HONG KONG: A cluster of nine coronavirus cases raised concerns in Hong Kong over renewed local transmission in a city that has been one of the most successful in keeping the pandemic under control. The first two cases in the cluster — a husband and wife — were confirmed on Sunday. Since then four neighbors, two of the wife’s work colleagues, and a fire department medical officer who had sent the woman to hospital have been confirmed to have been infected. None had been abroad recently.
“We are very concerned about this cluster of nine,” Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam told her weekly news conference on Tuesday, before an executive council meeting.
The infected woman is a night-shift worker at a Kerry Logistics warehouse, where she labels food items imported from Britain, local media reported.
The government was expected to extend a ban on group gatherings larger than eight later on Tuesday. It was due to expire at the end of Thursday, and has been extended several times for two-week periods.
The limits on the size of gatherings prompted police to reject for the first time an application of the annual vigil tens of thousands of Hong Kong people traditionally hold in a downtown park to commemorate pro-democracy protesters killed in and around Beijing’s Tiananmen Square 31 years ago.
A further extension is also likely to thwart plans for legally organizing anniversary marches of the anti-government protests that started in June last year and resumed recently after Beijing announced plans to impose national security laws on Hong Kong.
Lam has repeatedly said health measures had no political motive. On Tuesday, she said they were not about “taking away people’s freedom,” but about protecting people, adding that public health was “also part of national security.”
As of Monday, Hong Kong had reported 1,088 coronavirus cases and four deaths.
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New coronavirus cases in Hong Kong raise concerns of local cluster
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New coronavirus cases in Hong Kong raise concerns of local cluster
- The infected woman is a night-shift worker at a Kerry Logistics warehouse
- The government was expected to extend a ban on group gatherings larger than eight later on Tuesday
Iran-linked hackers claim cyberattack on Albanian parliament
- Albania hosts several thousand members of the People’s Mujahedin of Iran (PMOI or MEK), an organization that Iran has denounced as 'terrorist'
- Albania’s IT services were targeted, in 2022, prompting the Balkan country to sever diplomatic ties with Iran
TIRANA: Albania’s parliament on Tuesday said it had been hit with a “sophisticated cyberattack,” after Iran-linked hackers claimed to have stolen lawmakers’ data.
A group called “Homeland Justice,” which has previously been linked to Iran and claimed responsibility for past cyberattacks in Albania, announced the hack on Telegram.
“All conversations and correspondence of corrupt MPs from recent months are in the hands of Homeland Justice,” the post said.
“We are much closer to you than you think.”
Albania hosts several thousand members of the People’s Mujahedin of Iran (PMOI or MEK), an organization that Iran has denounced as “terrorist.”
Experts have warned that as the war in the Middle East continues, highly capable hackers linked to Iran have broadened their activities.
In a statement, the Albanian parliament said its computer systems had been hit with a “sophisticated cyberattack aimed at deleting data and compromising several internal systems.”
“It was found that information had been deleted from several accounts belonging to administration employees,” it added, saying “the main working infrastructure” did not appear to be affected and that measures had been taken “to neutralize the attack.”
The country’s National Cyber Security Authority said it had teams investigating the attack.
“Further information will be made public after the technical assessment is completed,” the authority’s director, Saimir Kapllani, told AFP.
In June, Homeland Justice also attacked the information technology services of the Albanian capital, Tirana.
In 2022, Albania’s IT services were also targeted, prompting the Balkan country to sever diplomatic ties with Iran.
A group called “Homeland Justice,” which has previously been linked to Iran and claimed responsibility for past cyberattacks in Albania, announced the hack on Telegram.
“All conversations and correspondence of corrupt MPs from recent months are in the hands of Homeland Justice,” the post said.
“We are much closer to you than you think.”
Albania hosts several thousand members of the People’s Mujahedin of Iran (PMOI or MEK), an organization that Iran has denounced as “terrorist.”
Experts have warned that as the war in the Middle East continues, highly capable hackers linked to Iran have broadened their activities.
In a statement, the Albanian parliament said its computer systems had been hit with a “sophisticated cyberattack aimed at deleting data and compromising several internal systems.”
“It was found that information had been deleted from several accounts belonging to administration employees,” it added, saying “the main working infrastructure” did not appear to be affected and that measures had been taken “to neutralize the attack.”
The country’s National Cyber Security Authority said it had teams investigating the attack.
“Further information will be made public after the technical assessment is completed,” the authority’s director, Saimir Kapllani, told AFP.
In June, Homeland Justice also attacked the information technology services of the Albanian capital, Tirana.
In 2022, Albania’s IT services were also targeted, prompting the Balkan country to sever diplomatic ties with Iran.
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