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GUJRAT: A housemaid was allegedly killed in Kharian, Gujrat under pretext of coronavirus, ARY News reported on Wednesday. According to the local police, the body of the housemaid named Ramsha, was buried without autopsy in hurry. “A case has been registered against two on the complaint of the deceased’s father.” Two including Dr Muhammad Ali have been booked in a case lodged at the PS Kharian Cantt. Ramsha’s father said, her daughter was working in the house of Dr Muhammad Ali at the monthly salary of rs8000. He alleged that doctor buried his daughter in hurry by saying that she was suffering from the deadly coronavirus. The deceased’s father said the negative report of her daughter for the COVID-19 confirms that she was killed. He demanded justice in the matter from the concerned authorities. Read more: CM Usman Buzdar takes notice of torturing housemaid in Gujranwala Last year in May, another young housemaid was subjected to torture in Gujranwala . Khadija, 12-year-old, was f

UNITED NATIONS: The coronavirus pandemic is the worst global crisis since World War II, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Tuesday, expressing concern that it could trigger conflicts around the world. Guterres said that the scale of the crisis was due to “a disease that represents a threat to everybody in the world and… an economic impact that will bring a recession that probably has no parallel in the recent past.” “The combination of the two facts and the risk that it contributes to enhanced instability, enhanced unrest, and enhanced conflict are things that make us believe that this is the most challenging crisis we have faced since the Second World War,” he told reporters. The New York-based United Nations was founded at the end of the war in 1945 and has 193 member states. “A stronger and more effective response… is only possible in solidarity if everybody comes together and if we forget political games and understand that it is humankind that is at stake,” Guterres a

A milk shop in Quetta was sealed on Tuesday for violating the government’s orders of a lockdown and two children were locked inside. The Kacchii district administration sealed a milk shop in the area for remaining open despite government orders to shut down all businesses. The two children minding the shop argued that milk shops had permission to stay open despite the lockdown. The staff then sealed the shop with the children in it. People had to break the lock to get the children out. from SAMAA https://ift.tt/3dOkzL8

The Karachi Electronics Dealers’ Association president has said all markets in the city will open on Thursday. The Karachi commissioner had issued a 15-day lockdown notification and according to that, the lockdown ends on Thursday. Muhammad Rizwan told SAMAA TV that shopkeepers have run out of money because of the lockdown. We can only run our houses if we sell our stock, he said, adding that they didn’t even have the money to pay their employees. He asked the government for permission to continue trade if they take precautionary measures. Sindh had imposed a total lockdown to curb the spread of the coronavirus. As of Tuesday evening, Pakistan had reported 2,025 known cases of the coronavirus, with 676 cases being reported in Sindh. from SAMAA https://ift.tt/2JsVbwl

Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah has been advised by medical experts to seal neighbourhoods in Karachi where high numbers of coronavirus cases being reported. This includes DHA’s Phase V and VI, where seven and 14 cases have been reported respectively. Ten cases have been reported near Bilawal House (Clifton Block 2) and one near CM House. Five cases each have been reported in Saddar and Garden, while three have been reported in Lyari and one in Aram Bagh. Medical experts have advised the chief minister to take strict measures to control the virus, including sealing areas off. from SAMAA https://ift.tt/2UKEXDS

Here are some of the news stories we are expecting to follow today (Wednesday): Prime Minister Imran Khan will chair a National Coordination Committee to discuss strategies to counter the coronavirus in Pakistan. The committee will decide whether the countrywide lockdown will be extended or called off. Funeral prayers for Jang Group publisher Mir Javedur Rahman, who passed away on Tuesday, will be held after Zuhr prayers. He will be buried in the Society graveyard in Karachi’s PECHS. Political leaders are expected to attend the funeral. As of Wednesday, 2,025 people have tested positive for the coronavirus in Pakistan while 26 have died of it. Around 65 people have recovered. The lockdown in Sindh has entered its 10th day. NADRA and telecommunication companies haven’t yet provided the Sindh government with the data needed to locate and help poor families. The lockdown has been intensified across Punjab. The provincial government has directed that all shops open by 9am and close b

