COVID-19: India overtakes US in vaccine milestone with 323.66 million doses administered

New Delhi: India has achieved another milestone in its ongoing Covid-19 vaccination drive by overtaking the US in terms of total number of doses administered so far, securing highest position among top six countries of the world.

India has so far administered Covid vaccine doses to 32,36,63,297 people (323.66 million) while the number of people inoculated so far in the US are 32,33,27,328. If compared to the timeline, India’s Covid vaccination drive started on January 16 this year almost one month after the similar exercise was started by the US on December 14 last year.

India’s cumulative vaccination coverage has exceeded 32.36 crores (320 million) on Sunday. A total of 32,36,63,297 vaccine doses have been administered through 43,21,898 sessions, said the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) citing provisional report received till 7am on Monday. The Ministry said that 17,21,268 vaccine doses were administered in the last 24 hours.

As per global vaccine tracker report till 8am on Monday, India is at top position in terms of inoculating maximum Covid vaccines to its citizens followed by the US, the UK (7,67,74,990), Germany (7,14,37,514), France (5,24,57,288), and Italy (4,96,50,721).

Interestingly, India achieved the goal quicker despite it started the world’s largest inoculation drive one month later compared to these five countries. The drive first started by the UK on December 8 last year followed by the US while Germany, France and Italy started the exercise on December 27 last year.

The government said that the new phase of universalisation of Covid-19 vaccination commenced from June 21, accelerated the pace and expanded the scope of vaccination throughout the country.

Following the landmark achievement, Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated all those who are driving the momentum of India’s vaccination drive.

In a tweet, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said: “India’s vaccination drive keeps gaining momentum! Congrats to all those who are driving this effort. Our commitment remains, vaccines for all, free for all.”

India’s federal Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan on Monday described the milestone as ‘historic’. “Till now, India has administered 32,36,63,297 doses of COVID-19 vaccines. This is historic because today we have overtaken the USA in the number of vaccine doses administered,” he said.

In a tweet, the health minister also called the new feat a ‘remarkable result of efforts under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi.’

“World’s #LargestVaccineDrive pacing ahead! At 32.36 crore, surpasses in terms of cumulative #COVID19Vaccince doses administered. A remarkable result of efforts by ‘Whole of Govt’ & ‘Whole of society’ under leadership of Hon’ble PM Sh @narendramodi Ji,” he tweeted. He further informed that fresh COVID-19 cases were continuously decreasing and in the last seven days had reported a 21 per cent drop.

“Continuing reduction in infections! Corona infection is continuously decreasing in India. There has been a decrease of 21 per cent of new patients in the country in 7 days as compared to last week. This is a good sign, but be careful, be cautious and follow the COVID protocol,” he said.

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Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine produces strong immune response from booster shot: Study

London: A third shot of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine produces a strong immune response, researchers said on Monday, adding there was not yet evidence that such shots were needed, especially given shortages in some countries.

The Oxford University study found that a third dose of the vaccine increases antibody and T-cell immune responses, while the second dose can be delayed up to 45 weeks and also lead to an enhanced immune response.

The British government has said it is looking at plans for an autumn vaccine booster campaign, with three-fifths of adults already having received both doses of a COVID vaccine.

Andrew Pollard, director of the Oxford Vaccine Group, said that evidence that the vaccine protects against current variants for a sustained period of time meant that such a booster may not be needed.

"We do have to be in a position where we could boost if it turned out that was necessary ... (but) we don't have any evidence that that is required," he told reporters.

"At this point with a high level of protection in the UK population and no evidence of that being lost, to give third doses now in the UK whilst other countries have zero doses is not acceptable." Studies had previously shown that the shot, invented at Oxford University and licensed to AstraZeneca has higher efficacy when the second dose is delayed to 12 weeks instead of four weeks.

Monday's research was released in a preprint, and looked at 30 participants who received a late second dose and 90 who received a third dose, all of whom were under 55.

It helps assuage concerns that viral vector COVID vaccines, such as those made by AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson, may lose their potency if annual inoculations are needed due to the risk that the body produces an immune response against the vectors that deliver the vaccine's genetic information.

"There had been some concerns that we would not be able to use this vaccine in a booster vaccination regime, and that's certainly not what the data is suggesting," study author Teresa Lambe of Oxford's Jenner Institute told Reuters.

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Cow that escaped LA slaughterhouse wins pardon thanks to songwriter

Los Angeles: A cow that remained at large after she and 40 others escaped from a Los Angeles slaughterhouse was found Thursday, but unlike her fellow ex-fugitives she will be spared after a celebrity songwriter intervened on her behalf.

The cows had caused a sensation when they ran amok Tuesday evening in the streets of Pico Rivera, a residential area of the city, wandering around and munching on people's lawns.

Sheriff's deputies aided by police on horseback took hours to corral the animals and get them onto trailers for the trip back to the slaughterhouse.

At one point police had the runaways cornered in a cul de sac but the herd scattered when officers tried to round them up.

They had escaped the meatpacking plant through a gate that was left open. Police shot dead one of them when it charged towards a family with children, but eventually 38 were returned to face their demise.

But one of them continued to evade the law and was only found early Thursday, grazing in a field a few miles from the slaughterhouse.

A Pico Rivera municipal official said the cow would be sent to an animal shelter, rather than the slaughterhouse, thanks to the intervention of Diane Warren, a California songwriter who has won a Grammy, an Emmy and two Golden Globes for her scores for hit movies.

The town of Pico Rivera is itself in discussions with the owners of the slaughterhouse over the possibility of sending all the escapees to shelters, the official said.

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Fire at martial arts school in central China kills 18 people

Beijing: A fire swept through a martial arts school in central China early Friday, killing 18 people and injuring 16, authorities said.

The fire has been extinguished, and police have detained the person in charge of the school.

Henan provincial and Shangqiu city authorities have gone to the scene to start an investigation. Authorities have yet to release details on the victims.

Four people were severely injured and 12 have light injuries, according to the short statement from authorities in the city of Shangqiu, which oversees Zhecheng county in Henan, where the fire occurred.

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Indian actor Prithviraj on Malayalam cinema finally having its moment

Indian actor Prithviraj believes that Malayalam-language films are going through a glorious phase, alluding to movies being made on modest budgets while providing concrete content.

“We might not have as much money as other industries to spend on our films, but we do have talent and skill. Finally, we have learned how to use this talent and skill properly,” said Prithviraj in an interview over Zoom as he promoted his new thriller ‘Cold Case’.

Premiering on Amazon Prime Video on June 30, Prithviraj plays Assistant Commissioner Of Police Satyajith, an officer in charge of a murky murder investigation. This bankable actor’s observation about Malayalam cinema enjoying a glorious IT moment during the pandemic isn’t off the mark.

When Mohanlal’s much-anticipated ‘Drishyam 2’ skipped a theatrical release and opted for a direct online release on Amazon Prime Video earlier in February, the interest and adulation for realistic Malayalam cinema with subtitles peaked as it opened to a wider audience base.

