Babak Belurs: Februari 2020

Sabtu, 29 Februari 2020

Top U.K. Civil Servant Quits and Vows to Sue, Accusing Minister of ‘Vicious’ Behavior - The New York Times

LONDON — An extraordinary public row broke out in Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s new government on Saturday, with a top civil servant quitting amid allegations that he was bullied and mistreated by one of Mr. Johnson’s closest political allies.

The official who quit, Philip Rutnam, was the permanent secretary of the Home Office. He said that Home Secretary Priti Patel had carried out a “vicious and orchestrated” campaign to discredit him and undermine his authority as the ranking career official in the ministry, which oversees law enforcement and immigration.

Mr. Rutnam, a 33-year veteran of the government, said he had clashed repeatedly with Ms. Patel over her management of the Home Office, one of the most powerful ministries in the British government, whose immigration responsibilities give it a major role in shaping Britain’s departure from the European Union.

“I have received allegations that her conduct has included shouting and swearing, belittling people, making unreasonable and repeated demands — behavior that created fear and that needed some bravery to call out,” Mr. Rutnam said, reading an emotional statement before television cameras.

Philip Rutnam, the top civil servant at the Home Office. — Credit...Press Association, via Associated Press

Mr. Rutnam said he believed his treatment was part of a wider pattern of abusive behavior in the government, which has been in a state of near-constant personnel upheaval since Mr. Johnson’s Conservative Party won a commanding majority in Parliament in last December’s general election.

Earlier in February, the government’s top finance minister, Sajid Javid, resigned rather than accept a demand from the prime minister to cut loose his senior aides. Mr. Johnson’s influential political adviser, Dominic Cummings, has moved ruthlessly to remove officials he views as obstacles to Mr. Johnson’s agenda.

Career civil servants like Mr. Rutnam play a powerful, behind-the-scenes role in running Britain’s government. Often schooled at Oxford or Cambridge and studiously nonpartisan, they serve Labour and Conservative governments alike. But Mr. Cummings has made no secret of his belief that Mr. Johnson needs more “weirdos and misfits” and fewer Oxbridge-educated Mandarins.

Most of this housecleaning is going on behind closed doors, the subject of water-cooler gossip or anonymously sourced articles in newspapers. But with Mr. Rutnam’s bitter resignation — in which he accused Ms. Patel of lying — the tensions in Mr. Johnson’s government have spilled into public view.

Analysts said they could not recall a career civil servant quitting in such a spectacle.

Opposition Labour Party officials said the resignation laid bare the government’s drive to stamp out any internal dissent. Jon Trickett, the party’s spokesman on civil service questions, said on Twitter that it showed “the underlying right-wing authoritarian but incompetent nature of the Johnson government.”

The dispute calls into question the future of Ms. Patel, a hard-line Brexiteer who is known for her tough talk on crime and immigration, and for her skepticism about the merits of foreign aid. The daughter of Indian immigrants who came to Britain via Uganda, she is close to Mr. Johnson and has emerged as perhaps the most powerful woman in his government.

But Ms. Patel has been a lightning rod for criticism throughout her career. In 2017, Mr. Johnson’s predecessor, Prime Minister Theresa May, dismissed her from the post of International Development secretary after she held unauthorized meetings with several Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, during what was supposed to be a family visit to the country.

Ms. Patel did not immediately issue a statement on Saturday afternoon in response to Mr. Rutnam’s resignation. The head of the civil service, Cabinet Secretary Mark Sedwill, said in a terse statement to the BBC: “I have received and accepted with great regret the resignation of Sir Philip Rutnam. I think him for his long and dedicated career of public service.”

A graduate of Cambridge and Harvard, Mr. Rutnam previously held positions in the Treasury and the Department of Transport. In 2018, he was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath, which added a Sir to his name.

Mr. Rutnam acknowledged that Mr. Sedwill had offered him a financial settlement to leave quietly. But Mr. Rutnam said that he planned instead to sue the Home Office for “constructive dismissal,” a legal term for being forced out of a job. That raised the prospect of public legal hearings that could air further embarrassing details about Ms. Patel’s treatment of her staff.

