A mysterious and deadly fungal infection called Candida&nbsp;Auris&nbsp;at a Florida hospital has become the cause of dozens of hospitalisations.

The yeast infection may have been caused due to the reuse of the&nbsp;personal protective equipment (PPE), as per a report by the&nbsp;Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The multidrug-resistant yeast was first identified in Japan in 2009 and has been a top priority for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in recent years because of its increasing global spread.

Candida&nbsp;Auris&nbsp;is associated with up to 40 per cent in-hospital mortality and is usually caught inside healthcare settings, especially when people have feeding or breathing tubes, or catheters placed in large veins.

It causes bloodstream, wound and ear infections and has also been found in urine and respiratory samples, but it's not clear if the fungus actually infects the lung or bladder.

The recent outbreak began in July when a hospital, which the report did not name, notified the Florida Department of Health of an initial four cases of the fungus among patients being treated for the coronavirus.

The next month, the hospital carried out additional screening in its Covid-19 unit, which spanned four floors across five wings, and identified 35 more patients as being Candida&nbsp;Auris-positive.

Follow-up data was available for only 20 out of the 35 patients.&nbsp;Eight of these 20 people died, but it was not clear whether the fungus was the main factor or not.

The Florida Department of Health and CDC performed a joint investigation focused on infection prevention and control measures, finding numerous weaknesses.&nbsp;

"Mobile computers and medical equipment were not always disinfected between uses, medical supplies (e.g., oxygen tubing and gauze) were stored in open bins," the CDC report said.

It added that hospital staff, possibly out of fear of the coronavirus, were wearing multiple layers of personal protective equipment (PPE), which is not recommended and in fact heightens the risk of microbe transmission.

There were also instances of extended PPE use and re-use.

After the hospital removed supplies from hallways, enhanced cleaning and disinfection practices, and improved practices around PPE use, no further Candida&nbsp;Auris was detected on subsequent surveys.

"Outbreaks such as that described in this report highlight the importance of adhering to recommended infection control and PPE practices and continuing surveillance for novel pathogens like Candida&nbsp;Auris," the report concluded.

Candida&nbsp;Auris has now been documented in more than 30 countries, with some 1,500 US cases reported to the CDC as of October 31, 2020.

The CDC says the fungus can spread in healthcare settings "through contact with contaminated environmental surfaces or equipment, or from person to person."

&nbsp;

A mysterious and deadly fungal infection called Candida Auris at a Florida hospital has become the cause of dozens of hospitalisations. The yeast infection may have been caused due to the reuse of the personal protective equipment (PPE), as per a report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

A mysterious and deadly fungal infection called Candida Auris at a Florida hospital has become the cause of dozens of hospitalisations. The yeast infection may have been caused due to the reuse of the personal protective equipment (PPE), as per a report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The multidrug-resistant yeast was first identified in Japan in 2009 and has been a top priority for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in recent years because of its increasing global spread. Candida Auris is associated with up to 40 per cent in-hospital mortality and is usually caught inside healthcare settings, especially when people have feeding or breathing tubes, or catheters placed in large veins. It causes bloodstream, wound and ear infections and has also been found in urine and respiratory samples, but it's not clear if the fungus actually infects the lung or bladder. The recent outbreak began in July when a hospital, which the report did not name, notified the Florida Department of Health of an initial four cases of the fungus among patients being treated for the coronavirus. The next month, the hospital carried out additional screening in its Covid-19 unit, which spanned four floors across five wings, and identified 35 more patients as being Candida Auris-positive. Follow-up data was available for only 20 out of the 35 patients. Eight of these 20 people died, but it was not clear whether the fungus was the main factor or not. The Florida Department of Health and CDC performed a joint investigation focused on infection prevention and control measures, finding numerous weaknesses. "Mobile computers and medical equipment were not always disinfected between uses, medical supplies (e.g., oxygen tubing and gauze) were stored in open bins," the CDC report said. It added that hospital staff, possibly out of fear of the coronavirus, were wearing multiple layers of personal protective equipment (PPE), which is not recommended and in fact heightens the risk of microbe transmission. There were also instances of extended PPE use and re-use. After the hospital removed supplies from hallways, enhanced cleaning and disinfection practices, and improved practices around PPE use, no further Candida Auris was detected on subsequent surveys. "Outbreaks such as that described in this report highlight the importance of adhering to recommended infection control and PPE practices and continuing surveillance for novel pathogens like Candida Auris," the report concluded. Candida Auris has now been documented in more than 30 countries, with some 1,500 US cases reported to the CDC as of October 31, 2020. The CDC says the fungus can spread in healthcare settings "through contact with contaminated environmental surfaces or equipment, or from person to person."

Candida auris: Killer fungus spreading rapidly in coronavirus wards in US

With 18,222 new coronavirus cases and 228 deaths recorded in the past 24 hours, India's overall infection tally stood at 1,04,31,639 on Saturday, while the death toll reached 1,50,798, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said. 
 
India continues its streak of low daily new cases and the country has reported a total of 1,00,56,651 recoveries so far. 
 
The recovery rate stands at 96.41 per cent, while the fatality rate is 1.45 as per cent.&nbsp;Currently, there are 2,24,190 active cases.

According to the Indian Council of Medical Research, a total of 18,02,53,315 samples have been tested so far, 9,16,951 of them on Friday,&nbsp;for coronavirus infection.&nbsp;

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Maharashtra continues to be the worst-hit state with 1,954,553 total cases. 
 
About per cent of the daily new cases are being reported by 10 states and union territory -- Kerala, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan. 
 
On Wednesday, the government deployed a high-level Central Team to Kerala to review the public health interventions in the management of the pandemic by the state government and support the health authorities in these measures. 
 
Meanwhile, the most-awaited mass vaccination drive is slated to begin soon, with the approval of two vaccines. 
 
The Centre has planned to vaccinate nearly 30 crore people in the first phase. 
 
It will be offered to 1 crore healthcare workers; 2 crore frontline and essential workers; 26 crore people above the age of 50; and 1 crore below 50 with comorbidities.

With 18,222 new coronavirus cases and 228 deaths recorded in the past 24 hours, India's overall infection tally stood at 1,04,31,639 on Saturday, while the death toll reached 1,50,798, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said.

With 18,222 new coronavirus cases and 228 deaths recorded in the past 24 hours, India's overall infection tally stood at 1,04,31,639 on Saturday, while the death toll reached 1,50,798, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said. India continues its streak of low daily new cases and the country has reported a total of 1,00,56,651 recoveries so far. The recovery rate stands at 96.41 per cent, while the fatality rate is 1.45 as per cent. Currently, there are 2,24,190 active cases. According to the Indian Council of Medical Research, a total of 18,02,53,315 samples have been tested so far, 9,16,951 of them on Friday, for coronavirus infection. COVID-19 Testing Update. For more details visit: https://t.co/dI1pqvXAsZ @MoHFW_INDIA @DeptHealthRes #ICMRFIGHTSCOVID19 #IndiaFightsCOVID19 #CoronaUpdatesInIndia #COVID19 #Unite2FightCorona pic.twitter.com/fAC6D4A1pt — ICMR (@ICMRDELHI) January 9, 2021 × Maharashtra continues to be the worst-hit state with 1,954,553 total cases. About per cent of the daily new cases are being reported by 10 states and union territory -- Kerala, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan. On Wednesday, the government deployed a high-level Central Team to Kerala to review the public health interventions in the management of the pandemic by the state government and support the health authorities in these measures. Meanwhile, the most-awaited mass vaccination drive is slated to begin soon, with the approval of two vaccines. The Centre has planned to vaccinate nearly 30 crore people in the first phase. It will be offered to 1 crore healthcare workers; 2 crore frontline and essential workers; 26 crore people above the age of 50; and 1 crore below 50 with comorbidities.

India reports 18,222 new coronavirus cases; total tally reaches 1,04,31,639

Scientists at the University of Michigan have discovered a bacteria called ''Iron Man'' that they believe can help in protecting the environment, in the latest study.

The study published in the&nbsp;Frontiers in Microbiology shows that&nbsp;microbes are capable of an incredible feat that could help reclaim a valuable natural resource and soak up toxic pollutants.

The research led by&nbsp;Gemma Reguera,&nbsp;a professor in the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics from Michigan State University, can open doors for the bacteria's application&nbsp;in recycling and remediation.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/scientists-discover-new-state-of-matter-liquid-glass-355332" hreflang="en">Scientists discover new state of matter: Liquid Glass</a>

The lesson is that we really need to think outside the box, especially in biology. We just know the tip of the iceberg. Microbes have been on earth for billions of years, and to think that they can't do something precludes us from so many ideas and applications," said Reguera.

Reguera's team works with bacteria found in soil and sediment known as Geobacter. In its latest project, the team investigated what happened to the bacteria when they encounter cobalt.

Cobalt is a valuable but increasingly scarce metal used in batteries for electric vehicles and alloys for spacecraft. It`s also highly toxic to livings things, including humans and bacteria. It&nbsp;kills a lot of microbes by penetrating&nbsp;their cells and wreaks havoc.

But the team suspected Geobacter might be able to escape that fate. These microbes are a hardy bunch. They can block uranium contaminants from getting into groundwater, and they can power themselves by pulling energy from minerals containing iron oxide. "They respire rust," Reguera said.

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In picture:&nbsp;This Geobacter cell, which looks a bit like a gray peanut in this microscope image, is speckled with a dark coating of cobalt minerals that would be toxic to many organisms. Credit: Hunter Dulay, MSU

Scientists know little about how microbes interact with cobalt in the environment, but many researchers, including one grant reviewer, believed that the toxic metal would be too much for the microbes.

But Reguera's team challenged that thinking and found Geobacter to be effective cobalt "miners," extracting the metal from rust without letting it penetrate their cells and kill them. Rather, the bacteria essentially coat themselves with the metal.

"They form cobalt nanoparticles on their surface. They metallize themselves and it`s like a shield that protects them," Reguera said. "It's like Iron Man when he puts on the suit."

The Spartan team included Kazem Kashefi, an assistant professor in the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, and graduate students Hunter Dulay and Marcela Tabares, who are "two amazing and relatively junior investigators," Reguera said.

