Tuesday 14 April 2020

21 Sha'aban - 1441

2 Riyals

www.thepeninsula.qa

Volume 25 | Number 8227

BUSINESS | 03 PENMAG | 06 SPORT | 09

Britain's finance

minister warns

economy could

shrink by 30%

Classifieds

and Services

section

included

Cricket

still reeling

from Cronje

scandal

252 59 3231 334 7

1,905,935 118,623 446,336

COVID-19 QATAR UPDATES ON APRIL 13, 2020

TOTAL POSITIVE TOTAL DEATHS TOTAL RECOVERED

COVID-19 GLOBALLY

NEW CASES

ANNOUNCED

NEW

RECOVERIES

TOTAL

RECOVERIES

TOTAL

DEATHS

TOTAL

CASES

Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani chairing the Supreme Council for Economic Affairs and Investment (SCEAI) meeting via video conference, yesterday.

Ministry of Public Health increases precautionary measures in workplacesQNA — DOHA

The Ministry of Public Health has intensified precautionary and preventive measures in workplaces in regard to COVID-19.

The Ministry has issued instructions to employers and employees in several languages to maintain a safe working environment.

Dr Asmaa Al Nuaimi, NHS National Lead for Healthy and Safe Employees, said that the guidelines specify for the employers what they must follow in order to prevent the

spread of the virus inside the workplace, in addition to instructions for employees to act with caution and follow health and safety rules.

She clarified that the instructions are in line with the procedures and awareness campaigns that have been taken by the authorities in the country since the beginning of the virus outbreak, and came from the principle that safety is our common responsibility and by working together, we can take serious steps to prevent the transmission of the virus.

�P2

MoPH: 59 recoveries; 252 new casesTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

The Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) has announced the recovery of 59 cases of COVID-19, bringing the total recovery cases in Qatar to 334 cases, yesterday.

The Ministry has also announced registration of 252 new confirmed cases COVID-19.

The new cases are due to people having been in contact with positive cases among cit-izens and residents. The new

infected people have been placed under complete isolation and they are receiving necessary medical care, said the Ministry.

The total number of positive COVID-19 cases recorded in Qatar by yesterday was 3,231 and there are 2,890 active cases under treatment.

Qatar has tested 50,828 people for COVID-19 so far and reported 7 deaths.

The Ministry has called on all members of society to stay at

home and not to go out except where absolutely necessary.

The Ministry has also requested all members of society to cooperate fully and adhere to all health guidelines and preventive measures to reduce the risk of infection, including sticking to social and physical distancing guidelines.

The Ministry has also rec-ommended to regularly visit the MoPH website for the most up-to-date guidance on how to stay safe.

Qatar Airways Cargo provides air bridge between China and FranceTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

Qatar Airways Cargo is oper-ating a large number of Boeing 777 freighters with a capacity of 100 tonnes each between China and France for its customers with the first freighter having commenced on April 8.

The freighters originate from Guangzhou and Shanghai and serve as an air bridge to France, delivering essential cargo and humanitarian aid. The cargo carrier has partnered with the French Embassy in Doha to support the French government and French Ministry of Health in their fight against the deadly pandemic, said the airline in a press release. QA Cargo’s Boeing 777 charters will transport essential goods like surgical masks, FFP2 masks, respiratory machines, bottles for hydroal-coholic gel, and disposable hos-pital gowns from manufac-turers in China. �P2

Amir chairs second meeting of SCEAI

QNA — DOHA

Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Chairman of the Supreme Council for Economic Affairs and Investment (SCEAI), chaired yesterday the Council’s second meeting in 2020 that was held by video conference.

Deputy Amir H H Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad Al Thani, the Deputy Chairman of the Council, attended the meeting along with Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, H E Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa bin Abdulaziz Al Thani, Executive Member of the Council and Their Excel-lencies the members of the Council.

The Council discussed topics on the meeting agenda and took the appropriate measures regarding them.

The Council also reviewed a number of presentations made on a number of topics, including:

First: The economic reper-cussions of the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) and ways to address and reduce its economic and financial effects, as well as the most important measures taken by the State and future steps in this regard.

Second: Progress achieved in implementing the Second National Development Strategy 2018-2022 within the framework of the Qatar National

Vision 2030.Third: The latest develop-

ments in the energy sector and investment affairs, in addition to developments in the imple-mentation of the Qatarization program for the energy sector, as well as efforts being made to develop local suppliers, localize technical knowledge and increase capabilities of local competencies.

Fourth: What has been accomplished in terms of the services of the Single Window program that aimed at unifying procedures for establishing busi-nesses by the citizen and the investor through one electronic service window.

The Council reviewed economic repercussions of the spread of COVID-19 and ways to address and reduce its economic and financial effects, as well as the most important measures taken by the State and future steps in this regard.

Upon directives of Amir, medical aid shipment delivered to Italy

QNA — DOHA

Upon the directives of Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani to send medical aid to the friendly Italian Republic in support of the efforts of Italian friends to confront and contain the outbreak of the COVID-19, a shipment of aid and medical supplies was delivered to Italy yesterday.

The Qatar Fund for Devel-opment (QFFD) stated that this shipment, 29 tonnes, which was delivered in cooperation with the air transport aircraft of the Amiri Air Force, is part of a total of 260 tonnes of aid to be delivered by 12 flights.

The medical assistance

comes within the framework of the efforts of the State of Qatar and its supportive stance towards brotherly and friendly countries to help them overcome this crisis, and it comes from joint international responsibility in combating the spread of this epidemic, which represents a common threat to the whole world.

Starting from April 8, 2020, the State of Qatar launched a medical air bridge to transport urgent medical aid to the Italian Republic, as transport aircraft (C-17) of the Amiri Air Force delivered two field hospitals, equipment and medical sup-plies to Italy.

The area of the first field hospital is about 5,200 square

meters, and the second hospital is about 4,000 square meters, with a capacity of 1,000 beds for both hospitals.

Ambassador of the State of Qatar to the Italian Republic H E Abdulaziz bin Ahmed Al Malki said that in implementation of the

directives of Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, an air bridge consisting of 13 aircraft has been set up to help the friendly Republic of Italy to establish field hospitals with various medical equipment. �P2

In implementation of the directives of Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, an air bridge consisting of 13 aircraft has been set up to help the friendly Republic of Italy to establish field hospitals with various medical equipment.

The Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs, H E Luigi Di Maio (right), and Ambassador of the State of Qatar to the Italian Republic, H E Abdulaziz bin Ahmed Al Malki, during the delivery of Qatari aid to Italy, yesterday.

Qatar government has taken decisive steps to address COVID-19 crisis

P. Kumaran, Ambassador of India to the State of Qatar �P8

SIDI MOHAMED THE PENINSULA

H E Lolwah bint Rashid bin Mohammed Al Khater (pictured), Assistant Foreign Minister and Spokesperson of the Supreme Committee for Crisis Management, has said that all those who live in Qatar benefit from free healthcare without exception or discrim-ination especially all COVID-19 infected patients.

She also said that Qatar has great readiness to deal with the coronavirus crisis. “Everyone who lives in Qatar will get free medical services, especially corona-virus patients, without dis-crimination,” said Al Khater while speaking to Al Arabi TV.

“For fighting coronavirus, the government has not yet resorted to the private sector, however there is a percentage allocated in the event that the state needs it. It will be

dedicated to coronavirus patients,” she said.

H E further said that the State of Qatar has built field hospitals with sufficient capacity reaching to 12,000 beds, not to mention the existing hospitals and parts of these existing hospitals have also been allocated to cases related to the corona-virus while other parts for other medical cases in order to avoid spread of infection.

�P3

Free medical services to all COVID-19 patients without discrimination: Lolwah

02 TUESDAY 14 APRIL 2020HOME

Deputy Amir H H Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad Al Thani, Deputy Chairman of Supreme Council for Economic Affairs and Investment (SCEAI), attending the meeting of the Council through video conference.

Deputy Amir attends SCEAI meeting Ministry of Education launches platform for distance learningTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

The Education Sector of the Ministry of Education and Higher Education in cooper-ation with Eshraq Q Technology Company has launched ‘Mzeed’ online learning platform.

The platform offers digital and interactive resources pre-pared by a qualified team of teachers, early education mentors and curricula spe-cialists, said the Ministry in a release.

Assistant Undersecretary for Educational Affairs at the Ministry of Education and Higher Education, H E Fawzia Al Khater, said that the platform contains interactive books, textbooks in PDF format, video, audio and many other digital learning materials. She said that

these are the supportive sources to enrich the student’s learning as an added value to the platform of the Ministry of Edu-cation and Higher Education.

Al Khater said that the new platform will boost the learning process of the students and it will provide more explanation in an interesting interactive way to serve students and support them in the distance education system, without the constant need to connect to the Internet.

The content can be browsed and viewed through all fixed and portable devices (laptop - tablet - smart phone devices, through Internet browsers, and apps of iOS and Android ).

Al Khater noted that the platform includes various con-tents for the students of grade

1, 2 and 12. The textbook will be in PDF

format, enabling students to make notes, underline the important topics and para-graphs among many other options

The platform includes inter-active units (interactive book units, including videos, compe-titions, and self-assessments) according to the weekly teaching plan (for some classes), in addition to educational videos and audio clips.

It also includes interactive teaching units and option to revise science and mathematics subjects of senior secondary classes. The platform can be accessed through the link: https://mzeedqatar.com/, or ‘Mzeed’ application at Apple and Android.

Souq Waqif denies

rumours on

shops' reopening

QNA — DOHA

The management of Souq Waqif has denied the rumours circulating on social media about reopening of shops today.

The Director of Souq Waqif, Mohammed Al Salem, said in a statement to Qatar News Agency (QNA) that all the rumours on social media sites from today 7am until 1pm are unfounded.

He pointed out that what has happened is only calling on foodstuff stores, fast food restaurants (for takeaway) and pharmacies covered by the decision of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, to adhere strictly to the precau-tionary measures and health safety requirements related to their employees such as ster-ilization and wearing gloves and masks, adding this was in the context of preparations for the advent of the holy month of Ramadan.

He added that the man-agement of Souq Waqif is committed to all directives issued by the competent authorities regarding precau-tionary measures against the coronavirus, and to support all efforts made by the State to prevent it.

Mahaseel markets 10 million kilos of vegetables locally in current season THE PENINSULA — DOHA

Mahaseel for Marketing and Agricultural Services Company, a subsidiary of Hassad, announced yesterday that it succeeded in marketing 10 million kilogrammes of vege-tables in the local market, during the current agricultural season.

Eng. Mohamed Al Sadah, Hassad (pictured), CEO of Mahaseel, said: “It’s our pleasure to announce Mahaseel’s success in mar-keting 10 million kilogrammes

of vegetables, during the current agricultural season. Mahaseel managed to display

the added value of the local produce through its production processes (sorting, cleaning, packaging and marketing) with the aim to increase the quantity and enhance the quality of local produce.”

Mahaseel, markets 30 dif-ferent vegetable varieties in the local market, through 44 hyper-markets outlets around the country. Moreover, over 200 local farms are currently reg-istered with Mahaseel to benefit from the marketing and agri-cultural services provided to farmers.

The staff of Mahaseel for Marketing and Agricultural Services Company packing vegetables at its godown for distribution in various outlets.

Qatari medicalaid deliveredto Italy

FROM PAGE 1

“This is an evidence of the strength of strategic relations between the two countries and a human gesture towards the friendly Italian people,” Ambas-sador of the State of Qatar to the Italian Republic, H E Abdulaziz bin Ahmed Al Malki said.

He described the directives of Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani to send medical aid to the friendly Italian Republic in support of its efforts to address and contain the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic as an expression of the close rela-tionship between the two friendly countries, as well as a sign of solidarity and coordi-nation of common visions between the Qatari and Italian peoples.

In his remarks on the occasion of the arrival of four Qatari aid aircraft to Italy yes-terday, H E the Ambassador affirmed that the relations between Doha and Rome are excellent, adding that Qatar is confident that the friendly

Italian Republic will overcome the ordeal of the coronavirus with the cooperation of all. The Ambassador stressed the need for all peoples to unite in order to eliminate the coronavirus pandemic.

Meanwhile, in a Twitter

message, the Italian Embassy thanked Qatar yesterday for sending medical equipment and supplies to help in the Italy’s fight against the pandemic.

“More Qatar Amiri Air Force aircraft are flying to #Italy with ventilators, masks

and medical equipment donated by @qatar_fund to support Italian healthcare pro-fessionals. We are touched by #Qatar’s generosity and will never forget your friendship #ThankYouQatar,” read the Embassy’s tweet.

Officials pose after the aircraft carrying medical aid to fight COVID-19 pandemic from Qatar arrived in Italy.

MoPH increases precautionary measures in workplaces

FROM PAGE 1The guidelines include the

responsibilities of employers, which encompasses identifying the symptoms of the virus, its transmission methods, and environmental cleaning of workplaces by installing hand sanitizers, disinfecting work-place and providing the required personal protection tools, in addition to measuring the temperature of employees using non-touch device, main-taining a safe distance, sus-pending the use of fingerprint scan, stop receiving visitors and canceling external meeting and using technological solutions.

The guidelines also include

stopping the use of external companies to provide food and drink for workers and a rec-ommendation to the Mental Health Service, by circulating to employees all facts related to coronavirus and work flex-ibility, as employers have to be flexible and enable individuals to work from home and abide by national directives that include guidelines and proce-dures that the employer must take in the event of an infection of one of the employees.

The Ministry also issued many important guidelines for employees to take precaution and follow health and safety rules.

MoI arrests four for violating ban on public gatheringsTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

The Ministry of Interior (MoI) has arrested four Qataris for violating the decision to ban gatherings in public places.

“The defendants were arrested after the spread of a video clip on social media showing a group of people gathering in a desert area,” the MoI said in a tweet.

It also said that the defendants will be sent to public prosecution. Following the decision to ban all gath-erings by law in order to

prevent the spread of COVID-19, citizens and resi-dents are advised to be respon-sible and abide by all pre-ventive measures.

The Ministry of Interior had earlier clarified all forms of gatherings which are banned under law to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

The prohibited forms of gathering include social func-tions at homes, majlis, mourning, Corniche, court-yards of mosques, social gath-erings, beaches and public parks.

QA Cargo provides

air bridge between

China and FranceFROM PAGE 1

“Air freight plays a critical role in the global response to the COVID-19 crisis, trans-porting time sensitive medical supplies and aid relief to where they are needed. We are honoured to be able to support France with a special flight operated by a crew of French nationals,” said Guillaume Halleux, Chief Officer Cargo, Qatar Airways.

To support the demand of much needed medicines and essential goods in Europe amidst the COVID-19 crisis, Qatar Airways Cargo operated numerous charters to multiple countries in Europe last month. The carrier is reorgan-ising its network and crew to prioritise medical supplies aid relief shipments.

Qatar Airways Cargo is also operating daily freight-only passenger flights to no less than six destinations in China as well as six cities in India. The carrier is working around the clock to ensure that importers and exporters can maintain supply and demand of fresh produce and pharma-ceuticals around the world through its cargo operations.

Qatar Airways Cargo con-tinues to utlise its full freighter fleet as per schedule and operates bellyhold cargo flights to destinations where possible.

Qatar Airways and Qatar Airways Cargo are supporting global trade and efforts to limit the spread of COVID-19 by transporting a variety of essential goods across the globe in these challenging times. Playing a crucial role in combating the pandemic.

Over a million people registered in National AddressSIDI MOHAMED THE PENINSULA

Over one million people in Qatar have registered themselves in the National Address while the regis-tration process will continue until July 26, 2020.

“The number of registered (individuals and legal persons) is exceeded 1 million. We are inviting public to register their national addresses, through Metrash 2, or the Ministry of Interior website,” said the Min-istry of Interior on its Twitter

account.The registration was also

available at the Ministry of Interior service centres in the country, but in order to limit spread of the coronavirus, the Ministry urged people to register only online through its website or Metrash2. The registration was started on January 27, 2020 and will continue until July 26. Every applicant is responsible for giving the correct information and there is a QR10,000 fine for giving false information. The fine also applies for not registering during the

6-month period, which ends on July 26. The fine can be reconciled to QR5,000 before reaching the court.

The National Address is the address chosen by the person to correspond with the state or other bodies, and the national address data will include one’s residence address in Qatar, landline and cell

phone numbers, e-mail address, and work address for those who work in government or private sector. It will serve many gov-ernment entities such as the Min-istry of Municipality and Envi-ronment; the Ministry of Justice; the Supreme Judiciary Council and Planning and Statistics Authority, a senior official had

said earlier. The National Address Law was introduced mainly for correspondence, especially for the courts and the Supreme Judicial Council, because many judicial issues were getting delayed, so the new national address law will solve this problem. It came within the framework of the strategic devel-opment of e-governance and the completion of the legislative structure necessary for e-gov-ernment transactions and the transition from the descriptive address to the digital address.w

Every applicant is responsible for giving the correct information and there is a QR10,000 fine for giving false information.

03TUESDAY 14 APRIL 2020 HOME

Residents trust Qatar govt fully in COVID-19 fight: Survey THE PENINSULA — DOHA

The people of Qatar have the highest levels of trust in the country’s government over taking care of its people from COVID-19 pandemic, according to the results of a global survey released this week.

Qatar leads the world rankings with less than 5% of people stating that they dis-trusted the government to take care of the people, compared to the global average of over 35%.

The Department of Public Health in the College of Health Sciences (CHS) at Qatar Uni-versity has been promoting the study in Qatar and because of these constant efforts, over 1,400 people from Qatar par-ticipated in a global online survey last week. Qatar is the only country from the Arabian Gulf region to show sufficient responses appearing in the results, said a statement.

An international team of researchers from world-renowned universi t ies including Harvard, MIT, Prin-ceton and the University of Cal-ifornia in the USA, Oxford,

Cambridge and the University of Warwick in the UK is con-ducting the study. The purpose of this research is to investigate beliefs and behaviours in response to the COVID-19 outbreak.

Dr. Lily O’Hara, Associate

Professor of Public Health at Qatar University, said: “These results are significant for Qatar because it is the first research study into people’s perceptions about the strong measures the government is taking to protect the health of people in Qatar.”

“The study results show that Qatar is doing very well, but we can see areas for improvement,” said Dr. O’Hara. “People must continue to stay at home as much as possible, but if they do need to go out, they should keep a safe dis-tance from other people.”

Dr. Hanan Abdul Rahim, the Dean of the College of Health Sciences said that the results were very good news for Qatar. However she encouraged more people to take the survey, saying, “It is important for us to keep col-lecting information from people in Qatar, especially as new precautionary measures are introduced.” The survey can be completed at https://covid19-survey.org/.

The International Survey on coronavirus disease found that Qatar is in the top five countries of the world with respect to perceptions of truth-fulness, with less than 5%

believing that the government has been untruthful about the outbreak.

When asked if they believe the government is doing enough, over 20% of respondents believe the gov-ernment’s response has been insufficient. However almost 50% believe the public’s response has been insufficient, despite the majority of people reporting that they have prac-ticed social distancing in the past week.

More than 90% of people said they did not attend social gatherings, almost 90% reported staying at home in the previous week, and less than 80% said they kept a distance of at least 2 meters from other people.

The vast majority of people (more than 90%) said they are washing their hands more fre-quently and almost 95% of people said they would inform someone if they felt sick.

Qatar leads the world rankings with less than five percent of people stating that they distrusted the government to take care of the people, compared to the global average of over 35 percent.

Dr. Lily O’Hara, Associate Professor of Public Health at Qatar University, said: “These results are significant for Qatar because it is the first research study into people’s perceptions about the strong measures the government is taking to protect the health of people in Qatar.”

QF expert emphasises importance of children’s emotional well-beingFAZEENA SALEEM THE PENINSULA

During the present unprece-dented time that requires us to engage in social distancing and limit contact with others, it is important for parents to recognise the impact this may have on their children’s emotional well-being, says expert.

Parents are encouraged to provide increased opportunities for healthy, appropriate inter-actions with the family at home. In addition, children will benefit from engaging in daily virtual conversations with their peers and friends through video chat platforms. Due to the increased stress for all, children may exhibit regressed behaviour and/or acting out behaviours. While this affects everyday lives, Qatar marks National Family Day On April 15.

Dr.Tracy Hardister (pic-tured), Director of The Learning Center (TLC) of Qatar Founda-tion’s Pre-University Education, speaking to The Peninsula offer some guidance to support parents, as well as help children to cope with the changes and minimise the overall impact of these changes and enjoy family time.

