Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/. At the regular press briefing of the Ministry of Health today on January 4, it has been reported that 23 new cases were detected in Mongolia after testing 12,621 people nationwide within the past 24 hours.

Specifically, two citizens who arrived on a charter flight from Tokyo on December 20, two workers of Central Military Hospital and 19 contacts of previously-detected cases tested positive for COVID-19.

No new infections were recorded in other parts of the country.

The total number of COVID-19 cases in the country has so far reached 1,263, of which 878 have made recovery. In addition, nine patients discharged from the hospital in the past 24 hours.

Currently, there are 398 people undergoing treatment at the hospitals, of which nine are in critical, 125 are in serious and 262 are in mild health condition.

The IFRC has released funds for forecast-based action in two more countries facing widely differing hazards: Cyclone Chalane in Mozambique and renewed dzud (extreme winter) risk in Mongolia.

Last Monday, in anticipation of Cyclone Chalane’s landfall two days later and supported by the IFRC and the German Red Cross, the Mozambique Red Cross activated its recently approved early action protocol for cyclones with preparedness actions to reduce its impact.

“Our emphasis at this stage is on anticipation and not reaction,” said Jurg Wilbrink, Forecast-based Action Project Manager at the IFRC’s Southern Africa region. “Instead of waiting for the cyclone to hit, we are preparing for its impact.”

Red Cross staff and volunteers will have launched early warnings and supported reinforcing houses and public structures as well as strategic stock in place, to limit the potential damage…in targeted vulnerable communities.”

Early actions worth nearly US$ 300,000 included the supply and fitting (photo) of shelter-strengthening kits, and hygiene and Covid-related supplies.

“Red Cross volunteers will also be active in sharing potentially life-saving information, including the position of safe areas, medical help and key actions to take before landfall,” an IFRC press release issued in Maputo and Geneva said.

Janio Dambo, Forecast-based Financing Project Manager at the Mozambique Red Cross, added: “We were busy finalising the details of the early-action protocol in Mozambique when Cyclone Idai hit [in 2019].

“At the time what needed to happen was being put down on paper. This time around, we are putting everything into action. Early action.”

Earlier in December, the Mongolian Red Cross Society (MRCS) activated its own early action protocol for dzud risk after Uvurkhangai, Bayankhongor, Dundgovi, Umnugovi and Govi-Altai provinces were assessed as expecting “extreme winter…with deteriorating spring,” the EAP announcement said.

The MRCS will deliver cash assistance and livestock feed to 2,000 vulnerable herder households in the target areas to assist them in meeting their immediate needs and save their animals.

The operation, worth nearly US$ 350,000, will be completed within two months of the trigger date of 18 December and is being coordinated with the UN Food and Agricultural Organization which has activated its own early warning plan to support vulnerable herder communities.

A year ago almost to the day similar forecasts of an extreme winter in Mongolia triggered the first use of the DREF-based early-action funding mechanism anywhere in the world.

The Mongolian Red Cross in November providing food parcels to 4,000 vulnerable families amid rising Covid-19 rates; using early-action funds they have now expanded their wintertime humanitarian operation to include vulnerable herder families facing extreme winter conditions. And in Mozambique’s Buzi district, meanwhile, Red Cross volunteers using the same IFRC early-action facility were last week distributing shelter and individual protection kits as Cyclone Chalane bore down on the coast nearby. (Photos: Mongolia and Mozambique Red Cross via IFRC)

A world weather record for high pressure may have been broken at the end of last year. An automatic weather station at Tsetsen-Uul in a valley in Mongolia recorded a provisional atmospheric pressure of 1094.3 millibars at midnight GMT on December 29, 2020. The previous confirmed world record was 1089.4 millibars on December 30, 2004 in Tosontsengel, also in Mongolia.

The recent high-pressure reading needs to be verified by the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), but there is good reason to believe it is genuine. Several other weather stations in the region also recorded extremely high-pressure readings around the same time. And it was intensely cold, with the temperature at Tsetsen-Uul minus 45.5C at the time... READ MORE at the source

On Monday (4 January), the Mongolian Government took the decision to extend the second degree emergency situation in the capital city of Ulaanbaatar for five days due to the worsening pandemic situation. Therefore, UB residents will have to stay at home until 11 January under the regulations for public emergency readiness and preparation.

In addition, the Mongolian Cabinet has cancelled the annual Lunar New Year ( Tsagaan Sar) celebration for second consecutive year in order to prevent the spread of coronavirus. This year, the celebration will take place on 12-14 February.

Lunar New Year is an important event for Mongolians, touching on cherished traditional values, which are especially dear to the older generation. Marking the new year is a deeply held tradition, and celebrating it has always endured difficult economic or political circumstances. The core of the celebration is family, though colleagues, peers, and friends also gather to perform traditional rituals as a form of “team building” and integration during the Lunar New Year, often, with copious amounts of alcohol. However, the fear of Mongolia’s lawmakers is that the rituals embedded in this traditional holiday are likely to beget risks of spreading coronavirus and other respiratory diseases as they include close human interaction, such as kissing and hugging.

