El número de casos de coronavirus en Inglaterra aumentó en más de 25% en la semana hasta el 12 de agosto, lo que resalta los riesgos que enfrenta el Gobierno de Boris Johnson en su intento por impulsar la economía sin desencadenar un nuevo pico en la pandemia.
El Departamento de Salud del Reino Unido registró 6.616 casos nuevos de covid-19 durante el período, un aumento de 27%, incluso cuando el número total de personas analizadas se redujo en 2%. Los casos positivos entre los que presentaban necesidades clínicas, así como entre los trabajadores de hospital y del cuidado, aumentaron 34%, el mayor repunte desde que el Gobierno comenzó su programa de prueba y rastreo a fines de mayo.
Los ministros de Johnson han reabierto constantemente partes de la economía británica y están tratando de cambiar el enfoque hacia el manejo de nuevos brotes con cuarentenas locales específicas en lugar de medidas nacionales.
Pero hay poco margen para el error. El Gobierno se ha comprometido a reabrir todas las escuelas de Inglaterra en septiembre, una medida que Chris Whitty, asesor médico del Gobierno, ha sugerido podría requerir que se mantengan restricciones en otras partes de la economía para garantizar que no haya un repunte del virus.
El concejo municipal de Birmingham advirtió a los residentes de la segunda ciudad más grande del Reino Unido que enfrentarán “más tragedias en las próximas semanas y meses” a menos que las personas se adhieran a las normas de distanciamiento social y frenen el reciente aumento de casos.
El tema es similar al norte de la frontera, donde Escocia reportó su mayor número diario de casos de coronavirus en casi tres meses y la primera ministra, Nicola Sturgeon, dijo al Parlamento escocés que la tasa de infección podría ser ahora superior a 1, lo que sugiere que la pandemia está creciendo nuevamente.
En todo el Reino Unido, el número de casos aumentó en 1.182 en el último período de 24 horas, en comparación con los 812 del día anterior.
Para ayudar a contener la propagación del virus, el Gobierno de Johnson dijo que impondría una cuarentena de 14 días a viajeros que llegaran a Inglaterra desde Austria, Croacia y Trinidad y Tobago, a partir del sábado en la mañana. Las llegadas desde Portugal ya no tendrán que entrar en cuarentena.
El Gobierno de Escocia reflejó estos cambios, al tiempo que agregó a Suiza a su lista de cuarentena.
Europa/Reino Unido/20 Agosto 2020/https://www.xataka.com/
Si no te gusta tu nota, tenemos otra para ti. Parafrasear a Groucho Mark es inevitable ante la esperpéntica situación que se está viviendo en el Reino Unido, donde miles de estudiantes del equivalente de nuestro bachillerato se han visto afectados por las notas que han sacado en este curso. Dichas notas no se las ha puesto un profesor, sino un algoritmo.
La pandemia de COVID-19 y la ausencia de exámenes presenciales ha obligado a las autoridades académicas a utilizar ese algoritmo para calificar a los alumnos. El problema es que el algoritmo ha tomado en cuenta factores discutibles que han hecho que ahora cualquiera alumno pueda recurrir esas calificaciones que determinan parte de su futuro académico y laboral.
Un desastre causado por un (mal) algoritmo
Los exámenes GCE Advanced Level, más conocidos como A Level, son unas pruebas que los estudiantes de Inglaterra, Gales e Irlanda del Norte realizan tras los dos últimos años de la enseñanza secundaria. Es un concepto similar al que se maneja en España con la EBAU (la antigua Selectividad) y que es determinante para que muchos alumnos puedan cursar los estudios universitarios que desean y la carrera profesional a la que intentan encaminar sus pasos.
El problema es que el confinamiento ha hecho imposible que se celebre dicha evaluación, lo que ha provocado que la nota obtenida por los alumnos no se determine por un exámen calificado por un profesor, sino por un algoritmo.
Ese algoritmo, como se ha descubierto a posteriorijum, ha resultado tomar en cuenta factores coherentes como el historial del estudiante, pero también influyen otros más polémicos como el propio historial de sus compañeros y el centro al que pertenece ese estudiante.
