ULAANBAATAR, MONGOLIA — Soot and ash bloom from the stove as Sukhbaatar Jizaabandi pounds it with a hammer. Dust crowds the air, caught in sunlight that spills through a window. Hands gloved, Sukhbaatar shovels the soot into a bucket.

On the surface, Sukhbaatar’s work as a government-hired chimney sweep seems like a prosaic necessity in a country where stoves are often the center of the home.

Yet to thousands, he and his colleagues are lifesavers.

That’s because, in clearing ash and soot, Sukhbaatar protects Ulaanbaatar residents from deadly carbon monoxide poisoning.

That was the tragic lesson of 2019, after the Mongolian government decided to reduce air pollution by banning the burning of raw coal. But the change unleashed a new problem, as the use of new refined charcoal led to carbon monoxide poisoning that killed eight people in a month.

Since then, the government has hired hundreds of chimney sweeps to prevent a recurrence as part of a broader campaign to combat pollution in a country whose air ranks among the dirtiest in the world. Ulaanbaatar’s air is the most polluted in the country.

Battumur Dagvadorj and Sukhbaatar Jizaabandi, climbing the ladder, come to their last home of the day as part of a government initiative to clean out chimneys and reduce carbon monoxide poisoning.

For decades, Mongolians used unprocessed coal in stoves during Mongolia’s long, legendary winters, when temperatures can bottom out at minus 45 degrees Celsius (minus 49 degrees Fahrenheit).

The cheap coal came at a high cost: The country’s air grew so foul that it contributed to heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer and other illnesses.

Starting in May 2019, Mongolians had to buy a refined charcoal that was odorless and smokeless.

Within a month, the deaths occurred, and another 273 people suffered carbon monoxide poisoning. The number of carbon monoxide deaths in October 2019 nearly matched the total for all of 2018.

Officials blamed the deaths in part on families who didn’t sweep their chimneys properly. So the government ultimately teamed up with a private company to hire more than 1,600 people to clean and inspect stoves.

As of mid-August, the chimney sweeps had worked in over 28,400 households.

Prior to becoming a chimney sweep, Sukhbaatar, 56, had no steady work. Pale, short and thin, he says he took the job in part because it provides a reliable government salary of 800,000 Mongolian tugriks ($281) per month.

“It’s easy because I have experience making stoves,” says Sukhbaatar, a married father of three. “I didn’t know the chimneys were so dirty.”

In Ulaanbaatar, tens of thousands of residents live in yurts, mostly in the city’s ger areas, the poorest in the capital. A traditional Mongolian home, yurts are domed structures with wooden frames covered in felt and cloth. Usually measuring 4 to 5 meters (13 to 16 feet) end to end, most yurts are warmed by a stove.

Working in teams, chimney sweeps and inspectors visit households to study the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning. Not everyone is welcoming: Byambaa Sundel, who lives in Ulaanbaatar’s Sukhbaatar district, says the government program shows that young people today are so privileged that they cannot clean their own chimneys.

“What a waste [of money]!” he says.

Inspector Battumur Dagvadorj, in blue, and chimney sweep Sukhbaatar Jizaabandi dig out soot with a ladle and put it in a bucket. Afterward, they will take it to a dump. They also use their cellphones to take photos of each stove.

The chimney sweeps and inspectors cover four to five houses per day. Most households are happy to see Sukhbaatar and his colleagues, and some homeowners even help them do their work.

The teams toil from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., and by the end of the day, they are blanketed in soot.

Ulziibayar Barkhuu, inspection engineer at Tavan Tolgoi Tulsh LLC, the government’s partner company, says sometimes chimney sweeps and inspectors must make emergency house calls in the middle of the night.

The company receives calls at a special telephone number and supplies chimney sweep services upon request. More than 33,000 people have called.

Battsengel Tsedendamba, 50, used the service after two bouts of carbon monoxide poisoning.

In October 2019, she was at home asleep in the two-story house she had occupied for 17 years. She had never had trouble with chimney smoke or coal, she says.

Suddenly, she awoke choking. Just as she was calling a nurse, she noticed that her children, ages 8 to 22, were all unconscious.

Everyone received medical treatment and fully recovered. “I think it’s God’s destiny for me and my children that they didn’t die of asphyxiation,” she says.

Then, in February 2020, Battsengel again suffered carbon monoxide poisoning. Again, she recovered. So in October 2020, as winter descended and her family fired up the stove, she called in a chimney sweep.