She has encouraged parents to offer support, encour-agement, and reassurance to their children. If parents are concerned about their child’s well-being or mental health, they should reach out to the school counsellor or a mental health professional in the community.

“As parents, supporting learning and keeping a sense of normalcy and routine for children is important, especially during school closures. As schools and teachers work to create distance-learning plans, parents themselves are juggling many changes for themselves and their families, including work situations and basic needs,” said Dr. Hardister.

“Attempting this while

trying to keep their children engaged with learning at home can feel overwhelming. Please consider the following ideas to help support your children through online learning,” she added.

Dr Hardister advised parents to remain calm and reassure children to reduce the anxiety about COVID-19.

“Let your children talk about their feelings and help reframe their concerns into the appropriate perspective. Check-in with them about what they are hearing. Children may not fully understand all the information that they are receiving. Having a discussion with your children or with your family can reduce any anxiety that your children have from the news, and gives parents an opportunity to clarify any mis-information a child may have received,” said Dr. Hardister.

She also strongly recom-mends to limit family’s exposure to news coverage of the event, including social media. “Children may misin-terpret what they hear and can be frightened about something they do not understand. Be a role model. Take breaks, get plenty of sleep, exercise, and eat well. Connect with your friends and family members,” said Dr. Hardister.

Parents are also advised to maintain a schedule for the day to help children maintain some structure and predictability in

their lives. Getting out of bed at a regular time, continuing with a consistent bedtime and a time specifically set aside for learning gives students a sense of normalcy and routine.

“Involve children in the establishment of a daily time-table. It may also be helpful to have a beginning and end of the “school day” with break times for meals, play, schoolwork, rest, house chores, family time, etc. While on breaks, create moments of fun and relaxation throughout the week. Because most families are being asked to self-isolate, make sure that you build fun and engaging activities into the family rou-tines - game nights, cooking meals together, doing workouts using online videos, mind-fulness, arts & crafts, etc.,” said Dr. Hardister.

Dr. Hardister also advises to get some type of physical exercise every day, maintain a well-balanced diet and get enough sleep. And stay con-nected to family and friends through socializing via video chats and social media.

“Family time is important to everyone. Staying at home over an extended period of time can be stressful for the entire family,” Dr. Hardister.

“We are here to support the students and make this tran-sition to online learning as stress-free as possible, while trying to maintain a supportive learning environment for the students. Play games, eat meals together, look at old family photos and take advantage of the opportunity to enjoy this extra time with the family,” she added.

Dr. Tracy Hardister has encouraged parents to offer support, encouragement and reassurance to their children.

Qatar receives heavy rainfall; thundery rain today SANAULLAH ATAULLAH THE PENINSULA

Much of the area in Qatar received heavy rainfall yesterday, while some areas reported hailstorms.

According to the forecast of Qatar Meteorology Depart-ment’s (QMD), thundery rain, with sudden strong wind, is expected at various places today and tomorrow.

The Joint Rainfall Emer-gency Committee at the Min-istry of Municipality and Envi-ronment announced hotline (184) to receive calls related to rainfall emergency like water logging on highways and streets inside residential areas.

The weather is unstable with chances of rainfall at dif-ferent parts of the country. We receive all rainfall emergency calls through unified call centre No. 184, the Ministry has

tweeted.The Qatar Meteorology

Department shared footages of rainfall and hailstorm at a number of places including Doha, Al Duhail, Madinat

Khalifa and Al Wakrah.The country is affected by a

state of atmospheric instability due to extension of a low pressure over the region which is expected to last until the

weekend, said QMD. Doha sky is expected to be partly cloudy to cloudy in some periods with chance of rain of variable intensity and thundery rain may accompany with strong wind and hailstorm in some areas.

The prevailing wind will be southeasterly to northeasterly moderate to fresh reaching strong speeds at times espe-cially during thunderstorms causing rising dust and low vis-ibility in some areas as well as high waves exceeding 8 fits offshore.

The temperature is expected to drop slightly during this period becoming around their normal average for April.

QMD urged people to be cautious, avoid all marine activ-ities and follow latest weather updates through its official social media accounts as this transitional period is known for fast weather fluctuations.

Water logging in an area after the heavy rain, yesterday. PIC: BAHER AMIN/THE PENINSULA

Free medical services to all COVID-19 patients: Lolwah

FROM PAGE 1

H E Lolwah bint Rashid bin Mohammed Al Khater, said, “There is difficulty in changing some mindsets especially since Qatar has many other nation-alities and cultures. Dealing with all these languages and nationalities is not easy, and we have reached out people through media messages in nine languages.”

H E Lolwah Al Khater said that the blockade experience had benefited Qatar a lot espe-cially from the perspective of strategic stockpile and how to deal with crisis.

“Before the year 2017, Qatar was 90 percent dependent on its needs, in terms of food and medicine, on the neighbouring countries. Today Qatar ranks first in the Arab world and 13 globally in

terms of food security and has established new factories for masks, disinfectants and ster-ilisers in addition to the previ-ously existing factories,” she added.

“The strategic stockpile of food suffices us for more than a year and we are working to enhance it. Despite the fact that coronavirus pandemic is a global crisis, Qatar is one of the most prepared to face this crisis especially among Arab countries,” she said.

She also said, “We do not see any indications so far, Qatar has surpassed all the effects of the siege specially in the economic and diplomatic side.” She also said that Qatar Airways has transported about a million people in the recent period, despite restrictions by the siege countries.

04 TUESDAY 14 APRIL 2020HOME

CCQ to offer Associate of Business Administration in hybrid formatTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

The Community College of Qatar (CCQ) yesterday announced the official launch of its hybrid learning program, commencing from Fall 2020-2021, with the Associate of Business Admin-istration as its first fully hybrid academic program. The new program will reinforce CCQ’s continuous endeavour to provide students with the latest educational tools and plat-forms in line with today’s technological advances and challenges, and to meet the needs of its students, as well as enhance their opportunities to continue their studies. The hybrid program is a combination of traditional and online learning in a way that brings together the best of both learning methods.

Through this program, CCQ aims to reach larger segments of Qatari society by tackling the challenges that come with their personal and profes-sional duties, as well as provide them with the much-needed flexibility to pursue their academic aspirations.

At the same time, CCQ will maintain its long-standing record of providing stellar quality education and academic results. This flexibility will be seen in offering some courses over

the weekends, while conducting the rest of the courses online throughout the week.

C o m m e n t i n g o n t h e announcement, Dr. Mohamed Al Naimi, CCQ President, said: “Our hybrid learning courses were developed based on internationally-recognized standards and we were keen on ben-efiting from the previous experiences of international institutions before applying this program. CCQ has assigned a specialized committee to follow up on the development of nec-essary courses, and define technical,

academic and advising needs to provide maximum support to both stu-dents and faculty members to ensure the smoothness and effectiveness of this program, with all offered hybrid learning courses being subject to con-tinuous supervision, review and development.”

“Applying this program aligns with CCQ’s continuous endeavor to provide a qualitative learning experience for

members of the Qatari community and enable them to achieve their academic and professional aspirations, as well as support the efforts of the State of Qatar to shift towards a knowledge-based economy and society capable of keeping up with the pace of global development and face future chal-lenges,” he said.

Highlighting their well-defined strategical standards for the learning process, CCQ emphasized setting clear standards for teaching and developing hybrid courses and providing the nec-essary training and qualifications for faculty members to effectively teach hybrid courses. At the same time, the College will provide the necessary support to all students, who wish to enrol in hybrid courses, by providing them with guidance and advising on the nature and requirements of these courses and programs, in addition to enhancing their technical skills to max-imize the benefits from this program.

CCQ admission officials have made it clear that students who wish to enrol in the Associate of Business Adminis-tration through the hybrid learning program must pass a technical skills test, in addition to meeting the admission requirements of CCQ. Due

to the limited numbers of students, who will be admitted into the first batch, they also urged students to enrol as soon as possible in the courses offered. CCQ has also initiated plans to offer a bachelor’s degree for the same major in the future.

The College will also work on expanding the hybrid learning program to cover other majors in accordance with the students’ needs and the effectiveness of the program, while exploring the pos-sibility of offering additional summer courses if necessary.

Launched as a pilot program by CCQ, the hybrid learning initiative commenced in Fall 2019 with two classes. Further courses were developed and put forward in the second experimental phase in Spring 2020. In October 2019, the College organized a workshop, during which it explored and discussed global expe-riences in the field of hybrid learning. The workshop tackled a number of topics: how to plan and deliver lectures using the hybrid learning technology, the best strategies to help students adapt to this technology, and instruc-tions for faculty members to guide them in preparing content for this new learning approach.

CCQ President, Dr. Mohamed Al Naimi.

Le Mirage Real Estate and VCUarts Qatar launch ‘Designs For Life’ competitionTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

Le Mirage Real Estate, Qatar’s leading real estate development and property management company, has launched the acclaimed “Designs For Life” competition, which is being held in association with Virginia Common-wealth University School of the Arts in Qatar (VCUarts Qatar), a Qatar Foundation partner university.

The “Designs For Life” compe-tition, part of Le Mirage’s community and education outreach program, is providing VCUarts Qatar’s third year interior design students with an inno-vative platform for their creativity, skills and design knowledge. The competition, a pioneering industry-academia partnership, is in line with Qatar National Vision 2030 and its vision of building a sustainable future for generations to come.

The contest invites creative design talent from junior students from VCUarts Qatar’s Interior Design program, in teams of two, to design elements of a hotel in three phases that will be individually assessed: firstly an overarching concept; sec-ondly the concept will be applied to the lobby and elevator area, and in the third phase, applied to a typical guest room.

Students this year will design the concept and interiors for the lobby and hotel rooms of the Four Points by Sheraton extension in Msheireb Doha. Malini Saldanha, the group marketing manager of Sharaka Holdings together with Badih Touma Executive Director of Lacasa Archi-tects introduced the project to the

students. They made a presentation to the students explaining Le Mirage and Four Points by Sheraton brand guidelines, the project, expectations of the jury and the general guidelines of the competition.

Amer Fares, CEO of Sharaka Holdings, the parent company of Le

Mirage Real Estate, said, “We are delighted to continue this exciting series. Last year’s competition was very encouraging and the excitement, dedication and creativity of the stu-dents was indeed commendable. Sharaka Holdings focuses on two core sectors namely education and real estate development. Designs For Life is our way of bridging the gap between academia and industry; edu-cation and real estate. We wish the talented students the very best of luck and look forward to yet another suc-cessful Designs For Life competition.”

Liam Colquhoun, the Interim Chair of the interior Design department at VCUarts Qatar, said, “The Interior Design department will

be building on the success of last year’s collaboration with the Le Mirage Brand with another live project for our junior-level students. Oppor-tunities such as these, collabo-rating with industry leaders on live projects, enrich the edu-cation of our students and provide vital “real-life” expe-rience of the designer’s role in a commercial setting.”

The students have been successfully working on their projects online, and have been discussing and critiquing the various aspects of their designs in virtual meeting rooms. One of the key strengths of VCUarts Qatar’s students is their adapt-ability, and this is a natural trait, particularly for interior designers who are used to being creative when faced with chal-lenges that arise at short notice.

This year sees the addition of Lacasa Architects, joining as a member of the jury. Badih Touma the Executive Director of Lacasa Architects is playing a very active role in guiding and mentoring the students as they design their way through the competition.

The first prize winning team will win a two-month internship with Le Mirage Real Estate while the second prize winners will win a two-month internship at Lacasa Architects. Teams entering the contest will also see their designs show-cased on Le Mirage and VCUarts Qatar’s social media.

The contest is open exclu-sively to VCUarts Qatar’s third year students, with all submis-sions due by the end of April.

The competition, a pioneering industry-academia partnership, is in line with Qatar National Vision 2030 and its vision of building a sustainable future for generations to come.

Through this program, CCQ aims to reach larger segments of Qatari society by tackling the challenges that come with their personal and professional duties, as well as provide them with the much-needed flexibility to pursue their academic aspirations.

New ASX delivered at customer’s doorstep

THE PENINSULA — DOHA

Starting from QR64,000, new ASX is being delivered to customer’s door step. Easy to park. Easy to drive. Easy to love. This neat SUV is compact enough to weave nimbly around the city, yet big enough to be practical. And the advanced electronic driving system offers excellent road-holding in all conditions, said a statement.

With a dramatic new face, featuring prominent LED headlamp clusters, an expressive grille and strong body lines, the new model ASX has got the kind of looks that are bound to cause a stir.

There’s plenty of space for five adults to travel in style. It›s also packed with quality touches and thoughtful features that make not just your journey, but also life, a whole lot easier.

Ashghal announces partial closure on Onaiza Street and Al Marmar RoundaboutTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

The Public Works Authority (Ashghal) has announced a partial closure in one direction on Onaiza Street from Gulf Inter-section to Qasr Al Marmar Roundabout in addition to the partial closure of Qasr Al Marmar Roundabout.

In coordination with the General Directorate of Traffic, this closure will be implemented today (Tuesday) for a period of three weeks, to allow completion of upgrading works on Qasr Al Marmar Roundabout as part of B Ring Road Upgrade Project.

During this time, road users coming

from Al Rumaila Street and heading towards Gulf Intersection, will be required to turn right towards Onaiza Street then make a U-turn at the Civil Defense Inter-section. As for road users coming from Al Diwan Intersection towards Qasr Al Marmar Roundabout, they will be required to continue straight then turn right at the White Palace Intersection then use Ahmed bin Ali Street to reach their destinations.

Road users on Onaiza Street coming from Civil Defence Intersection and wishing to perform a U-turn, will be required to turn towards Al Rumaila Street then make a U-turn at Rumaila Intersection.

Students this year will design the concept and interiors for the lobby and hotel rooms of the Four Points by Sheraton extension in Msheireb Doha.

05TUESDAY 14 APRIL 2020 HOME

HBKU faculty research highlights environmental impact of COVID-19THE PENINSULA — DOHA

Hamad Bin Khalifa University Press (HBKU Press) Head of Journals and Academic Publishing, Dr. Rima J Isaifan, has recently published what might be considered one of the first research articles that examines the environmental impact of COVID-19.

“As devastating as this pan-demic has proven to be, it is important to examine all of the various impacts that the disease is having on our societies and on the environment,” Dr. Isaifan said.

The article, titled The dra-matic impact of Coronavirus outbreak on air quality: Has it saved as much as it has killed so far? published in the Global Journal of Environmental Science and Management, reports on the first case study that compares the air quality status before and after the crisis.

The negative impacts of the virus obliged the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare the COVID-19 epidemic as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. Despite this declaration, the rate of mor-tality of the infection had not exceeded 3.4 percent globally, as of March 11, 2020, when the Global Journal of Environmental Science and Management eval-uated Dr. Isaifan’s article. On the other hand, the mortality rate caused by ambient air pollution has contributed to 7.6 percent of all deaths worldwide from 2016 and onwards.

The research examines ground zero of the outbreak of COVID-19 in China. Upon the

significant spike in cases, the country was forced to lockdown its industrial activities in an effort to contain the spread. This resulted in a drop of its nitrogen oxide and carbon emissions by 30 and 25 percent respectively, as shown by National Aero-nautics and Space Administra-tion’s satellite images.

In this study, facts relating to the demographics of deaths by gender, age and health status before and after the infection are compared. The rate of mortality due to COVID-19 (obtained from the Situation Reports published by the WHO as of March 11, 2020) was impacted by two factors: age and health status. Results show

that 75 percent of deaths were related to cases in which people had underlying diseases with the majority aged of 80 years old and above.

The reported figures were then compared with the average daily mortality due to poor air quality which reached up to 3,287 deaths due to high levels of nitrogen oxide and ozone and particulate matter (PM) emis-sions. The air quality status before the crisis was then com-pared with the current situation. Essentially, Dr. Isaifan’s research purports that the lockdown of industrial and anthropogenic activities during the pandemic may have actually saved lives as it reduced ambient air pollution which had previously caused many health issues and deaths, more than COVID-19 had at the time of publication.

“As the world continues to grapple with this crisis, research is mainly focused on COVID-19 from a medical and economic standpoint,” Dr. Isaifan said. “But

if the dramatic decrease in air pollution as a result of COVID-19 teaches us anything, it is that if people live in environments with better air quality, they will less likely suffer from pulmonary and cardiovascular diseases. And in turn, if there ever is a global pan-demic, less people will die due to complications caused by pol-lution-related health issues.

“My research is all very pre-liminary, and as the global COVID-19 death toll continues to rise it will need to be revisited. When this is all over, will COVID-19 deaths overtake pol-lution-related deaths? Can we determine how many COVID-19 deaths were related to health complications resulting from pre-existing health conditions caused by air pollutants? Had we as a society invested more in safety measures when it comes to air contaminants, could we have curbed the devastating impact of the virus? These are all important questions that we must look into in as the situation develops.”

Dr. Rima J Isaifan

CMU-Q celebrates academic excellence in first virtual ceremonyTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar (CMU-Q), a Qatar Foun-dation partner university, recognized 135 students on the Dean’s List at its first virtual ceremony. More than 200 students and their families logged in to watch the webinar where students from all four years were recognized for outs tanding academic performance in the Fall 2019 semester.

The Dean’s List is a tra-dition throughout Carnegie Mellon. At the end of the semester, each college com-piles a list of students who have achieved outstanding grades across a full course load. Typ-ically, students are recognized at a ceremony and reception in the CMU-Q building. With Education City closed to prevent the spread of COVID-19, CMU-Q went online to celebrate their students’ success.

Michael Trick, dean of CMU-Q, spoke to the students about the importance of moving the celebration online: “Right now, when we are

physically separated from one another, I believe tradition is especially important. The Dean’s List ceremony not only celebrates your accomplish-ments, it reminds us that we are here at CMU-Q for a common goal: to learn, to create, and to excel.”

The Dean’s List for the Fall 2019 semester includes 38 seniors, 45 juniors, 20 sopho-mores and 32 first-year stu-dents from all five of CMU-Q’s programs in biological sci-ences, business administration, computational biology, com-puter science and information systems.

Senior students who earned a place on the Dean’s List are: Yasmin Abdelaal, Amna Abdul-wahab, Ayşe Açıkbaş, Shireen Ahmed, Rahil Ahmed, Zainab Akhtar, Liyan Alhakeem, Amna Al-Dosari, Haya Al-Kaabi, Maha Erhama N E Al-Kaabi,

Albandari Al-Mana, Amna Al-Marafi, Maryam Al-Mar-zooqi, Taimaa Al-Mohanadi, Buthayna Almulla, Mohammed Al-Muraikhi, Abdulla Al-Naama, Maha Al-Tamimi, Alanood Al-Thani, Shahad Al-Tibi, Mohammed Yusuf Ansari, Fahad Salah A H Bahzad, Raghid Bsat, Lolwa Bukshaisha, Faiq Defiandry,

Omar El-Saka, Aya El-Sakka, Abraham Farooqui, Dona Fer-dinando, Sondoss Hassan, Muhammad Khan, Mirna Mahmoud, Hanna Farooq Moazam, Fatima Mustafawi, Mohammed Hafiz Nurul Hoque, Swapnendu Sanyal, Fariza Shiyap, and Maimoon Siddiqui.

Junior students are: Nora Abbarah, Samir Abdaljalil, Yara Al-Abdulghani, Reem Al-Dahneem, Aisha Al-Darwish, Noora Al-Dosari, Reem Al-Haddad, Haidar Al-Haidar, Aisha Al-Jabir, Ahmad Al-Kawari, Shouq Al-Khuzaei, Amal Al-Korbi, Jabor

Al-Kuwari, Ali Al-Maadid, Mahla Al-Merekhi, Sara Al-Mohanadi, Almayasa Al-Naimi, Noora Al-Shurafa, Maha Al-Thani, Mariam Al-Thani, Mariyam Amir, Imane Bendou, Andrew Edward, Laila El-Beheiry, Mariam Ahmed Al-Esnawy, Hibah Farid, Joud Ghalayini, Naram Hajjar, Faaiz Joad, Hojin Kang, Muhammad Khan, Weilin Li, Ghada Mashhadi, Omar Naim, Noor Nasir, Auguste Piromalli, Andrej Pozderac, Radu Stefan Revutchi, Faiha Sahirah, Zaryab Shahzaib, Hasan Shamiyeh, Omar Sinan, Mariam Syed, Muhammad

Syed, and Umer Bin Zia.Sophomore students are:

Jawaria Abbas, Alnada Alemadi, Najlaa Alhouti, Abdulla Al-Kaabi, Alreem Alkhanji, Aisha Al-Marri, Tefla Almohannadi, Mohammed Al-Qassabi, Aldana Alsemaitt, Stefan Baumann, Fatima El-Sallabi, Eman Gedawy, Mohammad Hammad, Jialiang Liu, Aditi Luthra, Abdul Manaam, Enas Mohsen, Arambha Niraula, Đorđe Popović , and Samar Rahmouni.

