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Volume 25 | Number 8246

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BUSINESS | 01 PENMAG | 06 SPORT | 09

US women

lose football

equal pay

case

Classifieds

and Services

section

included

QIC issues $300m

in subordinated

Tier 2 capital

notes

Ramadan Timing

Today's Iftar:6:08pm

Tomorrow's Imask:03:23

Ashghal wins two global safety awardsTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

The Public Works Authority’s Roads Projects Department has won two International Safety Awards with a Merit from the British Safety Council in recog-nition of its commitment to keeping its workers and work-places healthy and safe during the 2019 calendar year.

Eng. Saoud Al Tamimi, Manager of Roads Projects Department, pointed out that the two awards reflect Ash-ghal’s commitment to Health and Safety in its construction projects and the leading position that Ashghal plays in the Qatari construction industry in terms of spreading awareness and best H&S practices.

He said: “This is of great importance to RPD especially that we rely on local contractors and thus cooperating with them

to raise the H&S performance in our worksites means a better H&S performance elsewhere in Qatar.”

Eng. Saoud also pointed out at the role played by the Projects Affairs and its core H&S team in managing and raising H&S performance for a l l d e l i v e r y - r e l a t e d departments.

He added: “The Interna-tional Safety Awards won by RPD are part of many awards won by Ashghal during the last few years and this is not a coin-cidence. It is a result of well-implemented strategies set by Ashghal’s leadership and nur-tured on the Affairs level.”

Al Tamimi said the two projects that won the awards are the Roads and Infra-structure Project in Doha Industrial Area (Package 3) and the Roads and Infrastructure Project in West Muaither (Package 3).

It is worth noting that for the last 62 years, the Interna-tional Safety Awards scheme has been recognising and cel-ebrating organisations from around the world, which have demonstrated to the satis-faction of the scheme’s inde-pendent judges their com-mitment to preventing work-place injuries and work-related ill health. �P3

Over 100,000 tested for COVID-19; total active cases at 13,326THE PENINSULA — DOHA

The Ministry of Public Health yesterday announced 776 confirmed new cases of COVID-19, and 98 new recovered cases, bringing the total number of recovered cases to 1,534 in Qatar.

The total number of positive COVID-19 cases recorded in Qatar stands at 14,872 and there are 13,326 active cases cur-rently under treatment. So far, 12 people have died from the COVID-19 in Qatar.

The Ministry conducted 4,002 tests yesterday taking the total tests done so far to 101,728 tests.

The Ministry in a statement has explained that most of the new cases are due to expatriate workers who have been infected with the virus as a result of contact with indi-viduals who have been previ-ously infected — theses cases have been identified as a result of investigations carried out by the Ministry.

The remainder of new cases infected with the virus have come from citizens and resi-dents who have contracted the virus from members of their families, who in turn had con-tracted the virus through their workplaces or other places where they had been exposed to infected people.

All the new infected cases have been quarantined where they are receiving medical care.

The Ministry also stated that during the current period it expects to see a fluctuation in the number of cases of infection. This is for several reasons including that the out-break of the virus is considered to be at the peak stage before the numbers of infections start to descend gradually.

The Ministry has also recently stepped up efforts to track the transitional chains of the virus and expand the search for people infected by con-ducting extensive and proactive investigations of large numbers

of contacts with people who have recently been confirmed with the disease.

The number of tests carried out will always depend on the number of contacts a positive patient has had which therefore has an impact on the number of positive cases reported daily.

The Ministry said that people with the virus do not show any symptoms of the disease, and their positive status is identified thanks to the early tests conducted by spe-cialised teams, in order to provide early care to them and reduce the risk of them trans-ferring the virus to other people. �P2

New campaign to curb traffic violationsTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

The General Directorate of Traffic, represented by the Investigations Department of the Patrols and Traffic Inves-tigation Section, has launched a traffic inspection campaign to curb traffic violations and wrong traffic behaviours, as well as to enhance security and safety requirements on the roads.

The Department, taking action against severe traffic violations, has seized tens of vehicles, said First Lieutenant Saad Talal Al Rumaihi. He said that this drive came in the framework of the depart-ment’s efforts to achieve the highest levels of traffic safety and reduce traffic accidents, deaths and severe injuries resulting from them. �P2

Depts leverage technology to keep public informedSACHIN KUMAR THE PENINSULA

At a time when people are confined to their homes, government departments are leveraging digital communi-cation to keep citizens and resi-dents abreast of latest infor-mation about their ongoing programmes and services.

Various government entities have sent over 8.9 million text messages to people during the first quarter of this year.

The departments in several ministries like the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, the Ministry of Public Health, the Ministry of Education and Higher Education, and the Min-istry of Transport and Commu-nications are using various digital modes of communi-cation to convey messages and disseminate information to cit-

izens and residents. “8,939,034 SMSs by gov-

ernment entities via SMS Gateway during the first quarter of 2020,” said Ministry of Transport and Communications in a tweet.

Overcoming the challenges posed by COVID- 19 outbreak, the government departments are making maximum use of digital technology. Apart from using Internet, they are also using text messages which are simple and convenient for users. For example, the Ministry of Edu-cation and Higher Education, along with using other modes of digital communication, is using text messages under its distance learning system.

The Primary Health Care Corporation (PHCC) came on the top in terms of sending mes-sages. The corporation sent around 1.8 million such

messages to the public during the first quarter of the year.

The General Authority of Customs sent around 1 million messages, while the Ministry of Transport and Communications sent around over 743,000 mes-sages during the first quarter of

this year. The Ministry of Education

and Higher Education sent around 640,000 messages while the Ministry of Commerce and Industry sent around 310,500 such messages during the first quarter of this year.

Other departments sent around 4.4 million messages to public regarding important information and updates.

“2,100 transactions con-ducted by Land Transport Sector in the first quarter of 2020,” said The Ministry of Transport and Communications in a tweet. “2,105 transactions conducted by Maritime Transport Affairs in the first quarter of 2020,” it said in another tweet.

The Government Contact Center, through its Hotline, 109, offers support services for the public and answers their inquiries relating to all gov-ernment services.

The center, one of the largest government contact centers in the Gulf region, has become an important platform for providing information related to several government entities. �P3

HMC delegation visits medical production line Members of a delegation from the Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) — led by Dr. Ahmed Al Mohammed, Senior Consultant Pulmonary Medicine, Vice-Chair for Education and Training, and DoM Program Director — are being briefed about medical production line of the Qatar Scientific Club during the delegation’s visit to the Club yesterday.

3,408,869 242,296 1,083,533TOTAL POSITIVE TOTAL DEATHS TOTAL RECOVERED

COVID-19 GLOBALLY

77698 13,326 1,534

0

NEW CASES

ANNOUNCED

NEW

RECOVERIES

ACTIVE

CASES

TOTAL

RECOVERIES

NEW

DEATHS

COVID-19 QATAR UPDATES ON 02 MAY 2020

109

Various government entities sent over 8.9 million text messages to people during the first quarter of this year.

Primary Health Care Corporation sent around 1.8 million messages to respond to and inform the public on health-related issues.

Ashghal’s Roads Projects Department conducted 1,098 worker welfare inspections and managed to medically screen around 21,600 workers last year.

Qatar eyes new medicine showing positive results in COVID-19 treatment

SANAULLAH ATAULLAH THE PENINSULA

Qatar is eyeing to bring a new medicine which has shown potentially effective results in the treatment of COVID-19 patients during trials, said a health official.

“Recently some results of the experiments which were conducted by the US on using a new medicine called ‘Rem-desivir’ for coronavirus patients were found effective somehow,” said Dr. Abdul Latif Al Khal, Head of the Infectious Diseases Division at Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) while speaking to Qatar TV yesterday.

He said that the new med-icine which is administered through veins of critical cases of coronavirus showed help in alleviating the symptoms of disease in the patients in 11 days instead of 15 days and the mor-tality rate also reduced from 11 percent to 8 percent.

“We are awaiting more results and details of the exper-iments on the new medicine and also awaiting when this medicine is made available to buy and provide to the patients in Qatar,” said Dr. Al Khal.

He said that there are a

number of medicines which are being used for the treatment of coronavirus patients and the medicine is being given when needed.

“However, cases that do not show the symptoms or carrying very mild symptoms are not given medicines of corona-virus,” said Dr. Al Khal.

He said that the patients suffering from coronavirus severely with symptoms like high temperatures and breathing problems are being given medicines like hydroxy-chloroquine, azithromycin and others which help in treatment and recovery.

Dr. Al Khal called upon people to not come out from homes at the time when the positive cases are on spike except in the cases of utmost need. He said that people should wear face masks while going out and interacting with others. “They are also needed to keep sanitising their hands and keep safe distance, at least two meters, especially when they are in public places like shopping complexes,” he added. He said that Qatar is tracing and screening all cases which came in the contacts of the confirmed positive cases of coronavirus. �P3

Amir holds

telephone talk

with Tunisian

President

QNA — DOHA

Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani held yesterday via telephone a conversation with Pres-ident of the Republic of Tunisia, H E Kais Saied, during which His Excel-lency expressed his thanks and appreciation for the urgent medical aid, partic-ularly the field hospital, provided by the State of Qatar to help the Tunisian brothers contain the COVID-19 epidemic.

Bilateral relations and m e a n s o f t h e i r enhancement were also discussed during the call.

02 SUNDAY 3 MAY 2020HOME

Qatar Charity Ramadan campaign covers over 30 countriesSIDI MOHAMED THE PENINSULA

Abdulaziz Jassim Haji (pictured), Director of Customer Service Management at Qatar Charity, said that Qatar Charity is running its Ramadan campaign in more than 30 countries around the world including Qatar.

“The drive’s cost is more than QR120m and it includes Iftar meals, Eid aids and the distribution of Zakat Al Fitr. The number of those targeted people is about 2.4 million, depending on the donations of the people,” said Haji.

The drive this year is under

the slogan “Calm Your Heart by Giving”, which is an invitation for compassion and giving that will enter happiness and joy to the affected people from coro-navirus, and others who will benefit from these charitable

programmes, he said.Speaking to Qatar TV, he

pointed out that “The campaign includes three important pro-grammes, which are Iftar meals and distribution of food baskets, in addition to the Eid aids and the distribution of Zakat Al Fitr, in addition to aid for the people affected more by coronavirus crisis.

He also said that about 70 percent of Qatar’s social and health programmes are pro-vided by volunteers, and that is why the role of volunteers during this crisis is very important. Volunteers are the ones who prepared 100,000 health bags that Qatar Charity

distributed as part of the pro-grammes to limit the spread of coronavirus.

Haji further said that “Qatar Charity has launched an elec-tronic link in partnership with Al Meera to deliver food aid to needy families through easy app. People can register through Qatar Charity website to get aid quickly.

Qatar Charity has taken into consideration public safety and precautionary measures in the implementation of its Ramadan projects to fight the corona-virus, as it prepares and packs meals in the municipal kitchens to ensure that they will remain safe and clean, he said.

Qatar Charity recently also provided a consignment of food items to the Embassy of the United Republic of Tanzania in Doha for about 200 households of Tanzanian community in Qatar.

The food items, provided by Qatar Charity (QC), included rice, flour, salt, sugar, milk, pasta, cooking oil and beans.

Besides the donations through the embassies, Qatar Charity is providing a food basket to workers also. It has distributed many food baskets during this crisis to workers, and until now over 45,000 food b a s k e t s h a v e b e e n distributed.

Blood pressure patients more at risk from COVID-19: ExpertQNA — DOHA

Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) has cautioned that patients with high blood pressure may be at greater risk of developing severe complica-tions if they are infected with COVID-19), and they must take more preventive measures to prevent this infection.

Dr. Mawahib Ali El Hassan, Acting Director of the Coronary Intensive Care Unit (CICU) at HMC’s Heart Hospital said patients who have high blood pressure may be more suscep-tible to complications from COVID-19 and should take extra precautions to avoid contracting

the virus.“We don’t yet fully under-

stand why people with poor car-diovascular health and high blood pressure seem to be at higher risk for more severe illness from this virus, but what we do know is that COVID-19 puts a strain on the lungs and this also burdens the heart. For this reason, it is extra important that anyone who has poor car-diovascular health takes extra precautions,” said Dr. El Hassan.

“COVID-19 is a new corona-virus so we are still learning about its pathology, including how it attacks the body. Available data from China, where the virus originated,

seems to indicate that indi-viduals with cardiovascular disease and hypertension are among those who experienced worse outcomes. We strongly encourage people with these conditions to exercise a greater degree of prevention and pro-tection,” said Dr. El Hassan.

Dr. El Hassan has said that high blood pressure means the heart must work harder to pump blood around the body. She said high blood pressure causes the arteries that supply blood and oxygen to the heart to lose their elasticity and narrow, which places individuals with the con-dition at an increased risk for a heart attack. She said patients

with high blood pressure should not panic but they should ensure they follow their doctor’s instructions and take extra pre-cautions to prevent contracting the virus.

“It’s normal for people to feel concerned, especially if they have a preexisting medical con-dition. My advice for any patients with high blood pressure is to follow prevention guidelines around personal hygiene and social distancing, which includes avoiding places where they might encounter crowds, like busy grocery stores. They should also continue to follow whatever direction they’ve been given by their doctor, including taking

any prescribed medications. It is also really important for people to ensure they are getting information about COVID-19 from reliable sources, like the Ministry of Public Health and the World Health Organization (WHO),” said Dr. El Hassan.

Dr. El Hassan says defensive steps everyone can take to prevent the spread of COVID-19 include avoiding people who are sick, thoroughly washing hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, avoid touching eyes, nose, and mouth with unclean hands, and frequently cleaning surfaces touched often, like doorknobs, handles, steering wheels, and light switches.

QSC increases production to back effort to fight COVID-19 THE PENINSULA — DOHA

The Qatar Scientific Club (QSC) has established integrated production lines within digital manufacturing laboratories to design and manufacture protective medical equipment for medical staff working in the first line of defence to curb the spread of COVID-19, and other entities fighting against the epidemic.

This is part of the Qatar Sci-entific Club’s initiatives to support the state’s efforts to combat the spread of corona-virus. A delegation from Hamad Medical Corporation’s (HMC) Crisis Prevention Committee visited the Qatar Scientific Club recently.

For his part, Engineer Rashid Al Rahimi, Executive Director of the Qatar Scientific Club, said: “The club, under the umbrella of the Ministry of Culture and Sports, welcomes all authorities in the country and it is ready to share its expe-riences with them.”

Regarding the emergency

situation that Qatar and other countries of world are going through, he said that the club sensed from the early days of the spread of the coronavirus that it was needed to play a role so taking the responsibility, the club designed several models of face masks and protectors.

He also said that several parties, including the Hamad Medical Corporation and the Qatar Red Crescent Society, contacted the club to see these products. “These visits were positive. They saw the club’s capabilities. We presented face protectors to the specialist doctors seeking their feedback before starting to manufacture to meet the need,” said Al Rahimi. He said that after the

launch of the experimental phase the manufacturing process has started, where an integrated production line has been established for this purpose within the digital man-ufacturing factories in the club to meet the needs of the medical sector.

“As much as 1,000 medical face protectors will be provided for the Hamad Medical Corpo-ration as a first phase,” said Al Rahimim.

He said that this medical equipment is a 100 percent Qatari product, where the engi-neers specialized in the club are working to provide the best possible solutions in this aspect according to the available capa-bilities. “We plan to increase

production lines in view of the local demand with the possi-bility of exporting abroad if required in cooperation with the authorities competent and this is the club’s role in standing with the first line of defense and state agencies to limit the spread of the coronavirus,” said Al Rahimi.

He added that this cooper-ation between the Qatar

Scientific Club and the various medical authorities comes to achieve the goals of the club, and out of social responsibility to serve the Qatari community, especially at this time of crisis.

Dr. Ahmed Ali Al Muhammad from Hamad Medical Corporation, during his visit to the club said: “We got acquainted with club’s various departments and the extent of

its ability to provide some medical supplies required at the present time, such as the medical face protector needed by the medical staff to face the threat of coronavirus.”

He said that the club has the ability to manufacture a lot of things because it has engineers with experience in various fields such as mechanics, digital man-ufacturing and electronics.

The members of the delegation from Hamad Medical Corporation during a discussion about the medical production line of the Qatar Scientific Club while visiting the club, yesterday.

