Rohingya refugee camps in southern Bangladesh recorded the highest number of single-day coronavirus cases Sunday with 49 new infections, pushing the total tally to 992.

After testing 312 Rohingya, 49 were reported positive for COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, the office of Bangladesh’s Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner (RRRC) said in a report released Sunday night.

The death toll among Rohingya from the virus in the world’s largest refugee camps also rose to 15, including two fatalities recorded in the last two days, the report added.

Bangladesh is home to more than 1.2 million stateless Rohingya, most of whom fled a brutal military crackdown in western Myanmar’s Rakhine state in August 2017.

So far, 665 Rohingya have recovered from the disease, including 11 in the past day.

To stem the spread of the virus in the congested makeshift Rohingya settlements in Bangladesh, authorities on May 20 imposed a 12-day full lockdown at the five most infected camps out of a total 34, excluding new settlements of around 20,000 Rohingya on a remote island in the country’s southern Bay of Bengal.

“We have put five camps under complete lockdown while the rest have been kept under close monitoring,” RRRC Chief Coordinator Dr. Abu Toha M.R. Bhuiyan told Anadolu Agency.

Citing authorities' efforts to contain the virus in the Rohingya camps, he added that in the last 24 hours, 117 new contacts have been quarantined in isolation centers.

“Currently, 836 virus infected Rohingya are being quarantined, while the cumulative number of contacts quarantined to date is 3,361,” Bhuiyan said.

The Rohingya, described by the UN as the world's most persecuted people, have faced heightened fears of attack since dozens were killed in communal violence in 2012.

According to Amnesty International, more than 750,000 Rohingya refugees, mostly women and children, fled Myanmar and crossed into Bangladesh after Myanmar forces launched a crackdown on the minority Muslim community in August 2017.

Since Aug. 25, 2017, nearly 24,000 Rohingya Muslims have been killed by Myanmar’s state forces, while more than 34,000 Rohingya were thrown into fires and over 114,000 others were beaten, according to a report by the Ontario International Development Agency (OIDA)./aa

A mountaintop cable car plunged to the ground near Italy's northern city of Verbania on Sunday, killing 14 people, according to authorities.

A 9-year-old child who was seriously injured in the accident and was taken to a hospital in the city of Turin could not be saved, the National Corps for Mountain and Speleological Rescue said in a statement.

There were 15 people reportedly in the cabin at the time of the incident and the treatment of a seriously injured 5-year-old child continues.

Italian President Sergio Mattarella, Prime Minister Mario Draghi, European Council President Charles Michel, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Parliament President David Sassoli expressed their deep sorrow over the accident in their condolence messages.

The Verbania Public Prosecutor's Office has launched an investigation into the accident on the Stresa-Mottarone cable car line, according to local media reports./aa

India's coronavirus death toll crossed 300,000 as the country recorded more than 4,400 fatalities in the last 24 hours, according to Health Ministry figures released Monday. 

According to the ministry, there were 4,454 new deaths, taking the total to 303,720.

India had seen an exponential rise in cases, with the daily number surpassing 400,000. While there has been a decline in daily cases, this has not been the case for daily virus-linked deaths.

On Monday, daily cases fell to 222,315, pushing the country’s total to 26.75 million, the data showed.

According to the daily figures, the worst-hit capital of New Delhi has also seen a significant decline in new cases, but rural areas of the country have been seeing increases in infections.

What is now worrying doctors is an increase in cases of the deadly fungal infection mucormycosis. According to government figures, there are nearly 9,000 cases in the country.

According to doctors, mucormycosis is fatal for people who have weak immune systems and also causes loss of eyesight and the removal of the nose and jawbone if not treated in time.

India is currently vaccinating everyone above the age of 18 for COVID. But the drive has suffered due to a shortage of supplies, with many states saying they do not have enough stocks to carry on the vaccination drive.

"It is a serious matter of concern that after Monday, Covaxin will not be available for the second vaccine dose of those in the 45+ category!" Atishi Marlena, a member of the Aam Aadmi Party, which governs the capital, wrote on Twitter.