El Departamento de Educación del Reino Unido ha anunciado la puesta en marcha de un sistema de «triple bloqueo» (triple lock) para esos estudiantes, y que permitirá a los estudiantes recibir la máxima calificación de tres alternativas: la nota calculada por el algoritmo, las notas de exámenes de prueba preliminares (‘mock exams’, celebrados entre noviembre y marzo) o la nota de un futuro exámen presencial que se celebrará en otoño.
Las críticas a ese sistema son también notables, pero es el algoritmo el que ha generado las mayores protestas y unos resultados especialmente llamativos. En ellos se revela que dicho algoritmo es injusto con las minorías étnicas de entornos más pobres o de entornos desfavorecidos.
Stephen Curran, profesor y experto en educación, indicaba que «chicos de cierto origen pueden encontrarse con que su nota ha disminuido», y eso parece haber ocurrido por ejemplo en Escocia, donde los chicos de entornos más desfavorecidos tenían el doble de posibilidades de ver sus notas rebajadas en comparación con los chicos que viven en zonas más ricas.
Eso ha provocado una avalancha de apelaciones por parte de los alumnos que no estaban conforme con sus notas, pero incluso este proceso parece haber levantado nuevas ampollas. En Inglaterra, por ejemplo, la decisión de si se apela o no la nota no corresponde al alumno, sino al centro educativo, algo que otros expertos califican de «escandaloso».
Como apuntan en Wired, este caótico escenario ha hecho que la situación educativa se convierta en una situación política «y los estudiantes de hoy son los votantes de mañana«.
Para los responsables del acceso a las universidades el problema es aún más importante cuando afirman que al final «muchos estudiantes -al menos los de colegios que se pueden permitir apelar las notas- acabarán obteniendo básicamente la nota que quieran» porque no hay una fuente de información fiable para establecer esa nota.
“The baby is dead. We can’t assist you here.” By the time she heard these devastating words, the pregnant Yasmelis Casanova had endured a long and painful journey, passing through multiple COVID-19 checkpoints, to the hospital in Caracas, Venezuela. She bled for hours without treatment. When doctors at a second hospital finally operated on her, they removed her ovaries without her prior consent.
Then, she spent 20 days there almost entirely alone; due to COVID-19 restrictions, visits were banned. Venezuela’s health-care infrastructure was crumbling well before the pandemic, but the COVID-19 crisis has pushed it to the point of collapse. Many women experiencing obstetric emergencies now struggle to reach hospitals, let alone gain access to adequate care. Yet such failures can be seen far beyond Venezuela, in rich and poor countries alike.
Last month, the United Kingdom (UK)-based political website, openDemocracy released the results of a global investigation into the treatment of women in childbirth during the COVID-19 pandemic. Across 45 countries – from Canada to Cameroon, from the UK to Ecuador – we found what doctors and lawyers describe as “shocking” and “unnecessary” breaches of laws and World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines intended to protect women and babies during the pandemic.
The WHO’s specific COVID-19 guidelines affirm, for example, that women should be accompanied by a person of their choice while giving birth. Yet, across Eurasia and Latin America – including in at least 15 European countries – women have been forced to give birth without companions.
Likewise, the WHO asserts that procedures like C-sections should be performed only when they are medically necessary or have the woman’s consent. Yet in 11 countries, women reported that they didn’t consent to C-sections, inductions, and episiotomies (the cutting of a woman’s vagina) that were performed on them, or said that they did not believe these procedures were medically necessary.
WHO guidelines also dictate that women receive breastfeeding support and the opportunity for skin-to-skin contact with new born babies. Yet mothers have been separated from new born babies in at least 15 countries – including at least six European countries – and prevented from breastfeeding in at least seven, even though there is no conclusive evidence that COVID-19 can be transmitted through breast milk. Doctors and health experts agree: none of this is necessary to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Likewise, there have been multiple reports of pregnancy deaths in Africa, after transport and other lockdown restrictions prevented women from reaching hospitals. Many women in developing countries have been forced to give birth in unsanitary and unsafe conditions. Experts now warn that over the course of just six months, COVID-19 restrictions and health-service disruptions could cause up to 56,700 additional maternal deaths in low- and middle-income countries.