It also helped that this star-fuelled thriller emerged as IMDb’s highest-rated Indian film of 2021, no mean feat for a South Indian film. Due to public demand, the film is even releasing in theatres in the UAE on July 1, subverting the theatre-to-web release cycle.

A still from 'Drishyam 2' Image Credit: Amazon Prime Video

“But let’s be fair, I would like to think that even before ‘Drishyam 2’, Malayalam films were making some noise on a national-international level. Of course, ‘Drishyam 2’ is a huge film and its popularity crashing through the roof was an absolute catalyst. But let’s be fair, the interest in Malayalam films began much earlier,” said Prithviraj.

Movies such as Fahadh Faasil’s dark and morbid family drama ‘Joji’, Nimisha Sajayan’s patriarchy-smasher ‘The Great Indian Kitchen’, and actor Roshan Mathew’s human trafficking tale ‘C You Soon’ — all rolled out during the pandemic over the last two years — stoked deep interest in Malayalam cinema across movie-mad Indians who weren’t even familiar with that language.

Actor Fahadh Faasil in Amazon Prime Video's 'Joji' Image Credit: Amazon Prime Video

“There’s a whole lot of new younger filmmakers, writers, actors, and technicians now. Filmmaking has just become more accessible. Anybody with a mobile phone can make now make a film today and Malayalam cinema has benefited the most because we have started to do what we are best at,” said Prithviraj, who turned director with the Mohanlal blockbuster ‘Lucifer’ in 2019.

The long-enduring actor — with blockbusters such as the riveting cop drama ‘Mumbai Police’ or the hustler fest ‘Indian Rupee’, and his testosterone-charged ‘Ayyappanum Koshiyum’ to his credit — is equally thrilled that ‘Cold Case’ will soon premiere on an Over-The-Top (OTT) platform. Kerala, like the rest of India, is grappling with a savage second wave of COVID-19 with cinema halls downing the shutters indefinitely in several Indian cities.

Prithviraj and Biju Menon in 'Ayappanum Koshiyum' Image Credit: Netflix

The pandemic has forced filmmakers across the world to re-consider their options on how to release their completed films and many are coming up with enterprising ways to roll out their films to the public.

“In the past year, we have realised the value of having these OTT platforms,” said Prithviraj.

Prithviraj turns cop in 'Cold Case' Image Credit: Amazon Prime Video

Excerpts from our interview with Prithviraj as we talk about his latest murder mystery ‘Cold Case’, filming during the pandemic, and more …

Why should we watch ‘Cold Case’ and how will you sell it to us?

I don’t sell films. I act and direct them. But I can tell you why I acted in ‘Cold Case’. It struck me as an interesting script. It’s a story that travels in different paths. It’s not a whodunit alone, but it’s also about how did he do it.

There’s a police investigation that progresses based on logic, facts, inferences, and evidence. I play the police officer Satyajith. But there’s another path led by a journalist (Aditi Balan) who begins encountering things that cannot be explained with logic. There is paranormal activity and supernatural forces at work, but one path does not negate the other.

Prithviraj in 'Cold Case' Image Credit: Amazon Prime Video

Was the film shot during the pandemic?

It was shot during the pandemic and it was my first film that was shot keeping in mind the COVID-19 regulations and restrictions. It was very new for me because it was my first time seeing everyone masked and observing social distancing. There were sanitisation stations every 10 meters. Everybody was following strict regulations, but the shoot was smooth.

Actress Suchitra Pillai in 'Cold Case' Image Credit: Amazon Prime Video

Was ‘Cold Case’ designed as a web release or was the decision to release it on a streaming platform taken because of the times we live in?

A: It was the latter and was not designed to release on an OTT platform. When we made this film we thought this movie would be subjected to community viewing where hundreds of people together and watch it. But given the circumstances, I don’t think there is a better exhibition platform for this film than Amazon Prime Video because it’s a whole different level of reach than a theatrical release.

We screen in over 240 countries with people being able to sit in the safety of their own homes and watch this movie at their convenience. It’s a great proposition given the circumstances. Not just that, I don’t know how we can as a team appear in front of the camera and tell people: ‘go on to the theatres with your family and watch this film.’ I don’t know if that’s a responsible request to make. Given all that there is in front of us, the best thing that could have happened for ‘Cold Case’ is that it premieres on Amazon Prime video.

The title of your thriller seems to suggest that a case has gone cold. Are you reviving an old investigation here?

Cold is often a term used to describe something that has reached a dead-end or when the trail or your leads have gone cold. So, it holds true that way. It’s just that the case has gone more or less cold, but it suddenly becomes active again. But there is also another reason why the word ‘cold’ is used in this film. Unfortunately, I can’t dive into that right now until the film releases.

Prithviraj Image Credit: Antonin Kelian

At this point in your burgeoning career, what do you look for in a film — is it just the potency of the script?

I would like to believe that any actor would look for first for a script that manages to your attention till the end. In this genre, what you look for is your need to know what’s going to happen till the end. And, that’s what makes that film significant. ‘Cold Case’ held all our interests. But it’s not a film that I got attracted to because of the character I played. Satyajit, the cop, is merely a character in this plot. But it’s a character in an interesting plot. Plus, I am happy that my saying yes to this project facilitated this film to be made because it deserves to be made.

The pandemic has been tough for everyone globally. How did you survive these two years?

People like us are the privileged ones because we get to put our legs up and watch series and films on web platforms. When you say the film industry, you just perceive it as a place belonging to actors or the fortunate lot that had the resources to get through the pandemic. But remember there are thousands of daily wage workers who aren’t as fortunate.

While I understand that the entertainment industry is not the priority, we are hoping that when the industry opens up there are thousands who will find a living through this industry. So for the sake of everybody, I hope we find a way to reopen this industry. On the plus side, if we make a good film we still have an opportunity to show it to people.

Read More:

• Prithviraj reveals his toxic male side in ‘Ayyapannum Koshiyum’
• Coronavirus: Prithviraj stuck in Jordan, seeks evacuation help
• He slapped her happily ever after: Toxic masculinity in Malayalam film Ayyappanum Koshiyum
• ‘Lucifer’ review: Strictly for Mohanlal fans

Streaming platforms tend to give directors and actors more space to perform. Your thoughts?

There’s a difference between making content for community viewing and viewing something in your private space. When you talk about community viewing, we are thinking of a group or family taking the time to go somewhere, finishing the film, and getting back to something else. So you don’t want to sit in a theatre for over four hours and therefore as a filmmaker you think of ways to compress your narrative and to dwell on absolutely necessary moments. But when you decide to make a film, a documentary, or a series that is going to premiere on an OTT platform, then you know that people are going to watch it on their own time and we have a lot more liberty.

I can choose to dwell on moments because I am going to make sure that viewers also spend time with me on that. It’s creatively very liberating and it’s financially great for our industry. We can diversify … So filmmakers and producers are going to start thinking differently and that’s exciting.

