AFP UK

Researchers at Guy's & St Thomas' Hospitals helped a 59-year-old man finally overcome his Covid infection after more than 13 months

British researchers announced Friday they have cured a man who was continually infected with Covid for 411 days by analysing the genetic code of his particular virus to find the right treatment.

Persistent Covid infection — which is different to long Covid or repeated bouts of the disease — occurs in a small number of patients with already weakened immune systems.

These patients can test positive for months or even years with the infection “rumbling along the whole time”, said Luke Snell, a physician specialising in infectious diseases at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust.

The infections can pose a serious threat because around half of patients also have persistent symptoms such as lung inflammation, Snell told AFP, adding that much remains unknown about the condition.

In a new study published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases, a team of researchers at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust and King’s College London describe how a 59-year-old man finally overcame his infection after more than 13 months.

The man, who has a weakened immune system due to a kidney transplant, caught Covid in December 2020 and continued to test positive until January this year.

To discover whether he had contracted Covid numerous times or if it was one persistent infection, the researchers used a rapid genetic analysis with nanopore sequencing technology.

The test, which can deliver results in as little as 24 hours, showed the man had an early B.1 variant which was dominant in late 2020 but has since been replaced by newer strains.

Because he had this early variant, the researchers gave him a combination of the casirivimab and imdevimab monoclonal antibodies from Regeneron.

Like most other antibody treatments, the treatment is no longer widely used because it is ineffective against newer variants such as Omicron.

But it successfully cured the man because he was battling a variant from an earlier phase of the pandemic.

– Resistant to treatment –

“The very new variants that are increasing in prevalence now are resistant to all the antibodies available in the UK, the EU and now even the US,” Snell said.

The researchers used several such treatments to try to save a seriously ill 60-year-old man in August this year who had been infected since April. 

However none worked.

“We really thought he was going to die,” Snell said.

So the team crushed up two antiviral treatments not previously used together — Paxlovid and remdesivir — and administered them to the unconscious patient via a nasal tube, according to a non-peer-reviewed preprint study on the website ResearchSquare.

“Miraculously he cleared and perhaps this is now the avenue for how we treat these very difficult persistent infections,” Snell said, emphasising that this treatment may not translate for normal Covid cases.

At the ECCMID conference in April, the team announced the longest-known persistent infection in a man who tested positive for 505 days before his death.

That “very sad case” came earlier in the pandemic, Snell said, adding that he was grateful there were now so many more treatment options available.

The sun rises behind the skyline of Egypt's capital Cairo and its Nile river island of Manial

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called Thursday for Egypt to free political prisoners as leaders prepare to visit for the global climate summit.

Rights groups estimate that some 60,000 political prisoners are behind bars in Egypt, which starting next week will welcome more than 90 world leaders including President Joe Biden for COP27.

In a call with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, Blinken discussed climate and said that US-Egypt cooperation “is strengthened by tangible progress on human rights,” the State Department said.

Blinken “welcomed the reported releases over the preceding months of significant numbers of political detainees, and voiced support for additional such pardons and releases, as well as for steps to strengthen due process of law and protections for fundamental freedoms for all,” it said.

The statement did not list specific cases but pressure has risen for intervention to free Alaa Abdel Fattah, a prominent dissident who has started a hunger strike and whose family has warned he could die if he is not released during the climate summit.

A major figure in the 2011 revolt that toppled longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak, Abdel Fattah is serving a five-year sentence for “broadcasting false news,” having already spent much of the past decade behind bars.

State Department spokesman Ned Price said ahead of Blinken’s phone call that the United States was closely following Abdel Fattah’s plight.

“We’ve raised repeated concerns about this case and his conditions in detention with the government of Egypt,” Price told reporters Wednesday.

Biden took office vowing a firmer stance on human rights with Egypt and other Arab allies but his administration has repeatedly turned to President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, a former general who toppled the elected government in 2013.

Biden is expected to meet Sisi at the climate summit in the resort of Sharm el-Sheikh and his administration last year relied on Egyptian mediation to end fighting between Israel and the Palestinian militants Hamas.

A group of US lawmakers concerned about human rights in Egypt called Thursday for Biden to redirect its $1.3 billion in annual military aid to Egypt to climate projects in the parched country.

“We are deeply committed to the fight against climate change, and believe international cooperation is central to that effort, but Egypt was the wrong choice for COP27,” said the statement led by Democratic Representatives Don Beyer and Tom Malinowski.

