Latest news with #Covid-like
Straits Times
5 days ago
- Business
- Straits Times
Immigration raids in Los Angeles hit small business owners: ‘It's worse than Covid'
A third of California's workers are immigrants and 40 per cent of its entrepreneurs are foreign-born. PHOTO: REUTERS LOS ANGELES - Mr Juan Ibarra stands outside his fruit and vegetable outlet in Los Angeles' vast fresh produce market, the place in the city centre where Hispanic restauranteurs, street vendors and taco truck operators buy supplies every day.. On the morning of June 16 , the usually bustling market was largely empty. Since Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials began conducting immigration raids more than a week ago, including at a textile factory two blocks away, Mr Ibarra said business has virtually dried up. His street vendor customers are at home in hiding, while restaurant workers are too scared to travel to the market to pick up supplies. Most of the market's 300 workers who are in the US illegally have stopped showing up. Mr Ibarra, who pays US$8,500 (S$10,900) a month in rent for his outlet, which sells grapes, pineapples, melons, peaches, tomatoes and corn, usually takes in about US$2,000 on a normal day. Now, it's US$300, if he's lucky. Shortly before he spoke to Reuters, he had for the first time since the ICE raids began been forced to throw out rotten fruit. He has to pay a garbage company US$70 a pallet to do that. 'It's pretty much a ghost town,' Mr Ibarra said. 'It's almost Covid-like. People are scared. We can only last so long like this – a couple of months maybe.' Mr Ibarra, 32, who was born in the US to Mexican parents and is a US citizen, is not alone in seeing President Donald Trump's crackdown on immigrants in the country illegally devastate his small business. It is happening across Los Angeles and California, other business owners and experts say, and threatens to significantly damage the local economy. A third of California's workers are immigrants and 40 per cent of its entrepreneurs are foreign-born, according to the American Immigration Council. The Trump administration, concerned about the economic impacts of his mass deportation policy, shifted its focus in recent days, telling ICE to pause raids on farms, restaurants and hotels. The ICE raids triggered protests in Los Angeles, which prompted Mr Trump to send National Guard troops and US Marines into the city, against the wishes of California's Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom. Ms Abigail Jackson, a White House spokeswoman, said violent protesters in Los Angeles had created an unsafe environment for local businesses. 'It's the Democrat riots – not enforcement of federal immigration law – that is hurting small businesses,' Ms Jackson told Reuters. Restaurant slump The recent shift in focus by Mr Trump and ICE has been no help for Mr Pedro Jimenez, 62, who has run and owned a Mexican restaurant in a largely working class, Hispanic neighborhood in Los Angeles for 24 years. Many in his community are so scared of ICE they are staying home and have stopped frequenting his restaurant. Mr Jimenez, who crossed into the US illegally but received citizenship in 1987 after former Republican President Ronald Reagan signed legislation granting amnesty to many immigrants without legal status, said he is taking in US$7,000 a week less than he was two weeks ago. O n June 13 and 14, he closed at 5pm, rather than 9pm, because his restaurant was empty. 'This is really hurting everybody's business,' he said. 'It's terrible. It's worse than Covid.' Mr Andrew Selee, president of the non-partisan Migration Policy Institute, said the Trump administration began its immigration crackdown by focusing on people with criminal convictions. But that has shifted to workplace raids in the past two weeks, he said. 'They are targeting the hard working immigrants who are most integrated in American society,' Mr Selee said. 'The more immigration enforcement is indiscriminate and broad, rather than targeted, the more it disrupts the American economy in very real ways.' Across Los Angeles, immigrants described hunkering down, some even skipping work, to avoid immigration enforcement. Mr Luis, 45, a Guatemalan hot dog vendor who asked to be identified only by his first name for fear of being targeted by ICE, said he showed up this weekend at the Santa Fe Springs swap meet – a flea market and music event. He was told by others that ICE officers had just been there. He and other vendors without legal immigration status quickly left, he said. 'This has all been psychologically exhausting,' he said. 'I have to work to survive, but the rest of the time, I stay inside.' REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Time of India
6 days ago
- Health
- Time of India
Covid-19: With 11 deaths, current wave toll in country past 100-mark
