Wednesday 6 May 2020

13 Ramadan - 1441

2 Riyals

www.thepeninsula.qa

Volume 25 | Number 8249

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BUSINESS | 01 PENMAG | 06 SPORT | 12

Star boxer

Sheikh Fahad

targets

September fight

Classifieds

and Services

section

included

QC to hold its first

general assembly

meeting online

on May 21

Ramadan Timing

Today's Iftar:6:10pm

Tomorrow's Imsak:03:21am

MoPH to carry 2,500 random COVID-19 tests in 2 days

THE PENINSULA — DOHA

The Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) has announced to operate drive-through swabbing hubs at three health centers for two days, for a community based survey on COVID-19.

This temporary drive-through swabbing hubs will be operated in col-laboration with the Primary Health Care Corporation, Hamad Medical Corpora-tion’s Ambulance Service, laboratories and Qatar University, said the MoPH yesterday.

“The aim of this exercise is to conduct

a community survey and gain more insight into community transmission and asymptomatic cases, which will in turn inform policy decisions. These temporary drive through swabbing hubs are by referral-only,” said the Ministry on its social media accounts.

“A group of 2,500 members of the public will be involved in a unique study that will allow better understanding of the flow of the virus in the community and adapt responses to the scientific findings,” it added.

The Ministry has also clarified that participants of the test will be randomly

selected based on age, gender and eth-nicity and participation is entirely voluntary.

The drive-through COVID-19 survey and testing will be conducted at the Al Thumama, Al Waab and Leabaib Health Centers today and tomorrow, (Wednesday and Thursday) from 2pm to 10pm. A text message invitation will be sent by PHCC and the person will have to do an online registration, and then can arrive at the designated health center by their own car.

At the testing health center, the person will be given a survey question-naire and nose and throat swab tests will be done. The results will be sent to the person via a text message.

It is worth noting that the Ministry last month opened a drive-through COVID-19 testing station for people under home quarantine following their return to Qatar from abroad.

The drive-through testing was reserved for those who had returned to Qatar from overseas between March 10 and March 21.

Drive-through tests will be conducted at Al Thumama, Al Waab and Leabaib Health Centers today and tomorrow.

Participants to be selected randomly based on age, gender and ethnicity. Participation is entirely voluntary.

Survey will give health authorities an insight into community transmission of COVID-19 and asymptomatic cases, which will in turn inform policy decisions.

Qatari ports see 247% rise in general cargo in AprilSACHIN KUMAR THE PENINSULA

Qatar’s ports have witnessed a huge rise in cargo handling in April, demonstrating that the ports are playing a vital role in ensuring smooth supply of goods in these exceptional circumstances.

Hamad Port, Ruwais Port and Doha Port have registered around 250 percent increase in general cargo handling in April, compared to same month of the previous year.

“Mwani Qatar ports handled 137,445 tons of General Cargo in April 2020, a 247 percent increase compared to the same period of 2019,” Mwani Qatar said on its official twitter account.

Hamad Port, Ruwais Port and Doha Port handled 110,341 Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units (TEUs) containers; 25,435 live-stock heads; 19,870 tonnes

building materials and 4,705 units of vehicles during last month. Total 224 ships docked at these ports during April.

Hamad Port, Qatar’ gateway to world trade, occupied major share in the total cargo han-dling. The port handled 109,407 TEUs containers and 135,893 break-bulk cargo in April. It also handled 25,000 livestock heads and 4,685 units of vehicles during the month. Total 127 vessels docked at the port last month.

Hamad Port is helping in diversifying country’s economy. Along with general cargo traffic, the port handles a variety of specialist imports including livestock, automobiles, and bulk grain.

Hamad Port, Ruwais Port and Doha Port had handled 112,730 Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units (TEUs) containers; 131,472 tonnes general cargo; 59,601 livestock heads; 41,554 tonnes

building materials and 6,088 units of vehicles during March, according to Mwani Qatar.

The ports handled 85,916

tonnes of general cargo; 5,750 units of vehicles and 85,643 livestock heads in February, this year. �P2

Workshop held

on supporting

hospitality sector

QNA — DOHA

In continuation of a series of workshops organised by the strategic team on decent work and sustainable growth in the hospitality sector, the team carried out a workshop in the hospitality sector on the reper-cussions of the COVID-19 crisis on the tourism sector, which was conducted via video conference.

The workshop was attended by Assistant Under-secretary for Labor Affairs at the Ministry of Administrative Development, Labor and Social Affairs Mohammed Hassan Al Obaidly, Assistant Undersecretary for Trade Affairs at MOCI Saleh Majid Al Khulaifi. �P2

National Strategy ensures foodsupply during pandemicSANAULLAH ATAULLAH THE PENINSULA

Director of Food Security Department at the Ministry of Municipality and Environment (MME), Masoud Jarallah Al Marri, has said that Qatar’s National Strategy for Food Security 2019-23 is able to meet 90 percent of the food demand in the country during COVID-19 outbreak.

“The strategy is based on increasing the storage capacity for general food items for long term and enhancing local pro-duction of perishable goods,” said Masoud Jarallah Al Marri, who was speaking to Alaraby TV yesterday.

He said that demand of remaining 10 percent food items is being met by alter-native sources of import within 24 hours which were learned

by experience after the blockade. “As per the strategy, every food item should have three to five different sources of import. In case of disruption in any one source of import, we can resort to alternative sources to restore supply within 24 hours,” said Al Marri.

He said that all necessary preparations were made and the supply lines were tested and challenges were studied during normal conditions.

“Qatar recently handled the shortage of onions quickly as the consumers could not feel it because of the strategies and the support of Qatar Airways and Hassad Food Company.”

He said the outbreak of COVID-19 is considered one of major crises which could impact food supply chain for countries which are not ready for this scenario. �P2

NEW DEATHS

TOTAL DEATHSTOTAL

DEATHS

TOTAL

RECOVERED

GLOBALLY

C VID-19

C VID-19

QATAR UPDATES ON 05 MAY 2020

TOTTOTTOTTOTALALALAL

DEATHS

TOTTOTTOTTOTALALALAL

RECOVERED

3,646,206 255,486 1,187,783

NEW CASES ANNOUNCED

951

012

NEW RECOVERIES

114ACTIVE CASES

15,206NEW CASESANNOUNCED

NEWRECOVERIES

ACTIVECASES

TOTAL RECOVERIES

1,924

TOTAL

POSITIVE

COVID-19 mortality rate in Qatar among the lowest in the worldBLOOMBERG — DOHA

As the global death toll from the coronavirus pandemic exceeds 250,000, two nations stand out with the lowest fatality rates among countries experiencing major outbreaks. In Qatar and Singapore, the death toll is less than 0.1% of reported infections.

In Singapore, where total cases have surged as it grapples with outbreaks in foreign-worker dormitories, a 102-year-old woman recovered from the virus and was discharged from hospital over the weekend.

Patient demographics and the ability of the health-care system to cope are key to keeping the survival rate high in this pan-demic, health experts say.

Among economies with major outbreaks, Qatar’s case fatality

ratio is the lowest at 0.07% — 12 deaths out of more than 16,000 cases. Singapore’s ratio is 0.093% of more than 19,000 infections. Both countries have also kept mor-tality from the virus low as a pro-portion of their populations: less than 0.5 per 100,000 people. The two nations are also among some of the wealthiest in the world, which means they can better afford the test kits and hospital beds they need.

Low case fatality ratios boil down to three things: testing, age of the population and intensive care unit capacity, said Raina MacIntyre, professor of global biosecurity at the Uni-versity of New South Wales.

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

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

Qatar’s case fatality ratio is the lowest at 0.07% — 12 deaths out of more than 16,000 cases. Singapore’s ratio is 0.093% of more than 19,000 infections.

Closed part of Industrial Area will operate under new procedures from today: GCOTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

In continuation of the proce-dures for the gradual reopening of the Industrial Area, which started with Street One, Street Two and Al-Wakalat Street, the closed part of the Industrial Area from Street One to Street 32, will operate under new procedures that reorganise the exit and entry from today (Wednesday) onward, the Government Com-munications Office (GCO) has announced, the QNA reported.

These procedures will follow all precautionary measures specified by the Ministry of Public Health and take into con-sideration the health and safety of the residents and society.

This decision was preceded by proactive testing in the Area, transferring over 6,500 workers to precautionary quarantine facil-ities, and providing free, quality healthcare inside and outside the Area to everyone infected.

The reorganisation of exit and entry will result in resuming work and supply chains inside and outside the Area to normal, while making sure that the com-munity is not at risk of infections. These procedures will allow the following groups to enter and exit the Area: employers, employees who work in the Area

but live outside, residents who live in the Area but work outside.

In addition, companies oper-ating in the Area will be allowed to transport materials and equipment by submitting an application to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and the Ministry of Administrative Development, Labor and Social Affairs in advance. This will be detailed in the Permanent Com-mittee for Industrial Area Affairs’ procedures guide, established by Ministerial Decision number 29 of 2016, to explain all temporary procedures that must be fol-lowed in the coming period.

Employers will be required to make sure that all workers download the Ehteraz appli-cation and provide all that is nec-essary for the application to work effectively, as exit from and entry to the Industrial Area will be conditional on downloading the application and the above-mentioned permit, the GCO said.

Inspections will be inten-sified to make sure all laws and procedures are implemented, such as providing adequate accommodation, reduction of buses to half capacity, pro-viding sanitisers and masks, and making sure all workers are using them properly as per the instructions of the MoPH.

02 WEDNESDAY 6 MAY 2020HOME

Jurgen Klopp discusses COVID-19, Liverpool, Salah in interview with beIN SportsTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

Jurgen Klopp (pictured) makes his much-anticipated return to beIN Sports in an exclusive interview with the global sports channel. Scheduled to air today at 22:30 Mecca Time (GMT +3) on beIN Sports HD1, Klopp will discuss his adaptation to COVID-19, Mohamed Salah, Liverpool’s success in the FIFA Club World Cup in Qatar and much more.

After his highly successful appearance with beIN Sports alongside Arsene Wenger during the FIFA Club World Cup, the Liv-erpool manager takes part in an in-depth interview with beIN Sports’ Mohammed Saadon Al

Kuwari to discuss exciting topics including his personal opinion on players, his team’s success in last year’s UEFA Champions League and the strategy behind bringing Mohamed Salah to Liverpool.

On what he thinks about Messi, Ronaldo, Mbappe and Aguero and if he would like to have one of them with Liverpool one day, Jurgen Klopp said: “Look I cannot answer these kinds of questions without creating headlines the next day. I love them all and there is a few more players out there. They are all exceptional players”.

Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool were on an exceptional run before the Premier League was put on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic

– with Liverpool leading com-fortably with 82 points and Man-chester City in second with 57.

On how he is adapting to the current situation after a fantastic run in the Premier League and the FIFA Club World Cup in Qatar – where his team won in the final against Flamengo, Klopp said: “In

these times we are dealing with a situation we never had before so that’s not too nice but that’s the world at the moment and I accept it. On a personal level I am fine – family and friends are healthy so all good, but we realised that we are in a difficult place at the moment, so we have to deal with it like everyone else”.

On Mohamed Salah and the strategy behind signing him from AS Roma, Klopp said: “Salah is an outstanding talent and we saw that at Roma. I knew him from the time he was at Basel and we played a friendly game and he was flying on the wing. He was nearly unstop-pable but very young and thin which is normal at that age, so we

did not really think about it at that time.” Jurgen continued, “Then we saw him move to Chelsea before going to Roma and I saw him play in a very smart way with Eden Dzeko – as he does with Bobby Firmino here. So, we saw similar kind of players and knew that it was possible to get him”.

Jurgen Klopp is part of a long list of names from the footballing hall of fame who have appeared as part of beIN Sports’ premium guest list, including Arsene Wenger, Jose Mourinho, Zlatan Ibrahimović, Paul Scholes, Peter Schmeichel, Ruud Gullit, Marcel Desailly, Yaya Touré, Nemanja Vidić, Wesley Sneijder, Graeme Souness and others.

COVID-19 does not stop Ehsan services to elderly SIDI MOHAMED THE PENINSULA

Mubarak bin Abdulaziz Al Khalifa, Executive Director of the Centre for Elderly Empow-erment and Care (Ehsan), has said that the State of Qatar and the society are providing every-thing they can to serve older persons in these circumstances.

He added that many coun-tries of the world neglect elderly people, while the State of Qatar takes all care and provides full services to them.

Speaking to Qatar TV, Al Khalifa, said: “When the coro-navirus pandemic started, we followed the necessary health instructions, stopping home care and stopping many activities that had direct contact with the elderly.” “We also tried to stop the physical therapy that we were using for the elderly. We tried to make all of these things remotely in compliance with health instructions. We explained these treatments through dif-ferent means of communi-cation,” he added.

He further said that Ehsan maintains close contact with the elderly through phone and “Shawerni Service”, a service provided to the elderly in which social specialists speak Arabic and English languages and provide psychological coun-seling to them.

He noted that the goal of these specialists is to provide advice and the necessary instructions and guidance for the elderly. Al Khalifa pointed out that the quarantine causes a concern for the elderly and even for families, but it has been explained that social distance is

effective ways to slow the spread of coronavirus. “We recommend families in such circumstances to sit with the elderly people and speak to them.”

In a recent statement to The Peninsula, he said that Ehsan supports older persons and their families in many ways, including reaching out to all elderly people who are beneficiaries of Ehsan’s services (home-care, physical therapy, and Ehsan clubs) through the launching of a centre-wide tele-community outreach service that regularly checks in with older persons to assess their overall condition and provide advice, reassurance, and raise their morale.

“Text messages with key awareness raising guidance are also being disseminated to the mobile phones of registered families,” said the Executive Director of Ehsan.

Among other ways to help elderly people is establishing a helpline service that receives calls from older persons in the community and their families and provides them with guidance, general psycho-social support during this crisis, and referral when needed, he added.

Workshop held on supporting hospitality sectorFROM PAGE 1

Sheikh Hamad bin Ahmed bin Abdullah Al Thani, Chairman of the Tourism and Exhibition Committee at Qatar Chamber, also attended the workshop.

The strategic work team, estab-lished by the Ministry of Administrative Development, Labor and Social Affairs, consists of national organisations such as the National Tourism Council, Katara Hospitality, Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy, the Qatar Chamber, and international partners such as the ILO Project Office in Qatar and the Institute for Human Rights and Business (IHRB), The International Tourism Partnership (ITP), global trade unions and FIFA. The Assistant Under-secretary for Labor Affairs, Mohammed Hassan Al Obaidly, gave a speech on the challenges the world faces as a result of the spread of COVID-19, and the threat the virus poses to public health and the global economy. He also discussed the challenges faced by the tourism sector.

Al Obaidly said that the Ministry of Administrative Development, Labor and Social Affairs took all the necessary

precautionary measures to protect all workers, and put in place policies that would guarantee quick implementation of these measures.

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

Sending an official statement to employers and workers that stresses the importance of cooperation in this period to reduce social and economic damages for the benefit of workers and employers, taking into account the sus-tainability of business and long-term employment through a number of instructions that regulate the contractual relationship between the two parties.

Emphasising the importance of the role of labor committees within the facilities, especially with regard to edu-cating workers about precautionary measures to prevent the virus.

Providing a 24-hour hotline service

to receive complaints and observations by employers and workers, while pro-viding SMS text message service to submit complaints and communicate via email to the ministry.

The appointment of a specialised team from the Ministry working around the clock on receiving communications and messages in different languages (Arabic, English, Hindi, Urdu, Filipino, Nepalese, Malayalam, Tamil, French and Sinhalese).The Assistant Undersecretary for Commerce Affairs at the Ministry of Commerce and Industry Saleh Majed Al Khulaifi said that Qatar succeeded in resuming its balanced economic growth, thanks to its sound policies over the past few years and the incentivizing of the private sector to increase its contri-bution. He added that the state continues the journey towards diversifying the economy, with all government bodies cooperating to overcome the crisis.

Head of the tourism and exhibitions committee at Qatar Chamber, Sheikh Hamad bin Ahmad Al Thani, stressed the importance of cooperation in finding solutions that could support the hospi-tality sector and to overcome the crisis.

