Coronavirus: UK holidaymakers ‘welcome’ in Portugal

Portugal's foreign minister has said anyone in the UK thinking of going to Portugal this summer will be "most welcome" amid coronavirus.

Augusto Santos Silva said he hoped an air bridge between the UK and Portugal could be secured by the end of June.

The UK is set to give more details of its plan to force arrivals into quarantine for 14 days later.

UK Home Secretary Priti Patel will say air bridges to countries with low virus infection rates are possible in future.

Getty Images 

This would mean that people arriving from certain places will not have to self-isolate.

However, that will only apply to countries with low Covid-19 infection rates, she is expected to tell MPs. She will also say that the planned quarantine for arrivals is necessary "to prevent a second wave of the virus".

Meanwhile, Heathrow boss John Holland-Kaye has told BBC Breakfast that travellers will have to fill out details of where they will be staying to quarantine, when they book their flight.

He said there will then be "spot checks" within the immigration area, where the Border Force officers will check if people have filled out their form.

"All of the form-filling will take place before you get on a plane, and will be done online. The government will be able to check information before people get onto a plane," he said.

Some countries have already started to ease travel restrictions. The German foreign minister Heiko Maas said the country would lift a travel ban for EU countries, as well as the UK and a handful of others - as long as they do not have large-scale lockdowns in place.

However, Germany will advise against travel to Britain for as long as the UK government demands a 14-day quarantine for new arrivals.

Limited nightlife

Portugal's Mr Santos Silva told the BBC that an agreement between the UK and Portugal could be in place by the end of June, meaning that holidaymakers returning to the UK from Portugal would escape the quarantine rules.

He said any travel quarantine "was an enemy of tourism", but that he respected the UK government's decision to enforce one on almost all arrivals to the UK from next Monday.

Mr Santos Silva said "rules" would ensure that people would be able to holiday safely.

The minister suggested that nightlife in Portuguese resorts this summer would be very limited and people would not be allowed to congregate in groups at night.

He said hotels and apartments which comply with standards set by the tourism board would be labelled as "clean and safe".

Portugal's foreign minister confirmed talks on the matter were continuing with the UK.

But he insisted that Portugal would not impose any type of quarantine for people arriving in his country.

Instead, he said Portugal would rely on temperature checks at airports and that Portugal was, in coordination with other EU countries, considering carrying out "random testing" on passengers.

Mr Santos Silva said tourists would be warned how full beaches are, so that they could avoid crowded spots.

UK aviation bosses hope that a large number of air bridge agreements will be in place by 29 June, when the travel quarantine is set to be reviewed.

More tourists from the UK head to the Algarve each summer than from any other country.

But Spain, another country whose tourism sector relies heavily on British holidaymakers, is taking a different approach.

The Spanish government has said it will only allow UK tourists in this summer if the infection rate in the UK falls more significantly.

The UK travel quarantine will apply to people arriving from any country, apart from the Republic of Ireland, and will also apply to UK nationals.

People will be required to self-isolate in a private residence for two weeks.

The government says people "could be contacted regularly during this period to ensure compliance".

People who break the rules could be fined £1,000.

UK travel companies say the travel quarantine already means people are not booking holidays. They warn that more businesses in the sector now face financial ruin.

Reuters

The measure will be reviewed every three weeks.

When deciding whether to keep the quarantine in place, the government will consider several factors. They include:

• the rate of infection internationally
• prevention measures in other countries
• the extent to which other countries with more relaxed border arrangements have seen imported cases
• the effectiveness of testing methods at minimising the risk of new cases of the virus entering the country.

Quarantine debate

A growing list of Conservative MPs have spoken out against the blanket travel quarantine.

However, a YouGov poll of 1,565 adults in Great Britain suggests that there is public support.

63% of those surveyed thought people should be quarantined as per the government's plan.

About one quarter thought that the quarantine should only apply to people arriving from countries with a "high number of coronavirus cases". Only 4% thought that there should be no quarantine at all.

Labour has questioned why a travel quarantine was not introduced some weeks ago.

New figures show that between the beginning of January and the end of April, 14,225 flights arrived into UK airports.