First-year students are: Fatima Alhamadi, Nour Ali, Mohammed Al-Jawaheri, Aldana Al-Thani, Mehri Anay-atullah Rasooli, Ishaq Ansari, Nandana Balachandran, Fre-woyni Birhane, Ekram Bouhroum, Jade D Mello, Zoya Farooqui, Lojaein Galal, Siyuan Guo, Aman Haris, Shereo Inty-isyar, Peiyun Ju, Zhaoan Li, Igli Mlloja, Abubakr Mohamed, Mathuso Molapo, Anas Mouden, Alina Nasir, Niamah Ayisha Nishan, Hyun Il Rhee, Amir Roshan, Yan Ru, Martin Sikhondze, Ziheng Song, Ali Tajammul, Ira Teqja, Erin Thomas, and Nouha Tiyal.

A screenshot of Dean’s List ceremony. CMU-Q student Andrew Edward during the virtual Dean’s List ceremony.

Qatar University graduate develops and validates first clinical pharmacokinetics critical appraisal toolTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

Qatar University’s CPH MSc graduate in clinical pharmacy & practice Alaa Soliman conducted a study to develop a critical appraisal tool of clinical pharmacokinetics studies, the first of its kind in the world.

She developed the tool in her master’s thesis which she has successfully defended recently virtually due to sus-pension of classes for students and precautionary measures to prevent novel coronavirus.

Titled “Strengthening the Quality of Clinical Pharmacok-inetic Studies: Development and Validation of a Critical Appraisal Tool for Clinical Pharmacokinetic Research”, the project aimed to identify quality markers of clinical pharmacokinetics studies to be used to develop a valid and reliable critical appraisal tool for assessing the quality of clinical pharmacokinetics studies.

This study was conducted under the supervision of CPH Assistant Professor of Pharma-ceutical Sciences Dr. Ousama Rachid, and co-supervised by Clinical Associate Professor Dr. Shane Pawluk from Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences in the University of British Columbia in Canada, and Associate Pro-fessor of Pharmacy Education Dr. Kyle Wilby from School of Pharmacy in Otago University in New Zealand.

The project included a sys-tematic review to identify quality markers of clinical pharmacokinetics studies, fol-lowed by a modified Delphi process to achieve expert con-sensus regarding the formu-lated questions from the iden-tified quality markers to develop critical appraisal tool for clinical pharmacokinetics studies. Finally, a psychometric analysis was conducted to evaluate the validity and reli-

ability of the developed tool.This project is inline of

Qatar National Strategy by 2030: improving the quality of research to enhance the effec-tiveness and the quality of care provided to patients. Addi-tionally, this tool will be used by different end-users around the world once it gets validated and published.

It will guide researchers about the most important quality markers that they have to consider while conducting their research as well as reporting it in addition to the ClinPK statement reporting guidelines. It will guide policy-makers like World Health Organizations or Food and Drug Administration to take decisions on approving medi-cations to be used to treat dif-ferent diseases.

The outcomes of this research project comes very timely now, as it may specifi-cally be used in such critical conditions like the current COVID-19 pandemic to help health care providers make rational decisions with regard to medications that can be used in specific groups of patients.

Dr. Ousama noted that ‘the scientific community lacks a tool to criticize pharmacoki-netic studies. Surprisingly, many of these published studies including clinical trials suffer from poor study design, flaws in methodology, and minimal reporting of basic pharmacokinetic parameters. The availability of a valid and reliable critical appraisal tool specifically designed for phar-macokinetic studies would help make rational decisions about drugs and would improve the health care delivery. A wide variety of end-users may benefit from this highly demanded tool developed by Alaa, ranging from health care providers, pharmaceutical companies, educators, and health policy makers’.

Alaa Soliman developed the tool in her master’s thesis which she has successfully defended recently. As devastating as this

pandemic has proven to be, it is important to examine all of the various impacts that the disease is having on our societies and on the environment, Dr. Isaifan said.

Sports stars join Aspetar Community Initiative offering remote fitness workouts to publicTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

Several Qatari and international sports stars have joined the Aspetar Community Initiative, providing remote fitness exer-cises to athletes as well as the public, aiming to positively influence fitness maintenance during their stay at home.

Nasser bin Saleh Al Attiyah, Qatari superstar, is the latest to join Aspetar’s initiative. The world rally champion provided, along with, our experts a series of exer-cises for beginners’ level athletes on Thursday, through a live broadcast on Aspetar’s YouTube channel. Qatari athletics runner Mariam Farid and Ahmed Tijan player of Qatari beach volleyball team are also participating in Aspetar’s initiative.

The list of participants will expand in the upcoming days to include the participation of other Qatari sports stars, including pro-fessional Qatari boxer Sheikh Fahad bin Khalid bin Jassim Al Thani, who practices in a light weight medium under the umbrella of the Association of

Professional Boxers in Spain, Ahmed Morgan, player of the Qatari national team of beach handball and motorcycle racer.

Saeed Al Sulaiti and Al-Rayyan football player Sebastian Soria, Rima Taha Qatar national team athletics in addition to many other stars who will be announced later.

The participating stars expressed their happiness taking part in Aspetar’s initiative in terms of cooperation and contri-bution to the service of sports and community in light of the out-break of the coronavirus and its positive consequences, advising

everyone to remain active and following the directives and pre-ventive measures to stay at home.

Confirming its pioneering role in providing outstanding health services, and to contribute to the health education of athletes, Aspetar; Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Hospital, has posted a detailed video featuring reliable home exercise workouts for ath-letes while staying at home.

Commenting on the initiative, Mohamed Khalifa Al Suwaidi, Director General of Aspetar said, “We are happy to present this community initiative, we urge everyone to exercise and maintain

physical fitness as one of the ways to overcome the consequences of this global epidemic.

He added, “I cannot thank everyone enough who has con-tributed to this initiative from the Qatari sports stars, which shows their willingness to provide what they can to serve the community. Their participation has added great value to achieving the goals of this initiative. We look forward for more stars participation in the upcoming sessions”

The series of videos aim to benefit from the time of social distancing imposed by the spread of the new coronavirus COVID19, and to get athletes to maintain their fitness during their stay at home, while “social distancing” or physical distance is followed, the majority of Sports competi-tions and gatherings for training in clubs remain postponed.

The exercises are provided by a team of physical coaches in Aspetar. They are easy to follow by the public, without the need for any gym equipment, which makes it more convenient and easier to apply at home.

Nasser bin Saleh Al Attiyah during a workout session at Aspetar.

06 TUESDAY 14 APRIL 2020MIDDLE EAST / AFRICA

COVID-19 ‘disaster in the making’ in war-torn SyriaAFP — PARIS

As Europe and the United States struggle to contain the corona-virus pandemic, experts warn that disaster looms in war-torn Syria, where hospitals are unable to meet existing needs and hygiene conditions are dire.

The outbreak has infected more than 1.8 million people and killed more than 112,000 around the world since emerging in China in December last year.

In Syria, the Damascus gov-ernment has closed borders, forbidden movement between provinces and shut schools and restaurants in an effort to stem the spread of the virus.

Official numbers are low with two deaths and 19 con-firmed cases, but only 100 patients are being tested daily, with half of the testing carried out in the capital Damascus.

And while the government has regained control of most of the country after almost a decade of civil war, some areas are still held by rebels and Kurds.

Experts accuse Damascus of minimising its death toll for political motives.

“Medical staff believe that there are many people who are dying in Syria with the symptoms of the virus,” said Zaki Mehchy, senior consulting fellow at London-based think tank Chatham House.

“But the security agencies ask them or order them not to mention it, especially to the media,” he added.

Aid groups are sounding the alarm on the potentially devastating consequences of a severe outbreak in Syria, where nine years of war have hit hos-pitals and left them ill-equipped to deal with the pandemic.

“There is a disaster in the

making,” said Emile Hokayem, Middle East analyst at the Inter-national Institute for Strategic Studies in London (IISS).

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), less than two-thirds of hospitals were up and running at the end of 2019 and 70 percent of healthcare workers have fled since the war began in 2011.

The International Com-mittee of the Red Cross (ICRC) warned that physical distancing is impossible in displacement camps in Idlib, the last rebel-held province, which was already enduring a humani-tarian crisis before the pan-demic started.

“A lack of food, clean water and exposure to cold weather have already left hundreds of thousands of people in poor health, making them even more vulnerable,” said Misty Buswell from aid group International Rescue Committee (IRC), adding that the devastation in I d l i b c o u l d b e “unimaginable”.

The IRC said that almost all of the 105 intensive care beds and 30 adult ventilators in Idlib were already in use.

WHO said testing would

start in Idlib at the end of March, but little help is to be expected from Damascus, according to Mazen Gharibah, associate researcher at the London School of Economics.

“One cannot simply assume that the regime — which was systematically targeting the hospitals three weeks ago — is going to provide the same hos-pitals with medical equipment next week,” he said.

Activists have repeatedly accused the government of tar-geting hospitals in rebel-held areas, a charge denied by Damascus.

A ceasefire negotiated at the beginning of March for the northwest region between the two main foreign power brokers in Syria’s war, Russia and Turkey, has so far held.

But according to the IRC, “the security and political vacuum the pandemic will create is likely to be exploited by actors involved in the Syrian conflict — including ISIS (jihadists) — to serve their interests”.

For Syria expert Fabrice Balanche, associate professor and research director at the University of Lyon 2, “this epi-demic is a way for Damascus to show that the Syrian state is efficient, and all territories should be returned under its governance”.

But Gharibah said politici-sation of the pandemic by the Syrian government was cata-strophic, accusing the regime of “using the current pandemic for its own political gains by gambling with the lives of mil-lions of people”.

Experts say there is a risk that the pandemic will lead to a decrease in humanitarian assistance as donor countries focus on kickstarting their economies.

Iran records 4,585 coronavirus deaths as restrictions easedREUTERS — DUBAI

Iran’s death toll from the coro-navirus outbreak has risen to 4,585, with 111 more overnight, a Health Ministry official said yesterday, adding the total number of infected cases had reached 73,303 in the most-affected Middle Eastern country On Sunday, the government lifted a ban on travel between cities within Iranian provinces, while restrictions on trips between provinces will end on April 20, state media reported.

“45,983 of those infected with the virus have recovered... There were 1,617 new infected cases in the past 24 hours,” Alireza Vahab-zadeh, an adviser to Iran’s health minister, said on Twitter.

Health Ministry spokesman Kianush Jahanpur told Iranian state TV that 3,877 of those infected with the coronavirus

were in a critical condition.State TV showed streets

packed with people, crowded buses and subway cars in several cities as so-called low-risk busi-nesses — including many shops and workshops — have re-opened across Iran from Sat-urday, with the exception of the capital Tehran, where they will resume activities from April 18.

Some health officials and experts have warned the gov-ernment about a second wave of COVID-19 that they said could hit Tehran hard. Alireza Zali, Head of the Coronavirus Taskforce of Tehran, called on people to stay at home.

Businesses and services seen as high-risk, including the-atres, swimming pools, saunas, beauty salons, schools, shopping centres and restau-rants, have yet to re-open.

Iran’s clerical rulers, who

have been struggling to curb the spread of the disease, are con-cerned that measures to limit public activities could wreck an economy which has already been battered by US sanctions.

“We have to fight against the coronavirus and the virus of sanctions together,” gov-ernment spokesman Ali Rabiei said in a televised weekly news conference.

Washington reimposed sanctions on Iran in 2018, when US President Donald Trump withdrew the united States from a 2015 nuclear deal with six major powers.

Iranian authorities have blamed the sanctions for ham-pering their efforts to combat the disease. However, Iran’s leaders have rejected Washing-ton’s offer of humanitarian assistance to contain the coro-navirus outbreak.

Iranians wearing a protective mask pose in front of a wall painting of the Iranian flag in Tehran during the coronavirus pandemic, yesterday.

Iran vows to protect people from virus impactAFP — TEHRAN

Iran vowed yesterday to protect its people from the economic impact of the novel coronavirus as the official death toll in the Middle East’s worst-hit country passed 4,500.

The government of Pres-ident Hassan Rouhani has struggled to contain the out-break since it announced the country’s first COVID-19 cases nearly two months ago.

It shut schools and univer-sities, postponed major events and imposed a range of other

restrictions, but it has stopped short of ordering lockdowns.

The government stressed the importance of striking a balance between the measures aimed at curbing the spread of the virus and getting the economy back on track.

The objective was to protect “the health and lives of the pop-ulation from the coronavirus and its economic and social consequences”, said gov-ernment spokesman Ali Rabiei.

“Intelligent (social) dis-tancing has the same objective... we must ensure the health of

society while preserving the social and economic life” of the country, said Rabiei.

“The priority will always be given to health policies,” he told a televised news conference.

Rouhani announced last week that “low-risk” businesses would be allowed to reopen in order to protect Iran’s sanc-tions-hit economy.

The move took effect on Saturday outside Tehran and it is set to be implemented in the capital a week later.

And while the restrictions remain in place in Tehran, there

has been a noticeable uptick in the flow of traffic in the city this working week.

Yesterday, motorists drove past newly erected billboards paying tribute to doctors and nurses who have been on the front line of Iran’s COVID-19 battle.

The president yesterday cautioned against neglecting the containment measures, however.

“The implementation of health protocols should con-tinue in a strong and forceful manner,” Rouhani said.

Government spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour said the number of coronavirus infec-tions was stabilising and that 45,983 patients had recovered.

“People must always con-tinue to avoid unnecessary travel,” he said, in order to stop the spread of the virus that causes the COVID-19 disease.

Iran announced its first COVID-19 cases on February 19 -- the deaths of two people in Qom. But there has been spec-ulation abroad that the real toll from the disease in the Islamic republic could be higher.

Gaza resumes virus testingamid shortages of kits

REUTERS & AFP — GAZA

Coronavirus testing has resumed in the Gaza Strip after Israel allowed five testing kits purchased by the World Health Organization (WHO) into the enclave, a Gaza health ministry spokesman said yesterday.

But the spokesman, Ashraf Al Qidra, said the kits would be of “limited immediate help” because they could be used to test only about 500 people in a densely populated territory of two million.

“We began testing immediately after receiving the kits late (Sunday) night,” Qidra said. “We need to carry out these tests all the time and therefore, we are in need of thousands of testing kits.” On April 8, health officials in Gaza said they had run out of testing kits and voiced concern that a shortage of medical sup-plies could lead to the rapid spread of infection in the territory.

Gaza has 13 confirmed cases of the new coronavirus, all in quarantine.

Israel has maintained a blockade of the enclave for more than a decade, saying the measure is necessary to stop weapons and funds from reaching its enemy Hamas, an Islamist group that runs Gaza.

Israeli and Palestinian officials said that in addition to the testing kits, Israel has allowed a PCR machine into the territory. The equipment analyses testing samples to determine whether they contain the genetic fingerprint of the coronavirus.

The machine was donated by a US-based charity, Qidra said.

“During the next week we aspire to be able to buy a good quantity of testing kits to bring into Gaza,” said Abdelnaser Soboh, Director of the World Health Organisation’s sub-office in the territory.

Qidra said that yesterday, hundreds of Palestinians stranded outside Gaza will begin arriving home and would require tests. Upon arrival, they will be sent to quarantine facilities in the southern Gaza Strip for three weeks.

Meanwhile, Gaza government yes-terday temporarily re-opened the border crossing with Egypt, shut due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, to allow hundreds of Palestinians to return.

One-way traffic into the coastal enclave through the Rafah crossing would be allowed for the coming four days, Gaza’s interior ministry said.

All those returning would be put into compulsory 21-day quarantine which could be extended, Interior Min-istry spokesman Iyad Al Bozm said.

At the Rafah arrivals hall yes-terday, returning residents were met by dozens of police officers, doctors and nurses wearing protective medical equipment.

Hamas has closed schools, mosques and wedding halls and banned large street gatherings in Gaza to try to stem contagion. It has not moved to impose a lockdown, saying the measure was not yet necessary.

Aid groups are sounding the alarm on the potentially devastating consequences of a severe outbreak in Syria, where nine years of war have hit hospitals and left them ill-equipped to deal with the pandemic.

Turkey to impose

fresh lockdown

next weekend,

says President

AGENCIES — ISTANBUL

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said yesterday that Turkey would impose a fresh lockdown next weekend as part of measures to halt the spread of COVID-19, having locked down 31 provinces last weekend.

Erdogan was speaking after a Cabinet meeting. The 48-hour curfew lifted over-night covered all the country’ major cities including its com-mercial hub Istanbul, which is home to 16 million residents.

Meanwhile, Erdogan has rejected the resignation of his popular Interior Minister after the botched handling of a coronavirus lockdown, a manoeuvre that allowed him to both deflect blame for the foul-up while keeping a staunch defender in his Cabinet.

The calling of a snap lockdown over the weekend touched off a rush of panic-buying that all but defeated the purpose of trying to stem a surge in virus cases and deaths.

On Sunday, Interior Min-ister Suleyman Soylu assumed responsibility and offered to resign. But before the night was over — and after pro-gov-ernment TV set the stage by airing archival footage of the minister kissing the foreheads of bearded peasants who are the mainstay of Erdogan’s support — the president asked Soylu to stay on.

Soylu supporters imme-diately burst into applause from apartment balconies in Istanbul. The popular min-ister then issued a message of contrition that sought to absolve the president of any blame.

“I ask for forgiveness from my dear nation, whom I never wanted to harm, and my dear president, whom I will be loyal to until the end of my life,” Soylu said on Twitter.

07TUESDAY 14 APRIL 2020 MIDDLE EAST / AFRICA

Libya unity govt recaptures two strategic citiesAFP — TRIPOLI

Libya’s unity government said yesterday its forces had seized two coastal cities between Tripoli and the Tunisian border from troops backing military commander Khalifa Haftar.

“Our forces took control of Sorman and Sabratha and are pursuing (Haftar’s forces),” said a statement by Mohammed Gnunu, spokesman for the forces of the United Nations-recognised Government of National Accord.

Control of war-torn Libya is largely divided between pro-GNA forces and those of eastern-based Haftar, who launched an offensive to try to capture the capital on April 4 last year.

On their Facebook page, GNA forces published images of Grad rocket launchers, 10 tanks and armoured vehicles they said they had captured in the cities, which had been controlled by Salafist militias allied with Haftar.

Mohammad Al Gammoudi, a GNA commander on the ground, said Sorman and Sabratha had been seized after “six hours of fighting with air

cover”. GNA chief Fayez Al Sarraj also said his forces had taken the cities.

Haftar’s forces did not immediately comment.

Libya has suffered almost a decade of conflict since longtime dictator Muammar Gaddafi was brought down and killed in a 2011 uprising backed by several Western powers.

Russia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and others have fuelled fighting in the oil-rich but impov-erished North African country.

The UN says hundreds have been killed and over 200,000 displaced since Haftar launched his battle for Tripoli.

Several UN-backed attempts to reach a ceasefire have failed and the UN has slammed repeated violations of a 2011 weapons embargo.

On March 17, the world body and nine countries called on Libya’s warring parties to cease hostilities to allow health authorities to fight against the new coronavirus.

The GNA and Haftar’s forces welcomed calls for a humani-tarian pause, but the GNA said it reserved “the right to respond to daily assaults targeting civilians and public facilities”.

Repeated UN efforts to mediate a ceasefire have yielded few results and have been on hold since envoy Ghassan Salame quit in early March, citing health reasons.

Former Algerian foreign minister Ramtane Lamamra had appeared set to take up the post but the United States refused to endorse him, diplomats said.

On Saturday the UN’s human-itarian coordinator for the country

said water had been cut off to mil-lions of residents of Tripoli and surroundings in an “abhorrent” act of collective punishment.

The water supply was dis-rupted by members of an armed group in an area 350km southeast of Tripoli under

control of pro-Haftar forces who are demanding the release of family members detained in Tripoli.

Smoke rises from Mitiga Airport in Tripoli, Libya, yesterday.

