Kazakhstan crisis heightens instability in Central Asia

Clara Weiss

The political crisis in Kazakhstan, which began on January 2 with mass protests against gas price hikes, has become a focal point of geopolitical and social tensions across Central Asia.

With the support of the Kremlin, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev’s government has cracked down on the protests with extraordinary violence, turning the country’s largest city, Almaty, into a war zone.

Demonstrators gather in front of police line during a protest in Almaty, Kazakhstan, Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2022. (AP Photo/Vladimir Tretyakov)

Military checkpoints have been set up across the country, and President Tokayev has ordered the troops “to shoot without warning.” Reports, which have been denied by the Kazakh government, indicate that at least 164 people have been killed. The government has confirmed the arrest of over 4,000 people in the country’s biggest city, Almaty, where an “anti-terrorist operation” to “cleanse the streets” is still ongoing.

The internet was reportedly inaccessible to 95 percent of the population last week. The internet shutdown disrupted not only communication but also food supplies, triggering food shortages and a run on the banks.

On Thursday, 2,500 Russian troops were deployed to Kazakhstan within the framework of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), the first military intervention of this alliance since its formation almost 30 years ago in 1992. Hundreds of troops have also come from Belarus and other alliance members.

According to the Russian newspaper Nezavisimaya Gazeta, Russian President Vladimir Putin orchestrated the intervention, spending all of last week, which is Russia’s main holiday period of the year, on the phone. Many Russian press outlets have denounced the protests as “pogroms,” while the Kremlin claimed they were the result of “outside interference.”

The rapid military intervention by the CSTO was primarily motivated by the post-Soviet oligarchy’s fear that the social protests could spread across the region. As in Kazakhstan, whose economy was hard hit by the pandemic, inflation and rising utility prices are major concerns for workers. The ruling class is acutely aware that the underlying causes of the mass protests—enormous anger over social inequality three decades after the restoration of capitalism in the former Soviet Union—could spark protests and strikes in their countries as well.

However, while the protests that began in the mining town of Zhanaozen may well reflect longstanding economic and social grievances, violent clashes that began in the city of Almaty last Tuesday appear to have been the result of a conflict within the state apparatus and ruling class. One side is centered on the current President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, and on the other side are the family and allies of Nursultan Nazarbayev, the country’s former president.

The 81-year old Nazarbayev, a former Stalinist bureaucrat who oversaw the restoration of capitalism in Kazakhstan and now has an estimated net worth of $1 billion, ruled Kazakhstan from 1991 to 2019, when he formally handed over the presidency to Tokayev, also a former Stalinist bureaucrat. However, Nazarbayev and his family, which own large stakes in the country’s oil and gas sectors, were still considered to be in political control of the country and major portions of its economy.

On Tuesday, Tokayev removed Nazarbayev from his position as the head of the Security Council and named himself as his successor. Tokayev also removed several of Nazarbayev’s family members from influential positions and fired the head of the security services, Karim Masimov, one of Nazarbayev’s closest allies. On Friday, Masimov was arrested and charged with high treason. He could face up to 15 years in prison. Tokayev also dismissed the government and appointed several of his close allies to key positions in the government and security apparatus.

Speaking to the German news magazine Der Spiegel, Central Asia expert Arkadi Dubnov said, “Regardless of the condition that Nazarbayev himself is in, there is his clan and his circle, and they apparently control parts of the security forces. Tokaev immediately confronted serious opposition [after removing Nazarbayev]: Instead of chaotic, unorganized, civil protests, a third force appeared on the streets, which in my view was being directed by someone in the leadership of the security forces.”

The crisis in Kazakhstan has sent shock waves throughout the region. By territory, Kazakhstan is the ninth-largest country in the world and has vast mineral resources. There are many pipelines for gas and oil across the country, with China being a major recipient of raw materials from the country.

Because of its economic and geostrategic significance, Kazakhstan has also become a focal point of the US war drive against both Russia and China. Both under Nazarbayev and Tokayev, Kazakhstan has continued to maintain relatively close ties to Russia. However, the oligarchy in Kazakhstan is trying to balance this with economic cooperation with major US corporations, such as Chevron and Exxon Mobile. Astana, Kazakhstan’s capital, has also developed closer ties with Turkey, another NATO member state.

Nikkei Asia noted the impact of the turmoil in Kazakhstan on cryptocurrencies:

Many cryptocurrency miners had moved to Kazakhstan to take advantage of cheap electricity there after neighboring China, then another leading hub, banned them in May 2021. Kazakhstan was responsible for about 18% of the global hash rate as of August, second only to the U.S., according to the Cambridge Center for Alternative Finance.

A protracted internet blackout could force bitcoin miners in Kazakhstan to close shop or move elsewhere. 'Speculation that these operators could then unload bitcoins triggered a chain of selling,' said the head of a major Japanese virtual currency exchange.

 China, in particular, has expressed great concern about the potential geopolitical implications of the crisis. Kazakhstan is critical for China’s Belt-and-Road Initiative, and Beijing also has substantial investments in Kazakhstan’s oil and gas sectors.

On Friday, Chinese President Xi Jinping expressed his full support for Tokayev’s crackdown on the protests, assuring him that China could provide economic and other assistance to Astana. Xi warned, in particular, of any outside intervention in the crisis.