QRCS provides host of services inand outside Qatar worth QR60mQNA — DOHA

The Secretary-General of Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS) Ali bin Hassan Al Hammadi stressed that prep-arations are in place for the Ramadan charity campaign.

He noted that QRCS launched the campaign more than 18 years ago, and will continue to deliver despite the difficult circumstances related to COVID-19. He added that the organisation provided a wide range of services inside and outside the State of Qatar worth QR60m for more than a million people.

Some of those projects included Iftar meals, clothes for Al Eid, Zakat as well as developmental projects that take place during the holy month and after it.

Al Hammadi discussed in a press statement the efforts of QRCS’ efforts amidst the coro-navirus epidemic in terms of

serving the people. He stressed that the organisation is more determined than ever to com-plete their Ramadan projects. He said that they plan to carry out projects in 22 countries, where they will help the poor of all races and ethnicities. He added that this year’s cam-paign will have more than 200 projects inside and outside Qatar that aim to support sus-tainable development efforts.

He noted that the projects will target needy families and migrant workers affected by the coronavirus crisis, as its Humanitarian Services Fund provides more than 6,000 food baskets to families registered with the social assistance pro-grams. It also has 1,500 food baskets that it will distribute to workers using modern tech-nologies, and stressed that the top priority will be to imple-menting the precautionary measures. There is also a hotline dedicated to receiving

requests regarding food support.

He said that the only change to charitable work this Ramadan was not organizing tents to hold iftar for people in need. Instead, Qatar Red Crescent Society distributed food meals to workers before the sunset prayer.

Al Hammadi said that people in Qatari are committed to doing good deeds and char-itable work, which is why they don’t hesitate to donate money regardless of the conditions. The Regulatory Authority for Charitable Activities has also contributed to Qatar Red Crescent Society support, by providing the facilities and licenses necessary to launch the organization’s humani-tarian projects since the beginning of the response to the coronavirus. He also noted that the Qatar Red Crescent Society have provided different means for making donations.

"The club sensed from the early days of the spread of the coronavirus that it was needed to play a role so taking the responsibility, the club designed several models of face masks and protectors," said Rashid Al Rahimi.

Over 100,000 tested

for COVID-19;

total active

cases at 13,326

FROM PAGE 1

Also, many of the recorded cases experience mild symptoms and do not require any medical intervention, but are quarantined and are pro-vided medical care and support. However, it is important to continue to remember that COVID-19 can be severe for the elderly as well as those with chronic diseases.

The Ministry has also called on all members of society to stay at home and not go out except in cases of necessity and to implement preventive measures and maintain physical distancing, including in the workplace and public places.

New campaign to

curb traffic

violationsFROM PAGE 1

Al Rumaihi said that the General Traffic Department used to organise this campaign annually during the holy month of Ramadan to control traffic violations, indicating that the campaign will con-tinue until the end of the holy month of Ramadan.

He said that the campaign particularly focuses on some traffic violations, including vehicles making loud noise, especially in residential areas.

The Department also works to control many other violations such as speed vio-lations, reckless driving, and drifting. Al Rumaihi said that the legal procedures will be adopted against the violators.

He stressed that the General Directorate of Traffic works around the clock to receive complaints from the public, calling on everyone to communicate with the department through commu-nication numbers and imme-diately report any wrong traffic behaviour. He said that the traffic patrols are spread in all internal and external roads to control traffic, with a focus on areas with more com-plaints. Al Rumaihi called on the drivers to abide by the traffic rules, and not to endanger their lives and the lives of others, stressing the importance of safe driving, indicating that traffic patrols are deployed in all regions of the country to reduce traffic violations, and provide support to drivers in emer-gency situations.

Endangered Hawksbill Turtle Conservation Project continues well THE PENINSULA — DOHA

The Ministry of Municipality and Environment (MME), repre-sented by the Department of Protection and Wildlife, has affirmed that the Endangered Hawksbill Turtle Conservation Project continues well, while taking all precautions that guarantee the safety of the project team.

This project, which began in 2003, is considered one of the Ministry’s most important projects and programmes in the field of preserving the marine environment, within the context of the State of Qatar’s efforts to conserve endangered species.

The Ministry noted that the field work in the project wit-nessed during the past weeks an acceleration of nesting oper-ations and achieving record

numbers compared to previous years with the same date, where (48 nests) were trans-ferred to the nests protected site in Fuwairet beach, taking the necessary measurements for turtles, cleaning them from snails and treating fatigue and some wounds with them and returning them to the sea.

The turtle protection project is implemented under the supervision of the Ministry and funded by Qatar Petroleum (QP). Implemented by the Envi-ronmental Science Center of Qatar University, in cooper-ation with a team from the Department of Protection and Wildlife, teh project covers the north-eastern beaches in the country, including (Ras Laffan Beach, Hawilah, Al Jassassiya, Marwah, Fuwairit, Al Gharia, Al-Mafeer), and the islands of (Umm Tais and Ras Rukn).

FAJR SUNRISE 03.34 am 04.57 am

W A L R U WA I S : 25o↗ 30o W A L K H O R : 25o↗ 33o W D U K H A N : 26o↗ 34o W WA K R A H : 24o↗ 36o W M E S A I E E D 24o↗ 36o W A B U S A M R A 25o↗ 40o

PRAYER TIMINGS WEATHER TODAY

HIGH TIDE 00:40–13:30 LOW TIDE 08:41 – 18:55

Partly cloudy with a chance of scattered rain may be thundery at times at places at first and slight dust,

Minimum Maximum24oC 37oC

ZUHRMAGHRIB

11.31 am06.08 pm

ASR ISHA

02.59 pm07.38 pm

03SUNDAY 3 MAY 2020 HOME

QF webinar urges individuals to reduce food wastageFAZEENA SALEEM THE PENINSULA

Qatar Green Building Council (QGBC) of Qatar Foundation (QF) has hosted a webinar to discuss easy methods that can be incorporated into daily life-styles to reduce food wastage, in the present pandemic situ-ation.

Experts discussed methods of responsible shopping and how governments make policies to reduce food wastage.

The webinar featured Nodoka Nakamichi, Co-Founder/Marketing and PR Manager, QUBE; Kim Wyatt, TV

Presenter and Food Writer & Co-Director; and Aisha Al Maadeed, Founder, Greener Future at the webinar. The dis-cussion was led by Ruba Hinnawi, Technical Coordinator QGBC.

Food wastage accounts for around 7-10 percent of global greenhouse gases, according to the Food and Agriculture Organ-ization of the United Nations. And, in Qatar alone, nearly 60 percent of the total domestic waste is organic, and comes from within the home.

In the backdrop of this situ-ation, when COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic

— and nations began locking down — stockpiling goods became a worldwide issue, and in turn many perishables were wasted.

Nakamichi said that the freezer can be our best friend. “If you can see that things are going to go off, put it in your freezer. I think people will be surprised with the amount of things you can actually freeze for later consumption.”

Wyatt also spoke in the same lines and said that people should utilize their freezer – it’s as it is great way of reducing food wastage.

“And saving money, too. The

other plus on reducing food wastage and storing it well is that you will save money, reducing your food bill and reducing the amount of times you need to go to the super-market,” she added.

Another key topic within the discussion was about holy month of Ramadan, which started last week, and how, because of COVID-19, the world is experiencing a new side of the holy month, including smaller tables and no gatherings.

“Statistically, Ramadan is one of the peak times of the year for excess food wastage, and I think that’s certainly a cultural

part of society, because food is love. And like any celebration, we want to share with our guests; we want to show our appreciation and our love. And it’s prevalent throughout dif-ferent cultures around the world, be it birthdays, weddings, or other occasions,” said Wyatt.

While, AlMaadeed suggested solutions such as portion control and asking family members what they would like for Iftar ahead of preparing meals.

The panellists also addressed how to choose produce at supermarkets high-lighted the importance of sea-sonal buying. “Things that are

in season have the least carbon footprint because there is less storage. Buy local produce. Qatar is doing a great job at growing vegetables locally — they’re expanding every week, growing so many different vari-eties. I think the most important thing we can do is support the local market,” said Nakamichi.

Panellists also called for new government policies and legis-lation by citing South Korea, which has reduced the nation’s food wastage immensely. But the panellists agreed that reducing food wastage is about individuals taking small, sus-tainable steps.

Youth Hobbies Center launches Ramadan photography contest SANAULLAH ATAULLAH THE PENINSULA

The Youth Hobbies Center at the Ministry of Culture and Sports has launched a photog-raphy competition on Ramadan theme for all resi-dents, including citizens and expatriates.

The competition ‘Ram-adania’ will cover all activities; meals, clothes and customs related to the holy month of Ramadan. The announcement of the photography compe-tition was made on its official website.

The winner of the first place will receive QR5,000 . The second place winner will get QR3,000 and the prize money of third place is QR2,000.

A contestant is allowed to participate with seven pictures.

The photos are required to be sent to Wetransfer website through email y.h.c.qatar@gamial.com in JPEG format with high quality dpi 300. The Youth Hobbies Center set the deadline for receiving the entry until May 30, 2020. Regarding the term and condition for par-ticipation, the entries should be related to the competition and the given theme.

The participants should own the photos, and they should pledge to obtain the approvals from the people in the submitted photographs and allow their publication in all social networking sites and all publications.

The participating photo-graphs should not win in pre-vious competitions, provided that each photographer has the right to participate in a number of no more than 7 photos.

As per the conditions of participation, the framed pho-tographs or those contain texts or signature will not be accepted.

The Youth Hobbies Center has right to use the partici-pating photographs while pre-serving the intellectual property right of the owner of the photos.

The Youth Hobbies Center run by the Ministry of Culture and Sports aims to nurture and spread hobbies in all fields.

It works to improve hobbies of youngsters, and to provide the appropriate con-ditions for their development by scientific, technical and educational methods and means.

The centre also helps create ways and means for its members to exercise these hobbies in an appropriate way.

Social media, technology and COVID-19: View from QCRI scientistsTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

From disseminating important information to assisting in poten-tially life-saving research and development, various forms of technology have a leading role in Qatar’s and the wider world’s response to COVID-19.

Experts from Qatar Com-puting Research Institute (QCRI) at Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU) outline how social media platforms are tackling the spread of false information, AI’s contri-bution to research activities, and more. According to Dr. Kareem Darwish, a principal scientist at QCRI’s Arabic Language Tech-nologies, and Dr. Faisal Farooq, Head of Digital Health research at QCRI, false information con-cerning COVID-19 includes con-spiracy theories, fake cures and questionable political motiva-tions. Popular conspiracies include suggestions that symptoms are caused by sarin gas and that 5G towers are behind the genetic mutation of the virus. Other theories claim that COVID-19 is a hoax designed to subdue and track people, or the work of a secret cabal bent on eliminating populations to save the environment. The effects o f s u c h r u m o r s

include the creation of a sense of helplessness and complacency among communities.

Social media is currently awash with outlandish cures and remedies for COVID-19. It’s been claimed, for example, that alcohol, tobacco and even cow’s urine are useful for treating symptoms. The politicization of COVID-19 is equally – if not more – controversial. For instance, supporters of Donald Trump ini-tially pushed the narrative that liberals were exaggerating the effects of the virus to undermine support for the US President. Similarly, followers of Narendra Modi have attributed the spread of COVID-19 around India to the Muslim missionary group Tableeghi Jaamat after some of its members tested positive fol-lowing a religious gathering.

Social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube have consistently pointed users to the World Health Organization (WHO) website for reliable information concerning COVID-19. Our research also highlights that many social media users have been actively dispelling rumors and discrediting sources. This is a positive sign, says Dr. Darwish and Dr. Farooq.

“We’ve also observed that open social media platforms have been more successful in reducing fake news and rumors than their messaging counter-parts, such as WhatsApp. Simi-larly, many of these platforms have created dedicated aggre-gators that distill information from articles, news and organi-zational posts while providing access to reliable information in a consolidated manner. None-theless, some rumors have made their way around social media at an alarming rate. You know you are in trouble when you receive the same video mentioning a specific rumor or conspiracy theory multiple times on

WhatsApp,” they said. Similarly, under the compas-

sionate use criteria many exper-imental drugs - or drugs approved for other diseases - are being tested on patients. This is resulting in a large number of trials, vast amounts of literature and the generation of new clinical data. AI and other data mining technologies are being utilized to generate insights from this data to answer high priority scientific questions. For example, the COVID-19 Open Research Dataset (CORD19) released by various organisations is now part of a strategic call to the scientific community from the White House for contributions. This

includes the discovery of novel treatments or the off-label use of approved medicines, says Dr. Darwish and Dr. Farooq.

Also artificial Intelligence is being applied to various aspects of the pandemic. For instance, China has deployed an AI radi-ology tool that uses CT images to diagnose COVID-19. This helped the country to overcome a shortage of test kits, which oth-erwise remains the standard practice within the scientific community. Variants of AI tech-nology were also used to identify and track possible outbreaks and disease clusters, as well as patients entering quarantine and self-isolation.

“Researchers are also using AI to identify novel and existing drug candidates based on molecular structure and protein interactions. While this does not obviate the need for lab testing, it significantly speeds up can-didate generation. Elsewhere, research is ongoing into a data-driven approach to predict various end points like severity, length of recovery and mortality. If successful, this approach will prove extremely useful in situa-tions where proper resource uti-lisation is critical,” says Dr. Darwish and Dr. Farooq.

Dr. Faisal Farooq (left) and Dr. Kareem Darwish

Qatari medical aid arrives in TunisiaQNA — TUNIS

In implementation of the direc-tives of Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani to send urgent medical aid from Qatar in support to the efforts made

by the sisterly Republic of Tunisia in combating the coro-navirus (COVID-19), a Qatari plane carrying urgent medical aid to combat COVID-19 epidemic arrived yesterday in Tozeur International Airport.

The aid includes a field hospital provided by the Qatari Ministry of Defence to the Tunisian Ministry of National Defence with an area of 10/80 meters that has a 100 beds and 20 ventilators.

The Qatari plane carrying urgent medical aid at Tozeur International Airport in Tunisia.

Ashghal wins two international safety awardsFROM PAGE 1

Mike Robinson, Chief Exec-utive of the British Safety Council, congratulated Ashghal on their success in winning two Interna-tional Safety Awards with a Merit: “The British Safety Council com-mends Ashghal on their achievement. The award is in rec-ognition of their commitment and efforts to keep their workforce free of injury and ill health.” “The vision of the British Safety Council is that no one should be injured or made ill through work – anywhere in the world. Real-ising it requires more than legis-lation; people and organisations committed to health and safety make it a reality and inspire others to create workplaces that are a key force for good,” he added.

Construction on the Roads and Infrastructure Project in Doha Industrial Area (Package 3) commenced in December 2017 and achieved 5.4 million LTI free man-hours in 2019. The project employs around 1,500 workers

hired by its main contractor, Qatar Building Company, and sub-contrctors. The project covers a network of urban roadways extending to 33 km approximately with an overall area of 23,340,000 square metres.

The main works include upgrading several arterial and collector roads, diversion and protection of existing electricity and water networks in addition to construction of a new com-bined storm water/groundwater drainage network and a foul sew-erage network. The works also include installation of street lighting, traffic signals and direc-tional signage.

The Roads and Infrastructure Project in West Muaither (Package 3) commenced in January 2019 and achieved 1.2 million LTI free man-hours in 2019, with 770 employed by the main contractor, Boom Con-struction. The project covers an area of approximately 1,940,000 square metres, and aims at

providing full infrastructure including roads, street lighting, landscaping and irrigation, surface water drainage, foul sewer, treated sewage effluent (TSE) system, and utilities including telecommunication networks, potable water and electricity networks.

Both the awarded projects implemented an effective H&S Management System in accordance with the require-ments established by the department. The core elements of this Management System included leadership commitment and demonstration, pro-active risk identification and man-agement process, training and competency enhancement pro-gramme and consultation and participation of all levels of per-sonnel in H&S matters, in addition to setting up H&S objectives and monitoring their achievement for ensuring continual improvement, sub-contractor appointment and control and regular management reviews. It is noteworthy that

RPD projects in 2019 conducted 1,098 worker welfare inspections, obtained licenses from the

Ministry of Public Health for 11 worker clinics and managed to get 90% of the workforce (around

21,600 workers) hired by its con-tractors medically screened for chronic diseases.

The Public Works Authority’s Roads Projects Department has won two International Safety Awards with a Merit from the British Safety Council in recognition of its commitment to keeping its workers and workplaces healthy and safe during the 2019 calendar year.

