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WEDNESDAY Vol. XXXXI No. 11540

May 6, 2020Ramadan 13, 1441 AH www. gulf-times.com 2 Riyals

BUSINESS | Page 1 QATAR | Page 20

Qatar accounts for bulk of LNG supplies to Asia in 2019: IGU

Global virus tollreaches 254,532The novel coronavirus has killed at least 254,532 people since the outbreak first emerged in China last December, according to a tally from off icial sources . More than 3,629,160 cases were registered in 195 countries and territories. Of these, at least 1,124,600 are now considered recovered. Many countries are testing only the most serious cases. Over the past 24 hours, 5.163 new deaths have been recorded and 75.475 new infections around the world. The countries with the most new fatalities in the past day were the United States with 1,830, Britain with 693 and France with 330.

50% work completedon Qatar’s fi rstcable-stayed

Covid-19 recoveriesreach 1,924 in Qatar

‘Stranded’ Indians to be fl own home from May 7

Murder hornet arrivesin Washington

Britain records Europe’shighest virus death toll

The Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) yesterday announced 951 new confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus (Covid-19), and 114 recovered from the disease in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of recovered cases Qatar to 1,924. The MoPH said that most of the new cases are migrant workers who have been infected with the virus as a result of contact with individuals who were previously diagnosed through the investigative testing carried out by the ministry. Page 2

The Indian embassy has initiated steps to facilitate the repatriation of stranded Indians from Qatar after the Indian government has decided to operate special flights to bring home nationals who are held up in foreign countries because of the ongoing Covid-19 situation and the suspension of air travel. In the first phase of the plan, two special flights will be used to fly Indian nationals home, the first one on May 7 to Kochi and the second one to Thriuvanathapuram on May 10. Pages 3, 13

Britain’s death toll linked to the novel coronavirus has risen to 29,427, the government said yesterday, meaning it has overtaken Italy in recording Europe’s highest total. The total includes only deaths reported through the Health Ministry following tests in hospitals and care homes, with many experts estimating that at least 40,000 people have died following infection with the virus. An off icial report in Italy, which has recorded 29,315 deaths, suggested it could have a similar total to Britain.

Prayer times

Fasting times

Wealth and children are the adornment of the life of this world. But the good righteous deeds, that last, are better with your Lord for rewards and better in respect of hope. (Qur’an 18:46)

Fajr....3.32 Zuhr....11.30 Asr....2.59 Maghrib.....6.10 Isha.....7.40

RAMADAN THOUGHT

Iftar today .................................6.10pmSuhoor tomorrow ..................3.31am

An invasive, predatory insect dubbed the “murder hornet,” has turned up in Washington state near the Canadian border, where they could potentially pose a threat to humans and the beekeeping industry, state agriculture off icials said yesterday. The stinging Vespa mandarinia can grow as large as 2-1/2 inches (6.4cm) in length and is native to southeast Asia, China and Taiwan. It was first discovered in Blaine, Washington, in December by a homeowner, according to Sven-Erik Spichiger, managing entomologist at the Washington state Agriculture Department.

bridge

Skywriting planes spell out messages of thanks to first responders and healthcare workers over Manhattan during the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) in New York City, US, yesterday.

Planes spell out thanks messages

Industrial Areareopens; entry,exit regulated

The Government Communi-cations Offi ce (GCO) has an-nounced the decision to reopen

from today the closed part of the In-dustrial Area until Street 32, with reor-ganised exit and entry procedures.

Streets 1 and 2 and Al Wakalat Street were reopened earlier. It may be re-called that the gradual reopening of the Industrial Area had commenced on April 22 with the three streets after re-maining shut for around 35 days as part of the state’s eff orts to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) and protect the health and safety of the inhabitants there.

The reopening of the rest of the In-dustrial Area is being implemented in adherence to all the preventive precau-tionary measures determined by the Ministry of Public Health, the GCO said.

The reorganisation of exit and entry will result in resuming work and sup-ply chains inside and outside the Area to normal, while making sure that the community is not at risk of infections.

These procedures will allow the fol-lowing groups to enter and exit the Area: employers, employees who work in the Area but live outside, residents

who live in the Area but work outside. In addition, companies operating in

the Area will be allowed to transport materials and equipment by submit-ting in advance an application to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and the Ministry of Administrative De-velopment, Labour and Social Aff airs.

This will be detailed in the Perma-nent Committee for Industrial Area Aff airs’ procedures guide, established by Ministerial Decision number 29 of 2016, to explain all temporary proce-dures that must be followed in the up-coming period.

Employers will be required to ensure all workers download the Ehteraz mo-bile app, which is mandatory for exit from and entry to the Industrial Area.

Inspections will be intensifi ed to make sure all laws and procedures are implemented, such as providing ade-quate accommodation, reduction of the number of workers in buses to half the capacity of the vehicles, providing sani-tisers and masks, and that all workers are using them properly as per the instruc-tions of the Ministry of Public Health.

“Qatar affi rms that it continues to take all necessary measures required at the current stage to protect the safety of the society and limit the spread of Covid-19,” the GCO statement said.

This decision was preceded by a number of preventive checkups and tests in area and transferring more than 6,500 workers to precautionary health quarantine, in addition to off ering free medical care of high quality inside and outside the Industrial Area to all those diagnosed with the infection.

Contract drivers paid by Amazon collect bags of free groceries to deliver from the Bread for the City social services charity during the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) outbreak, in Washington, US, yesterday. The charity is sending out as many as 500 or 600 bags a day using the drivers.

Free food distribution during Covid-19Qeeri research may help Qatarin physical distancing policies

The Energy Centre at the Qatar Environment and Energy Research Institute (Qeeri), part of Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU),

continues to monitor environmental conditions such as solar radiation, temperature, and humid-ity, which may, in turn, help Qatar anticipate the transmission of the novel coronavirus (Covid-19).

As part of its research, Qeeri’s Energy Centre – in collaboration with Qatar Meteorology Depart-ment – monitors solar radiation and other meteor-ological factors such as temperature and humidity in Qatar. The Energy Centre is preparing to sup-

port the country’s governmental organisations in the fi ght against Covid-19 by providing a constant fl ow of updated data on the eff ect of these environ-mental factors on the novel virus.

Dr Veronica Bermudez, senior research director at the Energy Centre, said: “As the Covid-19 pandemic continues to impact our world, there is a pressing need for situational awareness tools that help decision-makers and the public understand and avoid the risk of contagion. Covid-19 research is still in its initial stage, but there is some evidence that the combina-tion of sunlight, a certain temperature, and degree of absolute humidity may infl uence the viability of the virus. Monitoring, mapping, and forecasting the solar resources and weather conditions may, therefore, help in anticipating and assessing the risks associated with Covid-19 and in adapting the associated measures.”

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) scientists have very recently analysed the correla-tion between weather conditions and the observed rate of Covid-19 transmission in diverse global lo-cations. This study indicates that 90% of reported Covid-19 cases through March 22, 2020 occurred in world areas with colder and less humid late win-ters and early springs (temperatures: 3-17C, abso-lute humidity: 4-9g/m3). To Page 2

Qeeri continues to monitor environmental conditions.

Researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine – Qatar (WCM-Q) and Qatar University (QU) have shown that even a moderately eff ective vaccine could be enough to stop the current coronavirus pandemic.The study – Epidemiological impact of Sars-CoV-2 vaccination: mathematical modelling analyses – was funded by a National Priorities Research Programme (NPRP) grant from the Qatar National Research Fund. It was conducted by the Infectious Disease Epidemiology Group at WCM-Q in collaboration with Dr Houssein Ayoub from QU.

The study is new and yet to be peer-reviewed, but has been released in commitment to the principles set out in the 2016 Statement on Data Sharing in Public Health Emergencies.“With several Covid-19 vaccines still in early stages of development, we aimed to provide the scientific evidence that can inform vaccine development, licensure, decision-making, and administration strategies,” said Dr Monia Makhoul, co-lead author of the study and postdoctoral research associate at WCM-Q. To Page 4

‘A moderately eff ective vaccine would suff ice’

Covid-19: Qatar has the lowestmortality rate in the worldAs the global death toll from the

coronavirus pandemic exceeds 250,000, two tiny nations

stand out with the lowest fatality rates among countries who are expe-riencing major outbreaks.

In Qatar and Singapore, the death toll is less than 0.1% of reported in-fections.

Patient demographics and the abil-ity of the health-care system to cope are key to keeping the survival rate high in this pandemic, health experts say. While some countries with small outbreaks like Vietnam have not suf-fered a single death, those dealing with major spread — defi ned as more than 10,000 cases — often start to see their healthcare infrastructure come under pressure.

Among economies with major out-

breaks, Qatar’s case fatality ratio is the lowest at 0.07% — 12 deaths out of more than 16,000 cases. Singapore’s ratio is 0.093% of more than 19,000 infections. Both countries have also kept mortality from the virus low as a proportion of their populations: less than 0.5 per 100,000 people.

The two nations are also among some of the wealthiest in the world, which means they can better aff ord the test kits and hospital beds they need. Just behind Qatar and Singapore in survival rates are Belarus, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates.

Low case fatality ratios boil down to three things: testing, age of the popu-lation and intensive care unit capac-ity, said Raina MacIntyre, professor of global biosecurity at the University of New South Wales.

“Countries that test more and de-tect more mild cases will have an ap-parently lower case fatality rate,” she said. Older populations and countries that exceed their intensive care unit and ventilator capacity will also have higher death rates, she said.

While Singapore has an ageing population and a higher median age than Qatar, the majority of its infec-tions are among low-wage foreign workers, who are typically young and undergo health checks before they are allowed into the country to work.

Similarly, many of the cases in the Middle East are within the younger, migrant workforce. The majority of the population in UAE and Qatar are younger expatriates, who also go through health checks before enter-ing the country.– Bloomberg

The Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) will operate drive-through swabbing hubs at

three health centres in the country over two days.

This would be done in collabora-tion with the Primary Health Care Corporation (PHCC), Hamad Medi-cal Corporation’s (HMC) Ambulance Service and laboratories, and Qatar University (QU), it was announced on the social media pages of the coun-try’s health entities yesterday.

The drive-through Covid-19 sur-vey will be conducted at the Al Thu-mama, Al Waab and Leabaib health centres today and tomorrow, from 2pm-10pm.

“A group of 2,500 members of the public will be involved in a unique study that will allow better under-standing of the fl ow of the virus in the community and adapt responses to the scientifi c fi ndings,” a notice on the study says.

Participants of the test - a referral-

only service - will be randomly select-ed based on age, gender and ethnicity, it explains. “Invitation doesn’t mean you are a suspect Covid-19 patient and p

articipation is entirely voluntary,” the notice clarifi es.

Following are the drive-through Covid-19 survey steps: Text message invitation from PHCC, Online regis-tration, Arrive in your own car, Sur-vey questionnaire, Nose and throat swab, Results by phone.

Drive-through virus tests at 3 health centres

New procedures will allow employers, employees who work in the area but live outside, residents who live in the Area but work outside, enter and exit the area

A stretch of a street in the Industrial Area.

QATAR

Gulf Times Wednesday, May 6, 20202

Over 23,500 video lessons produced under distance learning system: reportQNADoha

As many as 23,533 video lessons have been pro-duced until April 30,

2020, for government school students since the distance learning system was adopted in Qatar, according to the sixth report on the distance learning system released by the the Min-istry of Education and Higher Education.

The total number of video lessons includes 19,908 for special education and integra-tion schools, 2,456 for public education schools, and 1,169 for specialised schools, the report states.

The report includes these and other important data and information on several aspects that were assessed with regard

to the eff ectiveness of the dis-tance learning platform in Qa-tar’s school education system, besides the latest developments compiled until April 30, along with a review of several statistics and conclusions.

The report also includes graphs, statistics, and data on the total number of audio edu-cation, in addition to daily and weekly assessments, and the number of lessons published on 19 YouTube channels for stu-dents in kindergarten to 12th grade and adult education.

The report also contains the number of daily assignments, and weekly assessments for students at all levels, and the number of participants in the production of lessons.

About 2,121 daily homework was published on the “Microsoft Teams” programme for the vari-ous stages, subjects and adult

education, while the number of weekly assessments that were produced (such as Microsoft Forms) and that were completed until April 30, was about 756 for the various stages, subjects, and adult education.

The 19 YouTube educational channels, according to the re-port, recorded 8,410,862 views, with the total number of sub-scribers to the channels was 83,795. The total number of “watch hours” was 401,602, and the total number of videos pub-lished was 2,220, where the av-erage number of views per video was 3,789 and highest number of views for a video was 21,871.

As for the number of video lessons that were produced ac-cording to each stage, the total number reached 2,456 video lessons, including 2,121 lessons for grades three to 12, 273 les-sons for the foundation stage,

48 lessons for the introductory stage, and 14 for adult education, while the number of lessons and homework that were produced and presented for kindergarten students until April 23 reached about 48, besides interactive homework.

The number of lessons and assignments that were off ered to foundation students was about 236 video lessons and home-work, and the number of video lessons and daily assignments in the form of “Forms” that were produced for third to 12th grade students in all tracks, accord-ing to each article separately, reached 2,121 video lessons and

2,121 homework daily. According to the report, the

number of weekly assignments that were submitted to stu-dents from the third to 12fth grades in all tracks reached 648 weekly assignments in science, Arabic and English languages, mathematics, Islamic educa-tion, social studies, comput-ing, information technology, business administration, and French language.

The total number of partici-pants in the production of les-sons was 976. These included special education teachers, sup-port services specialists, teach-ing cadres, mentors, special education coordinators, and e-learning specialists.

The number of video lessons produced for students with spe-cial needs was 19,908 lessons for integration and support schools, Al Hidaya schools, and the Audio

Education Complex.About the most prominent

distance learning statistics for specialised schools as included in the report, the Qatar School of Science and Technology has produced 294 video lessons, presented 126 weekly assess-ments for students at all levels of education, and allocated five lessons per day for each grade (simultaneous teaching), and a total of 28 lessons per week for each grade, while special-ist laboratory subjects included asynchronous communication.

The Qatar Banking Studies and Business Administration (boys and girls) produced 234 video lessons for specialised subjects, presented 78 weekly assessments of specialised sub-jects, and prepared 234 daily homework for these subjects. The Religious Institute (pre-paratory/secondary) for boys

produced 342 video lessons for specialized subjects, off ered 305 weekly assignments, and pre-pared 305 daily homework.

The Qatar Technical Second-ary School for Boys produced 299 video lessons for specialised subjects and prepared 103 week-ly assessments and daily assign-ments for specialised subjects.

The report noted that the dis-tance learning system continues to provide technical support to the programme for schools and parents.

It pointed out that in the event of any obstacles or chal-lenges they may face while using the system, they could call the hotline 155, which operates 24 hours a day, the technical sup-port department in the ministry, the co-ordinators in the schools in the morning, and the emer-gency team in the ministry in the evening.

The distance learning system continues to provide technical support to the programme for schools and parents

Covid-19 recoveriesreach 1,924 in Qatar

Qeeri research may help in

physical distancing policiesNHRC launches awareness campaign for corporate and domestic workers

QNADoha

The Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) yester-day announced 951 new

confi rmed cases of the novel coronavirus (Covid-19), and 114 recovered from the disease in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of recovered cases Qatar to 1,924.

The MoPH said in a statement that most of the new cases are migrant workers who have been infected with the virus as a re-sult of contact with individuals who were previously diagnosed through the investigative testing carried out by the ministry.

The rest of the new Covid-19 cases have come from citizens and residents who contracted the virus from members of their families, who in turn got in-fected through their workplaces or other places where they were exposed to infected people.

All the new infected cases have been quarantined where they are receiving the necessary medical care.

The MoPH stated that during the current period it expects to see a fl uctuation in the number of cases of infection. This is for several reasons including that the outbreak of the virus is con-sidered to be at the peak stage before the numbers of infections start to descend gradually.

The ministry has also recently

stepped up eff orts to track the transitional chains of the virus and expand the search for people infected by conducting extensive and proactive investigations of large numbers of contacts with people who have recently been confi rmed with the disease.

The number of daily tests per-formed depends on the number of contacts individuals con-fi rmed to be infected with the vi-rus have had, as well as the ran-dom tests that are taking place in diff erent parts of the country.

According to a tweet from the MoPH, with a total of 2,967 people tested for Covid-19 in the last 24 hours, as many as 109,762 have been tested so far in Qatar.

There are 17,142 positive cases to date in Qatar and 15,206 cur-rently undergoing treatment. The total number of Covid-19 deaths so far in Qatar is 12, ac-cording to the tweet.

The MoPH called on all mem-bers of society to stay at home and not go out except in cases of necessity and to implement pre-ventive measures and maintain physical distancing, including in the workplace and public places. The Ministry reminded people to use a face mask as recommended and avoid social visits to reduce their risk of contracting the vi-rus.

The ministry also urged the public to regularly visit its web-site to view the latest informa-tion and instructions related to Covid-19.

From Page 1

Less than 6% of total reported cases were recorded in countries with higher temperatures (above 18C) and absolute humidity (above 9g/m3) for the same pe-riod. These results suggest that the Covid-19 virus may have re-duced viability and would see its spreading capacity diminished in warmer humid climates that typically have higher sunlight.

Another study by University College London assessed sam-ples of common coronaviruses collected several years ago. They concluded that summer showed a lesser number of infections than colder months. A recent White House briefi ng stated that ex-periments conducted at the US Army’s biosecurity laboratory indicate that heat, humidity, and exposure to sunlight signifi cantly speed up the rates at which the novel coronavirus is destroyed.

Some scientists believe that while high temperatures may not stop the virus they may re-

duce its ferocity. However, many members of the global research community are sceptical, as the Covid-19 virus is a relatively new infectious agent that is yet to be studied extensively.

Scientists at Qeeri’s Energy Centre have highlighted that it may be possible to assess the risk of contagion through solar re-source and meteorological moni-toring, if exposure to the right combination of sunlight levels, temperatures, and absolute hu-midity could reduce the viabil-ity of the Covid-19 virus. Dr Marc Vermeersch, Qeeri’s executive di-rector, reiterated that the institute would continue to support Qatar in its fi ght against Covid-19. “Since the onset of the pandemic, we have realigned our research priorities, and our scientists, researchers, and engineers are committed to contributing to the fi ght against Covid-19, through research, devel-opment, and innovation. We are also collaborating with national and international stakeholders and con-tributing in whichever way we can.”

QNADoha

The National Human Rights Committee (NHRC), in co-ordination with represent-

atives of its expat offi ces, launched an awareness campaign target-ing corporate workers, including workers in recruiting companies and domestic workers.

The campaign included fi eld visits to workers in the Industrial Area, Umm Salal, Al Wakra, Al Duhail, and Al Thumama.

In the future it will include other areas where expatriate workers are located.

The campaign distributes in-structions, brochures, and edu-cational publications that focus on the measures that must be followed to prevent the risk of Covid-19 infection.

The campaign also raises the awareness of workers on the importance of using the hot-line launched by the NHRC, to

receive and monitor any com-plaints they have regarding violations that may aff ect their rights, especially due to the re-percussions of the new Corona-virus epidemic (Covid-19).

Head of NHRC Media and Public Relations Department Abdullah Ali al-Mahmoud said that the campaign came to com-plement the fi eld visits paid by teams from the committee since the start of Ramadan to the In-dustrial Area and workers quar-antines in Umm Salal, Mesaieed, and other areas, in addition to police stations.

The campaign is an imple-mentation of the goals of the NHRC in raising the aware-

ness of workers from diff erent nationalities on the dangers of the spread of Covid-19, and on their rights, including to preven-tion and treatment under these conditions, as well as their right to make use of all the diff erent medical equipment required for protection from the virus.

Al-Mahmoud said that the committee’s team met with workers and discussed their res-idence conditions.

The team familiarised the workers with the guidelines on the precautionary measures taken by Qatar, and the rights of everyone in the country in these conditions under the law.

Representatives of expat com-munity offi ces of Nepal, India, African countries, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh participated in the awareness campaign.

This was in refl ection of the committee’s commitment to reaching all expat communities and communicating in the dif-ferent languages they speak.

Qatar on track for digital healthecosystem: QCRI researcherBy Joseph VargheseStaff Reporter

Qatar has taken several steps to develop a dig-ital health ecosystem

which holds the key for future of healthcare, especially in a pandemic situation such as Covid-19, noted a researcher at a webinar recently.

“In Qatar, digital health is one of the key pillars that the health system is working on. It is in very early stages but it has been iden-tifi ed as one of the key drivers,” said Dr Faisal Farooq, principal scientist, Qatar Computing Re-search Institute (QCRI).

Dr Farooq, who leads the dig-ital health group within QCRI was speaking at a webinar or-ganised by Qatar Centre for Ar-tifi cial Intelligence (QCAI), part of QCRI on “Managing Health

Services during a Pandemic’. In his presentation, he high-

lighted the advantages of digital health in managing the pandem-ics such as Covid-19 eff ectively. Dr Sanjay Chawla, research di-rector, QCAI, moderated the session.

“Digital health has been on the radar for some time but it has not been properly taken care of by the healthcare sys-tems. Most healthcare sys-tems had not been able to in-corporate the digital health system seamlessly within the public health system. How-ever, Covid-19 has shown us that digital health system is a real necessity within our healthcare systems. This is what is going to help us in managing any future pan-demics and scenarios like this,” he explained.

The scientist detailed that

a pandemic situation such as Covid-19 demands four steps. “A crisis management for a Cov-id-19 like pandemic needs four steps. They are preparedness, re-sponse, recovery and mitigation.

Preparedness is what is needed before a pandemic hits and the response is a reactive situation that deals with the situation as it happens. Recovery is the process of returning to new normal while migration is the forward looking strategy,” he described

According to Dr Farooq, arti-fi cial intelligence (AI) and Data Science technologies can be the key elements in implementing these steps. “Using AI and Data Science diff erent models can be developed to face any pandemic situation and overcome them successfully. However, these are not the alternative for prepar-edness. Unfortunately, many governments were not prepared to face a situation such as Cov-id-19,” he noted.

“Qatar is making use of some of these techniques in deal-ing with the current situa-tion. Accordingly, the country

is adopting certain policies in fighting the epidemic. This is clear from the statistics as Qa-tar’s mortality rate is one of the lowest in the world while the people in critical situation or admitted in the intensive care are also very low. This helps the country to adopt a capacity based treatment approach,” he continued.

He also maintained that the current Covid-19 situation has resulted in a great increase in telemedicine consultations all over the world.

“There is a 40% increase in the in telemedicine consulta-tions during this period. This has reduced visits to the hos-pitals and helped in containing the pandemic to a certain ex-tent. It also has helped in con-tinuing the non-Covid health-care for the community,” added the official.

‘Digital health system is going to help us in managing any future pandemics’

Dr Fasial Farooq

The campaign distributes instructions, brochures, and educational publications that focus on the measures that must be followed to prevent the risk of Covid-19 infection

Katara receives over 1,800 entries for stay-at-home writing contests

Katara - the Cultural Village has received an overwhelming re-sponse to the two competitions

it hosted as part of eff orts to support the government’s stay-at-home policy to fi ght the novel coronavirus (Cov-id-19) pandemic.

A total of 1,831 entries were received in two categories of writing competi-tion held for students and adults. The competitions, which were in English, were open to all citizens and residents of Qatar with valid residence permits.

The topics of the competitions were Working from Home (for adults) and

Studying from Home (for students) and were launched when the govern-ment announced a partial lockdown to prevent the spread of Covid 19 pan-demic.

A total of 1,138 entries were received in the student category and 693 entries in the adult category. There were par-ticipants belonging to a total of 83 na-tionalities residing in Qatar, of which there were students of 66 nationalities and adults of 52 nationalities.

A majority of the participants are from India, the Philippines, the US, Britain, Egypt, Pakistan, Jordan and Lebanon. There were 34 Qatari stu-dents and fi ve Qatari adults among the participants.

“We are overwhelmed by the re-sponse to the competitions. Katara –

the Cultural Village has always been in the forefront of organising cultural and literary events, workshops and com-petitions to bring people together and strengthen cultural ties and encourage talent. These competitions came at a time when the entire world is engaged in a struggle against the Covid-19 pandemic,” said Dr Khalid bin Ibrahim al-Sulaiti, general manager of Katara – the Cultural Village.

Khalid al-Sayed, head of the Com-petitions Committee, said the topics were selected to ensure maximum par-ticipation from residents.

“These competitions were meant to support the government’s stay-at-home policy and physical distancing eff orts. We wanted to provide an op-portunity to people to share their ex-

periences, which will be interesting to a global audience. The huge partici-pation from students shows that they received the competition with great

enthusiasm and it was a golden oppor-tunity to improve their creative skills,” al-Sayed said.

“The huge numbers of participation in these competitions will also give us an opportunity to study the latest trends in work-at-home and study-at-home practices and to map and an-alyse the preferences and possibilities in this regard. This can give us indi-cations about how to move forward in this area by studying these responses,” al-Sayed said.

The winning entries will be selected by a panel of highly competent judges. The fi rst, second and third prizes in both categories carry cash awards of QR10,000, QR7,000 and QR5,000, re-spectively.

Katara has also decided to give

seven consolation prizes in each cat-egory considering the huge number of participants. Also, the best entries selected by the judges will be pub-lished in a book by the Katara Pub-lishing House.

This is the second time Katara is or-ganising a writing competition in Eng-lish for the community. It had recently organised a creative writing workshop and shorty story completion for stu-dents of English-medium schools in Qatar.

Katara also organises the annual Arabic fi ction awards, which is the biggest prize of its kind in the Middle East region both in prize money and the number of participants. The prize-winning novels are also translated into English and French.

Some 1,831 entries received from people of 83 nationalities for two competitions

QATAR3

Gulf Times Wednesday, May 6, 2020

QSC face shields boost battle against Covid-19Qatar Scientifi c Club

(QSC) has devised a face shield to provide

adequate protection against Covid-19 infection to medi-cal staff in the country, includ-ing those of Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC).

Speaking to Qatar TV, Rashid Hussein al-Rahimi, executive director of QSC, stressed that the organisation has been highly active since the start of the Cov-id-19 outbreak to explore what solution it could off er through the innovative ideas and creativityof its membersand affi liates.

Accordingly, QSC drew up a plan to develop a durable and eff ective face shield, using the available machinery and equip-ment at the club, and imple-mented it based on designs ap-proved by the entities concerned and medical experts, he said.

“After getting the necessary approvals, we were able to pro-duce more than 500-600 pieces using the club’s laboratories and production facilities,” he said.

Al-Rahimi said a team from HMC, comprising doctors and nurses, visited the QSC facili-ties recently and discussed their requirements, the assistance that the club could off er and the aspects that need to be further developed.

“We were told by HMC that they need more supplies of the face shield, so we increased our production capacity through the purchase of specialised machin-ery and raw materials. The Min-

istry of Culture and Sports have given us immense support in this, as it has always done,” he noted.

“Besides large quantities of the new face shield that can be sanitised and disinfected for extended reuse, they also need parts for their diff erent medi-cal equipment. We are capable of making and supplying such products,” he stressed.

The executive director of QSC said the club has six main spe-cialised laboratories and a good number of experts and special-ists to help the members, or anybody else coming up with a creative and innovative idea, to develop it and explore the pos-sibility of introducing new and useful products into the market.

Regarding the new face shield, he stressed that QSC is able to produce good quantities for the local market and will also manu-facture the same for export to countries that need such devices.

He added that the club wel-comes ideas and projects from all expatriates and Qataris alike and will study such concepts to ensure their originality in co-operation with other enti-ties such as Qatar Foundation and the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. Eventually, all due support would be given to fur-ther develop such projects.

Meanwhile, he stressed that the club has strictly followed the preventive and precaution-ary measures to curb the spread of Covid-19 and followed social distancing rules, while using all available online platforms to continue holding discussion and meetings with its members.

‘Stranded’ Indians to be fl own home from May 7

The Indian embassy has initiated steps to facili-tate the repatriation of

stranded Indians from Qatar after the Indian government has decided to operate special fl ights to bring home nation-als who are held up in foreign countries because of the on-going Covid-19 situation and the suspension of air travel.

In the fi rst phase of the plan, two special fl ights will be used to fl y Indian nation-als home, the fi rst one on May 7 to Kochi and the second one to Thriuvanathapuram, on May 10.

An Indian embassy state-ment said, “The passenger list for both the fl ights will be de-cided based on the registration on the Indian embassy web-site, specifi cally meant for this purpose. Priority will be given to urgent medical cases, preg-nant women, people in dis-tress, senior citizens and those who are stranded in diffi cult situations.” The embassy will contact the selected passen-gers from the list through their telephone or e-mail.

The embassy disclosed that about 40,000 people have reg-istered on its website for repa-triation and it will take time to accommodate all the requests and complete the process.

The embassy has also stated that those passengers who are shortlisted to travel will have to bear the cost of the air ticket. All the requirements for quarantine after reaching India as well as the medical requirements for travel from Doha will be conveyed to them and have to be accepted by each passenger.