She sees this discovery as a proof-of-concept that opens the door to a number of exciting possibilities. For example, Geobacter could form the basis of new biotechnology built to reclaim and recycle cobalt from lithium-ion batteries, reducing the nation`s dependence on foreign cobalt mines.

It also invites researchers to study Geobacter as a means to soak up other toxic metals that were previously believed to be death sentences for the bacteria. Reguera is particularly interested in seeing if Geobacter could help clean up cadmium, a metal that`s found in industrial pollution that disproportionately affects America`s most disadvantaged communities.

"This is a reminder to be creative and not limited in the possibilities. Research is the freedom to explore, to search and search and search," Reguera said.

"We have textbook opinions about what microbes can and should do, but life is so diverse and colourful. There are other processes out there waiting to be discovered."&nbsp;

Scientists at the University of Michigan have discovered a bacteria called ''Iron Man'' that they believe can help in protecting the environment, in the latest study.

Scientists at the University of Michigan have discovered a bacteria called ''Iron Man'' that they believe can help in protecting the environment, in the latest study. The study published in the Frontiers in Microbiology shows that microbes are capable of an incredible feat that could help reclaim a valuable natural resource and soak up toxic pollutants. The research led by Gemma Reguera, a professor in the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics from Michigan State University, can open doors for the bacteria's application in recycling and remediation. Also read: Scientists discover new state of matter: Liquid Glass The lesson is that we really need to think outside the box, especially in biology. We just know the tip of the iceberg. Microbes have been on earth for billions of years, and to think that they can't do something precludes us from so many ideas and applications," said Reguera. Reguera's team works with bacteria found in soil and sediment known as Geobacter. In its latest project, the team investigated what happened to the bacteria when they encounter cobalt. Cobalt is a valuable but increasingly scarce metal used in batteries for electric vehicles and alloys for spacecraft. It`s also highly toxic to livings things, including humans and bacteria. It kills a lot of microbes by penetrating their cells and wreaks havoc. But the team suspected Geobacter might be able to escape that fate. These microbes are a hardy bunch. They can block uranium contaminants from getting into groundwater, and they can power themselves by pulling energy from minerals containing iron oxide. "They respire rust," Reguera said. In picture: This Geobacter cell, which looks a bit like a gray peanut in this microscope image, is speckled with a dark coating of cobalt minerals that would be toxic to many organisms. Credit: Hunter Dulay, MSU Scientists know little about how microbes interact with cobalt in the environment, but many researchers, including one grant reviewer, believed that the toxic metal would be too much for the microbes. But Reguera's team challenged that thinking and found Geobacter to be effective cobalt "miners," extracting the metal from rust without letting it penetrate their cells and kill them. Rather, the bacteria essentially coat themselves with the metal. "They form cobalt nanoparticles on their surface. They metallize themselves and it`s like a shield that protects them," Reguera said. "It's like Iron Man when he puts on the suit." The Spartan team included Kazem Kashefi, an assistant professor in the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, and graduate students Hunter Dulay and Marcela Tabares, who are "two amazing and relatively junior investigators," Reguera said. She sees this discovery as a proof-of-concept that opens the door to a number of exciting possibilities. For example, Geobacter could form the basis of new biotechnology built to reclaim and recycle cobalt from lithium-ion batteries, reducing the nation`s dependence on foreign cobalt mines. It also invites researchers to study Geobacter as a means to soak up other toxic metals that were previously believed to be death sentences for the bacteria. Reguera is particularly interested in seeing if Geobacter could help clean up cadmium, a metal that`s found in industrial pollution that disproportionately affects America`s most disadvantaged communities. "This is a reminder to be creative and not limited in the possibilities. Research is the freedom to explore, to search and search and search," Reguera said. "We have textbook opinions about what microbes can and should do, but life is so diverse and colourful. There are other processes out there waiting to be discovered."

Scientists believe bacteria called 'Iron Man' can help in protecting the environment

Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz received a first dose of a coronavirus vaccine on Friday&nbsp;in the NEOM economic zone, the state news agency SPA said.

The agency posted a short video that showed a medical staff injecting the king with the vaccine.

Saudi Arabia began inoculating people in the kingdom with a COVID-19 vaccine in mid-December 2020, becoming the first Arab country to roll out the Pfizer-BioNTech jab.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/saudi-arabia-begins-coronavirus-vaccination-campaign-350684">Saudi Arabia begins coronavirus vaccination campaign</a>

The health ministry said the programme would roll out in three phases, starting with people over 65 and those with chronic ailments or at high risk of infection.

People over 50 would be vaccinated next, with everyone else included in the third stage, the ministry said, adding that the vaccine would be free for citizens and residents.

The kingdom has reported around 363,000 cases coronavirus case with 6,278 deaths,&nbsp;the highest among the Gulf Arab states.&nbsp;But the kingdom has also reported a high recovery rate.

Although it began lifting restrictions several months ago, the country has so far avoided a new wave of infections.

According to official figures,&nbsp;Saudi Arabia has a population of more than 34 million.

Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz received a first dose of a coronavirus vaccine on Friday in the NEOM economic zone, the state news agency SPA said. The agency posted a short video that showed a medical staff injecting the king with the vaccine.

Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz received a first dose of a coronavirus vaccine on Friday in the NEOM economic zone, the state news agency SPA said. The agency posted a short video that showed a medical staff injecting the king with the vaccine. Saudi Arabia began inoculating people in the kingdom with a COVID-19 vaccine in mid-December 2020, becoming the first Arab country to roll out the Pfizer-BioNTech jab. Also read: Saudi Arabia begins coronavirus vaccination campaign The health ministry said the programme would roll out in three phases, starting with people over 65 and those with chronic ailments or at high risk of infection. People over 50 would be vaccinated next, with everyone else included in the third stage, the ministry said, adding that the vaccine would be free for citizens and residents. The kingdom has reported around 363,000 cases coronavirus case with 6,278 deaths, the highest among the Gulf Arab states. But the kingdom has also reported a high recovery rate. Although it began lifting restrictions several months ago, the country has so far avoided a new wave of infections. According to official figures, Saudi Arabia has a population of more than 34 million.

Saudi Arabia's King Salman receives first dose of coronavirus vaccine

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Friday called the United States Pyongyang's ''biggest enemy'' as he threw down the diplomatic gauntlet to the incoming administration of Joe Biden.

Kim Jong-un also threatened&nbsp;to expand his nuclear arsenal and develop more sophisticated atomic weapons systems, saying the fate of relations with the United States depends on whether it abandons its hostile policy, state media reported Saturday.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/north-korean-leader-kim-jong-un-pledges-to-strengthen-defence-capabilities-at-rare-party-congress-354970">North Korean leader Kim Jong-un pledges to strengthen defence capabilities at rare party congress</a>

The declaration comes less than two weeks ahead of the new US president's inauguration and after a tumultuous relationship between Kim and the outgoing leader Donald Trump.

The Korean Central News Agency said Saturday that Kim says "key to establishing new relations between (North Korea) and the United States is whether the United States withdraws its hostile policy" from North Korea.

Kim says he won't use his nukes unless "hostile forces" intend to use their nuclear weapons against North Korea first. But he says North Korea must further strengthen its military and nuclear capability as the danger of a US invasion of North Korea increases.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/how-north-koreas-military-might-strengthened-during-trumps-presidency-353122">How North Korea's military might strengthened during Trump's presidency</a>

Kim ordered officials to develop missiles with multiple warheads, underwater-launched nuclear missiles, spy satellites and nuclear-powered submarines.

"Nothing would be more foolish and dangerous than not strengthening our might tirelessly and having an easy-going attitude at a time when we clearly see the enemy's state-of-the-art weapons are being increased more than ever," Kim said. "The reality is that we can achieve peace and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula when we constantly build up our national defence and suppress US military threats."

Kim's high-stakes nuclear diplomacy with President Donald Trump has remained stalled for nearly two years because of disputes over US-led sanctions on the North.

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When Kim abruptly entered talks with the US, he expressed his intent to negotiate not advancing nuclear arsenals in return for economic and political benefits. But as long as the diplomatic impasse prolongs, he's openly pledged to expand the nuclear program that he calls a "powerful treasured sword" that can cope with US hostility.

Kim and Trump first engaged in a war of words and mutual threats, before an extraordinary diplomatic bromance that featured headline-grabbing summits and declarations of love by the US president.&nbsp;

But little substantive progress was made, with the process deadlocked after their February 2019 meeting in Hanoi broke down over sanctions relief and what Pyongyang would be willing to give up in return.

The change of leadership in Washington presents a challenge for Pyongyang, which has previously called Biden a "rabid dog", while he characterised Kim as a "thug" during the presidential debates.

The US is expected to return to more orthodox diplomatic approaches under Biden, such as insisting on extensive progress at working-level talks before any leaders' summit can be considered.

Kim "sees a stalemate that won't change anytime soon", said Harry Kazianis of the Center for the National Interest.

The process with Trump was brokered by South Korean President Moon Jae-in, but Kim said Seoul was in breach of inter-Korean agreements and "and disregarding our warnings that it should stop joint military drills with the US".

Strategic balance

Pyongyang has poured vast resources into developing its nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles, which it says it needs to defend itself against a possible US invasion.

The programmes have made rapid progress under Kim, including by far its most powerful nuclear blast to date and missiles capable of reaching the entire continental US, at a cost of increasingly stringent international sanctions.

At a military parade in October, it showed off a huge new missile that analysts concurred was the largest road-mobile, liquid-fuelled missile anywhere in the world, and was highly likely to be designed to carry multiple warheads in independent re-entry vehicles (MIRVs).

The North has also completed plans for a nuclear-powered submarine, Kim said something that would change the strategic balance.

Such a weapon, if it was built and went into service, could enable Pyongyang to surreptitiously bring its missiles close to the United States, cutting down warning times ahead of any launch.

Designs for the vessel were "in the stage of final examination", Kim said, adding the North was also researching technology including military reconnaissance satellites, supersonic gliding weapons and various warhead types, and was "making preparations for their test and production".