If this is not enough to expose the flaws in current COVID-19-prevention measures, consider how unevenly they are implemented (and lifted). In some parts of England, women can now take their partners to the pub, but not to antenatal appointments.
This reflects a long history of the “postcode lottery” dictating access to health care and other services, from in vitro fertilization clinics to domestic violence shelters. And it fits a wider global pattern of downgrading women’s rights and needs, including during childbirth. Just last year, a WHO-led study reported that 42 percent of the women interviewed by researchers in Ghana, Guinea, Myanmar, and Nigeria said they had experienced physical or verbal abuse, stigma, or discrimination in health facilities during childbirth.
In Latin America, several countries – including Argentina, Ecuador, Mexico, Uruguay, and Venezuela – have passed laws against the performance of medical procedures, such as C-sections, without informed consent. But they are very rarely enforced, and advocates report that authorities and medical staff normalise such obstetric violence.
In fact, before the pandemic, 40 percent of babies across Latin America were already being delivered by C-section, though this method poses higher risks for mother and baby. The WHO recommends a rate of around 15 percent, emphasising that C-sections should be carried out only when medically justified.
Furthermore, most African countries were already off track to meet their targets for reducing maternal and infant deaths by 2030, part of the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). As Jesca Nsungwa Sabiiti, Uganda’s maternal and child health commissioner, has noted, the pandemic is likely to delay achievement of the targets even further. But just as the COVID-19 crisis can impede progress, it can also spur change, by forcing governments and civil society to rethink how our health systems, economies, and societies are organised.
So far, discussions – especially among policymakers – have tended to be narrow, focused on short-term solutions. If we are to build the “equitable, resilient, and sustainable” post-COVID world that many leaders advocate, we must embrace a much more ambitious vision of what public health really means.
For example, laws protecting the vulnerable need to be enacted and enforced. Health bodies and other agencies must investigate violations and hold medical providers accountable. And governments and donors must allocate far more resources for advocacy in problematic areas such as maternal health, and for implementing a rights-based approach to medical training and service provision across the board.
The issue extends far beyond direct medical care. Today, women can be imprisoned for having miscarriages (as in El Salvador) and detained for non-payment of hospital bills after childbirth (as in Kenya). Structural inequality and discrimination based on gender, race, class, disability, and more still shapes every aspect of our lives, in rich and poor economies alike. All of these failures undermine public health.
Far too many women have felt alone, scared, and traumatised while giving birth during the pandemic. In openDemocracy’s investigation, one woman in Italy expressed her hope that policymakers and medical providers would learn from her suffering, and the suffering of those like her, so that other women wouldn’t have to endure what she did. We owe it to these women to ensure that they do.
Fuente de la información: https://theaseanpost.com/article/preventable-trauma-covid-childbirth
Europe/United Kingdom/09-08-2020/Author and Source: www.rt.com
Academic freedom in the UK is in peril, with universities increasingly hostile to right-wing views, a new study claims. Complaints about campus bias and ‘cancel culture’ are 10 a penny, but this one carries more weight than most.
“Britain’s universities are world-leading. Yet there is growing concern that academic freedom in these institutions is being undermined.” opens a report
According to the report, one in four social sciences academics would be willing to support a dismissal campaign against a colleague who expresses right-wing views on multiculturalism, imperialism, parenting, or diversity in organizations. Right-leaning professors, outnumbered three to one by their left-wing colleagues, say that the climate in universities is hostile to their views. More than 60 percent of ‘very right’ professors perceive this hostility, compared to only 16 percent of those who identify as ‘very left.’
A third of all right-leaning academics say they’ve refrained from airing their views in teaching and research, compared to 15 percent of left-wingers.