While India is the second most affected country in the world in terms of infections after the US, according to US-based John Hopkins University, India has become the third country after the US and Brazil to cross 300,000 virus-linked deaths./aa

SRINAGAR, Jammu and Kashmir

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) on Sunday demanded the immediate release of Kashmiri journalist Asif Sultan, who has been in prison for the last 1,000 days.

In a Twitter post, the New York-based non-profit group said: “He [Sultan] has been repeatedly denied bail. Asif was arrested after publishing a story on militant Burhan Wani in Aug.2018.”

Sultan had written a detailed profile of Burhan Wani, a top militant leader who was killed in an encounter with the Indian forces in 2016 and has since become a symbol of protests against the government in the disputed territory.

He was arrested on Aug. 27, 2018 and booked under a controversial anti-terror law. He was accused of “harboring known militants” which his family has denied.

“Journalist Aasif Sultan’s trial began in June 2019 and has been moving slowly,” the CPJ said.

There was no immediate response from the Indian government on the statement.

Last year, CPJ along with 400 journalists had written a letter to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi demanding his immediate release.

The group had said: “Interviewing alleged militants or having sources that are critical of the government is within the scope of a journalist’s job and does not implicate them in any crime. Events in Kashmir are of public interest, and covering them is a public service, not a criminal act.”

The 34-year-old journalist covered politics and human rights for Kashmir Narrator, a monthly news magazine published from Srinagar, capital of the Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Mohammad Sultan, the journalist’s father, said his son has been framed falsely in the case.

“My innocent son has spent these 1,000 days in jail for no crime. We as a family want his immediate release now,” Sultan added.

In May this year, the Committee for Protection of Journalists had written a letter to the European Commission and the European Council highlighting the threat to incarcerated journalist’s life due to the viral infection.

The group had demanded the European Commission to urge Indian authorities for Sultan’s release in view of the surging infection and deaths due to the pandemic.

“Journalists in jail are at high risk of contracting the virus and their detentions now pose a threat to their lives,” the group said.

Sultan’s lawyer Abdullah Pandith told Anadolu Agency that there are high chances that Sultan will get a bail soon.

“Hopefully, we can secure his release in coming weeks as we have applied for the bail and there seems promising chances as the case has moved further,” Pandith said./agencies

YAOUNDE, Cameroon

At least 25,000 people have been displaced following Mt. Nyiragongo's eruption in the eastern part of Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) on Saturday night, UNICEF said on Sunday.

In a statement, UNICEF said more than 150 children have also been separated from their families and 170 children are feared to be missing as people fled the city of Goma following the eruption.

Nyiragongo, one of the world's most active volcanoes, erupted and forced more than 5,000 of residents in North Kivu’s Goma to flee to nonboring Rwanda on Saturday night.

“At least 25,000 were displaced in Sake, 25 km (15.5 miles) north-west of Goma,” UNICEF said, adding that most people are slowly making their way back home since the lava has stopped flowing on Sunday morning.

"It is not yet clear how many households have been affected by the eruption in the Nyiragongo Territory, north of Goma. Scores of children in the area near Goma’s airport have been left homeless and destitute. At least five deaths were directly related to the eruption in Buhene, Kibatshi and Kibumba," according to the statement.

During an emergency meeting on Sunday in Goma, the DR Congo authorities decided to evacuate the population from the red zone to more secured areas.

A government delegation went immediately to provide support to the provincial authorities in order to deal with humanitarian emergencies, said government spokesman Patrick Muyaya.

Provincial authorities also reported several minor earthquakes in the city of Goma. They urged the people to remain vigilant, avoid non-essential movements and follow directions.

At least 250 people were killed when Nyiragongo last erupted in 2002 and 120,000 were left homeless after lava flowed into Goma.

There are growing concerns across the UK that the Indian variant of the coronavirus could introduce a deadly third wave of the pandemic as the highly contagious mutation spreads further across the country.

Over 3,400 infections of the mutation have so far been recorded by Public Health England (PHE), the government agency that monitors the spread of deadly viruses and infections. Cases are mainly concentrated in the northern city of Bolton, however, they are now spreading to the Midlands and the South, including the capital London.

In an effort to contain the spread, the government has launched a rapid testing scheme in Bolton where a 100-strong Surge Rapid Response Team is going door to door to conduct daily tests. 33,000 test kits have also been handed out across the city with more than 3,400 kits being given out in door-to-door visits by public health officials.

