Monday 6 April 2020

13 Sha'aban - 1441

2 Riyals

www.thepeninsula.qa

Volume 25 | Number 8219

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BUSINESS | 12PENMAG | 05SPORT | 01

AM Best

revises

QIIG’s outlook

to ‘positive’

Classifieds

and Services

section

included

FIFA to

tackle

pay-cut

complaints

Qatar to use

robots to monitor

public gathering

violationsTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

The Ministry of Interior has started using a robot to raise awareness of the importance of social distancing among the community.

The Ministry tweeted that the “Al-Asas” security robot will be used “to educate the community on the importance of preventing gatherings to limit the spread of the coronavirus".

The robot will also monitor violators of the decision to prevent gatherings during patrols as it is equipped with 6 fixed cameras.

The Ministry had earlier used drones with loudspeakers to broadcast awareness mes-sages in various parts of the country.

Govt Contact Center receives 4 million calls annually

SACHIN KUMAR THE PENINSULA

The Government Contact Center has received over 340,541 calls in March regarding services related to healthcare, education, commerce and business.

The center, one of the largest government contact centers in the Gulf region, has become an important platform for providing infor-mation related to several g o v e r n m e n t e n t i t i e s . According to the Ministry of Transport and Communica-tions (MoTC), the center receives around 4 million calls annually.

Out of total calls received by the center in March, 124,341 calls were related to the services of Primary Health Care Corporation; 46,091 calls were related to the Ministry of Public Health, and 19,155 calls were related to THE Ministry of Education and Higher Education, said MoTC in a tweet yesterday.

There were 21,412 calls related to Ministry and Com-merce and Industry, while 129,542 calls concerned other departments.

The center was swift in solving callers’ query as the average response speed was just 11 seconds. �P2

QDB launches National Guarantee Program to support private sector QNA — DOHA

In implementation of the direc-tives of Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, to support and provide financial and economic incentives amounting to QR75bn to the private sector, and directives of Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, H E Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa bin Abdulaziz Al Thani, to allocate QR3bn guarantees for local banks, Qatar Development Bank (QDB) has launched the National Guarantee Program to provide guarantees for local banks to grant loans to affected companies, in cooperation with the Ministry of Finance and QCB and all banks operating in the country, in response to the implications of the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19).

The National Guarantee Program aims to support sal-aries and rents of companies in the private sector. QDB will manage and issue the guide for this program, while banks operating in the country will grant financing with a guarantee from QDB. QDB stated that companies wishing to

benefit from the program are required to be fully owned by the private sector, and to be registered in the wage protection system in force in the State of Qatar.

Regarding the application

mechanism to benefit from the program, QDB indicated that companies wishing to benefit or their official representatives should communicate only with the commercial and Islamic banks

in which their accounts are reg-istered for the wage protection system, and submit requests exclusively through commercial and Islamic banks operating in the country.

The program's mechanism of work includes providing a 100 percent coverage guarantee by QDB to the commercial and Islamic banks granting the financing without any fees or commissions being charged to the guarantee granted, whether by the commercial or Islamic banks or the beneficiary com-panies for the grace period, pro-vided that the financing is paid by the beneficiary company to the commercial and Islamic donor banks within a maximum of three years, including a one-year grace period.

Abdulaziz bin Nasser Al Khalifa, Chief Executive Officer of QDB said the launch of the National Guarantee Program to respond to the consequences of COVID-19 in cooperation with the Ministry of Finance and the Qatar Central Bank and all com-mercial and Islamic banks in Qatar, is a continuation of the efforts of the State to provide all types of support for SMEs and various components of the private sector in Qatar during the current circumstances. �P2

QU adopts new procedures for Spring 2020 class evaluationSIDI MOHAMED THE PENINSULA

Taking new measures related to the evaluation process for students in the current semester, Qatar University (QU) has announced that the academic position of students shall not be changed at the end of Spring 2020 semester except in the case of improvement.

The university explained that “in other words, the aca-demic position of the student will not be affected if student’s GPA goes down.”

On its official twitter account, the university further said: “The student is allowed to repeat the courses he/she com-pleted during Spring 2020

semesters without taking his/her grade into account.”

Giving students an oppor-tunity to maintain their aca-demic levels, the university has also decided to maintain the scale of final estimates currently in use (the letter system A, B+, B, etc.)

It also announced the sus-pension of student termination due to exceeding the timelines stipulated in the Graduation Policies.

Moreover, the university has suspended student’s GPA (Grade Point Average) effect on schol-arship status, in addition to the suspension of GPA’s effect on financial aid, student employment and other services.

The university had earlier

said that it fully understands students’ concerns related to the distance learning, and it is working hard to study and evaluate various options and their applicability that will be announced upon completion.

To help students, the

university has taken a decision not to apply the policy of absen-teeism and attendance in remote lectures. “

It is sure that our students are keen to attend interactive lectures and watch recorded lectures to achieve the

maximum benefit,” said Qatar University on its website.

The distance learning depends on the technical side and communication through network, which may be a chal-lenge for some students. Therefore, the university said that the professors will record the lectures and uploaded them on the appropriate platforms so that students can benefit from them at all times,” the university said.

Meanwhile, Qatar Uni-versity President Dr. Hassan bin Rashid Al Derham tweeted that “distance learning at Qatar Uni-versity brings promising oppor-tunities and also significant challenges.”

He added: “I spoke to my

students through e-mail, affirming the university’s keenness on their academic future, and that the university administration has taken special measures that increase the chances of success and excellence for them.”

He expressed confidence that the university had chosen the optimal evaluation method and the additional procedures outlined above will guarantee that students will not be nega-tively affected from this sudden transition of the learning process.

It will also provide oppor-tunities of compensation in order to protect the student’s overall academic performance, QNA reported.

University says policy of absenteeism and attendance will not apply in remote lectures.

Students allowed to repeat courses without affecting their GPA.

The university has decided to maintain the scale of final estimates currently in use (the letter system A, B+, B etc.)

Sheikh Dr. Mohammed bin Hamad Al Thani, Director of Public Health Department at MoPH, speaking to Qatar TV, yesterday.

Qatar reports 4th death, 279 new virus cases; over 3,800 tested in 24 hoursFAZEENA SALEEM THE PENINSULA

The Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) yesterday announced 279 confirmed new cases of COVID-19 in the country.

The Ministry also reported a fourth death from the disease yesterday. The total number of people who have recovered has reached 123.

Some new cases of infection were detected in returning trav-ellers from other countries where the epidemic is

spreading, or in contacts of those travellers.

The new cases announced yesterday were detected in cit-izens as well as the expatriates, the Ministry said on its website.

All new cases have been put in quarantine where they are receiving necessary medical care.

Sheikh Dr. Mohammed bin Hamad Al Thani, Director of Public Health Department at MoPH, said the major reason behind the increase in number of positive cases in recent days

is increased of testing.The Ministry conducted

3,806 laboratory tests for COVID-19 yesterday, bringing the total number of tests per-formed until yesterday to 35,757.

“We are in the most sen-sitive month of infection. With the increasing temperature, the weather would be more favourable to fight against COVID-19,” said Dr. Mohammed while talking on a Al Rayan TV yesterday. He urged the public to bear with the present

situation by being safe at their homes. Dr. Mohammed said that among the infected cit-izens, majority have come from abroad. “If everyone abides by the instructions, the cases will reach a reasonable number by the end of this month and we can deal in hospitals and protect our country,” said Dr. Mohammed.

Talking in a Qatar TV pro-gramme, Dr. Al Thani said: “When people in Qatar promise they fulfill it usually. If people in Qatar adhere to the State’s preventive and precautionary measures, the world will be sur-prised to see the achievements of Qataris in overcoming the crisis of coronavirus.” He asked

citizens, expatriates to stay at their homes which is very nec-essary for their safety and the safety of others.

The increase in number of patients is due to the use of new laboratory techniques and increase of the number of lab-oratories being used by the Min-istry. The Ministry also said that it continues to work to increase the capacity of laboratories.

In addition, 14 cases of recovery were registered yes-terday, bringing the total number of people having recovered from COVID-19 to 123, in Qatar. The Ministry has announced the death of an 88-year-old Qatari citizen.

�P2

National Guarantee Program is part of the

QR75bn incentives package for the private sector.

Companies that wish to benefit

from the program are

required to be fully owned by

the private sector.

QDB will provide a 100 percent

coverage guar-antee to the

banks granting the financing.

Program aims to support

salaries and rents of

companies in the private

sector.

Companies can submit

requests exclusively

through commercial and

Islamic banks operating

in the country

Beneficiary businesses

to pay the banks within

a maximum of three years.

Program launched in

cooperation with the Ministry of Finance, Qatar

Central Bank, and

all banks in the country.

OFFICIAL NEWS

DOHA: The Deputy Prime Minister

and Minister of Foreign Affairs, H E

Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrah-

man Al Thani, received yesterday a

phone call from the Minister of For-

eign Affairs and Emigrants of the

Lebanese Republic, H E Nassif Hitti.

The call dealt with bilateral coop-

eration and coordinating efforts to

curb the spread of the novel coro-

navirus (COVID-19), in addition to

matters of mutual interest. QNA

FM receives phone call from Lebanon counterpart

02 MONDAY 6 APRIL 2020HOME

MME ensures safe fish trade at portsTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

A total of 164 fishing boats brought large quantity of local fresh fish at the ports of Doha, Al Khor, Al Wakrah and Al Ruwais for sale last week under special arrangements following the preventive and precautionary measures to protect people from COVID-19

infection.T h e F i s h A f f a i r s

Department has stepped up efforts to regulate fish trade at the jetties of aforementioned ports to ensure that whole-salers, suppliers and con-sumers receive high quality fish, said the Ministry of Munic-ipality and Environment (MME) in a press release.

MME had allowed the fish-ermen to sell fish directly to wholesalers and major outlets (in long term contracts with fishermen) at the ports of Doha, Al Khor, Al Wakrah and Al Ruwais following the decision of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry to cancel auction at Umm Salal Central Fish Market.

Fish baskets at a port in Doha as special arrangements were made by the Fish Affairs Department to ensure safe supply of fish as a measure to curb COVID-19.

Qatar strongly condemns explosion in SomaliaDOHA: The State of Qatar voiced its

strong condemnation and denuncia-

tion of the explosion which targeted

a popular coffee shop in Jowhar

city in southern Somalia, killing

one person and injuring others. In

a statement issued yesterday, the

Ministry of Foreign Affairs reiter-

ated the firm position of the State

of Qatar on rejecting violence and

terrorism, regardless of motives and

reasons. The statement expressed

condolences of the State of Qatar to

the family of the victim, and to the

government and people of Soma-

lia, wishing the injured a speedy

recovery. QNA

Ashghal opens new underpass, bridge on Mesaimeer InterchangeTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

The Public Works Authority (Ashghal) has opened a new underpass and bridge on Mesaimeer Interchange to traffic towards Al Wakrah and Al Wukair from Industrial Area Road and E Ring Road in collab-oration with the General Direc-torate of Traffic.

The 750M underpass will provide free flow traffic from Industrial Area Road towards Southern Part of Doha Expressway as well as the 560M bridge linking traffic from the E Ring Road.

Ashghal says that the traffic movement from Al Wakrah and Al Wukair via Southern Part of Doha Expressway towards Doha Expressway and 22 Feb-ruary Street is due to open by Q2, 2020.

On this occasion, Eng. Ahmed Ali Al Emadi, from Ashghal Highway Project Department, says that the fresh openings will largely improve

traffic movement in all direc-tions following the removal of some diversions that would provide direct connections with other routes.

“Residents in Al Wakrah and Al Wukair are the best benefi-ciaries from the new routes since the underpass gives easy access for those coming from Industrial Area Road as well as for those coming from E Ring Road, alleviating traffic pressure on the nearby roads and providing wore options for travellers,” Al Emadi added.

The new three-level inter-change is the first-of-its-kind in Qatar as it contains nine underpasses providing free flow traffic. The interchange also consists of two major bridges. One of them connects Rawdhat Al Khail Street and Industrial area road in both directions, and the other one connecting E-Ring Road with the southern part of Doha Expressway in one direction, ensuring a smooth flow of traffic in all directions.

The 6.1km long, interchange consists of three to four lanes in each direction to accom-modate about 30,000 vehicles per hour in both directions.

The new interchange once completes in the second quarter of 2020 will significantly improve traffic flow, reducing travel time by more than 70 percent of travel time.

The Mesaimeer Interchange is the first-of-its-kind in Qatar connecting six main roads, namely Mesaimeer Interchange, Doha Expressway, southern

part of Doha Expressway, Sabah Al Ahmed Corridor, Industrial Area Road and Rawdhat Al Khail Street.

The interchange also pro-vides a vital traffic link between the south, central and north of the country. It links traffic from the south through the southern part of Doha Expressway, main carriageway of Doha Expressway and Al Shamal Road. It also connects traffic between Industrial area road and the heart of Doha through a connection to Rawdat Al Khail

Street, which intersects with D-Ring and C-Ring Road, as well as between the busy areas of Nuaija, Al Thumama, Bu Hamour, Al Maamoura, Mesaimeer providing an easy access to Al Wakra, Al Wukair and the Industrial area

It is located in a vital area that has many facilities including Al Thumama Stadium, one of the World Cup stadiums, where the interchange has three pedestrian bridges to ease peo-ple’s access to Al Thumama Stadium.

Authorities arrest four for violating

home quarantine conditions QNA — DOHA

The Ministry of Public Health announced on Saturday that the competent authorities arrested four people who violated the requirements of the home quarantine, they committed to following, which they are legally a c c o u n t a b l e f o r , i n accordance with the proce-dures of the health authorities in the country.

The Ministry said that the arrest of these people came in implementation of the pre-cautionary measures in force in the country, approved by health authorities represented

in the Ministry of Public Health to ensure the achievement of public safety, to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).

The Ministry of Public Health added that the vio-lators, all Qatari citizens, are currently being referred to prosecution, they are: Salem Saad Salem Mohammed Al Habbabi, Salim Hadi Salem Al Hatheeth Al Habbabi, Salem Hadi Mohammed Hadi Al Hajri and Hamid Mohammed Salem Hadi Al Habbabi. The authorities concerned called on citizens and residents to fully commit to the Ministry’s directions.

SDG Advocates and Alumni voice solidarity with COVID-19 affectedQNA — DOHA

The United Nations (UN) Secretary-General’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Advo-cates and Alumni, expressed in a joint statement yesterday, great concern over COVID-19 outbreak and the its impact on the world, voicing solidarity with those affected.

The UN Secretary-General’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Advocates and Alumni comprise a lineup of public and globally influential figures in all fields, including H H Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, Founder and Chairperson Founder of “Edu-cation Above All Foundation”; Prime Minister of Norway, H E Erna Solberg; and President of Ghana, H E Nana Akufo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

In their statement, SDG Advocates and Alumni expressed deep appreciation, gratitude, and admiration for those on the frontlines fighting this 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 disabil-ities, indigenous communities, the homeless, refugees, and internally displaced persons.

“Responses must be equi-table and reach the digitally iso-lated. Leaders must protect civic space in their countries to ensure policy responses are transparent and inclusive,” the statement added.

The SDG Advocates and Alumni also called for urgent global action to protect and support the most vulnerable countries and areas, particularly in Africa, the Middle East, South Asia, Latin America, and Small Island States. It emphasised on the necessity for leaders, poli-cymakers, and the international

community, in particular the G20 and G7, to act quickly and decisively to mobilise the resources needed to stop the spread of COVID-19 in these areas, while also scaling up healthcare support and strengthening social safety nets.

“We stand in solidarity with out-of-school children, millions from vulnerable backgrounds, and call for provision of equi-table and inclusive distance education for all, so that learning never stops,” the statement read.

E c o n o m i c p o l i c i e s responding to the socio-eco-nomic impacts of the pandemic must meet the needs of affected countries and the most vul-nerable. The approaches gov-ernments take will have long-lasting effects, and must avoid deepening the root causes of climate change and conflict. “We

urge policymakers to be bold,” the state added.

The SDG Advocates and Alumni stressed that “con-fronting COVID-19 requires coordinated global humani-tarian and socio-economic responses. The virus does not respect borders. Addressing this crisis requires worldwide col-laboration and partnerships, across all aspects of the response,” asking member states to work together, guided by the UN and a recognition of common humanity.

They further applaud the Secretary-General for estab-lishing his Response and Recovery Fund, that will support low- and middle-income coun-tries, and crucially, help coun-tries preserve the gains they have made towards achieving the 2030 Agenda.

The group urged member states and all stakeholders, including business, civil society organizations and philanthropy, to accelerate their action and investments in response to COVID-19. Scaled-up and long-lasting support is fundamental to protect, help, and rebuild for

those furthest behind, pointing that the Secretary-General’s call for an immediate global ceasefire is essential, They also called on all warring parties to cease hostilities and “focus together on the true fight of our lives.”

Selecting H H Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, Founder and Chair-person Founder of “Education Above All Foundation” as a member of UN Secretary-Gen-eral’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Advocates and Alumni for the second consec-utive time, came in appreciation of Her Highness’ founding and leading roles in a group of insti-tutions and initiatives aimed at providing quality education, youth empowerment and human development at the local and international levels.

The UN Secretary-General’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Advocates and Alumni group is committed to working to raise public awareness and push for further actions that will accelerate the process of achieving the sustainable devel-opment goals adopted by world leaders on September 25, 2015.

COVID-19 hotline

received 1,525

calls on Saturday

THE PENINSULA — DOHA

The Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) has received 1,525 calls over the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) hotline 16000 in five languages on Saturday, at an average efficiency rate of 98.6 percent.

Among the incoming calls, a total of 1,504 calls have been answered at an average speed of eight seconds.

The calls were received in five languages including Arabic and English. The information was shared on social media by MoPH in collaboration with Ministry of Transport and Com-munication, Hamad Medical Corporation, Primary Health Care Corporation, and Qatar Red Crescent.

The MoPH set up a dedi-cated call center on March 2, to answer all questions and enquiries related to COVID-19. Public and health professionals can call 24x7 on 16000 hotline for enquiries.

To recall, by April 1, the hotline had received 43,000 calls. Among the calls 92 percent calls were answered, and the average speed of answering was five seconds for each, with a 90 percent satisfaction rate.

The team answering these calls consisted of 201 people, including 51 doctors and 150 others trained as a supportive team for the work of the medical team.

Among the calls on April 1, the hotline had received 1524 calls and answered 1516 calls at an average time of four seconds. Each call was attended for an average of 129 seconds at an efficiency rate of 99.5 percent.

Amir sends cable of condolences to President of BulgariaDOHA: Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin

Hamad Al Thani and Deputy Amir

H H Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad Al

Thani sent yesterday cables of con-

dolences to H E the President Rumen

Radev of the Republic of Bulgaria on

the death of his father. QNA

“We stand in solidarity with out-of-school children, millions from vulnerable backgrounds, and call for provision of equitable and inclusive distance education for all, so that learning never stops,” the statement read.

Govt Contact Center receives 4 million calls annually

FROM PAGE 1

Part of Qatar Digital Gov-ernment (QDG) initiatives, the center offers services in nine languages and covers 34 gov-ernment entities in multiple sectors. It is open 24 hours, seven days a week, and receives calls on 109 from res-idents. The Qatar Digital Gov-ernment initiatives aim to support government agencies to enact digital transformation, in line with Qatar Digital Gov-ernment 2020 Strategy.

The Ministry had estab-lished the Government Contact Center in 2007 to support the services provided on Qatar e-Government Portal — Hukoomi. In 2009, the Ministry developed the cente to become a technical support center for

various e-services provided by MoTC and other government agencies, in addition to becoming the first govern-mental line of support to respond to inquiries and com-plaints from the public.

The center has also become an important link between all government agencies and the public. MoTC has developed the Government Contact Center with the highest level of tech-nology and service as well as the highest quality standards to suit the requirements and services of all government entities and provide diverse services to the public. There are total 300 employees responding to residents’ queries from six different centers spread across the country.