Academics lean further left than the general population. While less than one in ten Britons want increased immigration to the UK, nearly a third of academics support an increased influx. Conversely, while more than half of the population wants immigration lowered, only 16 percent of academics support this policy.
However, the most divisive issue on campus appears to be Brexit. With only 17 percent of academics admitting that they voted leave, these leavers feel that the campus isn’t the place to air their views. In fact, just over half of all respondents said they’d feel comfortable sitting in a meeting or taking lunch with a leave voter. “[I’ve] been told leavers are fascists,” one leave voter who identifies as a “centrist”
Across the board, only three in ten academics think that a leave supporter would be comfortable expressing their views on campus. “I told someone I had voted leave and they called me a racist,” one such supporter said. “I voted leave but was scared to reveal this as my colleagues were so aggressive in their attitude,” another said.
Trans issues are a hot-button topic too, with only 37 percent of respondents saying they’d have lunch with someone who opposes admitting transsexuals to women’s refuge centers.
That a right-leaning think tank would highlight these issues is unsurprising. Opposition to ‘cancel culture’ has grown in recent months, even among prominent leftists. The so-called ‘Harper’s Letter’ is the most high-profile example of this opposition, having been signed by figures like JK Rowling and Noam Chomsky. However, the letter has been criticized for its limp stance, and its vague calls for “open debate.”
The Policy Exchange paper has some more concrete recommendations. It calls for the government to appoint a director for academic freedom to the Office for Students, to investigate violations of freedom of speech, and for violators of this freedom to face civil action. The Office of Students is instructed to fine universities for breaches of academic freedom, and universities are asked to adopt a commitment to freedom, along the lines of the Chicago Principles, signed by 72 universities in the US.
Policy Exchange has succeeded in influencing actual policy before. The government adopted one of its papers on reviving traditional architecture in 2019, and in 2016, the government took on board its advice that military personnel in combat zones be protected from lawsuits for all but the most serious breaches of humanitarian law.
The organization’s latest report has been backed by some prominent public figures. “It does the country no good if our educators, our academics, our scholars and, most importantly, our students feel that they can’t speak or engage without fear of retribution,” former Labour MP Ruth Smeeth wrote in its foreword.
In a statement to the media, Universities Minister Michelle Donelan added: “It is deeply concerning the extent to which students and academics with mainstream views are being silenced and discriminated against in our universities,” promising to “strengthen free speech and academic freedom.”
However, some of the more determined leftists are unlikely to be won over. “The idea that academic freedom is under threat is a myth,” University and College Union Secretary Jo Grady responded in a statement. “The main concern our members express is not with think-tank-inspired bogeymen, but with the current government’s wish to police what can and cannot be taught at university.”
Source and Image: https://www.rt.com/uk/496983-right-wing-professors-censored/
Europa/Reino Unido/06 Agosto 2020/prensa-latina.cu
La comisionada para los derechos de los niños de Inglaterra, Anne Longfield, afirmó hoy que las escuelas deberían ser las últimas en cerrarse en caso de un nuevo confinamiento por la pandemia de Covid-19.
La educación debe priorizarse sobre otros sectores, y deben ser las primeras en abrir y las últimas en cerrar, recalcó Longfield en una ponencia publicada este miércoles en la página electrónica de esa entidad pública.
En opinión de la activista, incluso en caso de ser necesario mantener al mínimo la interacción social por un segundo brote de la pandemia, el espacio destinado a la educación debe ser respetado, a expensas de otras actividades y sectores.
La reducción de la transmisión del coronavirus a nivel de la comunidad es muy importante, pero no se debe asumir de manera automática que conlleva el cierre de las escuelas, apuntó.
Longfield sustenta su reclamo en criterios científicos que aseguran que comparados con los adultos, los niños juegan un papel relativamente pequeño en la propagación de la Covid-19, y son menos propensos a contraer la enfermedad.
El Reino Unido, y en particular Inglaterra, experimenta desde hace varias semanas un incremento en los casos positivos a la Covid-19, lo que hace temer que se produzca una segunda ola de la pandemia en el invierno.
