one in three high school students and half of female students reported persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness, an overall increase of 40 percent from 2009. The report notes that the percentage of youth ages 12 to 17 who had a major depressive episode in the past year, for instance, increased from an estimated 8 percent in 2010 to 15.7 percent in 2019, according to data from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

The percentage of high school students who seriously contemplated suicide increased from 13.8 percent in 2009 to 18.8 percent in 2019, according to an October 2020 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report.

Youth depression, anxiety, and suicide in particular, are among the most tragic symptoms of a diseased and terminally decayed social order. The staggering mental health crisis that workers and young people face today is a byproduct of an entire social system that is predicated on sacrificing lives for the sake of private profit and wealth. The pandemic has only revealed reality of capitalism in the most open and naked form.

No faction of the ruling class has anything close to an answer for such problems. The real answer, however, is emerging more openly and more forcefully every day.

The same conditions which give rise to the litany of mental health disorders among the young also gives rise to social opposition. Workers all over the world are beginning to fight back.

The past several months has seen a series of major strikes here in the United States: Volvo Trucks workers in Dublin, Virginia; distillery workers in Kentucky; hospital workers in Buffalo, New York; Warrior Met coal miners in northern Alabama; Frontier telecom workers in California; and many more. Just yesterday, more than 1,400 Kellogg’s cereal workers in Michigan, Nebraska, Pennsylvania and Tennessee voted overwhelmingly to reject a union-backed contract after two months on strike.

This week, teachers and support staff at The School at Marygrove, a public school in Detroit, Michigan, launched a wildcat sickout to demand improved safety measures after the Oxford school shooting, and virtual-only classes to protect educators, 330 students and their families from COVID-19.

The protest in Detroit is part of the growing resistance of educators in the US and internationally, including a one-day strike by 50,000 New South Wales teachers in Australia on Monday.

While the unions are trying to do everything they can to smother opposition, there is an objective movement that is developing. The sheer scale of contract rejections by workers—often by more than 90 percent—is an expression of a powerful and growing mood of social resistance.

Winter pandemic surges in Canada amid warnings Omicron variant could increase infections eight-fold

Dylan Lubao & Roger Jordan

A member of the Canadian Armed Forces working at a Quebec nursing home. (Canadian Dept. of Defence)

The winter surge of the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada is accelerating rapidly, with Ontario and Quebec reporting a sharp increase in cases in recent days. The spread of the more infectious Omicron variant threatens to compound the danger posed by a wave of delta infections.

Modelling released Friday by the federal Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) predicted that infections could rise eight-fold from the current level of 3,300 daily infections to 26,500 in mid-January if Omicron becomes the dominant variant and turns out to be three times more transmissible than Delta. PHAC noted that Omicron’s “greater transmissibility” and the potential for “reduced protection from prior infection/vaccination” could drive the surge. Underlining this warning, British researchers reported Friday that people who have been double vaccinated have virtually no protection against an Omicron infection, and those with a booster jab only have a 75 percent protection against symptomatic infection.

Even in the unlikely event Omicron transmission does not take off and transmission rates remain at their present level, the PHAC modelers estimated that Delta infections alone could reach 6,000 to 7,000 per day next month.

Despite this grim picture, both the federal and provincial governments are committed to extending their “living with the virus” policies that have killed almost 30,000 Canadians to date. They cavalierly ignore the fact that even before Omicron established a presence in Canada, experts were projecting that a winter surge of infections would cripple already overstretched hospitals. Their indifference to the devastating health consequences for the population can only be described as criminal.

At a Friday press conference, Canada’s chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam dismissed the dire modelling projections as “another bump on the road,” before going on to acknowledge, “(W)e still don’t know enough about the Omicron variant, except it looks like it’s very transmissible.”

Quebec reported the highest provincial case total in the country with over 2,000 infections Friday. This marked the first time the daily case count had surpassed 2,000 since January, amid the devastating second wave.

Experts predict that with its current trajectory, Quebec will soon surpass the winter peak of 3,127 new cases recorded on January 9. With a reproductive rate of 1.15, second only to the small province of Prince Edward Island at 3.06, the growth of the pandemic in Quebec is exponential and will certainly explode in the days and weeks to come. The Coalition Avenir Quebec (CAQ) government intends to impose only token restrictions on indoor gathering limits.