Representative image NEW DELHI: The country's death toll due to Covid-19 has crossed the 100-mark, reaching 108 after as many as 11 deaths were reported on Monday - the highest in a day in the current wave. Kerala reported seven deaths, while a death each occurred in Delhi, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh. The seven victims from Kerala, which has been worst affected by the surge in Covid cases over the past few weeks, were all above 60 and had comorbidities such as cancer, pancreatitis, kidney disease and pneumonia. The victim from Delhi was a 67-year-old man with a history of lung cancer. Senior officials in the health ministry reiterated that most of those who have died due to Covid had co-morbidities, like cancer, kidney disease and heart disease. Kerala has the maximum number of active cases (1,920), followed by Gujarat (1,433), Delhi (649) and Maharashtra (540). Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Haryana have also reported a few Covid-19 cases over the past week. It is suspected that the current surge in cases is being caused by emergence of new sub-variants of the coronavirus that can breach immunity developed through past infection and vaccination. However, experts say these aren't causing severe symptoms. Dr Rommel Tickoo, director of internal medicine at Max Saket, said there is no cause for panic as most patients with the infection have mild symptoms, as surface with the common flu. "We don't advise a Covid test for everyone with fever, cough and cold, though some patients have come to us with positive Covid tests. Treatment involves symptomatic management and rest. In case of Covid or Covid-like symptoms, we advise keeping away from others," he said. Official sources have maintained that most cases are being managed under home care. However, directives have been issued to all states to check facility-level preparedness and ensure availability of oxygen, isolation beds, ventilators, and essential medicines as a precautionary measure.
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
People with Covid-like symptoms took almost a year before feeling like themselves again, researchers say
Did you have Covid-like symptoms? It may take nine months or even longer to start feeling like yourself again. Researchers at UCLA found that 20 percent of patients with those symptoms continued experiencing suboptimal quality of life for nearly a year after infection. Whereas, physical well-being returned after only three months. "We have newly recognized the difference in recovery with respect to mental vs. physical well-being after a COVID infection," Lauren Wisk, an assistant professor of medicine at UCLA, said in a statement. "The findings showed that health care professionals need to pay more attention to their patients' mental well-being after a Covid infection and provide more resources that will help improve their mental health, in addition to their physical health,' she added. Wisk was one of the lead authors of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-funded study that was published Tuesday in the journal Open Forum Infectious Diseases. The study compared people who sought treatment for Covid-like symptoms. Of those, 75 percent tested positive for the virus. The rest were negative. Of the 4,700 participants who experienced the symptoms between mid-December 2020 and late August 2022, the people who were positive for Covid were statistically likelier to return to optimal health-related quality-of-life than their Covid-negative counterparts in the year following the infection. The authors said the findings suggest that health authorities may have previously underestimated the long-term effects of non-Covid infections on a patient's well-being. To reach these conclusions, researchers analyzed responses from nearly 1,100 Covid-positive patients and 317 Covid-negative negative patients, assessing aspects including physical function, anxiety, depression, fatigue, social participation, sleep disturbance, pain interference and cognitive function. They found that approximately one in five of those who were part of the study remained in poor overall quality of life, with a high likelihood of self-reporting long Covid for up to a year after initial infection. 'In this large, geographically diverse study of individuals with 12 months of follow-up after Covid-19-like illness, a substantial proportion of participants continued to report poor [overall quality of life], whether or not the inciting acute symptoms were due to SARS-CoV-2 or another illness,' they said. Mental well-being recovered gradually, with significant improvements manifesting between six and nine months after infection, researchers found. The authors said further research was needed, noting that it remains unclear which conditions the symptomatic Covid-negative patients were suffering from and that Covid tests can yield both false-positive and false-negative results. The common cold, allergies, flu and Covid share many similar symptoms. "Future research should focus on how to improve the treatment models of care for patients who continue to experience Covid-19 symptoms and their impact on patients' quality of life, especially as one in five patients may continue to suffer over a year after their initial infection, which likely reflects long Covid," Wisk said.