“Anybody is free to post a review on their social media or any other platform. If you don’t like the film, you can say you don’t like it. But I request the reviewer — both professional or otherwise — to make sure that you say that it’s your personal opinion. You have absolutely no right to say: ‘Don’t watch that film.” – Prithviraj

Prithviraj

Did you know?

Prithviraj still believes that star-driven filmmaking isn’t behind them entirely. After having completed more than a decade in Malayalam cinema, the son of legendary actor Sukumaran believes that his biggest clout currently is his ability to command producers to back projects due to the clout he has built over the years as a performer.

Don’t Miss It!

'Cold Case' is out on Amazon Prime Video on June 30

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It is possible to give people of Jammu and Kashmir relief immediately: Omar Abdullah

Omar Abdullah, the former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), was part of a bunch of top political leadership from Jammu and Kashmir that met Narendra Modi, India’s Prime Minister, in a high-level meeting in New Delhi recently.

It was for the first time since August 5, 2019 (when the erstwhile state’s political autonomy, enshrined in Article 370 of India’s constitution, was abrogated by Modi government) that the leaders from J&K came face to face with the Prime Minister and Amit Shah, India’s Home Minister.

In a Zoom meeting with Gulf News, Omar Abdullah, gave an insight into what happened at the much-anticipated meeting, the legal fight over Article 370, his own political plans and the plight of the people in J&K.

Excerpts from the interview:

What were your expectations going in the meeting with the Prime Minister?

I did not attend the meeting with any expectations. Given that very few of us (political leadership in J&K) have had any contact with the government of India, much less at the level of the Prime Minister, since August 2019, this meeting was more in the nature of an ice breaker.

It gave us an opportunity to tell the Prime Minister how we felt and how we thought the people of Jammu and Kashmir felt post the scrapping of the state’s special status.

This meeting was just a beginning. The Prime Minister acknowledged that a vast gulf exists between Jammu and Kashmir and the rest of India. He talked about Dilli se doori and Dil ki doori (gap between J&K and Delhi and also a distance in hearts), which needs to be addressed.

We told the Prime Minister in no uncertain terms that people are not happy with the events of August 2019. All political parties were clear in making this known to our hosts.

Omar Abdullah along with a host of top political leaders met with Narendra Modi in New Delhi on June 25, 2019 Image Credit: AP

You met Modi in August 2019. A lot changed in the interim. How was it like facing him for the first time in nearly two years after you were imprisoned?

It was almost surreal because not long ago we were detained by the government and our detentions were justified using all sorts of claims. In my case, for instance, the Public Safety Act detention was justified saying that I had mobilised people to vote in the face of an election boycott!

I would be lying if I said that it was all completely as if nothing had happened. Like I told you it was surreal to begin with but the fact is that we (as leaders) have a responsibility beyond ourselves.

The Prime Minister of India reached out to us for a dialogue and it was absolutely the correct thing to do — and respond positively to the dialogue.

I will never forget what I went through (during my imprisonment) but I’ve always said it’s not about an individual. It is about the wider cause we are fighting and what individually may have happened to me or my father (Dr Farooq Abdullah, Member of Parliament) or Mehbooba Mufti (Former Chief Minister) or to many others, doesn’t matter.

What is important that we keep the channels of communication open.

Why is the government of India insisting on delimitation in J&K?

I think that’s a question which the government of India can better answer. I can hazard a guess but is only a guess and I think it’s because of the political constituency that the BJP has cultivated — particularly in parts of Jammu.

Otherwise there is no legal or constitutional reason why J&K should be singled out with delimitation when the rest of the country is going for delimitation in 2026. We are already in 2021. Our delimitation will take place on the basis of data that is 10 years old.

Whereas rest of the country goes for delimitation in 2026 (based on the 2021 census), so already there will be discrepancy between the rest of the country and J&K. This is a question for the BJP to answer that if the entire exercise of August 5, 2019 was to bring J&K at par with the rest of the country, why then single out J&K for delimitation?

We want the restoration of full statehood before any move towards holding elections in J&K. Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad made the intervention towards the end of the meeting. It is something we will continue to press for.

Delimitation

The Delimitation commission is an independent body tasked to redraw the boundaries of the various assembly and Lok Sabha constituencies based on the census of India.

You have said recently that there is no indication that Article 370 will be restored. That sounds accommodative and some contend that rather than taking this government head-on like Mamata Banerjee, you may have lowered the bar. Your comments?

No absolutely not. I think there are two ways to go about this — I can either fool people or I can be honest with them.

Please tell me by which convoluted logic these commentators believe that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will return Article 370 having taken it away two years ago? What indications do they have on which to base this highly optimistic position?

If political parties in Kashmir had been given a mandate like Mamata Banerjee was given, events on August 5, 2019 would never have happened.

I have always been saying: Look you don’t like the National Conference, don’t support it but don’t divide your vote, don’t weaken your voice, choose a political party and give it your support.

If Mamata Banerjee, for instance, had ¼ the support that she has in the assembly, would she be able to talk in this way? She talks from a position of strength because people have given her that position.

Unfortunately commentators who are passing judgement on what I said have done nothing but weakened the legitimate voice of the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

They have put us in this position through their support for boycott calls and support for confused politics. Let them throw their weight behind a political party and give that party a ⅔ political majority in the assembly and then see what we can achieve.

I am not suggesting that we will not continue our struggle but we have to know where to take that fight. We have to know where to make that demand and wisdom demands that we choose the right place and the right time.

Please remember it took the BJP/Sangh parivar 70 years to fulfil their agenda of abrogating Article 370. Do our so-called commentators seriously believe that one meeting will get it back for us?

When I talk about full statehood to J&K, we think there are certain changes we can make that will give relief to people — relook at domicile, land laws, job reservation

Omar Abdullah

The Supreme Court of India didn’t take up the case related to Article 370 in two years. How do you assuage the anxiety in people?

It does make us anxious and we would have hoped that it the Supreme Court would have started the process by now but please understand that hardly any processes are working in the country right, which has gone through two very bad phases of COVID-19 and all normal functioning has been derailed.

It is only emergency matters that have been taken up by the court and also we don’t want virtual hearings. This is too important a matter to be consigned to virtual court hearings. We want physical court hearings where we can make our case properly to the honourable judges of the Supreme Court.

If we have to wait a few weeks or months longer, we shall wait, it is a fight worth waiting for. Let’s not do things in a hurry and then end up with a result no one wants.

Will you contest the upcoming elections in Jammu and Kashmir?

Look I am not power hungry. I have no deep rooted desire to be in the position of the Chief Minister. I have already been the Chief Minister for six years. For the time being I have no intention of fighting elections and that’s how it shall be.

How do you feel about the India-Pakistan peace initiatives?

As a party (National Conference) we have always advocated good relations between India and Pakistan. We have often reminded our friends in the BJP that it was Prime Minister Vajpayee who said that we can change friends, we can’t change our neighbours.

Relations must improve and the responsibility for creating a conducive atmosphere for dialogue rests with both India and Pakistan. Both nations must approach it with the seriousness that it deserves and hopefully we can take a visible process forward.