(Source: BBC)

Japanese parents find difficulties coping with shutdowns of schools

When Mayumi Iijima heard that schools across Japan would close over the new coronavirus outbreak, leaving her to juggle her job and two small children, her first reaction was horror.

“I just said ‘no, no, no, no. What are we supposed to do?'” the 40-year-old, who works in human resources in Tokyo says.

Like parents in countries from Italy to Iran, Iijima is struggling to find ways to entertain and educate her children during school closures that the U.N. says have disrupted education for more than 290 million students worldwide.

In Japan, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe shocked the nation and dismayed parents countrywide with his call for schools to close through the spring holiday, which ends around early April. Nurseries and after-school clubs can stay open, but Iijima’s 9-year-old son Torao and 8-year-old daughter Koto are both affected.

Iijima’s husband has little flexibility at work, but her company Jinjibu has allowed her to bring her children in, setting aside a conference room for them to stay in and encouraging other staff to help out.

“What we as a business could do was not to isolate working mothers,” says spokeswoman Junko Sato.

“When they work, they can focus on working, and the rest of our staff will care for the children,” she says.

Keeping busy: With school shutdowns across Asia, some parents are trying to home-school their children and allowing them more screen time to keep them occupied at home. | GETTY IMAGES

Iijima is grateful, but says the situation is still far from ideal.

“We brought study materials for children. They also like crafts,” she says. But she adds, “I hope school will resume. I’m worried about their studies.”

Less stress for the kids?

In Hong Kong, schools have been shut since early February, with the closure now set to last until after Easter.

Many teachers are turning to conference call applications to interact with students, but that requires good Wi-Fi access and computer literacy.

Primary school teacher Billy Yeung works at a school where many students come from low-income families and parents are often unsure how to download documents.

“Some parents told me they don’t have Wi-Fi at home,” he says. “One told me that they have used up their mobile data by downloading teaching materials.”

Elsa Wong, a single working mother, whose employer has required staff to work from home, is trying to home-school her 11-year-old son Rick, who has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Wong says she has enjoyed seeing her son’s progress up close and says he has generally been more relaxed at home. But going it alone has been tough.

“Sometimes I have been so physically exhausted or mentally drained, I really couldn’t reason with him,” she says.

For some children in Hong Kong’s highly competitive system, the closures come as a relief.

“I feel like it is easier to concentrate and it’s less stressful,” says 14-year-old Leo, who normally has nine lessons a day, but now has only two 45-minute sessions via a video-chat app.

Ditching screen-time rules

In South Korea, schools are closed at least through March 23, and archivist Han Ji-hee is relying on her husband, mother and niece to watch her two sons.

“I really hate it,” says Han, who lives in Suwon, south of Seoul. “The kids are really bored — they can’t go outside to the playground or hang out with their friends, so they have nothing to do. They just end up watching TV and playing with their phones all day, but it’s not like I can be there.”

The closures are not universal. In Singapore, the government has so far declined to shutter schools, arguing it would “disrupt many lives.” The education ministry says “Even if all students stay at home, there is no guarantee against infection.”

Back in Tokyo, popular areas like Harajuku and Shibuya are still packed with teenagers, with younger children flocking to playgrounds.

“My mother sits next to me all morning so I have no choice but to do homework,” one 9-year-old boy says as he played on a seesaw at a park. “But the one good thing is that I can play Nintendo Switch for ages,” he says, adding that his family’s usual 45-minute rule has been scrapped.

“Now I can play as long as I like!”

More screen-time can be educational as well as fun

Looking for English-language content for kids in Japan? Here are few ideas that don’t involve Nintendo or YouTube.

SkyPerfecTV is offering Disney Channel and Disney Jr. for free until March 31 as well as National Geographic and Nat Geo Wild documentaries until March 22.

The Sony Global Math Challenge 2020 isn’t until later this year, but there’s nothing to stop kids signing up now. It’s free and offers access to a number of online mathematical puzzles to practice on before the competition.

Studycat, an app to teach kids English, Chinese, Spanish, French or German is offering a month’s free subscription to those affected by school closures.

Netflix has a 30-day free trial, so if you haven’t joined, now’s a good time, and there are plenty of acclaimed English-language options, including “Carmen Sandiego,” an animation about a thief who returns cultural items to rightful owners, and “The Who Was? Show,” a comedy series with a teen cast, covering historical figures and history. For older kids, “Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts,” is inclusive, LGBTQ-positive and has a great soundtrack; while “Bill Nye Saves the World” introduces science in the fun, flashy way Nye is famous for.