Work report

Kim's declarations came in his nine-hour work report to the meeting, spread over three days, which KCNA was reporting in detail for the first time.

The congress is the top ruling party gathering, a grand political set-piece that reinforces the regime's authority and can serve as a platform for announcements of policy shifts or elite personnel changes.

For several days, state television has been showing images of the 7,000 delegates and attendees packed into the cavernous April 25 House of Culture venue -- none of them wearing masks, repeatedly applauding Kim wildly during his speech.

The gathering comes with North Korea more isolated than ever after closing its borders last January to protect itself against the coronavirus that first emerged in neighbour and key ally China.

That has added to the pressures on the North, with Pyongyang blockading itself far more effectively than even the most hawkish advocate of sanctions could ever hope to achieve, and trade with China at a fraction of the usual level.

In his work report, Kim admitted mistakes had been made in the last five years and that "almost all sectors fell a long way short of the set objectives" in the country's economic plan.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Friday called the United States Pyongyang's ''biggest enemy'' as he threw down the diplomatic gauntlet to the incoming administration of Joe Biden.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Friday called the United States Pyongyang's ''biggest enemy'' as he threw down the diplomatic gauntlet to the incoming administration of Joe Biden. Kim Jong-un also threatened to expand his nuclear arsenal and develop more sophisticated atomic weapons systems, saying the fate of relations with the United States depends on whether it abandons its hostile policy, state media reported Saturday. Also read: North Korean leader Kim Jong-un pledges to strengthen defence capabilities at rare party congress The declaration comes less than two weeks ahead of the new US president's inauguration and after a tumultuous relationship between Kim and the outgoing leader Donald Trump. The Korean Central News Agency said Saturday that Kim says "key to establishing new relations between (North Korea) and the United States is whether the United States withdraws its hostile policy" from North Korea. Kim says he won't use his nukes unless "hostile forces" intend to use their nuclear weapons against North Korea first. But he says North Korea must further strengthen its military and nuclear capability as the danger of a US invasion of North Korea increases. Also read: How North Korea's military might strengthened during Trump's presidency Kim ordered officials to develop missiles with multiple warheads, underwater-launched nuclear missiles, spy satellites and nuclear-powered submarines. "Nothing would be more foolish and dangerous than not strengthening our might tirelessly and having an easy-going attitude at a time when we clearly see the enemy's state-of-the-art weapons are being increased more than ever," Kim said. "The reality is that we can achieve peace and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula when we constantly build up our national defence and suppress US military threats." Kim's high-stakes nuclear diplomacy with President Donald Trump has remained stalled for nearly two years because of disputes over US-led sanctions on the North. When Kim abruptly entered talks with the US, he expressed his intent to negotiate not advancing nuclear arsenals in return for economic and political benefits. But as long as the diplomatic impasse prolongs, he's openly pledged to expand the nuclear program that he calls a "powerful treasured sword" that can cope with US hostility. Kim and Trump first engaged in a war of words and mutual threats, before an extraordinary diplomatic bromance that featured headline-grabbing summits and declarations of love by the US president. But little substantive progress was made, with the process deadlocked after their February 2019 meeting in Hanoi broke down over sanctions relief and what Pyongyang would be willing to give up in return. The change of leadership in Washington presents a challenge for Pyongyang, which has previously called Biden a "rabid dog", while he characterised Kim as a "thug" during the presidential debates. The US is expected to return to more orthodox diplomatic approaches under Biden, such as insisting on extensive progress at working-level talks before any leaders' summit can be considered. Kim "sees a stalemate that won't change anytime soon", said Harry Kazianis of the Center for the National Interest. The process with Trump was brokered by South Korean President Moon Jae-in, but Kim said Seoul was in breach of inter-Korean agreements and "and disregarding our warnings that it should stop joint military drills with the US". Strategic balance Pyongyang has poured vast resources into developing its nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles, which it says it needs to defend itself against a possible US invasion. The programmes have made rapid progress under Kim, including by far its most powerful nuclear blast to date and missiles capable of reaching the entire continental US, at a cost of increasingly stringent international sanctions. At a military parade in October, it showed off a huge new missile that analysts concurred was the largest road-mobile, liquid-fuelled missile anywhere in the world, and was highly likely to be designed to carry multiple warheads in independent re-entry vehicles (MIRVs). The North has also completed plans for a nuclear-powered submarine, Kim said something that would change the strategic balance. Such a weapon, if it was built and went into service, could enable Pyongyang to surreptitiously bring its missiles close to the United States, cutting down warning times ahead of any launch. Designs for the vessel were "in the stage of final examination", Kim said, adding the North was also researching technology including military reconnaissance satellites, supersonic gliding weapons and various warhead types, and was "making preparations for their test and production". Work report Kim's declarations came in his nine-hour work report to the meeting, spread over three days, which KCNA was reporting in detail for the first time. The congress is the top ruling party gathering, a grand political set-piece that reinforces the regime's authority and can serve as a platform for announcements of policy shifts or elite personnel changes. For several days, state television has been showing images of the 7,000 delegates and attendees packed into the cavernous April 25 House of Culture venue -- none of them wearing masks, repeatedly applauding Kim wildly during his speech. The gathering comes with North Korea more isolated than ever after closing its borders last January to protect itself against the coronavirus that first emerged in neighbour and key ally China. That has added to the pressures on the North, with Pyongyang blockading itself far more effectively than even the most hawkish advocate of sanctions could ever hope to achieve, and trade with China at a fraction of the usual level. In his work report, Kim admitted mistakes had been made in the last five years and that "almost all sectors fell a long way short of the set objectives" in the country's economic plan.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un calls US Pyongyang's 'biggest enemy'

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro asked Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to expedite a shipment of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine amid broader delays to the vaccine's arrival in&nbsp;Brazil, according to a letter on Friday.

Bolsonaro's letter, released by his press office, comes amid growing pressure to speed up&nbsp;Brazil's vaccine rollout and end the world's second-deadliest coronavirus outbreak. Critics say the immunization campaign is running behind regional peers, and they question why the government has not moved more quickly.

"To enable the immediate implementation of our National Immunization Program, I would appreciate ... the supply to&nbsp;Brazil, with the possible urgency and without jeopardizing the Indian vaccination program, of 2 million doses," Bolsonaro wrote in the letter, shared by his press office.

His message to Modi comes as the federally funded Fiocruz biomedical center said on Friday that the active ingredients needed to fill and finish millions of doses of AstraZeneca's coronavirus vaccine in&nbsp;Brazil, previously slated to arrive in the country on Saturday, may not land until the end of the month.

Fiocruz, which was counting on the shipment Saturday to supply the government with doses this month, said it was in talks to import more finished doses of the vaccine, likely from India on top of the 2 million it has already ordered.

A source involved said the active ingredient is ready to be shipped to&nbsp;Brazil&nbsp;but is waiting for an export license from China, where it is produced.

Earlier, Fiocruz requested an emergency use authorisation for AstraZeneca vaccines coming from India, which are expected to arrive in&nbsp;Brazil&nbsp;in the middle of this month.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro asked Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to expedite a shipment of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine amid broader delays to the vaccine's arrival in Brazil, according to a letter on Friday.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro asked Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to expedite a shipment of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine amid broader delays to the vaccine's arrival in Brazil, according to a letter on Friday. Bolsonaro's letter, released by his press office, comes amid growing pressure to speed up Brazil's vaccine rollout and end the world's second-deadliest coronavirus outbreak. Critics say the immunization campaign is running behind regional peers, and they question why the government has not moved more quickly. "To enable the immediate implementation of our National Immunization Program, I would appreciate ... the supply to Brazil, with the possible urgency and without jeopardizing the Indian vaccination program, of 2 million doses," Bolsonaro wrote in the letter, shared by his press office. His message to Modi comes as the federally funded Fiocruz biomedical center said on Friday that the active ingredients needed to fill and finish millions of doses of AstraZeneca's coronavirus vaccine in Brazil, previously slated to arrive in the country on Saturday, may not land until the end of the month. Fiocruz, which was counting on the shipment Saturday to supply the government with doses this month, said it was in talks to import more finished doses of the vaccine, likely from India on top of the 2 million it has already ordered. A source involved said the active ingredient is ready to be shipped to Brazil but is waiting for an export license from China, where it is produced. Earlier, Fiocruz requested an emergency use authorisation for AstraZeneca vaccines coming from India, which are expected to arrive in Brazil in the middle of this month.

Brazil's Bolsonaro asks India to expedite vaccine shipment as delays loom

January 09 in history: Opening of first modern circus, firing of first shots of the American Civil War and more

Social networking giant Twitter quickly deleted new tweets from US&nbsp;President Donald Trump from an official government account after the social media site had banned his personal account.

"After a close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account," Twitter said in a <a href="https://blog.twitter.com/en_us/topics/company/2020/suspension.html">blog post</a> explaining its decision, "we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence."&nbsp;

Also see:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/photos/in-pics-tear-gas-explosives-and-gunfire-trump-supporters-storm-capitol-clash-with-police-354961">In pics-Tear gas, explosives and gunfire: Trump supporters storm Capitol, clash with police</a>

US President Donald Trump on Friday accused Twitter of conspiring with his political enemies "to silence me," after the social media platform permanently suspended his account.

"Twitter has gone further and further in banning free speech, and tonight, Twitter employees have coordinated with the Democrats and the Radical Left in removing my account from their platform, to silence me -- and YOU, the 75,000,000 great patriots who voted for me," he said in a series of tweets from the official @POTUS account.

Twitter had&nbsp;temporarily blocked Trump's account on Wednesday,&nbsp;following the siege of Capitol Hill by pro-Trump protesters, and warned that additional violations by the president's accounts would result in a permanent suspension.

The social media platform was&nbsp;Trump's&nbsp;favourite megaphone and he has&nbsp;had more than 88 million followers.

Trump returned to Twitter late Thursday, posting a video message that seemed aimed at calming tensions after the mayhem caused by his supporters.

He acknowledged his presidency was ending and promised a smooth transition to Joe Biden, although he did not go so far as to congratulate or even say the name of his successor.

Twitter said at the time it was continuing to watch Trump's social media activity to determine whether further action was needed.