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump on Tuesday warned of a “very painful” two weeks as the United States wrestles with a coronavirus surge that the White House warns could kill as many as 240,000 Americans. “This is going to be a very painful, a very, very painful two weeks,” Trump told a press conference at the White House. Trump described the pandemic as “a plague.” “I want every American to be prepared for the hard days that lie ahead,” he said. Top health experts said that the decision to maintain strict social distancing was the only way to stop the easily transmitted virus, even if this has caused massive disruption to the economy with three quarters of Americans under some form of lockdown. “There’s no magic vaccine or therapy. It’s just behaviors, each of our behaviours translating into something that changes the course of this viral pandemic over the next 30 days,” Deborah Birx, coronavirus response coordinator at the White House, said. Birx displayed a chart at the pres

GUJRAT: A six-month-old girl has tested positive for coronavirus in Gujrat after her father was declared a Covid-19 patient around a week ago. The infant is being kept at home, while her mother will also be screened for the virus. At least 317 suspected patients of coronavirus have so far tested negative in Gujrat out of a total of 428; 61 of the total had tested positive till Monday. On Tuesday, the health department tested 55 more suspects and the results of around 100 were awaited. Four doctors, including two from the Aziz Bhatti Shaheed Teaching Hospital (ABSTH) as well as a medic couple, have tested positive for Covid-19. A senior doctor of the hospital had already been found infected a few days ago. The local administration has decided to seal the private clinics of these doctors who had been sent into isolation. The doctor husband and wife, who were running a private hospital in the city, had recently returned from a preaching mission along with a group of Tableeghi Jamaat

LAHORE: Apprehending outbreak of coronavirus, the law enforcement agencies completely locked down the entire Raiwind City on Tuesday. The action follows some reports that more people from the Tableeghi Markaz may test positive for the virus. The entire 0.2 million population of Raiwind City has been restricted to their residences by shutting down all kinds of commercial activities and placing a strict ban on all public and private transport movement. “An extraordinary situation has been declared here due to high possibility of more new confirmed cases from the Tableeghi Jamaat Markaz”, a senior police official told Dawn . He said an alert was generated on Sunday when 27 out of 33 Jamaat preachers had tested positive. As this situation had the potential to spread the virus, health teams were dispatched to the Markaz. “Only hospitals and medical stores can operate in the entire vicinity”, the official said. He said no body could leave home unless he/she required healthcare. The sec

The Punjab government has completely locked down Raiwind over fears that the coronavirus may spread from there. Vegetable and food staple shops have been shut down and the police and Rangers have been deployed to ensure no one leaves their homes. The only stores that remain open are pharmacies. The Raiwind Tablighi Centre has been declared a quarantine centre for foreigners. Multiple members of the Tablighi Jamaat have tested positive for the coronavirus, with 94 cases being confirmed in Sindh, 32 in Punjab and 16 in Islamabad. Members of the Jamaat are being tested. Rescue officials are disinfecting the city’s streets and markets with a chlorine-water mixture. from SAMAA https://ift.tt/2UPRKVU

China’s decision to lock down the city of Wuhan, ground zero for the global COVID-19 pandemic, may have prevented more than 700,000 new cases by delaying the spread of the virus, researchers said Tuesday. Drastic Chinese control measures in the first 50 days of the epidemic bought other cities across the country valuable time to prepare and install their own restrictions, according to the paper by researchers in China, the United States and the UK, published in the journal Science. By day 50 of the epidemic — February 19 — there were 30,000 confirmed cases in China, said Oxford fellow Christopher Dye, one of the paper’s authors. “Our analysis suggests that without the Wuhan travel ban and the national emergency response there would have been more than 700,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases outside of Wuhan by that date,” he was quoted as saying in a press release. “China’s control measures appear to have worked by successfully breaking the chain of transmission — preventing contact betwe