Speaking to the Global Times, a hawkish outlet that is closely affiliated with the Chinese government, Chinese analysts have described events in Kazakhstan as a “color revolution,” while warning that the US could intervene to destabilize the situation on China’s western borders. Kazakhstan borders on the Xinjiang region, which is home to much of China’s Uyghur population. Many Uyghurs also live in Kazakhstan. The Uyghur population on both sides of the border is connected through long-standing economic and family ties. Alleged concern over human rights abuses of Chinese Uyghurs has been a major plank in US imperialism’s agenda.

Beijing no doubt fears that any unrest in Kazakhstan could quickly spill over the border and that the US, in particular, could intervene to further fuel ethnic tensions in both Kazakhstan and China.

So far, the US and EU have remained relatively restrained in their responses. In marked contrast to the ongoing aggressive campaign against Russia over Ukraine, US and EU officials voiced concern about the growing influence of Russia in Kazakhstan following its military intervention but fell short of condemning it.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said, “The world will of course be watching for any violation of human rights and actions that may lay the predicate for the seizure of Kazakh institutions, and we call on the CSTO collective peacekeeping forces and law enforcement to uphold the international human rights obligations in order to support a peaceful resolution.” She added that the situation in Kazakhstan would not have an impact on the talks over Ukraine between US President Joe Biden and Putin, which are set to begin on Monday.

A significant factor in the response of the imperialist powers is the fact that they, no less than the post-Soviet oligarchies, are deeply concerned about a potential broader movement within the working class in Kazakhstan and beyond, especially under conditions of a surge of Omicron cases and workers struggles in the US. They are also worried about the threat posed by the unrest to the economic interests of corporations like ExxonMobile and Chevron, which have invested tens of billions of dollars in Kazakh oil fields.

The Washington-based magazine Politico wrote on Friday that, while Russia’s military intervention could raise its influence in Central Asia, “Joe Biden and his team would do well, as hard as it might be, to watch the current horror unfold from the sidelines.” The Financial Times, the mouthpiece of British finance capital, published a favorable profile of Tokayev, noting, “As the country is rocked by protests, the leader must seek stability and escape the legacy of his predecessor Nazarbayev.”

New Zealand government to reopen schools despite Omicron threat

John Braddock

With New Zealand’s new school term beginning in under three weeks, the Labour-Green Party government has declared that it wants students back in class full-time this year—even as the highly virulent COVID-19 Omicron variant threatens to sweep into the country.

Last week over 90 Omicron cases were detected at the border, with three cases entering the country. There were 64 new border-related COVID-19 cases in MIQ (Managed Isolation and Quarantine) during the weekend, bringing the total to 227.

Whenuapai School in West Auckland (Source: Google Streetview)

With escalating numbers of returnees to New Zealand testing positive, there are fears of an imminent Omicron outbreak in the community. Epidemiologist Michael Baker called the variant a “huge threat” and said it was not a matter of if there was an outbreak, but when.

Baker further warned that New Zealand is not ready for Omicron and the country needed “time to prepare.” The government’s three-tier “traffic light” COVID-19 management system, which replaced lockdowns in December, “isn’t going to help us a great deal with Omicron,” he told Newstalk ZB, and a return to localised lockdowns should be considered.

Despite such warnings, Education and COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins told the New Zealand Herald that in 2022, he wants “stability and full attendance” at schools, with “disruptive measures” such as alternating days on-site only used at local level in case of an outbreak. He anticipated a “high threshold” would be required before officials considered closing a school. “A couple of cases generally wouldn't be enough to trigger it,” Hipkins declared.

The government is seeking to suppress any repeat of the resistance that emerged among teachers and parents late last year. COVID-19 spread into well over 130 schools and early childhood education centres (ECEs) after the outbreak in August of the Delta variant. According to the Teachers Advocacy Group, out of 38 schools and ECEs where students or staff tested positive in November, 22 had remained open and 16 were closed for just a few days.

The Ministry of Education (MoE), supported by the teacher unions, the Post Primary Teachers Association and the NZ Educational Institute, declared at the time that under the government’s so-called “traffic light” framework, which replaced generalised lockdowns in December, schools were unlikely to fully close even with cases of COVID-19.

The MoE posted a standardized email last term, circulated among parents, declaring: “Based on international and local evidence and experience, the risk of COVID-19 transmission within school settings is considered low.” This is a blatant lie. Schools, including in Auckland, became hotbeds for the spread of COVID-19 among children, staff, their families and the wider community,

As the new school year looms, Hipkins is claiming that vaccination is sufficient to justify re-openings. From January 1 all staff must have been double-vaccinated while vaccination rates for secondary school students are expected to hit 90 percent before the start of term. Pfizer's vaccine for children aged 5-11 will be available from January 17, with 476,000 eligible.

Feigning concern for the welfare of students, Hipkins claimed getting them back to school would help remedy issues like the so-called “digital divide,” which he claimed was made worse by COVID. Teachers had found hybrid learning was “almost impossible,” Hikpins added. His focus would be on “wellbeing” by ensuring students were attending school and engaged. “We certainly wouldn’t want them to lose any more in-person learning time,” Hipkins declared.

In reality, the problems associated with online learning were the product of the government’s failure to provide sufficient resources to students and staff.

Public health measures will be in place, the minister said, with indoor masking and cohorting—that is, limiting mixing between class groups. In fact, it is impossible for hundreds of students and staff to meet elementary social distancing and other necessary guidelines. According to David Welch from Auckland University, a massive strengthening of protective measures, including upgrades to ventilation in schools and workplaces is immediately required.

Hipkins is openly embracing the homicidal policy demanded by ruling elites internationally of “herd immunity,” telling the Herald the “best scenario” for New Zealand is “COVID mutating over time to become more transmissible but much less severe.” Last month he flatly stated; “We are moving to a different space now, where we are going to have COVID-19 in the community.”