The decision to suspend Trump's account came after a pair of tweets on Friday, according to the one-to-many messaging platform.

In one of the tweets, Trump vowed that none of his supporters would be "disrespected," and in another, he said he would not be attending Biden's inauguration on January 20, as is customary.

"These two Tweets must be read in the context of broader events in the country and the ways in which the President's statements can be mobilized by different audiences, including to incite violence, as well as in the context of the pattern of behaviour from this account in recent weeks," Twitter said.

The company determined the tweets violated its "Glorification of Violence&nbsp;Policy," and that "user @realDonaldTrump&nbsp;should be immediately permanently suspended from the service."

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="YouTube removes thousands of videos posted from Donald Trump's channel">YouTube removes thousands of videos posted from Donald Trump's channel</a>

Talk of new attack&nbsp;

Twitter said it also factored in that plans for more armed protests have been proliferating on and off the service, including a proposed second attack on the US Capitol and state capitol buildings on January 17.

Trump's tweeted statement about not attending the Inauguration has been received by some supporters as his continued rejection of the election's legitimacy and a sign that the event would be a "safe target" since he won't be there, according to Twitter.

The wording in Trump's Friday tweets was seen by some supporters as praise for those involved in what has been described as a coup attempt, and an indication he does not plan to smoothly yield power to Biden, Twitter said in the post.

Twitter confirmed that several hundred employees signed a letter to chief executive Jack Dorsey saying they were disturbed by the "insurrection" carried out by Trump supporters, who had been rallied by the president.

The employees called for Twitter to assess the role its platform played in Wednesday's events.

"Twitter encourages an open dialogue between our leadership and employees, and we welcome our employees to express their thoughts and concerns in whichever manner feels right to them," a company spokesperson said of the letter.

Social networking giant Twitter quickly deleted new tweets from US President Donald Trump from an official government account after the social media site had banned his personal account.

Social networking giant Twitter quickly deleted new tweets from US President Donald Trump from an official government account after the social media site had banned his personal account. "After a close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account," Twitter said in a blog post explaining its decision, "we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence." Also see: In pics-Tear gas, explosives and gunfire: Trump supporters storm Capitol, clash with police US President Donald Trump on Friday accused Twitter of conspiring with his political enemies "to silence me," after the social media platform permanently suspended his account. "Twitter has gone further and further in banning free speech, and tonight, Twitter employees have coordinated with the Democrats and the Radical Left in removing my account from their platform, to silence me -- and YOU, the 75,000,000 great patriots who voted for me," he said in a series of tweets from the official @POTUS account. Twitter had temporarily blocked Trump's account on Wednesday, following the siege of Capitol Hill by pro-Trump protesters, and warned that additional violations by the president's accounts would result in a permanent suspension. The social media platform was Trump's favourite megaphone and he has had more than 88 million followers. Trump returned to Twitter late Thursday, posting a video message that seemed aimed at calming tensions after the mayhem caused by his supporters. He acknowledged his presidency was ending and promised a smooth transition to Joe Biden, although he did not go so far as to congratulate or even say the name of his successor. Twitter said at the time it was continuing to watch Trump's social media activity to determine whether further action was needed. The decision to suspend Trump's account came after a pair of tweets on Friday, according to the one-to-many messaging platform. In one of the tweets, Trump vowed that none of his supporters would be "disrespected," and in another, he said he would not be attending Biden's inauguration on January 20, as is customary. "These two Tweets must be read in the context of broader events in the country and the ways in which the President's statements can be mobilized by different audiences, including to incite violence, as well as in the context of the pattern of behaviour from this account in recent weeks," Twitter said. The company determined the tweets violated its "Glorification of Violence Policy," and that "user @realDonaldTrump should be immediately permanently suspended from the service." Also read: YouTube removes thousands of videos posted from Donald Trump's channel Talk of new attack Twitter said it also factored in that plans for more armed protests have been proliferating on and off the service, including a proposed second attack on the US Capitol and state capitol buildings on January 17. Trump's tweeted statement about not attending the Inauguration has been received by some supporters as his continued rejection of the election's legitimacy and a sign that the event would be a "safe target" since he won't be there, according to Twitter. The wording in Trump's Friday tweets was seen by some supporters as praise for those involved in what has been described as a coup attempt, and an indication he does not plan to smoothly yield power to Biden, Twitter said in the post. Twitter confirmed that several hundred employees signed a letter to chief executive Jack Dorsey saying they were disturbed by the "insurrection" carried out by Trump supporters, who had been rallied by the president. The employees called for Twitter to assess the role its platform played in Wednesday's events. "Twitter encourages an open dialogue between our leadership and employees, and we welcome our employees to express their thoughts and concerns in whichever manner feels right to them," a company spokesperson said of the letter.

Twitter permanently suspends Trump's account, deletes POTUS' new tweets

The head of the World Health Organization said on Friday&nbsp;there is a "clear problem" that low- and middle-income countries are not yet receiving supplies of COVID-19 vaccines and urged countries to stop striking bilateral deals with manufacturers.

"Rich countries have the majority of the supply," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in strongly-worded comments on vaccine nationalism at a Geneva news briefing.

He asked countries and manufacturers to stop making bilateral deals and called on those who have ordered excess doses to immediately hand them over to the COVAX vaccine-sharing facility.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/as-western-countries-hoard-vaccines-9-out-of-10-in-low-income-countries-to-miss-out-348585">As western countries hoard vaccines, 9 out of 10 in low-income countries to miss out</a>

While Tedros did not name countries, the European Union said it reached a deal with Pfizer and BioNTech for 300 million additional doses of their COVID-19 vaccine in a move that would give the EU nearly half of the firms' global output for 2021.

The scramble for shots has accelerated as governments also struggle to tame more infectious variants identified in Britain and South Africa, which are threatening to overwhelm healthcare systems.

Emergencies chief Mike Ryan echoed comments from Tedros, stressing the need to give doses to vulnerable groups and frontline healthcare workers first, no matter where they live.

WHO officials also urged vaccine manufacturers to provide it with data in real-time in order to expedite the rollout.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/the-ugly-nexus-between-pharma-companies-and-rich-countries-314742">The ugly nexus between pharma companies and rich countries</a>

Until now, wealthier nations including Britain, European Union members, the United States, Switzerland and Israel have been at the front of the queue for vaccine deliveries from companies including Pfizer and partner BioNTech, Moderna and AstraZeneca.

Nearly 88 million people have been reported to be infected by the novel coronavirus globally and around 1.9 million have died since it first emerged in China in December 2019, according to a Reuters tally.

"The virus is spreading at alarming rates in some countries," Tedros said. "The problem is that not complying a bit becomes a habit. Not complying gives the virus opportunities to spread."

Tedros also said he expects to fix travel dates as soon as next week for a long-awaited mission to China to investigate the origins of the novel coronavirus.

Ryan urged countries to not politicised the vaccine and warned that the one distributed so far have "zero impact" on transmission dynamics.

Assistant director-general, Mariangela Simao said the WHO has received 13 "valid proposals" for possible emergency listing of COVID-19 vaccines since October, and some are at an advanced stage, adding that they expect to receive full data from Russia's Gamaleya Institute on its vaccine by the end of January.

The head of the World Health Organization said on Friday there is a "clear problem" that low- and middle-income countries are not yet receiving supplies of COVID-19 vaccines and urged countries to stop striking bilateral deals with manufacturers.

The head of the World Health Organization said on Friday there is a "clear problem" that low- and middle-income countries are not yet receiving supplies of COVID-19 vaccines and urged countries to stop striking bilateral deals with manufacturers. "Rich countries have the majority of the supply," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in strongly-worded comments on vaccine nationalism at a Geneva news briefing. He asked countries and manufacturers to stop making bilateral deals and called on those who have ordered excess doses to immediately hand them over to the COVAX vaccine-sharing facility. Also read: As western countries hoard vaccines, 9 out of 10 in low-income countries to miss out While Tedros did not name countries, the European Union said it reached a deal with Pfizer and BioNTech for 300 million additional doses of their COVID-19 vaccine in a move that would give the EU nearly half of the firms' global output for 2021. The scramble for shots has accelerated as governments also struggle to tame more infectious variants identified in Britain and South Africa, which are threatening to overwhelm healthcare systems. Emergencies chief Mike Ryan echoed comments from Tedros, stressing the need to give doses to vulnerable groups and frontline healthcare workers first, no matter where they live. WHO officials also urged vaccine manufacturers to provide it with data in real-time in order to expedite the rollout. Also read: The ugly nexus between pharma companies and rich countries Until now, wealthier nations including Britain, European Union members, the United States, Switzerland and Israel have been at the front of the queue for vaccine deliveries from companies including Pfizer and partner BioNTech, Moderna and AstraZeneca. Nearly 88 million people have been reported to be infected by the novel coronavirus globally and around 1.9 million have died since it first emerged in China in December 2019, according to a Reuters tally. "The virus is spreading at alarming rates in some countries," Tedros said. "The problem is that not complying a bit becomes a habit. Not complying gives the virus opportunities to spread." Tedros also said he expects to fix travel dates as soon as next week for a long-awaited mission to China to investigate the origins of the novel coronavirus. Ryan urged countries to not politicised the vaccine and warned that the one distributed so far have "zero impact" on transmission dynamics. Assistant director-general, Mariangela Simao said the WHO has received 13 "valid proposals" for possible emergency listing of COVID-19 vaccines since October, and some are at an advanced stage, adding that they expect to receive full data from Russia's Gamaleya Institute on its vaccine by the end of January.

World Health Organization asks rich countries to stop cutting the vaccines queue

The United Kingdom recorded its highest daily death&nbsp;toll&nbsp;on Friday since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic as London declared a major incident, warning that its hospitals were at risk of being overwhelmed.

With a highly transmissible new variant of the virus surging across Britain, Prime Minister Boris Johnson is rushing out vaccines faster than the country's European neighbours in a bid to stem the pandemic.

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Our hospitals are under more pressure than at any other time since the start of the pandemic, and infection rates continue to soar at an alarming rate. 
 
