Fiji declares dengue fever outbreak in Western Division

Posted on by Vividh Bharathi

Suva, March 13 (IANS) Fiji’s Health Ministry has declared a dengue fever outbreak in the Western Division, where the highest number of cases have been reported.

As of February 23, Fiji has recorded a total of 2,436 dengue cases, with 1,411 confirmed infections from the Western Division.

The spike in cases has been attributed to the heavy rains and flooding caused by Tropical Cyclone Rae, which created ideal conditions for the spread of the virus, Xinhua news agency reported on Thursday, quoting the Fiji Broadcasting Corporation.

The ministry has launched targeted interventions across the affected divisions, where public health teams are conducting house-to-house surveillance, applying larvicides, and carrying out mosquito spraying to control the spread.

Environmental health officers are also stepping up enforcement, inspecting properties for mosquito breeding sites and issuing fines under the Public Health Act for violations, the report said.

Similar proactive measures are being carried out in other divisions, including the Central, Northern, and Eastern Divisions.

According to the Health Ministry, preventive measures such as eliminating standing water around homes are critical to curbing the outbreak.

According to the World Health Organisation, dengue (break-bone fever) is a viral infection that spreads from mosquitoes to people. It is more common in tropical and subtropical climates.

Most people who get dengue will not have symptoms. But for those who do, the most common symptoms are high fever, headache, body aches, nausea, and rash. Most will get better in 1–2 weeks. Some people develop severe dengue and need care in a hospital.

In severe cases, dengue can be fatal.

The risk of dengue can be lowered by avoiding mosquito bites, especially during the day.

Dengue is treated with pain medicine as there is no specific treatment currently.

There is no specific treatment for dengue. The focus is on treating pain symptoms. Most cases of dengue fever can be treated at home with pain medicine.

The highest number of dengue cases was recorded in 2023, affecting over 80 countries in all regions of WHO. Since the beginning of 2023 ongoing transmission, combined with an unexpected spike in dengue cases, resulted in a historic high of over 6.5 million cases and more than 7300 dengue-related deaths reported.

–IANS

int/jk/vd

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Lebanese President begins parliamentary consultations to nominate new PM

Beirut, Jan 13 (IANS) Lebanon’s new President Joseph Aoun began binding parliamentary consultations on Monday to nominate a Prime Minister to form the first government of his term, according to the official National News Agency.

Aoun’s consultations got underway with a meeting with Deputy Speaker of Parliament Elias Bou Saab. Throughout the day, Aoun is expected to meet independently with parliamentary blocs and independent parliament members, and conclude with a meeting with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri.

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati and President of the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Judge Nawaf Salam, are seen as the main contenders.

The opposition candidate, Parliament Member Fouad Makhzoumi, and the candidate of the Force of Changes, Ibrahim Mneimneh, announced the withdrawal of their candidacy in two separate statements earlier for a consensus on the broadest support for Salam.

According to the prevailing political custom in the country, a Sunni assumes the position of Prime Minister, while the President is always a Christian from the Maronite sect. The position of speaker of parliament goes to a Muslim from the Shiite sect.

According to Lebanon’s constitution, the president designates the Prime Minister to form the government after consultations with all political parties and independent lawmakers in parliament. By convention, he chooses the candidate with the most votes during these consultations, Xinhua news agency reported.

Aoun was elected President in the second round of the presidential vote held on Thursday, ending a two-year presidential vacuum that had paralyzed the country’s political system. In his inaugural speech, Aoun pledged to end the “Israeli occupation” of Lebanon, establish the state’s right to monopolize the carrying of weapons and implement many reforms.

The newly-elected President Joseph Aoun had announced Saturday that he will visit Saudi Arabia at the invitation of Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud.

The Saudi Crown Prince extended the invitation during a phone call with Aoun, according to a statement by the Lebanese presidency. Aoun accepted the invitation and said the visit would be his first foreign trip as President, highlighting the kingdom’s pivotal role in supporting Lebanon.

During the phone conversation, the Saudi Crown Prince congratulated Aoun on his election as President. The two leaders also discussed recent developments and ways to strengthen bilateral ties.

Aoun, Lebanon’s former army chief, was elected the 14th President of Lebanon on Thursday, with 99 out of 128 parliamentary votes in the second round of the presidential vote.

His victory marked the end of more than two years of presidential vacancy in Lebanon.

