Drone pictures show dozens of migrant dinghies stacked up in Dover compound

Dozens of assorted dinghies used by migrants to make the perilous trip across the English Channel are lying in storage in Dover.

Drone pictures show more than 100 small boats piled up in rows in a fenced-off compound – evidence of perhaps thousands of people’s journeys to the UK in 2021.

This year has seen record numbers of migrants crossing to the UK despite vows from the Home Office to make the route “unviable”.

Border Force were active in the Dover Strait again on Tuesday, but higher winds were set to make crossings difficult.

More than 9,000 people have crossed the Channel so far this year on board small boats, despite the dangerous journey claiming lives in the past.

Migrant Channel crossing incidents have reached new highs this year. Credit: PA

In July so far, more than 3,300 have arrived in the UK in a new record for a single month, according to data analysis by the PA news agency.

Government officials fear that high numbers of crossings will continue as summer goes on, with small boat arrivals this year having already passed the total for the whole of 2020.

Despite this, the UK continues to see fewer boat arrivals and asylum claims than many of its European counterparts.

At least 44,230 people have arrived in Europe via the Mediterranean by land and sea so far this year, according to data from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

In recent months, law enforcement agencies have noticed the organised gangs behind the English Channel crossings becoming increasingly sophisticated, launching boats from a wider area of the northern French coast.

They will also send out vessels in waves – smaller boats sent out first to tie up the French authorities, while more craft carrying larger numbers of migrants make the crossing later in the day.

Officials have been alarmed by the overcrowding in the vessels – one boat last week had 83 people on board – and the safety conditions.

They have come across inflatable boats held together with duct tape and migrants with rubber rings or bike tyre inner tubes rather than life jackets.

Boats used to cross the English Channel by people thought to be migrants are stored at a facility in Dover, Kent

Last week Home Secretary Priti Patel announced an agreement to more than double the number of police patrolling French beaches, with the Government to give France £54 million.

But, while efforts to address the problem have been stepped up by Emmanuel Macron’s government – with around 2,700 people taken back to France so far this year after being intercepted at sea – there is still some frustration in the Home Office about French policies.

The French authorities will not intercept migrants who offer resistance to being rescued, but the UK has a different interpretation of the law.

British offers to help board vessels in French waters have so far been rebuffed by Paris, it is believed.

The Home Secretary told MPs last week that she had made her views on the situation “abundantly clear” to her French counterpart.

The UK is also helping to fund aerial surveillance along the French coast but legal difficulties in France have meant that the drones are not being used as much as had been hoped.

Officials acknowledge there is no silver bullet to tackle the situation, but they have been in contact with counterparts in Australia and Greece to discuss how those countries cope with situations off their coastlines.

Source: ITV

Health officials warn of fungus 'superbug' outbreaks in Dallas, DC

Health officials are warning of a fungus “superbug” outbreak in Dallas and Washington, D.C., that seem to be resistant to treatment.

The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Thursday there were outbreaks of the Candida auris fungus in a nursing home in D.C. and two hospitals in Dallas, The Associated Press reported.

Three cases in D.C. and two cases in Dallas were resistant to all three major classes of medication.

Both the patients in Dallas who had cases resistant to medicine died, and one patient in D.C. died from a similar case.

“This is really the first time we’ve started seeing clustering of resistance” and patients getting infected from each other, CDC medical officer Meghan Lyman said, according to the AP.

The cases were seen from January to April, and investigators found the fungus was spread from person to person.

There have been more cases since April and the outbreak is still ongoing, according to the CDC, but the cases have not been reported yet.

The fungus has been known for years, but evidence that it can spread from person to person is new.

Source: The Hill

Covid-19 vaccine: Iranians sick of waiting rush to Armenia for jabs

With just eight percent of Iran's population double jabbed, people have begun travelling north for free protection. But bus and plane fares have already doubled

For a year and a half, travel agents in Iran have been struggling for business. Air travel, particularly, has been almost non-existent.

But today, Roya, who works in a Tehran travel agent, answers calls non-stop from people asking to fly to one place: Armenia.

Iran’s neighbour to the north has its charms, for sure, and has always been a destination for holidaymakers and Iranians of Armenian ethnicity. Now, though, Iranians are heading to Yerevan for the promise of vaccination against Covid-19.