Kashmiris are anxious and that is quite apparent when one talks to the common people on the street. Where do we go from here?

That’s an important point. If you were to take the opinion of people who are critical of anything other than talk of Article 370, then people of J&K will just have to suffer but I sincerely believe that it is possible for us to give people an element of relief immediately, while also fighting the wider fight for getting back from what was taken from us on August 5, 2019.

I may not want to fight the assembly elections myself, but I do understand that having an elected government with elected representatives will allow great relief to people from exactly the sort of things that you mentioned.

We are an open air prison because we don’t have an elected government. There is no one accountable for the wider population.

Take for instance the case of a District level officer who had an individual arrested simply because the person said a local official can better understand him (that an officer from outside the state). It is inconceivable that something like that would happen with an elected government.

While we continue to wage our struggle for the wider cause, which is the restoration of our special rights, we must also look to take relief where we can get it.

When I talk about full statehood to J&K, we think there are certain changes we can make that will give relief to people — relook at domicile, land laws, job reservation.

Everyday system of fear of detention, transfers, unaccounted governance has to end.

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COVID-19: Social gatherings and not returning migrants caused the spread in Indian city

Patna: Weddings, social functions and lack of social distancing, rather than the returning migrant workers, caused the spread of COVID-19 infections in Bihar’s capital city of Patna, a study has said.

More than three million migrants who returned to the state since last year’s nationwide lockdown have been blamed for the spread of infections.

The study titled “Learning From COVID-19 cases — A Sociological Study of Patna District, Bihar” said despite the return of a large number of migrants, there had not been any major spread of virus due to them. “The BDOs (block development officers) also confirmed that there had not been,” said the study done by a former bureaucrat KC Saha who served in many capacities in Bihar and at the federal government.

In view of the Covid outbreak in the country, the national lockdown was enforced from March 24, 2020 to May 31, 2020. The study said the migrants faced untold hardship during their return. They were quarantined in isolation centres and were allowed to go to their villages only after the quarantine period of 14 days. Some migrants might have reached their villages bypassing the Isolation centres. “In many villages, the Mukhiyas (village council chiefs) and other villagers did not allow the migrants to go to their homes directly and insisted that they stayed in isolation centres set up in the villages,” the study said.

According to the study, intermingling of people in busy markets, marriages and other social functions largely contributed to the spread of the disease. “The infection amongst women increased during marriages due to the custom of singing in groups for a few days before the wedding,” the study claimed.

The 32-page study made startling revelations about how the spread of infection was negligible in slum areas but “severe in towns”. The data of 23,344 positive cases of Patna town analysed during the study suggested that COVID-19 virus spread had been severe in the town, but it mentioned a very interesting phenomenon.

“None of the slums reported a single case of COVID-19 whereas many VIP areas of the town confirmed a number of cases. Except for 3-4 persons, none of the 7,300 sanitary staff of the PMC (Patna Municipal Corporation) who mostly stay in slums or their family members had been affected by COVID-19,” said the study.

According to the study, lack of social distancing and people’s negligence in using face masks contributed towards the second wave in Patna. During the second wave, the migrant labourers did not return to Bihar in large numbers but many families returned during the Holi festival, it said.

The study revealed there had been a crisis of hospital beds and other support due to the sudden surge in the number of cases from April 15, 2021 to May 1, 2021, but the situation eased due to the steps taken by the State Government.

At the same time, the study made certain recommendations to strengthen efforts to handle such pandemics in future. The study said it would be useful to prepare Health Disaster Management Plans and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) based on the experience of COVID-19 and continuously updating those plans based on new evidence to enhance epidemic preparedness in the state. The SOPs should include the constitution of the Emergency Operating Centre and the Technical Advisory Com-mittee at the State and the District level.

The study also suggested setting up additional Primary Health Centres, strengthening of existing Primary Health Centres, Community Health Centres and district hospitals.

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Pakistan: Fallen mountaineer’s son on expedition to search for his father, missing climbers’ remains

ISLAMABAD: Sajid Ali Sadpara, the climber-son of renowned Pakistani mountaineer Mohammad Ali Sadpara, were to set out on a search expedition of K2 to look for the bodies of his father and two other climbers who had gone missing early this year in an attempt to ascend K2.

Sajid Ali Sadpara announced on social media that he, along with the Canadian award-winning documentary maker Elia Saikaly, were leaving on Friday (June 25), on a search operation for the three missing climbers — Mahammad Ali Sadpara of Pakistan, John Snorri Sigurjónsson of Iceland and Juan Pablo Mohr of Chile.

Sajid Sadpara and Elia Saikaly were also part of the expedition but had to return to Camp 3, hours before the fateful departure due to malfunctioning of the oxygen supplement regulator. They were to join them but could not due to bad weather conditions.

The three climbers were last seen on February 5 near the bottleneck on K2 as they attempted to reach the summit.

Later, an aerial rescue operation was launched but it had to be aborted after around 12 days and the missing mountaineers were officially declared dead on February 18.

Earlier, Elia Saikaly also announced he was in Pakistan and “headed to K2 with Sajid Sadpara to help him search for answers around the disappearance of his father Ali Sadpara, our friend John Snorri and JP Mohr.”

In his post on Instagram, Elia Saikaly said ‘the truth is he couldn’t do anything for his friends and teammates’.

“We were making a film about their winter ascent. We were supposed to be with them the night they disappeared with JP Mohr and we are likely alive because fate intervened as an oxygen mix-up forced PK and I back just below camp 3. Ali, JP Mohr and John never returned. Sajid survived.”

Before his attempt, Sajid Sadpara called on the High Commissioner of Canada Wendy Gilmour and thanked her for the support.

Wendy wished the junior Sadpara and his colleague success in their expedition and safe return. “I look forward to seeing you at BC,” she said in a post on social media.

An emotional video clip showing the US mountaineer Colin O’Brady remembering his friends, ‘the fallen heroes’ is also doing the rounds on social media.

Filmed atop the Mount Everest, which Brady has scaled recently, the footage shows him calling out names of his friends JP Mohr (Chile), Sergi Mingote (Spain), John Snorri (Iceland), Atanas (Bulgaria) and Ali Sadpara (Pakistan) and showing flags of their countries.

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G20 talks urge greater global cooperation post-COVID-19

MATERA, Italy: G20 ministers led by the United States said on Tuesday that the coronavirus pandemic showed the need for greater global cooperation, as African nations sought help to develop their medical infrastructure.

In a sharp reversal from the previous US administration, Secretary of State Antony Blinken emphasised the need for multilateral institutions as foreign ministers from the Group of 20 major economies met in the ancient Italian city of Matera.

“Multilateral cooperation will be key to our collective ability to stop this global health crisis,” said Blinken, winding down a week-long trip to Europe.

“That’s also true for the work we must do to strengthen global health security moving forward so we can detect, prevent and respond better to future health emergencies.”

Blinken pointed to US contributions to COVAX, the UN-backed initiative that aims to vaccinate low-income countries, including President Joe Biden’s promise to provide 500 million Pfizer doses.

Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio, the host of the talks, said that the pandemic, which has hit his country particularly hard, exposed global vulnerabilities.

“Multi-lateralism and cooperation are fundamental in responding to global challenges,” he said.

Foreign Minister Christophe Lutundula of the Democratic Republic of Congo, participating as part of an Italian push to involve African nations in G20 talks, warned that coronavirus was far from over in his continent and called for urgent measures.

In addition to immediate aid, he called for the G20 to back the capacity of developing countries to produce vaccines themselves and to help launch a continent-wide agency that will encourage scientific cooperation.

The G20 must help “concretely and in detail so we move beyond speeches to urgent action on the ground,” he said.

Such cooperation “will help African countries counter the shock of Covid and revive their economies for the greater good of the international community”, he said.

The talks will prepare for a G20 leaders’ meeting in October in Rome that is expected to see the first summit between US President Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping amid soaring tensions between the world’s two largest economies.

With China participating virtually in Matera, Tuesday’s conference was focused more on general themes but marked a major US shift following the defeat of former president Donald Trump, who belittled international institutions as part of his “America First” philosophy.

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Pakistan and UK to boost joint efforts to tackle transnational crimes

Islamabad: Pakistan and UK have agreed to strengthen coordination to improve the capacity of criminal justice systems and extend support to combat transnational crimes.

The understanding was reported following a meeting between Pakistan’s Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed and UK’s Minister of State for South Asia and the Commonwealth Lord Tariq Ahmad during his two-day (June 22-23) visit to Pakistan.

The two sides “agreed to strengthen coordination between Pakistan’s Ministry of Interior and the UK’s Home Office to improve the ability of the law enforcement and criminal justice systems in both the countries,” the official statement said. The two ministers “stressed to work together and support each other in their joint efforts in tackling transnational crimes.” International cooperation is key to address criminal justice challenges posed by new forms of transnational crimes and terrorism.

Sheikh Rasheed and Lord Ahmad also agreed to “enhance coordination” in realising agreements of Pakistan-UK Returns Arrangements and the Extradition Treaty between the two countries. The extradition process enables governments to bring fugitives abroad to justice.

Pakistani interior minister said Pakistan has signed extradition treaties with a number of countries and was keen to sign a similar agreement with the UK at the earliest. “Efforts should be geared up from both sides to get the extradition treaty finalised soon as this would improve the processes needed to extradite criminals from the UK to Pakistan” he said. The draft of the treaty is ready to be approved by the cabinet.

The two ministers also exchanged views on ways to further strengthen relations by enhancing people-to-people contact and cooperation in the field of security, trade and culture. The 1.6 million Pakistani diaspora in the UK will further cement this relationship, Rasheed said.

The British minister said that Pakistan and the UK enjoy deep-rooted relations reinforced by strong people-to-people contacts. “A strong partnership between Pakistan and the UK remains important in promoting and sustaining peace, security and stability in the wider region.” Lord Ahmad said that the UK was looking forward to the upcoming visit of Prime Minister Imran Khan. However, the visit scheduled for next month has been postponed for now.

UK’s High Commissioner to Pakistan Christian Turner and additional secretaries of the Interior Ministry Sher Alam and Iftikhar Shalvani also attended the meeting. Lord Ahmad presented a letter of intent from the UK government seeking further cooperation in various areas of mutual interest.

During his two-day visit, Lord Ahmad met with the Prime Minister Imran Khan as well as key ministers and provincial leaders including Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Human Rights Minister Shireen Mazari, and Punjab governor and chief minister.

The visit was “focused on the UK and Pakistan’s friendship to build back greener to protect our world against climate change, build back better with more prosperity for both countries, build back safer to protect communities from COVID-19”, and expand cooperation in ensuring education for girls.

“My visit to Pakistan has reinforced just how important it is to work together to tackle the threat of climate change, to prevent a pandemic like COVID-19 from happening again, and to help our children catch up with lost learning, especially girls. No country can work in isolation. Global challenges do not respect borders” Lord Ahmad said.

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Deaths reported, hundreds injured as tornado razes Czech homes

Prague: An unknown number of people died and dozens were injured after a tornado razed houses to the ground in the Czech Republic's southeast on Thursday, rescuers said.

The powerful tornado left some 300 more injured, the Czech Television reported citing the Ministry of Health and the Interior Ministry.

"Unfortunately we can confirm there have been victims, but I can't tell you the exact number," local emergency services spokeswoman Hedvika Kropackova told AFP.

She said the death toll would be in the "single digits" rather than in the dozens, but added that any estimates were premature as people were still trapped under debris.

However, the hospital in the city of Hodonin on the Czech-Slovak border said it had treated up to 200 injured people.

Interior Minister Jan Hamacek tweeted that "all available rescue units are in action or moving to the Hodonin region, where several municipalities have been hit by a tornado."

Austrian and Slovak rescuers were helping out and the Czech army was deployed.

The tornado and hail the size of tennis balls struck several towns and villages including Hodonin, where in addition to causing injuries the extreme weather destroyed a retirement home and the local zoo.

The tornado also caused extensive power outages and traffic disruptions, with fallen power lines closing a major motorway connecting Prague with the Slovak capital Bratislava.

Video footage from the region on social networks showed destroyed buildings and cars, shorn tree stumps and several fires with thick black smoke.

"It's living hell," regional governor Jan Grolich said after visiting the region.

The Czech news agency CTK quoted the mayor of Hrusky as saying that half of his village had been razed to the ground.

The storms passing over the Czech Republic forced Prime Minister Andrej Babis to remain in Brussels following an EU summit as a landing in Prague would have been too dangerous.

In neighbouring Poland, a twister struck the southern Malopolska province on Thursday, damaging roofs and injuring one person according to local media.

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India’s richest state gears up to protect children from looming third wave of COVID-19

MUMBAI: India’s western state of Maharashtra is training thousands of health workers in how to care for children afflicted with COVID-19 as a first line of defence against surges involving new variants, health officials and experts said on Tuesday.

The state, home to the financial capital of Mumbai, was the worst hit by a devastating second wave of infections in April and May that killed hundreds of thousands, and is still reporting a quarter of all new cases nationwide.

It has re-imposed curbs to rein in the fast-spreading Delta variant that has touched off new outbreaks globally, even as daily national tallies stand at their lowest in nearly two months, allowing some states to re-open businesses.

“We are training thousands of health workers, who are usually the first point of contact for families, on how to deal with COVID care in children,” Suhas Prabhu, head of the state’s pediatric task force, told Reuters.

While there is no data showing children are more vulnerable, a government survey in Mumbai from April to mid-June showed the presence of virus antibodies in at least half of those younger than 18.

“The experts are indicating that a sizeable number of children are likely to be infected in the third wave,” said government adviser Dr Subhash Salunke.

Paediatric critical care remained a ‘weak link’ in the health system, the former World Health Organization official told Reuters.

India, which is using AstraZeneca’s domestically produced Covishield doses and the home-grown Covaxin, has yet to approve any vaccines for children.