Mr. Rutnam’s statement already offered plenty of grist for her critics. He said he did not believe Ms. Patel’s denials that she had orchestrated a whispering campaign against him with the news media. Despite their falling out, Mr. Rutnam said, he had tried to reconcile with her at the request of Mr. Sedwill and the prime minister. Ms. Patel, he said, refused to engage with him.

Fighting back tears, Mr. Rutnam said, “This has been a very difficult decision, but I hope that my stand may help in maintaining the quality of government in our country, which includes hundreds of thousands of civil servants, loyally dedicated to delivering this government’s agenda.”

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2020-02-29 15:09:00Z
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Coronavirus: British man who was on Diamond Princess ship dies in Japan - BBC News

A British man has become the first UK citizen to die from coronavirus after being infected on the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan.

He is the sixth passenger to die from Covid-19, the disease caused by the virus, Japan's health ministry said.

Another person has tested positive for the virus in England, which they caught in the UK.

The total number of coronavirus cases in the UK now stands at 20.

Confirming the latest UK case, Professor Chris Whitty, chief medical officer for England, said: "It is not yet clear whether they contracted it directly or indirectly from an individual who had recently returned from abroad."

The patient has been transferred to a specialist NHS infection centre at Guy's and St Thomas' in London.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who is due to chair an emergency Cobra committee meeting on Monday, said preparing for an outbreak in the UK was now the government's "top priority".

Speaking from Downing Street on Friday evening, Mr Johnson offered his condolences to the family of the British man who died from Covid-19.

When asked if the government should have acted sooner for Britons on the cruise ship, he said it had been following the "best medical advice" about not repatriating people unless it is certain there will not be a spread to the UK.

Mr Johnson has also faced criticism from Labour for waiting until Monday to hold the government Cobra meeting.

But he said he had been working behind the scenes, meeting with the health secretary and chief medical officers to discuss the NHS's preparations.

Hundreds of people on board the coronavirus-hit Diamond Princess cruise ship became infected while it was held in quarantine off the port of Yokohama earlier this month.

A group of 30 British nationals and two Irish citizens were flown back to the UK from the cruise liner last Saturday.

They were taken on coaches to Arrowe Park Hospital in Wirral, where they are spending two weeks in isolation.

However, some UK passengers were critical of the Foreign Office's "slow" response, and said the wait for repatriation had been "frustrating".

Among them were David and Sally Abel, from Northamptonshire, who were not on the evacuation flight after testing positive for the coronavirus. They were part of a group of at least four Britons taken to hospital in Japan for treatment.

A family member confirmed the couple are "doing well and fighting fit", adding: "They are getting stronger every day."

What do I need to know about the coronavirus?

WHAT ARE THE SYMPTOMS? A simple guide
WAYS TO PREVENT CATCHING IT: How to wash your hands
WHERE ARE WE WITH A VACCINE? Progress so far
A VISUAL GUIDE TO THE OUTBREAK: Virus maps and charts
WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR MY HOLIDAY? Your rights as a traveller

Earlier on Friday, three more cases of the virus were confirmed in the UK, including the first one in Wales.

Two new patients in England contracted the virus while in Iran, the Department of Health and Social Care said.

Public Health Wales said it was working to identify close contacts of the Welsh patient, who is believed to be from the Swansea area and was infected in northern Italy before returning to the UK.

Northern Ireland also confirmed its first case on Thursday. Authorities said they have contacted passengers who sat near the woman on a flight from northern Italy to Dublin.

Following the UK national's death in Japan, a Foreign Office spokesperson said: "We are supporting the family of a British man who has died in Japan and are in contact with local authorities.

"Our sympathies and thoughts are with his family at this difficult time."

A spokeswoman for Princess Cruises, which operates the Diamond Princess ship, also offered the company's "sincere condolences".

The first death of a Brit from the coronavirus is, sadly, not a surprise.

This outbreak has killed around 2,800 people, most of them in China.

As the number of people infected with the virus increases, so too will the number of deaths.

