Biodun Iginla, BBC News

Biodun Iginla, BBC News
Showing posts with label isolation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label isolation. Show all posts

Thursday, April 2, 2020

ANALYSIS: Chinese students fleeing virus face uneasy reception back home


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With most international flights cancelled and nearly all foreigners barred from entering the country, the vast majority of returnees are Chinese nationals
With most international flights cancelled and nearly all foreigners barred from entering the country, the vast majority of returnees are Chinese nationals GREG BAKER AFP
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Beijing 
by Xian Wan and Biodun Iginla, France24 News Analysts
Chinese students flying home from overseas to escape the coronavirus pandemic face a frosty reception from sections of the public who view them as wealthy, spoiled -- and potentially contaminated.
The number of officially reported cases in China has dwindled dramatically over the last month, but the country is now taking drastic steps to try and stem a second wave of infections brought in from abroad.
With most international flights cancelled and nearly all foreigners barred from entering the country, the vast majority of returnees are Chinese nationals, including many students.
The situation has exposed animosities over class and privilege in Chinese society, fuelled by online posts stereotyping returning students as ungrateful and even dangerous -- using the irresponsible behaviour of a few individuals as proof.
"Right now, public opinion in China is very unfriendly towards Chinese overseas students, and quarantine facilities there are mixed," said Hestia Zhang, a master's student at Yale University.
She has decided to stay in self-isolation on campus rather than go back, despite the United States now accounting for almost a quarter of reported global infections.
"There are also a lot of risks on the journey home, so I might as well stay here and wait it out," she told us at France24.  
Meanwhile Cathy, who landed in China on Tuesday morning, is resigned to the fact that she may encounter prejudice. Using her English name to conceal her identity, she said she had "no choice but to bear it".
Nearly half of China's 800 imported virus cases are overseas students.
Most returnees need to spend two weeks in isolation, and a widely shared video of a returned student who tried to escape her quarantine accommodation in the city of Qingdao has prompted outrage online.
- 'China-hating wretches' -
A similar angry reaction met clips showing another returnee angrily demanding bottled mineral water from quarantine facility workers in Shanghai.
"They eat food from our bowl, yet turn on the motherland as soon as they stop eating. We don't need to take them back," wrote one user, garnering thousands of likes.
There is a widely held belief that international students see themselves as superior to their fellow citizens, said Yik-Chan Chin, a professor of media and communications at Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University.
This is often compounded by perceptions of the students' extreme wealth and multiple nationalities, she said.
The vast majority of China's 1.6 million outbound students are still overseas, according to the education ministry.
Many want to come back but face astronomical ticket prices and gruelling multiple-transit flights, plus the increased risk of infection en route.
Beijing chartered a flight Monday to rescue some 200 overseas students left stranded in Ethiopia after their transfer flights to China were cancelled last-minute, and another took off on Thursday to bring students back from the UK.
"I hope those you're taking back are conscientious and patriotic, and not a group of ungrateful, China-hating wretches who are only concerned with living a life of luxury," one user fumed.
However there has been some sympathy, especially as many overseas students donated medical supplies in the initial stages of the outbreak.
"Who emptied global supermarket shelves of protective supplies and sent them back to China? International students!" wrote the film director Lu Chuan in a Weibo post.

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Monday, March 23, 2020

ANALYSIS: Harvey Weinstein 'tests positive for coronavirus in prison'


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Film producer Harvey Weinstein departs Criminal Court on the first day of a sexual assault trial in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, U.S., January 6, 2020.
Film producer Harvey Weinstein departs Criminal Court on the first day of a sexual assault trial in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, U.S., January 6, 2020. © REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
by Kathy DiNuzzo and Biodun Iginla, France24 News Analysts, New York
Former movie producer Harvey Weinstein, who is serving a prison sentence for sexual assault and rape, has tested positive for the coronavirus, according to the head of the state corrections officers union.
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Weinstein, 68, has been placed in isolation at Wende Correctional Facility, said Michael Powers, president of the New York State Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association.
Powers said he learned that the test came back positive on Sunday morning and is concerned about the corrections officers, who he said lack proper protective equipment. Several staff have been quarantined, Powers said.
Weinstein arrived at Wende Correctional Facility, a maximum security prison east of Buffalo, New York, on Wednesday after being housed at New York City's Rikers Island jail.
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He was sentenced to 23 years in prison on March 11 for sexually assaulting former production assistant Mimi Haleyi and raping Jessica Mann, a onetime aspiring actress.
Following the sentencing, Weinstein spent time at Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan for heart problems, according to his spokesman, Juda Engelmayer. He also has other medical issues, including diabetes and high blood pressure.
A lawyer for Weinstein said on Sunday night that his legal team had not been notified of the coronavirus diagnosis. "Given Mr. Weinstein's state of health, we are of course concerned, if this is the case, and we are vigilantly monitoring the situation," said lawyer Imran Ansari, who is based in New York.
The Niagara Gazette, a local newspaper in upstate New York, reported that Weinstein had tested positive for the highly contagious virus earlier Sunday, citing anonymous officials.
Two prisoners at the Wende Facility have confirmed cases of COVID-19, a state prison official told Reuters. The official said he could not comment on any individual prisoner's medical record.
The official told Reuters that, with each confirmed case, the Department of Corrections works with the Department of Health to identify potentially exposed people.
Mark David Chapman, who murdered Beatle John Lennon in 1980, served some of his time at Wende Correctional Facility, as did Robert Chambers, dubbed the "Preppie killer," who strangled 18-year-old Jennifer Levin in New York City’s Central Park in 1986.
Weinstein's conviction was hailed as a victory for the #MeToo movement against sexual misconduct by powerful men.
More than 100 women, including famous actresses, have accused Weinstein of sexual misconduct stretching back decades. He has denied the allegations, saying any sex was consensual.
Weinstein also faces separate sexual assault charges in Los Angeles.
Weinstein won an Academy Award for producing "Shakespeare in Love" and was responsible for other acclaimed films including "Pulp Fiction," "The English Patient" and "Gangs of New York."

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