Initiative to virtually celebrate Garangao launched THE PENINSULA — DOHA

Qatar Museums (QM) and Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) launched the ‘Stay Home, Stay Safe’ campaign, to invite families in Qatar to virtually come together and celebrate Garangao.

This initiative is part of the ongoing partnership between Qatar Museums (QM) and Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) and aims to encourage families to practice safe social distancing while celebrating the traditional night of festivities by sharing children’s photos dressed in traditional Garangao clothes.

The photos submitted will be posted on QM and HMC Instagram pages to spread the joy and happiness of the holy

month of Ramadan.“Garangao” is a Ramadan

tradition that is widely cele-brated by children across Qatar

and the Gulf region. On this night, children usually walk around their neighborhoods singing traditional songs that

mark the occasion and receive gifts and bags of sweets from their elders.

The ‘Stay Home, Stay Safe’ initiative supports the wider efforts of the Ministry of Public Health, HMC and Primary Health Care Corporation, to limit the spread of COVID-19. A key goal of this initiative is to encourage social responsibility by encouraging the community to stay at home. The initiative also aims to promote virtual connections between families and friends, enabling the Garangao tradition to be pre-served and celebrated despite these difficult times.

Families that wish to submit their children’s photos can send it via direct message to Qatar Museums’ Instagram account (@qatar_museums).

“When the pandemic started, we followed the necessary health instructions, stopping home care and many activities that had direct contact with the elderly," said Al Khalifa.

NHRC launches awareness campaign

for corporate and domestic workers

QNA — DOHA

The National Human Rights Committee (NHRC), in coordi-nation with representatives of its expatriate offices, launched an awareness campaign targeting corporate workers, including workers in recruiting companies and domestic workers.

The campaign included field visits to workers in the Indus-trial Area, Umm Salal, Al Wakrah, Al Duhail, and Al Thumama. In the future it will include other areas where expatriate workers are located.

The campaign distributes instructions, brochures, and educational publications that focus on the preventive measures that must be followed to prevent the risk of infection with the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). The campaign also raises awareness of workers on the importance of using the

hotline launched by the NHRC, to receive and monitor any complaints they have regarding violations that may affect their rights, especially due to the repercussions of the new coro-navirus epidemic (COVID-19).

The Head of NHRC Media and Public Relations Department, Abdullah Ali Al Mahmoud, said that the cam-paign came to complement the field visits paid by teams from the committee since the start of Ramadan to the Industrial Area and workers quarantines in Umm Salal, Mesaieed, and other areas, in addition to police stations.

The campaign is an imple-mentation of the goals of the National Human Rights Com-mittee in raising the awareness of workers from different nationalities on the dangers of the spread of COVID-19, and on their rights, including to pre-vention and treatment under

these conditions, as well as their right to make use of all the dif-ferent medical equipment required for protection from the virus.

Al Mahmoud said that the committee’s team met with workers and discussed their residence conditions. The team familiarised the workers with the guidelines on the precau-tionary measures taken by the State of Qatar, and the rights of

everyone in the country in these conditions under the law.

The representatives of expatriate community offices of Nepal, India, African expat communities, Sri Lanka, and Bengal all participated in the awareness campaign. This was in reflection of the committee’s commitment to reaching all expatriate communities and communicating in the different languages they speak.

The officials of the National Human Rights Committee distribute brochures about safety measures to workers.

India to operate special flights from Doha to repatriate its citizens

THE PENINSULA — DOHA

The Embassy of India announced yesterday to operate two special flights from Doha to India.

The first flight will be from Doha to Kochi on May 7, 2020 and the second from Doha to Thiru-vananthapuram on May 10, 2020, said the Embassy in a release.

The passengers lists for both flights will be finalised by the Embassy on the basis of registra-tions made in the Embassy website for this purpose.

Priority will be given to pregnant women, urgent medical cases, senior citizens as well as to other people who are in difficult situations. The Embassy will contact the short-listed people for each flight directly through email/telephone.

The cost of the tickets and other conditions for travel, including quarantine requirements after reaching India, apart from health requirements to board the flight, will be conveyed in due course and will have to be accepted by each passenger.

Air tickets will be issued by the airline only to those on the passenger lists prepared by the Embassy. The Embassy will also be publicising the details of further flights to different destinations in India, as and when they become available.

The process for finalization of the passengers lists for other flights will remain the same. Given that the Embassy has received almost 40,000 reg-istrations for repatriation, it is natural that it will take time for all people to be accommodated.

“Please be assured that fair and objective cri-teria will be used to prioritise passengers for each flight. We seek patience and cooperation from eve-ryone,” said the Embassy.

In view of the social distancing norms prescribed by the Government of the State of Qatar to contain the spread of COVID-19, visits to the Embassy should be avoided by persons who do not have an appointment.

Qatari ports see 247% rise in general cargoFROM PAGE 1

These ports handled over 50 percent more vehicles in January this year compared to same month in 2019. Qatari ports are functioning smoothly despite challenges posed by the outbreak of COVID-19.

“As part of the efforts to limit the spread of the COVID-19 and to ensure the safety of our employees,

customers and partners, sanitizing walkthrough equipment were installed in Hamad Port, Al Ruwais Port and Mwani Qatar’s adminis-trative buildings,” said Mwani Qatar on its official twitter account. Mwani Qatar, in coordination with the Min-istry of Public Health and relevant authorities, has implemented series of measures to limit the spread of

coronavirus in the ports which will not only keep the workforce safe, but will also ensure uninterrupted supply of goods in the country.

The measures include saniti-sation of containers, installing thermal cameras, submission of COVID-19 disclosures and making workforce at the port aware about how to limit spread of the virus.MoPH: 1,924

recoveries;951 new casesQNA — DOHA

The Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) yesterday announced the registration of 951 new confirmed cases of COVID-19.Another 114 patients have recovered from the disease, bringing the total number of recovered cases in Qatar to 1,924.

The Ministry has said that most of the new cases are due to expatriate workers who have been infected with the virus as a result of contact with individuals who had been pre-viously infected. Theses cases have been identified as a result of investigations carried out by the Ministry.

National Strategy

ensures food supplyFROM PAGE 1

“The food strategy of Qatar is based on four points which include local production, stra-tegic reserve, international trade and supply in local market.” Regarding local products, he said, “We targeted producing vegetables. The local production has reached 28 percent of the total need of the country and it is planned to achieve self-suf-ficiency of up to 70 percent in vegetable production.” He said that Qatar achieved high level of self-sufficiency in a number of fresh local products including milk (117 percent) and chicken (125 percent).

“A number of projects were launched to increase the pro-duction of a number of fresh products including table eggs and vegetables,” said Al Marri.

He said that projects were also launched for fish farming on floating cages which will help to increase self-sufficiency rate of Qatar from 85 percent cur-rently to 93 percent in coming years. “By the end of 2023, the local fresh food production will witness remarkable growth as projects which were launched at the start of the strategy are about to start producing soon,” said Al Marri.

He said that Qatar ensured the provision of agricultural inputs (seeds and fertilizers) and fodder for chicken to continue the production.

03WEDNESDAY 6 MAY 2020 HOME

‘Even moderately effective vaccine could stop COVID-19’THE PENINSULA — DOHA

Researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine – Qatar (WCM-Q) and Qatar university (QU) have shown that even a moderately effective vaccine could be enough to stop the current coronavirus pandemic.

The study – Epidemio-logical impact of SARS-CoV-2 vaccination: mathematical modelling analyses – was funded by NPRP grant number 9-040-3-008 and NPRP grant number 12S-0216-190094 from the Qatar National Research Fund, and was conducted by the Infectious Disease Epidemi-ology Group at WCM-Q in col-laboration with Dr. Houssein Ayoub from QU. The study is brand new and yet to be peer-reviewed, but has been released in commitment to the principles set out in the 2016 Statement on Data Sharing in Public Health Emergencies.

“With several COVID-19 vaccines still in early stages of development, we aimed to provide the scientific evidence that can inform vaccine devel-opment, licensure, decision-making, and administration

strategies. In this study, we determined the preferred char-acteristics for COVID-19 vac-cines and forecasted their impact at the population-level”, said Dr. Monia Makhoul, co-lead author of the study and postdoctoral research associate at WCM-Q.

Using mathematical mod-elling of COVID-19 spread in China, the scientists found that a vaccine that reduces suscep-tibility to contracting the infection by more than 70 percent is needed to eliminate the infection.

“Even if a vaccine has an efficacy of less than 70 percent, it could still have a major impact, if individuals who get the infection but are vaccinated, become less infectious or have a faster recovery”, said Dr. Houssein Ayoub, co-lead author

of the study and assistant pro-fessor in the Department of Mathematics, Statistics, and Physics at QU.

The study also found that infection spread can be con-trolled with a moderately effective vaccine if used in con-junction with moderate social distancing, or if a significant number of people who were infected during this current wave of the virus become immune.

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

“For maximum effec-tiveness, value for money and best use of resources, vacci-nation strategies should

prioritise vaccinating individuals who are 60 years of age or older, or those with co-morbidities, and then gradually provide the vaccine to younger age groups”, said Hiam Chemaitelly, a co-author of the study and senior epidemiologist at WCM-Q.

Dr. Laith Abu-Raddad,

leader of the study team and professor of healthcare policy and research, and director of the Biostatistics, Epidemi-ology, and Biomathematics Research Core at WCM-Q, said: “The results provide room for optimism and the research demonstrates the

value and cost-effectiveness that the vaccine will provide. Even a vaccine which works in just 50 per cent of cases would be a game-changer, allowing us to control the infection, save lives, and resume economic and normal life activities.”

The team of researchers from Weill Cornell Medicine – Qatar and Qatar University during a discussion on possible COVID-19 vaccines.

Writing contests: Katara receives 1,831 entriesTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

Katara Cultural Village has received an overwhelming response to the two competi-tions it hosted as part of efforts to support the government’s stay-at-home policy to fight the coronavirus pandemic.

A total of 1,831 entries were received in two categories of writing competition held for students and adults. The com-petitions, which were in English, were open to all citizens and residents of Qatar with valid residence permits. The topics of the competitions were Working from Home (for adults) and Studying from Home (for students) and were launched when the government announced a partial lockdown to prevent the spread of COVID-19 pandemic.

A total of 1,138 entries were received in the student category and 693 entries in

the adult category. There were participants belonging to a total of 83 nationalities residing in Qatar, of which there were stu-dents of 66 nationalities and adults of 52 nationalities. A majority of the participants are from India, the Philippines, the United States, Britain, Egypt, Pakistan, Jordan and Lebanon. There were 34 Qatari students and five Qatari adults among the participants.

“We are overwhelmed by the response to the competi-tions. Katara Cultural Village has always been in the forefront of organizing cultural and lit-erary events, workshops and competitions to bring people together and strengthen cultural ties and encourage talent. These competitions came at a time when the entire world is engaged in a struggle against the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Dr Khalid bin Ibrahim Al Sulaiti, General Manager of Katara Cul-

tural Village.Khalid Al Sayed, Head of the

Competitions Committee, said the topics were selected to ensure maximum participation from residents. “These compe-titions were meant to support the government’s stay-at-home policy and physical distancing efforts. We wanted to provide an opportunity to people to share their experiences, which will be interesting to a global audience. The huge partici-pation from students shows that they received the competition with great enthusiasm and it was a golden opportunity to improve their creative skills,” says Khalid Al Sayed.

“The huge numbers of par-ticipation in these competitions will also give us an opportunity to study the latest trends in work-at-home and study-at-home practices and to map and analyse the preferences and possibilities in this regard. This

can give us indications about how to move forward in this area by studying these responses,” Khalid Al Sayed said. “Also, before the corona-virus, we were going at a normal speed with techno-logical developments. But now we will have to speed up the process to cope with the new realities,” he added.

The winning entries will be selected by a panel of highly competent judges. The first, second and third prizes in both categories carry cash awards of QR10,000, QR7,000 and QR5,000 respectively. Katara has also decided to give seven consolation prizes in each cat-egory considering the huge number of participants. Also, the best entries selected by the judges will be published in a book by the Katara Publishing House.

This is the second time Katara is organising a writing

competition in English for the community. It had recently organised a creative writing workshop and shorty story completion for students of English-medium schools in Qatar.

Katara also organises the

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

QEERI’s research on environmental conditions may assist Qatar in anticipating COVID-19 transmission THE PENINSULA — DOHA

The Energy Center at the Qatar Environment and Energy Research Institute (QEERI), part of Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU), continues to monitor environmental conditions such as solar radiation, temperature, and humidity, which may, in turn, help Qatar anticipate the transmission of COVID-19.

Researchers around the world are in the process of understanding the lifecycle of the virus, and the environmental conditions that may influence or interfere with its proliferation. Although there is no conclusive evidence regarding the impact of environmental factors, an increasing number of studies indicate that sunlight, heat, and humidity may have an impact on its activity and transmission. As part of its research, QEERI’s Energy Center — in collabo-ration with Qatar Meteorology Department — monitors solar radiation and other meteoro-logical factors such as temper-ature and humidity in Qatar. The Energy Center is preparing to support the country’s govern-mental organisations in the fight against COVID-19 by providing a constant flow of updated data on the effect of these environ-mental factors on the novel virus.

Dr. Veronica Bermudez, Senior Research Director at the Energy Center, said: “As the coronavirus (COVID-19) pan-demic continues to impact our world, there is a pressing need for situational awareness tools that help decision-makers and the public understand and avoid the risk of contagion. COVID-19 research is still in its initial stage, but there is some evidence that the combination of sunlight, a certain temperature, and degree

of absolute humidity may influence the viability of the virus. Monitoring, mapping, and forecasting the solar resources and weather conditions may, therefore, help in anticipating and assessing the risks asso-ciated with COVID-19 and in adapting the associated measures.”

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) scientists have very recently analysed the cor-relation between weather con-ditions and the observed rate of COVID-19 transmission in diverse global locations. This study indicates that 90% of reported COVID-19 cases through March 22, 2020 occurred in world areas with colder and less humid late winters and early springs (tem-peratures: 3-17oC, absolute humidity: 4-9g/m3). Less than 6% of total reported cases were recorded in countries with higher temperatures (above 18oC) and absolute humidity (above 9 g/m3) for the same period. These results suggest that the COVID-19 virus may have reduced viability and would see its spreading capacity

diminished in warmer humid climates that typically have higher sunlight.

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

Some scientists believe that while high temperatures may not stop the virus they may reduce its ferocity. However, many members of the global research community are skep-tical, as the COVID-19 virus is a relatively new infectious agent that is yet to be studied extensively.

The scientists at QEERI’s Energy Center have highlighted that it may be possible to assess the risk of contagion through solar resource and

meteorological monitoring, if exposure to the right combi-nation of sunlight levels, tem-peratures, and absolute humidity could reduce the via-bility of the COVID-19 virus.

Dr. Antonio Sanfilippo explained: “QEERI has recently started a study that uses machine learning methods applied to data from the ongoing pandemic to build computa-tional models of COVID-19 transmission rates as a function of meteorological and solar radi-ation parameters plus epidemi-ological, socioeconomic and policy intervention factors. These models will enable the creation of dynamic maps on Geographic Information Systems (GIS) that visualize the risk of viral exposure across the nation and worldwide by mon-itoring the local weather conditions.”

He added that these maps will help the public and gov-ernment alike reduce the risk of COVID-19 contagion and could be adapted to different infection data to help manage other viral outbreaks. The ensuing GIS platform will provide a basic tool for risk assessment in the current and future viral epi-demics/pandemics.

Dr. Marc Vermeersch, QEERI’s Executive Director, reit-erated that the institute would continue to support Qatar in its fight against COVID-19. “Since the onset of the pandemic, we have realigned our research pri-orities, and our scientists, researchers, and engineers are committed to contributing to the fight against COVID-19, through research, development, and innovation. We are also collab-orating with national and inter-national stakeholders and con-tributing in whichever way we can.”

QEERI’s Energy Center — in collaboration with Qatar Meteorology Department — monitors solar radiation and other meteorological factors such as temperature and humidity in Qatar.

Using mathematical modelling of COVID-19 spread in China, the scientists found that a vaccine that reduces susceptibility to contracting the infection by more than 70 percent is needed to eliminate the infection.