That is why attention continues to be on China, Italy, Iran, South Korea and Japan.

Each of those countries still has full-blown outbreaks of the coronavirus and their efforts to contain it will be crucial.

Other countries are already feeling the ripple effects of these outbreaks. The latest cases in the UK are connected to either Iran or Italy.

For now there is no coronavirus outbreak in the UK, but further imported cases are almost inevitable for as long as other countries have large numbers of infections.

The cruise liner, which had 3,711 passengers on board, was put under quarantine in Yokohama in early February after a man who disembarked in Hong Kong was found to have the virus.

At least 621 people on the ship later tested positive for coronavirus.

On Friday, the World Health Organization raised its global risk assessment of the virus to "very high" because of the continued emergence of cases and new countries being affected.

But Dr Michael Ryan, executive director of the World Health Organization Health Emergencies Programme, reiterated that the outbreak is not a pandemic.

He told a press conference: "If we say there is a pandemic of coronavirus we are essentially accepting every human on the planet will be exposed to that virus and the data does not support that as yet."

In other developments:

Globally, more than 80,000 people have been infected. About 2,800 have died - the majority in China's Hubei province
The UK's FTSE 100 share index has been hit by the biggest one-week fall since the 2008 financial crisis amid coronavirus fears.
Newcastle and West Ham football clubs have banned handshakes at their training grounds in an attempt to stop the virus' spread.
Richard Ratcliffe, the husband of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe who is currently jailed in Iran, said he fears for her after she developed a "cold" amid reports coronavirus had spread into the prison
Officials said 44 guests left a coronavirus-hit hotel in Tenerife on Friday morning but it is unclear if any of the 168 British travellers confined to the Costa Adeje Palace hotel have departed
Bank of England governor Mark Carney has warned the outbreak could lead to a downgrade of the UK's economic growth prospects, in an interview with Sky News

What should I do to minimise the risk?

Public health advice is to cover your mouth and nose with a tissue or sleeve when you cough or sneeze, throw away tissues immediately after use and wash your hands frequently.

It is also advised to avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth with unclean hands and avoid close contact with people who are unwell.

Have you been affected by the coronavirus? Or do you have any information to share? Get in touch by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.

Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also contact us in the following ways:

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2020-02-29 15:01:13Z
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Coronavirus: Three more people test positive in England - BBC News

Three more people from England have tested positive for coronavirus, taking the total number of UK cases to 23.

Two of the patients had recently returned from Italy, while the other had come back from Asia, chief medical officer Prof Chris Whitty said.

The cases are from Gloucestershire, Hertfordshire and Berkshire.

It comes as health officials try to discover how a man from Surrey caught the virus, after he became the first person to be infected within the UK.

The man, who is being treated at Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital in central London, had not been abroad recently - unlike the other cases in the UK.

Officials are trying to trace people who had contact with him. Haslemere Health Centre, which he had attended, has now reopened after "deep cleaning".

A pub in Haslemere, called the Prince of Wales, also closed for a deep clean as "a precautionary measure". A sign outside the pub said that "a customer who visited us has tested positive for coronavirus".

The government is next week expected to publish emergency legislation to help tackle the virus.

The package of measures would be designed to help the public sector - such as the NHS and schools - cope with a serious rise in cases.

There are few details about what the measures could involve - but school class sizes in England is one area which would be addressed. They would be permitted to rise above statutory limits, in the event of widespread teacher absences.

Health minister Edward Argar told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that "any responsible government" would have "contingency planning" in place, but added the government was "entirely focused on making containment work".

He said the contingency plans "are not needed at the moment".

Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who said the virus outbreak was now a top priority, will chair a meeting of the government's Cobra emergency committee on Monday.

He had faced criticism from Labour, who said he needed to "get a grip" on the situation and questioned why he was waiting until next week to hold the meeting.

Downing Street said the prime minister had spoken to Health Secretary Matt Hancock and Prof Whitty, the chief medical officer, on Saturday and was receiving regular updates.

"Everything possible is being done to limit the spread and make sure government departments and public services are prepared," Downing Street added.