(Source: JT)

The longest holiday: Parents coping with coronavirus school closures in east Asia

In a bid to stem spread of the virus, schools in Hong Kong, China and Japan have been shut for weeks

“It’s been a long holiday,” laughs Hong Kong insurance worker and mother, Sarah Wong.

Wong and her two daughters, Chloe and Greeta, are at a co-working space in Jordan, Kowloon. Chloe has set her desk up like home, with an iPad, her own lamp, and an aromatherapy diffuser. The girls, aged 12 and eight, are listening to online lessons from their school which has been closed because of the coronavirus.

Across the world, governments are ordering or contemplating school closures in a bid to slow the spread of the virus. French officials closed about 120 schools in areas that have reported the largest numbers of infections, its education minister said on Tuesday.

Most Hong Kong schoolchildren have not returned to school since the lunar new year holidays and the government has extended closures to 20 April. Photograph: Kin Cheung/AP

In some countries parents have already had their children at home for more than a month. Some have taken holidays or sent the kids overseas to relatives.

Most Hong Kong schoolchildren never returned to school following the lunar new year holidays after the government announced and then extended closures to 20 April.

“In the first few weeks it was a little bit troublesome, it messed up all our schedules – not only the kids but all of our daily routine and work schedules,” Wong says.

But the start of online classes brought back routine and relieved the girls’ boredom, Wong says, and she’s lucky to have an employer who lets her work flexibly. Friends aren’t so fortunate and she says they are “panicked”.

When the weather is nice, Wong takes the girls to the playground or the beach, but amid calls for people to practise social distancing, they’re missing their friends.

On Hong Kong Island the age gap between Eiffel Chau’s children – kindergarten, grade one, and grade five – has made it difficult to manage all three.

“The youngest one in kindergarten doesn’t have any online class,” Chau says.

“I just need to keep her busy so she won’t disturb the other two kids. She has company, but she sees the parents at home so she expects the parents to do something with her.”

Chau says he’s lucky that he’s permitted to work from home, as his wife is a teacher and is busy running online classes for her students.

His advice to other parents facing the same situation is to take advantage of it. Hong Kong’s schooling is notoriously demanding, but Chau is using the extra time to teach his kids more responsibility for their home and chores, and to do more exercise.

“At the same time it’s also a good opportunity for us to catch up with family relations,” he says. “We have nowhere to go, even on the weekend. We do board games, and card games, that’s something we can take this chance to do.”

In China, millions of students have been home from school since mid-February. Schools have been ordered to provide online lessons, and primary classes are reportedly broadcast on public television.

Officials have advised, and in some cases ordered, families to stay inside, making the absence of school even harder for restless children stuck at home. Online videos show families playing elaborate games.

A flood of advice online ranges from creating strict daily schedules to follow, to videos with home science experiments and tips for activities. A notice in February from the Gulou district in Beijing advised parents to cherish the time: “The parent is the most important teacher in every child’s life,” it said.

But discussion topics such as “what kind of life have parents been pressured into” and “school start date is postponed” have more than 400m views and thousands of comments.

“ I just want to know when kindergarten starts,” one wrote.

“The kids are so destructive and parents are going crazy. I hope the epidemic passes as soon as possible, so that these destructive little beasts can study.”

Others complained about the difficulty of supervising their kids’ online classes and heavy workload. One said: “I am being tortured to death by these online classes. When will this end?”

People keep asking what it’s like to be in South Korea during corona. So no, it’s not World War Z; it’s this. I can’t go to work, and my kids can’t go to school. So we’re playing a lot of Connect 4 at home. /1 pic.twitter.com/KoZ5mX2aYS

— Robert E Kelly (@Robert_E_Kelly) February 25, 2020

Corona, off from school, week 2. Now we're doing puzzles pic.twitter.com/CLCfGCZ8Ru

— Robert E Kelly (@Robert_E_Kelly) March 2, 2020

In Japan many working parents were horrified by the government’s weekend announcement requesting every primary, middle and high school in the country to close until the start of the new academic year in mid-April.