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s Haj minister asked Muslims on Tuesday to temporarily defer preparations for Haj amid uncertainty over the pandemic. Earlier this month, Saudi Arabia suspended Umrah over fears of the new coronavirus. “Saudi Arabia is fully ready to serve pilgrims,” Haj minister Mohammad Benten told the state-run Al Ekhbariya television. “But under the current circumstances, as we are talking about the global pandemic [...] the kingdom is keen to protect the health of Muslims and citizens and so we have asked our brother Muslims in all countries to wait before doing Haj contracts until the situation is clear.” Saudi authorities have yet to announce whether they will proceed with this year’s Haj. Haj, which last year attracted 2.5 million people, is a key revenue earner for Saudi Arabia. The government is scrambling to limit the spread of the disease at home. The health ministry has reported 1,563 coronavirus infections and 10 deaths from the illness so far. Published in Da

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday directed the authorities concerned to prepare a relief package for the Afghan refugees and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) facing hardship due to the coronavirus epidemic. The directives came during a meeting of the federal cabinet following a request by Minister for States and Frontier Regions (Safron) Shehryar Afridi. The prime minister gave the directives regarding allocation of funds for the IDPs and refugees from the Rs200 billion earmarked for poor farmers. Following the meeting, the minister told reporters that around 2.8 million refugees were living in 52 refugee camps across the country, of which 80 per cent were daily wage earners. Published in Dawn, April 1st, 2020 from The Dawn News - Home https://ift.tt/3auC80u via IFTTT

ISLAMABAD: As a larger bench of the Supreme Court resumes on Wednesday (today) the hearing of an appeal against the bail granted to undertrial prisoners (UTPs) in the wake of coronavirus pandemic, a lawyer on Tuesday approached the apex court, highlighting his loss if not heard urgently in the matter. In a one-page application moved before the SC, Advocate Ajmal Raza Bhatti pleaded to become a party in the case, expressing his desire to assist the court in the matter. The application, however, does not specify what loss will he suffer if not heard urgently by the court. The SC larger bench, headed by Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed and comprising Justice Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Mazhar Alam Khan Miankhel, Justice Sajjad Ali Shah and Justice Qazi Mohammad Amin Ahmed, had at the last hearing restrained all the high courts and respective authorities, including the provincial governments and administration of Islamabad and Gilgit-Baltistan, from passing any order or releasing UTPs from jails

KARACHI: In light of the rapid shift to digital services during the Covid-19 outbreak, the telecom industry, rights groups as well as students have urged the government to ensure access to quality and affordable internet for all. For the past week, students from tribal areas and Balochistan have voiced their concern over lack of access to internet during the Covid-19 outbreak under various Twitter trends such as #Enable3G4GInExFATA and #SuspendOnlineClasses. Hundreds of students and faculty members of different varsities have also lodged complaints on the prime minister’s portal with regard to online teaching system’s quality of instruction, digital readiness of the instructor and poor internet connectivity. “Almost 50+ students of the Univer­sity of Management and Technology (UMT) in Lahore are from Chitral and all of them are facing internet issue. Most of us have not attended a single online class because there are no mobile signals in the area,” Fahad Ahmad, a student with multi

QUETTA: Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Kamal Khan Alyani has said that his government would soon announce tax exemption for industries in the province. Talking to reporters here on Tuesday, he said the industries would get incentives through exemption in service tax and reduction in other taxes which would help them to continue their production. The chief minister said the industries would be given tax relief so that its benefit could reach the people who were suffering badly due to the coronavirus outbreak. He said the provincial government was aware of the difficulties of daily wage workers who had been rendered jobless because of lockdowns and a package for them and other needy people would be announced within a week. The departments concerned were preparing that package, he added. “We are evolving a ration distribution system in consultation with welfare organisations so that food items could reach every deserving person,” Mr Alyani said. He expressed anger over negative respon

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has expressed concern over the way the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government is handling the situation after the coronavirus outbreak in the country and the party’s leaders belonging to three different provinces pointed out faults in arrangements made by local authorities for the virus-affected people. Punjab PPP general secretary and former MNA Chaudhry Manzoor Ahmed has highlighted “the poor conditions” at a quarantine centre set up by the Punjab health authorities in his native Kasur city, whereas another PPP leader from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and former deputy speaker Fasial Karim Kundi alleged that the provincial government had ignored the erstwhile tribal areas by not providing any facility to the people there. Through a video message, Chaudhry Manzoor alleged that the Kasur quarantine centre could also serve as a coronavirus breeding epicentre like Taftan because of poor conditions there. He claimed that more than 100 Covid-19 suspec