As of 09:00 GMT on Saturday, more than 10,000 people in the UK had been tested for coronavirus.

In other recent developments:

The husband of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe - a British-Iranian woman jailed in Iran - has asked the UK government to ensure his wife is tested for coronavirus "immediately". Richard Ratcliffe said he suspected she had the virus but prison staff were refusing to test her
Meanwhile, conspiracy theories and false medical advice are becoming a problem in Iran - the country has seen more fatalities than anywhere else outside China
Fear of the virus wiped £200bn off UK firms' value as London's FTSE 100 share index saw one of its worst weeks since the 2008 financial crisis
People who had been in close contact with the first person to test positive for the virus in Northern Ireland have all been notified, officials say
"Drive-through" test centres for the virus have opened in Antrim and Edinburgh
Online supermarket Ocado has seen a spike in demand. The company told the BBC that shoppers were placing "particularly large orders" - and suggested customers place orders further in advance than usual
Three unexplained cases of the virus on the US West Coast have raised concerns the virus could be spreading within the community
France has temporarily banned gatherings of more than 5,000 people "in confined spaces" as it reported a jump in cases
And South Korea recorded its largest increase in coronavirus infections in a single day on Friday- bringing the total number of infections in the country to 3,150

People should wash their hands thoroughly, and carry a tissue to sneeze or cough into to reduce the spread of the virus, according to public health advice.

Of the case in Surrey, the Department of Health said the virus was passed on in the UK but the original source was "unclear" and there was no "immediately identifiable link" to overseas travel.

Dr Nathalie MacDermott, from King's College London, told the Today programme it was "alarming" because it becomes more difficult to contain the virus when it is not clear who patients have been infected by.

But she added the government's "worst case scenario" planning should not be a source of concern.

"It's important that we all prepare for the worst but that we don't necessarily panic and assume the worst," she said.

What do I need to know about the coronavirus?

WHAT ARE THE SYMPTOMS? A simple guide
WAYS TO PREVENT CATCHING IT: How to wash your hands
WHERE ARE WE WITH A VACCINE? Progress so far
A VISUAL GUIDE TO THE OUTBREAK: Virus maps and charts
WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR MY HOLIDAY? Your rights as a traveller

Meanwhile, a man has tested positive for coronavirus at a quarantined hotel in Tenerife.

He is one of a group of Italian holidaymakers from which the first four cases at the Costa Adeje Palace emerged. Those cases led the hotel to go into lockdown earlier this week.

At least six British guests are among 53 guests to have left the hotel after days of isolation.

The guests were considered "low risk" because they arrived after infected people had left the hotel.

The BBC's Fiona Trott said some of the other Britons at the hotel have received a letter from the Foreign Office telling them they will be tested for Covid-19.

The letter added British travellers at the hotel were assessed to be low risk, following a visit by Public Health England.

Airline Jet2 has said it would only fly passengers back to the UK if they had completed a 14-day quarantine at the hotel, or tested negative for the virus.

In addition to the Haslemere patient, three other cases of the virus were confirmed in the UK on Friday, including the first one in Wales.

Public Health Wales said it was working to identify close contacts of the Welsh patient, who is believed to be from the Swansea area and was infected in northern Italy before returning to the UK.

The World Health Organization has raised its global risk assessment of the virus to its top level, "very high".

Globally, more than 83,000 people have been infected, with cases in more than 50 countries. More than 2,800 have died - the vast majority in China's Hubei province, where the outbreak originated in December.

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2020-02-29 14:28:47Z
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Coronavirus: British man who was on Diamond Princess ship dies in Japan - BBC News

A British man has become the first UK citizen to die from coronavirus after being infected on the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan.

He is the sixth passenger to die from Covid-19, the disease caused by the virus, Japan's health ministry said.

Another person has tested positive for the virus in England, which they caught in the UK.

The total number of coronavirus cases in the UK now stands at 20.

The patient has been transferred to a specialist NHS infection centre at Guy's and St Thomas' in London.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who is due to chair an emergency Cobra committee meeting on Monday, said preparing for an outbreak in the UK was now the government's "top priority".