Qatar eyes new

medicine showing

positive results in

COVID-19 treatment

FROM PAGE 1

“The Ministry of Public Health dispatches immediately a medical team to the accom-modations and work places of infected people to screen all those came in their contacts,” said Dr. Al Khal. He said that sometime thousands of people of contacts were screened in a day which led to detect more cases which did not show any symptoms of coronavirus but if they were left without screening, they might cause spreading virus largely.

Depts leverage

technology to keep

public informedFROM PAGE 1

The centre receives around 4 million calls annually.

Part of Qatar Digital Gov-ernment initiatives, the centre offers services in nine lan-guages and covers 34 gov-ernment entities. It is open 24 hours, seven days a week, and receives calls on 109 from residents.

04 SUNDAY 3 MAY 2020HOME

QF’S QBG offers exciting activitiesTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

Qur’anic Botanic Garden (QBG) is offering the community the opportunity to partic-ipate in a wide range of exciting and educa-tional activities during the Holy month of Ramadan.

A member of Qatar Foundation, QBG houses a botanical garden that exhibits all the plant species mentioned in the Holy Qur’an, and in the Hadith and Sunnah (sayings & traditions of the Prophet Muhammad PBUH).

One of the highlights for keen botanists, agriculturalists, and gardeners throughout the month will be the chance to join in daily competitions and win prizes by answering questions on verses in the Holy Quran that relate to environmental and botanical ter-minology posed each day via QBG’s social media pages. In addition, those eager to learn more about QBG and botanical matters in general will be able to tune in to informative live Instagram sessions held throughout Ramadan that will highlight dif-ferent topics of interest relating to the garden and showcase its extensive library of botanical books and publications.

Among a range of botanically-themed activities planned to mark Ramadan are a program of seminars conducted via webinar. One will feature Mohammad Al Khater, a specialist in medicinal plants, alongside Ahmed ElGharib, Assistant researcher at QBG, and explore medicinal plants and the important role they play in human health. Another will focus on Food

Security during COVID-19, a timely pres-entation outlining the response of the agri-cultural sector to the epidemic with Nasser Al Khalaf, owner of one of Qatar’s biggest agricultural farms, alongside Mohamed Hassona, QBG’s horticulturist, plus repre-sentatives from the Ministry of Municipality and Environment.

Commenting on the activities, Fatima

Khulaifi, Project Director, QBG, said: “We are delighted to announce our program of botanically-themed activities for the Holy month of Ramadan. Thanks to modern technology and the enthusiasm of our team and guest speakers, we are able to share exciting daily competitions, and a range of educational, thought-provoking seminars and online activities.

Ooredoo ONE gives customers more as they stay safe at homeTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

To make it easier for customers to stay home in the ongoing COVID-19 situation, Ooredoo has announced that all Ooredoo ONE customers will receive, free of charge, double their home internet speeds until May 31, 2020.

Double speeds will be given to customers on all Ooredoo ONE plans - 50Mbps, 150Mbps, 500Mbps - auto-matically and customers need to take no action to receive the benefit.

As well as faster internet speeds, Ooredoo ONE TV cus-tomers will get an extra 12 family Arabic channels to enjoy during Ramadan and the ongoing COVID-19 stay-home situation. All new cus-tomers also receive free installation and a free Ooredoo ONE Wi-Fi device, saving them QR1,140, as well as the doubled internet speeds.

Ooredoo ONE is Ooredoo’s all-in-one home Wi-Fi and

entertainment package giving customers everything they need to access fast, reliable Wi-Fi and incredible enter-tainment in their home. Ooredoo ONE is provided over Qatar’s only national fibre network, into which the company has invested signif-icantly to ensure the highest quality service and lowest latency rates.

Sabah Rabiah Al-Kuwari, Director PR at Ooredoo, said: “We’re delighted to offer our customers much faster internet speeds while they stay safe at home, as well as extra entertainment for all the family during the holy month of Ramadan. We know Ooredoo ONE repre-sents a great package, with everything our customers need, and double internet speeds and extra enter-tainment will only enhance this offering. We hope these added benefits make it easier for our customers to stay home in this challenging time.”

Azym Technologies launches innovative app for small-scale businesses in GCCTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

Azym Technologies, a Qatar-based Cloud company based in Lusail, is making waves in Qatar and the Gulf region, through its innovative app called Azym CloudMail.

Azym Technologies, headed by a young Indian and IT entre-preneur Shafeek Kabeer (pictured), developed the app for companies in GCC region, Qatar in particular, using the most modern cloud technology including video conferencing and cloud-based storage, as an alternative to Zoom video con-ferencing application.

Azym Technologies is one of the leading cloud solutions provider in the Gulf region with more than 6,000 customers.

The Azym CloudMail app is

based on the Cloud technology which specializes in making various transactions easy in the area of video conferencing , email, live chat, and file sharing, to name a few, with the desktop computers and mobile applica-tions for small-scale industries.

At the time of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the number of companies allowing employees to work remotely is on the rise. And employees working from home are facing many challenges when it comes to mutual interactions across various departments. To meet their needs, the company stepped in and developed the app after seeing a significant rise in demand.

Azym Technologies helps small and medium enterprises to allow employees work from

home without losing produc-tivity. What makes Azym Tech-nologies app special is the fact that it helps customers to get the maximum benefits by spending minimum.

Shafeek Kabeer, the Founder and CEO of Azym Technologies, claims that this app can be used easily by people who are not even techies and this makes the product so special from others. This app helps companies to overcome various hazards caused by the COVID-19 outbreak and its ongoing shutdown restrictions and will help them to carry out the daily processes like produc-tivity, sales, and finance uninterruptedly.

“Internal communication is essential for companies, but it’s not always easy. And it’s even

harder when employees are working remotely,” says Shafeek Kabeer.

Azym CloudMail gives employees the possibility to vis-ualize who is working with who and what they are working on. By doing so, it helps workers find those in the company who can help them accomplish their task better.

Azym CloudMail helps com-panies to have an effective col-laboration (Cloud Email, Chat,

Audio/ Video Conference, Screen share, Cloud File Storage) for their workforce as majority of the employees work from home.

The multinational company, which has operations in the GCC countries, has already bagged the top place in the area of Cloud Technology. The company is now assisting around 6,000 companies in the Gulf region and has operation centres located in India and Morocco.

Shafeek Kabeer hails from Alappuzha in the South Indian state of Kerala. Popularly known as ‘Cloud Guru’ in the GCC business world, Shafeek’s sheer perseverance and hard work made him what he is today which all Indians should feel proud of. Presently, Shafeek and his team is working on developing a mega cloud-based ERP software that can be helpful to small-scale as well as large-scale companies.

One of the highlights for keen botanists, agriculturalists, and gardeners throughout the month will be the chance to join in daily competitions and win prizes by answering questions on verses in the Holy Quran that relate to environmental and botanical terminology posed each day via QBG’s social media pages.

Students from QF schools embark on Ramadan journey of good deeds

THE PENINSULA — DOHA

Illustrating and celebrating the spirit of Ramadan amid the unprecedented circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic, social distancing, and the recent transition to remote learning, students at Qatar Foundation schools are participating in a program that promotes the importance of doing good deeds in society.

Ramadan Journey is an initiative launched by the Academic Affairs Department within Qatar Foundation’s Pre-University Education (PUE), designed to encourage school students from all grades to perform acts of kindness over the course of 30 days during Ramadan.

Students engage with innovative and community-minded Ramadan tasks divided into three themes – each spanning a 10-day period - that reflect the virtues and values of the Holy Month: Mercy, Forgiveness, and Eman-cipation from Fire, all of which they can perform from their homes.

Hissa Al Kubaisi, Academic Affairs’ Co-Curriculum Program Manager, PUE, said: “In a time of social distancing, we thought of launching the Ramadan Journey program with a set of selected activities that aim to strengthen the cur-riculum and combine the educational material and social practices that reflect the values and virtues of Islam during the Holy Month.

“We designed these activities to stimulate Qatar Foundation students’ thinking skills, including their sense of discovery, communication, and crea-tivity. We believe that such activities bring both success and pleasure to the students, nurture compassion within their characters, and give them the desire to help others.

“We are very pleased with the high engagement we have seen via the schools’ social media platforms, and this will motivate us to continue doing such programs next year in a new format.”

Activities performed through Ramadan Journey include students calling their grandparents and family members to check on their wellbeing and send Ramadan greetings; designing and making their own savings funds or piggybanks to collect donations for charities that help people in need; creating Ramadan Suitcases that show their appreciation for workers; and developing artwork that shows their appreciation for those working in fields such as healthcare and the voluntary sector.

The students are asked to submit their contributions to their Islamic Studies teachers

at the end of each 10-day period, with the names of all the participants and their accomplishments being posted on each school’s social media platform. The initiation also ensures parents can be involved in the activities.

Maha Al Romaihi, Director of Tariq Bin Ziad School – one of the schools that comes under the umbrella of PUE - said: “In these unusual times, we aim to instill good values and good Muslim practices in our students through activities such as this, and prove that kindness and good deeds can be done under any circum-stances – they may even be especially meaningful during such crises.

“We admire the idea behind the ini-tiative by Qatar Foundation’s PUE Aca-demic Affairs Department and are proud as a school of our staff and stu-dents for the enthusiasm and will-ingness they are showing to spread

Maha Al Romaihi

goodness in the society. We believe part of our duty as educators is to plant seeds of kindness within our students”.

The initiative is also designed to simplify the teachings of Islam for school students and motivate them to reflect these teachings in their lives, as well as fostering a sense of excitement through learning during

Ramadan. With parents’ support, ideas that have already emerged through Ramadan Journey include distributing goods for people in need through the online systems of char-itable organizations, including food, toys and money; and students transferring the equiv-alent of the money they have saved in their piggybanks to charity.

05SUNDAY 3 MAY 2020 MIDDLE EAST / AFRICA

IS attacks kill 10 Iraqi fighters north of BaghdadAFP — SAMARRA, IRAQ

Ten Iraqi paramilitaries were killed in Islamic State group attacks north of Baghdad overnight, security forces said yesterday, the deadliest oper-ation by militant sleeper cells in months.

Iraq declared IS defeated in late 2017 but remnants of the group still wage hit-and-run attacks on security forces in remote areas of the north and west.

Early yesterday, the mili-tants attacked fighters of Iraq’s Hashed Al Shaabi par-amilitary force stationed outside a town about 180 kil-ometres (110 miles) north of Baghdad, according to a statement by Iraq’s security forces.

“Six fighters were killed. As another unit was dis-patched to reinforce them, an explosive device detonated on that convoy and killed three fighters,” the statement said.

A 10th fighter was killed in a separate IS attack on nearby unit from the Hashed, a network of armed groups incorporated into the regular army chain of command.

A security source in Sala-haddin province, where the attack took place, told AFP that the first IS ambush took place just before midnight.

“All the Iraqi security forces manning the check-point were killed. F16 planes are flying overhead to search for the IS fighters,” the source said.

The attack was IS’s dead-liest in several months and appeared to cap a period of more numerous and aggressive operations.

Last week, the militants claimed a suicide attack that wounded four outside an intel-ligence headquarters in the northern province of Kirkuk.

“The group’s attacks have seemingly grown bolder over the past month or so, as it’s

increasingly launched direct assaults on Iraqi security forces and carried out some daytime attacks,” Sam Heller, an inde-pendent analyst focused on IS and Iraq, told AFP.

“Last night’s attack, if it was in fact coordinated between several IS units, would mark a new escalation by the group,” he added.

IS overran around a third of Iraq in 2014, triggering the creation of both a US-led coa-lition to defeat the militants and the Hashed, comprised mostly of Shia units with ties to Iran.

The two forces are at odds in Iraq, as the US blames hardline Hashed factions for deadly rocket attacks on its troops while the Hashed and allied politicians have demanded US troops leave the country.

In recent months, the coa-lition has pulled back from five bases where it had been deployed to help track down IS sleeper cells, saying the Iraqi military could largely finish the fight on their own.

The coalition is still backing Iraqi troops with air strikes, intelligence and surveillance.

Beach patrol to stem spread of virusGendarmerie mounted team members patrol a beach in Sariyer district during the three-day restrictions in 31 provinces to stem spread of COVID-19, in Istanbul, Turkey, yesterday.

Kuwait, Oman report new COVID-19 cases QNA — KUWAIT

The Kuwaiti Ministry of Health reported yesterday 242 new coronavirus (COVID-19) infec-tions in the last 24 hours, bringing the tally to 4,619.

Kuwaiti Health Ministry spokesperson Dr. Abdullah Al Sanad said that the country

registered three new deaths, bringing the total number of deaths to 33.

Kuwait’s Health Minister Sheikh Dr. Basel Al-Sabah announced the recovery of 101 patients, bringing the tally to 1,703 recoveries.

Meanwhile in Oman, the Ministry of Health announced

36 new COVID-19 cases yes-terday, 22 Omanis and 14 expa-triates, taking the total to 2,483.

The ministry said in a statement, carried by Oman news agency (ONA), that the number of patients who recovered from the virus reached 750, while the deaths tally reached 11.

Iran registers lowest virus infections since March 10AFP — TEHRAN

Iran said yesterday there was a “clear drop” in the number of new coronavirus infections as it reported 802 fresh cases, the lowest daily count since March 10.

The new cases brought to 96,448 the number recorded in Iran since it announced its first cases in mid-February.

“This shows a clear drop in the number of new infections compared to recent weeks, despite our active testing,”

health ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour said on state television.

He added that 77,350 of those hospitalised have since been discharged, claiming it is a “one of the highest recovery percentages in the world.” New deaths from COVID-19 rose slightly to 65 in the past 24 hours, reaching a total of 6,156, Jahanpour said.

Doubts have been cast over Iran’s coronavirus figures by experts and officials both at home and abroad.

Iran’s deputy health min-ister Iraj Harirchi warned that the fall in the number of infec-tions could quickly reverse.

“I emphasise that this steady decline is fragile,” said Harirchi, who has himself recovered from COVID-19.

“Carelessness in gatherings, reopening (businesses) and observing health protocols can make the country face serious problems again.” He also called on the government to increase health sector spending, which he said had been hit by fiscal

pressures resulting from sweeping US sanctions and the global economic contraction sparked by the coronavirus.

Iran has tried to contain the spread of the virus by shutting schools, universities, cinemas and stadiums among other public spaces since March.

But it has allowed a phased reopening of its economy since April 11, and authorities are now mulling allowing sports, cultural and religious centres too.

Tehran authorities, who have kept public transportation

running despite warnings from health experts, made it man-datory for passengers to wear masks as of yesterday.

The virus has not spared public figures, with at least 12 current or former government officials or lawmakers dead and more infected. One of the most senior — parliament speaker Ali Larijani — made his first public appearance in a month yes-terday, donning a protetive mask to attend a televised meeting alongside the President and the head of the judiciary.

Palestinian protesters from Al Sawiyah village south of Nablus city in the occupied West Bank react as they are prevented by Israeli soldiers from accessing their lands, yesterday.

Israeli occupation forces target Palestinian fishermen and farmers QNA — GAZA

Israeli occupation forces yesterday fired heavy machine guns at Palestinian fishermen off the Gaza City sea, and tear gas canisters were fired at farmers and agricultural lands east of Khan Yunis, south of the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli naval soldiers opened fire and water cannons towards Palestinian fishermen’s boats off Al Sudaniya area, northwest of Gaza City, about three nautical miles, which forced the fishermen to leave

the area, without reporting any injuries Palestinian WAFA news agency reported.

The occupation forces sta-tioned behind the border fence east of the town of Khuza’a, Khan Yunis, opened fire with machine guns, and fired tear gas canisters at a group of farmers and agricultural lands in the east of the town, without any injuries reported among the farmers, who had to leave their lands. The occupying forces intentionally target Palestinian farmers in the northern and eastern borders of the Gaza Strip, and prevent them

from accessing their lands for cultivation, in addition to

neglecting lives of fishermen in the Gaza Sea.

Yemen records first coronavirus case in Taiz province as virus spreadsREUTERS — ADEN

Yemen reported the spread of novel coronavirus to a third province late on Friday, raising the number of diagnosed infec-tions to seven with two deaths in one of the world’s most vulnerable countries.

The United Nations says it fears the virus could be spreading undetected in the country where a five-year war has shattered health systems and left millions acutely malnourished.