ISLAMABAD: Approving a coronavirus relief package of Rs1,200 billion, Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday took serious notice of suspension of goods transport in the country despite his earlier order for its restoration and tasked Rangers in Sindh with ensuring its implementation by taking appropriate measures for movement of trucks and opening of industries amid a complete lockdown in the province. The decision was taken at a meeting of the federal cabinet which also approved issuance of Rs700bn Domestic Sukuk Bonds (DSB) for three years to provide some support to the country’s economy being affected by the global coronavirus pandemic and address the issue of liquidity. “Prime Minister Imran Khan was quite annoyed that the decision taken by the National Coordination Committee (NCC), in which all provinces and mainstream opposition parties have representation, was not implemented in letter and spirit by the Sindh government by not easing the movement of goods transport from the coun

ISLAMABAD: While the tally of confirmed coronavirus cases surged to 2,007 with at least 26 deaths across the country, the government on Tuesday took strict notice of complaints that district administrations and police were treating the patients like criminals. The government also decided to devise a guideline to make industries and shops operational to support the economy and prevent massive violation of lockdown due to hunger and unavailability of resources. Besides, it claimed that the country by mid-April would achieve the capacity to conduct 900,000 tests. The decision to devise some mechanism to support the country’s economy while preventing the spread of the virus was taken at a meeting held at the National Command Centre of Covid-19. At the meeting, which was chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan, it was decided Lt Gen Mehmood-uz-Zaman would head the National Command Centre, said Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar while addressing a press confe

A large religious gathering of the Tableeghi Jamaat in New Delhi has sparked a manhunt across India for suspected coronavirus cases after being linked to dozens of infections and several deaths. The gathering emerged as one of India's major virus hotspots after thousands flocked to an Islamic religious centre in the Nizamuddin West neighbourhood of Delhi. Some returned home to other states after the gathering, but many remained in the vicinity, saying they were trapped because public transport had been shut down due to the virus. Late Monday and Tuesday, the warren of lanes near the religious centre — near several prominent Sufi shrines — were taped off by officials in hazmat suits. More than 1,000 people were taken in buses from the area by police, with 335 admitted to hospital and the rest quarantined, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain told reporters on Tuesday. At least 10 attendees — including six in southern Telangana state and three in Delhi — have died from Covid-19

A drive-through coronavirus testing centre was on Tuesday inaugurated in Karachi — the first such centre reported to be established in Pakistan. Visiting the newly established centre, inaugurated jointly by the Sindh local government and health departments, Sindh Information Minister Syed Nasir Hussain Shah said that it was part of the provincial government's war against the coronavirus. He said that currently the largest demand was for testing for Covid-19. The drive-through testing facility has been established in Jahangir Kothari Parade area of Clifton, according to a press release issued by Shah's director for media management and public relations. The doctors, paramedical staff, and other personnel deployed at the new testing facility in Karachi have been provided with all the necessary safety, protective equipment and gear to safeguard the virus, the press release added. The media coordinator to the Sindh health minister Meeran Yousuf told Dawn.com that mobile vans b

Attock Refinery is operating its 54,000 barrels per day (bpd) plant at 29 per cent capacity and is prepared to shut the complex in a week's time if local demand does not recover, the company's top official said on Tuesday. If it closes, it would be the third refinery in the country to halt operations because of the collapse in demand as the government implements a lockdown to try to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus. “The main plant is shut down. Only two small units are running and these will be closed in the next few days if the situation persists,” Adil Khattak, chief executive officer at Attock Refinery, told Reuters from Rawalpindi, where the refinery is located. The energy ministry had last week asked fuel retailers and refiners to cancel the import of products and crude from April. The government also asked the oil marketing companies that supply fuel stations to increase purchases from national refiners to try to ensure operations continue. But on Saturday,