Morocco arrests over 4,300 for breaching emergency rules

AFP — RABAT

More than 4,300 people were arrested over the weekend in Morocco for breaching emer-gency rules in place to combat the novel coronavirus, according to official figures.

More than half of those detained were taken into police custody.

Since mid-March, author-ities have arrested 28,701 people across the North African country, 15,545 of whom have been referred to court after being held in custody, according to the country’s national security force DGSN.

Penalties for violating measures in place to curb the spread of the COVID-19 disease include up to three months in jail and fines of up to 1,300 dirhams ($130), or both.

Morocco imposed a public health state of emergency on March 19, confining everyone to their homes except those with a permit to be out for work.

Last week, authorities made wearing face masks in public obligatory.

Police and security agents supported by soldiers in armoured cars have been deployed around the country, erecting road barriers and control points to enforce the measures.

Morocco has recorded 1,746 COVID-19 cases, with 120 deaths and 196 recoveries. Fewer than 7,000 tests have been carried out.

The largest number of arrests were made in the country’s economic centre of Casablanca and the capital Rabat, according to the DGSN.

Isolation measures have proved most challenging in densely populated, working-class neighbourhoods, according to local media reports.

Economic paralysis brought on by the pandemic has left millions of Moroccans in a precarious existence, with the bulk of the workforce made up of informal workers dependent on odd jobs and lacking access to social safety nets.

Saudi deportations of Ethiopians could fuel COVID-19 spread: UNAFP — ADDIS ABABA

Saudi Arabia has deported nearly 3,000 Ethiopian migrants in recent days, despite concerns that such operations could hasten the spread of the coronavirus, the United Nations says.

Since mid-March, the UN’s International Organisation for Migration (IOM) has registered 2,870 Ethiopian returnees, all but 100 of whom were sent back from Saudi Arabia, IOM spokesman Alemayehu Seifese-lassie said yesterday.

A humanitarian worker familiar with the deportations, speaking on condition of ano-nymity, put the total at “about 3,000” and said most had

arrived from Saudi Arabia in the past 10 days.

“The expulsion and depor-tation of Ethiopian irregular migrants while their country’s COVID-19 response is under-prepared puts them in harm’s way,” Catherine Sozi, the UN humanitarian coordinator for Ethiopia, wrote in a position paper seen yesterday.

The migrants are kept in detention facilities in Saudi Arabia before being flown back to Ethiopia, and it is unclear how thoroughly Saudi author-ities are screening them for COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.

The Ethiopian government had requested that such depor-tations be halted until it could

set up 30 quarantine centres in Addis Ababa, Sozi said in her paper.

But they have continued even though “only seven quar-antine centres can host returnees” and “much work remains” to make Ethiopian quarantine centres compliant with World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines, Sozi wrote.

The Ethiopian Public Health Institute on Monday referred questions about the deporta-tions to the country’s foreign ministry, which did not respond to a request for comment.

Ethiopia has reported just 74 cases of COVID-19 and three deaths, but testing remains limited and experts fear the country’s weak health system

could quickly be overwhelmed.Ethiopians have long looked

to Saudi Arabia as an escape from poor economic prospects and state repression, hoping to find work despite not having legal status.To get there, many board overcrowded boats that are at constant risk of sinking during sea crossings that can last up to 24 hours.

Up to half a million Ethio-pians were in Saudi Arabia when officials there launched a crackdown on illegal migration in 2017, according to the IOM.

Since then, around 10,000 Ethiopians on average have been deported monthly, including in January and February.

The humanitarian worker said there was a two-week break in deportations beginning around the time Ethiopia announced its first COVID-19 case on March 13. But flights have resumed despite the fact that Ethiopia is straining to accommodate the migrants.

“The quarantine measures currently in place need to be improved, and the current medical staff needs to be increased and better prepared and equipped to assist... all newly arrived migrants,” the aid worker said.

“These migrants are very vulnerable. They have under-taken an extremely dangerous journey and many arrive in Ethiopia with high medical and mental health needs.”

People are seen during an exercise session held on a highway devoid of traffic, as the authorities struggle to contain the coronavirus disease outbreak in Abuja, Nigeria, yesterday.

Locust invasion in Ethiopia creates food crisis for 1 million peopleAFP — ADDIS ABABA

Swarms of locusts in Ethiopia have damaged 200,000 hectares (half a million acres) of cropland and driven around a million people to require emergency food aid, the United Nations said yesterday.

The findings from the UN Food and Agriculture Organi-sation (FAO), which recently concluded a joint assessment

with the Ethiopian government, come as the region is bracing for new swarms that could be even more destructive.

Billions of desert locusts, some in swarms the size of Moscow, have already chomped their way through much of East Africa, including Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya, Djibouti, Eritrea, Tanzania, Sudan, South Sudan and Uganda.

Their breeding has been

spurred by one of the wettest rainy seasons in the region in four decades.

In Ethiopia, the locusts have caused widespread losses of sorghum, wheat and maize, also known as corn, and vastly reduced the amount of available land for cattle grazing, FAO said.

Some 75 percent of Ethio-pians requiring emergency food assistance live in the country’s Somali and Oromia regions.

FAO Ethiopia representative Fatouma Seid said farmer and pastoralists needed help in the form of agricultural inputs and cash transfers to get them through the emergency, which was being worsened by the coronavirus pandemic.

“It is critical to protect the livelihoods of the affected pop-ulation especially now that the situation is compounded by the COVID-19 crisis,” Seid said,

referring to the disease caused by the coronavirus.

Ethiopia has recorded just 74 cases of COVID-19, but testing has been limited and experts fear the country’s weak health system, like others in the region, could be quickly overwhelmed by an influx of cases.

The pandemic is also having a crippling economic effect in many countries, destroying jobs,

dislocating trade systems and crimping supply lines through lockdowns and movement restrictions. The locust situ-ation, meanwhile, is likely to get even worse.

Last week, FAO warned a “massive increase” in locusts across the region would pose “an unprecedented threat to food security and livelihoods” by imperilling the upcoming planting and harvest seasons.

Nigerians shake off virus boredom with mass exerciseREUTERS — ABUJA

The bored and the brave have taken over the six-lane highways of Nigeria’s capital, now on coro-navirus lockdown. Vehicles in Abuja are mostly gone. In their place: hundreds of people doing group workouts with little concern for a disease that has so far killed 10 and infected 300 in Nigeria.

“Since the lockdown, we are just at home doing nothing, no work, no food, nothing, so we decided to come and exercise our body instead of us sitting at home and just getting fat,” said Akinyemi Busayo, a trader, who was doing aerobics and other exercises in a group.

Behind Busayo, dozens of people lined a footbridge spanning one of Abuja’s massive highways,

doing sit-ups as a stream of runners jogged between them.

The government has ordered people to remain indoors and isolate themselves unless they need essentials such as food, water or medical services.

But enforcement has varied from the draconian — with security agents beating and arresting even health workers they found outside — to non-existent, as with the sportswear-clad crowds in Abuja. “For me I believe it is not yet here in this my vicinity,” said Agboola Sabinat, a student, referring to the novel coronavirus. “Eve-ryone is scared, like my mom she is scared, she is like I should not go out for this work-out, that they said everybody should be at home, but I can’t,” he said.

Lockdown effective in South Africa, but problems emergeAP — JOHANNESBURG

South Africa’s strict, five-week lockdown, credited with slowing the rate of coronavirus infections and reducing overall crime, has also been marked by some violence.

The stay-at-home order for the country’s 57 million people does not allow going outside or dog-walking, except for visits to grocery stores, pharmacies and doctors. No sales of alcohol or cigarettes are permitted in the lockdown, which lasts until

the end of April.South Africa’s has the con-

tinent’s highest number of infections with more than 2,100 confirmed cases and 25 deaths. Fifty-two of Africa’s 54 coun-tries have reported the virus, with just over 14,500 cases and 788 deaths, according to figures released yesterday by the Africa Center for Disease Control.

South Africa’s restrictions have succeeded in reducing the country’s average daily increase of confirmed COVID-19 cases from 42 percent to about four

percent since the lockdown began on March 27, said Pres-ident Cyril Ramaphosa last week when extending the measures until the end of April.

One of the world’s most unequal countries, South Africa has shut down most commercial activity, an action that has espe-cially hurt the most vulnerable poor. In Johannesburg, food was distributed yesterday to homeless people who survive by picking through garbage and taking glass, plastic and other materials to recycling centres.

“I’m very happy with the food parcels that we’ve received,” said waste picker Esther Soto. “We are hungry due to the lockdown and we can’t fend for our children.” Although widely praised as effective, South Africa’s restrictions have been marred by allegations of at least one death from police brutality, the looting of liquor stores and increased reports of gender-based violence.

“It is disturbing that during a time of such immense diffi-culty for our country, women and girls are being terrorized

inside their own homes, forcing them to make desperate calls for help,” wrote Ramaphosa yesterday.

More than 148 people have been arrested in 2,300 reports of gender-based violence since the lockdown started, said the president in his weekly letter to the nation.

In one case, a police officer responding to a report of domestic violence was shot dead by a man who then killed himself in Johannesburg’s posh Sandton suburb.

On their Facebook page, GNA forces published images of Grad rocket launchers, 10 tanks and armoured vehicles they said they had captured in Sorman and Sabratha, which had been controlled by militias allied with Haftar.

We would very much welcome a general amnesty for all visa-overstayers during the period of the crisis and exempting them from the fines normally applied for such cases at the time of departure.

It is important to remember that, the more disciplined we are in observing the necessary precautions to prevent the spread of the virus, the more successful we will be in defeating it, and the earlier the ongoing restrictions will end and our lives will return to normal.

08 TUESDAY 14 APRIL 2020VIEWS

CHAIRMANSHEIKH DR. KHALID BIN THANI AL THANI

EDITOR-IN-CHIEFDR. KHALID BIN MUBARAK AL-SHAFIeditorinchief@pen.com.qa

ACTING MANAGING EDITORMOHAMMED SALIM MOHAMEDm.salim@pen.com.qa

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

EDITORIAL

QATAR is well known for its humanitarian stand across the globe. This was evident when a shipment of aid and medical supplies was delivered to Italy yesterday upon the directives of the Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani to send medical aid to the friendly Italian Republic to confront and contain the outbreak of COVID-19.

The Qatar Fund for Development said that this shipment of 29 tonnes of medical aid, which was delivered in cooperation with the air transport air-craft of the Amiri Air Force, is part of a total of 260 tonnes of aid to be delivered in 12 flights. Starting April 8, 2020, Qatar launched a medical air bridge to transport urgent medical aid to Italy and on transport aircraft C-17 of the Amiri Air Force, Qatar delivered two field hospitals with a capacity of 1,000 beds for both hospitals, equipment and medical supplies to Italy.

Italian Foreign Minister, Luigi Di Maio, recently thanked Qatar for its assistance in its fight against the pandemic through its donation of two field hos-pitals. “The Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs Luigi Di Maio expresses gratitude to the State of Qatar for donating Italy two field hospitals with 500 beds each. Thank you Qatar,” said the Italian Embassy in its official twitter account. Qatar and Italy have always enjoyed excellent relations, placing high confidence in bilateral cooperation and having a continuous high-level political dialogue, enabling a truly strategic part-nership across all sectors.

It must be noted that Qatar, under the wise lead-ership, has not forgotten its role and humanitarian duty towards friends, stressing its solidarity and standing with them during prosperity and distress.

H H the Amir gave directives to send urgent medical assistance to the Islamic Republic of Iran. H H the Amir directed urgent financial assistance to the sisterly State of Palestine, including medicines, medical supplies, foodstuffs, and fuel for generators to operate the hospitals in Gaza Strip. Prior to that, Qatar had sent eight aircraft carrying 300 tonnes of urgent medical supplies to the People’s Republic of China, at a time when international airlines banned flights to Chinese airports.

The medical assistance comes from joint inter-national responsibility in combating the spread of this epidemic, which represents a common threat to the whole world. The successive Qatari humanitarian initiatives reflect the positive role that Doha plays at the international level, especially in times of crisis and ordeals.

Qatar’s humanitarian aid

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Quote of the day

We know that COVID-19 spreads fast, and we know that it is deadly, 10 times more deadly than the 2009 flu pandemic.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General

I would be stating the obvious, if I said we are going through difficult times. The COVID-19 crisis is

certainly one of the biggest chal-lenges to public health during our lifetimes. The total number of deaths has crossed 100,000, even as the total number of infected persons is approaching the 2 million mark. What is striking about this crisis is that it has overwhelmed prosperous economies with some of the best healthcare infrastructure on the planet. Naturally, this has caused serious worries to governments that are relatively less-equipped to deal with such a major health emergency.

As far as our host country Qatar is concerned, there has been a fair amount of success till date in containing the spread of the COVID-19 virus within man-ageable levels. The government has taken a number of decisive steps to address the crisis, including through reducing public gatherings, ordering the closure of non-essential busi-nesses, imposing a ban on entry of foreigners into Qatar, and enforcing a lockdown of the industrial area which houses a large number of blue-collar workers, stopping just short of a comprehensive lockdown.

It has also embarked on a massive programme to enhance the awareness of citizens and expatriate residents regarding observing sanitary precautions and social distancing. Over the past few weeks, the government has set up a number of new facil-ities such as field hospitals, iso-lation and quarantine areas, and COVID-19 helplines to assist potentially infected persons. It has also expanded testing facil-ities, availability of masks and sanitisers for the public and PPE for medical and paramedical professionals, and has arranged for home delivery of medicines by Hamad Medical Corporation for patients.

I am grateful that the gov-ernment has announced that COVID-19 related treatment will be provided to everyone resident in Qatar, including those who may not have currently valid work permits or health cards. I am happy to inform that we are working closely with a number of Indian community associa-tions, including the Indian Doctors Club and associations of Indian paramedics, to provide members of the Indian com-munity all necessary medical assistance and counselling. We are also in constant touch with concerned authorities in the Government of Qatar to raise issues of concern to the Indian community as and when they arise and are thankful for their cooperation.

Along with these steps to

address the spread of the virus, the government has also taken measures to mitigate the inevi-table economic hardships these restrictions entail. It has ensured availability of food and essential services without interruption, announced an economic package worth QR75bn to support busi-nesses affected by the restric-tions, particularly to meet their obligations towards payment of wages to employees, and deferred payment of rents to help reduce pressure on their working capital.

The key role played by Qatar Charity and Qatar Red Crescent Society in helping provide food packets for workers in the Indus-trial Area is worth mentioning. Recognising the fact that a number of foreigners are unable to travel out of Qatar due to the travel restrictions in place in many countries, the government has also been liberal in granting extension of visas for such persons. We would very much welcome a general amnesty for all visa-overstayers during the period of the crisis and exempting them from the fines normally applied for such cases at the time of departure.

The COVID-19 crisis has underlined the need for all of us to address this challenge in a united and concerted manner. India was one of the first coun-tries to advocate a coordinated approach to deal with the crisis and played an instrumental role in organizing a meeting of the SAARC heads of states. India also urged G-20 countries to accord primacy to this crisis and helped convene a video summit to discuss this issue.

The Prime Minister of India, H E Narendra Modi, held tele-phonic conversations with all important Gulf leaders, including H H the Amir of Qatar, and dis-cussed inter alia the welfare of the Indian community. We con-tinue to work with the interna-tional community to make available essential drugs and

vaccines produced by Indian companies, despite the massive need for such products within India during these difficult times.

As the largest expatriate com-munity in Qatar, we are signif-icant stake-holders in ensuring that the spread of COVID-19 is kept under control and gradually brought down to minimum levels. The Embassy of India operates a 24X7 COVID-19 Hel-pline and also a Consular Hel-pline, to continue to assist Indian nationals in need. Indian com-munity associations have come together to form dedicated teams of doctors, paramedics, and vol-unteers, working in close coop-eration with the Embassy, to render services to needy members of the community.

The creation of closed com-munication groups, convening of regular review meetings and extensive use of social media, have helped us to effectively complement the efforts of the Qatari government in reaching out to as many members of the community as possible.

I take this opportunity to commend the Government of Qatar for its pragmatic handling of the situation. Under the wise leadership of His Highness Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Amir of the State of Qatar, the government has committed itself to taking care of all citizens and residents alike during these difficult times.

I urge all my fellow Indians in Qatar to exercise patience and extend full cooperation to the government authorities in their efforts to deal with the crisis. It is important to remember that, the more disciplined we are in observing the necessary precau-tions to prevent the spread of the virus, the more successful we will be in defeating it, and the earlier the ongoing restrictions will end and our lives will return to normal.

Qatar government has taken decisive steps to address COVID-19 crisis

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As the largest expatriate community in Qatar, we are significant stake-holders in ensuring that the spread of COVID-19 is kept under control and gradually brought down to minimum levels. The Embassy of India operates a 24X7 COVID-19 Helpline and also a Consular Helpline, to continue to assist Indian nationals in need.

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Police at a checkpoint on Corniche creating stay-at-home awareness among motorists. The awareness on social distancing is part of state’s efforts to curb the spread of COVID-19. PIC: BAHER AMIN/THE PENINSULA

09TUESDAY 14 APRIL 2020 OPINION

“Self-sufficiency is not an option for any country. It’s not an option even for any continent,” Sabine Weyand, the European Commission’s Director-General for Trade, said.

Romania became the first country to cut off grain exports during the pandemic, a dramatic move that could fan worries about the global food supply.

Pandemics throughout history have led to changes in healthcare systems, the socio-economic status of commu-nities and even regimes, according to a Turkish historian, who said the novel coronavirus outbreak may bring similar changes to the world.

“The plague epidemic which occurred in Europe in the mid-14th century and caused the deaths of tens of millions was an important influence on the later history of this continent,” said Namiq Musali, a history professor at Kastamonu University in Tur-key’s Black Sea province of Kastamonu.

With drops in the working population in line with the death toll, an imbalance occurred in the supply and demand relationship between workers and employers, leading to new conditions regarding their situation, Musali said.

In addition to the fall in population in rural areas, agriculture was abandoned and people started to engage in more livestock activities, he said.

“The abundant wool obtained from animal hus-bandry has opened the way for the weaving industry to develop rapidly, and worker insufficiency has led to advances in technology.”

Musali noted that these developments weakened feudal systems and led to cen-tralized states.

“The plague epidemic led to a restructuring of the edu-cation system under the control or influence of the church, raised interest in earth sciences, and rational thought instead of the scho-lastic concept. As a result of all these, capitalism started to take its place instead of feu-dalism in the following cen-turies. The Renaissance civili-zation, Reformation movement and the industrial revolution occurred.”

“It would be wrong to mark the plague epidemic as the only reason for these developments. But the epi-demic is among the factors that triggered this process, and it accelerated the natural course of history,” Musali

added. Worldwide psycho-

logical impact, restructuring results of COVID-19

Musali added that the novel coronavirus pandemic resembles the plague epi-demics in the 6th and mid-14th centuries in Europe, the smallpox epidemic in the 16th century in America, and the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918.

“Considering the current level of healthcare and human development, I estimate that we will overcome the

COVID-19 outbreak with fewer losses compared to the others. On the other hand, considering that globalization and news coverage have reached unprecedented levels in history, I believe this pan-demic will have a greater worldwide psychological impact and restructuring results,” he said.

Healthcare servicesStressing that states will

be forced to prepare for global disaster or chaos scenarios in similar pandemics that are likely to arise in the future, Musali said this will have impacts on the economy and sociocultural life while also changing the approach to the health sector from medical education to healthcare facilities.

“Health services, seen as part of the social policies of countries until now, will be evaluated within the framework of national security policies,” he added.

Musali underscored that statist policies will gradually replace liberal and capitalist approaches.

“Possible disaster sce-narios will force individual countries to produce strategic products in healthcare services they have imported, or at least to create infra-structure so they can switch to production at any time,” he added.

Rise in oppressive regimes, racism

Musali said disasters in the early 20th century such as the Great Depression in the US, World War I and the Spanish flu pandemic led to extremist political currents which promise radical changes in social structure and man-agement approaches in Europe.

“The emergence of the Nazis in Germany, fascists in Italy, Bolsheviks in Russia, and Spain’s Franco regime are examples of this process.

“In the coming period, we have the idea that charismatic leaders who gain the trust of society will be at the forefront of world politics. I believe that this tendency, which has started in recent years due to the global terrorist threats and security weaknesses, will further strengthen,” he added.