QF’s 2020 WISE Awards finalists announcedTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

WISE has announced the 15 finalists for the 2020 WISE Awards. Hailing from 10 countries, the finalists presented projects that tackle a number of pressing global educational issues, and were selected by a panel of inter-national experts.

This year’s projects focus on implementing early childhood education; pro-moting social emotional learning for early years; teaching of 21st century and entrepreneurship skills; pro-viding education to margin-alized and vulnerable popu-lations; improving teacher training and motivation; fos-tering reading; democra-tizing sign language edu-cation; promoting legal edu-cation and nurturing global citizens among the future generations.

Stavros N Yiannouka, CEO of WISE – an initiative of Qatar Foundation – said, “Our world is experiencing a crisis that is affecting all facets of our lives. Education is no exception, and indeed the need for innovation is all the more urgent because of the systemic shortcomings that the crisis has exposed. In this context, the work cel-ebrated by the WISE Awards is critically important.

“Each of the 2020 WISE Awards finalists has built an effective, tested solution to a global educational chal-lenge. Whether ensuring access to fundamental early childhood education or imparting valuable entrepre-neurship and financial lit-eracy skills, each project is already transforming lives, and provides an inspirational

model for others to emulate. “As we look forward to

recognising this year’s WISE Awards winners it is imper-ative that policymakers and civil society leaders around the world seriously address the need to bring some of these innovations to scale.”

This year’s finalists are: MyMachine; Stawisha Lead-ership Institute; Barefoot College Solar Electrification with enriched Education; MAIA Impact School; Dengbe’ Bide (“Two Rabbits” in Baka); Education for Sharing (E4S); Pratham Books’ Storyweaver; Centro Educativo Tecnico Chixot – Hero School; Think E q u a l ; T h e J u n i o r A c h i e v e m e n t A f r i c a Company Program; SignLab; Parenting the Future (PTF); J u s t i c e C h a n g e m a k e r Program; Transformational Teacher Training; and Arkki International - Creative Edu-c a t i o n f o r F u t u r e Innovators.

The projects were selected from a pool of 625 submissions. The submis-sions were evaluated on strict criteria, such as the ini-tiatives must have already been established and dem-onstrate how they have already had a transformative impact on individuals, com-munities, and society of their context. Projects also need to be financially stable, have a clear development plan, and be scalable and replicable.

It was also learned that the winners of the WISE Awards will be announced in October 2020 and celebrated at a WISE event. In addition to visibility and networking opportunities, each project will receive $20,000.

04 WEDNESDAY 6 MAY 2020HOME

QC opens branchesand collection pointsacross the country

THE PENINSULA — DOHA

Qatar Charity (QC) opened two new separate branches, one for men and another for women, in Al Waab, and collection points at Al Meera Rawdat El Hamama and Al Meera Umm Garn, in addition to a collection vehicle at Hyatt Plaza.

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

The opening of new local branches of Qatar Charity con-tributes to offering donation services for benefactors near their whereabouts, using the best and latest collection methods.

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

interventions implemented by Qatar Charity inside and outside Qatar to maximize the number of beneficiaries.

Working Hours: The branches and collection points are open during 9:30am – 5:30pm, and 8pm – 12am (Mid-night). However, on Fridays, they are open during 12:30 – 5:30pm, and 8pm – 12am (Midnight).

The headquarters in Al Hilal is open during 8:30am – 12:30am (Midnight). However, on Fridays, it is open during 12 :30pm – 12 :30am (Midnight).

Qatar Charity’s 27 branches, 96 collection points, 1615 donation boxes, and 39 donation kiosks are located across the country.

Benefactors can also donate through Qatar Charity’s website (//www.qcharity.org), and app (qch.qa/q/app), in addition to dialing hotline 44667711.

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

Ezdan Real Estate takes preventive measures against COVID-19 outbreak at leasing offices

THE PENINSULA — DOHA

As part of its corporate social responsibility and in consolidation of efforts made by Qatar to contain coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, Ezdan Real Estate Company has taken precautionary measures across its facilities and service offices. It has applied a set of measures in all leasing offices.

The company announced its keenness to ensure the health and safety of all its cus-tomers and employees. Ezdan Real Estate is also concerned with observing the safe distancing among visiting customers, where it decided to deny access to the leasing offices to people without wearing masks and gloves. The company also provides all employees with sanitizers necessary to maintain their safety throughout the working hours.

For his part, H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Thani bin Abdullah Al Thani, Vice-Chairman of the Ezdan Holding Group, said: “Ezdan is firmly observing all procedures and guidelines issued by the state to curb the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19), and works attentively to implement all measures in all its subsidiaries. The Group had decided earlier to prove commitment to the declared official working times and limiting the number of attending employees, as well as running sterilization and saniti-zation on regular basis on all parts of the premises, observing wearing masks, gloves

and other procedures, as this is a crucial stage that threatens society, and adhering to instructions contributes to mitigating the severity of this pandemic. “

His Excellency stressed the importance of cooperation among all parties and indi-viduals in the success of efforts to overcome this epidemic, and to break the chain of infection, noting that the company is keen to contribute to all efforts that serve the community and provide a safe environment for all its members, as Ezdan Real Estate had launched earlier a sanitization drive across its facilities, in cooperation with the Municipality of Al Wakra, which included cleaning roads and buildings.

His Excellency Sheikh Abdullah expressed his confidence in the ability of the competent authorities to overcome this pandemic, appealing to all community members to adhere to the instructions declared by the state to preserve the public health, including home quarantine and lim-

iting going out for the common weal.It is worth noting that Ezdan Real Estate

Company launched in the beginning of the year 2020 an integrated plan to develop leasing services in its villages, which included increasing the number of leasing offices to 19, operating under the umbrella of “Sakin” central offices. These include four offices to serve Doha buildings, and 15 offices to serve Al Wakrah and Al Wukair’s villages, while preparations are underway to open a number of other offices during the forthcoming period.

Ezdan leasing offices in Doha are in the Musheireb region, Gharrafa and Duhail, Umm Ghuwailina, and finally bin Mahmoud, and in the city of Al Wakrah seven offices were distributed among the northern zone and the southern zone includes six leasing offices, while Ezdan Oasis includes six leasing offices, where two of which are under full operation while the remaining will be opened gradually.

Social distancing is being observed at Ezdan Real Estate’s leasing offices.

His Excellency Sheikh Abdullah expressed his confidence in the ability of the competent authorities to overcome this pandemic, appealing to all community members to adhere to the instructions declared by the state to preserve the public health

Stephen Colbert joins with NU-Q to congratulate graduating Class of 2020THE PENINSULA — DOHA

The US TV star, Stephen Colbert, made a surprise cameo in a video produced by NU-Q to celebrate its Class of 2020. The program also included messages from the president of Northwestern, dean of NU-Q, faculty, and students and was produced to celebrate the gradu-ating class who had had its formal grad-uation ceremony postponed due to the global pandemic.

In his message to the class, Colbert told them that their graduation during a pandemic will teach them a lot about what being an adult means “and having to do what is right or what you know has to be done.” He congratu-lated them on their successes and said, “Stay strong, be brave, be daring, and have a wonderful life.”

Dean Craig LaMay, who was named acting dean in January, hosted the celebration and told the seniors that they made his time serving as dean “a truly special experience,” and pointed out that the current global sit-uation proves that “among the indis-pensable people in times of an exis-tential crisis are filmmakers, and

journalists, poets, playwrights, and artists. So, we will all have stories to tell and we all have stories to make. You have our love and admiration as you embark on a new journey of your lives.”

In his remarks, President Morton Schapiro noted that the group joins more than 200,000 fellow North-western alumni and said that he is “confident that you will join other NU-Q alums in changing the world for the better, and you are prepared to do so. You have earned your place as a member of this esteemed [North-western alumni] community by virtue of your accomplishments inside and outside the classroom.”

The ceremony also featured a special address from Professor Ann Woodworth – who taught Colbert when he was a student at North-western – and has been teaching theater at Northwestern since 1983 – and in Doha since 2009. She is retiring from the university this year.

“You and I have a lot in common,” she told the seniors. “For one, we are both graduates of Northwestern Uni-versity – you in 2020, me in 1975. But,”

she added, “the most significant thing that we have in common, is that we are all storytellers. That is the bond that connects us.”

Woodworth shared life lessons that were inspired by Anton Chekov. Using quotes from his work, Woodworth used each to illustrate a larger point. The lessons, she said, were to show up, pay attention, make a choice, and don’t get attached to the result.

Also speaking during the program was the president of the student union, Sarah Shaath, who also emphasized the role that NU-Q students and graduates play as storytellers. “We’re in the midst of a global pandemic, but what is keeping people going? Isn’t it other peo-ple’s stories? Our job is to ensure that other people’s stories are heard in a lens that’s worthy of them. We are a batch that is ready to conquer what the world has in store for them,” she said

The ceremony also included a compilation of video messages from NU-Q’s faculty, staff, and students who shared their good wishes and congrat-ulations with the class of 2020 and a reading of their names by Amira Hariri, assistant director of admissions,

Green Tent organises symposium on Nature Inspiration in Scientific and Engineering CreativityQNA — DOHA

The Green Tent of the “A Flower Each Spring” program organized a symposium titled “Nature Inspi-ration in Scientific and Engi-neering Creativity,” in which a number of participants considered nature simulation a source of innovation and the basis of human discoveries and scientific, industrial and admin-istrative development in human life.

These participants pointed out that there are two ways to

understand the universe, which are observation, meditation and thinking, pointing to the pivotal role of nature simulation in a number of inventions.

Head of the program Dr Saif bin Ali Al Hajri stressed during the online symposium that man has long sought to simulate nature to answer questions, solve problems and meet the requirements of life; therefore, he made homes from caves, shelters from trees, and food and drinks from plants and fruits until the discovery of fire, which was a milestone in human

growth. He added that the discoveries

continued, which moved man from relying on his limited physical energy, and using the energy of animals, to wind and fossil energy, all the way to solar energy and nuclear energy.

Dr Al Hajri stated that each stage of discoveries enabled human beings to understand more and provided them with the ability to take inspiration from nature, adding that nature sim-ulation by humans appears in all a c h i e v e m e n t s a n d

medias surrounding us, such as manufacturing of helicopters inspired by dragonflies. He pointed out that the majority of things are the result of nature simulations as building and edi-fices are inspired by nature with their beauty and geometric lines.

In the same context, the par-ticipants in the symposium emphasized that nature still inspires people in all their activ-ities and that can be seen in lit-erature and art. With the maturity of arts and their transformation into science, nature took another

form and soon found a way to influence theoretical and applied fields.

The participants showed that flying was the greatest challenge for man when it comes to nature simulation. Man resorted to experimentation and correction until mathematics saved him time, effort and cost by providing accurate and sophisticated models and calculations.

They said that the world is now full of many means of trans-portation, buildings and robots that are inspired by nature in

structure and functions, adding that nature also contributes to economics and management sci-ences through algorithms inspired by the life of insect col-onies such as bees, ants and other creatures.

They pointed out that human development went through suc-cessive, changing periods due to the changing discoveries and inventions, adding that God created the surrounding nature in an ideal way and man must know its capabilities and benefit from it.

SIS organises Inter School Teachers Discussion Forum through live streamingTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

Shantiniketan Indian School (SIS) continues in its unprecedented march towards excellence by organising the Inter School Teachers Discussion Forum 2020, of the Qatar Chapter. It witnessed expert panelist from ten Indian schools and audi-ences from across the Indian schools in Doha.

The remote session was ignited by the key question confronting the academics in this global lockdown due to COVID 19. The pandemic has created a new challenge in the aca-demic world where learning never stops.

Nazia Saleem of SIS and the moderator of the discussion raised the subject “Remote Learning - Challenges and Opportu-nities” that it opens up to the world. Noelin Rozario of Nobel International School discussed on the pedagogical approach and brought in the comparison between traditional classroom and virtual

classroom. Joy Mary Ninan of Pearl International School drew the audience to the ways of moving the classroom online and its challenges.

Bharati Patel from Al Khor International shared on how the educators could be empowered to deliver effective and engaging remote teaching. The role of an online instructor was emphasized by Magdalene Sylvia of M.E.S. Indian School.

Sethuraman Annamalai of Birla Public School focused on the ways instructors can bridge the gap between school and home while Sheeja Thamby of Shantiniketan Indian School shared some effective strategies to maintain a healthy and par-ticipatory virtual classroom.

Reinventing ways to conduct online assess-ments was discussed by Parvathy Gopalakrishnan of DPS Modern Indian School while Zuhaib Datey of DPS – Monarch Inter-national School answered questions related to digital

equity and its solution. The importance of discipline during online classes and ways in which discipline can be promoted were dis-cussed by Karishma Sahil Inamdar of Olive Inter-national School.

Padmini Venkatesh, Principal of Doha Modern Indian School, showed how remote learning can pave way for better lead-ership as this will give new challenges in monitoring the process by moving from the conventional methods to real time processes.

The heads of Indian schools were also pooled into the discussion to share their thoughts on the ways to improve the remote learning sessions and make it highly interactive, engaging and fruitful.

Principal Dr Subhash B. Nair, congratulated the panelists and the audience for braving the challenges and stepping forward to find and discuss ways that could add a new dimension to remote learning strategies.

The Inter School Teachers Discussion Forum in progress.

05WEDNESDAY 6 MAY 2020 MIDDLE EAST

Arab League slams confiscation of lands in Hebron

QNA & ANATOLIA — CAIRO/OCCUPIED JERUSALEM

The Arab League condemned Israeli government’s approval to establish a new settlement project in the old Palestinian city of Hebron and confiscate its lands to construct a private road and an elevator to facil-itate the storming of the Ibrahimi Mosque.

The Arab League Assistant Secretary-General for Palestine and Occupied Arab Territories Saeed Abu Ali stressed, in a statement yesterday that this decision comes in the context of the occupation and judaising policies against Palestinian reli-gious and historical monu-ments and Islamic and Christian sanctities, and within the framework of completing the judaisation of Jerusalem and targeting Temple Mount and the Palestinian, Arab and Islamic identity in Jerusalem and Hebron and their sanctities.

Abu Ali warned warned of the consequences of the decision of the Israeli Defense Minister Naftali Bennett regarding the Ibrahimi Mosque and confiscation of Palestinian lands and properties adjacent to it, which violates the resolu-tions of international legitimacy and the rules of international law that consider settlement a crime that brings those respon-sible before international justice.

The Assistant Secretary- General called on the interna-tional community and the United Nations, with all its organs, to pressure the occu-pation authorities to immedi-ately halt any activities or plans that lead to a future deterio-ration of the difficult situation in the occupied Palestinian territories.

He also called on them to assume their responsibilities in

stopping the Israeli decisions and practices due to the serious implications on achieving peace.

Meanwhile, Israeli police rounded up seven Palestinians from their homes in East Jeru-salem yesterday, according to local residents.The detainees include Maj.Gen. Bilal Al Natsheh, Secretary-General of the National People’s Congress —a security body affiliated with the Palestine Liberation Organ-ization (PLO), his assistants Emad Awad and Emad Al Ashhab, businessman Mustafa Abu Zahra, journalist Tamer Obaidat and activist Rania Hatem, residents said.

According to witnesses, Israeli forces searched the detainees’ homes and confis-cated laptop computers.

The Israeli police said in a statement that it had detained “seven suspects from Jeru-salem residents for violating the law implementing the interim agreement on the West Bank and Gaza Strip,” referring to the Oslo I Accord signed between the PLO and Israel in 1993.

Last month, Israeli police detained Jerusalem Governor Adnan Ghaith from his home in Jerusalem.

Egyptian citizens queue at Kuwait International Airport before boarding a repatriation flight to Cairo, in Kuwait City, yesterday. Kuwaiti authorities dispersed a 'riot' by Egyptian workers who demonstrated on Monday to demand repatriation amid the coronavirus crisis, state media said.

Kuwait registers

526 new virus

infections;

total at 5,804

QNA & ANATOLIA — KUWAIT

The Kuwaiti Ministry of Health reported yesterday the regis-tration of 526 new coronavirus (COVID-19) infections in the last 24 hours, bringing the tally to 5,804.

Earlier today, the Ministry announced the recovery of 85 infected cases with the virus which causes COVID-19 disease, bringing the total of patients who recovered and completed recovery in the country to 2,032 cases, according to Kuwait News Agency.