Due to this risk, the Mongolian government has been forced to suspend the traditional celebration.

Ulaanbaatar/MONTSAME/. At its irregular meeting today, the Cabinet decided to extend the strict lockdown in Ulaanbaatar city for four days from 6AM, January 6 until 6AM, January 11, reported the Deputy Prime Minister and Head of the State Emergency Commission Ya. Sodbaatar.

Specifically, the Cabinet issued a decision on December 21 to reintroduce the strict lockdown in Ulaanbaatar city starting from 6 AM, December 23, 2020 until 6AM, January 6, 2021, with a purpose to curb the spread of COVID-19.

But it has not yet resulted in a decrease of infections, and new COVID-19 cases with uncertain sources have been recorded in the capital city. Thus, it has been decided to extend the strict lockdown based on the recommendations of 11 professional organizations, including the Ministry of Health, National Center for Communicable Diseases and experts’ council.

Certain decisions on lifting quarantine from 06 AM of January 11 and returning trade, industrial and service sectors to normality are being made, emphasized Mr. Sodbaatar. "However, the situation of the spread of COVID-19 might change our plan".

Ulaanbaatar/MONTSAME/. Baganuur JSC plans to mine and sell 4 million tons of coal in 2021, stripping 17.3 mln/m3 of soil.

Last year the company with about 1200 miners overfulfilled the same plan target by extracting and selling 4 million 50 thousand tons of coal.

The company is sole supplier of more than 60 percent of Mongolia's coal needs and 70 percent of thermal coal.

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ Amendments to the Law on the Legal Status of Foreign Nationals will come into effect from June 1, 2021.

The amended law, which was approved at the plenary session of Parliament on December 31, 2020, newly regulated issues related to improving registration and monitoring of foreign nationals, issuing Mongolian visa online and at border crossing ports, operating visa center and extending visa expiration date and so on.

In particular, Mongolian visa will be issued both printed and electronic formats in line with international standards. Currently, temporary arrivals coming to Mongolia for over 30 days period and foreign nationals residing for official and private purpose should be registered at the State administrative body in charge of foreign nationals within 7 days after their arrival. According to the new amendments, Mongolian citizens, business entities or organizations who provide the foreign national with accommodation should register the arrival online at the Immigration Agency within 48 hours after their arrival.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s outgoing administration plans to approve a controversial land swap needed for Rio Tinto Ltd and partners to build an Arizona copper mining project that Native American tribes say will destroy sites of cultural and religious value.

The move further escalates the growing global clash between indigenous groups, who are increasingly vocal about the need to preserve historical lands, and mining companies eager to produce more copper for electric vehicles and other green technologies.

The U.S. Forest Service will publish a final environmental impact statement for the mine on Jan. 15, a necessary step to complete the land exchange, said Tom Torres, acting supervisor of the Tonto National Forest, where the mine would be built.

Publication will come five days before Trump is replaced by President-elect Joe Biden, who has not spoken publicly about the project but promised Arizona tribal leaders in October that they would “have a seat at the table” in his administration.

Rio Tinto said it is “is committed to ongoing engagement with the Forest Service” once Biden is president, as well as with “with tribes and the community to continue shaping the project and building programs that protect Native American cultural heritage and help diversify the local economy.”

Officials from the San Carlos Apache Tribe and the Biden campaign could not immediately be reached for comment.

Publication of the final report is a technical requirement for the land swap, which dates back to 2014, when former President Barack Obama approved the process. The government must, within 90 days, swap the land above the copper reserve for acreage that Rio owns nearby.

Rio and partner BHP Group Ltd must still get construction permits for the mine, which the incoming Biden administration is likely to oppose or slow-walk, analysts say.

The tribe and their allies have vowed not to let the mine open and have already begun lobbying Biden to block construction permits. Some tribal members have said they will physically barricade themselves on the land to prevent the mine’s construction.

(By Ernest Scheyder; Editing by Dan Grebler)

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/. On December 31, State Great Khural, parliament of Mongolia approved amendment to the Law on Anti-Corruption, submitted by the government.

Article 21 of the Law on Anti-Corruption previously stated to appoint Head and Deputy Head of Anti-Corruption Agency for 6-year term by the State Great Khural based on the nomination by the President of Mongolia.

In line with today’s amendment, now the Agency’s Head will be appointed on the nomination of the Prime Minister, and Deputy Head will be appointed as nominated by the head of the Agency after conducting parliament’s hearing on both appointments with 6-year terms.

The law amendment will go into effect on January 1, 2021.

Safoora Zargar was more than three months pregnant when she was arrested in the Indian capital Delhi for participating in a protest against a controversial citizenship law.

It was 10 April, and the pandemic was just beginning to take root in India.