The government’s policy to let the virus spread is being strongly criticised by scientific experts. Baker warned that every government agency needs to immediately prepare for Omicron, including measures “to reduce the risk in schools [and] manage infection in children.” That could mean “closing classes or whole schools for short periods,” as well as frequent rapid antigen tests for students and teachers and indoor masks for kids as young as 5.

In overseas countries, schools were forced to close because many teachers were off sick, Baker warned. Under Labour’s current policy, he noted, even in an Omicron outbreak under the “red light” settings schools are still required to remain open. Steps need to be taken before the virulent variant enters, so that classrooms “don’t just turn into an endless series of super-spreading events,” Baker said.

Particularly in Europe and North America, the highly infectious Omicron variant is forcing many schools to shut down as it spreads quickly among teachers and students. The reopening of schools is producing a disaster as governments are determined to keep them running, placing children at risk so that their parents can keep working, generating profits for the economic and financial elite.

Determined resistance is erupting internationally as teachers, students and parents unite to oppose the homicidal agenda. A wave of class struggles has already erupted. Thousands of teachers across the United States are currently staging sickouts in defiance of the unsafe reopening of schools.

Infection with the virus causing COVID-19 may increase the risk of diabetes in children

Benjamin Mateus

With a soaring rate of hospitalizations and deaths among children, caused by the new Omicron variant, as well as a likely increase in Long COVID, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now has added diabetes to the list of conditions produced by COVID-19.

A report released on January 7, 2022 found that children infected with COVID-19 are at higher risk of developing diabetes. This metabolic condition affects a body’s ability to produce or use insulin to process the glucose in the blood, leading to a rise in sugar levels with symptoms that include frequent urination, increased thirst, hunger, weight loss, tiredness and lethargy, stomach pains, and nausea and vomiting.

Oftentimes, as in the case of half the patients in the current study, they are first diagnosed when they present to the emergency department with diabetic ketoacidosis, a life-threatening condition of severe dehydration, low blood pressure, confusion, and state of shock and loss of consciousness.

The study drew on health care records of children under 18 from two large medical data analytics companies, IQVIA and HealthVerity, encompassing 15 months from March 2020 until June 2021 (data from IQVIA included 1.7 million children and HealthVerity close to 900,000).

Newadmissions per 100,000 for children in the US. Source CDC. Dashed lines all under 18, Yellow for under 5, and grey for 5 to 17.

A brief description of the study is in order: The patients with COVID-19 were matched to comparison groups by age and sex in the pandemic and pre-pandemic period. In the pre-pandemic period, the comparison group consisted of patients who had developed an acute respiratory illness. In the pandemic period, the comparison group either had only documented negative SARS-CoV-2 tests or never carried a COVID-19 diagnosis in their medical record. According to the CDC study, “Incident diabetes was defined as one or more healthcare claims with a diabetes diagnosis occurring more than 30 days after the index date [COVID-19 diagnosis].”

According to IQVIA’s data, children with COVID were 2.66 times more likely to be diagnosed with diabetes than non-infected cohorts during the pandemic and 2.16 times more likely than the pre-pandemic cohort that had an acute respiratory illness (non-COVID infection). For the COVID group, the incidence of diabetes was 316 per 100,000 person-years, while for the non-COVID group, it was around 118 per 100,000.

HealthVerity’s data found that children who had been infected with SARS-CoV-2 were 1.31 times more likely to be diagnosed with diabetes. In absolute terms, the difference was 399 vs. 304 per 100,000 person-years, and the difference was statistically significant for both medical data records.

As the author of the study, CDC researcher Dr. Sharon Saydah, Ph.D., pointed out, “Even a 30 percent increase is a big increase in risk. The differences likely result from different ways of classifying children as having COVID.” Additionally, she noted, it remains to be determined if these developments are transient, because children were only followed for four to five months. She added, “It’s really important for clinicians, pediatricians, and parents to be aware of the signs and symptoms of diabetes, so they can get their kids diagnosed.”

The CDC reported that a recent European study found an increase in type 1 diabetes among children during the pandemic. Providers and physicians have anecdotally mentioned reports of patients previously infected with COVID and high blood sugars. Pre-existing diabetes is a risk factor for severe COVID, but so was having very high blood sugar levels at the time of infection.

The exact pathophysiologic mechanism behind developing diabetes after COVID-19 remains to be elucidated. Some scientists have hinted that the coronavirus can infect the pancreas cells that make insulin. Other research points to the virus’ impact on fat cells that lead to errors in metabolic signaling that leads to diabetes.

The diabetes report only adds to the dire impact of the Omicron variant on children. According to the CDC, the hospitalization rates among children are soaring across the United States. For all children under the age of 18, rates have more than doubled, jumping from a low of 0.9 per 100,000 on October 16, 2021, to more than 2 per 100,000 in the week ending January 1, 2022, surpassing even the peak of the Delta wave that reached 1.8 the week ending September 11, 2021.

As of last week, the number of children admitted to hospitals has climbed to 800 each day, more than twice the figures from two weeks ago. In the week ending December 31, 2021, the American Academy of Pediatrics reported more than 325,000 children had been infected. This high will be surpassed by all accounts when they publish their report today.

However, the CDC Director Rochelle Walensky and the White House continue to minimize these statistics with rhetorical sleight of hand, suggesting the kids are being admitted at higher numbers with COVID and not for COVID. Yet, frontline physicians are painting a far different picture.

