CANBERRA: Australia’s Victoria state, the country’s second-most populous, on Saturday reported the biggest one-day rise in locally acquired COVID-19 cases in more than a year.
Victoria state said it detected 450 locally acquired COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, the biggest one-day rise since Aug. 8, 2020.
Queensland state said five new COVID-19 cases were detected in the past 24 hours, stoking fears Australia’s third-largest state could be next to be swamped by new infections.
Queensland state Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the state would not yet enter a lockdown, but her government was monitoring closely any signs the cluster could have spread.
“If we start seeing any seeding, then we may have to take very quick, fast action. But at the moment, it’s contained to the family,” said Palaszczuk.
The surge in new cases comes as Australia struggles to contain the highly infectious Delta variant that threatens to push the country’s economy into its second recession in as many years.
The rise in cases sees Australia’s two largest states and its capital in strict lockdowns as authorities seek to curtail infections while racing to vaccinate as many people as possible.
COVID-19 cases in Australia’s Victoria state hit 13-month high
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COVID-19 cases in Australia’s Victoria state hit 13-month high
- Queensland state said five new COVID-19 cases were detected in the past 24 hours
UN experts denounce Switzerland for sentencing students over Gaza protests
- “Peaceful student activism, on and off campus, is part of students’ rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, and must not be criminalized,” the UN experts said
GENEVA: UN human rights experts said on Tuesday they had protested to Switzerland after a group of students was sentenced for trespassing after taking part in pro-Palestinian protests at a Swiss-funded university.
Around 70 students at the Swiss university ETH Zurich took part in a peaceful sit-in in May 2024 as part of student demonstrations in several cities during the Gaza war before being dispersed by police.
Students who took part in the protests were opposing the Swiss facility’s partnerships with Israeli universities, the UN experts said.
“Peaceful student activism, on and off campus, is part of students’ rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, and must not be criminalized,” the UN experts said, adding that they had written to the Swiss government and the university to raise the issue.
A spokesperson for the Swiss Foreign Ministry confirmed it had received the message and that it would respond in due course. An ETH Zurich spokesperson did not immediately respond.
Five students have so far been sentenced for trespassing, resulting in suspended fines of up to 2,700 Swiss francs ($3,516), legal fees of over 2,000 Swiss francs and a criminal conviction on their records which could discourage future prospective employers, the UN experts said.
Ten others who appealed the charges await sentencing and two others were acquitted, they said.