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Britain has the world's fifth-highest official death&nbsp;toll&nbsp;from COVID-19 at nearly 80,000, and the 1,325 deaths reported within 28 days of a positive test on Friday surpassed the previous daily record from last April.

"Our hospitals are under more pressure than at any other time since the start of the pandemic, and infection rates across the entire country continue to soar at an alarming rate," Johnson said in a statement.

"The NHS (National Health Service) is under severe strain and we must take action to protect it, both so our doctors and nurses can continue to save lives and so they can vaccinate as many people as possible as quickly as we can."

A further 68,053 COVID-19 cases were reported - also a new daily high - meaning almost three million people have now tested positive for the disease in the United Kingdom, which has a total population of around 67 million.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan, from the opposition Labour Party, said hospital beds in the capital would run out within the next few weeks because the spread of the virus was "out of control".

"We are declaring a major incident because the threat this virus poses to our city is at crisis point," Khan said.

The designation of "major incident" is usually reserved for attacks or grave accidents, notably those likely to involve "serious harm, damage, disruption or risk to human life or welfare, essential services, the environment or national security".

London's last "major incident" was the Grenfell Tower fire in a high-rise residential block in 2017, when 72 people died.

Vaccine concern

Khan said there were parts of London where 1 in 20 people had the virus. The pressure on the ambulance service, which was now dealing with up to 9,000 emergency calls a day, meant firefighters were being drafted in to drive vehicles, and police officers would follow.

London, which vies with Paris for the status of Europe's richest city, has a population of more than nine million.

The Office for National Statistics estimated that 1.1 million people in England had the coronavirus in the week to January&nbsp;2, the equivalent of one person in 50.

Britain, the first country to approve vaccines made by Pfizer/BioNTech and AstraZeneca, on Friday approved Moderna's shot, which it hopes to begin administering this spring. It also agreed to purchase an additional 10 million Moderna doses.

However, transport minister Grant Shapps said there were fears that some vaccines might not work properly against a highly contagious variant of the coronavirus that has emerged in South Africa.

"This is a very big concern for the scientists," he told LBC radio.

A laboratory study by the US&nbsp;drugmaker Pfizer, not yet peer-reviewed, indicated that the vaccine it is making, developed by Germany's BioNTech, does work against one key mutation in the new variants found in Britain and South Africa.

The United Kingdom recorded its highest daily death toll on Friday since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic as London declared a major incident, warning that its hospitals were at risk of being overwhelmed.

The United Kingdom recorded its highest daily death toll on Friday since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic as London declared a major incident, warning that its hospitals were at risk of being overwhelmed. With a highly transmissible new variant of the virus surging across Britain, Prime Minister Boris Johnson is rushing out vaccines faster than the country's European neighbours in a bid to stem the pandemic. Our hospitals are under more pressure than at any other time since the start of the pandemic, and infection rates continue to soar at an alarming rate. The vaccine rollout has given us renewed hope, but it’s critical for now we stay at home, protect the NHS and save lives. — Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) January 9, 2021 × Britain has the world's fifth-highest official death toll from COVID-19 at nearly 80,000, and the 1,325 deaths reported within 28 days of a positive test on Friday surpassed the previous daily record from last April. "Our hospitals are under more pressure than at any other time since the start of the pandemic, and infection rates across the entire country continue to soar at an alarming rate," Johnson said in a statement. "The NHS (National Health Service) is under severe strain and we must take action to protect it, both so our doctors and nurses can continue to save lives and so they can vaccinate as many people as possible as quickly as we can." A further 68,053 COVID-19 cases were reported - also a new daily high - meaning almost three million people have now tested positive for the disease in the United Kingdom, which has a total population of around 67 million. London Mayor Sadiq Khan, from the opposition Labour Party, said hospital beds in the capital would run out within the next few weeks because the spread of the virus was "out of control". "We are declaring a major incident because the threat this virus poses to our city is at crisis point," Khan said. The designation of "major incident" is usually reserved for attacks or grave accidents, notably those likely to involve "serious harm, damage, disruption or risk to human life or welfare, essential services, the environment or national security". London's last "major incident" was the Grenfell Tower fire in a high-rise residential block in 2017, when 72 people died. Vaccine concern Khan said there were parts of London where 1 in 20 people had the virus. The pressure on the ambulance service, which was now dealing with up to 9,000 emergency calls a day, meant firefighters were being drafted in to drive vehicles, and police officers would follow. London, which vies with Paris for the status of Europe's richest city, has a population of more than nine million. The Office for National Statistics estimated that 1.1 million people in England had the coronavirus in the week to January 2, the equivalent of one person in 50. Britain, the first country to approve vaccines made by Pfizer/BioNTech and AstraZeneca, on Friday approved Moderna's shot, which it hopes to begin administering this spring. It also agreed to purchase an additional 10 million Moderna doses. However, transport minister Grant Shapps said there were fears that some vaccines might not work properly against a highly contagious variant of the coronavirus that has emerged in South Africa. "This is a very big concern for the scientists," he told LBC radio. A laboratory study by the US drugmaker Pfizer, not yet peer-reviewed, indicated that the vaccine it is making, developed by Germany's BioNTech, does work against one key mutation in the new variants found in Britain and South Africa.

UK sees record daily COVID deaths, London hospitals on brink

Doctors and nurses at a South African hospital group noticed an odd spike in the number of COVID-19 patients in their wards in late October. The government had slackened its lockdown grip, and springtime had brought more parties. But the numbers were growing too quickly to easily explain, prompting a distressing question.

“Is this a different strain?” one hospital official asked in a group email in early November, raising the possibility that the virus had developed a dangerous mutation.

That question touched off a high-stakes genetic investigation that began here in Durban on the Indian Ocean, tipped off researchers in Britain and is now taking place around the world. Scientists have discovered worrisome new variants of the virus, leading to border closures, quarantines and lockdowns, and dousing some of the enthusiasm that arrived with the vaccines.

Britain has been particularly overwhelmed. Infections and hospitalizations have skyrocketed in recent weeks since that country discovered its own variant of the virus, which is more contagious than previous forms. By one estimate, the mutated virus is already responsible for more than 60% of new infections in London and surrounding areas.

The coronavirus has evolved as it made its way across the world, as any virus is expected to do. But experts have been startled by the pace at which significant new variants have emerged, adding new urgency to the race between the world’s best defenses — vaccinations, lockdowns and social distancing — and an aggressive, ever-changing foe.

The new variant pummeling Britain has already been found in about 45 countries, from Singapore to Oman to Jamaica, but many countries are effectively flying blind, with little sense of how bad the problem may be.

Long before the pandemic emerged, public health officials were calling for routine genetic surveillance of outbreaks. But despite years of warnings, many countries — including the United States — are conducting only a fraction of the genomic studies needed to determine how prevalent mutations of the virus are.

Denmark, which has invested in genetic surveillance, discovered the variant afflicting Britain in multiple Danish regions and recently tightened restrictions. The health minister compared it to a storm surge, predicting that it would dominate other variants by mid-February.

And as countries go looking, they are discovering other variants, too.

With the world stumbling in its vaccination rollout and the number of cases steeply rising to peaks that exceed those seen last spring, scientists see a pressing need to immunize as many people as possible before the virus evolves enough to render the vaccines impotent.

“It’s a race against time,” said Marion Koopmans, a Dutch virologist and a member of a World Health Organization working group on coronavirus adaptations.

The vaccine alone will not be enough to get ahead of the virus. It will take years to inoculate enough people to limit its evolution. In the meantime, social distancing, mask-wearing and hand-washing — coupled with aggressive testing, tracking and tracing — might buy some time and avert devastating spikes in hospitalizations and deaths along the way. These strategies could still turn the tide against the virus, experts said.

“We do know how to dial down the transmission of the virus by a lot with our behavior,” said Carl Bergstrom, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Washington in Seattle. “We’ve got a lot of agency there.”

Yet in the course of the pandemic, governments have often proved reluctant or unable to galvanize support for those basic defenses. Many countries have all but given up on tracking and tracing. Mask-wearing remains politically charged in the United States, despite clear evidence of its efficacy. Cities like Los Angeles have been gripped by a spike in cases linked to Christmas festivities, and national public health officials are bracing for surges elsewhere, driven by people who ignored advice and traveled during the holidays.

Much remains unknown about the new variants or even how many are sprouting worldwide. Scientists are racing to sequence enough of the virus to know, but only a handful of countries have the wherewithal or commitment to do so.

The variants’ rapid spread is a reminder of the earlier failings and missteps of major countries in containing the virus. Just as China failed to stop travelers from spreading the virus before the Lunar New Year last year, Britain has failed to move fast enough ahead of the new variant’s spread. Britain lowered its guard during the holidays, despite a rise in cases now known to be linked to a variant. And just as China became a pariah early on, Britain now has the unfortunate distinction of being called Plague Island.

The spread of the variant lashing Britain has left some countries vulnerable at a time when they seemed on the brink of scientific salvation. A case in point: Israel. The country, which had launched a remarkably successful vaccine rollout, tightened its lockdown Friday after having discovered cases of the variant. About 8,000 new infections a day have been detected in recent days, and the rate of spread in ultra-Orthodox communities has increased drastically.

Hodgepodge of Restrictions

The variant discovered in Britain, known as B.1.1.7, has 23 mutations that differ from the earliest known version of the virus in Wuhan, China, including one or more that make it more contagious and at least one that slightly weakens the vaccines’ potency. Some experiments suggest that the variant spreads more easily because mutations enable it to latch more successfully onto a person’s airway.

Bergstrom and other scientists were surprised to see this more transmissible variant emerge, given that the coronavirus was already quite adept at infecting people. But other experts had warned from the start that it would only be a matter of time before the virus became an even more formidable adversary.

“Every situation we have studied in depth where a virus has jumped into a new species, it has become more contagious over time,” said Andrew Read, an evolutionary microbiologist at Penn State University. “It evolves because of natural selection to get better, and that’s what’s happening here.”

Much of the global response has focused on shutting out Britain, with a hodgepodge of national restrictions that hark back to the early reactions to the epidemic.

Experts say that countries should focus instead on ramping up vaccinations, particularly among essential workers who face a high risk with few resources to protect themselves. The longer the virus spreads among the unvaccinated, the more mutations it might collect that can undercut the vaccines’ effectiveness.