“I don’t think there’s any problem now that the chimney has been [cleaned] out,” she says.

Damdinbazar Batbuyan, 46, called the service in September. Married with two children, he teaches chess out of his home. He had not cleaned his chimney since burning the new refined fuel.

Before the chimney sweep visited, smoke sometimes poured out of his stove, he says, but that no longer happens. And he says he now uses three times less fuel.

Critics of the chimney sweeping campaign say it falls far short of a comprehensive plan to curb Mongolia’s pollution crisis.

“Mongolia has not taken long-term measures to reduce [air pollution],” says activist Purevkhuu Tserendorj, head of the nongovernmental organization Parents Against Smog. “We can’t just keep refining coal.”

Tsolmon Tsogbadrakh, head of policy and coordination at Ulaanbaatar’s Air Pollution Control Department, says Mongolia does have a long-term plan to reduce air pollution, including improving infrastructure and construction in the ger areas.

“We are implementing a national program to reduce air pollution, and we are working on it step by step,” he says. He also says that in the next four to six years, Mongolia will reduce emissions with improved fuels.

Officials have so far declined to say if anyone has died of carbon monoxide poisoning since September, which is when Mongolians started using their stoves again.

All Battsengel knows is that the service saved her and her family. “Professional chimney sweepers have worked very well. [They] protect many people,” she says. “Like us.”

Nansalmaa Oyunchimeg is a Global Press Journal reporter based in Mongolia.

During the current lockdown situation, Mongolia Immigration Agency and its branches are working online. You can contact agency’s web site https://evisa.mn/ for extending your visas and residency cards. Since the strict lockdown, the agency has taken actions for 70 investors and workers visa requests from 16 entities. It granted extensions of residency card issuance and its registration/deregistration for 220 business entities request. Furthermore, around 1700 foreigners and their inviter companies have been provided by information and advice through phone or online chatbot.

Affection of current situation, if you have visa or residency card expiring problem you may send your request by web site www.evisa.mn, If you need any further help or advice please contact us at 1800-1882 or online chat bot located at our website /immigration.gov.mn/ during working hours.

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China’s Sinovac Biotech has secured $515 million in funding from a local firm to double production capacity of its coronavirus vaccine, the companies said on Monday, as it expects efficacy data of its experimental shot this month.

The investment deal also comes as Sinovac expands supply deals and trials of its experimental COVID-19 vaccine CoronaVac with more countries following positive results from early to mid-stage clinical trials.

China’s Sino Biopharmaceutical Limited said on Monday a business unit will invest $515 million in Sinovac Life Sciences, a subsidiary of Sinovac, to help development and production of CoronaVac.

The investment will give Sino Biopharmaceutical a 15.03% interest in Sinovac Life Sciences, Sino Biopharmaceutical said in a filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

Sinovac said in a separate statement that it would be able to manufacture 300 million vaccine doses annually and aims to complete construction of a second production facility by the end of 2020 to increase annual COVID-19 vaccine production capacity to 600 million doses.

Depending on market conditions and the availability of financing, it may seek to further expand its production capacity, Sinovac said.

Sinovac has secured CoronaVac supply deals with several countries including Indonesia, Turkey, Brazil and Chile, and is holding talks with the Philippines for a potential sale.

CoronaVac is also one of three experimental COVID-19 vaccines China has been using to inoculate around 1 million people under an emergency use programme.

Brazil’s Butantan Institute biomedical centre, which is running a Phase 3 trial of CoronaVac in the country, said last week that Sinovac was expected to publish efficacy results from its vaccine trials by Dec. 15.

Reporting by Andrew Galbraith; Editing by Sam Holmes

ORONTO (Reuters) - Canadian mining company Turquoise Hill Resources Ltd is locked in a feud with its largest shareholder, Rio Tinto Plc, over the underground expansion of its massive Oyu Tolgoi copper mine in Mongolia.

Tensions between mine operator Rio and Turquoise Hill’s management and minority shareholders have spilled into the open in recent months. Rio owns 51% of Turquoise Hill, which in turn owns 66% of the mine.

Here is an explanation of the dispute.

WHAT IS OYU TOLGOI?

Oyu Tolgoi is one of the world’s largest-known copper and gold deposits, located in the South Gobi region of Mongolia. The Mongolian government holds a 34% stake in the project with Rio’s majority-owned Turquoise Hill owning the rest.