'We were sick and tired of the uncertainty and the fear of contracting Covid-19, and also of the authorities’ vain promises. That’s why I went to Armenia' - Behzad, 36

"The irony is that these days, when air travel has dropped under the coronavirus pandemic, we spend almost 70 percent of our time answering calls about tours to Armenia," Roya told Middle East Eye.

"Armenian hotels are very happy to see the Iranians are very keen, but the main problem is the shortage of flights, and there are almost no flights until the next month."

According to Iranian health officials, only 2 million of Iran’s 80 million population have received both doses of the vaccine so far. Almost 4.4 million people have received the first shot.

Iran refuses to accept any western-made vaccines from the World Health Organisation’s Covax programme, meaning Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca jabs are not available. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei described them as “totally untrustworthy”.

Instead, Iran relies on vaccines imported from China, Russia and Cuba, as well as some developed domestically.

Parsa Namaki, the son of the Iranian Health Minister Saeed Namaki, receives a dose of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine

Parsa Namaki, the son of the Iranian Health Minister Saeed Namaki, receives a dose of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine against Covid-19, in Tehran (Reuters)

Meanwhile, Armenia offers vaccination to visitors free of charge.

Behzad, 36, recently travelled to Armenia with his wife to get the vaccine.

"We were sick and tired of the uncertainty and the fear of contracting Covid-19, and also of the authorities’ vain promises. That’s why I went to Armenia together with my wife to get vaccinated."

"Our trip was very comfortable," the Tehran-based computer engineer added.

“Given that Iranians do not need a visa to travel to Armenia, we just booked a flight and hotel and went to Yerevan. There are centres established in the city’s public squares where we went to receive our vaccines."

According to those who have made the trip, an Armenian SIM card in your phone and a passport were all that was needed to get the AstraZeneca vaccines being doled out there, and no other documentation was required.

Spiralling costs

Not everyone is so lucky, however. Tickets to Armenia are now scarce, as more and more Iranians jump on the bandwagon.

Only Air Armenia flies direct between Yerevan and Tehran, while Qatar Airways and Russia’s Aeroflot offer round-trip flights with a charge of at least 300 euros ($354).

Air Armenia flies from Tehran to Yerevan seven times a week and from Tabriz in northwest Iran five times. But a shortage of flights and an increase in the number of passengers have also pushed up the prices.

Previously a four-day trip to Armenia, including flights and a three-star hotel, would cost those looking for a vaccine at least 8 million tomans (nearly $300). With seats on planes now a rarity, those prices have shot up by almost double.

There is another option: driving. And Iranian tour agents offer land travel, too.

For these packages, at least 3 million tomans (almost $130) can get you on a bus from Tehran to Yerevan, though it takes 17 hours.

Ali, 27, recently took the uncomfortable land route with his friends.

"We got on a bus in Tehran and were on the way for about 23 hours," he told MEE. "Although we were supposed to arrive there in 17 hours, the border checkpoints took too long and the journey was tedious."

That said, Ali believes it was worth the trouble. He has no idea when people his age will be offered the vaccine at home.

But with increasing demand, bus fares have risen and multiplied as well.

Arash, a 41-year-old English teacher, originally sought to book the trip for him and his family via a tour company, but quickly encountered problems.

"All the bus tickets are either sold out or sold at much higher prices," he said. “I decided to find and rent a bus for ourselves and share all the seats with our friends and acquaintances. However, it is also very difficult."

'Illogical'

As news of Iranian interest in traveling to Yerevan circulated, Iranian government officials have been forced to react. Iranian Deputy Health Minister Kianoush Jahanpour called people's attempts to travel to Armenia to receive the vaccine illogical.

Despite Jahanapour’s annoyance, Iran is still profiting from the trips to Armenia, and not only because its citizens are returning vaccinated.

The Iranian government earns at least 1 million tomans (almost $40) from every person making the trip, because they have to pay 400,000 tomans to leave Iran and 600,000 tomans to return.

Meanwhile, Yerevan is bringing in further restrictions.

On 7 July, Armenian Ambassador to Iran Artashes Tumanyan announced that from 15 July, foreigners can only receive the vaccine if they stay in the country for at least 10 days.

Those who have made the trip already are the lucky ones.