“We are waiting for further instructions from the govern-ment of India for fl ights to other states. We will inform the details as and when we receive such information. We request everyone to be patient and cooperate in such a mas-sive eff ort,” an Indian embassy offi cial said.

Further details can be had from the embassy’s Cov-id-19 helpline, 55667569 or 55647502. People can also email at covid19dohahel-pline@ gmail.com.

The India government has al-located 64 fl ight services to make travel arrangements for Indians stranded around the world in the fi rst week of its operations start-ing on May 7. On day one it is ex-pected that about 2,300 Indians will be allowed to fl y back from various countries. On day two and three, the number of passen-gers are expected to be 2,050, day four, 1,850, day fi ve 2,200, day six, 2,500 and day seven, 1,850. The total number of people ex-pected to travel by the end of week one is 14,800. Page 13

By Joseph VargheseStaff Reporter

By Ayman Adly Staff Reporter

Work underway at a QSC lab. Below: Face shields made by QSC.

More than 250 win cash prizes in QIB MISK drawQatar Islamic Bank (QIB)

has awarded more than 250 winners with cash

prizes in the third edition of its innovative savings and draw account, MISK.

The MISK account comes as part of the bank’s ongoing ef-forts to promote positive fi -nancial habits and encourage individuals to save money.

Existing and new QIB cus-tomers interested in opening a MISK savings account can do so easily, from their mobile phone and using the award-winning QIB mobile app.

New customers can start their relationship with QIB by opening the MISK account through the mobile app and subsequently start using the app to manage all their day-to-day banking needs remotely, having access to more than 90 features and services.

Upon opening the account, customers will receive a free debit card, free e-statement service, and can request a free-for-the-fi rst-year credit card backed by the funds balance in their MISK account.

MISK has witnessed two previous successful editions, awarding a total of 490 loyal QIB customers, where two lucky winners walked home with QR1mn each. All the draws are

held in the presence of offi cial representatives from the Min-istry of Commerce and Indus-try, as well as QIB representa-tives. The names of the winners from the most recent draws are published on QIB’s website.

Due to the increasing popular-ity of the account, in this years’ edition, QIB has doubled the number of weekly winners to 545 and will award QR7.4mn in total. Every week, 10 lucky win-ners are entitled to QR10,000 each, and two monthly winners are eligible for QR50,000 each, while the grand prize draw for the QR1mn will take place in November 2020.

The QIB mobile app has un-dergone an immense transfor-mation over the years, to keep up with the hyper-connected,

online world. Regular updates to the app make it easier than ever to bank on the go, 24/7, as they were developed to meet the customers’ daily banking requirements.

All Qatari citizens and resi-dents are eligible to open an in-novative MISK savings account for themselves or their minor children. Customers have to maintain a minimum month-ly balance of QR10,000 to be eligible for the weekly draws.

To qualify for the grand prize draw, the customer must open the account three months prior to the draw and maintain a mini-mum of QR10,000 for each of those months. With every addi-tional QR10,000, the customer earns one more chance in the draw.

2020 WISE Awards fi nalists namedWorld Innovation

Summit for Educa-tion (WISE) has an-

nounced the 15 fi nalists for the 2020 WISE Awards. Hailing from 10 countries, the fi nal-ists presented projects that tackle a number of pressing global educational issues, and were selected by a panel of international experts.

This year’s projects focus on implementing early child-hood education; promoting social emotional learning for early years; teaching of 21st century and entrepreneurship skills; providing education to marginalised and vulnerable populations; improving teacher training and motivation; foster-ing reading; democratising sign language education; promoting legal education and nurturing global citizens among the future generations.

Stavros N Yiannouka, chief executive offi cer, WISE – an initiative of Qatar Foundation – said, “Our world is experiencing a crisis that is aff ecting all fac-ets of our lives. Education is no exception, and indeed the need for innovation is all the more urgent because of the systemic shortcomings that the crisis has exposed. In this context, the work celebrated by the WISE Awards is critically important.

“Each of the 2020 WISE Awards fi nalists has built an eff ective, tested solution to a global educational challenge. Whether ensuring access to

fundamental early childhood education or imparting valuable entrepreneurship and fi nancial literacy skills, each project is already transforming lives, and provides an inspirational model for others to emulate.”

This year’s fi nalists are: MyMachine; Stawisha Lead-ership Institute; Barefoot College Solar Electrifi ca-tion with enriched Educa-tion; MAIA Impact School; Dengbe’ Bide (“Two Rabbits” in Baka); Education for Shar-ing (E4S); Pratham Books’

Storyweaver; Centro Educa-tivo Tecnico Chixot – Hero School; Think Equal; The Jun-ior Achievement Africa Com-pany Programme; SignLab; Parenting the Future (PTF); Justice Changemaker Pro-gramme; Transformational Teacher Training; and Arkki International - Creative Edu-cation for Future Innovators.

The projects were selected from a pool of 625 submissions. The submissions were evaluat-ed on strict criteria, such as the initiatives must have already

been established and demon-strate how they have already had a transformative impact on individuals, communities, and society of their context. Projects also need to be fi nan-cially stable, have a clear devel-opment plan, and be scalable and replicable.

The winners of the WISE Awards will be announced in October 2020 and celebrated at a WISE event. In addition to visibility and networking op-portunities, each project will receive $20,000.

One of the finalists for the 2020 WISE Awards.

Workshop on supporting hospitality sector during Covid-19 crisisAs part of a series of work-

shops the strategic team on decent work and sus-

tainable growth in the hospitality sector held a session on the reper-cussions of the coronavirus (Cov-id-19) crisis on the tourism sector.

The workshop, conducted via video conference, was attended by Assistant Undersecretary for Labour Aff airs at the Ministry of Administrative Development, Labor and Social Aff airs (MADL-SA) Mohamed Hassan al-Obaid-ly, Saleh Majid al-Khulaifi , As-sistant Undersecretary for Trade Aff airs at the Ministry of Com-merce and Industry Saleh Ma-jid al-Khulaifi , and HE Sheikh Hamad bin Ahmed bin Abdullah

al-Thani, Chairman of the Tour-ism and Exhibition Committee at Qatar Chamber.

The strategic work team, es-tablished by the MADLSA, con-sists of national organisations such as the National Tourism Council, Katara Hospitality, Su-preme Committee for Delivery & Legacy, the Qatar Chamber, and international partners such as the ILO Project Offi ce in Qa-tar and the Institute for Human Rights and Business (IHRB), the International Tourism Partner-ship (ITP), global trade unions and FIFA.

Al-Obaidly spoke on the chal-lenges the world faces as a re-sult of the spread of Covid-19,

and the threat the virus poses to public health and the global economy.

He also discussed the challeng-es faced by the tourism sector.

Al-Obaidly said that the min-istry took all the necessary pre-cautionary measures to protect all workers, and put in place policies that would guarantee quick implementation of these measures.

He said that some of these measures included:

Issuing a set of directives that companies operating in the private sector must follow in the workplace and housing to pro-tect workers under the title “The MADLSA Policy”.

Issuing an educational bro-chure for workers in several lan-guages entitled “Your Health and Work” that includes basic information for workers under the current circumstances and also answers most common in-quiries, and has been published through newspapers, audio-visual media and the ministry’s social media outlets.

Sending an offi cial state-ment to employers and workers that stresses the importance of cooperation in this period to re-duce social and economic dam-ages for the benefi t of workers and employers, taking into ac-count the sustainability of busi-ness and long-term employment

through a number of instruc-tions that regulate the contrac-tual relationship between the two parties.

Issuing guidelines to regu-late the principles of remote work for workers and manage-ment in the private sector.

Emphasising the impor-tance of the role of labour com-mittees within the facilities, es-pecially with regard to educating workers about precautionary measures to prevent the virus.

Providing a 24-hour hotline service to receive complaints and observations by employ-ers and workers, while provid-ing SMS text message service to submit complaints and commu-

nicate via e-mail to the ministry. The appointment of a spe-

cialised team from the minis-try working around the clock on receiving communications and messages in diff erent languages (Arabic, English, Hindi, Urdu, Fili-pino, Nepalese, Malayalam, Tamil, French and Sinhalese). For his part, Assistant Undersecretary for Commerce Aff airs at the Ministry of Commerce and Industry Saleh Majed al-Khulaifi said that Qatar succeeded in resuming its bal-anced economic growth, thanks to its sound policies over the past few years and the incentivising of the private sector to increase its contribution.

He added that the state con-

tinues the journey towards di-versifying the economy, with all government bodies cooperating to overcome the crisis.

For his part, head of the tour-ism and exhibitions committee at Qatar Chamber Sheikh Hamad bin Ahmad al-Thani stressed the importance of co-operation in fi nding solutions that could sup-port the hospitality sector and help it overcome the crisis.

A question and answer ses-sion was held at the conclusion of the workshop to respond to the questions of hotels, as the workshop targeted primarily HR managers of hotels and general managers among other interest groups. (QNA)

4 Gulf TimesWednesday, May 6, 2020

QATAR

NBK Automobiles off ers multiple options for Mercedes-Benz vehicle services

Nasser Bin Khaled (NBK) Automobiles, the au-thorised general dis-

tributor of Mercedes-Benz in Qatar, has enhanced customers’ experience and off ers multiple options for vehicles’ service and maintenance.

Customers continue to benefi t from advance booking option or the pick-up and delivery of their cars from and to their homes, according to a statement.

The services are always com-

plemented with ultimate sani-tising and cleanness measures to secure the safety of staff and customers.

Besides, customers can do their vehicles’ service at the reopened Mercedes-Benz service centre at the industrial area, which was temporarily closed as part of the precau-tionary measures to limit the spread of the novel coronavi-rus (Covid-19).The Mercedes-Benz service centre resumes

business hours from Sunday through Thursday, from 9am to 3pm.

NBK Automobiles have taken all the necessary precautionary measures, including compre-hensive hygiene of the work-shop, to secure the safety of the staff and customers.

“We are pleased to provide our customers with multiple options to have their cars maintained, including the advance booking and pick-up and delivery serv-

ice,” Ihab El Feky, COO – Auto, at NBK Group, said.

“Our professional and dedi-cated staff is ready to provide quality services and enhance customer experience.

At NBK Automobiles, we took all the necessary actions and best practices to secure the health and safety of our staff to conduct work in a safe and com-fortable environment.

“We are fully committed to the directions and guidelines

set by the relevant authorities in Qatar to stop any potential spread of Covid-19 and maintain the safety of our community”, he added.

In addition to the main serv-ice centre at the industrial area, NBK Automobiles continues to deliver its services through other branches at Almana pet-rol station and Algarafah, from Sunday through Thursday, from 9am to 3pm, and from 7pm to 1am.

Stenden University webinars add digital push to educationIn order to better support organ-

isations and individuals during the Covid-19 crisis, Stenden

University Qatar has started deliv-ering free professional training and development webinars.

The fi rst webinar on ‘Digital Marketing during Crisis’ was led by Dr Ilijana Petrovska, marketing professor and Mohamed Yusuf, an alumnus and digital marketing pro-fessional.

They gave insights into some of the most eff ective digital marketing strategies, which organisations can use during times of turbulence.

The participants could learn more about the techniques used by organisations in engaging various audiences such as the use of social media, infl uencers, and hashtags across a number of industries.

Sessions of online short courses on related digital marketing topics are to follow.

Another webinar on Business English Communications was de-livered to a number of local and in-ternational participants, who were looking at improving their level of Business English during the ‘Stay at Home’ period.

The online course for Busi-

ness English Communications will continue to be off ered during the month of Ramadan at a special price. The university also off ered a free webinar on ‘Leading during Turbulent Times’.

Business management professor Dr Anu Jossan presented some of the main challenges faced by lead-ers during the Covid-19 crisis.

Dr Shiban Khan, a business man-agement professional, introduced the most pertinent and eff ective leadership styles which can be

adopted during a crisis.As a result of the increased inter-

est, Stenden University Qatar will continue off ering courses on lead-ership in the upcoming weeks.

Anyone interested in joining the webinars and the courses can visit the university website to register.

The university believes that the development of personal skills is of utmost importance and will pro-vide individuals with a competitive advantage once the crisis is over.

The upcoming webinars would

include topics such as Business English Communication, Leading during Turbulent Times, Selling during Crisis, Emotional Intelli-gence, and Digital Marketing.

Stenden University Qatar was es-tablished in 2000 under the chair-manship of HE Sheikh Faisal Bin Qassim al-Thani and NHL Stende University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands.

Stenden University Qatar deliv-ers internationally accredited and recognised Bachelor’s degrees in the fi elds of International Hospi-tality Management, International Business, and Tourism Manage-ment and Master’s Degrees in In-ternational Leisure, Tourism and Events Management and in Inter-national Hospitality and Service Management.

Programmes are accredited by the Ministry of Education in the Netherlands, by the Ministry of Education and Higher Education in Qatar, and by the THE-ICE.

The main campus of NHL Stenden is located in Leeuwarden, the Netherlands with campuses abroad in Qatar, Bali (Indonesia), Bangkok (Thailand) and Port Alfred (South Africa).

GU-Q student researches role of radio during times of crisis

School closures may have disrupted on-campus student research eff orts, but at Georgetown University in Qatar (GU-

Q), the training of future scholars has simply moved online.

Irene Promodh, a student research fellow at GU-Q’s Center for Regional and Interna-tional Studies (CIRS), recently presented her year-long research project on the role that Malayalam radio stations play in forging a sense of community and new forms of be-longing among Keralite expats in Qatar.

The online audience comprised other stu-dents, as well as staff and expert scholars at GU-Q. The talk was just one way that stu-dents at Qatar Foundation partner institu-tions are staying ahead of the eff ects of the pandemic, according to a statement.

The talk was part of the CIRS Under-graduate Research Advancement (Cura) pro-gramme which serves as a Doha-based train-ing ground for future researchers at GU-Q.

As a Cura student fellow, Irene said she wanted to fulfi ll her commitments despite the current challenges.“We can’t wait until life returns to pre-pandemic normalcy to focus on education and research. We have to adapt using the technologies at our disposal in order to fulfi ll work obligations and ensure a high level of effi cacy too.”

While getting the work done is key, ex-plained Irene, there’s more to it.

“Just the decision by CIRS to carry out the Cura talk at a time like this shows resiliency in a time of crisis, and that’s an important message to send.”

Irene, a junior majoring in International Politics at GU-Q, spent a year researching and interviewing listeners and producers of Qatar’s primary Malayalam-language radio station that replaced the UAE-based chan-nels disrupted by the blockade.

Her research showed how these popular sources of news and entertainment allow these expat communities to “maintain social and cultural ties in Kerala even as they broker new realities in Doha.”

Liz Wanucha, operations manager at CIRS, said that “the Cura workshops and training for this semester have been success-fully adapted to a virtual space, allowing our Cura Fellows to continue to work remotely.”

And using shared drives and shared docu-ments online, and connecting through chat groups on mobile phones, she said, has had an unforeseen benefi t.

“Our students have been collaborating with each other even more than before.”

The Cura programme facilitates research experiences for GU-Q undergraduate stu-dents.

Cura initiatives aim to enhance students’ research capacity through skills-develop-ment workshops, discussion seminars, peer-to-peer learning mechanisms, and focused mentorship.

Cura also provides opportunities for stu-dents to present their original research pub-licly, and to submit research papers for pub-lication as part of the CIRS Cura Paper Series.

Irene Promodh

Indian embassy closed tomorow for festivalThe Indian embassy has announced that it will be closed tomorrow on the occasion of Buddha Purnima.

Gantries to be installed on G-Ring RoadThe Public Works Authority (Ashghal) has announced a temporary closure on part of G-Ring Road between Bu Silla Interchange and Al Bahiya Interchange for those heading to Al Majd Road today from 9pm to 4am tomorrow. The closure in co-ordination with the General Directorate of Traff ic is to complete installation of ITS Gantries. Ashghal will install road signs advising motorists of the closure and requested all to follow them and abide by the existing speed limit to ensure safety.

Green Tent focuses on ‘nature simulation the basis of human discoveries’

The Green Tent of the “A Flower Each Spring” pro-gramme organised a sym-

posium titled “Nature Inspiration in Scientifi c and Engineering Cre-ativity,” in which a number of par-ticipants considered nature simu-lation a source of innovation and the basis of human discoveries and scientifi c, industrial and adminis-trative development in human life.

The participants pointed out that there are two ways to understand the universe, which are observation, meditation and thinking, pointing to the pivotal role of nature simulation in a number of inventions.

Dr Saif bin Ali al-Hajri, head

of the programme, stressed dur-ing the online symposium that man has long sought to simulate nature to answer questions, solve problems and meet the require-ments of life; therefore, he made homes from caves, shelters from trees, and food and drinks from plants and fruits until the discov-ery of fi re, which was a milestone in human growth.

He added that the discoveries continued, which moved man from relying on his limited phys-ical energy, and using the energy of animals, to wind and fossil en-ergy, all the way to solar energy and nuclear energy.

Dr al-Hajri stated that each stage of discoveries enabled hu-man beings to understand more and provided them with the ability to take inspiration from nature, adding that nature simu-lation by humans appears in all achievements and media sur-rounding us, such as manufac-turing of helicopters inspired by dragonfl ies.

He pointed out that the major-ity of things are the result of na-ture simulations as building and edifi ces are inspired by nature with their beauty and geometric lines.

In the same context, the par-

ticipants in the symposium em-phasised that nature still inspires people in all their activities and that can be seen in literature and art.

With the maturity of arts and their transformation into sci-ence, nature took another form and soon found a way to infl uence theoretical and applied fi elds.

The participants showed that fl ying was the greatest challenge for man when it comes to nature simulation.

Man resorted to experimenta-tion and correction until math-ematics saved him time, eff ort and cost by providing accurate

and sophisticated models and calculations.

“The world is now full of many means of transportation, build-ings and robots that are inspired by nature in structure and func-tions,” he said, adding that na-ture also contributes to econom-ics and management sciences through algorithms inspired by the life of insect colonies such as bees, ants and other creatures.

They pointed out that human development went through suc-cessive, changing periods due to the changing discoveries and inventions, adding that God cre-ated the surrounding nature in an

ideal way and man must know its capabilities and benefi t from it.

They said that observation and meditation is one of the most im-portant means for understanding the universe around us and that benefi t provided by natural phe-nomena comes through simulat-ing nature and using signs from the Qur’an to understand the verses of God in the universe.

The participants spoke about how the Qur’an referred to natu-ral phenomena and their systems by calling for refl ection, medi-tation and simulating nature, noting that man was inspired by the beaver to build dams and the

camera was developed from the mechanism of the human eye and the helicopter from dragonfl ies.

The speakers also touched on medical inspiration from nature and how plants were and still are the primary source for the pro-duction of cosmetic and medical treatments, pointing out that the greatest medical drugs are ex-tracted from the components in the surrounding nature.

They explained that the ef-fective extraction from plants is often by accident or frequent ex-perimental attempts and knowl-edge of plants’ properties and components. (QNA)

Qatar Charity opens more branches, collection points

Qatar Charity (QC) has opened two new branches, one for men and another

for women, in Al Waab and collec-tion points at Al Meera Rawdat Al Hamama and Al Meera Umm Garn.

These are in addition to provid-ing a collection vehicle at Hyatt Plaza, QC has said in a statement.

With these new openings, the number of branches has jumped to 27 - 17 for men and 10 for women - across the country.

The opening of new local branch-es of Qatar Charity is aimed at mak-ing it easier for benefactors to make donations near their residence, us-ing the best and latest collection methods, the statement notes.

The new branches receive cash and in-kind donations, Zakat and alms to support charitable, development and humanitarian

projects implemented by Qatar Charity within and outside Qatar to maximise the number of ben-eficiaries.

The branches and collection points are open from 9.30am to 5.30pm and from 8pm to midnight. On Fridays, they are open from 12.30pm to 5.30pm and from 8pm to midnight.

The headquarters at Al Hilal is open from 8.30am to 12.30am. On Fridays, it is open from 12.30pm to 12.30am.

Qatar Charity’s 27 branches, 96 collection points, 1,615 donation boxes and 39 donation kiosks are located across the country.

Benefactors can also donate through QC’s website (www.qchar-ity.org) and app (qch.qa/q/app), in addition to dialling the hotline, 44667711.

‘A moderately eff ective vaccine would suffi ce’From Page 1

“In this study, we determined the preferred characteristics for Covid-19 vaccines and fore-cast their impact at the population-level,” she explained. Using mathematical modelling of the Covid-19 spread in China, the scientists found that a vaccine that reduces susceptibility to con-tracting the infection by more than 70% is need-ed to eliminate the infection.

“Even if a vaccine has an effi cacy of less than 70%, it could still have a major impact, if indi-viduals who get the infection but are vaccinated, become less infectious or have a faster recovery,” said Dr Ayoub, co-lead author of the study and assistant professor in the Department of Math-ematics, Statistics, and Physics at QU.

The study also found that infection spread can

be controlled with a moderately eff ective vaccine if used in conjunction with moderate social dis-tancing, or if a signifi cant number of people who were infected during this current wave of the vi-rus become immune.

The team also studied the value-for-money of vaccines and found that even with an effi cacy of just 50%, a Covid-19 vaccine could prevent one infection for every 2.4 people vaccinated.

“For maximum eff ectiveness, value for money and best use of resources, vaccination strategies should prioritise vaccinating individuals who are 60 years of age or older, or those with co-morbidities, and then gradually provide the vaccine to younger age groups,” said Hiam Chemaitelly, a co-author of the study and senior epidemiologist at WCM-Q.

Dr Laith Abu-Raddad, leader of the study team and professor of healthcare policy and re-search, and director of the Biostatistics, Epide-miology, and Biomathematics Research Core at WCM-Q, said: “The results provide room for optimism and the research demonstrates the value and cost-eff ectiveness that the vaccine will provide. Even a vaccine which works in just 50% of cases would be a game-changer, allowing us to control the infection, save lives, and resume economic and normal life activities.”

A new branch of Qatar Charity.

With the new openings, the number of branches has jumped to 27, including 10 for women - across the country.

Researchers from WCM-Q and QU.

REGION/ARAB WORLD

5Gulf Times Wednesday, May 6, 2020

Palestinians extend state of emergency over virus to June 5Reuters Ramallah

Palestinian President Mah-moud Abbas has extended to June 5 a state of emer-

gency declared in areas under his administration in the occupied West Bank in response to the coronavirus crisis, the offi cial news agency Wafa said yester-day.

First announced two months ago, the state of emergency heralded a full lockdown that confi ned Palestinians to their homes, except for essential trav-el.

Border crossings with Israel and Jordan were closed.

But conditions were eased last month, with some businesses allowed to open in the hope of reviving the paralysed Palestin-ian economy.

Mosques and educational in-stitutions remain closed and Palestinian authorities are still banning public congregations.

The Palestinians have report-ed 345 coronavirus cases and two deaths in the West Bank, where some 3mn Palestinians live.

In the Gaza Strip, a Palestin-ian territory under the control of Hamas, 17 cases have been reported among a population of some 2mn.

Hamas has shuttered Gaza’s mosques and schools and re-stricted large gatherings, but said a full lockdown was not necessary.

The West Bank and Gaza are 40km apart and separated by Israel.

Scrambling to tackle Cov-id-19 in camps across the Middle East, the UN agency supporting Palestinian refu-gees said yesterday it only has

enough cash to operate un-til the end of May because of American funding cuts, Reu-ters reported.

In 2018 President Donald Trump’s administration halted annual payments of $360mn to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which provides assistance to some 5.5mn registered refugees in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, East Jerusalem, Jordan, Leba-non and Syria.

Elizabeth Campbell, UN-RWA’s director in Washington, told reporters that the loss of US aid had a “corrosive im-pact” on the agency’s ability to

help vulnerable people.“We are basically operating

on a month-to-month basis.Right now, we have fund-

ing to pay our 30,000 health-care workers until the end of this month,” Campbell said in a Zoom conference call from Washington.

She said UNRWA had only secured a third of its $1.2bn annual budget and that it was suffering its “worst financial crisis” since beginning opera-tions some 70 years ago.

The agency is trying to plug the $800mn shortfall in part by appealing for emergency dona-tions, Campbell said.

Palestinian refugees are mostly descendants of some 700,000 Palestinians who were driven out of their homes or fled amid fighting in the 1948 war that led to Israel’s creation.

Nearly a third live in 58 camps where UNRWA provides services.

Many refugees fear the dwin-dling aid they receive could fall further as the coronavirus cri-sis persists and donors shift priorities.

UNRWA has tried to halt the spread of Covid-19 in and around camps, closing all its 276 schools that are attended by close to 300,000 children.

Syria strikes leave 14 fi ghters dead: monitorAFPBeirut

Overnight strikes on po-sitions held by militias and their allies in east-

ern Syria killed 14 fi ghters, a war monitor said yesterday.

It was not immediately clear who carried out the strikes in the

desert near the town of Maya-din, which came minutes after Syrian air defences intercepted Israeli strikes over the north of the country, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

A spokesman for the US-led coalition battling the Islamic State group said it was not re-sponsible for the strikes.

Observatory head Rami Abdul Rahman said it was “likely” that Israel mounted the operation, which killed several Iraqi as well as Iranian fi ghters.

State media did not report the strikes.

Militias and their allies com-mand a signifi cant presence in eastern Syria south of the Euphrates Valley.

The region lies close to the Iraqi border. Israel has launched hundreds of strikes in Syria since the start of the civil war in 2011, targeting government troops, al-lied Iranian forces and Hezbollah fi ghters. It rarely confi rms de-tails of its operations in Syria but says Iran’s presence in support of President Bashar al-Assad is a threat and that it will continue

its strikes. Just before midnight on Monday, Syrian air defences intercepted Israeli missiles tar-geting a research facility in Alep-po province, state media said.

State news agency SANA said the intercepted missiles tar-geted several “military depots” in the Al-Safi ra area southeast of Aleppo, Syria’s government-held second city.

On Friday, Israeli forces hit a missile depot in central Syria used by Lebanese group Hez-bollah, hours after Israeli heli-copters fi red missiles at other targets in southern Syria.

Commenting on the apparent intensifi cation of Israeli raids, Yoram Schweitzer of Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies said the Jewish state

might be reacting to increased hostile action from Iran and Hezbollah.

It is also possible that Israel is trying to apply added pressure as its rivals endure the fallout of the coronavirus crisis, he said.

“I don’t know which one of the two it is, but might be a com-bination of the two,” Schweitzer said.

Kuwait’s 526 new Covid-19cases take total to 5,804

QNAKuwait

The Kuwaiti Ministry of Health reported yes-terday the registration

of 526 new coronavirus (Cov-id-19) infections in the last 24 hours, bringing the tally to 5,804.

Earlier yesterday, the min-istry announced the recovery of 85 infected cases with the virus which causes Covid-19 disease, bringing the total of patients who recovered and completed recovery in the country to 2,032 cases,

according to Kuwait News Agency.

It added that laboratory and radiological tests and analysis have proved the recovery of these cases from coronavirus, and said they will be trans-ferred to the rehabilitation section in the hospital desig-nated to receive those infected with the virus, in preparation to discharge them within the next two days.

OMAN TO CONTINUE LOCKDOWN IN MUSCATThe Sultanate of Oman has

decided to continue the lock-down of the Governorate of Muscat till May 29 and to end

the school year (2019-2020), and that May 7, will be the last day of the school year, due to the persistent proliferation of coronavirus in some areas and, to protect all members of society from infection.

This came in a statement by the Supreme Committee tasked with tackling devel-opments resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic, follow-ing its meeting yesterday.

The Omani Ministry of Health announced earlier yes-terday that it had registered 98 new cases of Covid-19, bringing the total number to 2,735.

Dozens of Kuwaitis, stranded in Iraq due to the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic and who had been residing in quarantine at a hotel in the central holy city of Najaf, board a Jazeera Airways aircraft at Najaf International Airport, bound back for Kuwait, yesterday.

Members of Palestinian security forces stand guard at a checkpoint as Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas extended to June 5 a state of emergency in response to the coronavirus crisis, in Hebron in the occupied West Bank, yesterday.

Houthis report fi rst death in Sanaa

Three Iranian guards die in clash

AFP Sanaa

Yemen’s Houthi rebels yesterday an-nounced the fi rst coronavirus death in the capital Sanaa, which they control, stok-

ing new fears of a major outbreak in the war-torn country.

Yemen’s healthcare system has been blighted by years of conflict that has driven millions from their homes and plunged the country into what the United Nations calls the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

The Houthis’ health minister, Taha al-Muta-

wakel, told a news conference the case involved a man from Somalia who was found dead in a hotel on Sunday and posthumously tested pos-itive for the virus. It is the first known infection in rebel-controlled territory.

The hotel was disinfected and all those who had come in contact with the man were placed in quarantine, he said without giving further details. The death brings the number of people who have died from the virus in Yemen to four and the total number of confirmed cases to 22.

Covid-19 has claimed the lives of three peo-ple in areas controlled by Yemen’s internation-ally recognised government, where 21 cases have been reported.

Iranian Revolutionary Guards announced this evening, the killing of three members of its forces, during clashes with armed militants

in the Kurdistan region, west of the country, QNA reported from Tehran.