The unprecedented shutdown, affecting almost 13 million pupils, has forced companies to rethink their rigid work practices, to allow working from home or shortening business hours.

Working mothers complained that the shutdown would force them to take time off, given the shortage of daycare facilities and the scarcity of nannies and babysitters.

A family in Hong Kong play board games amid the coronavirus outbreak. Photograph: Aleksander Solum/Reuters

An online poll by Yahoo Japan found 49% of parents said they would leave their children home alone, 20% would take time off work and 14% would enlist the help of grandparents.

In a few cases, parents have had no choice but to take their children to work. They include Keiko Kobayashi, a senior manager at a multinational staffing service in Tokyo.

“I was shocked by the news of the school closures, and thought, what should I do?” Kobayashi told Associated Press. “There was no explanation of how this is going to work.”

Back in Kowloon, Wong looks at her girls studying at the table and smiles. “I really hope they can go back to school soon,” she says. “They keep saying ‘I want to go to school’, which is good because before they didn’t want to go.”

(Source: The Guardian)

My brush with Lyme disease: How tick bites turned family day out to disaster

Our writer was not surprised by last week’s warning about increasing tick-borne infections

Three years ago, a few weeks after a family trip to the New Forest, I started to feel constantly nauseous and tired. A small red patch appeared on my ankle. I turned to the web for some answers, and Google turned up trumps: much to my horror, my symptoms matched some of those for the tick-borne bacterial infection Lyme disease.

My GP was doubtful (we lived in London and I had not noticed any ticks on me) but agreed to a blood test. It came back positive so the rest of my family was tested. My husband and daughter also had it but, ironically, my son – on whom I had spotted a tick – did not. Lyme is like malaria in that you might get bitten by a mosquito but only some of them carry the disease.

Warnings issued last week that Lyme is on the rise – and that the number of cases may be three times higher than estimated – are no surprise to me. When I got it, I was shocked to find how easily it could be transmitted, how unreliable testing for it was, and how awful the consequences were for those who didn’t get the right diagnosis in time.

My symptoms ruined our Christmas holiday and the antibiotics affected my daughter’s health during school exams. But we were fortunate. I subsequently learned that of two others who contracted Lyme in the New Forest, one – a child – was affected neurologically.

 Tara Conlan at her home in Bentworth, Sussex, near the New Forest where she contracted Lyme disease. Photograph: Sonja Horsman/The Observer

Given that the hosts for the New Forest ticks were deer, suffice to say, I no longer felt like crying at the film Bambi and – unpopular opinion alert – I began hoping people would view the deer in Richmond Park not through misty eyes but through sights on a rifle. (I was not alone. A letter to the Times last week asked: “If deer are deemed to be a significant threat to human health, and an increase in the cull is thought to be a reasonable solution, then why are we even hesitating?”)

But my research revealed deer to be only part of the problem: the unpalatable truth is that ticks are carried by other animals, including cats, dogs and birds. The International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society states: “A patient’s residence does not necessarily reflect his or her Lyme disease risk. People travel, pets travel and ticks travel. “Migratory birds carry ticks over great distances,” it adds.

You can’t become immune to Lyme – a lesson that leading media analyst Claire Enders learned first-hand. She has had Lyme twice, with the second bout going undiagnosed for a year as her test results gave a false negative. An eloquent businesswoman from a medical Nobel prize-winning US family, she became such an authority on the illness that when she told Jeremy Hunt the NHS website’s Lyme guidance was inadequate, the then health secretary had it updated.

Yet she had to work hard to convince her doctors she had it again: “I was asked if I had a ‘Daily Mail illness’. It was demeaning. I felt devastated by the illness, so to be told it was in my head because the test was negative was awful.”

Enders was unable to walk and suffered nerve damage, but is thankfully better after an 18-month cycle of antibiotics and hydrotherapy.

Advertisement
Language is important in raising awareness. She describes it as a “climate-change illness” and says Lyme should be compared with tropical diseases, not flu: “It’s a neural illness.”

Specialists say milder winters have increased the tick population, as fewer are being killed off by freezing weather. Enders points out, “this country is covered with woods and crawling with deer. People forget that birds get ticks, so do cats, dogs and other animals”.