It added that laboratory and radiological tests and analyzes have proved the recovery of these cases from Coronavirus, who will be transferred to the rehabilitation section in the hospital designated to receive those infected with the virus, in preparation to discharge them within the next two days.

The Omani Health Ministry announced the registration of 98 new cases of coronavirus (COVID-19) in the country. 42 of the new cases are Omanis and 56 cases for non-Omanis.

The Ministry said that the total number of positive COVID-19 cases in the country is 2735, and the number of deaths is 12, Oman News Agency said. The Health Min-istry also pointed out that 858 cases have recovered.

Meanwhile, dozens of Turkish truck drivers trapped in Saudi Arabia due to the novel coronavirus outbreak were brought back via sea and are set to be put under quar-antine for two weeks.

Some sixty-four drivers were brought by a ship named “MV Med Bridge” to the LimakPort harbor of Iskenderun province, and they underwent health exam-inations by the provincial healthcare authorities.

The custom units disin-fected the vehicles ahead of their evacuation from the ship.

Iran reports 63 more deaths,virus cases near 100,000AFP & REUTERS — TEHRAN

Iran yesterday announced that confirmed coronavirus infec-tions had reached almost 100,000 in the country as fresh cases picked up again after a brief drop in recent days.

“The number of confirmed infections with this disease is now close to 100,000,” health ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour said in televised remarks.

“We lost 63 of our coun-trymen in the past 24 hours, reaching a total of 6,340 deaths from COVID-19 to date,” he added. Jahanpour said that another 1,323 people tested positive for the virus during the same period, bringing the overall number to 99,970.

Two-thirds of the fresh cases were “those sampled as outpatients” or family members of those infected, Jahanpour said. On Saturday, Iran’s new daily infections hit their lowest since March 10 but they have

picked up again since then. According to Jahanpour,

80,475 of those hospitalised with the disease since Iran reported its first cases in mid-February have been discharged, while 2,685 are in critical con-dition. Doubts have been cast over Iran’s coronavirus figures by experts and officials both at home and abroad.

Iran has reopened mosques in parts of the country deemed at low risk from the virus after allowing a phased reopening of businesses since April 11.

The Islamic republic is using a colour-coded system of “white” for low-risk parts of the country, “yellow” for medium-risk zones and “red” for high-risk areas.

Hamshahri reported that southern provinces such as Sistan and Baluchistan, Hor-mozgan, Fars and Bushehr had the most white areas.

Other provinces are mostly still yellow, while Qom, the virus’ epicentre in Iran, was red

with a “rising trend” of new infections. Ministry officials have warned that an area being “white” does not mean “the sit-uation is normal” there, and that the condition can reverse at any time.

Meanwhile, a parliamentary panel in Israel authorised Shin Bet security service to continue using mobile phone data to track people infected by the coronavirus until May 26 despite privacy concerns.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had sought a longer extension, of six weeks, as his government advances legis-lation to regulate the practice in line with the demands of the Supreme Court, which is worried about dangers to indi-vidual liberty.

Circumventing parliament in March, as the coronavirus spread, Netanyahu’s cabinet approved emergency regula-tions that enabled the use of the technology, usually deployed for anti-terrorism.

Lebanon summons German envoy over Hezbollah banREUTERS — BEIRUT

Lebanon’s foreign minister summoned the German ambassador yesterday to explain Berlin’s decision last week to ban the Shia Hezbollah movement on its soil.

Germany also classified the Iranian-backed movement as terrorist, a step which Hezbollah’s foe Israel has long urged along with the United States.

Foreign Minister Nassif Hitti affirmed that “Hezbollah is a main political component in Lebanon which represents a wide section of the people and part of parliament,” his office said yesterday.

Hitti called in Germany’s ambassador after the leader of Hezbollah, a military and political movement that is a major backer of the gov-ernment, accused Germany on Monday of bowing to US pressure.

Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah denounced police raids on mosque groups in Germany suspected of being close to the heavily armed Hezbollah, which he said had no official presence in Europe.

Nasrallah also said Lebanon’s government was responsible for protecting its citizens in Germany.

Iran has condemned Germany’s move, while Israel has urged other European Union countries to take similar action.

The EU classifies Hezbollah’s military wing as a terrorist group, but not its political wing. Britain introduced legislation in February of last year, before it left the EU, that designated Hezbollah as a terrorist organisation.

Youth wearing masks as a precaution due to COVID-19 disease, sit in the back of a truck carrying out a fumigation in an area in Yemen’s southern coastal city of Aden, yesterday, as part of a campaign to prevent the spread of insect-borne diseases such as malaria, dengue fever and Chikungunya virus amid the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Lebanon to extend lockdownREUTERS — BEIRUT

Lebanon is set to extend its lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus by two weeks until May 24 with the prime minister warning yesterday that a failure to comply with a gradual easing of restrictions risked a second wave of infec-tions.

Lebanon has recorded 740 cases of the novel coronavirus and 25 deaths. The government has started to gradually ease some restrictions this week, allowing restaurants to open

but at only 30% of their capacity.

In an apparent reference to low rates of infection, Prime Minister Hassan Diab said the general assessment was “excellent”.

But he also told a meeting of the supreme defence council yesterday that “citizens did not comply with the restrictions and measures that are being gradually reduced”.

This “could reflect nega-tively on the spread of the virus and there is a fear of a second wave which could be much

harder than the first”, he said, recommending the two-week extension, according to a statement issued after the meeting.

The government is expected to formally extend the lockdown at a cabinet meeting later.

Economic activities would still be allowed to resume grad-ually under a previously defined time frame.

The security forces and army would be asked to act s t r i c t l y t o p r e v e n t violations.

Houthis report first coronavirus case, a death in Sana'a hotelREUTERS — ADEN

Authorities in Houthi-held north Yemen confirmed its first case of the new coronavirus yesterday, a Somali national found dead in a Sana'a hotel, while the government in the south of the war-torn nation reported nine new infections.

One of the last countries to declare COVID-19 infections on April 10, Yemen has now reported 21 cases, including 3 deaths, in territory held by the internationally recognised gov-ernment, and one case, a death, in areas under the Iran-aligned Houthis.

“We received a report about a situation in a hotel (in the capital Sana'a) on Sunday and epidemi-ological investigation teams went there immediately, where the affected person had died,” Houthi health minister Taha Al Muta-wakkil told Al Masirah TV.

The deceased Somali had underlying liver and kidney

problems, the minister said, adding that a sample had been tested in a laboratory for COVID-19 infection.

Yemen, the poorest country in the Arabian Peninsula, has long been a transit point for migrants and refugees from the Horn of Africa, many of whom are fleeing hunger and violence and trying to reach Saudi Arabia and other wealthy Gulf states.

Yemen is already grappling with the world’s biggest humanitarian crisis caused by a war between a Saudi-led coa-lition seeking to restore the internationally recognised gov-ernment, and the Houthi movement which drove the government from power in Sanaa in late 2014.

Before the first COVID-19 case in Houthi territory was announced, the United Nations had said it feared the corona-virus could be spreading unde-tected across the country a m o n g a n a c u t e l y

malnourished population with inadequate testing capabilities and protective equipment.

Yesterday, the emergency coronavirus committee belonging to the government - temporarily based in the southern port city of Aden - said that eight new cases had been detected in Aden and another in the Hadhramout region.

The Aden-based emergency coronavirus committee had voiced concern that Houthi offi-cials were not admitting to a coronavirus outbreak in Sanaa.

The World Health Organi-zation has said it fears COVID-19 could rip through Yemen as the population has some of the lowest levels of immunity to disease compared with other countries. Minimal testing capacity has added to concerns. The WHO said on Tuesday just 200 tests for infection with the coronavirus had been carried out and results received across Yemen.

Syria strikes kill 14 Iranian, allied fighters

AFP — BEIRUT

Overnight strikes on positions held by Iranian-backed militias and their allies in eastern Syria killed 14 fighters, a war monitor said yesterday.

It was not immediately clear who carried out the strikes in the desert near the town of Mayadin, which came minutes after Syrian air defences intercepted Israeli strikes over the north of the country, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

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

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

State media did not report the strikes. Iranian-backed militias and their their

allies command a significant presence in eastern Syria south of the Euphrates Valley. The region lies close to the Iraqi border.

Israel has launched hundreds of strikes in Syria since the start of the civil war in 2011, targeting government troops, allied Iranian forces and Hezbollah fighters.

It rarely confirms details of its oper-ations in Syria but says Iran’s presence in support of President Bashar al-Assad is a threat and that it will continue its strikes.

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

The Arab League official called on the international community and the United Nations to pressure the occupation authorities to immediately halt any activities that lead to furter deterioration of the difficult situation in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Waiting for repatriation

06 WEDNESDAY 6 MAY 2020AFRICA

Libya PM calls for renewed UNtalks amid increased tensionsAP — CAIRO

The head of Libya’s interna-t i o n a l l y - r e c o g n i s e d government yesterday called for a renewal of UN-brokered talks to end divisions in the oil-rich country, amid esca-lating military clashes and increasing tensions between the main players in the capital Tripoli.

Libya has been in turmoil since 2011, when a civil war toppled long-time dictator Moammar Gaddhafi, who was later killed. The country has since split between rival admin-istrations in the east and the west, each backed by armed groups.

Last year, eastern-based forces under military com-mander Khalifa Haftar launched an offensive trying to take Tripoli, clashing with an array of militias loosely allied with the UN-supported but weak gov-ernment in the capital.

Prime Minister Fayez Sarraj yesterday urged political forces to quickly resume UN-brokered talks to reach a comprehensive road map toward elections.

He said the road map could include amending a landmark UN-brokered agreement to unite the country in 2015 and appoint a new government or agree on a plan for elections in the short term.

“This call comes as state institutions are increasingly divided, and some officials in these institutions have individ-ually made decisions that exceeded their role and their authority,” Sarraj said.

Sarraj was apparently referring to increasing tensions between his government and the Tripoli-based Central Bank of Libya and with an anti-graft body. The bank has resisted attempts by Sarraj’s government to use the country’s foreign reserves to stave off financial catastrophe. The central bank holds the country’s oil revenues

and billions of dollars in foreign reserves.

Tensions rose to the surface on Monday when the audit bureau in Tripoli announced that its administrative director was abducted by a militia tied to the Interior Ministry. The audit bureau is an independent body appointed by the Libyan par-liament in Tripoli and is a rare check on the misappropriation of funds.

The audit bureau accused the Interior Ministry of “forcibly disappearing” Reda Gergab to prevent him from uncovering financial irregularities and blocking the ministry’s large and suspicious transactions.

The Interior Ministry argued that the public health crisis caused by the coronavirus pan-demic required the disbursal of urgent funds “to rescue the

Libyan people” and that the gov-ernment is merely “carrying out responsibilities” undermined by the anti-corruption agency.

Sarraj’s move came two weeks after Haftar declared the UN-brokered deal that created the Tripoli-based government “a thing of the past,” and pledged his authorities would move toward creating a new gov-ernment. The declaration has

threatened to deepen the chasm between east and west Libya and further complicate UN efforts to broker a political settlement to the civil war.

Fighting escalated yesterday as Tripoli-allied militias attempted to take a military base held by Haftar forces in Tripoli. Hftar’s self-styled Libyan Arab Armed Forces claimed they repelled the attack.

Fayez Sarraj (right), Prime Minister of Libya’s UN-recognised Government of National Accord (GNA), visiting the COVID-19 response centre in Tripoli on Monday.

Prime Minister Fayez Sarraj says UN-brokered talks can reach a comprehensive road map toward elections, and the road map could include amending the landmark 2015 UN-brokered agreement.

Kenya demands probe as plane crash kills 6 over SomaliaAFP — NAIROBI

Kenya’s foreign ministry yesterday called for a swift investigation after a humani-tarian plane helping the fight against coronavirus crashed in Somalia in “unclear” circum-stances, killing all six people onboard.

The Kenyan private cargo plane was undertaking a humanitarian mission related to the pandemic when it crashed on Monday afternoon in Bardale district in southern Somalia, the ministry said.

Officials said at least six people were onboard for the short flight from Baidoa to Bardale, some 300km northwest of Somalia’s capital Mogadishu.

“The aircraft was about to land at the Bardale airstrip when it crashed and burst into flames. All six people onboard died in the incident,” Abdulahi Isack, a local police official, said.

“We don’t know what exactly caused the aircraft car-rying medical supplies to crash, but there is an investigation going on to establish the details.” Kenya urged Somalia “to thor-oughly and swiftly investigate

the matter because it impacts humanitarian operations at a time of highest need”.

“The incident occurred under unclear circumstances,” the foreign ministry said in a statement, expressing its “deep shock and regret” and offering condolences to the families of the deceased.

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

The Al Shabaab militant group is active in southern Somalia, but the area where the crash occurred is under the control of government and Ethi-opian troops.

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

Major General Mohammed Tessema, spokesman for the Ethiopian National Defence Force, said he had no infor-mation about the crash and

referred questions to “armed force commanders in Somalia”.

Somalia’s transport and civil aviation ministry expressed its “deep regret” over the crash and said the government

was conducting a “thorough investigation”. It said the Embraer 120 twin-turboprop was operated by African Express. Kenya’s foreign ministry said yesterday that Somali President

Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo had phoned his Kenyan counterpart Uhuru Kenyatta to “express his regret and convey condolences for the loss of life and property” as a result of the crash.

The site of a private cargo plane crash in the town of Bardale in Somalia’s southern Bay region on Monday. The plane was ferrying supplies for use in the fight against the coronavirus.

Boko Haram militants, army clash near key Niger cityAFP — NIAMEY

Boko Haram fighters clashed with government forces on Sunday in Diffa, the largest city in southwestern Niger, in what the militants said was a successful attack on a military camp.

Conflicting versions of the outcome emerged yesterday, with the militants claiming to have overrun the site but local residents said the assailants had been repelled.

A propaganda video released by the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP),

a Boko Haram splinter group affiliated to the so-called Islamic State, purports to show heavily-armed insurgents storm an army camp following sustained fighting and heavy weapons fire.

A soldier is seen lying face-down on the ground, either dead or unconscious, and being shot twice.

The assailants then leave the camp with military vehicles and weapons.

The area around Diffa, a city of around 200,000 people located near the Nigerian border, has been repeatedly

attacked by the militant group, which emerged in Nigeria in 2009.

Local people testified that they heard the sound of heavy fighting.

“We heard gunfire, espe-cially heavy weapons, between 4:30pm and 7:00pm on the southern side of the city,” Lawan Boukar, a local resident, said.

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

Another resident said the attackers “came over from the Nigerian side in late afternoon, when the Ramadan fast was about to break — they were obviously hoping to catch our soldiers unawares.”

A security source confirmed “the attack” but did not give details.

The defence ministry said it would release a statement later.

Boko Haram’s insurgency has claimed more than 36,000 lives since it began in north-eastern Nigeria in 2009 and displaced nearly two million from their homes.

Social distancing at bus stop People stand inside white circles to adhere to social distancing to curb the spread of the COVID-19 as they wait for a bus at Nyabugogo bus station in Kigali, Rwanda, on Monday, the first day back from the nationwide lockdown. People are now allowed to stay outside from 5am to 8pm and public transport has resumed after six weeks. Wearing masks is still mandatory in public space.

Armed group in northeastCongo to lay down armsREUTERS — GOMA, DRC

An armed group in northeast Congo said on Monday it would lay down its arms and end attacks against civilians and the army, weeks after its leader was killed and other senior figures arrested.

The new leader of the Cooperative for the Devel-opment of the Congo (CODECO), Ngabu Ngawi Olivier, called on the army to enact a ceasefire to allow talks with the government, a potential breakthrough for President Felix Tshisekedi who has promised to bring an end to decades of unrest in the region.

Olivier did not give a date when CODECO would halt violence.

In recent weeks intense fighting in Djugu Territory in northern Ituri province has forced thousands of people from their homes, complicating the country’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, and an Ebola epidemic that has killed more than 2,200 people.

“We are a peaceful sect and war does not benefit us,” Olivier told Reuters by tele-phone. Last week the army said an operation to uproot CODECO, which is drawn from the Lendu ethnic group, was gaining ground following the killing of its leader Justin Ngondjolu in late March.

