Is New Delhi, with rising coronavirus cases, set to become the next New York?

The United Nations refugee agency said on Saturday (February 4) that seven Haitian migrants died in the Andean highlands of Peru as their efforts to cross into Bolivia were stymied by anti-government protests which have been going on since early December 2022. Speaking to the news agency AFP, Iris Bano Romero, a spokesperson for the refugee agency, said that six deaths, including that of a minor, occurred in Desaguadero town, news agency AFP reported. Romero added the seventh death occurred in the town of Juli.

Apart from these seven deaths, two other people were hospitalised with pneumonia since Thursday with one of them in critical condition, the UN official said. Romero further said that blockades erected due to the political crisis in Peru made life difficult for both locals and migrants, making it hard to obtain basics like food and fuel, or to pay for rent and other services.

Forty-eight people have been killed so far in the anti-government demonstrations in Peru. On Friday (February 3), the congressional committee blocked another bill to advance general elections to this year, which President Dina Boluarte hoped would quell the ongoing unrest.

Speaking to reporters, Alejandro Cavero, a right-wing member of Congress who sought to halt the bill, said that he raised parliamentary objections in a meeting of the Constitutional Committee before the bill could even be debated.

"The regulations of Congress clearly stipulate that a matter that has already been shelved cannot be discussed again in the committee until the next legislative session," Cavero, a member of the committee said.

A day later, a Roman Catholic Cardinal voiced dismay that Congress declined to advance elections to defuse the unrest. "It hurts our souls that they have (not acted on) a proposal to move up elections," Cardinal Pedro Barreto said on Saturday (February 4).

(With inputs from agencies)

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