Health Minister Christian Dubé doubled down on the “living with the virus” rhetoric by stating that the province was “exactly where we should be” in response to the jump in new cases. Insulting the intelligence of Quebec workers, Dubé pointed to the “relative stability in the number of hospitalizations,” and concluded, “I think we’re okay so far.”

In neighbouring Ontario, an alarming increase in new cases is taking place—1,290 infections were recorded on December 9, followed by another 1,453 on Friday. Friday’s infection numbers marked a 41 percent increase from a week earlier and the highest daily case count since May 23. For over a month, case rates have been rising, with the Progressive Conservative government of Premier Doug Ford paying lip service to the pending social catastrophe while doing everything in its power to ensure that schools and non-essential workplaces remain open to guarantee corporate profits.

Ontario has already recorded over 30 Omicron cases across almost all local health boards, suggesting that the variant is spreading widely in the community. This total does not include suspected Omicron cases under investigation. On Wednesday, Toronto reported its first school-related Omicron infection under conditions in which the number of COVID-19 outbreaks in schools is at a record high.

Tam confirmed at her press conference that 87 Omicron cases have been confirmed across Canada. She acknowledged that a growing number of Omicron cases had no links to international travel, underscoring that community spread has begun.

Despite the danger posed by Omicron owing to its increased transmissibility and ability to evade vaccine immunity, federal and provincial governments criminally downplay the threat. Virtually no specific measures have been adopted to block the new variant’s spread, other than a few token travel restrictions. This is in keeping with the “profits before life” strategy adopted throughout the pandemic by every level of government, from Trudeau’s Liberals on down.

Government officials and corporate media outlets are actively encouraging a barbarous policy of allowing the new variant to run rampant. Dr. Caroline Quach-Thanh, a member of the Quebec Immunization Committee that advises the provincial government, recently argued that booster shots for those under 60 may not be desirable if COVID-19 contracted via the Omicron variant was “mild.” Sounding like one of the fascistic advocates of the Great Barrington Declaration, she asserted, “maybe what you should do is let people get it and, as long as it doesn’t cause hospitalizations and death, that boosts the immunity naturally and that will protect the population.”

In Ontario, the Ford government has indefinitely halted its homicidal reopening plan, which called for the removal of all pandemic-related restrictions, including mask mandates and capacity limits, by March 2022. Although the government claims it wants more time to study the impact of Omicron and the winter surge, it has done nothing to curb the spike in infections already sweeping the province.

Ontario schools are driving the current surge. The majority of outbreaks in the province are tied to schools, with a record-breaking 317 outbreaks, including 255 in elementary schools where children aged five to 11 have just begun receiving their first dose of the vaccine. The government has come under fire from educators and parents for withholding rapid testing kits that could stop infected children from attending school and infecting their teachers and classmates.

Ontario’s Science Table, which provides expert advice on the pandemic to the government, recently released new modelling that shows that cases and hospitalizations in Ontario will rise rapidly even without the entry of the Omicron variant. The model shows that even with 50 percent of children vaccinated by the end of December, the province will experience 1,700 cases per day by mid-January. A “worst-case” scenario, where only 30 percent of children are vaccinated, would produce 3,000 daily cases and 400 filled ICU beds during the same time frame, straining the health care system to the breaking point. This would put the situation nearly on par with the winter and spring 2021 waves that killed thousands.

The maritime province of New Brunswick reported its highest-ever daily case total of 174 new cases on December 9, along with two additional deaths. Since reopening schools to in-classroom learning in September, daily case numbers have remained at their highest levels since the pandemic began. The province has a population of just 760,000, 5 percent of that of Ontario, but has 13 percent of the latter’s daily cases.

Progressive Conservative Premier Blaine Higgs admitted that about 50 percent of new cases have been traced to schools, where children, the majority of whom have yet to receive even one dose of a vaccine, are crammed into classrooms with poor ventilation.