The Revolutionary Guards said in a statement carried by IRNA that the clashes took place yes-terday in the “Diwandre” area of the Kurdistan region, killing an offi cer with the rank of colonel along with two of the Guard forces.

League condemns plan to confiscate landQNACairo

The Arab League condemned Israeli government’s approval to establish a new settlement project in the old

Palestinian city of Hebron and confi scate its lands to construct a private road and an elevator to facilitate the storming of the Ib-rahimi Mosque.

The Arab League Assistant Secretary Gen-eral for Palestine and Occupied Arab Terri-tories Saeed Abu Ali stressed, in a statement yesterday, that this decision comes in the

context of the the occupation forces’ racist escalation policies against Palestinian reli-gious and historical monuments, and target-ing Temple Mount and the Palestinian, Arab and Islamic identity in Jerusalem and Hebron and their sanctities.

Abu Ali warned of the accelerated plans and violations done by the occupation au-thorities in the occupied Palestinian Terri-tories to intensify settlement, in addition to the annexation of parts of the occupied West Bank in light of the world’s preoccupation with confronting the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.

He also warned of the consequences of the

decision of the Israeli Defence Minister Naf-tali Bennett regarding the Ibrahimi Mosque and confi scation of Palestinian lands and properties adjacent to it, which violates the resolutions of international legitimacy and the rules of international law that consider settlement a crime, that brings those respon-sible before international justice.

The Assistant Secretary General called on the international community and the United Nations, with all its organs, to pressure the occupation authorities to immediately halt any activities or plans that lead to a future deterioration of the diffi cult situation in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Ramadan amid the rubble for Idlib familyAFPAriha

As dusk settles on the forest of gutted buildings around them, Tareq Abu Ziad and

his family break the Ramadan fast on the remains of their home.

The northern Syrian town of Ariha looks like the scene of a monster earthquake — a silent, grey sea of loose cinder blocks and mangled iron rods.

Abu Ziad had to make a little clearing in the rubble on his roof to lay three foam mattresses for his wife and children to sit on as they share their meal.

“Now my family and I are here on top of the destruction,” the 29-year-old father of three says. “We are reliving a very diffi cult and painful memory. I pray that God doesn’t let anyone else expe-rience this.”

He and his family fl ed Ariha late last year when Syrian government troops backed by Russian air strikes launched an off ensive against the town. Within a few weeks, around a million civilians fl ed the assault on the wider Idlib region, the last stronghold of opposition to the government of President Bashar al-Assad after nine years of war.

Ariha’s entire population head-ed north as much of the town was

razed to the ground. But as a cease-fi re held, some of the most des-titute have since opted to return. Abu Ziad came back last month and found a place to stay. But he wanted to share at least one Iftar — the meal that breaks the dawn-to-dusk fast — where his home used to be. “Every year we used to spend Ramadan here and we wanted to spend one day of this Ramadan here,” he says.

The home’s kitchen is long gone, but Abu Ziad’s mother says they came prepared. “We brought ready meals from outside,” she explains.

“The most important thing is that we relive our memories and eat in our home.”

Iran govt says Covid-19 infections near 100,000

Iran yesterday announced that

confirmed coronavirus infections

had reached almost 100,000

in the country as fresh cases

picked up again after a brief drop

in recent days. “The number of

confirmed infections with this

disease is now close to 100,000,”

health ministry spokesman

Kianoush Jahanpour said in

televised remarks. “We lost 63 of

our countrymen in the past 24

hours, reaching a total of 6,340

deaths from Covid-19 to date,” he

added.

Jahanpour said that another

1,323 people tested positive for

the virus during the same period,

bringing the overall number to

99,970.

Members of the displaced Syrian family of Tariq Abu Ziad, from the town of Ariha in the Idlib province, break their fast together for the sunset Iftar meal, in the midst of the rubble of their destroyed home.

Libya’s UN-backed government said yesterday it welcomes all political ini-tiatives aiming at finding a peaceful solution to the current fighting and preventing bloodletting in the war-torn country. In a statement, Fayez Serraj, the head of the Government of National Accord (GNA), called on all Libyan parties to swiftly resume political dialogue, brokered by the UN. He called for agreeing on a comprehensive roadmap and a po-litical process that brings together all Libyans, either through amend-ing a 2015 political agreement and forming a presidential council and naming a separate prime minister, or conducting a general election in the near future.

Libya’s UN-backed government calls for dialogue

CONFLICT

6 Gulf TimesWednesday, May 6, 2020

RAMADAN/AFRICA

Boko Haram militants attack key Niger cityAFPNiamey

Boko Haram fi ghters have clashed with government forces in Diff a, the largest city in southwestern

Niger, in what the militants claimed was a successful attack on a military camp.

Confl icting versions of the outcome emerged yesterday, with the Islamists claiming to have overrun the site on Sunday but local residents telling AFP that the assailants had been repelled.

A propaganda video released by the Is-lamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), a Boko Haram splinter group affi liated to the so-called Islamic State, purports to show heavily-armed insurgents storm an army camp following sustained fi ghting and heavy weapons fi re.

A soldier is seen lying face-down on the ground, either dead or uncon-

scious, and being shot twice.The assailants then leave the camp

with military vehicles and weapons.The area around Diff a, a city of

around 200,000 people located near the Nigerian border, has been repeat-edly attacked by the extremist group, which emerged in Nigeria in 2009.

Local people testifi ed that they heard the sound of heavy fi ghting.

“We heard gunfi re, especially heavy weapons, between 4.30pm and 7pm on the southern side of the city,” Lawan Boukar, a local resident, said.

“It was an audacious infi ltration at-tempt by Boko Haram, who were then forced back to the bridge at Doutchi,” he said, referring to a cross-border bridge about 30km away.

Another resident said the attack-ers “came over from the Nigerian side in late afternoon, when the Ramadan fast was about to break — they were

obviously hoping to catch our soldiers unawares.” A security source confi rmed “the attack” but did not give details. The defence ministry, contacted by AFP, said it would release a statement later.

Sunday’s attack came after an air-and-ground off ensive against the group by Chad following a brazen at-tack in which nearly 100 soldiers were killed.

Chad claims it killed a thousand mil-itants and lost 52 of its men, and drove the extremists out of its territory.

In late March, Niger’s defence min-istry claimed that a “leading fi gure” in Boko Haram, Ibrahim Fakoura, had been killed in an operation in the Lake Chad region.

Around 4,000 people were killed in Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso last year in jihadist violence, which is often in-tertwined with inter-community ten-sions, according to a UN estimate.

Kenya seeks probe into Somalia plane crashAFPNairobi

Kenya’s foreign ministry yester-day called for a swift investiga-tion after a humanitarian plane

helping the fi ght against coronavirus crashed in Somalia in “unclear” cir-cumstances, killing all six people on-board.

The Kenyan private cargo plane was undertaking a humanitarian mis-sion related to the pandemic when it crashed on Monday afternoon in Bard-ale district in southern Somalia, the ministry said.

Offi cials said at least six people were onboard for the short fl ight from Baid-oa to Bardale, some 300km northwest of Somalia’s capital Mogadishu.

“The aircraft was about to land at the Bardale airstrip when it crashed and burst into fl ames. All six people on-board died in the incident,” Abdulahi Isack, a local police offi cial, told AFP by phone.

“We don’t know what exactly caused the aircraft carrying medical supplies to crash, but there is an investigation going on to establish the details.”

Kenya urged Somalia “to thoroughly and swiftly investigate the matter be-cause it impacts humanitarian opera-tions at a time of highest need”.

“The incident occurred under un-clear circumstances,” the foreign min-istry said in a statement, expressing its “deep shock and regret” and off ering condolences to the families of the de-ceased.

“Kenyan and other humanitarian aircraft operating in the region are also urged to enhance extra precaution in light of the unclear circumstances sur-rounding the incident,” the ministry said.

The Shebaab militant group is ac-tive in southern Somalia, but the area where the crash occurred is under the control of government and Ethiopian troops.

Soldiers from Ethiopia and Kenya are among those deployed to Somalia as part of an African Union (AU) peace-keeping mission fi ghting the Islam-ist insurgents, who control swathes of countryside.

Major General Mohamed Tessema, spokesman for the Ethiopian National Defence Force, said he had no informa-tion about the crash and referred ques-tions to “armed force commanders in Somalia”.

In a statement, Somalia’s transport and civil aviation ministry expressed its “deep regret” over the crash and said the government was conducting a “thorough investigation”.

It said the Embraer 120 twin-turbo-prop was operated by African Express, which is headquartered in Nairobi.

Kenya’s foreign ministry said in a separate statement yesterday that So-mali President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo had phoned his Kenyan coun-terpart Uhuru Kenyatta to “express his regret and convey condolences for the loss of life and property” as a result of the crash.

Security personnel view the crash site of a private cargo plane after it crashed in the town of Bardale on Monday.

Uganda slowly starts easing virus curbsAFPKampala

Uganda yesterday began slowly easing coronavirus measures, allowing a number of busi-

nesses to re-open, even as its fi ve-week lockdown was extended for another two weeks.

The capital Kampala appeared more lively than it has in recent weeks as food markets, wholesale shops, garag-es, workshops, law fi rms and hardware shops were allowed to re-open.

Uganda had imposed one of the strictest and swiftest lockdowns in Africa, but has joined those like neigh-bouring Rwanda in slowly easing the measures, after recording only 97 cases and no deaths.

“We must therefore slowly and care-fully start opening up but without undoing our gains so far,” Museveni said in a televised national address an-nouncing the new measures on Mon-day night.

He said that wearing of masks was now mandatory in public spaces, but few seemed to be following the new rule, an AFP correspondent noted.

Schools remain closed and public and private transport banned, although several private vehicles nevertheless ventured out in the capital yesterday.

Restaurants are allowed to operate but only to serve takeaways.

For many in the country however, the easing of restrictions is not enough to tackle the economic hardship brought about by the lockdown.

“Without public transport, opening business here is good, but a far cry from what can help us go back to business”, said Alex Wairagala, 38, a trader in Kampala’s commercial hub of Kikuubo.

“We have opened the wholesale de-partment but fewer customers are get-ting in and those who come have less money,” he added.

In eastern Africa, Uganda and Rwan-

da appear to have fl attened the curve of new cases. Mauritius has remained steady at 332 cases for nine days but nevertheless decided to extend its lockdown until June 1.

The Seychelles also this week relaxed confi nement measures after remaining steady at 11 cases for a month.

However in Kenya — where authori-ties only imposed a nighttime curfew — Health Minister Mutahi Kagwe yester-day castigated citizens for failing to take containment measures seriously, as a record 45 people tested positive in a day.

Majority of Africans to run out of money during lockdownAlmost 70% of people across Africa said

food and water would be a problem dur-

ing a 14-day coronavirus lockdown, while

more than half would run out of money,

a new report found yesterday.

Countries across Africa have quickly

implemented policies to curb the rapid

spread of coronavirus infection, but they

need to find a balance between reducing

transmission while preventing social

and economic disruption, according to

a report conducted by global market

research firm IPSOS in collaboration with

the Africa Centres for Disease Control

(CDC), the World Health Organization

(WHO) and other partners.

“Covid-19 is not just a health crisis, it’s

a political and social crisis as well,” said

Africa CDC director John Nkengasong.

The new findings will help countries

make strategic decisions on relax-

ing their lockdowns, given that the

economic fallout from the coronavirus

pandemic will hit already vulnerable

populations the hardest, said WHO

Africa regional director Matshidiso

Moeti.

After interviewing almost 21,000

people from 28 cities in 20 African

countries on potential Covid-19 stay-at-

home measures, the report also stressed

important information gaps in many

nations across the continent.

One-third of respondents said

they don’t have enough information

about the coronavirus, including on

how it spreads and on how to protect

themselves.

Practical steps towards sincere repentanceMost people are aware of

the conditions people must fulfi l before their repentance is accepted,

namely giving up the sin, regretting the sin, and being determined never to commit it again.

However, in this article we will highlight some practical steps people should follow in order to help achieve sincere repentance.

Let us go through these practical steps together with the permission of Allah, The Almighty:

First: Counting all the sins that you have committed since adulthood until the present time in writing.

This is an introduction to repenting for all these sins, because when a person considers all its sins, it will be humble and tend to repent as soon as possible. Here is a list of the categories of sins to help you remember your past sins:

Sins of the body such as the tongue (backbiting, tale-bearing, lying, and ridiculing others); the eyes (looking at what is prohibited), ears, hands, feet and private parts.

Sins of the hearts, such as arrogance, envy, aggression, self-conceit, and so on.

Negligence in performing your duties towards one’s parents, relatives and negligence regarding the other duties such as enjoining what is good and forbidding what is evil, as well as Da’wah (calling to Islam).

Negligence in the acts of worship like delaying the prayer after its due time.

Secondly: Try to count the blessings of Allah, The Almighty, upon you in writing.

You should keep counting these blessings until you realise how negligent you are towards the rights of Allah, The Almighty, and continue counting until you despair of counting. Allah, The Exalted, Says (what means): {And He gave you from all you asked of Him. And if you should count the favour of Allah, you could not enumerate them. Indeed, humankind is [generally] most unjust and ungrateful.} [Qur’an 14:34]

Then, you should make a comparison between the blessings that Allah, The Almighty, sends down to you, and your misdeeds that are being sent to Him in return. In this case, you will not be able to resist your tears, your heart will be soft and you will say: “I acknowledge the favours that You have bestowed upon me, and I confess my sins. Pardon me, for none but You has the power to pardon.” [Al-Bukhari]

When you shed tears and feel

remorse, you should then move to the third step.

Thirdly: Repentance PrayerAfter deserting the sin, you should

immediately implement the advice of the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam (may Allah exalt his mention), who said: “Whenever one commits a sin, and then performs ablution perfectly, and prays two Rak’ahs (units of prayer) after which he seeks the forgiveness of Allah, He will forgive him.” [Al-Albaani: Saheeh]

Then, you should determine that you would never return to sins. In this way, you will live the best day of your life since your birth.

Fourthly: Keep away from bad friends and evil companions.

Sever your relationship with them, because they will prevent you from returning to your Lord. If you succeed in getting rid of them, then this is a great sign that Allah, The Almighty, has accepted your repentance.

Fifthly: You should have a daily programme of acts of worship to perform.

This programme aims at helping you make up for what you missed and compensate your negligence towards the rights of Allah, The Almighty. This programme should include reading parts of the Qur’an, Thikr (words of remembrance) reported from the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam, night prayer and fasting. However, the most important thing is that this programme should be gradual and realistic.

Sixthly: You should attend a religious lecture in a mosque once a week on a regular basis.

This step aims at strengthening your relationship with your Lord and the righteous people who are your companions on the road to faith. Accompany those righteous people and never keep away from them.

Finally remember that you are in

need of the Lord of the heavens and the earth, and that without Him, you are impoverished in every way.

Remember that you have wronged yourself, so be humble in front of your Lord. Listen to the teacher, Ibn Al-Qayyim, may Allah have mercy upon him, who was an excellent example of humble servitude in front of Allah, The Almighty. While referring to some signs of sincere repentance, he said:

“The prerequisites of sound repentance include a special kind of humility in one’s heart that does not resemble any other feeling, because it only occurs to the sinful slave. Such a feeling cannot be obtained through hunger, or mere love; rather, it is a feeling beyond all of this. It breaks the heart completely, grabs it and throws it humbly in front of the Lord. There is nothing dearer to Allah, The Almighty, than this feeling, humility and submission on the part of His slave.”

How sweet the words of the slave in this state are when he says:

I ask You by Your Grandeur and my humility to have mercy upon me….

I entreat You by Your strength and my weakness, by Your richness and my poverty to pardon me….

Here I am, the wrongful and sinful slave, before You… You have many slaves other than me, but I have no Lord but You…

I have no shelter other than with You, as there is no escape from You, except to You….

I ask and entreat You, as I am humble, poor, frightened and blind…

I ask You while I am surrendering completely to You, and weeping out of fear of You…. to pardon me...

Such a feeling is a sign of accepted repentance, so, if you lack this feeling, accuse your sincerity and correct your repentance.

Article source: http://www.islamweb.net/emainpage/

(13

(4) (3) (2) (1) (8) (7) (6) (5)

(11) (10) (9)

(13 (12)

(68) (69)

AMERICAS7Gulf Times

Wednesday, May 6, 2020

Working in fear, immigrants keep poultry plants runningBy Cyril Julien, AFPSalisbury, Delaware

Tina says a little prayer every time she heads to work at a Delaware poultry

plant, a plea that this will not be the day that the invisible killer picking off her colleagues comes for her.

With the coronavirus shutting down meat plants and threaten-ing the country’s food supply, she would rather not be there at all, but President Donald Trump has designated the sector as stra-tegic, and low-paid workers like her as essential.

The 27-year-old mother works shifts at the Perdue packing plant

in Georgetown, a major employer among the thousands of fellow Haitians settled in the area.

If she wants to hold on to her job, she feels she has little choice but to clock in for her shifts, de-spite the risk to her and her family.

“Every day I come, I just pray to God that nothing happens,” said Tina — one of few workers who would agree to speak to a reporters, although even she de-clined to provide her full name for fear of reprisals.

“I want to go home, I have three kids at home, a baby, but I can’t do that,” she told AFP, speaking behind a mask. “I have no choice, bills are coming from left to right.”

With no way of knowing who

might be carrying the virus, “everyone is afraid of getting sick, people still works close to-gether.”

“They don’t tell us who has been tested positive. Was that person beside me, talking to me, you never know.”

Tina believes too little was done, too late, to protect workers like her.

“I just think that they should close a few weeks so they can clean the whole plant,” she said.

The number of coronavirus infections has recently soared in the Delmarva peninsula, which reaches south out of Delaware to eastern Maryland and the north-east of Virginia.

The poultry packing industry

has thrived off the cheap labour provided by Haitians and His-panics, but it also has meant that they have been the fi rst to be cut down by the disease.

The small town of Salisbury, the historic base of Perdue, is home to a community of some 5,000 Haitians, at least 40% of whom are infected, according to Habacuc Petion, the owner of Oasis radio, which broadcasts in Creole to an estimated 20,000 listeners in the Delmarva area.

Many work for Perdue, and are refusing to stay home for fear of being sacked. “Even if they have fever, they take a pill and go to work,” said Petion.

“Covid-19 touched home,” said the 45-year-old. “My cousin

was 44, working at Perdue plant. Beginning of April, he could not breathe, his wife convinced the medics to take him to the hospital. In less than two weeks he died.”

The disease’s toll has also been boosted by a fear of hospitals and by the language barrier for many Haitians, doctors said.

“When they see people dying in New York hospitals, the lack of material and people put in dumps, they are scared thinking they won’t receive the care they need — and end up dying,” said Nadya Julien, a Haitian nurse practitioner in Laurel, Delaware.

Some who speak Creole but lit-tle English have trouble explain-ing their symptoms, she said.

She herself contracted the dis-

ease and was hospitalized for six days in April, a story she tells her patients to help them overcome their fears.

Nurse practitioner Emanie Dorival said she alerted the lo-cal authorities very early to the number of cases piling up in her surgery in Seaford, Delaware.

“We are a rural area,” she said. “We don’t have the capacity in our hospitals if 200 cases show up.”

While she agrees the poultry industry is “essential” she says “there is a way to keep it safe for the workers and the community.”

Several major US plants where farmers send cattle, pigs and poultry have shut due to the rapid spread of Covid-19 between em-ployees, who are often in close

proximity on production lines and on breaks.

Faced with the threat of dis-ruption to the nation’s food sup-ply, Trump has ordered meat and poultry plants to remain open during the pandemic that has claimed almost 70,000 lives.

Perdue has said it is doing all it can to ensure workers’ safety, taking temperatures, providing protective equipment and prac-tising social distancing on the production line.

Where it is impossible to keep workers a safe distance apart, it said it has installed screens.

It also increased workers’ wag-es — which Petion described as “a temptation that a lot of people can’t resist.”

US Supreme Court justices question curbs on overseas anti-Aids fundingBy Lawrence Hurley, ReutersWashington

US Supreme Court justices yesterday voiced concern that a 2003 law violates

constitutional free speech rights by requiring overseas affi liates of American-based nonprofi t groups that seek federal funding for HIV/Aids relief to take a for-mal stance opposing prostitution and sex traffi cking.

The case is the second in which the justices heard arguments by teleconference following Mon-day’s debut of the call-in format prompted by the coronavirus pandemic.

The groups challenging the

funding restrictions — part of a law enacted under Republican former president George W Bush — currently take no stance on prostitution.

They said the requirement that their overseas affi liates take such a position interferes with the ability to provide advice and counselling to sex workers about the risks of HIV infection.

Several justices signalled sym-pathy toward arguments by the groups that to an ordinary per-son these organisations and their overseas affi liates that help carry out their work and are known by similar names are indistinguish-able.

Other justices seemed con-cerned that a ruling in favour of

the groups would tie the hands of Congress in other instances in which lawmakers may want to add conditions to overseas funding.

As with Monday’s trademark case argued by teleconference, conservative Justice Clarence Thomas, usually silent when the court hears arguments in person, again dove in when it was his turn to ask questions.

The argument proceeded smoothly, though Justice Sonia Sotomayor again appeared to forget to unmute her phone when called upon by Chief Justice John Roberts to ask questions, as she had done the prior day.

“I’m sorry, chief,” Sotomayor said. “I did it again.”

President Donald Trump’s ad-

ministration is appealing a 2018 ruling by the New York-based 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals in favour of the nonprofi ts.

Organisations including the Alliance for Open Society In-ternational, Pathfi nder Interna-tional, InterAction and the Glo-bal Health Council challenged the provision as a violation of the US Constitution’s First Amend-ment.

The ruling would aff ect other well-known international groups such as Save the Children.

The groups did not challenge a separate provision that bars ap-plicants from using federal funds to promote or advocate the le-galisation of prostitution or sex traffi cking.

The plaintiff s obtained an injunction in 2006 preventing the policy from being enforced against them.

The Supreme Court ruled in 2013 that the law violated the free speech rights of the US-based groups but did not decide wheth-er applying it to their overseas partners also is unconstitutional.

Roberts, the 2013 ruling’s au-thor, wondered if the “precise relationship” between the US groups and the affi liates could amount to a free speech violation.

“We know there are no formal corporate ties, but that these en-tities share the same name, the same logo, the same brand. What would you require beyond that before attributing the speech of

the foreign entity to the domes-tic one?” Roberts asked Justice Department lawyer Christopher Michel.

Sotomayor made a similar point. “Presuming that the pub-lic does perceive these entities as one, then why wouldn’t the First Amendment apply to the inabil-ity of the domestic corporations to receive funds and partner with a closely affi liated foreign entity in implementing the pro-gramme?” Sotomayor asked.

Justice Samuel Alito voiced con-cern about the broader implica-tions. He wondered if it would be unconstitutional for Congress to require recipients of overseas edu-cation funding to denounce terror-ist attacks against US citizens.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh simi-larly asked if it would be unlawful for the US government to require recipients of funding as part of eff orts to seek Middle East peace to recognise the legitimacy of the state of Israel.

Trump’s administration ar-gued that foreign entities like those affi liated with the non-profi ts lack free speech rights enforceable in US courts and that the rights of the American groups therefore are not violated.

Congress imposed the policy requirement on the basis that prostitution and sex traffi cking help spread HIV — the virus that causes Aids — and to make clear the US commitment to eradicate both practices.

US virus deaths exceed 70,000, with forecast of a grim summerReutersWashington

US deaths from the novel coronavi-rus yesterday surged past 70,000, according to a Reuters tally, as a

key forecasting model nearly doubled its previous estimate for fatalities.

Nearly 1.2mn people in the United States have tested positive for Covid-19 — more than the combined total of the next largest outbreaks in Spain, Italy, the United Kingdom, France and Germany.

A University of Washington research model often cited by White House offi -cials on had Monday nearly doubled its projected US death toll to over 134,000 by August 4.

The revision refl ected “rising mobil-ity in most US states” with an easing of business closures and stay-at-home orders expected in 31 states by May 11, the institute said.

The revised projection coincided with disclosure of an internal Trump administration forecast predicting a surge in fatalities to 3,000 a day by the end of May, up from about 2,000 now in the Reuters tally.

The US coronavirus outbreak is deadlier than any fl u season since 1967 when about 100,000 Americans died,

according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Covid-19 deaths in the United States also have eclipsed in a few months the 58,220 Americans killed during 16 years of US military involvement during the Vietnam War.

The current trajectory falls far short of the 1918 Spanish fl u, which killed 675,000 Americans.

There is as yet no treatment or vac-cine for coronavirus while fl u vaccines are widely available along with treat-ments.

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump said yesterday top health offi cial An-thony Fauci would appear next week before a panel in the Republican-controlled US Senate examining the country’s coronavirus response but could not testify to the Democratic-led House of Representatives.

Trump, speaking to reporters at the White House, defended his decision to block the nation’s top infectious dis-ease expert from appearing before the House, saying he was being set up by Democrats who hate him and want to win back the White House in Novem-ber’s presidential election.

Fauci, who directs the National Insti-tute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and is part of the White House Corona-

virus Task Force, is scheduled to appear May 12 before the Senate Health, Edu-cation, and Labor and Pensions com-mittee along with other top US health offi cials.

“The House is a set up. The House is a bunch of Trump haters. They put every Trump hater on the committee,” the Republican president said.

“The House they should be ashamed of themselves and, frankly, the Demo-crats should be ashamed because they don’t want us to succeed. They want us to fail so they can win an election, which they’re not going to win,” added Trump, who is seeking re-election in November.

A House Appropriations subcom-mittee that oversees health pro-grammes had been seeking testimony from Fauci for a May 6 hearing, but the White House last week said his appear-ance would be “counterproductive.”

Food and Drug Administration Com-missioner Stephen Hahn, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Direc-tor Robert Redfi eld, and Health and Human Services Assistant Secretary Brett Giroir are also scheduled to ap-pear before the Senate hearing next week focused on “safely getting back to work and...school,” according to the committee.

Protesters demand an end to the state-wide ‘stay at home advisory’ and the new law enforcing everyone to wear a mask in public, outside the Massachusetts State House in Boston on Monday. According to the Massachusetts State Department of Health, there are currently 4,004 deaths due to Covid-19, 3,531 hospitalised patients and 68,087 total cases in the state.

Lockdown protest

A US Navy handout photo released yesterday of SEAL candidates participating in surf immersion during Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL (BUD/S) training at Naval Special Warfare (NSW) Center in Coronado, California. The NSW Center restarted paused portions of its SEAL and Special Warfare Combatant-craft Crewman selection-and-assessment training following careful planning that included implementing Covid-19 mitigation eff orts based on CDC recommendations and Department of Defense medical guidance. The NSW Center provides initial and advanced training to sailors who make up the Navy’s SEAL and Special Boat Teams.

Treading water

C$252mn to help farmers, food processorsReutersOttawa

Canada will invest C$252mn (US$179.5mn) to help some of the country’s farm and food

processing sectors weather the coro-navirus outbreak, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said yesterday, adding more money could come later if needed.

The Canadian Federation of Agri-culture, one of Canada’s biggest farm groups, asked Ottawa last week for an initial C$2.6bn in emergency fund-ing to help the farming and food sec-tor cover losses and additional costs caused by the pandemic.

Agriculture is considered an es-sential industry in Canada, where of-fi cials have shut non-essential busi-nesses and have urged people to stay at home since mid-March.

The prime minister has repeatedly said Ottawa is focused on maintaining Canada’s food supply chain.

“This is an initial investment and if we need to add more, we will,” Tru-deau said.

Canada’s total coronavirus death toll yesterday edged up by less than 4% to 3,915 from 3,766 on Monday, according to offi cial data, in a sign the outbreak has peaked.

Only once in the last 16 days has the toll jumped by more than 10% in a day and medical offi cials say the curve is clearly fl attening.

Several food processing plants, pri-

marily in the meat industry, have had to temporarily shut down after work-ers became infected with Covid-19, the illness caused by the novel coro-navirus.

Trudeau said beef and pork pro-ducers, who have been forced to keep livestock on farms longer because of processing shutdowns, will receive C$125mn in AgriRecovery funding, a disaster relief programme tradition-ally cost-shared between Ottawa and Canada’s 13 provinces and territories.

Another C$77mn will help food processors buy personal protective equipment for workers, adapt to new health protocols, and increase do-mestic processing capacity.

Ottawa will also launch a C$50mn food surplus purchase programme to buy large quantities of certain items, like potatoes, milk and butter, where overall demand has fallen dramati-cally because of restaurant and bar closures. The food will then be redis-tributed to organisations focused on food insecurity.AFP adds: Being sick with Covid-19 and living under the same roof as the prime minister of Canada and their three young children was “not easy,” the wife of Justin Trudeau, who contracted the disease in March, said yesterday.

“My husband worked from 7.00am to 9.00pm in his offi ce, then I was the one with the children, so I had to be extremely careful,” Sophie Gregoire-Trudeau told public broadcaster Ra-dio-Canada.

“I was alone with the children, I had to distance myself, I had gloves, a mask and everything, but it was not easy,” she said.