National Guarantee

Program launched FROM PAGE 1

He added that the pro-gramme will give private com-panies a great ability to face the economic effects asso-ciated with the repercussions of the pandemic, and will ensure that they continue to work in a manner that does not affect the general course of their commercial opera-tions, which will give them a greater ability to continue after the difficulties associated with the current circumstance and the return of matters to normal.

Qatar reports fourth death; 279 new virus casesFROM PAGE 1

He was suffering from several chronic diseases and was admitted to hospital due to acute bacterial infection in the blood which ultimately led to his death. It was diag-nosed at the same time that he was infected with COVID-19. The deceased received intensive medical care upon his arrival at the hospital on Tuesday, March 3, and was given the nec-essary treatment and care,

but his condition deteriorated resulting in his death yes-terday morning, according to the Ministry. The MoPH has extended its sincere condo-lences and great sympathy to the family of the deceased.

Speaking about the volun-teering work, Dr. Mohammed said that the number of volun-teers reached 35,000 and numbers are increasing every day. “The volunteers are enthusiastic. We are giving training to make them capable

for the required volunteer work. If they pass the training, will join the volunteering work and those failed will be given more training,” said Dr. Mohammed.

He also said that the vol-unteers should undergo proper specific training to get ade-quate information about COVID-19, like how to wear safety kits to protect them-selves from the virus and other technical information to handle the situation.

03MONDAY 6 APRIL 2020 HOME

Qatar Children’s Museum holds first virtual family workshopRAYNALD C RIVERATHE PENINSULA

Qatar Children’s Museum (QCM) yesterday kicked off its series of daily virtual family work-shops with an enjoyable and engaging Instagram session that brought outdoor fun into homes amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Using the story “What’s in the Sand?” written by Shaikha Al Zeyara and illustrated by Mai Al Kubaisi as springboard, the workshop guided young children with the help of their parents how to create their own homemade sand using flour and cooking oil.

What ensued were adorable and precious moments of little children moulding shapes using the sand they had just created and playing toys the sand as if they were on the beach, which were all captured on videos and photos and shared on Instagram by their parents.

QCM’s Instagram page was flooded with stories shared by many participating families

who began uploading photos and videos even before the start of the workshop.

It was a session complete with necessary elements that combined play and learning, from the read aloud story that stirred children’s imagination and set their minds on the workshop to the actual activity that enhanced their sensory and motor skills and promoted family bonding.

More interesting and cre-ative workshops have been lined up this week including “Paper Flower Bouquet” today, “Jam Making” tomorrow, “Trav-elling Water Experiment” on Wednesday and “Bubble Painting” on Thursday. The list of materials needed for each of

the workshop sessions can be found on QCM’s Instagram account (@ChildrensMuseum.QA). Families can watch out for the workshops scheduled from 3pm to 4pm, Sunday to Thursday via QCM’s Instagram page.

Though still in development phase, QCM has already started its work having inaugurated a Learning and Outreach Department, which has engaged the community through work-shops for children and their families at popular events. In response to the challenge that families are facing during the pandemic, the museum has shifted its work online, but plans to provide the same warmth and support that

audiences have come to expect from the museum.

The QCM will be the first institution of its kind in the gulf, enriching the lives of children and their families by providing an unparalleled space for learning through open-ended play, exploration and experi-mentation. The new museum is

being designed to nurture, chal-lenge and inspire our children, fueling their creativity and encouraging their empathy and understanding. A variety of stimulating, interactive and accessible indoor and outdoor experiences will offer families the opportunity to have fun by playing and learning together.

The QCM is being created to advance the goals of the Qatar National Vision 2030 for human, social, economic and environmental development. With programming that will offer each child an opportunity to learn through play, the QCM will nurture the future leaders and caretakers of Qatar.

Qatar Children’s Museum kicked off its series of daily virtual family workshops with an enjoyable and engaging Instagram session that brought outdoor fun into homes amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

CRA assigns new radio frequency for

virus awareness in Bengali language

THE PENINSULA — DOHA

In the context of the measures taken by the Communications Regulatory Authority (CRA) to support Qatar’s efforts to limit the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), the CRA has assigned a frequency to a new FM radio broadcasting station, in coordination with the Ministry of Culture and Sports, aiming to broadcast awareness programmes in Bengali language in Qatar.

After being coordinated with the Ministry of Culture and Sports and Qatar Media Corporation, the new FM station started broadcasting programmes on March 22 on FM Channel (95.3 MHz) to promote awareness to the a u d i e n c e a b o u t t h e

precautionary measures that need to be taken in order to limit the spread of COVID-19 in the country.

“In accordance with the CRA’s mandate related to allocating and managing of scarce resources like radio spectrum, the CRA has taken urgent measures to assign appropriate frequency, that can be used temporarily during this period, to help raising awareness and ensuring the safety of a large proportion of people who speaks Bengali language in Qatar.

CRA will continue to take any other urgent measures that support Qatar’s efforts in limiting the spread of COVID-19 in the country,” said CRA.

Mada launches two platforms to support access to informationQNA — DOHA

Qatar Assistive Technology Center - Mada, affiliated to the Ministry of Transport and Communications, launched two platforms on its website that support access to information from available sources in the education, culture and society sectors.

The first platform, which is dedicated for supporting com-prehensive digital education, helps support distance edu-cation as an initiative that guar-antees the comprehensiveness of education for all students, especially those with disabilities and job restrictions, and con-tains programs and open edu-cational resources (OERs) available in the public domain of the Internet with an open license, where this platform pro-vides a set of interactive online

services for teachers, learners, parents and others involved in the education process.

It also provides the infor-mation, tools and resources nec-essary to support and enhance education in accordance with the principle of universal design for learning and a compre-hensive digital learning environment.

In addition, the platform provides a variety of applica-tions that are categorized into sections to improve specific skills such as reading, writing, cognition and mathematics, in addition to the accessible, designed and developed educa-tional resources that have been approved by Mada Center to meet the needs of students of all levels, abilities and knowledge capabilities in general and stu-dents with disability in particular.

The second platform, culture and society support, contributes to enabling everyone to access information from available digital sources and services as an initiative aimed at enabling access for people with functional restrictions (persons with disa-bilities and elderly people) to the available electronic resources and services that an individual needs on a daily basis, such as government services, pur-chasing services, health services and many other useful and approved sources within one platform through which the individual can use digital access tools that support various job restrictions.

On this occasion, CEO of Mada Center Maha Al Mansouri said that the launch of these two platforms on the center’s website reflects our belief in our mission through which we seek

to unleash the potentiality of all persons with functional restric-tions (with disabilities and elderly people) through capacity-building and support for the development of digital platforms, noting that the two platforms were allocated in accordance with best practices and international standards to support access to information, digital resources and services available in the education, culture and society sectors.

Al Mansouri added that that the two platforms aim to facil-itate access to information for all persons and ensure the full participation of persons with disabilities in education and community participation and enable them to live independ-ently and participate fully in all aspects of life through infor-mation and communication technology.

Using the story “What’s in the Sand?” written by Shaikha Al Zeyara and illustrated by Mai Al Kubaisi as springboard, the workshop guided young children with the help of their parents how to create their own homemade sand using flour and cooking oil.

04 MONDAY 6 APRIL 2020HOME

HBKU offers online counselling sessionsto students, staff and faculty on COVID-19THE PENINSULA — DOHA

As part of its enduring commitment to a safe and healthy campus, Student Affairs at Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU) is offering students, staff and faculty online coun-selling sessions as the corona-virus (COVID-19) pandemic unfolds.

Taking place every Sat-urday, the sessions are geared towards students in Education City housing facilities. Partici-pants, including members of the wider HBKU community, will have the opportunity to raise concerns with Dr. Rudwan Abdul Al, a consultant

psychiatrist at Al-Ahli Hospital. Dr. Abdul Al will offer practical

advice on dealing with worries and safeguarding mental health at this difficult time. Students will also be encouraged to high-light any issues they are facing from a wellness and mental health wellbeing perspective.

Speaking about the ses-sions, Maryam Al Mannai, Vice-President of Student Affairs, said: “It’s never been so important to remind HBKU’s students that we are always here for them. COVID-19 has not only changed the way we pursue learning opportunities, but it has also isolated so many people from their family and friends. These sessions serve

as a timely reminder that our students are not alone and options exist for them to discuss problems, obtain clar-ification and seek reas-surance. This applies just as much to their studies as the ongoing situation at home and abroad. To this end, we’re grateful to Dr. Abdul-Al and Al-Ahli Hospital for offering their support to our student community.”

Student Affairs is well aligned with HBKU’s mandate of promoting community out-reach and ensure an inclusive environment for its students. The department leads various activities throughout the year

to foster a sense of belonging within the HBKU community.

HBKU’s online counseling

services for students, faculty, and staff take place every Saturday in the morning and afternoon.

Students, staff and faculty are offered remote counseling sessions to help them cope up with the COVID-19 situation.

Maryam Al Mannai

QF contributes to developing researches, mechanisms to address pandemicQNA — DOHA

Qatar Foundation Vice Pres-ident for Research, Devel-opment, and Innovation Dr. Richard O’Kennedy, said that Qatar Foundation (QF) is contributing to the development of researches and technologies to address COVID-19 pandemic.

Regarding the efforts Qatar Foundation Research, Devel-opment, and Innovation (QF RDI) is making towards battling this crisis, Dr. O’Kennedy said “ At Qatar Foundation, there has always been a strong plan to manage a crisis like this, and it’s been working extremely well.. We have got to be prepared and have action plans, because we could very well see other infec-tious diseases, in addition to other challenges such as global warming, posing a threat in the future”.

QF Vice-President went on

saying that “All our entities within our research, devel-opment, and innovation eco-system are trying to help. When we asked ourselves how we could help, one of the first things that came up was the possibility of giving some of our equipment to Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) to help them speed up the process of doing analysis. We’ve transferred some of our equipment to the hospital, and it has been vali-dated, checked, and set up”.

“Secondly, we’re working to develop a test that would also help in terms of measuring or determining the presence of coronavirus. In addition to this, members of our teams are looking at ways of potentially developing treatment mecha-nisms. They’re looking at the virus and seeing other ways in which we can come up with treatment modalities using the

expertise on hand,” he added. Dr. O’Kennedy, pointed that,

“Artificial Intelligence is also going to have a huge effect on what we do and how we do it. It’s really about the crunching of large amounts of data. If you’re doing global modelling of something such as this pan-demic, you can do it extremely well with large amounts of information. The more infor-mation you have, the better the model you can build. That

allows you to infer how the disease is spreading, and equally how effective treat-ments and approaches such as social distancing may be”.

One of the interesting things that’s going to come out of this is that people will begin to look at the virus and how the genome of that virus is made up of a huge amount of data, which will be generated, O’Kennedy said.

He added that data can be

quite valuable, because it can tell us things about how the virus is changing over time, maybe about the different sources of the virus, and this may allow us to predict ways in which we can counteract it. “Moving forward, the infor-mation that we generate can be very important in helping to plan for the future and enhancing our ability to better cope with situations like these,” he said.

“Another project we’re working on with Qatar Com-puting Research Institute is a diagnostic monitoring app, which can potentially be used by everybody among the pop-ulation. In essence, this uses computing to help diagnostics, which in turn can help healthcare in a very tangible way. That is the good thing about having researchers in the RDI system that we have in

Qatar. We’ve been using the expertise that we have to develop ways of counteracting this pandemic in every way possible,” said Dr. O’Kennedy.

On the QF RDI collabora-tions with organizations and researchers from across Qatar, and other countries, on projects related to the pandemic, Dr. O’Kennedy said “We are involved in very strong collab-orations in relation to this. One example is the collaboration we have with Genomics England, with whom we’re working to look at aspects of the genome of the virus, and indeed of those that are being infected. We also have a large number of people with expertise in the field of diag-nostics who have volunteered. They can work with HMC in the diagnostic division if required, helping to combine efforts in this area”.

Dr. O’Kennedy said: “Artificial Intelligence is also going to have a huge effect on what we do and how we do it. It’s really about the crunching of large amounts of data. If you’re doing global modeling of something such as this pandemic, you can do it extremely well with large amounts of information.”

QRCS disinfects water supply facilities and distributes food aid to Syrian refugees in LebanonTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

As the world is suffering the brunt of COVID-19, Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS) has mobilised its foreign missions to monitor the situ-ation, coordinate with the host national societies and government authorities, provide all possible forms of logistic and specialized support, and take all the necessary health and preventive measures in relation to the ongoing humanitarian opera-tions.

In Lebanon, QRCS’s field teams stepped up the infection preventive precautions, in order to protect both the volunteers and beneficiaries. Every day, all the facilities of water

purification plants and the water tankers are disinfected. To ensure their safety, the relief workers use personal protective equipment (PPE) and sanitizers.

The personnel working at QRCS’s water purification plants in Arsal and Saadnayel continue to deliver clean drinking water to the Syrian refugee camps. It is part of the Water for Mercy, a project implemented by QRCS in Lebanon for the benefit of 7,000 Syrian families, or 35,000 persons on average.

At the same time, the teams of QRCS and the Lebanese Red Cross resumed the Warm Winter 2020 project. Currently, food parcels are being distributed to Syrian families

and the host community in Akkar, northern Lebanon.

Over the coming few days, the distribution of food provisions would continue for the benefit of over 5,000 poor families, or 25,000 persons. All the precautions were taken to protect the field teams and abide by the applicable preventive rules.

As they received the food provi-sions, the beneficiaries were so happy with this much-needed aid. They thanked QRCS and the Leb-anese Red Cross for their nonstop support since the eruption of the Syrian conflict, particularly in the midst of the recent coronavirus outbreak.QRCS volunteers unloading food aid in Lebanon.

QMIC releases new Wain Mobile App with dedicated content, enablers related to COVID-19THE PENINSULA — DOHA

Qatar Mobility Innovations Center (QMIC) at the Qatar Science and Technology Park (QSTP) has released a new major version of its Wain Mobile Application which includes a set of content, services, and enablers in support of the national efforts to fight the spread of COVID-19.

Wain is available for free to download from Google Play and Apple app stores, said QMIC in a release.

Firstly, the new Wain release includes a dedicated Public Health section to provide users with info and location-based services related to COVID-19.

In particular, the section includes a list of important emergency con-tacts as well as delivery numbers for groceries and pharmacies to encourage users to stay home. In addition, the section includes edu-cational materials such as videos and infographic provided by government authorities, live map highlighting nearest medical facilities and hos-pitals to users current location, and a news feed regarding important announcements to COVID-19 by local authorities.

Secondly, to leverage the location-intelligence capabilities of the Wain platform, the new release has a new and important capability to deliver location-based notifica-tions and alerts to users within a certain geographical area, or to users entering or leaving a certain zone.

This capability can be utilised to inform Wain users about important road events or health restrictions that might impact their mobility behaviour.

Thirdly, the new release comes with a major update to QMIC’s map to deliver richer and more user-friendly experience and to high-light key road changes and conditions.

In collaboration with major stakeholders in Qatar, QMIC is spending significant effort to update its GIS and mapping

platform to keep up with con-tinuous changes to the Qatar road network and enhance the navi-gation experience of Wain users.

Dr Adnan Abu-Dayya, Executive Director and CEO of QMIC said, “During this unprecedented time, QMIC is committed to supporting Qatari community by sharing our technological expertise, innovative services, and knowledge to con-tribute towards a response to the coronavirus pandemic.”

He said that this new Wain release with its dedicated public health section and unique enablers to deliver location-based alerts only represents the first step in realizing our COVID-19 action plan that includes different inno-vative tools and solutions which we hope to release in the next few weeks.

In addition to the newly added features, Wain has a collection of unique features such as up-to-date dynamic map, real-time traffic infor-mation, advanced intelligent navi-gation services, rich POIs, and real time parking information that allow it to stand uniquely positioned to be the de-facto companion for users on Qatar roads.

Since its launch, Wain continues to provide its users with update-to-date tools and services to enhance their driving experience and safety on Qatar roads. The Wain app has been downloaded more than 300,000 times and is being used in Qatar by tens of thousands of users on a monthly basis.

Dr. Adnan Abu-Dayya, Executive Director and CEO of QMIC, said: “During this unprecedented time, QMIC is committed to supporting Qatari community by sharing our technological expertise, innovative services, and knowledge to contribute towards a response to the coronavirus pandemic.”

05MONDAY 6 APRIL 2020 HOME

Qatar University launches COVID-19 Global Virtual Design & Innovation CompetitionTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

Qatar University’s College of Engi-neering (QU-CENG) has announced the launch of COVID-19 Global Virtual Design & Innovation Competition under the theme of “Re-Engineer the Future of Healthcare and Improve Lives — Design with Impact”.

COVID-19 has affected billions of people; even those who are not affected physically are hit economi-cally and mentally. The need to improve healthcare systems and facil-ities are evident. With potentially 70% of the population on the brink of being infected by COVID-19, our worldwide healthcare systems will be strained beyond their limits.

In his comment, Dr Khalid Kamal Naji, Dean of QU-CENG, said: “This competition aims to contribute to the reduction of the coronavirus (COVID 19) effect, and contribute to the United Nations (SDG) Goals — 'Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages', UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) No. 3.

“This global virtual challenge aims

to push the boundaries of design and product innovation in healthcare to solve prevalent global health issues. We are looking for out of the box ideas that work now and in the future, as well as solutions that can be scaled-up to improve and enhance patients’ expe-riences. This challenge ends with a unique, international exhibition of all

shortlisted designs,” he added. In his comment, Prof Abdelmagid

Hammuda, Associate Dean for Aca-demic Affairs at CENG, said: “Our pri-ority is to create an environment that fosters collaboration to allow the best possible designs to see the light. The winning design should support COVID-19 patients anywhere in the

world. We are committed to accom-panying the teams as they work towards meeting the challenge require-ments by providing them with tech-nical, engineering, materials and com-pliance experts who will actively support them in their design”.

Design topics include mobile apps that address and dive into real-life COVID-19 cases related to healthcare such as emergency dispatch; remote healthcare; crowd management and census; profiling the spread among clusters and communities; deep data analysis; security on and off-premise cyber assets; and outreach to inspire communities. Participants could make

non-chemical based disinfection devices or 3D technology to build things like ventilator valves, breathing filters and customisable facemasks, etc. to prevent further spread of the virus. The design files for these parts can be produced anywhere in the world to help end-customers bridge p o t e n t i a l s u p p l y c h a i n interruptions.

Participations can cover designs of smart healthy mobile buildings hosting healthcare facilities. A fast-assembled/disassembled, low-cost and user-friendly “buildings” that can accom-modate infected and cured patients with 0-contagion risk. While providing wellbeing, comfort and healing atmos-phere through adequate spatial, artistic and architectural considerations, the design of such buildings should be contagion-proofed.

Key dates: Going live and start of submission: April 5, 2020; submission deadline: June 25 2020; announcement of shortlisted applications: August 20, 2020; announcement of winners: Sep-tember 24, 2020 and international virtual exhibition: October 20, 2020

NMoQ announces open call for mascot design contest for its first-year anniversaryTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

To mark its first-year anni-versary, the National Museum of Qatar (NMoQ) has launched an open call for artists and designers, to submit creative designs for the museum’s new mascot.

NMoQ has selected the dugong, a large marine mammal that has lived in Qatari waters for over 7,500 years, as its mascot. This initiative is part of the programming around the museum’s upcoming exhibition on dugongs set to open next year in collaboration with Exx-

onMobil Research Qatar. The Arabian Gulf is home to

the second largest population of Dugongs in the world, making them significant to Qatar. These mammals are cur-rently on the World Wildlife Fund’s vulnerable list and raising awareness of them links to the museum’s key themes around sustainability and conservation.

The design of the dugong should have a unique concept which symbolises NMoQ’s identity and relates to Qatari culture, in an aesthetic and appealing manner.

The deadline for submitting designs is July 1 and inde-pendent artists and designers from all age groups and nation-alities are welcome to submit their designs; international sub-missions are also welcome.

The prize for the winning design will include major media and press interviews for the artist and coverage featuring the design, recognition by H E Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, Chair-person of Qatar Museums (QM), and Sheikha Amna bint Abdull Aziz bin Jassim Al Thani, Director of NMoQ, a free culture

pass membership and gift package from the NMoQ Gift Shop. If an international artist is selected, the prize will also cover a round-trip ticket to Doha.

NMoQ was inaugurated on March 28, 2019, and since then has welcomed over 600,000 visitors from all around the world. The museum was also recognised for its efforts in sus-tainability by receiving the LEED Gold certification, a first-ever certificate awarded to a national museum. NMoQ remains one of Qatar’s key landmarks that highlights the

country’s culture and heritage. More details about the dugong

mascot design open call are available at NMoQ website.

Dugong has lived in Qatari waters for over 7,500 years.

HEC Paris in Qatar to hold a series of online masterclass sessionsTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

HEC Paris in Qatar will be conducting a series of online masterclass sessions, covering a wide range of topics, in April.

The first of three master-classes titled ‘Cognitive Biases and Decision-Making: The Case of the COVID-19 Response’ will take place on April 8 from 4.30pm to 5.30pm (Qatar time). The session will analyse the reaction of population and the response of various govern-ments around the world to the coronavirus pandemic. It will be led by Pro-fessor Olivier Sibony, who teaches strategy, decision-making and problem-solving at HEC Paris.

The second master-class, titled ‘How to Make Innovation Part of Your DNA!’, will take place on April 22 from 4.30pm to 6pm (Qatar time), where Professor Laurence Lehmann-Ortega will talk about how willing established firms are to embrace innovation and what it takes to convince them to do so. Professor Ortega has been serving as Affiliate Professor at the HEC Paris Strategy and Business Policy department since 2009.

The third master-class of the series is titled ‘The Future of Human Collaboration in a World of Automation and AI’. The session will take place on April 29 from 2.30pm to 4pm (Qatar time); and will be hosted by Professor Mathis Schulte, who argues that in an auto-mated world, human collaboration will prove to be the decisive factor for organisations. Pro-fessor Schulte is an HEC

Paris Associate Professor of Management and Human Resources since 2009.

HEC Paris masterclass

sessions are designed to strengthen leadership skills necessary for senior business managers to flourish in their roles. These interactive discus-sions will give participants an insight into innovation topics such as becoming more creative in a professional context; the levers to be a more innovative individual; or creating a context for their immediate team to be more innovative.

A file photo of Qatar University campus.

Design topics include mobile apps that help healthcare systems in managing the COVID-19 response, and designs of smart buildings to host healthcare facilities.

HEC Paris masterclass sessions are designed to strengthen leadership skills necessary for senior business managers to flourish in their roles.

06 MONDAY 6 APRIL 2020GULF / MIDDLE EAST

Iran to restart ‘low-risk’ economic activities soonANATOLIA & AFP — TEHRAN

Iran reported 151 more deaths from coronavirus yesterday, pushing the death toll to 3,603, a health official said.

Kianoush Jahanpour, a spokesman for the Health Min-istry, said that 2,483 more people tested positive for COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, bringing the total infections to 58,226, according to Iran’s state TV.

Jahanpour said 22,011 people have so far recovered and been discharged from hos-pitals, while 4,057 patients are in critical condition.

The Iranian President said yesterday it will allow “low-risk” economic activities to resume from April 11 as its daily coronavirus infection rates slowed for a fifth straight day.

“Restarting these activities does not mean we have aban-doned the principle of staying at home,” President Hassan Rouhani said at a meeting of Iran’s anti-coronavirus task

force.The president, whose

country has been battered by US economic sanctions, did not specify what qualified as “low risk” activities, but said bans would remain on schools and large gatherings.

A “gradual” return of “low-risk” economic activity will be permitted from next Saturday in the provinces and from April 18 in Tehran, Rouhani said.

The health ministry s p o k e s m a n K i a n o u s h Jahanpour reported 2,483 new cases of COVID-19 infection, the fifth straight day of declining numbers, compared to a record number of 3,111 infections on March 31.

After resisting a lockdown

or quarantine measures, Iran imposed an intercity travel ban late last month.

Saturday should have marked a return to regular activity in Iran after a two-week holiday for the Persian New Year.

Jahanpour at his briefing criticised “those who think that the situation is normal now that the holidays are over, because it is not normal”.

While some people in Tehran said they were reas-sured by the government’s response, others remained fearful.

“There have been a lot of people out on the streets the last two days. It’s terrifying,” a housewife, Zohreh, told AFP.

But Zahra Zanjani, another housewife, said she believed the situation was under control.

“People are very respectful” of instructions from authorities, “and are taking great care,” she said. A retiree named Amir worried about the economic

impact of the pandemic. “People still have expenses

to pay,” he said. “They can’t stay at home.

The government needs to support them financially.”

In Isfahan, Iran’s third largest city and tourism

capital, 35-year-old teacher Samira said large numbers of people were ignoring advice to stay home.

“I passed by two parks and saw 25 to 30 people in each,” she said. Public gardens are supposed to remain closed.”

Iranian women, members of paramilitary organisation Basij, make face masks and other protective items at a mosque in Tehran, amid the novel coronavirus pandemic, yesterday.

Kuwait reports 77 new COVID-19 cases; toll rises in several Arab nationsQNA & ANATOLIA— KUWAIT

The Kuwaiti Ministry of Health announced yesterday, that 77 people were infected by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in the last 24 hours, bringing the total to 556 confirmed cases.

With regard to those infected, the country’s Health Ministry spokesman Dr. Abdullah Al Sanad indicated that one belonged to a citizen recently returning from France as part of the Kuwaitis repatriation campaign.

The rest of the 74 cases include

two Kuwaitis, 58 Indian nationals, eight Pakistanis, three Bangladeshis, two Egyptians, and one Iranian all encoun-tering pat ient ’s epidemic investigation.

The Indian nationals’ cases are connected with two of their compa-triot patients under epidemic investi-gation. As for the Institutional quar-antine, Dr. Al Sanad pointed that the number of those clearing quarantine has reached 911.

The Omani Ministry of Health announced 21 new cases of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), bringing the

total number of confirmed cases in the Sultanate to 298 and two deaths. The Ministry noted that 61 cases have recovered.

Kuwait urged everyone to strictly adhere to quarantine measures, social distancing instructions, health habits as well as staying at home and not going out unless necessary.

Meanwhile, health authorities in several Arab countries confirmed new cases and deaths from the novel coro-navirus yesterday. The Lebanese Health Ministry recorded a new fatality, raising the death toll to 18, while seven

people tested positive for the virus, bringing the total to 527.

In Morocco, the Health Ministry said the death toll has risen to 69 after 10 deaths were recorded. The number of confirmed cases climbed to 961, with another 42 cases recorded, while recoveries reached 70.

In Iraq, health authorities recorded one death, bringing the death toll to 57, and a total of 908 cases after 18 more cases were confirmed.

The Palestinian government, for its part, recorded nine fresh cases, bringing the total to 226, with 12 of

them in the blockaded Gaza Strip. Health authorities in the war-bat-

tered Libya recorded another corona-virus case, raising the total to 18, including one death and one recovery.

In Saudi Arabia, the Health Min-istry announced five new fatalities, raising the death toll to 34, and recorded 206 fresh cases, bringing the total to 2,385, with 488 recoveries.

In Syria, the regime’s Health Min-istry recorded three new cases, bringing the total to 19, and also con-firmed two deaths, and two recoveries.

The Iranian President said it will allow ‘low-risk’ economic activities to resume from April 11 as its daily coronavirus infection rates slowed for a fifth straight day. Iran reported 151 more deaths yesterday, pushing the death toll to 3,603, a health official said.

Lebanon repatriates nationals in rare flights despite virusAFP — BEIRUT

Lebanon yesterday started repatriating nationals who were stranded abroad in its first flights in weeks since it closed its international airport to stem the novel coronavirus.

Many Lebanese work abroad, in the Gulf or in Africa, while thousands of youth study in Europe. The first of four planes touched down at the Beirut international airport late in the morning bringing in 78 passengers from Riyadh, local television reported.

A second carrying 79 pas-sengers from Abu Dhabi fol-lowed in the afternoon, the National News Agency said.

Local television showed health personnel in protective gear taking the temperature of disembarking passengers.

The Mediterranean country announced a lockdown and closed its airport from March 19 as part of measures to curb the spread of COVID-19, which has officially infected 527 people and killed 18 nationwide.

A photographer saw a dozen buses outside the airport,

which the health ministry said were to transport the pas-sengers to their homes to self-quarantine or to a hotel to await the results of tests on arrival. Prime Minister Hassan Diab had arrived earlier amid heavy deployment of the Lebanese army.

Authorities said more than 20,000 people had signed up to be repatriated in total this week or at the end of the month. Lebanese carrier Middle East Airlines said flights would land in Beirut later from Lagos and Abidjan.

It has also announced return trips to Paris, Madrid and Kinshasa on Tuesday.

Lebanese returning home must either test negative for the virus no longer than three days before their return, or be tested immediately upon arrival, according to government guidelines.

They must pay for their own ticket and their families are not allowed to meet them at the airport. The government has said priority will be given to those with critical health conditions such as diabetes or

cancer, those aged over 60 and under 18, and families. But critics have complained of steep ticket fares, while a financial crisis has severely restricted transactions from Lebanese bank accounts.

Coronavirus is the latest crisis to hit Lebanon, which is already reeling under a crum-bling economy. Due to an acute liquidity crisis, banks have since September increasingly been restricting access to dollars and have halted money transfers abroad.

On Monday, however, the banking association agreed to allow dollar transfers to Leb-anese students outside the country to help them face the coronavirus pandemic, the finance ministry said. Diab on Sunday told reporters the gov-ernment was studying the pos-sibility of supporting returning Lebanese students with a ticket.

The public transport min-ister said the MEA would offer half-price tickets to students in need, while the foreign and health ministers said Lebanese donors would cover the other half, according to the NNA.

An empty highway is seen after a 15-day ban on vehicles leaving or entering 31 provinces, including Istanbul, took effect amid strong measures to stem the spread of the novel coronavirus, in Istanbul yesterday.

86-year-old Turkishwoman beats diseaseANATOLIA — ANKARA

An 86-year-old Turkish woman became a source of inspiration for those suffering from coronavirus as she beat the disease despite suffering from multiple chronic health conditions.

The novel coronavirus has so far claimed 501 lives in Turkey, which has registered almost 24,000 COVID-19 cases, while 786 others have recovered got and discharged from hospitals.

Among the recovered, there is Rasmiye Isik.

Before COVID-19 diag-nosis, Isik already suffered from heart and lung problems and she is likely to have con-tracted the virus from her son

and daughter-in-law, who previously went to Saudi Arabia for their Umrah pilgrimage.

The couple was diagnosed with coronavirus on March 18 and their treatment started immediately.

Meanwhile, Isik also began to cough and was taken to a healthcare center, where she tested positive on March 22.

After successful treatment, Isik and her children were dis-charged from the hospital.

“I’ve beaten the disease, I’m so happy,” she said. “May Allah protect everyone from such trouble.”

Thankful for her recovery, she called on people to stay at home in a bid to prevent the spread of the virus.

Coronavirus deaths rise to 46 in Israel

ANATOLIA — TEL AVIV

The novel coronavirus has killed 46 people in Israel, with 8,018 cases registered so far, health officials said.

The Health Ministry said 203 more people tested pos-itive for the virus, noting that out of the total, 127 are in critical condition.

In Israel, all schools have been closed, and all public meetings in open or closed areas with more than 10 people have been banned.

All trading firms except supermarkets, pharmacies, gas stations and banks have also been closed since March 15.

Tel Aviv banned the entry of foreign citizens into the country, except those who have residency in Israel.

Israeli police

detain Jerusalem

governor

ANATOLIA — OCCUPIED JERUSALEM

Israeli police yesterday detained Jerusalem Governor Adnan Ghaith.

A video released by the Jerusalem-based Wadi Hilweh Information Center showed police forcefully detaining Ghaith from his home in Jeru-salem’s neighbourhood of Silwan. Ghaith has been detained several times in recent months.

The reason behind the detention remains unclear and the Israeli police have yet to issue an official statement.

Jerusalem remains at the heart of the decades-long Mideast conflict, with Pales-tinians hoping that East Jeru-salem — occupied by Israel since 1967 — might one day serve as the capital of a Pales-tinian state.

International law con-tinues to view East Jerusalem, along with the entire West Bank, as “occupied territories” and considers all Jewish set-tlement construction there as illegal.

Yemen’s warring parties accuse each other of attacking pipeline

REUTERS — DUBAI

Yemen’s warring factions have accused each other of attacking an oil pipeline pumping station in the central province of Marib, where clashes have raged for weeks and displaced tens of thou-sands of civilians.

The oil ministry of the internationally recognised, Saudi-backed government in Yemen said yesterday that the Iran-aligned Houthi group had targeted the Kofel pumping station, according to the Saudi state news agency.

However Hussein Al Ezzi, an official in the Houthi-controlled government based in the capital Sana'a since 2014, said Saudi-led coalition forces had attacked the station in what he described as a dangerous escalation.

Both sides gave no details of the reported attack, which both sides said took place on Saturday. The pipeline is operated by the Yemeni government-owned Safer oil company but no oil has been pumped through it for years.

Yemen’s oil output has collapsed since 2015 when a Saudi-led military coalition intervened in the war to try to restore the government of Abdrabuh Mansour Hadi to power after it was ousted by Houthi forces in Sana'a.

The United Nations and Western powers hope the threat posed by the global coronavirus pandemic will push Yemen’s combatants into fresh talks to end a largely stalemated war that has left millions vulnerable to disease and starvation.

Meanwhile, in the central city of Taiz at least five women were killed and 28 people injured when shelling hit the woman’s section of Taiz’s main prison on Sunday, local officials and medical sources said.

The shelling came from the part of the divided city controlled by the Houthis, they said.

Taiz, Yemen’s third-biggest city, is a front line in the conflict. A UN-mediated deal reached in Stockholm in December 2018 aimed to set up a committee to establish humanitarian corridors to the city, but little progress has been made so far.

07MONDAY 6 APRIL 2020 MIDDLE EAST / AFRICA

Gunmen kill Hezbollah member in LebanonAP — BEIRUT

Unknown gunmen fatally shot and stabbed a member of the militant Hezbollah group in southern Lebanon and an investigation was launched, Lebanese security officials said.

The body of Ali Mohammed Younes was found next to his car on Saturday evening near the southern town of Nabatiyeh, said two security officials. One of them said Younes was shot with four bullets in the chest and had at least two stab wounds.

The motive behind the killing was no imme-diately clear, the officials said. They spoke on con-dition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said a suspect was detained shortly afterward. Iran’s semiofficial Fars news agency described Younes as a commander with the Iran-backed Hezbollah. It added that Younes was involved in anti-espionage missions.

Fars also posted a photo said to be of Younes in blue jeans and bloodied white shirt next to his car. Iran-backed Hezbollah is Lebanon’s strongest military force and a political powerhouse, and also boasts significant organizational and services might in the country.

‘Better die of this disease than starve’: Angolans defy coronavirus lockdownAFP — LUANDA

It is a cry from the heart and the stomach that is reverberating across African towns and cities reeling under lockdowns and curfews to contain the spread of the corona-virus.

“How can anyone stay home without anything to eat?” asked Garcia Landu, a motorcycle taxi driver in the bustling Angolan seaside capital of Luanda. He ven-tured out to try and earn a living, defying the government-ordered anti-coronavirus restrictions.

“We have responsibilities towards our families. We have to go out and get food,” said Landu, sporting a helmet in the national red-and-black colours. It’s “better to die of this disease or a gunshot than to starve to death,” he said. “To starve to death, I will never, ever accept that. I can’t”.

Days after the government declared a state of emergency and imposed restrictions on March 26, crowds continue to mass at markets, in front of shops or by water points in Luanda. Under the restrictions, President Joao Lourenco has

banned travel, meetings and public activities as the country reported 10 infections with two deaths.

“The situation demands... sac-rifices from all citizens, whose rights and professional and social life will

have to be restricted,” Lourenco said in a televised speech last week.

But not to the point of depriving people of water, retorted Quechinha Paulina, a widow who has no running water in the

heavily-populated Cazenga municipal district in the capital of the oil-rich country.

So she is forced to buy from private water bowsers. She placed an order and still awaits delivery.

“It’s been two weeks and it hasn’t come,” she said. “So today I got up at 3am to buy (elsewhere).

“I have nothing at home. I have children,” she said, complaining that nearly a week into the new month, she hasn’t received her social grant payment yet. Despite the lockdown, many view earning money, finding food and fetching water as legit-imate reasons to leave home.

Announcing a slew of measures to help keep people at home, the government also promised to dis-tribute water in disadvantaged neighbourhoods. Telephone oper-ators have joined in by offering free call minutes to avoid queues of people buying airtime recharge vouchers at their outlets. But all that has failed to empty the streets of Luanda. On the eve of the state of emergency, the police chief, Paulo de Almeida, vowed to hammer home the message about the seriousness of the virus.

Hundreds of people are seen at the Avo Kumbi square in Luanda. Angola is in a state of emergency to help stop the spread of the COVID-19, which means severe restrictions are in place.

Tunisia security forces kill

two terrorists: MinistryAFP — TUNIS

Tunisian soldiers and members of the national guard shot dead two “terrorist elements” in the centre-west of the country, the interior ministry said. The operation took place in the mountainous Kasserine region near the border with Algeria, it said in a statement.

The Kasserine range is known as an area where jihadists take shelter, such as Jund Al Khilafa who is affiliated to both Islamic State and Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQMI).

The country has been in a state of emergency since a suicide attack in Tunis in November 2015 that killed 12 members of the presidential guard.

On March 22, it ordered a shutdown as part of measures to contain the coronavirus pandemic. It is due to stay in place until April 19.

AFP — JOHANNESBURG/ADDIS ABABA

About 20 million jobs are at risk in Africa as the conti-nent’s economies are projected to shrink this year due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, according an African Union (AU) study.

So far, Africa accounts for just a fraction of total cases of the disease which has infected more than one million people worldwide, according to a Reuters tally. But African economies are already facing an impending global economic downturn, plummeting oil and commodity prices and an imploding tourism sector.

Before the onset of the pandemic, continent-wide gross domestic product (GDP) growth had been pro-jected by the African Development Bank to reach 3.4 percent this year.

However, in both scenarios modelled by the AU study - seen by Reuters and entitled “Impact of the coronavirus on the Africa economy” - GDP will now

shrink. Under what the AU researchers deemed their realistic scenario, Africa’s economy will shrink 0.8 percent, while the pessimistic scenario said there would be a 1.1 percent dip. Up to 15 percent for foreign direct investment could disappear.

The impact on employment will be dramatic. “Nearly 20 million jobs, both in the formal and

informal sectors, are threatened with destruction on the continent if the situation continues,” the analysis said. African governments could lose up to 20 to 30 percent of their fiscal revenue, estimated at 500bn in 2019, it found.

Exports and imports are meanwhile projected to drop at least 35percent from 2019 levels, incurring a loss in the value of trade of around $270bn. This at a time when the fight against the virus’ spread will lead to an increase in public spending of at least $130bn. Africa’s oil producers, which have seen the value of their crude exports plunge in past weeks, will be among the worst hit.

Africa could lose 20m jobs due to pandemic: AU study

Rwanda finds genocide grave

that could contain 30,000 bodiesAP — KIGALI

A valley dam that authorities in Rwanda say could contain about 30,000 bodies has been discovered more than a quarter-century after the country’s genocide in which 800,000 ethnic Tutsi and Hutus who tried to protect them were killed.

The discovery is being called the most signif-icant in years, and 50 bodies have been exhumed so far in efforts that are challenged by the East African nation’s coronavirus-related lockdown.

Rwanda tomorrow marks the 26th anni-versary of the genocide, but because of the lockdown the country will follow events on tel-evision and social media as gatherings are banned. Word of the valley dam and the bodies it held emerged as many people convicted in the genocide are being released from prison after serving their sentences and offering new infor-mation on mass graves. Other information on the dam came from nearby residents.

South Sudan is 51st African country to report COVID-19 caseAP — JUBA

Officials in South Sudan say the country has its first case of COVID-19, making it the 51st of Africa’s 54 countries to have the disease.

First Vice-President Riek Machar and the UN mission in South Sudan confirmed the case of a UN worker who arrived in the country from Netherlands on February 28. The patient, a 29-year-old woman, first showed signs of the disease on April 2 and is recovering, said officials.

South Sudan, with 11 million people, currently has four ventilators and wants to increase that number, said Machar, who emphasized that people should stay three to six feet apart from others.

“The only vaccine is social distancing,” said Machar.B3The patient is under quarantine at UN premises and health workers are tracing the people who had been in contact with her, said David Shearer, head of the UN operations in South Sudan.

He said he hoped the measures would contain the case.

Members of a medical team wearing protective suits clean the airfield, to prevent the spread of the coronavirus disease, at the Juba International Airport in Juba, South Sudan, yesterday.

Morocco to free

over 5,600 prisoners

to slow virus spread

AFP — RABAT

Morocco’s King Mohammed VI yesterday pardoned more than 5,600 prisoners and ordered their release in stages to avoid contagion in the country’s overcrowded jails.

The justice ministry said the 5,654 detainees that would be freed were selected based in their age, health, good conduct and length of detention.

They would be released in stages due to “exceptional circumstances linked to the emergency health situation and necessary precautions” against the virus, it said in a statement.

The decision came as the COVID-19 illness has officially killed 66 people and infected 960 in the North African country.

The king also ordered authorities to take “all the nec-essary measures to reinforce the protection of detainees in prisons” which are widely known to be overcrowded.

Morocco, home to 35 million people, has an esti-mated 232 detainees per 100,000 inhabitants.

Iraqis rally to help needy families as virus hits, economy faltersAFP — BAGHDAD

On an abandoned sidewalk in Baghdad, a city under strict government curfew to contain the novel coronavirus, a handful of volunteers with masks and gloves make food packages for needy families.

“What we’re doing is a humanitarian duty towards society, and anyone who can afford it should do the same,” said Abu Hashim, an Iraqi busi-nessman in his fifties packing non-perishable goods outside a lonely storefront in the Iraqi capital’s east.

The health ministry says COVID-19 has killed 56 Iraqis and infected more than 800

others. But many suspect the real numbers to be much higher, as only a few thousand people from a population of 40 million have been tested.

In a bid to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus pan-demic, authorities have imposed a countrywide lockdown, ordering schools and most shops shut.

While the government is still paying salaries and pen-sions to millions, Iraq’s modest private-sector economy has come to a grinding halt overnight.

Iraq is OPEC’s second-biggest oil producer, but is ranked among the 20 most corrupt countries in the world

by watchdog group Trans-parency International.

The World Bank says one in five Iraqis lives under the poverty line.

Sensing that relying on authorities would be unwise, young activists, community figures and local religious leaders have come together to try to support those with no income.

Using donations to buy essentials, like lentils, beans, rice and sugar, they pack sup-plies in plastic bags, talk their way through checkpoints and distribute them across the city.

Mustafa Issa, a 31-year-old Iraqi Shiite Muslim who helps distribute food to more than

450 families, said he felt bound by a religious duty to help.

“It’s not like when we were under embargo in the 1990s,” he said, referring to crippling international sanctions imposed on Iraq under former dictator Saddam Hussein that made even basic foodstuffs unavailable.

“Baghdad is full of food right now, but people can’t buy it. One construction worker we support has a family of eight, and suddenly has no income. Another man had sold his cooking gas canister to buy food. A third sold his phone,” he said.

In a society that deeply values abundance and gener-osity, particularly at the dinner

table, some are too proud to admit they need help.

“One woman walked halfway across the city to ask for help at another mosque so no one from her own neigh-bourhood would recognise her,” Issa said.

One government official said that almost half the popu-lation could be food-poor by May, adding that authorities were studying options for subsidies.

The country imports most of its staples, including rice, meat and wheat.

Officials say Iraq’s $60 billion in reserves would cover more than a year of food imports, but already prime

minister-designate Adnan Zurfi on Saturday expressed worry that the government might have to cut public-sector wages.

Issa was not taking any chances.

“We don’t know when this crisis will end. It could go on until July. Some of us are storing goods for later,” he said.

“This is more dangerous than Daesh,” he added, referring to the Islamic State jihadist group that swept through a third of Iraq in 2014.

That conflict further ravaged Iraq’s dilapidated medical infrastructure, and there are fears a spike in COVID-19 cases could over-whelm hospitals.

Ethiopia confirms first COVID-19 deathANATOLIA — ADDIS ABABA

Ethiopia has confirmed its first coro-navirus death yesterday.

Health Minister Dr. Lia Tadesse said on Twitter that a 60-year-old woman who contracted the disease died of the virus.

“The deceased was in an intensive care unit for the last five days,” the minister said, adding that the deceased was among the 42

coronavirus cases Ethiopia has so far confirmed.

Earlier, Mayor of the Addis Ababa City Administration Takele Uma told journalists that his administration would refrain from totally shut busi-nesses down in view of the crippling effect total closure would have on the economy. “Total closure,” he said, “may be declared as a last resort, and not now.”

The virus is taking a milestone in Ethiopia as two of six people diag-nosed positive to COVID-19 have neither had travel history or contacts with patients who came from abroad; indicating a possible community spread.

The number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 has reached 8,536 yes-terday, considerably jumping from 7,742 registered a day earlier.

Medical personnel face extreme risk because we deal with the sickest patients with the highest viral load.

08 MONDAY 6 APRIL 2020VIEWS

CHAIRMANSHEIKH DR. KHALID BIN THANI AL THANI

EDITOR-IN-CHIEFDR. KHALID BIN MUBARAK AL-SHAFI

editorinchief@pen.com.qa

ACTING MANAGING EDITORMOHAMMED SALIM MOHAMED

m.salim@pen.com.qa

DEPUTY MANAGING EDITORMOHAMMED OSMAN ALI osman@pen.com.qa

EDITORIAL

QATAR is keen to explore all possible and better ways to protect the environment and its development goals always promote the idea of sustainability and sustainable future. Qatar has emerged the leading country in dis-trict cooling regulation and production in the Gulf region, with a current capacity of one million tonnes of refrig-eration (TR), which represents 17 percent of total air conditioning demand in local market.

District cooling means the centralised production and distribution of cooling energy. Chilled water is delivered via an underground insulated pipeline to office, industrial and residential buildings to cool the indoor air of the buildings within a district. Specially designed units in each building and then use this water to lower the temperature of air passing through the building’s air conditioning system.

Through this, Qatar reduces electrical consumption by 50 percent, reduces CO2 emissions and ensure a healthy and safe environment for the current and the generations to come. Qatar uses this technology to cool most of the 2022 FIFA World Cup stadiums and this will definitely inspire millions around the world to resort to sustainable ways of doing things. Now discussions are taking place to install the best cooling system design for all the stadiums. This energy efficient district cooling system will help to reduce the temperature inside stadium to comfort level enabling players and spectators to play and enjoy the matches.

At present, there are 39 district cooling plants oper-ational in Qatar with a capacity of one million tonnes of refrigeration. In addition to the 39, 28 new plants are under construction, which will start providing cooling services soon. Sixty to 70 percent of Qatar’s electricity needs are for air conditioning. By using district cooling for air conditioning, Qatar can save much energy and also reduce pollution.

District cooling can bring economic, environmental and societal benefits to Qatar and if regulated in the right manner and it has large potential for growth. “Based on conservative estimates, through 2030, the district cooling can secure an estimated average of QR1bn of savings on yearly basis to the government. The savings are mainly achieved through reduced power plant capacity, elec-tricity distribution network capacity and gas consumption for generation.” said Ibrahim Mohammed A Al Sada, Manager of District Services Department at Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation (Kahramaa).

However, scarcity of water is the major challenge Qatar faces in making use of the system. Potable water is energy intensive and using alternative water sources faces some challenges. But it is certain that Qatar will overcome these challenges soon and will be a global champion of the system in the imminent future.

Championing the cause

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Quote of the dayThis time we join with all nations across the

globe in a common endeavour, using the

great advances of science and our instinctive

compassion to heal. We will succeed - and that

success will belong to every one of us.

Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of the United Kingdom

Indian artist Sudarsan Pattnaik puts some final touches as he makes a sand sculpture depicting doctors wearing protective facemasks with a message reading “We are For You”, “Stay Home Stay Safe” at Puri beach in Puri.

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Established in 1996

Every day, medical standards reduce errors and help front-line clinicians apply the best evidence when making decisions for their patients. This is critically important, even when doing something as routine as a yearly checkup. In the current crisis, the need for standards is even greater to provide a safe and effective working environment for hospital staff and patients.

You already know the story: In about a month, the national coronavirus pandemic has exploded to more than 300,000 confirmed cases. In Wisconsin, where one of us practices general surgery, cases have increased from a few hundred to more than 2,000 in roughly two weeks. In a hospital that typically has 15 to 20 patients in medical intensive care beds, now those beds are full, and patients are spilling out into makeshift intensive care units. Medical personnel face extreme risk because we deal with the sickest patients with the highest viral load. Research shows that larger viral doses lead to more severe symptoms and a higher likelihood of death. While we put on brave faces, we quietly confess to each other that we are scared to go to work. We are afraid of infecting our families.

And by now, you know that while the number of doctors, nurses and other staff remains constant, our patient load grows while our supply of gloves, masks, face shields, gowns and ventilators is rapidly depleting. While we will continue to fulfill our oath, despite the resource chal-lenges and despite the risk of infection, there’s something that can make our jobs more manageable that we can’t provide ourselves - something that some of the government entities and hospital accredi-tation agencies that oversee medical practice are failing to provide: standards.

In normal times, these entities - including the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO), the Centers for Disease Control and Pre-vention, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Department of Health and Human Services - regulate everything, including but not limited to how far apart hos-pital beds should be to how long a nurse’s shift can be to how close to treatment rooms the cafeteria should be. These standards and guidance are essential to ensuring that the hospital functions to provide a healthy, safe and com-fortable environment for patients, visitors and staff.

That’s how, over time, the practice of medicine in this country has earned the trust of patients and their families. No system is foolproof, but the standards that hospitals and medical practitioners

follow, and that the accredi-tation agencies grade us on, ensure that safety protocols are being followed and care is consistent. They work because an easily available and accepted process is developed by experts and used across systems. For instance, standards prevent surgeons from replacing the wrong hip by requiring that the correct site of surgery is carefully marked preopera-tively with a surgical pen. Standards help minimize medical errors and prevent harm to patients.

But so far, in the covid-19 crisis, these agencies have failed to offer doctors and nurses comprehensive, evi-dence-based standards for sufficient protection of patients and themselves. The CDC, for example, has based its personal protection rec-ommendations on inaccurate estimates of the supply of personal protective equipment (PPE). PPE is fre-quently relocated to different places in the hospital, making counting supplies difficult. Recommendations should be based on the necessary level of protection, not supply cur-rently available. JCAHO sup-ports using masks made at home, despite scientific findings that they are inade-quate. Compared with sur-gical masks, cloth masks can lead to increased risk of infection. The CDC’s National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health has told us, as recently as March 27, that N95 masks, which were con-sidered single-use before the pandemic, should be saved in plastic bags and reused. Reusing masks lessens their protection over time, and the contaminated mask can spread the virus to other sur-faces. The message coming from these authoritative insti-tutions is that health-care providers contracting and spreading this disease is an acceptable risk.

Clearly, we’ve never dealt with a situation like this before. The coronavirus out-break spread quickly across the country and around the world, and everyone is scrambling to catch up. But that’s not an excuse for

abandoning safe standards. While physicians and hospital staff work overtime to catch up with treatment, agencies and accreditation organiza-tions must also work overtime - to catch up, to come up with effective guidance and then figure out how to get it imple-mented and re-sourced. While we’re in hospitals all over the country doing our jobs, the people in Atlanta or Washington have to do their jobs.

Tell us, step-by-step, what is the safest way to put on and remove PPE? What kinds of gowns and masks are safe, in terms of both design and materials? Importantly, what kinds aren’t safe? Which patients should we test? Who should we treat in the hos-pital, and who should we send home? How do we get a rapid and accurate test? Once this is all figured out, where will the supplies come from, and who will get them first? Doctors know how to treat illness, but in an all-hands-on-deck situ-ation, we can’t take time out from treating patients to syn-chronize best practices around the country.

On Friday, President Donald Trump, in charge of the entire federal apparatus, said that at home, “people can just make something out of a certain material” if they want to wear masks. That’s a sug-gestion, not a standard. And it applies to the general public, not the needs of medical professionals.

We have pleaded for pol-icies to guide care in the time of covid-19, but have mostly heard silence. A recent phone call to JCAHO requesting guidance resulted in a request for an email submission promising a response in five to ten business days. Doctors don’t have that kind of time. The ad hoc solutions we are forced to experiment with in the absence of such standards are undoubtedly increasing the spread of this disease. Most alarmingly, this is increasing the infection rate among physicians, nurses and respiratory therapists. We may see shortages of the spe-cialists who care for ICU patients and operate venti-lators before we run out of those resources themselves. We have seen hospital workers locking up and hiding their supply of masks to protect this precious resource, even from hospital colleagues.

While the body of scien-tific knowledge to inform such standards is certainly incomplete, it is rapidly expanding with an explosion of collaborative research. The SARS and MERS outbreaks

can serve as the foundation for these guidelines. One thing doctors learned during these crises was that “a shortage of masks could pose a risk to health workers.” We can also apply lessons learned from other countries that have flat-tened the curve, such as South Korea, which used contact tracing, extreme social dis-tancing and frequent, rapid, comprehensive testing.

Every day, medical standards reduce errors and help front-line clinicians apply the best evidence when making decisions for their patients. This is critically important, even when doing something as routine as a yearly checkup. In the current crisis, the need for standards is even greater to provide a safe and effective working environment for hospital staff and patients. Standards keep us from causing irreparable harm, such as replacing the wrong hip. Standards will keep us from contracting covid-19 and spreading it to patients and our families.

Standards save lives.Morris is a trauma and

acute care surgeon at the Medical College of Wisconsin.

Charles is a researcher and trauma/critical care surgeon at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Tignanelli is a researcher and trauma/critical care surgeon at the University of Minnesota.

Doctors don’t have the guidance we need for this pandemicRACHEL MORRIS, ANTHONY CHARLES & CHRISTOPHER TIGNANELLI THE WASHINGTON POST

09MONDAY 6 APRIL 2020 OPINION

What more of us in the West are now realizing is that wearing a mask is the new way of showing respect. This is ironic in places like Germany, which in a bygone era (that is, two months ago) had a debate about whether to ban Muslim women from wearing niqabs in schools.

Moreover, by wearing a mask I’m signalling to strangers on the bus or in the supermarket that I’m trying to protect them. Simultaneously, I’m taking the stigma off those people who wear masks because they know they’re infected.

By now billions of people around the world are following advice to practise social distancing and “shelter at home” to prevent the alarming spread of a new coronavirus disease, COVID-19. The virus joins a growing list of emerging zoonotic diseases or diseases caused by bacteria, viruses, or parasites that spread from animals to humans.

These diseases could have resulted in major pan-demics in the past but with expert advice and guidance, we have managed to overcome most of them and save millions of human lives.

However, as the World

Health Organization notes, the threat continues and history will repeat itself. To prevent future pandemics, we need to stop two far more pervasive human prac-tices: the relentless destruction and conversion of wildlife habitats to crop-lands and the uncontrolled harvesting of wild species.

Both practices are bringing more people into dangerous contact with wildlife and their pathogens.

A UN report notes that around 60 percent of all known infectious diseases in humans are zoonotic as are 75 percent of all emerging infectious diseases. These include Ebola, bird flu, Middle East respiratory syn-drome (MERS), Rift Valley fever, severe acute respi-ratory syndrome (SARS), the West Nile virus and dengue fever.

As the human population surges towards nine billion, the demand for food and fibre is growing - along with

the need for space to produce it, which means encroachment on the natural habitats of animals. This is creating a perfect storm for disease transmission. Never have so many opportunities existed for disease-causing pathogens to pass from wild and domestic animals to people.

At present, 23 percent of the planet is still in a natural state. But this is changing rapidly. Over the past 10 years, we have seen the cutting of about 3 million hectares of forest per year on average.

And, according to a UN science panel, between 1980 and 2000 alone, 100 million hectares of forested land was converted into agricultural land in the tropics.

This encroachment by croplands, subsequent loss and fragmentation of wildlife habitats, coupled with unregulated live animal markets are major factors increasing the likelihood of

interaction between disease vectors and humans.

As such, any serious long-term measures to stop or eradicate zoonotic dis-eases like COVID-19 must include massive invest-ments in protecting natural spaces and enforcing “buffer-distancing” around protected areas to keep humans at a safe distance from direct contact with wild species.

Well-managed and well-connected natural spaces, or protected areas, are also essential in safeguarding biodiversity and increasing the resilience of ecosystems, both on land and in the ocean.

The measures must also include the effective regu-lation and monitoring, and in some cases closure, of live-animal markets as well as combating the illegal trade in wildlife. The novel coronavirus most likely started in a “wet market”, or live-animal market that frequently combines domesticated and wild animals and offers slaughter upon customer request.

These markets, mixed with the illegal trade in wildlife, put people and animals in constant close contact, making it easy for zoonotic diseases to jump from animals to humans.

Furthermore, humanity depends on the “ecosystem services” provided by intact forests, wetlands and other habitats. We rely on them for fresh water, carbon seques-tration and flood control, among other things which make life possible. Recog-nising the importance of these “ecosystem services”, in 2010 governments agreed on a biodiversity plan to protect 17 percent of land and 10 percent of the ocean by 2020.

Today, the targets for land have not been met, partly because funding com-mitments needed to do so did not materialise. A new post-2020 Global Biodi-versity Framework is under discussion, which includes an ambition to protect at least 30 percent of the Earth’s surface by 2030.

For it to succeed, coun-tries must meet a 2030 deadline for the restoration of ecosystems and pro-tection of wildlife and hab-itats that perform crucial services for humans, including preventing the emergence of zoonotic diseases.

For now, our focus must rightly be on the emergency response to the coronavirus pandemic and to help people and communities protect themselves and prevent the spread of the virus. This is the priority, but the reality is that any long-term response to COVID-19 and zoonotic diseases must tackle habitat loss.

There is no contradiction in fighting zoonotic diseases alongside protecting natural spaces. They are mutually reinforcing objectives. It is time to move beyond seeing investments in nature as costly indulgences but as a critical first step to pro-tecting human health.

Maxwell Gomera is a Director of the Biodiversity and Land Branch at UN Environment.

How to prevent outbreaks of zoonotic diseases like COVID-19

As a Westerner, I’ve always been amused by people wearing facial masks in public. I recall a particular moment in the late 1990s, when I was part of a small group hiking in the Hima-layas, at high altitude on a sunny day, in thin and pristine air, and with nary a human in sight. Suddenly, a group of Japanese hikers popped up from behind a crag, fully decked out in rubber gloves and masks.

Living in Asia later, I grad-ually got used to being around masked faces. Occasionally, I even saw the point - for instance on days when the sandstorms from the Gobi Desert covered Beijing in a rust-colored haze. But masks weren’t for me.

And then, when I was living in Hong Kong, the SARS epidemic broke out. Within a few days in early 2003, the entire city seemed to be masked. And whenever something becomes ubiq-uitous, it invariably shapes and reflects culture. This being Hong Kong, girls wore

Hello Kitty masks, while adults attached bling to theirs. Some soon had faux-Gucci, faux-Prada and faux-Luis Vuitton gauzes covering their faces, while taxi drivers oddly seemed to dangle their masks from one ear only, lest they obstruct the cigarette smoking. Mask style became self-expression.

Eventually, I strapped one on too - and promptly became an example of one major argument against masks. It was a hot and muggy day, hay fever season had started, and I hadn’t shaved. Within minutes, my face was an itching, scratching, dripping disaster zone, and my unwashed hands fiddled with the mask every which way. The looks I got in the super-market were categorical. So the mask came off. To this day, I’m amazed I didn’t get infected.

Nonetheless, when the opportunity came up, my fiancee and I got ourselves a handful of respirators. Because you never know. We’ve carried that stash with us all these years. Now, living in Berlin, we’ve pulled them out again, and we’re thinking about using them finally.

After all, as Covid-19 spreads and still guards so many of its medical secrets, everything is pointing toward the West becoming like the East, with masks becoming the norm. Austria has made

them mandatory in public, even though they’re “alien to our culture,” as Chancellor Sebastian Kurz conceded. So have Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Israel and others.

Even the hold-outs seem to be headed that way. As recently as February 29, the U.S. Surgeon General tweeted, “Seriously people - STOP BUYING MASKS! They are NOT effective in preventing general public from catching #Corona-virus, but if healthcare pro-viders can’t get them to care for sick patients, it puts them and our communities at risk!” Now he’s apparently reconsidering, as are the White House and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Even the World Health Organization is taking another look. So far, it has been rec-ommending that only health-care workers and people with symptoms wear masks, whereas everybody else should stick to washing hands and keeping social distance. The logic is in part the same as the surgeon general’s: There are only so many masks to go around, and if random people hoard, those in need may not get them.

The more disquieting reason, as ever with Covid-19, is that we just don’t know enough. There’s a heated and very technical debate raging among scientists about whether SARS-CoV-2 is spread by “droplets” (which

don’t travel far) or “aerosols” (which go a lot farther), and about how long the airborne virus can stay infectious while swirling through the air. Sur-faces are definitely dan-gerous; the air less so. But how much less?

Moreover, it’s not clear whether masks would block an airborne virus from coming in. The top-notch N95 respirators worn by surgeons probably do; the standard-issue surgical masks worn by most nurses might; homemade masks might or might not. And all that assumes the masks are worn correctly and responsibly, one single time, and without any finger touching. That rules out young children and possibly, based on experience, me.

In the case of Covid-19, though, this reasoning may be upside down. One problem with the coronavirus is that it’s so often asymptomatic. I wouldn’t necessarily know if I had it, even though I might infect you by exhaling globs of saliva. So a mask on my face wouldn’t primarily have to keep the virus out, but in.

Moreover, by wearing a mask I’m signalling to strangers on the bus or in the supermarket that I’m trying to protect them. Simultaneously, I’m taking the stigma off those people who wear masks because they know they’re infected. If we all put some-thing on, even flimsy

bandanas, we’re showing that we’re in this together.

What more of us in the West are now realizing is that wearing a mask is the new way of showing respect. This is ironic in places like Germany, which in a bygone era (that is, two months ago) had a debate about whether to ban Muslim women from wearing niqabs in schools. “In an open society, we have to show our faces to talk openly with one another,” the governor of Baden-Wuert-temberg said at the time. Now it’s the other way around. In a resilient and cohesive society, we may have to mask our faces.

Andreas Kluth is a member of Bloomberg’s edi-torial board.

Why I’m coming around on wearing a face mask

MAXWELL GOMERA AL JAZEERA

ANDREAS KLUTH BLOOMBERG

For now, our focus must rightly be on the emergency response to the coronavirus pandemic and to help people and communities protect themselves and prevent the spread of the virus. This is the priority, but the reality is that any long-term response to COVID-19 and zoonotic diseases must tackle habitat loss.

Over the past 10 years, we have seen the cutting of about 3 million hectares of forest per year on average. And, according to a UN science panel, between 1980 and 2000 alone, 100 million hectares of forested land was converted into agricultural land in the tropics.

An Azeri law enforcement officer checkinig a resident’s permission to leave home received in a text message, after the authorities imposed restrictions on movement to prevent the spread of the coronavirus disease in Baku, Azerbaijan, yesterday.

10 MONDAY 6 APRIL 2020ASIA

Export of diagnostic testing kits restricted as pandemic spreadsAGENCIES — NEW DELHI

India is restricting the export of most diagnostic testing kits, as coronavirus cases in the South Asian nation topped 3,500 yesterday despite a three-week nationwide lockdown to slow the spread of the respiratory disease.

India, which in recent weeks already banned the export of certain drugs, along with ventilators, masks and other protective gear needed by both patients and medical staff, issued the latest directive on Saturday. The move comes even as US President Donald

Trump urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a phone call on Saturday, to release sup-plies of anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine, which is being tested as a possible treatment for patients with COVID-19.

“The two leaders agreed to remain in touch on the issue of global supply chains for critical pharmaceuticals and medical supplies and to ensure they continue to function as smoothly as pos-sible during the global health cr is is , ” White House spokesman Judd Deere, said in a tweet on Saturday.

In a briefing note on the conversation, India said the two leaders “agreed to deploy the full strength of the India - US partnership to resolutely and effectively combat COVID-19.”

Meanwhile, India said the deaths from the coronavirus reached 83, while the number of diagnosed cases is over 3,500. Health officials said over 3,000 cases are active and 267 patients have been discharged from hospitals.

Most cases have been reported in the states of Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Kerala, UttarPradesh and Rajasthan.

Tokyo reports 143 new virus cases, highest jump in a day

REUTERS — TOKYO

Some 143 more cases of the novel coronavirus have been reported in Tokyo, the city’s governor said yesterday, with the highest daily jump bringing the number of cases in the Japanese capital to more than 1,000.

Tokyo’s metropolitan gov-ernment has strongly urged people to stay at home as the city of nearly 14 million has seen an uptick in the number of cases in recent days.

The number of cases with untraceable transmission routes had increased in recent days, Governor Yuriko Koike said in a livecast YouTube video yesterday, adding it was worrying that there were a number of people who were infected at hospitals.

The majority of confirmed COVID-19 cases over the weekend in Tokyo were of people under the age of 50, a member of Japan’s health min-istry taskforce for the virus said in the same livecast yesterday night, adding that many of them were in their 20s and 30s.

Tokyo’s metropolitan gov-ernment has repeatedly called on residents in the densely pop-ulated city to avoid all unnec-essary outings. Koike said in an earlier TV appearance that “lives were at stake”.

Japan, with some 3,000 cases and 73 deaths as of Friday, has so far been spared the kind of explosive surge seen in Europe, the US and elsewhere.

Sri Lanka extends quarantine period to four weeksAFP — COLOMBO

Sri Lanka extended the suggested quarantine period from two weeks to four yesterday after a 34-year-old man who returned home from South Korea tested positive a week after leaving isolation.

Army chief Shavendra Silva — who operates several quar-antine facilities — told those who are completing the mandatory two-week quarantine to isolate themselves for a further 14-day period. “Even those who are under self-quarantine are urged to spend another two weeks iso-lating themselves,” Silva said.

Although not a mandatory order, local health officials have been told to ensure people follow the extended isolation, official sources said. Police spokesman Ajith Rohana said 43,500 people who returned to Sri Lanka since March 11 had reg-istered for home quarantine, and 18,000 of them had already completed the process.

Sri Lanka’s main trade union of government sector doctors said the country should step up testing if authorities were serious about containing the spread of COVID-19.

The disease has claimed the lives of five people and infected at least 174 so far. The main testing facility — the Medical Research Institute — has a capacity of testing 200 samples, which the doctors’ union says is grossly inadequate.

Bangladesh virus

death toll

reaches nine

ANATOLIA — DHAKA

The death toll from coronavirus in Bangladesh climbed to nine yesteday after one more citizen succumbed to the virus.

“One more COVID-19 patient died in the last 24 hours, while the number of corona-virus cases stands at 88 as 18 more people have been infected by the lethal virus,” state-run Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha news agency quoted Health Minister Zahid Maleque as saying. Meanwhile, in a televised address Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said that the government will allocate $8.5bn for a stimulus package to overcome the fallout from the pandemic.

Singapore reports record new cases, quarantines 20,000 migrant workersREUTERS — SINGAPORE

Singapore reported 120 new coronavirus cases yesterday, by far its highest daily rise, and quarantined nearly 20,000 migrant workers in their dormi-tories.

Of yesterday’s new cases, 116 were locally transmitted and many were linked to two dor-mitories that house migrant workers, who will now have to stay in their rooms for 14 days.

The number of new cases is a 60 percent increase over the 75 reported on Saturday, which was the previous biggest daily rise. Singapore has reported a total of 1,309 infections and six deaths from the novel coronavirus.

Tens of thousands of blue-collar foreign workers live

within close quarters in various dormitories in the tiny Southeast Asian nation, an island city-state. They form a significant part of the labour force, working in sectors from construction to cleaning.

The spike in cases comes two days before the country will begin closing schools and most workplaces for a month as part of tighter restrictions to combat the COVID-19 disease.

Singapore was one of the worst-hit countries when the virus first spread from China in January, but a strict surveillance and quarantine regime helped stem the tide. Recent spikes in locally transmitted cases have, however, raised fresh concerns.

The government is also con-verting a large exhibition venue

to east of the island into a medical facility to accom-modate patients who have

mostly recovered from COVID-19 but may still be infec-tious. It will be the second such

facility after a hotel was con-verted last month to isolate up to 500 such people.

Residents receive free reusable masks distributed by the government at a community centre as stricter measures are to be announced to fight coronavirus, in Singapore, yesterday.

Malaysia detains boatload ofover 200 Rohingya refugeesAP — KULA LUMPUR

Malaysian authorities said they have arrested a boatload of 202 people believed to be minority Muslim Rohingya refugees after their boat was found adrift yesterday morning near the northern resort island of Langkawi.

A Northern District maritime official, Capt. Zulinda Ramly, said the refugees included 152 men, 45 women and five children. She said some of the migrants told officials that the boat’s skipper

and two others, believed to be behind the smuggling syndicate, escaped while they were at sea.

Zulinda said maritime offi-cials have taken precautionary measures to prevent any possible transmission of the COVID-19 virus while handling the group.

The refugees were taken to the maritime office for further investigation before they are handed to the immigration department, she added. There were no further details on where the refugees came from.

More than 700,000

Rohingya fled to Bangladesh after a counterinsurgency cam-paign by Myanmar’s military in the western state of Rakhine in response to attacks in 2017 by a Rohingya insurgent group. Bang-ladesh now hosts more than a million Rohingya refugees, and traffickers usually lure refugees by promising them a better life overseas.

Hundreds have been stopped by Bangladeshi coast guard offi-cials trying to escape from one of the world’s largest migrant camps.

A boat carrying suspected Rohingya migrants is seen detained in Malaysian territorial waters, in Langkawi, Malaysia, yesterday.

Chinese rights lawyer released from prisonafter five yearsAFP — BEIJING

A leading Chinese human rights lawyer has been released from prison after almost five years behind bars, his wife said yesterday.

Wang Quanzhang, 44, was first detained in 2015 in a sweeping crackdown on more than 200 lawyers and gov-ernment critics in China as Pres-ident Xi Jinping tightened his grip on power.

But Wang has yet to return home to his family in Beijing and was instead escorted yesterday to a property he owns in eastern Shandong province for 14 days in quarantine as a precaution against the coronavirus, according to wife Li Wenzu.

Li said from Beijing, where she lives with the couple’s young son, she feared Wang would be placed under house arrest despite his release from prison, and would be subject to surveil-lance. “I think (authorities) have been lying to us step by step,” Li said.

“They used the pretext of the epidemic as an excuse to quar-antine him for 14 days when he

should have been able to return to his home in Beijing according to the relevant legal guidelines.” Calls to the prison went unan-swered yesterday and Shan-dong’s justice department did not respond to enquiries.

Wang’s initial detention in 2015 came as part of the so-called “709” crackdown, nick-named as such because it began on July 9 that year.

But it was not until January 2019 that he was sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison for “subverting state power” in a closed-door trial.

A prominent lawyer who has defended political activists and victims of land seizures, Wang was held incommunicado prior to the trial. “I am really worried they plan on putting him under long-term house arrest and will prevent us from being reunited as a family,” said Li, who has tire-lessly campaigned for her hus-band’s release.

Police had forcibly evicted tenants from Wang’s property in the city of Jinan to make way for his return to Shandong, his wife added. Li said she believed his stay there was not out of choice.

Residents light traditional lamps and lit firecrackers outside their home to observe a nine-minute vigil in a show of unity and solidarity in the fight against coronavirus pandemic in Allahabad yesterday.

Locked-down India lights up to mark coronavirus fightAFP — NEW DELHI

Twinkling flames from candles and traditional lamps lit up India’s night sky yesterday in a nine-minute show to mark the fight against the coronavirus pandemic, which has left the vast nation in lockdown.

Across major cities and towns in the world’s second-most populous country of 1.3 billion people, many heeded the call of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to turn off their lights at 9pm local time.

Residents shouted “Hail Mother India” and “go corona go”. They cheered, clapped, and set off firecrackers and fire-works that shattered the quiet evening, in scenes reminiscent of Diwali, the festival of lights.

“Salute to the light of the lamp which brings auspiciousness, health and prosperity, which destroys negative feelings,” Modi tweeted in Sanskrit. He shared photos of himself lighting a “diya” clay lamp. In a modern touch, some residents turned on the lights from their mobile phones.

Modi on Friday had called on Indians to take part in the event to “defeat the deep darkness of the crisis by spreading the glory of light in all four directions”.

India has been under a strict lockdown since March 25, halting public transport and closing offices and shops apart from essential services.

But the shutdown has badly

hit rural migrant workers, leaving them jobless with hun-dreds of thousands trying to return to their villages, many on foot. Many others have been blocked from returning home. The government has set up tens of thousands of makeshift camps and feeding centres for 7.5 million people.

The confirmed number of new coronavirus cases in India has passed 3,500 with 83 deaths, the government said, although experts say wider testing is needed. The health ministry has blamed a recent jump in cases on a large religious gathering in the capital New Delhi in March that has been linked to more than 1,000 infections.

“If the Nizamuddin incident (in Delhi) had not happened, then our case doubling rate which is currently 4.1 would have been 7.4 days,” health min-istry official Lav Agarwal told reporters. The ministry issued an advisory for Indians to use homemade reusable face covers to “help in protecting the com-munity at large”.

The government imposed a ban on the export of malaria treatment drug hydroxychlo-roquine, removing exemptions such as for fulfilling export obligations that it put in place several days ago. Hydroxy-chloroquine and chloroquine to treat malaria have shown early promise against the COVID-19 illness in early studies in France and China.

11MONDAY 6 APRIL 2020 ASIA

Australia upbeat over slowing virus spread, urges vigilanceREUTERS — MELBOURNE

Australian health officials said yesterday they were cautiously optimistic about the slowing spread of the coronavirus in the country but warned social distancing restrictions are to stay in place for months.

Confirmed cases rose by 139 during the 24-hour period to yes-terday afternoon, bringing the national total to 5,687, Chief Medical Officer Brendan Murphy said. The death toll from COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the virus, rose to 34.

This suggests the daily rate of infections was below 5 percent, about a fifth of what Australia saw in mid-March.

“We are increasingly con-fident that if people continue to adhere to what we’ve been asking them to do we can prevent a situation like we’ve seen in many other countries in the world,” Murphy said in a tele-vised briefing.

Australia has barred people from leaving homes for anything but the most necessary activities and limited 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. Only yes-terday, Victoria’s police issued 142 fines for breaking social dis-tancing rules, according to officials.

Health Minister Greg Hunt warned over the weekend, however, that despite the good signs, Australians will still have to keep their distance from others for a “difficult” six-month period.

“Some other countries or some other individuals may talk

about the fact that we could mag-ically stop everything for two weeks and it will all go away: that’s not an honest assessment in our view,” Hunt said on Sky News Australia.

Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews said yesterday while there has been some “wonderful success” in slowing coronavirus spread, Australians “have a long way to go”.

Nearly a third of Australia’s

deaths have been attributed to a Carnival Corp’s Ruby Princess cruise ship, which was last month allowed to disembark passengers in Sydney, many of whom later tested positive for COVID-19.

New South Wales Police Commissioner Mick Fuller said yesterday a criminal investi-gation will be launched into the case.

The South Pacific nation of Fiji recorded on Saturday five

new cases of coronavirus, bringing the total to 12, according to the government.

In New Zealand, which was fast to introduce strict restric-tions that have ordered more people to stay home, trips to retail and recreation facilities, such as restaurants, cafes or shopping centres were down 91 percent, according to Google.

New Zealand recorded 48 new cases yesterday, bringing the total to 872. One person has died so far of the flu-like respi-ratory disease, according to the health ministry data.

Premier Jacinda Ardern said yesterday that “going hard and going early” seems to be working.

“While compliance has been generally strong, there are still some I would charitably describe as idiots,” Ardern said in a televised briefing.

A healthcare professional holding a bottle of antiseptic handrub talks to people at a pop-up clinic testing for the coronavirus disease at Bondi Beach, in Sydney, Australia.

Sugar and wheat crisis: Pakistan PM pledges action against profiteersINTERNEWS — ISLAMABAD

Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan yesterday said he would take action against those responsible for the sugar and wheat price hike after he sees the detailed forensic report of the preliminary findings.

“I await the detailed forensic reports now by the high-powered commission, which will come out on April 25, before taking action,” the prime min-ister said in a tweet.

“After these reports come out no powerful lobby will be able to profiteer at the expense of our public,” said the premier. He added that the preliminary reports into sudden price hikes of sugar and wheat have been released immediately without and “alteration or tampering”.

“This is unprecedented in Pakistan’s history. Previous political leaderships because of their vested interests and com-promises lacked the moral courage to order and release such reports,” the prime min-ister added.

Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif has said that the report was an “indictment” against the prime minister and Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar.

Meanwhile, Pakistan Muslim League- Nawaz (PML-N) spokesperson Mar-riyum Aurangzeb urged the government to take action against those involved in the crisis.

“We have a report that proves what we had been saying about these two [Tareen, Bakhtiar] all along. Action needs to be taken against them,” the PML-N leader told local media.

She added that the indi-viduals should be removed from

their post, adding that the PM should not wait till April 25.

A report by the Federal Investigation Agency claims that top PTI members were among those who gained from the recent sugar crisis in the country. An investigation into the crisis had been ordered by Prime Minister Imran Khan in February. Among the people named in the FIA report are Jahangir Tareen and a brother of Minister for National Food Security KhusroBakhtiar.

Tareen was said by the report to have benefitted the most from the sugar crisis fol-lowed by Bakhtiar’s brother.

The report also claims that the companies belonging to Moonis Elahi — an ally of the party — profited from the sugar crisis. Elahi is Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi’s son and a key member of the PML-Q.

The document does not mention under whose influence Punjab government issued sub-sidies to sugar mills or why the Economic Coordination Council (ECC) approved the decision to export sugar.

Reacting to the report, Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initi-atives Asad Umar said he had faith that whatever the situation, Prime Minister Imran Khan “will ensure justice”.

The prime minister was also sent the investigation report on the wheat crisis, compiled by a three-member bench headed by Wajid Zia. As per the report, the crisis originated due to poor planning by the centre and pro-vincial governments.

The report states that the Punjab Food Department was unable to control flour mills and started collecting wheat after a delay of 20-22 days.

20,000 worshippers quarantined in Pakistan after major searchAFP — LAHORE

Pakistan has quarantined 20,000 worshippers and is still searching for tens of thousands more who attended an Islamic gathering in Lahore last month despite the worsening corona-virus pandemic, officials said yesterday.

Authorities said they want to test or quarantine those who congregated at the event held by the Tablighi Jamaat — an Islamic missionary movement — between March 10-12 over fears they are now spreading COVID-19 across Pakistan and overseas.

More than 100,000 people went to the meeting, organisers said, undeterred by government requests for it to be cancelled as the virus hit the country.

In northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, author-ities have so far quarantined 5,300 Tablighis or Islamic preachers who attended the Lahore meeting. "Health offi-cials are conducting tests for coronavirus and some of them have tested positive," Ajmal Wazir, a spokesperson for the

region, sais yesterday.Wazir said thousands of

Tablighis from his province were stranded in other regions because of the closure of major highways across the country.

About 7,000 have been quar-antined in the central Punjab city Lahore, while in southern Sindh province up to 8,000 Tablighis

have been quarantined, gov-ernment officials said. Dozens more have been forced to self-isolate in southwestern Balo-chistan province.

The Tablighi mosques and the movement's other places of worship were shut down or marked as quarantine centres at the end of March. At least 154

worshippers who went to last month's Jamaat had tested pos-itive for coronavirus, with two fatalities, authorities said.

Coronavirus has killed at least 45 people in Pakistan but with only limited testing available, observers worry the number is far higher.

Tablighi Jamaat is

considered one of the world's largest faith-based movements, with millions of followers, par-ticularly in South Asia, and sends preachers to countries to spread Islam's ideas.

Numerous foreign nationals attended this year from coun-tries including China, Indonesia, Nigeria and Afghanistan, organ-isers said. About 1,500 for-eigners are now quarantined in Pakistan, but others left the country without being tested.

Pakistan's Science Minister Fawad Chaudhry earlier expressed exasperation that the event had gone ahead, blaming the "stubbornness of the clergy".

Organisers said they cut the gathering short following advice from the authorities, however at the time they said it was due to rainy weather.

Similar Tablighi Jamaat con-gregations held in Malaysia and India during the coronavirus pandemic have been blamed for spreading the virus to other nations. Gaza's health ministry confirmed last month its first two cases of coronavirus were Palestinians who had attended the gathering.

Scouts of the Payam-e-Wilayat Foundation spray disinfectants along a street during a government-imposed nationwide lockdown against the coronavirus, in Karachi yesterday.

Afghan President

picks former

rival Atmar as

foreign minister

ANATOLIA — KABUL

In a surprise move, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani yesterday assigned his former rival candidate Mohammad Haneef Atmar as foreign minister.

As per the presidential decree, Haneef Atmar would serve as interim foreign min-ister until the parliament approves his nomination as per the Constitution.

“Mohammad Haneef Atmar is one of the country’s influential politicians who have served in the past two decades as minister for rural development, education, interior affairs and lastly as a national security adviser,” the decree said.

A year before running for the president in 2019 elec-tions, Atmar resigned as Ghani’s national security adviser, citing disagreements at the top level.

Afghan forces

capture IS chief

in Kandahar

ANATOLIA — KABUL

Authorities in Afghanistan said the country has arrested the head of IS terrorist organ-isation.

According to the country’s secret service yesterday, the National Directorate of Security (NDS), the head of IS has been taken into custody along with 20 other commanders.

The local Etelat Roz daily reported they were arrested in Kandahar province.

The NDS also shared a picture of the suspect, iden-tified as Abdullah Orakzai — also known as Aslam Farooqi. The Pakistan-born head of the terrorist organisation is blamed for killing scores of Afghans in bomb blasts, armed attacks and suicide assaults.

Mainland China sees rise in virus casesREUTERS — BEIJING

Mainland China reported 30 new coronavirus cases on Saturday, up from 19 a day earlier as the number of cases involving travellers from abroad as well as local trans-missions increased, highlighting the difficulty in stamping out the outbreak.

The National Health Com-mission said in a statement yes-terday that 25 of the latest cases involved people who had entered from abroad, compared with 18 such cases a day earlier. Five new locally transmitted infections were also reported on Saturday, all in the southern coastal province of Guangdong, up from a day earlier.

The mainland has now reported a total of 81,669 cases,

while the death toll has risen by three to 3,329.

Though daily infections have fallen dramatically from the height of the epidemic in February, when hundreds of new cases were reported daily, Beijing remains unable to com-pletely halt new infections despite imposing some of the most drastic measures to curb the virus’ spread.

The so-called imported cases and asymptomatic patients, who have the virus and can give it to others but show no symptoms, have become among China’s chief concerns in recent weeks.

The country has closed off its borders to almost all for-eigners as the virus spread glo-bally, though most of the imported cases involve Chinese

nationals returning from overseas.

The central government also has pushed local

authorities to identify and isolate the asymptomatic patients.

The health commission said

47 new asymptomatic cases were reported in the mainland on Saturday, compared with 64 a day earlier.

People wearing face masks amid the coronavirus pandemic are seen outside of a shopping mall in Beijing, yesterday.

Confirmed cases rose by 139 during the 24-hour period to yesterday afternoon, bringing the national total to 5,687, Chief Medical Officer Brendan Murphy said. The death toll from COVID-19 rose to 34. This suggests the daily rate of infections was below 5 percent, about a fifth of what Australia saw in mid-March.

12 MONDAY 6 APRIL 2020EUROPE

COVID-19 deaths fall to the lowest in Italy since March 19AFP — ROME Italian officials said yesterday they may soon have to consider easing restrictions after seeing the daily coronavirus death toll plunge to its lowest in over two weeks.

The 525 official COVID-19 fatalities reported by the civil protection service was the Med-iterranean country’s lowest toll since 427 deaths were registered on March 19.

They also represented a decline of 23 percent from the 681 deaths reported on Saturday.

“The curve has started its descent and the number of deaths has started to drop,” Italy’s ISS national health institute director Silvio Brusaferro told reporters.

“If these data are confirmed (in the coming days), we will have to start thinking about Phase 2,” he said in reference to an easing of a month-long national lockdown.

Italy’s second phase of the battle against a virus that has now officially killed 15,887 may be trickier for the government to pull off than the first.

Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte decided to address Italy’s biggest crisis in many generations by sacrificing the economy for the benefit of the health care system.

The nation of 60 million became first the Western democracy to voluntarily shut down almost all businesses and ban public gatherings — including simple walks in the park — on March 12.

His gamble appears to be paying off.

Officials reported the first decline yesterday in the number of non-critical COVID-19 patients receiving hospital care across the

country’s 22 regions.That number fell from 29,010

on Saturday to 28,949 yesterday. The number of critical patients edged down from 3,994 on Sat-urday to 3,977 yesterday — the second successive decline.

The second phase of Italy’s battle against the pandemic rep-resents an easing that no Western nation has tried since the virus spread from China to Europe in February.

Italian health officials remain extremely cautious because they know that the death toll is falling almost certainly because eve-ryone is spending almost all their time at home.

Civil protection service chief Angelo Borrelli called yesterday’s drop in reported deaths “good news.

“But we should not let our guard down,” he warned.

Italian media yesterday said Conte’s government was pre-paring a five-point plan that would open up businesses in stages and keep many of the social distancing measures in place for some time.

Corriere della Sera daily said Italians would be asked to go to

work with facemasks and required to stay two metres apart in public at all times.

Anyone who shows the slightest COVID-19 symptoms must be immediately reported to the health authorities and iso-lated for two weeks.

Italy is also reportedly planning to build more

coronavirus-specific hospitals across the country.

Conte’s government also intends to secure tens of thou-sands of certified blood test kits to see how many people have developed antibodies for the disease.

Those with the antibodies might have immunity and be

allowed to work.It is also unclear whether

people with antibodies can still spread the disease.

The government’s final pro-posal involves using phone apps to “strengthen contract tracing” — a controversial measure that has been tried in countries such as South Korea and Israel.

UK to tighten virus restrictions if people flout rulesREUTERS — LONDON

Britain will be forced to impose more restrictions on outdoor exercise if people flout lockdown rules designed to curb the spread of the coronavirus, the health minister said yesterday.

Daily exercise, such as walking, running or cycling, is allowed as long as people maintain social distancing. But any other activity such as sun-bathing could put others at risk and prolong the lockdown, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said.

Most people were com-plying, he said, but if a minority continued to break the rules “we then might have to take further action”.

“What we are doing is being absolutely clear that the current rules must be followed,” he told a daily media briefing.

There were fears that warm spring weather yesterday could encourage Britons to head to parks. London’s Lambeth Council closed Brockwell Park yesterday after it said many people had sunbathed or gathered in large groups there on Saturday.

Hancock said it was “unbe-lievable” to see a small minority flouting the government’s advice to maintain social-distancing.

Other European countries such as Italy and France have imposed tougher restrictions on people leaving their homes.

Health experts said any move towards a ban on outdoor exercise was “deeply worrying”.

“The health implications of the lock down that we anticipate — increased domestic violence, anxiety and depression, poor diet and decreased physical activity will get worse if we confine more of us to our homes without the hugely important respite that outdoor exercise provides,” said Linda Bauld, a public health specialist at Edin-burgh University.

Britain’s death toll rose to 4,934 on Saturday after 621 people died in the previous 24 hours.

Hancock said the timetable to ease restrictions — the lockdown exit strategy — could only be agreed once the spread of the coronavirus had been brought under control.

“Once we’ve flattened the

curve in coronavirus cases we will be able to set out next steps. We are not there yet.” Neil Fer-guson, a professor at Imperial College in London who has helped shape the government’s response, said the epidemic in Britain was expected to plateau in the next seven to 10 days.

“What’s critically important then is how quickly case numbers go down: do we see a long flat peak or do we, as we hope, see a much faster decline, and that really depends on how effective the current measures are,” he told the BBC.

He said fatalities could be

“anywhere between about 7,000 or so up to a little over 20,000”.

The newly elected leader of the opposition Labour Party, Keir Starmer, said the gov-ernment needed to publish its plan.

“People want to know how does this end,” he said.

If restrictions were lifted too soon, however, a second wave of infection could occur, said England’s Deputy Chief Medical Officer Jenny Harries.

“The very last thing we would want to do is to have put in all of this effort, with eve-rybody trying to do the right

thing — almost everybody — across the country, and then finally lift the lid too early and we have a second spike,” she said. British media yesterday reported disputes at the top of government over the exit strategy, with finance minister Rishi Sunak pushing for a path to be mapped out towards lifting the restrictions to help limit damage to the economy.

Hancock denied there was any rift. “We are working very closely together, and what matters is that we can get out of this as fast as possible,” he told Sky News.

Members of the medical staff hold palm tree branches at a hospital, in Turin, Italy, yesterday.

Britain’s Health Secretary Matt Hancock (right) with Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Jenny Harries, during a press conference on the new coronavirus, in London, yesterday.

Queen Elizabeth II invokes WWII spirit, says we can defeat the coronavirusREUTERS — LONDON

Queen Elizabeth told the British people yesterday that they would overcome the corona-virus outbreak if they stayed resolute in the face of lockdown and self-isolation, invoking the spirit of World War Two in an extremely rare broadcast to the nation.

In what was only the fifth televised address of her 68-year reign, Elizabeth called upon Britons to show the resolve of their forbears and demonstrate they were as strong as genera-tions of the past.

“Together we are tackling this disease, and I want to reassure you that if we remain united and resolute, then we will overcome it,” the 93-year-old monarch said in the address from her Windsor Castle home where she is staying with her husband Prince Philip, 98.

“While we have faced chal-lenges before, this one is dif-ferent. This time we join with all nations across the globe in a common endeavour, using the great advances of science and our instinctive compassion to heal. We will succeed - and that success will belong to every one of us.”

The broadcast came hours after officials said the death toll in Britain from the virus had

risen by 621 in the last 24 hours to 4,934 with high fatalities still expected in the next week.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson is among those in self-isolation after testing positive for COVID-19, and the queen’s own son and heir Prince Charles, 71, has recovered after suffering mild symptoms of the virus.

Like many countries in Europe, Britain is in a state of virtual lockdown, with people told to stay at home unless it was essential to go out.

Elizabeth thanked those who were staying at home, thereby helping to spare others from suffering the grief already

felt by some families.She also paid tribute to

health care staff for their selfless work and commended the “heart-warming” stories of people across the Common-wealth, of which she is head, and beyond for delivering food and medicines to those who needed them.

Yesterday’s address was an extremely rare as the queen usually only speaks to the nation in her annual televised Christmas Day message.

In order to ensure any risk to the elderly monarch herself was mitigated, it was filmed in a big room to ensure a safe dis-tance between her and the

cameraman, who wore gloves and a mask and was the only other person present.

Elizabeth said the situation reminded her of her first ever broadcast in 1940, when she and her late sister Margaret spoke from Windsor to children who had been evacuated from their homes to escape bombing raids by Nazi German aircraft.

She said that in the future people could take pride in how they too had dealt with such a challenge and disruption to their lives.

“Those who come after us will say the Britons of this gen-eration were as strong as any,” she said.

“That the attributes of self-discipline, of quiet good-humoured resolve and of fellow-feeling still characterise this country. The pride in who we are is not a part of our past, it defines our present and our future.” She even invoked the words of the famous song “We’ll Meet Again” by Vera Lynn from World War Two which became a symbol of hope for Britons during the conflict.

“We should take comfort that while we may have more still to endure, better days will return,” she said.

“We will be with our friends again; we will be with our fam-ilies again; we will meet again.”

Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II records her address to the UK and the Commonwealth in relation to the coronavirus epidemic at Windsor Castle, west of London.

Fatalities in France hit a new highREUTERS — PARIS

The total number of deaths from the coronavirus in France reached a new high on Saturday as the government included more previously unreported deaths in nursing homes.

The health ministry reported 441 new deaths from COVID-19 in the country’s hospitals on Saturday — less than the high of 588 reported on Friday — for a total hospital death tally of 5,532.

For the third day in a row, the ministry also reported the cumulative tally of deaths in nursing homes since the start of the epidemic in early March, which were previously unre-ported. This added another 2,028 deaths to the national tally for a total death toll of 7,560, an increase of 1,053 on the cumulative figure reported on Friday. Previously unre-ported, nursing home deaths now make up nearly a third of total coronavirus deaths.

“This pandemic is totally unprecedented. It is imper-ative that people respect con-finement, now is not the time to ease up,” health ministry director Jerome Salomon said at a daily briefing.

Virus toll in Spain rises by 674, but pace keeps slowingREUTERS — MADRID

The rate of new coronavirus infec-tions and deaths in Spain slowed again yesterday as the country, suffering from one of the world’s worst outbreaks of the pandemic, began its fourth week under a near-total lockdown.

Deaths from the highly infec-tious COVID-19 respiratory disease rose to 12,418 on Sat-urday — the second-highest worldwide after Italy. However, the toll of 674 people who died during the past 24 hours was down from Saturday’s 809 and well below Thursday’s daily record of 950, the Health Min-istry said.

Yesterday’s rise represented a 6 percent increase in total deaths, about half the rate reported a week ago. The total number of registered infections rose to 130,759 from Saturday’s 124,736.

“Today I unite (with col-leagues) to give a small message of hope,” said General Miguel Angel Villaroya, chief of the defence staff, during a corona-virus briefing yesterday.

“We are on the right track and we will beat it (the virus).” The World Health Organisation’s

director for Europe, Hans Kluge, tweeted about Spain: “Careful optimism as result of bold measures, innovative approaches & courageous decisions”.

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, in a televised address to the nation on Saturday, announced an extension of the state of emergency lockdown until April 26 to help tackle “the greatest crisis of our lives”.

He said while lockdown measures would probably last even longer than the next 15 days, some economic restric-tions, such as keeping all non-essential workers at home, would be lifted after Easter. Shops and restaurants will, however, remain closed.

Business groups CEOE and CEPYME warned that while the new extension “will serve to accelerate the exit from the current health crisis” it could “deepen the economic recession”.

Economy Minister Nadia Calvino rejected the idea in an interview with El Pais yesterday. Asked when Spain would get back to normal, Calvino said, “We cannot return to normal from 0 to 100 in one day. We must guarantee security.”

The 525 official COVID-19 fatalities reported by the civil protection service was the Mediterranean country’s lowest toll since 427 deaths were registered on March 19.

Virus toll in the Netherlands at 1,766

13MONDAY 6 APRIL 2020 EUROPE

Greece quarantines second migrant camp after COVID-19 case confirmedREUTERS — ATHENS

Greece has quarantined a second migrant facility on its mainland after a 53-year-old man tested positive for the new coronavirus, the migration ministry said yesterday.

The Afghan man lives with his family at the Malakasa camp along with hundreds of asylum seekers. He has been trans-ferred to a hospital in Athens.

Tests on his contacts will continue as the public health agency tries to trace the route of the virus. On Thursday, authorities quarantined the Ritsona camp in central Greece after 20 tested positive for the coronavirus. It was the first such facility in Greece to be hit since the outbreak of the disease.

Greece was the main gateway into the European Union for more than a million people fleeing conflict in 2015-16. More than 110,000 people currently live in migrant

facilities across the country - 40,000 of them in overcrowded camps on five islands.

“The number (of migrants and refugees) is very large, therefore it is a given, mathe-matically, that there will be con-firmed cases,” Migration Min-ister Notis Mitarachi told Skai TV. “We have an emergency plan in place... But it is more dif-ficult to implement it on the islands.”

No cases have been

recorded in camps on Greek islands so far.

The conservative gov-ernment wants to replace all existing camps on islands with enclosed detention centres, but its plans have been met with resistance from local author-ities and residents who want all facilities shut.

Aid groups have urged Greece to evacuate the camps, warning the risk of the fast-moving virus spreading among people living in squalid condi-tions is high and containing an outbreak in such settings would be “impossible”.

The camp in Malakasa, 40km (25 miles) northeast of Athens, will be put into quar-antine for two weeks, the min-istry said on Sunday, adding police guarding the site would be reinforced to ensure the restrictions are implemented.

A separate, enclosed facility started operating last month for migrants who arrived after

March 1, the ministry said. Greece recorded its first

case of the new coronavirus at the end of February. Since then, it has confirmed 1,673 cases of COVID-19 and 68 deaths.

It has imposed a nationwide

lockdown and banned arrivals from non-EU countries as well as Germany, Britain, Italy and Spain. The measures have hit its economy which is relying on tourism for a recovery after a decade-long debt crisis.

Finance Minister Christos Staikouras reiterated on Sunday the economy was expected to shrink by about 3-4% this year, but added Greece had a €37bn ($40b) cash buffer that it could tap into to support it.

A man walks at Malakasa refugee camp after the camp has been quarantined following a man tested positive for coronavirus, in Athens, Greece, yesterday.

Albania’s coronavirus cases surge for third day in rowREUTERS — TIRANA

Albania reported 28 new cases of the new coronavirus yesterday and said a failure to respect social distancing had led to the highest numbers of infections over the last three days.

The COVID-19 disease caused by the coronavirus has killed 20, infected 361 and caused three to need help breathing, the Public Health Institute said. It added that 104 had recovered.

Despite a lockdown mon-itored by police and the army and hefty fines, some Albanians have slipped through to buy food. Two were caught having coffee and brandy outside. Mourners who attended a funeral in a northern town also spread the contagion.

Since the first two cases on March 9, infections rose and fell until they reached 28, the most in a day, on March 26. They fell up to half over the next week, only to rise to 27 on Friday, 29 on Saturday, the highest ever, and 28 yesterday.

One of the poorest coun-tries in Europe, Albania was already hit hard by an earth-quake last November that killed 51 people and left 17,000 homeless. The government is enforcing a tough lockdown to prevent the health system from being overwhelmed.

Before enforcing its third 40-hour lockdown on the weekend, the government reminded Albanians they should not be fooled by com-paring their country’s figures with those of worst-hit coun-tries because the worst had yet to pass.

“This increase in the number of cases in Shkoder and Tirana once again shows the failure to apply social dis-tancing and measures to control the infection that the Health Ministry keeps recom-mending daily,” said Albana Fico of the Health Institute.

“It is equally important to respect infection prevention measures even with our cousins by avoiding visits for whatever reason,” she added.

Vehicles spraying disinfectants while sanitising a street to prevent the spread of the coronavirus disease in Moscow, Russia, yesterday.

Fire kills one at virus hospital construction site in MoscowAFP — MOSCOW

One person died when a fire tore through workers’ tents at the construction site of a new hospital for coronavirus patients outside Moscow, offi-cials said yesterday.

The cause of the blaze was not immediately known but it reportedly broke out in a tent containing a stove.

An emergencies ministry spokesman said the fire, which covered 90sqm, broke out in workers’ accommodation at the site.

“Three tents have caught fire,” the spokesman said.

“Unfortunately, one person died,” he said, declining to give other details.

The construction site is located between the villages of Babenki and Golokhvastovo just outside Moscow.

Moscow city authorities have been rushing to construct a medical facility for corona-virus patients styled on a hos-pital built in China in record time.

More than 3,000 builders are involved in the Russian project, and some of them live on the construction site.

The 500-bed hospital extending over 43 hectares was inspired by the “expe-rience of Chinese partners,” city officials have said.

In February, China built a prefabricated hospital with 1,000 beds over 10 days in the city of Wuhan, the epi-centre of its coronavirus epidemic.

Russia on Sunday reported 5,389 cases of the coronavirus and 45 fatalities but the real number of infections is believed to be higher.

Infection cases rise to 5,389 in RussiaANATOLIA — MOSCOW

The novel coronavirus has infected 658 more people in Russia, bringing the total to

5,389 over the last 24 hours, the country’s authorities said yesterday.

The death toll rose to 45 as the infection claimed two

more lives since yesterday, an emergency team said in a statement.

More than half of the patients are under the age of 45.

Ireland Prime Minister returns to medical practiceREUTERS — DUBLIN

Ireland’s Prime Minister Leo Varadkar has re-registered as a medical practitioner and will work one shift a week to help out during the coronavirus crisis, a spokesman for his office said yesterday.

Varadkar worked as a

doctor for seven years before leaving the profession to become a politician and was removed from the medical reg-ister in 2013.

According to a report in the Irish Times, Varadkar re-registered in March as the crisis unfolded and intends to work in the country’s Health

Service Executive (HSE) on a weekly basis in an area suited to his qualifications.

In March, Health Minister Simon Harris launched a recruitment drive for the country’s struggling health service to tackle the corona-virus outbreak with a stark message: “Your country needs

you”. The HSE said it had spoken to thousands of healthcare professionals who may be eligible to return after it received more than 70,000 responses for its “Be on call for Ireland” initiative.

According to the Irish Times, Varadkar is helping out with phone assessments.

Anybody who may have been exposed to the virus is initially assessed over the phone.

Varadkar comes from a medical family. He is the son of a doctor and a nurse and, according to the Irish Times, his partner, two sisters and their husbands all work in healthcare.

Cyclists and walkers journey along a path in Delft, the Netherlands, yesterday, as they observe social distancing measures implemented by authorities in an attempt to halt the spread of COVID-19. The number of deaths caused by the new coronavirus in the Netherlands has increased by 115 to 1,766, health authorities said. Confirmed infections increased by 1,224 to 17,851, the Dutch Institute for Public Health said.

Elevated radiation levels near Chernobyl after forest fireAP — MINSK, BELARUS

A forest fire is burning in the evacuated area around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and is causing elevated radi-ation levels, authorities said yesterday.

The blaze has spread to about 100 hectares (250 acres), said Yehor Firsov, head of Ukraine’s state ecological inspection service.

The emergency services ministry said 130 firefighters and two planes were

laboring to put out the fire. It said radi-ation levels had increased at the fire’s center.

The blaze is within the 2,600sq kil-ometer (1,000 sq mile) Chernobyl Exclusion Zone established after the

1986 disaster at the plant that sent a cloud of radioactive fallout over much of Europe. The zone is largely unpop-ulated, although about 200 people have remained there despite orders to leave.

Man in Russia

kills five people

for ‘talking loudly’

AFP — MOSCOW

A man in central Russia shot and killed five people for talking noisily at night under his windows, investigators said yesterday.

The shootings took place in the Ryazan region during stay-at-home orders aimed at slowing the spread of the coronavirus.

A 32-year-old man from the small town of Yelatma opened fire on a group of four young men and a woman who “were talking loudly in the street under his windows” at around 10 pm on Saturday, investigators said. Yelatma is located near the city of Ryazan, which is situated some 200km southeast of the capital Moscow.

The man went to his balcony to complain to the group and a dispute erupted before he reached for his single-barrel hunting rifle, the Investigative Committee said.

On Thursday, authorities quarantined the Ritsona camp in central Greece after 20 tested positive for the coronavirus. It was the first such facility in Greece to be hit since the outbreak of the disease.

Norway to send team to Italy to help fight pandemic

REUTERS — OSLO

Norway will send a team of medical and logistical staff to Italy’s Lombardy region to help fight the COVID-19 pandemic, the Oslo government said.

The deployment is planned to last four weeks and will likely be based in Bergamo, one of the cities hardest hit by the disease, after health authorities in Lombardy issued a request for inter-national help on March 31.

The team consists of 20-25 doctors, nurses and logistical staff, many of whom have done similar work during the Ebola out-break in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the measles out-break in Samoa in recent years.

“Solidarity in Europe is not a theoretical exercise and now is the time to show it in practice,” Norwegian Health Secretary Bent Hoeie said. “We must help each other when crisis hits.”

Norway is not a member of the European Union. Italy reported its lowest daily COVID-19 death toll for more

than two weeks yesterday as authorities began to look ahead to a second phase of the battle against the new coronavirus once the lockdown imposed almost a month ago is eventually eased.

The toll from the world’s deadliest outbreak reached 15,887, almost a quarter of the global death total, but the rise of 525 from a day earlier was the smallest daily increase since March 19.

By comparison, Norway’s death toll stands at 58, with 5,640 confirmed cases of infection, according to the Norwegian Institute of Public Health.

14 MONDAY 6 APRIL 2020AMERICAS

US enters ‘hardest, saddest’week; virus deaths at 9,100REUTERS & AP — WASHINGTON

The United States enters one of the most critical weeks so far in the coronavirus crisis with the death toll exploding in New York, Michigan and Louisiana and some governors calling for a national order to stay at home.

New York is the hardest-hit state with more than 40 percent of all US deaths and nearly 115,000 reported cases on Saturday.

Bodies of victims of COVID-19, the flu-like respi-ratory disease caused by the coronavirus, were stacked in bright orange bags inside a makeshift morgue outside the Wyckoff Heights Medical Center in Brooklyn, according to photos provided.

US Surgeon General Jerome Adams warned on Fox News yesterday that hard times were ahead but “there is a light at the end of the tunnel if everyone does their part for the next 30 days.”

“This is going to be the hardest and the saddest week of most Americans’ lives, quite frankly. This is going to be our Pearl Harbor moment, our 9/11

moment, only it’s not going to be localized,” he said. “It’s going to be happening all over the country. And I want America to understand that.”

Places such as Pennsyl-vania, Colorado and Wash-ington, DC are starting to see rising deaths. The White House coronavirus task force warned this is not the time to go to the grocery store or other public places.

Most states have ordered residents to stay home except for essential trips to slow the

spread of the virus in the United States where over 321,000 people have tested positive and nearly 9,100 have died, according to a tally.

However, a few churches were holding large gatherings on Palm Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week in Christian churches.

Louisiana has become a hot spot for the virus, on Saturday reporting a jump in deaths to 409 and more than 12,000 cases.

Governor John Bel Edwards told CNN yesterday that the state could run out of ventilators by Thursday.

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.

President Donald Trump warned on Saturday that there were “very horrendous” days ahead.

Washington state Governor Jay Inslee, a Democrat, whose state recorded the country’s first confirmed COVID-19 infection but has since seen

cases flatten after early action to shutter activity, said if other states do not also impose strict measures, the virus will simply circulate.

“It would be good to have a national stay-at-home order,” he told NBC News’ Meet the Press” program.

“Even if Washington gets on top of this fully, if another state

doesn’t, it could come back and come across our borders two months from now.”

Republican Arkansas Gov-ernor Asa Hutchinson, however, defended his refusal to order statewide restric-tions, saying the situation was being watched closely and that hisw more “targeted approach” was still slowing

the spread of the virus.“We will do more as we

need to,” he told NBC.The rapid spread of the virus

in the United States has prompted a chaotic scramble for desperately needed medical equipment and protective gear, prompting intense squabbling between the states and the federal government.

New York City Fire Department emergency medical technicians wearing protective gear at Montefiore Medical Center Moses Division hospital during the outbreak of the coronavirus disease, in New York City yesterday.

New York reports

first decline in

daily COVID-19

fatalities

BLOOMBERG — ALBANY

New York State reported 594 new coronavirus deaths yesterday, fewer than the 630 it reported on Saturday, Governor Andrew Cuomo said at his daily news briefing. The state has had 4,159 fatalities so far.

As President Donald Trump and other leaders warned of rising death tolls, Cuomo said it was too early to say if the outbreak had reached a peak in New York — the center of the nation’s outbreak.

“You could argue that you are seeing a plateauing,” he told reporters in Albany. “Next week they will tell you whether we are on a plateau or is it just a blip,” he said, referring to statisticians.

He noted that deaths had levelled off for three days after dramatic rises. The toll on Friday was 562.

New hospitalizations dropped to 574 yesterday from 1,095, Cuomo said. He said 74 percent of those hospitalized have been discharged.

Despite the more hopeful statistics, Cuomo said that New York’s health system remained under severe strain, with some hospitals “down to two or three ventilators.”

He said New Yorkers must continue to stay home and practice social distancing, especially the elderly and those with underlying health issues, groups that have died in the greatest numbers.

NY gets 1,140 ventilators with help from China, OregonAP — NEW YORK

New York secured a planeload of ventilators from China on Saturday, and Oregon was sending a shipment of its own to battle the coronavirus pandemic at its US core, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said.

But the governor’s startling plan to force hospitals else-where in the state to give spare ventilators to the fight in New York City apparently hadn’t yet materialized, a day after he ordered them to surrender 20 percent of any unused supply to the National Guard for tem-porary redistribution.

The state got 1,000 ventilators after the Chinese government facil-itated a donation from billionaires Jack Ma and Joseph Tsai, the co-founders of the Chinese e-com-merce giant Alibaba, Cuomo said. He added that the state of Oregon had volunteered to send 140 more breathing machines.

The influx offered some hope after the governor repeatedly warned that the state’s supply of the vital machines would be exhausted in days if the number of critically ill coronavirus patients kept growing at the current rate.“It’s going to make a significant dif-ference for us,” Cuomo said.

New York is the pandemic’s US epicenter, with over 113,700 confirmed cases as of Saturday morning. About 15,000 coro-navirus patients are hospi-talized. Over 4,100 are in intensive care - many, if not all, of them needing ventilators.

The outbreak is heavily con-centrated in the New York City metropolitan area.

Cuomo’s announcement came a day after he said he would have the National Guard collect and “redeploy” venti-lators that some hospitals weren’t using.

He alluded again to the plan, but details remained unclear.

“We find what equipment we have, we use it the best we can,” the Democrat said on Sat-urday, saying he’d seek 20 percent of “unused and available” ventilators, a number he pegged at 500 in all.

The idea has alarmed Republican politicians and some hospital leaders upstate. They said it would leave people in their areas vulnerable and pit the state’s regions against one another.

But two hospital umbrella groups didn’t protest. The Greater New York Hospital Association portrayed the idea as ongoing reciprocity among

medical centers as the out-break’s hotspots shift, while the Healthcare Association of New York State noted that some hos-pitals have already, voluntarily sent staff and equipment to harder-hit institutions or accepted patients from them.

Both groups, and several upstate hospitals, said they had gotten no further information on the governor’s plan. The state Health Department said no information was available beyond the governor’s remarks.

Messages were sent to his office seeking details on how the redistribution would work.

A helping handColonel Gent Welsh (left) and Staff Sergeant Amber Barker from the Washington Air National Guard, and volunteer Vira Sayenko, help distribute food at the Nourish Pierce County food bank in Edgewood, Washington. Members of the Washington National Guard have begun helping out at food banks across the state to assist with food distribution during the COVID-19 outbreak.

Virus may force Democrats

to hold ‘virtual’ presidential

convention, says BidenREUTERS — WASHINGTON

Former vice-president Joe Biden, the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomi-nation, said yesterday the party may be forced to host a “ v i r t u a l ” n o m i n a t i n g convention in August due to concerns about the coronavirus pandemic.

The Democratic Party already postponed its con-vention from July to August last week, citing worries over the outbreak that has prompted a majority of US states to order their residents to stay at home to contain the disease’s spread.

“We may have to do a virtual convention,” Biden said on ABC’s This Week program. “I think we should be thinking about that right now... We may not be able to put 10, 20, 30,000 people in one place.” Biden and rival Senator Bernie Sanders have been forced off the campaign trail, and more than a dozen states have post-poned their primary elections. Wisconsin, however, plans to hold in-person voting on Tuesday despite calls for a delay.

After a series of victories in

March, Biden has opened up a commanding lead in the number of delegates needed to secure the party’s nomination to take on Republican President Donald Trump in November’s general election.

Though Biden is not holding in-person campaign events, he said he would follow new federal guidelines calling for people to cover their faces in public. Trump announced the revised recommendation on Friday but said he personally did not plan on wearing a mask.

“Listen to the experts,” Biden said. “Do what they tell you. He may not like how he looks in a mask, but the truth of the matter is that — follow the science, that’s what they’re telling us.” Biden again ques-tioned Trump’s handling of the crisis.

“He’s moving too slow,” Biden said. “The virus is not his fault, but the response is his responsibility.”

Trump has faced criticism for initially downplaying the threat from the coronavirus. Several governors have clashed with his administration over a lack of medical supplies, including ventilators.

Virus cancels mine explosion anniversary eventAP — CHARLESTON

A planned public gathering was shelved on the 10th anniversary of the worst US mining disaster in decades. Heartfelt speeches gave way yesterday to silent remembrances and individual prayers for the 29 men who died at the Upper Big Branch mine in West Virginia.

The coronavirus pandemic prompted the decision weeks ago to cancel the event. Instead, mourners were allowed to lay wreaths from dusk to dawn at a memorial site in Whitesville, not far from the mine.

Virus scare or not, Tommy Davis was going regardless. Davis was working at the mine on April 5, 2010. He lost a son, brother and a nephew.

“This corona is just what it is. It’s life,” said Davis, who is now retired. “I’ll be there to pay my respects and do my remem-bering and set out my flowers as I usually do. I’m doing my normal thing. I don’t change

nothing up regardless of what’s going on in the world around us.” Another Upper Big Branch retiree, Stanley Stewart, said he agreed with the decision to cancel the memorial event.

Stewart has skipped visiting the memorial every year in favour of personal reflections at home on the date of the anni-versary. This year was no different.

He and his wife planned to observe a moment of silence at 3:02pm, the time of the explosion, “and just show a little bit of respect and try to go on.” Worn and broken cutting equipment created a spark that ignited accumulations of coal dust and methane gas at the mine. Broken and clogged water sprayers allowed what should have been a minor flare-up to become an inferno.

Stewart was 300 feet inside the mine when it blew up and has described the blast as feeling like “hurricane force winds.” He tried to revive some

of his fallen co-workers, then covering their bodies with blankets, their faces obscured by black soot.

“I sometimes go along trying not to think about it, but it don’t work,” Stewart said. “It’s kind of painful, this being the 10th one. The 10th one ain’t no different from the first one. I just know it’ll come and it’ll go, which is the good thing about it.” Just a month ago, Stewart was in New York City attending the off-Broadway play Coal Country and meeting the actors.

The play is about the explosion and is based on inter-views with Stewart, Davis and others. It’s about pain and suf-fering, something that New Yorkers are now going through as the coronavirus takes a heavy toll.

“I feel for people who live in New York and them places who are stuck in apartments,” he said. “That would be tough on me.” In retirement, Davis and Stewart both avidly hunt

and fish. Stewart loves to go camping, care for chickens and has plans to tend to his garden when the weather gets warmer.

Davis now lives alone on 200 acres one county over from the mine site. He’s been busy building kennels, caring for his hound dogs and enjoying two grandchildren from his two other sons.

The hurt never goes away. A few days ago Davis went to his mailbox and saw a letter addressed to his late son, Cory.

“I still get them triggers,” Davis said. “As long as I stay busy, I keep my mind occupied. It’s when I sit down is when it hits me. It does every day.” But he’s learned to talk himself out of situations where anxiety takes over. Whether it’s the coronavirus or other challenges, “you shouldn’t be running scared,” he said. “I know life is precious.

“At this point, I’ve had a good life. I’m still going to live. I’m not going to hide from it.”

Pentagon to issue policy on face mask for troops: EsperBLOOMBERG — WASHINGTON

US Defense Secretary Mark Esper said the Pentagon will issue guidance on personnel wearing face coverings, after US health officials recom-mended the step for Americans.

“We’re going to move toward face coverings,” Esper said on ABC’s This Week broadcast. “We want to take every measure to protect our troops.” The directive was to come yesterday, he said.

Esper said it’s not always possible for troops to exercise social distancing by staying six feet apart, especially on subma-rines. The Defense Department has to take other measures, and Esper said he trusts com-manders and officers to do that.

Officials with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are recommending the use of non-surgical grade cloth masks as a voluntary measure to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

“This is going to be the hardest and the saddest week of most Americans’ lives, quite frankly. This is going to be our Pearl Harbor moment, our 9/11 moment, only it’s not going to be localized,” US Surgeon General Jerome Adams said.

15MONDAY 6 APRIL 2020 AMERICAS

Canada offers reservists full-time jobs; virus toll jumpsREUTERS — OTTAWA

The number of people killed by the coronavirus in Canada has jumped by just over 20 percent to 258 in a day, officials said yesterday, while Ottawa offered full-time jobs to reservists in the armed forces.

By 11:05 eastern time (1505 GMT), the number of those diag-nosed with the coronavirus had risen by almost 12 percent to 14,426, the public health agency said. The respective figures on Saturday were 214 deaths and 12,924 positive diagnoses.

The outbreak looks set to tip

the economy into recession and the Liberal government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has already announced stimulus measures totaling C$105bn ($74 bn) in direct spending, or five percent of gross domestic product.

Trudeau said officials were contacting reservists to offer them full-time jobs for the coming months.

“Bolstering the military’s ranks will help offset some of the economic consequences of C O V I D - 1 9 a n d

ensure our communities are well supported,” he told a daily briefing.

Canada has around 31,000 reservists, most of whom serve one evening a week and one weekend a month. There are just over 67,000 full-time members of the armed forces.

Trudeau said on Friday that members of the Canadian Rangers, a group of reservists based in remote regions, would be deployed to northern Quebec to help provide healthcare to the isolated aboriginal population.

Late last month, US Pres-ident Donald Trump authorized

the secretaries of homeland security and defense to call up military and Coast Guard reservists to active duty.

Trudeau said he had yet to speak to Trump about his demand that exports of respi-rator masks to Canada be blocked.

Trudeau said on Saturday he would not retaliate, while noting some Canadian health professionals living along the US border work in hospitals south of the border.

“We’re continuing to engage constructively with the entire American administration to

highlight how important it is that goods... continue to flow both ways,” he said.

White House trade adviser Peter Navarro told Fox News on Saturday that “some exports” of masks to Canada would continue.

Almost half the cases in Canada are in the province of Quebec, where premier Francois Legault said yesterday he hoped to see new diagnoses peak in a number of weeks. He also told reporters he was extending a shutdown of non-essential businesses for another three weeks to May 4.

Premier infuriated by Trump, says Canada helped US amid 9/11AP — TORONTO

The premier of the Canadian province that sheltered thou-sands of stranded American airline passengers after the 9/11 attacks said yesterday he’s infu-riated that US President Donald Trump banned the export of N95 protective masks to Canada.

Newfoundland Premier Dwight Ball said one of the great lessons in humanity is that in times of crisis you don’t stop being human.

“To say that I’m infuriated by the recent actions of Pres-ident Trump of the United States is an understatement,” Ball said. “I cannot believe for a second that in a time of crisis that President Trump would even think about banning key medical supplies to Canada.”

Trump announced late Friday he will block exports of 3M company masks from the United States to ensure they are

available in the US for use during the coronavirus pan-demic. Trump said the US wants the masks and he doesn’t want others getting them.

Ball noted that in 2001, more than 6,600 passengers descended on Gander, New-foundland, a town of 10,000 without warning as more than 200 flights were diverted to Canada following the attacks on the United States.

Flight crew filled Gander’s hotels, so passengers were taken to schools, fire stations, church halls. The Canadian military flew in 5,000 cots. Stores donated blankets, coffee machines, bar-becue grills. Locals gave pas-sengers food, clothes, showers, toys and banks of phones to call home free of charge.

“Newfoundland and Lab-rador will never give up on humanity. We will not hesitate for one second if we had to repeat what we did on 9-11. We would do it again,” Ball said.

“This is a time when we need to work together to con-tinue to protect our residents and keep them safe from COVID-19 no mater where they live or what passport they hold.”

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau took a more diplomatic

approach, saying yesterday he’s confident Canada will still be able to import N95 protective masks from the US despite the export ban and said he will talk to Trump in the coming days.

Trudeau noted Canada sup-plies the US with many supplies,

including pulp for surgical-grade N95 masks, test kits and gloves. Canadian nurses also work in the US.

The N95 masks provide more protection against the virus that causes COVID-19 than do ordinary surgical masks.

People check in before repatriation flights bound for Canada organised by the Canadian embassy for citizens stranded in Peru, as the spread of the coronavirus disease continues, in Lima, Peru, on Saturday.

Mexico official

calls diet a factor

as virus death

toll climbs

REUTERS — MEXICO CITY

Mexican Deputy Hugo Lopez-Gatell said on Saturday that decades of poor eating habits in the country have created an epidemic of obesity, diabetes and other related health complications that make its people more vulnerable to COVID-19.

The Mexican health min-istry has so far registered a total of 1,890 cases of the novel coronavirus and 79 deaths.

“These people, unfortu-nately, had chronic diseases or were older,” Lopez-Gatell said during a press conference, adding that the country had one of the world’s highest rates of diabetes and obesity.

“This is the product of many years, at least four decades, of poor nutrition, a diet that has been created by products of low nutritional quality and very high calories, in particular in processed foods,” Lopez-Gatell said.

The World Health Organi-sation has said people with dia-betes and its related health complications are among those most vulnerable to severe cases of the highly contagious and sometimes deadly illness caused by the new coronavirus.

Brazilians don’t want Bolsonaro to resign amid virus outbreak: PollREUTERS — SAO PAULO

Most Brazilians are against President Jair Bolsonaro’s potential resignation despite mounting criticism toward his handling of the coronavirus outbreak, according to a poll published by local newspaper Folha de S.Paulo yesterday.

The survey conducted by Datafolha pollster between April 1-3 showed that 59 percent of the 1,511 respondents would oppose Bolsonaro’s res-ignation, while 37 percent would approve such move and four percent could not give an opinion. The margin of error

was three percentage points, the newspaper said.

On Friday, the same pollster said Bolsonaro’s coronavirus performance has been “bad” or “awful” for 39 percent of respondents surveyed, up from 33 percent last month. Those who consider his response to the health crisis “good” or “great” slipped to 33 percent from 35 percent.

Brazil’s death toll rose to 431 from 359, while the number of confirmed cases jumped to 10,278 from 9,056, according to Health Ministry figures released on Saturday afternoon.

Bolsonaro has downplayed

multiple times COVID-19 res-piratory disease as a “little flu”, stirring up conflicts with gov-ernors and even his own health minister for advocating social-distancing measures which he sees as economically disastrous.

His insistence in fighting unemployment amid an unprecedented public health crisis is wearing him out polit-ically, driving his approval rating to its lowest level since he took office last year in a con-servative swing by Brazilian voters.

Playing on his evangelical supporters who have played a

key role in his election, Bol-sonaro called for a national day of fasting and prayer yesterday to “free Brazil from this evil” epidemic.

Even with lockdown measures paralyzing most of Latin America’s largest economy, Brazilian agribusiness strives to avoid supply disrup-tions and emerge from the crisis even stronger.

“We must ensure our crop this year continues plentiful so we can supply our own country and jump at opportunities that may arise,” Agriculture Minister Tereza Cristina Dias told agribusiness representatives yesterday.

She noted some countries in the Northern Hemisphere will have a shorter planting window this year due to coro-navirus. “I have the feeling that we can become a great food supplier to the rest of the world,” Cristina said.

The minister recognized the hardships faced by some players, such as sugar-ethanol companies amid a tumble in domestic demand, but reas-sured the government is working to help the sector.

“Harvest has started and sugarcane cannot sit on the field for long, so we must act urgently,” Cristina said.

Suspected cartel

shootout leaves

19 dead in

northern Mexico

REUTERS — CIUDAD JUAREZ

A shootout between suspected drug cartel hitmen has killed 19 people in the northern Mexico state of Chihuahua, the state government said on Saturday, in one of the coun-try’s worst outbreaks of gang violence this year.

“They’re two criminal groups fighting over drug traf-ficking routes to the United States,” Chihuahua’s attorney general Cesar Peniche said.

Security forces found 18 bodies on Friday evening at the site of the gunfight in the municipality of Madera, and a wounded man picked up at the scene later died of his injuries, the state attorney general’s office said in a statement.

They also secured 18 long firearms, two vehicles and two grenades, the statement said, adding that the search for armed men and the investigation of the site was continuing.

Local media reported that the gunmen belonged to groups linked to the Juarez Cartel and the rival Sinaloa Cartel, which Peniche said was correct.

On Friday, Mexican Pres-ident Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said violence among criminal groups has persisted despite the outbreak of the new coronavirus in the country.

“It seemed in late March, when the coronavirus had become more widespread, that we would have a considerable reduction in violence,” Lopez Obrador said. “Unfortunately, it didn’t turn out that way.” Last year, suspected drug cartel gunmen shot dead three women and six children, all members of a US-Mexican Mormon com-munity, in a daytime attack as they were travelling by car in the northern state of Sonora.

A man wearing a protective face mask buys fish at the “Modern Fair” of the Port of Manaus during the coronavirus disease outbreak, in Manaus, Brazil, yesterday.

Ecuador stores COVID-19 victims in giant fridges as morgues fill upREUTERS — GUAYAQUIL

Ecuador’s government has begun storing the bodies of victims of the coronavirus in giant refrigerated containers as hundreds of deaths in the city of Guayaquil, the center of the country’s outbreak, have already filled morgues and hospitals.

Ecuador has confirmed 318 deaths from the virus, one of the highest tallies in Latin America. But President Lenin Moreno said this week that the real figure was higher as authorities were collecting more than 100 bodies a day, many from relatives’ homes as a strict quarantine pre-vented them from being buried.

The government has installed three containers, the largest about 12 metres long, at public hospitals to preserve bodies until graves were pre-pared, according to Guayaquil’s mayor, Cynthia Viteri. So far 150 victims have been buried in a private cemetery in the port city.

At Guayaquil’s Teodoro Maldonado Carbo hospital on Saturday, medical workers wearing protective gear removed bodies wrapped in

plastic from a storage room and used a pallet to wheel them to one container, according to a photographer.

“This pandemic is over-coming the capacity of our hos-pital services,” the hospital said in a statement on Friday.

The hospital yesterday con-firmed that it had set up a refrigerated container to hold the bodies of those who died amid the pandemic, adding that the arrangement was being operated in accordance with World Health Organisation protocols.

The Ecuadorean Institute of Social Security, which runs Teodoro Maldonado Carbo, said on Saturday on Twitter that it had disinfected all areas of the hospital to guarantee the safety of patients and medical professionals.

On Saturday, Ecuador’s government said it would activate a new digital system that would allow families to find out where their dead rel-atives were buried.

Moreno said the gov-ernment expected the total number of deaths in Guayaq-uil’s surrounding province to reach up to 3,500, and said a “special camp” was being built to bury the dead.

11 dead, four hurt in Colombian coal mine blastAFP — BOGOTA

Eleven people were killed and four injured in an accidental explosion at a Colombian coal mine in Cucunuba, near Bogota, on Saturday, according to the local fire department.

The victims were miners who were working despite the health emergency caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Most

Colombians are quarantined by government order, but mining is among the activities exempted.

Captain Alvaro Farfan, head of the fire department of the department of Cundinamarca, told local media that the accident occurred in a legally operated coal mine, although he did not give details about the type of explosion.

On Friday, six other miners

were killed in a similar incident at a coal mine in the munici-pality of San Cayetano in north-eastern Colombia.

After the new accident, the state-run National Mining Agency announced the sus-pension of “the underground coal mining activity” in Cucunuba.

The agency confirmed the report of 11 dead and four injured.

‘Modern Fair’

By 1505 GMT yesterday, the number of those diagnosed with the coronavirus had risen by almost 12 percent to 14,426, the public health agency said. The respective figures on Saturday were 214 deaths and 12,924 positive diagnoses.

16 MONDAY 6 APRIL 2020MORNING BREAK

FAJR SUNRISE 04.03 am 05.21 am

W A L R U WA I S : 23o↗ 26o W A L K H O R : 20o↗ 31o W D U K H A N : 20o↗ 28o W WA K R A H : 19o↗ 36o W M E S A I E E D 19o↗ 36o W A B U S A M R A 21o↗ 31o

PRAYER TIMINGS WEATHER TODAY

HIGH TIDE 03:04– 15:01 LOW TIDE 10:45 – 21:59

Expected strong wind and high sea to the North at first.

Minimum Maximum22oC 35oC

ZUHR

MAGHRIB

11.36 am05.54 pm

ASR

ISHA

03.06 pm07.24 pm

No parties, no problem: Introverts don’t mind sheltering at homeREUTERS — DALLAS

With her painting, baking and near-constant gardening, Stephanie Hollowell kept busy at home even before efforts to stem the coronavirus pandemic meant she had to stay inside the Dallas, Texas house she calls her little kingdom.

She didn’t invite people to come taste her prizewinning recipe, or sample the sweet ground cherries that she grows. A proud introvert, public health orders to stay put suited her just fine.

“So many people are expe-riencing the painful aspects of this,” said Hollowell, an air traffic controller who took early retirement five years ago, when she was 50. “But basically my life has not changed one single bit.”

In the weeks since millions of people worldwide have been ordered to stay at home except for essential errands, the number of calls to psychiatrists has gone up as depression and anxiety wrack patients who lack social contact, and cannot even come in for an in-person therapy session.

But for those who are more used to solitary pursuits, the

time alone can be rejuvenating — and a relief from the distress brought on by news of the coro-navirus and its ravages.

Cynthia Burrell, a massage therapist whose home-based Seattle business has been shut-tered, said despite the loss of work she has enjoyed the quieter time with her husband. The couple, avid birders, miss their outings with the local Audubon group, but have been amazed to watch a Bewick’s wren gather up their cat’s fur to line its nest. They have seen black-capped chickadees at one neighbour’s house, she said, and chestnut-backed chickadees at another.

Gardening, sketching and watching birds in her yard has eased the near-crippling anxiety she had felt about coro-navirus in the weeks leading up to her state’s shelter-at-home order.

“It is almost like an intro-vert’s dream,” said Burrell, 52. “You can’t have a social life. You have to stay home on a Friday or Saturday night. ... It’s honestly a huge relief to have less to do.”

The American Psycho-logical Association defines introversion as a personality trait in which people are more

inwardly than outwardly focused, and relatively more reserved. The trait dwells along a continuum that culminates with extroversion, an outwardly oriented approach that includes people who are more outgoing and gregarious.

Because introverts tend to have fewer social interactions during the regular course of their days than extroverts, they may be better positioned to weather enforced time at home than extroverts — at least ini-tially, said Matthias Mehl, a research psychologist at the University of Arizona, Tucson.

But all humans require social connections, even those who are more reclusive. So if quarantines or “shelter-at-home” orders last a long time, introverts will eventually need to find ways to step up their own interactions with others, Mehl said.

Jim Noh, a software engineer from Vancouver, Washington, works from home during the day, attending mul-tiple meetings via video confer-encing software, and spends most of the rest of his time on indoor pursuits such as reading science fiction novels and streaming shows on Netflix and

other services.He and his girlfriend, also

an introvert, have found projects to do in their apartment, putting together a hydroponic garden and fixing a wobbly bench. When the public health restrictions forced him to put off a trip to Seattle to visit a friend, it was actually something of a relief not to have the anticipatory anxiety that often precedes social interac-tions — even those he is looking forward to — Noh said.

But he said the discussions during the regular video chat meetings organised by his employer, a health care startup, have taken a turn for the per-sonal, as colleagues feel the need to connect more, albeit

electronically.“I have noticed people are

a little more social, a little more chatty,” said Noh, 36. “They’re more likely to ask, ‘How’s it going?’”

Marylin Bardet does not view herself as an introvert, but after a lifetime of community activism and involvement in her local community of Benicia, California, the 72-year-old is happy to immerse herself in painting, reading and other quiet activities at a time when a simple errand like going to the grocery store has become fraught with fear and worry.

“I am comfortable because I can read, I listen to music and go to the studio,” she said. “I can paint uninterruptedly.”

Hours stretching into quiet hours were also the dream of Emily Adelsohn Corngold, 77. The stay-at-home order meant she did not have to agree to every social invitation she receives at the Pasadena, Cali-fornia, retirement community where she lives with her husband. She said she was looking forward to working on editing a friend’s memoir.

But she did not take into account her gregarious husband, a retired professor who could no longer go into his nearby office at the California Institute of Technology (CalTech).

“He’s very social and he wants to talk,” Corngold said. “We now have to talk through almost everything.”

Stephanie Hollowell poses in her backyard garden in Dallas, Texas.

Why autism disorder is more common in boysIANS — NEW YORK

Neuron offers clues to why autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is more common in boys than in girls, say researchers. They found that a single amino acid change in the “NLGN4” gene, which has been linked to autism symptoms, may drive this difference in some cases.

Researchers led by Katherine Roche from National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the US, compared two NLGN4 genes, (one on the X chromosome and one on the Y chromosome), which are important for establishing and maintaining synapses, the com-munication points between neurons.

Every cell in our body contains two sex chromosomes. Females have two X chromosomes; males have one X and one Y chromosome.

Until now, it was assumed that the NLGN4X and NLGN4Y genes, which encode proteins that are 97 percent identical, functioned equally well in neurons.

But using a variety of advanced technology including biochemistry, molecular biology, and imaging tools, the study, published in the journal Neuron, discovered that the proteins encoded by these genes display different functions.

The NLGN4Y protein is less

able to move to the cell surface in brain cells and is therefore unable to assemble and maintain syn-apses, making it difficult for neurons to send signals to one another.

When the researchers fixed the error in cells in a dish, they restored much of its correct function.

“We really need to look at NLGN4X and NLGN4Y more care-fully. Mutations in NLGN4X can lead to widespread and poten-tially very severe effects in brain function, and the role of NLGNY is still unclear,” said study first author Thien A Nguyen.

The research team found that the problems with NLGN4Y were due to a single amino acid. They also discovered that the region surrounding that amino acid in NLGN4X is sensitive to mutations in the human population.

In females, when one of the NLGN4X genes has a mutation, the other one can often compensate. However, in males, diseases can occur when there is a mutation in NLGN4X because there is no com-pensation from NLGN4Y, the researcher said.

“The knowledge about these proteins will help doctors treating patients with mutations in NLGN4X better understand their symptoms,” said Dr. Roche.

60s music icon Marianne Faithfull tests positiveAFP — LONDON

British singer Marianne Faithfull has tested positive for coronavirus and is being treated in hospital, her publi-cists said.

“Marianne Faithfull’s manager... has confirmed that Marianne is being treated for COVID-19 in hospital in

London,” music industry pub-licists Republic Media tweeted.

“She is stable and responding to treatment. We wish her well and a full and speedy recovery.”

Faithfull’s friend, the US avant-garde performer Penny Arcade, wrote on her Facebook page that the singer went into hospital on Tuesday,

reportedly after developing a cold while self-isolating.

“She has withstood and survived so much in her life —including being Marianne Faithful, that to be taken down by a virus would be such a tragedy,” wrote Arcade, whose real name is Susana Ventura.

Faithfull, 73, was one of the icons of the 1960s and was

catapulted to fame at the age of just 17 singing “As Tears Go By”, written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones.

She has had a five-decade career as a singer-songwriter, and stage and film actress. But she has also had well-docu-mented battles with health issues.

Earth’s crust is shaking less as people stay homeIANS — LONDON

The COVID-19 lockdowns globally have not only made air breathable or rivers clean but have also resulted in the way our Earth moves, as researchers now report a drop in seismic noise (the hum of vibrations in the planets crust) because transport networks, real estate and other human activities have been shut down.

According an article in the journal Nature, efforts to curb the spread of coronavirus mean that the planet itself is moving a little less, which

could “allow detectors to spot smaller earthquakes and boost efforts to monitor volcanic activity and other seismic events”.

Vibrations caused by moving vehicles and industrial machinery produce background noise, which reduces seismol-ogists’ ability to detect other signals occurring at the same frequency.

“A noise reduction of this magnitude is usually only expe-rienced briefly around Christmas,” said Thomas Lecocq, a seismologist with the Royal Observatory of Belgium

in Brussels which has observed the drop in seismic noise.

Data from a seismometer at the observatory show that measures to curb the spread of COVID-19 in Brussels caused human-induced seismic noise to fall by about one-third.

In Belgium, scientists report at least a 30 percent reduction in that amount of ambient human noise since lockdown began there.

The current drop has boosted the sensitivity of the observatory’s equipment, improving its ability to detect

waves in the same high fre-quency range as the noise, said the Nature article.

However, not all seismic monitoring stations will see an effect as pronounced as the one observed in Brussels.

According to Emily Wolin, a geologist at the US Geological Survey in Albuquerque, New Mexico, many stations are pur-posefully located in remote areas to avoid human noise.

“These should see a smaller decrease, or no change at all, in the level of high-frequency noise they record,” she was quoted as saying.

The fall in noise could also benefit seismologists who use naturally occurring background vibrations, such as those from crashing ocean waves, to probe Earth’s crust.

A fall in human-induced noise could boost the sensitivity of detectors to natural waves at similar frequencies

“There’s a big chance indeed it could lead to better measure-ments,” said Lecocq.

The reduction in seismic activity, like reduction in air pollution, also show that people are adhering to social distancing guidelines.

Band serenades people amid lockdownMembers of a new music band named “Evde Kal’’ (Stay at home) wearing medical suits, face masks and gloves perform in the streets of the city for the people staying inside as a precaution against the coronavirus pandemic in Izmir, Turkey, yesterday.

Elton John

launches fund for

HIV/AIDS work

amid coronavirus

REUTERS — LONDON

Elton John has launched a $1m emergency fund to help organ-isations working with people living with HIV or AIDS so they are not “left behind” during the coronavirus crisis.

With the coronavirus pan-demic putting pressure on health systems globally, the British musician said the Elton John AIDS Foundation would give cash to organisations for solutions to keep HIV and AIDS care up and running.

“Distributing medicines, testing and preventative treatment is not as simple as it was a few weeks ago,” Elton John, 73, said in a video posted on Twitter to announce the ini-tiative. “So our new COVID-19 emergency fund will help frontline partners to prepare for and respond to the pandemic and its effects on HIV pre-vention and care for the most marginalised communities.”

While the new coronavirus is not considered a threat to HIV-positive people who are on medication, it could pose a higher risk to those who have weakened immune systems or are unaware of their status, health experts and cam-paigners have warned.

The singer’s non-profit said it would fund solutions for “specific challenges” facing people with or at risk of HIV/AIDS who now face additional threats from coronavirus.