Open-pit mining began in 2011. First production from the underground expansion is slated for 2022, climbing to 500,000 tonnes of copper per year at full capacity in what would make it the world’s third-largest copper mine.

WHAT WILL THE EXPANSION COST?

Rio in 2019 announced a 30-month delay and a cost overrun of up to $1.9 billion due to difficult geology, putting total expenditures in a range of $6.5 billion to $7.2 billion.

Costs for a coal-fired power plant to supply power to the mine would come on top of that figure.

WHY ARE MINORITY SHAREHOLDERS UPSET?

Turquoise Hill in November launched arbitration proceedings against Rio, saying the miner’s approach to funding the expansion is “incompatible” with its own.

Rio in September said it would borrow $500 million to develop the mine, with any remaining funding gap met by a Turquoise Hill stock offering.

Turquoise Hill shareholders fear that would allow Rio to take a greater stake in Turquoise Hill that underplayed its full valuation.

Pentwater Capital, which holds a 9.23% stake in Turquoise Hill, and Sailingstone Capital Partners, which holds 3%, accuse Rio of mismanaging costs and unfairly restricting Turquoise Hill’s ability to obtain financing to pay for those costs.

The Canadian mining company wants to extend the timeline it has to repay some debt while also exploring other funding options, including a possible gold stream, to delay or avoid a stock offering.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

Turquoise Hill has said arbitration, which could take up to five months, would provide needed “clarity” on mine financing. It said on Dec. 1 that the board of Oyu Tolgoi had approved forming a special committee to conduct an independent review of cost overruns and delays at the mine.

An outside firm of experts is to report to the special committee within six months of commencing the investigation, according to the company.

Rio declined comment.

Turquoise Hill has said it would need to raise $1.1 billion via bank debt, bonds or a metal stream if it and Rio extend the timeline to repay existing loans and raise new debt as planned.

However, the Canadian mining company said it may need to issue at least $3 billion of additional stock, if it cannot amend its debt repayment terms or secure other financing.

Reporting by Jeff Lewis; Editing by Ernest Scheyder and Will Dunham

Mongolian National Olympic Committee (MNOC) President Naidan Tüvshinbayar has launched a fitness challenge in a bid to keep people active during the coronavirus pandemic.

Tüvshinbayar, who won gold in judo at the Beijing 2008 Olympics, has challenged people of all ages to take part in a workout, called the "Olympic Wave".

The 36-year-old demonstrated simple but effective exercises at home with his four children to keep a good physical condition during the global health crisis and wants all Mongolians to take up the challenge.

According to the Olympic Council of Asia, the winners will be awarded special promotional prizes by the MNOC.

Mongolia has been praised for its handling of the pandemic and has recorded no deaths.

But an outbreak of coronavirus cases resulted in the country going into five-day lockdown on November 13, before it was extended until December 1.

Eleven new infections were confirmed today, taking the total number of cases to 842, and some areas remain in lockdown.

Tüvshinbayar replaced Demchigjav Zagdsuren as President of MNOC on August 17 and is due to remain in charge until at least next year.

The former judo athlete made history for Mongolia when he became the country’s first Olympic gold medallist with victory at Beijing 2008.

Four years later, Tüvshinbayar clinched silver in the same under-100 kilograms event at London 2012.

He also won gold at the 2014 Asian Games and is a two-time bronze medallist at the World Championships.

Mongolia confirmed seven more COVID-19 cases on Sunday after 14,019 tests have been carried out in the past 24 hours, said the country's National Center for Communicable Diseases (NCCD).

The latest confirmed cases were locally transmitted or people who had close contact with previously confirmed cases, the NCCD said in a statement.

The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country reached 849, including 417 locally transmitted cases.

The Asian country's nationwide lockdown, imposed on Nov. 12 to halt the virus's spread, expired Tuesday.

However, the government has extended the lockdown in the capital of Ulan Bator and the provinces of Selenge and Arkhangai by 10 days until Dec. 11.

The country has recorded 384 recoveries and no deaths so far.

The number of freight trains crossing Mongolia has risen over 50 percent year-on-year, according to Chinese news outlets.

Officials working at the border port of Erenhot between Mongolia and China have told Xinhua that 2158 freight trains have crossed in the last 11 months, which is a 53.4 percent increase compared to last year.

China Railway Hohhot Group also said that of these trains, 1023 were inbound to China and 1135 were outbound to Europe.

According to Xinhua, the port has modified part of its bulk cargo space into a train container reloading area, which has improved capacity by 30 percent. The space was previously used to load logs and iron ore.

42 train routes between China and Europe converge at the Zamiin-Uud to Erenhot crossing, making it the largest land port between China and Mongolia.

There has been a huge growth in freight train crossings of Mongolia in the last six years following a mutual agreement in 2016 between Beijing, Ulaanbaatar and Moscow to improve connections between China and Russia.

In 2014, only ten China-Europe trains crossed Mongolia compared to 900 in 2018 and over 2100 in 2020.

According to DSV, a global transport company, rail freight services between China and Europe are faster (but more expensive) than seaborne shipping and cheaper (but slower) than airborne options.

"The rail journey from China to Europe, from terminal to terminal, and depending on the route, takes between 15 and 18 days," DSV says. "That is roughly half the time it takes to move containers by ship."

The China-Europe freight rail route across Mongolia competes with the southern line across Kazakhstan and the eastern line that crosses the China-Russia border at Zabaikalsk.

China has brought the middle section of the China-Russia East natural gas pipeline into operation. It is connected to the Power of Siberia gas pipeline from Russia that will deliver blue fuel to northern China.

According to the state-run China Oil & Gas Piping Network Corp (PipeChina), the 1,110km section of the pipeline will stimulate the development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the country’s main manufacturing area, by increasing gas supply by 27 million cubic meters per day.

The new section starts at Changling city in Jilin and stretches to Yongqing city in Hebei, connecting the existing gas pipelines in the northeastern and northern parts of the country, as well as the gas storage projects in Dalian, Tangshan and Liaohe.

The new route will also reportedly help to improve air quality in the region, where a quarter of China’s steelmaking capacity is located.

The northern part of the international gas route was launched in December 2019, and so far has transmitted around four billion cubic meters of natural gas, PipeChina says.

China started the construction of the southern section of the China-Russia East pipeline in July, extending the route to Shanghai in eastern China. The pipeline is projected to reach an annual capacity of 38 billion cubic meters when it is completed in 2025.

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/. On 2 December 2020, the OECD organized an EU-financed webinar for the government of Mongolia to support the design of policies for SME recovery in Mongolia.

The event was an opportunity to discuss Mongolia’s ongoing reform efforts to support the growth of SMEs and share OECD countries’ experiences in developing policies to weather the effects on SMEs during this challenging period.

The webinar brought together senior policy-makers from Mongolia, the SME agency, experts from France and the OECD, and a number of stakeholders from the international development and diplomatic community. This event was part of the OECD policy component of the EU Central Asia Invest initiative.

Opening the session, Ms Vasha Oyu, Director of the Foreign Trade and Economic Co-operation Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, outlined the impact of the crisis on the country’s economy, and noted that the government moved quickly to put in place measures to support firms.

Whilst some of the current confinement measures will stay in place for the time being, the government is aware of the importance of helping SMEs restart their work safely. Mr Erdenesaikhan Yadamsuren, Head of the Mongolian SME Agency, noted that SMEs were particularly active in a number of highly vulnerable sectors and that there would be a major shock to the country’s labor market as a result.

Mr H Bolorchuluun, Director of the Policy Planning Department at the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Light Industry, also underlined the challenges for SMEs and the support provided by the government during this period.

Mr Marco Ferri, Deputy Head of Mission of the EU Delegation to Mongolia, outlined a range of EU-supported measures to help Mongolia and its SMEs, including with the EBRD.

The webinar then heard from Mr Stephan Raes from the OECD Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities, who gave a detailed presentation on how OECD members had met the needs of their SMEs in light of the impact of COVID-19, ranging from financial measures to training and digitalization support.

Governments need to better target their interventions in tight fiscal conditions, focusing on firms which are at risk of collapse due to COVID, but which are otherwise entirely viable businesses.

Ms Amélie Schurich-Rey of the OECD Eurasia Division presented an overview of the policy measures undertaken by the government of Mongolia, and how these compared to those of its peers in Central Asia.

Ms Baigalmaa Sanjjav, Principal Manager at the EBRD in Mongolia, presented a major new five-year initiative, Building Crisis-Resilient SMEs in Mongolia Post-COVID-19, as well as new data from an EBRD survey to gauge the impact of the crisis on SMEs.