Trudeau and his family self-isolat-ed for weeks at Rideau Cottage — the prime minister’s offi cial residence in Ottawa — after his wife was diag-nosed with coronavirus upon her re-turn from a speaking engagement in London.

The disease “struck hard for more than a week,” said Gregoire-Trudeau, describing how she had “lost the sense of smell and taste” and had to deal with “headaches, body aches everywhere, indigestion, nausea.”

She let out a laugh when asked if she was afraid of contaminating the prime minister of a G7 country, but quickly added: “I laugh but it is not funny. I think that in all families, we try to cope, then there’s the social distancing.”

“But after that, I got back on my feet. And then the children, I think they use up a lot of our energy,” she said.

Offi cially virus-free since March 28, she says she has recovered her sense of smell and taste, but fi nds that “it’s not like it was before.”

She hailed health care workers on the front line as “heroes.”

“Let us be clear, these people dem-onstrate courage, perseverance, I would even say a vision of a society,” said Gregoire-Trudeau, whose moth-er was a nurse.

ASIA

Gulf Times Wednesday, May 6, 20208

Over 46,000 held in Sri Lanka for violating curfewSri Lankan Police said yes-

terday that over 46,000 people had been arrested

from across the country for vio-lating a curfew in several dis-tricts which has been in place since March 20.

In a statement, the police said 46,284 people have been ar-rested for loitering on the roads, gathering and consuming alco-hol at public grounds, travelling by vehicle on the roads, keeping restaurants open, behaving in an unruly manner on the roads

while intoxicated and engaging in trading, defying curfew rules.

More than 12,000 vehicles have also been seized since March 20 and all those ar-rested have been or will be pro-duced before local courts in the coming days.

Sri Lanka imposed a nation-wide curfew on March 20, which was lifted in some districts due to a less threat of the spread of the virus.

In capital Colombo, Gampaha and Kalutara, in the outskirts and the central highlands of Kandy, the curfew has been im-posed indefi nitely since March 24, as these areas have been de-

clared “high risk” areas from the coronavirus.

Of the 548 active coronavirus cases in Sri Lanka, 327 of them were Navy personnel and au-thorities have also quarantined 1,008 of their relatives, offi cials said yesterday.

The virus has killed eight peo-ple with 752 positive cases in the island nation.

Army chief General Shaven-

dra Silva, who heads Sri Lanks’s Covid-19 prevention mecha-nism, yesterday said, “There were 33 new positive cases found at midnight (Monday), 31 of them are our gallant sailors who are linked to the Welisara camp. The two others are their contacts.”

The Covid-19 infection is sus-pected to have spread in the Wel-isara Camp near capital Colom-bo when offi cers came in contact with drug addicts infected by the virus during a raid.

The sailors had gone home on leave, spreading the virus further.

Silva said 752 positive cases

IANSColombo

Stranded people walk in a public ground as they wait to board on a special bus organised by Sri Lanka police to travel back to their hometowns during a government-imposed nationwide lockdown as a preventive measure against the coronavirus, in Mirihana, some 10km from Colombo yesterday.

were reported in the coun-try since its fi rst positive case in mid-March, of which 194 patients had been discharged from hospitals after complete recovery.

The army chief said 1,008 relatives of Navy sailors are presently in quarantine.

The virus death rose to eight

on Monday after a 72-year-old woman in northwestern Ku-runegala region died of the disease.

The woman was related to one of the infected sailors.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Monday spoke at an online summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), a forum of

around 120 developing countries.Gotabaya said of all the

polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests only 3% gave positive results and that the virus’ mortality rate in Sri Lanka was less than 1%.

The president said he intends to ease restriction to revive eco-nomic activities, while enforcing health guidelines.

Sri Lanka imposed a nationwide curfew on March 20, which was lift ed in some districts due to a less threat of the spread of the virus

Health workers wearing protective gear spray disinfectant in an alley during a government-imposed nationwide lockdown as a preventive measure against the coronavirus, in Kathmandu yesterday.

Province sealed in Nepal to prevent spread of Covid-19

Karnali Province, one of the seven provinces of Nepal, decided to seal off

the entire the province starting Monday mid-night for six days as neighbouring Province 5 re-ported rise in Covid-19 cases, a senior offi cial of the provincial government said.

A day after 15 new cases of Covid-19 were confi rmed on Sunday in Banke district of Province 5, the Karnali provin-cial government decided to bar entry and exit of people and goods from and to the province, Xinhua news agency reported.

The federal government of Nepal has been enforcing a na-tionwide lockdown since March

24 but under the lockdown, movement of essential goods including medical items, food items, and fuel among others has been allowed.

Meanwhile, China and Nepal have agreed to use a key border point for movement of goods without human-to-human contact.

The agreement came during a meeting of the border security offi cials held at the Nepal-China Friendship Bridge last week, ac-cording to Xinhua news agency.

Tatopani-Zhangmu border point will be opening for one way movement of goods from China to Nepal, the agency added.

As per the agreed mechanism, Chinese cargo drivers will take and drop the goods at Nepal border point after clearance and once the Chinese loaders and

drivers return, Nepali drivers and loaders will receive the ship-ment, agency quoted a Nepali offi cial as saying.

According to the offi cial, only 20 drivers will be allowed to work on the border point.

“The limited number of driv-ers will help to track and trace them if anyone is infected with the coronavirus,” Lal Bahadur Khatri, chief customs offi cer at Tatopani, said.

Since late January, Nepal closed its two border points – Tatopani-Zhangmu and Rasuw-gadhi-Kerung (Geelong) – with China after the spread of the coronavirus.

However, on March 25, the country had decided to reopen the border points for supply of essential goods, including medical equipment from China.

IANSKathmandu

Indonesia reports biggest daily rise in virus infections

Indonesia reported yes-terday its biggest daily rise in coronavirus infec-

tions with 484 new cases, taking the total in the South East Asian country to 12,071, said health ministry offi cial Achmad Yurianto.

Yurianto reported eight new deaths, taking the total to 872, while 2,197 have recovered.

More than 88,900 people have been tested, he said.

Indonesia has one of the low-est testing rates in the world and some epidemiologists say that has made it harder to get an ac-curate picture of the extent of infections in the world’s fourth most populous country.

According to the Minis-try of Health’s most recent Covid-19 guidelines, patients classifi ed as PDP are those with acute respiratory illness-es for which there is no clini-cal explanation other than the new coronavirus.

To be classifi ed as PDP, pa-tients must also have travelled to a country, or an area in In-donesia, where the coronavirus has taken hold within 14 days of becoming sick.

“I believe the vast majority of PDP deaths were caused by Covid-19,” said Pandu Riono, an epidemiologist at the University of Indonesia, citing their Cov-id-19 symptoms and that there was no other identifi ed cause of death.

Some senior government members played down the risk of an outbreak in January and February with some suggesting

ReutersJakarta

A general view of high-rise buildings is pictured during the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) outbreak, in Jakarta yesterday.

that prayer, herbal remedies and hot weather would help ward off the virus.

The government has been ac-cused by activists and political opponents of a lack of transpar-

ency in handling the epidemic.The government says it has

taken appropriate measures, but President Widodo said last month that some information had been withheld from the public to prevent panic.

Widodo said last week he had told his ministers to re-port Covid-19 data truthfully. His government announced a new transparency initiative two weeks ago but a promised new website with all the data has yet to be launched.

Last week, a Reuters review of data from 16 of the country’s 34 provinces showed that more than 2,200 Indonesians had died with acute symptoms of Covid-19 but were not recorded as victims of the disease.

Daeng Faqih, chairman of the Indonesian Doctors Associa-tion, the country’s pre-eminent grouping of doctors, has urged the government to reveal the national number of suspected Covid-19 patients who had died but were not tested.

Indonesia has one of the lowest testing rates in the world and some epidemiologists say that has made it harder to get an accurate picture of the extent of infections

Garment workers wash their hands before entering in a factory during a government-imposed nationwide lockdown as a preventive measure against the coronavirus, in Dhaka yesterday.

Covid-19 prevention measureThai pet groomers reopen as new Covid-19 cases slow

Chewy and Miley, both two-year-old Schnauzer dogs, are getting their

hair cut at a groomer in Bangkok for the fi rst time since the new coronavirus outbreak began in Thailand in January.

Pet grooming shops are among a handful of businesses that the Thai government al-lowed to reopen this week, fol-lowing the decline in the number of new coronavirus cases.

Extra precautionary measures that accompanied the reopening to prevent a new round of out-break mean that the owners of Chewy and Miley are no longer allowed inside the shop.

Instead, they have to make an appointment and pick a hairstyle

for their dogs in advance. They then drop off their pooches in a sterilised basket behind a plastic barrier in front of the shop. None of the dogs’ personal accessories are allowed into the shop.

“To me, the possibility of get-ting infected comes from touch-ing the collars, clothes, crate or bags that owners used to carry their dogs,” said Sukhum Nu-angjanpat, the owner of Modern Dog Grooming and School shop.

“That’s why I ask customers to take back all their dog’s stuff and use only the things that are provided by the shop,” he said.

Inside the shop, dog groom-ing stations are set up more than a metre apart and the shop closes for an hour after each ses-sion to allow all equipment to be cleaned.

“Instead of being able to groom more than 10 dogs during the

whole day, we can only take about fi ve in order for us to practise so-cial distancing,” Sukhum said.

Thailand was the fi rst country outside China to report a case of the new coronavirus in January, before the outbreak swept the globe.

The South East Asian coun-try reported only a single new case yesterday, bringing its total number of confi rmed cases to 2,988 with 54 deaths.

The government has wel-comed the progress with a relax-ation of some lockdown rules, allowing food stalls and restau-rants outside shopping malls to reopen, and allowing shops to sell alcohol for drinking at home.

“My stall has been closed for 40 days, because no one’s been here. I’ve lost 70% of my in-come,” said Taweesak Tabthong the owner of a famous China-

town shark fi n restaurant, who was happy to see a queue of customers outside.

Up to Sunday, restaurants and street stalls were only allowed to sell food for takeaway or delivery.

Customers are now allowed to eat in again but are meant to observe social distancing, with tables spaced apart.

Wannika Naphon, happy to be getting out for a meal for the fi rst time in weeks, said she was confi dent businesses would be careful with distancing.

“I’m sure Yaowarat will return to normal with a lot of tourists soon,” she said, referring to the street by which Bangkok’s Chi-natown is known.

Under the relaxed rules, out-door markets, small shops, parks and outdoor sports facilities, barbers and pet groomers can reopen.

ReutersBangkok

ReutersSydney

Australia and New Zealand said yesterday eff orts to resume travel between

them would take some time, as they make cautious moves to re-open economies largely shut-tered by the novel coronavirus.

The two countries have closed their borders to all non-citizens for more than a month and im-posed mandatory quarantines on anyone returning home from overseas.

New Zealand Prime Minis-ter Jacinda Ardern yesterday became the fi rst world leader to join an Australian Cabinet meeting in more than 60 years. She said reopening the route be-tween them would take a while to work through.

“When we feel comfortable and confi dent that we both won’t receive cases from Australia, but equally that we won’t export them, then that will be the time to move,” Ardern told reporters in Wellington after attending the meeting via video with Austral-ian ministers as well as state and territory leaders.

“Neither of us want cases of Covid coming between our countries.”

Australia reported a new death from Covid-19 on Tuesday, in an aged care facility in Sydney’s west; that took its total to 97, with around 6,800 recorded in-fections.

New Zealand, which had had no new Covid-19 cases for a sec-ond day in a row, has recorded 20 fatalities and 1,137 infections. Ardern has vowed to completely eliminate the pathogen from the country of about 5mn people.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said travel across the Tasman Sea between the neigh-bours would be the fi rst inter-national route re-started and would likely begin around the time domestic air travel restarts in earnest.

“When we are seeing Aus-tralians travel from Melbourne to Cairns, at about that time I would expect everything be-ing equal we would be able to fl y from Melbourne to Auckland or Christchurch,” Morrison told reporters in Canberra. Morrison has said a decision about easing federal restrictions will be taken on Friday, as he said igniting Australia’s economy was vital with unemployment set to top 10%.

Rules on social distancing have been eased slightly in New Zealand and in some Australian states and territories but restric-tions on large gatherings and non-essential travel remain and some Australian states are still closed to outsiders.

Qantas Airways Ltd Chief Ex-ecutive Alan Joyce said regular

fl ights between Australia and New Zealand could begin soon after domestic routes were reo-pened. “It could be a very good model for the international mar-ket opening up in phases,” the chief of Australia’s largest airline told reporters.

Qantas is currently operating only 5% of its pre-crisis domes-tic passenger network and 1% of its international network.

Reopening the travel route would be a major boon for both countries as strict social dis-

tancing restrictions severely crimp both economies. Australia may have lost almost a million jobs between mid-March and mid-April as large chunks of the economy shut down in the fi ght against the coronavirus, accord-ing to new fi gures from the Aus-tralian Bureau of Statistics.

Canberra has unveiled eco-nomic support measures worth about A$320bn ($206bn) or about 16% of GDP, as restric-tions on public movement push the country toward its fi rst re-

cession in nearly 30 years. The Reserve Bank of Australia fore-cast the world’s 12th-biggest economy would suff er its largest ever contraction in the fi rst half of the year, sending the unem-ployment rate into double-dig-its, but held out the hope of a recovery as the coronavirus was contained.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said the economic impact of the pandemic would have been a lot worse if Australia had followed Europe’s example and imposed

stricter controls on all non-es-sential services. While, Australia has closed pubs and forced res-taurants to off er takeaway serv-ices only, other shops remained open.

“If these restrictions were increased even further, akin to the eight-week lockdown in Eu-rope, then the adverse economic impact on GDP could double to 24%, or A$120bn, in the June quarter,” the treasurer said in a speech in Canberra. “This was the cliff we were standing on.”

ASIA/AUSTRALASIA9Gulf Times

Wednesday, May 6, 2020

Hong Kong to lift major restrictions as virus fadesAFPHong Kong

Hong Kong yesterday an-nounced plans to ease major social distancing

measures, including reopen-ing schools, cinemas, bars and beauty parlours after the Chi-nese territory largely halted local transmission of the deadly coro-navirus.

The relaxation, which comes into eff ect on Friday, will be a boost for a city mired in a deep recession following months of virus restrictions as well as anti-government protests that

have battered the economy. Au-thorities also unveiled plans to hand out reusable face masks to all 7.5mn city residents. Hong Kong recorded some of the ear-liest confi rmed Covid-19 cases outside of mainland China but despite its close proximity and links with the mainland it has managed to keep infections to around 1,000 with four deaths. There have been no new con-fi rmed infections in 10 of the last 16 days and the cases that have been recorded came from people arriving from overseas who are quickly quarantined.

“I hope these measures will be a silver lining for citizens,” the

city’s leader Carrie Lam told re-porters yesterday as she spelt out the easing of curbs.

Older secondary students will start returning to classes from May 27 while younger children will resume school in the fi rst half of June. But a ban on more than four people gathering in public or eating together in res-taurants will be stepped up to eight. Many businesses that were ordered to close will be allowed to open once more, albeit with restrictions in place.

Bars and restaurants will be permitted to operate but must ensure a distance of 1.5m between tables. Live music performances

and dancing however will re-main banned. Cinemas can start showing fi lms to reduced crowds while gyms, beauty, massage and parlours will re-open with hy-giene protocols in place such as the use of masks, hand sanitiser and temperature checks. Night-clubs and karaoke bars must stay closed.

Hong Kong’s economy dropped an 8.9% on-year con-traction in the fi rst quarter of this year - the worst decline since the government began compiling data in 1974.

Retail sales fi gures released yesterday showed a 37% plunge over the same period, another

record dip. Even before the pan-demic, tourism and retail had taken a hammering from the US-China trade war and months of political unrest last year. At yes-terday’s briefi ng Lam and other offi cials also sported a new type of mask made of fabric that they said would be distributed to all residents in the coming weeks.

When the virus fi rst emerged, Hong Kongers started panic-buying masks as anger grew against the government for fail-ing to stockpile enough sup-plies. Since then local production has been ramped up and masks are plentiful in pharmacies and shops.

Hong Kong’s Chief Executive Carrie Lam speaks during a press conference on the city’s Covid-19 situation at the government headquarters in Hong Kong.

Australia, New Zealand say opening travel will take time

New Zealand prime minister attends Australian cabinet meeting

New Zealand must be sure it will not import cases from Australia: PM

Australia faces largest contraction ever in first half: RBA

People exercise in Centennial Park amidst the easing of restrictions implemented to curb the spread of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) in Sydney, Australia, yesterday.

Singapore debates sale and slaughter of wild animalsDPA Kuala Lumpur

Singapore will consider banning selling and killing live animals in wet mar-

kets, the country’s environment minister told the legislature yesterday.

In Asia, a wet market is typi-cally a bustling open-air bazaar where freshly caught fi sh and meat and new vegetables are sold.

The practice is common in parts of east and southeast Asia, but has come under scru-tiny due to the possibility that the new coronavirus pandemic could have originated in a wet market in Wuhan, China — or in a nearby laboratory.

Amy Khor, Minister of State for Environment and Water Re-sources, said that “internation-al benchmarking and scientifi c evidence” would be used to de-termine the risk of transmission of dangerous viruses due to the practice.

Khor was responding to a question posed by Louis Ng, a member of parliament, about the sale and slaughter of live turtles in markets. Though the government will review the practice, Khor hinted that it will continue, citing evaluations by the state environment and food agencies.

“Transmission risks are found to be low, as long as food safety and hygiene standards are maintained,” the minister told MPs.

Women use their cellphones while sitting on a picnic blanket at Sun Park during Labour Day holiday, following an outbreak of the coronavirus disease, in Beijing, China, yesterday.

Picnic time in Beijing

China’s launch of new space rocket ‘successful’AFPBeijing

China yesterday success-fully launched a new rocket and prototype

spacecraft, state media said, in a major test of the country’s am-bitions to operate a permanent space station and send astro-nauts to the Moon.

The Long March 5B rocket took off from the Wenchang launch site in the southern island of Hainan and eight minutes later an unmanned prototype spaceship successfully separated and entered its planned orbit, according to the Xinhua news agency. A test version of a cargo return capsule also successfully separated from the rocket, Xin-hua added.

The spaceship will one day transport astronauts to a space station that China plans to com-plete by 2022 - and eventually to the Moon. It will have capacity for a crew of six. The spaceship and capsule are slated to return to a landing site by Friday after completing their test fl ights, Ji Qiming of the China Manned Space Agency told a press con-ference.

Leader of the command head-quarters for the fl ight mission Zhang Xueyu said the launch had “strengthened confi dence and determination” for the next stages of China’s space pro-gramme.

The United States is so far the only country to have successful-ly sent humans to the Moon. But Beijing has made huge strides in its eff ort to catch up, sending astronauts into space, satellites into orbit and a rover to the far side of the Moon. The success-ful maiden fl ight of the 54-me-tre Long March 5B - which has a takeoff mass of about 849 tonnes - should reassure China, follow-

ing failures of the 7A model in March and 3B model in April.

“The new spaceship will give China an advantage in the area of human spacefl ight over Japan and Europe,” said Chen Lan, an independent analyst at GoTaiko-nauts.com, which specialises in China’s space programme. The US no longer has its own space-ship since retiring the space shuttle in 2011 and relies on

Russia to send astronauts to the International Space Station. Be-ijing has launched several space-craft since 1999 and the previous vessel, the Shenzhou, was mod-elled after Russia’s Soyuz.

“It depends how ambitious the Chinese space programme is at the moment but missions be-yond the Moon will be possible,” said Carter Palmer, space systems analyst with US-based Forecast International consultancy.

Assembly of the Tiangong space station, whose name means Heavenly Palace, is ex-pected to begin this year and fi n-ish in 2022. The orbiting lab will have three modules, with living and working quarters and two annexes for scientifi c experi-ments. China plans to send an astronaut to the Moon in about a decade and then build a base there.

It became the fi rst nation to land on the far side of the Moon in January 2019, deploying a lu-nar rover that has driven some 450m so far. The next big mis-sion for Beijing is to land a probe on Mars, with liftoff expected this year. “China has caught up with the US in some space areas like earth observation and navi-gation,” Chen said.

“But there are still large gaps between China and US in deep space exploration and human space fl ight,” he said, adding the US was the “leading space power today, yesterday and in the near future.”

A Long March 5B rocket lifts off from the Wenchang launch site on China’s southern Hainan island yesterday.

Taiwan to donate 7.07mn surgical masks

Taiwan will donate 7.07mn surgi-cal masks to countries hit hardest by the new coronavirus pan-demic, it announced yesterday, its third large-scale mask donation. According to Taiwan Foreign Ministry spokesperson Joanne Ou, 2.28mn masks will be donated to the United States, while 1.3mn faces will go to the European Union and its member states.In addition, 1.09mn faces will be donated to Taiwan’s diplomatic

allies and 1.8mn faces for Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy partner countries, which include 16 south and southeast Asian countries, as well as Australia and New Zea-land. Another 600,000 masks will also go to Africa and the Middle East, and to assist medics working with Syrian refugees. Currently, in Taiwan, each person covered by the national health insurance is allowed to purchase only nine masks every 14 days.

Taiwan since last week has launched a programme for citizens to donate face masks to assist peo-ple in other countries hardest-hit by the coronavirus pandemic. As of yesterday, 3.93mn face masks had been donated by citizens, who gave up their quota of rationed masks, for future overseas dona-tion, the ministry said. In April, Taiwan donated 16mn face masks to other countries in the first two waves of humanitarian assistance.

Obesity linkto Covid-19deaths probed

UK ‘can avoid Covid-19 second wave with test, track and trace’

Daily MailLondon

An urgent review has been launched into whether obesity, ethnicity and

gender raise the risk of death from coronavirus.

Matt Hancock ordered health offi cials to trawl through the records of thousands of pan-demic victims.

The health secretary said it was too early to confi rm that weight was a factor but ‘data from around the world’ was sug-gesting a link.

Researchers at the University of Liverpool warned last week that obesity increased the risk of dying from the virus by 37%.

Around three in 10 adults in England are clinically obese – with a body mass index above 30 – a rate among the highest in the Western world.

Scientists believe obese pa-tients are more at risk of serious complications because their im-mune systems are worn out after repairing cells damaged by ex-cess fat.

Hancock said: “Our knowl-edge about this virus grows daily and it appears some groups are more aff ected than others. Emerging data from around the world suggests there could pos-sibly be a relationship between obesity and the impact of Cov-id-19 on individuals.

“It’s too early to say if obesity in itself is a factor or conditions associated with it – or there is not enough data yet to rule it out – so we need to approach any assump-tions with caution. Every death from this virus is a tragedy and behind each statistic is a name, a loss and a family that will never be the same again.”

The review was announced as: A leaked government blue-

print revealed that millions face a grim return to work in which social contact remains heavily re-stricted;

New fi gures revealed that 6.3mn are having their wages subsidised by the state under the

furlough scheme; The deputy chief medical of-

fi cer raised hopes of an eff ective antibody test, saying the ‘over-whelming majority’ of recovered patients produced antibodies;

Hancock revealed that 85,186 tests were conducted on Sunday – the second day running the fi g-ure fell below his 100,000 target;

Tory MPs stepped up pres-sure on ministers to ease the lock-down;

Ministers urged the use of contactless payments in shops with tradesmen paid electroni-cally;

Fellow minister Therese Coff ey revealed that 1.8mn have signed on for Universal Credit since the crisis began;

Residents of the Isle of Wight were urged to sign up for a pilot scheme of a virus-tracking app.

The review will be overseen by Public Health England and of-fi cials will examine thousands of case reports into patients who died from coronavirus.

They will also look at these in-dividuals’ health records to iden-tify possible risk factors, notably obesity, ethnicity, gender and geographical location.

The government hopes to pub-lish the fi ndings at the end of this month and they will be used to decide whether ‘further action’ should be taken to protect these groups.

This could include extra social distancing precautions or special advice for NHS staff on the front line who are deemed at risk.

Offi cials are also particularly concerned that black and eth-nic minority groups appear to be more susceptible to the virus; fi g-ures have shown death rates are two-and-a-half times higher.

Professor Kevin Fenton of Pub-lic Health England said: “Having an accurate understanding of how diseases aff ect diff erent groups of people is a really important issue and a fundamental part of PHE’s role. Detailed and careful work is being done so that we can better understand this and explore the possible reasons for any dispari-ties.”

Guardian News and MediaLondon

The UK should be able to avoid a second wave of in-fections from coronavirus if

it gets testing, tracking and tracing right alongside adhering to physi-cal distancing measures, the gov-ernment’s chief scientifi c adviser has said.

Speaking at a meeting of par-liament’s health and social care committee on management of the coronavirus outbreak, Sir Patrick Vallance said he was on

the “optimistic side”.“I think if we do test, track and

tracing well and we keep the social distancing measures at the right level we should be able to avoid a second wave,” he said.

But, he added, “winter is go-ing to be extremely diffi cult when you also have fl u circulating and you have all the other respiratory infections which can get confused with this”.

It remains unclear what rate of new infections a day would need to be reached in order for a con-tact tracing programme to be able to cope.

Speaking at the select commit-tee meeting, Jenny Harries, deputy chief medical offi cer for England, said such fi gures would depend on data such as results of trials of the new NHS app now being tested on the Isle of Wight, which could shed light on the number of contacts an average person has.

“If you look at the number of individuals related to each symp-tomatic case, then you can work out how many symptomatic cases you can manage within your con-tact tracing system,” she said.“But I think we need a little bit more information as well from the work

that is ongoing now to test out the theory and practice.”

The government set a target of recruiting 18,000 contact tracers by mid-May, but Harries was un-able to say how many cases such a team would be able to handle, although she said estimates had been made.

Questions also remain about the testing capacity needed for such an approach, with Harries say-ing that depended on a number of factors including the prevalence of the disease, the capacity of contact tracers to follow up on cases, pub-lic behaviour, and the proportion

of people using digital approaches such as the NHS app.

“I think the 100,000 (tests a day) puts us in a very good place to start looking at that process, but the work on the Isle of Wight will start to signal some of those pa-rameters and that will give us some of the numbers we need for this conversation,” she said.

Harries defended the move to stop community testing and trac-ing in March, suggesting that as the number of cases rapidly in-creased there was not enough capacity for testing or enough re-sources to continue to trace con-

tacts of those with the virus.But she said the situation was

now very diff erent, with the repro-ductive number (R) – the number of people infected by one infected person – now below 1, compared with about three at the start of the outbreak.

“What we have done, or rather what the public has done, by man-aging social distancing measures with very strong compliance is to push that rate (of transmission) down and remove a lot of that transmission in the population and then as we come out (of lock-down), we should be able to con-

trol and identify many of the cases as they come up,” said Harries.

But, she added, “this has to be a very, very steady and slow ap-proach with careful observation of what happens. I wouldn’t like to give the impression this will re-solve everything.”

Vallance also stressed obser-vation was crucial as lockdown measures were eased.“Nothing is going to be risk free. Everything as we go back to less social distancing will carry a risk of there being an outbreak somewhere or a few more cases, or in worst case scenario, R goes above 1,” he said.

Virus death toll rises above 32,000 to highest in EuropeGuardian News and MediaLondon

The UK now has the highest death toll in Europe from coronavirus after new of-

fi cial fi gures revealed that more than 32,000 people have died from the virus.

The Offi ce for National Statis-tics said 29,648 deaths were reg-istered in England and Wales with Covid-19 mentioned on the death certifi cates by May 2.

With the addition of deaths in Scotland and Northern Ireland, this takes the UK’s death toll to 32,313, according to calculations by Reuters.

This fi gure far exceeds the death toll of 29,029 in Italy – until

now Europe’s worst-hit country.Italy’s total does not include

suspected cases.Ministers and experts have

warned against international comparisons, saying the fi gure for excess mortality – the number of deaths from all causes that exceed the average for the time of year – is a more meaningful gauge.

The latest ONS fi gures for the week ending April 24 show there were 21,997 total deaths, which is 11,539 more than the average for that week.

But the total weekly death toll dipped slightly by 354 deaths, from the record level of 22,351 the week before.

This was the fi rst decrease in weekly deaths since the start of the outbreak and confi rms other

fi gures showing the UK is past the peak of infections.

The increase in Covid-19 deaths only partly explains the unprecedented levels in total deaths.

The reasons behind an extra 3,312 deaths in the week end-ing April 24 remain unclear, with speculation that they could have been caused by delayed hospital admissions for other life threat-ening conditions and other fac-tors such as economic hardship, and mental health problems.

Prof David Spiegelhalter, chair of the Winton Centre for Risk and Evidence Communication at Cambridge University and a member of the government’s Sci-entifi c Advisory Group for Emer-gencies, said: “Well over 3,000

(of the excess deaths) weren’t la-belled as Covid. So nearly a third were from something else.

“There is a continuing anxiety that many of these are due to the lockdown itself. The one thing we do know is that the health service has been hugely disrupted, not just in terms of routine care, can-celled chemotherapies and radio therapies and elective surgeries, but also of people with symptoms not going to hospital.”