ISLAMABAD: An accountability court on Tuesday rejected a petition of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader Faryal Talpur seeking to unfreeze her personal bank account, but restored two accounts of her daughters. Accountability Court-II Judge Azam Khan issued the order on Ms Talpur’s petition challenging the freezing of her account in connection with the fake bank accounts case. The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had written a letter to the State Bank of Pakistan after her name surfaced in the fake accounts case. The SBP had directed scheduled banks to freeze her accounts. Subsequently, three accounts — one in her name and two in the name of her daughters — were frozen. Ms Talpur’s counsel Chaudhry Riaz argued before the court that besides her personal account, NAB had also frozen the accounts of her children who were not facing any charges. He argued that the anti-graft watchdog had frozen the accounts of the Zardari Group of Companies in the fake bank accounts case, but failed

KARACHI: 61 new cases of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) were detected in Sindh on Tuesday, taking the total number of cases to 627 in Sindh province, ARY News reported. Sindh Minister for Health and Population Welfare Dr Azra Fazal Pechuho said so far 294 cases of COVID-19 have been tested positive in Karachi, with 45 new cases. 57 in Hyderabad and two cases were reported in Jamshoro and one in Jacobabad. The minister said out of 627 cases 41 have fully recovered and discharged from the hospitals. The province has conducted a total of 5,945 tests. Read more: Train turned into quarantine facility for COVID-19 patients in Pakistan A spokesperson for the Sindh Health Department confirmed Monday that a person died of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in Karachi today, bringing the provincial number of deaths from the deadly disease to six. “We can confirm one more death from COVID-19 in #Sindh. The 63 y/o patient was a resident of #Karachi & was diagnosed 2 days ago. The patient had a

LAHORE: The Punjab government has allowed treatment of critically ill patients of Covid-19 with chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine besides expanding the capacity of beds across the province. The government has procured 50,000 tablets of the two said medicines. Mayo Hospital had earlier started using the drug on critical patients of Covid-19. China had also treated its critical patients suffering from the virus and the US has also allowed its use. The decision was taken by the government after the Food and Drug Authority (FDA) of the US granted approval to using hydroxychloroquine, which is originally used to treat malaria. “Our physicians have started medication of the seriously ill patients of coronavirus at the Mayo Hospital and initial reports suggest that the drug is yielding positive results,” unveiled Mayo Hospital Lahore Chief Executive Prof Dr Asad Aslam Khan. Two three-star hotels to be rented to isolate suspected cases Talking to Dawn , he said the Mayo physicians wer

KARACHI: Data compiled by the provincial authorities of coronavirus patients in Karachi has suggested district Central as the worst-hit area of the metropolis where the highest number of such patients has been found so far, officials and sources said on Monday. Besides, the authorities are also conducting digital mapping of the mobile phones of Covid-19 positive cases with the help of professionals to create a comprehensive database. A source said that the digital mapping would help in tracing the travel history of the patients and their social contacts before they were tested positive for Covid-19. “There are 249 confirmed patients of Covid-19 in Karachi,” he said. “The city’s Central district has emerged as the worst affected where a large number of patients with coronavirus has been registered thus far.” Karachi’s district Central has emerged as worst-hit area of the metropolis He said that the Sindh health department had completed the digital mapping of more than 125 patient

ISLAMABAD: A special meeting of the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet on Monday struggled to put in place mechanisms for disbursement of various elements of the federal government’s Rs534 billion relief package announced for mitigating the impact of the coronavirus outbreak on the country’s poor people and economy. Informed sources said that the ECC meeting, presided over by Adviser to the Prime Minister on Finance & Revenue Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, approved in principle summaries that could be put up by ministries involving a total amount of about Rs534bn. Dr Shaikh and some other members of the cabinet pointed out certain limitations of the proposed summaries and ordered their further fine-tuning and clarity for consideration of the federal cabinet’s meeting to be held on Tuesday. A statement issued after the ECC meeting said the “ECC approved the fiscal stimulus package of Rs1.2 trillion” but gave break-up of only six ‘main components’ with cumulative amount