At a news conference last Tuesday, Dr. Elaine Cox, chief medical officer at Riley Children’s Hospital in Indiana, said the children admitted to the hospital are also sicker. “More than half the children admitted are spending time in the ICU, and at least 40 percent of those are spending time on the ventilator,” she said.

When the CDC data is subdivided between those under five and those five to 17, the divergence in the trends demonstrates that pediatric admissions to hospitals are predominately driven by the youngest, who are ineligible for the COVID vaccines. Perhaps this one fact underscores the malicious nature of the lie that the Omicron variant causes only mild illness, as never during the entire pandemic have so many young children been admitted to hospitals.

After a low of 1.4 admissions per 100,000 for those under the age of five on November 6, 2021, the figure is now over 4.3, or a three-fold jump. By comparison, those aged five to 17 have seen their admission rates hold stable at around one per 100,000. Of note, 2021 has been characterized by a doubling in hospitalizations for children during COVID surges compared to 2020.

Since the Delta wave, hospitalizations have risen nearly three-fold. The rise seen in deaths among children is part of the overall trend of increasing infections and hospitalizations, directly correlated to the policies implemented to open schools for in-class instruction.

Cumulatively, 1,079 children have died during the pandemic—345 were 0-4 years of age; 225 were 5-11 years of age; 256 were 12-15 years of age; and 253 were 16-17 years of age. More than 500 have died since September 1, 2021. The current trend in hospitalizations is foretelling more needless deaths among the innocent victims of the criminal policies that keep claiming COVID doesn’t harm children. Additionally, according to the CDC’s own data, it has been the youngest age group with the highest number of deaths.

Arihana Macias, 7, gets a compress after reviving the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine for children five to 12 years at a Dallas County Health and Human vaccination site in Mesquite, Texas, Thursday, Nov. 4, 2021. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

Aside from the horrible prospect families have faced losing their children, they have also had to endure the consequences of chronic illnesses that plague them. Indeed, among children, Long COVID has been shown to impact mood and ability to concentrate. Fatigue, sleep disturbances and headaches are shared in those that carry the diagnosis. A small percentage of children can even develop serious complications impacting their organs, such as the brain, heart, kidneys and liver.

As more information about the impact of COVID on the human body becomes recognized, it becomes crystal clear that this pathogen is not just the flu to be dismissed for the sake of Wall Street’s greed. It is an immense public danger requiring the utmost efforts by the public health infrastructure to eliminate COVID as soon as possible. However, all steps are underway by the financial oligarchs to ensure the population accepts the virus in perpetuity. These will have continued deadly consequences unless all efforts are made to bring the pandemic to an end.

Amid warnings of an Omicron surge, Sri Lankan government maintains criminal “opening up” policy

Pradeep Ramanayake

Omicron, which is rapidly becoming dominant variant around the world, is threatening a serious disaster in Sri Lanka. However, facing a worsening economic crisis, government is pressing workers back to work, encouraging foreign tourists and re-opening schools despite the obvious dangers.

The government, the media and officials are all seeking to promote a fatalistic attitude that nothing can be done. Last Monday, health ministry viral specialist Nadeeka Janakage, told the media: “We have to accept the fact that Omicron is present and spreading in our country. In the coming weeks, it will surpass the Delta variant and become the dominant variant in Sri Lanka.”

Sri Lankan school students receive their first COVID-19 vaccine from a health workers in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Friday, Jan. 7, 2022. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

The following day, Association of Medical Specialists president Dr Lakkumar Fernando pointed to the consequences of an “Omicron tsunami,” saying: “Many more will be infected with this variant, which will lead to overcrowding in hospitals, and many health workers will be infected and quarantined, severely crippling the health system.”

The total number of Omicron infections in Sri Lanka is currently over 50 with the 41 cases confirmed on December 31 by the Allergy, Immunology and Cell Biology Unit at the University of Sri Jayewardenepura. Institute chief Chandima Jeewandara said that these infections were identified, not by a group of samples from across the island but samples primarily selected from the Katunayake Airport area.

The fact that 23 percent or 41 of the 176 samples used in the test were Omicron positive points to the high prevalence of the variant. A clearer picture of the spread of Omicron could only be obtained if a higher number of samples from across the country were used, but that has not been done.

Hemantha Herath, deputy director of health services, commented to the media last Monday: “Although Omicron infected people have been detected only in few areas yet, it does not mean that they are only present in those areas.”

To bolster its false claim that the pandemic is under control, the government is deliberately under-counting infections by reducing the number of PCR tests to just 6,000 per day. Medical experts have recommended that there should be at least 40,000 tests per day. Even on this limited testing, around 600 infections are being reported daily along with 20 deaths.

The Rajapakse government is entirely responsible for the spread of COVID-19 and now the cases of the new variant that have emerged. Vowing not disrupt profit generation, Colombo is not just refusing to implement any new public health measures to stop the pandemic but is removing previously limited measures.

The government, which did not impose any specific travel restrictions during the Christmas and New Year holiday period, has now lifted limits on weddings, outdoor gatherings and sporting events. All public sector employees were directed to return to work last Monday with special leave for pregnant mothers and mothers with children under one year cancelled. The tourism industry and non-essential businesses, including retail, and schools have been fully reopened.

Despite the Omicron infections in the Katunayake Airport area, the country’s main international airport, there are no restrictions on the flow of foreign tourists into the country. The Daily Mirror reported that 11,380 foreign tourists arrived in the first four days of the new year. Sri Lanka does not have a proper quarantine program for foreign visitors.