He added: “We are not doing very well and it’s been another very bad week. I really don’t like this league table of who’s top and who’s not, but there’s no denying that these are really serious num-bers.”

Prof James Naismith, director of the Rosalind Franklin Institute

at the University of Oxford, called for an urgent review into deaths caused indirectly by the virus. “We urgently need to identify the cause of these deaths. There are many plausible theories as to their cause, however, we need real data on this urgently,” he said. “As we go forward, we want to minimise all deaths, not just those tagged as Covid-19.”

The latest fi gures also show that total care home deaths were 595 higher than the week before at 7,911, whereas hospital deaths were 1,191 lower at 8,243.

Of the coronavirus deaths reg-istered up to 1 May in England and Wales, 6,686 took place in care homes, which was 22.5% of all the deaths from the virus by that point, the ONS fi gures show.

Schools may not reopen until August: SturgeonGuardian News and MediaLondon

Parents in Scotland face the prospect of their children not returning to schools

and nurseries until August, as the First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, indicated a signifi cant potential divergence from English plans.

Sturgeon nonetheless insisted her intention was to have UK-wide alignment of lifting lock-down restrictions “where the evidence supports it”.

Referring to reports that Boris Johnson was considering reo-pening primary schools for some pupils as early as June 1, Sturgeon said: “I cannot and should not comment on whether that is ap-propriate for England … but I do know, looking at the evidence I have now, I could not put my hand on my heart and say that would be a safe thing to do in Scotland.”

Instead, she told reporters at her daily media briefi ng that in Scot-land a return to school “might not

be possible at all this side of the summer holidays”, which begin at the end of June and end in August, adding: “We know that for young-er children social distancing is very diffi cult.”

Sturgeon used the briefi ng yesterday to introduce the sec-ond of the Scottish government’s framework documents, which sets out more detailed options for relaxing lockdown restric-tions, but strikes a particularly cautious tone around schooling.

She said that any return to education would have to in-volve a blend of at-home and in-school learning, with certain year groups going back ahead of others: in particular those tran-sitioning to secondary school and preparing for exams.

The framework document sug-gests that pupils could attend school part-time, in blocks of a few days or even a week at a time, to help physical distancing and en-able deep cleaning of classrooms between groups.

Using recent Danish data, the document also illustrates the dan-

gers of reopening primary and nursery schools too early.

It presents modelling that sug-gests that, given the level of infec-tions in Scotland, “in the ‘most likely’ scenario, full re-opening (during May) would cause a resur-gence in the virus such that hos-pital capacity in Scotland would be overwhelmed in less than two months”.

Sturgeon said she did not yet know what Johnson planned to announce later this week in terms of easing restrictions, and stated that “it remains my intention to have UK-wide alignment where the evidence supports it”.

She went on to respond to criti-cal comments from the secretary of state for Scotland, Alister Jack, who urged the Scotland govern-ment to prepare for any lifting of restrictions “in lockstep with the UK as a whole”, Sturgeon said: “I am at a loss when I hear peo-ple saying we have to come out of lockdown in lockstep with the UK come what may, or we have to do it on a Scotland-only basis come what may.”

Mayor criticised overrefusal to reopen parksGuardian News and MediaLondon

A mayor who lives in a country mansion with extensive gardens has

been criticised for refusing to reopen parks in one of Britain’s most deprived towns.

Andy Preston, a hedge-fund millionaire who was elected as independent mayor for Mid-dlesbrough last year, has ig-nored government advice to re-open three of the town’s parks, despite receiving a letter from a minister, who is also a local MP, imploring all local authorities to do so.

“For many people, especially families with children and those who live in homes without a gar-den, access to public parks is a lifeline,” wrote Simon Clarke, a local government minister and the Tory MP for Middlesbrough South and Cleveland, in a letter to all councils.

But Preston said he had taken the decision because Middles-brough had been one of the worst aff ected places in the UK for coro-

navirus, and it was a “tiny sacri-fi ce” to keep people safe and stop them “loitering”.

So far, 582 people in Middles-brough have tested positive for Covid-19.

Of those, 368 had been admit-ted to the local James Cook uni-versity hospital by the end of last week, according to Mark Adams, Middlesbrough’s director of pub-lic health.

As of last Thursday, 139 local people had died from coronavi-rus, including 100 in hospital, 36 in care homes, one at home and one in a hospice.

On Monday afternoon police were called to break up a barbecue and bingo party on the Barmbles Farm estate in the TS3 postcode area of Middlesbrough, which Preston said had the highest in-fection rate.

“We realised very early on that because we have signifi-cantly poor health on average our population is definitely more vulnerable,” said Preston. “Because we have a dense pop-ulation we felt we were more likely to see a rapid spreading of the virus.”

10 Gulf TimesWednesday, May 6, 2020

BRITAIN

Guests listen to Sophie, Countess of Wessex, appearing via video link, at the opening ceremony for the NHS Nightingale Hospital North East in Sunderland yesterday. The 460-bed Nightingale Hospital North East opening is part of the government’s drive to provide increased capacity to care for patients during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Police off icers speak with Gwendalyn Iles, 94, at her home on a special visit as part of Operation Nogi in Croydon, south London, yesterday. Operation Nogi is an initiative developed by off icers at Metropolitan Police Croydon’s emergency response team (ERT) and is designed to help elderly and isolated people by providing reassurance visits from off icers in the community. Local supermarkets have also joined the scheme and are donating food and household essentials, which off icers take with them on visits and give out as appropriate.

BRITAIN/IRELAND11Gulf Times

Wednesday, May 6, 2020

Talks on formingIrish govt setto beginAFPDublin

Three of Ireland’s political parties yesterday agreed to enter negotiations to

form a government, months af-ter an election that fractured the country’s political landscape.

The talks are set to start to-morrow as Ireland grapples with how to guide the nation out of coronavirus lockdown, which will be gradually lifted from May 18.

“The leaders of Fianna Fail, Fine Gael and the Greens met yesterday and agreed to com-mence formal negotiations for a programme for government,” a spokesman for Fianna Fail, the biggest party in parliament, said in a statement.

Prime Minister Leo Varadkar has been leading the country through the virus crisis in a care-taking capacity following the general election on February 8.

The vote saw his centre-right Fine Gael party routed, slipping to third place with only 35 seats.

Despite also suff ering losses, Fine Gael’s historic rival Fianna Fail became the largest party with 38 seats.

Republican Sinn Fein surged, winning the popular vote with 24.5% of fi rst preferences in Ire-land’s single transferable vote system.

The one-time fringe party, historically associated with the paramilitary Irish Republican Army (IRA), shocked the es-tablishment by becoming the second-largest force in the Dail, Ireland’s lower house of parlia-ment.

But it has found no suitable left-wing partners to form a coa-lition with and reach the 80-seat threshold required to take offi ce.

Fine Gael, Fianna Fail and the Green Party will form an 85 seat bloc if they forge a coalition.

The Irish press has speculated that party leaders could take turns in the prime ministerial position on a rotating basis.

Woman arrested after stabbingsGuardian News and MediaCardiff

Police have arrested a wom-an in a south Wales village amid reports of a series of

stabbings.South Wales police said de-

tectives were investigating in Pen Y Graig, near Pontypridd, following reports of a “serious incident”. They asked shopkeep-ers to close their stores and told people to avoid the area.

The incident happened on Ty-lacelyn Road at about 3pm yes-terday.

Local people claimed one per-son had been stabbed very seri-ously and three others injured.

It is understood it took place close to a queue of people who were following physical distancing rules as they waited outside a shop.

One nearby shopkeeper said: “I saw a man with blood dripping down the back of his head and a woman with a cut on her neck. Everyone is feeling very uptight.”

Another eyewitness said her husband was told there was a woman inside the shop “stab-bing people”.

She said: “I just saw a hat and cans on the fl oor outside the shop as I was pulling up and thought ‘that’s strange’, then paramedics arrived.

“My husband went to go into the store but got stopped by peo-ple who told him that there was a woman inside with a knife who was stabbing people.

“I stayed in the car and more police and paramedics arrived and they went to a man who was in the van parked in front of my car.

“This was the man who had been stabbed repeatedly, they took him out of the van and placed him into the ambulance.”

The street is lined with ter-race houses and shops, most of which are shuttered because of the lockdown.

Some businesses including a fi sh and chip shop and a few stores were open operating un-der lockdown conditions.

Chris Bryant, MP for the Rhondda where the village is located, tweeted: “I’ve been in-formed of the horrifi c events in Penygraig and will keep people updated as soon as I have further news.”

Two prisoners escapeopen jails each weekDaily MailLondon

Two inmates go on the run from open prisons every week.

A total of 631 have abscond-ed from the jails in the past fi ve years, including murderers and rapists.

Some have vanished after being allowed out to work or to attend education classes, or to visit family.

Inmates are transferred to Category D prisons with ‘open’ conditions – including mini-mal supervision and perimeter security – to test their readi-ness for release.

But critics said the fi gures, gleaned from ministry of jus-tice bulletins, were fresh evi-dence that jails are becoming too soft.

They urged ministers to in-troduce tougher measures to safeguard the community.

Offi cially, criminals who es-cape from open prisons are de-scribed as ‘absconders’ because

they do not have to overcome walls, locks or handcuff s.

Among the inmates fl eeing since 2015 were 22 jailed for life after being convicted of mur-der and 18 men behind bars for rape.

Seven vanished while serv-ing a sentence for manslaugh-ter and four while in prison for causing death by dangerous driving.

The offi cial statistics show that 37 of the convicts – or one in 17 – are still at large.

The open prisons with the worst record for absconds were HMP Sudbury in Derbyshire with 108 and HMP Kirkham in Lancashire with 93.

David Spencer, of the Centre For Crime Prevention think-tank, said: “The law-abiding public will be terrifi ed that more than 100 serious and violent of-fenders, including murderers are being allowed to freely walk out of prison and back on to the streets every year.

“Jail sentences are only handed down to serious of-fenders these days and it is

ridiculous that many of them are then put into these holiday-camp prisons and allowed to come and go as they please.

“The huge number escap-ing is a clear sign that our open prison policy has to change and all serious and violent off end-ers must be kept... in proper prisons.”

The Prison Offi cers’ Associ-ation has blamed the absconds on staff shortages and low mo-rale following cuts.

However, the number of in-mates fl eeing open prisons has dropped from a high of 1,301 under Tony Blair’s Labour in 2004 to 120 last year.

In 2014, the rules were tight-ened up after a series of high-profi le break-outs.

A ministry of justice spokes-man said: “Public protection is our top priority and keep-ing prisoners in lawful custody where they cannot pose a risk of harm to the public is key. Those who abscond face tough consequences, including being returned to closed prison con-ditions.”

Brexit talks‘hurtlingtowards newcrisis point’Guardian News and MediaLondon

Brexit talks are hurtling to another crisis point un-less progress is made in

the next two rounds of talks, the Irish Foreign Minister, Simon Coveney, has said.

His warning comes as industry analysis of deliveries from Britain to high-street supermarket chains in Northern Ireland found that fi rms could incur costs of more than £100,000 per lorry unless the special Brexit arrangements for the region were sorted out.

The new protocols involving customs and food certifi cation checks begin in January next year whether the UK’s future relation-ship with the EU is agreed or not.

Ireland has expressed renewed concerns that there would not be a trade deal that could at least mitigate some of the worst eff ects of Brexit on Northern Ireland.

Coveney said progress in talks over the future relationship be-tween the European Union and UK “has not been good”.

“Unless there is signifi cant progress in those negotiating rounds then I think we are going to reach yet another crisis point in the Brexit negotiations, which from the Irish point of view is very, very serious,” he told RTE’s Sean O’Rourke show.

The current talks relate to the future relationship with the EU centring on not just trade, but data, medical and scientifi c re-search, security and policing with a December deadline.

The transition period can be extended and many have called

for an extension because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Downing Street has recently and repeatedly said the UK does not need an extension.

But the rules for Northern Ire-land involving customs, security and health checks on animal and food products entering Northern Ireland kick in whether the UK and the EU strike an agreement about their future relationship or not.

Aodhán Connelly, the director of the Northern Ireland Retail Consortium (NIRC), said it was deeply concerned that the detail of the protocol that was signed off by the UK and the EU as part of the withdrawal agreement last year had not been worked out.

“Quite frankly, I can’t see how we will be ready by the end of the year. We have no clarity on how this protocol is going to work and it is May.

“We have seven months to get this sorted and not only have we had no guidance but we have had no conversations with govern-ment or Whitehall,” he said.

Under the protocol, there will be new controls and checks on goods entering the region from the rest of the UK in order to avoid checks on the border between Northern Ireland and Ireland.

NIRC calculated the cost of a truck delivering groceries to a household name supermarket in Northern Ireland. About 1,400 product types were found to be on the truck, all of which, under the normal EU rules for trade with third countries, would re-quire an entry summary decla-ration form, which would cost “between £15 and £56” per dec-laration or between £21,000 and

£79,000 for the lorry load.Of the 1,400 goods, 500 were

food lines of animal or plant ori-gin, which would require a health certifi cate at £200 each. “All of this is the worst case scenario but it illustrates the scale of the problem. Our hope is that there is some sort of free-trade agreement or agreement of some sort that it won’t come to pass,” he said.

Seamus Leheny, the policy manager at the Freight Trans-port Association Northern Ire-land, said the problem would be easily solved if “derogations and mitigations were put in place”. But he said that since the deal was agreed last October, there had been no engagement on the detail and just general promises of “unfettered access”.

Business leaders in Northern Ireland have been asking for the revival of a working group that examined “alternative arrange-ments” for the Irish border at the now defunct department for ex-iting the EU to tease out the new rules for Northern Ireland.

“We have been asking for this since October and have heard nothing,” said Connolly.

Business leaders have also ex-pressed frustration over the row about the UK rejecting an EU re-quest to have an offi ce presence in Belfast.

“It makes sense if the EU have a formal offi ce. It means if some-thing goes wrong, say in Belfast port, we can call them and have someone sort it out or investi-gate it locally rather than having to phone someone down in Dub-lin and get them to come up.

They have just turned this into a political football,” said Leheny.

A worker assembles and prepares for shipping commemorative “Tommy” figures at the Royal British Legion Industries (RBLI) BBMC (Britain’s Bravest Manufacturing Company) factory in Aylesford, south east England, yesterday, ahead of the 75th anniversary of VE day (Victory in Europe Day) marking the end of World War II on May 8. Britons have been encouraged to mark the 75th anniversary of VE Day, even though the country is still in lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The RBLI charity’s ‘Tommy in the Window’ campaign is one way in which people are able to show their support. Each purchase of one of the RBLI’s commemorative military ‘Tommy’ figures assists with helping a veteran into employment or onto an employment course.

VE Day preparation

A peacock displays it’s plumage as part of a traditional courtship ritual in a park in London yesterday.

Showing off

Ireland faces bill for millions to remove ship from rocksGuardian News and MediaLondon

The ghost ship that washed on to Ireland’s coast earlier this year re-

mains something of a mystery: its owner has not been found, which could potentially leave the Irish state with a bill of millions for its removal.

Authorities are still trying

to trace those who own and are responsible for the MV Alta, a 77-metre cargo vessel that ran aground near Ballycotton, a fi sh-ing village in County Cork over-looking the Celtic Sea, in Febru-ary.

It had traversed the Atlantic for more than a year without crew or passengers and skirted the Americas, Africa and Europe before wedging itself on to rocks during Storm Dennis.

“We’re still trying to establish ownership and that process may take up to a year,” a spokesper-son for Ireland’s revenue com-missioners, who act as “receiver of wreck”, a statutory function, said yesterday.

An individual purporting to represent the owner contacted the agency in February but that ownership claim remains un-proven. “We’re still investigat-ing,” said the spokesman.

If no owner is found, the Irish state will face a choice: spend millions of euros removing the vessel or let the elements deter-mine its fate.

The Alta caught the public’s imagination but locals bristle at the prospect of a rusting ruin re-maining on their shores, a mag-net for curious and in some cases reckless sightseers.

Before Covid-19 restric-tions there were reports of peo-

ple boarding the vessel despite warnings that it was dangerous and unstable.

Salvage experts say the Alta has no commercial value and that the Irish state may never track down the owner.

“She’s too old and her scrap value would be low,” Mark Hoddinott, a salvage and wreck removal expert with Brand Ma-rine, told RTE. “Whether the state would want to remove

her just because she was an eyesore, I doubt. The cost of removing her would be quite considerable too – €5mn-10mn or I would say probably a bit higher.

“Is it really worth it? My own view would be probably not.”

Built in 1976, the Alta was fl agged in Tanzania, changed owner in 2017 and was sailing from Greece to Haiti in Septem-ber 2018 when it became disa-

bled about 2,220km south-east of Bermuda.

Unable to make repairs, the 10-strong crew was rescued by the US coastguard and brought to Puerto Rico.

The ship was reportedly towed to Guyana and then hijacked, its subsequent fate unclear until August 2019 when a Royal Navy ice patrol ship, HMS Protector, encountered it in the mid-At-lantic, apparently unmanned.

EUROPE

Gulf Times Wednesday, May 6, 202012

A study by French scientists which suggests a man was infected with Covid-19

as early as December 27, nearly a month before France confi rmed its fi rst cases, could be important in assessing when and where the new coronavirus emerged, ex-perts said yesterday.

A man identifi ed as the patient told a French TV station that he was surprised to learn that he had contracted Covid-19 since he thought he had fl u at the time.

The coronavirus causes the

Covid-19 respiratory disease. French researchers led by Yves

Cohen, head of resuscitation at the Avicenne and Jean Verdier hospitals, retested samples from 24 patients treated in Decem-ber and January who had tested negative for fl u before Covid-19 developed into a pandemic.

The results, published in the International Journal of Anti-microbial Agents, showed that one patient – a 42-year-old man born in Algeria, who had lived in France for many years and worked as a fi shmonger – was in-fected with the coronavirus “one month before the fi rst reported cases in our country”, they said.

The World Health Organisa-tion (WHO) said the results were “not surprising”.

“It’s also possible there are more early cases to be found,” WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier told a UN briefi ng in Geneva.

He encouraged other countries to check records for cases in late 2019, saying that this would give the world a “new and clearer pic-ture” of the outbreak.

French broadcaster BFM TV identifi ed the man as Amirouche Hammar, a resident of Bobigny, a northeastern suburb of Paris.

In an interview with the sta-tion, Hammar said when he fell ill

last year with a dry cough, fatigue and a fever, he thought he had fl u.

Doctors at the time could not diagnose him.

“I was surprised,” he said, about being told much later by doctors that he had been suff er-ing from Covid-19.

He is fully recovered.He said that he had not trav-

elled abroad for months before falling ill, and did not know where he could have been infected.

His wife said she works at a retailer near a Paris airport, and frequently comes into contact with travellers from overseas.

Independent experts said the fi ndings of the French scientists

needed more investigation.“It’s not impossible that it

was an early introduction, but the evidence isn’t conclusive by any means,” said Jonathan Ball, a professor of molecular virology at Britain’s University of Not-tingham.

Stephen Griffi n, an expert at the University of Leeds’ Institute of Medical Research, said that it was “a potentially important fi nding” and added: “We must be cautious when interpreting these fi ndings.”

Cohen told French television that it was too early to know if the patient, whose last trip abroad, to Algeria, had been in August

2019, was France’s “patient zero”.But “identifying the fi rst in-

fected patient is of great epide-miological interest as it changes dramatically our knowledge re-garding SARS-COV-2 (the new coronavirus) and its spreading in the country”, he and his co-researchers wrote in the paper detailing their fi ndings.

They said the absence of a link with China and the lack of recent travel “suggest that the disease was already spreading among the French population at the end of December 2019”.

France, where almost 25,000 people have died from Covid-19 since March 1, confi rmed its fi rst

three cases on January 24, in-cluding two patients in Paris and another in the southwestern city of Bordeaux.

Rowland Kao, a professor of veterinary epidemiology and data science at Edinburgh Uni-versity, said that even if it were confi rmed, the identifi cation of a positive Covid-19 in December “is not necessarily an indication that the spread of Covid-19 from France started this early”.

“If confi rmed, what this case does highlight is the speed at which an infection starting in a seemingly remote part of the world can quickly seed infections elsewhere,” he said.

France’s early coronavirus case may hold clues to pandemic’s startReutersLondon

Germany is accelerating its return to normality from a crippling lockdown, with

regional leaders pushing back against Chancellor Angela Mer-kel’s pleas for prudence in the battle against the coronavirus.

On the eve of a key meeting between Merkel and premiers of Germany’s 16 states to debate a new round of easing of stay-at-home measures, the country’s biggest state pre-empted talks by saying that it would reopen its restaurants and hotels this month.

Under the plan to progres-sively restart the gastronomy and hospitality sectors, Bavaria said that restaurants would fi rst be allowed to off er outdoor din-ing from May 18, before extend-ing the opening to indoor dining a week later.

Hotels would also be allowed to welcome guests again from May 30, in time for the Pentecost holiday long weekend.

“The time has come for a cau-tious reopening,” said Bavar-ian state premier Markus Soeder, pointing to the “success” in con-taining the spread of the virus.

Pressure has been growing on the chancellor to ease curbs on public life that have plunged the

economy into a deep recession.While shops have reopened

over the last weeks, critics have complained that the pace of eas-ing was too slow, with many sec-tors still held back.

As regions increasingly take action going beyond those agreed in previous talks between the federal government and state leaders, Merkel has furiously complained that some were pushing ahead “too aggressively”.

However, industries have warned that the economic toll of the lockdown was already dev-astatingly high with output ex-pected to shrink by 6.3% for the full year.

As infection numbers fall,

Merkel’s critics argue that it is time to move faster to ward off further economic casualties.

Eastern states in particular, where contagion rates have been far below those in the west, have picked up the pace in exiting the shutdown.

Mecklenburg-Western Po-merania will allow restaurants to reopen from Saturday and hotels to follow from May 18.

The state on the Baltic Sea coast is anxious to welcome guests again, particularly as summer nears – an economic lifeline for the region’s hospital-ity sector.

Another eastern state, Saxo-ny-Anhalt, has meanwhile eased

restrictions on restricting gath-erings in public to two people unless they are from the same household.

On Saturday, the regional gov-ernment decided to allow up to fi ve people to gather outside.

Pushing further with its relax-ation plan, the state announced yesterday that it will also allow vacation homes to reopen for guests from May 15, while res-taurants can off er indoor dining again from May 22.

Germany, which has recorded 163,860 cases of confi rmed in-fections, including 6,831 deaths, has been hailed for its success so far in preventing its health serv-ices from being overwhelmed.

Authorities began relaxing re-strictions after the infection rate fell under 1.0 – meaning each person is infecting less than one other – as opposed to each in-fecting up to fi ve or six people in March.

Despite the early success, the disease control agency Robert Koch Institute has repeatedly warned of possible second or even third waves of the virus hit-ting the country.

With resistance growing against keeping the population at home, Merkel is expected to call on regional leaders to agree on a threshold that would trigger a new lockdown if necessary, ac-cording to the Bild daily.

German states accelerate easing of Covid-19 curbsAFPBerlin

About 50 people protest-ing coronavirus lockdown restrictions were arrested

in The Hague because they were not following guidelines that re-quired them to keep 1.5m of dis-tance between them for health reasons, police reported yester-day.

The overall crowd had about 200 people, who gathered at the city’s train station.

Some carried banners with slogans like “Captive in a free country”.

Multiple countries across Eu-rope have shut down businesses and encouraged people to stay home in an eff ort to control the spread of the highly-contagious coronavirus, which was fi rst spotted in China late last year

and has since spread worldwide.Many have bristled against the

restrictions out of fear that the lockdown will stifl e the econo-my, but also because some feel it is unjust to be forced inside.

The demonstrators had not registered their protest, but Mayor Johan Remkes had said it could go ahead as long as people maintained distance between one another, which is believed to help stop the disease’s spread.

Police only reacted when it became clear people were not maintaining that distance.

May 5 is generally commemo-rated as Liberation Day in the Netherlands, marking the day the Netherlands was freed from Nazi rule at the end of World War II.

Large events were expected this year to mark 75 years since the end of the war, but the coro-navirus has upended those plans.

Dozens protesting Dutch lockdown held over social distancingDPAAmsterdam

Police clash with people protesting in The Hague against measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

Tajikistan health minister fired

Tajikistan’s health minister was sacked yesterday, as coronavirus cases surged in the former Soviet republic.Nasim Olimzoda lost his job after the authorities spent weeks playing down the threat the country faced from coronavirus.Tajikistan reported its first coronavirus cases in late April, one of the last countries in the world to confirm it had been aff ected by the pandemic.President Emomali Rakhmon replaced Olimzoda with a career doctor, a statement from his off ice said yesterday.The statement did not specify why Olimzoda had been dismissed, only saying that he would be transferred to another position.Tajikistan announced its first 15 cases in a single day on April 30.Since then, infections have rapidly grown, reaching 293 cases and five deaths as of evening yesterday.Local media have reported a number of cases among military figures, well-known politicians, businessmen and their families, which have not been confirmed by the authorities.

Russia has cemented its place as the European country reporting the

highest number of new corona-virus infections as its total cases soared passed 155,000 yesterday.

Yevgeny Mikrin, chief de-signer at Energia, Russia’s top producer of spacecraft, has died from the coronavirus, becoming one of the infection’s highest-profi le victims in the country, of-fi cials said.

He was 64.“The best doctors fought for

his life over the past few weeks,” Dmitry Rogozin, director of Rus-sia’s space agency Roskosmos, said in a statement.

Moscow’s sprawling metro system began selling masks and a metro representative told AFP that wearing masks underground may soon become compulsory.

Several vending machines in-stalled at the Russian capital’s metro stations began off ering masks and gloves.

Vending machines at around 15 stations are expected to start carrying them in the coming days.

Masks and gloves will also be available for purchase at ticket booths at some stations, the metro said.

“The metro is continuing to prevent the spread of the coro-navirus,” said deputy head Yulia Temnikova, urging passengers to also use sanitiser dispensers that are being installed underground.

Moscow has emerged as the epicentre of the pandemic in Russia, with around half the total coronavirus cases.

Yesterday health offi cials re-ported 10,102 new infections over the last 24 hours, a decrease of 531 cases from Sunday’s record surge, bringing Russia’s total to 155,370.

Russia has emerged as a new coronavirus hotspot as many European countries unveil plans to ease lockdown measures after their numbers of new infections and deaths began to fall.

Despite the increases in Rus-sia, the government has indi-cated that it could gradually lift confi nement measures from May 12, depending on the region.

The number of new cases in Russia is signifi cantly higher compared to other European countries, with the United King-dom in second place reporting just under 4,000 new infections on Monday.

Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, the highest ranking offi cial to contract the infection, is now “feeling normal”, said spokesperson Boris Belyakov.

He said that Mishustin, who announced he tested positive last week, was continuing treatment under health ministry guidance.

The authorities say they have carried out more than 4mn coro-navirus tests and Russia’s fatality rate has remained low compared to other countries hit badly by the pandemic including Spain, Italy and the United States.

According to the government’s daily coronavirus update, Russia has 1,451 total deaths, after re-porting 95 new fatalities over the last 24 hours.

Russia ranks 18th overall in terms of coronavirus deaths, ac-cording to an AFP tally, despite being seventh in the world in overall coronavirus cases.

Russia reports over 10,000 new casesAFPMoscow

Hungary rejects Istanbul Convention on domestic violenceThe Hungarian parliament has passed a declaration rejecting the Istanbul Convention on the prevention of violence against women and calling the national government to lobby against it in the European Union.Backed by the governing right-wing parties, the document was passed with 115 votes in favour, 35 against and three abstentions.During the vote, women politicians held up signs quoting sexist and misogynist remarks made by the government lawmakers at earlier parliamentary sessions.The government of Prime Minister Viktor Orban signed the convention in 2014 but this was never ratified and seems unlikely in the future.Orban and his party have long fought against what they call “gender madness”, forbidding

universities, for example, from providing courses in gender studies.In yesterday’s resolution, the government said that it had “the right to defend its country, culture, laws, traditions and national values and that views on gender held by the minority should not endanger this”.Key parts of the convention seeking to protect children and counter violence against women are embedded in Hungary’s legal system, the declaration states, according to a report by state news agency MTI.The Istanbul Convention, a treaty developed by the Council of Europe, is aimed at creating a legal framework in order to prevent and battle violence perpetrated against women and domestic violence.

The Red Cross has launched what it said was the fi rst global network of social

media infl uencers to help battle misinformation about the new coronavirus and spread lifesav-ing content about the global pan-demic.

Experts have been warning for months that the pandemic has been cloaked in a massive “in-fodemic” – a deluge of informa-tion, including widespread false claims, which can pose a serious threat to public health.

The World Health Organisa-tion (WHO) website lists a cata-logue of dangerous “myths” circulating about the virus, in-cluding suggestions that hot peppers or excessive exposure to the sun can prevent or cure Covid-19.

And it fl atly debunks sugges-tions by US President Donald Trump and others that injecting disinfectant or exposing the body

to ultraviolent radiation can rid the body of the virus.

But while the WHO and others are putting out correct informa-tion, it can be diffi cult to reach everyone and counter the mis-conceptions.