The government's own advice said pregnant women were particularly vulnerable to infection, but for more than two months she was held in the overcrowded Tihar jail.

"They'd tell other prisoners not to talk to me. They'd told them I was a terrorist who'd killed Hindus. Now these people didn't know about the protests, they didn't know I was jailed for participating in a protest," she told the BBC's Geeta Pandey in Delhi after her release.

Her crime had been taking part in widespread protests against the law which critics say targets the Muslim community. The demonstrations had captured the imagination of the country and attracted global attention.

But there were no protests in the street demanding her release. There couldn't be: India was under one of the world's strictest lockdowns, with people confined to their homes. Her arrest was one of many which took place during this time.

And it was not just India. Activists say numerous governments across Asia used the cloak of coronavirus to implement laws, carry out arrests, or push through controversial schemes which otherwise would have sparked a backlash, both at home and abroad.

But instead of a backlash, many governments have seen their popularity increase as people turned to them for direction during the crisis.

"The virus is the enemy and people are put on a war footing. This allows governments to pass oppressive laws in the name of 'battling' the pandemic," Josef Benedict of Civicus, a global alliance of civil society organisations and activists, told the BBC.

"This has meant that human and civic rights have taken a step back."

Why India's new citizenship bill is controversial

'I wait in silence as my world falls apart'

Indeed, Civicus's latest report, "Attack on people power", says the Asia Pacific region has seen "attempts by numerous governments to stifle dissent by censoring reports of state abuses, including in relation to their handling of the pandemic".

It cites increased surveillance and tracking - currently used for contact tracing - as well as the imposition of strict laws intended to stifle any criticism as some of the ways in which this happens. Given that many of these measures are introduced as a response to the pandemic, there is little to no resistance against them.

The Civicus report states that at least 26 countries in the region have seen harsh legislation, while another 16 have seen human rights defenders prosecuted.

'A chilling message'

In India, apart from Safoora, other human rights defenders and activists - including a 83-year-old Jesuit priest with Parkinsons - have been charged and arrested with sedition, criminal defamation and under anti-terrorism laws which make it nearly impossible to get bail.

The situation has prompted several organisations to raise an alarm. Five UN special rapporteurs expressed concern saying the arrests seemed "clearly designed to send a chilling message to India's vibrant civil society".

Maitreyi Gupta, legal advisor India for the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), told the BBC that they had consistently called on the government to release political prisoners.

However, despite international pressure, arrests have continued unabated, and to little protest.

The government has consistently maintained that those they have arrested have been acting against the interests of the country and denied charges that they were engaging in a witch hunt.

In the Philippines, the arrest of 62-year-old activist Teresita Naul - who has a known heart condition and asthma - on charges of kidnapping, serious illegal detention, and destructive arson led to an outcry.

But Naul, who was paraded in front of the media as a top "Communist leader", was just one of more than 400 people accused of these crimes, largely activists and journalists. Others, like Zara Alvarez and Randall Echanis, have been attacked and killed.

Meanwhile, the forced shutdown of the country's biggest media network ABS-CBN in May also deprived many of access to crucial information during the pandemic.

And yet, President Rodrigo Duterte's popularity remains high.

Bangladesh has also shut down several websites critical of the government for spreading "misinformation" on Covid.

And in Nepal, Bidya Shreshta, an activist from the indigenous Newar community, told the BBC that the government has used the pandemic as a means to persecute the group.

During the pandemic, Ms Shreshta says, officials violated a Supreme Court order and or went ahead with the demolition of 46 houses in the Newar's traditional settlements in the Kathmandu valley, making way for a new road.

Officials ignored protest, some of which were dispersed forcibly. The government says that the locals need to communicate their concerns through "proper channels" and has vowed that the building of the highway will go ahead because it's for the "public good".

The Civicus report also cites Cambodia, Thailand, Sri Lanka and Vietnam as countries of concern as they have all seen the targeting of individuals with disproportionately harsh penalties - many of which were handed down for spreading allegedly false information about the pandemic.

And countries like Myanmar have been criticised for using "terrorism" as an excuse to justify restrictions on freedom of expression.

Sometimes though, government action is not directly related to the pandemic - but whether it could have happened without it will never be known.

In Hong Kong, the passage of the national security law in June - after the virus virtually ended the almost daily protests seen across the city - has had a chilling effect on its pro-democracy movement.

Other things are definitely related to the pandemic but, on the surface, benign.

The employment of surveillance technologies in countries like South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong, has proved immensely effective in controlling the virus, but the ICJ has expressed concern that they may continue to be used even when the pandemic ends.

Mr Benedict feels that in many of these countries, civil society organisations have stepped up to fill the gaps entered by the government. And he also takes heart that protests are still continuing in many countries such as the anti-monarchy protests in Thailand and the "omnibus" job creation law in Indonesia.

However, the impact of many of the laws passed and arrests made this year are likely to last long after the pandemic is over.