The government has refused to take any specific measures to stop the new variant spreading, offloading all responsibility onto the population. “Whatever the virus, the symptoms are the same and the health measures [against it] are the same,” Deputy Director of Health Services Hemantha Herath said last week.

“The people must protect themselves… There is no point in going after numbers. What needs to be done is to take steps to prevent the spread,” he declared. His comments deliberately ignore evidence that Omicron is far more infectious than previous strains, is more vaccine-resistant and is a greater danger to young people.

Like its counterparts around the world, the Rajapakse government’s policies are based on protecting the profits of big business not human lives. In order to recover from the deep economic crisis created by the depletion of foreign reserves, Colombo has directed all export industries, including those producing non-essential goods, to remain open, with workers prevented from take any leave unless they have medically-certified COVID infection symptoms.

Instead of allocating more funds to improve the rundown public health care system to meet the challenge posed by the pandemic, the government has provided massive relief packages to boost big business profits.

An article entitled “Finance minister’s 229 billion rupees economic relief package buoys stock market,” in the Island on January 5, reported that the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) index rose by 174.72 points last Monday and Tuesday to close at an all-time high. The huge package amounted to 10 percent 10 percent of projected 2022 government revenues.

Sri Lankan exports hit monthly peaks in November, following the government’s full approval of companies demanding that workers return to their factories and workplaces despite the danger of being infected with the deadly virus. Garment exports climbed by 58 percent, rubber products by 47 percent, tea by 22 percent and coconut products by 41 percent.

The Rajapakse government and other capitalist governments around the world insist that vaccination is the only solution, ignoring all other necessary health measures to stop the pandemic. The rapid spread of the virus and its Delta and Omicron variant, even in countries where a large percentage of the population has been vaccinated, has exposed these false claims.

The pandemic cannot be eliminated without a global vaccination program combined with massive efforts to increase the number of tests, proper quarantining of the infected, the closure of non-essential production and schools to maintain social distancing, and the provision of high-quality face masks and personal protective equipment to the general public, including health workers.

None of these measures will be implemented as long as control of the pandemic remains in the hands of the ruling classes. The eradication of the pandemic is inseparably linked to a unified movement of the working class fighting for a socialist program to overthrow the capitalist system and reorganise society according to human need not private profit.

Infections rise in Brazil as Omicron spreads across the country

Tomas Castanheira

Brazil's Health Minister Marcelo Queiroga speaking on child vaccinations (Credit: Valter Campanato/Agência Brasil)

Despite a persistent blackout of epidemiological data in Brazil and deliberate underreporting of infections, indications of a new and explosive wave of COVID-19 in the country are unquestionable. The first week of 2022 was marked by growing reports of exponential increases in the numbers of infections and hospitalizations in different Brazilian states and cities.

On Friday, 63,292 infections were reported, a 77 percent increase over the previous day. This is now the highest daily number of new infections since July. A week earlier, the moving average of daily cases in the country was 7,238. Several states reported even more staggering increases.

In Rio Grande do Sul, in the far south of the country, the state government issued an alert on January 4 to all its 21 regions after an average of 75.9 cases per million inhabitants was recorded, multiplying by 13 the average from just a week earlier, of 5.7 cases per million inhabitants. The numbers continue to grow day by day, with 1,370 new cases reported on Monday; 2,138 on Tuesday; 3,464 on Wednesday; and 5,363 on Thursday.

In the neighboring state of Santa Catarina, COVID-19 infections increased by 560 percent between December 19 and January 1, according to its January 4 Epidemiological Bulletin. In that 10-day period, about 2,800 total cases were recorded. However, 2,700 infections were recorded in the state on a single day, Thursday.

In the state of Rio de Janeiro, 6,551 new cases were registered in the first four days of the year alone, compared to 8,008 cases in the entire month of December. Besides this, the percentage of positive tests has grown alarmingly in the last few days, indicating an explosion of underreported infections. From 13 positive results per 100 tests performed in the last week of December, the number jumped to 41 per 100 this week.

Meanwhile, health care facilities throughout the country are once again being overwhelmed by the massive influx of COVID-19 and flu patients. O Globo reported that at least 10 Brazilian states are strained by the increase of COVID-19 infections.

The state of São Paulo indicated that the number of patients hospitalized with severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) doubled from December to January. Public and private emergency care units in the capital have hours-long waiting lines, with some hospitals registering record numbers of patients. In the state of Pernambuco, requests for ICU beds for patients with respiratory syndromes increased 858 percent in the last two weeks. And in Belo Horizonte, capital of Minas Gerais, public COVID-19 beds have already reached full capacity.

Despite clear evidence of the ongoing viral catastrophe, a concrete assessment of the stage of development of the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil is being seriously undermined by a scandalous blackout of the country’s epidemiological data, which has persisted for more than a month.

After claiming to have fallen victim to hacker attacks on its digital platform in late November, the Ministry of Health of fascistic President Jair Bolsonaro’s administration has been unable to re-establish access to critical data for epidemiological analysis. The country’s main epidemiological bulletin, InfoGripe, issued by the public health institution Fiocruz, has not been published for about a month due to lack of governmental data from the Epidemiological Surveillance System (SIVEP).

This ominous situation, which prevails due to the criminal negligence of the Bolsonaro administration, is being treated with indifference by the corporate media and the Brazilian political establishment as a whole. The only ones seriously raising their voices against this crime are the scientists and researchers engaged in monitoring and fighting the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil.