That is why, when the WHO working group saw the first data on the variant circulating in South Africa on Dec. 4, everyone took notice.

“Your next question immediately is, can the vaccines still protect us if we get viruses with these mutations?” said Koopmans, who was in the meeting.

For now, the answer seems to be yes, said Jesse Bloom, an evolutionary biologist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. Koopmans agrees.

The variants that have emerged in South Africa and Brazil are a particular threat to immunization efforts because both contain a mutation associated with a drop in the efficacy of vaccines. In one experiment, designed to identify the worst-case scenario, Bloom’s team analyzed 4,000 mutations, looking for those that would render vaccines useless. The mutation in the variants from Brazil and South Africa had the biggest impact.

Still, every sample of serum in the study neutralized the virus, regardless of mutation, Bloom said, adding that it would be a few years before the vaccines need to be tweaked. “There should be plenty of time where we can be prospective, identify these mutations and probably update the vaccines in time,” he said.

‘These Variants Will Spread’

That sort of surveillance is what led to the discovery of the new variants.

Liza Sitharam, a nurse and infectious disease specialist in coastal South Africa, was among those who first noticed a small cluster that was quickly bulging. “We’d have five cases, and then it’d double really quickly,” she recalled. The raw numbers were not alarming, she said, but “there was something just not looking right.”

Her boss at the Netcare hospital group, Dr. Caroline Maslo, figured that with the country’s borders open, business travelers from German auto companies had perhaps brought in a European variant. She sought help from Tulio de Oliveira, a professor and geneticist at the Nelson Mandela School of Medicine in Durban who had studied viral variants during the first COVID-19 wave.

Soon his lab was analyzing swabs, shipped on ice by courier overnight. On Dec. 1, he emailed a British scientist, Andrew Rambaut, and asked him to review some early findings: a series of strange mutations on the virus’s outer surface.

De Oliveira, a Brazilian South African scientist who has long hair and a surfer vibe, shared his findings at a Dec. 4 meeting of the WHO working group. All took notice because of the variants’ potential to disrupt the vaccines' effectiveness.

Days later, he recalled, Rambaut emailed him with a discovery of his own: British scientists had scoured their databases and found a similar but unrelated mutation that appeared linked to a cluster of infections in the county of Kent.

It was two weeks before Christmas, and de Oliveira immediately thought of the Lunar New Year early in the pandemic, when millions of people in China traveled far and wide for the holiday, some carrying the virus. “It was crystal clear,” de Oliveira said in an interview. “These variants will spread nationally, regionally and globally.”

Rambaut and colleagues released a paper on the variant discovered in Britain on Dec. 19 — the same day British officials announced new measures. The variant had apparently been circulating undetected as early as September. Rambaut has since credited the South Africa team with the tip that led to the discovery of the variant surging in Britain.

Public health officials have formally recommended that type of swift genetic surveillance and information-sharing as one of the keys to staying on top of the ever-changing virus. But they have been calling for such routine surveillance for years, with mixed results.

“The message was very clear that this is the way surveillance has to go,” said Dr. Josep Jansa, a senior public health researcher at the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. Just as COVID-19 exposed flaws in the world’s pandemic plans a year ago, the hunt for new variants is exposing gaps in surveillance. “We’re learning,” he said. “Slowly.”

Britain has one of the most aggressive surveillance regimens, analyzing up to 10% of samples that test positive for the virus. But few countries have such robust systems in place. The United States sequences less than 1% of its positive samples. And others cannot hope to afford the equipment or build such networks in time for this pandemic.

In Brazil, labs that had redirected their attention from Zika to the coronavirus had discovered a worrisome mutation there as early as this spring. But little is known about the variants circulating in the country or how quickly they are spreading. “We just don’t know because no one is either sequencing or sharing the data,” said Dr. Nuno Faria of Imperial College and Oxford University, who coordinates genomic sequencing projects with colleagues in Brazil. “Genomic surveillance is expensive.”

As the virus continues to mutate, other significant variants will almost certainly emerge. And those that make the virus hardier or more contagious will be more likely to spread, Read said. “The faster we can get the vaccines out, the faster we can get on top of these variants,” he said. “There’s no room for complacency here.”

Doctors and nurses at a South African hospital group noticed an odd spike in the number of COVID-19 patients in their wards in late October. The government had slackened its lockdown grip, and springtime had brought more parties.

Doctors and nurses at a South African hospital group noticed an odd spike in the number of COVID-19 patients in their wards in late October. The government had slackened its lockdown grip, and springtime had brought more parties. But the numbers were growing too quickly to easily explain, prompting a distressing question. “Is this a different strain?” one hospital official asked in a group email in early November, raising the possibility that the virus had developed a dangerous mutation. That question touched off a high-stakes genetic investigation that began here in Durban on the Indian Ocean, tipped off researchers in Britain and is now taking place around the world. Scientists have discovered worrisome new variants of the virus, leading to border closures, quarantines and lockdowns, and dousing some of the enthusiasm that arrived with the vaccines. Britain has been particularly overwhelmed. Infections and hospitalizations have skyrocketed in recent weeks since that country discovered its own variant of the virus, which is more contagious than previous forms. By one estimate, the mutated virus is already responsible for more than 60% of new infections in London and surrounding areas. The coronavirus has evolved as it made its way across the world, as any virus is expected to do. But experts have been startled by the pace at which significant new variants have emerged, adding new urgency to the race between the world’s best defenses — vaccinations, lockdowns and social distancing — and an aggressive, ever-changing foe. The new variant pummeling Britain has already been found in about 45 countries, from Singapore to Oman to Jamaica, but many countries are effectively flying blind, with little sense of how bad the problem may be. Long before the pandemic emerged, public health officials were calling for routine genetic surveillance of outbreaks. But despite years of warnings, many countries — including the United States — are conducting only a fraction of the genomic studies needed to determine how prevalent mutations of the virus are. Denmark, which has invested in genetic surveillance, discovered the variant afflicting Britain in multiple Danish regions and recently tightened restrictions. The health minister compared it to a storm surge, predicting that it would dominate other variants by mid-February. And as countries go looking, they are discovering other variants, too. With the world stumbling in its vaccination rollout and the number of cases steeply rising to peaks that exceed those seen last spring, scientists see a pressing need to immunize as many people as possible before the virus evolves enough to render the vaccines impotent. “It’s a race against time,” said Marion Koopmans, a Dutch virologist and a member of a World Health Organization working group on coronavirus adaptations. The vaccine alone will not be enough to get ahead of the virus. It will take years to inoculate enough people to limit its evolution. In the meantime, social distancing, mask-wearing and hand-washing — coupled with aggressive testing, tracking and tracing — might buy some time and avert devastating spikes in hospitalizations and deaths along the way. These strategies could still turn the tide against the virus, experts said. “We do know how to dial down the transmission of the virus by a lot with our behavior,” said Carl Bergstrom, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Washington in Seattle. “We’ve got a lot of agency there.” Yet in the course of the pandemic, governments have often proved reluctant or unable to galvanize support for those basic defenses. Many countries have all but given up on tracking and tracing. Mask-wearing remains politically charged in the United States, despite clear evidence of its efficacy. Cities like Los Angeles have been gripped by a spike in cases linked to Christmas festivities, and national public health officials are bracing for surges elsewhere, driven by people who ignored advice and traveled during the holidays. Much remains unknown about the new variants or even how many are sprouting worldwide. Scientists are racing to sequence enough of the virus to know, but only a handful of countries have the wherewithal or commitment to do so. The variants’ rapid spread is a reminder of the earlier failings and missteps of major countries in containing the virus. Just as China failed to stop travelers from spreading the virus before the Lunar New Year last year, Britain has failed to move fast enough ahead of the new variant’s spread. Britain lowered its guard during the holidays, despite a rise in cases now known to be linked to a variant. And just as China became a pariah early on, Britain now has the unfortunate distinction of being called Plague Island. The spread of the variant lashing Britain has left some countries vulnerable at a time when they seemed on the brink of scientific salvation. A case in point: Israel. The country, which had launched a remarkably successful vaccine rollout, tightened its lockdown Friday after having discovered cases of the variant. About 8,000 new infections a day have been detected in recent days, and the rate of spread in ultra-Orthodox communities has increased drastically. Hodgepodge of Restrictions The variant discovered in Britain, known as B.1.1.7, has 23 mutations that differ from the earliest known version of the virus in Wuhan, China, including one or more that make it more contagious and at least one that slightly weakens the vaccines’ potency. Some experiments suggest that the variant spreads more easily because mutations enable it to latch more successfully onto a person’s airway. Bergstrom and other scientists were surprised to see this more transmissible variant emerge, given that the coronavirus was already quite adept at infecting people. But other experts had warned from the start that it would only be a matter of time before the virus became an even more formidable adversary. “Every situation we have studied in depth where a virus has jumped into a new species, it has become more contagious over time,” said Andrew Read, an evolutionary microbiologist at Penn State University. “It evolves because of natural selection to get better, and that’s what’s happening here.” Much of the global response has focused on shutting out Britain, with a hodgepodge of national restrictions that hark back to the early reactions to the epidemic. Experts say that countries should focus instead on ramping up vaccinations, particularly among essential workers who face a high risk with few resources to protect themselves. The longer the virus spreads among the unvaccinated, the more mutations it might collect that can undercut the vaccines’ effectiveness. That is why, when the WHO working group saw the first data on the variant circulating in South Africa on Dec. 4, everyone took notice. “Your next question immediately is, can the vaccines still protect us if we get viruses with these mutations?” said Koopmans, who was in the meeting. For now, the answer seems to be yes, said Jesse Bloom, an evolutionary biologist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. Koopmans agrees. The variants that have emerged in South Africa and Brazil are a particular threat to immunization efforts because both contain a mutation associated with a drop in the efficacy of vaccines. In one experiment, designed to identify the worst-case scenario, Bloom’s team analyzed 4,000 mutations, looking for those that would render vaccines useless. The mutation in the variants from Brazil and South Africa had the biggest impact. Still, every sample of serum in the study neutralized the virus, regardless of mutation, Bloom said, adding that it would be a few years before the vaccines need to be tweaked. “There should be plenty of time where we can be prospective, identify these mutations and probably update the vaccines in time,” he said. ‘These Variants Will Spread’ That sort of surveillance is what led to the discovery of the new variants. Liza Sitharam, a nurse and infectious disease specialist in coastal South Africa, was among those who first noticed a small cluster that was quickly bulging. “We’d have five cases, and then it’d double really quickly,” she recalled. The raw numbers were not alarming, she said, but “there was something just not looking right.” Her boss at the Netcare hospital group, Dr. Caroline Maslo, figured that with the country’s borders open, business travelers from German auto companies had perhaps brought in a European variant. She sought help from Tulio de Oliveira, a professor and geneticist at the Nelson Mandela School of Medicine in Durban who had studied viral variants during the first COVID-19 wave. Soon his lab was analyzing swabs, shipped on ice by courier overnight. On Dec. 1, he emailed a British scientist, Andrew Rambaut, and asked him to review some early findings: a series of strange mutations on the virus’s outer surface. De Oliveira, a Brazilian South African scientist who has long hair and a surfer vibe, shared his findings at a Dec. 4 meeting of the WHO working group. All took notice because of the variants’ potential to disrupt the vaccines' effectiveness. Days later, he recalled, Rambaut emailed him with a discovery of his own: British scientists had scoured their databases and found a similar but unrelated mutation that appeared linked to a cluster of infections in the county of Kent. It was two weeks before Christmas, and de Oliveira immediately thought of the Lunar New Year early in the pandemic, when millions of people in China traveled far and wide for the holiday, some carrying the virus. “It was crystal clear,” de Oliveira said in an interview. “These variants will spread nationally, regionally and globally.” Rambaut and colleagues released a paper on the variant discovered in Britain on Dec. 19 — the same day British officials announced new measures. The variant had apparently been circulating undetected as early as September. Rambaut has since credited the South Africa team with the tip that led to the discovery of the variant surging in Britain. Public health officials have formally recommended that type of swift genetic surveillance and information-sharing as one of the keys to staying on top of the ever-changing virus. But they have been calling for such routine surveillance for years, with mixed results. “The message was very clear that this is the way surveillance has to go,” said Dr. Josep Jansa, a senior public health researcher at the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. Just as COVID-19 exposed flaws in the world’s pandemic plans a year ago, the hunt for new variants is exposing gaps in surveillance. “We’re learning,” he said. “Slowly.” Britain has one of the most aggressive surveillance regimens, analyzing up to 10% of samples that test positive for the virus. But few countries have such robust systems in place. The United States sequences less than 1% of its positive samples. And others cannot hope to afford the equipment or build such networks in time for this pandemic. In Brazil, labs that had redirected their attention from Zika to the coronavirus had discovered a worrisome mutation there as early as this spring. But little is known about the variants circulating in the country or how quickly they are spreading. “We just don’t know because no one is either sequencing or sharing the data,” said Dr. Nuno Faria of Imperial College and Oxford University, who coordinates genomic sequencing projects with colleagues in Brazil. “Genomic surveillance is expensive.” As the virus continues to mutate, other significant variants will almost certainly emerge. And those that make the virus hardier or more contagious will be more likely to spread, Read said. “The faster we can get the vaccines out, the faster we can get on top of these variants,” he said. “There’s no room for complacency here.”