Musali stressed that issues such as the virus originating from China and coming to Europe from Asia will trigger certain groups of people “who already have a xenophobic opinion among the European public due to terrorist events, sociocultural differences and

economic reasons.” Personal changesToday, due to the effect of

intensive business life, tech-nology and need for speciali-zation in certain areas, a certain part of humanity, par-ticularly in developed coun-tries and in some developing countries, has lost some of their positive habits and skills acquired through history, Musali said.

“The COVID-19 virus has reminded humanity of its losses and deficiencies. For example, families in different countries which have always preferred to eat out -- for the reasons listed above -- now try to cook themselves, con-sidering hygiene or health concerns as they stay at home due to quarantine.

“Even as countries or indi-viduals, we may feel the need to train our children on how to behave and what to do in extraordinary situations to survive or to meet our daily needs in disaster scenarios,” he added.

Possible effects of COVID-19 pandemic on globalization

Musali said there are two possible scenarios for the future of the world.

According to the first one, states will have closures, the globalization process will recede, and each nation will try to solve their own problems.

“For now, we can say that the only obvious trend is this first scenario,” he said.

“But according to the second scenario, as the rapid spread of the COVID-19 virus has shown, in today’s condi-tions, our world is smaller than expected, and has created a need for humanity to stick together globally.

“The developed states of the world, who cannot find a cure beyond closing their borders to each other and dealing with their own problems, may feel obliged to approach the future problems of the world with more sensi-tivity for their own security when this virus disappears,” he added.

Since appearing in Wuhan, China, last December, the novel coronavirus known as COVID-19 has spread to at least 185 countries and regions.

Data compiled by the US-based Johns Hopkins Uni-versity shows worldwide infec-tions surpassed 1.85 million, with the death toll above 114,300, while more than 435,000 people have recovered so far.

What awaits world after pandemic?

Top trade officials in the US and European Union seem poles apart on whether nations should move production home or not as the coronavirus causes supply shortages on both sides of the Atlantic.

Sabine Weyand, the European Commis-sion’s Director-General for Trade, says that moving supply chains home is inefficient.

“Self-sufficiency is not an option for any country. It’s not an option even for any con-tinent,” she said last week during a webinar hosted by the Washington International Trade Association.

To make her point, Weyand gave the example of ventilators, the breathing-assistance machines in short supply across the world and desperately needed in the fight against the out-break. Depending on the model, they can contain as many as 900 pieces sourced from all over the world. To

make supply chains resilient, it’s best to involve as many countries as possible and diversify, she argued.

For now, this puts the EU in stark contrast with Pres-ident Donald Trump’s admin-istration and its policy goals. Trump this month invoked the Defense Production Act to direct manufacturing of medical equipment and is mulling an executive order that would seek to re-shore the making of US medical supplies. This push has support from a bipartisan group of lawmakers that’s already talking about legis-lation to be considered imme-diately after the crisis.

Peter Navarro, whom Trump picked to coordinate domestic supply policy, went on the CBS News program “60 Minutes’’ on Easter Sunday night and blamed America’s dependency on globalization for its shortages: “If we made it here, we wouldn’t be faced with this. That was, that was the original sin.”

Still, there might be a meeting of the minds further down the road, Weyand indi-cated. That could come when it’s time to take a look at and potentially roll back the sub-sidies major economies handed out to stem the health and economic crisis - espe-cially if they concern China.

Weyand hopes for “a

coordinated effort to get out of the necessary subsidization” - especially among like-minded economies like the EU, US and Japan - because China will come out of its lockdown first and will otherwise be able to subsidize and support a lot of production.

“Just like before the crisis, there is a joint interest of market economies to make sure that we do not kill the market that we will need in order to get out of the crisis,” she said.

Such hopes for cooper-ation should spark lively

debates at this week’s spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, which are being held, of course, via video conference.

Romania became the first country to cut off grain exports during the pandemic, a dramatic move that could fan worries about the global food supply. The government passed a decree banning the sale of grain to countries outside the EU during a state of emergency, which is expected to last until at least mid-May.

US, EU are far apart on reshoring making of medical gear

ERDOGAN CAGATAY ZONTURANATOLIA

JENNY LEONARD BLOOMBERG

According to the second scenario, as the rapid spread of the COVID-19 virus has shown, in today’s conditions, our world is smaller than expected, and has created a need for humanity to stick together globally.

With drops in the working population in line with the death toll, an imbalance occurred in the supply and demand relationship between workers and employers, leading to new conditions regarding their situation, Musali said.

Iraqi security forces distribute food to people in need during curfew due to coronavirus pandemic in Baghdad, yesterday.

10 TUESDAY 14 APRIL 2020ASIA

South Korea reports more recovered virus patients testing positive againREUTERS — SEOUL

South Korea reported yesterday that at least 116 people initially cleared of the new coronavirus had tested positive again, although officials suggested they would soon look at easing strict recommendations aimed at preventing new outbreaks.

South Korea reported only 25 new cases overall yesterday, but the rise in “reactivated” patients has raised concerns as the country seeks to stamp out infections.

Officials are still investi-gating the cause of the apparent relapses. But Jeong Eun-kyeong, director of the Korea Centres for Disease Control and Pre-vention (KCDC), has said the virus may have been reacti-vated rather than the patients being re-infected.

Other experts said faulty tests may be playing a role, or remnants of the virus may still be in patients’ systems but not be infectious or of danger to the host or others.

The 116 cases is more than double the 51 such cases South Korea reported a week earlier.

South Korea plans to send 600,000 coronavirus testing kits to the United States today in the first such shipment fol-lowing a request from US Pres-ident Donald Trump, a Seoul

official said yesterday.Government leaders, mean-

while, called on South Koreans to continue to follow guidelines and restrictions on social gath-erings, but hinted that such measures could soon be eased.

South Korea has called on residents to follow strict social distancing until at least April 19, but as cases have dropped and the weather has improved, a growing number of people have been flouting the guidelines.

At a meeting on disaster management yesterday, Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said the government would soon be looking to loosen the guidelines, which call for people to stay at

home, avoid social gatherings of any type, and only go out for essential reasons.

“Later this week, we plan to review our intensive social dis-tancing campaign that we have carried out so far and discuss whether we will switch to routine safety measures” he

said. Some local governments have imposed stricter measures, including closing bars and nightclubs, banning large dem-onstrations, and limiting church services.

Chung cautioned that even when the restrictions are eased, the country will not return to

life as before the outbreak.“We need a very cautious

approach because any pre-mature easing of social dis-tancing could bring irreversible consequences, and have to ponder deeply about when and how we switch to the new system,” he said.

A woman wearing face mask to prevent contracting the coronavirus adjusts her husband’s mask as they wait to check in at Incheon International Airport, in Incheon, South Korea.

Malaysia claims

47% recovery

from pandemicANATOLIA — JAKARTA

Malaysia yesterday claimed that over 47 percent of coro-navirus or COVID-19 pandemic cases reported in the country since its outbreak have fully recovered.

In a statement, Malaysia’s Health Director-General Noor Hisham Abdullah said fresh 134 cases were found taking the total number of infected patients to 4,817.

He said the number of cases discharged from hos-pitals after showing full recovery exceeds the number of newly reported cases.

“One hundred and sixty-eight patients had been released from the hospital after a full recovery,” he said.

“A total of 2,276 cases or 47.23 percent have fully recovered from COVID-19 and discharged from wards so far,” he added.

With one more death yes-terday, the country has reported 77 deaths so far due to the pandemic.

Abdullah expected that the COVID-19 infected cases would remain below 5,000.

After originating in Wuhan, China last December, the virus has spread to at least 185 countries and regions across the world, with its epicenter shifting to Europe, while China has largely come out of the crisis.

‘No data to link Tablighi Jamaat to COVID-19 spread’ANATOLIA — NEW DELHI

Three days after Shivraj Singh Chouhan, chief minister of the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh blamed Tablighi Jamaat congregation for a spike in cases of coronavirus or COVID-19 in his state, officials and experts yesterday disputed his claim.

The state has emerged as one of the hotspots in India, reporting 564 cases with over 50 deaths so far. The twin his-toric cities of Indore and pro-vincial capital Bhopal have recorded 281 and 131 positive cases respectively. As many as 30 people have died in Indore and three in Bhopal.

On April 11, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan told Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a video conference that the spike in cases was due to people, who had returned from Delhi after attending a Tablighi Jamaat congregation from March 13-15 at its headquarters, known as Markaz in Niza-muddin locality.

“The problem had increased in Madhya Pradesh, like the rest of the country, because of those who had returned from Markaz,” he said.

The provincial government officials and experts, however, said that it was yet to be con-vincingly proved if attendees of the Tablighi Jamaat event were

responsible for the transmission of the virus in Bhopal and Indore.

So far, 20 members of the Jamaat who had returned from the congregation have tested positive in Bhopal.

Rahul Rokade of the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Medical College in Indore said they have no data to link the spread of the pandemic in Bhopal and Indore to Tablighi Jamaat.

“We cannot say that members from Jamaat led to a spike in corona cases in Madhya Pradesh,” he said.

Local media reports blamed three senior government offi-cials for spreading the virus, by

attending meetings and avoiding social distancing despite showing symptoms of the disease.

Principal Secretary (Health) Pallavi Jain Govil, Additional Director Veena Sinha and Deputy Director Virendra Kumar Chaudhary tested pos-itive for the virus on April 4.

Reports said that sons of both Govil and Sinha had returned from the US. Some media reports suggested that they did not reveal their travel history to authorities.

Both the senior officials are believed to have contracted the virus from their sons. Govil con-tinued attending official meetings even those chaired by

the chief minister, despite showing COVID-19 symptoms.

Earlier, Director Health J Vijay Kumar was also tested positive. So far 12 police per-sonnel and their family members have tested positive in capital Bhopal.

On April 7, three Jamaat members tested positive in Indore. In many cases, experts have failed to locate the source of the outbreak, as many patients did not have any travel history.

Chouhan took over as chief minister on March 23 after a high political drama ousting the opposition Congress-led gov-ernment. He is still to constitute the cabinet.

Indonesia: Muslims advised to limit Ramadan activitiesANATOLIA — JAKARTA

Indonesia’s top clerics yesterday urged Muslims in the country to follow government advice and limit religious activities to their homes during Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting.

The Indonesian Ulema Council clarified the provision was not intended to curb prayers and worship during Ramadan, but was only a measure to help the country in its fight against COVID-19.

“Keep the house as the centre of activity and avoid con-centration of worshippers in one spot,” said Asrorun Ni’am Sholeh, a spokesman for the council.

“Restricting crowds doesn’t mean limiting worship. In today’s context, avoiding large gatherings and crowds is actually a form of worship,”

Sholeh said at a news conference in the capital Jakarta.

The council also recom-mended that people living and working in other cities should refrain from visiting their home-towns on Eid al-Fitr, the holiday marking the end of Ramadan.

To support this point, Sholeh quoted a saying of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) advising Muslims living in an area affected by a plague not to leave the region.

“Similarly, people outside the contagion zone were also asked not to enter the affected area,” said the official.

Last week, the Ministry of Religious Affairs issued guide-lines on Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr worship amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to the guidelines, Muslims are still obliged to fast during the holy month, but

congregational prayers in mosques or public places are prohibited.

The ministry also urged people to avoid the traditional large gatherings for the pre-dawn and evening meals in Ramadan. Indonesia has nearly

4,600 coronavirus cases, almost 400 deaths, and 380 recoveries so far, according to data com-piled by Johns Hopkins Uni-versity in the US.

Some 1.86 million COVID-19 cases have now been reported in 185 countries and regions

since last December, with Europe and the US being the worst-hit.

Almost 115,000 people have died and over 438,000 patients have recovered around the world so far, according to the Johns Hopkins data.

A medical worker and health officials prepare for a recovered coronavirus patient to be sent home through ambulance from a hospital in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, yesterday.

Amnesty calls on Myanmar to review ‘vague’ lawsANATOLIA — YANGON

A global human rights watchdog yesterday called on Myanmar to lift regressive laws in the country.

In a 28-page report — titled I will not surrender — Amnesty International said that the ongoing prosecutions in the country are “made possible by a number of vaguely worded laws.” It said such laws are used mostly by Myanmar military to target human rights defenders and activists. It documents 16 cases of politically motivated arrests, prosecutions, and imprisonment in the country.

In the process of compiling the report, Amnesty Interna-tional spoke to many of indi-viduals being tried under these laws, their lawyers and family members, and reviewed rel-evant legislation and official documents. The rights group said that in its four years since coming to power, the National League for Democracy (NLD)-led government has arrested, prosecuted, and imprisoned human rights defenders and activists for peacefully exer-cising their human rights.

“As the current adminis-tration comes towards the end of its term and the country gears up for general elections in late 2020, it is vital that the author-ities take the opportunity to close the door on politically motivated arrest and impris-onment,” Amnesty demanded.

“This includes releasing all those imprisoned for exercising their rights, reforming Myan-mar’s repressive laws, and ensuring that the rights to freedom of expression, associ-ation, and peaceful assembly are respected and protected,” it added.

Vietnam orders workers at Samsung

unit to be quarantined after virus case

REUTERS — HANOI

Authorities in northern Vietnam have ordered people working at a unit of Samsung Display in the country to be quarantined after a worker there tested positive for the new coronavirus.

A 25-year-old worker of the EQC-SI unit of the Samsung Display factory in Bac Ninh province tested positive on Sunday, according to a statement released yesterday by the anti-COVID-19 task force of neigh-

bouring Bac Giang province.Parent Samsung Electronics

Co Ltd confirmed the case, but said Samsung Display’s pro-duction lines in Vietnam had not been affected.

Nguyen Huong Giang, chair of the People’s Committee of Bac Ninh province, told state broad-caster VTV yesterday that 44 people at the unit had been quar-antined, and that the factory and buses used to transport workers have been sprayed with disinfectant.

‘Starving’ workers protest for pay during lockdownAFP — DHAKA

Thousands of garment workers who produce items for top Western fast fashion brands protested against unpaid wages in Bangladesh’s streets yesterday, saying they were more afraid of starving than contracting coronavirus.

Bangladesh’s apparel fac-tories account for some 84 percent of the country’s $40bn export sector, which is facing its worst crisis in decades after retailers including H&M,

Walmart and Tesco cancelled orders because of the pan-demic. Protesting workers say many factories have not paid them after the orders were cut.

Workers shouted slogans such as “we want our wages” and “break the black hands of the owners” as they blocked roads despite a nationwide lockdown to combat the spread of the deadly disease.

“We are afraid of the coro-navirus. We heard a lot of people are dying of this disease,” protesting worker

Sajedul Islam, 21, said.“But we don’t have any

choice. We are starving. If we stay at home, we may save our-selves from the virus. But who will save us from starvation?” The lockdown, which started on March 26, also forced the closure of the vast majority of the country’s garment factories.

“We have not been paid for two months. We are starving,” said another protester, who gave her name as Brishti, from the Tex Apparel factory in the

capital Dhaka.“If we don’t have food in our

stomach, what’s the use of observing this lockdown?” Some 5,500 workers protested yesterday while 20,000 turned out on Sunday, police inspector Islam Hossain said.

“Some workers broke doors and glasses of a factory. But they were largely peaceful,” Hossain said. No one was arrested. The South Asian nation is the world’s second-biggest garment maker after China,.

Officials are still investigating the cause of the apparent relapses. But Jeong Eun-kyeong, Director of the Korea Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, has said the virus may have been reactivated rather than the patients being re-infected.

11TUESDAY 14 APRIL 2020 ASIA

Russian border becomesChina’s frontline in fightagainst virus resurgenceREUTERS — SUIFENHE

China’s northeastern border with Russia has become a frontline in the fight against a resurgence of the coronavirus epidemic as new daily cases rose to the highest in nearly six weeks — with more than 90% involving people coming from abroad.

Having largely stamped out domestic transmission of the disease, China has been slowly easing curbs on movement as it tries to get its economy back on track, but there are fears that a rise in imported cases could spark a second wave of COVID-19.

A total of 108 new corona-virus cases were reported in mainland China on Sunday, up from 99 a day earlier, marking the highest daily tally since March 5.

Imported cases accounted for a record 98. Half involved Chinese nationals returning from Russia’s Far Eastern Federal Dis-trict, home to the city of Vladi-vostok, who re-entered China through border crossings in Hei-longjiang province.

“Our little town here, we

thought it was the safest place,” said a resident of the border city of Suifenhe, who only gave his surname as Zhu.

“Some Chinese citizens — they want to come back, but it’s not very sensible, what are you doing coming here for?”

The border is closed, except to Chinese nationals, and the land route through the city had become one of few options available for people trying to return home after Russia

stopped flights to China except for those evacuating people.

Streets in Suifenhe were vir-tually empty on Sunday evening due to restrictions on movement and gatherings announced last week, when authorities took pre-ventative measures similar to those imposed in Wuhan, the central Chinese city where the pandemic ripping round the world first emerged late last year.

The total number of con-firmed cases in mainland China stood at 82,160 as of Sunday. At the peak of the first wave of the epidemic on February 12 there were over 15,000 new cases, though that was a one-off spike following the deployment of new testing methods.

Though the number of daily infections across China has dropped sharply from that peak, China has seen the daily toll creep higher after hitting a trough on March 12 because of the rise in imported cases.

Chinese cities near the Russian frontier are tightening border controls and imposing stricter quarantines in response.

Suifenhe and Harbin, the capital of Heilongjiang, are now

mandating 28 days of quarantine as well as nucleic acid and antibody tests for all arrivals from abroad. In Shanghai, authorities found that 60 people who arrived on Aeroflot flight SU208 from Moscow on April 10 have the coronavirus, Zheng Jin, a spokeswoman for the Shanghai Municipal Health Commission, told a press conference yesterday.

Pang Xinghuo, deputy director of the Centre for Dis-eases Prevention and Control in Beijing, said the trend for local transmission of the

disease in the capital was low.“Imported cases are still the

highest risk in Beijing in the second half of April,” Pang said, adding that nearly 8 percent of the 40,000 nucleic acid tests carried out in the city since April 1 had been conducted on people who had come from abroad.

China has cut the number of people crossing its borders by 90 percent and has tried to stop all non-essential journeys, said Liu Haitao, an immigration official, at a separate briefing.

“Our border is long, and apart from the border crossings

and passages, there are a large number of mountain passes, paths, ferry crossings and small roads, and the situation is very complicated,” he said.

Residents in Suifenhe said a lot of people had left the city fearing contagion, but others put their trust in authorities’ con-tainment measures.

“I don’t need to worry,” Zhao Wei, another Suifenhe resident, said. “If there’s a local trans-mission, I would, but there’s not a single one. They’re all from the border, but they’ve all been sent to quarantine.”

Students queue up to get food during lunch break as schools reopen after the term was delayed due to the coronavirus, in Jiashan county, Jiaxing city, in China’s Zhejiang province, yesterday.

In Shanghai, authorities found that 60 people who arrived on Aeroflot flight SU208 from Moscow on April 10 have the coronavirus, Zheng Jin, a spokeswoman for the Shanghai Municipal Health Commission, told a press conference yesterday.

China denies city discriminating against Africans REUTERS — BEIJING

China dismissed yesterday alle-gations leveled by African and US diplomats that foreigners of African appearance in the city of Guangzhou were being subjected to forceful testing for coronavirus, quarantine and ill treatment.

“We do not have discrimi-nation in China against African brothers,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told a daily news briefing, accusing the United States of trying to exploit the issue to harm Bei-jing’s relations with African

nations. A group of African ambassadors in Beijing had written to China’s State Coun-cilor Wang Yi drawing attention to the discrimination that Africans were encountering in Guangzhou, capital of the southern Guangdong province, after which the US consulate in the city also issued an alert to citizens.

The alert advised African-Americans to stay away from the Guangzhou metropolitan area, warning that the city’s authorities had told bars and restaurants to refuse to serve people who “appear to be of

African origin” and launched mandatory tests and self-quar-antine of anyone with “African contacts.”

Denying any such discrim-ination, the foreign ministry spokesman reiterated that China treats all foreigners equally.

“It is irresponsible and immoral for the US to sow discord,” Zhao said.

“Its attempt to drive a wedge between China and Africa will never succeed.”

The ambassadors’ note highlighted a number of reported incidents, including

that Africans were being ejected from hotels in the middle of the night, having their passports seized, and threatened with revocation of visas, deportation or arrest.

Ghana’s foreign minister and the leader of Nigeria’s lower house of parliament have also separately met with the Chinese ambassador to their respective countries last week about the reports of mis-treatment of Africans in Guangzhou.