Aunque el primer ministro Boris Johnson afirmó días atrás que tratará de evitar un nuevo confinamiento de la población, en algunas ciudades inglesas se decretaron cuarentenas locales para tratar de contener los rebrotes.
El principal asesor médico del gobierno, Chris Whitty, advirtió, por su parte, que ya se llegó al límite de lo que se puede hacer en términos de reabrir la sociedad, por lo que no se descarta el cierre de bares y restaurantes para poder reiniciar el curso escolar en septiembre.
New Covid-19 cases in Africa up 24% in a week after months in which it appeared to have been spared the worst
Mourners in personal protective equipment carry the coffin of a Cape Town taxi driver who died of Covid-19. Photograph: Rodger Bosch/AFP/Getty
South Africa’s health minister has warned of a “storm” arriving and pleaded with the country’s 58 million inhabitants to change their behaviour to slow the spread of Covid-19.
Zweli Mkhize said South Africa was still following an “optimistic” curve, with the peak of the outbreak likely to be lower than predicted, but warned that within weeks there could be a shortage of beds to treat Covid-19 patients, particularly in the country’s most populous and wealthy regions.
“It’s no longer a matter of announcing numbers of confirmed cases. We are now at a point where it’s our fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, close friend and comrades that are infected,” Mkhize said.
After months when the continent appeared to have been spared the worst of the outbreak, African countries are now recording an accelerating spread of the disease.
John Nkengasong, head of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said new cases were up 24% in Africa in the past week. “The pandemic is gaining full momentum,” he told a virtual news conference from Addis Ababa.
As of 9 July, Africa had 512,039 confirmed Covid-19 cases, with 11,915 deaths, data from governments and the World Health Organization showed. Egypt, Nigeria, South Africa, Ghana, and Algeria accounted for 71% of infections.
There are fears that a lack of testing and a reluctance among some states to share information has hidden the true spread of the virus on the continent.
In Nigeria, authorities, fearing the economic toll of the pandemic, have in recent weeks relaxed restrictions imposed to prevent the spread of the virus. Confirmed cases in Africa’s most populous nation passed 30,000 on 8 July.
South Africa was widely praised for its early response to the pandemic, which included a strict lockdown and a major programme of community screening to find outbreaks of the virus. However the test and trace strategy has been hindered by a lack of crucial supplies and, although the lockdown is acknowledged to have bought time, the number of daily new cases has soared from about 1,000 in mid-May to 8,800 on 8 July.
Most new cases have been in Gauteng, the richest and most densely populated province, where widespread anxiety has been fuelled by poor communication about local strategies to fight the outbreak.
The provincial government was forced to clarify statements suggesting that more than a million graves were being dug for victims of Covid-19. “We understand that the subject of death is an uncomfortable matter to engage in, however, ensuring that there is adequate burial space in the province, unfortunately, forms part of the reality government must contend with in the battle against Covid-19,” the Guateng health department said on Twitter.
It is often difficult in the disadvantaged neighbourhoods found in many South African cities to follow recommendations on social distancing and handwashing. “What can I do? I wear a mask but we are so crowded here. I have to travel in [communal] taxis and then we do our best but we are all pushed in,” said Lucy Ndlovu, a resident of Alexandra, a Johannesburg township.
Communal taxis in Kenya advertise coronavirus safety. Photograph: Thomas Mukoya/Reuters
In Kenya, cases are also surging, with more than 8,000 reported infections and 164 deaths. Officials said earlier this week that the school year was considered lost because of the pandemic, and primary and secondary pupils would return in January.
George Magoha, the education minister, said that the curve of Covid-19 infections was expected to flatten only by December.
International flights to Kenya will resume next month, although most countries in Africa are keeping air traffic bans in place.
Governments are trying to balance the need to protect weak healthcare systems from being overwhelmed and allowing hundreds of millions of people to earn their livelihoods.