Jean-Bosco Lalo, civil society coordinator of Ituri province, said the ceasefire was unex-pected but a welcome oppor-tunity to bring peace to the area.

Man sentenced to death in Nigeria’s first virtual rulingAFP — LAGOS

A Nigerian court sentenced a man to death in the country’s first ever virtual ruling during a five-week coronavirus lockdown.

Lagos judge Mojisola Dada on Monday ordered death by hanging for Olalekan Hameed, a driver, over the 2018 murder of 76-year-old Jolasun Okun-sanya, the mother of his boss.

“This is the virtual judgement of the court,” she said.

It was not immediately clear if Hameed would appeal.

Under Nigerian law, state governors have to approve death sentences before they can be carried out.

Local and international rights bodies have repeatedly called on Nigerian authorities to expunge the death sentence.

Hameed was arraigned in March last year on a two-count charge of murder and stealing. He pleaded not guilty.

On Monday, all the parties to the case, including the accused, lawyers, witnesses and journalists participated in the session remotely from dif-ferent locations via the Zoom application.

The new coronavirus has so far infected 2,802 and claimed 93 lives in Nigeria.

Lesotho to lift lockdown as virus remains undetected

AFP — MASERU, LESOTHO

The tiny kingdom of Lesotho yesterday announced that a coronavirus lockdown would be tentatively lifted, in the only country in Africa yet to report a single case of COVID-19.

Lesotho went into lockdown on March 29 to protect itself from a potential spread of the virus from South Africa, which entirely sur-rounds the kingdom and has continent’s highest number of confirmed cases.

That lockdown was extended to May 6 last month.

Prime Minister Thomas Thabane said “all non-essential services and enter-prises” would be allowed to “temporarily open shop” from today. Details on the timeline will be issued later, he said.

“The government is closely monitoring the situation,” Thabane said, adding that face masks would become man-datory in public places.

Borders remained closed for the time being, and Thabane condemned reports of illegal crossings from South Africa. Lesotho’s army on Monday said it had intercepted 18 Lesotho nationals who had crossed back into the country with the help of patrol staff and health officials.

South Africa started grad-ually easing its own con-finement measures last week.

Nigeria to use

$311m of Abacha

assets to fund

infrastructure

REUTERS – LAGOS

Nigeria will spend $311m returned after being stolen by former military ruler General Sani Abacha on infrastructure development, a presidency spokesman said yesterday.

The United States and the British dependency of Jersey agreed with the Nigerian gov-ernment in February to repat-riate money that Abacha, who died in 1998, had stashed in their banks.

Nigeria’s attorney general said on Monday the funds had been received following an agreement requiring the money go towards infra-structure projects, and if any cash was diverted Nigeria could be required to replace it. Poor infrastructure has long held back development in Africa’s biggest economy, where the statistics office esti-mates 40% of the country’s 200 million people live in poverty.

Garba Shehu, a spokesman for the president, said on Twitter the money would be used for road and power projects.

“These funds have already been allocated, and will be used in full, for vital and decades-overdue infra-structure development: The second Niger Bridge, the Lagos-Ibadan and Abuja-Kaduna-Kano expressways,” said Shehu.

07WEDNESDAY 6 MAY 2020 ASIA

India embarks on ‘massive’ repatriationAFP — NEW DELHI

India has embarked on a “massive” operation calling up passenger jets and naval ships to bring back some of the hundreds of thousands of nationals stuck abroad due to coronavirus restrictions, the government said.

India banned all incoming international flights in late March as it imposed one of the world’s strictest virus lock-downs, leaving vast numbers of workers and students stranded.

A defence spokesman told yesterday that two ships were steaming towards the Maldives and another to the United Arab Emirates — home to a 3.3-million-strong Indian com-munity, who make up around 30 percent of the Gulf state’s population.

A government statement said repatriation flights would start bringing nationals home from tomorrow, and that Indian embassies and high commis-sions were preparing lists of “distressed Indian citizens”.

Evacuees will have to pay for their passage the statement said, without elaborating, and spend 14 days in quarantine on arrival.

“COVID test would be done after 14 days and further action would be taken according to health protocols,” it added.

The consulate in Dubai said that it alone had received almost 200,000 applications,

appealing on Twitter for “patience and cooperation” as India undertakes the “massive task” of repatriation.

The Gulf is reliant on mil-lions of foreigners — mostly from India, Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka.

But coronavirus and the devastating economic impact of the pandemic has left many workers sick and others unem-ployed, unpaid and at the mercy of sometimes unscrupulous employers.

More than 60 flights are also being arranged to bring home those stranded in the Gulf, the US, Britain, Bangladesh, Sin-gapore, Malaysia and the Phil-ippines, Punjab state’s special chief secretary KBS Sidhu tweeted yesterday.

The flights will bring an average of 2,000 people back

to various Indian states and ter-ritories every day for a week, a foreign ministry document shared by Sidhu stated.

So far some 20,000 Indians in the US have signed up for the evacuations, The Times of India reported.

But some Indians said they would not be able to pay for their evacuations and pleaded with the government for help.

“I request govt to take all of us at no charge during this crisis situation as we are all struggling here due to prolonged lockdown,” tourist Sadhana

Srivastava tweeted from Dubai.“I’m homeless now after I

lost my job in March, please take me to India or else I will be in a big trouble here in Dubai, please help me sir,” Saroj K Swain wrote on Twitter.

The UAE has been the most vocal among Gulf countries in demanding governments take workers back, with almost 23,000 having left as of April 20.

But New Delhi had until now refused to cooperate, balking at the logistical and safety nightmare of repatriating

and quarantining returning citizens.

India had earlier evacuated some 2,500 Indians from China, Japan, Iran and Italy before banning international and domestic travel.

India, the world’s second-most populous nation with 1.3 billion people, on yesterday reported 46,433 cases of the infectious disease and 1,568 deaths.

It was the biggest single-day jump with 3,900 new infections and 195 deaths in the last 24 hours.

Migrant workers stranded in the western state of Gujarat due to a lockdown to prevent the spread of coronavirus stand in a queue to board a train, in Ahmedabad, yesterday.

India sees record jump in infections, deaths in 24 hoursANATOLIA — NEW DELHI

India reported its highest single-day surge in COVID-19 cases and fatalities yesterday, with 3,900 new cases and 195 deaths recorded over the past 24 hours.

According to the Health Ministry, the record jump

raised India’s overall case count to 46,433 and the death toll to 1,568.

The spike came a day after the country of 1.3 billion eased some lockdown restrictions, including allowing shops to reopen after over a month. Clashes and chaos ensued in various cities, including the

capital New Delhi, and police eventually baton-charged the massive and disorderly crowds.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal rebuked citizens for flouting social distancing guidelines and warned the government “won’t hesitate” to seal off affected areas and

“revoke the relaxations.” In a bid to deter further

lockdown violations, several states including West Bengal, Delhi, Andhra Pradesh, and even Karnataka in south India, raised prices.

Nearly 3.6 million COVID-19 cases have been reported in 187 countries and

regions since the virus emerged in China last December.

A significant number of patients — close to 1.2 million —have recovered from the disease, but almost 252,000 have also died, according to data compiled by the US’ Johns Hopkins University.

Bangladesh imposes new curbs on public movementANATOLIA — DHAKA

Bangladesh has introduced new restrictions on public movement during the corona-virus lockdown that has been extended till May 16.

“Inter-district and sub-dis-trict people’s movements will be strictly restricted and local administration will ensure the restrictions,” said a notification by the Bangladesh Cabinet on Monday.

It asked people to stay at home, except for emergency medicine, treatment, and funeral, etc. People otherwise are not allowed to go out from 8pm to 6am.

Inter-district public transport services will be closed during the lockdown, while the mass exodus of people to their home towns to spend the festival of Eid-Al-Fitr has been prohibited.

Millions of Bangladeshis usually leave big cities and return to their home towns at the end of Ramadan to cele-brate Eid with their families.

Meanwhile, citing public need due to the upcoming fes-tival, shops and malls have been allowed to remain open till 5pm in a limited scale, strictly maintaining social dis-tance and COVID-19 health guidelines.

“At every entrance of all shopping malls there must be an arrangement of cleaning hands with antiseptic soaps and hand sanitizers,” the cir-cular said.

Referring to the country’s economic conditions, it added that readymade garments, pharmaceutical and export-oriented industries may be kept open ensuring health facilities, social distancing and following health guidelines.

The South Asian nation has so far confirmed 10,143 infec-tions, with 688 new cases. The death toll increased by five to 182. Among the newly-infected are chief of the state-run Bang-ladesh Television, SM Haroon-or-Rashid, and his wife.

Dozens of other staffers of private television channels have also been sent to home quarantine following reports that their colleagues in the field have contracted the virus.

Thailand reports

one new virus

case, no deathsREUTERS — BANGKOK

Thailand yesterday reported one new coronavirus case and no new deaths, the lowest number of new infections since March 9.

The new case is a 45-year-old Thai man from the southern province of Nar-athiwat, authorities said.

The number of new cases have been declining in the last two weeks with the exception of a cluster at an immigration detention centre in southern Thailand that has seen 60 new cases in that period, said Taw-e e s i n W i s a n u y o t h i n , spokesman for the govern-ment’s Centre for COVID-19 Sit-uation Administration.

Since Thailand’s outbreak began in January, the country has seen a total of 2,988 coro-navirus cases and 54 deaths. Taweesin said 2,747 patients have recovered, while 187 are still being treated in hospitals.

Hong Kong to lift major social restrictionsas virus cases declineAFP — HONG KONG

Hong Kong yesterday announced plans to ease major social distancing measures, including reopening schools, cinemas and beauty parlours after the Chinese territory largely halted local trans-mission of the deadly corona-virus.

The relaxation, which comes into effect on Friday, will be a boost for a city mired in a deep recession following months of virus restrictions as well as anti-government pro-tests that have battered the economy.

Authorities also unveiled plans to hand out reusable face masks to all 7.5 million city residents.

Hong Kong recorded some of the earliest confirmed COVID-19 cases outside of mainland China but despite its close proximity and links with the mainland it has managed to keep infections to around 1,000 with four deaths.

There have been no new confirmed infections in 10 of the last 16 days and the cases that have been recorded came from people arriving from overseas who are quickly quarantined.

“I hope these measures will be a silver lining for citizens,” the city’s leader Carrie Lam told reporters yesterday as she spelt out the easing of curbs.

Older secondary students will start returning to classes from May 27 while younger children will resume school in the first half of June.

But a ban on more than four people gathering in public or eating together in restaurants will be stepped up to eight.

Many businesses that were ordered to close will be allowed to open once more, albeit with restrictions in place.

Restaurants will be per-mitted to operate but must ensure a distance of 1.5 metres between tables. Live music per-formances and dancing however will remain banned.

Cinemas can start showing films to reduced crowds while gyms, beauty parlours will re-open with hygiene protocols in place such as the use of masks, hand sanitiser and tem-perature checks.

Clubs must stay closed.Hong Kong’s economy

dropped an 8.9 percent on-year contraction in the first quarter of this year — the worst decline since the government began compiling data in 1974.

Retail sales figures released yesterday showed a 37 percent plunge over the same period, another record dip.

Even before the pandemic, tourism and retail had taken a hammering from the US-China trade war and months of political unrest last year.

At yesterday’s briefing Lam

and other officials also sported a new type of mask made of fabric that they said would be distributed to all residents in the coming weeks.

When the virus first emerged, Hong Kongers started panic-buying masks as anger grew against the government for failing to stockpile enough supplies.

Since then local production has been ramped up and masks are plentiful in pharmacies and shops.

Hong Kong’s Chief Executive Carrie Lam (second left) speaks during a press conference on novel coronavirus situation at the government headquarters, in Hong Kong, yesterday.

Hong Kong’s former leaders launch pro-Beijing coalitionAP — HONG KONG

Two of Hong Kong’s former leaders launched a pro-Beijing alliance yesterday to uphold China’s “one country, two systems” policy and work to revive the city’s economy following months of anti-government protests.

The move by former chief executives Tung Chee-hwa and Leung Chun-ying comes ahead of key legislative elections in September. The ruling

pro-Beijing government took a drubbing in district elections held last year amid demonstra-tions calling for greater democracy.

Tung and Leung said the new Hong Kong Coalition will support employment by cre-ating jobs, providing internships and offering volunteer work to fresh graduates. They did not provide details of how they would do that.

“We will give full play to ‘One Country, Two Systems’ and

recover our economy, and con-tinue to safeguard the rule of law so that we can achieve sta-bility and prosperity in Hong Kong,” said Tung, who led the city from 1997 to 2005.

Hong Kong was riven by anti-government protests last year against what critics see as growing Chinese influence in the city’s affairs. The former British colony was handed back to China in 1997 under the “one-country, two-systems” framework in which Hong Kong

was given freedoms not enjoyed on the mainland and promised a high degree of autonomy over local affairs for 50 years.

During the protests, hun-dreds of thousands took to the streets and violent clashes erupted between police and hard-line demonstrators. Among the protesters demands was the direct election of the city’s leader, currently picked by a committee.

The launch of the coalition comes a day after Hong Kong

said its economy contracted 8.9 percent year-on-year for the first three months of 2020, the largest decline on record. The city’s unemployment rate in March hit 4.2 percent, the highest in over nine years and an increase for the sixth con-secutive month.

The city’s economy has taken a battering since the protest movement, which affected the tourism, retail and restaurant industries, and has been further battered by the

coronavirus pandemic.“If we look back to the

history of Hong Kong, we see that our people are resilient and we always rise from hardship,” said Leung, who was the city’s chief executive from 2012 to 2017. “I believe, with joint effort, we will solve every one of these social problems.”

The coalition says it has 1,545 members from all walks of society, including health workers responding to COVID-19 and young people.

A government statement said repatriation flights would start bringing nationals home from tomorrow, and that Indian embassies and high commissions were preparing lists of “distressed Indian citizens”.

Hong Kong recorded some of the earliest confirmed COVID-19 cases outside of mainland China but despite its close proximity and links with the mainland it has managed to keep infections to around 1,000 with four deaths.

Afterwards, demand recovery will be slow and dependent on the dynamics of the COVID-19 pandemic. If there is no second wave of outbreaks, the world oil demand could return to 2019 levels by the end of 2020.

08 WEDNESDAY 6 MAY 2020VIEWS

CHAIRMANDR. KHALID BIN THANI AL THANI

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

editorinchief@pen.com.qa

ACTING MANAGING EDITORMOHAMMED SALIM MOHAMED

m.salim@pen.com.qa

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

EDITORIAL

QATAR’S commitment to and concern about its work-force have won international praise on several occa-sions, the latest of which was on Monday. On the occasion of the International Workers’ Day, Qatar’s Min-istry of Administrative Development, Labor and Social Affairs (MADSLA) organised a remote meeting with the expatriate community leaders in the state and several international trade union leaders. Unions such as Building and Wood Workers International (BWI), Inter-national Domestic Workers Federation (IDWF), Interna-tional Transport Federation (ITF), UNI Global Union and the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) par-ticipated in the meeting.

During the forum, Mohamed Hassan Al Obaidli, Assistant Undersecretary at the MADSLA, explained the elaborate measures taken by the country to ensure the welfare of the workers, especially during this unprec-edented times of worldwide crisis. The leaders of the organisations in unison acknowledged Qatar’s efforts in the field of workers’ safety at the workplace and even at their accommodations.

Al Obaidli reiterated Qatar’s concern about its guest workers, saying: “Time and again, Amir H H Sheikh Tamin bin Hamad Al Thani, issues statements and direc-tives to the entire government of Qatar to ensure that decent work is upheld in our country. Time and again, we express our deepest gratitude for the migrant workers who have helped and continue to help build our country. The government of Qatar is not leaving any stone unturned to ensure that workers are protected as much as possible from the ill effects of this crisis.”

BWI General Secretary Ambet Yuson, addressing the workers, said that the “Ministry of Labour and the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy are doing their best to ensure your health and safety to make sure your wages and benefits are paid.”

Regionally, in many other countries, thousands of workers are feeling the pinch of the crisis brought about by the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19). They are already demanding repatriation to their home countries, because of the difficulties they face in their host countries, lack of tests to detect COVID-19, pathetic situations at the so-called quarantine facilities and crowded labour camps which have suddenly become a threat to their lives.