“Getting the right informa-tion out there when an emer-gency strikes is as important as healthcare,” Nicola Jones, media manager for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), said in a statement.

In a bid to reach young people especially with accurate and vi-tal information about the deadly disease spreading around the globe, the IFRC said it had joined forces with marketing agency Billion Dollar Boy to sign up more than two dozen prominent indi-viduals with large social media followings.

Those infl uencers who have signed on to the campaign so far have a joint reach of nearly 2mn followers across four countries, the IFRC said, adding that it ex-pected the list of participants,

and followers reached, to swell signifi cantly over coming days and weeks.

They include Antonio Nunzia-ta of Italy – one of the countries hardest hit in the pandemic – who has more than 230,000 fol-lowers, and interior design blog-ger Katie Woods of Britain, with nearly 190,000 followers.

“Infl uencers have a crucial role to play in tackling this infodemic and cutting through the noise,” Jones said. “They have a level of access to younger people that public authorities or charities don’t have.”

The reach of infl uencers has increased signifi cantly since countries around the world be-gan implementing lockdowns and other measures to halt the spread of Covid-19, which has killed more than 250,000 people globally.

The Covid-19 respiratory dis-ease is caused by the highly-con-tagious coronavirus.

The IFRC pointed to data from global research company Nielsen showing that 33% of people are

spending more time on social media during lockdowns, while Facebook’s data indicated that the time spent across its apps had swelled by 70% since the start of the crisis.

Billion Dollar Boy chief Ed-ward East said that taking part in the IFRC network provided the infl uencers themselves with an opportunity to change their often negative portrayal in the media.

“Instead of being continu-ally vilifi ed, infl uencers can now put their vast skill sets to work delivering potentially lifesaving approved messaging to millions of people when it is needed the most,” he said.

Every week, the IFRC said it would send the infl uencer net-work an approved message that it wants to disseminate, and the infl uencers will take the messag-ing and create their own content, which will be approved by the organisation before it is distrib-uted.

“They are perfectly placed to combat the spread of misinfor-mation,” it said.

Red Cross looks to global infl uencers to help in battle against ‘infodemic’AFPGeneva

Paris to turn more roads over to bikes

Some of the busiest traff ic arteries in Paris will be reserved for cyclists in a bid to limit crowds on public transport when France begins lifting its coronavirus lockdown next week.“In total, 50km (30 miles) of lanes normally used by cars will be reserved for bicycles,” Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo told the Parisien newspaper in an interview published yesterday.She also said another 30 streets would be made pedestrian-only, “in particular around schools to avoid groups of people”, she said.

INDIA13Gulf Times

Wednesday, May 6, 2020

14,800 stranded Indians to be repatriated in fi rst weekAgenciesNew Delhi

India has embarked on a “massive” operation calling up passenger jets and naval

ships to bring back some of the hundreds of thousands of its na-tionals stuck abroad due to coro-navirus restrictions, the govern-ment said yesterday.

India banned all incoming in-ternational fl ights in late March as it imposed one of the world’s strictest virus lockdowns, leav-ing vast numbers of workers and students stranded.

Two ships were steaming to-wards the Maldives’ capital Male to evacuate some 1,000 citizens from Friday, the navy said in a statement late yesterday.

A defence spokesman said a third vessel was heading to the United Arab Emirates.

A government statement said repatriation fl ights would start bringing nationals home from tomorrow, and that Indian em-bassies and high commissions were preparing lists of “dis-tressed Indian citizens”.

But to the anger of some of those abroad, the evacuees will have to pay for their passage, the statement said, and spend 14 days in quarantine on arrival.

“Covid test would be done after 14 days and further ac-tion would be taken according to health protocols,” it added.

Those taking the special fl ights will be charged around Rs50,000 from Europe and Rs100,000 from the US.

According to the civil aviation ministry, around 14,800 people will be taken back on 64 fl ights from 12 countries in the fi rst week, with the fi rst leaving the UAE and Qatar tomorrow.

Other fl ights will leave Sin-gapore, Malaysia and the Phil-ippines, as well as London, San Francisco, New York, Chicago and Washington.

It is India’s biggest evacuation ex-ercise since national carrier Air India fl ew back 170,000 nationals from Kuwait during the Gulf War in 1990.

Civil Aviation Minister Har-deep Puri said the evacuations may well exceed 190,000. But offi cials said many more could be repatriated.

“This will be one of the biggest-ever peacetime repatriation exer-cises in history,” an offi cial said.

The fl ights will be operated by Air India and its subsidiary Air India Express.

The fl ights will bring an aver-age of 2,000 people back to vari-ous Indian destinations every

day for a week, according to the foreign ministry.

So far some 20,000 Indians in the US have signed up for the evacuations, The Times of India reported.

But some Indians said they would not be able to pay for their homeward journeys and pleaded

with the government for help.“I request govt to take all of

us at no charge during this crisis situation as we are all struggling here due to prolonged lockdown,” tourist Sadhana Srivastava tweeted from Dubai.

“I’m homeless now after I lost my job in March, please take me

to India or else I will be in a big trouble here in Dubai, please help me sir,” Saroj K Swain wrote on Twitter.

The government had earlier evacuated some 2,500 Indians from China, Japan, Iran and Italy before banning international and domestic travel.

British nationals wearing facemasks queue to check in before boarding a special flight to London at Sri Guru Ram Dass Jee International Airport in Amritsar yesterday.

Family fi ghts over laptops in lockdown causing strainIANSJaipur

Family fi ghts over electronic gadgets, like laptops, com-puters and mobile phones,

have become common during the ‘work from home’ (WFH) regime.

While parents need to attend video conferences and complete their projects, children have their online classes, says Dr Anamika Papriwal, a psychologist.

Electronic gadgets seem to be the latest entrant to the family list of essentials and their short-

age has started ringing panic buttons.

In India, the number of com-puters and laptops doesn’t match the number of members in a fam-ily.

During the coronavirus cri-sis, each member wants his own screen for work.

It has worsened the situation, causing testing times, she says.

Seema Dawesher, a corporate employee, told IANS: “We face a daily challenge to streamline things in our house. My son’s online classes start at 9am. Mine and my husband’s offi ces also

start at the same time. Imagine the plight - three of us setting our priorities right from morning with just one laptop at home.”

The crazy cacophony was in-tensifying with each passing day of the lockdown, she said.

Buying a new gadget was diffi -cult when the economy is shrink-ing and paycuts are becoming the order of the day, she added.

“My son, a class VI student, wants a laptop as he can’t attend online classes on phone since its screen is small and content not clearly visible. With all my data stored on the laptop, I can’t share it

with him during my VCs,” she said.Mukta Mittal, an entrepreneur,

has a similar story.There is a regular tiff among

four family members - she, her husband and two children.

They end up fi ghting to grab the only laptop in their house.

“We can’t have four comput-ers at home. It sounds bizarre. But it’s also causing strain as everyone’s schedule begins in the morning. Now schools have also started evening activity classes. When should we attend our offi ce work,” she asked.

Dr Papriwal has been receiving

regular calls from such families.“They share their harrowing

tales. With each member want-ing to grab the single laptop for their works, it triggers the tussle. The other reason is husbands fi nd it diffi cult to see wives attending offi ce work full-time at home, ig-noring him and the children. It’s adding to the strain. Housewives too are getting aff ected seeing everyone busy, except herself.

“Coronavirus has changed the whole scenario. It’s sure that world won’t be same post-Covid-19. Laptops and phones will defi nitely be the new essen-

tials. Hence, would need self-discipline to use these gadgets. Time management is something that we have got to learn and also children learn that,” she said.

But that’s not all.Over screen exposure would

also turn children into gadget ad-dicts and cause sleep deprivation among them due to multi-media addiction.

“Achieving the diffi cult life balances is the need of hour,” Dr Papriwal says, adding, “each family member should work out to kill the panic blues and anxi-ety.”

A police off icer uses an infrared thermometer to measure the temperature of a migrant worker at a check point on the outskirts of Kolkata yesterday.

Chargingexpats for fl ights is cruel, saysCongress

IANSNew Delhi

The Congress party yes-terday lashed out at the central government for

its decision to “impose exces-sive costs” on stranded Indians seeking to return from Covid-aff ected countries, calling it an “inhumane act”.

“It was due to protests by a large number of expatriates and their relatives as well as the gen-eral public over the past few days that the government has taken the decision to bring back our citizens from abroad,” Congress leader K C Venugopal said.

He said it is “cruel” that the government has taken “advan-tage of the plight of expatriates by increasing airfares up to three times”.

Venugopal called it “inhu-mane” and urged the govern-ment to take urgent steps to provide free travel to the most vulnerable, the unemployed, the sick and the pregnant and others at normal fares.

Meanwhile, federal Minister of State for External Aff airs V Muraleedharan said an app will be launched very soon which will give real time data of all the In-dian nationals stranded abroad who will now be fl own back.

“We have seen a trial run of this online platform and few more things have to be fi xed and it will be ready very soon. This online platform will be accessed by the concerned departments and offi cials who are taking part in this evacuation process,” Mu-raleedharan said.

“This online platform will con-tain the details of each and every person who will be boarding the fl ights. This is to make things easy for all who are working in this mission,” the minister added.

Members of National Human Rights and Crime Control Organisation pose as they stand behind a painting depicting the Covid-19 as they show gratitude to doctors, police personnel, sanitation workers and media people for their services in Amritsar yesterday.

Covid-19 toll rises to 1,583IANSNew Delhi

India’s death toll from the coronavirus rose to 1,583 yes-terday, an offi cial said.

The total number of cases also rose to 46,711, Health Ministry Joint Secretary Lav Aagarwal said.

Of these, 31,967 are active cas-es, he said, adding 13,160 people have recovered so far.

The deaths saw a surge in West

Bengal, going up to 133 from 61 on Monday.

Aagarwal said states should report on time about the number of cases and fatalities in order to ensure better management.

“We followed up with certain states as we were not receiving re-ports of cases and deaths on time from them. After this, the cases have been reported and there is a sudden spike in deaths reported in the past 24 hours,” he said.

“The new cases reported in the last 24 hours are 3,900 and new

deaths are 195. It is the highest number so far,” said Agarwal.

Maharashtra continued to top the chart with a total of 14,541 cases followed by Gujarat (5,804) and Delhi (4,898).

For the second straight day the number of positive cases in Tamil Nadu crossed 500, raising the number of infected patients to 4,058 yesterday.

Two Covid-19 patients also died, taking the state’s toll to 33.

The number of active cases in the state is 2,537.

Hyderabad airport to have new safety features when it reopensIANSHyderabad

Contactless terminal entry system, automated ther-mal cameras for screening

body temperature, acrylic glass shields at counters, ‘hygiene sta-tions’ with automatic hand sani-tisers, social distancing markers across the terminal and frequent sanitisation of the premises and the equipment.

These will be some of the key features of Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gan-dhi International Airport when it reopens for commercial opera-tions after a lockdown to stem the spread of the coronavirus is lifted.

The airport has prepared an elaborate Covid-19 exit plan with operational preparedness to be implemented once operations resume after the government’s ap-proval.

Shut since March 22, the airport implemented various initiatives during the lockdown period to be operationally prepared once the restrictions are lifted and the air-port is allowed to resume fl ights.

Airport sources said they have put in place a contactless terminal entry system to avoid any possible

contact between the Central In-dustrial Security Force (CISF) per-sonnel and passengers.

There will be temperature screening by CISF with automated thermal cameras at all terminal entry points.

The airport has made social dis-tancing markers at several points including terminal entry points, check-in counters, security screen-ing, and boarding gates.

The authorities will encourage the use of self check-in and Self Bag Drop (SBD) machines to minimise any possibility of contact and reduce waiting time in queues.

There will be counter allocation to ensure strict adherence to social distancing guidelines.

Acrylic glass shields have been installed at check-in counters to separate the airport staff and the passenger.

To enable frequent sanitisation of hands by passengers, ‘hygiene stations’ are being set up with au-tomatic hand sanitisers.

There will be frequent sanitia-tion and disinfection of the queue managers, acrylic glass shields, Common Use Self Service (CUSS) machines and SBD machines.

Hazardous Material (Hazmat) suits will be provided to the secu-

rity personnel involved in passen-ger screening.

There will be frequent sani-tisation and disinfection of the trays, Door Frame Metal Detector (DFMD), Hand Held Metal De-tectors (HHMDs) and the moni-tors.

Marking the seats which are not to be used to ensure social distanc-ing, frequent fumigation and dis-infection of the seats, aerobridges and boarding gates after every de-parture, implementation of social distancing markers at the boarding gates will be the other operational features after the lockdown.

In case of remote bays, the number of passengers being boarded onto the buses will be re-stricted.

Thermal screening will be done on all arriving passengers using non-contact temperature screen-ers and thermal screening cam-eras.

Self-declaration forms with records of the passengers’ travel history, health status and the con-tact details will be captured.

There will be provision of dedi-cated areas for the passengers to fi ll in the self-declaration forms.

A dedicated waiting room has been provided for the Airport

Health Organisation (APHO) personnel if a passenger is found symptomatic and further screen-ing is required.

There will be designated areas of bus entry, baggage reclaim and thermal screening areas for arriv-als from countries with commu-nity transmission.

The airport is geared up with high levels of hygiene and new operational procedures, S G K Kishore, Chief Executive Offi cer, GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd (GHIAL), which oper-ates the airport, said.

He said passengers’ role in keeping the airport safe would also be equally important and re-quested them to extend their co-operation and support for meas-ures such as use of face masks, thermal screening and social distancing.

“In line with our motto of ‘passenger is prime’, the entire Hyderabad Airport family in-cluding all our stakeholders is working through the lockdown period to ensure that we have the right measures in place for en-suring passenger safety once the commercial fl ight operations are permitted to resume by the gov-ernment,” he said.

14 Gulf TimesWednesday, May 6, 2020

INDIA

Chandigarhhospital tostart plasmatherapy trialIANSChandigarh

The Post-Graduate Insti-tute Hospital in Chandi-garh has been selected as

one of the centres by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) to conduct trials of con-valescent plasma therapy in pa-tients with serious Covid-19 in-fection, offi cials said yesterday.

With this, seriously ill Cov-id-19 positive patients admitted in the Nehru Hospital Extension block will be eligible to get this form of treatment.

In this trial, antibodies from the blood of patients who have recovered from Covid-19 are used to treat severely infected patients.

However, the exact role of this therapy in the treatment of coro-navirus positive patients is still debatable and hence the ICMR decided to conduct a multi-centric study to clarify its role in these patients, the hospital said in a statement.

The hospital will start contact-ing recovered patients and will ex-plain the nature of the study.

The study is aimed at assess-ing the safety and effi cacy of convalescent plasma to limit complications in the patients.

Meanwhile, three journalists from Telangana based in New Delhi have tested positive for Covid-19.

The Telangana government yesterday said it had released Rs12 lakh for testing and treat-ment of the three, working for a Telugu television channel.

Initially, the government sent Rs75,000 for primary contact testing and promised treatment to the journalists.

It later released more funds to Dr Gaurav Uppal, Resident Commissioner of the Telangana Bhavan, for their treatment.

Industry Minister K T Rama Rao inquired about the positive cases among the Delhi Telugu journalists and instructed offi cials to provide them necessary support on behalf of the state government.

Meanwhile, Telangana Me-dia Academy chairman Allam Narayana said it was extend-ing all possible assistance to the journalists infected while cover-ing the pandemic.

Three journalists in Delhi and one in Gadwal district tested coronavirus positive and the academy gave Rs20,000 to each.

Students promotedwithout examinationsIANSHyderabad

The Telangana government yesterday promoted stu-dents of classes I to IX in

all schools for the academic year 2020-21.

No examinations could be con-ducted for these classes due to a lockdown that began on March 22.

Chief Minister K. Chan-drashekhar Rao had earlier an-nounced since there was no de-tention system for classes I-IX in the state, there was no need to conduct examinations and that all students will be promoted to the next classes.

The government, however, is yet to take a decision on the an-nual examination of 10th stand-ard, known as the Secondary School Certifi cate (SSC) exami-nation which began on March 19.

After two papers, the Telan-gana High Court asked the gov-

ernment to defer examinations till March 30 due to Covid-19 concerns.

Meanwhile in Delhi, Human Resource Development Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank said the remaining Class 10 Board exams will take place only for north-east Delhi students.

“Attention class X students! No examination to be held for class X students nationwide, except for students from North-East Delhi,” he tweeted.

He repeated his earlier assur-ance that “an adequate time of 10 days will be given to all stu-dents for the preparation of ex-ams.”

The Central Board of Second-ary Education (CBSE) had post-poned examinations in some parts of north-east and east Delhi between February 26 and March 7 in view of the safety of students after violence related to Citizenship Amendment Act spread rapidly in the area.

Guides face a bleak futureas lockdown hits tourismIANSAgra

A nationwide lockdown against the spread of the coronavirus has severely

crippled the business of thou-sands of men and women act-ing as guides at diff erent tourist places.

Several monuments includ-ing the Taj Mahal, Agra Fort, Humayun’t tomb, Qutub Minar, Mahabalipuram among others

are closed since March 17.Agra Approved Guides Associa-

tion president Sanjay Sharma told IANS that just as other sectors of the economy had been aff ected by the coronavirus pandemic, the tourism sector and those associ-ated with it directly or indirectly too had been hit hard.

“The tourism sector and guides have been hit hard be-

cause the work is seasonal and tourists make bookings in ad-vance,” he said.

Normally, the tourist season in north India is from October till March.

A guide charges Rs2,000 for showing tourists around the Taj, Agra Fort and Fatehpur Sikri.

Sharma said that tourists were not willing to venture out due to fear, adding that the tourism sector will remain aff ected till April 2021.

The tourism scene will nor-malise only in September or Oc-tober next year, he added.

He said that the Ministry of Tourism and Culture issues li-cences to regional guides, which number from 3,500 to 4,000.

Out of these, 469 are in Agra alone.

He said the tourism season lasts only six months but the li-censed guides cannot not take

up any other job in the remain-ing period as they were bound by the terms and conditions set by the licensing authorities.

Sharma said the guide feel de-pressed lot due to loss of liveli-hood.

He said the guides neither had pension plans nor exigency funds for such crisis.

He said his association had written to the central govern-ment on the plight of guides, but there was no response.

Amir, a member of the associa-tion, said the guides operated as freelancers and did not get fi xed salaries or perks or even pensions.

“The Taj Mahal is closed. If we don’t get tourists, we won’t be cooking food in our homes,” he remarked.

Amir said the association funds were used for medical emergencies of members or to deal with a court case.

1,250 migrantworkers leaveHyderabad forBihar by trainIANSHyderabad

A special train carrying 1,250 migrant workers left Hyderabad for Bihar early

yesterday, offi cials said.The train left the Ghatkesar

railway station near Hyderabad at 3.05am for Khagaria in Bihar.

Before boarding, the workers were screened by offi cials of Tel-angana health department.

Rachakonda Police Commis-sioner Mahesh Bhagwat, who fl agged off the train along with other offi cials, said the passen-gers were given breakfast and water bottles.

Senior offi cials Ronald Ross and Rajat Saini, Medchal District Collector Venkateshwarlu and senior offi cials of the railways supervised the arrangements.

This was the second special train operated from Telangana to send back migrant workers to their home states.

The fi rst train carrying 1,225 migrants left for Jharkhand on May 1.

This was the fi rst train for mi-grants anywhere in the country.

Earlier in the day, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao said 40 special trains would be operated daily over the next one week to send back migrant work-ers to their respective states.

He said the trains will be op-erated from various stations in Hyderabad, Warangal, Kham-mam, Ramagundam, Damarac-harla and other places to Bihar, Odisha, Jharkhand, West Bengal and other states.

The state government said migrant workers who have reg-istered their names with police would be allowed to travel by the special trains.

The chief minister said no mi-grant labour should feel anxious

as the government had made ar-rangements for their travel.

His announcement came amid protests by workers in Hydera-bad and other parts of the state demanding immediate trans-port arrangements to send them home.

A group of migrant workers on Monday night tried to reach the Kacheguda railway station in Hyderabad.

They started walking from Ar-amghar crossroads on the out-skirts and were heading towards the station.

Police stopped them at Baha-durpura and assured them that transport arrangements would soon be made for them.

They convinced the workers to stay at a temporary shelter in Shamshabad.

Meanwhile, a large number of migrant workers yesterday lined up at police stations in and around Hyderabad and other districts to register their names.

Police had a tough time in controlling the crowd at the Ku-katpally police station.

The gathering by the workers took the police by surprise and at one point they had to use mild force to disperse them.

Special trains for migrant workers have also started from neighbouring Andhra Pradesh.

The fi rst train carrying 1,212 workers for Maharashtra de-parted early yesterday from Rayanapadu railway station near Vijayawada.

Meanwhile in a controversy erupted yesterday a day after Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan scoff ed at the Congress move to buy train tickets for stranded migrants.

The opposition party claimed it off ered a total Rs50 lakh in fi ve districts but that offi cials had re-fused.

Kerala Congress president

Mullapally Ramachandran said: “On Monday, he was belittling us. But today, in fi ve districts, our party offi ce-bearers approached authorities with cheques for Rs10 lakh each to buy train tick-ets for migrant labourers, but the money was not accepted.”

“He is forgetting which chair he is sitting on. It’s unbecom-ing of a chief minister to show frequent outbursts. It would be better if he reins himself.”

But Vijayan said since the state government was not paying for the travel of migrants, “we are not taking any money for this from anyone”.

“The state government has no role in this issue as it’s done by the Centre,” the chief minister said.

Hitting back at Ramachan-dran, he said: “I precisely know the importance of the chair I now occupy. That’s why I am not giving a tit-for-tat reply on every issue,” Vijayan remarked.

Over 3.80 lakh migrant la-bourers are lodged in over 18,000 camps in Kerala.

Since Saturday, around 15,000 have left for their states on spe-cial trains.

Also yesterday, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said the Odia migrants willing to return from Surat in Gujarat can travel only by train.

Buses carrying returnees from Surat will not be allowed inside the state, he said.

The decision was taken by the chief minister keeping in mind the number of accidents by buses carrying the returnees and various inconveniences faced by children and women passengers due to the long-distance jour-ney.

Three accidents took place with buses carrying stranded Odias from Surat in the last few days.

Stranded migrant workers sit in a waiting hall before registering with police for a movement pass to be able to return to their hometowns, on the outskirts of Hyderabad yesterday.

A kite feeds its baby in their nest on a tree in a residential area in New Delhi yesterday.

An NGO working for child rights has urged the Telangana government not to allow the annual ‘fish medicine’ event to be held in Hyderabad next month due to the coronavirus pandemic. Balala Hakkula Sangham (BHS) said the ‘fish medicine’ that claims to cure asthma and other respiratory illnesses, is unscientific, BHS off icial Achyuta Rao said “even if one person in the gathering is Covid-19 positive, the infection will spread to all the people including volunteers. The main suff erers will be children as even the World Health Organisation has stated that children and elderly are vulnerable to the virus,” said Rao. Thousands of asthma patients from various parts of the country gather in Hyderabad to receive the ‘medicine.’ However, the numbers have dwindled over the years.

The Joint Entrance Examination Main (JEE-Main) for engineering programmes will be held from July 18 to 23 while the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) for medical courses will be on July 26. JEE Advanced is expected to be held in August. The dates were announced by Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank yesterday during a webinar with students. With the declaration of the dates for the entrance exams, students can now focus on their preparations, the minister said. The candidates will not have to move to other cities or towns to write the tests. They will be allowed to mention on the online forms their preferred exam centres. Depending on the availability, they will be allotted the centres.

A Samajwadi Party leader was arrested after a 28-year-old freelance journalist committed suicide in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, police said yesterday. Rizwana Tabassum had named Shamim Nomani in her suicide note. “Shamim Nomani is responsible,” she said. The woman hanged herself in Harpalpur of Varanasi district on Monday. Shamim and the woman reportedly were friends for a long time but no one knows what happened suddenly. Her father said, “She never told us about anything nor did she have any enmity with anyone. She was a good daughter as well as a good journalist.” According to reports, when Tabassum did not come out of her room on Monday, they called out to her but there was no response.

Five boys drowned in the Ghaghra river in Ballia district of Uttar Pradesh on Monday, police said yesterday. The bodies of three boys have been recovered. Police said the victims, aged between 16 and 8 went to the river bank to play. After some time, they waded into the river and started drowning in the deep waters. On hearing their screams, the local people rushed and tried to rescue them but failed because of the strong currents. The police said divers retrieved the bodies of three boys. But due to the strong currents, the divers were facing difficulties in continuing search operation. A police officer added the search operations would be resumed today.

Don’t allow ‘fish medicine’ event: Hyderabad NGO

JEE-Main from July 18-23,NEET on July 26

SP leader arrested overwoman commits suicide

Five boys drown inriver in Uttar Pradesh

FEEDING TIME CONTROVERSYENTRANCE TESTS INVESTIGATION TRAGEDY

A girl covers her face as she walks with her father during a fumigation drive in a residential area in Ahmedabad yesterday.

Bolsonaropicks newpolice chiefafter court clash

Argentina’s $65bn debt revamp has proven diffi cult: Guzman

ReutersBrasilia

Brazilian President Jair Bol-sonaro has picked a new head of the federal police

following a Supreme Court deci-sion to block his eff ort to appoint a family friend.

The new appointment showed Bolsonaro moving quickly to install a trusted ap-pointee to the top law enforce-ment role as mounting investi-gations and his lax handling of the Covid-19 pandemic erode his popularity and feed talk of impeachment.

The government’s offi cial ga-zette said Bolsonaro had tapped as federal police chief, Rolando Alexandre de Souza, who had worked as a close aide to his orig-inal choice, Alexandre Ramagem, at Brazil’s intelligence agency Abin.

Bolsonaro dismissed as “gos-sip” accusations by former jus-tice minister Sergio Moro that the president had tried to inter-fere in sensitive investigations by naming Ramagem, a friend of his sons, as top cop.

Moro, a popular fi gure in Bra-zil’s anti-corruption eff orts who locked up scores of business leaders and politicians as a judge, testifi ed to prosecutors and po-lice on Saturday as part of an investigation authorised by the Supreme Court.

The former minister’s evi-dence against Bolsonaro includ-ed recordings of conversations with the president, a person with knowledge of his deposition told Reuters.

Moro told investigators that three army generals in Bol-sonaro’s cabinet, two of them active duty offi cers and the other retired, witnessed the president’s pressure on the federal police and could confi rm his accounts, said the source, requesting anonym-ity to speak freely.

On Monday, Brazil’s top pros-

ecutor asked the Supreme Court for authorisation to question the three military cabinet ministers in the investigation of alleged in-terference by the president in the federal police.

Moro could not be reached im-mediately for comment.

Moro’s resignation and allega-tions 10 days ago set off the most serious political crisis Bolsonaro has faced in offi ce, compounded by criticism for playing down a coronavirus outbreak that has killed more than 7,000 people in Brazil.

A record low 27% of Brazil-ians consider the government “good” or “great,” while those considering it “bad” or “awful” jumped seven percentage points in a week to 49%, showed a tel-ephone survey by pollster Ipespe commissioned by XP Investi-mentos.

Another survey published over the weekend, run by pollster IDEIA Big Data via mobile app, showed the government’s ap-proval rating fell eight percent-age points in a week to 22% as disapproval shot up to a record 47%.

Those polls, conducted from Tuesday to Thursday, suggested that the impact of the crisis may have grown over the course of last week, after a Monday tel-ephone poll by veteran pollster Datafolha showed Bolsonaro’s support holding fi rm.

The far-right president came under fi re again on Sunday for attacking Congress and the Su-preme Court in a speech to hun-dreds of supporters who were calling for military rule in Brazil and an end to coronavirus quar-antine measures.

Bolsonaro said at the rally out-side the presidential palace that he had Brazil’s armed forces be-hind him and he was losing pa-tience with “interference” in his agenda.

Yet, the defence ministry cast doubt on Bolsonaro’s claim in a rare statement on Monday.

ReutersBuenos Aires

Argentina’s eff orts to con-vince bondholders to accept a $65bn debt re-

structuring proposal is proving tough work, the country’s econ-omy minister told Reuters, but said he had no plans to extend a Friday deadline for a deal.

Argentina is at loggerheads with its creditors over its pro-posal to impose large reduc-

tions on coupons, a three-year payment hiatus and push back maturities into the next dec-ade.

Bondholders have until Fri-day to respond to the proposal, though three major creditor groups have already rejected the off er, clashing with Argen-tina’s government, which says it cannot aff ord to pay anything more.

“We are still working to get both sides closer....It has prov-en diffi cult,” Martin Guzman, the economy minister, told Re-

uters at his offi ces in downtown Buenos Aires. “We are not plan-ning to change the deadline,” he added, without saying if that stance might be altered nearer the date.

The current proposal in-cludes a three-year suspension of payments and would leave creditors with an average cou-pon of 2.3%, compared with their 7% average now.

It amounts to a steep 62% cut to interest payments.

On Monday three creditor groups panned the deal, say-

ing it imposed on creditors “disproportionate losses that are neither justified nor nec-essary.”