Although the winter surge is only in its initial stages, workplaces are already emerging as a breeding ground for the virus. In Montreal, infections jumped by 50 percent over the past two weeks, driven largely by outbreaks in workplaces, schools, and child care facilities.

Montreal’s public health unit reported a doubling of workplace infections in one week, representing 48 outbreak sites at workplaces, the highest number since the end of the third wave of the pandemic in the city on June 8. At least 78 cases were traced to a major manufacturing company in Montreal’s west end, one of the largest outbreaks so far.

In the rest of the country, new cases, hospitalizations, and deaths are holding relatively steady. However, as the experience of Ontario, Quebec, and New Brunswick demonstrates, a rapid upturn in infections is only a matter of time. Sharp spikes in infections and hospitalizations are being recorded in northern US states directly across the border.

Other provincial governments across the country have gone even further than Ontario and Quebec in dismantling public health measures. In Alberta and British Columbia, a deadly wave of infections struck during the late summer and early fall. For most of October and November, these two provinces led the country in hospitalizations and deaths, the byproduct of “living with the virus” policies implemented by United Conservative and New Democratic Party governments that effectively amount to the pursuit of a herd immunity strategy.

Schools emerge as new hotbed for COVID-19 infection in South Korea

Ben McGrath

A medical worker in a booth takes a nasal sample from a man at a makeshift testing site in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Nov. 24, 2021 [Credit: AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon]

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to worsen in South Korea, threatening to overwhelm the healthcare system, as daily infections and deaths continually reach new highs. On Friday morning, health authorities reported 7,022 new cases from the previous day. Only two days prior, the total reached a record-high of 7,174 cases.

In total, more than half a million people nationwide have been infected with COVID-19 during the course of the pandemic. Furthermore, on December 4, 70 deaths were reported from the previous day, also a record-high. In total, more than 4,130 people have been killed by COVID-19 in the past two years—approximately a quarter in the last month.

The latest hotbeds of COVID-19 infections are in schools and private after-school study academies. According to the Ministry of Education, 3,948 students under 18 were newly infected between November 29 and December 5.

In a month, infections have nearly doubled for elementary and middle school-aged students from 6.7 to 12.6 cases out of 100,000 people. This is nearly twice as high as working-aged adults. At present, only about 33 percent of adolescents between 12 and 17 are vaccinated while those 11 and under are not eligible to receive the vaccine.

The surge in cases among youth is linked to the full reopening of schools on November 22, though schools had gradually begun reopening throughout the year, when students attended classes in person or remotely on a rotating basis.

In the span of less than two weeks, two children under the age of 10 have died from COVID-19, the first children to pass away from the virus since the pandemic began. The Korea Disease and Control Prevention Agency (KDCA) announced the latest child’s death on December 7, stating that the six-year-old boy had died the previous day. The first child was a five-year-old girl who died on November 28, and only tested positive for COVID-19 after her death.

Both children had underlying health conditions. However, it is the policies of the government of President Moon Jae-in that bears responsibility for these, and other deaths. Seoul is pursuing a vaccine-only approach, mixed with very limited restrictions, often unenforced, on public gatherings. These include restricting groups to six people in the Seoul metropolitan area and eight in other regions, as well as requiring people to show proof of vaccination at indoor facilities like restaurants, movie theaters, and internet cafés.

Seoul’s purpose, despite the obvious danger, is getting parents back to work to churn out profits for big business. The government is presenting the pandemic as largely over in order to do away with any remaining restrictions.

In addition to the surge in new cases, there is the new Omicron variant, of which at least 63 cases have been discovered in South Korea. When it became clear the Moon administration planned to take no serious action, the stock markets rose sharply. Both the KOSPI and Kosdaq markets finished above 3,000 and 1,000 points respectively on Wednesday. Both markets have surged to new highs during the pandemic, with KOSPI in January closing above 3,000 points for the first time and Kosdaq closing over 1,000 points for the first time in 20 years in April.

Son Young-rae, the spokesman for the Health Ministry, essentially rejected any new measures on Thursday, saying: “As strengthened social distancing measures took effect from Monday, their results will show from the end of this week. We are monitoring the situation. We are discussing extra measures and the right time to put them into effect.”