The emergency coronavirus committee said in a Twitter post that a 40-year-old man was diagnosed with the infection in the southwestern governorate of Taiz, the region’s first case.

“The patient is receiving care at a quarantine centre and measures have been taken by the monitoring teams and the health department for those who interacted with him,” it added.

The governor of Taiz yes-terday announced that he was closing the province’s borders

for two weeks, with the exception of supplies of food and other essential goods, in order to prevent the virus from spreading.

He also ordered mosques and markets to close and banned “large gatherings”.

Yemen recorded its first case of COVID-19 in southern Hadhramout province on April 10. On Wednesday, it announced five infections in Aden, with two deaths.

The country is already grappling with the world’s biggest humanitarian crisis caused by a war between a Saudi-led coalition and the

Houthi group which drove the government from the capital, Sanaa, in late 2014.

The World Health Organi-sation has said it fears that COVID-19 will impact Yemen severely as the population has some of the lowest levels of immunity to disease compared with other countries.

Around 80% of the popu-lation, or 24 million people, rely on humanitarian aid and 10 million are at risk of starvation. Disease is rife.

Yemen is also split into rival power centres. On Wednesday the Aden-based government’s emergency coronavirus com-mittee voiced concern that Houthi officials were not admitting to a coronavirus out-break in Sanaa. The group’s health authorities said all sus-pected cases there had tested negative for COVID-19.

Yemeni authorities have upgraded 37 hospitals across the country with makeshift coronavirus wings but there is a shortage of testing kits, ven-tilators and hospital beds.

COVID-19 restrictions An aerial view shows empty 15 July Martyrs Bridge during the 3-day coronavirus restrictions in 31 provinces to stem spread of the novel coronavirus in Istanbul, Turkey, yesterday.

Iran rejects US comments on Venezuela aid

AP — TEHRAN, IRAN

Iran yesterday denounced recent US allegations that it was providing covert aid to help Venezuela overcome gas shortages as “baseless” without directly addressing them.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo last week said “mul-tiple aircraft” belonging to Iran’s Mahan Air had trans-ferred ”unknown support” to Venezuela’s government. He called for a halt to the flights and for other countries to bar overflights by Mahan Air.

Venezuela has been suf-fering from widespread gasoline shortages despite having the world’s largest oil reserves.

Both Iran and Venezuela are under heavy US sanctions, and have had close relations for the last two decades.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry tweeted that the “baseless comments were made in order to prepare the ground for mounting US pressure on the Venezuelan government.”

Another statement said the US intended to “obstruct the Venezuelan government’s plan for reviving the country’s refineries.”

The statements did not directly address the allegations.

UN urges

restraint amid

Lebanon clashes

ANATOLIA — BEIRUT

The UN on Friday expressed concern and called for restraint amid protests in Lebanon over the deterio-rating economic situation.

Demonstrators during the week defied measures to fight the coronavirus pandemic by protesting in several cities against deteriorating living conditions and spiralLing food prices.

One protester was killed and almost 80 injured in violent clashes, while the Leb-anese army said nearly 160 personnel were hurt, 15 of them critically.

“We are deeply concerned by the renewed violence in Lebanon this week, claiming the life of one protester and leaving dozens of other civilians and law enforcement officers injured, as well as causing significant damage and destruction to public and private property,” said Rupert Colville, spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commis-sioner for Human Rights (OCHCR).

He appealed to protesters not to resort to violence and urged law enforcers to abide by international standards on the use of force, such as prin-ciple of proportionality.

“We call on everyone to exercise utmost restraint, to refrain from violence against other people, and to respect property,” Colville told a news conference in Geneva.

Over the weekend, the Lebanese pound hit a record low at almost 4,000 pounds to one US dollar on the black market, while the official price remained at 1,507 pounds.

The economic crisis in Lebanon, which already had high unemployment, slow growth, and one of the highest debt ratios in the world, has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and measures taken to stem its spread.

The attack was the deadliest by IS in several months and appeared to cap a period of more numerous and aggressive operations.

WHO fears that COVID-19 will impact Yemen severely as the population has some of the lowest levels of immunity to disease compared with other countries.

Overcrowded DR Congo prisons at high risk from coronavirusAFP — KINSHASA

The coronavirus has breached the walls of DR Congo prisons with potentially catastrophic consequences for the over-crowded facilities, charity groups say.

On Thursday and Friday, 43 prisoners tested positive for COVID-19 at the Ndolo military prison in central Kinshasa, Africa’s third largest city with at least 10 million inhabitants.

“Tests of all detainees are in progress,” according to the latest bulletin by health authorities.

The prison holds 1,900-2,000 prisoners, according to different sources.

The Democratic Republic of Congo has registered 10-20 new cases of the virus per day since it was first detected there on March 10.

The nation has reported 604 cases in all, mostly in Kinshasa, and 32 deaths.

Health Minister Eteni Longondo wants to isolate those infected in the prison and san-itize the cells.

He said that “a woman who brought food” had introduced

the virus into the prison. In mid-April, the non-governmental organisation Human Rights Watch (HRW) warned that “the Democratic Republic of Congo’s overcrowded and unsanitary prisons are at grave risk of COVID-19 outbreaks.”

HRW, citing figures by the UN peacekeeping mission MONUSCO, said: “Congo’s main prisons are at 432 percent of capacity.” The prison in Goma had an even higher rate of 600 percent, it added.

The group published photos said to show prisoners sleeping

on the floor in a cell at the Makala prison in Kinshasa, at 461 percent of capacity.

It quoted a recently released prisoner as saying that “there were at least 850 of us in a space with a capacity for 100 people.” He added that “the situation is worse in some of the other wings. If the coronavirus reaches Makala, there will be no one left.” According to the health ministry no COVID-19 cases have been detected at the prison to date.

In early January at least 11 prisoners died there from a lack

of food and medication, a peni-tentiary source said. Other sources say up to 25 people had died. Each year, hundreds of detainees die in Congolese prisons from starvation and lack of care. “The quantity of food is not even enough for a two-year-old” according to Augustin, a prisoner on death row in Agenga, northwestern DRC cited by the NGO Ensemble in a report pub-lished in December.

It also reported a shortage of medication with the exception of paracetamol and treatments for malaria and tuburculosis, In

addition, the prison in Goma had only three toilets for 500 detainees, it said.

There are around 500 people who have been sen-tenced to death in the country, which suspended capital pun-ishment in 2003. They are in contact with the rest of the prison population, “around 71 percent of which still await trial,” HRW said. Justice Minister Cel-estin Tunda said “at least 1,200 detainees” had been released “to slow the spread of the corona-virus” and that more were expected to be freed next week.

Russia asked Haftar to declare truce: Saleh

ANATOLIA — TRIPOLI

Eastern Libya-based Gen. Khalifa Haftar announced a truce upon the “command of Russia” as he suffered great loses against the UN-recognised Libyan government, according to pro-Haftar parliament speaker.

Discussions between the Libyan House of Representatives Speaker Aguila Saleh and tribal leaders in eastern Libya were aired on social media, where Saleh said Russia, the interna-tional supporter of Haftar, pre-pared a report on the situation on the ground.

According to this report, Haftar militias were in a hard

situation in front of the Libyan army, Saleh said, and the militia in Tarhuna, southeast of Tripoli, were “like on the edge of the cliff” as the refuelling supply sent for Haftar militia was hit from the air. He said the report also included that the internal war will evolve into a new phase against the Haftar militia, and added: “Rus-sians wanted Haftar to declare ceasefire as the situation in clashing zones was getting worse.”

Saleh claimed the Russians made a written request to Haftar to make a statement on the “re-formation of the Presidency Council” and they wanted the statement to be in line with the decisions of the Berlin Conference

on a call for cease-fire in Tripoli and the formation of a new Pres-idency Council.

“According to the Russia’s report, [it will be] in the meantime, may be this week, it will be certain at the United Nations that the Libyan government is the legit-imate representative of the country,” he said.

Since the ouster of late ruler Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, two seats of power have emerged in Libya: military commander Haftar in eastern Libya, supported mainly by Egypt and the UAE, and the Government of National Accord in Tripoli, which enjoys the UN and international recognition. Haftar unilaterally declared

himself the ruler Monday, claiming that he “accepted the mandate of the Libyan people” and termed the 2015 UN-bro-kered Skhirat agreement for a unified government in the country “a thing of the past.” But this coup attempt by Haftar was con-demned by the international actors and regional allies.

People stage a protest against Libya’s renegade commander Khalifa Haftar as they climb on Haftar’s armoured vehicle seized by the Government of National Accord (GNA) at Martyrs’ Square in Tripoli.

Weary Moroccan medics fight virus, nightmares and tearsAP — RABAT, MOROCCO

When Moroccan nurse Mofadal Ahyane lost his first patient to COVID-19, he had a recurring nightmare: His patient in agony slips from his body, which gradually trans-forms into Ahyane’s own father, then brother, then friend.

“The death of that man will never leave me as long as I live,” Ahyane said, his voice cracking as he recalled the vain efforts of doctors and nurses at the hospital in the northern city of Tetouan to save the man’s life.

The virus has upended life for Morocco’s medical workers. They enjoy better medical facilities than in much of Africa but are often short of the equipment available in European hos-pitals, which also found themselves overwhelmed.

Medical professionals around this Muslim kingdom in North Africa spoke to journalists, showing that the heart-break and fears and the challenges of working safely are shared with Western counterparts, as is the devotion to saving lives. Two Moroccan doctors have died after becoming infected, officials have said. Morocco, which is under a strict lockdown, cur-rently has more than 4,500 confirmed cases and some 170 deaths, according to a Johns Hopkins University count.

Since early March, the Moroccan government has steadily introduced

virus control measures that have grad-ually turned vibrant cities into near ghost towns. Health minister Khalid Ait Boutaleb says that if it weren’t for preventive measures, Morocco would now be facing 6,000 coronavirus-related deaths.

Still, the virus has wrought personal havoc for some health workers, tem-porarily tearing them apart their fam-ilies as they self-isolate at the end of the day to keep their loved ones safe.

Radiology nurse Iman Benali at Casablanca’s Sidi Moumen Hospital has been away from her husband and 6-year-old child since early March. Some nurses working with Benali had to stop breastfeeding their infants when duty called, she said.

Her long days end in self-isolation at a hotel with 70 other medical pro-fessionals. The hotel housekeepers are also forced to exchange families for hotel rooms because of their contact with the health professionals. Benali said the sacrifices shared with co-workers has created a special bond.

“We watch out for each other out of compassion, but also out of fear for our own health,” she said. “If a hospital worker gets contaminated, it means the entire hospital workforce may be contaminated.” At Moulay Abdellah Hospital in Morocco’s Atlantic coastal city of Sale, Dr. Youssef Dhabi said he believes the deaths of his colleagues

are a driving force for caregivers.“If the deceased doctors were given

a chance to return to work, they would take it instantly. You’d find them in their protective gear, treating patients,” he said.

During his 12-hour shift, nurse Ahyane rarely eats because he fears contamination. “You wonder, are your hands clean enough to eat?” he says.

Dr. Houcine Benazouz doesn’t even consider eating. Since early March, he

has been running between depart-ments at the Tetouan hospital. At night, he stays in a white, impersonal hotel room far from the comfort of his loved ones.

“It has to be the hardest choice I made, leaving my wife and children behind me,” he said. Nabil Zouini, who works with a testing task force in his hometown of Meknes, hasn’t been home in over a month, something his 3-year-old daughter can’t

understand.“She smiles at me every night and

asks me: ‘Dad, are you coming back home tomorrow?’” Zouini said of his video chats with his child. “If I say no, she cries.” Zouini dons a new mask and gown at every encounter with sus-pected cases, but he is never certain he’s safe.

“The hardest part is taking the gown off. We have to do it in a way that we don’t touch the outside of the suit, which is fully contaminated. We can only take off the suit from the inside out.” He removes gowns at least 10 times a day. It’s now beginning to feel like the ancient ramparts of Meknes are closing in.

“The psychological turmoil is incredibly hard,” he said. “Many of us will be scarred by what we see.” Zouini described an eerie emptiness in the streets of his city, an image that col-lides with the once-lively ambiance of Meknes, which in normal times draws tourists from around the world.

“As I drive to homes of suspected cases, my eyes flash for a second and I see the cafés, the playgrounds buzzing with life... before I’m brought back to reality,” he said.

Using a typical Moroccan expression that may speak to all the country’s health workers, Zouini added: “I say to myself, we can’t meet each other today, but we will hug tomorrow.”

Moroccan police officers check the movement authorisation of a driver at a checkpoint during night curfew as a precaution against the novel coronavirus, in the country’s capital Rabat, yesterday.

Lesotho Parliament moves closer to forcing PM Thabane out of officeREUTERS — MASERU

Lesotho lawmakers and South African mediators said yesterday that legislation awaiting assent from the king will see Prime Minister Thabane (pictured), suspected of killing his ex-wife, leave office soon, ending a crisis that has engulfed the mountain kingdom for months.

Thabane, 80, has been under pressure to resign over a murder case in which he and his current wife are suspected of assassinating his previous wife. The case has divided his party and triggered sporadic unrest. They both deny the charges.

“We are satisfied that when the king has assented to this bill, it will pave the way for the prime minister to indicate his

intention to vacate the office,” South African envoy Jeff Radebe told journalists.

“As soon as His Majesty has assented to this bill... the prime minister will indicate his intention to leave the office,” he added, without saying whether or not he had agreed to do so. Thabane’s spokesman

did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Thabane was quoted in media last week as saying he will not be hurried out of office, despite pressure from within his own All Besotho Convention Party, its coalition partners, opposition and regionally pow-erful neighbour, South Africa.

Political instability fre-quently boils over in Lesotho, which has experienced several coups since gaining inde-pendence from Britain in 1966. Its conflicts often draw in South Africa, whose central moun-tains encircle it. Perched at high altitude, Lesotho supplies vital drinking water to its drier neighbour.

Thabane has previously said he will leave at the end of July, but his opponents say that is not soon enough.

Algeria not to

seek IMF

loan to ease

financial woes

AFP — ALGIERS

Algerian President Abdelm-adjid Tebboune has declared his country will not approach the IMF for loans, despite a financial crisis triggered by a collapse in global oil prices and coronavirus lockdowns.

“Accumulating debt harms national sovereignty,” said Tebboune, in a meeting with Algerian media broadcast late on Friday.

The North African nation is heavily dependent on oil production, which generates over 90 percent of the coun-try’s export receipts.

A collapse in hydrocarbon prices this year — caused by plunging demand due to societal lockdowns designed to combat the spread of coro-navirus, and exacerbated by a brief price war between key players Russia and Saudi Arabia — is putting ever greater pressure on Algeria’s external accounts.

Even before this year’s crisis took hold, Algeria’s foreign exchange reserves had fallen to $62bn at the end of 2019, from $180bn in 2014.

But the president said Algeria would prefer “to borrow from its own citizens, rather than the International Monetary Fund or World Bank.” Algeria fell into heavy debt with the IMF during the 1990s, an episode Tebboune referenced in his address.

He also expressed aversion to borrowing from foreign banks, saying that doing so prevented Algeria making its position clear on issues including the fate of the Pal-estinians and Western Sahara.

Morocco has controlled most of the Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony, since the 1970s. It fought a war with the Algeria-backed Polisario Front over the territory from 1975 to 1991, when a ceasefire deal was agreed. Tebboune also said that certain “friendly” nations had offered loans.

Nigeria's new bill risks abuse in crackdownsBLOOMBERG — ABUJA

Nigeria’s parliament is debating a law on preventing the spread of infectious diseases that critics fear could be open to abuses by officials.

If signed into law, the health minister will have the right to convert any building into an isolation area, while the police would be able to arrest any individual suffering from an infectious disease without a warrant. Africa’s most populous country was the first in sub-Saharan Africa to confirm a case of coronavirus in Feb-ruary, and has now more than 2,000 positive tests.

“A new law is needed but the powers are too sweeping,” Clement Nwankwo, Director of the Abuja-based Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre, said.

“There’s a lot of powers in the bill which could be used for political purposes.” If the House of Representatives, the coun-try’s lower chamber, votes for the bill next week, it will be sent to the Senate.

Chikwe Ihekweazu, Director General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, has said he hasn’t been involved in drafting the legislation and it requires further consultation. The bill would also give him the power to close down premises deemed to be too overcrowded in a country where millions live in cramped conditions, and those authorized by him to detain individuals without a warrant.