On December 30, the coordinator of InfoGripe, Marcelo Gomes, denounced on his personal Twitter account the lack of data being provided by the Ministry of Health. He then questioned: “Which viruses are dominating in each location? Which are the most affected age groups? Has the increase intensified, remained slow, reversed? We don’t know.”

On Wednesday, the Rede Análise COVID-19 (COVID-19 Analysis Network), a multidisciplinary group of volunteer researchers on the pandemic in Brazil, made an appeal to its followers on Twitter, urging a mobilization on social media to “demand open COVID-19 data in Brazil, which have been off the air since the beginning of December 2021.”

Epidemiologist Pedro Hallal tweeted, “Omicron bursting in Brazil and the official statistics don’t show it. [Why]? Data blackout. Low testing. Which institution is responsible for taking care of the data and testing? The Ministry of Health, which is completely without direction.”

Neuroscientist Miguel Nicolelis tweeted: “Brazil is clearly facing a new wave of COVID-19 but [nobody] has the slightest idea of its real dimension [because it is not] tested, reliable data is not recorded and the media has taken the pandemic off the agenda. We live on sporadic reports and anecdotes. But it is clear that the third wave has arrived!”

As the new stage of the COVID-19 catastrophe unfolds in Brazil, Bolsonaro’s corrupt and cowardly opponents in the bourgeois political system give the fascistic president a free pass to continue committing the same crimes against humanity that were publicly exposed by the Senate’s Commission of Inquiry on COVID-19 late last year.

Bolsonaro continues with impunity to spread pernicious lies about the virus and vaccines and to sabotage any measures to control the pandemic. At a press conference Wednesday outside the Vila Nova Star Hospital, after clarifying that his emergency admission for abdominal pain was caused by poorly chewed shrimp in his Sunday lunch, Bolsonaro urged a continuation of the “herd immunity” strategy in response to the new COVID-19 wave. “We live in a difficult moment of the pandemic,” he stated, “with direct impact on the economy. With ‘stay home and leave the economy for later,’ inflation comes on top of that, fuel prices and so many other problems.”

In previous weeks, Bolsonaro had devoted himself to publicly attacking the vaccination of children against COVID-19. He demanded the disclosure of the names of the technicians of the National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) who approved the distribution of the vaccine to 5- to 11-year-old children, making them targets for his violent far-right supporters, and declared that his 11-year-old daughter will not be vaccinated.

In order to support this vicious far-right campaign, Health Minister Marcelo Queiroga called a public hearing to allegedly “promote a debate with health experts” about the vaccination of children. The hearing, held on Tuesday, served to give national projection and authority to promoters of conspiracy theories, quack cures and attacks on scientific truth.

Among the speakers, put on equal footing with serious scientists, was the quack doctor Roberto Zeballos, accused of being part of the criminal “parallel ministry” that advised Bolsonaro on the dissemination of the anti-scientific COVID-19 “early treatment” with drugs such as hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin. At Tuesday’s hearing, Zeballos made a repulsive defense of the infection of children by SARS-CoV-2 and characterized the Omicron variant as a blessing from the skies. He declared, “We have an outbreak of Omicron that has showed itself as a strain that seems like it came from God, because there are already studies showing that it generates immunity against even the Delta strain.” Such a figure should be jailed as a menace to the health and lives of the public and not put on national television.

The so-called “opposition” parties of the bourgeois establishment not only fail to dispute the “herd immunity” campaign openly promoted by Bolsonaro. They are maintaining, in the states which they rule, all the conditions for the free spread of the Omicron variant among the population.

At another press conference on Wednesday, São Paulo Governor João Doria of the Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB) and his health advisers argued that despite the glaring increase in hospital admissions, “there is no need for new restrictive measures.” The state health secretary, Jean Gorinchteyn, blamed the increase in cases on “people” who “took their masks off very abruptly, especially in social gatherings, in social environments, thus favoring transmission.”

In Rio de Janeiro, Mayor Eduardo Paes of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) canceled the street carnival block parties, which were to take place in February, but maintained the mega-event of the Sapucaí samba schools parade, claiming it was easier to control people’s entrance. At the same time, Rio de Janeiro’s City Hall, as well as São Paulo’s, are demanding the reduction of the isolation time of people infected with COVID-19 to five days, following the criminal model of the American CDC.

In Bahia, which in recent weeks has suffered from devastating floods that have displaced tens of thousands of people, leaving them extremely vulnerable to coronavirus infection, the state government of Rui Costa, of the Workers Party (PT), decided this week to maintain the authorization of entertainment events with up to 5,000 people.

At a national level, the PT, as well as its pseudo-leftist satellite, the Socialism and Freedom Party (PSOL), remain silent about the new rise of the pandemic. The PT’s national president, Gleisi Hoffmann, limited herself to tweeting: “I know it is difficult, but let’s take care of ourselves, wear masks, avoid crowds, and take the vaccines.”

Repeating the same language, the Central Workers Union federation (CUT) declared in response to the global surge of infections: “precautions are still valid!” But how can the working class take “precautions” against an airborne virus when it is forced to remain crowded in poorly ventilated workplaces, while their children stay in crowded, often windowless classrooms?

COVID-19 outbreaks have been reported this week at major television stations, with at least 144 workers infected at Rede Globo and more than 80 at Rede Record. Infections in factories, meat packing plants, oil rigs and other workplaces where the virus spreads with extreme speed are not being reported but are certainly taking place on a massive scale. This catastrophic course needs to be stopped immediately!