Time of India
11-06-2025
- Health
- Time of India
‘Avoid rath yatra if you have Covid symptoms'
Gandhinagar: While urging people to take precautions against Covid-19, state health minister Rushikesh Patel on Wednesday advised those with Covid-like symptoms and those with co-morbidities to refrain from participating in Lord Jagannath's rath yatra on June 27. "People who have symptoms like those of Covid-19 must refrain from participating in the rath yatra. Also, people with co-morbidities, the elderly, and those who have flu-like symptoms must remain in their houses and watch the rath yatra," Patel said while talking to reporters in Gandhinagar on Wednesday. He added that this will ensure that people who have symptoms will not transmit it to others, and co-morbid people will also not be exposed to infections. Meanwhile, after participating in the jal yatra in Ahmedabad on Wednesday, minister of state for home Harsh Sanghavi said that the rath yatra is a centre of devotion for lakhs of people. "Preparations are being made for the rath yatra to be held on June 27. It is the biggest procession from the perspectives of both devotion and administration," the minister said. With more than 1,200 active Covid-19 cases in Gujarat at present, Patel said that although the variant responsible for the surge is less severe than previous ones, people need to take precautions and isolate themselves if symptoms emerge. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Giao dịch vàng CFDs với mức chênh lệch giá thấp nhất IC Markets Đăng ký Undo "We are in touch with the Union health ministry. The variant responsible for these new cases belongs to the Omicron family, which is less severe," he said. Although the variant is not very harmful, people need to take precautionary measures. Patel said that health infrastructure like beds, medicines and medical oxygen supply is in place.
Mint
11-06-2025
- Health
- Mint
COVID-19: Active cases in India cross 7,000 mark, 6 die; Maharashtra reports 107 infections
Covid-19 Update, June 11: The number of active Covid-19 cases on Wednesday in India crossed the 7,000-mark, with states like Gujarat, Kerala and Maharashtra continuing to report the most number of cases. The coronavirus cases have been steadily surging over the past few weeks, from just 257 on May 22 to over 7,000 on June 11. In the past 24 hours, the number of active cases in India has crossed 7,000. The country now has 7,121 active cases of Covid-19, according to data on the Ministry of Health's Covid dashboard. India reported as many as 306 cases of Covid-19 on Wednesday, according to the health ministry. During this time, a total of 929 people recovered from the disease. At least six Covid related deaths have been reported in the past 24 hours, including three from Kerala, two from Karnataka and one from Kerala. Most of them had comorbidities. Delhi reported 66 new cases of Covid-19 over the past 24 hours, but no new death was recorded. The national capital has 757 active cases as of Wednesday, as per the data. Maharashtra reported 107 new Covid-19 cases on Wednesday, taking the total of viral infections detected in the state so far this year to 1,700, the public health department said. Two deaths of Covid-19 patients were recorded in the last two days, taking the toll since January to 21, said an official release. A 23-year-old woman has tested positive for Covid-19 in Manipur, the first such case in the northeastern state in the current wave of the coronavirus infection, an official said. Manipur Health Services Director Dr Chambo Gonmei told reporters that the woman hails from Bishnupur district and had developed Covid-like symptoms. Karnataka Chief Minister (CM) Siddaramaiah said on Wednesday that private hospitals imposing exorbitant charges unnecessarily in the name of Covid-19 testing must be investigated. The CM chaired a meeting to discuss the Covid-19 situation in Karnataka. With more than 1,200 active Covid-19 cases in Gujarat at present, state Health Minister Rushikesh Patel on Wednesday said although the variant responsible for the current surge is less severe than previous ones, people need to take precautions and isolate themselves if symptoms emerge. UP Deputy CM Brajesh Pathak said that there is no need to panic as experts have said that Covid-19 symptoms are mild as of now. 'There is no need to panic. Experts have said that, for now, it is limited to cold and fever. Only serious patients and the elderly need to be cautious. The government has made full arrangements. Reviews are being conducted at every level, and in addition, we have ensured all necessary preparations in oxygen plants and hospitals,' he said. "We did a study after Covid-19 pandemic, which found a nearly 70% increase in child labourers. We are fighting to amend the Child Labour Act so that all forms of labour are prohibited up to 18 years of age," said State Convenor of Campaign Against Child Labour (CACL) Virgil D'Sami.