“I’m personally not in favour of drafting a bill in the middle of a crisis,” Ihekweazu said.

06 SUNDAY 3 MAY 2020AFRICA

Saleh claimed the Russians made a written request to Haftar to make a statement on the “re-formation of the Presidency Council” and they wanted the statement to be in line with the decisions of the Berlin Conference on a call for ceasefire in Tripoli and the formation of a new Presidency Council.

07SUNDAY 3 MAY 2020 ASIA

India makes virus tracing app mandatoryfor all workers; eases some restrictionsREUTERS — NEW DELHI

India has ordered all public and private sector employees use a government-backed contact tracing app and maintain social distancing in offices as it begins easing some of its lockdown measures in districts less affected by the coronavirus.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government said on Friday India, with the world’s second-largest population after China, would extend nationwide curbs for another two weeks from Monday, but allow “con-siderable relaxations” in lower-risk areas.

India last month launched the Aarogya Setu (Health Bridge) app, a Bluetooth and GPS-based system that alerts users who may have come in contact with people who later test positive for COVID-19.

“Use of Aarogya Setu shall be made mandatory for all employees, both private and public,” the Ministry of Home Affairs said late on Friday.

Company heads will be held responsible “to ensure 100 percent coverage” among employees.

Officials at the technology ministry and a lawyer who framed the privacy policy for Aarogya Setu said the app needed to be on at least 200 million phones for it to be effective in a population of 1.3 billion.

The app has been down-loaded around 83 million times

in total in a country with a smartphone user base of about 500 million, according to the technology ministry.

The app’s compulsory use is raising concerns among privacy advocates, who say it is unclear how the data will be used and who stress that India lacks privacy laws to govern the app.

“Such a move should be backed by a dedicated law which provides strong data pro-tection cover and is under the oversight of an independent body,” said Udbhav Tiwari, Public Policy Advisor for internet browser company Mozilla.

New Delhi has said the app will not infringe on privacy as all data is collected anonymously.

The app can help authorities identify virus hotspots and better target health efforts, the tech ministry said in late April, adding information would be used “only

for administering necessary medical interventions”.

Critics also note that about 400 million of India’s popu-lation do not possess smart-phones and would not be covered.

The government on Friday said that re-opening offices would also have to ensure gaps between shifts and staggered lunch breaks to contain spread of the coronavirus that has infected 3.3 million worldwide and caused more than 230,000 deaths.

India has reported more than 37,000 cases and 1,218 deaths. India is set to allow some factories to re-open and companies are scrambling to piece together their plans.

Smartphone maker Lava is likely to open its plants in Noida, on the outskirts of New Delhi, next week, said co-founder S.N. Rai.

Lava is asking its workers to temporarily move to a neigh-bouring village, where it has leased dormitories for about 800 workers and is proving

food and transport, said Rai.“But even if we start pro-

duction immediately, we will start with a maximum of 40 percent capacity,” said Rai.

Other sectors such as the automobile industry are calling on the government to allow them to re-open. The auto-motive sector is losing revenue of $304m a day, three lobby groups said in a letter to the home ministry, urging the gov-ernment to allow component makers and dealers to begin operations.

Migrant workers queue up to board a special train going to Agra in Uttar Pradesh state during a government-imposed nationwide lockdown at a railway station, near Ahmedabad, yesterday.

Rise in virus cases in crowded Indian jails prompts concernsAP — NEW DELHI

The spreading of the coronavirus in India’s notoriously crowded prisons has prompted author-ities to impose jail lockdowns and release thousands of pretrial detainees on parole, as health experts worry that the cramped facilities are serving as breeding grounds that will enable the virus to spread.

Although there are no official numbers on how many inmates have been infected by the virus countrywide, India’s correction facilities are slowly recording more and more coronavirus

cases, leading authorities to tem-porarily ban relatives and friends from visiting prisoners.

On Thursday, authorities locked down Nagpur Central Jail in coastal Maharashtra, among the Indian states worst-hit by the pandemic. It was the eighth prison in Maharashtra to be locked down. The move came after 19 inmates in Indore Central Jail in central Madhya Pradesh state tested positive for the virus on Tuesday. Around 250 others who came in contact with them were shifted to a tem-porary jail.

“It is a terrifying situation. If

measures aren’t taken soon, then things can become extremely difficult,” said Madhurima Dhanuka, head of the Prison Reforms Programme for the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative.

Considering its population of 1.3 billion, India has done rel-atively well in containing the coronavirus, confirming around 37,000 infections, including 1,223 deaths. On Friday, the gov-ernment extended the lockdown it had announced in late March for another two weeks, but eased restrictions in some low-risk areas and is now trying to

gradually reopen some indus-tries, including agriculture and manufacturing.

Health experts, however, fear that crowded facilities such as prisons can prove deadly, threatening the lives of detainees and guards, as well as the outside population.

The virus has spread rapidly in overcrowded prisons across the world, leading governments to release inmates en masse. United Nations experts and the World Health Organisation have urged governments to reduce their prison populations during the pandemic.

In March, India’s top court said that it was “difficult for pris-oners to maintain social dis-tancing” and ordered that detainees convicted of crimes with jail terms of no more than seven years be given parole. Many states started releasing thousands of inmates.

Attempts to reduce the prison population, however, were not enough, critics say.

While the government said it already has released thou-sands of prisoners and plans to set more free, worried families whose loved ones are still in jail are distraught.

Singapore to

ease curbs over

next few weeks

REUTERS — SINGAPORE

Singapore will start easing some curbs put in place to contain the spread of the coro-navirus over the next few weeks, authorities said yesterday, as the city-state takes the first tentative steps towards reopening its economy.

Selected activities such as home-based businesses, laundry services and barbers will be allowed to operate from May 12. Some students will be allowed to go back to schools in small groups from May 19.

Some work premises will be allowed to gradually reopen, taking into account their importance to the economy and supply chains and their ability to minimise risks of transmission.

“We are preparing for the safe and gradual resumption of economic and community activities after the end of the circuit breaker period on 1 June 2020,” the ministry of health said in a statement.

Singapore has among the highest number of infections in Asia, mainly due to outbreaks in cramped migrant-worker dormitories. It has managed to curb the spread of the disease among locals outside the dor-mitories. Yesterday, it con-firmed 447 new coronavirus infections, the smallest daily rise in two weeks, taking the total to 17,548 with 16 virus-related deaths. Most of the new cases were among migrant workers, the health ministry said.

Bangladesh to

extend lockdown

until May 16

ANATOLIA — DHAKA

Bangladesh will extend the ongoing nationwide lockdown against the coronavirus pandemic until May 16, the Ministry of Public Adminis-tration confirmed yesterday.

“Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has agreed to extend the lockdown. It will come into effect once the premier gives her formal approval,” Abdullah Shibli Sadiq, public relations officer for the Ministry of Public Administration, said.

He said a notification will be issued by today if the prime minister’s formal approval is received in time.

Bangladesh, which has the most coronavirus cases in South Asia after India and Pakistan, first imposed a nationwide lockdown on March 26 and has extended it five times so far.

The latest extension comes as the overall COVID-19 case count in Bangladesh nears 9,000 with almost 200 deaths.

Health authorities reported 552 new cases yesterday, raising the total to 8,790, while the death toll increased by five to 175. A total of 177 patients have recovered in the country to date.

More than 3.36 million cases have been reported in 187 coun-tries and regions since the virus emerged in China last December, with the US and Europe the world’s hardest-hit areas. A significant number of COVID-19 patients — over 1.06 million - have recovered, but the disease has also claimed close to 240,000 lives so far, according to data compiled by the US’ Johns Hopkins University.

Malaysia rounds up migrantsto contain virus; UN warns of detention risksREUTERS — KUALA LUMPUR

Malaysian authorities are rounding up undocumented migrants as part of efforts to contain the spread of corona-virus, officials said, after hundreds of migrants and refugees were detained in the capital Kuala Lumpur.

Authorities said 586 undoc-umented migrants were arrested during a Friday raid in a downtown area where many for-eigners live, a move the United Nations said could push vul-nerable groups into hiding and prevent them from seeking treatment.

Those detained included young children and ethnic Rohingya refugees from Myanmar, rights groups had said.

Police said the operation was aimed at preventing undocu-mented migrants from travelling

to other areas amid movement curbs imposed to contain the spread of the virus outbreak, state news agency Bernama reported.

The United Nations urged Malaysia to avoid detaining migrants and release all children and their caregivers, warning that overcrowded detention centres carried a high risk of increasing the virus’ spread.

“The fear of arrest and detention may push these vul-nerable population groups further into hiding and prevent them from seeking treatment, with negative consequences for their own health and creating further risks to the spreading of COVID-19 to others,” the United Nations said in a statement.

The arrests followed public anger in recent days over the presence of migrant foreigners, particularly Rohingya refugees, with some in Malaysia accusing

them of spreading the corona-virus and being a burden on state resources.

Malaysia has around 2 million registered foreign workers but authorities estimate many more are living in the

Southeast Asian country without proper documents. Malaysia does not formally recognise refugees, regarding them as illegal migrants.

Security minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob refuted criticism of the

arrests, saying that all of those detained had been screened and found to have tested negative for COVID-19. They would be sent to immigration detention centres to await further action, he told reporters yesterday.

A file photo of health workers preparing for a virus eradication spray at a former COVID-19 patient’s house, in Selangor, Malaysia.

‘Stranded’ Rohingyas land on Bangladesh coastAFP — COX’S BAZAR

Dozens of Rohingya refugees believed to have come from two boats stranded at sea for weeks as they tried to reach Malaysia landed on the Bangladesh coast yesterday, Rohingya community leaders said.

Bangladesh has refused to let the two trawlers carrying about 500 people land on its territory despite UN calls to allow them in as a powerful storm bears down on the region.

Security officials said a small boat carrying about 40 people, including “starving” women and

children, had come ashore.Local people tipped off the

coast guard and 29 people were detained and about 10 fled, police and security officials said.

Bangladesh officials would not confirm the Rohingya were from the boats stranded at sea.

But Shobbir Ahmed, a Rohingya at one of the refugee camps in southeastern Bangla-desh’s Cox’s Bazar said that two of his daughters who had been on the stranded boats were among those who landed yesterday.

He said the women, aged 19 and 17, had boarded a trawler

two months ago trying to get to Malaysia.

Ahmed said he paid a Rohingya intermediary about $2,230 for them to make the trip. Security officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the rescued Rohingya would be sent to the island of Bhashan Char in the Bay of Bengal where Bang-ladesh has built shelters for some 100,000 refugees.

The proposed relocation to the island in the cyclone-prone coastal belt has drawn criticism from rights groups and sparked protests by the Rohingya.

There are about one million

Rohingya in camps in Bang-ladesh. Most fled a 2017 military crackdown in Myanmar and many favour going to Muslim-majority Malaysia where there are more work opportunities.

Bangladesh Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen said last month that Bangladesh would not allow the Rohingya boats into its ter-ritory. His declaration came after more than 60 Rohingya died on a boat that waited at sea for two months before it could land.

UN human rights commis-sioner Michelle Bachelet has made an urgent plea to Bang-ladesh to change its stance.nd.

Virus outbreak at Australian meat

factory as cases keep dropping

REUTERS — SYDNEY

A small coronavirus cluster has emerged at a meat factory in the Australian state of Victoria, health officials said yesterday, as parts of the country started easing social distancing restrictions after suppressing the infection rate to below 1 percent.

Australia and neighbouring New Zealand, which have closed borders and imposed lockdowns and tight social restrictions, have been hailed for containing COVID-19 outbreaks, but the measures are set to push both economies into recession. Over the past week Australia has recorded an average of only 13 new cases each day, the health ministry said. Local clusters of COVID-19 and cruise ships infections have accounted for a large percentage of Aus-tralia’s nearly 6,800 cases and 93 deaths.

Victoria reported seven new cases yesterday, three of which were related to a meat-processing facility, said its health min-ister. A total of eight employees have tested positive.

India last month launched the Aarogya Setu (Health Bridge) app, a Bluetooth and GPS-based system that alerts users who may have come in contact with people who later test positive for COVID-19.

It has tended to focus on environmental performance because of the pressing, long-term risks posed by climate change.

08 SUNDAY 3 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

THE celebration of the International Labour Day, observed every year on May 1, this year was unique as workers in most part of the world remained under lockdown due to COVID-19 crisis.

Every year, this day witnesses huge rallies, events and protests. All these were cancelled this year due to the social distancing, so no slogan or chants could be heard or rallies were seen in the streets of major cities like Paris. Although, many activities were held through social media but this was not enough to match the enthusiasm that was visible in the past years.

As many expect post-COVID-19 will not be normal life as before the crisis, as millions of workers and bread winners of the poorest in the world have remained under lockdown for over two months.

In Qatar, this day witnesses every year a series of activities, including conferences, sports and enter-tainment programmes for workers and awareness cam-paigns for the labour force representing nearly 85 percent of the Qatar’s population. Therefore, utmost attention is given to this segment of the society.

As a part of precautionary measures and preventive efforts undertaken by the State of Qatar to limit the spread of COVID-19, educating workers under lockdown has become top priority for the government. Therefore, the Ministry of Administrative Development, Labor and Social Affairs (MADLSA) launched awareness campaigns through which it has educated thousands of workers till now about coronavirus, under its ‘conscious’ cam-paign (Al Wai).

Amid fear and uncertainty of job losses and pay cuts, MADLSA reconfirmed that, workers in quarantine and isolation will be paid full salary without any deduction and it is mandatory for employers and com-panies to follow the policies. In order to help the workers in this context, the Ministry has provided a new hotline service on 92727 for receiving grievances of workers.

The government has allocated QR3bn to pay the salaries of workers and rents of the employers which could be utilised through banks to pay the wages of labourers and paying the rent due on companies, said Muhammed Hassan Al Obaidly, Assistant Undersec-retary for Labour Affairs at MADLSA, early this month.

Furthermore, the Ministry reaffirmed the responsi-bility of all employers to comply with the conditions and specifications for healthy and safe housing, and pro-fessional safety, to prevent the risk of infection.

The government has made it mandatory for employers to report any infection cases, raising the awareness of the workers using different languages and means on measures adopted by government and the company including usage of the hotline 16000 to report suspected cases.

Keeping workforce safe

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Quote of the day

We are deeply concerned by the renewed violence

in Lebanon this week. We call on everyone to

exercise utmost restraint, to refrain from violence

against other people, and to respect property.

Rupert Colville, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights

A file photo of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (centre) with construction workers during his visit to Ottoman Mosque in Ankara.

From paid sick leave to protective gear for staff, the coronavirus crisis has pushed workers’ rights up the list of priorities for companies and individuals looking to invest ethically, experts say.

With millions more job losses expected and the world heading towards a deep recession as countries shut down to stop the spread of the new coronavirus, the way companies treat workers is under scrutiny.

“Now more than ever (com-panies) are in the spotlight,” said Hortense Bioy, a research director at financial services firm Morningstar. “That is when you are going to see the true leaders, the ones that are delivering, and those that are not.”

Ethical investment, which weighs up companies’ com-mitment to environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues, from carbon emissions to supply chain transparency, has become one of the fastest growing areas of finance in recent years.

But it has tended to focus on environmental performance because of the pressing, long-term risks posed by climate change. Analysts say that is starting to change.

“The ‘S’ (in ESG) - which was kind of a bit forgotten, or not considered as important as the

‘E’ - now it’s emerging as an important dimension in this crisis,” said Bioy.

This month a group of 286 investors representing more than $8.2 trillion in assets issued a statement urging firms to provide paid leave, prioritise health and safety, limit exposure to the virus and retain jobs.

“Investors should be asking tough questions,” said Simon Rawson, director of corporate engagement at ShareAction, a British charity that promotes responsible investing and was among the signatories to the statement.

“It is essential that companies have good oversight of their workers, especially the most vulnerable.”

Early analysis indicates that companies with strong ESG records and the funds that invest in them are fairing better in the market turmoil caused by the crisis. In Britain, the average ESG fund fell 14% in March compared to 16.8% for their non-ESG rivals, research from Morningstar has found.

This is partly because these funds tend to be less exposed to sectors badly hit by the crisis, such as oil companies or airlines.

But Bioy said it was also because companies with high ESG scores tended to be run well, treat their stakeholders well and have fewer controversies, making them more resilient to market downturns.