The Amazon, which spreads across nine countries, is the largest of only a handful of primary rainforests left in the world. It has more plant and animal species than any other place on Earth and is home to more Indigenous peoples than anywhere else

Brazil’s president-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is facing a tough battle to halt the destruction of the Amazon, with the weight of global expectation on his shoulders before he even takes office.

“The Amazon is so damaged, so deforested. We need a plan,” said Luciana Gatti of Brazil’s national space agency, which tracks the health of the rainforest.

Lula, who was also president between 2003 and 2010, has acknowledged the “immense” challenges awaiting him after his election on Sunday, citing a hunger crisis, the economy, and bitter political division.

These issues pushed the Amazon to the periphery during the election campaign, but the 77-year-old knows all eyes are on Brazil, saying the country is “ready to reclaim its place in the fight against the climate crisis, especially the Amazon.”

Lula, who will attend the upcoming COP27 climate meeting in Egypt, has vowed to “fight for zero deforestation” and “resume monitoring and vigilance in the Amazon.”

“Brazil and the planet need a living Amazon,” he said after his narrow victory over outgoing right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro.

However, Lula is facing a hostile Congress packed with Bolsonaro allies, and inherits environmental protection agencies whose budgets and security operations were slashed by the outgoing president.

“It is not going to be an easy road ahead,” Sarah Shenker of Indigenous-rights group Survival International told AFP. “There is so much to do.”

She said Lula would have to “rebuild the government agencies responsible for protecting Indigenous territories, many of which have been completely overridden by political appointees” under Bolsonaro.

– A long to-do list –

Foreign allies were quick to mention environmental issues in their messages of congratulation to Lula.

Notably, Germany and Norway announced they would resume aid for Amazon protection that they had halted due to Bolsonaro’s approach to deforestation.

So, where to start?

“Lula will have to act firmly from the beginning to pretty much reshape federal government operations in the Amazon region,” said Suely Araujo, a senior specialist of Brazil’s Climate Observatory and former president of IBAMA, the government’s main environmental agency.

Shenker said IBAMA and the Brazilian indigenous agency FUNAI need “financial resources and political will” after being sidelined by Bolsonaro, who saw such groups as impeding economic progress by slowing permits for timber, farming, and mining. 

“He can also put a stop to the really dangerous, genocidal proposals that are being debated in Congress,” she said referring to a bill aimed at allowing more mining on Indigenous lands.

Araujo urged Lula to “immediately resume climate policy, which was completely drained under the Bolsonaro government.”

She said Brazil had become a “pariah” in climate negotiations and should get its national policy in line with the 2015 Paris Agreement.

– ‘A lawless place’ –

The Amazon, which spreads across nine countries, is the largest of only a handful of primary rainforests left in the world. It has more plant and animal species than any other place on Earth and is home to more Indigenous peoples than anywhere else. More than 100 uncontacted tribes live in its depths.

Fires and massive deforestation in the Amazon are not new problems, and the situation was still dire under Lula, who nevertheless managed to bring deforestation to historic lows at the end of his time in office in 2010.

Growing concern about the climate crisis coincided with massive Amazon fires in 2019. With Bolsonaro indifferent, a global outcry ensued.

Since he took office four years ago, deforestation has increased 75 percent compared to the previous decade. 

Research shows that damaged parts of the Amazon now emit more carbon than they absorb.

“The Bolsonaro government represents the deforestation of 50,000 square kilometres,” an area the size of Slovakia, said the space agency’s Gatti, who carried out the atmospheric study.

She suggests declaring a “state of emergency” in the Amazon, and beginning a program of reforestation in the worst-affected section of the forest, which Brazilian scientists will propose at COP27.

“We need to save this part, this needs to be our priority.”

Gatti noted that international trade in beef, soy, and timber, was the biggest driver of deforestation and pointed out a certain “hypocrisy” on the part of countries which “are buying the products of the Amazon’s destruction.”

She said that just returning the Amazon to the state it was in before Bolsonaro will be a battle.

“Right now the Amazon is a lawless place.”

Lisa slammed into the Sibun River just southwest of Belize City, uprooting trees, downing power lines and inundating streets

Tropical depression Lisa, downgraded from a hurricane after battering Belize, threatened parts of Mexico with flash floods Thursday, according to an improved forecast.

Lisa caused flood damage in Belize and plunged parts of the country into darkness Wednesday as it weakened over land on its way to Mexico.