In other words, while the country faces an immediate health crisis, the government is content to “discuss” possible future measures, any of which will be as toothless as the current ones.

The KDCA is now predicting that by the end of January daily cases could rise to as many as 11,000 per day. This is quickly overwhelming South Korea’s health care system, despite having nearly two years to prepare for such an explosion in new cases.

As of Friday, 852 COVID-19 patients are in critical condition, another record-high. Around the country, 78.8 percent of intensive care unit (ICU) beds had been occupied while 85 percent of ICU beds in the Seoul capital area had been occupied. Hundreds of people have also been left waiting for beds, with many arriving at hospitals dead.

Prime Minister Kim Bu-gyeom essentially admitted on Wednesday that the government was not prepared: “In the capital area, where 80 percent of the total cases are reported, we continue to add hospital beds with active cooperation from the medical community, but it is still tough to catch up with the pace of rising cases.” The Seoul region is densely populated and home to approximately half the country’s nearly 52 million people.

The government’s claim that vaccinations alone would be enough to initiate the so-called “with COVID” era, or living with the deadly virus, is falling apart. Vaccines are just one aspect of a campaign necessary to eliminate COVID-19, which includes strong social distancing measures.

The population is more vulnerable now as the new Omicron variant takes hold. At present, approximately 80 percent of the population is considered fully vaccinated with two doses while only 10 percent have received a third booster shot. Yet new information coming out about the contagious nature of the Omicron variant indicates that people will need at least three doses of the vaccine to be protected.

In addition, the vaccine pass system is experiencing push-back from confused and right-wing layers, to which the government is quickly bowing. Jo Hui-yeon, the superintendent of education in Seoul stated on December 7, “We are encouraging inoculation in regards to the seriousness of the COVID-19 situation, though it eventually is up to one’s own decision.” This is instead of requiring all workers and students to be vaccinated and working with scientists to educate the population as well as providing relief for those unable to be vaccinated for genuine health and age reasons.

The issue is not one of personal choice when those vaccinated can still catch and spread the disease, including to those unable to be vaccinated. Claims by officials like Jo are meant to push the belief that being vaccinated is enough in order to allow the government to continue lifting any restrictions on big business while forcing the population to suffer in the name of corporate profits.

Delta coronavirus variant overwhelms US hospitals as Omicron variant looms large

Bryan Dyne

Coronavirus cases in the United States have surged during the first full week of December. After the lull in reporting caused by the Thanksgiving holiday, confirmed daily new cases have jumped more than 30 percent from the end of November. At the time, cases stood at an average of about 90,000 a day and have now risen to just under 120,000.

In this Jan. 7, 2021, file photo, registered nurses Kyanna Barboza, right, tends to a COVID-19 patient as Kobie Walsh puts on her PPE at St. Joseph Hospital in Orange, Calif. [Credit: AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, file]

Hospitalizations have followed suit. Over the past month, hospitalizations have jumped from a recent low of more than 41,000 on November 10 to 57,000 today, including more than 14,000 in intensive care. And deaths have remained high, averaging more than 1,000 per day over the past month.

The rise in hospitalizations has already pushed hospitals across the Midwest and Northeast past their capacity. Geisinger Jersey Shore Hospital is operating at 130 percent, according to the Williamsport Sun-Gazette, of these patients 61 percent have COVID-19. The medical center’s CEO, Dr. Jaewon Ryu, noted in a press conference Wednesday that, “There was a day at Jersey Shore where every single patient other than one was admitted for COVID.”

The Indianapolis Business Journal reports that the Indiana University Health system has had to delay thousands of elective surgeries as a result of the state’s more than 5,000 daily cases. At Franciscan Health, medical workers have been forced to ration care in order to “match our caseload, both inpatients and outpatients, with available beds and staff on a daily basis.”

Indiana has also joined the growing number of states, including Maine, New Hampshire and New York, that have deployed the National Guard to medical centers in the past few days in response to rising COVID-19 hospitalizations. Other states that have called on the National Guard in recent weeks to assist with logistics, triage and vaccinations include California, Georgia, Kentucky, Oregon, Tennessee and Vermont.