Many companies have taken steps to protect jobs by deferring shareholder payouts or cutting executive pay, while others have changed their business models to help in the fight against corona-virus, such as manufacturing

protective equipment.There have also been myriad

reports of companies failing to prioritise employees’ health, encouraging them to come to work unnecessarily or firing staff. Unions in developing countries that manufacture and export to wealthier Western nations have warned that the pandemic could lead to a rollback in labour rights improvements as stores close and sales fall.

Share Action’s Rawson said companies needed to be more transparent in their treatment of supply chain workers as well as staff. “We need to define afresh what responsible investing looks like for social issues like decent work and public health,” he said.

When the Workforce Dis-closure Initiative (WDI), founded by ShareAction and backed by more than 130 investors man-aging $14 trillion in assets, approached 750 major com-panies for a recent survey on this, just 15% responded.

Yet the pressure from investors is there, according to Fiona O’Neill, deputy head of research in equities at investment firm Fidelity Interna-tional, who predicted the coro-navirus crisis would boost existing momentum behind ESG.

She said many companies would need to raise capital because of the current challenges and potential investors would expect them to prove their commitment to ESG as well as show they had robust financial plans in place.

“In the short term it might cost more,” said O’Neill. “But long-term, they reap the rewards of that by having more loyal staff, by customers wanting to shop with them.”

CONOR SEN BLOOMBERG

For the past decade, Silicon Valley and its workers were big winners in a world of haves and have nots. But the economic shock caused by the coronavirus is accelerating a tech-industry shift from prior-itizing growth to profitability, meaning rank-and-file workers will no longer be immune to the forces confronting so many workers throughout America. In short, there will be no V-shaped recovery for tech workers.

Tech workers made out so well in the 2010s for two main reasons: Not only were so many companies growing quickly, but investors were willing to tolerate bottom-line losses in the belief that in a winner-take-all era com-panies had to get big as quickly as possible to survive,

let alone thrive. But it was the latter that

dynamic really yielded out-sized compensation to tech workers. The aspirational model was a company like Amazon. Famously focused on growth over profitability, Amazon proved that investors were willing to be forgiving indefinitely as long as it con-tinued to grow and innovate. The same was true of Netflix and Tesla, two other tech companies that have yet to show much in the way of profits. In all cases, the view is that someday down the road these companies will have dominant market shares and have pricing power and profits to justify years, even decades, of investment in the business.

Other startups and growth companies embraced this model. Maybe a company such as WeWork could have carved out a profitable niche by

offering upscale co-working and flex office spaces in a handful of hot cities. But only by showing rapid growth and claiming the company would transform the way we live and work could it have fetched a $47bn valuation. Uber and Lyft could have decided not to offer large incentives to both drivers and riders and chosen to grow slowly and profitably, but it was the dizzying growth and talk about what share of global vehicle-miles traveled they had captured that led to their eye-popping peak valuations.

All of that growth required companies to hire as quickly as possible. In cities such as San Francisco and Seattle, tight labor markets and limited housing and office space pushed up salaries, rents and home prices.

Last year, the growth-at-all-costs model started to unravel. Closely held

companies that were founded after the Great Recession were trying to complete initial public offerings, and public market investors were starting to sour on profitless growth. Uber and Lyft completed their IPOs, but quickly saw their share prices drop. WeWork couldn’t complete its offering. It now was clear that investors wanted assurances from man-agers that there was a con-crete plan to pivot to profitably.

What we’ve seen this week is that this timetable has been accelerated. Lyft is laying off 1,000 workers, or nearly 17% of its staff. Uber is mulling a similar decision. Startups that thought they might be the next Uber or Lyft, such as scooter company Lime, probably won’t be given the same breathing room from investors and are doing layoffs now.

‘Do the right thing’: Pandemic puts workers’ rights on ethical investor hitlist

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Coronavirus recession ends the golden age for tech workers

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09SUNDAY 3 MAY 2020 ASIA

Afghan President, rival reach ‘tentative’ agreementREUTERS — KABUL

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and rival Abdullah Abdullah are close to resolving a standoff over last year’s disputed presidential election that has threatened a US-brokered peace process, both sides said yesterday.

The feud culminated in both men declaring themselves pres-ident at parallel inauguration ceremonies in March.

A draft deal had been finalised that included proposals that Abdullah lead a high council for peace talks and have a half-share in government appoint-ments, Fraidoon Khwazoon, a spokesman for Abdullah, said.

“In principle an agreement is reached but there are a few things that need to be finalised. We believe they are not big obstacles and will be solved,”

Khwazoon said.The dispute has sparked

fears among many, including the United States, that the split was undermining momentum in peace talks with Taliban insurgents.

Ghani’s spokesman, Sediq Sediqi, had said on Twitter late on Friday that there had been progress in resolving the dispute.

“Progress has been made in the ongoing negotiations and discussions on important political issues and matters to resolve them politically,” Sediqi said.

Both sides have been under international pressure to strike a deal. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo flew to Afghan-istan in March for a one-day visit to try to broker an arrangement even as most travel was halted due to the coronavirus

pandemic.“We have told both sides to

firm up a deal this week. If not, then aid could be hit badly in this time,” a senior Western diplomat said yesterday.

Spokesmen for the US Embassy in Kabul and for Ghani declined to comment. A spokesman for Abdullah said

donors had emphasised they should solve the issue but they had not been given a deadline to come to a resolution.

Pompeo had announced a $1bn reduction in aid and threatened to slash the same amount next year to try to force Abdullah and Ghani to end their feud.

After nearly 20 years of fighting the Taliban, the United States is looking for a way to extricate itself and to achieve peace between the US-backed government and the militant group.

The United States and the Taliban signed a pact on Feb-ruary 29 that was designed to pave the way for peace talks between the militant group and the Afghan government.

But formal talks have not started because of the political feud, as well as an escalation in violence by the Taliban since the deal was reached and disagree-ments over a prisoner swap.

A file photo of Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani (left) and his rival Abdullah Abdullah attending a Nato Summit in Warsaw, Poland.

Harbin city shuts eateries, virus curbs ease elsewhere in ChinaREUTERS — BEIJING/SHANGHAI

A northeastern Chinese city of 10 million people struggling with currently the country’s biggest coronavirus cluster shut dine-in services yesterday, as the rest of China eases restrictions designed to hamper the spread of the disease.

Harbin, the provincial capital of Heilongjiang and its biggest city, said it temporarily

suspended dine-in services for all eateries, reported the official CCTV citing an emer-gency epidemic prevention notice.

Catering services operating in the city, such as barbecue eateries and those selling skewers, shabu shabu, and stew, shall suspend dine-in meals until further notice and in accordance with changes in the epidemic situation, the notice said.

While mainland China reported only one case yes-terday and crowds returned to some of its most famous tourist attractions for the 5-day May holiday, the northern province of Heilongjiang is hunkering down to prevent further clusters from forming.

Of the 140 local transmis-sions in mainland China, over half have been reported as from Heilongjiang, according to a tally.

Heilongjiang province borders Russia and has become the frontline in the fight against a resurgence of the coronavirus epidemic, with many new infections from citizens entering from Russia.

The province has already banned entry to residential zones by non-locals and vehicles registered elsewhere.

It had also ordered isolation for those arriving from outside China or key epidemic areas.

On the back of the out-break, deputy secretary of the Provincial Party Committee Wang Wentao said at a Friday meeting “we deeply blame our-selves”, according to local media.

“We had an inadequate understanding of epidemic prevention and control,” said Wang, adding that the failure to carry out testing in a timely manner contributed to the clusters.

Daughter of

Kazakhstan’s

former president

quits Senate post

REUTERS — ALMATY

The daughter of Kazakhstan’s powerful former president has left her position as Speaker of the Senate, a role that led some observers to tip her as a possible candidate for the presidency.

Dariga Nazarbayeva is the eldest daughter of Nursultan Nazarbayev, the 79-year-old former leader who retains sweeping powers in the Central Asian nation as head of the security council and leader of the ruling Nur Otan party.

In a statement yesterday, the office of President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev gave no reason for the departure of Nazarbayeva, 56, from the Speaker’s post in the Upper House of Parliament. In a tweet, Tokayev thanked Nazarbayeva for her “active and fruitful” work in the job.

Nazarbayeva, who could not be reached for comment, was appointed as a senate deputy by Tokayev, who also nominated her for the Speaker post. It was unclear when the chamber planned to elect a new Speaker.

Under the Kazakh consti-tution, the Senate Speaker is first in line to take over the presi-dency in the event of the incum-bent’s resignation or death.

Nazarbayeva’s election to the post led some observers to consider her a potential con-tender for the presidency.

Tokayev was Senate Speaker until March 2019, when Nazarbayev abruptly resigned after almost three decades in power.

Virus cases among Pakistan’s medical workers increaseANATOLIA — LAHORE

More than 440 health care workers have tested positive for COVID-19 in Pakistan and eight have died so far, as per latest data shared by author-ities.

Figures updated on the National Emergency Oper-ation Centre’s website on Thursday showed 191 medical workers tested positive in a span of a week.

The new cases, along with the 253 who were diagnosed with COVID-19 until April 23, raised the total number to 444.

Of those, 216 are doctors, 67 are nurses, and 161 other medical workers.

A total of 204 are in iso-lation at their homes, 138 are under treatment at hospitals across the country, and 94 have recovered.

The sharp rise in new cases among health care

workers comes amid con-tinuing protests by the medical community over a lack of per-sonal protective equipment and against the government’s approach to lockdowns.

Last week, doctors in all provinces issued separate calls for a stricter and longer nationwide lockdown.

“We must save the lives of our doctors; if they start dying or are unable to work, what will happen to the patients? Who will treat them?” Dr Ikram Tunio, head of the Pakistan Medical Association, said in a conversation.

At a news conference on Thursday, Dr Zafar Mirza, the country’s de facto health min-ister, said the government was concerned for the safety of medical workers and would soon take steps for their protection.

Pakistan, which is the second worst-hit country in

South Asia after India, last week extended the lockdown initially imposed in March until May 9.

On Friday, the number of coronavirus cases in Pakistan passed 17,000 and the death toll moved close to 400.

A total of 1,322 new cases

raised the total to 17,439, including 4,315 recoveries, while 33 fatalities pushed the death toll to 391.

More than 3.3 million people in 187 countries and regions have been infected since the virus emerged in China last December, with the US and

Europe the hardest-hit areas in the world. A significant number of COVID-19 patients — over 1.05 million — have recovered, but the disease has also claimed over 235,000 lives so far, according to data com-piled by the Johns Hopkins University in the US.

Security personnel patrol on a street at a closed market during a government-imposed nationwide lockdown as a preventive measure against the coronavirus, in Rawalpindi, Pakistan.

Nearly 10,000 inmates freed as virus hits Philippine jailsAFP — MANILA

Nearly 10,000 prison inmates have been released in the Philippines as the country races to halt coronavirus infections in its overcrowded jails, a Supreme Court official said yesterday.

The move follows a directive to lower courts to release those awaiting trial in prison because they could not afford bail, Associate Supreme Court Justice Mario Victor Leonen told reporters.

“The court is very much aware of the congested situ-ation in our prisons,” Leonen told reporters as he announced the release of 9,731 inmates.

COVID-19 outbreaks have been reported at some of the country’s most overcrowded jails, affecting both inmates as well as corrections personnel.

Social distancing is all but impossible in the country’s prison system, where cells are sometimes filled to five times their capacity due to inade-quate infrastructure and a slow-moving and overbur-dened judicial system.

North Korea’s Kim reappears after weeks of speculationAFP — SEOUL

North Korea’s Kim Jong-Un has made his first public appearance in nearly three weeks, state media reported yesterday, following intense speculation that the leader of the nuclear-armed nation was seriously ill or possibly dead.

State television showed Kim walking, smiling broadly and smoking a cigarette at what the North said was the opening of a fertiliser factory on Friday in Sunchon, north of Pyongyang.

Rumours about Kim’s health have been swirling since his con-spicuous no-show at April 15 cel-ebrations for the birthday of his grandfather, the North’s founder — the most important day in the country’s political calendar.

His absence triggered a series of fevered rumours and uncon-firmed reports over his condition, while the United States and South Korea insisted they had no infor-mation to believe any of the con-jecture was true.

Seoul’s unification ministry reacted to yesterday’s report by saying “groundless” speculation about Kim had caused “unnec-essary confusion”, calling for more careful consideration in future.

Kim’s sudden death would have left Pyongyang facing an unplanned succession for the first time in its history and raised

unanswered questions over who would succeed him and take over the North’s nuclear arsenal.

China, the North’s key diplo-matic ally and main provider of trade and aid, is keen to maintain stability in its neighbour and avoid the possibility of an influx of refugees.

North Korea is “at the epi-centre of an extremely tense security crisis”, involving “a nuclear standoff where tens of millions of lives are at stake,” Henri Feron, Senior Fellow at the US Centre for International Policy, said.

“This raises legitimate con-cerns about the domestic and international instability that his death could cause.”

Footage showed Kim in his trademark black suit, waving to hundreds of workers who cheered his appearance and released balloons.

He was flanked by senior officials — including his sister and close adviser Kim Yo Jong — and showed no outward signs of ill health.

At one point Kim sat in front of a sign that described the event as a factory opening ceremony for May 1, 2020, but his appearance could not be inde-pendently verified.

As with previous public appearances during the global coronavirus pandemic, Kim and his entourage were not wearing

masks, unlike the crowd of workers at the ceremony.

Analysts said Kim could not appear in public wearing a mask as it would make him appear vul-nerable to the North Korean people.

The North has insisted that it has not seen a single case of coro-navirus, although experts say that is unlikely.

Kim’s repeated appearances without a mask had led some to speculate that he may have caught the virus.

Reporting from inside the isolated North is notoriously dif-ficult, especially on matters relating to its highly secretive leadership.

The North Korean leader had not made a public appearance

since presiding over a Workers’ Party politburo meeting on April 11, and the following day state media reported that he had inspected fighter jets.

Daily NK, an online media outlet run mostly by North Korean defectors, had reported that Kim was undergoing treatment after a cardiovascular procedure last month.

A man walks past a television news screen showing a picture of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un attending a ceremony to mark the completion of a fertiliser factory, in Seoul, yesterday.

A draft deal had been finalised that included proposals that Abdullah lead a high council for peace talks and have a half-share in government appointments, Fraidoon Khwazoon, a spokesman for Abdullah, said.

10 SUNDAY 3 MAY 2020EUROPE

Virus deaths in UK rise to 28,131; PM faces flakREUTERS — LONDON

The United Kingdom’s COVID-19 death toll rose 621 to 28,131 as of May 1, just short of Italy which has so far had the world’s second most deadly outbreak of the disease after the United States.

As Britain shadows Italy for the grim status of being the worst hit country in Europe, Prime Min-ister Boris Johnson is facing crit-icism from opposition parties who say his government stumbled in the early stages of the outbreak.

Housing minister Robert Jenrick gave the latest UK figures at a Downing Street briefing yesterday.

The United States has had 64,740 deaths, followed by Italy with 28,710 and the United Kingdom on 28,131 and then Spain on 25,100, according to a tally. Italy, which has a

population of 60 million, said its death toll rose 474 as of yes-terday. The United Kingdom has a population of about 67 million.

Johnson, 55, initially resisted introducing a lockdown to restrict economic and public activity, but changed course when projections showed a quarter of a million people could die. Johnson himself battled COVID-19 last month, spending three days in intensive care. He returned to work on Monday,

telling the nation that people around the world were looking at the United Kingdom’s “apparent success”.

He has said the country is over the peak but that it is still to early to relax the lockdown he imposed on March 23 because there could be a second peak that he fears might overwhelm hos-pitals. the $3tn British economy, the world’s fifth largest, is stalling and Johnson is due next week to present a possible way to get the country back to work without triggering a second spike in cases.

He has set five tests that must be met before he can lift the lockdown — with a reduction in the daily death toll and pre-vention of a second deadly peak among the key ones. Government scientists say that while the daily death tolls show a downward trend they expect them to plateau for a while. An anti-lockdown protester is detained by police officers, in London, yesterday.

France to extend health emergency until July 24AFP — PARIS

The French government said yesterday it will extend a health emergency imposed to fight the new coronavirus by two months, allowing it to keep stringent anti-virus measures in place even after a partial lifting of the country’s lockdown.

Once approved by law-makers, the emergency period will last until July 24, Health Minister Olivier Veran told a news conference.