Zhao did not directly comment on the ambassadors’ note, but said Guangdong has

rolled out “new measures” and that Beijing is working with the relevant African nations to resolve the issue. He did not elaborate on what the new measures were.

Having largely stamped out in-country transmission of the coronavirus, authorities in China are worried that one of the biggest risks of a second wave in the epidemic stems for infected people coming from abroad.

Imported cases of the virus have largely involved Chinese citizens returning home, rather than foreigners.

Pakistan extends

border closure

for two weeks

ANATOLIA — KARACHI

Pakistan yesterday announced it was extending an ongoing border closure for an additional two weeks amid a surge in novel coronavirus cases in the country.

An Interior Ministry statement said the decision to extend the closure with neigh-boring India, China, Afghanistan and Iran had been taken in line with the government’s strategy to stem the spread COVID-19 cases in the country.

However, two main crossing points between Pakistan and Afghanistan will remain open three days a week only for cargo trucks.

On March 16, Pakistan had closed its borders with neigh-boring countries for two weeks, later extending this period until April 14. The latest extension brought the current end date to April 26.

Islamabad is currently also mulling whether to extend a countrywide lockdown by a week. The lockdown has shut all educational institutions, shopping centres and markets, as well as government and private offices except emer-gency services. Railway, inter-city transport and domestic air operations also remain suspended.

The number of coronavirus cases has risen to 5,477 with 95 deaths in Pakistan. Some 1,095 patients have so far recovered, according to figures released by the country’s Health Ministry.

Over 1.85 million COVID-19 cases have now been reported in 185 countries and regions since last December, with Europe and the US being the worst-hit, according to data compiled by the US-based Johns Hopkins University.

New Zealand, Australia say too soon to ease curbs as infections downREUTERS — MELBOURNE

Officials in New Zealand and Australia, hailed globally for their early signs of success in combating the spread of the coronavirus, said yesterday it is too soon to start easing social distancing rules or reopening their economies.

The rate of new coronavirus cases has abated significantly in both countries without straining the capacity of their health systems. New Zealand has enforced a wide-ranging lockdown and Australia is also tightly restricting many activities.

New Zealand recorded its fifth death due to coronavirus yesterday, but new confirmed cases in the Pacific nation of about 5 million rose only by 15, a sixth of what was seen in early April, bringing the total of cases to 1,064.

According to Australia’s health ministry, the number of

new confirmed cases rose yes-terday by 33, the slowest rate in a month and less than a tenth seen two weeks ago. Australia has now recorded 6,322 cases, with 61 deaths.

Health Minister Greg Hunt said it was too soon to relax restrictions despite the flat-tening in the curve of cases.

“Now is the time to stay the course, to continue with these, self-isolation and social dis-tancing,” Hunt said in televised briefing.

“These are producing real reductions in the rate of growth.”

Australia deployed its toughest crackdown yet over the long Easter holiday weekend, with helicopters, police checkpoints and hefty fines used to deter people from breaking a travel ban or breaching public gathering rules.

Australia’s Chief Medical Officer Brendan Murphy told

Australian Broadcasting Corp radio the government may start making decisions only “in the coming weeks” about what restrictions, if any, can be relaxed.

New Zealand Prime Min-ister Jacinda Ardern said a decision on whether to extend the nationwide shutdown and state of national emergency, declared in late March, will be

made on April 20.“Our number of cases may

be small, but that doesn’t mean we have yet been successful in hunting this virus down,” Ardern said.

Medical personnel administer tests for the coronavirus disease at the Bondi Beach drive-through testing centre, in Sydney, Australia.

North Korea’s Kim reshuffles top governing bodyAFP — SEOUL

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has carried out a major reshuffle of his State Affairs Commission, official media reported yesterday, replacing more than a third of its members.

“This is a rather large scale of SAC membership shuffle,” said former US government North Korea analyst Rachel Lee.

Pictures carried by the official Rodong Sinmun newspaper showed hundreds of lawmakers sitting in close proximity to each other without wearing protective masks. A cabinet report reiterated the North’s insistence that “not a single case” of the coronavirus pandemic that has swept the

world since emerging in neigh-bouring China has been reported in the country.

Pyongyang put thousands of its own people and hundreds of foreigners — including diplomats — into isolation and mounted dis-infection drives as it sought to prevent an outbreak, which experts say could be devastating given its weak health sector and widespread malnutrition.

“State emergency anti-epi-demic campaign will continue to be intensified to prevent the spread of COVID-19,” the cabinet report said.

There was no mention on KCNA of Kim presiding over the meeting himself, and he did not appear in photos of it.

“The fact that North Korea went ahead with the Supreme People’s Assembly (SPA) sug-gests the country’s confidence in managing the coronavirus sit-uation,” Lee said.

“The fact that the attendees were not wearing masks only reconfirms that.”

The new SAC members include Ri Son Gwon, a former senior army officer named as foreign minister earlier this year, while his predecessor, career dip-lomat Ri Yong Ho, was removed.

Another former foreign min-ister, Ri Su Yong, was also taken off the committee.

A budgetary report sub-mitted to the SPA said 15.9 percent of state spending this

year would be devoted to defence, KCNA said, a marginal increase on 2019.

The cabinet report acknowl-edged that “serious mistakes” were found in its work last year.

“They taught a serious lesson that if the officials in charge of providing economic guidance fail to fulfil their duty,” the authorities’ economic goals will not be achieved, it said.

North Korea “apparently wants to show its institutions are working and national safety is under control, while trying to lower public expectations about the economy by blaming the ongoing global pandemic,” Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul, said.

Singapore readies ‘floating hotels’ for workers as coronavirus spreadsREUTERS — SINGAPORE

Singapore is preparing to house hundreds of foreign workers in accommodation vessels typi-cally used for offshore and marine industry staff as it races to find alternatives to dormi-tories where the novel corona-virus has been spreading rapidly.

Authorities are moving some of the healthy residents of those facilities to other sites including military camps, an exhibition centre, vacant public housing blocks and the accom-modation vessels, which they have called “floating hotels”.

“Each facility can hold a few

hundred occupants and can be suitably organised to achieve safe distancing,” Minister of Transport Khaw Boon Wan said in a Facebook post on Sunday after he visited one of the vessels.

They are docked in a restricted area in a port ter-minal, Khaw said.

The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore said it was working with terminal operator PSA Singapore, Keppel Corp’s rig-building unit, floating accommodation barge provider Bibby Maritime Ltd and serviced apartment operator The Ascott Ltd to bring in and manage two floating accommodations.

12 TUESDAY 14 APRIL 2020EUROPE

UK to remain in lockdown as virus deaths hit 11,329REUTERS — LONDON

The death toll from COVID-19 in British hospitals rose to 11,329 yesterday and the government, which is having to operate without its conva-lescing leader Boris Johnson, signalled that there would be no easing of lockdown measures this week.

The British death toll is the fifth highest globally and a senior scientific adviser to the government has said the country risks becoming the worst-hit in Europe.

The government has had to defend its response to the out-break, with complaints of insufficient testing and pro-tective kit for medics and ques-tions about whether Johnson, before he fell ill with COVID-19, was too slow to impose a lockdown.

“Amidst this sobering death toll, there are also some pos-itive signs from the data that we are starting to win this struggle,” said Foreign Sec-retary Dominic Raab, depu-tising for Johnson while he recovers.

“But we still have a long way to go,” Raab said.

“We’re still not past the

peak of this virus.” The government’s panel of

scientific advisers is due to review the evidence on the effectiveness of social dis-tancing measures this week, but Raab signalled that was unlikely to result in any easing of restrictions.

“We don’t expect to make any changes to the measures currently in place at that point, and we won’t until we’re con-fident as we realistically can be, that any such changes can be safely made.”

That moment could be several weeks away. The Chief Scientific Adviser Patrick Val-lance said he expected the number of daily deaths from coronavirus to continue to rise this week, then to plateau for two to three weeks before falling.

Johnson left London’s St Thomas’ Hospital on Sunday after spending a week there, including three nights in intensive care. He said “things could have gone either way” for him while he was hospitalised.

He is now recuperating at Chequers, his official country residence, with his fiancee Carrie Symonds. It is not clear when he will return to work.

There has been widespread sympathy for him over his illness, but in his absence the government faces daunting trade-offs between the needs of the health service and of the economy, with national morale also at stake.

The government’s chief medical officer, Chris Whitty, told a news conference 13.5 percent of care homes for the elderly across the country had reported coronavirus outbreaks, including 92 individual homes in the past 24 hours alone.

In County Durham in northern England, the Stanley Park care home confirmed that 13 of its residents had died after displaying symptoms of COVID-19.

In Edinburgh, Scotland’s top medical officer asked the

public not to delay relatives’ funerals in the hope that social distancing measures would soon be lifted, because such delays would risk over-whelming mortuaries and funeral homes.

At the Downing Street news conference, Raab was

defensive when asked if the government should have intro-duced the lockdown sooner and whether to do so would have saved lives - a recurring question as the death toll has soared.

“I don’t think it is clear. I don’t think those comparisons (with

other countries like South Korea) are like for like because of where we are on the curve,” he said.

Asked to apologise to National Health Service staff who have reported a lack of personal protective equipment on the frontline, Raab did not do so.

British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab (centre) speaks during a press conference with Chief Scientific Adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance (left), and Chief Medical Officer, Professor Chris Whitty, in London, yesterday.

Macron extends lockdown across country until May 11REUTERS — PARIS

French President Emmanuel Macron yesterday announced he was extending a virtual lockdown to curb the corna-virus outbreak until May 11, adding that progress had been made but the battle not yet won.

Acknowledging his country had not been sufficiently pre-pared early on to face the chal-lenges posed by the outbreak of the new coronavirus, Macron

said the unprecedented restric-tions put in place were showing results.

“The epidemic is starting to slow down. The results are there,” Macron said in a tele-vised address to the nation. “Thanks to your efforts, eve-ryday we have made progress.” “But our country was not suffi-ciently ready for this crisis. We will all draw all the conse-quences,” Macron said.

Macron’s prime time

address came as France ended a fourth week under lockdown, with residents ordered to stay at home except to buy food, go to work, seek medical care or get some exercise on their own.

After a relentless increase until the first week of April, the number of patients in French hospitals’ intensive care units has started to decline, prompting health authorities to call a plateau in the deadly epidemic.

But if French hospitals are just about coping, helped by a massive effort to transfer patients by plane, helicopter or even high-speed train from hospitals in the east and Paris to the west, nursing homes have been overwhelmed.

By yesterday, the corona-virus had claimed 14,967 lives in France, the fourth-highest death toll in the world, with more than 98,076 confirmed cases, according to official

figures. Macron said that by May 11, France would be able to test anyone presenting COVID-19 symptoms. Schools and creches would progressively re-open, he said.

Although Macron’s popu-larity initially shot up after he followed Italy and Spain in introducing drastic curbs on public life, his government has faced accusations of failing to address a shortage of masks and testing kits.

Irish rival leaders

to sign off on

initial govt deal

REUTERS — DUBLIN

The leaders of Ireland’s rival Fianna Fail and Fine Gael parties will meet today to sign off on a broad agreement struck by their negotiating teams aimed at attracting enough additional support to form a new government.

The centre-right parties, who have alternated in power throughout the nation’s history but have never formed a coa-lition together, need the support of at least one smaller party or eight independent lawmakers to reach a majority.

Their two negotiating teams finalised a joint paper setting out broad policy goals yesterday. Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin and Acting Prime Minister Leo Varadkar of Fine Gael will discuss the paper today, a spokesman for Varadkar said.

Spain partially loosens lockdown as virus death rate slowsREUTERS — MADRID

Spain let some businesses get back to work yesterday, but one of the strictest lockdowns in Europe remained in place despite a slowing in the country’s coro-navirus death rate.

Police handed out face masks to people passing through major transport hubs as they went to work, although only a few com-muters were seen using Madrid’s usually bustling Atocha train station and road traffic was mainly public buses.

Although some activities, including construction and man-ufacturing, were allowed to restart, Health Minister Salvador Illa said that Spain remained in lockdown. Shops and public spaces are set to stay closed until at least April 26.

Restrictions have helped slow

a spiralling death rate that reached its peak in early April and some workers expressed concern that a relaxation could trigger a surge in cases.

“I would have preferred to wait 15 more days confined to home or at least one more week and then come back,” said Carlos Mogorron, a 27-year-old engineer from Extremadura in western Spain who was planning to return to work on Tuesday.

Spain recorded its smallest proportional daily rise in the number of deaths and new infec-tions since early March, with the cumulative toll rising by 517 to 17,489. The Health Ministry said yesterday confirmed coronavirus cases totalled 169,496, up from 166,019 the previous day.

“You are always afraid of catching it and even more so knowing that your life may be in

danger, or your relatives,” said Mogorron, who lives with his house-bound parents.

Business association CEOE warned that many companies, particularly the small firms that

make up the bulk of the Spanish economy, do not have access to the protective equipment like gloves and masks needed to guarantee the safety of staff.

Some regional leaders also

criticised the moves, fearing a resurgence of the coronavirus outbreak, which is weighing heavily on the Spanish economy, with some 900,000 jobs lost since mid-March.

Healthcare workers wearing face masks and protective suits acknowledge applause for them outside a hospital in Barcelona, yesterday.

Germany debates easing restrictions as new infections dropREUTERS — FRANKFURT Public life in Germany, halted by the coronavirus outbreak, may gradually return to normal if certain conditions are met including an infection rate stabilising at a low level, according to recommendations sent to Chancellor Angela Merkel and state governors yesterday.

The suggestions, by the National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, will play a prom-inent role in considerations this week for a possible loosening in movement and social distancing rules in place since around mid-March.

The advice from the aca-demics comes as the daily figure for new infections in Germany has slowed but is still in the thousands of people.

“Although the pandemic will continue to shape economic and social life for months to come, it is necessary to...develop criteria and strategies for a gradual return to normality,” the academy wrote.

Merkel, who has said the academy’s position paper will

be important for her determi-nation on the path forward, will discuss the recommendations with her cabinet today.

Tomorrow, she will hold a video conference with the state governors to discuss a possible path out of the lockdown and

how to manage the recession it is expected to cause.

Senior politicians have begun debating a potential easing of restrictions as the number of new infections and deaths declines in Germany, which has weathered the

pandemic better than Italy, Spain and France.

The academy also said that masks should be obligatory in certain areas, such as on public transport. It said children should return to school as quickly as possible, but recommended

differentiating them by grade level. Over the Easter weekend, Armin Laschet, conservative governor of the most populous state of North Rhine-Westphalia, sent recommendations from an expert panel from his own state to Merkel and his fellow pre-miers. He has stressed the importance of easing restrictions.

Speaking to broadcaster ZDF on Sunday evening, Laschet said that small retailers, for example, could potentially reopen fol-lowing the model in place for bakeries with only two cus-tomers at a time.

“Why shouldn’t this also work for other shops,” he said, calling for “a responsible return to normalcy”.

Other politicians, like Dietmar Woidke, governor of Brandenburg, have called for a more cautious approach to avoid the risk of negating the work Germany has done to combat the virus.

The current restrictions, which include limiting public gatherings to two individuals, are to remain in place until April 19.

People gather on a street to watch an art installation on a balcony as the spread of the coronavirus disease continues, in Berlin, Germany.

Virus deathtoll in Italyat 20,465AFP — ROME Italy’s death toll from the novel coronavirus topped 20,000 yesterday but its number of critically ill patients dropped for the 10th successive day.

The 566 new deaths reported by the civil protection service take Italy’s fatalities total to 20,465 — officially second in the world behind the United States.

The drop in patients in intensive care from a peak of 4,068 on April 3 to 3,260 on yesterday confirmed a general improvement in Italy’s COVID-19 trends.

The rise in new infections dropped to a new low of just two percent.

But a top Italian infectious diseases expert said data were hard to read because new cases showing up now could have occurred up to three weeks ago, given the incu-bation period.

“The time that passes between the moment of con-tagion and the moment we receive the data could be 20 days,” the ISS public health institute’s Giovanni Rezza told reporters.

“So when you read that there are 300 new cases, these cases were infections acquired 20 days ago.”

The Mediterranean country last week extended its national lockdown until May 3.

The decision has been backed by doctors but opposed by businesses that doubt they will be able to survive standing idle for three more weeks.

The British death toll is the fifth highest globally and a senior scientific adviser to the government has said the country risks becoming the worst-hit in Europe.

REUTERS — MOSCOW

President Vladimir Putin said yesterday that Russia might need to call in the army to help tackle the coronavirus crisis and warned the contagion was getting worse after the number of confirmed cases rose by a record daily amount.

Russia reported 2,558 new cases yesterday, bringing the overall nationwide tally to 18,328.

Eighteen people diagnosed with the virus died overnight, pushing the death toll to 148. Though rising, the number of deaths remains much lower for now than countries such as the United States and Italy.

Moscow, the worst-hit area, and several other regions have imposed a lockdown, ordering residents to stay at home except to buy food, seek urgent

medical treatment, take out the rubbish, or go to work if abso-lutely necessary.

Putin told officials at a tel-evised meeting held by video link to consider using the army to help tackle the crisis, noting how it had sent doctors and medical equipment to Italy and Serbia in recent weeks to help.

A similar move to send medical aid to the United States angered the Kremlin’s critics, who cast it as a publicity stunt that squandered precious resources lacking in Russia’s own regions, though the Kremlin denied that and said

Moscow could now expect help from the United States in the future.

“You need to use this expe-rience, of course, and bear in mind that all these options, including the options of the defence ministry, if needed, can and should be involved here,” Putin said.

Putin told officials that the resources displayed by the army were “only a fraction of what the defence ministry has” and that “the main reserves are still in reserve, so you need to keep this in mind”.

Separately, the city of

Moscow on Monday launched a new website ahead of a permit system it wants to start working tomorrow under which resi-dents will have to seek per-mission before using public transport or their own cars or other vehicles.

But the site was only inter-mittently available yesterday

morning, a failure authorities blamed on malicious hacking attacks, some of which they said originated from abroad.

Moscow’s crisis response centre said authorities had nonetheless managed to issue almost 700,000 permits for people to use private or public transport to get to work.

13TUESDAY 14 APRIL 2020 EUROPE

Putin: Russia may call inarmy to battle coronavirus

Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting on the coronavirus disease situation in Russia, via video link at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence outside Moscow, Russia, yesterday.

Wildfire nears Chernobyl nuclear plantANATOLIA — MOSCOW

A forest blaze in the Chernobyl exclusion zone in northern Ukraine reached the city of Pripyat yesterday, an official announced.

Three kilometres off the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the fire is approaching the Podlesny storage facility which contains the most of the highly radioactive waste in the Cher-nobyl zone, Yaroslav Emely-anenko, a member of the State

Agency of Ukraine for Man-agement of the Exclusion Zone said on Facebook.

Emelyanenko urged Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to take measures against the fire, warning that it was moving in downwind towards the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.

The fire broke out in the Chernobyl exclusion zone on April 4 with authorities saying two days later that it had been extinguished and radiation

levels were normal. However, the remaining blazes merged to form a larger wildfire again. Officials have been unable to pinpoint the exact area of the fire due to heavy smoke.

Preliminary reports indicate that it may cover an area of up to 100 hectares (247 acres).

The exclusion zone man-agement agency has asked police to check for deliberate arson as a cause of the large-scale forest fires near the Cher-nobyl nuclear power plant.

An aerial view shows a forest fire burning at a 30km Chernobyl exclusion zone in Ukraine, not far from the nuclear power plant, on Sunday. Some 400 firefighters are battling the blaze.

COVID-19 death toll above 3,900 in BelgiumANATOLIA — BRUSSELS

Belgium has reported 942 fresh infections over the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of coronavirus or COVID-19 cases to 30,589 since the pandemic outbreak, the health authorities announced yesterday.

According to the latest health data published by the Brussels-based Federal Public Service of Health, 310 new patients have been admitted to hospitals. Another 239 cases have been discharged after they reported recovery.

At the moment, 5,393 COVID-19 patients are being treated in hospitals in the

country. Also, 303 people have died over the past few days, raising the death toll to 3,903. As many as 53% of them died in hospitals, while 43% in elderly homes.

President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen yesterday expressed grief at the death of a staff member of the Commission. The deceased was working in the Directorate-General Research and Innovation.

The capital’s public transport service STIB and the road assistance company Touring have reported a rise in the number of travellers in the past few days.

It shows that some people

are not observing social dis-tancing and were out to cele-brate Easter with their family members.