Cases have also been sharply rising in Michigan and New York. Daily new cases in Michigan have doubled since October, spiking from a weekly average of about 4,000 per day to more than 8,000 a day. Deaths have followed suit, rising from an average of 51 a day to more than 100. And according to the Michigan Health & Hospital Association, COVID-19 hospitalizations jumped 88 percent during that same period.

Daily new cases in New York have also risen sharply in the past six weeks, rising from 3,800 on October 28 to more than 9,800 now. And while deaths have remained relatively low, they have still steadily climbed from an average of 35 a day to 53 per day. Hospitalizations, on the other hand, have soared at rates on par with Michigan, increasing 86 percent since November.

Hospitals are also reporting that many of their patients, including those that die, are younger, vaccinated or both. Jim Dover, president and CEO of Sparrow Health System in Michigan, told CNN that 25 percent of coronavirus patients that died at Sparrow hospitals were vaccinated. Katie Sefton, who has been a nurse for 20 years, noted that, “We’re seeing a lot of younger people,” among fatal cases of the virus. Sefton also warned, “we haven’t peaked yet.”

There have, however, been no calls for lockdown measures from government officials even as the pandemic races once again across the country. The most stringent measures have been taken in New York, where the state has been forced to announce a new indoor mask mandate, as well as a new vaccine mandate for private employers as cases continue to rise. In contrast, a federal appeals court recently reinstated an executive order by Texas Governor Greg Abbott banning mask mandates in schools.

Neither the Republicans nor Democrats, however, are genuinely concerned with saving lives. The Biden administration’s entire coronavirus policy banked on vaccinations being wholly effective, even in the face of emerging variants. A significant part of this strategy was forcing children back into unsafe schools, well before vaccines were authorized for younger age groups, helped along by Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers union.

The recent surge of the Delta variant in August and September, and the emerging winter surge, have proven this vaccine-only approach to be at best a complete failure, and at worst homicidally negligent. Since Biden took office in January, nearly 380,000 people have died from COVID-19.

Moreover, the current surge has occurred as the new Omicron variant begins to spread. So far, there have been less than 100 confirmed cases of the variant in the United States. Data from where the variant is more widespread, however, including South Africa, the United Kingdom and much of Europe, indicates that this variant is likely four times as infectious as the Delta variant and thus approximately ten times as infectious as the original variant. In South Africa, where the Omicron variant was first detected, the number of cases has skyrocketed from just 270 new cases a day to more than 15,000 in just one month.

A technical briefing from the UK Health Security Agency published on December 10 found a similar trend. The report estimates that by November 30, 1,219 of the 76,200 infections in the UK were caused by the Omicron variant, indicating a doubling time of just 2.5 days. The report then extrapolated the trend of increasing cases, warning that there could be 1 million cases a day by Christmas.

This is a staggering figure. Such sharp exponential growth predicts 3.7 million new infections in the UK in December. And while the infection rate will eventually peak as the virus saturates the population, the extent to which Omicron is capable of spreading raises the possibility of millions or even tens of millions more coronavirus cases in early January. In addition, Omicron has shown to cause reinfections, even among the vaccinated, indicating no one is safe from this incredibly infectious variant.

There is no reason to suspect that a similar situation will not arise in the United States. Assuming the same doubling time, 100 Omicron cases in the US will become 10,000 cases in just 12 days, 100,000 cases 8 days after that, and 1,000,000 cases 8 days after that. The dangers cannot be overstated and only the most comprehensive and urgent measures taken immediately to stop the spread of disease, above all closing schools and nonessential businesses, are capable of abating the oncoming wave of mass death.

Fifty-five immigrants killed, over 100 injured in Mexico truck crash

Bill Van Auken

The horrific crash of a truck packed with migrants in southern Mexico has laid bare the human cost of the anti-immigrant policies pursued by the Biden administration with the collaboration of the administration of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) in Mexico.

The death toll in the accident, which occurred on a highway in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas between Corzo and Tuxtlas, rose to 55 on Friday, after a 16-year-old girl being treated at a local medical center succumbed to her injuries. Reports indicate that a number of children and adolescents are among the dead and the more than 100 who were injured. According to preliminary counts, 83 men and 22 women were hospitalized in various facilities.