As coronavirus mutates, the world stumbles again to respond

In a flat, arid expanse of China’s far west Xinjiang region, a solar technology company welcomed laborers from a rural area 650 miles away, preparing to put them to work at GCL-Poly, the world’s second-largest maker of polysilicon.

The workers, members of the region’s Uighur minority, attended a class in etiquette as they prepared for their new lives in the solar industry, which prides itself as a model of clean, responsible growth. GCL-Poly promoted the housing and training it offered its new recruits in photographs and statements to the local news media.

But researchers and human rights experts say those positive images may conceal a more troubling reality — the persecution of one of China’s most vulnerable ethnic groups. According to a report by the consultancy Horizon Advisory, Xinjiang’s rising solar energy technology sector is connected to a broad program of assigned labor in China, including methods that fit well-documented patterns of forced labor.

Major solar companies including GCL-Poly, East Hope Group, Daqo New Energy, Xinte Energy and Jinko Solar are named in the report as bearing signs of using some forced labor, according to Horizon Advisory, which specializes in Chinese-language research. Although many details remain unclear, those signs include accepting workers transferred with the help of the Chinese government from certain parts of Xinjiang, and having laborers undergo “military-style” training that may be aimed at instilling loyalty to China and the Communist Party.

The Chinese government disputes the presence of any forced labor in its supply chains, arguing that employment is voluntary. The companies named in the report either did not respond to requests for comment or denied any role in forced labor.

In a statement, a representative for the Chinese Embassy in Washington called forced labor in Xinjiang “a rumor created by a few anti-China media and organizations,” adding that all workers in Xinjiang enter into contracts in accordance with Chinese labor law. “There is no such thing as ‘forced labor,’” the representative said.

The report adds to a growing list of companies that have been accused of relying on coerced labor from Uighurs and other ethnic minorities in China, either in their own factories or those of their suppliers.

The United States and other governments have become increasingly vocal about forced labor in Xinjiang, including naming and shaming major corporations that operate in the region. The Trump administration has imposed sanctions on dozens of companies and individuals for their role in Xinjiang, including banning some exports from the region, which is also a major producer of cotton. On Dec. 2, it banned imports made with cotton produced by the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, a paramilitary group that U.S. officials say uses forced labor.

Congress is also considering sweeping legislation that would ban all products with materials from Xinjiang unless companies certify that the goods are made without forced labor&lt;strong&gt;.&lt;/strong&gt;

John Ullyot, the spokesman for the National Security Council, said that China’s campaign of repression in Xinjiang involved “state-sponsored forced labor” and that the United States would “not be complicit in modern-day slavery.”

“The administration has taken unprecedented actions to prevent China from profiting off of its horrific human rights abuses,” he said.

Together, the solar companies named in the report supply more than a third of the world’s polysilicon, which is refined from rock and turned into the solar panels that end up on rooftops and utility energy projects, including those in the United States and Europe.

Government announcements and news reports indicate that solar companies often take in assigned workers in batches of dozens or fewer, suggesting that the transfers are a small part of their overall workforce. Still, the assertions from Horizon Advisory imply that much of the global solar supply chain may be tainted by an association with forced labor. Such charges could hurt its progressive image and risk product bans from Washington.

GCL-Poly, Daqo New Energy, Xinte Energy and East Hope Group did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Ian McCaleb, a spokesman for Jinko Solar, said the company “strongly condemns the use of forced labor and does not engage in it in its hiring practices or workplace operations.” He said that it had reviewed the claims in the Horizon report and “found that they do not demonstrate forced labor in our facilities.”

China carries out a vast program of detention and surveillance of Uighurs, Kazakhs and other minorities in Xinjiang. A million or more minorities may have been detained in indoctrination camps and other sites where they are forced to renounce religious bonds, and risk torture, assault and psychological trauma, Uighurs abroad and human rights groups say.

The Xinjiang government has promoted the labor transfer programs in parallel with the re-education camps, efforts that have ramped up drastically under the current leader, Xi Jinping. The government has uprooted many from farms to work in factories and cities, in the belief that steady, supervised work can pull minorities out of poverty and break down cultural barriers. Workers may have little choice but to obey local officials who oversee their move to distant towns and industrial zones to fulfill government-set quotas.

The growing scrutiny of the region has already prompted changes among some companies whose supply chains are entangled in these programs. Many textile and apparel companies that use cotton or yarn from Xinjiang have severed ties, including Patagonia, Marks and Spencer and H&amp;amp;M.

The solar sector could face similar pressure. The industry has deep ties to Xinjiang, which accounts for about 40% of global polysilicon production, said Jenny Chase, the head of solar analysis at BloombergNEF. Xinjiang’s polysilicon production increased rapidly over the past decade, mostly because of cheap electricity from local coal plants and other government support, Chase said.

That expansion has helped Chinese companies dominate foreign competitors, including in the United States. China produced 82% of global polysilicon in 2020, up from 26% in 2010, according to data from IHS Markit, while the U.S. share of production shrunk to 5% from 35%.

“I am concerned that forced labor may have been used in Xinjiang,” said Francine Sullivan, the vice president for business development at REC Silicon, a Norwegian polysilicon manufacturer with operations in the United States. The company shut a facility in Washington state, despite surging overall U.S. demand.

Xinjiang is known for low safety and environmental standards, Sullivan said, and forced labor “may be just part of the incentive package.”

Xiaojing Sun, a senior research analyst at Wood Mackenzie, said solar companies were starting to investigate their exposure to Xinjiang and reconfigure their supply chains to avoid the region if possible.

In a note to investors in October, analysts at Roth Capital Partners said the solar sector faced a “heightened risk of disruption” because of its ties to Xinjiang.

“Investors are getting nervous,” Sun said.

The Solar Energy Industries Association, the largest industry association in the United States, has called human rights abuses in Xinjiang “reprehensible” and strongly encouraged companies “to immediately move their supply chains out of the region.”

Since unfettered on-the-ground access to Xinjiang for foreign journalists and researchers is virtually impossible, the Horizon Advisory researchers do not provide direct testimony of forced labor. Instead, they present signs of possible coercion from Chinese-language documents and news reports, such as programs that may use high-pressure recruitment techniques, indoctrinate workers with patriotic or military education, or restrict their movement.

The report documents GCL-Poly accepting “surplus labor” from a rural region of Xinjiang last year. In 2018, according to an article on China Energy Net, a local news site, one of GCL-Poly’s subsidiaries also accepted more than 60 such workers.

A local subsidiary of Jinko Solar, Xinjiang Jinko Energy Co., received state subsidies for employing local Xinjiang labor, including at least 40 “poor workers from southern Xinjiang” in May, according to a local government announcement from July 2020 cited by Horizon Advisory.

On its public WeChat account, East Hope Group said that it had “responded to the national Western Development Call and actively participated in the development and construction of Xinjiang,” including constructing a polysilicon project in Changji prefecture in 2016, the Horizon report said.