The government is also bolstering its vaccine rollout drive in the Midlands and the North where the local populations have been urged to receive a jab. Additionally, enhanced testing and contact tracing has been introduced to track down the variant and prevent it from further spreading.

Also known as B.1.617.2, the Indian variant, according to PHE, could be more transmissible than the Kent variant, the first of its kind that emerged in the UK last year and became the dominant strain in the country. The Indian mutation, however now stands to become the dominant variant should numbers continue to increase at this rate.

A study conducted by PHE on Saturday revealed that the Oxford/AstraZeneca and BioNTech vaccines offer significant protection against the Indian variant of the Coronavirus, raising hopes that an increased vaccination program could curtail its spread.

“The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was 88% effective against symptomatic disease from the B.1.617.2 variant 2 weeks after the second dose, compared to 93% effectiveness against the B.1.1.7 variant. 2 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine were 60% effective against symptomatic disease from the B.1.617.2 variant compared to 66% effectiveness against the B.1.1.7 variant,” PHE said in a statement.

“Both vaccines were 33% effective against symptomatic disease from B.1.617.2, 3 weeks after the first dose compared to around 50% effectiveness against the B.1.1.7 variant,” the government agency added.

The study took place between April 5 and May 16 and tested all age groups in the UK. Some 1,054 who had contracted the Indian variant were studied and found that both vaccines offered significant protection against the deadly strain. The vaccines also offered even higher levels of effectiveness against other variants.

On Sunday, 2,235 people tested positive for the virus, bringing the total number of infections reported this week to 17,719. This represents an 11.3% increase in comparison to the previous week.

Five more deaths were reported within 28 days of testing positive for the virus on Sunday. Between May 17 and 23, there were 42 deaths within 28 days of testing. This shows a 43.2% decrease in comparison to the previous week.

Over 37 million people were administered their first dose of the vaccine by the end of May 22, with over 22 million people now having received the second. Vaccines are currently administered in 2 doses 21 days apart./aa

Iraqi President Barham Salih said on Sunday that a total of $150 billion have been smuggled outside Iraq since 2003.

"Government and international statistics and data estimate that Iraq’s financial revenues from oil since 2003 are close to $1 trillion," Salih said in a televised speech on combating financial and administrative corruption.

“These illegal funds,” he said “were enough to put the country in a better place.”

The Iraqi president said he submitted a bill to the parliament to "recover” those funds and bring to justice those implicated in the corruption scheme.

Salih went on to blame corruption for hindering efforts to achieve progress in Iraq.

Iraq, the world’s third-largest oil exporter, is among the most corrupt countries in the world, according to Transparency International's index with the bulk of the money lost to waste and embezzlement.

Iraq has been rocked by street protests since October 2019 over corruption and poor living conditions./agencies

Turkish security forces Sunday arrested six PKK terror suspects in capital Ankara and northwestern Istanbul province.

Turkish police carried out simultaneous operations at 14 places in Ankara and Istanbul on May 21 to arrest terror suspects. A former official of People’s Democratic Party (HDP) was among the suspects.

Digital materials belonging to the PKK were also seized during the operations.

Meanwhile, in a separate operation carried out in Turkey's eastern province of Bingol, provincial gendarmerie teams received a tip that the PKK terrorist organization had hidden explosives underground in the countryside of Karliova, according to a statement by the governor's office.

During the land survey conducted in the area as part of Operation Eren-4, a total of four underground warehouses buried in the soil used by PKK terrorists were identified.

A search of the warehouses uncovered different types of arms and ammunition belonging to the terrorist organization.

While the seized materials were destroyed, operations in the area will reportedly continue.

Operation Eren-4 has started in the Karliova-Varto region of the eastern Bingol and Mus provinces with 93 operation teams, including over 1,600 personnel from the gendarmerie, police, and village guards.

The first three phases of the operation launched this year – Eren-1 Tendurek, Eren-2 Lice, Eren-3 Mt. Agri – are also ongoing.

The operation was named after Eren Bulbul, a 15-year-old martyred by PKK terrorists on Aug. 11, 2017.

In its more than 35-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the US, and the EU – has been responsible for the deaths of at least 40,000 people, including women, children and infants./aa