Argentina’s economy minis-try said it was disappointed by the position taken by the bond-holder groups, but indicated it was open to counter proposals if they aligned with the coun-try’s analysis of what debt lev-els would be sustainable.

Guzman said Argentina had had “positive engagement with some creditors over the last few days.”

“Others have decided not to engage and not to accept our invitations to meet,” he added. “Some creditors are already ex-pressing their conformity with the off er and there is time to agree on a sustainable resolu-tion with the rest of our credi-tors.”

Argentine will be flexible to a degree as long as the re-structuring respects con-straints imposed by the gov-ernment’s debt sustainability analysis and a separate report from the International Mon-

etary Fund, Guzman said.He added that talks have been

constructive with the Inter-national Monetary Fund over a new deal to replace a $57bn fa-cility agreed in 2018.

The country is in talks with the Paris Club of country-to-country lenders, though it will miss a $2.1bn payment.

“We are in negotiations to re-schedule the Paris Club debt,” Guzman said. “The Paris Club has been receptive and the process for rescheduling the debt is ongoing.”

The last time Argentina had a major default, in 2001-02, it punctuated a fi nancial crisis that pushed millions of mid-dle-class Argentines into pov-erty and kicked off more than a decade of acrimonious lawsuits by bondholders in US federal courts.

The current crisis is be-ing aggravated by the global coronavirus pandemic, which is punishing even the world’s strongest economies.

Argentina was in recession before the health crisis hit.

Two Americans held over failed ‘invasion’: VenezuelaAFPCaracas

Two Americans have been detained in Venezuela on suspicion of plotting to

topple President Nicolas Ma-duro’s government, which has accused US-backed opposition leader Juan Guaido of bankrolling the scheme.

The arrests came a day after the government said it foiled an “inva-sion” from the sea, killing eight as-sailants and capturing two others.

Maduro appeared on state television to show the passports of Luke Denman, 34, and Airan Berry, 41, and told the Venezue-lan military high command that the pair were members of the

US security forces.Attorney general Tarek William

Saab earlier told reporters that “hired mercenaries” had signed a $212mn contract with Guaido us-ing funds “stolen” from state oil company PDVSA.

The US — one of more than 50 countries backing Guaido as Ven-ezuela’s acting president as he challenges Maduro for power — has slapped sanctions on PDVSA and allowed Guaido to use funds from frozen accounts belonging to the fi rm’s Houston-based sub-sidiary Citgo.

Saab said Guaido had signed a contract with former US special forces soldier Jordan Goudreau, linked in several press reports last week to an allegedly bungled at-tempt to topple Maduro.

The Canadian-born Goudreau, an Iraq and Afghanistan veteran, is accused of training a mercenary force to invade Venezuela that disbanded after Colombian au-thorities seized a weapons ship-ment meant for the group.

Saab also shared on social me-dia a video of Goudreau, who now runs a private security fi rm called Silvercorp USA, in which the former soldier claims an op-eration against Maduro’s regime is ongoing.

Guaido’s press team released a statement on Monday denying the accusations and insisting it had no agreements with private security fi rms.

On Sunday, Venezuela claimed a group travelling on speedboats and embarking from Colombia

tried to land before dawn in the northern coastal state of La Guaira but were intercepted by the mili-tary and special police units.

Diosdado Cabello, deputy

leader of the ruling Socialist Party, claimed the operation was “or-chestrated” by the US and its Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), with Colombian support.

Brazil’s natives seek WHOfund to fi ght coronavirusReutersBrasilia

Indigenous leaders in Brazil has asked the World Health Organisation (WHO) to set

up an emergency fund to help protect their communities from the threat of the coronavirus pandemic.

Many of Brazil’s 850,000 in-digenous people live in remote Amazon areas with little access to healthcare, and indigenous groups say the government has not included the communities in national plans to fi ght the virus.

In a letter to WHO head Te-dros Adhanom Ghebreyesus they asked for help to provide person-al protective equipment that is unavailable to health workers in tribal reservations and villages.

“It is a real emergency,” Joenia Wapichana, the leader of the ap-peal to the WHO and the fi rst in-digenous woman elected to Bra-zil’s Congress, told Reuters.

“Indigenous people are vul-nerable and have no protection.”

The number of indigenous people in Brazil killed by the vi-rus has risen to 18, said indig-enous umbrella organisation APIB, though the government has only offi cially reported six.

That is because the indigenous health service Sesai only reports deaths in tribal villages and not those of tribe members who have moved to urban areas.

By Sunday, 107 indigenous people in the Amazon were confi rmed to be infected, with the majority, or 59, in the upper reaches of the Amazon river near the border with Colombia and Peru, APIB said.

The Co-ordination of Indige-nous Organisations of the Brazilian Amazon (Coiab) has complained about Sesai’s lack of testing and absence of care for people living outside their traditional villages in cities such as Manaus, where virus cases have overwhelmed the hos-pital system.

Bolsonaro’s new health min-ister, Nelson Teich, has said pro-tecting indigenous people is a priority.

The government’s indige-nous aff airs agency, FUNAI, has stopped Christian missionaries from evangelizing isolated tribes during the epidemic to avoid contagion.

The appeal by indigenous groups came a day after an open letter to Bolsonaro from dozens of international artists, musi-cians and actors urging him to protect Brazil’s indigenous peo-ple.

Signers included artists Ai Weiwei and David Hockney, mu-sicians Sting and Paul McCart-ney, actors Glenn Close and Syl-vester Stallone, and fi lm and TV host Oprah Winfrey.

The “extreme threat” faced by indigenous people in Brazil was amplifi ed by invasions of pro-tected tribal lands by illegal min-ers, loggers and cattle ranchers, the letter warned.

“These illicit activities have accelerated in recent weeks, be-cause the Brazilian authorities charged with protecting these lands have been immobilised by the pandemic,” it added.

Embassy attack wasterrorism, says CubaReutersHavana

Cuba’s President Miguel Diaz-Canel called a gun assault last week on its

embassy in Washington a “terror-ist attack”, while US court papers said the suspected gunman was a psychotic Cuban emigre who heard voices.

There were no injuries in the attack last Thursday, but gun-shots riddled the facade and some penetrated the building.

Police arrested Alexander Ala-zo, 42, at around 2am after he fi red an AK-47-style semi-automatic rifl e 32 times at the embassy, ac-cording to a memorandum fi led in support of pretrial detention.

Alazo admitted he had been prescribed antipsychotic medi-cation in March but did not fully comply with the prescription, a fact US state prosecutors argued “strongly weighs against his re-lease” before trial.

“I must denounce the terrorist attack...and demand from the US government a thorough and swift investigation, harsh sanctions

and security measures and guar-antees for our diplomatic mis-sions,” Diaz-Canel said.

Last week, Cuba’s Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said a dozen diplomats and workers had been in the embassy at the time of the attack, which was recorded on surveillance video.

Rodriguez said hostility toward Cuba by the administration of US President Donald Trump fo-mented violence. Trump has un-ravelled a US-Cuban detente car-ried out by his predecessor Barack Obama.

Before attacking the embassy, Alazo fi rst tried unsuccessfully to set fi re in the rain to a gasoline-soaked Cuban fl ag. Alazo said he had emigrated fi rst to Mexico in 2003 and then to Texas in 2007 claiming political asylum.

In 2014, he returned to Cuba to preach at a church, he said, add-ing he left after being threatened by crime groups.

Convinced he was being fol-lowed, he travelled in 2018 to Germany and other countries to avoid being caught, according to the investigators’ interview with his wife, a travelling nurse.

Trump denies Maduro allegations

US President Donald Trump yesterday denied allegations by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro that Washington was fomenting violence in his country, saying they have “nothing to do with our government.” Maduro said earlier that the United States was using the Covid-19 pandemic to “fill Venezuela with violence” and was

employing mercenaries in search of excuses “to invade Venezuela.” Speaking outside the White House, Trump said he had just been informed about Venezuela’s accusations which had “nothing to do with our government.” “We’ll find out, we just heard about it...But whatever it is, we’ll let you know. But it has nothing to do with our government,” he emphasised.

LATIN AMERICA

Gulf Times Wednesday, May 6, 2020 15

President Nicolas Maduro, wearing a face mask as a preventive measure against Covid-19, attends a meeting of members of the Bolivarian National Armed Forces (FANB), at Miraflores Presidential Palace in Caracas.

Witoto indigenous nursing assistant Vanda Ortega, 32, takes care of a patient during a healthcare visit to Parque das Tribos, an indigenous community in the suburbs of Manaus, Amazonas State, Brazil.

PAKISTAN

Gulf Times Wednesday, May 6, 202016

The Sindh government has formed a committee to look into the circumstanc-

es that led to the death of Dr Fur-qanul Haq – the third member of the medical fraternity in Karachi to have fallen victim to the coro-navirus – after it was initially al-leged that he had died because he could not be provided a ventila-tor in time.

Sindh government spokes-man Senator Murtaza Wahab

confi rmed the development on Twitter on Monday night, say-ing that a committee had been formed to investigate the matter and will submit its report “within 24 hours”.

Dr Haq – who had recently re-tired from the Karachi Institute of Heart Diseases – was not ac-tively engaged in the treatment of Covid-19 patients.

The coronavirus causes the Covid-19 respiratory disease.

According to Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) secretary-general Dr Qaiser Sajjad, Dr Haq died on Sunday after failing to be

put on a ventilator despite visit-ing several hospitals in the city.

When asked if the Sindh gov-ernment was facing a shortage of ventilators, media co-ordinator to Health and Population Welfare Minister Meeran Yousuf had said yesterday that ventilators and beds were available at CHK and JPMC.

“However, we’ve initiated an inquiry [into the matter],” she said.

On the other hand, Indus Hos-pital chief executive Dr Abdul Bari claimed that Dr Haq had de-layed seeking medical treatment

because of the social stigma as-sociated with contracting the coronavirus.

Dr Bari said: “His niece works at our hospital [Indus Hospi-tal] and she had insisted he get himself admitted but he had re-fused, thinking that the news of his diagnosis would spread in the neighbourhood.”

Dr Bari confi rmed that the de-ceased did not visit Indus Hospi-tal.

According to data from April 30, at least eight healthcare workers have died from the coro-navirus so far in Pakistan.

The fi rst known Covid-19 fa-tality among the local medical community occurred in Gilgit Baltistan when a young doctor, Usama Riaz, succumbed to the disease in March.

Early last month, Dr Abdul Qadir Soomro from Sindh be-came the province’s fi rst Cov-id-19 fatality from the medical community.

According to the report, three healthcare workers have died from the virus in Sindh, two in Gilgit Baltistan, and one each in Baluchistan, Khyber Pa-khtunkhwa, and Islamabad.

Sindh orders probe into doctor’s deathInternewsKarachi

A coronavirus patient at the Civil Hospital in Paki-stan’s southern Hydera-

bad district has shown improve-ment after being given plasma therapy, a senior offi cial at the health facility said.

The Sindh Health Department on Thursday had allowed three hospitals in the province – two in Karachi and one in Hydera-bad – to start experimental use of Covid-19 convalescent plasma for the treatment of patients who are infected with the novel coro-navirus and are showing moder-ate to severe symptoms.

Convalescent plasma is taken from the blood of patients who have already recovered from the disease; in this case, Covid-19.

The Covid-19 disease is caused by the coronavirus.

It is rich in antibodies and can help other patients recover faster

if it is administered properly and in the right circumstances.

Dr Shahid Junejo, medical su-perintendent at the Civil Hos-pital, said that the patient on whom the therapy was trialled has shown improvement.

“The decision for the trial was taken after consultation with the vice-chancellor of the Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences Jamshoro, Prof Bikha Ram Devrajani,” he said.

“Patient’s pulse rate and oxy-gen saturation are normal after the procedure,” Dr Junejo added.

The three health facilities that have been allowed by the provin-cial government to start clinical trials are the Dr Ruth KM Pfau Civil Hospital Karachi (CHK), the National Institute of Blood Dis-eases (NIBD), and Hyderabad’s Liaquat University Hospital.

“Following Punjab, Balu-chistan, and Khyber Pa-khtunkhwa (KP), the Sindh Health Department has also al-lowed clinical trials of convales-

cent plasma for the treatment of Covid-19 patients at three of the province’s hospitals,” said NIBD head Prof Dr Tahir Shamsi.

“We are now going to select 350 Covid-19 patients under treatment at nine health facilities in the country and start clinical trials of convalescent plasma on them,” said the eminent haema-tologist.

Dr Shamsi said that the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) had allowed medical pro-fessionals to start clinical trials of the use of convalescent plasma in the country.

Following that, he added, the health departments of Punjab, KP, Baluchistan and Sindh had allowed use of the technique, also known as passive immunisation, to treat patients infected with Covid-19.

“Our aim is to prevent Cov-id-19 patients under treatment at diff erent hospitals from go-ing onto life support. We believe convalescent plasma taken from

healthy Covid-19 patients, which is rich in coronavirus antibodies, can reduce the viral load in the bodies of infected patients and help them recover faster.”

Dr Shamsi said the technique is used when there is a high risk of infection and insuffi cient time for the body to develop its own immune response or to reduce the symptoms of ongoing or im-munosuppressive diseases.

“A team of health experts in-cluding haematologists, infec-tious disease specialists, inten-sivists (or ICU specialists) and a representative of the Sindh Blood Transfusion Authority will su-pervise the clinical trials at the three hospitals.”

He said that mainly patients undergoing treatment at the CHK in Karachi and the Liaquat University Hospital in Hydera-bad would be given convalescent plasma with the hope of recovery from Covid-19.

Passive immunisation is an old technique used in the absence of

a vaccine to treat infectious dis-eases, he added.

“We believe that with the transfusion of convalescent plas-ma of healthy Covid-19 patients to active patients, viral load in the bodies of the patients would reduce to an extent where they would not require the support of ventilator and they would recov-er from the disease.”

He said these trials would also be conducted at the Hayatabad Medical Complex in Peshawar, the Shaikh Zayed Hospital in Quetta, the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences in Islamabad, the Benazir Bhutto Shaheed Hos-pital in Rawalpindi, and Lahore’s Pakistan Kidney and Liver Insti-tute and Postgraduate Medical Institute.

Dr Shamsi said healthy Cov-id-19 patients who have tested negative twice can donate their blood for plasma extraction af-ter two weeks of recovery, adding that with one donation, they can treat two such patients.

Patient undergoing plasma therapy trial showing improvement: offi cialInternewsIslamabad

At least one man was in-jured in a blast in an imambargah in Lower

Kurram’s Shoorki area near the Pak-Afghan border yesterday, area police said.

The injured man, who report-

edly worked as a caretaker at the imambargah, has been moved to a local hospital.

The building of the mosque collapsed from the impact of the explosion.

According to Yaqoob khan, a local police control offi cial, the blast occurred at 4am in the morning.

Police and law enforcement

offi cials arrived at the site of the explosion and cordoned off the area, he said, adding that inves-tigation of the incident was un-derway.

The nature of the blast has yet to be confi rmed, though police suspect explosive material had been planted at the mosque.

Member of the National As-sembly Sajid Toori, who was

elected from the district, An-juman-e-Hussainia Parachinar secretary Haji Sardar Hussain and Tehreek-e-Hussainia leader Yousuf Hussain condemned the incident, saying that “terrorists were trying to sabotage the peace established by the sacrifi ces of security forces”.

They demanded the govern-ment to rebuild the imambargah

and conduct a high-level inves-tigation.

On Sunday, Khyber Pa-khtunkhwa’s Bomb Disposal Unit defused an improvised explosive device in Dabar area of Mamond tehsil.

In January this year, nine peo-ple were injured in a hand gre-nade attack near the Karkhano police checkpost in Peshawar.

Pakistani authorities have placed emergency services on high alert

as the country’s most populous city braces for a heatwave, off icials

said yesterday.

The meteorological department warned that temperatures were

expected to hit between 40-42° Celsius in the port city of Karachi,

which has a population of 20mn people.

The Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) has imposed a state of

emergency so that hospitals can cope with the heatwave, which is

set to continue until Friday.

However, meteorological off ice spokesperson Sardar Sarfraz said

that while the temperature is rising, the expectation is of a moderate

heatwave.

In 2015, more than 2,000 people died in Karachi when a heatwave

struck the city during the month of Ramadan.

Emergency services on alert in Karachi

Back in business

The crowded Raja Bazar in Rawalpindi is seen during the government-imposed nationwide lockdown.

One injured in mosque explosion in northwestInternewsPeshawar

Rawalpindi food street okay to start home deliveryThe traditional food street of Rawalpindi, Kartarpura started delivery and takeaway services after weeks-long lockdown.The Association of Rawalpindi Hotels and Restaurants announced that after their successful meetings with the district administration of Rawalpindi, the latter had allowed the eateries to resume takeaway and home delivery services, subject to fulfillment of precautionary measures.Mohamed Farooq Chaudhry, the general secretary of the association, said that the district administration had been approached to ease the lockdown for restaurants.He said that over 800 hotels and restaurants were ready to give an undertaking to the district administration to ensure proper hygiene and safety measures.According to him, people of the twin cities, especially those belonging to remote areas of other parts of the country, were facing diff iculties to getting food during Sehar and Iftar times.Earlier, a delegation of the association, comprising patron Sheikh Abdul Waheed, president Sain Mohamed Ijaz Malik, general secretary Chaudhry Farooq, and vice-presidents Sheikh Munir and Saleem Raza met Rawalpindi Deputy Commissioner Captain (retired) Anwarul Haq.They apprised the off icial of the issues faced by local hotels and restaurants.

Pakistan has raised con-cerns with the United Arab Emirates that many citi-

zens were returning home from the Gulf Arab state infected with Covid-19 and that crowded liv-ing conditions for workers in the UAE may be helping spread the virus, offi cials said yesterday.

“Both (governments) are working together to fi nd (an) optimal solution to this shared concern,” ministry spokeswom-an Aisha Farooqi told Reuters in a WhatsApp message.

A UAE foreign ministry of-fi cial later said the government “completely rejects this version of events”.

“Everyone on UAE repatria-tion fl ights has been tested be-fore departure, and those found to be infected were not allowed to travel,” Assistant Undersecre-tary for Consular Aff airs Khalid al-Mazrouei told Reuters.

The offi cial did not address Is-lamabad’s concerns about living conditions.

Moeed Yusuf, Special Assist-ant to Pakistan’s Prime Minister on National Security, said the number of people returning from the UAE and testing positive was “higher than we were hoping”.

On most fl ights, around 12% were testing positive but on a couple of fl ights that number rose to between 40% and 50%.

“The hypothesis is that a lot of the labourers live in crowded dormitories and in those, es-sentially, it’s easier to infect each other,” he told Reuters.

The UAE is home to around 1.5mn Pakistanis, many of whom are low-wage workers living in crowded housing and are now out of work and stranded due to the coronavirus crisis.

Repatriation fl ights began last month after tens of thousands of Pakistanis in the UAE asked their government to be fl own home.

Around 60,000 Pakistanis have so far registered to return from the UAE, according to Paki-stan’s consulate in Dubai.

Yusuf said that balancing the needs of the 100,000 citizens globally who had registered as wanting to return home with preventing the spread of the vi-rus was a challenge.

The government is testing every passenger on arrival and quarantining them if necessary, meaning it could currently only bring home around 8,000 citi-zens per week.

“We’re not going to compro-mise on safety but we’re facili-tating people as much as we can,” he said.

Pakistan concerned at workers returning coronavirus-positiveReutersIslamabad/Dubai

Some 190 Pakistani citizens, stranded in India after the outbreak of the novel coro-

navirus, were repatriated via the Wagah border crossing yester-day.

The stranded Pakistani na-tionals, including women and children, were screened and transferred to quarantine centres in Lahore upon their arrival in Pakistan.

The purpose of their trip to In-dia pertained to visiting family, seeking medical treatment, and attending religious ceremonies.

Several Pakistanis had reached the border crossing on Monday evening, but were sent back by India’s Border Security Force (BSF) and spent the night in Am-ritsar.

Later, they arrived at the bor-der in diff erent groups.

One Pakistani national arrived each from Burhanpur, Jodhpur and Ludhiana, two from Kolkata, three each from Agra, Raebareli, Rampur, Kaushambi, Kohlapur, Kota and Ferozepur, four from Gurugram, fi ve from Lucknow and Bhopal, six each from Bijnor and Anand, seven from Jalgaon,

nine from Mumbai, Delhi, Raipur and Jaipur, 12 from Ahmedabad, 33 from Madhya Pradesh, and 49 from Nagpur.

Earlier this month, around 41 Pakistanis returned home via the Wagah border in the fi rst phase.

The returnees thanked both the Indian and Pakistani govern-ments for ensuring their return to their home country.

Ehsan Ahmed, a repatriated citizen, had shared that he had gone to India on March 12 and was expected to return by March 19.

However, he could not return due to the lockdown.

“I will appeal to all the Paki-stanis stranded in India to re-main confi ned to their homes and virtually remain in contact with the Pakistan High Com-mission. The Pakistan embassy is making eff orts for the return of all Pakistanis,” he said.

Amtal Basit had also thanked both the governments for her safe return and appealed to oth-ers stranded in India to follow the government’s directives and remain confi ned to their homes.

Many of the returnees were reportedly quarantined in vari-ous cities and screened at Attari before being allowed to cross the Wagah border.

Pakistanis stranded in India return via Wagah crossingInternewsIslamabad

Lockdown extended in BaluchistanBaluchistan has extended the ongoing lockdown for 15 more days in view of the mounting coronavirus cases across the province.Baluchistan government spokesperson Liaquat Shahwani said that the coronavirus is spreading at an alarming rate and in order to stem it, eff ective measures such as social distancing and isolation should be practised.He said the government is extending the lockdown until May 19.The Baluchistan government had earlier warned that it would extend the lockdown due to the rise in cases.

Authorities establishing quarantine centres at three border crossings

The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) is establishing quarantine centres at Taftan, Chaman and Torkham border crossings, with a combined capacity of 1,200 rooms.According to an NDMA spokesperson, a quarantine centre of 600 rooms is being established at Taftan, while the centres at Chaman and Torkham will have 300 rooms each.He said the quarantine facility at Torkham has been completed and handed over to the local administration.

PHILIPPINES

17Gulf Times Wednesday, May 6, 2020

Telecom commission orders top broadcaster to halt operationsAFPManila

The Philippines’ top broadcaster ABS-CBN was forced off air yes-

terday over a stalled operating licence renewal, drawing fresh accusations that the authori-ties are cracking down on press freedom.

Since running afoul of Presi-dent Rodrigo Duterte in 2016, ABS-CBN has seen proposals to extend its franchise languish in Congress as the leader repeat-edly attacked the conglomerate in speeches.

Duterte is notorious for tan-gling with media outlets critical of his policies, sparking concern that press freedoms have been eroded in the Philippines.

“It’s painful for us that we are being shut down, but it’s also painful for millions of our coun-trymen who believe that our service is important to them,” chairman Mark Lopez told viewers just before the main channel went dark.

Outside the company’s broadcast compound, a handful of supporters waved placards against a backdrop of burning candles.

ABS-CBN’s 25-year licence expired on Monday, but offi cials had previously given assurances the radio, TV and Internet gi-ant would be allowed to operate provisionally.

However, the National Tele-communications Commission’s cease-and-desist order yes-terday cited the expiration and said the outfi t’s operators would have to appeal for a return to the airwaves.

Early in his term, Duterte ac-cused the network of failing to broadcast his 2016 campaign advertisements and not re-turning the payments made for them.

Pressure groups said the shutdown order was an assault on the right to free speech, as the conglomerate broadcasts news coverage watched by mil-lions daily.

The shutdown also comes as the nation battles to contain the coronavirus pandemic and an accompanying fl ood of online disinformation.

“This is a very serious blow to press freedom in the Philip-pines,” said Carlos Conde of Human Rights Watch. “It’s hard to think that Duterte doesn’t have anything to do with this.”

Amnesty International’s

Butch Olano said the move was “especially reckless as the country deals with the Cov-id-19 pandemic”.

“This is a dark day for me-dia freedom in the Philippines, reminiscent of martial law when the dictatorship seized control over news agencies.”

It appeared the broadcaster would get its renewal after pub-licly apologising to Duterte ear-lier this year.

However, government lawyer Jose Calida had fi led a legal case that sought ABS-CBN’s imme-diate closure.

Although the Supreme Court

has yet to rule on the case, Cali-da warned it would be unlawful for the broadcaster to operate after its licence expired.

Several major media outlets have suff ered the consequences after battling Duterte.

Journalist Maria Ressa faces years behind bars, after pub-lishing critical stories on her website Rappler — which is now also battling a government clo-sure eff ort.

Both Rappler and ABS-CBN are accused of violating a con-stitutional ban on foreign own-ership of mass media outlets, allegations they deny.

Education agency proposes fl exible college reopeningBy Franz Lewin EmbudoManila Times

The Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) has recommended the imple-

mentation of a fl exible system for the reopening of classes of colleges and universities in the country for year 2020-2021.

“I have submitted the position of the Commission to the IATF (Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infec-tious Diseases) last week and the position of the Commission is to

do a rolling opening of classes,” CHEd chairman J Prospero de Vera 3rd said in a television in-terview.

De Vera said universities that were ready to implement flex-ible learning systems could open classes in August while those faced with “difficulties” could start in September or even later.

Under a flexible learning system, schools adjust the learning process based on the location of the students and the structure of the learning system. It includes online and

offline activities.The CHEd chief said schools could decide when to open classes based on the situation in their localities, their discussions with local governments and the compli-ance with health protocols.

“When we design the open-ing of classes, we must serious-ly discuss with private univer-sities and capacitate them on how to go about flexible learn-ing,” he said.

De Vera said the existing practices on flexible learning, including online learning, was “more practiced and preva-

lent” in higher education insti-tutions than in K to 12 schools.

He said there were schools that have been doing flexible learning systems even before the pandemic, and these uni-versities could start classes un-der the “new normal.”

Mapua University, Ateneo de Manila University, De La Salle University, the University of Sto. Tomas and the Univer-sity of the Philippines Open University already used online learning before the enhanced community quarantine.

The CHEd chief said other

universities were redesign-ing their syllabi and adjusting schedules for flexible learning.

De Vera said the commission would roll out a massive train-ing programme for teachers on how to do flexible learning this month.

“We are also helping the universities. We are discussing with them how to set up their learning management system,” he said.

The CHEd chief noted that the aim of the flexible learn-ing system was to decongest schools.

First ‘mega swabbing centre’ opensBy John E Mendoza Manila Times

The fi rst mega swabbing centre opened in Manila yesterday, in line with the

government’s bid for targeted mass testing of individuals who may be infected with the coro-navirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).

Health Secretary Francisco Duque 3rd, Secretary Carlito Galvez, National Action Plan Against Covid-19 chief imple-menter; and Secretary Vince Di-zon, deputy chief implementer were present at the swabbing facility in Palacio de Manila on Roxas Boulevard.

Three more swab centres — Enderrun Colleges in Taguig City, Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City, and the Philippine Arena in Bulacan — will be opened to the public within the week.

These mega facilities can do 5,000 confi rmatory tests a day using the reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) kits, which the Depart-ment of Health considers as the “gold standard” for testing pa-tients.

The DoH said these kits could detect the actual virus known as SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute res-piratory syndrome coronavirus 2). This is unlike the rapid test kits, which only detect the pa-tient’s antibodies.

It said since the body takes time to develop antibodies, an infected patient using the rapid test kit may yield a negative re-sult.

A false positive result may also happen when there is “a cross reaction” with other bacteria or viruses.

So far, the country has con-ducted 126,164 RT-PCR tests.

Workers of ABS-CBN and members of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines rally to show support for the broadcaster in Manila, yesterday.

Security guards stand outside the headquarters of ABS-CBN network following government orders to cease its operations, in Quezon City, Metro Manila, yesterday.

Duterte apologises to tycoons over commentsReutersManila

Philippine President Rodri-go Duterte has apologised for his “hurting words”

about two tycoons whom he openly dislikes, responding to their help in fi ghting the corona-virus by off ering an olive branch to settle a costly regulatory row.

Shares in conglomerates Ay-ala Corp and Metro Pacifi c In-vestments Corp, owners of the country’s two largest water dis-tributors, climbed yesterday fol-lowing the president’s late night apology.

“So maybe there will be a lot of legal issues but we can talk. I am ready to talk and I would be reasonable,” Duterte said during a televised speech.

“My hurtful words to the Ayalas and to (Manuel) Pangil-inan, I apologise for the hurting words,” he said, adding that the novel coronavirus outbreak had humbled him.

During his four years in offi ce, Duterte has repeatedly lashed out at Pangilinan and the Ayala family for numerous reasons.

The billionaires typically do not comment on his remarks.

Between them, their fi rms have a telecoms duopoly and major interests in real estate, retail, renewable energy, health-care, power, education and in-frastructure.

The Philippines was among the fi rst countries to enforce strict home quarantine measures against coronavirus. The capital, Manila, and several other ur-ban centres have been under a strict lockdown for nearly seven weeks.

Private fi rms have donated much-needed protective gear and other supplies to hospitals and the public, plugging some gaps in government eff orts.

Ayala Corp rose as much as

8.5% while subsidiary Manila Water Co Inc spiked up to 13.2% and infrastructure conglomer-ate Metro Pacifi c rose as much as 11.6%, all outpacing the 1.8% uptick of the broader index.

Duterte had criticised con-tracts of Manila Water and Metro Pacifi c’s Maynilad Water “oner-ous and disadvantageous” to the public and threatened to strip them of their concessions.

His public barbs since Decem-ber have caused big share price losses for the companies, and rattled investors already wary about regulatory risks from Du-terte’s notorious volatility and his infl uence over courts and Congress.

The companies’ concessions, which allow them to service a combined 16mn customers mostly in the capital, will expire in 2022 but are subject to a 15-year extension under review.

In a statement, Ayala’s top executives welcomed Duterte’s comments, committing to help the government to save lives and gradually put the country back on a growth path.

Pangilinan also welcomed Duterte’s remarks, saying his group was willing to work with the government.

Army soldiers join volunteers in distributing relief goods to residents at Bagong Silangan in Quezon City, amid the extended community quarantine to curb Covid-19.

Relief goods distribution

Prospero de Vera: seeking flexibility

Contact tracing apps emerge as potent toolBy Jan Arcilla Manila Times

Contact tracing mobile applications are emerg-ing as a powerful tool in

fi ghting the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic.

A number of contact trac-ing apps and online platforms available now can complement eff orts to track down and moni-tor people who may have been

in contact with an infected in-dividual.

Contact tracing refers to the act of tracking down potential virus carriers, isolating them and preventing them from con-tinuing the virus chain.

Traditionally, contact tracing is labour-intensive and may not be viable in areas where there is a high community transmission rate.

France, Israel, Germany, Sin-gapore, South Korea and other

Asian countries have deployed or have made proposals for tech-assisted contact tracing measures.

In the Philippines, there are apps and online platforms that can perform contact tracing.

The government’s National Task Force Against Covid-19 has partnered with software solutions company MultiSys to launch StaySafe.ph for real-time tracking of suspected and confi rmed Covid cases.

The online platform was de-signed for use by medical front-liners, local government units, private companies, as well as the national government.

The Philippine Red Cross (PRC) launched its RC143 mo-bile app, named after the Red Cross’ community-based vol-unteer programme, which uses wireless, geolocation and sensory capabilities of mobile phones to trace contact events between people.

Duterte: expressing regret

Documents in Qatar Digital Library show the expansion of electric telegraphy through the Gulf in the 1860s

Doha

The Gulf region is one of the world’s oldest crossroads of global trade and cross-cultural exchange. Geographically, it

is a natural maritime highway between the Middle East and South Asia, and beyond. Historically, trade and communication between the Gulf and South Asia was slow, subject to the monsoon winds in the days of sail.

Today, of course, communication between the Gulf and the rest of the world is instant, measured in seconds instead of months. Most people would assume that the instant communication revolution in the Gulf happened in the mid-20th century with the introduction of telephones, but it actually began a hundred years before, with the Gulf’s fi rst electric telegraph. Now, thanks to the painstaking work of archivists and historians working on the Qatar Digital Library (QDL), new light is being shed on this little-understood episode in Gulf history.

Long-distance communication through various forms of telegraphy (beacons, drums, fl ags) has been practised for over 2,000 years, but it was not until the start of the Victorian Era, in 1837, that the fi rst commercial electric telegraph appeared, in Britain. Refi nements to the system continued until, by the 1850s, its value was well-established. Then, in the 1860s, Britain sought to build a commercial telegraph line all the way to its most important colony, British India. As a result, the Gulf became one of the most important communication corridors of the British Empire.

A series of historical documents held by the British Library and now available on the QDL reveal how the proposal to extend Britain’s telegraph line through the Gulf was fi rst made in May 1860. That month, John Wortley de la More, an entrepreneur in the telegraph industry, outlined his plans to extend the existing lines further through Persia and the Gulf by establishing a link fi rst from Baghdad to Basra, and then from Basra to Karachi, British India’s westernmost port (in modern-day Pakistan).

The ambitious plan was outlined in a letter to British India’s Political Resident in the Gulf, Sir Lewis Pelly. Another 61 records document the plan’s implementation between 1862 and 1864, carried out by cable ships, which laid a 2,000-km underwater telegraph cable from Basra to Karachi. One of these records gives details of Pelly’s negotiations with the Sultan of Muscat, ThuwaynI bin Sa id Al Bu Sa id, which resulted in a fascinating handwritten agreement in Arabic and English, signed in November 1864, permitting the telegraph cable to be laid through the Ras Musandam Peninsula and potentially Bandar Abbas (the latter being leased to the Sultan at the time by the Shah of Persia).

In November 1869, a cable ship arrived in the Gulf to begin laying a telegraph cable from Jask in eastern Persia to Bombay in India. In an undated letter on the QDL, Pelly reported on the construction of a large telegraph station at Jask. A photograph of this impressive-looking station, dating from around 1870, can be seen elsewhere on the QDL.

While there were some setbacks, the new telegraph line through the Gulf was a huge success. It enabled people in Britain and British India to communicate with each other in days instead of months, while people in the Gulf were able to communicate with India within hours instead of weeks. Since the telegraph was commercial, merchants could use it as well, helping to greatly expand trade between the Gulf and India.

Dr James Onley, Director of Historical Research and Partnerships at Qatar National Library, says: “Users of the QDL will be amazed at the wealth of material available from the British Library, which houses the world’s single most important archival collection on the Gulf region. A search for ‘telegraph’ on the QDL will produce over 51,000 hits across 4,562 records. If we narrow our results down to the 1860s, we

get 378 hits across 134 documents. If we focus on just 1862, we get 101 hits across 35 records. The QDL, just like the telegraph itself, saves its users time: taking just minutes what would have taken months. Indeed, the QDL can be viewed as part of the same communications revolution started by the telegraph 160 years ago. Where the telegraph once connected people in the Gulf with Britain and India, now the QDL connects people everywhere with historical records on the Gulf in Britain and, eventually, India as well.”

Dr Onley added: “The QDL is changing

the way scholars and students research the history of the Gulf region. It has become their fi rst port of call, enabling them to fi nd in seconds what used to take them weeks, months or even years. It is making the past more accessible than ever, leading to a sharp increase in the number of exciting new historical studies on the Gulf—the least-studied region in the Middle East.”

Learn more about this topic on the QDL by visiting: https://www.qdl.qa/en/telegraphy-gulf%E2%80%99s-most-admired-means-communication-1860s

Gulf Times Wednesday, May 6, 2020

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EDITOR-IN-CHIEFFaisal Abdulhameed al-Mudahka

Deputy Managing EditorK T Chacko

The ‘S’ of ESGinvesting in focusamid virus fi ght

In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, ESG-focused investors are increasingly seen judging companies on their coronavirus response.

In a wider sense, the three pillars of the ESG investing have never been equals. The “E,” for environmental, has dominated the “S” for social and “G” for governance, refl ecting concerns about climate change.

But the pandemic has given the “S” a big boost, with social bonds becoming the fastest-growing part of sustainable fi nance. It’s prompted some ESG investors to redirect their eff orts from climate toward social issues.

A group of more than 300 investors representing over $8.4tn in assets recently urged businesses to take steps to protect their workers and communities from the impact of the virus, including providing workers with paid leave and avoiding layoff s.

As investors zero in on social, they’ll likely focus in the short-term on what Covid-19 relief companies are providing for communities, consumers and other stakeholders, according Kara Mangone, chief operating offi cer of Goldman Sachs Group’s sustainable fi nance group. Over the longer term, investors will ask questions about companies’ process and oversight, as well as how the board is engaged on these topics, she said.

Even before the pandemic, there’s been a growing focus among ESG investors on how companies treat their workers and how they benefi t society. The risk of brand damage for companies seen as engaging in anti-social behaviour has also increased.

The common notion that underpins social investing is that capitalism has

obligations that go beyond shareholders and return on equity. Investors and companies also need to consider their impact on customers, employees, local communities and society in general.

ESG investing accounts for concerns from gender equality to worker rights to new ways to provide funding to charities working in poor countries. What was once a fringe approach has now seen big investors, with KKR, Vanguard Asset Management and Columbia Threadneedle Investments, creating funds focused on social concerns.

A recent analysis by Moody’s Investors Service suggested social considerations posed “high credit risk” to $8tn of debt that it assesses. Moody’s is now paying more attention to environmental and social issues when assessing companies’ risk as the fi nancial impact becomes clearer.

Even before the pandemic, impact investing (to fund a particular project with social goals) was a fast-growing sector, with over $500bn in assets globally at the end of 2018, according to the Global Impact Investing Network. It remains only a fraction of the more than $30tn of funds allocated toward ESG strategies, though.

Issuance of securities to fund projects with positive social benefi ts are already taking off in the Asia-Pacifi c region, reaching $5.2bn so far this year, or nearly 90% of the total in 2019, according to BloombergNEF data.

Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund, the world’s biggest retirement fund, and the Asian Development Bank have both said they are increasing holdings of ESG assets.

More than 1,500 investment managers have signed up to the UN Principles for Responsible Investment and the ESG sector is now the fastest-growing part of the market.

Social bonds have become the fastest-growing part of sustainable fi nance amid the pandemic

Qatar Digital Library sheds light on fi rst communications revolution in the Gulf

A photograph, dating from around 1870, of the telegraph station at Jask.

The handwritten agreement in Arabic and English, signed in November 1864, permitting the telegraph cable to be laid through the Ras Musandam Peninsula and potentially Bandar Abbas.

Qatar National LibraryQatar National Library acts as a steward of Qatar’s national heritage by collecting, preserving and making available the country’s recorded history. The Library provides equal access to all types of information and services and aims to enable the people of Qatar to positively influence society by creating an exceptional learning and discovery environment. His Highness Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, the Amir of Qatar, officially inaugurated Qatar National

Library on 16 April 2018. The Library was granted the status of national library under the Amiri Decree No 11 of 20 March 2018.Website: www.qnl.qaThe Library’s e-newsletter: http://qnl.qa/programs-and-services/subscribe-qnl-newsletter Twitter: @QNLibInstagram: QatarNationalLibrarySnapchat: QnlibFacebook: www.facebook.com/TheQa-tarNationalLibrary

By Dr Milena Dobreva-McPherson, Associate Professor, UCL Qatar

The Covid-19 pandemic has played a major role

in boosting digital transformations in various sectors. If we were asked before the pandemic whether we lived in a digital society, most of us would have agreed. But this uncommon situation has demonstrated how we can immerse ourselves into the digital world even further. Besides multiple businesses, the education, research and culture sectors have had to rethink their operations and quickly establish what those working on digital transformations would call digital twins.

A digital twin is a replica of a physical phenomenon or entity and its behaviour in the physical world. First established back in 2003, digital twins were used for various manufacturing situations, to better understand city infrastructures and support smart cities’ environments. Having a digital twin helps to better understand the physical entity and to identify possible functional improvements. With the pandemic restricting people to their homes around the world, we had to suddenly create digital twins, not only as instruments which help us to understand physical phenomena, but as rapid temporary replacements of them.

One area which did not adapt quickly to this change was the delivery of academic events. Wikipedia already maintains a page on essential events which have been aff ected by the pandemic. This page lists over 60 conferences which have been cancelled, over 20 events that have been postponed and some 9 scientifi c fora which have been transformed into online events. While this page is

not guaranteed to capture all aff ected activities of the academic communities accurately, even as an indicative representation, it is surprising to note that only a small proportion of academic events are being adapted so they can be held online.

So why are online academic events still an exception rather than a rule? For the time being, we do not have a systematic answer, but there is some anecdotal evidence about online academic conference experiences.

The usual form of online delivery is to use videoconferencing or webcasting applications such as Zoom, WebEx, or Adobe Connect. However, besides the costs and security factors, emerging issues around participation show that the academic community across various disciplines still needs to gain more experience of using videoconferencing tools. Similarly, if a conference requires the presenters to pre-record their research papers, this involves another set of fi lming and editing skills that not everyone has, and tools that not everyone has access to.

The growing videoconferencing fatigue reported a few weeks after social isolation began is another contributing factor to the diffi culties associated with switching to online delivery; especially as online events bring together participants from multiple timezones. Additionally, it can be diffi cult to get to grips with using multiple videoconferencing tools, which all have diff erent systems and user experiences. And trying to remember how to operate the chat function for a less familiar tool can be even more challenging when a conference is taking place live and you are trying to follow the content.

Last but not least, the growing dependence on Internet bandwidth for online events impacts participants’ experiences, as advanced access to the internet diff ers in various parts of the world.

While keeping these factors in mind, UCL Qatar was challenged to choose an innovative way to deliver the 24th International Conference on Electronic Publishing (ElPub 2020). ElPub 2020 attracts communities of academics, students, practitioners, activists and policymakers interested in all aspects related to digital communication. The conference is a strong supporter of debates around Open Access, Open Science, and the digital divide. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the event was delivered as a hybrid online conference combining videos of four keynote talks with a more unconventional delivery of twenty papers through Twitter.

We had participants from Australia, Asia, Europe, South and North America; starting with a session led by contributions from Australia, and moving on to contributions from USA, Brazil and others. We grouped the papers in sessions, each focussing on a specifi c topic, which allowed participants from various time zones to attend based on their topic of

choice. Each paper was presented as a thread of 8-12 tweets, prepared by the authors and sent to the host in advance. The tweets could feature up to four images or small videos. For ease of access, the tweets were shared from the conference account; this allowed for exchange of thought to be more focused, allowing contributions to be highlighted more effi ciently and to a wider audience.

Adapting the conference to the current situation instead of simply cancelling the event demonstrated the exceptional commitment of UCL Qatar to sustain the continuity of this long-standing series of conferences.

We can expect that more events will experiment with diff erent types of digital delivery in the future. Similar to other activities, the discovery that a digital twin can be applied to conferences successfully and help to engage bigger audiences, is likely to lead to a wider spread of online conferences in the future.

UCL Qatar is planning three

other major events in 2020. The 5th Annual Forum of the Qatar Library and Information Association, the Bridging the Digital Divide of Smaller

Cultural Heritage Institutions in Europe event and the 2nd International Conference on Museum Big Data (MBD2).

COMMENT

Gulf Times Wednesday, May 6, 2020 19

Business leaders commit to a clean economic recoveryBy Bertrand PiccardLausanne

The Covid-19 crisis is far from over. Yet, even as people continue to transmit the coronavirus and the death toll

mounts remorselessly, pressure for a return to normal is already growing in some quarters.

The immediate question is what normal even means. After all, the global economy was built on a fragile, unsustainable, and unequal basis and could hardly be called normal. A tenuous political, ecological, and socioeconomic system that was already existentially threatened by climate change has now been brought low by a microscopic nemesis. Is that really the type of society we want to see emerge from this crisis?

Imagine, instead, that the Covid-19 crisis does pave the way to a new world. What might it look like? Commentaries and analyses proposing what should come next are everywhere. But simply calling for change won’t make it happen. That is why the Solar Impulse Foundation and its corporate partners are committing to implementing concrete solutions ourselves.

All told, the Foundation’s partners account for more than one million jobs worldwide, as well as a considerable share of the global economy. We produce everything from critical health-care equipment to basic and

luxury goods and raw materials. We manage fi nancial products, build new infrastructure, and provide clean energy. Our activities help people to feed and clothe themselves and their families, stay warm, travel, and pursue the lives they want to lead.

As major economic and industrial players, we are fully aware of our role in society, and we will do everything we can to build a better post-pandemic world – cleaner, fairer, more sustainable, more effi cient, and more respectful of biodiversity and the climate. Though the Covid-19 crisis is hitting us as hard as anyone else, we remain committed to meeting our emissions-reduction targets and ushering in a circular economy, by promoting sustainable and aff ordable food, renewable energies, and fair-trade products.

We will do this with clean technologies whose development the Solar Impulse Foundation has been supporting through its 1000 Solutions Challenge for several years now. Regardless of what sector one operates in – from water, energy, and infrastructure to transportation, manufacturing, and agriculture – innovations are emerging to ensure sustainability.

Our commitment is not just to the planet, but also to the economy. Today’s clean technologies are increasingly good for business. They furnish us with less costly renewable energy and more effi cient industrial

processes. They reduce waste and pollution, and streamline recycling. As assets that are both clean and profi table, they are a key engine of qualitative, rather than merely quantitative, economic growth.

With clean technologies, we can create an entirely new economic system in which consumption is improved even as we consume less. Environmentalists’ interests would no longer be pitted against those of the major industrial players. Instead, we would all be focused on the same goals: to create good jobs, support social welfare, and improve the quality of life on this planet.

In the case of the Covid-19 crisis, some commentators have welcomed the halt to human activities, insofar as this has reduced pollution and greenhouse-gas emissions. But this is no cause for celebration. Millions will suff er through the downturn. The current situation demonstrates precisely how fragile the prevailing economic model has become, and it increases the urgency of creating a system in which economic interests go hand in hand with those of the planet.

Some companies have already begun to use the technologies needed to do this. But adoption must become more widespread, so that clean tech becomes the new normal to which we return when the pandemic threat has passed.

To that end, we are calling on all governments to implement ambitious environmental policies, off ering clear

strategies and sector-specifi c targets that will drive the necessary investments. Moreover, we want all legal or legislative frameworks to avoid distortion of competition between market actors who are part of the solution and those who continue to act as if there was no environmental crisis at all.

Though it is a terrible tragedy, the pandemic can serve as an opportunity to rebuild on a new, more sustainable footing. The Solar Impulse Foundation and its partners are committed to doing precisely that, and we urge governments and the rest of the business community to join us. - Project Syndicate

(This commentary is co-authored by the following Solar Impulse Foundation partners: Bernard Arnault, Chairman and CEO, LVMH; Pierre-Etienne Bindschedler, CEO, SOPREMA; Jean-Laurent Bonnafé, Director and CEO, BNP Paribas; Jean-Pierre Clamadieu, Chairman of the Board of Directors, ENGIE; Ilham Kadri, CEO, Chairman of Executive Committee, Solvay; Georges Kern, CEO, Breitling; Florent Menegaux, Chief Executive Offi cer, Michelin and President, Movin’On; Benoît Potier, Chairman and CEO, Air Liquide; Anne Rigail, CEO, Air France; Mark Schneider, CEO, Nestlé; Markus Steilemann, CEO, Covestro; and Jean-Pascal Tricoire, Chairman and CEO, Schneider Electric).

Bertrand Piccard is Chairman of the Solar Impulse Foundation.

Can a conference have a digital twin?

Fluctuation in interest on the day of delivery (21 April) – it is interesting to see how the retweets grow later in the day (screenshot from followerwonk) Geographic spread of mentions (screen capture from Tweetonomy)

Screen capture from Twitter Analytics – conference account had 92.8K impres-sions, 287 mentions, 91 new followers.

Virus detectives tracking Covid-19 to its genetic originsAFPParis

China reported its fi rst cases of the new coronavirus in December.

But was Covid-19 already silently circulating? To fi nd out scientists are looking for “patient zeros” by tracking the evolution of the virus itself.

This genetic detective work is tracing the family tree of the coronavirus that has killed tens of thousands in its relentless spread across the planet.

It could also help fi nd out if the virus was spreading in other countries before the fi rst infections were offi cially recorded.

In France, a cluster of cases was discovered in late January.

But a new study published in the International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents has suggested the virus was already in the country a month earlier.

A retrospective analysis of samples taken from 14 intensive care patients with infl uenza-like symptoms at the

Avicenne and Jean-Verdier hospitals in Paris found one positive Covid-19 case — a 42-year-old French resident who had not visited China.

He was hospitalised on December 27.Olivier Bouchaud, head of the

infectious diseases department at Avicenne said at fi rst the virus spreads “quietly in the population, without anyone detecting its presence”.

So evidence of earlier infections would only confi rm what many scientists had suspected, he told AFP.

It might also help explain cases like that of Aicha, a 57-year-old medical secretary who was hospitalised in Marseille in mid-January with severe respiratory symptoms.

At the time the mysterious outbreak of pneumonia cases in the Chinese city of Wuhan was still seen as a faraway problem.

France did not have a single case and the World Health Organisation was still weeks away from giving it the name Covid-19.

Aicha’s husband Jacques, a doctor, said she had “all the clinical signs” of the

disease, including loss of taste and smell.But her tests have been inconclusive.Other countries are discovering they

may have had earlier infections.In the United States, autopsies

performed on suspicious deaths in California have revealed infections before the fi rst offi cial case on January 21.

In China, Wuhan health authorities have spoken of an initial case on December 8.

A study published in The Lancet in January said the fi rst patient identifi ed in the city started showing symptoms on December 1.

The timeline has been roughly corroborated by research mapping out the genetic evolution of the virus.

So far the genomes of more than 15,000 samples of the new coronavirus have been sequenced.

Imperial College London, in collaboration with the WHO, has also traced the virus’ family tree, estimating that it appeared in China on December 5 (with a margin of uncertainty between November 6 and December 13).

Erik Volz, an epidemiologist at

Imperial College, said all of the very earliest genetic sequences of the virus collected in Wuhan in December and January “have almost identical genomes”.

He said estimates of the dates of these “seeding events” suggests the epidemics in many European and North American cities began in mid-January or early February.

Italian research suggests the virus arrived in Lombardy between the second half of January and the beginning of February — weeks before the fi rst infections were confi rmed on February 20.

Football players for Inter Milan have said they suff ered symptoms of the virus at the beginning of the year.

Could they have had it? Belgian Inter Milan striker Romelu

Lukaku said in a recent radio interview the players were not tested for the virus at the time.

Even if they took serological tests now and antibodies were found in their blood, it would not confi rm when they were infected. “We will never know,” said Lukaku.

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The Public Works Author-ity (Ashghal) has com-pleted 50% of the works

of Qatar’s first cable-stayed bridge on the prestigious Sabah Al Ahmad Corridor.

A Twitter video by Ashghal said that the bridge will be opened in 2021. The installa-tion of 120 cables has started to support the 150m stretch.

Ashghal started the con-struction of the unique bridge in April 2019. The 1,200m-long bridge extends prior to Haloul Roundabout through Faleh Bin Nasser Intersection on Salwa Road to provide free traffic flow between Hamad International Airport (HIA) and the areas of Bu Hamour, Mesaimeer and Al Waab.

With four lanes in each di-rection, the bridge will accom-modate more than 16,000 vehi-cles an hour.

The bridge that is to pass over Haloul intersection as well as Faleh Bin Nasser intersec-tion on Salwa Road will ease the congestion in the vital area sig-nificantly.

The bridge is constructed without pylons for a distance of 150m, but cables instead for support. The construction needs 854 precast reinforced concrete pieces, each weighing 200 tonnes, and 20 pylons and 16 piers to reach the highest point of 30m.

Works of Sabah Al Ahmad Corridor commenced on Feb-ruary 24, 2019 in appreciation of Kuwait Amir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmed al-Jaber al-Sabah

in order to make the brotherly relationship between the two countries stronger. It’s the first project in Qatar to be termed corridor instead of road due to its great importance and speci-fications of unique construc-tion.

It extends for approximately 25km from HIA to Umm Lekhba Interchange on Doha Express-way. Works as part of the corri-dor include upgrading E Ring, F Ring, Mesaimeer, Al Bustan, Bu Erayyen and Lebday roads and sections of Al Markhiya Street.

In addition, Ashghal will en-hance 12km of local and periph-eral roads intersecting with the Corridor. The total road works of the project is about 37km.

Sabah Al Ahmad Corridor has the longest bridge, deepest and longest bi-directional tunnel.

With a length of 1,200m, the cable-stayed bridge on the cor-ridor extends from Mesaimeer Road to Al Bustan Street and crosses over Halul Intersection on Mesaimeer Road and Faleh Bin Nasser Intersection on Salwa Road.

20 Gulf TimesWednesday, May 6, 2020

QATAR

50% work completed on Qatar’s fi rst cable-stayed bridge: Ashghal

The bridge on the prestigious Sabah Al Ahmad Corridor is slated to open in 2021 and is set to accommodate more than 16,000 vehicles an hour

An artist’s impression of the underside of the cable-stayed bridge.

Upon completion, the cable-stayed bridge will look like this as portrayed by an artist.

Carrefour Qatar to expand online shopping capacityBy Joey AguilarStaff Reporter

Carrefour Qatar is plan-ning to open a new fulfi l-ment centre before year-

end aimed at further increasing its online shopping capacity as demand continues to surge, the company’s country manager, Laurent Hausknecht has said.

“Our daily online capacity has reached 500 orders. Our plan, be-fore the end of the year, is to open a new fulfi lment centre, to jump to 1,000 deliveries daily,” he told Gulf Times.

Hausknecht noted that Car-refour Qatar data shows a strong uplift increase on online shopping with four times more demand compared to two months ago. As a result, he said, they are replenish-ing stocks frequently and doubled the capacity of their fulfi lment centre by doubling the number of staff . In addition, and with the help of Qatar Post, Carrefour also doubled the number of its trucks to guarantee timely delivery to its online customers.

Customers who prefer to avoid coming to the store can order their groceries and essentials from Carrefour Qatar webstore, through carrefourqatar.com or from the Carrefour mobile appli-cation, which can be downloaded on the Apple store or Google Play.

More than 10,000 items are posted for online orders, includ-ing fresh produce, beverages, home care items, and electronics, among others.

Apart from the Carrefour on the Talabat app, which has more than 2,000 essential products on

the platform (same day delivery), Carrefour Qatar is also plan-ning to off er a ‘Click and Collect’ service this year upon ensuring to off er a premium service to its customers. Since the beginning of the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, Hausknecht said Car-refour has been working closely with the Ministry of Public Health by quickly applying several new measures and adopting new ini-tiatives in its stores to protect the community.

“We would like to thank the Qatar government for their eff orts in fi ghting Covid-19 in Qatar and for helping us implement impor-tant steps in store and across our operations,” he said. The country manager said many customers have been fast at adapting to this new reality and changing the way they shop. “From coming pre-pared with their shopping list, to

wearing a mask while shopping and cleaning thoroughly their hands, most shoppers have un-derstood the importance of re-sponsible shopping and we con-tinue to reiterate this to all our customers,” he added.

“Accordingly, Carrefour has launched several awareness cam-paigns on the topic, by creating shopping tips videos and in-formative posts on social media. In addition, key in-store mes-sages have been displayed at the entrance and throughout every store and advisories are regu-larly broadcast on the intercom to remind customers to maintain social distancing in fi ve diff erent languages,” Hausknecht said.

“All Carrefour colleagues are fully committed to maintain a pleasant shopping experience in store and online for our custom-ers.”

Carrefour constantly cleans trolleys.

Laurent Hausknecht at a Carrefour store.

Doha Festival City, QC distribute Ramadan food baskets to workersIn collaboration with Qa-

tar Charity, Doha Festival City donated 500 boxes to

workers living in Doha’s In-dustrial Area.

The Ramadan donations boxes, which contained food essentials including rice, oil, lentils, sugar, dates, juices and tea, were distributed with the support of Qatar Charity em-ployees and volunteers.

“Doha Festival City is al-ways committed to providing support and care to our com-munity. Now more than ever, with the impact of the coro-navirus outbreak and during the holy month of Ramadan, a sense of unity is so important,”

general manager Robert Hall said. “We are grateful to Qatar Charity for their collaboration with us on this worthy cause. We hope that through this ini-tiative, we can positively im-pact the lives of those affected right now,” he added.

Doha Festival City is one of the largest such developments in the Middle East, offering almost a quarter of a million square metre of leasable space.

Qatar Charity thanked the Doha Festival City manage-ment for the support, which would contribute to the efforts aimed at curbing the spread of the coronavirus and reduc-ing infections. Qatar Charity

urged other companies and or-ganisations to support the ini-tiative and meet the needs of

the workers and low-income families in the blessed month of Ramadan.

The Ramadan donation boxes contained food essentials.

Some 500 boxes were distributed to workers in Industrial Area.

Qatar Museums, HMC launch campaign for virtual GarangaoQatar Museums (QM) and Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) have launched the ‘Stay Home, Stay Safe’ campaign, to invite families in Qatar to virtually come together and celebrate Garangao. This initiative is part of the ongoing partnership between QM and HMC and aims to encourage families to practise safe social distancing while celebrating the traditional night of festivities by sharing children’s photographs dressed in traditional Garangao clothes, according to a press statement.The photos submitted will be posted on the QM and HMC

Instagram pages to spread the joy and happiness of the holy month of Ramadan, the statement notes. Garangao is a Ramadan

tradition that is widely celebrated by children across Qatar and the Gulf region. On this night, children usually walk around

their neighbourhoods singing traditional songs that mark the occasion and receive gifts and bags of sweets from their elders. The initiative supports the wider eff orts of the Ministry of Public Health, HMC and Primary Health Care Corporation, to limit the spread of Covid-19. A key goal of this initiative is to encourage social responsibility by encouraging the community to stay at home. Families that wish to submit their children’s photos can send it via direct message to Qatar Museums’ Instagram account (@qatar_museums).