COVID-19 surges in Thailand, amid mounting Omicron cases

Robert Campion

A mother tries to comfort her son refusing to get the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at a hospital in Bangkok, Thailand, Tuesday, Sept. 21, 2021. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

With Omicron cases growing, the pro-business policy response of Thailand’s military-backed regime is opening the door for a fourth, even larger wave of coronavirus in the country.

Thailand reported 5,775 new cases on Thursday, almost 1.5 times the previous day, and 7,526 cases on Friday, the highest number since early November and more than double the number on January 1. There has been a reported total of over 2.2 million infections and 21,750 coronavirus-related fatalities since the beginning of the pandemic.

Cases are reported in the majority of the eastern provinces as well as major cities and popular tourist destinations such as the capital Bangkok, Phuket and Pattaya City. A total of 2,338 Omicron cases were recorded on Wednesday. In the last surge, a maximum of 32,418 daily cases was officially reached.

The first cases of Omicron entered through the quarantine-free “test and go” program that allows double-vaccinated, foreign arrivals to freely enter the country after presenting two negative PCR test results; one before departure and one upon arrival. The government is desperate to revive tourism, which is a major source of foreign currency and has virtually collapsed during the pandemic.

The probability of two false negatives from PCR tests, as has happened in the case of some arrivals into Thailand, was estimated at between 1 and 9 percent according to a study by the Journal of Virology. Approximately 350,000 travelers have used the “test and go” program since it began in November. A suspension of quarantine-free travel was belatedly imposed on December 22 and will continue until late January.

Despite health warnings about the dangers posed by positive Omicron cases, the government eased restrictions ahead of the New Year celebrations to appease sections of big business, which branded the reintroduction of restrictions a “huge overreaction.”

The government also downplayed the risks. “Omicron is now clearly spreading rapidly but it’s not really severe,” Dr Supakit Sirilak, director-general of the Department of Medical Sciences (DMS), said last week—an opinion not shared by the majority of the scientific community.

Instead of controlling the spread, the government is imposing the homicidal, unscientific program of “living with the virus” on workers and rural toilers. Its chief concern is to avoid lockdowns and their impact on an already fragile economy.

The country’s Health Ministry raised the COVID alert level from 3 to 4 on Thursday—a shift that merely discourages activities such as dining out, the consumption of alcohol in restaurants, leaving the house, using public transport and travelling abroad.

While state employees have been told to work from home for two weeks after New Year’s celebrations to reduce the risks of infection, schools and workplaces are to remain open.

Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul announced that while the higher alert level will bring “more limitations on activities… the government will try to avoid a lockdown to the best of our ability,” he said.

This was echoed by the mayor of Pattaya City, a popular tourist destination, who on Tuesday stridently opposed any lockdown, despite a rapid increase of cases since Christmas due to the Omicron variant.

“[Omicron] is rapidly becoming a prominent strain in the Banglamung and Pattaya area,” stated Chonburi Provincial health official Dr Wichai Tanasophon told Associated Press on Sunday. “More than 80 percent of the Covid-19 Omicron variant infections were found out of recent samples.”

“We are already having issues, due to the steeply rising number of patients, finding hospitals for them.” Dr Wichai added.

Nationally, the government is urging the population to get double vaccinated and book for their booster shot after three months. Just 69.1 percent of the estimated 72 million people living in the country have received two doses, and only 10.9 percent have received booster shots.

The vaccine-only response, designed to avoid any curbs on corporate profits, has demonstrated itself internationally to be an abject failure. While the Thai government abdicates responsibility for bringing the pandemic under control, blame for the spread of Omicron is being imposed on individuals.

Large fines are being threatened on those who fail to report positive test results to public health officials (20,000 baht or $US595) or refuse to quarantine or get treatments (40,000 baht and 2 years jail). Those quarantining can apply for limited government assistance.

Sumanee Watcharasin, a spokeswoman for the country’s coronavirus taskforce, warned this week that if regular testing and mask wearing were not followed, cases would reach the “tens of thousands in the next two weeks.”

Last week, in response to growing concerns over the efficacy of cloth masks, Dr Supakit was cited by the Bangkok Post as claiming that all face masks were capable of shielding people from Omicron. “Wearing them properly is even more important now,” he said.

As has been reported by leading aerosol experts and presented on the WSWS’s Workers Inquest into the COVID-19 Pandemic, surgical and cloth masks are inadequate to deal with the airborne transmission of COVID.

Studies on surgical masks from 2020 have shown that less than 56 percent of virus particles are stopped during inhalation. Less than 42 percent of exhaled breath is filtered by the mask, placing those around the wearer at risk. Cloth masks are worse in that they have no electrostatic charge in order to “trap” the virus particles and essentially act as a sieve.

Along with the unscientific attitude to mask wearing, the government is still encouraging the disinfecting of surfaces, a largely token measure given that COVID-19’s primary mode of transmission is through aerosols.

Authorities were due to deliberate yesterday on measures to slow the spread of infections, according to Permanent Secretary of Public Health Kiattiphum Wongrajit. The limited measures under consideration include shutting down high-risk areas and limiting large gatherings, a ban on alcohol sales in restaurants, working from home and limiting inter-provincial travel.

This morning, the Public Health Ministry announced another large jump in the daily case number to 9,508 and 14 more fatalities during the previous 24 hours.

US hospitalizations for COVID-19 rapidly closing in on pandemic high

Benjamin Mateus

According to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), as of January 7, 2022, inpatient beds in use for COVID-19 have reached 132,000. The highest peak in admissions occurred on January 14, 2021, when over 142,000 people were admitted for COVID-19. Intensive care units are presently operating at over 82 percent capacity nationwide, and one in five is at 95 percent capacity. More than a quarter of all patient admissions to these highly specialized treatment units are for COVID-19.

