China Shuts Vast Beijing Market as It Hunts Coronavirus Cluster

Travel restrictions imposed to curtail the coronavirus pandemic have left hundreds of thousands of maritime workers stranded on vessels, prevented from disembarking, the United Nations said Friday.

“Unable to get off ships, the maximum sea time stipulated in international conventions is being ignored, with some seafarers marooned at sea for 15 months,” Secretary General António Guterres said in a statement in which he expressed alarm about “the growing humanitarian and safety crisis facing seafarers round the world.”

He exhorted countries to formally designate such employees as “key workers” and ensure that crew changeovers can safely take place. Shipping accounts for more than 80 percent of world trade, including vital medical supplies and other goods critical for the coronavirus response, Mr. Guterres said, and more than 2 million people work as commercial shipping crew members.

“This ongoing crisis will have direct consequences on the shipping industry,” he said. “The world could not function without the efforts of seafarers yet their contributions go largely unheralded.”

Reporting was contributed by Mike Baker, Hannah Beech, Dan Bilefsky, Kate Conger, Michael Cooper, Maria Cramer, Danielle Elliot, Manny Fernandez, Abby Goodnough, Rebecca Halleck, Elizabeth A. Harris, Bella Huang, Raphael Minder, David Montgomery, Mitch Smith, Rick Gladstone, Jenny Gross, Maggie Haberman, Lara Jakes, Mike Ives, Zolan Kanno-Youngs, Annie Karni, Andrew Kramer, Chang W. Lee, Jesse McKinley, Paul Mozur, Tariq Panja, Elian Peltier, Matt Phillips, Roni Caryn Rabin, Suhasini Raj, Frances Robles, Simon Romero, Tacey Rychter, Eric Schmitt, Nina Siegal, Rory Smith, Kaly Soto, Chris Stanford, Matt Stevens, Eileen Sullivan, Carlos Tejada, Anton Troianovski, Tracey Tully and Sameer Yasir.

source: nytimes.com