But in Qatar there were no complaints about any-thing as everybody is provided with all the amenities whether they are allowed to work or sit at homes or accommodations. The world-class healthcare the country offers is available free of cost for everybody and the authorities are ensuring the supply of food and other essentials reach those who need it in time. The country is turning every crisis into an opportunity to provide better treatment and facilities to the people irrespective of their status, making itself a model for others to follow.

Workers’ welfare a priority

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Quote of the day

Overcrowded, unhygienic prisons in Latin

America and the spread of the new coronavirus

both in regional prisons and in the United States

are a source of major concern.

Rupert Colville, UN Rights Office OHCHR Spokesman

A general view of an oil treatment plant in the Yarakta Oil Field, owned by Irkutsk Oil Company, in Irkutsk region, Russia.

On April 20, the price of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) oil grade turned negative for the first time in history, reaching - $37.63 per barrel (pb). The shock of the collapse was so great that traders were quick to call that day “Black Monday”.

Although the slump was specific to the WTI May futures contracts and hit mostly speculators who were trying to play with the ups and downs of the oil market, it affected oil trade elsewhere too. The price of Brent oil, which is used as a reference for traditional oil producers in Europe, Russia and, to a certain extent, in the Gulf, fell from $26 on April 20 to $16pd two days later.

What happened with the WTI futures for May is a warning sign of what is to come. Oil producers will face major difficulties in the future, which will be detri-mental for Gulf oil-producing countries as well as Russia.

A bleak pictureThe global oil market has

been hit by an unprece-

dented oversupply. It was experiencing already high oil output as a result of oil pro-duction increases in the US and Canada and in some other non-OPEC+ countries when the COVID-19 outbreak was announced in China. The lockdown in Wuhan, a major industrial hub, sent prices tumbling from $68pb at the beginning of the year to $53 in early February.

As the outbreak grew into a pandemic, affecting coun-tries around the world and

causing industries to shut down and travel to be cut off, oil lost some 50 percent of its value. As analysts projected a global drop in demand from 100 million barrels per day (mbpd) in 2019 to 90mbpd in 2020 on average, some pro-ducers continued to increase production, making the situ-ation even worse.

The OPEC+ deal announced earlier this month was supposed to help sta-bilise prices, but the situation does not look promising. Oil exporting countries partici-pating in the deal agreed to decrease their total output by 9.7mbpd, but this would not be sufficient to immediately improve the situation.

In April, demand dropped to 72.5mbpd, while global output stood at 101mbpd. Under these circumstances, in May and June, when the oil demand is expected to rise by just 9mbpd, the cuts agreed in the OPEC+ deal will still not be enough to eliminate the oversupply.

Afterwards, demand recovery will be slow and dependent on the dynamics of the COVID-19 pandemic. If there is no second wave of outbreaks, the world oil demand could return to 2019 levels by the end of 2020.

Yet, even this situation does not mean oil market stabilization by 2021. The global economy will still be “burning” extra barrels of oil accumulated in reserves during the oversupply peak of the first half of 2020, stretching the period of low oil prices beyond January 2021.

OPEC+ challengesThe situation is addi-

tionally compounded by the fact that some oil producers, part of the OPEC+ deal, may fail to immediately decrease their output in May to fulfil the commitments they have made.

Experts doubt that Russia will be able to make all nec-essary preparations in time to bring oil production down from 11mbpd to 8.5mbpd immediately on May 1, as required by the deal. Some also argue that Russian oil companies are worried about the high cost and technical issues of subsequent oil output resumption in northern regions of the country and at the older oil-fields. The Kremlin cannot really force the big Russian oil companies to comply and is instead looking for alter-native solutions. Moscow already insisted on the

exclusion of the oil gas con-densate from OPEC+ pro-duction cuts and there is also speculation that Russian companies will be allowed to burn produced oil instead of closing oil wells.

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) members also do not appear completely committed to common action on the oil market. Saudi Arabia has started making preparations to implement the cuts agreed on in the OPEC+ deal, but it continues to offer discounts on its oil, trying to upend other sup-pliers on the Asian market. This will further destabilise the oil market.

Another major problem is the lack of available space in oil storage facilities across the world. This played a major role in the WTI col-lapse and will likely continue to present a major challenge, as producers run out of space to store extra oil.

Currently, every storage option is being considered by oil producers, ranging from large-size tankers and ground storage to pipelines and smaller vessels, but these too are rapidly being filled. A number of oil producers might run out of storage space in May, others - in June.

Looming crises in the Middle East and Russia

The possibility of oil prices slumping even lower in May or staying extremely low in the long run (below $30pb) spells trouble for the Gulf oil producers and Russia.

First, lower prices will likely intensify competition for consumer markets. Given the oversupply, major buyers, like China, are unlikely to stay “loyal” to their traditional suppliers and will simply opt for those who are willing to give a dis-count. This means Russia and Saudi Arabia may face fierce competition for Chinese market shares from West African, South American and North American companies.

Second, if not resolved, the lack of storage will inevi-tably force oil suppliers to undertake additional pro-duction cuts which, in the case of Russia, might prove too costly or even risky in terms of oil well stability.

Third, oil prices poten-tially falling below $20pb means that oil exports are not going to bring much profit to the majority of the Gulf and Russian oil pro-ducers, given that the

average cost of oil production in these countries is between $9 and $20pb (and up to $44pb for new projects)

Thus, it is expected that the GCC and Russia, which were already running signif-icant budget deficits, will suffer major revenue cuts this year.

In 2020, the breakeven oil prices for the GCC budgets varied from $40pb for Qatar to $76pb for Saudi Arabia; for Russia, it is $42pb. Gulf coun-tries have already started cutting their expenditures, which will probably continue into 2021. As has happened in the past, this will affect social security programmes, public expenditure and the employment of expat workers.

GCC countries have also announced stimulus packages, ranging from $16.5bn in Kuwait to $70bn in the UAE, to try to prop their economies and cushion their populations from the impact of the economic crisis. It has been reported that Russia plans to unroll a $14bn plan to counter the effects of the COVID-19 epi-demic on its economy.

According to estimates, the Saudi economy will decline by 2.3 percent, Rus-sia’s - by between 4 and 6 percent - if oil prices remain at around $35pb.

The current crisis caused by the pandemic and low oil prices might also have neg-ative political implications. While the smaller GCC coun-tries are unlikely to face any destabilisation, this is not the case with Saudi Arabia and Russia.

Both of these countries are passing important intra-elite transformations spurred by the desire of President Vladimir Putin and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to guarantee their prolonged stay in power.

Both Moscow and Riyadh are involved in foreign policy adventures that might be costly for their budgets amid this crisis and both face the potential danger of social unrest due to grave socioeco-nomic problems that the two countries suffer from.

All in all, both Russia and the GCC should be prepared for challenging times ahead. Their misfortunes are not going to end any time soon.

Nikolay Kozhanov is a research associate pro-fessor at the Gulf Studies Center of Qatar University.

What does the oil price collapse mean for Russia and the GCC?

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Pakistan reports over 1,300 new cases as it seeks to ease curbs ANATOLIA — KARACHI

Pakistan yesterday reported over 1,300 new coronavirus cases over the past 24 hours, as the government intends to further ease the lockdown restrictions from next week.

Prime Minister Imran Khan, who has long been advocating for a “smart” lockdown, said his government was going to reopen more industries, and businesses “to mitigate the miseries of poor and daily wage earners”.

Addressing the volunteers of the Corona Relief Tiger Force, a recently formed volunteer force to help the government in fight against coronavirus, in the capital Islamabad on Monday, Khan said he would formally announce reopening of many other industries and businesses in days to come.

However, in case of a spike in the COVID-19 cases, Khan warned, the government would impose another lockdown in the country.

In March, Pakistan had imposed a countrywide lockdown, closing down shops, markets, shopping centres, and offices except for emergency service, in a desperate move to curb the surging COVID-19 cases.

The shutdown will continue until May 9.

Last month, Khan had

announced reopening of “low-risk” industries, including con-struction, agriculture, e-com-merce, paper and packaging, and others to resume the business activities and to stem a deepening economic meltdown caused by the coro-navirus crisis.

The number of novel coro-navirus cases in Pakistan, the second worst-hit country in the region after India, has risen to 21,501 with 1,315 new cases reported over the past 24 hours, the country’s Health Ministry

said yesterday. Another 24 patients died due to the virus across the country in a day, raising the toll to 486. Some 5,782 have recovered so far.

A bulk of the cases have been reported from north-eastern Punjab, and southern

Sindh provinces. Since first appearing in

Wuhan, China last December, the novel coronavirus, officially known as COVID-19, has spread to at least 187 countries and regions, with the US and Europe the hardest-hit areas.

More than 3.58 million cases have been reported worldwide, with the death toll surpassing 251,500 and nearly 1.17 million recoveries, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University in the US.

Pakistan concerned over workers returning COVID-19 positiveREUTERS — ISLAMABAD/DUBAI

Pakistan has raised concerns with the United Arab Emirates that workers are returning home from the Gulf nation with high rates of COVID-19 and that crowded living conditions in the UAE may be helping the virus to spread, its foreign ministry said.

“It has been taken up offi-cially with UAE authorities,” ministry spokeswoman Aisha Farooqi said via Whatsapp.

“Both govts are working together to find (an) optimal solution to this shared concern.” The UAE’s foreign ministry did not immediately comment when contacted.

Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper reported that on one repatri-ation flight from Abu Dhabi late in April, 105 of the 209 pas-sengers on board tested pos-itive. The Foreign Affairs Min-istry did not immediately respond to a request to confirm the figure.

The UAE is home to around 1.5 million Pakistanis, many of whom are low-wage workers who live in crowded housing and are now out of work but stranded due to limited repa-triation flights.

Around 60,000 Pakistanis have registered to return home from the UAE, according to Pakistan’s consulate general in Dubai.

The UAE earlier warned it could review labour ties with countries refusing to take back nationals who have been stranded, lost jobs or been put on leave due to the coronavirus pandemic and want to return home.

Pakistan is facing the chal-lenge of quarantining thousands of overseas workers wanting to return home while it deals with its own fast-growing number of cases, as infections reached more than 21,000 with over 500 deaths.

Gulf Arab states have ramped up testing after recording a growing number of cases among low-income migrant workers in

overcrowded housing. Abu Dhabi’s government media office tweeted on Monday that 335,000 people living and working in the industrial Musaffah area, where many low-income migrants live and work, would be tested for COVID-19 over the next two weeks.

The UAE has reported 15,192 infections and 146 deaths.

Low-wage overseas workers are normally a vital source of labour in areas such as construction and transport for many Gulf nations and con-tribute billions of dollars in remittances to their home countries such as Pakistan, India and Bangladesh.

But many labour rights activists say they are vulnerable to exploitative labour practices and poor working and living conditions. An overseas worker living in Dubai who asked not be named said that he was living with three others in one small room with bunk beds and some workers lived six to a room.

“It’s risky when you live together,” he said.

“It’s not good for us right now, the situation with COVID-19.”

Singapore has among the highest coronavirus case loads in Asia, mainly because of mass outbreaks in migrant-worker dormitories.

Afghanistan distributesfree bread asprices soarREUTERS — KABUL

Afghanistan’s government began distributing free bread to hundreds of thousands of people across the country this week as supplies have been disrupted during the corona-virus shutdown and prices have soared, officials and experts said.

More than 250,000 fam-ilies in the capital Kabul started receiving ten flat ‘Naan’ breads per day in the first phase of the project. President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani has said the bread distribution programme was also taking place in other cities as rising prices were hitting what is already one of the poorest countries in the world, with more than half of the pop-ulation living below the poverty line.

Afghanistan’s headline inflation was an annual 12.1 percent in April and food inflation stood at 27 percent, up from 11 percent a month earlier, said Omar Joya, an economist at the independent Biruni Institute think-tank in Kabul, who had access to the govern-ment’s latest consumer price data. “

Given Afghanistan’s high dependence on imported food and non-food products, dis-ruption in trade as a result of border closures can have a severe impact on domestic inflation,” Joya said.

The spike in food prices is a harsh blow for a country reeling from the decades-old conflict between US-led forces and Taliban insurgents.

“The COVID-19 situation in Afghanistan is quickly turning from a health emer-gency to a food and livelihood crisis,” said Parvathy Ram-aswami, deputy country director of World Food Pro-gramme, Afghanistan.

Afghanistan reported yes-terday it had 3,224 positive cases of coronavirus, including 95 deaths.

Australia, New Zealandsay travel between themwill take some more timeREUTERS — SYDNEY/WELLINGTON

Australia and New Zealand said yesterday efforts to resume travel between them would take some time, as they make cautious moves to re-open economies largely shuttered by the novel coronavirus.

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

New Zealand Prime Min-ister Jacinda Ardern yesterday became the first world leader to join an Australian Cabinet meeting in more than 60 years. She said reopening the route between them would take a while to work through.

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

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

Australia reported a new death from COVID-19 yes-terday, in an aged care facility in Sydney’s west; that took its total to 97, with around 6,800 recorded infections.

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

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said travel across the Tasman Sea between the neighbours would be the first international route re-started and would likely begin around the time domestic air travel restarts in earnest.

“When we are seeing Aus-tralians travel from Melbourne to Cairns, at about that time I would expect everything being equal we would be able to fly from Melbourne to Auckland or Christchurch,” Morrison told reporters in Canberra.

Morrison has said a decision

about easing federal restrictions will be taken on Friday, as he said igniting Australia’s economy was vital with unem-ployment set to top 10 percent.

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

Qantas Airways Ltd Chief Executive Alan Joyce said regular flights between

Australia and New Zealand could begin soon after domestic routes were reopened.

“It could be a very good model for the international market opening up in phases,” the chief of Australia’s largest airline told reporters.

Reopening the travel route would be a major boon for both countries as strict social dis-tancing restrictions severely crimp both economies.

Australia may have lost almost a million jobs between mid-March and mid-April as

large chunks of the economy shut down in the fight against the coronavirus, according to new figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Canberra has unveiled eco-nomic support measures worth about A$320bn or about 16 percent of GDP, as restrictions on public movement push the country toward its first recession in nearly 30 years.

While, Australia has closed clubs and forced restaurants to offer takeaway services only, other shops remained open.

People walk through a small deserted laneway usually packed with open cafes and people during their lunchtime, in Melbourne, yesterday.

China says launch of key new space rocket ‘successful’AFP — BEIJING

China yesterday successfully launched a new rocket and prototype spacecraft, state media said, in a major test of the country’s ambitions to operate a permanent space station and send astro-nauts to the Moon.

The Long March 5B rocket took off from the Wenchang launch site in the southern island of Hainan and eight minutes later an unmanned prototype spaceship successfully separated and entered its planned orbit, according to the Xinhua news agency.

A test version of a cargo return capsule also successfully separated from the rocket, Xinhua added.

The spaceship will one day transport astronauts to a space station that China

plans to complete by 2022 — and even-tually to the Moon.

It will have capacity for a crew of six.The mission will test its “key technol-

ogies”, including the control of its re-entry into the atmosphere, its heat shielding and recovery technology, Yang Qing of

the China Academy of Space Technology and designer of the spaceship was quoted as saying by Xinhua in March.

The United States is so far the only country to have successfully sent humans to the Moon. But Beijing has made huge strides in its effort to catch up, sending astronauts into space, satellites into orbit and a rover to the far side of the Moon.

The successful maiden flight of the 54-metre Long March 5B — which has a takeoff mass of about 849 tonnes —should reassure China, following failures of the 7A model in March and 3B model in April.

“The new spaceship will give China an advantage in the area of human space-flight over Japan and Europe,” said Chen Lan, an independent analyst at GoTaiko-nauts.com, which specialises in China’s space programme.

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

Policemen guide residents as they line up in a queue outside the National Database and Registration Authority office for new registrations during a nationwide lockdown, in Peshawar, yesterday.

Prime Minister Imran Khan, who has long been advocating for a ‘smart’ lockdown, said his government was going to reopen more industries, and businesses ‘to mitigate the miseries of poor and daily wage earners’.

