THURSDAY 31 DECEMBER 2020 www.thepeninsula.qa16 JUMADA I- 1442 VOLUME 25 NUMBER 8488

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special supplement

The 41st session of the Supreme Council of GCC will take place in Riyadh on January 5.

Amir receives invitation from Saudi King to attend GCC SummitQNA — DOHA

Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani received a written message from the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of the sisterly Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, inviting H H the Amir to attend the 41st session of the Supreme Council of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (GCC), to be held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on

January 5. The message was handed over by GCC Secretary-General H E Dr. Nayef bin Falah Al Hajraf during a meeting with H H the Amir at the Amiri Diwan office yesterday morning.

Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani with GCC Secretary-General H E Dr. Nayef bin Falah Al Hajraf, at the Amiri Diwan, yesterday.

Qatar, Kuwait affirm solid fraternal tiesQNA — DOHA

Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani has received a written message from the Amir of the State of Kuwait H H Sheikh Nawaf Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah, pertaining to the solid fraternal ties between the two countries and the prospects for enhancing and developing them, in addition to a number of issues of mutual interest.

The message was handed over by Kuwaiti Foreign Min-ister H E Sheikh Dr. Ahmed Nasser Al Mohammed Al Sabah, during his meeting with H H the Amir at the Amiri Diwan office yesterday morning.

At the outset of the meeting, H E the Kuwaiti Foreign Minister conveyed the greetings of H H the Amir of the State of Kuwait to H H the Amir, wishing H H the Amir good health and happiness and the Qatari people further progress and prosperity.

For his part, H H the Amir entrusted H E Kuwait’s Foreign Minister to convey his greetings to H H Sheikh Nawaf Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah, wishing him good health and the Kuwaiti people further progress and prosperity.

Katara Hospitality to establish 60 hotels by 2030QNA — DOHA

Chairman of Katara Hospitality, Sheikh Nawaf bin Jassim bin Jabor Al Thani, has said that the company has a huge plan to establish nearly 60 hotels by 2030.

He explained that Katara Hospitality now has 42 hotels and more than 25,000 rooms, while in 2000 it had about 4,000 rooms, considering that a huge progressive rate in the company’s development, and stressing that it will never stop expanding.

This came in a speech by Sheikh Nawaf bin Jassim bin Jabor Al Thani yesterday at the celebration of Katara Hospi-tality, formerly known as Qatar National Hotels, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of its establishment in 1970. Ever

since, it has adopted a pio-neering approach to develop the hospitality scene in the country, noting that the company was renamed in 2012 as Katara Hospitality to reflect its heritage and international expansion plans, with the aim

of developing a group of unique properties that celebrate hos-pitality icons around the world.

The Chairman reviewed, in his speech, the development of the company since its inception. When it started, it had only one hotel. Later it developed in

terms of the number of different hotels within Qatar, and to quickly assume a major role with many distinctive hotels under its management or assets.

He expressed his pride that Katara Hospitality was number one in the number of rooms in the Middle East and North Africa region, and 25th globally, as well as number one in terms of revenue in the Middle East and North Africa, and 14th globally.

“We have a close team which is very important in our success. We now have very good Qatari candidates who can indeed be leaders in the future,” he added, noting that the capi-talist side is not the most important today, stressing in this context that investment cannot be made without expe-rience, in addition to the

appropriate timing of investment and its great impor-tance for any investor.

He noted that one of the most important elements in Qatar National Vision 2030 is the tourism aspect, which the state focuses on, adding that Katara Hospitality adopts the strategy on how to improve this industry.

It is noteworthy that the company has witnessed a series of first steps, over the years, since its inception to manage the Gulf Hotel — the Gulf Mar-riott Hotel in Doha now — which is the first five-star hotel in the country, and with the opening of the Sheraton Doha Resort and the Convention Hotel in 1982, the company introduced the first Qatari hotel to carry an international brand. �P2

Katara Hospitality currently has 42 hotels and more than 25,000 rooms.

It has the highest number of rooms and revenue in the Middle East and North Africa region.

Globally, Katara Hos-pitality is ranked 25th in the number of rooms, and 14th in terms of revenue.

COVID-19 hotlinereceives 1.7 millioncalls since MarchQNA — DOHA

The free hotline 16000, dedi-cated to COVID-19 inquiries, received about 1.7 million calls since it was launched by the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) in March.

The hotline was launched with the aim of answering the public’s questions and inquiries related to COVID-19, in addition to enabling the public and healthcare staff to access main healthcare services provided by Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) and Primary Health Care Corporation (PHCC).

The hotline, which operates around the clock seven days a week, received more than 552,000 calls about infor-mation or services related to COVID-19.

While the rest of the calls were distributed to the other services provided by the line. A number of people with COVID-19 were able to contact the hotline to obtain urgent and quick care, which helped during the peak of the pan-demic to facilitate the process of classifying cases and directing them to home quar-antine or isolation facilities.

It also helped in tracking contacts to identify potential new cases and thus slowing down the rate of infection spread among the population in the State of Qatar.

The hotline provided callers with the option to speak in Arabic or English with employees and to obtain the necessary information about the current situation of the pan-demic in Qatar, as well as the symptoms and signs of COVID-19 infection, including procedures that need to be taken in the event of suspected infection and the rules of quar-antine, in addition to general advice on travel to countries where the virus is spreading.

The hotline provided urgent medical consultation services provided by HMC to more than 220,000 cases. �P2

Ashghal to open 7th bridge at Umm Lekhba Interchange tomorrowTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

The Public Works Authority (Ashghal) will open the seventh bridge at Umm Lekhba Inter-change (Landmark), with a length of one kilometre, as part of Sabah Al Ahmad Corridor project tomorrow, providing free flow traffic for road users coming from Al Shamal Road towards Al Markhiya Street.

The new bridge is the highest bridge in this vital inter-change, and the second highest flyover in Qatar after Umm Besher Interchange flyover, as it is located at a height of about 30 meters, and consists of one lane to accommodate about 2,000 vehicles per hour, which will significantly reduce the

travel time for road users from the north in the direction of Al Markhiya street without the need to use the Al Gharrafa intersection (Immigration).

Ashghal also opened pedes-trian and bicycle paths and beautification elements on the east side of the new Al Hatim Street in Al Gharrafa area, with a length of about 6 km, on an area of about 70 thousand square metres, where about 800 trees and 80 thousand square meter of shrubs and ground covers were planted. In addition, 22 bicycle racks and 18 benches have been provided along the street.

Project Engineer of Highway Project Department, Eng. Ali Saeed Ibrahim said the

new opening on Umm Lekhba Interchange will provide a free traffic flow from the North towards Al Markhiya, which will significantly reduce traffic pressure on Al Shamal Road (22 February Street) especially on Al Gharrafa Interchange (known as the Immigration Interchange) as road users coming from Al Shamal and heading towards Al Markhiya will now have direct access instead of making a U-turn at Immigration Interchange.

“The interchange is 96% complete, and the two remaining bridges will open by Q1, 2021”, he added

Umm Lekhba is the largest interchange in Qatar with a length of 11 kilometres. �P2

At a height of 30 metres, the new bridge is the second highest flyover in Qatar after Umm Besher Interchange flyover. Consisting of one lane, it can accommodate about 2,000 vehicles per hour.

Cabinet approves

2 more customs

departments

QNA — DOHA

The Cabinet has approved the draft decision of the Minister of Finance to establish two customs departments in Ras Bufontas and Umm Al Houl areas in its regular meeting chaired by Prime Minister and Minister of Interior H E Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa bin Abdulaziz Al Thani. The Cabi-net’s regular meeting was held at its seat at the Amiri Diwan yesterday.

A customs department will be established for each of the following two areas: The First Economic Zone (Ras Bufontas) and The Third Economic Zone (Umm Al Houl).

Following the Cabinet meeting, Minister of Justice and Acting Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs H E Dr. Issa bin Saad Al Jafali Al Nuaimi issued the following statement:

At the beginning of the meeting, the Cabinet listened to the explanation provided by H E Minister of Public Health on the latest developments to limit the spread of COVID-19, and the Cabinet affirmed the continuation of work with regard to the precautionary measures that have been taken in order to combat this pan-demic. The Cabinet reassured the progress of the first phase of the vaccination campaign against COVID-19. �P2552,000 callers sought

information about or services related to COVID-19.

The hotline played crucial role in managing the quarantine cases and contact tracing.

It provided urgent medical consultation services to more than 220,000 patients.

Umm Lekhba is the largest interchange in Qatar with a length of 11 kilometres.It consists of four levels.

It was established in 1970 as Qatar National Hotels with only one hotel under its management.

Public Health

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT THURSDAY 31 DECEMBER 2020

PAGE | 2 PAGES | 4-5

SPONSORS

PHCC reports no

side effects

from COVID-19

vaccine

Neurosurgery

Centre at Al-Ahli

Hospital provides

world-class treatment

OFFICIAL NEWS

QNA — DOHA

The State of Qatar voiced strong condemnation and denunciation of the explosion which targeted Aden airport in Yemen, leaving several killed and scores injured. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs reiterated the firm position of Qatar on rejecting violence and terrorism regardless of motives and reasons. The statement affirmed Qatar’s firm stance calling for resolving the crisis in Yemen through negotiations between Yemenis, to fulfill the aspi-rations of the brotherly Yemeni people for security, stability and prosperity. The Ministry expressed the condolences of the State of Qatar to the families of the victims, wishing the injured a speedy recovery.

Doha: The Financial and Economic

Affairs Committee of the Shura

Council held a meeting yesterday,

presided over by its Rapporteur H

E Ali bin Abdullatif Al Misnad Al

Muhannadi. During the meeting,

the Committee studied a draft law

amending some provisions of the

Commercial Companies Law issued

by Law No. 11 of 2015, and decided

to complete its study during its next

meeting. -QNA

Doha: The designated authorities

referred 91 people to the Public

Prosecution for not wearing masks

in places where they are manda-

tory. -QNA

Qatar strongly condemns explosion at Aden airport

Shura Council committee studiesdraft law oncommercial firms

91 people referred to Public Prosecution for not wearing masks

Amir receives message from Kuwait Amir

Deputy PM meets Iran Deputy Foreign Minister

Amiri Air Force conducts aerial refuelling exercise with US Air Force

02 THURSDAY 31 DECEMBER 2020HOME

Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani has received a written message from the Amir of the State of Kuwait H H Sheikh Nawaf Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah, pertaining to the solid fraternal ties between the two countries and the prospects for enhancing and developing them, in addition to a number of issues of mutual interest. The message was handed over by the Kuwaiti Foreign Minister H E Sheikh Dr. Ahmed Nasser Al Mohammed Al Sabah, during his meeting with H H the Amir at the Amiri Diwan yesterday.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, H E Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, met yesterday with Deputy Foreign Minister of the Islamic Republic of Iran, H E Abbas Araghchi, who is currently visiting the country. The meeting dealt with reviewing bilateral cooperation and issues of joint interest.

Qatar Amiri Air Force conducted an aerial refuelling exercise with the US Air Force. The Rafale aircraft of the Amiri Air Force were refuelled in the air by the US Air Force KC-135 Stratotanker aerial refuelling aircraft. This is the first aerial refuelling exercise conducted between the two friendly countries, and it reflects the practical side of the strategic partnership between the State of Qatar and the United States.

Ashghal to open seventh bridge at Umm Lekhba Interchange tomorrow

FROM PAGE 1

The interchange consists of four levels and is the first of its kind in Qatar. It contains nine bridges that provide free traffic flow in all directions. The interchange accommodates more than 20,000 vehicles per hour. Five bridges consist of two lanes in one direction, while the other four bridges include one lane in one direction. The interchange is the second highest interchange in Qatar after the interchange of Umm Bishr on the G-Ring Road where it is located at an altitude of 35 metres, while the height of the highest bridge reaches 36 metres.

Umm Lekhba Interchange is considered to be the northern gate of Doha and a ‘distribution point’ due to its strategic location. The inter-change is located at the northern gate of Doha, where there is heavy traffic to and from Doha via Al Shamal. It is located in an important spot where Al Shamal Road intersects with Sabah Al Ahmad Corridor.

The interchange is located in a densely populated area and a vibrant commercial activity where there are many government entities, educational and health facilities as well as complexes and commercial markets. The inter-change will ease the pressure on Al Shamal Road, especially at the Al Gharrafa interchange and Al Duhail intersections. It will also achieve a great traffic flow in front of those coming from Doha Corniche, Markhiya, Madinat Khalifa and Duhail in the direction of Al Shamal Road, Sabah Al Ahmad Corridor, Al Gharrafa and Gharrafat Al Rayyan areas to Al luqta and Al Rayyan.

Sabah Al Ahmad Corridor will extend for approximately 25km from Hamad International Airport to Umm Lekhba Interchange on Al Shamal Road. In addition, Ashghal will enhance 12km of local and peripheral roads inter-secting with the Corridor. The total road works of the project is approximately 37km.

Katara Hospitality to establish 60 hotels by 2030FROM PAGE 1

Katara Hospitality portfolio includes a unique group of glit-tering edifices in distinctive and prestigious locations in the State of Qatar and abroad, at a time when it has reached great levels of cash flow that its assets generate, and has invested wisely to ensure that these assets continue to meet the requirements of a highly competitive market.

Katara Hospitality plays an

important role in the strategic development witnessed by the State of Qatar, and as the leading institution for the hospitality sector in the country, it invests in the best international hotels ever, as its portfolio currently includes many international hotels, while it continues to expand its port-folio of famous hotels for investment and development of a group of the unmatched hotels in the most important global destinations.

COVID-19 hotline receives 1.7 million calls since March

FROM PAGE 1

These 220,000 callers were able to speak with a doctor and obtain medical advice remotely using phone or video calls and were prescribed the appropriate drugs. With regard to patients who needed pharmacy services, the hotline allowed them to benefit from home delivery of medicines by requesting that medicines be delivered to their homes by mail or dispensing medicines from the nearest health centre to them.

As of December 3, the number of patients who had medicines delivered to them at home reached 252,433 patients, while the number of medi-cines dispensed to these patients reached 860,64 medicines. The hotline provided patients with the National Mental Health Helpline, which has so far received more than 15,000 calls from people in need of support, especially those suffering from psychological pressures and anxiety due to the pandemic through a team of specialised mental health cadres to provide support and evaluation to callers who are classified into four main categories, namely: children and their parents, adults, the elderly, and frontline healthcare personnel.

Deputy Chief of Quality Sector at HMC and Director of Hamad Healthcare Quality Institute Nasser Al Naimi said the allocation of a hotline for COVID-19 and other urgent services contributed to ena-bling health sector partners in Qatar to provide immediate care to the infected and limit the spread of the virus by providing clear pathways to track contacts through incoming calls to the hotline.

He added that HMC’s specialised team, in cooperation with other partners who are healthcare providers, was able to develop an information base that can be used to assist the call centre staff in responding effectively to all public inquiries.

Cabinet approves 2 more customs departmentsFROM PAGE 1

The vaccination campaign is being carried out successfully, according to the set plan, as part of the State’s continuous efforts to address this pandemic and return to normal life.

The Cabinet also gave approval to a draft MoU in childhood between the gov-ernment of the State of Qatar and the United Nations

Children’s Fund (Unicef); and a draft agreement between the government of the State of Qatar and the government of the Republic of Peru regarding the exemption from short-stay visas.

The Cabinet also reviewed the following topics and took the appropriate decisions: The report of H E the Minister of Justice and Acting Minister of

State for Cabinet Affairs regarding the results of the (30) meeting of the Ministers of Justice in the countries of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf, and the report of H E the Minister of Justice and Acting Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs regarding the results of the (36) session of the Council of Arab Justice Ministers.

Sheikh Nawaf bin Jassim bin Jabor Al Thani

Deputy PM meets GCC Secretary-General

03THURSDAY 31 DECEMBER 2020 HOME

MME official holds virtual meeting with IOFS Director-GeneralTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

Director of the Food Security Department and Acting Assistant Undersec-retary for Fisheries Affairs at the Ministry of Munici-pality and Environment (MME), Masoud Jarallah Al Marri held yesterday a virtual coordination meeting with Director-General of the Islamic Organization for Food Security (IOFS), Yerlan Baidaulet.

During the meeting, the two sides discussed the most important projects, programmes and action plans of the Islamic Organ-ization for Food Security aimed at developing and pro-moting food security and sus-tainable development among the member states.

The Director-General of IOFS affirmed the organiza-tion’s desire to enhance the means of developing bilateral relations with the State of Qatar

due to its distinguished efforts in the areas of food security, as well as its achievement of advanced ranks in Arab and International levels in the Global Food Security Index.

In addition, the State of Qatar is one of the countries to ratify the articles of association

and participate in the first session of the General Assembly of the Islamic Organization for Food Security.

The Director-General also expressed the organi-zation’s plan to participate in a pavilion in the next Qatari agricultural exhi-bition if it is held, in addition to his intention to visit the State of Qatar during the month of March in order to consolidate and enhance cooperation between the two parties and inform the Qatari side of more details of pro-grammes and projects of the organization.

At the end of the meeting, the two sides stressed the need for continued cooper-ation and coordination on common issues in a way that serves the interests of both parties, especially in the field of supporting and enhancing food security.

Director of the Food Security Department, Masoud Jarallah Al Marri, and Director-General of IOFS, Yerlan Baidaulet during virtual meeting.

QRCS delivers second batch of viruscontrol medical aid shipment to SudanTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS) has delivered the second batch of medical aid to support the Sudanese Red Crescent Society (SRCS) in the fight against the coronavirus.

Under the joint response by QRCS and the Turkish Red Crescent, the shipment con-tained 6 tonnes of medications, medical equipment, and mis-cellaneous supplies.