The government has announced the gradual lifting of some lockdown measures from May 11, including the re-opening of primary schools.

Veran said, however, that to lift the health emergency, which began on March 24, at the same time would be premature and carry the risk of a resurgence of the outbreak.

“We are going to have to perform a long-distance run,” Veran said, adding he was aware that the French people had already been asked for “colossal efforts” in the fight against the virus.

As part of the planned measures, Veran said anybody entering France will have to remain confined for two weeks. This would typically concern “French people who travelled abroad and who want to come

home”, he said.Anyone arriving from

abroad and infected with the virus would be obliged by law to be quarantined.

Infected people already in France will, however, not be forced to accept isolation and treatment, as “we trust French people’s sense of responsibility”, Veran said.

“We are going to have to live with the virus for a while,” Interior Minister Christophe Cas-taner said after yesterday’s cabinet meeting deciding the extension.

“Learning to live with the virus, that’s what’s at stake in the coming months.” The

new proposals also cover an “information system” for those have the virus and their entourage that would operate for up to a year.

The bill will go before the Senate tomorrow and the National Assembly most probably the day after, said gov-ernment spokeswoman Sibeth Ndiaye. It is expected to become law by the end of the week.

France is one of the European countries most impacted by the virus and lists 24,594 deaths from 167,346 con-firmed cases.

On May 11, people in France will be allowed to leave their homes without the current obli-

gation to carry a written justifi-cation for the movements.

They will have to wear pro-tection masks when using public transport.

Many shops will also reopen and remote-working staff will be able to return to offices as France battles the economic impact of the coronavirus that has already pushed the country into recession.

In the latest example of the losses involved, the chairman of the national rail operator SNCF said yesteday that his company had already lost $2.2bn during the crisis, and would probably apply for state aid and cut staff numbers.

Toll in Italy

jumps after

non-hospital

deaths reported

AFP — ROME

Italy’s death toll jumped yesterday by the highest number since April 21, although local news agencies attributed it to the addition of previously uncounted deaths outside hospitals.

The 474 fatalities reported by the civil protection service took the Mediterranean coun-try’s total since February to 28,710, second only to the United States.

But Italian media said the country only recorded 192 new deaths yesterday.

Officials also included “282 non-hospital deaths that occurred in April but were only registered” Saturday, the La Repubblica daily said.

The ANSA news agency said the non-hospital deaths were reported by Milan’s Lom-bardy region, where most of Italy’s initial deaths occurred.

Italy’s real death toll is believed to be substantially higher than the official figure because few deaths in care homes or in the community are reported. The elderly in care homes are often not tested for the virus, and the number of people who have died of the illness at home is unknown.

Italy’s general trends two days before it begins gradually rolling back its lockdown tomorrow day were positive, The 192 new deaths were the lowest since March 14, and the number of new virus infections stood at 1,900, about a third of the number at the peak of the crisis.

Spaniards take to thestreets for exercise after7 weeks of lockdownAP — BARCELONA

Thousands of Spaniards woke up early yesterday to lace up their running shoes for the first time in seven weeks after the government ended a prohibition on outdoor exercise.

At 6am early risers poured into the streets dressed in ath-letic gear to run, bike, and speed walk, with many taking extra caution to loosen up atrophied muscles and avoid a twisted ankle that would ruin the joy of release.

A few tried running with a face mask despite the difficulty it causes with breathing. The masks will be obligatory to wear on public transport starting tomorrow to reduce the chance of infection from the virus that causes COVID-19.

“I feel good, but tired. You sure notice that it has been a month and I am not in shape,” 36-year-old Cristina Palomeque said in Barcelona after taking a break following a 20-minute jog. She had grown tired of following Zumba and yoga classes online.

“Some people think it may be too early (to go out), as I do, but it is also important to do exercise for health reasons,” she said.

A brilliant sunny sky in Bar-celona drew many to the mar-itime promenade to get as close as possible to the beach, which is still off-limits. People are sup-posed to respect a 2-metre dis-tance, but the crowds in some

spots made that impossible.“We woke up very early so

that we wouldn’t find it too full of people, but … it’s complicated,” 37-year-old Eduardo Conte said after a run along the Mediter-ranean beachfront.

“I feel a rush (being back outside), but you have to take it easy so we don’t all end up with injuries.”

The scene was similar to that seen last weekend when Spain’s children were let out for a walk with a parent for the first time in six weeks. After some chastising by local officials in the worst cases, the population behaved better throughout the week.

The government has set up time slots for age groups and activities to prevent crowds from forming and exposing the most at-risk elders.

People between 14 and 70 can now go out for individual exercise, and couples in that age group who live together can go for walks, from 6am to 10am and 8pm to 11pm. People over 70 can go out from 10am to noon and 7pm to 8pm, with one caregiver if needed. Children under 14 are now allowed to go out between noon and 7pm for walks with one parent, for up one hour, within 1km of home. They cannot play with other children.

Towns and villages with fewer than 5,000 inhabitants are exempt from the timetable dividing people by age groups.

“I am convinced that over the

coming months, until we have a vaccine, we are going to see more outbreaks (of the virus),” Sánchez said.

“What we need to guarantee is that these outbreaks do not put our national health system in danger.”

Since Spain’s lockdown started on March 14, only adults have only been able to leave home, and only for shopping for food, medicine and other essential goods, and to walk dogs close to home. For two weeks all commuting was banned; now only unavoidable commutes to and from work are allowed, with authorities encouraging people to work from home. Spain has detailed a complex rollback plan that will

vary by province that will take effect tomorrow. Those with the fewest cases and with health care resources to handle a rebound of the virus will be the first to enjoy a further loosening of the measures.

The lockdown, among the strictest in the world, has suc-ceeded in reducing daily increases of over 20 percent in cases to under 1 percent and saving Spain’s hospitals from collapse.

Spain has 25,100 confirmed deaths from the virus after a daily increase of 276 was reported yesterday. That is down from daily death tolls of over 900 a month ago. Another 1,147 cases reported over the past 24 hours took the total of confirmed

infections to 216,582.The huge field hospital the

military helped set up in a con-vention center in Madrid was closed on Friday. Madrid had already closed the makeshift morgue the army had established in an ice rink.

In Madrid, police reminded athletes that parks were still off-limits on town hall orders.

“These are very strong restrictions, but it is what it is. We have to follow the instructions from the Health Ministry because they know more than us,” 52-year-old Manuel Garcia said in the capital.

“This feeling of freedom is great. When this gets back to normal, all of us will feel even better.”

People cross the Triana Bridge during the hours allowed by the government to go out and exercise, in Seville, Spain, yesterday.

Migrants allowed

off Italy’s

quarantine ferryAFP — ROME

Around 180 migrants rescued at sea and held in isolation on an Italian ferry off the coast of Sicily will be disembarked in Palermo tomorrow, the Avvenire daily said.

The migrants had been pulled to safety in two separate operations by NGO rescue vessels and placed on the Rubattino ferry after Italy closed its ports due to the coronavirus epidemic.

All tested negative for the virus.

The Avvenire said holding them longer than the 14-day iso-lation period would leave Italy open to accusations of illegally detaining the migrants — some-thing of which it is very wary.

Far-right leader Matteo Salvini is to stand trial accused of just that after he blocked migrants from disembarking from a coast guard boat while he was interior minister last year. He had insisted they not be allowed off until a deal was made with the EU over who had duty of care for them.

It was not yet known whether the 183 people disem-barking tomorrow, including two women and 44 unaccom-panied minors, would be sent to other EU countries.

Britain’s Eton College launches drive to narrow rich-poor gapAFP — LONDON

Britain’s Eton College has announced a £100m drive to improve educational oppor-tunity after growing evidence the coronavirus outbreak was hitting rich and poor differ-ently.

Headmaster Simon Hend-erson said there was “no doubt” the global pandemic was widening existing ine-quality, and public and private bodies with means needed to help tackle it.

Britain’s Office for National Statistics on Friday said people in more deprived areas of England were twice as likely to die from COVID-19 as in

more affluent locations.The Sutton Trust, which

promotes social mobility through education, has said private school pupils were twice as likely to take part in online lessons every day during the lockdown as their state school counterparts.

Eton, near Windsor, west of London, has become a

byword for elitism and charges more than £42,000 in fees per year. Old boys include Prime minister Boris Johnson, and princes William and Harry.

But in a video message this week, Henderson said the COVID-19 crisis, which has led to more than 28,000 deaths in Britain, would be a “trigger for profound change” similar to

that after the last two world wars.

“A national crisis shines an unforgiving light on the unfairness of its impact on dif-ferent people,” he noted, par-ticularly low-paid key workers.

“It’s much, much harder if you’re poor,” he said.

Eton’s contribution to redressing the balance, he said, would be to spend “at least £100m” on narrowing the gap.

The money, half of which would come from fund-raising, would go towards attracting at least 140 pupils from vul-nerable and disadvantaged backgrounds on full scholar-ships by 2025.

It will also include

developing and extending its online education platform to the state sector, invest in new courses and make them per-manently available for free online. The school, which is run as a charity, would seek new partners in the state sector, particularly in inner-city areas, he added.

Henderson described the programme as “a fundamental change of gear by Eton”, which was founded by king Henry VI in 1440, and the “right thing” to do.

“It is a right example to set our boys. It is right ambition to set our staff. It is a right devel-opment of our charitable goals and it is a right contribution to our national need,” he added.

The United States has had 64,740 deaths, followed by Italy with 28,710 and the United Kingdom on 28,131 and then Spain on 25,100, according to a tally.

In a video message this week, Headmaster Simon Henderson said the COVID-19 crisis, which has led to more than 28,000 deaths in Britain, would be a 'trigger for profound change' similar to that after the last two world wars.

11SUNDAY 3 MAY 2020 EUROPE / AMERICAS

Virus cases in Russiaat new high; Moscowwarns of clampdownREUTERS — MOSCOW

Russia reported 9,623 new cases of coronavirus yesterday, its highest daily rise since the start of the pandemic, bringing the total to 124,054, mostly in the capital Moscow, where the mayor threatened to cut the number of travel permits.

The death toll nationwide rose to 1,222 after 57 people died in the last 24 hours, Rus-sia’s coronavirus crisis response centre said, after revising the previous day’s tally.

Russia has been in partial lockdown, aimed at curbing the spread of the novel coronavirus, since the end of March. In Moscow, people who have not obtained a special permit for free movement, are only able to leave their homes to shop, walk their dogs and dispose of garbage.

President Vladimir Putin has ordered the restrictive measures, called non-working days, to continue until May 11 inclusive, when the country

finishes celebrating the Labour Day and Victory Day holidays.

Despite a relatively low number of cases and deaths compared to the United States, Italy and Spain, which have been hit hardest by the disease, Russia’s infection curve has not reached a plateau.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sob-yanin issued an appeal yes-terday to Muscovites to con-tinue to self-isolate. He said the number of critically ill patients is rising, but not as steeply worst-case scenario projec-tions. “However, it is obvious that the threat is on the rise,” he said in his blog.

About two percent of Moscow residents — or more than 250,000 people — have the coronavirus, the mayor said, citing test results.

“According to screening tests of various population groups, the real number of the infected is around two percent of Moscow’s total population,” Sergei Sobyanin wrote on his blog.

According to official sta-tistics, Moscow has a population of 12.7 million people but the real figure is believed to be higher.

Sobyanin said Moscow has significantly ramped up testing capacity over the past few weeks, adding the city has

managed to “contain the spread of the infection” due to the enforcement of stay-at-home rules and other measures.

But he reiterated that the city was not yet past the peak of the outbreak.

The Health Ministry said on Friday that the number of infected children was on the rise.

Two children died from the coronavirus in the country, and 11 more were in a serious con-

dition, the ministry said.Sobyanin told Rossiya-1 TV

station that the Moscow author-ities may cut the number of digital permits issued for travel across the city if the situation worsens.

Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, the second-most senior official in the country after Putin, told the president on Thursday that he had tested positive for coronavirus and that he was temporarily

stepping down to recover.First Deputy Prime Minister

Andrei Belousov is now serving as acting prime minister in his absence.

On Friday, another member of the Russian cabinet, Con-struction Minister Vladimir Yakushev, announced he had been diagnosed with the virus and that he would be treated in hospital. Dmitry Volkov, one of his deputies, also tested pos-itive, the ministry said.

A medical staff of Gemotest wearing a protective gear, glasses and face mask takes a saliva sample from a man at a drive-in COVID-19 testing facility in Moscow, yesterday.

Body in Swedish

river was missing

Pakistan scribe

AP — HELSINKI

Swedish police say they have identified a body found late last month in a river as that of missing Pakistani journalist Sajid Hussain.

Police in Uppsala, a uni-versity town around 70km north of Stockholm, said on Friday that they had initially launched a murder investi-gation, but suspicions of foul play have weakened following an autopsy.

“But we’re still waiting for a few more answers,” police spokesman Jonas Eronen told the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet.

Hussain, 39, went missing on March 2 and his body was found on April 23 in the Fyris river that runs through Uppsala.

A native of Pakistan’s Balo-chistan province, Hussain was the editor and publisher of the online magazine Balochistan Times that he founded in 2015.

He fled Pakistan in 2012 after his reporting on cor-ruption, forced disappear-ances and human rights vio-lations in the region resulted in the police raiding his house and his receiving death threats.

Hussain had lived in Sweden since 2017 and was granted political asylum in the country a year later. Swedish public broadcaster SVT said he had been registered since January at the Uppsala Uni-versity, studying Arabic lan-guage and acting as a lecturer.

Lockdown adds to misery of migrants in ItalyAP — CASTEL VOLTURNO

They are known as “the invis-ibles”: Undocumented African migrants who, even before the coronavirus outbreak plunged Italy into crisis, barely scraped by as day laborers, prostitutes, freelance hairdressers and seasonal farm hands.

Locked down for two months in crumbling apart-ments in a mob-infiltrated town north of Naples, their hand-to-mouth existence has grown even more precarious with no work, no food and no hope.

Italy is preparing to reopen some business and industry tomorrow in a preliminary easing of its virus shutdown. But there is no indication that “the invisibles” of Castel Volturno

will get back to work anytime soon, and no evidence that the government’s social nets will ease their misery.

“I need help. Help me. For my children, for my husband, I need help,” said a tearful Mary Sado Ofori, a Nigerian hair-dresser and mother of three who has been holed up in her overcrowded apartment block. She ran out of milk for her 6-month old, and is getting by on handouts from a friend.

A patchwork team of a vol-unteers, medics, a priest, a cul-tural mediator and local city hall officials are trying to make sure “the invisibles” aren’t for-gotten entirely, delivering gro-ceries daily to their choked apartments and trying to provide health care. But the

need is outstripping the resources.

“There is an emergency within the COVID emergency which is a social emergency,” said Sergio Serraiano, who runs a health clinic in town. “We knew this was going to happen, and we were waiting for it from the beginning.”

The virus struck hardest in Italy’s prosperous industrial north, where the first home-grown case was registered Feb. 21 and where most of the infected and 27,000 dead were recorded. The bulk of the gov-ernment’s attention and response focused on reinforcing the health care system there to withstand the onslaught of tens of thousands of sick.

Castel Volturno is another

world entirely, a 27km strip of land running along the sea north of Naples that is con-trolled by the Camorra organized crime syndicate. Here there have only been about a dozen COVID cases, and none among the migrants.

But Castel Volturno has other problems that the COVID crisis has exacerbated. Known as the “Terra dei Fuochi” or land of fires, Castel Volturno and surrounding areas have unu-sually high cancer rates, blamed on the illegal dumping and burning of toxic waste that have polluted the air, sea and under-ground wells.

Here the mob runs drugs and waste disposal, and officials have warned the clans are primed to exploit the economic

misery that the virus shutdowns have caused.

It is also here that “the invis-ibles” have settled over the years, many after crossing the Mediterranean from Libya in smugglers boats hoping for a better life. No one knows their numbers for certain, but esti-mates run as high as 600,000 nationally. In Castel Volturno, a city with an official population of around 26,000, there are estimates of 10,000 to 20,000.

The men get by on day jobs picking tomatoes, lemons or oranges, or in construction where they earn 25 euros a day. The woman sell their bodies, or if they are lucky, work as free-lance hairstylists or selling trinkets and cigarette lighters on the street.

Inmates at Puraquequara’s prison are seen on the roof with prison workers (in yellow) as hostage during a riot following an outbreak of the coronavirus disease, in Manaus, Brazil, yesterday.

