JUNE 22 (GMT) – JUNE 23 (AEST), 2020 YOUR DAILY TOP 12 STORIES FROM FRANK NEWS FULL STORIES START ON PAGE 3 NORTH AMERICA UK AUSTRALIA Hundreds positive at meat plant PM, scientists mull easing rules State ramps up virus compliance Tyson Foods is looking into reports that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson Victorian authorities will doorknock in China’s customs agency has suspended will discuss reopening the hospitality coronavirus hotspots to ensure residents poultry imports from a Tyson facility in sector and loosening the two-metre understand enforcement guidelines, the United States after coronavirus cases social-distancing rule in England with his while not ruling out tighter lockdowns. were confirmed among its employees. top Cabinet colleagues and scientists. Following a spike in positive cases that A Tyson spokesman said that the plant The Prime Minister and his most senior prompted a national warning against in question is in Springdale, Arkansas. ministers will discuss the next steps for travel to six Melbourne local council “At Tyson, we’re confident our products the lockdown with chief scientific adviser areas, the state government has ramped are safe and we’re hopeful consultations Sir Patrick Vallance and chief medical up communication efforts. between the US and Chinese officer for England Professor Chris Whitty. governments will resolve this matter,” spokesman Gary Mickelson said. NORTH AMERICA UK NEW ZEALAND NYC tracing off to bumpy start Tributes for terror attack victims Two new COVID-19 cases New York City’s effort to stop the Tributes have been paid to victims of There are two new Covid-19 cases in spread of the coronavirus through the Reading terror attack as two of managed isolation facilities, the Ministry contact tracing has been hampered those who died have been named. of Health has confirmed. Director- by the reluctance of many people who Three people were killed in the incident General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield are infected with the virus to provide which happened in Forbury Gardens said the first case is a teenage girl who information to tracers, according to a in the town centre on the weekend. arrived on in New Zealand on 13 June report in The New York Times. The Times James Furlong, 36, was head of history, and was travelling with her family, who report said just 35 per cent of residents government and politics at The Holt have tested negative so far. The teenager who tested positive or were presumed School in Wokingham, and died after has been staying at the Novotel Auckland positive for COVID-19 in the first two the attack. The second victim has been Airport hotel. weeks of the contact tracing program named locally as American citizen Joe gave information about their contacts. Ritchie-Bennett. 1 JUNE 22 (GMT) – JUNE 23 (AEST), 2020 YOUR DAILY TOP 12 STORIES FROM FRANK NEWS FULL STORIES START ON PAGE 6 ASIA UK AUSTRALIA Korean tension over leaflets Kitten lockdown boom expected Cruise victim told ‘only the flu’ South Korea is urging North Korea to Thousands of extra kittens could be A woman who died from COVID-19 scrap a plan to launch propaganda born this summer due to lockdown after disembarking the Ruby Princess leaflets across the border, after the restrictions, with animal welfare charities cruise ship had been told repeatedly by North said it’s ready to float 12 million already feeling the strain of the “kitten onboard health authorities she had the leaflets in what would be the largest crisis”. Cat owners are being urged to flu and it was “nothing to worry about”, an such psychological campaign against its keep female cats indoors as the number inquiry has been told. Lesley Bacon was southern rival. Animosities on the Korean of kittens being born is expected to rise, first struck down with “horrendous pain” Peninsula rose sharply last week, after with the seasonal boom exacerbated by in her left leg on March 12 and attended North Korea destroyed an inter-Korean the UK’s lockdown restrictions. Around the ship’s medical clinic feeling less well liaison office on its territory in anger over 84,000 extra kittens could be born four days later. Brian Bacon was told his South Korean civilian leafleting against it. because fewer vets are carrying out wife had the flu and would be kept in the neutering procedures. vessel’s clinic overnight. ASIA UK NEW ZEALAND Schoolkids drown in river Trial for simple virus test Cruise ships banned, tests Eight children have drowned in a river The Government is piloting a coronavirus The government is extending a ban on in southwestern China after one fell in saliva test that could become an cruise ships and updating its health and the others jumped in to help, state alternative to the existing