The Long March 5B rocket took off from the Wenchang launch site in the southern island of Hainan and eight minutes later an unmanned prototype spaceship successfully separated and entered its planned orbit.

Madrid opens bookshops

10 WEDNESDAY 6 MAY 2020EUROPE

UK overtakes Italy with Europe’s highest coronavirus death tollREUTERS — LONDON

The United Kingdom has over-taken Italy to report the highest official death toll from the new coronavirus in Europe, figures released yesterday showed, increasing pressure on Prime Minister Boris Johnson over his response to the crisis.

Weekly figures from Brit-ain’s Office for National Sta-tistics (ONS) added more than 7,000 deaths in England and Wales in the week to April 24, raising the total for the United Kingdom to 32,313.

Only the United States, with a population nearly five times greater, has suffered more con-firmed fatalities from the virus than Britain, according to the data so far.

Yesterday's figures are based on death certificate men-tions of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel corona-virus, including suspected cases.

While different ways of counting make comparisons with other countries difficult, the figure confirmed Britain was among those hit worst by a pan-demic that has killed more than 250,000 worldwide.

“I don’t think we’ll get a real verdict on how countries have done until the pandemic is over, and particularly until we’ve got international comprehensive data on all-cause mortality,” Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab told reporters.

Opposition politicians said the figures proved the

government had been too slow to provide enough protective equipment to hospitals and introduce mass testing.

“I’d be amazed if, when we look back, we don’t think: yep we could have done something differently there,” the govern-ment’s chief scientific adviser, Patrick Vallance, said in response to lawmakers’ ques-tions on testing.

Responding to the ONS figures, a Downing Street spokesman pointed to Johnson’s recent comments that Britain had passed the peak of the disease but remained in a “dan-gerous phase”.

He also cited the advice of England’s chief medical officer, Chris Whitty: “Different coun-tries are recording different things in relation to deaths.”

Italy and Spain, the next worst-hit European countries,

have smaller populations than Britain, further complicating comparisons.

“Putting a graph out with the United States at the top and UK second is not helpful, but once you start to break it down by looking at the population we should be seriously asking questions about what’s dif-ferent,” said Carl Heneghan, professor of evidence-based medic ine at Oxford University.

“Why are six countries dis-proportionately affected?” Heneghan added, referring to a list dominated by Europe.

The daily cumulative death toll published by Britain’s gov-ernment, which unlike the ONS figures records deaths only for confirmed coronavirus cases, rose to 29,427 — exceeding

Italy’s own daily toll for the first time.

Ministers dislike compar-isons of the headline death toll, saying that excess mortality - the number of deaths from all causes that exceed the average for the time of year - is more meaningful because it is inter-nationally comparable.

But early evidence for excess mortality suggests Britain will be one of the hardest-hit on this measure, too.

ONS statistician Nick Stripe said excess deaths for the United Kingdom were running about 42,000 higher than average at this point in the year.

However, only about 80% of these excess deaths have been linked specifically with COVID-19.

Britain’s Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab speaking during a daily news conference on the coronavirus disease outbreak at 10 Downing Street in London, yesterday.

Italy reports fourth straight

decline in new COVID-19 cases

BLOOMBERG — ROME

Italy reported a fourth straight decline in new coronavirus cases yesterday, as Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte tentatively edges the country out of a two-month lockdown.

Civil protection authorities reported 1,075 cases for the 24-hour period — the fewest since March 10— compared with 1,221 a day earlier. New deaths rose slightly to 236 from 195 on Monday. Con-firmed cases now total 213,013.

Manufacturing and constructions firms resumed activity on Monday, and limits on Italians’ freedom of movement were eased slightly as Conte responds cautiously to pressure from coalition partners and business leaders underscoring the devastating eco-nomic impact of containment measures.The government fore-casts the economy will shrink 8% this year, while Bloomberg Eco-nomics sees a 13% contraction. Retailers and museums are due to open May 18. Restaurants, which can only sell food to be taken away, may open fully on June 1.

Tensions within the ruling coalition are delaying plans for a new economic stimulus package worth $60bn, to include liquidity measures for companies and an emergency income for people in the underground economy. The government approved an initial 25 billion-euro program of support measures in March.

In Madrid flat, four young doctors face pandemic togetherAFP — MADRID

In their tiny living room, Maria Luisa Prado told her flatmates about a 28-year-old woman “who was also a family doctor like us” who died from coronavirus.

Lourdes Ramos, who shares the Madrid apartment, said she felt “very anxious” at the beginning of the outbreak.

“I got cracks on the skin of my hands from washing them so much,” she said.

Two steps from the hos-pital where they battle the coronavirus outbreak, four young doctors help keep each other calm during the pan-demic in one of the world’s hardest-hit countries.

About 18 percent of Spain’s confirmed cases of the v i r u s h a v e i n v o l v e d healthcare staff, according to health ministry figures released yesterday.

Prado and Ramos are 29. Their flatmates Ana Rubio and Cristina Rios are a year younger.

When their neighbours go to their windows each night to applaud healthcare workers, they do not realise that the four doctors com-pleting their speciality training are on the frontlines of the virus fight.

The women sometimes work a double shift — first at a local healthcare centre and then overnight at a hospital emergency ward.

Three of them were about to finish their training and had planned to celebrate with a trip to Vietnam in April.

But on March 3, Spain recorded its first coronavirus death. The toll has since climbed to over 25,000, one of the highest in the world.

Like other Madrid hos-pitals, the Gregorio Maranon hospital where the four

women work quickly became overwhelmed.

“All the halls were full of patients, patients, patients, many waiting for a bed for 48 hours, sleeping in chairs,” recalled Rubio.

“There was not enough staff to verify who was okay and who was not. You were left with the fear that ‘someone could die here right now and I won’t realise it’,” she added.

The peak of cases at the hospital came on April 1, with over a thousand patients, including 112 in intensive care, said Rubio.

The four interns, three of them daughters of doctors, say they discovered the weak points of the public health system and their own fragility during the pandemic.

“This experience will help us to grow as doctors and human beings, to value life in another way,” said Rubio.

“We’re not immortal,” she repeated twice.

The four women are reluctant to talk about the dif-f icul t s i tuat ions they experienced.

But Prado says she is still troubled by the suffering of other colleagues who, when there were no longer any res-pirators available, had to deny access to the intensive care unit to certain COVID-19 patients.

The four flatmates said they sometimes could not contain their tears, such as when they had to deliver bad news to family members.

For Rios the hardest part was telling several people that they could not enter the intensive care unit to say goodbye to a loved one “because they could not expose themselves” to the virus.

All four women were sent to work at a field hospital for less serious coronavirus cases

set up at Madrid’s main con-ference centre, which closed on Friday.

They said they enjoyed the sense of camaraderie they found there, and experienced joy at seeing hundreds of grateful patients being dis-charged after they were cured.

Now they fear a resur-gence of the coronavirus which would force the field hospital to reopen.

With their family members friends far away in lockdown elsewhere, the four women vowed not to let the pandemic dominate their entire lives.

Prado rehearses contem-porary dance, Ramos draws, Rubio works out with free weights and Rios takes an online guitar course.

They gather in the living room to talk, listening music or share meals made by Rubio.

A customer buying books amid the coronavirus disease outbreak in Madrid, Spain, yesterday. From Madrid to Mallorca, Spaniards flocked to the streets as the government eased seven weeks of strict lockdown.

Three-way talks to begin on forming Irish govtAFP — DUBLIN

Three of Ireland’s political parties agreed yesterday to enter negotiations to form a government, months after an election that fractured the country’s political landscape.

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

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

Prime Minister Leo Var-adkar has been leading the country through the virus crisis in a caretaking capacity fol-lowing the general election on February 8.

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

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

Republican Sinn Fein surged, winning the popular vote with 24.5 percent of first

preferences in Ireland’s single transferable vote system.

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

But it has found no suitable left-wing partners to form a coalition with and reach the 80-seat threshold required to take office.

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

The Irish press has specu-lated that party leaders could take turns in the prime minis-terial position on a rotating basis.

Fine Gael and Fianna Fail last month published a broad joint document aimed to bringing other parties to the table in coalition talks.

“We need a government with a clear majority that is strong enough to develop and deliver a programme of national recovery,” it said.

It also promised to form a department within the prime minister’s office “to work towards a consensus on a united island”.

Only the United States, with a population nearly five times greater, has suffered more confirmed fatalities from the virus than Britain, which recorded 32,313 deaths till yesterday, according to the data so far.

Spain's government wants to extend state of emergency for two weeksAP — MADRID

Spain’s Socialist-led government will ask parliament today to extend the state of emergency another two weeks through May 24. But the conservative Popular Party, the main opposition, is reluctant.

Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez says extending the state of emer-gency “is the only instrument that allows the government to limit mobility, in order to prevent contagion, save lives and protect citizens.”

Health Minister Salvador Illa says the state of emergency, which has allowed the government to impose a lockdown, has been “essential” in reducing the daily infection rate from 35% to 0.4%.

Finance Minister Maria Jesus Montero warned that economic measures to cushion the pandemic’s blow are dependent on state of emergency legislation.

If the Popular Party votes against the extension, it could scuttle the government’s pandemic plans. It may decide to abstain, in which case the government’s request should win approval.

Too early to say if

summer vacations

possible, Macron

tells people

AFP — POISSY, FRANCE

French President Emmanuel Macron said yesterday it was too early to say if vacations will be possible this summer, even as the country prepares a gradual lifting of a two-month coronavirus lockdown.

The government will start easing on May 11 the school and business closures and strict stay-at-home orders imposed since mid-March against a virus that has killed more than 25,000 people in France.

But people will not be allowed to travel more than 100km from their homes for the time being, and bars, cafes restaurants and cinemas will remain closed.

Macron said in a televised interview that officials should know by early June if France has averted a new flare-up of COVID-19 cases that could overwhelm hospitals.

“We’re going to limit major international travel, even during the summer holidays. We will remain among Euro-peans, and maybe we will have to limit that even more.” Scores of summer concerts, sporting events and other activities have already been cancelled, and until July 24 at least, France will require people arriving from outside Europe to remain in isolation for two weeks—effectively ending many overseas trips as well as the country’s hugely important tourism industry.

“The virus is still here, we have not beaten it,” Macron warned.

Macron’s government faces growing criticism of its post-lockdown plans, in par-ticular the move to start reo-pening schools next week, even as hard-hit European neighbours Italy and Spain push back any return to class until September.

Nearly 330 mayors in the greater Paris region have urged the government to push back the school openings, saying the strict health measures including a limit of 15 students per class are proving difficult to implement.

But parents worried about exposing their children to infection will not be forced to return them to school.

Assange’s extradition hearing delayed to SeptemberANATOLIA — LONDON

The US extradition case of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has been delayed until S e p t e m b e r , W i k i l e a k s announced yesterday.

District Judge Vanessa Baraister decided that the Australian’s case would be moved to another crown court with better availability

in September. The next hearing was due

on May 18, and expected to last three weeks, but Judge Vanessa Baraitser agreed to a delay fol-lowing concerns that Assange and his lawyers could not attend in person.

Initially there was an attempt to find a new date in July, but eventually it was decided to push it back to

September. Baraitser said: “It’s going to take some nego-tiation to find a crown court that is open in September, in the current climate, and willing and available to take this hearing.” Assange, 48, was due to attend the administrative hearing via video link but was too unwell. The next adminis-trative hearing is due to take place on June 1.

11WEDNESDAY 6 MAY 2020 EUROPE / AMERICAS

Romania’s former anti-graft chief wins case in EU courtAP — BUCHAREST

The European Court of Human Rights said that Romania violated the right to a fair trial and the right to free speech of the former head of the coun-try’s anti-corruption office, who has since become the European Union’s first chief prosecutor.

The court based in Stras-bourg, France, found in its unanimous ruling that “there had been no way” for Laura Codruta Kovesi, who was fired in July 2018, to make a court claim against her removal from office, while her freedom of expression was violated because of her dismissal for criticizing the government’s

anti-corruption legislation.The ECHR also found that

Kovesi’s firing may have had wide-ranging repercussions within Romania’s judicial system.

“It appeared that her pre-mature removal had defeated the very purpose of maintaining judicial independence and must

have had a chilling effect on her and other prosecutors and judges in taking part in public debate on legislative reforms affecting the judiciary and judicial inde-pendence,” the court said.

While ruling in her favour, the court did not award Kovesi any monetary compensation as

she had not asked for any.Kovesi said the ECHR ruling

would help strengthen judicial inde-pendence across the continent.

“We all know that my dis-missal was part of an intimidation campaign against the justice system, in an attempt to dis-courage the fight against cor-ruption,” Kovesi told Romanian news channel Realitatea Plus. “This ruling by the ECHR strengthens the position of all European magistrates, defending them from discretionary political interference.” Kovesi spent five years as the head of the Romanian Anti-corruption Directorate, achieving remarkable results. Those indicted included 14 Cabinet members, 53 lawmakers

and a Romanian member of the European Parliament. In Romania, her removal was seen as political retaliation for her department’s successes.

Her dismissal initiated by the since-ousted Social Democratic government 10 months before her second three-year term was set to end in May 2019 was widely criticised both domestically and abroad and only served to heighten Kovesi’s reputation.

President Klaus Iohannis, who had fired Kovesi on orders of Romania’s Constitutional Court, said the ECHR decision “could not remain without con-sequences.” “The credibility of the Constitutional Court, already affected by some controversial

decisions over the past few years, is now even more seri-ously shaken,” Iohannis said in a televised statement. “The decision by ECHR shows us that this institution needs to be reformed at the constitutional level.” In October 2019, Kovesi was named to lead the EU Public Prosecutor’s Office, which has been joined by 22 of the 27 EU member states and is scheduled to begin operating in November 2020.

Its main task will be to investigate fraud connected to the use of EU funds and other financial crimes. Romania, Poland and Hungary are among the EU countries which did not join the office.

No membership talksas virus to dominateEU-Balkans summitAP — BRUSSELS

Leaders from the European Union and the Western Balkans are set to meet today at a summit that was first scheduled to focus on anchoring the volatile region to the world’s biggest trading bloc but had its agenda overrun by the corona-virus crisis.

The meeting, as originally planned, would have been an opportunity for the EU to offer the six countries that are not yet members a substantial package of economic incen-tives. Albania and North Mac-edonia, frustrated by delays in the start of their membership talks, might have been given a date to start the negotiations.

But no longer. Now, the coronavirus will dominate the summit, which because of the pandemic will take place online instead of as the highly sym-bolic event that had been planned by Croatia, a Balkans success story which joined the EU in 2013 and now hold’s the bloc’s rotating presidency.

The prospect of EU mem-bership has been a powerful driving force for democratic, political and economic reform in the Balkans, where Russia and China also are vying for influence. The delayed mem-bership talks and a perception among some in the region that the EU forgot its partners in the Balkans when the virus hit has undermined confidence in Europe.

Still, the EU did approve Tuesday an aid package of up to ¤3bn ($3.3bn) just to help 10

countries in its “neighborhood” cope with the virus, including ¤750m ($816m) for the coun-tries taking part in the summit: Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo, Mon-tenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia.

“Enlargement and neigh-borhood countries are our closest partners. Now more than ever, it is absolutely essential that we stick together and show solidarity in addressing the economic and social impact of this global crisis,” Croatian Finance Min-ister Zdravko Maric said in announcing the financial aid.

As it looks to burnish its credentials as a far more worthy partner than either Russia or China, the EU will also work at the summit to highlight a separate ¤3.3bn package ($3.6bn) it previously approved for the six Balkans nations.

The bloc will also herald a “new phase of close cooper-ation” in light of the corona-virus, according to a summit explanatory note released by EU headquarters. But with enlargement off the table, the regional hopefuls will have heard many of the promises before.

“The summit will be an opportunity for the leaders to reaffirm their unequivocal support for the European per-spective of the region,” the note said. The Balkans countries will be able “to recommit them-selves to this perspective and the transformational reform process that comes with it as their clear strategic choice.”

Taking exams amid pandemic

Students wear face masks as they take their annual university entrance exam at Szerb Antal Grammar School in Budapest yesterday despite a partial lockdown still in place due to the coronavirus pandemic.

More than 10,000 new virus cases in RussiaAFP — MOSCOW

Russia cemented its place as the European country reporting the highest number of new corona-virus infections yesterday as its total cases soared passed 155,000.