Vucic praises

Russia for making

military stronger

AP — BELGRADE

Serbia’s president thanked Russia yesterday for making the country’s military “10 times” stronger than when it was bombed by Nato in 1999.

Aleksandar Vucic spoke yesterday while visiting an air defence unit near Belgrade that has recently been equipped with the Russian Pantsir-S1 system, which is designed to defend targets on the ground from cruise mis-siles, drones and low-flying aircraft.

“This is a great support for the defense of our towns, pro-tection of our infrastructure and the strengthening of our military,” Vucic said. “We don’t want to attack anyone, we want to protect the future of our children.” Vucic’s visit to the air defense unit coincided with the anniversary of the day a US Air Force F-16 jet was shot down over Serbia 21 years ago.

Michigan militia places armed protest in spotlight

AP — LANSING

Gun-carrying protesters have been a common sight at some demonstrations calling for coronavirus-related restric-tions to be lifted. But an armed militia’s involvement in an angry protest in the Michigan statehouse marked an esca-lation that drew condemnation and shone a spotlight on the practice of bringing weapons to protest.

The “American Patriot Rally” started on the statehouse steps, where members of the Michigan Liberty Militia stood guard with weapons and tac-tical gear, their faces partially covered.

They later moved inside the Capitol along with several hundred protesters, who demanded to be let onto the House floor, which is pro-hibited. Some protesters with guns - which are allowed in the statehouse — went to the Senate gallery, where a senator said some armed men shouted at her, and some senators wore bulletproof vests.

For some observers, the images of armed men in tac-tical gear at a state Capitol were an unsettling symbol of rising tensions in a nation grappling with crisis. Others saw evi-dence of racial bias in the way the protesters were treated by police.

For some politicians, there was fresh evidence of the risk of aligning with a movement with clear ties to far-right groups.

Prominent Michigan Republicans on Friday criti-cised the showing, with the GOP leader of the state Senate referring criticised protesters saying they “used intimidation and the threat of physical harm

to stir up fear and feed rancor.” President Donald Trump,

who has been criticised in the past for condoning extremist views, called the protesters “very good people” and urged Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer to “make a deal.”

Michigan has been the epi-center of the political showdown over how to contain the spread of the deadly virus without decimating the economy. About a quarter of the state’s workforce has filed for unemployment and nearly 4,000 people have died.

Rally organiser Ryan Kelley said the event was intended to pressure Republicans to reject Whitmer’s plan to continue restrictions on work and travel. He called the protest a “huge win,” noting the Republican-controlled Senate refused to extend Whitmer’s coronavirus emergency declaration — though she said Friday her stay-at-home order remains in effect.

Kelley, a 38-year-old real estate broker, said he and other organizers are not part of a formal group but represent people who have been harmed by the stay-home order. He said he invited the Michigan Liberty Militia, which is listed as an anti-government group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, to serve as “security.”

He suggested anyone who had a problem with their presence should read the Con-stitution and “live life without fear.” Gun-carrying protesters outside state capitols are a regular occurrence in many states, especially in Repub-lican-leaning ones. But rarely do such protests converge at the same time around the country like they have during the coronavirus pandemic.

Prisoners take guards hostage in Brazil’s coronavirus-hit ManausREUTERS — RIO DE JANEIRO

Inmates at a prison in Manaus, a Brazilian city deep in the Amazon that has been hit hard by the coronavirus outbreak, have taken seven prison guards hostage, the local prison authority said yesterday, underlining the endemic violence that has plagued the region’s jails in recent years.

The reason for the rebellion at the Puraquequara Peniten-tiary was not immediately clear, but local television stations cited a video allegedly recorded by an unidentified inmate, who complained of sweltering heat and a lack of electricity in the prison.

In a statement, the prison authority in the state of

Amazonas, where Manaus is located, said the prisoners were demanding the presence of the press and human rights groups. They had no information on possible deaths.

The rebellion comes as the coronavirus outbreak has overwhelmed public services in Manaus, with authorities burying victims in mass graves and warning residents of a shortage soon of coffins.

Violence is rife in Brazil’s prisons, where organized crime groups often exercise de facto control.

Overcrowding is also common and rights groups call conditions medieval, with food scarce and cells so packed that prisoners have no space to lie down.

In January 2017, almost 150 prisoners were killed as organized crime groups battled each other in several prisons in north and northeastern Brazil.

In one particularly violent incident in Manaus, 57 inmates were killed, some of whom were decapitated and thrown over prison walls.

Last year, over 50 inmates were strangled or stabbed to death as rival gangs battled each other in four separate Manaus jails.

Various police units have been deployed and were already beginning negotia-t ions as of Saturday morning, the Amazonas Sec-retary of Prisons said in its statement.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin issued an appeal yesterday to Muscovites to continue to self-isolate. He said the number of critically ill patients is rising, but not as steeply worst-case scenario projections. “However, it is obvious that the threat is on the rise,” he said in his blog.

12 SUNDAY 3 MAY 2020AMERICAS

Houston police officer killed, 1 hurt in copter crashAP — HOUSTON

A Houston police helicopter crashed early yesterday, killing one of the two officers on board and critically injuring the other, officials said.

A pilot and tactical flight officer were aboard a police helicopter when it crashed at an apartment complex around 2am. They were flown to a hos-pital where the tactical flight officer died, police Chief Art Acevedo said hours after the crash during a news conference where he was joined by the city’s mayor, Sylvester Turner.

The pilot was still in surgery and was “very banged up,” but police were hopeful he would

survive, Acevedi said, noting that investigators still didn’t know what caused the crash.

There were no injuries to anyone on the ground at the apartment complex, a masked Acevedo told reporters.

The helicopter was sup-posed to assist with a search for bodies in a nearby bayou, which was prompted by a tip that the police chief characterized as “probably a bogus call — we don’t know.”

The officers were trapped in “mangled” wreckage before being cut out by city firefighters who worked for about an hour, Acevedo said, praising the fire department as “phenomenal.”

Acevedo identified two

silver linings at the first news conference: While the wreckage was “pretty significant,” it didn’t catch fire, and the helicopter avoided striking occupied apartment buildings. It did clip the Biscayne at Cityview com-plex’s clubhouse, he said.

The department will not release the names of the officers until their extended families are made aware, Acevedo said. The tactical flight officer was sur-vived by a wife and two young children, who were at the hos-pital along with the officer’s parents and in-laws, Acevedo said.

The police department is shutting down flights until it has a chance to reassess in the

coming days, and will be relying on the Texas Department of Public Safety and Harris County Sheriff’s Office for flight support in the interim.

Acevedo identified the heli-copter as “75 Fox.” “It’s pretty ironic that yesterday we grad-uated a class and we had Fox fly out because we had COVID, so we couldn’t do your traditional graduation so we wanted to do something special,” Acevedo said. “And if somebody had told me that a few hours later that we had an aircraft down and we’d lose a really good man, I would have said ‘No way.’”

The National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Avi-ation Administration will

investigate, Acevedo said, while the police department conducts a paral le l homicide investigation.

Turner, the mayor, called on the people of the city “to con-tinue to lift up, number one, both families, but especially lift up the family of the police officer who has died this morning. And then at the same time lift up the entire HPD family.”

Acevedo noted that shots rang out across the street from the scene at around 3am. Six people were taken into custody, he said. Acevedo stressed that police had no information indi-cating that the helicopter might have been taken down by hostile action.

Washington approvesvirus drug as US states ease lockdownsAFP — WASHINGTON

American authorities have approved an experimental drug for emergency use on corona-virus patients, as more US states eased pandemic lockdowns despite another spike in deaths from the disease.

The approval is the latest step in a global push to find viable treatments and a vaccine for the coronavirus, which has left half of humanity under some form of lockdown, hammered the world economy and infected more than 3.3 million people.

Remdesivir, an antiviral drug initially developed to treat Ebola, was given the green light on Friday after a major trial found that it boosted recovery in serious COVID-19 patients.

“It’s really a very promising situation,” President Donald Trump said on Friday at the White House, where he was joined by Daniel O’Day, CEO of Gilead Sciences, which developed Remdesivir.

The drug incorporates itself into the virus’ genome, short-circuiting its replication process.

Its approval came as the US leaders struggled with growing pressure from citizens wearying of stay-at-home orders.

With about 1.1 million con-firmed coronavirus cases and nearly 65,000 deaths and Trump is keen for a turnaround as the world’s largest economy reels with tens of millions left jobless.

“Hopefully, we’re going to come in below that 100,000 lives lost, which is a horrible number nevertheless,” said Trump, after suggesting earlier in the week the

country could expect 60,000 or 70,000 fatalities.

Texas became the largest US state yet to ease curbs, while anti-lockdown demonstrations were held in several states —including California, where offi-cials had re-closed beaches beginning Friday to avoid a repeat of last weekend when crowds flocked to the shoreline.

In Huntington Beach, about 55km south of Los Angeles, several thousand people rallied to denounce Governor Gavin Newsom’s beach shutdown order. “It was the straw that broke the camel’s back,” pro-tester Monica Beilhard fumed.

“It was uncalled for, unnec-essary and people out here are making that known,” she said.

Meanwhile, New York Gov-ernor Andrew Cuomo yesterday pushed back against what he called premature demands that he reopen the state, saying he knew people were struggling without jobs but that more understanding of the new coro-navirus was needed.

As governors in about half of the United States partially

reopen their economies over this weekend, Cuomo said he needed much more information on what the pandemic was doing in his state.

“Even when you are in uncharted waters, it doesn’t mean you proceed blindly,” he said. “Use information to determine action — not emo-tions, not politics, not what people think or feel, but what we know in terms of facts.” New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy echoed Cuomo’s slow-go restart approach, even as he reported “positive trends,” including a decline in the number of hos-pital patients with COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.

While the number of deaths has trended lower in recent days, New Jersey’s toll, second only to New York’s, stood at 7,742, which Murphy cited as a key reason for maintaining his stay-at-home order.

“The family, friends and neighbors who we have lost are the reason why we cannot rush our restart,” he said at a news briefing. “We need to keep seeing these lines moving in these directions before we can put New Jersey on the road back, and before we’re able to respon-sibly restart our economy.”

Many US eastern seaboard residents enjoyed a perfect spring day yesterday, those in New Jersey had access to more outdoor space as Murphy allowed the state’s parks and golf courses to reopen for the first time in a month, warning they would be shut again if social distancing requirements were violated.

A worker places information as he closes a street to be used by pedestrians for ensuring that social distancing norms are maintained, during the coronavirus outbreak in the Manhattan borough of New York City, yesterday.

White House blocking Fauci testimony to House panel, says spokesmanAP — WASHINGTON

A spokesman for a key House panel said on Friday that the White House has blocked Dr. Anthony Fauci from testifying next week at a hearing on the coronavirus outbreak.

House Appropriations Com-mittee spokesman Evan Hol-lander said the panel sought Fauci — the highly respected director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Dis-eases — as a witness for a sub-committee hearing on the gov-ernment’s response to the pan-demic, but was denied. Hollander said the panel was informed by an administration official that Fauci’s testimony was blocked by the White House.

The White House said Fauci

is busy dealing with the pan-demic and will appear before Congress later. In fact, Fauci is set to appear the week after next at a Senate hearing, a spokesperson for the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee said. The Senate is held by Trump’s Republican allies while the House is con-trolled by Democrats.

“While the Trump Admin-istration continues its whole-of-government response to COVID-19, including safely opening up America again and expediting vaccine devel-opment, it is counter-pro-ductive to have the very indi-viduals involved in those efforts appearing at Congressional hearings,” said White House spokesman Judd Deere.

“We are committed to

working with Congress to offer testimony at the appropriate time.”

Fauci is the top scientist on President Donald Trump’s coro-navirus task force and is no stranger to testifying before Congress. He has sometimes contradicted Trump’s optimistic misstatements about the virus and how much it is under control after claiming more than 64,000 lives in the US.

Fauci has warned against relaxing social distancing rules that have helped slow the spread of the virus but caused a major hit to the economy. That has earned him criticism from some of Trump’s most ardent supporters, and Trump himself has retweeted a sup-porter who called for Fauci’s firing.

Colombia ousts

11 military

officials in

spying probe

REUTERS — BOGOTA

Colombia’s defense ministry on Friday announced the ouster of 11 military officials and the resignation of a general related to an ongoing probe into allegations the army spied on journalists, poli-ticians, magistrates and other members of the military.

The ministry did not name any of the people dismissed or the general. The country’s attorney general opened the investigation in January after local news magazine Semana published the allegations.

There have been repeated hacking scandals involving the military in recent years, including accusations officials spied on negotiators at talks with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebels, which eventually led to a 2016 peace accord.

Defense Minister Carlos Holmes Trujillo said the decision to relieve the officials of their duties was made based on the allegations.

“Today 11 officials will be removed from their posts and retired from active service, also a brigadier general has asked to be voluntarily removed from active service,” Trujillo said at a news conference.

The investigations are con-tinuing, Trujillo said.

On Friday, Semana fol-lowed up with more details, including the names of some of the alleged victims.

Healthcare workers and members of the Bolivarian national police wait for the arrival of prisoners outside a hospital after a riot erupted inside a prison in Guanare, Venezuela, on Friday.

Venezuelan prison riotleaves at least 40 deadAP — CARACAS

A riot erupted at a prison in central Venezuela on Friday, killing at least 40 people and injuring 50 more, including a National Guard officer who was wounded by an explosion and the warden, who suffered a knife wound, authorities said.

The upheaval at the Llanos Penitentiary Center started with an inmate protest demanding that their relatives be allowed to deliver them food and then an armed con-frontation broke out between inmates and guards, lawmaker María Beatriz Martínez said.

The National Guard officer was injured by a grenade explosion, said Martínez, who had access to an early report prepared

by the town’s security forces. The prison is located in the city of Guanare, 450km south-west of the capital of Caracas.

Venezuela’s Minister of Pen-itentiary Services, Iris Varela, confirmed the riot, telling the local newspaper Ultimas Noticias that a group of inmates attacked officers standing guard outside the prison.

The warden was injured by at least one inmate wielding a knife, Varela said.

A once-wealthy oil nation, Venezuela is gripped by a deep-ening political and economic crisis. Street violence is common in the nation that has had nearly 5 million residents flee in recent years as public services crumble.

Homecoming for deployed soldiers altered by quarantineAP — CHARLOTTE

It was an unusual homecoming for soldiers of the 82nd Airborne Division. Instead of marching into a room full of eager family members on Fort Bragg, loved ones stood beside cars decked out with hand-painted signs, as buses carrying weary paratroopers fresh off a no-notice deployment to the Middle East drove by.

Most of the traditional

welcome-back fanfare has been replaced with a mandatory 14 day quarantine. The measure is meant to protect from the spread of COVID-19. This is certainly not the Fort Bragg soldiers left sud-denly four months ago.

On New Years Eve, the divi-sion’s Immediate Response Force was activated amid rising tension with Iran. Within days, more than three thousand paratroopers were deployed to the Middle East,

some having just hours to say goodbye to loved ones.

On Friday evening, Sergeant Ashley Boutte waited patiently for her husband, Sergeant Law-rence Boutte, an Apache heli-copter mechanic. She didn’t expect he’d be home in time for their first wedding anniversary in a few weeks. “It’s nothing but a blessing,” she said.

But for some soldiers, reunions will have to wait. For

the next two weeks, paratroopers will be quarantined to follow Department of Defense guide-lines. Those who live with family members off base will be allowed to hunker down in homes and apartments, but others are imme-diately being taken to a con-tainment area on Fort Bragg.

They’ll have Wi-Fi and workout equipment. And while the situation isn’t ideal, public affairs officer Maj. Rich Foote

said he hasn’t heard many com-plaints. “It’s understood. This is what they’re coming home to, they get it,” Foote said.

Face masks and social dis-tancing aren’t new concepts for these paratroopers. They were months into their deployment when CDC requirements reached their units spread out across Kuwait and Iraq.

It will take three weeks to bring the remaining 2,500

members of the Immediate Response Force back to North Carolina. Ashlee Matlock’s husband wasn’t in the group that arrived Friday night, but she’s expecting him soon.

“I’m so proud of my husband and all of the para-troopers because this is a his-toric event and for them to react without hesitation and jump into action, that makes my heart so proud,” she said.

Remdesivir, an antiviral drug initially developed to treat Ebola, was given the green light after a major trial found that it boosted recovery in serious COVID-19 patients.