Maharashtra, with a population of more than 114 million, is one of the country’s most populous states, and has reported 50 cases of the new Delta Plus variant that India has designated as being of concern.

It is an offshoot of the highly infectious Delta variant that caused a spike in cases in April and May which overwhelmed healthcare facilities, swamping crematoriums.

From 400,000 cases a day in May, daily new infections now stand at 37,566, health ministry data showed on Tuesday.

The South Asian nation’s tally stands at 30.31 million, with a death toll of 397,637.

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Instagram may soon let users post from desktop, testing underway

Facebook Inc.'s Instagram is testing a feature that lets users post photos and videos from their desktop computers, after more than a decade without the capability.

"We know that many people access Instagram from their computer," said Facebook spokeswoman Christine Pai. "To improve that experience, we're now testing the ability to create a Feed post on Instagram with their desktop browser."

Instagram, founded in 2010, long resisted building a web version of its product because it was intended to be used as people were out taking pictures of their lives with their phones. Now, more of the people posting on Instagram are professionals or influencers, putting up highly edited or produced images and videos, sometimes hours or days after the moment happens. They've been using third-party tools to upload content to Instagram via desktop, and will be "very happy" if Instagram expands its test, said Matt Navarra, a social media consultant who was one of the first to spot the change.

"I suspect Instagram's decision to add publishing via desktop is part of a much bigger plan for the platform going forward," Navarra said, as Instagram designs more tools to lure content creators from competitors like TikTok and YouTube.

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Moscow posts record daily COVID-19 deaths

Moscow: Moscow on Sunday recorded 144 COVID-19 deaths in the last 24 hours, the worst toll in a Russian city since the start of the pandemic, according to official data.

Moscow's record comes a day after one set by Euro 2020 host Saint Petersburg, where a quarter-final is to be held on Friday in front of thousands of fans.

COVID-19 infections have been surging in Russia for weeks, blamed on the highly transmissible Delta variant first identified in India.

Dozens of Finland supporters caught coronavirus in Saint Petersburg after they travelled to the city last week for their team's defeat against Belgium.

Country-wide, 599 people died in Russia of coronavirus over the past 24 hours, bringing the national official toll to 133,282. Some 20,538 new infections were also recorded, bringing the national total to 5.4 million.

Moscow has been the national epicentre of the pandemic and some 2,000 people are hospitalised because of the virus there daily, Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said late on Saturday in televised remarks.

"We have mobilised 20,000 beds and 14,000 of them are currently filled. That's a lot."

The steep rise in infections in Russia comes as officials push vaccine-sceptical Russians to get inoculated, after lifting most anti-virus restrictions late last year.

"To stop the pandemic, one thing is needed: rapid, large-scale vaccinations. Nobody has invented any other solution," Sobyanin told state-run television on Saturday.

Russia is the sixth-worst hit COVID-19 country in the world, and the hardest in Europe.

Authorities have been accused of downplaying the severity of the outbreak in the country.

Under a broader definition for deaths linked to coronavirus, statistics agency Rosstat at the end of April said that Russia has seen at least 270,000 fatalities since the pandemic began.

As of Saturday, just 21.2 million out of a population of about 146 million had received at least one dose of a vaccine as of Friday, according to the Gogov website, which tallies COVID-19 figures from the regions and the media.

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Throwable military robots sent to assist with Florida condo collapse

Throwable military robots sent to assist with Florida condo collapse

First responders on the ground at the Miami Beach-area condo that partially collapsed last week have used several tech tools to aid the treacherous search-and-rescue effort.

Rescuers deployed sonar and camera equipment early on as officials scoured the rubble for survivors. Heavy machinery was brought in to remove some bits of the pancaked building materials. Yet, nearly 150 people remain unaccounted for. And officials still have a tedious mission ahead as teams try to avoid falling debris and other unforeseen obstacles.

Does that mean it is time to send in the robots? It depends. Scouting robots might not be as susceptible to smoke inhalation and can snake through tight corridors in deadly conditions. But they also pose technical challenges, and are not always as helpful as they are designed to be when navigating complex environments at a moment's notice, experts say.

The Miami-Dade Fire Department has at least two robots in its arsenal that the Massachusetts-based robotics company Teledyne Flir overnighted to assist with the Surfside, Fla., rescue effort. The gadgets are designed to operate where it is nearly impossible for humans to go.

"They can also go where humans shouldn't go," said Tom Frost, Teledyne Flir's vice president of unmanned ground systems. "In a collapse situation like this, the pile is structurally unsound and constantly vulnerable to shifting. It's much safer to have a robot crawl deeper into a void than to have a person crawling into that void."

It is unclear if first responders have used the devices, however.

Teledyne Flir's machines have some features that could come in handy as rescuers search through a mound of collapsed concrete. One of its microrobots can be tossed onto unstable rubble and will then roll into crevices humans cannot see or fit into. The company also sent a 50-pound automated machine with an arm to pick up and move around objects.

Teledyne Flir was formed last month after Teledyne Technologies, a $15 billion aerospace electronics firm, bought out Flir, a 42-year-old software company, in an $8 billion deal. The combined companies develop tech meant for deep sea, space and military missions.

The firm's devices sent for use in the condo incident are equipped with thermal sensors, cameras and two-way radios built to aid during high-stakes missions. The tech was deployed at the World Trade Center collapse in 2001 and has since been used by law enforcement agencies during barricade situations.

The throwable "FirstLook" robot weighs about five pounds, is about the size of a brick and is built to withstand 16-foot drops onto concrete. It looks like a tiny military tank, sits on track wheels and has two arms to climb small obstacles. The arms also enable it to turn itself upright when flipped over, according to the company.

"You can take this robot and throw through a window or throw it on a roof, and get to really hard to access places," Frost said.

The larger robot, "PackBot," is about the size of a suitcase. It is designed to roll over rubble, navigate narrow passages and tote loads under about 40-pounds. They are both built to run semi-autonomously, which means some features are automated, while others require a teleoperator.

Tossable robots are not exactly new. The scouting and surveillance tools have been used by law enforcement and military personnel for years. Still, there are limitations.

Radio signals might not be able to penetrate deeply into the rubble. There might not be any useful places on-site for the robots to go. And robots can get stuck, causing yet another problem.

That is what happened in 2010 when rescuers in New Zealand tried finding 29 miners trapped inside a coal mine. The nation's defense force sent in a camera-equipped robot to search for signs of human life, and it ended up short-circuiting and holding back the mission.

"You don't want a robot to fail in the one spot that would block any other robot or person from getting in," said Robin Murphy, a professor of computer science and engineering at Texas A&M. She worked on robotics-related recovery missions during 9/11, Hurricane Harvey and various other disasters. "We've got to make sure the robots are actually helping."

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Unpardonable: India’s apex court slams government over migrant workers’ issue

New Delhi: India’s Supreme Court on Tuesday slammed the federal government for having a lackadaisical approach in developing a portal for registration of the unorganised or migrant workers, to avail benefits from various government schemes.

A bench comprising Justice Ashok Bhushan and M.R. Shah said: “When the unorganized workers are waiting for registration and are waiting to reap the benefit of various welfare schemes of the States and Centre, the apathy and lackadaisical attitude by the Ministry of Labour and Employment is unpardonable.”

The bench emphasised that only after registration of the workers, states and Centre will be able to extend the benefits of the welfare schemes to them. “Prior to that unless the registration is complete, tall claims by all the States and Union that they have implemented various welfare schemes for the migrant workers and unorganized workers remain only on paper without giving any benefit to unorganized workers,” noted the bench.

The top court pointed out that there was urgency in the portal to be finalised and implemented looking at the pandemic and dire need of unorganised workers to receive the benefit.

“The attitude of Ministry of Labour and Employment in not completing the module even though directed as early as on 21.08.2018 shows that Ministry is not alive to the concern of the migrant workers and the non-action of the Ministry is strongly disapproved”, added the bench.

The bench directed the secretary, Ministry of Labour and Employment to ensure that National Data Base for Unorganised Workers (NDUW) portal is finalised, and implementation of the portal commences on or before July 31. The bench stressed that to provide access to the migrant workers to different schemes of state government and Centre, registration is a must.

The top court directed the government to develop the portal in consultation with National Informatics Centre (NIC) for registration of the unorganised labourers/migrant workers.

“We also impress upon and direct that the Central Government as well as the respective States and the Union Territories to complete the process of Portal for registration under National Data Base for Unorganised Workers (NDUW Project) as well as implement the same, which by all means may commence not later than July 31”, said the top court, emphasising that registration process should be completed before December 31, 2021.

The top court order came in the suo moto case - problems and miseries of migrant workers.

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UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock resigns after COVID breach

London: UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock resigned on Saturday, after revelations that he broke the government's own coronavirus restrictions during an affair with a close aide.

The frontman for Britain's response to the pandemic, particularly the vaccine roll-out, quit in a letter to Prime Minister Boris Johnson, reiterating his earlier apology.

"We owe it to people who have sacrificed so much on this pandemic to be honest when we have let them down as I have done by breaching the guidance," he wrote.

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Hong Kong artists revive city's bygone era with miniatures

Hong Kong: In a packed metropolis where old buildings are frequently replaced by gleaming skyscrapers, two Hong Kong model makers are trying to preserve the city's architectural past - in painstakingly detailed miniature form.

Stepping into Tony Lai and Maggie Chan's studio is like walking into a time machine, if that time machine also shrunk everything around except yourself.

In one corner, an entire fairground is laid out, complete with moving rides and a revolving Ferris wheel.

On the other side, a tiny reenactment of the city's fire dragon festival is underway.

Elsewhere is a meticulously recreated revolving restaurant and an entire housing block, complete with window laundry and the fast disappearing neon signs that once lit up Hong Kong's streets with kaleidoscopic abandon.

The two artists share a common passion in bringing their childhood scenes back to life, and say that Hong Kongers are keen to glimpse into the past or recapture faded memories.

"When elderly people see our creations, it ignites their memories," said Lai, gesturing to their recreation of Kai Tak Amusement Park, which was demolished in 1982.

"We would often even see elderly people whose eyes would tear up when they saw our models," he added.

Preserving the past is difficult in Hong Kong.

Historical buildings are often pitted against powerful billionaire real estate developers and government planners who are eager to build more high rise apartment blocks in a city where housing is in desperately short supply.

Many colonial buildings and features that were prized by architects, historians and locals have been torn down, although more recent governments have begun to take a slightly more pro-active role in protecting heritage sites.

Fishing for memories

Born and raised in Hong Kong, Lai fondly remembers his father taking him out on a boat to the city's outlying Lamma Island, where fishing communities lived in tumble down wooden houses on the shoreline.

One of the most complex creations in Chan and Lai's TOMA Miniatures studio is a diorama depicting residents doing their daily chores in such a village.

"That memory has stuck with me up until now," he said.

Chan is equally talented in her memory and penchant for details.

"Tony focuses on the big structures, I focus on the smaller details," she said.

Chan drew inspiration from her father bringing home local dishes and snacks, and began her career by creating miniature versions of Hong Kong foods.

"Even just a poster or a bowl of beef brisket noodles, it could get people to remember something and become emotional," she explained.

Last year, a historic theatre in the city's North Point district that first opened in 1952 faced an uncertain fate after being purchased by real estate developers.

With its distinctive parabolic concrete arched roofs, it was featured in the 1978 film ‘Game of Death’ starring Bruce Lee, during the golden era of Hong Kong cinema.

The theatre was only saved from demolition last month, when property developers instead announced that it would be revamped as a multi-billion dollar heritage site.

-'Disappearing one by one'

Other buildings are not so lucky.

Hong Kong authorities recently gave the green light to demolish a four-storey pre-war heritage building in Jordan district, a move which has been condemned by heritage conservation groups.

Another likely victim is the city's General Post Office, a post-war modernist block on a prime piece of harbourfront land that is slated to be replaced by a glitzy commercial development.

"Hong Kong is a big city, so there's lots of architecture or things from our childhood that have disappeared one by one," said Lai.

"If we can use our abilities with miniature models as a way to recreate these, then it's a happy thing."

Aside from whipping up joyful, nostalgic memories for residents young and old, the two also hope that international travellers can see their models again once the pandemic ends.

"Hopefully when they visit, they can see that there's lots of things here that they have not yet discovered," says Chan.

"I hope our creations can bring a sense of what Hong Kong is actually like."

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Foreign climbers arrive in Pakistan to summit K2 as COVID-19 curbs relaxed

Islamabad: A group of 20 foreign climbers have arrived in Pakistan as the country has reopened tourism following the gradual drop in coronavirus infections.

On June 27, the mountaineers reached Skardu, the city of Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) surrounded by snowy peaks, to begin the “K2 and Broad Peak expedition 2021.” They are on a mission to summit the 8,611-metres K2, the world’s second-highest mountain, and Broad Peak, the 12th highest mountain in the world, which is considered one of the safer 8000m peaks.

At least “sixteen members will attempt K2 summit. Some of them will be attempting to ascend both K2 and Broad Peak,” Karrar Haidri of Alpine Club of Pakistan (ACP), told Gulf News. ACP finalized the formalities for the summit on behalf of the GB tourism department.

The expedition, organized by the US-based mountain guide service, Madison Mountaineering, comprises 10 Nepalese, five Britons, four Americans and one Ukrainian. The expedition leader Garrett Christian Madison is America’s premier Everest guide and climber. He led the first successfully guided ascent of K2 — the world’s most dangerous mountain — in 2014.

“Hopefully it will be good weather and we get to Jhola camp by the evening time, can set up camp, and start trekking the next day” wrote Madison in a June 27 post on the website. We are excited to be in Pakistan and begin our expedition” said Madison, the only American to climb K2 twice.

Besides Madison, the other American climbers include Conan Bliss, Chase Allan Mer-riam and Alexander Pancoe. The British climbers include Jonathan Gupta, Robert Smith, Robert Richard, Rebecca Jane Ferry and Kenton Edward. Ukraine’s Oksana Litynska is also part of the team.