By 1500 GMT on Thursday, the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) said Lisa had weakened to a depression “still bringing heavy rains to portions of southeast Mexico.”

It was moving westward at about 17 kilometers (10 miles) per hour with maximum sustained winds of about 55 km/h.

“Lisa is expected to produce rainfall amounts of four to six inches (about 10-15 centimeters) with local amounts to 10 inches across the Mexican states of Tabasco, northwestern Chiapas, and far eastern Veracruz,” said an NHC advisory.

Lisa slammed into the Sibun River southwest of economic hub and former capital Belize City on Wednesday, uprooting trees with winds of up to 140 km/h, downing power lines and flooding streets.

A state of emergency was declared in two areas, while a curfew was in effect until dawn on Thursday.

Some parts of Belize were left without power as the storm lashed the country of about 405,000 people.

Schools and most businesses were closed in anticipation of the storm and the government set up shelters. 

In Belize City and neighboring areas, local media showed weather-battered buildings, flooded streets and yanked out trees after Lisa landed.

– Evacuations in Guatemala –

In neighboring Guatemala, heavy rain caused flooding and landslides in the northernmost department of Peten, where classes were canceled.

About 143 people were evacuated, Oscar Cossio, secretary of the National Coordination for Disaster Reduction (CONRED), told a press conference.

Lisa arrived less than three weeks after the passage of Julia, another Category 1 hurricane, which caused dozens of deaths in Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador.

Lisa is the 12th named storm this season, a designation given to systems that produce winds of 39 mph (63 kph) or greater, according to the NHC.

Last year’s active Atlantic hurricane season, which officially runs from June through November, saw 21 named storms.

Developing nations are among the most exposed to increasing climate impacts, such as worsening drought, floods and cyclones

Climate change impacts battering vulnerable countries threaten to outstrip efforts to adapt to global warming, the UN warned Thursday, with a “significant” amount of international funding help recycled from other purposes.

Many emerging economies, which are least to blame for the fossil-fuel gases that stoke global warming, are among the most exposed to climate impacts, such as worsening drought, floods and cyclones.

Funding to help them adapt to accelerating impacts and curb emissions is one of the thorniest issues at UN climate negotiations, which begin their latest round in Egypt on Sunday.

Wealthy nations have failed to provide a pledged $100 billion a year to developing nations, reaching just $83 billion in 2020.

Only a part of that — $29 billion — was for adaptation.

That leaves a “yawning gap to be filled” said United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) chief Inger Andersen, adding that the actual needs were around five to 10 times greater than finance provided in 2020.

While countries have committed to providing new funding for climate-vulnerable nations, richer nations have been accused of relabelling other types of funding, like humanitarian aid, as climate funding.

“Some of that money — and we don’t know how much, but certainly a significant proportion — is not actually adaptation or mitigation, it’s repurposed,” Henry Neufeldt, author of the UNEP report, told a press conference on Thursday.

But as the world warms, climate change impacts increase and so too do the costs of preparing for them.

– ‘Unacceptable’ –

UNEP revised up its adaptation estimates from a year earlier, saying countries will now need $160 billion to $340 billion annually by 2030 to strengthen their resilience, rising to $315 billion and $565 billion by 2050.

Last week the UN warned the world was nowhere near the Paris Agreement target of capping warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

“We must quickly reduce greenhouse gas emissions and strive for net-zero. But people, ecosystems and economies are already suffering,” said Anderson, calling for the international community to “urgently increase efforts to adapt to climate change”.

In February, in a report dubbed an “atlas of human suffering”, the UN’s climate experts warned that global warming is outpacing our preparations for a climate-addled world. 

The poorest are often the hardest hit and the least able to protect themselves.

“This is unacceptable,” said UN chief Antonio Guterres. 

“We need a global surge in adaptation investment to save millions of lives from climate carnage,” he added, announcing a new tool to try to help fill this gap. 

At the last UN climate talks in Glasgow, countries agreed to double their adaptation finance from 2019 levels by 2025, reaching $40 billion.

But even that target is under question after the increase from 2019 to 2020 was just four percent, the UN said.  

– ‘Broken’ –

“The current model for delivering adaptation support, quite frankly, is broken,” a senior UN official told AFP. 

While financing has always been a key sticking point in the UN climate negotiations, the issue is taking on greater urgency at this year’s meeting.

A series of weather extremes across the planet have further intensified calls for funding to help with climate impacts already being felt, known as “loss and damage”. 