That same year, according to a Chinese news report cited by Horizon, Xinjiang’s Yarkand County signed a “labor export cooperation framework agreement” with a subsidiary named East Hope Group Xinjiang Aluminum Co.

Another subsidiary of East Hope, Xinjiang East Hope Nonferrous Metals Co., “accepted 235 ethnic minority employees from southern Xinjiang,” who were given training to make up for “low educational qualifications, weak national language skills and insufficient job skills,” according to a report on the company’s website.

According to Horizon Advisory, several solar companies also have ties to the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, which has been penalized by the Trump administration. In its 2018 financial report, Daqo New Energy said its Xinjiang facilities benefited from a lower cost of electricity because the regional grid is operated by a division of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps.

Amy Lehr, the director of the Human Rights Initiative at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said that work programs that draw on Xinjiang minorities and offer companies subsidies for employing them are a “red flag” for forced labor. These programs may restrict workers from quitting, traveling or participating in religious services, pay less than minimum wage, and involve harsh or unsafe work conditions, as well as the threat of detention, according to Lehr’s research.

“The concern is that there is a potential for coercion, because of the level of surveillance and fearfulness,” Lehr said. Companies that source products from the region have “no way of knowing that you’re not being connected to forced labor,” she said.

Nathan Picarsic, a founder of Horizon Advisory, said what the firm had documented was likely “just the tip of the iceberg.” If Americans are buying solar panels made with materials from these Chinese companies, he said, “I would say you are complicit in perpetuating this Chinese industrial policy that suppresses and disenfranchises human beings.”

In a flat, arid expanse of China’s far west Xinjiang region, a solar technology company welcomed laborers from a rural area 650 miles away, preparing to put them to work at GCL-Poly, the world’s second-largest maker of polysilicon.

In a flat, arid expanse of China’s far west Xinjiang region, a solar technology company welcomed laborers from a rural area 650 miles away, preparing to put them to work at GCL-Poly, the world’s second-largest maker of polysilicon. The workers, members of the region’s Uighur minority, attended a class in etiquette as they prepared for their new lives in the solar industry, which prides itself as a model of clean, responsible growth. GCL-Poly promoted the housing and training it offered its new recruits in photographs and statements to the local news media. But researchers and human rights experts say those positive images may conceal a more troubling reality — the persecution of one of China’s most vulnerable ethnic groups. According to a report by the consultancy Horizon Advisory, Xinjiang’s rising solar energy technology sector is connected to a broad program of assigned labor in China, including methods that fit well-documented patterns of forced labor. Major solar companies including GCL-Poly, East Hope Group, Daqo New Energy, Xinte Energy and Jinko Solar are named in the report as bearing signs of using some forced labor, according to Horizon Advisory, which specializes in Chinese-language research. Although many details remain unclear, those signs include accepting workers transferred with the help of the Chinese government from certain parts of Xinjiang, and having laborers undergo “military-style” training that may be aimed at instilling loyalty to China and the Communist Party. The Chinese government disputes the presence of any forced labor in its supply chains, arguing that employment is voluntary. The companies named in the report either did not respond to requests for comment or denied any role in forced labor. In a statement, a representative for the Chinese Embassy in Washington called forced labor in Xinjiang “a rumor created by a few anti-China media and organizations,” adding that all workers in Xinjiang enter into contracts in accordance with Chinese labor law. “There is no such thing as ‘forced labor,’” the representative said. The report adds to a growing list of companies that have been accused of relying on coerced labor from Uighurs and other ethnic minorities in China, either in their own factories or those of their suppliers. The United States and other governments have become increasingly vocal about forced labor in Xinjiang, including naming and shaming major corporations that operate in the region. The Trump administration has imposed sanctions on dozens of companies and individuals for their role in Xinjiang, including banning some exports from the region, which is also a major producer of cotton. On Dec. 2, it banned imports made with cotton produced by the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, a paramilitary group that U.S. officials say uses forced labor. Congress is also considering sweeping legislation that would ban all products with materials from Xinjiang unless companies certify that the goods are made without forced labor. John Ullyot, the spokesman for the National Security Council, said that China’s campaign of repression in Xinjiang involved “state-sponsored forced labor” and that the United States would “not be complicit in modern-day slavery.” “The administration has taken unprecedented actions to prevent China from profiting off of its horrific human rights abuses,” he said. Together, the solar companies named in the report supply more than a third of the world’s polysilicon, which is refined from rock and turned into the solar panels that end up on rooftops and utility energy projects, including those in the United States and Europe. Government announcements and news reports indicate that solar companies often take in assigned workers in batches of dozens or fewer, suggesting that the transfers are a small part of their overall workforce. Still, the assertions from Horizon Advisory imply that much of the global solar supply chain may be tainted by an association with forced labor. Such charges could hurt its progressive image and risk product bans from Washington. GCL-Poly, Daqo New Energy, Xinte Energy and East Hope Group did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Ian McCaleb, a spokesman for Jinko Solar, said the company “strongly condemns the use of forced labor and does not engage in it in its hiring practices or workplace operations.” He said that it had reviewed the claims in the Horizon report and “found that they do not demonstrate forced labor in our facilities.” China carries out a vast program of detention and surveillance of Uighurs, Kazakhs and other minorities in Xinjiang. A million or more minorities may have been detained in indoctrination camps and other sites where they are forced to renounce religious bonds, and risk torture, assault and psychological trauma, Uighurs abroad and human rights groups say. The Xinjiang government has promoted the labor transfer programs in parallel with the re-education camps, efforts that have ramped up drastically under the current leader, Xi Jinping. The government has uprooted many from farms to work in factories and cities, in the belief that steady, supervised work can pull minorities out of poverty and break down cultural barriers. Workers may have little choice but to obey local officials who oversee their move to distant towns and industrial zones to fulfill government-set quotas. The growing scrutiny of the region has already prompted changes among some companies whose supply chains are entangled in these programs. Many textile and apparel companies that use cotton or yarn from Xinjiang have severed ties, including Patagonia, Marks and Spencer and H&amp;M. The solar sector could face similar pressure. The industry has deep ties to Xinjiang, which accounts for about 40% of global polysilicon production, said Jenny Chase, the head of solar analysis at BloombergNEF. Xinjiang’s polysilicon production increased rapidly over the past decade, mostly because of cheap electricity from local coal plants and other government support, Chase said. That expansion has helped Chinese companies dominate foreign competitors, including in the United States. China produced 82% of global polysilicon in 2020, up from 26% in 2010, according to data from IHS Markit, while the U.S. share of production shrunk to 5% from 35%. “I am concerned that forced labor may have been used in Xinjiang,” said Francine Sullivan, the vice president for business development at REC Silicon, a Norwegian polysilicon manufacturer with operations in the United States. The company shut a facility in Washington state, despite surging overall U.S. demand. Xinjiang is known for low safety and environmental standards, Sullivan said, and forced labor “may be just part of the incentive package.” Xiaojing Sun, a senior research analyst at Wood Mackenzie, said solar companies were starting to investigate their exposure to Xinjiang and reconfigure their supply chains to avoid the region if possible. In a note to investors in October, analysts at Roth Capital Partners said the solar sector faced a “heightened risk of disruption” because of its ties to Xinjiang. “Investors are getting nervous,” Sun said. The Solar Energy Industries Association, the largest industry association in the United States, has called human rights abuses in Xinjiang “reprehensible” and strongly encouraged companies “to immediately move their supply chains out of the region.” Since unfettered on-the-ground access to Xinjiang for foreign journalists and researchers is virtually impossible, the Horizon Advisory researchers do not provide direct testimony of forced labor. Instead, they present signs of possible coercion from Chinese-language documents and news reports, such as programs that may use high-pressure recruitment techniques, indoctrinate workers with patriotic or military education, or restrict their movement. The report documents GCL-Poly accepting “surplus labor” from a rural region of Xinjiang last year. In 2018, according to an article on China Energy Net, a local news site, one of GCL-Poly’s subsidiaries also accepted more than 60 such workers. A local subsidiary of Jinko Solar, Xinjiang Jinko Energy Co., received state subsidies for employing local Xinjiang labor, including at least 40 “poor workers from southern Xinjiang” in May, according to a local government announcement from July 2020 cited by Horizon Advisory. On its public WeChat account, East Hope Group said that it had “responded to the national Western Development Call and actively participated in the development and construction of Xinjiang,” including constructing a polysilicon project in Changji prefecture in 2016, the Horizon report said. That same year, according to a Chinese news report cited by Horizon, Xinjiang’s Yarkand County signed a “labor export cooperation framework agreement” with a subsidiary named East Hope Group Xinjiang Aluminum Co. Another subsidiary of East Hope, Xinjiang East Hope Nonferrous Metals Co., “accepted 235 ethnic minority employees from southern Xinjiang,” who were given training to make up for “low educational qualifications, weak national language skills and insufficient job skills,” according to a report on the company’s website. According to Horizon Advisory, several solar companies also have ties to the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, which has been penalized by the Trump administration. In its 2018 financial report, Daqo New Energy said its Xinjiang facilities benefited from a lower cost of electricity because the regional grid is operated by a division of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps. Amy Lehr, the director of the Human Rights Initiative at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said that work programs that draw on Xinjiang minorities and offer companies subsidies for employing them are a “red flag” for forced labor. These programs may restrict workers from quitting, traveling or participating in religious services, pay less than minimum wage, and involve harsh or unsafe work conditions, as well as the threat of detention, according to Lehr’s research. “The concern is that there is a potential for coercion, because of the level of surveillance and fearfulness,” Lehr said. Companies that source products from the region have “no way of knowing that you’re not being connected to forced labor,” she said. Nathan Picarsic, a founder of Horizon Advisory, said what the firm had documented was likely “just the tip of the iceberg.” If Americans are buying solar panels made with materials from these Chinese companies, he said, “I would say you are complicit in perpetuating this Chinese industrial policy that suppresses and disenfranchises human beings.”

Chinese solar companies tied to use of forced labor

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Zee News Rajasthan

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Vyomica Berry

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