She highlights how the US has dealt with the increase of Lyme – opening up special clinics where antibiotics are given out. UK doctors are more reluctant to prescribe antibiotics due to increased resistance, but Enders argues that, for her and most others, they are the only cure. Around 70% of her US family has had Lyme, and their estate is now sprayed to kill ticks after employees died from the disease.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has identified areas of the UK particularly at risk of the disease. They include the New Forest and Scottish Highlands where businessman Kenny Young got Lyme from ticks in the bracken. He was initially very tired but thought nothing of it until a rash appeared a few weeks later. “Luckily, I knew enough about Lyme to figure it out,” he said. “My doctor was in London and had never come across Lyme before. However, when I explained what had happened, she was very helpful and prescribed me the NHS-recommended course of antibiotics.”

He thinks the rise might be due to warmer weather but also different land usage: “In the past, there was much more bracken burning that kept it under control.”

Young now checks for ticks and says: “Hopefully, the big increase in Lyme across the UK and the US will encourage greater investment in finding a vaccine.”

Vaccination or better testing could help stop cases such as that of the former England rugby player Matt Dawson, whose misdiagnosis of Lyme led to him needing heart surgery. The expensive issue the government needs to confront is the ticks themselves and the bacteria they pass on; more research is needed into this mysterious and complex illness.

My specialist, Dr Darius Armstrong-James, says: “There seem to be other factors we don’t understand. I was told in medical school it was mostly [in the] New Forest and acquired by ticks from deer. Now it seems the animals that harbour Lyme are accepted to be much broader and the geography is obviously very broad.”

After my symptoms had subsided and my course of antibiotics was over, my samples were sent off to Porton Down to check I was clear of Lyme. However – and I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised by this point– this isn’t as straightforward a process as you would think. Once you’ve had Lyme, your blood will always show a positive test – even when the disease has gone.

 Ticks can be carried by dogs and cats, as well as wild animals such as deer and birds. Photograph: 4FR/iStockphoto

Symptoms include circular red mark on the skin, multiple red rashes, fatigue, aching joints, dizziness/vertigo, fever, night sweats, difficulty concentrating, neck stiffness/headaches, numbness or tingling, nausea, palpitations, shortness of breath, and mood changes.

What to wear insect repellent, a hat and long clothing in woodland; check yourself and pets for ticks.

(Source: The Guardian)

Eid Al Fitr holidays to start from June 2: Amiri Diwan

On the occasion of Eid Al Fitr, the Amiri Diwan announces that the Eid holiday will be as follows:

First: Eid Al Fitr holiday for the ministries, the other governmental organs and the general authorities and institutions will start on Sunday June 2, 2019 and ends on Monday June 10, 2019. State employees are to resume their work on Tuesday June 11, 2019

Second: Eid Al Fitr holiday for Qatar Central Bank (QCB) and banks and financial institutions working under the supervision of QCB and Qatar Financial Markets Authority (QFMA) will be determined by QCB Governor.

(Source: Qatar Tribune)

The benefits of a lousy passport

Having to choose from a limited number of holiday destinations can be strangely liberating, writes Leo Mirani in The Economist 1843. Read on: 

“What are you doing here?” is a question I got used to hearing pretty quickly in Kiev. It’s not that people were unhappy to see me – quite the opposite. But nobody in Ukraine could figure out why I was spending my summer vacation in a country that is the second poorest in Europe (after Moldova), at war (with Russia), and expensive to get to (a planned Ryanair route never took off). Perhaps, they ventured, I had an interest in Communist history and post-Soviet countries? Or maybe (nudge, nudge, wink, wink) because Ukrainian girls are very pretty?

The real reason is deeply unsexy. I went to Ukraine because Ukraine would have me. I hold an Indian passport – ranked 159th out of 199 countries on a list of the world’s most powerful passports measured by ease of travel. In April the Ukrainian ministry of foreign affairs announced that it would grant visas on arrival to citizens of nearly three dozen countries. Earlier this year, the president of neighbouring Belarus decreed visa-free access for citizens of 80 countries. Both lists included India. So I went.

