Displaying items by tag: lockdown

The National Domestic Abuse helpline has seen a 25% increase in calls and online requests for help since the lockdown. The charity warned that the lockdown heightened domestic tensions and cut off escape routes like the school run. It is believed that domestic violence and potential homicides will escalate as social distancing restrictions continue. Many perpetrators already use isolation ‘as a tool of control’. Last year 1.6 million women in England and Wales experienced domestic abuse. Pray that the women and children currently spending concentrated time with perpetrators may receive all the support they need from social services, police and charities. Pray that friends, family and neighbours who may have suspected abuse in the past will keep in contact with the vulnerable and report suspicious situations. Recently the UN reported, ‘Over the past weeks, as economic and social pressures and fear have grown, we have seen a horrifying global surge in domestic violence’.

Psalm 127:3 states, ‘Children are a gift from God’. In the Name of Jesus, we pray for children to be safe and secure, loved, enjoyed, and protected, and that everything God has put within them of fun, of laughter, of imagination and gift will be released and encouraged. We pray that this will be a time of unprecedented learning, growth and experience for them at every age. May their education come in multiple ways, with rich life-learning for all ages and stages at this time. We ask God to bless vulnerable children with safety, protection, and provision of shelter, food and love. We pray for children suffering from autism, dyslexia, ADHD and related issues. May they be surrounded at this time by those who love them, and may patience, acceptance, confidence and peace overwhelm every fear and anxiety.

Suppliers say fresh fruit and vegetables in Europe could dwindle as the coronavirus pandemic hampers the global movement of produce and people across borders. Governments are looking at ways to ease shortages, including ‘green lanes’ to allow fresh produce to move across closed EU borders. A ‘shadow army’ of European harvesters could be recruited and travel rules for migrant workers loosened. Workers are being prevented from travelling between Europe and Africa due to grounding of flights. There is also a shortage of lorry drivers. Europe’s supermarkets rely on Kenya as their major supplier of green beans and peas, but the sector’s workers have been sent home on mandatory leave because orders cannot be shipped. Shipments from South Africa are also becoming tougher, with the country beginning a 21-day lockdown. These challenges are beginning to affect the usual plentiful supplies. See also the UK article ‘Feed the nation’.

Lockdown has reduced vehicle traffic across India, leading to a drop in air pollution in over 90 cities, including Delhi. Welcoming the reduced pollution, environmentalists are now urging the government to treat it as a ‘wake-up call’ and stop its ‘obsession’ with development at the cost of the environment. Shutting down of industries, construction and traffic have contributed in improving the air quality. Rain is also helping, but the curbs on local emissions are playing a significant role in recording air quality in the range of good in 51 cities and satisfactory in 51 cities.

As coronavirus ravages the world, many are now watching Wuhan slowly emerging from two months’ complete lockdown - the population cautiously (with masks and gloves) moving about. The world is now in an extraordinary and precarious situation, watching Wuhan for a glimpse of what might lie in store for the rest of us. Will there be a second coronavirus wave there? Almost inevitably yes, but how big a wave and are hospitals better prepared? How will the Chinese government respond to this second wave, after its mismanagement and misinformation of the first outbreak? Will they keep damaging information secret? A recent report on the number of ash urns stacked at Wuhan funeral homes put the true death toll at over 40,000, not the official 2,500. Pray for transparency in communication and sharing of strategies, in China and across the nations, in order to craft effective responses to unfamiliar challenges. 

Coronavirus could not have come at a worse time for millions of Zimbabweans struggling with a deepening economic crisis, soaring food prices, stagnant salaries, water shortages and daily power blackouts. Early on 29 March Stewart Dzivira, his wife and their two-year-old son left Glen View to travel into Harare. For days now he has been unsuccessful in trying to get maize meal, a staple that has been in short supply following devastating droughts two years ago. He was not alone: hundreds of others were queueing on the eve of the three-week lockdown to contain coronavirus. Frequent thorough hand-washing with soap and water is the basic weapon against coronavirus, but in Harare alone one million people are without running water. Electricity is also scarce. Stewart said that without food ‘we’ll die of hunger.’

With rich countries like the US evacuating their students, Doctor Bakari, a Tanzanian PhD student, has become a leader for hundreds of students from poorer African countries stranded in Wuhan with little chance of escape. Beijing’s expanding influence on the youthful African continent means Africans are the second-largest population of foreign students. Over 4,000 are estimated to be in Wuhan alone. No one knows how long the lockdown will last, or all the ways the virus can spread. Students fear that angering Chinese or their country’s authorities could lead to retribution such as withdrawing scholarships. Kenya’s government had to defend itself against accusations that it was not helping its students. ‘Students don’t have a clue what’s going on’, says Bakari, who is sending updates on social media to 400+ Tanzanian students in Wuhan and hundreds more across China. ‘Together we are one family,’ his association tweeted, encouraging fellow Africans to take precautionary measures.

A virus that was first discovered on 31 December in Wuhan now has over 500 confirmed cases and has spread abroad. Anxiety is growing as 11 million people are told not to leave the city and experience lockdown in an attempt to control the spread which is killing people (17 dead, with the toll rapidly rising). Planes and trains in and out of the city are suspended, and no buses, subways, taxis or ferries are running. Millions of Chinese people travel to different destinations for the 25 January lunar New Year holiday. Supermarket shelves were reportedly bare as residents scrambled for supplies, while people took to social media to complain about soaring prices for groceries. The virus, which originated in a seafood market ‘conducting illegal transactions of wild animals’, may have originated in snakes. The centre for infectious disease analysis at Imperial College London estimates that there could be 4,000 people sick with the virus in Wuhan.