Bodies of immigrants killed in truck crash in Chiapas Mexico [Source: Twitter]

Videos and photographs from the accident site present a hellish scene. Some of the at least 161 migrants packed into the truck’s trailer were thrown from the vehicle, while others were left dead inside the wreckage or were seen making a torturous attempt to extricate themselves from the mass of bodies inside the damaged trailer.

The screams and wailing of family members desperately trying to revive those killed in the crash could be heard on videos recorded at the accident site. Rows of bodies were covered in white sheets, while others, their heads bleeding, protruded from the wreckage.

One man was heard in tears imploring a dying friend, “Remember what you promised your mother. Hold on!”

Residents of the working class neighborhood of El Refugio near the highway rushed to the scene to aid the survivors as best they could. They accused police of standing by and doing nothing.

The majority of those traveling in the truck were from Guatemala, while others were from Mexico, Honduras, Ecuador and the Dominican Republic. A number of the dead have yet to be identified.

The cause of the accident has been determined to be the truck speeding into a sharp curve and crashing against the wall of a pedestrian overpass, throwing the vehicle onto its side. It may have lacked functioning brakes, and the weight of the human bodies packed into the trailer was potentially a contributing factor. The driver of the vehicle fled the scene.

United Nations Secretary General António Guterres issued a statement on social media saying he was “horrified” by the mass death toll and declared that “Every person searching for a better life deserves safety & dignity.” He gave no indication, however, as to what forces are denying immigrants this right, supposedly guaranteed under international law, to “safety and dignity.”

In a press conference Friday, Mexico’s President López Obrador (AMLO) said that the tragedy had to be seen within the context of the world’s “monstrous economic and social inequality.” He went on to urge the US government to address the “root causes,” increasing aid to Central American countries to ameliorate conditions driving migrations, and to initiate a program of “temporary work visas” to allow entry of some refugees and immigrants.

The head of the Mexican National Guard, Luis Rodríguez Bucio, stressed to the media that the truck had not passed through any checkpoints manned by this military force to stop the flow of immigrants northwards.

The reactions of both AMLO and the National Guard chief were crafted to cover up their responsibility for the mass death through their enforcement of draconian anti-immigrant policies demanded by Washington to prevent migrants and refugees from reaching the southern border of the United States.

This repression has seen the detention in Mexico of over 228,000 migrants so far in 2021, according to Mexico’s National Institute of Migration (INM). It has forced migrants to pursue ever more dangerous means of crossing Mexico, while leaving them at the prey of criminal cartels working in tandem with Mexico’s security forces.

The mass deaths in southern Mexico come on the heels of the Biden administration’s reinstatement of the Trump-era’s Migrant Protection Protocol (MPP) or “Remain in Mexico” program, forcing all those seeking asylum on the US southern border to languish in makeshift camps in Mexico, awaiting the slow progression of their applications in US immigration courts.

The program, combined with the utilization of Title 42, a supposed health measure allowing authorities to turn back all migrants on the spurious grounds that they pose a threat of spreading COVID-19 in a country that already has the highest number of cases in the world, is aimed at suppressing immigration and intimidating those managing to reach the US border.

A report released this week by Mexico’s National Commission on Human Rights (CNDH) found that fully half of those sent back across the border under Washington’s MPP program had been victimized by crimes, including kidnappings, robberies, extortion, murders and sexual violence. In most cases, the victims made no reports to police for fear that they would only suffer further violence at the hands of authorities.

While bemoaning the effects of the MPP program, the Mexican government headed by the supposed “leftist” AMLO is fully complicit in it, agreeing to accept the return of the mostly Central American migrants denied their rights under international law as asylum seekers.

The crocodile tears shed by the likes of AMLO, Central American heads of states and US officials over the mass death caused by the crash in Chiapas cannot hide the fact that they are all complicit in the repressive regime designed to impede the flow of migrants to the US border that created the conditions for this tragedy.

The abject refusal of the US government and its servile clients in Mexico and Central America to provide immigrants a safe and humane means of reaching the United States and making their case for asylum, as guaranteed under international law, has created mass death and untold human suffering.