Pakistan, for example, is reeling from a crop-withering heatwave, followed within weeks by catastrophic inundations — both intensified by climate change — that killed over 1,700 people and swamped a third of its territory.

The floods caused over $30 billion in damages and economic losses, said Anderson. 

But currently, the aftermath of this type of disaster is not covered by climate funds. 

Harjeet Singh, head of global political strategy at the Climate Action Network, said that wealthy countries’ willingness to put loss and damage funding on the agenda would be a “real test” of the UN climate meeting.

It will “either send a message of hope or despair to people already facing the climate crisis,” he said, but added that as temperatures rise, finance for adaptation, loss and damage and curbing emissions are no longer in the billions: “We need trillions.” 

Taking down the rusty pylons of the lift in Saint-Firmin

Older residents of Saint-Firmin can recall learning to ski on slopes served by one of the first lifts above the village, one that will now be seen only in pictures of days when winter meant abundant snow.

Wearing hard hats and T-shirts in the bright autumn sunshine, volunteers recently gathered to pull down the pylons that had been rusting unused for the past 15 years.

Sparks flew as saws cut through the eight columns that crashed like trees onto the grass of the Valgaudemar valley, the pieces then dismantled and lugged or dragged to the bucket of a waiting tractor.

“We no longer have the climate that produces constant snow, and we can’t install snow cannons here,” said local councillor Didier Beauzon, who enlisted the help of the NGO Mountain Wilderness.

The old lift at Saint-Firmin tops out at 1,550 metres (5,100 feet) and mostly faces south — a situation that effectively dooms its chances to remain a winter sports destination as temperatures have risen across Europe.

The lift, installed in 1963 as newly prosperous postwar generations were flocking to the slopes, will end up in a local scrapyard.

It was the 70th operation to remove obsolete installations, including nearly two dozen abandoned ski lifts, orchestrated by Mountain Wilderness, created in Italy in 1987.

Around 3,000 such installations are rusting across French mountain ranges, it estimates, and the goal is to encourage local authorities to remove them and return the landscape to its pristine state.

“The ultimate goal is to have each developer, each agency, take responsibility for the dismantlement, without the intervention of an NGO or volunteers,” said Nicolas Masson, an administrator at Mountain Wilderness’s French arm.

“Removing a structure and putting things back in their natural state should be the norm, it’s a fundamental part of sustainable development,” he said. “Unfortunately that doesn’t always seem so obvious.”

– Alternative futures –

Other leftover relics include installations, rubble and trash from forestry and agriculture operations such as logging cables or disused gates, or from military or industrial activities.

Some pose dangers, like World War II barbed wire barriers that can injure sheep flocks or deer.

“We know that we won’t be able to remove it all ourselves,” said Carmen Grasmick, one of the Mountain Wilderness volunteers.

For the NGO, the cleanup campaign also aims to nudge other communities to consider alternatives to focusing almost exclusively on skiing, and develop outdoor activities more in tune with a changing climate.

It notes the high costs in terms of resources for operating a resort, especially as more stations turn to artificial snow-making machines to ensure slopes are available all winter.

French villages in lower altitudes of the Alps as well as the Pyrenees mountains are already confronting the new reality of lifts that may never be turned on again.

“There will always be people who are sad because it’s where they learned to ski, it happens each time,” Grasmick said.

“But there are places like here where they have the courage to turn the page. Because in any case, there’s nothing else to be done.”

Lisa slammed into the Sibun River just southwest of Belize City, uprooting trees, downing power lines and inundating streets

Tropical Storm Lisa slowed on Thursday after making landfall in Belize, causing flooding and plunging parts of the country into darkness as it churned westwards toward Mexico. 

Both Mexico and Belize dropped their coastal tropical storm warnings as the former hurricane weakened and headed west at 10 miles per hour (16 kilometers per hour), according to the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) in Miami.

Forecasters warned that the tourist-popular coast of Central America and the Yucatan Peninsula should continue monitoring the situation as the maximum sustained winds decreased to around 45 mph (75 kph). 

For the next day or so, the storm system is expected to pack a gusty punch and deliver heavy rain, swells and flash flooding to northern Guatemala and southeastern Mexico, further weakening as it moves inland.

Lisa slammed into the Sibun River just southwest of economic hub and former capital Belize City around 2120 GMT on Wednesday, uprooting trees, downing power lines and inundating streets.