Authorities have classified such visits as non-essential under the strict coronavirus measures imposed a month ago.

They invoke a penalty of €250 ($274) as a first-time offense and €350 ($2,843) a second time for breaching the lockdown rules.

People are only allowed to leave their homes for buying essentials like food, medicine and visiting a doctor, besides helping someone in need or going to work — unless the home office is not an option.

Only supermarkets and

pharmacies are open, while snack bars and restaurants are just allowed to offer takeaway food. People are allowed to take a walk outside with their family members but are required to keep a distance of 1.5-meter between them.

The government will decide tomorrow whether to extend restrictive measures beyond April 19. So far indications go, that restrictions will be extended.

Emmanuel Andre, the federal spokesperson for COVID-19, underlined yes-terday that there is no need to reinforce the restrictions, but existing lockdown measures need to continue.

Sweden sticks to ‘low-scale’ lockdown as deaths near 900AP — STOCKHOLM

Crowds swarm Stockholm’s waterfront in the sun. In much of the world, this sort of gath-ering would be frowned upon or even banned.

Not in Sweden.It doesn’t worry Anders

Tegnell, the country’s chief epi-demiologist and top strategist in the fight against the corona-virus pandemic.

The 63-year-old has become a household name in Sweden, appearing across the media and holding daily briefings outlining the pro-gression of the outbreak with a precise, quiet demeanour.

As countries across Europe have restricted the movement of their citizens, Sweden stands

out for what Tegnell calls a “low-scale” approach that “is much more sustainable” over a longer period.

US President Donald Trump has suggested that a rising number of COVID-19 deaths indicate Sweden is paying a heavy price for embracing the idea of herd immunity — that is, letting many individuals get sick to build up immunity in the population. He said: “Sweden did that — the herd. They called (it) the herd. Sweden is suffering very, very badly. It’s a way of doing it.”

But Swedish Health Minister Lena Hallengren recently told The Associated Press: “We have never had a strategy for herd immunity.” So far, Sweden has banned gatherings larger than

50 people, closed high schools and universities, and urged those over 70 or otherwise at greater risk from the virus to self-isolate.

The softer approach means that schools for younger children, restaurants and most businesses are still open, cre-ating the impression that Swedes are living their lives as usual.

And while most businesses in Sweden are still operating, the economic cost of the pan-demic is already being felt. Last week, 25,350 Swedes registered as unemployed, according to the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce — a larger increase than during the 2008 financial crisis.

In contrast, just across a

narrow strip of sea, neigh-bouring Denmark is already talking about reopening society. They imposed a much stricter lockdown four weeks ago, closing borders, schools and businesses.

This week, the prime min-ister said by acting early, Denmark averted the tragedy that struck hard-hit nations like Italy and Spain, which together have seen at least 37,000 virus-related deaths, and will be ready after Easter for a slow return to normal life that starts with reopening preschools and primary schools.

For weeks, the numbers of COVID-19 cases and fatalities were proportionally similar between Sweden and Denmark, but while the economic results

of the strict isolation are being felt in Denmark, Sweden’s mor-tality rate has reached more than 88 dead per million, com-pared with around 47 dead per million in Denmark.

Sweden, with a population of 10 million, has registered 899 deaths, while Denmark, with 5.8 million people, has 273 deaths.

After a sharp spike in deaths in Sweden, Prime Minister Stefan Lofven proposed an emergency law allowing the quick closure of public venues and transportation if needed. Lofven also warned citizens to prepare for possibly up to thou-sands of deaths.

Nevertheless, Tegnell, the chief epidemiologist, insists that Sweden’s approach still seems to make sense, though he also

acknowledges that the world is in uncharted territory with the virus.

He argues that while Sweden might have more infec-tions in the short term, it will not face the risk of a huge infection spike that Denmark might face once its lockdown is lifted.

“I think both Norway and Denmark are now very con-cerned about how you stop this complete lockdown in a way so you don’t cause this wave to come immediately when you start loosening up,” he said.

He said authorities know that the physical distancing Swedes are engaging in works, because officials have recorded a sudden end to the flu season and to a winter vomiting illness.

Virus forces Dutch students into long voyage homeAP — AMSTERDAM

The sailing trip that 25 Dutch high school students embarked last month was supposed to end in Cuba, where they would trade a tall ship for a plane flight back to the Netherlands. The coronavirus pandemic forced a change in plans.

Now, the students, ages 14-17, are taking the long way home — crossing the Atlantic Ocean in a 60-metre schooner called the Wylde Swan under the watchful eyes of 12 experi-enced sailors and three teachers making sure the teen-agers do their school work on the way.

The organizer of the voyage expects the real lessons for the students will come from making the five-week ocean voyage of nearly 7,000km itself.

“These children have had to adapt to enormous change. They went from the Nether-lands to the Caribbean to go sailing. That’s amazing in itself, then suddenly you have to change the whole programme and you have to cross the ocean,” Masterskip director Christophe Meijer, whose company arranged the excursion, said.

“They’re the most adaptive

children of 2020.”Masterskip runs five edu-

cational voyages for about 150 students in all each year. Meijer said the Wylde Swan encoun-tered difficulties early in the current trip around the Car-ibbean when local port author-ities and islands began taking steps in March to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

As the virus put more and more parts of the world under lockdowns and grounded air-liners, it became clear that the plan to sail the students to the final port of call in Cuba and fly them home from there would need adjusting.

Meijer and his staff held a meeting to plot a course out of the metaphorical storm and “decided the very best way of getting home was sailing,” he said. “With our hands at the helm.”

The crew then had to tell the students’ parents. Instead of opposition, the parents expressed relief after worrying how their children would get home during the pandemic. It helped that the virus had not infected anyone on the ship and that the crew had experience in ocean voyages with students.

The schooner has crossed the ocean some 20 times or more.

EU objects to

Romania’s ban

on farm exports

BLOOMBERG — BRUSSELS

The European Commission expressed disapproval at Romania’s decision to ban agriculture exports and said it’s assessing how the move could impact trade within the single market.

Romania issued a ban this week on sales of goods, including wheat, corn and sugar, outside the European Union. The Romanian gov-ernment plans to still allow food products to be sold within the EU, but buyers must prove it’s not intended for export.

The European Commission said there are no market-related reasons to limit trade within or outside the single market. Restrictions that place an “undue burden” on agricul-tural exporters will hurt food security, according to a statement on Saturday.

“The Commission does not have any information, which indicates that Romania is facing or will soon face shortages of agricultural products intended for human consumption,” said EU Agri-culture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski.

“The reported measure appears to be not proportionate.”

Romanian Prime Minister Ludovic Orban said on Thursday that the country “can’t afford to be left without wheat because of the greed of some grain owners.” The country is one of the EU’s largest sellers of wheat, corn and barley.

The European Commission said maintaining a functioning food-supply chain is a priority amid the coronavirus outbreak.

Virus death toll

reaches 2,823 in

the Netherlands

ANATOLIA — ANKARA

The coronavirus death toll in the Netherlands has crossed 2,800 and confirmed cases are now over 26,500, authorities announced yesterday.

A total of 964 new cases were confirmed in the country, raising the tally to 26,551, according to the National Institute of Public Health and the Environment.

Currently, 8,729 patients are under treatment at hos-pitals, with 147 more admis-sions reported on Monday.

The COVID-19 death toll moved up to 2,823 after 86 more patients lost their lives.

The institute, however, clarified that “not all of the hospital admissions or deaths occurred within the last 24 hours.” “Since not all COVID-19 patients are tested, the actual numbers in the Netherlands are higher than the numbers stated here,” it said.

Significant

increase of new

cases in Kosovo

AP — TIRANA, ALBANIA

Kosovo authorities have reported a significant increase in the COVID-19 cases and have taken further restrictive measures to contain the virus.

Health authorities said yesterday there were 79 new virus cases, an almost one-third increase compared to a day earlier, reaching a total of 362. The virus also has killed seven people.

Most of the new cases, 35, were in the southern commune of Ferizaj, 40km south of the capital Pristina which also shelters the US mil-itary base of Camp Bondsteel nearby.

The Health Ministry also put Pristina under quarantine lim-iting the movement of the people. Kosovo is in a lockdown with all its borders closed.

Almost 700,000 permits issued for people to use private or public transport to get to work.

Confirmed infections rise by record daily number of 2,558 to a total of 18,328.

14 TUESDAY 14 APRIL 2020AMERICAS

Police collect nearly 800 bodies fromcoronavirus epicenter in EcuadorAFP — GUAYAQUIL, ECUADOR

Ecuador said police have removed almost 800 bodies in recent weeks from homes in Guayaquil, the epicenter of the country’s coronavirus outbreak, after the disease overwhelmed emergency services, hospitals and funeral parlours.

Mortuary workers in the Pacific port city have been unable to cope with a backlog, with residents posting videos on social media showing abandoned bodies in the streets.

“The number we have collected with the task force from people’s homes exceeded 700 people,” said Jorge Wated,

who leads a team of police and military per-sonnel created by the government to help with the chaos unleashed by COVID-19.

He later said on Sunday on Twitter that the joint task force, in operation for the past three weeks, had retrieved 771 bodies from homes and another 631 from hospitals, whose morgues are full.

Wated did not specify the cause of death for the victims, 600 of whom have now been buried by the authorities.

Ecuador has recorded 7,500 cases of the coronavirus since the first diagnosis was confirmed on February 29.

The coastal province of Guayas accounts for over 70 percent of those infected in the country, with 4,000 cases in the capital Guayaquil, according to the national government.

The military and police began removing bodies from homes three weeks after the mortuary system in Guayaquil collapsed, causing delays in forensic services and funeral homes under a 15-hour long daily curfew. Guayaquil residents posted videos on social media of bodies abandoned in the streets, along with messages asking for help to bury their family members.

The Ecuadorian government has taken on the task of burying bodies, given the ina-bility of relatives to do so for various reasons, including financial ones.

In early April, Wated said “medical experts unfortunately... estimate that COVID-19-related deaths in these months will reach between 2,500 and 3,500, just in the province of Guayas.”

Workers sit outside a cemetery amid the outbreak of the coronavirus disease, in Guayaquil, Ecuador, on Sunday.

Moreno slashes Cabinetmembers’ salaries inpandemic responseREUTERS — QUITO

Ecuadorean President Lenin Moreno (pictured) and his Cabinet members took 50% pay cuts among measures he announced on Friday to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic that has dealt a heavy blow to the Andean nation’s economy.

The pandemic in recent weeks has overwhelmed san-itary authorities in the largest city of Guayaquil, where corpses remained in homes or for hours on streets.

The salary reductions will also affect state officials including lawmakers in the National Assembly, who have heavily criticized Moreno’s plans to increase taxes to shore up government f i n a n c e s a m i d t h e pandemic.

“I have arranged a 50% reduction in the monthly income of the President, Vice President, Ministers and Vice Ministers,” Moreno wrote on Twitter account.

Official data on Sunday showed Ecuador had 7,466 infections and 333 deaths.

Another 384 people are

believed to have died of coro-navirus, but the cases were unconfirmed because they were not tested.

Moreno has proposed cre-ating a humanitarian assistance fund that would collect 5% of the profits with reported revenue exceeding $1m in 2018, and would tax workers with monthly sal-aries of more than $500.

Those measures have been questioned by indig-enous people, unions and business leaders.

“The tax that we want to collect from the workers is unfair, given that the measures do not include the contribution of the state,” said labor leader Richard Gomez in an interview.

Peru police arrest Chinese man for illegal COVID-19 testingAFP — LIMA

Police in Lima on Sunday arrested a Chinese citizen for illegally conducting rapid COVID-19 tests on the public with newly-delivered kits stolen from Peru’s health ministry.

Tianxing Zhang, 36, was arrested in the Brena district of Lima as he was about to take samples from two women at the door of their house, police said.

He “was proceeding to carry out rapid tests for COVID-19 that he had stolen” from the Lima Sur health authority where he worked, according to a police statement.

Zhang was wearing a mask and a light blue medical apron at the time of his arrest by the state security police.

Both women had paid him to carry out a rapid home test, without health ministry approval.

“When questioned, he acknowledged

he was not authorized to carry out this rapid test and that the Rapid Diagnostic Tests had been stolen from the Directorate of Inte-grated Health Network of Lima Sur where he had worked,” the police said.

According to the police, the bespec-tacled Zhang confessed to stealing two batches of the test to use, for monetary gain, on people who suspected they were ill with the coronavirus.

Police found a backpack with 25 COVID-19 tests and other medical supplies at his home.

President Martin Vizcarra said on Wednesday that 330,000 rapid tests kits had arrived in Peru and were distributed to all parts of the country.

The health ministry reported it has carried out 45,272 rapid tests to April 12.

The South American country has so far registered 7,519 infections, with 193 deaths.

A Chinese citizen after he was arrested for the unauthorized use of stolen COVID-19 test kits in a street of Lima, Peru, on Sunday.

Great-grandmother, 97, becomes Brazil’s oldest COVID-19 survivorREUTERS — RIO DE JANEIRO

When 97-year-old Brazilian Gina Dal Colleto was hospi-talized on April 1 with corona-virus symptoms, few could have thought she would survive the deadly virus.

On Sunday, however, Dal Colleto was pushed in a wheel-chair out of Sao Paulo’s Vila Nova Star hospital to applause from doctors and nurses, becoming the oldest known survivor of COVID-19 in Brazil, the Latin American country worst-hit by the outbreak.

Her unexpected recovery was a ray of hope in Brazil, where the coronavirus has laid bare a stretched public health system and exposed fierce political debate over how to best tackle the virus’ spread and prop up the country’s economy.

The sole survivor of an Italian family comprising 11 sib-lings, Dal Colleto lived alone in the port city of Santos, Rede D’Or São Luiz, which controls

the Vila Nova Star hospital, said in a statement.

“Even with almost a century of life, Gina has a very active routine and enjoys walking, shopping and cooking,” the

statement said. “She has six grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.” While she was hospitalized, Dal Colleto was put on oxygen and admitted to intensive care, the statement

said.On Sunday, Brazil’s health

ministry said 1,223 people had died as a result of the outbreak, 99 more than the previous day’s total. Brazil now has 22,169

confirmed cases.Brazilian President Jair Bol-

sonaro, a far-right former army captain, has chafed at social dis-tancing measures imposed by state governors and even his own health officials.

He wants the economy restarted, arguing that extended shutdowns pose a greater risk than a disease he calls a “little cold.”

However, that stance has cost him in the polls and most nights, in cities across Brazil, quarantined Brazilians are banging pots and pans in protest at his handling of the crisis.

On Sunday, Bolsonaro said he thought that the coronavirus was on its way out of Brazil, although he gave no expla-nation. In its place, he added, was coming further unemployment.

“It seems that the virus issue is starting to go away, but unemployment is coming... hard. We must fight these two things,” he said in a televised call with religious leaders.

El Salvador extends national emergency lawREUTERS — SAN SALVADOR

El Salvador’s congress yesterday extended a national emergency law that allows the government to prolong certain health measures aimed at curbing the spread of the novel coronavirus in the Central American country.

The extension will give law-makers an additional four days, during which they said they would seek to work with the government of President Nayib Bukele and address issues related to the economy, health and human rights.

However, lawmakers reached no agreement on a sep-arate law that suspends some constitutional guarantees, such

as free movement and the right to gather. It is due to expire yes-terday. Bukele and other Central American leaders have implemented swift and strict measures after the first cases of the fast-spreading coronavirus were registered, yet thousands of people in the region were detained for violating the rules.

At Bukele's request, El Sal-vador’s Congress on March 14 approved an emergency regime, which temporarily sus-pended the right to free movement and free association. A week later, Bukele decreed mandatory home quarantine, threatening 30-day detention for anyone who broke it.

On April 5, Bukele said quarantine would be extended

for another two weeks through April 28 and that security offi-cials should be tougher on people on the street, and that anyone violating quarantine should have their cars seized.

“I don’t care if people say on social media ‘Hey, they took my car, hey, they twisted my wrist,’ this is nothing compared to your family dying or somebody else’s family dying,” he said.

El Salvador’s Supreme Court later said that the police did not have the right to seize vehicles or other property.

However, Bukele said over the weekend that all people must wear a mask as of Monday. Bukele said those who drive cars without justification

will be sent to containment centers for 30 days while their driver’s license and vehicle will be seized.

As of Sunday, El Salvador, a country of some 6.5 million people had 125 cases of coro-navirus, and six deaths.

Human rights organizations say the emergency regime has allowed officials, police and the military to act arbitrarily, com-mitting rights abuses, and car-rying out illegal arrests.

Critics say the measures have not been applied evenly, citing media reports that food was smuggled into a con-tainment center for a gov-ernment official and that a leader of Bukele’s party was let off after crashing his car drunk.

The 97-year-old Gina Dal Colleto, the oldest known survivor of COVID-19 in Brazil, is pushed in a wheelchair out of a Sao Paulo hospital to an applause from doctors and nurses on Sunday.

REUTERS — SAO PAULO

Brazil’s health minister urged the government to speak with a unified voice in its fight against the new coronavirus, calling out President Jair Bolsonaro for downplaying the threat ahead of what are likely to be the two toughest months for the outbreak.

In an television interview airing late on Sunday, Health Minister Henrique Mandetta also criticized people for gath-ering in public without referring directly to Bolsonaro, who hit the streets over the weekend, drawing crowds and greeting followers.

“I hope we can speak with a single, unified message, because otherwise Brazilians end up doubting. They don’t know whether to listen to the health minister, the president. Who should they listen to,” Mandetta said.

Although the minister dodged what many expected would be a firing last week, he and the President remain at odds over the outbreak, with Bolsonaro criticizing isolation policies and suggesting the worst may already be past.

Brazil’s death toll rose to 1,223 people on Sunday, 99 more than the previous day’s tally.

In the interview airing later on Sunday, however, Mandetta warned that the hardest days of the outbreak will be felt in May and June.

“The behavior of society is what will dictate the coming weeks,” the minister added. “When you see people entering bakeries, supermarkets, queueing one close to the other, this is clearly wrong,” he said.

Brazil minister

calls for unified

voice in fight

against virus

Brazil and US to deepen trade cooperation, says BolsonaroANATOLIA — ANKARA

Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro said yesterday that his country and the US are getting prepared to implement more “intensified trade” between the two countries amid coronavirus crisis.

“The Minister of Foreign Affairs Ernesto Araujo and Ambassador Robert Lighthizer, the US trade representative, spoke to discuss ways to implement intensified trade between the two countries,” Bolsonaro said on Twitter.

The President stressed the members of the Commission on Economic and Trade Rela-tions under the US-Brazil Agreement on Trade and Eco-nomic Cooperation (ATEC) “will meet next week to deepen the areas of the agreement and issues existing in the com-mercial relationship.”

As coronavirus hit every country economically due to lockdowns and quarantines, Brazil and the US continue to boost their cooperation.

In early March, Brazil also signed a pact to strengthen mil-itary ties with the US

While Washington is pro-moting its “major non-NATO ally” Brazil, which is seeking membership in the Organi-zation for Economic Cooper-ation and Development, Brazil wants Washington’s blessing on foreign policy, especially on Venezuela.

Ecuador has recorded 7,500 cases of the coronavirus since the first case was diagnosed on February 29. The coastal province of Guayas accounts for over 70 percent of those infected in the country, with 4,000 cases in the capital Guayaquil.

AFP — NEW YORK

New York’s Governor declared yesterday that the “worst is over” for its coronavirus outbreak providing the state moves sensibly, despite reporting its death toll had passed 10,000.

Andrew Cuomo said lower average hospitalization rates and intubations suggested a “plateauing” of the epidemic and that he was working on a plan to gradually reopen the economy.

“I believe we can now start on the path to normalcy,” Cuomo told reporters, warning though that the outbreak could get worse again if confinement measures are lifted too quickly.

The governor announced that 671 people had died in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of deaths in America’s hardest-hit state to 10,056.

It was the lowest single-day toll in New York since April 5. The highest of 799 was reported on Thursday of last week.

“The worst is over if we

continue to be smart going forward,” said Cuomo, adding that he would speak to neigh-boring governors to come up with a reopening plan.

H e p r o m i s e d a n announcement later in the day after speaking to his counter-parts in New Jersey, Con-necticut, Rhode Island, Penn-sylvania and Delaware.

He said a reopening would be gradual, would involve easing isolation measures and could start with recalibrating who is an essential worker.

It would also require an increase in testing to monitor infection rates.

“This is a delicate balance,” Cuomo said.