invasive, and order to make clear that travellers media says. The children, described as sometimes painful, deep nasal and throat may be required to take multiple tests, elementary-school age, had gone to play swab. The new test only requires the Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says. The at a beach on the Fu River, according to individual to spit into a sample pot to be Prime Minister revealed the moves at state broadcaster CCTV. Their bodies tested for current COVID-19 infection, the her weekly post-Cabinet media briefing. have been recovered. Department of Health and Social Care Ardern said the government has (DHSC) said. renewed its health order and included a new measure to clarify that incoming people must return a negative test before leaving quarantine. 2 JUNE 22 (GMT) – JUNE 23 (AEST), 2020 Tyson Foods, workers wear protective masks and stand between plastic dividers a poultry People gather as part of Make Music-New York in Brooklyn’s Ditmas Park neighborhood processing plant. - AP during the coronavirus outbreak. - AP NORTH AMERICA NORTH AMERICA Hundreds test positive New York City tracing for virus at meat plant off to bumpy start Tyson Foods is looking into reports that China’s customs New York City’s effort to stop the spread of the agency has suspended poultry imports from a Tyson coronavirus through contact tracing has been hampered facility in the United States after coronavirus cases were by the reluctance of many people who are infected with confirmed among its employees. the virus to provide information to tracers, according to a report in The New York Times. A Tyson spokesman said that the plant in question is in Springdale, Arkansas. The Times report said just 35 per cent of the 5347 city residents “At Tyson, we’re confident our products are safe and who tested positive or were presumed positive for COVID-19 we’re hopeful consultations between the US and Chinese in the first two weeks of the contact tracing program gave governments will resolve this matter,” spokesman Gary information about their close contacts. Mickelson said. Perry N. Halkitis, dean of the School of Public Health at “Our top priority is the health and safety of our team Rutgers University, called the 35 per cent rate for eliciting members, and we work closely with the US Department of contacts “very bad.” Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service to ensure that “For each person, you should be in touch with 75 per cent of we produce all of our food in full compliance with government their contacts within a day,” Halkitis said. safety requirements,” the statement added. Dr. Ted Long, head of New York City’s new Test and Trace Mickelson also noted that all global and US health Corps, defended the program and said 69 per cent of the organizations, in addition to the US Food & Drug people who complete an interview provide contacts. “We think Administration, agree that there is no evidence to support that’s a strong start but we also do want to get that number transmission of COVID-19 associated with food. up,” Long said. The announcement out of China gave no details of the Long said the 35 per cent figure cited by the Times quantity of meat affected. represents a per centage everyone who the tracers reached, Earlier, Tyson Foods announced the results of coronavirus and some of those people, including some who have not testing at its facilities in Benton and Washington Counties, had COVID-19 symptoms for weeks, don’t have relevant Arkansas, and said that about 95 per cent of employees contacts to provide. who ultimately tested positive for the virus didn’t show any Long said he believes the program, which started June 1, will symptoms. Of the 3,748 employees tested, 481 tested positive be more successful when tracers start going to people’s homes for COVID-19, and 455 were asymptomatic. in the next week or two rather than relying on the phone. There have been several other COVID-19 outbreaks at Tyson New York City has made huge strides in containing the plants around the United States, including in North Carolina, outbreak since the coronavirus shutdown started in March, Nebraska, and Iowa. with more than 320 new cases reported on Thursday, down In November, China lifted a five-year ban on US poultry. from several thousand a day during the peak. But officials say China had blocked US poultry imports a month after an the contact tracing effort is crucial to preventing a resurgence outbreak of avian influenza in December 2014, closing off a as the city enters the second phase of easing coronavirus market that brought more than $500 million worth of American restrictions on Monday, including outdoor dining at restaurants chicken, turkey and other poultry products in 2013. ■ and in-store retail shopping.