The African Development Bank (AfDB) has estimated that nearly 50 million Africans could be driven into extreme poverty by the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic. The AfDB said that between 24.6m and 30m jobs would be lost this year because of the crisis, with Nigeria seeing the greatest rise in poverty.
Late last month the International Monetary Fund forecast that GDP in sub-Saharan Africa would shrink by 3.2%, and that incomes would drop to levels last seen in 2010.
In South Africa, government analysts have estimated potential job losses from the pandemic could reach 1.8m, with central bankers anticipating an economic contraction of almost a third in the three months since the lockdown was imposed in late March.
In Sudan, a combination of spiralling food prices, inflation, and job losses as a result of the effect of Covid-19 is having a devastating impact, aid agencies say. The lockdown measures designed to prevent the spread of coronavirus have disrupted markets and cross-border trading, crippling livelihoods and pushing up prices. Cereal prices have tripled compared with last year and are about four times higher than the last five-year average.
Arshad Malik, Save the Children’s country director, said some families could break their fast during the holy month of Ramadan only with water, as there was simply no food.
“Even before this pandemic, families were reeling from the effects of decades of conflict, underdevelopment and a weak economy. Now their lives have become even harder. Our team is meeting more and more parents every day who are struggling to put food on the table for their children,” Malik said.
Source of the article: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jul/09/south-africa-warns-of-coronavirus-storm-as-outbreak-accelerates-across-continent
Europa/ United Kingdom/ 27.07.2020/ Source: www.bbc.com.
UK universities are testing a new online teaching link for students in China – which will require course materials to comply with Chinese restrictions on the internet.
It enables students in China to keep studying UK degrees online, despite China’s limits on internet access.
But it means students can only reach material on an «allowed» list.
Universities UK said it was «not aware of any instances when course content has been altered».
And the universities’ body rejected that this was accepting «censorship».
A spokeswoman said the project would allow students in China to have better access to UK courses «while complying with local regulations».
But in a separate essay published by the Higher Education Policy Institute, Professor Kerry Brown of King’s College London cautioned of the risk of universities adopting «self-censorship» when engaging with China.
Chinese students have become an important source of revenue for UK universities, representing almost a quarter of all overseas students – and Queen’s University Belfast is chartering a plane to bring students from China this autumn.
The pilot project involves four Russell Group universities – King’s College London, Queen Mary University of London, York and Southampton – and is run by JISC, formerly the Joint Information Systems Committee, which provides digital services for UK universities.
China’s internet censorship means that some websites are filtered or blocked – and there have been concerns that students in China could not study online, such as clicking on an embedded link in a scholarly article.
The technical solution, provided free by the Chinese internet firm Alibaba Cloud, creates a virtual connection between the student in China and the online network of the UK university, where the course is being taught.
But a spokeswoman for JISC says Chinese students will not have free access to the internet, but will only be able to reach «resources that are controlled and specified» by the university in the UK.
Any online information used in these UK university courses will have to be on a «security ‘allow’ list, which will list all the links to the educational materials UK institutions include in their course materials», said JISC.
This raises questions about academic freedom and free speech – but when asked about whether these principles were being put at risk, the universities have so far referred back to JISC.
JISC, which is an online services provider, says such issues are for the universities – and that «all course materials have been within regulations. Nothing was altered or blocked».
Image copyrightGETTY IMAGESImage captionUniversities have feared that the pandemic could reduce overseas student numbers
Universities UK, which is a supporter of the project, said: «We do not endorse censorship. This scheme is intended to ensure that Chinese students, learning remotely during the pandemic, can access course materials and are able to continue their studies.»
The university body said a similar scheme was already operating for Australian universities.
As well as complying with Chinese regulations, this online link is intended to create a more reliable connection, so that students can more easily watch lectures and follow their courses.
JISC says online students in China face particular barriers with restrictions that «screen traffic between China and the rest of the world, filtering content from overseas used for delivering teaching and learning and blocking some platforms and applications».
The pilot will finish this month and it could be offered more widely from September.
Source of news: https://www.bbc.com/news/education-53341217
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