Yevgeny Mikrin, chief designer at Energia, Russia’s top producer of spacecraft, has died from the coronavirus, becoming one of the infection’s highest-profile victims in the country, officials said. He was 64.

“Best doctors fought for his life over the past few weeks,” Dmitry Rogozin, director of Rus-sia’s space agency Roskosmos, said.

Moscow’s sprawling metro system began selling masks and a metro representative said that wearing masks underground

may soon become compulsory.Several vending machines

installed at the Russian capi-tal’s metro stations began offering masks and gloves. Vending machines at around 15 stations are expected to start carrying them in the coming days.

Masks and gloves will also be available for purchase at ticket booths at some stations, the metro said.

“The metro is continuing to prevent the spread of the corona-virus,” said deputy head Yulia Temnikova, urging passengers to also use sanitiser dispensers that are being installed underground.

Moscow has emerged as the epicentre of the pandemic in Russia, with around half the total coronavirus cases.

Yesterday, health officials reported 10,102 new infections over the last 24 hours, a decrease of 531 cases from Sun-day’s record surge, bringing Russia’s total to 155,370.

Russia has emerged as a new coronavirus hotspot as many European countries unveil plans to ease lockdown measures after their numbers of new infections and deaths began to fall.

Despite the increases in Russia, the government has indi-cated it could gradually lift con-finement measures from May 12, depending on the region.

The number of new cases in Russia is significantly higher com-pared to other European coun-tries, with the United Kingdom in second place reporting just under 4,000 new infections on Monday.

Polish Solidarityunion backsre-election ofPresident Duda

AFP — WARSAW

Polish President Andrzej Duda, who is running for reelection, yesterday won the support of the present-day incarnation of the government-friendly Solidarity trade union that brought a peaceful end to communism at home in 1989.

The election by postal vote only is scheduled for Sunday, but its organisation has been stymied by countless legal, constitutional, technical and safety issues.

The ruling right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) party has for weeks been under intense pressure to postpone the vote because of the coronavirus pandemic, with calls for a delay coming from the liberal oppo-sition, medical workers, the majority of the public and even certain government allies.

The PiS has so far refused to budge on the timing — with analysts saying its calculus is that ally Duda has better chances of winning sooner rather than later — but holding the vote on Sunday is increas-ingly looking untenable.

Yesterday, Duda and the Solidarity union, which has several hundred thousand members and is close to the PiS, agreed a platform including a pledge to provide financial help to those who lose their jobs because of the pandemic.

The programme also out-lines a change to the retirement law that would allow people to leave the workforce after a certain number of years on the job as opposed to a certain age.

Postal serviceA postman wearing a protective mask walks with a bag amid the outbreak of the coronavirus disease in Warsaw, Poland, yesterday.

Peru oppn leader KeikoFujimori released from jailAFP — LIMA

Peru’s opposition leader Keiko Fujimori (pictured) was released on Monday from pre-trial detention on corruption charges after just three months, a reporter witnessed.

Fujimori left the woman’s prison in the capital Lima on bail wearing a face mask and white gloves.

She had earlier announced on Twitter that she would head straight from the facility to take a coronavirus test.

The 44-year-old’s release came four days after a court granted her bail of 70,000 soles ($20,000).

Fujimori, a mother of two, had asked to be released due to fears she might contract the novel coronavirus in the Chor-rillos women’s jail, but the court granted her release based on a separate appeal.

At her home later, a worker from a private labo-ratory carried out the COVID-19 tests.

In a video posted to Facebook, Fujimori said that beyond the joy she felt at returning home, she wanted to tell authorities that the situation in Peruvian prisons is “untenable”.

“I beg them to alleviate the terrible overcrowding that, in

the midst of the pandemic, is a death penalty,” she said.

She was jailed in January just two months after being released from a previous 13-month pre-trial detention.

Once Peru’s most popular politician, Fujimori is accused of accepting $1.2m in illicit party funding from Brazilian con-struction giant Odebrecht for her unsuccessful 2011 presi-dential election campaign.

“Keiko will continue to face this investigation. She’s the one who most wants this to be clar-ified,” her lawyer Guilliana Loza said at the weekend.

Attorney General Rafael Vela, who is co-ordinating the

team investigating the Ode-brecht scandal, said on Sat-urday he would appeal the release.

Odebrecht is embroiled in a wide-ranging corruption scandal and has admitted to paying hundreds of millions of dollars in bribes to win con-tracts in 12 countries.

At least $29m was paid to Peruvian officials from 2004, including to bribe four former presidents, the company has said.

Alejandro Toledo, Ollanta Humala, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski and the late Alan Garcia have been implicated in the scandal.

She has been barred from living in the same house as her American husband Mark Vil-lanella as he is under investi-gation in the same case.

Villanella announced on social media that he and the couple’s two daughters were staying with Fujimori’s mother, Susana Higuchi.

“We’ve decided that until we have the test results, I won’t be able to join my daughters,” Fujimori had said on Twitter.

Fujimori is the daughter of disgraced former president Alberto Fujimori, 81, who is serving a 25-year jail sen-tence for ordering two mas-sacres by death squads in 1991 and 1992.

Mexico warns

states against

prison terms to

enforce lockdown

AP — MEXICO CITY

Mexico’s Interior Department issued a stern warning on Monday for state governments not to use prison terms to enforce lockdowns to combat the new coronavirus pandemic.

The move came after one state legislature voted through a bill establishing prison terms of four to six years for “people who do not respect the period of mandated isolation while suffering a serious transmit-table disease.”

The department said the law passed in the state of Queretaro was disproportionate, possibly unconstitutional and discrimi-nated against the poor. It sets sen-tences of three to five years for disobeying the orders of health or civil defense authorities during a health emergency.

The department expressed particular concern about one clause that sets out prison terms of two to five years foar people who “obstruct public works,” saying the measure could be used against legit-imate demonstrations.

On a friendlier note, federal officials announced that part of the sprawling former presidential compound in Mexico City will be used to house medical workers fighting the pandemic.

“It appeared that her premature removal had defeated the very purpose of maintaining judicial independence and must have had a chilling effect on her and other prosecutors and judges in taking part in public debate on legislative reforms affecting the judiciary and judicial independence,” the court said.

12 WEDNESDAY 6 MAY 2020AMERICAS

Trump denies link toVenezuela armedraid by US citizensREUTERS — WASHINGTON

President Donald Trump yesterday denied any involvement by the US government in what Vene-zuelan officials have called a failed armed incursion in the South American country that led to the capture of two American “mercenaries.”

Trump made the comment to reporters at the White House after socialist Venezuelan Pres-ident Nicolas Maduro on Monday said authorities there had detained two US citizens working with a US military veteran who has claimed responsibility for the foiled operation.

“We’ll find out. We just heard about it,” Trump said when asked about the incident and the Americans’ arrests. “But it has nothing to do with our government.”

In a state television address, Maduro said authorities arrested 13 “terrorists” on Monday involved in what he described as a plot coordinated with Wash-ington to enter the country via the Caribbean coast and oust him.

Eight people were killed during the incursion attempt on Sunday, Venezuelan authorities said.

Maduro showed what he said were the US passports and other identification cards belonging to Airan Berry and Luke Denman, whom he said were in custody and had been working with Jordan Goudreau, an American military veteran who leads a Florida-based security company called Silvercorp USA.

The two detained Amer-icans, former special operations

forces members who had served with Goudreau, were believed to be in the custody of Venezuelan military intelli-gence, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The State Department did not provide any immediate comment on the arrests. US officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, had strongly denied any US government role in the incursions.

Washington has waged a campaign of tough economic sanctions and diplomatic measures against Venezuela in an effort to oust Maduro, accusing him of having rigged elections in 2018.

But while Trump has repeatedly said all options are on the table, his administration has shown no apparent interest in military action as it pursues what it calls a “maximum pressure” strategy against Maduro.

Maduro’s government,

however, says the United States wants to control the OPEC member nation’s massive oil reserves.

Since early 2019, the United States and dozens of other countries have recognized opposition leader Juan Guaido as the legitimate interim president.

But Maduro remains in power, backed by the military as well as Russia, Cuba and China, which some US officials say privately is a source of frus-tration for Trump.

Guaido — often derided by Maduro as a US puppet — cast doubt on the government’s version of Sunday’s events. He insisted that Maduro was seeking to distract from other problems in recent days, including a deadly prison riot and a violent gang battle in Caracas, the capital.

The Venezuelan gov-ernment, presiding over an eco-nomic meltdown, is also strug-gling to cope with the global spread of the coronavirus.

Monday’s arrests come after Maduro’s government on Sunday announced it had thwarted a “mercenary incursion.”

Goudreau released a video identifying himself as an organizer of the operation, alongside dissident Venezuelan military officer Javier Nieto. He identified one of the fighters as “Commander Sequea,” which appeared to be a reference to Antonio Sequea, who was iden-tified by state television as one of the people arrested.

Silvercorp’s website describes Goudreau as a “highly decorated Special Forces Iraq and Afghanistan veteran.”

Kweisi Mfume swears inUS Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi (left), participates in a ceremonial swearing-in with Rep. Kweisi Mfume (right) as his wife Tiffany McMillan Mfume looks on, at the US Capitol yesterday in Washington, DC. Mfume will be finishing the term of the late Rep. Elijah Cummings.

Fauci to testify before US Senate,but not House on virus responseREUTERS — WASHINGTON

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

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

Fauci, who directs the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and is part of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, is scheduled to appear May 12 before the Senate Health, Education, and Labor and Pensions committee along with other top US health officials.

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

“The House they should be ashamed of themselves and, frankly, the Democrats should be ashamed because they don’t want us to succeed. They want us to fail so they can win an election, which they’re not

going to win,” added Trump, who is seeking re-election in November.

A House Appropriations subcommittee that oversees health programs had been seeking testimony from Fauci for a May 6 hearing, but the White House last week said his appearance would be “coun-terproductive.” Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Stephen Hahn, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Robert Redfield, and Health and Human Services Assistant Secretary Brett Giroir are also scheduled to appear before the Senate hearing next week focused on “safely getting back to work and... school,” according to the committee.

US senators seek

probe of veterans

homes after

virus deaths

AP — WASHINGTON

A group of US senators is seeking an investigation into the Department of Veterans Affairs’ oversight of homes for aging veterans amid a spate of coronavirus deaths at the state-run centers.

In a letter sent yesterday, the senators asked the head of the Government Accounta-bility Office to look into the VA and states’ roles in ensuring veterans get proper care at the homes and whether the agency or states have a system to “capture real time spikes in mortality rates,” among other things.

“Given the importance of State Veterans Homes in VA’s overall portfolio for providing institutional care to veterans and our ongoing concerns about VA’s role monitoring states’ operation of these facil-ities, we would like GAO to conduct a more detailed examination of VA’s oversight of State Veterans Homes’ quality of care,” Democratic Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey of Massachusetts, Jon Tester of Montana, and Bob Casey of Pennsylvania wrote.

Their request comes as outrage builds over the death of more than 70 veterans sickened by the coronavirus at a home in Massachusetts. State and federal officials are now investigating the deaths at the Soldiers’ Home in Holyoke, where an additional 80 vet-erans and 81 staff members have tested positive for the virus. It’s one of the deadliest known outbreaks at long-term care facilities in the US.

VA officials did not imme-diately respond yesterday to an email seeking comment.

Veterans homes have also been hit hard by the virus in other states. In New York, the Long Island State Veterans Home has reported 53 deaths, including 48 confirmed and five presumed COVID-19 deaths.

SC hears case on overseas anti-AIDS funding curbsREUTERS — WASHINGTON

The Supreme Court yesterday heard arguments over whether a US law violates constitutional free speech rights by requiring overseas affiliates of American-based nonprofit groups that seek federal funding for HIV/AIDS relief to formally adopt a stance against prostitution and sex trafficking.

The case is the second in which the nine justices heard arguments by teleconference following Monday’s debut of the call-in format prompted by the coronavirus pandemic in a trademark dispute involving

hotel reservation website Booking.com.

As with Monday’s case, con-servative Justice Clarence Thomas, usually silent when the court hears cases in person, again dove in when it was his turn to ask questions. The argument proceeded generally smoothly, though Justice Sonia Sotomayor again appeared to forget to unmute her phone when called upon by Chief Justice John Roberts to ask questions, as she had done the prior day.

“I ’m sorry, chief,” Sotomayor said. “I did it again.” President Donald Trump’s

administration is appealing a 2018 ruling by the New York-based 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals in favor of non-profit organizations that challenged a provision of the 2003 law as a violation of the US Constitu-tion’s First Amendment.

Organizations including the Alliance for Open Society Inter-national, Pathfinder Interna-tional, InterAction and the Global Health Council chal-lenged the constitutionality of the measure. The ruling would affect other well-known inter-national groups such as Save the Children.

The groups, which currently

take no stance on prostitution, said the law interferes with their work providing advice and coun-seling about the risks of HIV infection. The groups did not challenge a separate provision of the law that bars applicants from using federal funds to promote or advocate the legalization of prostitution or sex trafficking.

The plaintiffs obtained an injunction in 2006 that has pre-vented the policy from being enforced against them. The Supreme Court ruled in 2013 that the law violated the free speech rights of the US-based groups but did not decide the question over whether applying

it to the overseas entities with which they are affiliated also is unconstitutional.

Roberts, who authored the 2013 ruling, wondered if the “precise relationship” between the US groups and the affiliates could give rise to a free speech violation.

“We know there are no formal corporate ties, but that these entities share the same name, the same logo, the same brand. What would you require beyond that before attributing the speech of the foreign entity to the domestic one?” Roberts asked Justice Department lawyer Christopher Michel.

Pandemic forces labor office closureA woman pushes a cart past the New York State Department of Labor office, which is closed due to COVID-19 in the Brooklyn borough of New York, yesterday.

Trump flying to Arizona mask factory on trip with political overtonesREUTERS — WASHINGTON

President Donald Trump took a rare trip out of Washington yesterday to tour a mask production plant in Arizona, visiting a state he hopes to win in the November election even as Americans avoid travel to fight the coronavirus.

Trump, a Republican who is running for re-election, has been holed up at the White House for weeks as his admin-istration oversees the response to the pandemic that has killed tens of thousands of people in the United States alone.

The president has faced criticism for giving mixed mes-sages about the virus, which he played down in the early stages of the outbreak. His trip to another state required a flight on Air Force One with an entourage of staff, Secret Service agents, reporters and military personnel at a time when many Americans are avoiding flying because of the risk of virus spread.

Trump has sought to give an optimistic view about the country’s ability to recover from the virus and is eager for states to reopen businesses whose lockdown closings have

driven down the economy and left millions unemployed.

The novel coronavirus already is known to have infected almost 1.2 million people in the United States, including more than 69,000 who have died from COVID-19, the respiratory illness it causes, according to a tally.

On Monday, researchers at the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation almost doubled their previous US mortality model to nearly 135,000 from 72,400 on April 29.

The president is scheduled to tour a Honeywell Interna-tional Inc mask production assembly line during his trip and to preside over a discussion about supporting Native Americans.

The federal government has encouraged Americans to wear masks to avoid spreading the virus even when not feeling any symptoms of COVID-19.

Trump has so far declined to wear a mask himself, and Vice President Mike Pence drew criticism for not wearing one during a recent trip to the famed Mayo Clinic in Minnesota.

Move afoot to wind down virus task forceREUTERS — WASHINGTON

The White House plans to wind down its coronavirus task force in coming weeks, the New York Times reported yesterday, adding it is not clear whether another group might replace the task force headed by Vice President Mike Pence and made up of health

and logistics officials.Officials in President

Donald Trump’s administration are telling task force members and their staff to expect the group to wind down within weeks, according to the Times. This wire service did not imme-diately confirm the report.

The task force will finish up as the White House moves

toward the first phase of Trump’s plan to reopen the country after many states ordered people to stay at home in order to slow the spread of the potentially deadly corona-virus, the Times said, citing an anonymous official. The focus will now be on therapeutics, vaccines and other treatments.

Trump made the comment to reporters at the White House after socialist Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Monday said authorities there had detained two US citizens working with a US military veteran who has claimed responsibility for the foiled operation.