“It’s very dangerous for us” because in Belize “it floods quickly, even with moderate rain,” Jasmin Ayuso, a 21-year-old secretary, told AFP.

A state of emergency was declared in two areas, while a curfew was in effect until dawn on Thursday.

Some parts of Belize were left without power as the storm lashed the country of about 405,000 people.

“BEL is aware of power outages affecting several areas of the country,” the utility wrote on Facebook. “We assure the public that our teams are taking note of the reports of damages to the power system, including fallen power lines and poles.”

Schools and most businesses were closed in anticipation of the storm and the government set up several shelters. 

In Belize City and neighboring areas, local media showed weather-battered buildings, flooded streets and yanked out trees after Lisa landed. 

The storm is forecast to be further downgraded to a tropical depression by the end of the day before dissipating over Mexico.

– Evacuations in Guatemala –

The NHC said Lisa could drop up to 10 inches (250 millimetres) of rain in some areas of Belize, northern Guatemala and several states in southern Mexico.

The Yucatan Peninsula, Honduras’ Bay Islands and other areas of Central America were forecast to receive up to six inches of rain. 

In Guatemala, heavy rain caused flooding and landslides in the northernmost department Peten on the border with Belize.

About 143 people were evacuated and 48 remain in a shelter, Oscar Cossio, secretary of the National Coordination for Disaster Reduction (CONRED), told a press conference. 

Schools in the north canceled classes.

Lisa arrives not even three weeks after the passage of Julia, another Category 1 hurricane, which caused dozens of deaths in Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador.

Lisa is the 12th named storm this season, a designation given to systems that produce winds of 39 mph (63 kph) or greater, according to the NHC.

Last year’s active Atlantic hurricane season, which officially runs from June through November, saw 21 named storms.

The war in Ukraine and the reduction in Russian supplies have seen Norway become the leading gas supplier to the European Union and the UK

Norway, the largest oil producer in Western Europe, on Thursday announced it intended to cut 1990 emissions levels “at least 55 percent” by 2030, in line with EU goals.

Just days before the COP27 climate conference in Egypt, the announcement is in line with commitments made by the centre-left coalition government when it took power in 2021.

While not a member of the European Union, the Scandinavian country’s new target brings Oslo in line with the overall target set by the 27-member bloc. Oslo also announced that it would present climate plans each year going forward.

Norway’s climate target was previously to reduce emissions by between 50 and 55 percent of 1990 levels.

“This sends a strong signal to other countries, and we hope that more will up their targets,” Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store said on Thursday.

Store’s Labour Party and its ally, the Centre Party, rule out dismantling the oil sector, which is a major part of the national economy.

The war in Ukraine and the reduction in Russian exports have seen Norway become the leading gas supplier to Britain and the European Union.

“The demand for fossil fuel energy will fall and renewable energy production must increase. This has to go hand in hand,” Store told a news conference.

He stressed that the planet would still need oil in years to come and argued it was “not a bad thing that some of it comes from the Norwegian continental shelf, which has the lowest emissions.” 

Last week, the United Nations said current country climate pledges leave the world on track to heat by as much as 2.6 degrees Celsius this century, warning that emissions must fall 45 percent this decade to limit disastrous global warming.

A day earlier, the UN’s climate change agency had said governments were doing “nowhere near” enough to keep global heating to 1.5C and would steer a world already wracked by increasing floods, heatwaves and storms towards “catastrophic” warming.

Re-enactment of a treatment session for depression using psilocybin in an image from the company COMPASS Pathways, which is developing such a treatment

For years, scientists have been looking ever more seriously at the therapeutic effect of psychedelics, which are not legal under US federal law. However, despite this renewed interest, large-scale studies are still lacking.

On Wednesday, researchers took an important step to fill this gap.

Their work, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, is the largest clinical trial ever conducted to evaluate the effect of psilocybin, a psychoactive substance found naturally in  “magic” mushrooms.

A single dose of 25 milligrams reduced symptoms of depression in people for whom several conventional treatments had failed, they showed.

An estimated 100 million people worldwide suffer from treatment-resistant depression. Some experts view psychedelics as a possible way to help them.

The researchers tested a synthetic version of psilocybin developed by the start-up Compass Pathway, which also funded the trials.

A total of 233 people in 10 countries took part in the study, during which they halted ongoing treatment but received psychological support.

They were divided into three groups, randomly receiving 1 milligram, 10 milligrams or 25 milligrams of the treatment.