Political division in Lebanon resulted in a vacant presidential position following the end of former President Michel Aoun’s term on October 31, 2022. The parliament had failed to elect a president for the country in 12 electoral sessions. A caretaker government has been running the country during the presidential vacuum.

Joseph Aoun, 60, who is not related to Michel Aoun, is widely considered the preferred candidate of the United States and Saudi Arabia, whose support will be crucial for Lebanon’s reconstruction following a 14-month conflict between Israel and the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, according to analysts, reports Xinhua news agency.

–IANS

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Union Minister Kishan Reddy shares Telangana singer’s post about PM Modi’s gesture

Hyderabad, Jan 15 (IANS) Union Minister for Coal and Mines G. Kishan Reddy on Wednesday shared a post of singer Mittapally Surender about Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s gesture of holding the hands of a Dappu player, who comes from Dalit community.

While attending Sankranti celebrations at Kishan Reddy’s house in New Delhi on January 13, the Prime Minister held the hand of Dappu player and touched it with his forehead. The Union Minister termed Mittapally Surender’s post as poignant.

“This post of my brother Mittapally Surender is indeed poignant. The post defines the very characteristic of Modi ji while unmasking the hypocrisy of a few political leaders, Kishan Reddy wrote on ‘X’.

Kishan Reddy, who is also the president of BJP’s Telangana unit, posted the translation of the Telangana singer’s Telugu post as well.

“Here’s the true translation: What a spectacular scene is this! I am not saying this because PM Modi touched these hands with his forehead. I am asking all those leaders who treated these very people as untouchables, made them live on the outskirts of the villages for generations, yet they stood before their huts to ask them to play the daapu for their Padayatras, for their victory processions. Did you (the leaders) ever consider them humans? Think for yourselves,” reads the post.

“This scene (the image of Modiji having the hands of the Dappu artist on his forehead) has indeed moved my heart,” wrote the singer, who also invited the Prime Minister to visit Telangana.

“Modi Ji, please come to Telangana; we will turn our hearts into Dappulu and play on them for you,” stated Mittapally Surender.

Kishan Reddy ended his post with a note about Dappu.

“Dappu is a traditional musical instrument usually played people belonging SC community in Telangana.”

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, Telugu superstar Chiranjeevi, ace badminton player P V Sindhu and several union ministers had also attended the Sankranti programme at Kishan Reddy’s residence.

–IANS

ms/pgh

Judge says no prison term for Trump in ‘hush money’ case (Ld)

New York, Jan 4 (IANS) The judge in the “hush money” case has said that President-elect Donald Trump will escape a prison sentence while upholding his conviction.

Judge Juan Marchan said on Friday that he would give Trump an “unconditional discharge” when he comes up for sentencing on January 10, just 11 days before taking over as the US President.

Upholding the conviction, he dismissed Trump’s lawyers’ contention that a Supreme Court ruling on presidential immunity applied to this case because his actions were not official.

The case was brought by local Manhattan prosecutor Alvin Bragg, who was elected to the post as a Democrat, accusing Trump of violating the law by showing on account books the payment he made to a porn star as legal expenses.

The payments were made through his lawyer to buy the silence of Stormy Daniels who had claimed she had a tryst with him.

Bragg made each check that was cut for the payments as a separate offence to show that Trump was convicted of 34 crimes.

Although Vice President Kamala Harris, who ran against Trump in last year’s election, and her supporters made that a major campaign point, voters ignored it and elected Trump.

Trump presented himself as a martyr hounded by politically-motivated prosecutions.

But Marchan’s ruling puts the cloud of criminal conviction over Trump when he is sworn in as President on January 21.

Trump would have faced a maximum sentence of four years – an absurdity given that he would be President elected by a majority of voters.

Reacting on Truth Social, Trump called Marchan upholding the conviction an “illegitimate political attack” and “a Rigged Charade”.

He said that Marchan put a gag order limiting what he can say about the case “just so I cannot expose his and his family’s disqualifying and illegal conflicts”.

Marchan’s daughter is the president of a company that did campaign work for Kamala Harris, the Vice President who ran against Trump in last year’s election.

Two federal cases brought against him by a special counsel have been dropped.

One accused him of violating the Official Secrets Act by retaining records after leaving office.

Another was about election interference because of his alleged role in instigating the January 6, 2021, riots while President Joe Biden’s election was being certified by the Congress.

Another local case in Georgia accusing him of election interference has been snarled by accusations of impropriety by the prosecutor, an elected Democrat, who hired an inexperienced lawyer who was then her boyfriend to prosecute the case.

–IANS

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