It was received by repre-sentatives of QRCS’s represen-tation office in Sudan, SRCS, and Director of the Turkish Red Crescent’s office in Sudan.

This is the 8th aid shipment sent in 2020. QRCS supported its Sudanese counterpart with over eight cargos for different reasons, including enhancement of the health system, response to flash floods, Coronavirus control, and assistance for Ethiopian refugees.

Also, there are ongoing relief and development operations by QRCS, where aid is purchased from the local market for the benefit of vulnerable communities.

Late in November, a first shipment of coronavirus control

supplies was delivered to Sudan. It was handed over to Siddiq Tawer, a member of Sudan’s Sovereign Council and chairman of the Higher Com-mittee for Health Emergencies, as well as top officials from the two partnering organizations.

Representatives of Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS), Sudanese Red Crescent Society (SRCS), and Turkish Red Crescent office in Sudan with the shipment.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs H E Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani met yesterday with GCC Secretary-General H E Dr. Nayef Falah Al Hajraf, who is currently visiting the country. The meeting dealt with exchanging views on the work of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf, developments of the GCC crisis, in addition to issues of joint interest.

Ten people

arrested for

violating home

quarantine rules

QNA — DOHA

The competent authorities arrested yesterday ten people who violated the require-ments of the home quarantine they committed to following, which they are legally accountable for, in accordance with the procedures of the health authorities in the country.

It is in implementation of the precautionary measures in force in the country, approved by health authorities repre-sented in the Ministry of Public Health (MOPH), to ensure the achievement of public safety and to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

The arrested persons being referred to the com-petent prosecution are Mohammed Elias Khan Abdul-rashid Khan; Ali Ahmed Dhafar; Dhaker Hussien Tufail Ahmed; Fahad Said Mastoor Al Sharif Al Qahtani; Ali Bakhit Salim Ajij Al Snaid; Faisal Mohammed Fahad Farraj Al Dosari; Mohammed Salman Mohammed Ishtaq; Bawdi Mulan; Mohammed Saleh Rashid Al Behaih Al Marri and Said Ahmed Dereh Juleed.

The concerned authorities called on citizens and residents who are subject to quarantine to fully adhere to the requirements set by the Ministry of Public Health to ensure their safety and the safety of others. They warned that anyone who violates these conditions will be subject to the penalties stipulated in accordance with the provisions of Article 253 of the Penal Code No. 11 of 2004, and the provi-sions of Law No. 17 of 1990 regarding the prevention of infectious diseases, and Law No. 17 of 2002 on the pro-tection of society.

70% need to get COVID-19 vaccine for community protectionFAZEENA SALEEM THE PENINSULA

A senior official at the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) has clar-ified many queries raised by the public during a live question and answer session hosted on Instagram, yesterday.

Head of Vaccination at MoPH, Dr. Soha Al Bayat, said that people will need to continue taking precautions against the spread of COVID-19 despite taking first dose of the vaccine. She said sufficient antibodies will develop against COVID-19 virus after taking second dose of the vaccination.

According to Dr. Al Bayat, the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at present being admin-istrated in Qatar can be effective for a minimum of four to five months according to initial clinical trials.

“The COVID-19 vaccine is new; it’s very difficult to say for

how long it will be effective. Research is still ongoing into how strong that protection is and how long it lasts. But clinical trials show that it can be effective for minimum of four to five months hopefully it will be more. Follow up is being done with people who are vaccinated,” she said.

Dr. Al Bayat also stressed the need for about 70%of the popu-lation to be vaccinated against COVID-19 to ensure that enough people have antibodies and public can go back to normal life without restrictions. The clinical trial data for the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine show that when both shots of the

dual-injection immunization are taken, three weeks apart, they are about 95% effective.

Answering a question if a person can get COVID-19 pos-itive in-between the two doses of vaccine, Dr. Al Bayat said that it is possible because a sufficient time is needed to develop anti-bodies in the immune system.

“About 95% people who received both doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine have developed antibodies. Each person’s body responds different to vaccines and illnesses. Even if you don’t develop enough anti-bodies and get the infection, the effect will be mild,” she said. Dr.

Al Bayat also emphasized on that clinical trials for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine did not include either pregnant or lactating women and children below the age of 16, and available data is so far insufficient to determine any risks to them posed by the vaccine.

“No pregnant women were included in the trial but no sig-nificant contra indications are shown at this at this stage… Tech-nically speaking it should be safe but there is no scientific evi-dence,” said Dr. Al Bayat.

Dr. Al Bayat who recently received first dose of COVID-19 vaccine ruled out of any serious side effects caused. “So far about 2 million people have received the COVID-19 vaccine in the US, more than a million in the UK and many others around the world including in Qatar. Some have shown very modest side effects including mild fever, mild headache, fatigue and soreness

at the injection site, which is commonly seen with other vac-cines,” said Dr. Al Bayat.

Qatar started the roll-out by vaccinating people of over 70 age and some healthcare staff on December 23. In the first phase of vaccination preference will be given to people over 70 years old, adults in chronic care and home care facilities, healthcare personnel most at risk of infection and people over 16 years of age with severe chronic diseases. The first phase of vaccination will continue until January 31. “When we receive the next batches of the COVID-19 vaccine we will gradually include every category of the population. The vaccine is given free and to everyone regardless of their nationality,” said Dr. Al Bayat. She also highlighted that the vaccine is not mandatory in Qatar but encouraged everyone to get vaccinated against COVID-19.

MoPH reports 153 morerecoveries from COVID-19THE PENINSULA — DOHA

The Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) yesterday announced the registration of 206 new confirmed COVID-19 cases. Among them 45 were travellers returning from abroad.

Also 153 people have recovered from the virus, bringing the total number of recovered cases in Qatar to 141,300. All new cases have been introduced to isolation and are receiving necessary healthcare according to their health status.

The total number of positive COVID-19 cases recorded in Qatar is 143,621 and there are 2,076 active cases under treatment.

The Ministry further said that measures to tackle COVID-19 in Qatar have succeeded in flattening the curve and limiting the spread of the virus. Also Qatar’s proactive and extensive testing of suspected cases has enabled us to identify a high number of positive cases in the community.

The Ministry asked people to be careful and protect the most vulnerable, while COVID-19 restrictions are being lifted.

“Unless we follow all precautionary measures, we may expe-rience a second wave of the virus and see numbers increasing – there are already signs of this happening in other countries around the world. Now more than ever, we must be careful and protect the most vulnerable,” it added.

Head of Vaccination at MoPH, Dr. Soha Al Bayat, stressed the need for about 70% of the population to be vaccinated against COVID-19 to ensure that enough people have antibodies and public can go back to normal life without restrictions.

04 THURSDAY 31 DECEMBER 2020HOME

The celebration of Gulf

Wildlife Day 2020 comes

within the framework of

the efforts made by the

State of Qatar to support

and activate the role of

local communities, and

environmental awareness

in preserving wildlife, by

shedding light on the sites

of wild plants and nature

reserves in the GCC

countries.

HBKU’s CSE team wins first place in Middle East and Africa in AI competitionTHE PENINSULA – DOHA

The College of Science and Engineering (CSE) at Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU) recently highlighted the signif-icant positive impact of their work in the field of artificial intelligence when a team won first place in the Middle East and Africa at the AI for Development (AI4Dev) Challenge for the ESRA Application.

The team led by Dr. Mowafa Househ, associate professor at CSE, Dr. Alaa Abd-alrazaq, post-doc; Dr. Zubair Shah, assistant professor; Dr. Younns Ait Mou, software engineer and research fellow; and Shaymaa Khalifa, software engineer.

The CSE team began devel-oping the Emotion Sensing Rec-ognition App (ESRA) to help address the potential negative impact of the COVID-19 pan-demic on the mental health of families, especially children. The algorithm was built with the help of an art therapist and AI technology. ESRA provides feedback on a child’s emotional state and well-being to parents, teachers and mental health

practitioners based on an analysis of their drawings. The app saves the well-being responses to enable the emo-tional status of the child to be tracked over time. ESRA can be used as a tool to monitor a number of mental health con-ditions while also encouraging family bonding.

The AI4Dev Challenge was launched by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) to identify innovative and impactful Artificial Intelligence (AI) solutions that would help achieve four Sustainable Devel-opment Goals (SDGs) in Arab and African states. The compe-tition was coordinated by the Nile Pioneers initiative and held in partnership with the United Nations Development Pro-gramme (UNDP), the World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organi-zation (UNESCO), Nile Uni-versity, Egypt, and other local and international organizations. The challenge attracted over 200 entrants, with participants from 17 countries and 25 dif-ferent nationalities. Along with

cash prizes for the top four teams, the winners will receive mentorship, training, and guidance on developing proto-types, in keeping with the initi-ative’s aim to build the capacity of new innovators in emerging technologies and support their entry into the market, while encouraging new partnerships, c o l l a b o r a t i o n , a n d cooperation.

The competition’s jury selected ESRA as a winner of the challenge based on six core cri-teria, which included problem relevance, solution urgency, solution scalability, team requirements, use of AI, and data acquisition.Dr. Househ said, “Our participation in the AI4Dev Challenge highlighted our aim at CSE to serve societal needs and the recognition of our

ESRA app is very encouraging. In particular, the tool recognizes the impact on children and ado-lescents in times when access to traditional mental health consultation is missing. Not only does this award encourage us as researchers to see our work having an impact on driving sustainable development across the region, but it also highlights the real-world application of AI, which is ultimately an important goal of our research work at HBKU.”

Commenting on the success, founding dean at CSE, Dr. Mounir Hamdi, said: “This prestigious win for the ESRA tool is a tremendous and note-worthy achievement by the team at the global level. It is a testament to the significance of CSE’s research and world standing in providing novel solutions to the UN SDGs and the exceptional opportunities we provide for impactful research that advances devel-opment needs.”

The ITU quotes Chaesub Lee, Director, ITU Telecommu-nication Standardization Bureau, as having said: “The ITU

Challenge provided a platform for participants to apply ITU’s Machine Learning Toolkit in solving practical problem state-ments. The ITU Challenge allowed participants to connect with new partners in the ITU community — and new tools and data resources — to achieve goals set out by problem state-ments contributed by industry and academia.”

Registration open for Qatar’s Strongest Man competition on January 22THE PENINSULA – DOHA

Aspire Zone Foundation (AZF) has announced that registration is now open to strength athletics for Qatar’s Strongest Man (QSM). The event will take place on January 22. Interested athletes can register on the Aspire Zone website. The partic-ipant must complete the physical requirement before proceeding to the actual competition.

Challenges include a 200kg deadlift, a farmer’s 20m walk while carrying 120 kg in each arm, and a giant 160kg tire flip. The qualifications rounds would be held on January 8 and 15 from 4:00 pm-6:00 pm on both days. AZF will also organise a technical meeting to familiarize partic-ipants with the rules of the competition.

Considering the coronavirus pandemic, AZF will take all precautionary measures by setting up checkpoints for Ehteraz App, take the tem-perature of participants and the audience and ensure everyone wears a face mask.

Alwadi Hotel MGallery launches

special offers on December 31THE PENINSULA – DOHA

Alwadi Hotel MGallery is kicking off 2021 with glitz and sparkle with special offers for guests to welcome the New Year on December 31.

The unique poolside setting of O’Glacee is the perfectly chilled but also lively spot to ring in the New Year with family and friends. With views of Msheireb Downtown and a laidback vibe, guests can enjoy the culinary team’s Mediter-ranean-inspired interactive seafood buffet for five hours.

Packages start from QR299 for beverages. You can enjoy the last minutes of 2020 and welcome 2021 while also enjoying Doha’s beautiful winter while dining al fresco from 7pm to 12am.

For those wanting sky high views and a sparkling expe-rience to remember, the Night of Sparkle New Year’s Eve at Infinity Rooftop Lounge is waiting to welcome you and your friends. Enjoy five hours of a specially crafted platter of gourmet bites and beverages from 8pm to 1am for QR699 per person. With views across to the iconic West Bay skyline, the location and ambience of Infinity are unrivalled.

Bookings for both O’Glacee and the Night of Sparkle are recommended and can be made by calling +974 4009 9999 or Whatsapp +974 3075 8211. For something more fam-ily-oriented but just as special,

the hotel’s tea lounge – AtT-EAtude, with its alfresco terrace and menu of bespoke cakes and other treats, is also the perfect location to experience the buzz of New Year’s Eve in Msheireb

and the nearby historic Souq Waqif. The Winter Delight afternoon tea is QR175 for two people. Alwadi Hotel MGallery General Manager Hani Akkari said the Hotel had put together some very special experiences and opportunities for guests to enjoy the New Year celebrations.

“It’s been a difficult year in so many ways, so we wanted to ensure our guests had some-where unique to mark the start of 2021.

“Our team has worked hard to create truly unique menus and experiences to get 2021 off the best start possible. We want to thank our loyal guests for their support in 2020 and look forward to surprising and delighting them yet again in 2021,” said Akkari.

Alwadi Hotel MGallery General Manager Hani Akkari

Qatar celebrates GCC Wildlife DayQNA – DOHA

The State of Qatar, represented by the Ministry of Municipality and Environment (MME), celebrated yesterday the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Wildlife Day 2020, which falls on December 30.

The celebration of Gulf Wildlife Day 2020 comes within the framework of the efforts made by the State of Qatar to support and activate the role of local commu-nities, and environmental awareness in preserving wildlife, by

shedding light on the sites of wild plants and nature reserves in the GCC countries, as well as the efforts made to enhance their biodiversity without negatively affecting their natural components.

This celebration also comes with the aim of contributing to programs to rehabilitate components of the natural environment, and to create and develop programs and activ-ities that would enhance and protect their biodiversity and environ-mental balance.

This prestigious win for

the ESRA tool is a

tremendous and

noteworthy achievement

by the team at the global

level. It is a testament to

the significance of CSE’s

research and world

standing in providing

novel solutions to the UN

SDGs and the exceptional

opportunities.

Dr. Mounir Hamdi

Founding Dean at CSE

4th Qatari Youth Forum in FebruaryTHE PENINSULA – DOHA

The Ministry of Culture and Sports is organizing the fourth edition of the Qatari Youth Forum from February 15 to 17 (2021).

This year’s forum includes platforms and mechanisms for promoting and empowering youth, the most important of which is the “Tamkeen Platform”, which is a real opportunity for youth to showcase their talent, in addition to being a platform to display inspiring experi-ences for young people and review the challenges they

faced to reach their desired goals.

Spaces will also be allocated for young people who wish to display their distinct and unique a c h i e v e m e n t s a n d innovations.

The Ministry of Culture and Sports called youth, through its official accounts on social media platforms and on its website, to participate in the “Tamkeen Platform” by filling out the participation form.

The Ministry also called on youth to participate in the poll to know the main issues of concern to the youth, in an

effort to achieve an effective response to the aspirations of Qatari youth, where six issues will be selected based on the highest votes.

The issues which will be chosen will be discussed in the forum.

The third Qatari Youth Forum witnessed a large turnout of young people, during which the first elections for the Minister’s Youth Advisory Com-mittee were held.

It was held over two days in the Ali Bin Hamad Al Attiyah Arena under the supervision of the Ministry of Culture and Sports.

DOHA TODAY05 THURSDAY 31 DECEMBER 2020

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SESRI: The shining light of Qatar University on researchAYENI OLUSEGUN THE PENINSULA

In a rapidly changing world, the impor-tance of research and data collation cannot be overemphasized. The primary purpose of research is to inform action, prove a theory, and contribute to developing knowledge in a field of study.

On the other hand, data will help you improve the quality of life for people. It also helps make informed decisions, find solutions to problems, strategy, adequate use and access to resources, and keep track of the process.

Research and data collation play a significant role in the government’s implementation of productive initia-tives for developing countries, espe-cially as the world gears towards a more global and digital approach with sustainability at its core.

One such agency in Qatar that carries out valuable research pro-grammes in several disciplines is the Social & Economic Survey Research Institute (SESRI). The Qatar University scientific research institute was estab-lished in October 2008 with a mission to provide sound and reliable data to guide policy formulation, priority-setting, and evidence-based planning in the social and economic sectors.

“SESRI is very significant to both Qatar University and Qatar as a whole. The Institute has been an important tool for research and capacity building for Qatari nationals in survey research methodology. Additionally, SESRI is a platform for Qatar University faculty and students to conduct their research. Along these lines, the Institute also offers training in survey research spe-cializing on topics of interest to the academic community and Qatari society. It provides a weekly free con-sultancy in survey research known as the Survey Clinic,” Prof. Abdoulaye Diop, Manager, Research Department at SESRI, told The Peninsula.

“SESRI also makes a significant contribution to Qatar National Vision 2030 (QNV2030) with a dedicated pro-fessional staff of researchers and faculty with an extensive background in survey research and knowledge of Qatari culture and society,” he added.

For Qatar, achieving a knowledge-based society is one of the core com-ponents of the Qatar National Vision. With the recent strides and Qatar’s development over the past decade, it’s safe to say it is on track to achieve such a feat.

The Institute’s research is guided by Qatar’s national needs, aligned with Qatar National Development Strategy 2 (QNDS-2; 2018-2022) and QNV 2030. These needs translate to four research

pillars at the university level under Qatar University Research priorities, including Information and Communi-cation Technology, Energy and Envi-ronment, Health and Biomedical Sci-ences, and Social Sciences and Humanities.

Since its establishment, SESRI has conducted several significant studies and surveys to provide baseline infor-mation and subsequent trends analysis on Qatar’s social, economic, and cul-tural attitudes, values, and beliefs. These studies have been funded either by Qatar University, through institu-tional grants (Qatar Foundation/QNRF, Qatar University Internal Grants), or commissioned projects by some gov-ernmental and non-governmental organizations.

Prof. Diop noted that as a uni-versity-based research Institute, SESRI draws resources from all schools and departments at Qatar University. Besides, under the commissioned projects, the Institute collaborates with various governmental and non-gov-ernmental organisations.

At the international level, he added that SESRI collaborates with various universities and organizations like the University of Michigan (USA), the Uni-versity of Denver (USA), the University of Florida (USA), the University of Man-chester (UK), the European University Institute (Italy), and Utrecht University (Netherlands).

“At this very moment, we are col-laborating with Harvard University (USA), the University of Cambridge (UK), the World Health Organization (WHO), and the University of Michigan in one of our current projects funded by Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) – the World Mental Health (WMH)

project,” Prof. Diop said.In turn, these results are then

implemented in critical areas of society.

“Decision and policymakers are using results from the Institute’s studies,” Prof Diop said to a question about how SESRI’s research is being used.

“From previous research, I can mention the Ministry of Health, National Human Rights Committee (NHRC), Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA), and other organizations that have commissioned studies and imple-mented the research results/outcomes. Lately, relevant authorities who deter-mined Qatar’s minimum wage have used results from the Institute’s Guest Workers’ Welfare Index. Because of its studies in the areas of labor and labor migration, SESRI has been a member of the minimum wage committee set by the government along with other organizations such as the Ministry of

Administrative Development, Labor and Social Affairs (MADLSA) and the International Labor Organization (ILO) Qatar Office.”

According to Prof. Diop, SESRI is currently working on several projects. Some of these projects are long-term projects, spanning multiple years, while others are executed over a much shorter period. These projects include the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Project, the World Mental Health Project (WMH), Qatar Education Studies (QES), and “Qatar’s Labour Law Changes and Workers’ Welfare: Attitudes & Per-ceptions for a Sustainable Future (QLL).”

While research and studies influence public and private sectors’ pol-icies, this process still faces a host of challenges ranging from response rate, geography, interest, i g n o r a n c e , a n d illiteracy.

“The rate of response is a concern facing all survey research organi-zations worldwide. Though we enjoy better response rates than other research bodies, especially in the West, we are also facing declining response rates both with our face-to-face and telephone surveys. When we started data collection in 2010, our response rates were in the 70% range, but now they are down t o 5 0 - 5 5 % f o r

the face-to-face and 45-50% for the telephone surveys. These rates are still higher than those seen in the US and Europe. To address this, we do our best to inform the public, researchers, and decision-makers about our studies’ utility by disseminating and sharing our study results. When the public is informed about the utility of these surveys, we have better chances of boosting cooperation and partici-pation, which will allow us to increase or maintain our response rates,” Prof. Diop said.

The coronavirus pandemic has also hindered the progress of researches, but it has also created another means of conducting interviews.

“We recently faced the restric-tions associated with the Corona-virus COVID-19 pandemic. These restrictions affected our data col-lection capabilities, especially with face-to-face interviews. The Institute has initiated and has already implemented direct dialing from home for a distributed Com-puter Assisted Telephone Inter-viewing (CATI) remote workspace. With this capability, interviewers can safely call respondents from home while being remotely moni-tored by a supervisor. This allowed the Institute to conduct data col-lection via phone while still respecting the social distancing measures. Accordingly, we adapted some of our face-to-face surveys to telephone interviewing,” he noted.

Prof. Abdoulaye Diop

DMIS student secures Rank 1 in

SOF science olympiad exams

THE PENINSULA - DOHA

A grade 2 student of Doha Modern Indian School (DMIS), Ayesha Shakeel Shaikh, has secured International Rank 1 in SOF National Science Olympiad exams conducted during 2019-20.

She has been awarded with International Gold Medal and Certificate of Outstanding Per-formance for topping in National Science Olympiad exam.

This is indeed a very com-mendable performance con-sidering that over 56,000 schools from 1,400 cities spread across 32 countries reg-istered for the world’s biggest Olympiad exam and millions of students appeared in the six exams.

The other achievements of Ayesha include International Rank 7 in International English Olympiad.

She has been awarded International Bronze medal and certificate of zonal excellence for her except ional performance.

She also obtained School Gold medal of excellence for International Maths Olympiad.

Speaking about her future career plan, seven-year-old Ayesha said that she wanted to be a doctor to serve the community.

The hobbies of the little girl are drawing and painting.

She is also memoriasing Holy Quran.

The Science Olympiad

Foundation (SOF) is an edu-cationalorganization popular-izing academic competition and assisting the devel-opment of competitive spirit among school children, according to the website of SOF.

SOF was established by leading academicians, scien-tists and media personalities with the aim of promoting Science, Mathematics, Com-puter Education, English, General Knowledge and pro-fessional courses.

SOF has been striving for close to 25 years to promote scientific attitude and temper-ament through innovative activities and use of IT in learning process that involve school students across the globe.

Ayesha Shakeel Shaikh posing with her certificate.

SIS hosts ‘Makeover 21’ trainingTHE PENINSULA - DOHA

Teachers of Shantiniketan Indian School (SIS) reaped rich from Makeover 21 – The Professional Development Programme of SIS.

The two-day session on the topic: ‘Understanding Self Appraisal Rubrics’ was aimed at helping teachers to strengthen their resourcefulness in order to place themselves better in classroom and in their professional achievements.

Vice Principal of SIS, Dudley O’Connor and his team enlightened the teachers with his session on Teacher Resourcefulness, Lesson Planning, Classroom and Remote Teaching.

Head Teacher (Secondary Section), Syed Meraj Ali and team took up the remedial practices at SIS by helping the teachers with understanding the objec-tives and best practices that can be adopted for achieveing better outcome in their Academic Support Programme (ASP); Academic Achievement and Enhancement Programme (AAEP; and Personalised Guidance Programme (PGP).

Head teacher (Middle Section), Matthew and team shared the objec-tives and importance of Value and Art Integration in classroom to make learning more joyful and valuable. Senior Head Teacher, Mehjabeen with her team, threw valuable light on the importance of Correction of Students’ Work and Feedback for creating a pos-itive environment of learning in school.

Head Teacher (Secondary Section), Bushara and her team, shared the importance and effective use of the innovatively designed E-Learning, E-Training and SIS Learn Platform and help teachers guide students to make effective use of the digital content made available to them through the teamwork of SIS.

Principal of SIS, Dr. Subhash in his closing address urged to teachers to be happy in order to make so many children happier. He expressed hap-piness at the enthusiasm and spirit shown by the teachers in this two-day highly interactive and mind-sharing session.

Highness saluted the champions of the times of medical staff and all the staff of the teams working on the frontline against the COVID-19 pandemic, during an online celebration broadcast by beIN Sports.

On July 3, H H the Amir made an inspection visit to the Salwa Beach Resort, located in the southwest of the country on an area of 3.2 million square meters, during which His Highness was briefed on the developments and stages of the project progress.

Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani met at his office in Al Bahr Palace on July 8, with the President of the 75th session of the General Assembly H E Volkan Bozkir and the accompa-nying delegation on the occasion of their visit to the country.

H H the Amir, a member of the Inter-national Olympic Committee (IOC), par-ticipated in the 136th IOC session, which was held via video conference on July 17. The session was chaired by IOC Pres-ident H E Dr Thomas Bach and attended by members of the Executive Board,

members of the IOC, and heads of Inter-national Federations and the National Olympic Committees.

On August 8, H H the Amir donated QR50m to the ‘Lebanon in Our Hearts’ campaign which raised over QR65.2m during a two-hour live transmission on Qatar TV.

On September 12, Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani has donated QR50m to ‘Peace for Sudan’ campaign to support the flood victims in Sudan during a fund raising trans-mission on Qatar TV which raised over QR89.6m.

On September 23, H H the Amir took part in the opening session of the General Debate of the 75th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, which was held via video-conference from the UN headquarters in New York, with the par-ticipation of a number of Their Majesties, Highnesses and Excellencies leaders of countries and heads of governments and

delegations. On September 30, H H the Amir par-

ticipated in the funeral prayer of H H Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah at Bilal bin Rabah Mosque. Also participating in the prayer were Their Excellencies Sheikhs and ministers members of the official delegation accompanying H H the Amir.

On October 1, Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Deputy Amir H H Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad Al Thani, and Prime Minister and Min-ister of Interior H E Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa bin Abdulaziz Al Thani sent cables of congratulations to Amir of the sisterly State of Kuwait H H Sheikh Nawaf Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah on the occasion of taking the oath as the Amir of the State of Kuwait, wishing him success, and the brotherly Kuwaiti people further progress and prosperity.

H H the Amir met with President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, H E Dr. Mohammad Ashraf Ghani, at the Amiri Diwan on October 7.

Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani discussed with President of the Republic of Turkey H E Recep Tayyip Erdogan bilateral strategic relations and

the means to enhance them in all fields on October 7.

On October 21, Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani paid a visit to Katara International Hunting and Falcons Exhibition (S’hail 2020), at the Wisdom Square of the Cultural Village Foundation— Katara.

Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani announced on November 3 that the elections for Shura Council advisory will be held in October 2021. “This is an important step towards strengthening Qatari advisory traditions,” HH the Amir said addressing the opening of the Shura Council.

On November 5, H H the Amir patronized the opening ceremony of the Military Police Forces Command’s camp.

H H the Amir sent a cable of con-gratulations to H E Joe Biden on the occasion of his victory in the presi-dential elections in the United States of America, wishing him success and further development and prosperity in the friendship between the two coun-tries on November 9.

On November 15, H H the Amir met with President of the Republic of Tunisia H E Kais Saied at the Amiri Diwan. During the talks, the Amir and the Tunisian President discussed cooper-ation relations between the two coun-tries and the prospects of developing and advancing these relations in all spheres, especially in politics, economic devel-opment, investment, health and education.

H H the Amir met at the Amiri Diwan with President of the Interna-tional Federation of Association Football (FIFA) HE Gianni Infantino, on the occasion of his visit to the country on November 23.

Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani discussed with President of the Republic of Turkey H E Recep Tayyip Erdogan the strategic bilateral

cooperation in all fields, particularly the political, economic, investment, defence, energy, education, transport, and sports fields. The sixth meeting of the Qatar-Turkey Supreme Strategic Committee,

which was held at the presidential palace in Ankara on November 26, also reviewed the outcomes of previous meetings, and ways to enhance the com-mittee’s work to advance the interest of the two peoples.

On December 10, H H the Amir issued Law No. 22 of 2020 approving the state’s general budget for the fiscal year 2021.

Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani attended the 2020 National Day Parade, which was held on Doha Cor-niche on December 18. Father Amir H H Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani also attended the National Parade.

Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani was joined by FIFA President Gianni Infantino on December 18, retired soccer stars and national sports heroes as Qatar unveiled Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium, its fourth World Cup venue with a grand football clash broadcast around the world.

Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani on January 11 mourned the death of H M Sultan Qaboos bin Said bin Taimur of the Sultanate of

Oman. H H the Amir stressed, in a statement, that Sultan Qaboos bin Said bin Taimur was a great leader charac-terized by wisdom, moderation, and long-term vision. On January 12, the Amir offered condolences to H M Sultan Haitham bin Tariq Al Said on the death of Sultan Qaboos at Al Alam Palace in Muscat.

On January 13, Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani in an official visit to Iran held talks session with the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Dr. Hassan Rouhani, and also met with the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, H E Ali Khamenei.

H H the Amir and President of Italy H E Sergio Mattarella held a session of official talks at the Amiri Diwan on January 21. The session discussed the close bilateral relations between the two friendly countries and means of devel-oping them in different fields.

On January 24, H H the Amir pat-ronised the graduation ceremony of the second batch of candidate students of the Ministry of Interior’s Police College at its headquarters in Al Sailiya.

H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani issued Amiri Order No. 2 for the year 2020 to appoint H E Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa bin Abdulaziz Al Thani as Prime Minister on January 28.

The Amir patronised on January 30 the graduation ceremony of the 7th batch of students of Al Zaeem (Leader) Mohamed Bin Abdullah Al Attiyah Air College at its headquarters in Al Udeid Air Base.

Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani patronised the graduation cer-emony of the 15th batch of students of Ahmed Bin Mohammed Military College at its headquarters on January 31.

H H the Amir participated in the activities of the Qatar National Sport Day along with citizens and residents on Feb-ruary 11. H H the Amir walked and jogged along with Qatari world champions, Olympic athletes, Qatari Women’s Sports Committee players and Aspire Academy students at Lusail Promenade.

H H the Amir awarded the Hamad bin Khalifa Sash to H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani in rec-ognition of his sincere efforts and val-uable services for the country during a meeting at the Amiri Diwan on February 14.

On February 19, H H the Amir visited the site of the development of central Doha and Al Corniche Street project, carried out by the Public Works Authority (Ashghal).

Amir reviewed the Qatar Research, Development and Innovation Strategy

(QRDI 2030) that was developed by the Qatar Research, Development and Inno-vation (QRDI) Council in alignment with Qatar National Vision 2030 on February 21.

On February 24, H H the Amir arrived in Amman, for a two-day official visit to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. H H the Amir was welcomed upon arrival at Queen Alia International Airport by H M King Abdullah II bin Al Hussein and other dignitaries.

H H the Amir and President of the Republic of Tunisia, H E Kais Saied held an official talks session at Carthage Pres-idential Palace in Tunis on February 25.

On February 26, Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and the Pres-

ident of the People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria, H E Abdelmadjid Tebboune held an official talks session at El Mouradia Presidential Palace in Algiers.

On February 28, Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and the Prime Minister of the Islamic Republic

of Pakistan, H E Imran Khan, discussed bilateral relations and the means to enhance them, in addition to a number of issues of joint interest.

H H the Amir donated QR50m to the ‘Haqq Al Sham’ campaign on February 28. This was announced by H E Sheikh Abdul Rahman bin Hamad Al Thani, CEO of the Qatar Media Foundation, through his official account on Twitter.

On February 29, H H the Amir met at Al Bahr Palace with Head of the Political Office of Afghan Taliban, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar and his accompa-nying delegation on the occasion of their visit to the country to participate in the signing of a peace agreement between the US and the Afghan Taliban. The same day, H H the Amir met with the US Sec-retary of State H E Mike Pompeo and his accompanying delegation at His Highness’ office in Al Bahr Palace, on the occasion of their visit to the country to attend the signing ceremony of the Afghanistan peace agreement.

On March 1, H H the Amir attended the final of the WTA Qatar Total Open, which took place at the Khalifa Interna-tional Tennis and Squash Complex. The match ended with Belarus’ Aryna Sabalenka defeating Czech Petra Kvitova 6-3, 6-3.

Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani held a telephone conversation on March 4 with President of the United States of America H E Donald Trump, during which they reviewed the stra-tegic relations between the two coun-tries and ways to support and enhance them in various fields.

Also on March 4, H H the Amir hon-oured 83 winners of the Education Excellence Award, who are master and doctorate’s degree holders, university and high schools graduates and out-standing primary and preparatory edu-cation students, in addition to the winners in the categories of an out-standing teacher and school and scien-tific research.

On March 16, H H the Amir directed the State’s officials to provide the nec-essary services to citizens and residents, foremost of which is to provide safety and protection for them from the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) to ensure continuing their normal life. This came during H H the Amir presiding over the meeting of the Supreme Committee for Crisis Management to combat the COVID-19 to determine the efforts made by the competent authorities in the State to prevent this epidemic, as the author-ities presented to His Highness “the national executive plan to confront the COVID-19.

The same day, the Supreme Com-mittee for Crisis Management (to combat COVID-19), presided by H H the Amir, decided to provide a whopping QR75bn stimulus package to the private sector.

Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani directed on March 23 to provide financial support to Palestinians brethren in the Gaza Strip with amount of $150m over a period of six months, in order to complement the efforts of the State of Qatar to alleviate the suffering of the brotherly Palestinian people, and in support of the United Nations relief and humanitarian programmes in the Gaza Strip.

Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani wished hospitalised British Prime Minister Boris Johnson speedy recovery on Twitter on April 7.

On April 8, H H the Amir directed sending medical aid to the Italian Republic to support the efforts of friends in Italy to combat and contain the out-break of the novel coronavirus epidemic.

On April 17, Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani directed sending urgent medical aid to the Lebanese Republic to support the efforts of the

brothers in Lebanon to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

H H the Amir issued an Amiri gesture pardoning a number of prisoners in con-sideration of the health and humani-tarian conditions in light of the current situation in the country as a result of the novel coronavirus pandemic on April 22.

H H the Amir visited the Research and Development Center at Barzan Holding Company affiliated to the Min-istry of Defence at their headquarters in the Qatar Science and Technology Park to view the production lines for the man-ufacturing of the (Savr-Q) ventilators on April 29.

On May 28, H H the Amir held via telephone a conversation with President of the Russian Federation H E Vladimir Putin. During the call, the strategic rela-tions between the two friendly coun-tries were reviewed, in addition to ways of supporting and enhancing them in the fields of investment, military, defense, health and sports cooperation, especially the exchange of experiences in the field of organizing FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022.

On June 4, H H the Amir addressed the World Vaccine Summit 2020 in London through video conferencing and pledged $20m aid for the summit, which aimed to mobilise $ 7.4bn to protect the next generation with vaccines, reduce disease inequality and create a healthier, safer and more prosperous world.

H H the Amir gave a speech on June 15 to mark the completion of Education City Stadium, the third venue for the World Cup 2022, during which His

06 THURSDAY 31 DECEMBER 2020HOME 07THURSDAY 31 DECEMBER 2020 HOME

Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani visited a number of countries and received prominent world leaders in Qatar during 2020. H H the Amir also issued a number of important laws and decisions. The Peninsula takes a glimpse of the deci-sions and visits made by the Amir during the year 2020.

Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani dis-cussed with President of the Republic of Turkey H E Recep Tayyip Erdogan the strategic bilateral cooperation in all fields, particularly the political, economic, investment, defence, energy, edu-cation, transport, and sports fields.

Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani announced on November 3 that the elections for Shura Council advisory will be held in October 2021. “This is an important step towards strengthening Qatari advisory traditions,” H H the Amir said addressing the opening of the Shura Council.

Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani in an official visit to Iran held talks session with the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Dr. Hassan Rouhani on January 13 and also met with the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, H E Ali Khamenei.

On January 12, the Amir offered condo-lences to H M Sultan Haitham bin Tariq Al Said on the death of Sultan Qaboos at Al Alam Palace in Muscat.

H H the Amir and President of Italy H E Sergio Matta-rella held a session of official talks at the Amiri Diwan on January 21.

H H the Amir partici-pated in the funeral prayer of late Kuwait Amir H H Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah. The Amir also condoled with the new Kuwait Amir H H Sheikh Nawaf Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah.

Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani attended the 2020 National Day Parade, which was held on Doha Corniche on December 18. Father Amir H H Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani also attended the National Parade.

H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani issued Amiri Order No. 2 for the year 2020 to appoint H E Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa bin Abdulaziz Al Thani as the Prime Minister on January 28.

Taking nation to new heights QATAR 2020

Pole Vault world record holder Armand (Mondo) Duplantis completed an unbeaten season, edging American world champion Sam Kendricks on September 26 in a bio-secure environment during the last round of the 2020 Diamond League which attracted 27 World and Olympic medallists at the Qatar Sports Club Stadium in Doha.

RIZWAN REHMAT THE PENINSULA

Two football giants. Twevlve thousand screaming fans. One magnificent stadium.

The setting could not have been more alluring for a sports fan in Qatar. On Qatar’s National Day, the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy (SC) unveiled the Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium, the fourth stadium of the 2022 FIFA World Cup to be inaugurated in Qatar.

The 40,000-seater marked the special occasion with a final between Al Sadd and Al Arabi. The two football clubs with the largest fan bases in Qatar battled for the Amir Cup title - which was won by Al Sadd - after a match that was watched by the Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, FIFA President Gianni Infantino, UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin and the AFC chief Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa along with scores of dignitaries.

A spectacular fireworks show added glitter to a memorable occasion as coach Xavi’s Al Sadd celebrated winning the Amir Cup title for the 17th time in the club’s history. For Al Arabi’s coach Heimir Hallgrimson and his players, it was a day to cherish as they reached the title clash of Qatar’s most popular football tournament after 27 years.

And yes, a little away from the match intensity, the world approv-ingly celebrated the inauguration of the stadium two years ahead of schedule.

FIFA President Infantino, who has made a series of visits to Qatar in the last four months, was partic-ularly thrilled with the fourth 2022 World Cup venue getting match ready.

“Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium is a wonderful venue for football. The atmosphere is incredible, with the seats extremely close to the pitch. Even with a socially-distanced crowd, I could feel the passion for the game. I am sure this will be a perfect football arena in 2022 when it hosts matches during the World Cup. I would like to congratulate Qatar on the completion of this latest World Cup project. The country is very well prepared for the next World Cup and on track to host a memorable version of the tournament – the first in the Middle East and Arab world, and the second in Asia,” Infantino said.

In what could be termed as a major accomplishment in trying circumstances, Qatar unveiled its third World Cup stadium - ready for match use - earlier this year. To honour the health workers in Qatar and around the world, the SC put together a digital ceremony marking the opening of the Edu-cation City Stadium in June this year, three months after the COVID-19 pandemic around the globe pulled the brakes on the sports calendar. The Education City Stadium is no ordinary football venue. The 40,000-seater is sur-rounded by leading universities and the Education City Golf Course, the

capital’s city second European Tour golf venue.

Australian football great Tim Cahill said at the time: “Although I would have much preferred to be there in person, I was still honoured and excited to take part virtually when the completion of Education City Stadium – the third tour-nament-ready venue for the next FIFA World Cup – was marked in Doha, Qatar. Having been there for the opening of Al Janoub Stadium, in May 2019, I can vouch that there is nothing like seeing these stunning buildings up close – however the digital launch of Education City Stadium, dedicated to frontline workers, was a fitting tribute con-sidering the challenges the world has faced throughout 2020.”

In another key sporting moment to remember from this year includes Qatar hosting two month-long football events - the matches of the East and West Zones of the 2020 AFC Champions League. Both events - hosted in Sept-Oct and Nov-Dec windows - were completed by creating bubble-to-bubble environment around the team hotels, training facilities and the match venues. Statistics released by SC show a total of 48,323 COVID-19 tests were carried out across the AFC Cham-pions League matches and the Amir Cup final. With expert help and guidelines coming from the Min-istry of Public Health (MOPH), Qatar won praise from far and wide as the region struggled to complete sports events that were put on hold in March. More than 900 players and backroom staff from 30 teams played in a total of 76 matches. The SC said it ‘constituted the largest bubble-to-bubble sporting event since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic’.

AFC President Shaikh Salman in a statement posted on the AFC website said: “On behalf of the Asian football family, I want to underline our gratitude once again to the Qatar Football Association, the Qatar Authorities and all our participating clubs. It was an incredible team effort that show-cased the unity and solidarity of Asian football. I must also thank our broadcast partners, our loyal sponsors as well as the media and our passionate fans, so many of whom continue to be engaged in record numbers. And finally, but most importantly, to the medical team in Qatar, our doctors, and front-liners as well as the dele-gation in Qatar. Our achievements would not have been possible without you, and this success is a tribute to all of you who have shown great resolve and commitment.”

After watching the AFC Cham-pions League final hosted in Doha on December 19, the AFC President congratulated Korean giants Ulsan Hyundai for their winning run in an event that did not look like fin-ishing when COVID-19 pandemic forced cancellation of events earlier in the year. Ulsan Hyundai beat Iranian giants Persepolis 2-1 in the final, winning its second ACL

trophy in the club’s history. Junior Negrao scored twice, helping Ulsan have a strong comeback from a 1-0 deficit in the thrilling final.

After the pulsating final, the AFC President said: “On behalf of the AFC and Asian football family, I would like to congratulate both Persepolis and Ulsan Hyundai for producing a memorable night of spectacular football. Ulsan Hyundai deserve our praise for showcasing outstanding quality, and I would like to congratulate everyone, from the players, offi-cials as well as the backroom staff, all of those working behind the scenes for their resilience and commitment. Today, we celebrate the best of Asian club football, but we also salute your remarkable spirit and sacrifice.”

In August 2020, QFA officially announced that it is bidding to host the 2027 AFC Asian Cup. The Qatar bid file - presented in four phases as per AFC directives - showcases Qatar’s desire to host the conti-nent’s biggest football event for the third time having staged it in 1988 and 2011.

During the break in the Amir Cup final on December 18, 2020, the Qatar bid logo was also unveiled with the QFA President Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa bin

Ahmed Al Thani formally handing the country’s bid book to AFC Pres-ident Sheikh Salman.

Not just in football, Qatar also successfully organised other major competitions during the pandemic-ravaged sports season.

On November 7, after a week of intense battles, World No.1 Ali Farag retained the Qatar Classic Squash Championship title by beating New Zealand’s Paul Coll in an absorbing final at the Khalifa International & Squash Complex. Egypt’s Farag, who won his first Qatar Classic title in 2018, managed a 11-8, 6-11, 11-9, 11-9 victory after 61 minutes of top-notch action in the final watched by Qatar Olympic Committee (QOC) President, H E Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad Al Thani, and President of Qatar Tennis, Squash and Badminton Federation Nasser bin Ghanim Al Khelaifi.

“The first time I couldn’t believe it and this time around I can’t believe it even more,” said Farag, who collected over $26,000 for his title win in the $175,000 PSA’s Platinum event.

“When I was younger, I used to watch the Qatar Classic and see all the great names of our sport lifting that trophy and I could only imagine standing there one day. To do it twice is an amazing

feeling,” the World No. 1 added.On September 26, Doha

created a bio-secure environment for the last round of the 2020 Diamond League. The final meet attracted 27 World and Olympic medallists. Thrilling performances on the track and field provided a fitting end to the coronavirus-affected season. World record holder Armand (Mondo) Duplantis, World champion Hellen Obiri and double Olympic champion Elaine Thompson-Herah clinched vic-tories as the 2020 Diamond League concluded with a grand one-day event at the Qatar Sports Club Stadium in Doha.

Duplantis, who broke Sergey Bubka’s 26-year-old outdoor world record of 6.14 metres in Rome in September, finished the 2020 season undefeated edging American world champion Sam Kendricks, the last man to beat him, and London 2012 gold med-allist Renaud Lavillenie of France. Duplantis, 20, won all 16 of his meetings in 2020 as well as twice breaking the world record and pro-ducing the best-ever outdoor jump of 6.15 metres.

“It’s been a fantastic season and I enjoyed sharing the moment tonight with the guys. I enjoyed the jump and the rivalry with Sam. It’s been fun with him as we have always got back at each other,” said Duplantis after his win in Doha.

“It’s been a roller-coaster year sort of. I broke the indoor world record earlier in the year and I was enjoying the season but, all of a sudden, the pandemic came and everything shut down and no one knew what will happen next. It’s great back and I hope things keep improving,” he added.

On the domestic front, the Qatar Stars League (QSL) in late July resumed matches that were put on hold in March.

QSL’s 2019-20 season was completed in August and the 2020-21 season successfully kicked off in September. The Qatar Motor and Motorcycle Fed-eration (QMMF) also smoothly wrapped all of its postponed events in three months starting in October.

In the summer - when there was no sports activity - QMMF

conducted online events for national drivers and riders and for those from overseas, bringing together some much-needed comfort for motorsport lovers.

The Qatar Basketball Federation, the Qatar Volleyball Association, the Qatar Table Tennis Association and Qatar Handball Association also wrapped up their incomplete events in the last three months.

08 THURSDAY 31 DECEMBER 2020SPORT 09THURSDAY 31 DECEMBER 2020 SPORT

Slick show all the way as Qatar hosts events, unveils stadiums

The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, H E Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, and President of Qatar Olympic Committee and Chairman of Doha 2030, H E Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad Al Thani, receivie a document from OCA President Sheikh Ahmad Al Fahad Al Sabah during the 39th Olympic Council of Asia General Assembly Meeting in Muscat, where Doha was announced as the host of the 2030 Asian Games.

Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani hands over the trophy to Al Sadd skipper Hassan Al Haydos after the 2020 Amir Cup final played at the brand new Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium in this December 18 file photo. Al Sadd beat Al Arabi 2-1 in the Amir Cup final.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino during a visit to the under-construction Lusail Stadium, the venue of the 2022 FIFA World Cup final.

Over the last three months, Qatar has shown the world how football can continue to be played and fans remain engaged despite the COVID-19 pandemic that we are all facing. The Amir Cup Final 2020, which helped inaugurate the fourth FIFA World Cup 2022 stadium, as well as the AFC Champions League Final, welcomed more than 10,000 fans back into the stands for each match. I was present for both matches and saw first-hand the seamless health and safety protocols put in place by Qatar and the Local Organising Committee, which ensured players and fans could confidently compete and watch the matches. Qatar has set a benchmark for the safe resumption of football in the COVID-19 world: FIFA President Gianni Infantino

COVID-19 has had such a huge impact on football this year and nothing has demonstrated that more so than teams playing in empty stadiums and fans being restricted from watching the game they love. Watching the Amir Cup final 2020 in Qatar and seeing the country’s fourth FIFA World Cup™ venue inaugurated was a special moment for me and also another special moment for the recovery of football worldwide, as we witnessed fans once again singing in the stands. Qatar managed to welcome these fans safely thanks to the COVID-19 prevention measures put in place. We welcome these measures but are all hopeful we can get back to normal competition and fan attendance as soon as possible: UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin

On Qatar’s National Day, the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy (SC) unveiled the Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium, the fourth stadium of the 2022 FIFA World Cup to be inaugurated in Qatar. The 40,000-seater marked the special occasion with the Amir Cup final between Al Sadd and Al Arabi, watched by the Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, FIFA President Gianni Infantino, UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin and the AFC chief Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa along with scores of dignitaries.

Doha wins2030 Asian Games bid race

RIZWAN REHMAT THE PENINSULA

On December 16, 2020, the 2030 Asian Games were awarded to Doha after the Qatari capital - also known as the sports capital of the region - won the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) vote in a bid race with Saudi candidate city Riyadh.

The long-awaited announcement was made by OCA Pres-ident Sheikh Ahmad Al Fahad Al Sabah of Kuwait after counting of votes was held at JW Marriot Hotel in the Omani capital.

“I can now announce... that the city who had the highest vote and will host 2030 is Doha,” the OCA President said raising a placard showing Doha printed on it.

This is will be the second time that Doha will get to host the Asian Games. In December 2006, Doha staged the then ‘biggest and best’ Asian Games bringing together more than 10,000 athletes, officials and media folks for the two-week gathering.

The Doha 2030 Bid Committee, headed by Chairman H E Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad Al Thani, was present in Muscat where the entire OCA family joined in for the OCA voting procedure.

“There was a whole team that worked hard inside and outside the committee. I thank His Highness the Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and eve-ryone who supported our bid file - from the Min-istry of Foreign Affairs and all ambassadors abroad,” Sheikh Joaan told media after the announcement.

“It was a long and arduous campaign. I give thanks to God that we will be hosting the Asian Games again. Qatar has become a sign of Asia’s confidence,” he added.

There was a whole team that worked hard inside and outside the committee. I thank His Highness the Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and everyone who supported our bid file - from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and all ambassadors abroad. It was a long and arduous campaign. I give thanks to God that we will be hosting the Asian Games again. Qatar has become a sign of Asia’s confidence: Doha 2030 Bid Committee Chairman H E Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad Al Thani

Tonight (December 18, 2020) was an immensely proud

occasion for Qatar and the people of Al Rayyan. It was a culmination of a rigorous effort taken by multiple stakeholders across several months, beginning with the AFC Champions League, until tonight where we saw thousands of fans safely enjoying the spectacle. We are looking forward to hosting more safe and secure events in the coming months, and we sincerely hope that the world will quickly overcome the pandemic and resume life and sports as we’ve always enjoyed them: Nasser Al Khater, CEO, FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 LLC

On behalf of the Asian football family and the

Asian Football Confederation, I want to underline our gratitude once again to the Qatar Football Association, the Qatari authorities and all our Member Associations and their participating clubs for the successful completion of the AFC Champions League. It was an incredible team effort that showcased the unity and solidarity of Asian football. My thanks also go to the medical team in Qatar, our doctors, and front liners as well as the delegation in Qatar. Our achievements would not have been possible without you and this success is a tribute to all of you who have shown great resolve and commitment: AFC President, Shaikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa

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Al Duhail emerged QNB Stars League 2019-2020 champions on August 21 with a record of 16 wins, 4 losses and 2 draws.

Al Sadd players and officials celebrate after winning the Amir Cup final.

The sports achievements QATAR 2020

10 THURSDAY 31 DECEMBER 2020VIEWS

CHAIRMANDR. 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

THE Ministry of Education and Higher Education has issued a new plan for all public and private schools and preschools, allowing the schools to operate at 50 percent of their total student capacity. The Ministry said that the blended learning system introduced to safe-guard the pupils, teachers and staff from the corona-virus pandemic will continue. Under the new plan, 50 percent students will attend the classes in-person, with the other half continuing studies through distance learning. The two groups will rotate on a weekly basis.

Institutions are also allowed, after getting approval from the department concerned, to run two daily shifts of classes, provided no shift exceeds 50 percent of the school’s total student capacity. All facility surfaces must also be sanitised properly during the intervals between the shifts. Teachers and school staff can attend in full capacity while observing all the COVID-19 precautionary measures.

Specialised, technical, and special needs institu-tions, as well as schools in remote villages or private schools with low density, will operate with 100 percent students attending the classes in-person. All schools will also ensure that number of students in a classroom does not exceed 15 and that every two pupils are 1.5 metres apart. Schools are also directed to ensure there is no crowding at the entrance and exit points of their premises.

Schools in the country reopened on September 1 following a months-long closure due to the coronavirus pandemic. Health and education authorities have worked hard from day one to ensure continuity of education in a safe environment. Stringent health safety measures have been put in place to protect the students, edu-cators and staff from the COVID-19 infection. The authorities have also successfully implemented the pre-scribed safety procedures at all educational facilities, and conducted the examinations under strict health safety arrangements.

The increase in the limit of students attending classes came after the government launched a nationwide COVID-19 vaccination campaign. Thousands of people have already received the first shot of the vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech. The number of new coronavirus cases has also significantly fallen in recent months, thanks to the effective preventive and precau-tionary measures in place. A mandatory one-week hotel quarantine for all arrivals from high-risk countries has also helped in limiting the spread of the virus.

The Ministry of Education and Higher Education has said that it places the health and safety of students, teachers, and administrative staff at the top of its pri-orities and will continue to monitor the situation and take steps accordingly.

Safer schools

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Quote of the day

I ask everyone to make an effort, put aside ideology,

put aside emotional reactions, and let’s perform

an act of solidarity, if we don’t want to call it love,

toward the entire national community. Let’s take the

vaccine.

Giuseppe Conte, Prime Minister of Italy

Seniors and first responders wait in line to receive a COVID-19 vaccine at the Lakes Regional Library yesterday in Fort Myers, Florida.

Despite most people describe 2020 as the worst year, it is very positive to say that this year increased our appreci-ation for science, family and other beautiful things in our life. Perhaps from here some things became more important and some less important after this year… Can I really declare 2020 not the worst year?

While we are close to the end of the year, I follow the feelings of people who assert that 2020 has been their worst year. It is true, you have suffered from sadness and fatigue and perhaps we all share that list of reasons for declaring that 2020 was not a good year but rather a tiring year. Interestingly and here let me remind you that it was not like the year 1918 for instance, when the epidemic claimed millions of lives, or as it was in the 1940s, when lives were lost as a result of the Second World War!

Despite all the sur-rounding conditions with closing schools, business decline, restrictions imposed on many activities previously and people’s tendency to believe that their lives have reached stagnation in 2020. Nevertheless, it is nice to search for positivity in our life, so that life continues and looks forward to the hope of restoring it as it might have been before 2020.

Therefore, if we look at 2020 in terms of the devel-opment of science and tech-nology, we will see that 2020 is a positive year creating

scientific societies working together to accelerate safe and fully tested COVID- 19 vaccines. Hence, it is difficult to classify 2020 as the worst year when we were only one year ago, we did not know anything about the Corona virus and now we are close or even started getting the vaccine to end this pandemic.

On the one hand, this year may also have been the worst for some, but in one way or another it affected us all and therefore without a doubt our loss, grief and anger will be collective. And I might go right here and say when we say worst what we really mean is weird! In fact, this is a very strange year as it is frightening not to know it. However, most of us can look around on most days and find fun and beauty differently from the word (worse) like sunrise and sunset, for example.

Of course it is important to realize what we learned from the year that is about to end now? Not just to stop com-plaining, because bad things - and worse - have happened to better people. The truth is that we are still here despite all the dangers and fears

surrounding the pandemic! Without a doubt, we have learned what is important and we have played different games with our children and we have already spoken and listened to them. All these things are good things, but do we capture that delicate texture of what our lives have been like this year in our vil-lages and cities? When we are told that we shouldn’t go out at all except for occasional exercise, walking in the sun-shine becomes the thing we cling to. How lucky we were to be able to do that, at least! In the lanes or suburbs of town, our restrictive measures opened up new avenues for creativity: we might turn out of our way to witness spectacular sunsets or finally treat the hiking trail differently as we set out to explore it.

After all, I think here - if you agree with me - that if we feel that any year is the worst, it is mostly because our minds tend to judge the present more harshly. Unrestrained media consumption of news distorts our perception and it becomes easy to slide into unhealthy patterns of thinking and we may feel that

assumption. If I were thinking, for instance about how much I wanted to go to football matches, I wouldn’t remember the times my team lost, so we judge the past by its greatest successes, but we judge the present based on all we have!

What I want to point out is how do we change the men-tality (worst year ever)? How do we water something that will grow well? Every morning you wake up with the sunrise, is it not a great gift from God! ... Some yawn or get upset on their way to life and do not even realize what is the chance of being here?

At the end, I think that 2020 was the year of change in eve-rything and it was not the worst year. Most probably we learned a lot from this year and during the coronavirus pandemic and at the very least, there is an ongoing increase in awareness of health and interest in healthy habits.

Dr.Yousuf Ali Al Mulla, Physician, Medical Innovator and writer. For any queries regarding the continents of the article, he can be con-tacted at: dryusufalmulla@gmail.com

ELISA MARTINUZZI BLOOMBERG

It was one of the most widely telegraphed risks at the onset of the pandemic: Women, who seemed to suffer less from the COVID-19 disease, would probably pay a steeper economic price than men. The clues were hiding in plain sight. Women make up a larger share of workers in industries that ground to a halt, and they typically shoulder more of the unpaid labour at home. It would be a greater challenge for them to both keep their jobs and carry on working.

Although this “she-cession” has been very real, there’s reason to be hopeful. Some countries were more successful than others in keeping women employed, shedding light on the effec-tiveness of policies such as making childcare affordable and targeting support to hard-hit sectors. If policy makers want to hasten a COVID recovery, they’ll need to expand some of these efforts.

According to the United Nations, which has been mon-itoring government responses to the crisis in its COVID-19 Global Gender Response Tracker, few policies specifi-cally targeted women. Out of

the 1,300 or so social-pro-tection and labor-market measures adopted by about 200 countries, fewer than one in five were “gender sensitive,” meaning they considered women’s economic security and responsibility for unpaid care. The consequences of this have been clear.

Look at the European Union. Notwithstanding the hundreds of billions of dollars in stimulus - equivalent to more than 10% of annual GDP in the bigger economies - employment dropped sig-nificantly in the retail, tourism and hospitality sectors, where women make up more than 60% of the workforce. Female unem-ployment in the bloc now stands at 8.1%, whereas for men it’s 7.2%.

Even when women were able to keep their jobs, many were forced to cut back on their hours because of an increase in caregiving and schooling responsibilities. Analysis by the International Labour Organization, which has studied monthly wages across 28 European countries, shows that even with earnings subsidies, women on average suffered a 6.9% decline in wages as a result of working fewer hours, compared with a 4.7% decline in men’s wages

between the first and second quarters.

The gaps were widest in some of Europe’s leading econ-omies. In Germany, the 8.6% decline in women’s wages in the first half of this year was almost twice that for men. In the UK, women saw earnings decline by 12.9%, nearly double the drop for men.

Perhaps most concerning is the rate at which women have been dropping out of the labor force altogether. Several advanced economies - including the US, Canada and Japan - have seen the gap widen between active men and women in the labor force. One survey in Europe found that 4% of women who lost their jobs during the pan-demic stopped looking for work, compared with just 1% of men. Previous crises have shown that once someone steps out of the job market, it can take years before they get back in.

The silver lining to all this is that some governments did step up, directing support to childcare and female-domi-nated sectors and helping women maintain paid work.

In the UK, childcare centers were exempted from paying property taxes through 2021, and the government granted childcare tax credits

to families. Measures such as these, which prevented centers from closing and ensured families could afford care, helped women keep their jobs, according to a study by the Peterson Institute for International Economics. Given the high price of childcare for preschool children, offering subsidies was particularly useful as the pandemic hit incomes.

UK retail, hospitality and leisure businesses were also eligible for cash grants of as much as 25,000 pounds ($34,000) in the spring, which helped companies retain staff. Financial support has since been extended to help busi-nesses weather recent lockdowns.

In Australia, where 16 of the 36 policy measures taken were gender sensitive, the government also provided free childcare to about 1 million families. (It suspended the program in July, a move that’s attracted significant criticism.) And Norway doubled paid time off for taking care of small children to 20 days. The country saw its gender gap in labor force participation decline during the pandemic. Meanwhile, Canada has vowed to present a national childcare plan in next year’s budget.

You think 2020 was the worst year ever? Think again

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The pandemic doesn’t have to hurt women most

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11THURSDAY 31 DECEMBER 2020 MIDDLE EAST / AFRICA

22 dead, 50 wounded inattack on Aden AirportAP — SANA’A, YEMEN

A large explosion struck the airport in the southern Yemeni city of Aden yesterday, shortly after a plane carrying the newly formed Cabinet landed there, security officials said. At least 22 people were killed and 50 were wounded in the blast.

The source of the explosion was not immediately clear and no group claimed responsibility for attacking the airport. No one on the government plane was hurt.

Officials later reported another explosion close to a palace in the city where the Cabinet members were trans-ferred following the airport attack.

Footage from the scene at the airport showed members of the government delegation dis-embarking as the blast shook the grounds. Many ministers rushed back inside the plane or ran down the stairs, seeking shelter.

Thick smoke rose into the air from near the terminal building. Officials at the scene said they saw bodies lying on the tarmac and elsewhere at the airport.

Yemeni Communication

Minister Naguib Al Awg, who was also on the plane, said he heard two explosions, sug-gesting they were drone attacks. Yemeni Prime Minister Maeen Abdulmalik Saeed and the others were quickly whisked from the airport to Mashiq Palace in the city.

Military and security forces sealed off the area around the palace.

“It would have been a dis-aster if the plane was bombed,” Al Awg said, insisting the plane was the target of the attack as it was supposed to land earlier.

Saeed tweeted that he and his cabinet were safe and unhurt. He called the explosions a “cowardly terrorist act” that was part of the war on “the

Yemeni state and our great people.”

Mohammed Al Roubid, deputy head of Aden’s health office, said at least 16 people were killed in the explosion and 60 were wounded.

Later, the Interior Ministry raised the casualty toll to at least 22 dead and 50 wounded.

Images shared on social media from the scene showed rubble and broken glass strewn about near the airport building and at least two lifeless bodies, one of them charred, lying on the ground. In another image, a man was trying to help another man whose clothes were torn to get up from the ground.

According to one Yemeni security official, three Red Cross workers were among the wounded, though it was not clear if they were Yemenis or of other nationalities.

Officials said another explosion hit close to the heavily fortified Mashiq Palace, where the Cabinet members were taken following the explosion at the airport. The source of that blast and whether it occurred before or after the Cabinet members’ arrival were not immediately

known. There were no imme-diate reports of fatalities and the officials said the Cabinet members arrived safely.

UN special envoy for Yemen, Martin Griffiths, con-demned the explosion as an “unacceptable act of violence.” He said in a tweet that it was “a tragic reminder of the importance of bringing #Yemen urgently back on the path towards peace.”

The Arab League also con-demned the attacks.

The ministers were returning to Aden from the Saudi capital, Riyadh, after being sworn in last week as part of a reshuffle following a

deal with rival southern sepa-ratists. Yemen’s internationally recognised government has worked mostly from self-imposed exile in Riyadh during the country’s years-long civil war.

The Saudi ambassador to Yemen, Mohammed Al Jaber, described the attack as a “cow-ardly terrorist act targeting the Yemeni people, their security and stability.”

Despite “the disap-pointment and confusion caused by those who create death and destruction,” the peace agreement between the government and southern sep-aratists “will go forward,” he

insisted.Yemen’s embattled Pres-

ident Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, in exile in Saudi Arabia, announced a Cabinet reshuffle earlier this month.

The reshuffle was seen as a major step toward closing a dangerous rift between Hadi’s government and southern sep-aratists. The government is at war with Houthi rebels, who control most of northern Yemen as well as the country’s capital, Sanaa.

Naming a new government was part of a power-sharing deal between Hadi and the sep-aratist Southern Transitional Council.

People are seen on the tarmac during an attack on Aden airport moments after a plane landed carrying a newly formed Cabinet for government-held parts of Yemen, in Aden, yesterday.

Footage at the airport

showed members of the

government delegation

disembarking as the

blast shook the grounds.

Many ministers rushed

back inside the plane or

ran down the stairs,

seeking shelter.

Turkey, US to discusssanctions: MinisterAP — ANKARA, TURKEY

Turkey and the United States are engaged in talks to form a joint working group that would take up the issue of sanctions that Washington imposed on its ally over its purchase of an advanced Russian air defense system, Turkey’s foreign minister said yesterday.

In a year-end news con-ference assessing Turkish foreign policy, Mevlut Cavu-soglu also told journalists that Turkey wants “healthier” rela-tions with the United States under President-elect Joe Biden’s administration.

The US announced sanc-tions earlier this month to penalise Turkey over its pro-curement of Russia’s advanced S-400 system, under a US law known as CAATSA which aims to push back on Russian influence. It was the first time that CAATSA had been used to penalise a US ally.

The sanctions target Tur-key’s Presidency of Defence Industries, the head of the pres-idency and three other senior officials. They also include a ban on most export licenses, loans and credits to the agency.

Ties between the allies have been plagued by numerous other disputes, including the

jailing of American citizens and local consular staff, US support for Syrian Kurdish fighters con-sidered to be terrorists by Turkey and the continued US residence of a Muslim cleric accused of masterminding the 2016 coup attempt in Turkey.

The US had previously removed Turkey from its F-35 stealth jet programme, saying their use alongside the Russian technology would jeopardise the safety of the fighter jets. Washington also says the Russian system would not be interoperable with Nato systems.

“In 2020, our ties with the United States were over-shadowed by existing problems,” Cavusoglu said. “In 2021, we are prepared to lead our relations with the new administration in a healthier manner and we are prepared to take steps to overcome existing problems.”

Cavusoglu said the pro-posal to set up the Turkish-US working group came from the American side. He said tech-nical talks aimed at creating the working group have started.

Earlier this month, Cavu-soglu had said Turkey was con-sidering possible steps to recip-rocate against the sanctions.

Syria says Israeli strike kills soldierAP — DAMASCUS, SYRIA

Israeli jets fired missiles on targets near Damascus early yesterday, killing one Syrian soldier and wounding three, Syria’s military said.

The after-midnight attack in the Zabadani region in the Damascus countryside targeted a Syrian air defence unit and also caused material damage, an unnamed Syrian military official was quoted as saying by the official SANA news agency.

It was the second reported attack in the past week. Israeli

jets bombed targets in the central Syrian town of Masyaf on Thursday.

A Britain-based war moni-toring group, the Syrian Observ-atory for Human Rights, said the Israeli strikes targeted a weapons and rocket warehouse used by Lebanese Hezbollah group and other militias.

The Observatory also said the strikes hit a Syrian air defense unit in the area as it attempted to respond to the incoming missiles, killing one soldier and wounding five others.

Turkey receives first shipment of Sinovac vaccineREUTERS — ANKARA

Turkey received its first shipment of COVID-19 vaccines from China’s Sinovac early yesterday, Reuters television footage showed, almost a week after Ankara said the vaccine was safe and effective, based on interim Phase III trial results.

The shipment of 3 million doses, part of a deal for a total of 50 million, was initially set to arrive on December 11 but faced setbacks.

The first batch of vaccines was loaded from airplanes on to trucks at the capital’s Esenboga Airport before being taken to the storage facilities of the health ministry.

On Twitter, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said authorities would begin inoculations after testing the vaccines, a process that will take 14 days.

Turkey has reported more than 2.1 million COVID-19 cases since March, while more than 20,000 people have died.

A recent surge in new cases, which placed the country among those with the highest number of daily cases for several weeks, led the gov-ernment to impose weekend lockdowns and weekday curfews. Daily cases have since come down to around 15,000.

Ankara plans first doses for health workers and those older than 65, the ministry has said, followed by those older than 50

and suffering at least one chronic illness, in addition to those in specific sectors or high-risk environments.

The third group will include young adults and sectors not included in prior groups. A fourth group covers all the rest not listed. Last week, Turkish researchers said interim analysis showed the vaccine was 91.25% effective.

Although, at the time, Koca said authorities were certain the vaccine was effective and safe, the trial data, based on 29 infections, was seen as too limited for final approvals.

This week, two Turkish doctors told Reuters that at least a couple more weeks were probably needed for the

Sinovac trial results to prove decisive, since the sample size needed to grow.

The vaccine is likely to be as effective for the elderly as it is for other adults, a senior official at the Brazilian bio-medical institute conducting late-stage trials told Reuters on Tuesday.

Sinovac is seeking to con-solidate data from global trials in countries such as Brazil, Chile, Indonesia and Turkey.

Separately, Turkey has agreed with Pfizer and BioNTech to supply 4.5 million doses of their vaccine, while working to develop its own at home. It also aims to produce Russia’s Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine domestically.

Workers unload a shipment containing boxes of China’s Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine at Esenboga Airport in Ankara, Turkey, yesterday.

Opposition coalition in CAR demands elections be scrappedAFP — BANGUI

A powerful opposition coalition in Central African Republic yesterday called for the “cancel-lation, pure and simple” of the first round of elections last weekend that was troubled by armed groups.

In a statement, the Demo-cratic Opposition Coalition (COD-2020), an alliance of political and other groups, said Sunday’s elections “were not fair and inclusive and are in no way the expression of the

people’s will.” Condemning an “electoral farce”, it claimed widespread ballot stuffing and complained of a lack of observers in remote areas.

The vote, for the presidency and legislature, has been seen as a key stability test for the CAR, one of the world’s poorest and most volatile countries.

The landlocked nation has experienced a string of coups and wars since gaining inde-pendence from France in 1960.

In 2013, it spiralled once more into bloodshed when the

then president, Francois Bozize, who had himself seized power a decade earlier, was over-turned by a mostly Muslim coa-lition called the Seleka.

Militia groups that emerged from a bloody civil conflict today control two-thirds of the territory, hampering the organ-isation of the elections and intimidating voters, according to local leaders and UN workers who asked not to be named.

Thousands of people were prevented from voting or never received their voting cards

because of the lack of security.Of a total of 71 sub-prefec-

tures, only 29 voted, the min-ister for territorial adminis-tration Augustin Yangana-Yahote told journalists on Monday.

Six other sub-prefectures managed only a partial vote, Theophile Momokoama, the general rapporteur for the National Election Authority (ANE), said. Despite this, gov-ernment spokesman Ange Maxime Kazagui said on Tuesday the elections were

“credible, committed and popular”. “Certain people have been saying that these elections should not have taken place and that everything should be done to scare and discourage Central Africans,” he said. “Despite that, Central Africans showed their firm will to go and vote, despite the dangers.” The frontrunner in the crowded field of candi-dates is President Faustin Archange Touadera, who was elected in 2016 after a turbulent transition period following the 2013 coup.

Israeli military vehicles are seen during a military drill in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, yesterday.

Algeria President

returns after

virus treatment

in Germany

AFP — ALGIERS

President Abdelmadjid Tebboune returned to Algeria on Tuesday after a two-month absence in Germany, where he received treatment for COVID-19, ending a period of uncertainty in a country facing a health, political and economic crises.

“It is hard to be far from one’s country and even harder for someone who has a lot of responsibility,” Tebboune said, according to footage broadcast after he arrived from Berlin.

Seemingly in good health, Tebboune, who looked to have regained weight since his last television appearance over two weeks ago, was greeted by several senior Algerian offi-cials, including Prime Minister Abdelaziz Djerad and army chief of staff Said Chengriha.

The president spoke briefly, wishing “a happy new year to all Algerians”, “much better than 2020”, and implying that he was almost cured of the virus.

The prime minister said he was “happy to see the pres-ident of the republic back in his homeland to convalesce” and “eager to continue the work to achieve the objectives of the ‘new Algeria’.” Teb-boune made his last televised appearance on December 13, looking visibly thinner after weeks in treatment, saying he was “on the road to recovery”.

Aged 75, he was hospi-talised in Germany on October 28, and Algerian authorities later announced he had the COVID-19 illness.

He had finished his treatment and left hospital at the end of November, but extended his stay in Germany f o r a p e r i o d o f convalescence.

His prolonged absence had sparked concerns of an insti-tutional crisis, after voters in November approved a revised constitution on record low turnout in a referendum widely seen as a manoeuvre to neutralise a long-running protest movement.

Tebboune has been unable to sign the revised constitution into law because he must be on Algerian soil to do so.

His absence came as Algeria faces a sharp recession due to the novel coronavirus pandemic and a gaping budget deficit due to low crude prices that have slashed the country’s vital oil revenues.

Tebboune won last year’s December 12 presidential election, following months of mass protests.

12 THURSDAY 31 DECEMBER 2020ASIA

India: Protesting farmers, govt reach partial accordAP — NEW DELHI Representatives of the Indian government and tens of thou-sands of protesting farmers held talks yesterday after a hiatus of three weeks and reached agreement on two of the four issues that caused the farmers to blockade highways near the capital, officials said.

Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said he and the leaders of 40 farmers’ groups agreed to meet again on January 4 to resolve the remaining two key issues — the farmers’ demands that three new agriculture reform laws be repealed and that the gov-ernment maintain a guaranteed minimum price for wheat, rice and some other crops.

Tomar said he appealed to the farmers to immediately end their blockade of the highways but their leaders declined.

Ignoring the coronavirus pandemic, the farmers have been blockading highways con-necting New Delhi to northern India for nearly five weeks, obstructing transportation and

dealing a blow to manufac-turing and businesses in the north.

Paramjit Singh, a leader of the farmers, said there was a positive shift in the govern-ment’s attitude toward their demands in the more than five hours of talks Wednesday from

earlier meetings.He said he was confident of

a positive outcome during next week’s talks, but that the farmers will continue their blockade until all of their demands are met.

Tomar said the two sides agreed yesterday that the gov-ernment would continue its subsidy of electricity for irri-gating farms and that farmers would not be punished for burning crop residues, a cause of air pollution.

Farmers fear the gov-ernment will stop buying grain at minimum guaranteed prices and that corporations will then push prices down under the new laws. The government said it is willing to pledge that guar-anteed prices will continue.

The farmers say the new laws will lead to the cartelization and commercial-ization of agriculture and make farmers vulnerable to corporate greed.

Indian media reports said protesters in northern Punjab state damaged more than 1,000 mobile phone towers and

telecom equipment belonging to Reliance Industries Ltd., a private conglomerate, which

they say will benefit from the new laws.

Tomar appealed to the

farmers not to damage equipment, saying it causes hardship to people.

Farmers burn SIM cards of Reliance Jio to protest against corporate businesses during a demonstration against the central government’s recent agricultural reforms, on the outskirts of Amritsar, Punjab, yesterday.

India races to find UK arrivals to halt new virus strainAFP — NEW DELHI

Indian authorities were trying yesterday to track down tens of thousands of people who entered the country from Britain in recent weeks as cases of a new and fast-spreading coronavirus strain more than doubled in 24 hours.

They have launched efforts to locate around 33,000 people who flew to India in the last month from the UK after 20

people tested positive for the new, more virulent strain — up by 14 cases since Tuesday.

India also extended yes-terday the ban on flights to and from Britain by a week to January 7 in a bid to combat the new strain that British author-ities say is no more deadly, but which spreads more easily.

“Comprehensive contact tracing has been initiated for co-travellers, family contacts and others,” the Indian health

ministry said Tuesday, referring to those who flew between November 25 and December 23, when Delhi suspended air links with Britain. It remains unclear how many arrivals from Britain it has traced so far.

Delhi wants to learn about their movements in order to prevent a wider outbreak in a country combatting the world’s second highest COVID-19 tally.

Britain is home to a huge Indian community and several

flights per day take hundreds of people from London to New Delhi and Mumbai.

More than 30 countries have suspended air links with Britain over the new strain, which British medical officials have said is “out of control”.

Indian Civil Aviation Min-ister Hardeep Singh Puri said any resumption of flights to and from Britain would be “strictly regulated”.

Of the 33,000 passengers to

enter the country in the last month, more than 130 people have tested positive for coro-navirus. The cases have been reported across India, but most are in Delhi and Bangalore.

India has the world’s second highest coronavirus caseload behind the United States, with more than 10 million infections and 145,000 deaths. The Indian government has yet to approve any vaccines but hopes to start immunisations early next year.

Indian state bans

Islamic schools,

drawing criticism

REUTERS — GUWAHATI

An Indian state ruled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist party yesterday passed a law abol-ishing all Islamic schools, saying they provided sub-standard education.

Opposition politicians crit-icised the move and said it reflected the government’s anti-Muslim attitude in the Hindu-majority country.

More than 700 of the schools, known as madrasas, in northeastern Assam will be shut by April, the state’s edu-cation minister Himanta Biswa Sarma told the local assembly.

“We need more doctors, police officers, bureaucrats, and teachers, from the minority Muslim community rather than Imams for mosques,” said Sarma, a rising star in Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The government would convert them to regular schools as education provided in the madrasas could not prepare anyone for “the tem-poral world and its earthly concerns”, he said.

Opposition politicians said the move was an attack on Muslims.

“The idea is to wipe out Muslims,” said Wajed Ali Choudhury, a lawmaker from the opposition Congress party.

More than 100 retired senior civil servants and dip-lomats on Tuesday urged the BJP government in India’s largest state of Uttar Pradesh to repeal a new law criminal-ising forced religious con-version of brides, which is seen as aimed against Muslims.

Thailand bans year-end gatheringsREUTERS — BANGKOK

Thailand imposed a ban yesterday on large gatherings and events across the country in an effort to contain its worst coronavirus epidemic yet during New Year, with active cases in over half of its prov-inces.

Authorities have asked the public to avoid travel and have imposed tighter control measures in some areas, including entertainment busi-nesses. Targeted lockdowns have been imposed in some provincial districts.

The health ministry con-firmed 250 new infections yes-terday, among the largest

number of confirmed daily cases since a big outbreak found nearly two weeks ago that was the country’s largest yet.

“Today’s figures made me nervous... what we don’t want to see is a second or third lockdown,” COVID-19 taskforce s p o k e s m a n T a w e e s i n Wisanuyothin told a briefing.

“If the situation can’t be controlled, rather than count down to the New Year, we may count up (the number of cases)”.

Taweesin on Tuesday said more aggressive restrictions like those seen earlier in the year may need to be imposed if the spread is not contained.

Those measures, which

included closures of malls, res-taurants and entertainment areas and restrictions on inter-national travel, caused the tourism-reliant economy to contract the most in 22 years in the second quarter.

New clusters have emerged in the wake of a big outbreak this month at a seafood market near Bangkok, among mainly migrant workers from Myanmar, with cases since reported in 48 provinces.

Though low in comparison to many countries, the sharp increase in Thailand’s daily cases is a setback for its efforts to keep the virus at bay, having recorded just 6,690 infections and 61 deaths overall.

Volunteers hand over protective face masks and hand sanitiser to people in passing vehicles in Bangkok, yesterday, after recent outbreak of coronavirus cases in Thailand.

Indonesia bans hardline group over virus protocolsAFP — JAKARTA

Indonesia has banned an influ-ential hardline Islamic group as police held its leader in custody over allegations he violated virus protocols by holding mass gath-erings, the country’s chief security minister said yesterday.

The order bans the Islamic Defender’s Front (FPI) from holding activities or using its name in public, effectively yanking its ability to legally operate.

The politically powerful group was long-notorious in the world’s most populous Muslim majority nation for targeting night clubs and other establish-ments it deemed “immoral”.

It has also attacked minority Muslim sects it considers “deviant”.

“The government prohibits and will stop any FPI activities because they do not have legal standing as a mass organisation,” chief security minister Mahfud MD told reporters in Jakarta yes-terday. The group’s license to operate had expired last year but it continued activities illegally,

he added. The move sparked an angry reaction from the Islamist group, which vowed to carry on despite the ban.

“They can ban FPI but they cannot stop our struggle to defend the country and religion,” said group spokesman Novel Bamukmin.

“If we want, we can declare a new Islamic organisation this afternoon. If it’s banned again, we will do it again... We’re here to stay,” he added.

Police arrested the FPI’s fire-brand leader Rizieq Shihab two weeks ago over allegations he breached coronavirus restric-tions after holding a series of sermons with tens of thousands of followers.

‘Moral revolution’ The arrest came just days after Jakarta police shot dead six FPI followers in a highway shootout.

If found guilty, Shihab could face up to six years behind bars.

Shihab was among the main figures behind mass rallies in 2016 against the then governor of Jakarta, Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, over allegations that he insulted the Qur'an.

Papua New Guinea landslide buries 15 peopleREUTERS — SYDNEY

A landslide in a remote region of Papua New Guinea has buried 15 people including three children, all feared dead, a government spokesman said yesterday.

The people were asleep in a long house near a mine where they had been panning for gold,

when the landslide, dragging trees and logs with it, buried the hut in the Goilala district of PNG’s Central Province early on Monday.

“Unfortunately, there are no survivors, from what we hear,” Goilala’s member of parliament William Samb, who flew to the site, told the Australian Broad-casting Corp.

Only two bodies have been recovered so far, with locals working with shovels and pitchforks to dig through the debris. The recovery effort has been hampered by heavy rains, which may have triggered the landslide, and the remote location, reachable only by hel-icopter or a two-hour walk, a spokesman for Samb said.

Philippine President’s guards used

‘smuggled’ COVID-19 vaccines

REUTERS — MANILA

The Philippine defence minister said yesterday that unapproved COVID-19 vaccines given to President Rodrigo Duterte’s military security detail had been smuggled into the country, but called the move “justified”.

News of the special troop unit being inoculated as early as September has caused a stir among activists, with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) yet to approve any COVID-19

vaccines and no set timeline for when health workers would receive one.

Defence Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said members of the Presidential Security Group (PSG) obtained the vaccine without government authori-sation and had administered them without his knowledge.

“Yes smuggled, because they were not authorised, only the government can authorise,” he told reporters when asked if the vaccine was smuggled into the country.

Agriculture Minister

Narendra Singh Tomar

said he and the leaders

of 40 farmers’ groups

agreed to meet again on

January 4 to resolve the

remaining two key

issues — the farmers’

demands that three new

agriculture reform laws

be repealed and that the

government maintain a

guaranteed minimum

price for wheat, rice and

some other crops.

Taiwan to buy AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine; detects virus variantREUTERS — TAIPEI

Taiwan has agreed to buy almost 20 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine, including 10 million from AstraZeneca Plc, the government said yesterday, adding that it had confirmed the island’s first case of the new British variant of the disease.

Taiwan has kept the pan-demic well under control in the community thanks to early and effective prevention and strict quarantine of all arrivals, with imported cases accounting for almost all of its tally of 798 cases, including seven deaths.

The island’s Central

Epidemic Command Centre said apart from AstraZeneca, it had agreed to buy 4.76 million doses from global vaccine programme COVAX and was in talks with another company it did not identify.

The first vaccines are expected to arrive in March at the earliest, it said.

Taiwan, which has yet to give formal regulatory approval for any vaccine, is also trying to develop C O V I D - 1 9 v a c c i n e s domestically.

Britain’s regulator yes-terday announced the approval of the AstraZeneca vaccine,

being jointly developed with Oxford University, shortly after Taiwan’s announcement. Taiwan plans to get a total of 30 million vaccine doses to cover about 65% of its popu-lation, with medical staff to get priority, the centre added.

Health Minister Chen Shih-chung told reporters he “really hoped” there would be a “vaccine passport” system put in place to ease international travel for those who have had the shot.

“This is something we are proactively considering,” he said. Taiwan has watched nervously as cases shoot up

around the world. Chen said authorities had confirmed Tai-wan’s first case of a new coro-navirus variant discovered in Britain.

The victim was in hospital in stable condition after having arrived back on Sunday from Britain and confirmed to have been infected, Chen told reporters. From Friday, the gov-ernment would further tighten entry curbs, suspending arrivals of all foreigners without resi-dence permits, he said, though exceptions will be made on humanitarian grounds. Some New Year’s events have also been scaled back or cancelled.

13THURSDAY 31 DECEMBER 2020 ASIA

China jails detained HKactivists for up to 3 yearsAFP — HONG KONG

A Chinese court yesterday jailed 10 Hong Kong democracy activists for up to three years over a bid to flee the city by speedboat to Taiwan, as a crackdown on dissent in the territory intensifies.

The group were arrested by the Chinese coastguard on August 23 en route to the self-ruled island, which has quietly opened its doors to Hong-kongers seeking sanctuary.

The court in the southern city of Shenzhen sentenced Tang Kai-yin to three years in jail and Quinn Moon to two years for organising an illegal border crossing.

The eight others were sen-tenced to seven months behind bars for illegally crossing the border. The 10 were also fined up to 20,000 yuan ($3,060) in addition to their jail terms.

The sentencing follows the imposition of a sweeping new security law in Hong Kong this year that has given the gov-ernment broad powers to pros-ecute political dissidents.

A number of activists have

fled the city for overseas and political organisations have shuttered their doors as Beijing seeks to keep a lid on unrest that rocked the financial hub for months last year.

A total of 12 people were caught on the boat and have been held in custody for more than four months on the mainland.

The group were facing pros-ecution in Hong Kong related to last year’s protests before attempting their escape.

They will likely face further charges in the city after serving their mainland sentences.

Two minors from the

so-called “Hong Kong 12”, aged 17 and 18, were returned to the city yesterday after they admitted wrongdoing, Chinese officials said. The court said it would not pursue its case against them.

In Hong Kong, the 18-year-old faces charges of conspiracy to commit arson, while the 17-year-old faces charges of attempted arson and possession of offensive weapons.

Barrister Chow Hang-tung, from the “Save 12” concern group, condemned the mainland legal process as “utterly unjust” as their families and lawyers had been kept in the dark.

“According to the state media’s report, the defendants even praised the mainland’s justice system, which is very absurd,” Chow said.

“We can’t imagine what kind of treatment they have got in the detention centre.” The 10 adults first appeared before the Shenzhen court on Monday, but the trial -- like many in China’s opaque legal system -- was not open to foreign reporters or diplomats.

Families of the accused were only notified three days before the hearing and were unable to attend due to the short notice and Covid-19 restrictions. Their lawyers were barred from meeting the detainees, with authorities instead appointing s t a t e - a p p r o v e d l e g a l representation.

The lawyers said the sen-tences were too heavy and the

allegation of organising a border crossing was not substantiated.

“I think no matter he was sentenced to one day or seven months, every single day is unjust,” said the father of jailed activist Cheng Tsz-ho.

According to mainland Chinese media, Tang bought the boat in August and learnt basic driving skills for the escape,

while Quinn Moon was respon-sible for communicating with the rest of the group, urging them to tell the coastguard they were going fishing if caught.

They all pleaded guilty to the crime and signed confession papers in the presence of lawyers, said the Southern Daily, a mouthpiece of the Guangdong provincial Com-munist Party committee.

Hong Kong Acting Chief Superintendent of the Commercial Crime Bureau, Cheng Lai Ki (centre, left), speaks to the media after the release of the two young members of the so-called “Hong Kong 12”, in Hong Kong yesterday.

Virus cases in Wuhan may have been 10 times higher: StudyAFP — BEIJING

The number of coronavirus cases in the Chinese city where the pathogen was first detected may have been 10 times higher than official figures suggest, according to a study by health authorities in Wuhan.

About 4.4 percent of the city’s 11 million residents had developed antibodies against the virus causing COVID-19 by April, the report by the Chinese Centre for Disease Control (CDC) said.

That correlates to around 480,000 infections in Wuhan by April, nearly 10 times the official tally to date of 50,000 cases in the city.

China has faced a barrage of criticism at home and abroad over its initial handling of the virus, including attempts to silence whistle-blowers and not reporting any cases for days in early January amid h i g h - l e v e l p o l i t i c a l consultations.

On Monday, citizen jour-nalist Zhang Zhan was jailed for four years for reporting on conditions inside Wuhan during the height of the outbreak.

The discrepancy revealed by the CDC’s data may “point to potential underreporting due to the chaos in late January and early February, when a large number of people were

not tested or were not tested accurately for COVID-19,” Huang Yanzhong, a senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), told AFP.

Qin Ying, a serological expert from the CDC said yes-terday that disparities in data were not unique to China.

“Several countries have already published similar sero-logical surveys and... in most instances the number of people with antibodies against the coronavirus was several times higher than the confirmed case count,” Qin said.

“So this kind of disparity is a widespread phenomenon.” The CDC added that only 0.44

percent of the population in central Hubei province outside of Wuhan exhibited antibodies for the virus, suggesting that the 77-day lockdown on the city may have helped prevent the spread of the disease.

The findings of the survey of more than 34,000 people across the country conducted in April was only released late Monday.

China does not include asymptomatic cases in its official tally, which could also explain the discrepancy between the total confirmed cases and the actual number infected.

The country’s total number of cases stands at 87,027 with

4,634 deaths, according to data from the National Health Com-mission yesterday.

China has largely curbed the virus at home, and was the only major economy to report positive economic growth this year as restrictions on busi-nesses and internal travel were lifted.

Even in Wuhan the “rate is not as high as that in New York City (23 percent by September), which may suggest the (Chinese) government con-tainment efforts were speedy and effective”, Huang said.

Officials have also rushed to test tens of millions of people to squash local mini-outbreaks.

Virus death toll

in Pakistan

rises to 10,047

INTERNEWS — ISLAMABAD

Pakistan’s coronavirus death toll crossed 10,000 yesterday after 55 people lost their lives to the virus.

In the last 24 hours, the novel virus claimed the lives of 55 more people across the country taking the total number of deaths to 10,047. 36,390 people were tested for the virus across the country, taking the number of total tests conducted to 6,656,373.

Out of these, 2,155 people tested positive, taking the nationwide tally to 477,240. Out of these, Sindh reported 1100 new cases, Punjab reported 626, Balochistan 19 and KP reported 236 cases.

Meanwhile, Islamabad reported 166, Gilgit-Baltistan 2, while Jammu and Kashmir reported 6 new COVID-19 cases.

There are 37,080 active cases in the country.

On Tuesday, Pakistan reported its first confirmed cases of a new coronavirus strain detected in the United Kingdom.

In a statement, the Sindh health department said that 12 samples of UK returnees were taken for genotyping out of which six were positive and three showed the new variant of the coronavirus virus in the first phase.

Later, the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) also released a statement, saying that two more patients admitted to the National Institute of Health in Islamabad also showed the new variant

Singapore begins COVID-19 vaccinationsREUTERS — SINGAPORE

Singapore began vaccinating healthcare workers with Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine yesterday, kicking off one of Asia’s first inoculation programmes against a pandemic that has killed more than 1.7 million people globally.

Sarah Lim, a 46-year-old nurse, and 43-year-old infec-tious diseases doctor Kalisvar Marimuthu were among the more than 30 staff at the National Centre for Infectious Diseases who were vaccinated yesterday, the health ministry

said. They will return for the second dose of the vaccine on January 20.

“Vaccines have managed to bring pandemics down to their knees before. So I am hopeful that this vaccine will do the same,” Marimuthu said in recorded remarks provided by the health ministry.

Singapore is the first country in Asia to approve the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. It has also signed advance purchase agreements and made early down-pay-ments on several other vaccine candidates, including those

being developed by Moderna and Sinovac.

It expects to have enough vaccine doses for all its 5.7 million people by the third quarter of 2021.

Singapore hopes to com-plete vaccination coverage by the end of next year, health minister Gan Kim Yong said.

“Our priority over the next few months is to ensure that the vaccines that we use are safe and effective, and we are able to roll out this programme to the whole population smoothly and in an orderly manner,” he said.

Staff of National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID) waiting to receive COVID-19 vaccine at the NCID Day Treatment Centre in Singapore, yesterday.

Sydney tightens curbs amid new cluster of casesREUTERS — SYDNEY

Authorities restricted movement and tightened curbs on gath-erings in Australia’s biggest city yesterday, hoping to avoid a coronavirus “super spreader” event during New Year’s Eve celebrations after finding a new cluster of infections.

Household gatherings were limited to five people while the maximum number of people

allowed to gather in public in Sydney was capped at 30. Resi-dential care facilities were closed to visitors.

“We don’t want New Year’s Eve to be the cause of a super-spreader,” New South Wales state Premier Gladys Berejiklian said as she announced the restrictions were take effect from midnight yesterday until further notice.

Berejiklian reported 18 new coronavirus cases yesterday, the

biggest daily increase in a week, with nine of them part of an out-break in the city’s northern beaches that has grown to more than 100 people over the past week. NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant said a new cluster in the city’s inner west, which includes six members of an extended family living in three different households, is expected to grow as members had joined Christmas gatherings.

The outbreaks in Sydney have dampened plans for the city’s New Year’s Eve harbour fireworks display, an event tele-vised around the world.

In addition to the new restric-tions, authorities have imposed a “green zone” in key vantage spots around the harbour that will be restricted to residents and people with confirmed bookings who get a permit.

The usual 9pm fireworks

have been cancelled and the mid-night session has been cut to seven minutes.

In the state of Victoria, after two months of no locally acquired cases, the health department late yesterday said three new cases had been diag-nosed outside hotel quarantine.

Australia has reported just over 28,300 COVID-19 cases and 909 deaths since the pandemic began, mostly in Victoria.

South Korea tries to contain virus outbreak in prisonREUTERS — SEOUL

South Korean authorities scrambled to contain a cluster of coronavirus infections in a Seoul prison as inmates waved signs through barred windows pleading for help.

There were 1,050 new cases nationally as of Tuesday mid-night, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said yesterday, bringing the total pandemic tally to 59,773 with 879 people having died.

A prison in southeastern Seoul had 771 inmates and 21 staff infected, bringing the total number of infections linked to the facility to 792, Yonhap news agency reported, citing the justice ministry.

Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae on Tuesday visited the prison and ordered the separation of infected inmates from those who were not and the expansion of granting parole to exemplary prisoners, the ministry said in a statement.

Meanwhile, media displayed pictures of the inmates holding up signs reading, “Please save us.” The KDCA had said an inmate with underlying condi-tions had died this week from COVID-19.

Authorities could further tighten social distancing rules this weekend as year-end travels increased the risk of more confirmed cases, Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun told a government meeting.

A medical staff member takes a swab sample from a visitor to test for COVID-19, at a testing site in Seoul, South Korea.

Tokyo governor

warns of increase

in new infections

REUTERS — TOKYO

Tokyo’s coronavirus outbreak is severe and could explode in the coming days just as Japan begins its New Year’s holiday period, the city’s governor said yesterday.

The capital recorded 944 new coronavirus cases yes-terday, just under the record 949 recorded on Saturday, and medical experts warned that unless the outbreak is checked the city could soon see over 1,000 new patients a day.

“Please emphasise life over fun,” Governor Yuriko Koike told a news conference, calling on people to stay at home as much as possible over the holiday.

“The situation is extremely severe, we are facing up to a huge wave of virus cases we have not seen before,” she added.

Two minors from the

so-called “Hong Kong

12”, aged 17 and 18,

were returned to the

city yesterday after they

admitted wrongdoing,

Chinese officials said.

The court said it would

not pursue its case

against them.

14 THURSDAY 31 DECEMBER 2020EUROPE

UK lawmakers approve post-Brexit trade deal with EUAP — LONDON

Britain’s House of Commons voted resoundingly yesterday to approve a trade deal with the European Union, paving the way for an orderly break with the bloc that will finally complete the UK’s years-long Brexit journey.

With just a day to spare, lawmakers voted 521-73 in favor of the agreement sealed between the UK government and the EU last week.

It will become British law once is passes through the une-lected House of Lords later in the day and gets formal royal assent from Queen Elizabeth II.

The UK left the EU almost a year ago, but remained within the bloc’s economic embrace during a transition period that ends at midnight Brussels time — 11pm in London — today.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Charles Michel signed the agreement during a brief cer-emony in Brussels on yesterday morning. The documents were then being flown by Royal Air Force plane to London for Johnson to add his signature.

"The agreement that we signed today is the result of months of intense negotiations in which the European Union

has displayed an unprecedented level of unity,” Michel said. "It is a fair and balanced agreement that fully protects the funda-mental interests of the European Union and creates stability and predictability for citizens and companies.”

The European Parliament also must sign off on the agreement, but is not expected to do so for several weeks.

Just after the EU’s top offi-cials formally signed the hard-won agreement in Brussels, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson urged legislators in the House of Commons to back a deal that he said heralded "a new relationship between Britain and

the EU as sovereign equals.”It has been 4 1/2 years since

Britain voted 52 percent to 48 percent to leave the bloc it had joined in 1973. Brexit started on January 31 of this year, but the real repercussions of that decision have yet to be felt, since the UK’s economic relationship with the EU remained unchanged during the 11-month transition period that ends December 31.

That will change on New Year’s Day. The agreement, hammered out after more than nine months of tense negotia-tions and sealed on Christmas Eve, will ensure Britain and the 27-nation EU can continue to trade in goods without tariffs or quotas. That should help protect the £660bn ($894bn) in annual trade between the two sides, and the hundreds of thousands of jobs that rely on it.

But the end to Britain’s mem-bership in the EU’s vast single market and customs union will still bring inconvenience and new expense for both individuals and businesses - from the need for tourists to have travel insurance to the millions of new customs declarations that firms will have to fill out.

Brexit supporters, including Johnson, say any short-term pain will be worth it.

Johnson said the Brexit deal would turn Britain from "a

half-hearted, sometimes obstructive member of the EU” into "a friendly neighbor — the best friend and ally the EU could have.”

He said Britain would now "trade and cooperate with our European neighbors on the closest terms of friendship and goodwill, whilst retaining sov-ereign control of our laws and our national destiny.”

Some lawmakers grumbled

about being given only five hours in Parliament to scrutinize a 1,200-page deal that will mean profound changes for Britain’s economy and society. But it is highly likely to get backing from the House of Commons, where Johnson’s Conservative Party has a large majority.

The party’s powerful euroskeptic wing, which fought for years for the seemingly

longshot goal of taking Britain out of the EU, has backed the deal.

The strongly pro-EU Scottish National Party and Liberal Democrats voted against the bill. But the main opposition Labour Party, which had sought a closer relationship with the bloc, said it would vote for the agreement because even a thin deal was better than a chaotic no-deal rupture.

Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson waves as he returns to Downing Street, in London yesterday.

Migrants from

Bosnia camp

kept in buses as

relocation halted

AP — BIHAC

Hundreds of migrants from a burned-out tent camp in northwest Bosnia yesterday remained packed in buses where they had spent the night after an attempt to relocate them failed, reflecting confusion in the Balkan coun-try’s handling of the crisis.

Bosnian authorities sent buses on Tuesday to transfer the migrants from the much-criticized Lipa camp to an army barracks in central Bosnia. The mass move was canceled after local residents organized protests to prevent the relocation. Yesterday morning and later in the day, migrants were still inside the buses, local media reported.

The Lipa camp near Bos-nia’s border with Croatia was demolished in a fire last week and lacked basic facilities such as running water or heating. Some 1,000 migrants were stranded there for days during a spate of snowy and windy winter weather that followed the fire.

The situation has prompted EU officials and aid groups to warn of a looming humanitarian disaster and increased pressure on Bosnia to act to move the migrants away from the camp.

The troubled Balkan country that went through a devastating war in the 1990s has been struggling with the influx of thousands of people seeking to reach Western Europe. Bickering among Bos-nia’s ethnically divided authorities has prevented an organized response to the crisis, leaving some 3,000 migrants sleeping rough or in makeshift tents.

The head mufti of the Islamic Community of Bosnia, Husein Kavazovic, called yesterday for better treatment of migrants, describing the situation as “shameful” for both the country and the rest of Europe.

Britain approves low-cost Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccineAFP — LONDON

Britain yesterday became the first country in the world to approve AstraZeneca and Oxford University’s low-cost COVID-19 vaccine, raising hopes it will help tackle surging cases and ease pressure on creaking health services.

The independent Medicines and Healthcare products and Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said the vaccine “met its strict standards of safety, quality and effectiveness”, and a roll-out was set for January 4.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who spent several days in intensive care with COVID-19 earlier this year, called it “truly fantastic news” and “a triumph for British science”.

Britain has already approved the Pfizer/BioNTech

vaccine for general use, and some 800,000 people have received a first dose in the country’s biggest ever vacci-nation drive.

But as daily COVID-19 infection rates hit record highs, the government is pinning its hopes on the Oxford/Astra-Zeneca jab, which is cheaper to produce, and easier to store and transport.

Unlike the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, it does not require ultra-low freezing temperatures and can use normal refrigerated supply chains, making it a more attractive proposition globally.

The partners, who have billed it as a “vaccine for the world”, have also promised to provide it not-for-profit to developing nations, and hope to make up to three billion doses in 2021.

Britain is struggling with

another surge in the virus, with a record 53,135 daily cases reported on Tuesday, heaping fresh pressure on health services during their busiest winter months.

More than 71,000 people testing positive for the disease have now died — one of the worst tolls in the world.

But doctors say many frontline healthcare workers have been struck down with a new, potentially more conta-gious variant of the virus, which is thought to be behind the surge.

More than 24 million people, or 43 percent of England alone, are already living under strict stay-at-home measures, with restaurants and enter-tainment closed.

The government is under pressure to follow other European countries and

introduce even tougher restric-tions, including delaying the return to school next week.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said approval of the new vaccine was a “way out of the pandemic”, adding: “Now we need to hold our nerve while we get through this together.” Britain has ordered 100 million doses and the Department of Health expects four million doses to be ready by the end of the year, and 40 million by the end of March.

Regulators have advised each person receive two doses, two to four weeks apart.

It begins to provide immunity 22 days after the first dose, said Munir Pirmohamed, chairman of the Commission on Human Medicine Expert Working Group.

Wei Shen Lim, who heads the

government’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immuni-sation, said efficacy at that point was around 70 percent.

The Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine is based on a weakened version of a common cold virus (adenovirus) in chimpanzees which has been genetically changed to stop COVID-19 rep-licating in humans.

It delivers genetic cargo into cells, giving them instructions how to fight SARS-CoV-2.

The vaccine costs about £2.50 ($3.40) per dose — a fraction of the price of the Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech drugs.

On Sunday, AstraZeneca chief executive Pascal Soriot said the vaccine would provide “100 percent protection” against severe Covid disease requiring hospitalisation.

21 missing after landslide in Norway residential areaREUTERS — OSLO

Ten people were injured, one of them critically, and 21 people remained unaccounted for after a landslide in southern Norway swept away more than a dozen buildings in the early hours of yesterday, police said.

The landslide struck a res-idential area in the municipality of Gjerdrum, about 30km north of the capital Oslo.

Photos of the site showed a large crater with destroyed buildings at the bottom of it. Other buildings hung on the edges of the crater, with one house seen collapsing, TV footage showed.

Helicopters hovered over the area, at times lowering emergency responders towards the debris of collapsed houses.

About 700 people have been evacuated from the area so far, police said. “There were two massive tremors that lasted for a long while and I assumed it was snow being cleared or something like that,” Oeystein Gjerdrum, 68, told broadcaster NRK.

“Then the power suddenly went out, and a neighbour came to the door and said we needed

to evacuate, so I woke up my three grandchildren and told them to get dressed quickly.” The missing people were from homes in the innermost area of the landslide but it was not clear whether they had been trapped in their houses, were away at the time or had managed to escape, the police said.

“It is a catastrophe,” Prime Minister Erna Solberg told reporters after visiting the site.

“There could be people trapped... but at the same time we can’t be sure because it is the New Year’s holiday which means people could be elsewhere,” she said, warning that rescue oper-ations could take a long time.

“This could take days,” she said. “The situation is still so unstable that it is impossible to do any (rescue) effort other than from helicopters.” The area remains unstable for now and can only be accessed by heli-copter, said Roger Pettersen, head of the police operation at the site.

A team of Red Cross volunteers prepare to search for people being reported missing trapped after several houses were taken by a landslide in the town of Ask, Gjerdrum county, some 40km northeast of Oslo in Norway, yesterday.

Russia summons

British envoy,

expands list

of visa ban

REUTERS — MOSCOW

Russia said yesterday it had summoned Britain’s ambas-sador to tell her it was expanding the number of British citizens banned from entry in response to London sanctioning Russian officials over the poisoning of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny.

Navalny is convalescing in Germany after being poisoned in Russia with a Novichok nerve agent, an attack about which Britain and other Western countries have said Russia, which denies wrongdoing, has serious questions to answer.

The Kremlin has said it has yet to see evidence that Navalny was poisoned and President Vladimir Putin has suggested the way the incident has been presented in the West is part of a US-backed plot to try to discredit him.

Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement on Wednesday it had been forced to respond to what it called unfriendly and unconstructive steps by Britain in October. It said it had handed Deborah Bronnert, Britain’s ambassador to Russia, a note explaining its position.

Britain and the European Union imposed sanctions on top Russian officials close to Putin in October in a response to Navalny’s poisoning.

Moscow yesterday called those sanctions unacceptable and unjustified. It did not pub-licly name the British officials, politicians and individuals it was banning, but said they were united by the fact that they had been complicit in whipping up anti-Russian sanctions.

Germany not to ease lockdown as deaths from virus riseAP — BERLIN

German officials made clear yesterday that they won’t be able to relax lockdown restric-tions in early January as the country recorded more than 1,000 deaths in one day for the first time.

That figure was likely swollen by delayed reporting but underlined the severity of the situation.

Germany, the European Union’s most populous country,

shut restaurants, bars, sports and leisure facilities on November 2. That partial shutdown halted a fast increase in new infections for a while but failed to bring them down, prompting author-ities to impose a fuller lockdown from December 16, shutting nonessential shops and schools.

Those measures run through January 10. Chancellor Angela Merkel and the gov-ernors of Germany’s 16 states will consult Tuesday on how to proceed.

“We have to lament 1,129 deaths this morning alone - 1,129 families will be in mourning this new year,” Health Minister Jens Spahn said at a news conference.

“These figures show how brutally this virus is still striking. But the numbers of deaths and infections also show that we are a very long way from the nor-mality we would like,” he added. “So in this situation, I don’t see how we can return to the pre-lockdown mode.” “My

expectation is that the lockdown will continue, because we must not take any further risks. The hospitals... are at their limits,” said the governor of Germany’s most populous state, Armin Laschet.

The deaths reported to Ger-many’s national disease control center, the Robert Koch Institute, over the past 24 hours exceeded the previous record set a week ago of 962 and brought Germany’s total death toll to 32,107.

The institute’s chairman,

Lothar Wieler, said “the most plausible explanation” for the spike in reported deaths was delayed reporting of cases over the Christmas holiday, following relatively low figures over several days.

However, the figure fits into a recent pattern of high numbers of deaths.

Germany had a relatively low death rate in the first phase of the pandemic but has seen hundreds of deaths per day in recent weeks.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Charles Michel signed the agreement in Brussels yesterday morning. The documents were then being flown by Royal Air Force plane to London for Johnson to add his signature.

15THURSDAY 31 DECEMBER 2020 AMERICAS

US Congress inches closer to Trump veto overrideREUTERS — WASHINGTON

The US Senate could pave the way for Congress to override President Donald Trump’s veto of a defense spending bill with a procedural vote yesterday, further raising tensions between the outgoing Republican pres-ident and party leaders.

Trump has ramped up pressure on fellow Republicans to support his veto because it does not repeal certain unrelated legal protections for tech giants and to back $2,000 onetime COVID-19 stimulus checks for struggling Americans.

“$2000 ASAP!” Trump tweeted early yesterday.

On Tuesday the president attacked Republican leaders as “pathetic” and accused the party of having a “death wish” if it did not back raising the

payments from $600 to $2,000 and scrap the legal protections for social media companies.

The cracks in Trump’s rela-tionship with Republican Party leaders come three weeks before Trump hands power to Dem-ocrat Joe Biden on January 20.

Congressional Republicans have largely stuck with Trump through four turbulent years, but the president is angry that they have not fully backed his claims of election fraud.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch

McConnell, the leading Repub-lican in Congress, on Tuesday blocked a quick vote on the checks and urged lawmakers to override Trump’s veto of the defense bill. If successful, the veto override would be the first such congressional rebuke of Trump.

The House of Representa-tives overturned Trump’s veto on Monday, and the Senate is expected to hold a procedural vote on Wednesday evening. Final Senate passage of the override could come later in the

week or over the weekend. Late on Tuesday, McConnell

introduced a bill that combined the $2,000 checks with provi-sions scrapping the social media company protections and calling for a study of election security, a major issue for Trump, who claims without evidence that fraud robbed him of victory in the November election.

Since most Democrats do not support the second two measures, the manoeuvre looks set to kill off prospects for all three. The Senate has little time to act, with the new Congress, elected in November, set to be seated on Sunday.

Democrat Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the Democratic-led House of Representatives, accused McConnell of obstruction and urged him to bring the issue of the $2,000

checks to a vote as soon as possible.

“This $2,000 will go a long way, not only to sustain the financial security of America’s working families but will help small business to thrive as well,” she told a news briefing.

“It’s amazing to see the patience that some people have with other people suffering. These Republicans in the Senate seem to have an endless tolerance for other people’s sadness.”

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said he was confident a stand-alone checks bill that the House passed on Monday would pass the Senate — if McConnell allowed it to come to the floor.

“I believe it will get to 60 votes,” Schumer told reporters, adding that he had “some real hope” that a floor vote would

occur given the number of Senate Republicans who back higher payments.

Barring an agreement between lawmakers, the support of 60 senators would be necessary under the cham-ber’s rules to move the measure to a final vote on passage.

A growing number of Republican senators support the payments, including David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, who are running in next week’s Georgia runoff elections that will determine which party con-trols the Senate under Biden’s incoming administration.

Any attempt by the Senate to deviate from Monday’s stand-alone payment measure would require the House to pass new legislation, an unlikely scenario given Democratic opposition and the tight timeline.

Trump, Biden headline final push in Georgia Senate runoffAP — ATLANTA

Campaigns and outside groups are making a final push to turn out election-weary Georgians whose votes will determine control of the US Senate, from a crush of text messages and television ads to dueling visits from President-elect Joe Biden and outgoing President Donald Trump.

More than 2.5 million people — about half the turnout of last month’s presidential election - had already cast their ballots early, in person or by absentee ballot, by yesterday morning.

With margins in the Januiary 5 runoffs expected to be tight, the campaigns for Republican US Senators David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler and Democratic challengers Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock are all focused on mobilizing voters.

That means everything from

individual voter contacts urging early voting, which ends Thursday, to last-minute cam-paign stops from national head-liners trying to boost Election Day turnout. The Democrats’ campaigns announced Wednesday that Biden would campaign Monday in Atlanta with Ossoff and Warnock.

Trump already had announced plans to rally Monday evening, just hours before polls open, with the Republican senators in the north Georgia town of Dalton. Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, meanwhile, will come to Savannah on Sunday.

“We want to run through the tape. We don’t want to leave anything for granted,” said Jessica Anderson, executive director of Heritage Action, a grassroots conservative organ-ization that has volunteers and staffers knocking on doors, making phone calls and sending

text messages.Roshan Mody is the co-

founder of Plus1Vote, which focuses on getting young people out to vote on climate change, social justice and voting rights. He told progressive activists Monday during an online briefing that it’s going to come down to turnout.

“All the signs are good,” he said of Democrats’ chances. “But a blowout is less likely than us kind of going over the edge by 10-20,000 votes.” In the nearly two months since the general election in November, Georgians have been inundated by radio and television adver-tisements, mailings, calls, text messages and even hand-written notes from out-of-state residents urging them to vote.

Runoff elections historically draw a much lower turnout than general elections, and in Georgia they have favored Republican candidates in the

last decade or so. But in this unique election - with national attention, money pouring in and control of the Senate at stake - the normal rules don’t seem to apply.

Rather than dropping dra-matically, early voting for the runoff is only about 20% lower

than the early turnout at the same point before the general election, though missed days over Christmas make a direct comparison difficult. Experts who track early voting data say the high turnout, particularly among African American voters, and the continued engagement

of younger voters is a good sign for the Democrats.

“These are the numbers that the Democrats need in order to be able to win the election,” said Michael McDonald, a University of Florida professor who tracks vote counts for the US Elections Project.

US President-elect Joe Biden delivers remarks on the ongoing coronavirus pandemic at the Queen Theater in Wilmington, Delaware, yesterday.

Four dead in

Houston domestic

violence shooting

AP — HOUSTON

Four people were killed at a Houston home yesterday in what authorities said was likely a domestic violence shooting that included a man firing at police before turning a gun on himself.

Officers went to a home in the city’s northeast around 3.15am after receiving a call saying a woman had been shot, Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said at a news con-ference. The officers were met with gunfire and a SWAT team from the sheriff’s office was then dispatched to the home.

Gonzalez said the SWAT team was eventually able to negotiate with the man to enter the home, but as team members were going inside they heard “a final gunshot.” In the house, the officers found two dead women and two dead men, including a 49-year-old man who shot himself, he said.

Gonzalez said he believes the 49-year-old was the boy-friend of one of the women and that the other woman and man were her adult children. He also said one of the women who was ultimately shot is likely the person who called police.

Missouri senator to contestBiden Electoral College winAP — WASHINGTON

Senator Josh Hawley, says he will raise objections next week when the Congress meets to affirm President-elect Joe Biden’s victory in the election, forcing House and Senate votes that are likely to delay — but in no way alter — the final certi-fication of Biden’s win.

President Donald Trump has, without evidence, claimed there was widespread fraud in the election. He has pushed Republican senators to pursue his unfounded charges even though the Electoral College this month cemented Biden’s 306-232 victory and multiple legal efforts to challenge the results have failed.

A group of Republicans in the Democratic-majority House have already said they will object on Trump’s behalf during the January 6 count of electoral votes, and they had needed just a single senator to go along with them to force votes in both chambers.

Without giving specifics or evidence, Hawley said he would object because “some states, including notably Pennsylvania” did not follow their own election laws. Lawsuits challenging Biden’s victory in Pennsylvania have been unsuccessful.

“At the very least, Congress should investigate allegations

of voter fraud and adopt measures to secure the integrity of our elections,” Hawley said in a statement Wednesday.

Asked about Hawley’s announcement, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, said: “I have no doubt that on next Wednesday, a week from today, that Joe Biden will be confirmed by the acceptance of the vote of the electoral college as the 46th president of the United States.”

When Congress convenes to certify the Electoral College results, any lawmaker can object to a state’s votes on any grounds. But the objection is not taken up unless it is in writing and signed by both a member of the House and a member of the Senate.

When there is such a request, then the joint session suspends and the House and Senate go into separate ses-sions to consider it. For the objection to be sustained, both chambers must agree to it by a simple majority vote. If they disagree, the original electoral votes are counted.

The last time such an objection was considered was 2005, when Stephanie Tubbs Jones of Ohio and Barbara Boxer of California, both Dem-ocrats, objected to Ohio’s elec-toral votes by claiming there were voting irregularities.

Brazil to weigh approval for AstraZeneca vaccineREUTERS — SAO PAULO/BRASILIA

Brazil will soon weigh emer-gency-use approval for Astra-Zeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine after Britain gave the green light yesterday, as Latin America’s largest country rushes to catch up with immunization programs underway around the hard-hit region.

Brazil’s health regulator Anvisa met with AstraZeneca Plc representatives in the morning and said the company’s local partners, federally-funded bio-medical institute Fiocruz, will

file for emergency use authori-zation, without saying when.

Britain became the first country in the world to give full regulatory approval to the coronavirus vaccine developed by Oxford University and Astra-Zeneca. The UK approval offers hope to Brazil, which has made the cheap and sturdy British vaccine a cornerstone of its widely criticized vaccine plan.

President Jair Bolsonaro, a prominent coronavirus sceptic who has said he will not take any COVID-19 vaccine, is under pressure to speed up Brazil’s

rollout, as regional peers Mexico, Chile and Argentina have already begun immunizations.

In theory, Brazil’s emer-gency use authorization allows for fast-track usage of a COVID-19 vaccine among certain high-risk patients. It is a slimmed down version of a full regulatory approval for nationwide rollout.

However, Pfizer Inc has complained that Brazil’s emer-gency use application is espe-cially onerous, leading critics to decry bureaucratic hurdles just as the virus roars back to life.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, the leading Republican in Congress, on Tuesday blocked a quick vote on the checks and urged lawmakers to override Trump’s veto of the defense bill. If successful, the veto override would be the first such congressional rebuke of Trump.

16THURSDAY 31 DECEMBER 2020

You Ask, officials answer

Why movement is important in child development?

It’s very important for parents to know the importance of movement for child development. Movement is essential for babies to grow healthily because children communicate through movement. Movement allows them to relate to their environment and grow both physically and mentally.

What are the neurological reasons behind the movement?

Movement wires up the neural pathways in the brain, it encourages kinesthetic memory and spatial orientation. It also supports balance, coordination, and strength and it encourages children to express their emotions.

What to do for my c h i l d ’ s h e a l t h y development?

The first and most important thing you can do is — Put your baby on the floor — to encourage floor play and tummy time. Tummy time and floor play are both important for physical development.

Why does my baby need tummy time?

To develop the core muscles of the neck,

back, and shoulder muscles, to m e e t d e v e l o p m e n t a l milestones and to possibly help prevent early motor delays and conditions, such as flat head syndrome (pos i t ional plagiocephaly) and twisted neck (positional torticollis).

When should my baby start tummy time?

As a newborn baby, as soon as they come

home from the hospital.How long should I do tummy time?

Aim to achieve at least an hour of tummy time total per day by 3 months of age.

This hour of tummy time can be broken up into smaller parts. From newborn age, start

with a few minutes at a time and build up to longer sessions.

How often should I do tummy time?

Start with small increments of a few

minutes at a time, several times a day. Eventually, try to do longer tummy time sessions, eventually building up to a full hour.

At what age should baby stop tummy time?

Once the baby begins crawling, around

7-9 months, they will be getting the developmental benefits of tummy time while moving, and it is not as essential to have them do tummy time. However, it still beneficial to have the baby spend some time in the tummy time position (also known as prone position) during play.

What if my child has crossed that age but had missed/delayed d e v e l o p m e n t a l

milestones?Give them the gift of a

second chance. If we repeat the early childhood movement patterns that they either missed out on or did not do enough of, for whatever reason, the child’s brain still will develop new pathways.

Try the fol lowing developmental activities on a daily basis at home.

Rolling like a log, Rocking on all fours, creeping like a soldier (army crawl) , Crawling, side sitting, cross leg sitting, straight leg sitting, kneeling, half kneeling, walking, etc.

(If you have any queries, you can send it to editor@pen.com.qa)

Answers provided by: Sathish Chandra Segar, MSc, OT — Clinical Director, QISH, Doha

Learn the Signs, Act Early — Child Development - Part 4

WHO chief urges fair distribution of COVID-19 vaccine to allREUTERS — GENEVA

The head of the World Health Organization, marking a year since the first cases of the novel coronavirus were reported by China, urged countries yesterday to ensure that vaccines are made available to people at risk every-where, not just in rich nations.

Tedros Adhanom Ghe-breyesus, WHO director-general, appealed for $4bn to buy COVID-19 vaccines for distri-bution in lower and

middle-income countries through the COVAX vaccine facility.

“This is the challenge we must rise to in the New Year,” Tedros said in a video message issued a day before the first anni-versary of China reporting the first cases of pneumonia of unknown origin to the UN health agency.

“To protect the world, we must ensure that all people at risk everywhere — not just in coun-tries who can afford vaccines — are immunised,” he said.

Superstar DJ David Guetta upbeat for 2021AP — PARIS

Superstar DJ David Guetta has been brought back to Earth by the coronavirus pandemic and says his music has benefitted as a result.

Back in his native Paris to record a New Year’s Eve show, the composer of ear-worm dance hits said he has produced “tons of new music” while hunkering down during the pandemic.

The French DJ says he spent much of 2020 in Miami. By bringing the clubbing industry to a halt, the virus has been bad for his business of globe-trotting from party to party.

But Guetta says being stuck at home got creative juices flowing.

“I realised how my lifestyle is not healthy, the fact that I am constantly on a plane, being jet-lagged and all of this, you know? Just to be able to wake every day at the same time, in the same bed, and go make music after my breakfast, that was kind of crazy. I haven’t done this for 20 years,” Guetta said before recording his show at Paris’ Louvre Museum on Tuesday night.

“I am one of the lucky ones. I

have money on the side, I didn’t need to stress about how am I going to eat next week or next month,” he said.

“But I have to say, as an artist, it was incredibly creative.” With lights and lasers slicing through the darkness of Paris, but with no crowds because of a virus curfew, Guetta recorded his hour-long show in front of the futuristic glass pyramid that covers the main entrance to the Louvre, home to the “Mona Lisa” and the world’s most-visited museum before virus lockdowns closed its doors this year.

Guetta’s show will be streamed on multiple platforms, part of pandemic-altered New Year’s festivities this year.

Like night owls everywhere, Guetta is hoping 2021 will be better, with a victory over the virus that would allow for the reopening of dance venues and “the craziest party ever.”

“I told my kids already, I’m like: ‘Listen, guys, enjoy while I am here because when they open, I’m gone.’ I’m going to play every single day,” he said. “People are going to party like they have never partied before.”

French DJ David Guetta poses in front of the Louvre Pyramid, in Paris, France.

Nasa approves 2 missions to explore Sun, Earth’s aurora

IANS — WASHINGTON

Nasa has approved two missions to explore the Sun and the system that drives space weather near Earth.

These two missions are Extreme Ultraviolet High-Throughput Spectroscopic Tel-escope Epsilon Mission, or EUVST, and the Electrojet Zeeman Imaging Explorer, or EZIE.

Together, Nasa’s contri-bution to the missions will help us understand the Sun and Earth as an interconnected system, the US space agency said on Tuesday.

“We are very pleased to add these new missions to the growing fleet of satellites,” Thomas Zurbuchen, Associate Administrator for Science at Nasa headquarters in Wash-ington, said in a statement.

Next-generation ‘AirPods Pro’ may come in two sizesIANS — SAN FRANCISCO

Apple is expected to debut its second generation ‘AirPods Pro’ earbuds in 2021 with a new report claiming that it would come in two sizes.

Leaker Mr. White, who in the past has shared accurate details of Apple’s product plans, has

shared new part images for the “AirPods Pro 2”. The images shown depict different sized SoC housing for the H1 Processor which could indicate different sized earbuds in the future model, reports AppleInsider.

Based on the components, the next version of ‘AirPods Pro’ might come in multiple sizes but

would still contain Apple’s W2 chip rather than a new W3 chip.

With second generation ‘AirPods Pro’, the tech giant could go for a “less ambitious” design than it hopes for ‘AirPods Pro 2’ due to the difficulty in packing antennas, ANC and mics in a more compact form factor.

Katara Hospitality partially opens oneof the largest theme parks in Mideast

QNA — DOHA

Katara Hospitality yesterday partially opened the Desert Falls Water & Adventure Park located within Salwa Beach Resort and Villas, which is one of the largest theme parks in the Middle East.

The facilities of Desert Falls

Water & Adventure Park provide a mixture of enter-tainment and adventure spirit, and a unique experience for all family members. The Park also includes 18 entertainment des-tinations, 56 rides and slopes, including the famous “Cobra King” game.

Designed to the highest

international standards, the resort encourages families to return for a weekend break, or to stay longer at Salwa Beach Resort. Salwa Beach Resort and Villas is located 84km from Doha, owned by Katara Hospitality and managed by Hilton Hotels and Resorts.

Desert Falls Water & Adventure Park at the Salwa Beach Resort and Villas.

W ALRUWAIS : 19o → 23o

W ALKHOR : 17o → 23o

W DUKHAN : 17o → 22o

W WAKRAH : 12o → 24o

W MESAIEED : 12o → 24o

W ABUSAMRA : 15o → 22o

Misty at places at first becomes

Moderate temperature daytime

with some clouds, relatively cold

by night.

Minimum Maximum17oC 24oC

WEATHER TODAY

LOW TIDE 13:19 – 23:35

HIGH TIDE 05:46 – 16:11

PRAYER TIMINGSPPPPRAYRRRAAAYARA MMMIINNNNNNNGGGGGGMMMMMMMMIIINNNNNGGGGNNNGGGIINNNNGNNNNNNN

PRAYERTIMINGS

FAJR

SUNRISE

04.56 am 06.19 am

DHUHR 11.37 am

ISHA 06.26 pmMAGHRIB

ASR 02.35 pm04.56 pm