The sessions, in a dedicated room, lasted between six and eight hours during which the participants were never left alone. Some described being immersed in “a dream-like state” that could be remembered, study co-author James Rucker told a news conference.

One participant required a sedative during the session because of anxiety. But the side effects observed — headaches, nausea, anxiety — were generally moderate and disappeared quickly.

– Larger trials needed –

Three weeks later, patients who received 25 mg showed significant improvement compared to lower doses on a baseline measure for depression. Just under 30 percent were in remission.

“It is the strongest evidence so far to suggest that further, larger and longer randomized trials of psychedelics are justified, and that psilocybin may (one day) provide a potential alternative to antidepressants that have been prescribed for decades,” said Andrew McIntosh, professor of psychiatry at the University of Edinburgh.

McIntosh was not involved in the study.

The phase 2 trials were designed to determine the dosage and confirm the existence of an appropriate effect.

Phase 3 trials, involving more participants, are scheduled to begin this year and run until 2025. The startup is already in touch with the US Food and Drug Administration and regulators in Europe.

Another expert offered caution.

“We don’t yet know enough about the potential side effects, particularly whether some people may experience a worsening of some symptoms,” said Anthony Cleare, a professor of psychopharmacology in London, who was not involved in the study.

In the trials, three participants showed suicidal behavior among those who received 25 mg, compared with none in the other groups.

These events, however, occurred more than 28 days after treatment, noted Guy Goodwin, professor of psychiatry at Oxford and chief medical officer of Compass Pathways.

“Our hypothesis is that the differences are by chance… but we can only settle this by doing further experiments,” he said.

The matter of long-term impact also remains open, as it faded when the participants were followed up three months later. Repeated doses may be necessary. Two doses will be tested in future trials, Goodwin said.

– ‘More flexible state’ –

Taking psilocybin leads to an increase in dopamine (known to regulate mood) and another neurotransmitter that may promote brain plasticity, Rucker said.

“When the brain is in a more flexible state, it opens what we consider to be a therapeutic window of opportunity, in which –in the context… of psychotherapy — you may be able to elicit positive changes in the minds of people,” Rucker said.

Psilocybin promotes “more communication between brain regions,” added Nadav Liam Modlin, also a co-author of the study.

Psilocybin, which is not addictive, is also studied for other pathologies including post-traumatic stress, anorexia, anxiety and addictions.

In 2020, the state of Oregon voted in favor of the therapeutic use of psilocybin. Exemptions have also been granted in Canada. 

But at the US federal level, psilocybin is treated as a dangerous drug in the same category as heroin. 

Lisa slammed into the Sibun River just southwest of Belize City, uprooting trees, downing power lines and inundating streets

Tropical Storm Lisa slowed on Thursday after making landfall in Belize, causing flooding and plunging parts of the country into darkness as it churned westwards. 

The US National Hurricane Center (NHC) has downgraded Lisa from a hurricane to a tropical storm, noting that as of 0600 GMT the eye hovered about 85 miles (135 kilometers) outside of Belize City and was moving towards Guatemala and southeastern Mexico at 12 miles per hour (19 kilometers per hour).

For the next day or so, the storm system is expected to pack a gusty punch and deliver heavy rain, swells and flash flooding to Central America’s northern coast and the tip of the Yucatan Peninsula, further weakening as it moves inland. 

Lisa slammed into the Sibun River just southwest of economic hub and former capital Belize City around 21:20 GMT on Wednesday, uprooting trees, downing power lines and inundating streets.

“It’s very dangerous for us” because in Belize “it floods quickly, even with moderate rain,” Jasmin Ayuso, a 21-year-old secretary, told AFP.

A state of emergency was declared in two areas, while a countrywide curfew was in effect until dawn on Thursday.

Some parts of the country were left without power as the storm lashed the tourist-popular coast with maximum sustained winds of around 50 mph (80 kph).

“BEL is aware of power outages affecting several areas of the country,” the utility wrote on Facebook on Wednesday night. “We assure the public that our teams are taking note of the reports of damages to the power system, including fallen power lines and poles.”

Schools and most businesses were closed and the government set up several shelters. 

In Belize City and neighboring areas, local media showed buildings had been damaged and flooded, while trees were uprooted. 

The NHC said Lisa was barreling towards northern Guatemala and southeastern Mexico with a “decrease in forward speed” expected as it moved over the Bay of Campeche.

Lisa arrives not even three weeks after the passage of Julia, another Category 1 hurricane, which caused dozens of deaths in Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador.