In brief

GULF TIMES

published in

QATAR

since 1978SUNDAY Vol. XXXXI No. 11509

April 5, 2020Sha’ban 12, 1441 AH www. gulf-times.com 2 Riyals

BUSINESS | Page 1 QATAR | Page 3

Italian online platformeyes Qatar as hub for itsinternational expansion

Kahramaa plans toopen 100 electric carcharging stations yearly

Bryant heads 2020 Hallof Fame honorees

Two Kennedy family members ‘dead’

MoI ban on waterscooters, jet boats

Four held for floutingquarantine conditions

Five-time NBA champion Kobe Bryant headed a star-studded list of honorees named to basketball’s 2020 Hall of Fame yesterday. The Los Angeles Lakers icon, who died in a helicopter crash in January, was named alongside nine honorees who will be enshrined at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on August 29. Joining Bryant in the sport’s pantheon are three-time NBA Finals MVP Tim Duncan, 15-time NBA All-Star Kevin Garnett, two-time NBA champion coach Rudy Tomjanovich and four-time Olympic medallist Tamika Catchings. Sport Page 3

Two members of the Kennedy political dynasty, including a grand-niece of John F Kennedy, are now presumed dead after they went missing during a canoe trip, the family said yesterday. It looks to be the latest chapter of heartbreak for a family that has suffered tragedy after tragedy, in the form of untimely deaths, since President Kennedy himself was assassinated in Dallas in 1963. This time it involves a grand-niece of the late president, Maeve Kennedy McKean, 40, and her eight-year-old son Gideon. They disappeared on Thursday while canoeing in the South River in Maryland, near the vast Chesapeake Bay, Governor Larry Hogan said on Friday.

The Ministry of Interior (MoI) has announced that it has banned the movement of all types of water scooters and jet boats until further notice. The move is aimed at ensuring the safety and health of marine sports enthusiasts, according to a post by the MoI on social media.

The Ministry of Public Health announced yesterday the arrest of four people who violated the requirements of the home quarantine pledge for which they are legally accountable, in accordance with the procedures of the health authorities in the country. The ministry said the arrests came in implementation of the health precautionary measures in force to ensure public safety, to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus (Covid-19). The violators (all Qatari citizens) are being referred to prosecution. They are: Salem Saad Salem Mohamed al-Habbabi, Salim Hadi Salem al-Hatheeth al-Habbabi, Salem Hadi Mohamed Hadi al-Hajri and Hamid Mohamed Salem Hadi al-Habbabi.

World’s virus toll tops 60,000 as mask debate ragesAFPLondon

The global death toll in the coro-navirus crisis soared past 60,000 on yesterday as calls grew for

citizens to wear face masks to halt the pandemic’s devastating spread.

New York state, the worst affected in the US, saw a record 630 deaths in a single day. Britain too reported a new daily high in fatalities, including a five-year-old child.

There was better news from hard-hit Italy and Spain, where infection and fatality rates were slowing down, offering a glimmer of hope for Europe.

More than 1.1mn people have now fallen ill and over 60,000 people have died since the virus emerged in China late last year. Billions of people are liv-ing under some form of lockdown, with

roughly half the planet confined to their homes, with schools and businesses closed to help stem the outbreak, at huge cost to the global economy.

Europe continues to bear the brunt of the epidemic, accounting for over 45,000 of the worldwide deaths, but the situation is deteriorating rapidly in the United States.

The US has counted more than 7,000 coronavirus deaths and is in ur-gent need of protective gear for health workers and medical equipment.

President Donald Trump’s admin-istration on Friday recommended that Americans wear simple masks or scarves to slow the infection rate, the latest Western nation to reverse earlier claims that only carers needed them.

The picture remained grim in Eu-rope with Britain’s overall death toll climbing to more than 4,300 out of nearly 42,000 cases.

But Spain, which is under a near-to-tal lockdown, saw a second successive daily fall in coronavirus-related deaths with 809 fatalities.

The total number of deaths in the country now stands at 11,744, second only to Italy. The number of new Span-ish cases also slowed.

Italy reported its first drop in the number of coronavirus patients in in-tensive care treatment since the start of a crisis there.

Civil protection service chief Angelo Borrelli said the drop “allows our hos-pitals to breathe”.

The daily rise in new infections across Italy has also slowed. The coun-try reported 681 new deaths on yester-day, down from a peak of almost 1,000 just over a week ago.

Greece meanwhile extended its lockdown by three weeks to April 27.

Several Western countries includ-

ing Germany and France have in recent days encouraged the use of masks in public despite earlier saying that carers needed to cover their faces.

The U-turn has angered and con-fused some citizens, and spurred a flurry of online tutorials for DIY masks.

It comes after some studies suggest-ed infected droplets can travel farther than thought, and that any protection is better than none.

Anthony Fauci, head of infectious diseases at the US National Institutes of Health, cited “recent information that the virus can actually be spread even when people just speak as op-posed to coughing and sneezing”.

But Trump himself said he wouldn’t be covering up. “It’s going to be really a voluntary thing,” Trump said. “You don’t have to do it and I’m choosing not to do it, but some people may want to do it and that’s okay.”

A health worker teaches children how to wash their hands during a door-to-door testing in an attempt to contain the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) outbreak, in Umlazi township near Durban, South Africa, yesterday.

PHCC begins home delivery of medicinesThe Primary Health Care Cor-

poration (PHCC), in part-nership with Qatar Post, has

started implementing the Medication Refill Home Delivery service for pa-tients through WhatsApp numbers al-located to each health centre.

This comes as part of the measures put in place to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus disease (Covid-19).

In the first phase, the free delivery service is meant for Qataris only and will be rolled out in phases for the rest of the population soon, PHCC said in a statement.

The initiative is aimed at ensuring that patients receive their required medica-tion without having to attend the health centres or clinics, especially those suf-fering from chronic diseases and the elderly, targeted in the first phase of this service, according to PHCC.

Patients can also inquire about their prescriptions through the WhatsApp numbers, from 8am-2pm and from 4pm-10pm, except on Fridays and Saturdays.

As for paying the price of the medi-cines, they are free for Qataris, for the category exempted from payment, and for GCC citizens. As for those not ex-

empted from the payment, the fees are expected to be paid for medicines by using bank cards. Cash will not be ac-cepted, PHHC has explained.

Regarding the implementation mecha-nism, PHCC said there will be communi-cation between patients and their health centre’s pharmacy through the What-sApp numbers that have been announced and can be obtained from the corpora-tion’s official social media accounts and website to request for the necessary med-ication as well as injections (insulin).

For any prescription-related inquir-ies or clarifications, the pharmacist will obtain some information about the pa-tient to dispense the necessary medica-tion and deliver them in collaboration with Qatar Post within two working days of receiving the request. The serv-ice is accessible for all cases and priority is given to patients with chronic diseas-es, the elderly and those who need to re-dispense the medication periodically.

PHCC has reiterated “its dedication to ensuring the preservation of medi-cines and medical injections during the delivery process” and these will be in special containers for proper pres-ervation and safe storage. The delivery vehicles will also be equipped with a cooler to ensure safe medicine delivery.

A sterilisation campaign has been carried out at Msheireb Downtown Doha as part of the precautionary measures taken around the country. In a tweet, Msheireb Properties thanked the Public Works Authority (Ashghal) and the Ministry of Municipality and Environment for their efforts in this regard. Page 16

Sterilisation drive at MDD

Katara, partners to distribute 5 tonnes of vegetables dailyKatara - the Culture Village Foundation has launched

a campaign that involves the distribution of five tonnes of vegetables daily among the needy.

The ‘We support and co-operate’ initiative was inaugu-rated in the southern part of Katara yesterday.

The campaign is being organised by Katara in co-oper-ation with Qatari Farmers’ Forum and Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS).

Dr Khalid bin Ibrahim al-Sulaiti, general manager of Katara, was present at the launch event, following up on the work mechanism of the campaign and the distribution process implemented in co-operation with QRCS.

Dr al-Sulaiti stressed that the campaign is part of the charity and community initiatives launched by Katara both within and outside Qatar.

He said the campaign involves the distribution of five tonnes of vegetables on a daily basis among needy families in the country. He noted that Katara strives to offer due support to both individuals and the society. The campaign is an example of collaboration between different entities to enhance social solidarity and support the efforts of the country in helping those in need.

Mona al-Sulaiti, executive director of the Volunteer-ing and Local Development Division at QRCS, said the organisation’s volunteers are going to distribute the aid donated by Qatari farmers through the Qatari Farmers’ Forum.

She stressed that the volunteers reach out to all parts of Qatar and respond to calls for help received on the desig-nated phone numbers seeking the necessary help.

After the vegetables are received by QRCS from Qatari farmers, they are sorted and distributed based on the tar-geted areas in line with the calls received for help.

Two telephone numbers were allotted to receive re-quests: 55470558 and 55449862. Page 16

The campaign is being held in co-operation with the Qatari Farmers’ Forum and Qatar Red Crescent Society.

lNew York sees a record 630 deaths in a single day lHalf the global population confined to their homes

The UN secretary-general’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Advocates and Alumni yesterday expressed concern over the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak and the impacts it is having in every corner of the globe, voicing solidarity with those affected.The SDG Advocates and Alumni comprise a lineup of public and globally influential figures in all fields, including Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, Founder and Chairperson of Education Above All Foundation; Norway’s Prime Minister Erna Solberg and Ghana’s President Nana Akufo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.In their statement, they expressed deep appreciation, gratitude, and

admiration for those on the frontlines fighting the virus, saving lives, and keeping essential services running in countries under lockdown, stressing that global, regional, national, and local level policy responses to the outbreak must be designed with a gender lens, and pay special attention to those living in extreme poverty, with disabilities, indigenous communities, the homeless, refugees, and internally displaced persons.“Responses must be equitable and reach the digitally isolated. Leaders must protect civic space in their countries to ensure policy responses are transparent and inclusive,” the statement added.

SDG advocates express solidarity with those affected by Covid-19

MoPH announces 250 new Covid-19 cases, 16 curedThe Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) yesterday announced the registra-tion of 250 new confirmed cases of coronavirus (Covid-19) and stated that 16 more people have recovered from the disease, bringing the total number of people who have been cured in Qatar to 109.Some of the new cases of infection are related to travellers returning from abroad or those who have been in contact with these travellers, the ministry said in a statement. The statement added that the new cases have all been placed under complete quarantine, and are receiv-ing all necessary medical care.

In the last 24 hours, the Ministry of Public Health has conducted 3,538 tests, bringing the total number of people so far tested to 31,951.The number of total positive cases is 1,325 while the number of active Covid-19 cases under treatment is 1,213.According to the MoPH, three people have died so far from the disease.The ministry has called upon citizens and residents under home quaran-tine to strictly adhere to the specific requirements and procedures. It also stressed the importance of staying at home and maintaining distance between people in curbing the pan-demic. (QNA)

QATARGulf Times Sunday, April 5, 20202

Official

His Highness the Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Ha-mad al-Thani, His High-

ness the Deputy Amir Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad al-Thani and HE the Prime the Minister and Minister of Interior Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa bin Abdulaziz al-Thani yesterday sent cables of congratulations to the President of Senegal Macky Sall on the oc-casion of his country’s national day. -QNA

Qatar has strongly condemned the stabbing incident that occurred in Romans-sur-Isere town, southeast France, killing two people and injuring others. In a statement yesterday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reiterated Qatar’s firm position rejecting violence and terrorism, regardless of their motives and reasons. The statement expressed the condolences of Qatar to the families of the victims and to the government and people of France.

Amir sends cable of congratulations to Senegal leader

Qatar condemns stabbing incident in France

Ministry sets evaluation policy for end of second semester exams

QRCS volunteers actively engaged in virus control efforts

QNADoha

The Ministry of Education and Higher Education announced the student

evaluation policy for the end of second semester exams of the 2019/2020 academic year under the distance learning system, form grades 1-11 (day schools).

The ministry stated in a circu-lar that this policy comes on the basis of the decision to resume studies under the distance learning system for day-school students.

The ministry noted that it was decided that the marks allocated to end of the second semester exams for day-schools will be dealt with under the (distance learning) system as follows:

First: Grades from 1-31- The mark assigned to the

ongoing evaluation for the sec-ond half of the second semester for the period after the midterm of the second semester test is calculated as follows:

Schools calculate the same mark that a student obtained in the ongoing assessment in the first half of the second semester.

Schools monitor grades in the NSIS system.

2- The end of the second se-mester test (the main test):

The test is a weekly assign-

ment that will be given to the student at the end of each week through (distance learning sys-tem).

The number of assignments that will be given to the student (six assignments), one assign-ment per week for each subject.

The mark for each assignment is 5 marks.

The student must do this as-signment by (copy the answer if it was written, or recording an audio clip for reading aloud, or reciting).

The student sends the week-ly homework answers to the teacher in the school through the (distance learning) system using the Microsoft Teams ap-plication.

The period limit for the stu-dent to answer the weekly as-signment is five days from the date of the assignment on the distance learning platform in the Microsoft Teams system.

The teacher corrects the weekly assignment and moni-tors the marks obtained by the student according to the form attached.

3- The subjects that will not be covered by the distance learn-ing system are as follows:

Grade 1: Information Tech-nology, Physical education.

Grade 2: Information Tech-nology, Physical Education, Arts.

Grade 3: Physical Education, Arts.

These subjects are not count-ed in the total mark.

Second: Grades from 4-11: 1- The mark for class work is 5

grades:The subject teacher evaluates

the student’s marks according to his/her follow-up to the stu-dent’s activity and effectiveness in terms of (short assessments, assignments, training, class-room participation, project) during the student’s attendance in the second semester, and also through his/her follow-up to the extent of the student’s partici-pation and effectiveness in the distance learning system, the teacher monitors the student’s score in the NSIS system.

2- The marks allocated to the end of the second semester test - 40.

The exam for the end of the second semester is a weekly test that will be given to the student at the end of each week through the (distance learning) system for each subject.

The number of tests that will be given to the student six - one per week for each subject.

The mark allocated to a test is 10 marks.

The student must take this weekly test through the (dis-tance learning) system using the Microsoft Teams application.

The teacher corrects the weekly test and monitors the score obtained by the student according to the attached form.

The teacher collects the stu-dent’s grades in all tests and monitors them in the NSIS sys-tem according to the system adopted in the monitoring of grades.

The time limit for the stu-dent to solve the weekly tests is within five days from the date of the test on the distance learn-ing platform in Microsoft Teams system.

After all teachers finish moni-toring grades for all students, schools calculate the result and issue certificates according to the approved system in this regard.

3- For the subjects that have a test (written, oral, practical) - their full mark is calculated on the basis of weekly tests under the distance learning system.

4- The subjects that will not be covered by the “distance learning” system are as follows:

Grades 4 to 9: Arts, Physical

Education.Grades 10 and 11: Physical Ed-

ucation, Arts, Life and Research Skills.

These subjects are not count-ed in the total score.

Third: Students with disabili-ties in general education schools.

They are dealt with according to the following:

A- Students of the first and second level of support:

These students apply the same assessment procedures according to the (distance learn-ing) system referred to above for grades 1-11.

B- Students of the third level of support:

These students are limited to the daily evaluation of the daily lessons questions that will be asked through the distance learn-ing system for 1-11 grades.

The student must answer the questions for each lesson on a daily basis for each subject.

The mark assigned to daily questions in each subject is col-lected at the end of the week, so that it is 10 marks for each sub-ject.

The teacher corrects the daily assessment and monitors the mark obtained by the student.

After monitoring the marks, schools will calculate the result and issue certificates according to the approved system in this regard.

QNADoha

The efforts made by the volunteers of Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS)

are crucial in supporting the health authorities, in a material representation of the solidarity of the government and people of Qatar to control Covid-19.

QRCS boasts a great pool of 15,700 volunteers from all walks of life, thanks to the wide public response to the recently launched Volunteer for Qatar campaign. Those promising young women and men sub-stantially contribute to several services, including the provision of psychological support, health education, and logistics to the inmates of 28 quarantine loca-tions across the country.

To ensure the safety and reli-ability of volunteers, QRCS’s Train-ing and Development Centre held training courses on how to use in-fection preventive tools and boost the morale of quarantined persons. The volunteers with medical expe-rience are utilised in training and educating the public in relation to the nature and prevention of the coronavirus disease.

To date, health education lec-tures were held by volunteers and health educators for the staff of 20 government organisations and private-sector companies.

Delivered in several languages, the lectures covered many key topics such as washing hands well and frequently, how to use

face masks, avoiding touching the muoth and nose, using tissue when sneezing or coughing, and keeping social distancing.

In a statement, Head of Volun-teers Section at QRCS Ahmed Ali al-Khulaifi said the Volunteer for Qatar campaign was inspired by a desire to support the govern-ment’s efforts against the risks of novel coronavirus, by encour-aging the Qatari and non-Qatari youths to extend help for those who need care and psychological support as the virus goes more and more widespread.

“Once the initiative suggested by the Volunteers Section was adopted and announced, it at-

tracted unprecedented numbers of applicants, both nationals and residents. It is the sense of re-sponsibility that drives everyone to stand together in the face of calamity,” he added.

“Now,” he explained, “we have 110 volunteers offering support-ive services 24/7 at quarantine locations, 105 supervising street disinfection and health inspec-tion, 15 offering awareness rais-ing and distributing medical supplies, and 20 recruiting and guiding the new volunteers”.

Another purpose of the ini-tiative is to ensure stronger connection between the service seekers and their families in their

own home countries. Mobile re-charge cards are distributed, so that they can contact their fami-lies, as part of the restoring fam-ily links (RFL) and psychological support services.

A video message was ad-dressed by Ali bin Hassan al-Hammadi, Secretary-General of QRCS, to the volunteers: “We are proud of you and what you are doing. Your response to the Vol-unteer for Qatar campaign was beyond expectations. It proves how great and patriotic you are. Tough times show true colours. We and everyone in Qatar are deeply indebted to you. You are our source of power and safety. It is you who shape the future with your hard work”.

He invited those who would like to volunteer with QRCS. “You are most welcome in this noble work. All the population need your help. I believe you are up to it as usual. Good luck! We expect more & more to protect our country against coronavirus”.

QCS launches ‘Thyroid Vitality’ campaignthrough online platforms

Qatar Cancer Society (QCS) has launched the ‘Thyroid Vitality’ cam-

paign to raise awareness of thy-roid cancer in April, which is the global awareness month for this type of cancer.

Thyroid cancer is the second common cancer across females and the fifth common cancer among both genders in Qatar, according to the Qatar National Cancer Registry at the Ministry of Public Health in 2016.

Heba Nassar, head of the Health Education Depart-ment at QCS, said, “QCS has launched the ‘Thyroid Vitality’ awareness campaign through its electronic platforms due to the preventive measures in place to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus disease, by broadcasting awareness mes-sages and videos related to the definition of thyroid cancer, signs and warning symptoms, methods of prevention and early

detection.”Dr Hadi Mohamed Abu

Rasheed, head of Professional Development and Scientific Research Department at QCS,

added that according to the Qatar National Cancer Regis-try of 2016, there were 86 cases diagnosed with thyroid cancer in Qatar and 34% of the cases in Qatar were males and 66% were females. Of these, 78% of the cases were non-Qatari while 22% were Qatari.

Amongst the Qatari popula-tion, 204 cases were diagnosed with thyroid cancer and 30-39 years was the highest age group with thyroid cancer incidences, he added.

Patients with respiratory issues urged extra cautionQNADoha

The Hamad Medical Cor-poration (HMC) recom-mended that people with

respiratory diseases take more precautions to protect them from infection with coronavirus (Covid-19).

Chief of HMC’s Pulmonary Division Dr Hisham Abdul Sattar Ahmed said that patients suf-fering from chronic respiratory diseases such as cystic fibrosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma should take more precautions and preventive measures to reduce the chances of Covid-19 infection. He point-ed out that infection with this virus in this group of patients, no matter how mild, may lead to serious complications.

He explained that patients with respiratory problems are considered to be at high risk for complications if they infected

with Covid-19. He noted that while everyone should be care-ful and cautious, patients with chronic respiratory diseases should take more precautions and preventive measures, calling these patients to follow the rules of personal hygiene and avoid social contact at the moment.

Dr Hisham pointed out that patients with chronic respira-tory diseases are not more likely to be infected with coronavirus but are at risk of complications from this infection if it occurs. He pointed out that patients with respiratory problems show symptoms of infection more severe than those appearing on others, and that elderly patients with respiratory disease are at risk of death if they infected with Covid-19.

There is no cause for panic as many patients, including respi-ratory patients, have been ex-posed to mild cases of infection and have had minor complica-tions and have fully recovered

from these complications, but respiratory patients must take more precautions, and they must as everyone should realise that infection with this virus is dan-gerous and should be taken seri-ously, Dr Hisham pointed out.

He pointed out that there are some simple precautions that anyone can take to prevent in-fection with Covid-19, among which is avoiding contact with the mouth, nose, and eyes with unclean hands, avoiding con-tact with people who show signs of illness, staying six feet away

from others, washing hands thoroughly after coming into contact with surfaces that may be contaminated, and avoiding crowded areas especially if they are poorly ventilated.

Dr Hisham Abdul Sattar stressed the need for social dis-tancing and non-contact with others as a preventive measure to reduce the spread of Covid-19.

The Ministry of Public Health (MOPH) launched a page on its website (www.moph.gov.qa) to provide the public with the lat-est developments on Covid-19 and how to protect themselves and others from infection with this virus. Also, it has allocated a hotline (16000) operates around the clock and responds to public inquiries about the virus.

MoPH, HMC and the Primary Health Care Corporation also launched an educational and awareness campaign that in-cludes information and videos that are published to the public through social media platforms.

Wifaq social media campaignto highlight ‘family dialogue’QNADoha

Family Consulting Centre (Wifaq) of the Qatar Foun-dation for Social Action,

will launch today an information campaign through social media platforms on the occasion of celebrating Family Day in Qatar, which falls on April 15 of each year.

The campaign features the topic “Family dialogue in light of contemporary challenges and changes.”

The campaign, which will last until April 20, includes a vari-ety of awareness materials, in-cluding: video flashes, graphic designs, promotional adver-tisements and motion graphics, which have been produced and designed in an attractive and purposeful manner to reach the largest possible audience.

Family Consulting Centre (Wifaq) is keen to highlight the importance of dialogue within the family as one of the neces-sities of contemporary social life, and one of the main pillars

in achieving coherence and co-hesion between members of the family pattern, as it represents the most prominent and effec-tive way to enable family mem-bers to exchange views, infor-mation, acquiring knowledge, building and forming cultures, expressing their different incli-nations and feelings, as well as evaluating their behaviours and modifying and correcting their misconceptions, in a manner that ensures their keeping with the values and principles of the family and society, and enables them to positively deal with challenges and crises.

Among the current examples of challenges facing the fam-ily, the new coronavirus, and its negative impact on family se-curity and stability, as a result of the accelerating pace of the global spread of the virus, and the surrounding news, infor-mation and false rumours that are broadcast around the clock, especially through social media platforms, which constitutes a great burden weighs on the fam-ily, especially parents, and from this, the Wifaq Centre seeks

through this campaign to rein-force and support the impor-tance of the role played by fam-ily dialogue in the cohesion and interdependence of the family, especially in light of crises.

The idea of devoting a spe-cial day for the family emerged in Qatar on the sidelines of the International Family Confer-ence hosted by Qatar and or-ganised by the Supreme Coun-cil for Family Affairs in 2004 on the occasion of the 10th an-niversary of the International Year of the Family, where Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, Chairperson of Qatar Foundation for Education, Sci-ence and Community Devel-opment, called for the need to celebrate Family Day.

The council proposed April 15 of each year to celebrate this day, and through the care and support of the family in all its categories, devoting one day each year to celebrate it, high-lighting its role, and indicating the gains that it has obtained. It was approved in the ordinary meeting No 20 of 2010 on June 2, 2010.

QRCS boasts a pool of 15,700 volunteers from all walks of life.

lFollow personal hygiene rules, avoid social contact and crowded, poorly ventilated areas

Patients with chronic respiratory diseases are not more likely to be infected with coronavirus but are at risk of complications from this infection if it occurs...patients with respiratory problems show symptoms of infection more severe than those appearing on others

The ministry stated in a circular that this policy comes on the basis of the decision to resume studies under the distance learning system for day-school students

QATAR3Gulf Times

Sunday, April 5, 2020

Kahramaa plans 100 electric car charging stations annuallyThe Qatar General Elec-

tricity and Water Cor-poration (Kahramaa) has

chalked out a plan to set up 100 charging points annually for electric vehicles as part of the corporation’s efforts to promote renewable energy consump-tion and fight against carbon emission.

Engineer Abdulaziz Ahmed al-Hammadi, manager, Con-servation and Energy Efficiency Department at Kahramaa, told local Arabic daily Arrayah that the plan will be implemented in co-operation with public sector entities.

“The initiative is to encourage the use of electric vehicles by establishing a supportive infra-structure that reduces harmful carbon emissions in line with the Qatar National Vision 2030 and the National Development Strategy 2018-2022. Besides, it will help the country achieve sustainability while these ef-forts will help Qatar transform into a developed country that’s capable of achieving sustainable development,” he said.

Explaining the need for such centres, the official said elec-tric car prices are gradually coming down and the produc-tion of electric cars by inter-national companies is gaining momentum. “Charging of elec-tric cars costs less compared to buying petrol or diesel. Be-sides, they are cheap in terms of maintenance compared to conventional cars.”

Kahramaa has already launched a Photovoltaic Station for Energy Storage and Charging Electric Vehicles under its Tar-sheed programme.

Kahramaa charging points for vehicles.

Kahramaa charging points.

Touted as the first of its kind in Qatar, the station functions as a charging point for vehicles with electricity produced from solar energy via 216 photo-voltaic panels that are divided into two areas with a total area of 270sq m. The entire area is equal to the row for parking 24 cars. The total power produced

from these panels is 72kw peak.The station contains a unit

that has two connections of Combo and CHAdeMO types that are compatible with differ-ent types of vehicles. The unit allows two cars to be charged at a time with a rapid charging level of 15-20 minutes. The maximum charging capacity is 100kw.

The station also contains a power storage unit with a capaci-ty of 170kw/h. The charging cord of 100kw is enough to charge three cars. The surplus energy will be exported to the grid after charging the storage battery.

As per the plan, the new charging points will be located at shopping malls, residen-

tial areas, stadiums, parks and government offices.

Kahramaa has so far opened electric charging stations at Qatar Scientific Club, Kah-ramaa Main Building, Kahramaa Awareness Park Building, Al-fardan Towers, St. Regis Hotel and Marsa Malaz Kempinski at The Pearl-Qatar.

Abdulaziz Ahmed al-Hammadi

ABP signs pact with University of AberdeenThe Academic Bridge Pro-

gramme (ABP), part of Qatar Foundation’s Pre-

University Education, and the University of Aberdeen have signed a memorandum of un-derstanding (MoU), which will see the provision of further study opportunities for ABP students.

The agreement will allow ABP graduates to study Business Management and Accountancy and Financing at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland or at AFG College with the University of Aberdeen in Qatar, as well as

provide an accelerated pathway to undergraduate degree and a Masters degree in these fields.

Dr Bryan Lewallen, director of ABP, said: “The Academic Bridge Programme in Education City is focused on offering our students as many opportunities as possible related to their university stud-ies. Over the last 19 years, we have worked to establish an excellent reputation as the premier founda-tion program in the region.”

“Through the establishment of MoUs with a wide variety of universities in Qatar, the UK, and the US, we are able to help

Officials at the MoU-signing ceremony.

our students attend universities located all over the world. We are delighted to sign this MoU with the University of Aberdeen, which covers both AFG College with the University of Aberdeen in Qatar, as well as the home campus in Scotland.”

Dr Mark Newmark, assistant director of Academic Affairs at ABP, said: “One of the key indi-cators of the quality of an ABP education is the degree to which universities value our graduates. It has been gratifying to see so

many US and British universi-ties eager to create pathways for these students; pathways which allow them to join the first year of undergraduate programmes and sometimes even the second year of undergraduate programmes.

“The coronavirus has created some uncertainty about what countries students will be able to travel to and study in this fall. This MoU is especially valuable in the current situation as it ex-pands the local options for ABP graduates.”

Q-Tickets launches free delivery service to help combat Covid-19Q-Tickets has launched

a free delivery service for groceries, food and

medicines for all its clients in order to help combat Covid-19, the company has announced.

The ‘Stay Home, Stay Safe’ free service offers clients the benefit of food and medical essentials delivered to their doorstep without the need to download apps, browse, select items and then choose vari-ous payment methods, a press statement notes.

All customers have to do is place their orders by calling or sending a WhatsApp mes-sage to 33958126, or by email-ing their needs to delivery@qt-souq.com. Payment can be made on delivery with no serv-ice charge and the products will be delivered at market prices, with no extra cost.

Explaining the concept be-hind the ‘Stay Home, Stay Safe’ free delivery service, Bhaskar Bhatt, vice-president, Q-Tickets, said: “Over the years, Q-Tickets has been Qatar’s

leading entertainment partner in movies, events, sports and leisure during good times.

“Today, during this corona-virus pandemic crisis, when your safety lies in staying at home, Q-Tickets has stepped up and taken the onus to help our customers by offering the ‘Stay Home, Stay Safe’ free de-livery service of groceries, food and medical items.

“You can simply either call, WhatsApp or email us your requirements without the cumbersome need to download apps, select items

and modes of payment.”Bhatt further elaborated by

reiterating, “Let me also as-sure you that our delivery team has been fully trained to fol-low strict hygiene guidelines laid down by the Ministry of Public Health. All our delivery personnel wear masks, gloves and diligently follow Covid-19 hygiene rules and regulations. Further, we will be at your service from 9am to 9pm daily, including weekends.”

“Q-Tickets is committed to serving the community, es-pecially our loyal customers, and therefore, I am delighted to share that we are extend-ing this service at 0% service charge and you can be assured to get your orders at market price. This is our humanitar-ian initiative of providing you with happiness and care, mak-ing sure that you stay home and stay safe,” he added.

Bhatt said Q-Tickets will be back, once regulations permit, with the usual dose of fun and entertainment.

Spar Hypermarket is making use of thermographic camera to check the body temperature of visitors to the complex to avoid the spread of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19). Thermographic camera is a device that creates images using infrared radiation to screen body temperature. The device is placed at the entrance of Spar hypermarkets in the country and the visitors are requested to face the camera and get automatically screened as they enter the store. It ensures that visitors within the normal limits of body temperature can only enter the hypermarket and thus all shoppers are protected against Covid-19.

Spar Hypermarket uses thermographic camera for body temperature screening

QATAR/REGION

Gulf TimesSunday, April 5, 20204

Campaigns focus on ensuring safety of food productsHealth inspectors from vari-

ous municipalities across the country have continued with

their intensive inspection and aware-ness campaigns in different parts of the country to ensure the safety of food products.

The campaigns have seen the partici-pation of a good number of volunteers, which comes within the framework of the Ministry of Municipality and En-vironment’s (MME) initiative regarding volunteer work under the slogan, ‘Your safety is my safety’.

Accordingly, the inspectors briefed the volunteers on the key aspects to look out for when conducting checks in line with Law No 8 of 1990 regulat-ing human food control, in addition to other relevant regulations, the MME said in a statement.

The campaigns have covered Doha

Municipality, Al Wakra Municipality, Al Sheehaniya Municipality and Al Khor and Al Thakhira Municipality.

Inspections and awareness drives have been carried out at various food establishments in these places to en-sure their compliance with the regula-tions.

Meanwhile, Doha Municipality con-ducted a number of inspection cam-paigns in March, covering 3,125 food establishments in different areas. The campaigns resulted in the issuance of 147 violations reports, mostly regard-ing the preparation of food products in unhealthy conditions. In addition, 47 food facilities were shut and 120 related complaints were also addressed.

Similarly, Al Sheehaniya Municipal-ity’s health control section carried out 458 inspection tours in March. Nine-teen violation reports were issued for

Ashghal receives Royal Society accolade

The Public Works Author-ity (Ashghal), represented by Quality and Safety Depart-

ment, has won the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) Gold Award.

The award comes in recognition of Ashghal’s keenness to ensure an accident-free environment across all its functions, the authority has said in a tweet.

With this recognition, Ashghal

also becomes the first government entity in Qatar to receive the award, it added.

“Such successes show Ashghal’s commitment to local and interna-tional laws and specifications for

occupational health and safety and to protect workers’ rights,” Ashghal stressed.

RoSPA is managed by an execu-tive committee under the patronage of the Queen.

Qatar panel distributes food parcels to needy Gaza familiesQNAGaza

HE the Chairman of the Qatar Commit-tee for the Recon-

struction of Gaza ambas-sador Mohamed al-Emadi announced yesterday the distribution of food parcels to hundreds of needy fami-lies in the Gaza Strip, in co-ordination with Qatar Fund for Development (QFFD).

Al-Emadi explained that the process of distribut-ing food parcels was done through the General Ad-ministration of Zakat Com-mittees of the Ministry of

Endowments and Religious Affairs in Gaza, for the ben-efit of hundreds of families classified within the min-istry’s data as the poorest and in need of urgent as-sistance.

The Qatari committee provides daily meals and basic necessities for those in the quarantine centres in Gaza, in addition to recently providing food parcels to hundreds of families of the quarantined, in co-opera-tion with the ministries and relevant government agen-cies, especially the Ministry of Social Development and the Ministry of Health in Gaza.

Yemen rebels release 1,600 prisoners due to virusDPASanaa

Yemen’s rebels said yesterday they have freed 1,600 prisoners to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus in

the country.Yemen has not officially recorded any

cases of the virus that causes the potentially fatal Covid-19 respiratory disease.

Rebel-linked chief prosecutor Nabil al-Azani, said the 1,600 prisoners have been set free over the past two days as part of precautions against Covid-19 in areas un-der the control of the Houthi rebels, which include the capital Sanaa.

The reported move comes days after the rival Yemeni government announced its re-lease of hundreds of inmates for the same reason.

It is feared that the virus can spread easily in prisons due to cramped conditions.

Yemen has been gripped by a devastating conflict since late 2014, setting the Houthis against the government.

The feud has intensified since March 2015, when the Houthis advanced on the government’s temporary capital of Aden, prompting Saudi Arabia and its allies to start an air campaign against the group.

The conflict has pushed Yemen to the verge of famine and devastated the coun-try’s health facilities.

The Qatari committee provides daily meals and basic necessities for those in the quarantine centres in Gaza.

A snapshot from the inspection campaign.

violating Law No 8 of 1990, and four administrative closure de-cisions were issued for three restaurants and a sweets shop.

Eighteen of the violation reports were resolved through recon-ciliation with the violators after paying the stipulated fines.

REGION/ARAB WORLD/AFRICA5Gulf Times

Sunday, April 5, 2020

Uganda distributes emergency suppliesAFPKampala

Uganda began distributing food aid yesterday to up to 1.5mn vulnerable citizens affected by

the coronavirus lockdown in the capi-tal Kampala.

Six trucks loaded with bags of maize flour, beans and salt were flagged off from the centre of Kampala by govern-ment ministers and sent in convoy less than 10 kilometres to Bwaise suburb.

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Ru-hakana Rugunda announced the gov-ernment would “start providing relief food to the most vulnerable and affect-ed by measures to combat Covid-19,” initially targeting 1.5mn people living in and around Kampala.

A few days into a nationwide 14-day lockdown, many Ugandans, who live hand-to-mouth, are struggling to buy food.

Sarah Bwanika, a 37-year-old moth-er of three, was among the first to re-ceive yesterday’s emergency assistance since President Yoweri Museveni an-nounced that food distribution would

begin. “This will last my family two weeks, I hope,” Bwanika said, holding bags of flour and beans on the steps of her tiny neighbourhood shop, which she said had seen few customers since the lockdown began.

As children played next to open sew-ers, members of the Local Defence Unit (LDU) — a uniformed militia under the control of the military — filed past

Bwanika’s shop into densely packed mud-clogged backstreets distributing aid, daubing the homes of recipients with marker pens.

Responsible for enforcing a curfew aimed at stopping social gatherings during the coronavirus pandemic, LDUs have earned a reputation for vio-lent extortion while conducting night-time patrols.

French embassy condemns ‘test’ comments by doctorsDPAJohannesburg

The French embassy in South Af-rica yesterday expressed dismay at comments made by French

doctors during a television interview in which they discussed testing a corona-virus vaccine in Africa.

“We are deeply shocked by these comments, that of course, do not re-flect the position of the French au-thorities,” the embassy said in a state-ment.

During the programme, which aired on the French channel LCI on Wednesday, Camille Locht, head of research at the National Institute of Health and Medical Research (IN-SERM) and Jean-Paul Mira, head of intensive care at Cochin Hospital in Paris, discussed whether Africa could be a good test location.

At one point, they suggested Africa was a possible location, as people did not have masks, treatments or resus-citation.

The discussion caused an uproar with many, including Ivory Coast and

international footballer Didier Drog-ba, taking to social media to express disgust at the “racist” views and that “Africa isn’t a testing lab.”

Mira has since apologised while IN-SERM said the comments had been misunderstood.

“A truncated video, taken from an LCI interview with one of our re-searchers about studies of the poten-tial use of the BCG vaccine to fight Covid-19, is currently the subject of misinterpretation,” they said in a statement.

The BCG (Bacillus Calmette-Guer-in) vaccine has been used success-fully against tuberculosis. Meanwhile, yesterday, Dr Jean-Jacques Muyembe who heads up the National Institute for Biomedical Research in the Congo said the country was a candidate for coronavirus vaccine trials should they also take place in the US, Asia and Eu-rope. Trials for Ebola vaccines ran in Congo when the central African coun-try was hit by an epidemic in 2018.

In early March, Congo celebrated the longest period without a new in-fection, although the epidemic has not been declared over just yet.

Nigeria to set up $1.39bn fund to fight pandemic

Nigeria plans to create a 500bn naira ($1.39bn) coronavirus fund to strengthen its healthcare infra-structure to tackle the virus, the government said yesterday.Finance Minister Zainab Ahmed, House of Representatives speaker Femi Gbajabiamila and Senate President Ahmad Lawan agreed in a meeting that the crisis intervention fund would pull in cash as loans from various special government accounts and get the rest from grants and loans from multilateral institu-tions, a statement said. “This cisis intervention fund is to be utilised to upgrade healthcare facilities,” Ahmed said in the statement. Nigeria, Africa’s biggest nation, has 209 confirmed cases of coronavirus and four deaths.Lagos state, neighbouring Ogun state and the capital territory of Abuja entered a two-week lockdown on Monday aimed at stemming the spread of the virus. The IMF is making $50bn available from its emergency financing facilities and some 80 countries have already asked for help, including about 20 from Africa.

A civilian receives relief food during a government distribution exercise to civilians affected by the lockdown, as part of measures to prevent the potential spread of coronavirus disease (Covid-19), in Kampala, yesterday.

Iran warns of virus surge after many ignore ‘stay home’ rulesReutersDubai

A senior Iranian health offi-cial said the greater Tehran area may face a coronavirus

resurgence after many residents flouted advisories to stay home, crowding streets and causing traffic jams across the city as the country’s New Year holidays end-ed yesterday.

Iran — the Middle East country worst-hit by the epidemic -said earlier yesterday that 158 more coronavirus patients had died in the past 24 hours, bringing the to-tal death toll to 3,452.

The total number of cases reached 55,743.

“We are still concerned about the virus, for example with the level of traffic in Tehran today and queues of cars stuck on freeways, because these people can take the virus to their homes or workplac-es,” Deputy Health Minister Iraj Harirchi said on state TV.

“Even a medium level of virus here can spread to nearby cities with the high level of job-related traffic between nearby cities and Tehran,” said Harirchi, who has himself been ill with Covid-19.

“Dr Harirchi cautioned about a probable return of coronavirus in case of negligence and said social distancing measures were abso-lutely necessary,” said the TV.

The television showed stores that had re-opened despite a clo-sure order on non-essential serv-ices and businesses.

Only enterprises involved in production have been allowed to re-open while following anti-coronavirus precautions.

Officials have repeatedly com-plained that many Iranians ig-nored appeals to stay at home and cancel travel plans for the New Year holidays that began on March 20. Iranians traditionally travel to home provinces and popular va-cation spots and organise family gatherings during the New Year holidays.

Earlier the judiciary said most of some 70 inmates who escaped from a prison in western Iran last month are now back in jail.

About 100,000 prisoners have been granted temporary release due to the coronavirus epidemic.

Iranian media have reported un-

rest in several prisons.In a rare comment in Britain’s

Guardian newspaper, Tehran May-or Pirouz Hanachi said US sanc-tions were crippling Iran’s fight against the coronavirus.

“As a result (of sanctions), the ability of my colleagues and I to provide the health, logistical and other essential infrastructure necessary to combat the disease has been drastically reduced. We experience this loss every day, and it can be counted in people that would not have died,” Ha-nachi said. Separately, the foreign ministry accused US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo of “medical-terrorism” through the sanctions, which have hit vital sectors such as oil and banking.

“Undisputed fact: US ‘diplo-mats’ have long been in the busi-ness of coups,” ministry spokes-man Abbas Mousavi said on Twitter yesterday.”But @SecPom-peo...and his masters have taken the ‘job’ to a whole new level: #Medical_terrorism.”

UN seeks truce on anniversary of battle for TripoliDPATripoli

The United Nations renewed a call for Libya’s warring

sides to agree on a humani-tarian truce to combat the new coronavirus yesterday, the first anniversary of the start of a battle to capture the capital Tripoli.

On April 4 last year, Gen-eral Khalifa Haftar, the com-mander of the self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA), ordered his forces to seize Tripoli from the rival Gov-ernment of National Accord (GNA) supported by the UN.

The fighting has resulted in at least 356 civilian deaths and injured 329 others, ac-cording to the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL). “The humanitarian situa-

tion has deteriorated to lev-els never previously wit-nessed in Libya,” the mission said in a statement.

Around 149,000 people in and around Tripoli have been forced to flee their homes since the beginning of the offensive, UNSMIL added. It is estimated that around 893,000 people are in need of humanitarian as-sistance. Health authorities in Libya have reported 16 vi-rus infections including one death.Earlier yesterday, two people were injured after a shell hit a hospital in Tripoli, an official said.

A mortar shell struck a gate of the Tripoli University Hospital, injuring a woman and a security guard, Amin al-Hashimi, a media official at the GNA Health Minis-try said in a press statement without further details.

Kuwait reports first coronavirus death, 62 new casesQNA/AgenciesKuwait

The Kuwaiti Ministry of Health announced yes-terday the first death case

of novel coronavirus (Covid-19), while 62 new cases were reported in the last 24 hours.

This brings the country’s tally of confirmed virus cases up to 479, the ministry’s spokesman Dr Ab-dullah al-Sanad told Kuwait news

agency (Kuna). Earlier in the day, Kuwaiti Minister of Health Sheikh Dr Basel al-Sabah announced the recovery of 11 people from the novel coronavirus, raising the country’s total recoveries to 93.

OMAN REGISTERS 25 NEW CASES

The Ministry of Health in the Sultanate of Oman announced the registration of 25 new cases of Covid-19, bringing the total number of cases registered in the Sultanate to 277, and only one

death, QNA reported. The number of recovering cases increased to 61, Oman’s ONA reported. The Omani Ministry of Health called upon everyone to strictly adhere to the quarantine procedures ac-cording to the instructions, to fol-low healthy habits, to adhere to the instructions for social distancing, and not to leave homes except for necessities.

Dubai announced a two-week lockdown starting yesterday at 8pm (1600 GMT) to disinfect the emirate

and contain the spread of the coro-navirus, state news agency WAM said, the citing Supreme Committee of Crisis and Disaster Management, Reuters reported.

Earlier, the United Arab Emirates extended a de facto overnight cur-few indefinitely to disinfect public areas to fight the spread of corona-virus and Saudi Arabia has locked down parts of the Red Sea city of Jeddah.

In Saudi Arabia, the authorities announced a lockdown and a partial

curfew in seven neighbourhoods of Jeddah starting yesterday as part of measures to contain the outbreak, the interior ministry said in a state-ment.

Saudi Arabia has reported 2,179 cases of confirmed infections up until yesterday and 29 deaths.

The interior ministry said resi-dents in the seven Jeddah neigh-bourhoods could only go out for grocery shopping and medical care between 6am (0300 GMT) and 3pm.

A medical aid worker sets up and installs a bed at a shopping mall, one of Iran’s largest, which has been turned into a centre to receive patients suffering from Covid-19), in Tehran, yesterday.

6 Gulf TimesSunday, April 5, 2020

AMERICAS

UN predicts ‘deep recession’ in Latin America due to virusAFPSantiago

Latin America is heading into “a deep recession” in 2020, with an expected

drop in the region’s GDP to 4% due to the coronavirus pandemic, the UN economic commission for the region said on Friday.

“We are at the beginning of a profound recession. We’re faced with the largest fall in growth that the region has had,” said Ali-cia Barcena, executive secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Carib-bean (CEPAL).

Latin America was already struggling economically, with feeble growth of just 0.1% in 2019.

As with other parts of the world, the region’s main stock markets have suffered drastic losses as the virus crisis esca-lates, and several currencies have plunged in value against the US dollar.

A reduction in economic ac-tivity due to lockdowns imposed to combat the spread of the virus, a drop in the value of raw materi-

als and the blow to tourism have all contributed to the bleak out-look.

Barcena said the best-case projection takes into account only the drop in economic activ-ity with China, the region’s larg-est trading partner.

But if a drop in trade with the United States and European Un-ion is also factored into the cal-culation, then a 3% to 4% con-traction is expected.

Mexico President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who has been widely criticised for a lax approach to the pandemic, ques-tioned projections of a recession, even contradicting his own fi-nance ministry.

On Wednesday, the finance ministry cut its expectations for 2020 from growth of 1.5% to 2.5%, down to a range of 0.1% growth to 3.9% contraction.

“I have other figures, other data, I’m talking about a temporary cri-sis, and that will allow us to move forward very soon,” he said.

“There’s a lot of pessimism in the world, especially among economy and finance leaders and experts...I don’t share that point of view.”

Lopez Obrador said it made no sense to make projections given the pandemic had created an ab-normal situation economically as well as politically.

Peru announced it would guar-antee new bank loans to 350,000 businesses worth $8.5bn so they can pay staff and suppliers.

Some 314,000 of the business-es have less than 10 employees, said President Martin Vizcarra, describing the programme as “an extraordinary response to an ex-traordinary situation.”

Venezuela’s government an-nounced a “special plan” against the fuel shortage due to the virus outbreak and tough US sanc-tions.

The government has put into action “a special fuel supply plan aimed at guaranteeing the mo-bility of priority sectors,” said Tareck El Aissami, vice-presi-dent in the economic sector.

El Aissami didn’t specify what measures would be taken but said it was necessary because US sanctions had produced a short-age of essential supplies for fuel production.

Around 160 European tourists left Nicaragua on a flight char-

tered by France as part of evacu-ations organised by the European Union to bring home citizens stranded by coronavirus lock-downs.

Most of the tourists leaving Nicaragua are French.

“It’s a one-off operation” to repatriate 130,000 French tour-ists stranded due to the ground-ing of airplanes all over the world, Philippe Letrilliart, France’s am-bassador to Nicaragua, told AFP.

Nicaragua has come under fire for not closing its borders or im-posing social distancing meas-ures.

It’s also invited its citizens to visit tourist sites over the Easter week.

The Uruguayan government on Friday allowed a second pas-senger from the Australian cruise ship Greg Mortimer to disembark to receive treatment after she displayed symptoms of Covid-19.

More than 200 people, most of them Australians and Britons, remain stranded on board the Bahamas-flagged ship, which has been anchored 20km from Montevideo for a week.

The woman, a 75-year-old Australian with severe pneumo-

nia, will be taken to a private hos-pital in Montevideo, according to the Uruguayan navy.

Earlier this week a 69-year-

old Australian man with similar symptoms was also allowed to disembark. Uruguayan Foreign Minister Ernesto Talvi said Fri-

day at a press conference that only those whose lives are at risk will be allowed off the ship.

Elderly women keep distance as they wait to enrol in government social aid programmes in downtown Ozumba, Mexico state, Mexico, on Friday.

Navy probe to decide future of fired carrier commanderReuters Washington

Even as he is hailed as a hero by his crew, the fired com-mander of a coronavirus-

stricken US aircraft carrier is be-ing reassigned while investigators consider whether he should face disciplinary action, acting US Navy Secretary Thomas Modly told Reuters late on Friday.

Captain Brett Crozier was re-lieved of his command of the The-odore Roosevelt on Thursday after a scathing letter in which he called on the Navy for stronger action to halt the spread of the virus aboard the nuclear-powered aircraft car-rier was leaked to the media.

Modly said in an interview that the letter was shared too widely and leaked before even he could see it.

But the backlash to Modly’s decision to fire Crozier has been intense. In videos posted on-line, sailors on the Theodore Roosevelt applauded Crozier and hailed him as a hero, out to defend his crew — even at great personal cost to his career.

“And that’s how you send out one of the greatest captains you ever had,” exclaimed one sailor in a video post, amid thunderous applause and cheering for Cro-zier as he left the carrier and its 5,000 crew members in Guam.

Modly did not suggest that Crozier’s career was over, saying he thought everyone deserved a chance at “redemption.”

“He’ll get reassigned, he’s not thrown out of the Navy,” Modly said.

But Modly said he did not know if Crozier would face dis-ciplinary action, telling Reuters it would be up to a probe that will look into issues surround-ing “communications” and the chain of command that led to the incident.

“I’m not going to direct them to do anything (other) than to investigate the facts to the best of their ability. I cannot exercise undue command influence over that investigation,” he said.

Crozier’s firing has become a lightning-rod political issue at a time when the Trump adminis-tration is facing intense criticism over its handling of a coronavi-rus outbreak that has killed more than 6,000 people across the country, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

Democratic presidential front-runner Joe Biden accused the Trump administration of poor judgment and said Modly “shot the messenger.”

A group of prominent Demo-cratic senators formally request-ed on Friday that the Pentagon’s independent Inspector General investigate the firing.

Crozier’s removal could have a chilling effect on others in the

Navy seeking to draw attention to difficulties surrounding coro-navirus outbreaks at a time when the Pentagon is withholding some detailed data about infec-tions to avoid undermining the perception of US military readi-ness for a crisis or conflict.

President Donald Trump, when asked about the captain during a White House news con-ference on Thursday, disputed the notion that Crozier appeared to have been disciplined for try-ing to save the lives of sailors.

“I don’t agree with that at all. Not at all. Not even a little bit,” Trump said.

As of Friday, 978 active-duty service members had tested pos-itive for Covid-19, more than 250 of them in the Navy.

Sailors on the ship and their family members have expressed frustration, even anger, at the Navy’s move.

An online petition calling for Crozier to be reinstated had been signed by more than 120,000 people.

“With them firing our (com-manding officer) it feels like they are saying they don’t care about us,” a sailor on board the carrier told Reuters, while speaking on condition of anonymity.

“We are really disappointed in how they handled it and we want our captain back.”

N-sub commissioned sans usual fanfare

The US Navy yesterday com-missioned its 18th new-gen-eration attack submarine, but without the usual fanfare due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus pandemic.“Although the traditional public commissioning ceremony was canceled due to public health safety and restrictions of large public gatherings, the Navy commissioned USS Delaware administratively and transitioned the ship to normal operations,” the announcement said.Jill Biden, the wife of Democrat-ic presidential candidate Joe Biden, is the sub’s designated “sponsor”; its construction began while her husband, a former US senator from Dela-ware, was serving as the US vice president.The Delaware is a Virginia-class sub, the latest generation of cruise missile fast-attack sub-marines in the US fleet.The Delaware’s nuclear propul-sion system means it can go 30 years without refueling, the navy’s statement said.The sub is 115m long, can dive to depths of 800ft and operate submerged at speeds of 25 knots.

Grimmest day yet in NY; 630 deaths in 24 hoursReutersNew York

Coronavirus-related illnesses killed 630 people in the last day in New York state, Governor Andrew

Cuomo said yesterday, in the bleakest 24 hours yet for the US state hit hardest by the pandemic.

The novel coronavirus has now killed 3,565 people in the state and the situation is particularly worrying on Long Island, east of New York City, where the number of cases “is like a fire spreading,” Cuomo told a news conference.

Health experts calculate that New York, home both to bustling Manhattan and hilly farm country stretching to the Canadian border, might be around a week away from the worst point in the health crisis which has killed about 60,000 peo-ple worldwide.

“We’re not yet at the apex, we’re get-ting closer...Our reading of the projec-tions is we’re somewhere in the seven-day range,” Cuomo said.

“It’s only been 30 days since our first case,” he said. “It feels like an entire life-time.”

The United States has the world’s high-est number of known cases of Covid-19, the flu-like respiratory disease caused by the coronavirus.

More than 300,000 people have tested positive in the United States and over 8,100 have died, according to a Reuters tally.

White House medical experts have forecast that between 100,000 to 240,000 Americans could be killed in the pandemic, even if sweeping orders to stay home are followed.

New York City alone accounted for more than a quarter of the US coronavi-rus deaths tallied by Johns Hopkins Uni-versity.

Hospitals and morgues in the city are struggling to treat the desperately ill and bury the dead.

Crematories have extended their hours

and burned bodies into the night, with corpses piling up so quickly that city of-ficials were looking elsewhere in the state for temporary interment sites.

Because of the risk of infection, many people with critically ill relatives in New York City are unable to see their loved ones in their final hours.

A resident at New York-Presbyterian hospital said he and his colleagues have made several death notification phone calls every shift this week.

“There’s something sort of unquanti-

fiably painful about telling a family their loved one died without letting them see them,” he said.

An emergency stockpile of medical equipment maintained by the US govern-ment has nearly run out of protective garb for doctors and nurses.

Cuomo announced that the Chinese government facilitated a donation of 1,000 ventilators that was expected later yesterday at JFK. “This is a big deal and it’s going to make a significant difference for us,” Cuomo said.

The dispatch of the ventilators was a result of a conversation on March 27 be-tween President Donald Trump and Chi-nese President Xi Jinping, a source famil-iar with the discussions said.

Almost all Americans are under orders from state and local officials to stay home except for essential outings such as gro-cery shopping or seeing a doctor.

Areas of the country such as Florida and Texas that had been slow to lock down have started practicing social dis-tancing and sheltering at home.

“We see what’s going on in New York now, we see that people are dying,” Rick Scott, a US senator from Florida, told Fox News Channel.

“People are beginning to understand that the best way that we can slow the spread and actually avoid death is by this stay-at-home standard, going out only for essential services,” Texas governor Greg Abbott told the channel.

He was among the last governors to is-sue a statewide order telling residents to avoid leaving their home.

There were still some hold-outs else-where, though.

Louisiana pastor Tony Spell said he plans to hold three services at his 1,000-member Life Tabernacle mega-church in a suburb of Baton Rouge, Lou-isiana on Palm Sunday today, defying state orders against assembling in large groups.

Louisiana has become a US hot spot for the virus and yesterday reporting a jump in deaths to 409.

The state’s largest city, New Orleans, where Mardi Gras celebrations in late February are believed to have helped spread the virus before social distancing orders were imposed, has become a focal point of the health crisis.

Patients in New Orleans are dying at twice the rate per capita as in New York.

Louisiana Governor John Edwards said he spoke yesterday with Vice Presi-dent Mike Pence — and that he had been promised an additional 200 ventilators from the national stockpile.

People wear face masks in New York on Friday.

Watchdog pledges ‘aggressive’ oversight after intel firingReutersWashington

The top US federal watchdog yester-day vowed to continue to conduct “aggressive” independent over-

sight of government agencies, after Pres-ident Donald Trump fired the inspector general of the US intelligence community on Friday night.

Michael Horowitz, chair of the Coun-cil of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE), an independent agency in the executive branch and the inspector general at the Department of Justice, said in a statement that Michael Atkinson was known for his “integrity, professionalism, and commitment to the rule of law and independent oversight.”

President Donald Trump wrote in a letter to Congress on Friday night that Atkinson, who was involved in triggering an impeach-ment probe of the president last year, will be removed from his position in 30 days.

The firing comes as US inspectors gen-eral, who are charged with independent

oversight of federal agencies, were re-cently tasked with broad surveillance of the government’s response to the corona-virus, including the historic $2.3tn fiscal package to mitigate its economic impact.

“The inspector general community will continue to conduct aggressive, in-dependent oversight of the agencies that we oversee,” said Horowitz.

“This includes CIGIE’s Pandemic Re-sponse Accountability Committee and its efforts on behalf of American taxpayers, families, businesses, patients, and health care providers to ensure that over $2tn dollars in emergency federal spending is being used consistently with the law’s mandate.”

Democrats have expressed concerns about how the fiscal package will be doled out through the US Treasury, headed by Steven Mnuchin.

“We’re not here to create a slush fund for Donald Trump and his family, or a slush fund for the Treasury Department to be able to hand out to their friends,” said US Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.

The watchdogs’ role in the coronavi-rus oversight is to examine the decision-making process, and provide the public information about where the taxpayer dollars and other resources go.

Atkinson, a Trump appointee, had de-termined that a whistleblower’s report was credible in alleging Trump abused his office in attempting to solicit Ukraine’s interference in the 2020 US election for his political benefit.

Trump said on Friday Atkinson no longer had his “fullest confidence.”

Atkinson expressed concerned that Trump potentially exposed himself to “serious national security and coun-ter-intelligence risks” when he pressed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelen-skiy to investigate Democratic presiden-tial hopeful Joe Biden and his son during a July 25 phone call, according to a Justice Department legal opinion.

Trump is trying to scare the watchdog community, Adam Schiff, a California Democrat and chairman of the House In-telligence Committee told MSNBC yes-terday morning.

“He’s decapitating the leadership of the intelligence community in the middle of a national crisis,” he said.

“It’s unconscionable, and of course it sends a message throughout the federal government and particular to other in-spectors general.”

After contentious, partisan hearings, the Democratic-led House of Represent-atives voted to impeach Trump but the Republican-led Senate acquitted him of the charges in early February.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer told CNN that Trump was un-dermining the intelligence agencies, add-ing that there were no laws to protect people against retaliatory firings.

“When you speak truth to power you should be a hero, but in this administra-tion when you speak truth to power all too often you get fired,” said Schumer.

Republican House Representative Jim Jordan, a staunch Trump supporter, mocked Schiff’s concern about Atkin-son’s firing.

“He was Schiff’s key impeachment en-abler,” Jordan wrote on Twitter.

ASIA/AUSTRALASIA7Gulf Times

Sunday, April 5, 2020

China pauses in memory of virus victims and ‘martyrs’China came to a standstill

yesterday to mourn pa-tients and medical staff

killed by the coronavirus, as the world’s most populous country observed a nationwide three-minute silence.

At 10am (0200 GMT), citi-zens paused, cars, trains and ships sounded their horns, and air-raid sirens rang out in mem-ory of the more than 3,000 lives claimed by the virus in China.

In Wuhan - the city where the virus first emerged late last year - sirens and horns sounded as people fell silent in the streets.

Tongji Hospital staff stood outside with heads bowed to-wards the main building, some in the protective hazmat suits that have become a symbol of the crisis worldwide.

“I feel a lot of sorrow about our colleagues and patients who died,” Xu, a nurse at Tongji who worked on the frontlines treat-ing coronavirus patients, said, holding back tears.

“I hope they can rest well in heaven.”

Workers in protective wear paused silently beside barriers at one residential community - a reminder there are still tight re-strictions on everyday life across Wuhan.

State media showed Chinese President Xi Jinping and other officials standing outside a Bei-jing government compound, wearing white flowers.

National flags were lowered

to half-mast across the coun-try, including in the capital’s Tiananmen Square.

Pedestrians in a busy shop-ping district stopped and kept their heads low in silent tribute, while police stood with their riot shields down and bowed heads.

“During this process, a lot of people including the medical work-ers... have made extraordinary contributions. They are all heroes,” shopper Wang Yongna said.

Park-goers paused their ac-tivities too, some with hands together in prayer.

Trains on Beijing’s subway network halted, and AFP saw passengers stand silently in a mark of respect.

Officials said the observance was a chance to mourn virus “martyrs” - an honorific title the government bestowed this week on 14 medical workers who died fighting the outbreak.

The hashtag “China remem-bers its heroes” had nearly 1.3bn views on Twitter-like Weibo yesterday.

The martyrs include doctor Li Wenliang, a Wuhan whistle-blower reprimanded by authori-ties for trying to warn others in the early days of the contagion.

Li’s death from Covid-19 in February prompted a national outpouring of grief and anger at the government’s handling of the crisis.

The ruling Communist Party has sought to direct criticism to local authorities in Wuhan and surrounding Hubei province, who were accused of downplaying the severity of the virus.

Despite drastic measures to

AFPWuhan

President Xi Jinping, Li Keqiang, Li Zhanshu, Wang Yang, Wang Huning, Zhao Leji, Han Zheng and Wang Qishan, as well as other party and state leaders, stand in silence during the national mourning for martyrs who died fighting the novel coronavirus disease (Covid-19) and compatriots who lost their lives in the outbreak, at the Zhongnanhai leadership compound in Beijing yesterday.

lock down the province in Janu-ary, the epidemic spiralled into a global pandemic.

Some restrictions in Hubei were eased in recent weeks after the officially stated number of new infections dropped to near zero.

Yesterday’s commemora-tion coincided with the annual Qing Ming holiday - the “tomb sweeping” festival - when Chi-nese people visit the graves of relatives and leave offerings in remembrance.

Some restrictions were tight-

ened again this week to prevent a second wave of infections, with authorities discouraging cemetery visits to mark the festival.

Last year, nearly 10mn peo-ple visited cemeteries across the three-day holiday, according to state news agency Xinhua.

At Beijing’s enormous Babaoshan cemetery, mourners made online reservations to visit graves in a lim-ited number of time slots, with only three relatives allowed per tomb.

Nobody was coming or leav-ing Wuhan’s Biandanshan Cem-

etery yesterday afternoon, and security staff stood at the gate.

Another cemetery visited by AFP was shut.

Wuhan resident Wang Yanhong, barred from visiting the graves of her grandfather and brother this year, dropped a bouquet of flowers into the river instead.

“I made a silent tribute in my heart, and stood there for a while,” she said.

Some residents burned paper money on the streets Friday, the festival’s eve.

“We can only remember our relatives at home,” a 50-year-old resident surnamed Li said.

Cemeteries across China are offering a “cloud tomb-sweep-ing” service: families can honour their ancestors by watching a live stream of cemetery staff attend-ing to graves on their behalf.

Websites are also offering people the chance to pay their respects at a “virtual” tomb, in-cluding by lighting a digital can-dle and leaving a dish of digital fruit.

Indonesia coronavirus cases top 2,000

Indonesia said yesterday that coronavirus cases had topped 2,000 and deaths risen to 191,

but doubts have been raised over official figures by data showing a big jump in funerals last month in the capital Jakarta.

Health Ministry official Ach-mad Yurianto said there had been 106 new confirmed infections, taking the total number of cases in the Southeast Asian country to 2,092, with 10 new deaths.

“We are still on high alert over infections that are taking place in the community that are caused by positive cases among people who are not showing symptoms,” said Yurianto.

Indonesia is relying mainly on social distancing policies to combat the virus since Presi-dent Joko Widodo has opposed the harsh lockdown measures adopted in many neighbouring countries.

The country reported its first case of the virus a month ago, but epidemiologists say a relatively low level of test-ing means the number of cases may be vastly under-reported. Indonesia has almost doubled tests in the past week but has conducted only 7,896 tests in a country of more than 260mn people.

According to a Reuters review of statistics from Jakarta’s De-partment of Parks and Cemeter-ies, there were nearly 4,400 fu-nerals in the city in March, 40% higher than any month since at least January, 2018.

ReutersJakarta

People enjoy a picnic at a Han River Park following the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), in Seoul yesterday.

South Korea extends social distancing to curb Covid-19 spread

South Korea said yesterday it will extend its intensive social distancing campaign

scheduled to end on Monday by two weeks in a bid to curb the rate of coronavirus infections to around 50 a day.

The country has largely man-aged to bring under control Asia’s largest epidemic outside China with around 100 or fewer new daily cases. But smaller out-breaks in churches, hospitals and nursing homes, as well as infec-tions among travellers, continue to emerge.

This week, the government has been gauging whether it should extend a 15-day intensive social distancing policy it im-plemented on March 21, under which high-risk facilities were urged to close and religious, sports and entertainment gath-erings were banned.

But it is “too early to be at

ease,” Health Minister Park Neung-hoo said, citing a re-cent spike in imported cases and small cluster infections which also prompted the government to cancel the re-opening of schools next week.

“Our goal is to be able to control infections in a way that our health and medical system, including personnel and sickbeds, can han-dle them at usual levels,” Park told a briefing after a government meeting on the coronavirus.

“If the number goes down to 50 or lower, stable treatment of the patients including the criti-cally ill will be possible without much pressure on the system.”

The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) reported 94 new cases yester-

day, taking the national tally to 10,156. The death toll rose by nine to 183, while more than 300 recovered from the virus for a total of 6,325.

Of the new, 32 were repatriat-ed cases, mostly Koreans, while 31 were from the greater Seoul area and 26 from the hardest-hit city of Daegu, KCDC data showed.

Social distancing played a role in restraining domestic group transmissions by some 70% during the first 11 days compared with the last 11 days before it took effect, Park said.

But there are signs that people restarted going out and social-ising as fatigue about isolation grew and the weather improved, he said.

“We are well aware that many citizens are feeling exhausted and lethargic under continued social distancing,” Park said. “But if we get loose, the strenu-ous efforts that the government and the people have made so far might come to nothing.”

ReutersSeoul

“Our goal is to be able to control infections in a way that our health and medical system, including personnel and sickbeds, can handle them at usual levels”

Vietnam protests Beijing’s sinking of S China Sea boat

Vietnam has lodged an of-ficial protest with China following the sinking

of a Vietnamese fishing boat it said had been rammed by a Chi-nese maritime surveillance ves-sel near islands in the disputed South China Sea.

The Vietnamese fishing ves-sel, with eight fishermen on-board, was fishing near the Pa-racel Islands on Thursday when it was rammed and sunk by the Chinese vessel, Vietnam’s for-eign ministry said in a statement posted on a government website yesterday.

All the fishermen were picked up by the Chinese vessel alive

and were transferred to two other Vietnamese fishing vessels operating nearby, the Vietnam Fisheries Society said in a state-ment posted to its website.

“The Chinese vessel commit-ted an act that violated Vietnam’s sovereignty over the Hoang Sa archipelago and threatened the lives and damaged the property and legitimate interests of Viet-namese fishermen,” the foreign ministry said in its statement, referring to the Paracel Islands by its Vietnamese name.

Vietnam and China have for years been embroiled in a dis-pute over the potentially energy-rich stretch of water, called the East Sea by Vietnam.

The Vietnamese boat ille-gally entered the area to fish and refused to leave, the Chinese

coast guard said late on Friday.After making some dangerous

manoeuvres, the boat collided with a Chinese patrol vessel and sank, the Chinese coast guard said in a statement on its social media account.

The Chinese coast guard also said it had made solemn represen-tations with the Vietnamese side.

The incident marks the sec-ond time in less than a year a Vi-etnamese fishing vessel has been reportedly sunk by a Chinese vessel near the China-controlled Paracels.

A Chinese oil survey ves-sel conducted operations in Vietnamese-controlled waters for more than three months last year, causing a tense standoff between vessels from the two countries.

ReutersHanoi

Tokyo area sees daily coronavirus cases topping 100Some 118 people were newly infected with the novel coronavirus in the Japanese capital of Tokyo, NHK public broadcaster reported yesterday, citing metropolitan government officials.It marked the first time that daily confirmed cases exceeded 100 in the Tokyo area, bringing the number of confirmed cases there to 891, NHK said.Tokyo’s metropolitan government has strongly urged people to stay at home at the weekend as the mega-city faces a rising number of cases and as speculation simmers that Japan may declare a state of emergency, leading to lockdown.Separately, a man in his 70s died yesterday from the coronavirus in the central Japanese city of Kani, Gifu Prefecture, Kyodo newswire reported.It was the first fatal case in the prefecture, Kyodo added. (Reuters)

Australia’s coronavirus cases stable, cruise ships sent home

Australia reported a sus-tained fall in new corona-virus infections and con-

ducted the biggest peacetime maritime operation on Sydney Harbour yesterday, refuelling foreign cruise ships before ex-pelling them from local waters.

Confirmed cases rose by 198 over the 24-hour period to yes-terday, bringing the national total to 5,548, health ministry data showed. The death toll from Covid-19, the respiratory disease caused by the virus, rose to 30.

That kept the country’s daily new infection rate at about 5%, significantly below the 25-30% increases recorded around two weeks ago, but officials stressed it was still too early to claim victory.

“What I really would caution against is thinking we have got through this completely, because we definitely have not,” Deputy Chief Health Officer Paul Kelly said in a televised briefing. “We really have to be hypervigilant now.”

Australia has imposed strict social distancing, including

ReutersMelbourne

The Celebrity Solstice cruise ship is moored in Sydney Harbour due to coronavirus disease (Covid-19) outbreak, in Sydney yesterday.

limiting public gatherings to just two people. State borders, cafes, clubs, parks and gyms have been closed. Several states have also given police the power to enforce the rules via hefty on-the-spot fines and potential jail terms.

“All of the hard work of Aus-tralians is beginning to yield real dividends in terms of lives saved and infections prevented,” Health Minister Greg Hunt told Sky News. “Every one of us can save a life, or any one of us, by doing the wrong thing, could risk a life.”

In Sydney, New South Wales (NSW) state police were coor-

dinating the movements of five foreign flagged cruise ships, car-rying hundreds of crew, as they entered the harbour to refuel and stock up on supplies before re-turning to their home ports.

Cruise ships have become a flash-point in Australia’s response to the pandemic, with public anger after Carnival Corp’s Ruby Princess was last month allowed to disembark pas-sengers in Sydney, many of whom later tested positive for Covid-19.

Cruise ships are responsible for around 20% of Australia’s coronavirus cases. Seven deaths and more than 600 infections

have been attributed to the Ruby Princess alone.

Australia’s decision to close its ports has led to tense negotia-tions with several ships.

The operation in Sydney Har-bour yesterday was also allowing crew transfers among ships to enable workers to join the vessel heading closest to their home.

While cruise ships were being ordered away, the foreign ministry said yesterday that workers from Pacific countries who are employed as fruitpickers and farm workers would be allowed to extend their vi-sas for another 12 months.

BRITAIN/IRELANDGulf Times Sunday, April 5, 20208

Britain reported yesterday a record 708 daily deaths from the Covid-19 disease,

including a five-year-old child, who is thought to be the coun-try’s youngest victim.

The health ministry said 4,313 people who tested positive for the virus in hospital had died as of 1600 GMT on Friday, while there were 41,903 confirmed cases as of 0800 GMT yesterday, up 3,735.

The toll has been steadily in-creasing by more than 500 deaths a day this week, and the country is bracing for an expected peak in the next week to 10 days.

A total of 637 of the latest deaths were in England, the Na-tional Health Service (NHS) said.

“Patients were aged between five years and 104 years old. Forty of the 637 patients (aged be-tween 48 and 93 years old) had no known underlying health condi-tion,” it said in a statement.

The NHS said it would not be giving further information about the five-year-old patient at the request of the family.

A 13-year-old boy from Lon-don, Ismail Mohamed Abdulwa-

hab, died last week, days after testing positive for Covid-19.

His family said that the teen-ager had no underlying illnesses.

Senior minister Michael Gove told a daily briefing that the teen-ager’s mother and siblings were now showing symptoms.

The overall death toll now in-cluded seven healthcare profes-sionals, he added.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who is in self-isolation after de-veloping mild symptoms of the disease, ordered a three-week lockdown of the country on March 23 to try to cut infections.

However, there has been concern that warmer weather forecast for this weekend could tempt people from their homes to green spaces and public parks.

Health Secretary Matt Han-cock has warned against any relaxation in social distancing, saying: “If we do, people will die.”

Imperial College London epi-demiologist Neil Ferguson, who is advising the government, told BBC radio yesterday that a peak was expected around the Easter weekend.

“We still think things will pla-teau but we’ll be at quite high levels of infection for weeks and weeks, rather than seeing quite a rapid decline as the type seen in China,” he said.

But he said that was dependent on people staying at home.

If that happened, it could lead to less stringent measures in place “at least by the end of May”, he added.

The announcement of an-other record rise in deaths came after 13 residents at a care home in Glasgow died in one week in a suspected outbreak of coronavi-rus, which causes the Covid-19 respiratory disease.

The Burlington Court Care Home said those who died had underlying medical conditions and two staff members were be-ing treated for Covid-19.

Tests for coronavirus are cur-rently carried out on the most serious cases that require hos-pital treatment, suggesting the true extent of confirmed cases and deaths is an under-estimate.

The government meanwhile announced that up to 4,000 low-risk prisoners near the end of their sentence could be released from jails in England and Wales to try to stop the spread of the disease (see report on the right).

UK Covid-19 deaths climb by record 708AFPLondon

An officer speaks with people in Greenwich Park as more cases of the coronavirus disease Covid-19 are reported in the UK.

Up to 4,000 prisoners in England and Wales are to be temporarily released

from jail in an effort to try and control the spread of corona-virus, the government has an-nounced.

The ministry of justice (MoJ) said the selected low-risk of-fenders will be electronically tagged and temporarily released on licence in stages, although they can be recalled at the first sign of concern.

It is seen as a way to avoid thousands of prisoners, many of whom share cells, from becom-ing infected.

The move comes as 88 prison-ers and 15 staff have already test-ed positive for Covid-19.

Three prisoners have died after contracting coronavirus, which causes the Covid-19 respiratory disease.

No high-risk criminals – such as those who have been convict-ed of violent or sexual offences, anyone who is a national security concern or a danger to children – will be considered for release.

Prisoners who have not served at least half their custodial term will also not be among those re-leased.

Justice Secretary Robert Buck-land said the move to temporarily release these prisoners is part of the national plan to protect the National Health Service (NHS) and save lives.

The total number to be re-leased makes up roughly 5% of the prison estate in England and Wales, which holds 83,000 pris-oners across 117 prisons.

The MoJ said no offender con-victed of coronavirus-related offences, including coughing at emergency workers or stealing personal protective equipment, would be eligible.

Buckland said: “This govern-ment is committed to ensuring that justice is served to those who break the law. But this is an unprecedented situation because if coronavirus takes hold in our prisons, the NHS could be over-whelmed and more lives put at risk.

“All prisoners will face a tough risk assessment and must com-ply with strict conditions, in-cluding an electronic tag, while they are closely monitored.

“Those that do not will be re-called to prison.”

The news of the release of risk assessed prisoners getting to-wards the end of their sentences follows a call from the Prison Re-form Trust and Howard League for the early release of prisoners to protect them, staff and the wider public.

Commenting on the an-nouncement Peter Dawson, di-rector of the Prison Reform Trust said: “This is a welcome and substantial step in the right di-rection.”

“Exceptional times require exceptional measures, and the public should be reassured that in this instance, their protec-tion is better served by carefully releasing some prisoners a few weeks early, than by keeping

them in,” he stated.“Prisons have never faced an

emergency of this complexity or duration, and further meas-ures will be needed in the weeks ahead.

“But this is a start, and the lord chancellor deserves credit for it.”

Speaking yesterday, Juliet Lyon, chair of the Independent Advisory Panel on Deaths in Custody, said: “At a time of grave threat to life, we welcome the lord chancellor’s considered decision to start a planned pro-gramme of prison releases with-out further delay.

“This is based on the clear, consistent advice of scrutiny bodies, public health experts, human rights organisations, charities, prison governors and staff unions.”

The announcement follows the news last week that preg-nant women in custody who do not pose a high risk of harm to the public will be temporarily released from prison to protect them and their unborn children from coronavirus.

Prisoners in mother and baby units meeting the same risk as-sessment will also be released with their children.

Governors will be able to grant their release on temporary li-cence once they pass a risk as-sessment and suitable accom-modation for the women has been identified.

Dr Kate Paradine, chief execu-tive of charity Women in Prison, called for more prisoners to be released.

“The release of pregnant women and mother and babies on prison mother and baby units (MBUs) is the first step to keep-ing all our communities safe and healthy.

“As a matter of urgency, the government must now plan to release many more people to drastically reduce the number of people in prison.

“Failure to act may have cata-strophic consequences, causing many more avoidable deaths in our communities both in and outside of prison.”

The Home Office has also re-leased more people from immi-gration detention centres fol-lowing individual assessments.

After releasing 350 detainees over a week ago, more of 736 people detained have been re-leased.

Northern Ireland will also re-lease 200 of its 1,500 prisoners early, while the authorities in Scotland are considering taking similar action.

4,000 inmates to be temporarily released in England and WalesBy Diane Taylor and Jamie GriersonGuardian News & Media

Ireland has seen a more than four-fold increase in coro-navirus outbreaks in nursing

homes in the space of a week, prompting a number of new measures to protect vulnerable elderly residents, officials said.

Across the whole country, the rate of increase in infections has more than halved since a series of restrictions were put in place from mid-March.

As of Friday, Ireland reported 424 new cases, bringing the total to 3,849 with 120 related deaths.

However the number of nurs-ing homes reporting clusters of cases rose to 38 from nine from March 24 to March 31, according to the most recent data released on Friday from Ireland’s Health Service Executive (HSE).

The HSE said it will send some senior nurses, medics and pub-lic health doctors into nursing

homes to improve infectious disease control and will also ask for agency staff working in nu-merous nursing homes to be de-ployed in a dedicated facility.

“There were extensive ar-rangements in place across the nursing home sector and infec-tion prevention control guide-lines that should have been ap-plied,” Ireland’s Chief Medical Officer, Tony Holohan, told a news conference.

“It is true to say there are some environments that are of very high standard and continue to be very safe and effective places to receive care, there are other places that may be not quite at that same standard.

“What we have to do is try to raise the performance of that whole sector.”

Outbreaks in nursing homes accounted for almost a quarter of the 160 clusters around the country at the end of March, the HSE data showed.

While Irish health officials

have said four to five people make up the average cluster, Stephen Donnelly, health spokesman for the main opposition Fianna Fail party, told parliament on Thurs-day that almost 100 staff mem-bers and residents in one nursing home had tested positive for the new coronavirus.

Health officials across the world have warned that the eld-erly are especially vulnerable.

The median age of deaths in Ireland is 82, compared to a me-dian age of 48 of all those in-fected, according to data from Ireland’s health department.

HSE chief Paul Reid said nurs-ing homes would be prioritised in the distribution of new personal protective equipment (PPE), which is in short supply.

The HSE received the first 10% of 60 airplane loads of PPE ordered from China this week, although it said on Friday that some of the equipment was not suitable for use and some would have to be repurposed.

Ireland sees four-fold increase in nursing home Covid-19 clustersReutersDublin

Pro-European centrist Keir Starmer was unveiled yesterday as new Labour

party leader, heralding a shift in Britain’s main opposition party after a crushing election defeat under veteran socialist Jeremy Corbyn and years of ideological infighting.

The 57-year-old former chief state prosecutor defeated Cor-byn loyalist Rebecca Long-Bai-ley and backbencher Lisa Nandy in a lengthy campaign sparked by Corbyn’s resignation after December’s loss at the polls to Boris Johnson’s Conservatives.

Angela Rayner becomes the new deputy leader, Labour an-nounced on Twitter, after it was forced to cancel a special con-ference because of the coronavi-rus outbreak.

Starmer, who was Labour’s Brexit spokesman, called his election “the honour and privi-lege” of his life and vowed to “engage constructively” with Johnson’s Conservative govern-ment.

Johnson immediately offered his congratulations and the pair

spoke, with Starmer accepting an invitation to a government briefing on Covid-19 next week.

“Keir offered to work con-structively with the govern-ment on how best to respond to the coronavirus outbreak,” his spokesman said.

Starmer himself vowed to reunite Labour, after deep rifts between supporters of socialist Corbyn’s hard-left ideals and centrists, and wrangling over its Brexit strategy.

He immediately addressed the issue of anti-Semitism that Corbyn was accused of failing to tackle, which tarnished the par-ty’s reputation and caused Jew-ish members to leave in droves.

“Anti-Semitism has been a stain on our party. I have seen the grief that it’s brought to so many Jewish communities,” Starmer said.

“On behalf of the Labour Par-ty, I am sorry. And I will tear out this poison by its roots and judge success by the return of Jew-ish members and those who felt that they could no longer sup-port us.”

Starmer, who won a resound-ing 56.2% of the vote of Labour members, acknowledged that the party had “a mountain to

climb”, after four straight gen-eral election defeats – two under Corbyn.

But he vowed: “We will climb it.”

He added: “I will lead this great party into a new era, with confidence and with hope.

“So that when the time comes, we can serve our country again in government.”

Labour grew out of the trade union movement but moved to the political centre under former prime minister Tony Blair, who was in office between 1997 and 2007.

Corbyn spent a lifetime on the sidelines because of his left-wing views, and his election as leader in 2015, on the back of a huge surge in party membership, was a shock.

MPs and party members have been locked in an ideological battle ever since.

“There’s really a lot of bad blood and mistrust,” said Steven Fielding, a political expert at the University of Nottingham. “The first challenge (for the new lead-er) will be to put a team together that at least looks like it has the ability to unify the party.”

Winning back voters who de-fected to the Conservatives is

also top of Starmer’s “to do” list if Labour is to have any hope of victory at the next election, cur-rently scheduled for 2024.

Brexit was a toxic issue for the party, torn between eurosceptic supporters in many northern English towns and pro-EU vot-ers in the big cities such as Lon-don.

Starmer was opposed to Brex-it and played a key role in mov-ing Labour to support a second referendum on leaving the Eu-ropean Union.

However, voters were not convinced and Johnson took Britain out of the bloc on Janu-ary 31.

The coronavirus outbreak has brought a more immediate chal-lenge.

Johnson’s government has imposed draconian curbs on public movement to try to stop the spread – measures backed by Labour, although it successfully pressed for more parliamentary

scrutiny of new police powers.The Conservatives have also

promised eye-watering sums to keep businesses and individuals afloat, wading into traditional Labour territory.

In response, Johnson’s popu-larity ratings have shot up.

A YouGov survey last week found that 55% of the public had a favourable opinion of him, up from 43% a week earlier.

Some 72% thought the gov-ernment was doing well – in-cluding a majority of Labour voters.

Ministers have been on the back foot in recent days, how-ever, over the lack of testing for coronavirus and protective equipment for healthcare staff.

Labour has been pressing the issues and Starmer said this would continue.

“My instinct will be to be constructive but to ask the diffi-cult questions,” he told a Guard-ian podcast this week.

Starmer is elected new Labour leaderAFPLondon

This photo taken on December 6 last year shows Corbyn with Starmer during a press conference in London.

No high-risk prisoners will be released as part of the plans.

Three recent mobile phone mast fires around the UK are being investigated as

possible arsons, amid concerns that people are attacking tel-ecoms infrastructure because of a conspiracy theory linking 5G technology to the spread of coro-navirus.

The mayor of Liverpool, Joe Anderson, also revealed he had received threats relating to the “bizarre” theory, which has gained traction on social media.

On Friday, emergency serv-ices were called to reports that a 5G mast was on fire in Liverpool shortly before 11pm.

Police confirmed they were in-vestigating the blaze at Spencer’s Lane, Aintree, close to the M57 motorway.

Fire crews managed to get the fire under control quickly and were photographed parked out-side the field shortly after it was extinguished.

The media regulator, Ofcom, said on Thursday that it was monitoring broadcasters who spread the discredited conspir-acy theory, although coverage has spread more widely on social networks, such as WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter and Nextdoor.

Just hours before the reported incident in Liverpool, Anderson dismissed the theories as “bi-zarre”.

He said he was amazed by the amount of traction the conspir-

acy was getting on social media, and that all scientific and gov-ernment advice showed the tech-nology posed no harm to people.

Speaking to the Guardian, the mayor revealed that he had received threats relating to the theory and had reported them to Merseyside police.

“The suggestion that Covid-19 is somehow linked to 5G is pat-ently beyond the realms of cred-ibility – utterly bizarre,” he said. “In Liverpool these masts are be-

ing upgraded and ironically the very people that are using this technology are the ones who are believing these theories.

“I was mildly threatened yes-terday by someone telling me to take them down.

“The reality is there is huge pressure on the network at the moment with so many people at home and that’s why engineers are upgrading it.

“The idea that I have entered into some kind of machiavellian plot with the government is ri-diculous.”

Social media posts from celeb-rities, such as the singer Anne-Marie, have helped spread the theory, while Amanda Holden, a judge on Britain’s Got Talent, shared a link to an online peti-tion promoting the false rumour that the symptoms of coronavi-rus are caused by residing near a 5G mast.

On Thursday, police in Belfast appealed for information after a mobile phone mast was damaged in an arson attack, with online footage suggesting the motive was opposition to 5G networks.

Phone masts attacked over 5G virus rumoursBy Nazia Parveen and Jim WatersonGuardian News & Media

Phone masts have been attacked in Birmingham, Liverpool and Belfast.

EUROPE9Gulf Times

Sunday, April 5, 2020

A man went on the rampage with a knife in a town in southeastern France yes-

terday, killing two people and wounding five in what President Emmanuel Macron called “an odious act”.

The reasons behind the knife attack remain unclear yester-day, although Interior Minister Christophe Castaner spoke of the

suspect’s “terrorist journey”.The assailant, understood to

be a refugee from Sudan, was ar-rested after the attack in the town of Romans-sur-Isere.

The town is currently under a coronavirus lockdown, although people are allowed out to buy es-sentials.

Armed with a knife, the sus-pect went into a tobacco shop where he attacked the owner, town mayor Marie-Helene Tho-raval told AFP.

“His wife got involved and she

was wounded as well,” she said.The assailant then went into

a butcher’s shop where he took another knife before heading to the town centre where he entered another store.

“He took a knife, jumped over the counter, and stabbed a cus-tomer, then ran away,” the shop owner Ludovic Breyton told AFP. “My wife tried to help the victim but in vain.”

According to witnesses cited by the local radio station France Bleu Drome Ardeche, the attack-

er shouted “Allahu Akbar!” as he attacked his victims.

David Olivier Reverdy, assist-ant national secretary of the Na-tional Police Alliance union, said that the assailant had called on police to kill him when they came to arrest him.

“All the ingredients of a terror-ist act are there,” he told BFMTV.

Macron was quick to denounce the attack on Twitter.

“All the light will be shed on this odious act which casts a shadow over our country which

has already been hit hard in re-cent weeks,” he said.

France is in its third week of a lockdown aimed at stemming the spread of the deadly coronavirus.

Castaner also condemned the attack when he visited the site.

“This morning, a man em-barked on a terrorist journey,” he said, adding that it would be the job of the National Counter-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office (PNAT) to determine whether the attacker was part of a group or acting alone.

Man kills two, wounds five in France stabbingsAFP/Reuters/DPALyon/Paris

Germany’s SPD in front of Greens for first time in more than 18 months

Germany’s beleaguered Social Democrats (SPD) have moved past the Greens to take second place in the RTL/ntv Trend Barometer opinion poll for the first time since September 2018.Compared to last week, the centre-left SPD rose by one point to 17% according to the poll published yesterday, while the Greens lost one point, to 16%.The conservative bloc (Christian Democratic Union/Christian Socialist Union) remained in first place, gaining one point to 37%.The smaller opposition parties remained unchanged: the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) on 9%, the hard-left Die Linke (The Left) on 8% and the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) on 6%.The data was obtained by pollsters Forsa from a survey of 2,506 respondents between March 30 and April 3 on behalf of the media group RTL.The margin of error is 2.5 percentage points.The conservatives currently rule with the SPD.The next election is due in 2021.

Italians should brace for a long fight against the novel coro-navirus epidemic, a top offi-

cial warned yesterday, as the dai-ly Covid-19 death toll fell under 700 for the first time in nine days.

The coronavirus causes the Covid-19 respiratory disease.

“Refrain from thinking that it is already time to change, or if you will, to normalise your behaviour,” government health sector commissioner Domenico Arcuri said in a press conference.

“Our battle against the coro-navirus continues non-stop but we should avoid starting to think that we are winning, that we have cornered our opponent and that we are about to prevail,” he added.

Hours later, the Civil Protec-tion Agency reported 681 new Covid-19 deaths, bringing Italy’s death toll, already the world’s highest, to 15,362.

The daily death count had peaked at 969 on March 27.

One of the dead yesterday was 51-year-old police officer Gior-gio Guastamacchia, a member of Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte’s security detail.

“For all of us who had known him, for his security detail col-leagues, for the staff of the Prime Minister’s office, it is a time of great sorrow,” Conte wrote on Facebook.

When news broke on March 21 of Guastamacchia’s illness, gov-ernment sources said that Conte had not been in close contact with the officer and had tested negative to the virus.

The total number of infections, rose to 124,632, up 4% from Fri-day, but for the first time there was a fall in the number of people under intensive care, down by 74 to 3,994.

“This is very important news because it allows our hospitals to breathe,” Civil Protection Agency chief Angelo Borrelli said pre-senting the figures.

Italy’s epidemic has slowed down, but not stopped.

In Lombardy, the northern re-

gion at the epicentre of the crisis,President Attilio Fontana or-

dered people to cover their nose and mouth with masks, scarves or any other tissue whenever they go out.

Meanwhile, the justice minis-try said that face masks, which have been in short supply across the country, would start being produced in three prisons from mid-April.

In early March there were vio-lent riots in several jails, sparked by inmates’ fears about conta-gion risks, which led to 12 deaths among prisoners and dozens of escapes.

On March 31, the justice min-istry said 19 out of more than 58,000 prisoners and 116 out of nearly 38,000 guards had tested positive to the novel coronavirus.

Italy has been under a na-tional lockdown since March 10, but there are signs of lockdown fatigue, especially in southern regions which have been less af-fected by the outbreak.

Yesterday’s newspapers were dominated by headlines and pic-tures of people flouting home-confinement rules and pledges

by authorities to increase police checks.

The flattening of the curve “should not at all be interpreted as a message that we have already overcome the critical phase and we are clear of the danger”, Pro-fessor Franco Locatelli said.

Locatelli, one of the public health experts advising the gov-

ernment and head of the Su-preme Health Council, added: “We are not clear of anything.”

Meanwhile, Spain’s prime minister announced yesterday an extension of the country’s lock-down to combat the coronavirus, saying the measures are “bearing fruit” as the number of deaths fell for a second day in a row.

A nationwide 15-day state of emergency was first announced on March 14 barring people from leaving home except for essential outings such as buying food or seeking medical care.

It was to end on April 11 after being extended by two weeks.

“The cabinet on Tuesday will again ask for authorisation from parliament to extend for a sec-ond time the state of alert until Saturday, April 25, at midnight,” Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said in a televised speech.

The extra weeks are “the time that our health system needs to recover”, he said.

Hospitals, in particular the intensive care units, have been overwhelmed by an influx of coronavirus patients.

However, yesterday Spain re-corded a second successive daily fall in coronavirus-related deaths with 809 fatalities.

The total number of deaths in the country stands at 11,744, sec-ond only to Italy.

The number of new Spanish cases also slowed to 7,026, taking the total to 124,736.

“We know that these three weeks of isolation are bearing fruit,” Sanchez said.

The confinement has al-lowed “a containment of the ava-lanche on the hospitals, the care of the sick and saved lives”.

But to “ease up now would have a worse result”, he said, warning of a “second wave” of infections.

“Yes, we are seeing a glim-mer of hope” but “we are enter-ing a new phase that will not be easy, the transition phase”, said Dr Maria Jose Sierra of the health ministry’s emergencies centre.

Sanchez said he could not rule out further extensions, but said an easing of the strict regulations could be possible if the situation improves.

Spain is still racing against the clock to procure more medical equipment for its overstretched hospitals, notably respirators.

About 50 arrived from Ger-many on Friday, after Spain ap-pealed to its North Atlantic Trea-ty Organisation (Nato) allies.

Another shipment was to be sent from Turkey but was even-tually requisitioned by Turkish authorities.

Italians told to brace for long virus battleSpain to extend state of emergency to April 26

DPA/AFPRome/Madrid

A solidarity table (‘Tavolo solidare’) with a note reading ‘For you who cannot buy ... take it’ is seen in one of the deserted streets in the historic centre of Naples.

A police officer waves as people applaud to thank healthcare workers dealing with the coronavirus, in Ronda, Spain.

Two people were killed and six injured when a gas ex-plosion ripped through a

five-storey residential building outside Moscow yesterday, with rescue workers still looking for survivors.

The blast took place in the town of Orekhovo-Zuyevo dur-ing stay-at-home orders aimed at slowing the spread of the coronavirus.

The emergencies ministry said two people were killed and another six were injured when a section in the middle of the brick building collapsed in the town north of the capital.

Rescue workers were combing the debris as two more people could be under the debris, head of the emergencies ministry’s Moscow region branch, Sergei Poletykin, said in televised re-marks.

Ten flats have been partially

destroyed and officials were try-ing to establish how many peo-ple lived there.

The rest of the building ap-peared intact.

National television broadcast footage of mangled heaps of concrete as locals – a number of them wearing masks – gathered at the scene.

All residents of the damaged building have been moved to a school nearby, officials said.

Gennady Panin, head of the Orekhovo-Zuyevo city district, said earlier that six people had been pulled from the debris.

Three people, apparently from among those six, were in intensive care, he added.

Witness Alexei Muranov, who lives near the damaged building, said he stood near the window when he was pushed back by a shock wave.

“At first things were not clear, it looked like a car blast, there was a little bit of smoke,” Mu-ranov said in televised remarks.

“And then people ran there,”

he said, adding that several floors had collapsed. “Only a roof has remained.”

The Investigative Committee said the gas explosion took place on the third floor of the building.

Investigators said they were looking into the cause, with a gas leak and damaged gas equip-ment among the top leads.

Moscow region governor An-drei Vorobyov and emergencies

minister Yevgeny Zinichev im-mediately went to the scene.

Gas explosions are common in Russia and often affect residen-tial buildings built in the Soviet era.

Two killed in gas explosion outside MoscowAFPMoscow

A dog gets out of the debris of an apartment block, which partially collapsed after an apparent gas explosion, in the town of Orekhovo-Zuyevo, near Moscow.

France reported yesterday 441 coronavirus deaths in 24 hours, lower than the record number of 588 recorded the previous day.This brought the total number of deaths to 7,560 since the epidemic began, top health official Jerome Salomon told reporters.Of these, 5,532 died in hospital and 2,028 in old age facilities.Salomon said there were now 28,143 people with coronavirus in hospital in France – up 711 from the day before, with 6,838 of them in intensive care – a daily increase of 176 critical patients.France has been in lockdown since March 17 in a bid to slow the spread of the epidemic, with only essential trips allowed that must be justified with a signed piece of paper.“The Covid-19 pandemic is completely unprecedented with thousands of serious cases and thousands of deaths,” Salomon said.There have been 68,605 confirmed coronavirus cases in France, but this is not the total as testing for the virus is not universal.While there has been a slowing in the rate of new intensive care admissions, Salomon warned that “now is not the time to relax the effort”.“I tell you this evening: Stay at home to save lives”.

France reports 441 new coronavirus deaths in 24 hours, total now 7,560

Switzerland saw yesterday the number of cases of the new coronavirus in the

country pass 20,000, as its death toll in the pandemic swelled past 500.

The health ministry said 20,201 people in Switzerland had tested positive for Covid-19 as of morning yesterday – nearly 1,000 more than a day earlier.

The coronavirus causes the Covid-19 respiratory disease.

The small Alpine country of some 8.5mn people is thus one of the worst hit compared to population size, now count-ing 236 registered infections per 100,000 people.

At the same time, an addition-al 76 people died over the past 24 hours, bringing Switzerland’s death toll in the pandemic to 540, the health ministry said.

“We have not yet reached the peak,” health ministry official Daniel Koch told reporters.

Worldwide, well over 1.1mn cases have been registered across 188 countries, while close to 60,000 people have died, ac-cording to a tally compiled by AFP yesterday from official sources.

The high incidence in Swit-zerland could in part be linked

to the fact that it is among the countries that have administered most tests per capita.

Since the first case surfaced in the country on February 24, more than 150,000 tests have been administered with around 15% coming up positive.

Drive-in testing stations have been set up in several places, including in the capital Bern, to help simplify safe testing for Covid-19.

In the past 24 hours, the coun-try has conducted nearly 7,000 tests, including 975 that were positive, the health ministry said.

Switzerland’s southern canton of Ticino, which borders hard-hit Italy, has registered most cas-es, followed by Geneva.

As in other countries, men seemed to suffer more from the virus.

Slightly more women had test-ed positive for the virus, but men accounted for 64% of the deaths, the ministry found.

Switzerland has unblocked some $60bn to buffer the harsh blow to its economy from the pandemic and the measures tak-en to halt the spread of the virus.

The economic affairs ministry said yesterday that some 1.3mn people, or a quarter of the coun-try’s workforce, have applied for temporary unemployment ben-efits since the start of the crisis.

Switzerland’s cases soar past 20,000AFPGeneva

Turkey stepped up controls yesterday on crowded public spaces, including

markets and ferries, in Istanbul a day after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan imposed the use of face masks to curb the coronavirus outbreak.

Turkey has so far recorded 501 coronavirus-related deaths and 23,934 cases, most of them in the country’s economic capi-tal Istanbul, according to official figures.

All those going out to shops or markets must wear a face mask, Erdogan said, calling on the pop-ulation to maintain a distance of “three paces” from each other when outside.

At an Istanbul bazaar in the Besiktas neighbourhood open every Saturday, police and local municipal employees handled the use of masks and hand dis-infectants, while checking the temperature of incoming cus-tomers at the entrance.

Veli Yildirim, 50, who sells vegetables including tomatoes, said the measures came “too late”.

“We are the latest compared to the rest of the world. Even this is not enough, there should be a

complete lockdown” in Istanbul, he told AFP.

A 60-year-old customer in the bazaar, Asuman Karaman wearing a mask, agreed: “If these measures had been taken one or two months earlier, maybe the virus would not have been so widespread.”

The bazaar looked quite calm – in stark contrast to its usual noisy and crowded state.

Vendors there complained that their business had been badly af-fected.

“This has had a big impact, there is no one at the market, at this time of the day, we have nothing to do here,” said Abbas Kose, who sells vine leaves.

At the ferries in Istanbul, pas-sengers were seen wearing face masks.

The city’s mayor Ekrem Ima-moglu has been calling for total confinement, but the authori-ties have thus far stopped short of that.

As part of the measures taken nationwide, authorities sus-pended international flights, issued a confinement order for everyone aged under 20 and over 65 and shut schools.

Erdogan also said on Friday that vehicles would no longer be able to leave or enter 31 towns and cities, including Istanbul, for 15 days.

Turkey tightens curbs in public placesAFPIstanbul

10 Gulf TimesSunday, April 5, 2020

INDIA

Govt suggests useof homemade masksIANSNew Delhi

The Health Ministry yes-terday suggested the use of homemade masks for

the people living in densely-populated areas for protecting themselves as well as others in the community.

“Certain countries have claimed benefi ts of homemade face cover for the people. Such homemade face cover is a good method for maintaining person-al hygiene. Such usage certainly will help in maintaining overall hygienic health conditions,” the ministry said.

However, the homemade masks should not be used by people suff ering from medical conditions or having breathing diffi culties, or by health workers, it added.

“This face cover is not recom-mended for either health work-ers or those working with or in contact with Covid-19 patients or are patients themselves as these categories of people are re-quired to wear specifi ed protec-tive gear,” it said.

The ministry said homemade masks must be made of clean cloth and be used by only one individual.

“There must not be sharing of face covers and must be used by only one individual.”

Meanwhile, the All India Institute of Medical Services yesterday said there was no shortage of personal protective equipment (PPEs) for healthcare workers at the institute.

“It has come to our notice that there are some outsiders who are trying to tarnish the image of AIIMS. In this hour of crisis, when all healthcare workers, the government and the people are tackling the pandemic, there are some people who are trying to undermine the eff orts,” the AIIMS said in a statement.

The statement was issued after a tweet by Dr Harjit Singh Bhatti, who the AIIMS was not associ-ated with it in any capacity.

Bhatti alleged that doctors and nurses were being threatened by the AIIMS administration.

“On what basis do they take action? Doctors are under no obligation to work without pro-tective equipment,” he tweeted.

Railways gears to resumeservices from April 15IANSNew Delhi

The Indian Railways, which had announced closure of all passenger, mail and ex-

press train services from March 24 to April 14 in a bid to stop the chain of transmission of novel coronavirus, has started prepa-ration to resume all its services from April 15, sources said yes-terday.

According to Railway Ministry sources, all railway safety person-nel, running staff , guards, ticket examiners and other offi cials have been told to be prepared to join their posts from April 15.

The sources said train opera-tions, however, will begin only after a green signal is received from the government.

They said the railways has sent a “restoration plan” to all its 17 zones, with details of the schedule of trains to be run, their frequency and the availability of rakes.

According to the sources, all zones have been sent a missive to

be prepared to run their respec-tive services.

Another ministry source said after the 21-day lockdown ends on April 14, the national trans-porter is likely to restore 80% of passenger train services includ-ing premium train services like Rajdhani, Shatabdi, Duronto, Tejas and Vande Bharat trains.

He also said that the local trains too are likely to begin op-erations from April 15.

Asked about ensuring the safety of passengers as well as the railway staff involved in train operations, the source said the railways will likely to conduct thermal screening and follow all protocols as advised by the gov-ernment.

Meanwhile, senior offi cials said no fresh orders have been issued and since cancellations were only up to April 14, “no fresh orders are required for starting the operations from April 15.”

Sources also said that a con-crete action plan will be sent to the zones later this week.

The suspension of the serv-

ices has hit the livelihoods of thousands of licenced porters working at hundreds of railway stations all over the country.

Amid this backdrop, the em-ployees at the South Central Rail-way got together to lend a helping hand to around 100 licensed por-ters of the zone yesterday.

The staff of the Commercial Department in the SCR zone have collected essentials and money and handed them over to the porters in the Hyderabad, Guntakal, Guntur and Nanded divisions.

Essentials such as rice, dal, edible oil, fl our, salt, soaps, sani-tary kits and other grocery items were handed over to porters in the zone.

In all, 101 porters in the Hy-derabad division, 40 in Guntakal , 33 in Guntur and 13 in the Nanded division received help from the employees of SCR.

The licenced porters, earlier known as railway coolies, are authorised by the railways to as-sist passengers in carrying their personal luggage at stipulated porterage charges.

DRDO designs disinfectionchamber, faceprotection maskIANSNew Delhi

The Defence Research and Development Organisa-tion (DRDO) has devel-

oped a full body disinfection chamber called Personnel Sani-tisation Enclosure and face pro-tection mask.

The mask is now being sup-plied to hospitals across the country.

DRDO’s Vehicle Research and Development Establishment lab in Ahmednagar has designed the sanitisation enclosure.

“This walk-through enclo-sure is designed for personnel decontamination one person at a time. This is a portable system equipped with a sanitiser and soap dispenser,” the DRDO said in a statement.

The decontamination is start-ed using a foot pedal at the en-try. Once inside the chamber, an electrically operated pump cre-ates a disinfectant mist of hypo sodium chloride.

The mist spray is calibrated for an operation of 25 seconds and stops automatically indicating the process in complete.

Those undergoing disinfec-tion will need to keep their eyes closed while inside the chamber.

The system consists of roof-mounted and bottom tanks with a total capacity of 700 litres.

Approximately 650 people can pass through the chamber for disinfection until the next refi ll.

“The system has see-through glass panels on side walls for monitoring purpose and is fi tted with lights for night time opera-tions. A separate operator cabin is provided to monitor the overall operations,” the statement said.

“The system was manufac-tured with the help of Dass Hi-tachi Ltd in Ghaziabad in four days. This system can be used for disinfection of personnel at the areas of controlled ingress and egress such as entry and exit to hospitals, malls, offi ce buildings

and critical installations,” the DRDO said.

Also, Hyderabad’s Research Centre Imarat and Chandigarh’s Terminal Ballistics Research Laboratory (TBRL) have devel-oped face protection mask for healthcare professionals han-dling Covid-19 patients.

Its light weight construction makes it convenient for com-fortable wear for long duration. This design uses commonly available A4 size Over-Head Projection (OHP) fi lm for face protection.

“The holding frame is manu-factured using Fused Deposition Modelling (3D printing). Polylac-tic Acid fi lament is used for 3D printing of the frame,” DRDO said.

The thermoplastic is derived from renewable resources such as corn starch or sugarcane and is biodegradable.

The face mask will be mass pro-duced using injection moulding technique for volume production.

A total 100 face shields are be-ing produced daily in TBRL and supplied to PGIMER in Chandi-garh.

Similarly 100 are produced at RCI and has been handed over to ESIC in Hyderabad.

A demand of 10,000 numbers has been received from PGIMER and ESIC Hospitals based on successful user trials.

Meanwhile, a team of engi-neers in Hyderabad has designed a low-cost ventilator system, which can help Covid-19 patients with respiratory assistance.

The developers said the de-vice can be helpful in meeting an emergency in the event of short-age of regular ventilators.

Krishna Ganji, founder and CEO of NextByte Innovations Private Limited, said that the electromechanical device was used to operate manual ‘Ambo bag’ thus assisting the patient in respiration.

He demonstrated the technol-ogy using an Android phone, but the actual device will comprise control knobs to set the speed.

Police personnel along with members of National Human Rights and Crime Control Organisation pose for photographs while gesturing behind a slogan ‘Stay Home Stay Safe’ written on the road at the Golden Gate (background) during a government-imposed nationwide lockdown, in Amritsar yesterday.

Lockdown could be extended: offi cialsAgenciesMumbai

Authorities in some states warned yesterday that lockdowns to rein in the

coronavirus pandemic could be extended in parts of the nation as the number of domestic corona-virus cases rose above the 3,000 mark.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi ordered a three-week lockdown on March 24 to avert a massive outbreak of infections.

But the world’s biggest shut-down has left millions without jobs and forced migrant workers to fl ee cities to their villages in search of food and shelter.

The country has recorded 3,072 coronavirus cases, of which 75 people have died.

Maharashtra has 537 con-fi rmed cases of Covid-19 - the disease caused by the coronavi-rus - and 26 people have died.

“If people don’t obey the rules seriously and cases continue to rise, then there may be no option but to extend the lockdown,” Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope said.

“It could be extended in Mumbai and urban areas of Ma-harashtra by two weeks.”

Authorities have already set up 200-plus containment zones and sealed off building complex-es or streets in Mumbai, where cases have been identifi ed.

While the federal government does plan to review the lock-down, set to end on April 14, three senior offi cials said this will depend on an assessment of the situation in each state, and lockdowns and restrictions would be extended in districts where the coronavirus case spread has continued.

Public transport in large cit-ies such as Mumbai, Bengaluru and Delhi, may only be restored in a phased manner days after the lockdown ends, said the offi -cials, who asked not to be named as the plans were still under dis-cussion.

During a meeting with min-isters yesterday, Modi reviewed the readiness of hospitals and

quarantine facilities, and direct-ed offi cials to ensure suffi cient availability of all essential medi-cal protective equipment, his of-fi ce said on Twitter.

In Bengaluru,Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa asked legislators to rein in lockdown violators and ensure strict com-pliance of the curfew.

“I have directed the city MLAs and MPs to enforce the Covid-19 lockdown strictly in their assembly segments and parliamentary seats across the city for breaking the chain of the coronavirus and prevent its community transmission,” Yediyurappa said in a state-ment.

Though the tech city was al-

ready shutdown from March 14 to 31, the sudden lockdown and suspension of buses, trains and fl ights from March 25 forced most people stay home and maintain social distancing.

“I also asked the legislators to take police help in detaining the violators and seizing their vehi-cles to ensure total lockdown by everyone except those on public duty,” he said.

The chief minister’s statement came after he chaired a meeting of the legislators and parliament members of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, including its min-isters from across the city, op-position Congress and the Janata Dal-Secular (JDS) at the state secretariat.

Workers use a blower to decontaminate a street in Mumbai yesterday.

A day after the Supreme Court quashed an Income Tax (I-T) notice sent to NDTV, sources said yesterday that the Finance Ministry has decided to issue a fresh notice to the media company in connection with a tax re-assessment case. The Supreme Court on Friday clarified that though it had quashed the 2015 I-T notice on technical ground, the government was free to send a fresh notice to the company. According to sources in the Finance Ministry, the court has endorsed the view of the I-T Department that “there were reasons to believe that income had escaped assessment” in the case of NDTV for the assessment year 2008-2009. According to the government, funds of Rs 405.09 crore introduced into the books of NNPLC, a UK-based subsidiary of NDTV, was nothing but NDTV’s own undisclosed income.

The postal department has informed the Kerala government that it will now take up the task of delivering money to people’s homes, provided the bank account is linked to Aadhaar. This has been welcomed by the Kerala government which has given the green signal for this new service, which will see fewer people approaching banks or ATMs to withdraw money. All the people who want to use this service must inform their local post office about the amount of money which they want to be delivered to their homes. Once this is done, the post office will entrust the task of delivering the money to the postman who will bring it to their homes, after ensuring the person has the required funds in his bank account and that it is linked to Aadhaar.

Three women Maoist rebels were killed in a gunbattle with security forces in Jharkhand’s West Singhbhum district yesterday, police said. Their bodies have been recovered, the police said, adding the rebels are yet to be identified. The police have recovered weapons from them. The gunbattle took place at Raidatola in forest areas of West Singhbhum district. The police said they had information about the presence of armed guerrillas in the area. A operation was launched during which “a gunbattle ensued in which three Maoists were killed whilethe rest managed to escape,” the police said. On Friday night the rebels blew up a house in Jorapakhar village of the same district and shot a youth. The injured youth is being treated at a local hospital.

The People’s Democratic Party yesterday criticised the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and said the domicile legislation, even in its amended form, portrays the real intention behind the scrapping of the special status of the erstwhile state. “The way in which the union government proclaimed a new job and domicile policy for the erstwhile state now clearly indicates people at the helm of aff airs in New Delhi are dealing with Jammu and Kashmir very casually and without application of mind”, PDP spokesperson and former legislator Firdous Tak said in a statement. He said this opinion gets further strengthened with the fact that a law which is to govern the 12mn population of Jammu and Kashmir was so badly drafted that the government had to change it within 72 hours.

Police in Panaji yesterday arrested a social activist for allegedly promoting hatred between “religions and classes” amid the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. According to a government spokesperson, Sudeep Dalvi was arrested on the basis of a complaint filed by Prajyot Naik, a resident of Chimbel, a Panaji suburb. The First Information Report filed against Dalvi states that the accused “knowingly uploaded a post through his Facebook account in public domain promoting enmity and hatred between the religions and classes in view of pandemic disease Covid-19 in defiance of orders issued by public servant in-force”.Dalvi, who had participated in protests against the National Register of Citizens in Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh recently, is the second person to be arrested in Goa for allegedly promoting hatred in view of the Covid-19 pandemic in the last 24 hours.

Ministry to issue fresh tax notice to NDTV

Postman to deliver money at doorstep

3 women Maoist rebels killed in Jharkhand

Domicile legislation dangerous, says PDP

Goa activist arrested for social media post

DECISION SERVICEINSURGENCY CONTROVERSY ALLEGATION

Power grid operators on alert ahead of ‘blackout’AgenciesMumbai

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s appeal to citizens to switch off lights across the

country today to mark the corona-virus fight is generating a lot more work and some tough challenges for India’s power sector workers.

On Friday, Modi appealed to people to turn out their lights for nine minutes at 9pm today to show solidarity amid the coro-navirus lockdown with a show of lamps, candles and flashlights.

The appeal, however, set off alarm bells for those in charge of India’s power grid, prompting a flurry of orders to officials man-ning generation plants and man-aging grid load, amid concerns that a surge in voltage due to a steep dip in demand could harm the grid and cause widespread outages.

India’s Power System Operation Corporation (POSOCO), which oversees the national power grid, ordered all senior officials to be present at generating stations, substations and load dispatch centres across India between 6pm and 10pm

today.It advised engineers to start

reducing output from baseload plants such as coal-fired power stations just ahead of 9pm

and ramp up generation from hydro and gas plants, typically used to address peak power de-mand, to manage the anticipated gyration in demand.

POSOCO expects consumption to dip by over 10% when people switch off lights, it said in an ad-visory sent to grid operators across the country, calling the expected reduction in load and rapid recov-ery, “unprecedented”.

POSOCO’s parent body, Power Grid Corporation of India, asked regional electricity transmission centre employees to be on “high alert,” as the lights out plan could “lead to outage of grid elements due to grid constraints”.

The Ministry of Power sought to allay concerns though, and said in a statement, “The Indian electric-ity grid is robust and stable and adequate arrangements and pro-tocols are in place to handle the variation in demand.”

Modi has ordered people in-doors to avert a massive outbreak of coronavirus infections, but the world’s biggest shutdown has left millions without jobs and forced migrant workers to flee home to their villages.

India’s power consumption has already plunged amid the lockdown to stem coronavirus cases - which crossed 3,000 yesterday.

Some states are worried about the impact of the “lights off”.

Nitin Raut, the power minister of Maharashtra, which consumes the most electricity in India, ap-pealed to citizens to light lamps and candles, while keeping lights on to ensure proper functioning of the grid.

“Already the electricity demand and supply equation has been stretched,” said Raut, adding the possibility of grid failures “could not be ruled out.”

In Karnataka, authorities have urged people to switch on their gadgets and other electrical ap-pliances when they switch off the lights at 9pm today.

“We appeal to the general public to note that only lights be switched off and other electrical equipment be switched on,” a spokesman of the Karnataka Power Transmis-sion Corporation said.

The power transmission de-partment said refrigerators, air-

conditioners, coolers, fans and other electrical equipment can be switched on during the blackout call.

The National Load Dispatch Centre, Regional Load Dispatch Centres and all State Load Dis-patch Centres discussed grid se-curity through video conference.

“As per instructions of the National Load Dispatch Centre, we have asked all senior officers working at generating stations, distribution companies, State Load Dispatch Centres and KPT-CL to monitor power supply dur-ing the blackout call,” it said.

Meanwhile, opposition Con-gress leader Rahul Gandhi a swipe at Modi, saying shining torches in the sky would not solve the prob-lem.

In a tweet, the MP from Waya-nad in Kerala, said, “India is sim-ply not testing enough to fight Covid-19. Making people clap and shining torches in the sky aren’t going to solve the problem.”

He also attached a chart, re-leased by the Congress, that showed India was testing only 29 people per million.

Pakistan is testing 67 people per million, Sri Lanka 97, the United Kingdom 1,891, Germany 5,812, Italy 7,122 and South Korea 7,622 per million.

His sister and Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said the concerns of power grids must be taken care of so that there was no disruption in the power supply.

“While the country is express-ing solidarity in the war against corona, it is expected that the power grids and engineers’ con-cerns are also being taken care of by the central government so that there is no obstruction in the pow-er supply during the crisis and in times of need,” she said in a tweet.

A woman walks past a notice displayed at the entrance of a residential apartment complex announcing rules of entry for residents and visitors in Bengaluru yesterday.

Iconic market closed over lack of social distancing

IANSBengaluru

Authorities have shut an iconic British-era market till April 14 for not main-

taining physical distancing norms, an official said yesterday.

“Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has decided to close down the iconic Russell Market till April 14 midnight as physical dis-tancing measures were not being followed despite repeated warn-ings,” BBMP

Commissioner B H Anil Kumar tweeted. Built in the 1920s, the market was named after T B Rus-sell, a top British official.

Police blocked the market en-trance with barricades and all shopkeepers shuttered their stores in the complex.

Meanwhile, Kumar has said that Rs2,000 each has been de-posited in the bank accounts of 15 lakh beneficiaries under the Con-struction Workers’ Fund.

The commissioner also said the government has stopped distrib-uting free cooked food and will in-stead supply food grains to Below Poverty Line (BPL) cardholders and migrant labour.

“Free milk distribution to con-tinue. Indira Canteens will revert to serving breakfast at Rs5 and lunch and dinner at Rs10 per plate from Saturday,” he added.lThe decision of the Kerala

government to extend the isola-tion period for corona suspects from 14 to 28 days has landed al-most all 20 MPs from the state in a bit of quandary.

With the lockdown being strictly enforced, all the MPs are confined to their homes during the lockdown.

The 14-day self-isolation or-der of the health department was to end on Tuesday, but on Friday Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said all who returned to the state after March 22 have to stay back home for 28 days.

“We are a bit puzzled as this fresh announcement came yes-terday. I returned from Delhi on March 23 after the parliament session ended. I am in isolation at my home as per the first guideline which prescribed 14-day isola-tion. Yesterday we heard the chief minister saying that all those who arrived in the state from abroad or other states after March 22 should be in isolation for 28 days,” said Kollam MP N K Premachandran.

Newborn twins named Corona and CovidDPARaipur

A couple in Chhattisgarh has named their newborn twins Corona and Covid

amid the country’s nationwide lockdown brought on by the pandemic.

The twins, a boy and a girl, were born at a government hos-pital in the state capital Raipur on March 27, two days after the lockdown came into force dis-rupting daily lives.

The couple, in a telephone in-terview with DPA yesterday, said the names would remind them of the hardships they encountered before the successful delivery of the babies at the hospital.

Preeti Verma, the 27-year-old mother of the twins, said they had no help as their family mem-bers could not reach Raipur due to the lockdown.

“With vehicular movement stopped, we both made it to the hospital somehow late at night

after a lot of suffering.Since the deliveries happened

after such difficulties, we wanted the names to be memorable and unique,” she said, hinting that the hospital staff had suggested the names.

“Besides these names are beautiful in their own, with Co-rona being Latin for crown,” add-ed Vinay Verma, the father.

“Also, we want the fear associ-ated with these names to end and the public to focus on sanitation and hygiene.”

The couple said there was pressure, however, from fam-ily elders and they could change their decision later and rename their children.

India is in a three-week lock-down until April 14 that has seen suspension of transport services with strict stay-at-home orders for the country’s 1.3bn inhabit-ants.

There has been a spike in Cov-id-19 cases in the country with infections crossing 3,000 and 75 deaths.

INDIA11Gulf Times

Sunday, April 5, 2020

Neighbourhood retailers come to the rescue of residentsIANSNew Delhi

As supermarkets in the national capital region (NCR) have started run-

ning out of daily items, the net-work of small retailers is coming to the rescue of people in various localities.

The normally well-stocked and preferred outlets of super-markets like Big Bazaar, EasyDay and More, are running out of sup-

plies due to various constraints with the nationwide lockdown entering 10th day yesterday, the people in NCR have started turning to their neighbourhood retailers for their daily supply of essentials like flour, rice, pulses and spices.

The system is working well also due to friendly and cordial relations developed over years between shopkeepers and resi-dents.

Pulling out a packet of wheat flour from his 10x25ft shop in

Lajpat Nagar’s O block, Vishnu Bhagat claims he has managed to supply daily essentials without any problem.

“In case of any shortage, I take down the contact number and call the person to collect the sup-ply when the commodity is ar-ranged,” he said.

“There is a shortage of Maggi (noodles), other items are well supplied. Some commodities, like cumin seeds and pulses are also in short supply. But we man-age to replenish them soon,”

Bhagat told IANS.Due to the rise in coronavirus

infection, many shopkeepers have stepped up home delivery as well as digital payment.

“We tell the customers to pay the bill digitally. And we deliver the essential items at their door-steps without any face-to-face interaction,” he said.

Atul Goyal, president of an umbrella organisation of over 2,500 resident welfare associa-tions (RWAs) in Delhi, said: “We have not received any informa-

tion about the supply shortage. If something is not available sometimes, the shopkeepers call residents and inform them about their availability in stock.”

Goyal said due to trust and faith between the two parties, supplies remain unaffected in ‘mohallas’.

“There is huge trust between two parties. If a shopkeeper as-sures a resident that he will get flour within two days, the resi-dent generally agrees and doesn’t

resort to bulk buying. The rela-tion has come as a life saver in the time of lockdown,” Goyal said.

In other localities too, resi-dents echo the sentiment.

“It’s about relationship de-veloped over years. You will get discounts, home delivery, and even advice on what to store or needn’t worry about other items,” said B S Vohra, president of the East Delhi RWAs Joint Front-Federation.

On the other side, most su-permarkets in Noida have started

complaining about poor or no supply of certain essential items such as rice, flour and pulses.

A store manager of EasyDay retail outlet in Noida told IANS: “The demand for rice, pulses, wheat and flour are high.

But the supply is limited due to the lockdown. We are receiving these items once every two days.”

He also said rice at his out-let was of the expensive vari-ety, costing over Rs500 for a 5kg packet, while basic pulses were out of stock.

Maharashtra clamps down on all religious gatheringsIANSMumbai

The Maharashtra govern-ment yesterday imposed a total ban on all religious

gatherings after the Tablighi Jamaat’s Delhi event led to a huge spurt in Covid-19 cases in the country.

Chief Minister Uddhav Thack-eray and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar made the announce-ment in two separate statements as Covid-19 cases continued to spiral in the state.

“Until further orders, we shall not grant permission for any re-ligious functions, gatherings, public or sports events. We have not given permissions for the recent Gudi Padwa, Pandharpur Yatra and Ram Navami celebra-tions which were celebrated at home by people,” Thackeray said.

He said that coronavirus strikes people irrespective of

caste, community, religion or re-gion and hence no further gath-erings of any nature would be allowed in the state to avoid min-gling of people in large numbers.

Pawar, who is also the state finance minister, said: “On Mon-day, there is Mahavir Jayanti, on Wednesday, Hanuman Jayanti will be celebrated, followed by Shab-e-Baraata. Please do not step out of your homes this year. Kindly perform all the rituals at home only.”

Thackeray also warned of stringent action against those who spread communally divisive messages on social media, up-load fake videos, or those attack-ing the medical community and police who are serving the people in the ‘war against virus’.

Referring to the Tablighi Jamaat fallout in Maharashtra, Thackeray said the government has identified all the people (1,225) from the state who attend-ed the Delhi event last month and

further measures were underway to contain the spread of Covid-19 through them.

On the problems of the huge number of migrants, Thack-eray said that the state govern-ment has made arrangements for around half a million of migrants from different states stuck in Maharashtra.

“We have taken care of all of them... Those from Maharashtra who are stranded in other states, please remain there...

don’t move, you will be taken care of,” the chief minister said.lFloriculturists and flower

traders in Rajasthan are facing a difficult situation with the bloom left to die in fields due to the lockdown.

“During festivals Jaipur wit-nesses flower business worth Rs8-10 lakh a day. The wedding season in April comes as a big bonanza,” said Gopal Lal Saini, whose family has been in this business for generations.

A drone used by police to monitor activities of people and spread awareness announcements is seen in Chennai yesterday.

PAKISTANGulf Times Sunday, April 5, 202012

Prime Minister Imran Khan has expressed the con-fidence that despite the

many challenges to Pakistan from the coronavirus outbreak, it can emerge as a stronger na-tion and become the truly wel-fare state it was envisioned to be.

“When we emerge from this challenge, we will be a totally different nation. We will be the nation which was envisioned. It was a big vision which we have forgotten,” said the premier.

He said that the “primary rea-son why our respect in the world has diminished, and we face so many difficulties, is because we left the vision far behind, the promise that was Pakistan”.

He said that businessmen, in his experience, face greater losses not when there are hard times, but when in those times they try to take “shortcuts” or commit fraud.

“Those who take such times as a test and face it head on as a challenge, come out stronger.”

Urging patience on the part of all Pakistanis, the premier said the greatest quality one can pos-sess is to exercise patience dur-ing tough times.

“Those who are patient go far in life. Those who throw their hands in the air and give up, they rank among the many who fail.”

He said one has to admit these

are difficult times without hav-ing any pretense of the situation being otherwise. “It is difficult because no one has the experi-ence to deal with such a crisis.”

Citing the example of giant economies which have far great-er resources and institutions, with healthcare systems that have more funding that what Pakistan spends on its entire population.

“The US has prepared a $2tn relief package, whereas we can barely manage $8bn.”

He said that despite the US’s resources, there is “a breakdown of their systems”.

“If this is what can happen to them, our situation was dire to begin with.”

He said that around 50-60mn people are already below the poverty line and cannot afford to have two meals a day.

“Above these people are 50-60mn others, who are right at the border. If one misfortune befalls them, they are pushed below the poverty line.”

Khan said those with means must contribute and the govern-ment’s “historic” package will continue to be expanded along-side.

The prime minister said that all of the nation’s efforts are geared towards protecting the most vulnerable sector, which is now the daily wage workers.

“The small shop owner, the rickshaw driver [...] those in construction, the painter, the

welder, they are all sitting at home right now.”

He said there is a fine balance to strike between stemming the spread of the virus and taking care of the poor.

“One the one hand we closed all places where people could gather but on the other we have to run our affairs in a manner that we do not let these vulner-able segments feel the financial crunch that comes from such measures.

“We have opened the con-struction industry,” said the prime minister, “which will pro-vide the most jobs” in cities.

He said that in villages the

agriculture sector had been al-lowed to function as usual as it is one upon which rural residents depend on for income.

“Everyday we sit down and think about which other such industries we can open to strike this balance.”

The prime minister said that so far 600,000 volunteers have applied to join the Corona Relief Tigers force.

“No one should be under the false impression that the coro-navirus will keep Pakistanis safe,” said the premier, while warning the nation that the fight against the coronavirus will be “a long war”.

He urged everyone to remain self-disciplined and exercise precaution.

The premier said that a lock-down will certainly be imple-mented wherever a surge in cases is witnessed, but for a lockdown to be successful, the Force will have to be fully opera-tional so that food supplies are able to reach every household.

He said that it makes him happy to see so many founda-tions and charitable organisa-tions have opened, recalling how when he started the Shau-kat Khanum, only Edhi’s name would be prominent in doing large scale charity work.

The prime minister said Pa-kistan ranks as the fifth or sixth most charitable nation.

He said people only donate when they have trust it will be utilised as intended.

Khan said that with the as-sistance of Dr Sania Nishtar, who is in charge of the Ehsaas Programme, a large database had been made and will constantly be updated with a list of families who are most deserving.

The prime minister said that distribution of funds will be done “purely on merit” without any “political interference”.”

It will not matter who belongs to which party”.

He said that the crisis will be a true test of how members of the provincial assemblies (MPAs) serve their constituencies.

“The field of politics has been stained with this belief that pol-iticians say they will serve the people’s interests, but only serve their own.”

The prime minister said a Fa-cebook page will be launched next week which will identify which areas are the most in need of donations.

He said all charities wishing to donate will all be registered un-der one platform, and will be in-formed which areas need funds, so there is no duplication, like in the times when earthquakes and floods struck Pakistan.

“We must ensure the funds are utilised properly and for that we must be organised.”

Pakistan will be the state that was envisioned: PMInternewsIslamabad

Prime Minister Khan: When we emerge from this challenge, we will be a totally different nation. We will be the nation which was envisioned. It was a big vision which we have forgotten.

The government has sub-mitted to the Supreme Court a report on its na-

tional action plan for combat-ing the coronavirus pandemic spreading across the country.

In its report, the government detailed the situation arising in the wake of the pandemic and the severity of suspected cases.

“By April 25, the number of the coronavirus cases are feared to reach 50,000,” the report stated at one point.

According to the breakdown provided in the report, around 7,000 cases of the total are ex-pected to be critical in nature, while around 2,500 could be a cause for concern.

The government estimates that the remaining 41,000 cases could be of a mild nature.

The report notes that con-firmed cases are expected to be lower than that of countries in Europe, and gave the assurance that the government is trying to maximise its testing capacity.

The federal government has said that it has put in place an emergency plan costing $366mn and guidelines have been prepared in consultation with medical experts.

“All the airports have special counters to monitor the corona-virus,” it mentions in the report, adding that around 222 suspect-ed patients have been traced thanks to entry and exit point checking at airports.

The areas adjacent to Iran and along the Baluchistan border have declared an emergency to cope with incoming infected in-dividuals, it says.

“Preparations were made to place patients in 154 districts under quarantine,” said the gov-ernment report.

As of yesterday, Pakistan has recorded more than 2,700 cases and 40 deaths.

Meanwhile, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) has given the nod to turning three- and four-star hotels into “quarantine centres” by the National Dis-aster Management Authority (NDMA).

Last month the NDMA pro-

posed to the government that hotels in all major cities across Pakistan be converted into quar-antine centres for suspected and confirmed Covid-19 cases.

The coronavirus causes the Covid-19 respiratory disease.

With the federal govern-ment’s consent, the NDMA also issued directives on March 16 and March 28 to the manage-ment of various hotels to vacate the premises for the purpose.

The NDMA order to vacate the hotels was however chal-lenged by three-star Hotel Mar-galla, situated in Islamabad, through Advocate Sikandar Ba-shir Mohmand.

IHC Chief Justice Athar Mi-nallah observed that the federal government had taken various measures to prevent spread of the coronavirus, noting that the measures were to safeguard the public at large and their funda-mental rights.

He observed that it is an ex-traordinary situation, and that it is settled law that the interest of public at large prevails over individual rights.

The petitioner contended be-fore the court that the NDMA was not authorised to take such a decision, and that the govern-ment should utilise the places it owned rather than turning pri-vate properties into quarantine centres.

“Why does the government not use the prime minister’s home instead?” said the peti-tioner.

In response to the petitioner, Justice Minallah observed: “The government is taking measures for the protection of its peo-ple. How can the court interfere then? When it comes to pro-tecting the people, the govern-ment can even use my home.”

The petitioner’s lawyer, how-ever, argued that the funda-mental rights could not be sus-pended even if a constitutional emergency had been invoked.

The lawyer said that ho-tel staff had been sent on leave since March 28 for an indefinite period due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Justice Minallah suggested that if the petitioner believed the decision would cause dam-age to hotels, he could make a claim later on.

The lawyer, however, could not convince the court.

The court, however, allowed the hotel to claim any damages if they wanted to be compensated, but at a later stage.

The court order read: “It is observed that in case the peti-tioner hotel suffers loss, it would not be without remedy because in such an eventuality remedies available under the law can be resorted to later.”

To contain the spread of deadly coronavirus, the NDMA had already converted many ed-ucational institutions and pub-lic halls such as the Expo Cen-tres in Karachi and Lahore, the Pak-China Centre in Islamabad, hostels and even train coaches

into makeshift quarantine cen-tres.

Meanwhile, Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider has inau-gurated the first independent “Corona Isolation Hospital”, equipped with modern electro-medical apparatus and special-ised staff.

The 50-bed facility has been set up in the newly-constructed building of Officers’ Club along Bank Road in Muzaffarabad, and would later be converted into a 100-bed cardiac hospital with angioplasty and angiography facilities.

Briefing Haider on the occa-sion, Dr Noman Manzoor Butt, co-incharge of the facility, said that it included intensive care and high-dependency units with six beds each, as well as seven single-bed and five dou-ble-bed isolation rooms and two isolation wards, with 10 beds each.

As many as 10 ventilators had initially been installed in the hospital, he said.

Dr Butt further informed the premier that the 86-member staff, including doctors and par-amedics, had initially been de-tailed in the facility on a rotation basis and that the staff had been provided “complete safety kits”.

Speaking to reporters on the occasion, Haider asserted that the coronavirus situation was under control in AJK due to the “solid precautionary measures taken by his government”.

50,000 coronavirus cases expected by April 25, Supreme Court toldn Court allows Pakistan govt to turn hotels into quarantine centresn Isolation hospital opens in Muzaffarabad

InternewsIslamabad

A security officer stands guard as a man walks through a disinfecting gate on a street in Rawalpindi.

Google has honoured Paki-stani squash icon Hashim Khan by customising his

very own doodle, where he can be seen hitting every shot on the squash court, at various stages of his life.

In its mention, Google refers to Khan as “one of the sport’s all-time greatest players”.

Featured on the main page, the doodle was released earlier yes-terday, April 4, the date known to mark the 1951 British Open Championship.

Khan not only won, but also gained for himself the status of a renowned international icon,

winning the championship a to-tal of seven times following his first victory.

His story is not only praise-worthy but also inspiring as he started from the bottom, first as a ball boy, fetching balls for squash players and cleaning the courts.

Today, Khan is remembered as

one of the dominant patriarchs of the Khan family.

From the 1950s to the 1980s, him and his cousins Rehmat Khan, Jehangir Khan and Tor-sam Khan dominated the sport, sharing victories amongst them-selves.

He passed away in August 2014 due to heart failure.

Google Doodle pays homage to squash legend Hashim KhanInternewsIslamabad

The Google doodle honouring squash icon Hashim Khan.

World urged to pressure India into lifting curbs on KashmirInternewsIslamabad

Foreign Minister Shah Mah-mood Qureshi has urged world community to put

pressure on India to lift commu-nication restrictions to enable dissemination of information and to ensure unfettered supply of daily items to the people in Indian-administered Kashmir.

Chairing a meeting yesterday through video link, the minister said that while the world is ex-periencing a global pandemic, India is continuously violating human rights in Indian-admin-istered Kashmir.

While discussing the latest developments from Indian-administered Kashmir, Qureshi said that despite reports of cases of the Covid-19 disease caused by the coronavirus, restrictions on the movement of the people and communication remained in place.

He appealed the world com-munity to come forward and raise the issue of the detained 9mn Kashmiris.

Condemning the Indian Domicile law, he stressed that such steps were in violation of international law and must be stopped.

He called it baseless and in complete violation of existing United Nations resolutions and international laws.

The minister said the amend-ment in the law of obtaining a domicile is actually an agenda of changing the population ratio, which the Indian ruling party had sought to achieve for a long time.

He said that Pakistan is de-manding that the incarcerated Kashmiri leadership, youth and civil society members be imme-diately released by India.

Qureshi also ordered Paki-stan’s ambassadors and high commissioners to raise the issue of Indian-administered Kashmir on different forums.

Food packages delivered to artistsThe owner of a private oil mills has distributed food packages comprising five essential items to more than 100 families of artists, musicians and folksingers amid the lockdown that had forced them to shut down their private studios and decline offers to perform.Each package of rice, flour, ghee, gram and lentil is sufficient for one month for a family of four to six members.Haji Habibullah, owner of General Petroleum Lubricants Private Limited, on the call of Peshawar’s Hunari Tolana Welfare Society, distributed the food packages to 130 families of deserving artists and musicians in Peshawar.Speaking on the occasion, Habibullah said humanitarian organisations, social activists and well-off people should help out deserving segments of society, besides raising awareness among the masses to follow healthcare instructions regarding Covid-19, the respiratory disease caused by the coronavirus.“I have a plan to extend food packages to other Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) districts where deserving artists are living in difficult conditions,” he stated.

Under lockdown, with the roads and streets desert-ed, people are turning to

rooftops and dotting the skies with kites in several Faisalabad localities.

For years, the Punjab govern-ment has banned the sport of kite flying to prevent loss of life.

The activity has seen a renewal of sorts, with the enforcement of lockdown in the province.

The momentum of the activity can be gauged from the fact that children are seen on roads and in streets carrying sticks and bam-boos to catch stray kites.

The police seem uninterested in containing the activity, which is being actively pursued by the youth as well as elders.

Allah Rakha now spends a great deal of his self-quarantined days with his pigeons and kites as “I’m sitting idle at home due to the lockdown”.

He said that with no Internet facility at home, kite and pigeon flying were an easy source of en-tertainment, not just for him, but for his his family members too.

He said women would also en-joy kite flying.

Nasrullah said he gathered his cousins to engage in the activity as “we were fed up with staying at home”.

He is seeing increased demand

for kites with kite makers raising rates for kites and kite strings.

Nasrullah said that the kites are being sold secretly.

Hassan Ali, 13, said he had watched some 100 cartoon mov-ies in the last 15 days, and was now eager for a change

One of his friends gave him two kites and a reel of string.

He said that his parents never did allow him to engage in kite flying; however, these days they just let him be.

A couple of days ago, the Madina Town police raided a kite manufacturing place in Chak 203-RB, Manawala.

During the raid, the suspects attacked the police and tore at their uniforms.

Lockdown opens door to kite flyingInternewsIslamabad

PHILIPPINES13Gulf Times

Sunday, April 5, 2020

Man shot dead over threats to offi cialsDPAManila

A 63-year-old man was shot dead in the Philip-pines after threaten-

ing village offi cials and police with a scythe at a coronavirus checkpoint, police said yester-day.

The man is believed to have been drunk when he threat-ened village offi cials and police manning the checkpoint in the town of Nasipit in the southern province of Agusan del Norte on Thursday, a police report said.

“The suspect was cautioned by a village health worker...for not wearing a face mask,” the report said. “But the suspect got angry,

uttering provoking words and eventually attacked the personnel using a scythe.”

The suspect was shot dead by a police offi cer who was try-ing to pacify him.

The incident is the fi rst re-ported case of police shooting a civilian for refusing to follow restrictions to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus.

President Rodrigo Duterte warned on Wednesday he would order the police and the military to shoot anyone who created trouble.

The Philippines’ main is-land of Luzon has been under

a month-long lockdown since March 16, prohibiting people from leaving their homes ex-cept for essential trips to the grocery or the pharmacy, or if they are front-line workers.

Many provinces outside of Luzon have also imposed their own restrictions in a bid to pre-vent the virus from spreading.

NEW CASES RAISE TOTAL TO 3,094

The Department of Health reported 76 new confi rmed cases of infection in the Phil-ippines, bringing to 3,094 the total tally in the country.

Eight additional deaths were also recorded, pushing the death toll to 144, while 57 pa-tients have recovered.

Duterte defended his warn-ing against troublemakers in a late-night televised ad-dress on Friday, saying that the public needed to realise the gravity of the situation because anyone can get sick of the disease.

“Without these restric-tions, this will not end,” he said. “So if you don’t want to follow, then I will finish you to protect the lives of the innocent who don’t want to die.”

Amnesty International lamented the fact that au-tocratic leaders around the world like Duterte have been using the Covid-19 pandem-ic

“to further stifle criti-cism and dissent.” “This is an unprecedented health crisis — but President Du-terte is focusing on attack-ing freedoms of speech and assembly,” said Butch Olano, a director for Amnesty Inter-national in the Philippines.

“He is downplaying the nation’s plea for better serv-ices when the priority should be to fulfil the government’s obligation to provide health-care and vital relief to all persons without discrimina-tion,” he added.

The government has begun to distribute cash assistance to poor families and work-ers affected by the lockdown under a 200bn-peso ($4bn) amelioration package.

But there have been per-sistent complaints of delays in the delivery of assistance, especially food packs.

On Wednesday, commo-tion broke out in a Manila suburb when a group of slum residents gathered outside their shanty homes after hearing rumours that dona-tions would be distributed.

Village security offic-ers and police urged the residents to go back to their homes, but they refused.

Twenty-one of the resi-dents were arrested and var-ious criminal charges have been filed against them.

Coronavirus mass testing to begin from April 14By Catherine S ValenteManila Times

The government plans to start massive testing for the coronavirus disease

2019 (Covid-19) by April 14, when the Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine is sched-uled to end.

The mass testing comes at a time when there are calls to ex-tend the quarantine to give au-thorities more time to determine if the disease is fully under con-trol.

Presidential peace adviser Carlito Galvez Jr, chief imple-menter at the National Task Force on Covid-19, said the fi rst to be tested will be patients un-der investigation (PUI) and pa-tients under monitoring (PUMs).

“We are also determined to fast-track the accreditation of subnational laboratories; so, we can start the massive testing of PUIs and PUMs,” Galvez said in a virtual press conference.

Galvez said there is a need for more testing facilities because the number of Covid cases in the country continues to rise.

On Friday, the Department of Health (DoH) reported 29 new Covid-19 deaths, the biggest single-day toll so far.

Galvez said the country now has nine accredited hospitals that can do the tests.

“We are asking the DoH to ex-pedite other hospitals’ requests for accreditation for testing, so, we will have other capabilities for testing,” he said.

The PUIs and PUMs — those with Covid symptoms and those who had contact with known cases — will be quarantined as soon as facilities are available, he said.

The government plans to con-vert several large buildings into quarantine facilities to ease the load of hospitals overwhelmed with patients, Galvez said.

In the next 10 days, the Rizal Sports Complex, World Trade Center, Philippine International Convention Center and Cultural Center of the Philippines will be

converted into “mass quarantine facilities.”

“We will also deploy three doctors and 50 nurses at the Rizal Memorial Sports complex coming from the Armed Forces of the Philippines,” Galvez said.

Other possible facilities are the Ultra stadium in Pasig City, the Duty Free Philippines build-ing in Paranaque City, and the Amoranto sports complex, Que-zon City Memorial Circle com-plex, Veterans Medical Center and Quezon Institute, all in Que-zon City.

Galvez said Commission on Higher Education chairman Prospero de Vera also off ered the

convention centres in Bicol and other areas as quarantine centres. “I’m already talking to the members of Iglesia ni Cristo. Hopefully we’ll be able to secure the Philippine Area as soon as possible,” he said.

Dr Beverly Ho, Special Assist-ant to Health Secterary Francis-co Duque 3rd, explained that the spike in death toll is due to the backlog of casualties only being reported now. A total of 4,344 patients have been tested for the

disease, and 1,275 were negative.The DoH said there are 1,154

PUIs and 6,321 PUMs.With more Covid treatment

centres opening, the Offi ce of Civil Defence (OCD) has started to distribute the personal pro-tective equipment (PPE) for medical frontliners.

The fi rst batch of 900,000 PPE which were purchased by the DoH arrived in Manila last week. Ricardo Jalad, the OCD administrator, said the fi rst batch was bought from China.

Jalad said the OCD coordi-nated with the Philippine Coast Guard in facilitating the distri-bution of around 12,000 protec-tive supplies to Covid referral hospitals.

He said 2,780 protective equipment were delivered to San Lazaro Hospital; 2,000 to the Philippine General Hospital; 770 to East Avenue Medical Center; 2,800 to the Lung Center of the Philippines; 2,590 to Dr Jose Rodriguez Memorial Hospital and Sanitarium; and 1,100 to the Armed Forces of the Philip-pines Medical Center. Each PPE set consists of goggles, coverall,

head cover, gloves, shoe cover, surgical mask and a surgical gown.

The remaining PPE sets are expected to arrive between April 6 and 24, Jalad said.

As the government intensi-fi ed its Covid response, Albay 2nd District Rep. Joey Salceda called for a two-week exten-sion of the enhanced community quarantine. Salceda said a “pre-mature lifting” of the quarantine is “against science, economics, and history.”

The Inter-agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Disease has the last say on whether to extend the quarantine.

Salceda said “the damage to the economy will be much big-ger” if the country will start all over again, citing that the Cov-id-19 has not yet peaked.

“It’s wishful thinking to sug-gest that we’ve reached the peak. No data scientist would say that, and certainly no doctor or pub-lic health expert would be en-thusiastic about lifting the ECQ at this stage in our country’s healthcare capacity,” he said.

A health reform advocate also predicted that the quarantine will most likely to be extended as the government start mass test-ing for Covid-19.

“If you will look at the date, you will see that it will probably extended,” Dr Tony Leachon told radio DZMM.

Leachon, who was also tapped as special adviser to the national task force, said he had discussed with Galvez the parameters on lifting the lockdown.

He said the quarantine will not be lifted until the number of Covid cases hits a plateau.

Leachon is for extending the lockdown to give way to mass testing for the virus.

Sen. Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go, chairman of the Senate health and demography committee, and member of the Joint Oversight Committee that oversees the implementation of the Bayanihan to Heal as One Act, praised the DoH for amend-ing its Covid testing protocol to include health workers.

A hospital worker wearing a protective face mask rests on a cushion placed on top of pews as a funeral chapel temporarily shelters health workers from a nearby hospital taking in Covid-19 patients, in Makati City, Metro Manila.

Government officials inspect a disinfection booth at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium, one of the quarantine facilities for coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) patients, inside the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex in Malate, Manila.

‘Social distancing’ set to be observed during Holy WeekBy William B DepasupilManila Times

Holy Week, the fi nal week of the 40-day Lenten Season for Christians

will start with the observance of Palm Sunday today.

But the traditional blessing in churches will be in compliance with the government’s direc-tive against mass gatherings and physical distancing to stem the spread of the coronavirus.

The Catholic Bishops’ Con-ference of the Philippines (CBCP), in a circular, said that after the Mass, priests may go around the streets to bless the palms of the faithful who will wait at their homes.

In the same circular, the CBCP also suggested to parishes to use a sound system to make people aware that a priest was passing by.

“All of these must be done with only two to three ministers to ac-company the priests. This is to avoid gathering of people,” the

CBCP said. Archbishop Romulo Valles, CBCP president, stressed that “social distancing” (now called physical distancing by the World Health Organisation) is a “necessity” in this time of pan-demic to stem the transmission of the virus.

Lawmaker wants national ID systemBy Javier J IsmaelManila Times

A lawmaker has stressed that the govern-ment needs to fast-track the implementa-tion of the national identifi cation system

for faster health and calamity response in the future.

Senator Sherwin Gatchalian said the national ID could help in tracing persons suspected to be coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19)-positive, thereby preventing a repeat of the mistakes com-mitted during the pandemic.

He noted that some countries with fewer Cov-id-19 cases like Taiwan and Singapore used their respective national data to trace their citizens’ travel history.

He bared that during a recent Senate hearing on the government’s Covid-19 preparedness in February, Health Secretary Francisco Duque 3rd

admitted that they had diffi culty in doing contact tracing among Covid-19 patients because some had incomplete or erroneous contact details list-ed with airline companies.

“The Philippines may learn from the experi-ences of Singapore and Taiwan on how these countries harnessed their national IDs in con-taining the outbreak that is sweeping across the globe,” Gatchalian said. “That’s why the govern-ment needs to implement the national ID system as soon as possible to ensure that we will be more ready in case of future pandemics. “ he added.

In January, Taiwan has integrated travel records from its National Immigration Agency with the National Health Insurance Administra-tion’s (NHIA) existing database to alert doctors of their patients’ travel history.

By scanning the patient’s NHIA card, an alert will pop up if the patient has traveled to or transited through countries with high cases of Covid-19.

Anti-corruption agency offi cial dismissed over ‘incompetence’By Catherine S ValenteManila Times

Malacanang yester-day justifi ed Presi-dent Rodrigo Du-

terte’s decision to publicly fi re Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) commis-sioner Manuelito Luna, saying the chief executive was intol-erant of “abusive, arrogant and incompetent government of-fi cials”.

Duterte, in a public address on Friday night, fired Luna for urging the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to investi-gate Vice President Maria Le-onor “Leni” Robredo for sup-

posedly competing with the government’s efforts to com-bat the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic.

“The firing of PACC Com-missioner Manuelito Luna by PRRD (President Duterte) following the former’s public statement asking the NBI to probe VP Leni Robredo for her alleged solicitation of funds and for allegedly compet-ing with government efforts against Covid-19 demon-strates the president’s intoler-ance to abusive, arrogant and incompetent government of-ficials, apart from the corrupt ones, as well as consistent with his decisive action against er-rant public servants,” Palace

spokesman Salvador Panelo said in a statement. Panelo said the president’s “repeated calls for everybody, regardless of political beliefs to co-oper-ate in the government’s efforts to stop the spread of the coro-navirus, is not a meaningless appeal.”

“Those who respond to call for unity and co-operation must be encouraged and com-mended instead of being har-assed by subjecting them to a mindless government intrusion that smacks of a partisan ac-tion,” Panelo said.

“Only the Bayanihan spirit of every Filipino lending hand to each other can make this nation survive and prevail over this

scourge of a disease,” he added.In calling for an investiga-

tion, Luna said Robredo may have violated certain laws when she received donations to help those most aff ected by the cri-sis through “illegal solicitations (and) actions that compete with or calculated to undermine, na-tional government eff orts” to mitigate impact of the health crisis.

Robredo’s office has, so far, raised at least P36mn for the procurement of personal protective equipment (PPE) for health workers. It also launched free shuttle serv-ice and free dormitories for health workers affected by the Luzon-wide quarantine.

Church workers in Manila distribute palms to Catholic devotees in preparation for Palm Sunday, yesterday.

It was April fool's day when I started penning down

this article.To mark it how

false doctrines that deal with misinformation and disinformation are deceiving and to provide useful insight on how to unveil that.

What this coronavirus crisis has brought to political economy discourse is the destruction of a neoliberal assertion: markets have their own invisible hands and are best left alone to find solutions, quickly and efficiently, to any big problem.

With this pandemic crisis rapidly unfolding, neoliberal rhetoric is ringing hollow and the emptiness of its ideology is completely exposed.

The crisis proved crystal clear that getting through a massive health-cum-financial crisis and its impact on societies and economies is only possible through the strong and visible hand of the state and with the very well calibrated co-operation — among governments, scientists, business and the public.

Moreover, it brought to the fore vital issues of social transformation and urgent need for solidarity, communal action, and public policies to support workers and the poorest faced with lockdowns, unemployment, and economic collapse.

The terms ‘solidarity’ and ‘community of fate’ have become widely used.

For the first time in years we witness high rise in social capital shares represented in widespread trust in government decisions.

People watch at television scientific evidence is released next to reports about political actions.

In an unprecedented way, monitoring real-life developments—the number of infected people or the latest evidence — precedes the reporting of stock markets.

News organs which formerly defended individual freedom against any suggestions to change lifestyles are shifting the moral consensus by condemning the hedonists who still splash out with no interest in the consequences for others or the health system. (Social Euorpe, March 2020 )

More to the point, another key visible feature of this global crisis that makes it unique is the evidence given to importance of institutional capital depicted by the policy response among states with different modes of governance and the credibility and preparedness of the state in each of them.

It was clearly noticeable that Development States of the emerging economies in Asia and the Welfare States of Scandaniavian countries were

faring better by far and achieving more efficient policies to combat the disease compared to those of the Neoliberal States in Europe and especially in the United States.

It is a lesson learned in institutional economics.

On the Global Health Security Index (GSHI), a report card that grades every country on its pandemic preparedness, the United States has a score of 83.5 — the world’s highest.

Rich, strong, developed, America is supposed to be the readiest of nations.

That illusion has been shattered.“Rudderless, blindsided, lethargic,

and unco-ordinated, America may end up with the worst outbreak in the industrialised world.” (The Atlantic, 25 March 2020)..

The difference in performance between these three modes of governance has rapidly swept aside ideals of Milton Friedman and Friedrich Hayek of ‘minimum government’ that fuelled the monetaristic and national account based outlook to development economics in the last four decades.

It also washed away the flawed nature of financialised capitalism.

The nation state emerged again as the regulator of the economy that command enormous power.

It was not difficult for many on the Left to welcome such obvious differences in state action, thinking that the crisis is a moment of just transition, the “return of Keynesianism” and the death knell of neoliberalism.

One can agree with such perspectives, since this crisis has led structurally to a war economy condition. Post-war economies as history has taught us usually lead to societal changes.

But one can qualify.The measures taken to deal with the

crisis might also risk resistance which will spur, an authoritarian controlled capitalism, one that embarks on re-engineering political spaces and populations to protects corporate interests while offloading the costs onto the rest of people.

This possible scenario that might happen in many countries (already in Hungary ) is important for us to understand how the images of threats and enemies that will be created in this war economy exceptionality in order to ensure the reproduction of the system and enforce linearity for the return to business as usual.

“America vs. Socialism” was the theme of the Conservative Political Action Conference last month.

Addressing the audience, Larry Kudlow, the president’s top economic adviser and part of the White House’s coronavirus task force made a statement that does not inspire optimism.

For him “The virus is not going to sink the American economy,”.“What is or could sink the American economy is the socialism coming from our friends the democrats on the other side of the aisle. (The Atlantic march 2020).

In my opinion there is no anti-capitalist tone in the air now or in the future, even in the discourse of the extreme left.

But we all should agree that this pandemic global shock is a moment of a radical tilt towards post-liberalism.

The crisis is morphing into a full-blown capitalist crisis.

Countries around the world, north and south economies alike, have not experienced since the 1930’s the combination of a breakdown in global trade, depressed global commodity prices, and a synchronous economic downturn.

Global conditions worsened further as the crisis triggered a panic condition in the money market and a nose diving stock-market collapse and gigantic loss that washed away one-third of its value in one month duration in major industrialised capitals.

The loss in the United States alone translates to the equivalent of one-third of its GDP.

The lockdowns of entire cities and distancing policies that are taken to save lives, bare store shelves, shortage of hospital beds also are carrying an enormous economic and social cost.

Unemployment in the United States spiked from historical low at 3% to reach 32% in the next quarter according to the federal reserve calculations.

Clearly, this is a “whatever-it-takes” moment for large-scale, outside-the-box macroeconomic financial, fiscal and monetary policies and a bottom up social policy.

The world has entered a reality unknown outside conventional wartimes.

In fact humanity is facing another war, but this time on different rules of engagement.

For social scientists, a paradigm shift in their thinking with new tools of analysis is utterly needed.

During the shock months, with the goal to flatten the curve of infections, a lot of measures have to be reactive.

But proactive and foresight-based measures are needed to guide the recovery and to render clear vision on its direction.

This is an important ingredient in times of high uncertainty.

This is also the time for economists to revisit normatively conventional wisdom of orthodox economic thinking and to provide heterodox perspectives suitable for future sustainable and equitable development for post war situations.

Moments of crisis always have their fear-mongers and skeptics.

The role of progressive public intellectuals is to provide sober analysis.

“Only on this basis could alternatives be proposed, including large-scale measures such value creation through designing industrial policy to address the weakness of production, facilitating a green transition, dealing with income and wealth inequalities,

and, more importantly, confronting financialisation by creating public financial institutions”.(C. Lapapavitsas, Jackobin 27 March).

The more outspoken the intellectuals will to find paradigms and instrumental measures capable of holding the system from bouncing back and draw up policy options to steer it forward — into sustainable capitalism and thus more resilient societies which leave no one behind — the more clarity of vision for a new social contract and new relationship between the state, the market, and people and how that will emerge, adapt and consolidate.

The theory of post-liberal change should be holistic.

In fact this is not a health-cum-financial crisis alone.

It is a whole-of-the-system societal crisis.

The social organisation of contemporary neoliberal capitalism was shown to be dysfunctional even from a social engineering point of view.

As we can see right now, as the pandemic rapidly unfolds, the focus is on immediate responses and short-term time horizons.

This is for crucial reason but it is not enough.

The policy responses can be usefully identified from three interlinked terms (short, medium and long) and three main channels (demand, supply and finance supported by new social and institutional capital). However, the challenge should not be framed as simply overcoming a disruptive shock and returning to an otherwise desirable pre-crisis growth path.

To expect life to go back to how it was in 2019 would be wrong.

Rather, it is necessary to align the responses to the pandemic shock in a way that reorients societies and their economies in a more caring, welfare oriented, inclusive and financially stable direction.

Let me at the end of this article outline how the nexus linked twin crises – health and economic – will change societies in many ways in the future.

In particular: First, a major change in the role and the shape of the developed world economy as a result in the post-pandemic war which will be institutionally different.

The nation-state that has taken the lead to combat the disease and spend trillions of dollars will keep its upper hand in social and economic engineering.

Most Western economies will be moving towards a larger role for capable and accountable state.

There will be a return to the welfare state as it was established after World War I, with more state support for essential services, social immune system (decent social welfare system and the alleviation of extreme poverty and inequality), welfare for the out of work, fixed income groups, informal sector workers and the homeless.

To Page 15

Gulf Times Sunday, April 5, 2020

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Deputy Managing EditorK T Chacko

Air cargo bottlenecksmay put lives at riskamid Covid-19 crisis

Global supply chains have been severely impacted by the blanket travel restrictions in many countries due to the highly contagious coronavirus, resulting in the loss of significant cargo capacity by air.

Passenger operations have been reduced so drastically that there is just not the capacity in the system to meet even the reduced levels of air cargo.

This includes vital medical shipments on which people’s lives depend.

That said, the one part of the air transport industry that continues to operate is the cargo sector.

And it is struggling to meet demand.According to the global trade body of airlines – IATA,

ensuring smooth air cargo shipments is crucial.With the evaporation of passenger demand and

cancellation of passenger flights, vital air cargo capacity has disappeared.

On the other hand, airlines are taking all measures to meet the remaining cargo demand.

“Unfortunately, airlines faced bottlenecks in getting appropriate permissions and crewing cargo flights amid quarantine restrictions. The result was delays to shipments when time is of the essence to fight the Covid-19 outbreak and keep global supply chains functioning,” IATA noted.

Airlines are being creative in mounting cargo operations as charters and even using passenger aircraft, points out IATA director general and CEO Alexandre de Juniac.

Certainly, aviation is a highly regulated industry.

And on top of the normal process of obtaining traffic rights and landing permissions, in the current situation, the industry is also seeing cargo crew being delayed by

quarantine restrictions designed for commercial passengers.In late-March, the European Commission published

guidance, which will probably help clear the related roadblocks in Europe.

Industry analysts say the EC has understood the industry’s challenges and provided comprehensive and practical guidance to ensure that permissions to operate are quickly granted and that air crew are able to operate efficiently with exemptions from quarantine measures.

“We are in an emergency and the European Commission has responded with speed and clarity. EU member states need to act quickly to ensure that the guidance is followed so that air cargo – including vital shipments of medicines and medical equipment – gets to where it needs to be. Other governments should follow the EC’s example and implement similar measures so that we can unblock the global air cargo networks on which we all depend,” de Juniac said.

Among all the uncertainty in this crisis, one thing is clear – air cargo is key to delivering lifesaving drugs and medical equipment.

And it is a strong support pillar of the global supply chains.That’s why it is critical for governments to remove any blockers

as the industry does all it can to keep the global air cargo network functioning in the crisis and ready for the recovery.

Air cargo is a vital partner in the global fight against Covid-19.

But we are still seeing examples of cargo flights filled with life-saving medical supplies and equipment grounded due to cumbersome and bureaucratic processes to secure slots and operating permits.

Obviously, these delays are endangering lives.Therefore, governments around the world need to step up

to keep global supply chains open.

With the evaporation of passenger demand and cancellation of passenger flights, vital air cargo capacity has disappeared

Is the invisible hand becoming visible again?

By Dr Darim al-Basam

Political Economy of the Pandemic

Travel bans, closed borders, lock-downs and blame-games by some of the world’s political leaders — is this

the end of global co-operation? Nationalism was already on the rise almost everywhere. Will Covid-19 make countries more inward-oriented, less co-operative and insular?

In the short run, yes. It looks right now like borders are closing everywhere, even inside countries. But within a year we are likely to need more rather than less global policy co-ordination. The pandemic itself is creating and amplifying global problems that will now demand accelerated action.

The most obvious need for multilateral policy co-ordination is in health itself. The pandemic is showing us how important it is to share health information as quickly and transparently as possible. Research efforts are underway around the world to find a vaccine, and researchers need to co-ordinate and connect as well.

The other obvious interdependency is the global economy, and particularly the fate of developing economies. The United States, United Kingdom and Germany are first examples of rich developed countries that have launched massive stimulus packages. That may save their domestic economies in the short term, but what about the global economy?

The G20 met (virtually, of course) on March 26, under the chairmanship of the King of Saudi Arabia Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Said (the country holds the rotating G20 presidency for 2020). Despite some tensions, the leaders pledged additional support for the World Health Organisation (WHO) to fight the pandemic. They also promised $5tn to prop up the global economy.

What many don’t realise is that the G20 became a leader’s forum in response to the 2008 financial crisis (prior to that it was only a meeting of finance ministers from the world’s 20 leading economies). This provided the greatest shock to the global economy since the Great Depression and also seemed to be the death knell of globalisation and interdependency.

Some countries wanted to respond to this crisis by unplugging from the global economy. This was nevertheless accompanied by the wider realisation that a global economic crisis requires a suitably global response. Over the next decade, the G20 became a forum for discussing not just economic but global policy challenges, including social, technological and environmental issues. However, as the global economy recovered and problems seemed to recede, the forum was taken less seriously by some world leaders.

Not now. Covid-19 will provide the same spur for multilateral cooperation as the 2008 financial crisis. But it will

be cooperation with a different focus. Obviously, health and pandemics will be front-and-center, as extra help for the WHO demonstrates. However, the effect of the virus on developing countries and their economies will be much greater than the disruption of 2008. Already below international standards, their healthcare systems risk being overwhelmed.

This issue was raised at the recent G20 talks, with the communique noting the risk to African countries in particular. In addition to “doing whatever it takes” to keep the global economy afloat, G20 leaders committed to supporting co-ordinated international action for poor and developing countries.

Co-operation was also evident in the call for co-ordination among international organisations like the IMF, World Bank, OECD and WHO.

None of this means that multilateral co-operation will happen in itself. Countries and regions that were previously sceptical of globalisation will continue to welcome its demise. International organisations may stumble, and G20 leaders (especially the United States) may increasingly become preoccupied with their domestic problems.

We saw some of these potential pitfalls during last week’s meetings of European Union member states.

In debating whether to use the European Stability Mechanism to help struggling countries, as well as the introduction of “corona bonds,” the Nordic countries, Netherlands, and Germany were resistant.

Closer to home, Qatar has been under blockade since 2017. Ironically, the blockading states are led by Saudi Arabia which currently holds the G20

presidency and chaired the meeting in March calling for global co-operation.

There will be the temptation to reject co-operation, play on old wounds (and find new ones), beggar neighbours, protect, defend and disengage. There

will be social media campaigns by state and non-state actors to spread blame and disinformation. According to the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, a leading think tank on extremism, it’s already happening.

But the pressures for global policy co-ordination will be stark. Health co-ordination, as long as the pandemic roils around the globe. Economic co-ordination, as the global economy plunges into recession. Political and humanitarian co-ordination, as health and economic turmoil spill over and create regional disruptions, spark conflict, migration and human misery.

As the G20 communique noted, Covid-19 is “a powerful reminder of our interconnectedness and vulnerabilities.” The virus “knows no borders.” Our efforts to deal with the aftermath shouldn’t either.

lLeslie A Pal is the founding dean of the College of Public Policy at Hamad Bin Khalifa UniversitylThis article is submitted on

behalf of the author by the HBKU Communications Directorate. The views expressed are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the University’s official stance.

COMMENT

Gulf Times Sunday, April 5, 2020 15

In Cuba, the private sector helps the needy as virus spreadsReutersHavana

Upmarket restaurants are delivering free meals to the elderly, while a fashion firm donates face masks.

A business consultancy calls on its clients to donate hygiene products and artisanal soap shops gift their wares to low income households.

In Communist-run Cuba, the fledging private sector is rushing to set up solidarity initiatives for those most vulnerable to the coronavirus outbreak, demonstrating the state no longer has a monopoly on helping the neediest.

Sometimes the two are even joining forces to combat the common invisible enemy.

Saverio Grisell, the Italian co-owner of restaurant Bella Ciao, which usually teems with expats, tourists and af-fluent Cubans, says he discussed how he could help with the local Commit-tee for the Defense of the Revolution (CDR).

“The president of my CDR gave me a list of 29 elderly people and I decided to give them a meal for free every day,” he said.

Cuba, which has so far confirmed 269 cases of the new virus, has one of the oldest populations in Latin America.

The virus appears to be particularly

deadly for the elderly, who throughout are the world are seeking ways to stay safely at home rather than go outside and risk contagion.

The CDR now helps Bella Ciao deliver its pizzas and pastas directly to the homes of the elderly.

“It’s a small gesture of solidarity,” Grisell said, noting that it paled in comparison with the help Cuba sent to his home country of Italy last month in the form of medical staff.

Cuba has also long provided sub-sidised food at eateries for the elderly nationwide, and is now dishing out free meals for those on low incomes.

“It’s admirable,” said Ines Perez, 75, digging into a plate of donated Bella Ciao spaghetti. “Let’s hope everyone comes onboard and cooperates in the same way to overcome this difficult moment.”

Private restaurants, bed-and-breakfasts, beauty salons, gyms and shops have flourished in Cuba since former President Raul Castro started inching open the economy with mar-ket style reforms a decade ago.

However, fears those reforms went too far and have fostered too much inequality have prompted a crack-down in recent years on the sector,

which now employs around 600,000 people.

As such, Cuban private businesses likely demonstrate more solidarity than elsewhere not just because it is a value embedded in the culture but also “because it is good politics to exhibit a ‘socialist’ or ‘co-operative’ orientation,” according to Cuba expert Ted Henken at Baruch College in New York.

Whatever their motivation, the solidarity initiatives are going down well — state-run website Cubadebate even did an article on the Bella Ciao project — and show no sign of abating as the number of coronavirus cases slowly mounts.

These days, for example, fashion brand Dador is putting its sewing machines to an altogether different task than their usual one of conjuring up limited edition garments for the runway and its Old Havana store.

Now they are making face masks out of colourful and often patterned cloth.

Co-founder Lauren Fajardo said they had already collaborated with one group that provides assistance to the elderly, donating 160 masks.

“We’d like to focus on getting peo-ple masks who need them most,” she added.

“Elderly people for example, peo-ple in neighborhoods that are very crowded and those who don’t have the option to just stay home because they have to work or find food.”

A trigger for global collaboration

Migrant workers from Myanmar are seen on the border as they try to go back their home country due to coronavirus disease (Covid-19) outbreak, at Mae Sot, Thailand in this March 25 picture.

Is the invisible hand becoming visible again?From Page 14

In the aftermath of this pandemic crisis, people will watch and verify the things to be considered the most basic needs of life that moved beyond their reach while the financial market chorus and econometricians assure them that GDP bouncing back.

The crisis will create a sphere of social accountability and active citizenship. There will be a greater sense of social solidarity, collaborating into far reach-ing participatory democracy and a new social contract The lesson here is urgent and sobering: to rescue societies and economies from the next, inevitable crisis and to foster long term economic growth and equitable development.

There will be a need to reform capital-ism, rethink the role of public policy and the importance of the public sector, and redefine how value is measured in society, and to identify which activities are creating value, which are extracting it, and which are destroying it? For the financial sector, there will be a gradual

role changing from mobilising resources (and being viewed as an unproductive sector) to generating its own revenue and profit (and hence being seen as a productive sector and vital ingredient of the country’s GDP). Lowering value extraction through rent-seeking was al-ready overdue and cannot be postponed if incomes are reduced massively.

What serves the financial markets will serve the performance of the real economy and society as a whole. (Social Europe March 2020)

Second, there will be a very sharp de-cline and a change in shape in global trade.

This pandemic will inevitably have an enormous impact on the economy, trade, and consequently on jobs and people’s well-being. Trade is what allows for the efficient production and supply of basic goods and services, medical supplies and equipment, food and energy that people need.

Keeping trade open and investments flowing will be critical to keep shelves plentiful and prices affordable.

Global response will develop to tackle

a global challenge of this pandemic since no country is self-sufficient, no matter how powerful or advanced, it may be. (WTO March 2020)

The third change will be paying at-tention to planetary boundaries and the social green deal.

The challenge for the next few years will be for a commitment to address shared social and environmental problems before they manifest in crises like this one.

Wasteful economic growth based on fossil fuels and the destruction of ecosystems will not continue.

Pursuing recovery plans whose suc-cess is only measured by a quick GDP growth return at all costs will therefore be minimised and then avoided.

New differentiated measures of well-being and true-cost accounting will be introduced, with respect to the ecologi-cal and health impacts of the business models and production chains behind economic activity.

High wellbeing with low ecological footprint will be the new competi-tiveness benchmark of development

vision and applied policies.Coming out of the coronavirus crisis

well can only work with a new genera-tional contract, which acknowledges how solidarity to save lives goes in both directions.

Adding the insights from research on planetary health (relationships between changes in ecosystems and humans) makes this very clear: eliminating ani-mal habitats increases zoonotic spillo-vers of viruses on to humans and their immune systems, while public health is run down through pollution, low-nutri-tion food and hazardous chemicals.

New pandemics are to be expected.The emergence of the virus is linked

to humans’ callous treatment of wild and domesticated animals for food and dubious medicinal benefit.

Coronavirus thus shows that cur-rent approaches to the trading and consumption of wild and domesti-cated animals are not only ethically and ecologically problematic, but also highly risky to health and survival of people. (The conversation, April 2020)

Innovating Today, Shaping TomorrowHamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU), a member of Qatar Foundation for Education, Science, and Community Development (QF), was founded in 2010 as a research-intensive university that acts as a catalyst for transforma-tive change in Qatar and the region while having a global impact. Located in Education City, HBKU is committed to building and cultivating human ca-

pacity through an enriching academic experience, innovative ecosystem, and unique partnerships. HBKU deliv-ers multidisciplinary undergraduate and graduate programs through its colleges, and provides opportunities for research and scholarship through its institutes and centers. For more information about HBKU, visit www.hbku.edu.qa.

About Hamad Bin Khalifa University

Cuban doctor Liz Caballero (right), from El Vedado polyclinic in Havana, walks with two students as they go door by door looking for possible cases of the novel coronavirus.

Leslie A Pal Doha

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16 Gulf TimesSunday, April 5, 2020

QATAR

Katara, partners to distribute five tonnes of vegetables daily

Vegetables donated for the initiative.The campaign is an example of collaboration between different entities to enhance social solidarity and support the efforts of the country in helping those in need.

Katara - the Culture Village Foundation (Katara) has launched a campaign that involves the distribution of five tonnes of vegetables daily among the needy. Above: Dr Khalid bin Ibrahim al-Sulaiti and other officials during the launch.

A sterilisation campaign has been carried out at Msheireb Downtown Doha as part of the precautionary measures taken around the country. In a tweet, Msheireb Properties thanked the Public Works Authority (Ashghal) and the Ministry of Municipality and Environment for their efforts in this regard.

Msheireb Downtown Doha cleans up to ensure healthy surroundings

A sterilisation campaign has been carried out across Katara - the Cultural Village in co-operation with the Ministry of Municipality and Environment.

Katara sterilises premises