The top five slots in the ranking of powerful passports are shared by 22 countries, two thirds of which are within the European Union. EU citizens can go to more than 150 countries visa-free or get a visa on arrival. People from Canada, Japan, Singapore and America have similar privileges. At the other end of the scale are Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Syria, Somalia and Yemen, which occupy the bottom five ranks. Each one of those passports grants its holder access to, at most, 35 countries. The Indian passport is more useful, but not by much. It gives me easy access to a paltry 51 countries. The rest, including North America and all European countries, require a visa.

On the plus side, this means Indian passports tend to be full of stamps and stickers. On the minus side, getting a visa is hard. It requires lots of money in the bank, pre-booked flights and hotels, the disclosure of tax returns and payslips, proof of intent to return home, hefty fees and ritual humiliation. When a visa is rejected, it means losing money on application fees, plane tickets and other bookings as well as having to explain yourself the next time you make a visa application.

If you work in a profession that requires you to travel abroad at short notice, like journalism, having to apply for visas can hold you back. Once, in a previous job, I had to decline a free trip to report on a cocktail-making competition in Athens because I couldn’t get a visa appointment in time.

When I am travelling for leisure, I prefer to avoid the hassle of applying for a visa. I do not choose destinations so much as they choose me. That is why I have gone on holiday twice to Iran. I have ended up in countries where people are surprised and genuinely happy to meet a visitor. In Isfahan, a city in central Iran, a friend and I were stopped by a gang of excited youths as we crossed a bridge – they wanted a picture with us. (Europeans relate similar stories about feeling like mini-celebrities in small-town India.)

In Minsk, complete strangers I emailed agreed to meet for drinks and acquaintances of acquaintances offered to show me around. I’ve gained valuable insights into how societies operate. In Kiev, I spent an afternoon sitting in an ancient flat chatting to a bunch of undergraduates about everything from Ukrainian education standards and the local indie music scene to the situation in Donbas and corruption in the judiciary. I have experienced extraordinary acts of generosity. In Albania a few years ago, a complete stranger drove me halfway across the country after a bus driver decided against plying his route that day.

Letting the world’s bureaucrats choose my destinations has led to enriching, unforgettable holidays. I hope there will be many more to come. Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan have recently started granting e-visas to Indians. Over the past few years south-east Asian countries have liberalised their visa regimes, with the result that Indian and Chinese tourists have started pouring in. In September, Serbia abolished the visa requirement altogether. For the first time, I find myself confronted with a choice of where to spend my money. It is nice to feel wanted.

UAE holidays in 2017: The year of long weekends

And what better way to start the New Year than with a holiday.

January 1, 2017 falls on a Sunday, so UAE will start the next year with a three-day weekend.

Throughout the rest of the year there are five long weekends, so there's plenty of time of everyone to pack their bags and head to those mini-vacations.

After January 1, the next holiday will be the beginning of the holy month of Ramadan, scheduled to fall on May 25, a Thursday, subject to moon sighting.

The next month will see another long weekend, with Eid Al Fitr falling on June 25, a Sunday, again subject to sighting of the moon.

Two months later, on August 31, will be Arafat (Haj) Day, which falls on a Thursday.

The following month, on September 21, a Thursday, will be the Hijri New Year's Day, subject to moon sighting.

Commemoration Day, which is observed on November 30, will also fall on a Thursday. Prophet Muhammad's Birthday (PBUH) is likely to fall on the same day, subject to moon sighting.

Bonus: December 31, 2017 will fall on a Sunday, and January 1, 2018 is a Monday. So if you take the Sunday off, you can enjoy a four-day-long weekend.

Here's the list of UAE's expected public holidays in 2017:

Occasion	Date	Day	Duration (No. of Days)
New Year's Day	Jan 1	Sunday	1
Isra Wal Mi'raj*	April 24	Monday	1
Beginning of Ramadan*	May 25	Thursday	0
Eid Al Fitr*	Jun 25	Sunday	2
Arafat (Haj) Day*	Aug 31	Thursday	1
Eid Al Adha*	Sept 1	Friday	2
Hijri New Year's Day*	Sept 21	Thursday	1
Commemoration Day	Nov 30	Thursday	1
Prophet Muhammad's Birthday* (PBUH)	Nov 30	Thursday	1
UAE National Day	Dec 02	Friday	1
*Islamic holiday exact dates are subject to moon sighting and may differ from the date given.

(Source: Khaleej Times)