LAHORE: Another man who tested positive for the coronavirus infected 14 healthy people in Jhelum, showing the scale of negligence in handling patients carrying the virus. Meanwhile, a young patient died in Lahore and two elderly people in Rawalpindi on Monday. A 40-year-old man who succumbed to the virus at the Mayo Hospital was brought from Okara. He tested positive for the Covid-19 during treatment at the Mayo Hospital. Meanwhile, 45 new patients tested positive for the Covid-19 in Punjab on Monday, taking the tally of confirmed cases to 638 all over the province. According to official figures, total number of confirmed patients of Covid-19 reached 126 in Lahore after 10 new people tested positive for the virus. Nankana Sahib reported 11 new confirmed cases, Gujrat seven and Rawalpindi 12. On Monday, Hafizabad (five) and Kasur (one) reported confirmed cases for the first time. With the addition of two new cities, the virus has spread to 21 districts of Punjab so far. Of them, La

The PML-N has criticised the response of the government towards the coronavirus pandemic. The party leaders held a meeting on Monday via video link. It was chaired by Opposition Leader Shehbaz Sharif. Shehbaz said that the prime minister cares more about the opposition and media than the country’s people. They expressed their concerns over the way the funds for coronavirus are being distributed among the people. The PML-N has asked for the formation of a parliamentary committee to look into the distribution of funds. Shehbaz remarked that the Corono Relief Tigers Force is nothing but a sham. The government should’ve asked the relevant authorities to come into force, he added. At a time of crisis, the PM has dissolved the country’s biggest authorities on medicine, he said while referring to the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council. from SAMAA https://ift.tt/343HZrd

Hollywood megastar Tom Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson are back home in Los Angeles after two weeks in hospital and self-isolation in Australia where they contracted the coronavirus. “Hey, Folks… We’re home now and, like the rest of America, we carry on with sheltering in place and social distancing,” the multiple Oscar-winning actor tweeted at the weekend. “Many, many thanks to everyone in Australia who looked after us,” he added. “Their care and guidance made possible our return to the USA. And many thanks to all of you who reached out with well wishes. Rita and I so appreciate it.” Hanks was on Australia’s Gold Coast to film an Elvis Presley biopic when he and Wilson, both 63, came down with the disease. The pair were admitted to hospital, where they were treated before being released into self-isolation. Wilson took to Instagram on Sunday to celebrate being a “Covid-19 survivor,” saying she was taking time to reflect on her good fortune and her continued good health after suffe

The US death toll from the coronavirus pandemic passed 3,000 on Monday, according to the running tally compiled by the Johns Hopkins University, with more than 163,000 confirmed cases. The United States has recorded 3,008 deaths, according to the tally, while its 163,429 cases are by far the highest national number ahead of Italy, Spain and China. President Donald Trump has been criticized for an initially slow response by the federal government to the now-accelerating pandemic spread. Harrowing scenes from hospitals in New York and elsewhere revealed a health system unprepared with basic supplies such as face masks, as well as life-saving devices like respirators. On Sunday, Trump cancelled his plans to re-open much of the country by Easter — April 12 — and extended social distancing guidelines until the end of April after his top scientists confronted him with data on the rising coronavirus crisis. Trump said America’s death rate was likely to increase for two weeks, describing

The government of Panama on Monday announced strict quarantine measures that separate citizens by gender in an effort to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus. From Wednesday, men and women will only be able to leave their homes for two hours at a time, and on different days. Until now, quarantine regulations were not based on gender. Men will be able to go to the supermarket or the pharmacy on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, and women will be allowed out on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. No one will be allowed to go out on Sundays. The new measures will last for 15 days. “This absolute quarantine is for nothing more than to save your life,” security minister Juan Pino said at a press conference. According to Pino, more than 2,000 people were detained last week for not abiding by the quarantine. Since the first case was reported on March 10, Panama has confirmed 1,075 cases of the coronavirus, 43 of which are in intensive care, and 27 deaths. from SAMAA https://ift.t