Respiratory therapist Frans Oudenaar replaces an oxygen tube for Linda Calderon, 71, in a COVID-19 unit at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Los Angeles, Tuesday, Dec. 14, 2021. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Hospital admits are climbing for every age category, but are highest are for those 60 years and older, whose admission numbers have doubled since Christmas Eve. This age group is the most prone to complications despite vaccination status.

Health officials indicate that admissions are expected to continue to surge. What differentiates recent hospitalizations from last winter’s is that the explosive upswing in admissions is placing such a tremendous strain on the national health infrastructure, operating with a much-reduced workforce. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, around 450,000 health care workers have quit during the pandemic.

In little over one month, the US has added 10 million more cases of COVID infection to its ledger, which will surpass 60 million this weekend. The number of active infections has ballooned to over 16.6 million, implying that an astounding one in 20 people in the US are currently positive on testing and considered infective. One in four tests in the US are positive for COVID-19 infection, indicating that there is a vast undertesting of the population.

Yesterday, more than three-quarters of a million people were confirmed infected. The seven-day average of daily infections, continuing its meteoric rise, has reached 610,173. The daily COVID-19 death toll is also steadily trending upwards. More than 2,140 people died from their infection, raising the cumulative death toll to 856,000, according to the Worldometer dashboard.

The present infection level has led to an unprecedented number of health care workers calling in sick or isolating due to exposure to the coronavirus. Many are being forced to work despite knowing they are infected, with the attendant risk of infecting their patients, leading to growing frustration and resentment.

Emergency first responders in Los Angeles and New York City are out by the hundreds. Staffing shortages are becoming dire at several major health systems in California, Florida, Texas and New York, creating massive gridlock and delays for patients, many of whom are waiting hours for their nurse or caregiver to reach their room.

As hospital administrators across the country shift gears to employ damage-control measures, elective surgeries are once more being postponed to redirect their limited workforce to the care of patients infected with COVID-19. However, the term elective only hides the reality that these procedures are still essential for the health of these patients. Their postponement can have significant ramifications for their well-being.

As Cynthia Cox, vice president at Kaiser Family Foundations, explained, such surgeries can still be crucial. During the pandemic, tens of thousands of people have needlessly died from non-COVID-19 causes because of these delays in care. “It’s often cancer surgeries,” she noted to Reuters, “or other kinds of care that still need to happen in a very timely manner for people’s safety and health.”

In the face of the human catastrophe that is playing out in the corridors of emergency departments and hospitals, even the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Dr. Rochelle Walensky, had to concede Friday on NBC News’ Today Show, “I don’t believe we’ve seen the peak yet here in the United States.”

Walensky, rather than acknowledging the bankruptcy of the White House and CDC’s coordinated criminal and deadly policies to keep America open, has resorted to private meetings with “prominent Democratic media consultant Mandy Grunwald to improve her communication skills,” according to CNN. Even scientists at the CDC are growing frustrated over her handling of the pandemic, as she crafts guidance exclusively with a select circle of top advisers. In several news interviews she openly stated that the isolation guidelines “really had a lot to do with what we thought people would be able to tolerate.”

Clearly, the people in her statement refers to the CEOs and bankers who determine the pandemic response plan, as evidenced by the letter sent to Walensky from Delta Airlines CEO Ed Bastian on December 21, 2021, demanding that isolation periods be reduced from 10 days to five.

As one CDC scientist, speaking on condition of anonymity, told CNN, “She’s dispensing with this consultative process that we’ve always had in place that sort of allowed us to make sure that our science was good. The lack of engagement and consultation on that obviously contributed to a lot of the outrage.”

In other words, Walensky is taking her marching orders from top Democratic Party advisers who have direct connections with the Biden administration and the financial elite, and is not being guided by the scientists and the science she claims to follow.

The deadly implications of the reckless guidelines she continues to advance have garnered the enmity of principled epidemiologists, public health experts and the working class in general.

On January 5, the CDC quietly published its forecast of COVID-19 deaths, without any media announcement to warn the public of the dangers posed by the supposedly not-so-severe Omicron. It expects that by the end of the month, COVID-19 deaths will likely increase from their current levels at around 9,000 to 10,000 per week to around 20,000 to 30,000 per week, or around 2,850 to 4,280 deaths per day.

This level of death will match last winter’s deadliest wave, refuting the lies spread by the media that Omicron is mild and nothing to worry about. On the contrary, the current iteration of the coronavirus has been able to emerge and cause massive symptomatic infection despite a population with a significant level of immunity. Omicron possesses a high degree of infectivity, making it a far more dangerous pathogen than any previous variant.

Rather than sounding a clarion call to warn the population of the dangers this level of infection will have, the CDC director and the Biden administration are doubling down on claims that Omicron is only a mild concern and no alarms need be raised.

Rejecting the Democrats’ homicidal approach to the pandemic, the working class must look after its own interests and demand an immediate lockdown and closure of all schools and non-essential businesses, with full compensation to workers and small business owners.

All necessary resources must be made available to health and emergency medical services to assist health systems with the tsunami of patients, which is making it impossible for health care workers to do their jobs safely. The lockdowns must be extended until control of the pandemic has been achieved and the elimination strategy can be fully implemented. Otherwise, the pandemic will continue to rage, with each wave bringing forth a potentially even more elusive and dangerous variant.