Mr Vincent Di Betta, Head of International Expertise Activities of Bpifrance, the French public bank for SME development, and Ms Isabelle Lebo, its International Partnerships Manager, proceeded to present their practitioners’ perspective on supporting SMEs in time in crisis. They emphasized the importance of offering guaranteed loans to SMEs at a time where liquidity shortages were arising, with France having set aside some €300 billion.

Concluding the seminar, Mr Erdenesaikhan called for additional support, and together with Mr Ferri, returned to a question raised earlier in the session on the topic of mainstreaming gender concerns into SME policy responses, and helping address gender earning gaps.

The first consignment of the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine has arrived in the UK.

It has been taken to a central hub at an undisclosed location, and will now be distributed to hospital vaccination centres around the UK.

The UK has ordered 40 million doses - enough to vaccinate 20 million people.

England's deputy chief medical officer said the first wave of vaccinations could prevent up to 99% of Covid-19 hospital admissions and deaths.

Speaking to BBC News, Prof Jonathan Van-Tam said that would be possible if everyone on the first priority list took the vaccine and it was highly effective.

He said it was key to distribute the vaccine "as fast" and at the "highest volume" as possible, but he acknowledged there would need to be some flexibility in the list.

The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines are made in Belgium and have travelled to the UK via the Eurotunnel.

The order in which people will get the jab is recommended by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) and decided by the government.

Elderly people in care homes and care home staff have been placed top of the priority list, followed by over-80s and health and care staff.

However, because hospitals already have the facilities to store the vaccine at the necessary -70C, the very first vaccinations are likely to take place there - for care home staff, NHS staff and patients - to lower the risk of wasting doses.

Prof Van-Tam told BBC News: "If we can get through phase one [of the priority list] and it is a highly effective vaccine and there is very, very high up take, then we could in theory take out 99% of hospitalisations and deaths related to Covid 19.

"That is why the phase one list is what it is, that is the primary ambition."

Graphic outlining how the Pfizer vaccine will be prioritised among different groups. The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has advised that people are given the vaccine in the following order, although there is likely to be some overlap between groups: 1. residents in a care home for older adults, and their carers 2. everyone aged 80 and over, and frontline health and social care workers 3. everyone aged 75 and over 4. everyone aged 70 and over, and those who are clinically extremely vulnerable 5. everyone aged 65 and over 6. people aged 16 to 64 with underlying health conditions which put them at higher risk of serious disease and death from Covid-19 7. everyone aged 60 and over 8. everyone aged 55 and over 9. everyone aged 50 and over

The UK became the first country in the world to approve the Pfizer vaccine on Wednesday.

Dr Anthony Fauci, the top US infectious disease expert, has apologised for remarks that seemed to criticise the UK's vaccine approval process.

He initially told Fox News: "The UK did not do it as carefully. If you go quickly and you do it superficially, people are not going to want to get vaccinated."

But the UK defended its process, and said the jab is safe and effective.

And speaking later to the BBC, Dr Fauci said: "There really has been a misunderstanding, and for that I'm sorry, and I apologise for that.

"I have a great deal of confidence in what the UK does both scientifically and from a regulator standpoint.

"Our process is one that takes more time than it takes in the UK. And that's just the reality. I did not mean to imply any sloppiness even though it came out that way."

The UK's 40 million doses will be distributed as quickly as they can be made by Pfizer in Belgium, with the first load rolled out next week and then "several millions" throughout December, Health Secretary Matt Hancock has said.

But the bulk of the roll-out across the UK will be next year.

And it could take until April for all those deemed most at-risk to receive the new vaccine, according to NHS England chief executive Sir Simon Stevens.

The arrival of the vaccines comes after the UK became the first country in Europe to surpass 60,000 coronavirus deaths

Official figures show a further 414 deaths within 28 days of a positive test were recorded on Thursday, taking the total to 60,113.

Two other ways of measuring deaths - where Covid is mentioned on the death certificate, and the number of "excess deaths" for this time of year - give higher total figures.

Covid deaths

Only the US, Brazil, India and Mexico have recorded more deaths than the UK, according to Johns Hopkins University.

However, the UK has had more deaths per 100,000 people than any of those nations.

In terms of deaths per 100,000 people, the UK is the seventh-highest country globally, behind Belgium, San Marino, Peru, Andorra, Spain and Italy.