CHAGAI: Local authorities have decided to disinfect Taftan town and screen all local residents who work as daily wage earners for coronavirus so that they could be used for assisting the local administration in facilitating Pakistanis returning from Iran through the Taftan border. The decision was taken at a meeting held at the town committee rest house in Taftan on Monday. Presided over by Balo­chistan government’s focal person on the coronavirus prevention Mir Umair Mohammad Hasni, the meeting was attended by Secretary of Communications and Works Noor-ul-Ameen Mengal, Com­missioner of Rakhshan Division Ayaz Mandokhail, Chagai Deputy Commis­sio­ner Agha Sher Zaman, Additional Deputy Commissioner Javed Domki, Taftan Assistant Commissioner Mohammad Waris, Frontier Corps Taftan Rifles wing commander Lieutenant Colonel Waqar Ahmed and others. The meeting reviewed affairs related to the Taftan border and the coronavirus outbreak. It thoroughly discussed arrangem­ents made for quarantine

DOHA: Millions of migrant workers across the Gulf face uncertainty as host countries announce lockdowns, employers withhold wages or mull redundancies, and strict coronavirus containment measures lead to deportations and confinement. “We’ve been in lockdown for the last eight to 10 days, we don’t know when it will end,” said a 27-year-old Pakistani engineer in Qatar beginning a second week under mandatory quarantine. “The basic issue we are facing now is groceries. The government is providing us with food but only after some days — and little things only.” He is among tens of thousands of workers strictly confined to Doha’s Industrial Area after dozens in the blue-collar district tested positive for Covid-19. Advocacy groups, including Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Amnesty, warn that cramped accommodation and inadequate sanitation endanger migrant workers across the Gulf, who may not have access to healthcare. They also face salaries going unpaid and arbitrary dismissal or deportati

WASHINGTON: Pakistani physicians based in the United States are being asked to finance the purchase of ventilators from China to help their country of origin amid the coronavirus outbreak, said an embassy official on Monday. “They are on the forefront in the fight against this disease in the United States and are also willing to do whatever they can to help the country of their origin,” Pakistan ambassador Asad Majeed Khan told Dawn. Like the rest of the international community, Pakistan also needs medical supplies, particularly ventilators, to deal with this crisis, as it has only a few thousands of these life-saving instruments. One option was to urge the US government to send some ventilators to Pakistan. “But we realise that there’s an acute shortage of ventilators in the United States as well,” he said. “So, we are asking Pakistani physicians and others to finance the purchase of ventilators from China.” APPNA, an organisation representing Pakistani physicians in North America

ISLAMABAD: The United Nations is likely to add Pakistan to its humanitarian appeal for helping it fight the pandemic and mitigate its impact on the country. UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Pakistan Julien Frederic Morcom-Harneis in a meeting with Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi at the Foreign Office on Monday sought a joint proposal from Pakistan’s health ministry and National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) for inclusion in the proposal. “The UN is making a call for relief assistance for Pakistan. They require a joint proposal from the health ministry and NDMA for the call for assistance,” Mr Qureshi told Dawn after the meeting. He assured the UN official that the government would extend all cooperation in the preparation of the appeal. UN Secretary General António Guterres and heads of UN agencies had on March 25 launched a $2 billion global humanitarian response plan (GHRP) for Covid-19, aimed at helping countries with weak health systems avoid the worst

KARACHI: The government has launched a “WhatsApp Corona Helpline” to combat misinformation and deliver updates on the country’s most popular messaging service. Starting Monday, WhatsApp users across the country can reach out to the health ministry on +923001111166 for credible information, awareness resources, latest statistics, or finding the nearest lab for testing. To contact the helpline, citizens should save the WhatsApp number in their phone, and then start a chat by typing “Hi” and sending it to the number, which will prompt them to either type in a query or choose from a list of frequently asked questions. Depending on the question, users will receive verified information in the form of a video, or text or link. The WhatsApp helpline provides information in Urdu and six regional languages, including Punjabi, Sindhi, Pashto, Balochi and Kashmiri. The technology answers questions about novel coronavirus, its symptoms, ways to protect yourself, risk assessment, educative videos