“It’s not going to be, we flip the switch, and everybody

comes out of their house, gets in their car, waves and hugs each other, and the economy will start.”

The governor described restarting New York’s shut-tered economy as like “opening a valve,” and implored people to “do it carefully, do it slowly and do it intelligently.”

“If you see that infection rates start ticking up, which would be undermining every-thing we have accomplished thus far, then you know you’ve opened the valve too fast,” he said.

Cuomo encouraged New York’s 19.5 million inhabitants to continue to follow social dis-tancing guidelines, saying “two or three days of reckless behavior” could set the fight

against the pandemic back.New York state — the epi-

center of the US outbreak — accounts for almost half of the country’s 22,861 deaths,

according to a running tally by Johns Hopkins University. The virus has particularly spread among Latino and African-American communities living

in deprived neighborhoods where many residents work in service sectors and often lack comprehensive heal th insurance.

15TUESDAY 14 APRIL 2020 AMERICAS

NY Governor says ‘worst is over’ as virus toll tops 10,000

Streets are seen empty due to coronavirus pandemic in New York City, US, on Sunday.

Bernie Sanders endorsesJoe Biden for president REUTERS — WASHINGTON

Former US vice-president Joe Biden, the likely Democratic presidential nominee, was formally endorsed yesterday by longtime rival Bernie Sanders, a move that may help unify the Democratic Party ahead of a general-election matchup against Republican President Donald Trump.

Sanders, the progressive firebrand who last week sus-pended his presidential cam-paign, joined Biden in an online campaign event, citing the coronavirus outbreak as a reason for the party to come together.

That made for a stark con-trast to 2016, when Sanders waited until the eve of the Democratic National Con-vention in the summer to support the then-nominee, Hillary Clinton.

Before the pandemic brought the Democratic primary contest to a virtual halt, Biden had built up a com-manding delegate edge over Sanders, leading the Vermont senator to declare last week he saw no viable path to the nomination.

Even so, it remained unclear how soon Sanders, who is especially popular with liberal young voters, would rally behind Biden, whose support comes chiefly from the party’s older moderates.

In the online event, Sanders called on Democrats, inde-pendents and Republicans "to come together in this campaign to support (Biden's) candidacy, which I endorse, to make certain that we defeat somebody who I believe ... is the

most dangerous president in the modern history of this country."

Biden responded by terming Sanders "the most powerful voice for a fair and more just America.”

Biden said he and Sanders would develop six policy working groups on issues including the economy, edu-cation, criminal justice, immi-gration and climate change to develop solutions to problems in the US.

Trump: It’s my decision when to reopen economyREUTERS — WASHINGTON

President Donald Trump said yesterday it was his decision when to reopen the US economy, not that of state governors, but legal experts disagree and governors are going their own way.

Trump last month extended federal “stay at home” guide-lines through April and has made clear he wanted the economy to reopen as soon as possible after the coronavirus outbreak that has killed nearly 22,000 Americans and cost millions of jobs.

However, he also has said he would listen to US health experts and others in making any recommendations.

“It is the decision of the President, and for many good reasons. With that being said, the Administration and I are working closely with the Gov-ernors, and this will continue. A decision by me, in con-junction with the Governors and input from others, will be made shortly!” Trump wrote on Twitter.

The Republican President accused news media of incor-rectly saying it was the gov-ernors’ decision.

However, legal analysts say a US president has quite limited power to order citizens back to their places of employment, or cities to reopen government buildings, transportation, or local businesses.

While federal health offi-cials have issued anti-corona-virus guidelines including social distancing and wearing face coverings, Washington has not issued nationwide recom-mendations on school closings or shuttering public services and businesses, leaving indi-vidual states to make those determinations.

A number of states have extended their stay-at-home and social distancing orders beyond May 1, with Virginia’s governor targeting June 10.

“All these executive orders are state executive orders and so, therefore, it would be up to the state and the governor to undo a lot of that, said Chris Sununu, the Republican gov-ernor of New Hampshire.

Each governor needs to make the best decision for their state and help people tap federal government benefits, including unemployment insurance, Sununu said in an interview with CNN.

As of yesterday, 671 people died in New York in the last 24 hours. It was the lowest single-day toll in the state since April 5.

New York state accounts for almost half of the country’s 22,861 deaths.

A file photo of former US vice-president Joe Biden (left) and Senator Bernie Sanders.

Storm tears through southern US; at least 30 deadAP — CHATSWORTH. US

Storms that killed at least 30 people in the Southeast, piling fresh misery atop a pandemic, spread across the eastern United States yesterday, leaving more than 1 million homes and businesses without power amid floods and mudslides.

In Alabama, people seeking shelter from Tornadoes huddled in community shelters, protective masks covering their faces to guard against the new coronavirus. A twister demolished a Mississippi home save for a concrete room where a married couple and their children survived unharmed, but 11 others died in the state.

About 85 137km from Atlanta in the mountains of north Georgia, Emma and Charles "Peewee” Pritchett laid still in their bed praying as a suspected twister splin-tered the rest of their home.

"I said, ‘If we’re gonna die I’m going to be beside him,’” the woman said yesterday. Both survived without injuries.

Nine died in South Carolina. Governor Henry McMaster said, and eight were killed in Georgia. Others died under falling trees or inside collapsed buildings in Arkansas and North Carolina.

With a handful of Tornadoes already confirmed in the South and storms still raging up the Eastern Seaboard, forecasters fanned out to determine how much of the widespread damage was caused by twisters.

Striking first on Easter across a land-scape largely emptied by coronavirus stay-at-home orders, the storm front forced some uncomfortable decisions. Alabama Governor Kay Ivey suspended social dis-tancing rules, and some people wearing protective masks huddled closely together in storm shelters.

The storms blew onward through the night, causing flooding and mudslides in mountainous areas, and knocking out elec-tricity for nearly 1.3 million customers in a

path from Texas to Maine, according to poweroutages.us.

As much as 6 inches of rain fell over the weekend in the Tennessee Valley. The Ten-nessee Valley Authority said it expected to conduct water releases to regulate water levels in swollen lakes and rivers in Ten-nessee and Alabama.

In southeast Mississippi, Andrew Phillips crowded into a closet-sized "safe room” with his wife and two sons. Then a twister struck, shredding their house, meat-processing business and vehicles in rural Moss, Mississippi. The room, built of sturdy cinder blocks, was the only thing on their property left standing.

"I’m just going to let the insurance handle it and trust in the good Lord,” said Phillips.

The National Weather Service tallied

hundreds of reports of trees down across the region, including many that punctured roofs and downed power lines. Meteorol-ogists warned the mid-Atlantic states to prepare for potential tornadoes, wind and hail. The storms knocked down trees across Pennsylvania, and an apparently strong Tornado moved through southern South Carolina, leaving chaos in its wake.

"Everything is up in the air. Power lines are down, trees are all over the place. It’s hard to get from one place to the other because the roads are blocked,” Hampton County Sheriff TC Smalls said.

A suspected twister lifted a house, mostly intact, and deposited it in the middle of a road in central Georgia. In Louisiana, winds ripped apart a metal airplane hangar.

In northwest Georgia, a narrow path of destruction hit two mobile home parks.

A man inspects a home damaged by the storm in Livingston, South Carolina, yesterday.

Plan to dismiss

Dr. Fauci denied

AFP — WASHINGTON

The White House yesterday said that talk of President Donald Trump wanting to fire the government’s top medical specialist in the coronavirus crisis, Anthony Fauci, was “ridiculous.”

Rumors that Fauci could get the axe — as a vocal group of Trump’s right-wing sup-porters wants — accelerated on Sunday when the president retweeted a criticism of the doctor with the hashtag #FireFauci.

“This media chatter is ridiculous. President Trump is not firing Dr. Fauci,” White House spokesman Hogan Gidley said in a statement.

“Dr. Fauci has been and remains a trusted advisor to President Trump.” Fauci is widely considered one of the most trusted faces in the Trump administration’s fight against the pandemic. As a longtime expert in similar health crises, Fauci is winning plaudits for his no-nonsense and apolitical interviews with the media.

However, his consistent push for strict social distancing and shutting down of much economic activity has sparked resistance from Republicans who believe the COVID-19 crisis is overblown and worry that the paralyzed economy will hurt Trump’s reelection chances.

Gidley said that the purpose of Trump’s retweet was simply to defend himself against “media attempts to maliciously push a falsehood” about the government’s alleged slow response to the pandemic.

“It was Democrats and the media who ignored Corona-virus,” Gidley said.

Sailor from US

aircraft carrier

dies of COVID-19

AFP — WASHINGTON

A sailor who was aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier died yesterday of COVID-19, the first fatality from nearly 600 confirmed cases among its crew, the US Navy said yesterday.

The sailor, who tested pos-itive on March 30, was dis-covered unresponsive on April 9 and placed in the intensive care unit of the Navy’s hospital in Guam, where the Roosevelt is docked.

The death came six days after Thomas Modly resigned as acting navy secretary over his mishandling of an outbreak on the Roosevelt, one of two US aircraft carriers in the western Pacific.

Modly had earlier fired the Roosevelt’s captain, Brett Crozier, after the officer’s warning that the shipboard outbreak could dangerously incapacitate much of the crew became public.

Crozier had sought to evacuate most of the ship’s 4,800 crew after it stopped in Guam on March 27, to test all of them and sterilize the vessel, but the idea was rejected by his superiors.

The number of COVID-19 cases aboard the ship has con-tinued to mount.

With 92 percent of the crew tested, 585 have been infected with the virus.

Virus deaths in

Canada at 734

REUTERS – OTTAWA

Canada’s nursing homes, which already have seen almost half the country’s total coronavirus deaths, will continue to see fatalities even as the overall number of new cases slows, Chief Medical Officer Theresa Tam said yesterday.

The number of people killed by the coronavirus in Canada rose by almost 9% to 734 yesterday from a day earlier. That is slower than the 11% reported on Sunday and the almost 32% increase recorded a week ago.

The total number of those diagnosed with the corona-virus rose to 24,804, a less than 5% increase from Sunday.

Deaths in long-term care facilities “will continue to increase even as the epidemic growth rate slows down,” Tam said in a news conference.

16 TUESDAY 14 APRIL 2020MORNING BREAK

Why technology is not hurting social skills of kids these daysIANS — NEW YORK

Parents, kindly take note. Despite the time spent with smartphones and social media, young people today are just as socially skilled as those from the previous generation, say researchers.

For the findings, published in the journal American Journal of Sociology, researchers com-pared teacher and parent eval-uations of children who started kindergarten in 1998 — six years before Facebook launched — with those who began school in 2010 when the first iPad debuted.

Results showed both groups of kids were rated similarly on interpersonal skills such as the ability to form and maintain friendships and get along with people who are different.

They were also rated simi-larly on self-control, such as the ability to regulate their temper.

In other words, the kids are still all right. In virtually every comparison we made, either social skills stayed the same or actually went up modestly for the children born later,” said study lead researcher said Douglas Downey from the Ohio State University in the US.

For the study, the research

team used data from The Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, which is run by the National Center for Educational Statistics. The ECLS follows children from kindergarten to fifth grade.

The researchers compared data on the ECLS-K cohort that included children who began kindergarten in 1998 (19,150 students) with the cohort that began kindergarten in 2010 (13,400 students).

Children were assessed by teachers six times between the start of kindergarten and the end of fifth grade. They were assessed by parents at the beginning and end of kindergarten and the end

of first grade.The researchers focused

mostly on the teacher evalua-tions, because they followed children all the way to fifth grade, although the results from parents were comparable.

Results showed that from the teachers’ perspective, chil-dren’s social skills did not decline between the 1998 and 2010 groups. And similar pat-terns persisted as the children progressed to fifth grade.

In fact, teachers’ evaluations of children’s interpersonal skills and self-control tended to be slightly higher for those in the 2010 cohort than those in the

1998 group, Downey said.Even children within the

two groups who had the heaviest exposure to screens showed similar development in social skills compared to those with little screen exposure, results showed.

There was one exception: Social skills were slightly lower for children who accessed online gaming and social net-working sites many times a day.

“But even that was a pretty small effect. Overall, we found very little evidence that the time spent on screens was hurting social skills for most children,” Downey said.

‘Medibot’ to do rounds on virus wards in MalaysiaAFP — KUALA LUMPUR

Malaysian scientists have created a barrel-shaped robot on wheels that they hope will make the rounds on hospital wards to check on coronavirus patients, reducing health workers’ risk of infection.

“Medibot” is a 1.5 metre tall (five foot) white robot, equipped with a camera and screen via which patients can commu-nicate remotely with medics.

The invention, built by sci-entists at the International

Islamic University Malaysia, is also fitted with a device to check patients’ temperatures remotely.

It is aimed at helping nurses and doctors working on the wards with social distancing, Zulkifli Zainal Abidin, a member of the team behind the invention, said.

It cost about 15,000 ringgit ($3,500) to develop, and the university plans to trial it soon in their own private hospital, which does not treat virus patients, said Zulkifli.

If that proves a success, the scientists hope it can be used in government hospitals where people with COVID-19 are sent.

Malaysia has reported 4,683 coronavirus cases, including 76 deaths.

From Thailand to Israel, robots are being used in the fight against the coronavirus, which has killed over 110,000 people worldwide.

They are being increasingly relied on as fast, efficient, con-tagion-proof champions in the war against the virus.

Engineering professors pose with the version two prototype of the IIUM Medibot medical robot at the International Islamic University Malaysia in Gombak, on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur, yesterday.

Dwayne Johnson reveals therole he lost out to Tom CruiseIANS — LOS ANGELES

Hollywood star Dwayne Johnson says he had auditioned for the part of the popular char-acter Jack Reacher, which he lost out to actor Tom Cruise.

He made the revelation during a Q&A session on Instagram. Through a seven-minute video, Johnson said he really wanted the role in the 2012 action movie, adding that losing it opened another door for him, reports dailymail.co.uk.

“Business is business and I’m happy (Cruise) got it,” he said.

The action star said he was confident about getting the part as he believed his physical attributes were perfect for the character, which has been created by author Lee Child.

“In Hollywood, actors are kind of like in-a-box. There are actors that can vie for a par-ticular role because it allows for them to have a certain look, skin colour, size, etc. Fortu-nately, for me, there aren’t a lot of guys at all who look like me. So, all of my roles, from the beginning of my career, I’ve been a lucky that they’ve been created and designed for me — except Jack Reacher,” he said.

At that time, Johnson said that Cruise was “biggest movie

star in the world”.“I got the call saying ‘Hey,

you didn’t get the role’. Look, I didn’t even know if I had a shot for it, but the people around me at that time made me think that I did. I felt like I did, I felt like ‘Why not me?’” he said.

“I’m positive that the role of Jack Reacher, because it was an established character, an IP that was well known and beloved around the world, that I wouldn’t have had the cre-ative space to do what I wanted with the character. I look back in gratitude that I didn’t get Jack Reacher,” he added.

Later, Johnson got a chance to essay the role of Luke Hobbs in the fifth installment of the “Fast & Furious” franchise.

“The universe works in funny ways though, as when that door shut on me, another door opened with the oppor-tunity to create a character from scratch that was of my DNA,” he said.

Today, Johnson is one of the highest-paid actors in Hol-lywood, and has iconic films, including “The Mummy Returns”, “Journey 2: The Mys-terious Island”, “Hercules”, “Snitch”, “Moana”, revamped “Jumanji” franchise and “Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw”, under his belt.

Sleeping early reduces carbon emissions: ExpertsANATOLIA — ANKARA

If we were to get to sleep two hours earlier, it would keep more than 4,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions out of the atmosphere as it would cut electricity consumption for lighting, according to energy experts.

Scientists conducted a case study on how sleeping affects electricity consumption and a carbon footprint in Turkey due the expansion of sleep hours because of the coronavirus.

Ercan Izgi, an expert in electrical and electronic engi-neering at Yildiz Technical Uni-versity in Istanbul, studied a sample of electricity con-sumption at homes. Huseyin Toros, an expert in atmospheric science and air quality at Istanbul Technical University, evaluated changes in CO2 emissions.

They found there would be approximately 4,130 tons of less CO2 emission daily if 38 million homes, where 100-watt elec-tricity is used for lighting per hour in Turkey, slept two hours earlier.

The 100 watts was a hypo-thetical figure and do not reflect average consumption because of several variables, but Izgi said their study “came to the conclusion that by sleeping early and so consuming less

electricity will relieve house-holds economically and envi-ronment in terms of CO2 emission.”

“If we try to perform our daily activities during natural daylight as much as possible, that is, if the lighting is used less during the night in the house-holds, electricity usage will decrease,” said Toros.

Touching the urgency of slowing carbon emissions into the atmosphere, he highlighted high emissions-related global warming and climate change put the future of sustainability and security at risk.

“The amount of CO2 in the atmosphere started to increase rapidly in the 20th century, while it was below 300 ppm [parts per million] until 1900 in the last 800,000 years. While the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere was 291 ppm in 1880, it increased by 42 percent in 2019 and reached 412 ppm. This increase led to the rapid change of the Earth,” he said.

Mentioning that industrial production, petrol and coal consumption is rapidly decreasing due to measures taken globally to stem the spread of the virus, he said that the outbreak can be instructive.

“It appears that the level of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) is rapidly falling, according to sat-ellite data, CO2 emissions are

rapidly decreasing. Cooperation for humanity is increasing. For the continuity of the decreasing emissions due to coronavirus, we have a global knowledge of the world’s safety and sustain-ability,” Toros said.

He said it is why sleeping earlier should be prioritized to continue decreasing carbon emissions.

Toros said there is need for a new campaign that should be organized globally: “I’m sleeping early in the evening, I’m reducing my carbon footprint.”

“I turn off the lights early at home in the evening for releasing less pollutant into the atmosphere,” and “I benefit more from daylight, I protect my health and my envi-ronment,” he suggested as slogans to protect the environment.

Turkey has reported more than 52,000 COVID-19 cases, and its death toll stands at 1,101.

The number of confirmed cases worldwide has exceeded 1.77 million, while deaths nearing 109,000, with almost 405,000 recoveries, according to data compiled by the US-based Johns Hopkins University.

Despite the rising number of cases, most who contract the virus suffer mild symptoms before making a recovery.

Taking flight

Aquarium seals must be wondering: Who’s that masked trainer?AP — BOSTON

Humans can’t always recognize each other in face masks, so imagine the confusion that wild animals in captivity must feel.

At the New England Aquarium in Boston, workers who feed and train Atlantic harbor seals have been donning masks as a safeguard to avoid the unlikely scenario of unknowingly infecting the a n i m a l s w i t h t h e coronavirus.

Concerns rose last week after a tiger at New York’s Bronx Zoo tested positive for the virus.

And the New England Aquarium is next door to the harborside hotel where Biogen, a Boston biotech company, held a conference in February where dozens of people became infected with the virus.

“Everyone who is working currently at New England Aquarium is wearing a face mask,” said the aquarium’s marine mammals supervisor, Patty Schilling.

But getting the seals used to the masks takes some doing.

“We want them to be comfortable with the fact that we have this on. So initially we do a process called desen-sitization, and basically that just means that we teach them to get used to something in small steps,” Schilling said.

During a recent training session, a handful of pas-sersby reveled in the dis-traction of watching seals getting their teeth brushed, eating, clapping their hands and dancing playfully in the water.

Underscoring how intel-ligent the animals are, one seal even made a vocal attempt to mimic a trainer saying, “How are you?”

“The most important thing that we do initially is build a relationship with them so that they have trust in us,” Schilling said.

A woman reacts as pigeons take flight during the Nepalese New Year as the lockdown continues for the 21st day amid concerns about the spread of the coronavirus disease, in Kathmandu yesterday.

Andrea Bocelli streams ‘Music for Hope’ concertAFP — MILAN

Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli performed a solo Easter concert from an empty Milan church streamed live to millions of people around the world in coronavirus lockdown.

The “Music for Hope” per-formance, which was streamed

on YouTube from Milan’s Duomo cathedral, has been watched more than 22 million times so far.

Accompanied by an organist, Bocelli sang four songs inside the magnificent building and ended with a rendition of “Amazing Grace” from the cathedral steps with a montage of images

showing the empty streets of Paris, London and New York.

“On the day in which we celebrate the trust in a life that triumphs, I’m honoured and happy to answer ‘Si’ to the invi-tation of the City and the Duomo of Milan,” the visually impaired star said in a message played before the short concert.

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Minimum Maximum21oC 26oC

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