The Nepali team includes Lakpa Sherpa, Mingma Dorchi, Sanu Sherpa, Pemba Sher-pa, Chhiring Sherpa, Mingma Sherpa, Pemba Sherpa, Lakpa Sherpa, and Tashi Sher-pa. The Nepalese climbers boarded a chartered plane from Kathmandu to Islamabad after Pakistan finally relaxed its ban on travellers from Nepal due to the threat of the Delta strain of the coronavirus.

The team members said they would continue to follow all coronavirus related precau-tions in Pakistan.

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COVID-19 : North Korea’s Kim says ‘great crisis’ caused by pandemic lapse

SEOUL: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said the failure to implement measures to tackle the coronavirus had caused a “great crisis” and he chastised ruling party officials for risking the safety of the country and people, state media reported on Wednesday.

The report by state news agency KCNA did not elaborate on the nature of the crisis or how it put people at risk.

North Korea has not officially confirmed any COVID-19 cases, a position questioned by South Korean and US officials. But the reclusive country has imposed strict anti-virus measures, including border closures and domestic travel curbs.

Kim called a meeting of the Workers’ Party of Korea politburo to address some party executives’ neglect of duty, including failing to implement important long-term measures to fight the pandemic, the KCNA state news agency said.

“He mentioned that senior officials in charge of important state affairs neglected the implementation of the important decisions of the Party ... and thus caused a crucial case of creating a great crisis in ensuring the security of the state and safety of the people and entailed grave consequences,” the news agency said.

Matter of national survival

Several politburo members, secretaries of the central committee, and officials of several state agencies were replaced at the meeting, though KCNA did not specify if the shakeups were related to the neglect of pandemic-related duty.

When asked about Kim’s remarks, South Korean Vice Foreign Minister Choi Jong-kun said officials in Seoul were aware of the report but had nothing to add.

“During this pandemic era we have publicly expressed our willingness to help (North Korea) ranging from PCR tests to whatever you can imagine,” he told reporters at a briefing.

North Korea has treated the protection of its people from the coronavirus as a matter of national survival and anti-pandemic decisions are made by some of its most senior leaders, said Harvard Medical Schools Kee B. Park, who has worked on health care projects in North Korea.

“The main objective of North Koreas strategy is to prevent the virus from even getting into the country while simultaneously strengthening its treatment capabilities as well as acquiring vaccines,” he said.

North Koreas all-of-government, comprehensive approach and the repeated holding of large-scale public gatherings suggest that it may have prevented any major outbreak, Park said.

“However, the success comes with steep cost to its economy and increased vulnerability for the poorest of the population,” he said.

Last year, North Korea said it had declared a state of emergency and locked down the border city of Kaesong after a person who defected to South Korea three years ago returned across the fortified border with what state media said were symptoms of COVID-19.

The World Health Organization later said North Korea’s coronavirus test results for the man were inconclusive.

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COVID-19: India’s richest state shuts malls, cinemas as new variant spreads

MUMBAI/BENGALURU: India’s richest state on Friday ordered malls and cinema halls to close as it scrambles to control a more transmissible variant of the coronavirus that has scuppered plans to ease lockdown measures.

At least 20 cases in Maharashtra state have been found linked to the new Delta Plus variant that India designated a variant of concern on Tuesday, according to the health ministry.

While it is not known where the variant originated, Public Health England first reported on Delta Plus in a June 11 bulletin, calling it a sub-lineage of the Delta variant first detected in India last year.

The Delta variant was partly responsible for a ferocious second wave in India that triggered a flood of cases and overwhelmed the health system.

Scientists fear Delta Plus could trigger another wave of infections as India recovers from the second wave. Many states, including Maharashtra, have been easing lockdown rules imposed in April.

“Positivity rate and daily infections were going down consistently until a week ago, but in some regions again cases have started to rise,” a senior government official in Maharashtra told Reuters, declining to be named.

“We don’t know whether this is due to easing restrictions or the new variant, but this is a concern,” the official added.

At least 11 other countries have reported cases of Delta Plus.

New variants are a concern in India, where more than half the population is still not vaccinated. Only about 5.6% of India’s adult population of 950 million has received two doses.

The country has reported 48 cases of Delta Plus, and studies are ongoing to test the effectiveness of existing vaccines against the variant.

“We should have the results in about 7 to 10 days time whether the vaccine is working against the Delta Plus,” said Balram Bhargava, head of the Indian Council of Medical Research.

In Maharashtra, a state of around 126 million people, only around 30 million have received a first dose.

“If citizens start doing business and crowding places without following guidelines, then infections may increase ... local authorities should not open businesses in a hurry,” the state’s Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said.

India reported 51,667 new infections and 1,329 deaths on Friday, taking total infections to 30.13 million with 393,310 deaths.

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Secret UK defence documents found at bus stop

London: Britain's government said Sunday it was investigating how secret defence documents, outlining the movements of a warship that led to Russia firing warning shots off the Crimean coast, were found at a bus stop in England.

The Ministry of Defence said that an employee told it last week that the documents had been lost, and that an investigation had been launched.

"It shouldn't be able to happen," Brandon Lewis, minister for Northern Ireland, told Sky News on Sunday.

"It was properly reported at the time... there's an internal investigation into that situation."

An anonymous member of the public told the BBC they found 50 pages of classified information behind a bus stop in Kent, southern England, on Tuesday.

The papers discussed the possible Russian reaction to Britain's HMS Defender travelling through Ukrainian waters off the coast of Crimea on Wednesday, the BBC reported.

Russia on Wednesday said it fired warning shots at the navy destroyer in the Black Sea after what it said was a violation of its territorial waters.

Britain however said it was making "an innocent passage through Ukrainian territorial waters in accordance with international law."

According to Moscow, the incident took place off the coast of Cape Fiolent on Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014 in a move that the vast majority of the international community has not recognised.

The documents appear to show that the British officials knew the route could lead to a possible reaction from the Russians, but that taking an alternative passage could be considered by Moscow as "the UK being scared/running away".

The route it did take would instead "provide an opportunity to engage with the Ukrainian government... in what the UK recognises as Ukrainian territorial waters," said another document.

Russia's foreign ministry on Thursday summoned the British ambassador to "strongly protest" the incident.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov described it as a "deliberate and prepared provocation".

Russia's defence ministry said warning shots were fired and bombs dropped along the path of the HMS Defender.

Among the other documents found at the bus stop were those that laid out plans for possible British military presence in Afghanistan after the end of NATO operations there.

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COVID-19: South Africa reimposes restrictions; Moscow Covid deaths surge

Moscow: Moscow has recorded its worst daily coronavirus death toll and South Africa reimposed restrictions for two weeks to combat a surge in the highly contagious coronavirus Delta variant.

Indonesia saw more than 21,000 infections in a day, a record, as countries across the Asia-Pacific region extended or reimposed restrictions to tackle fresh waves of cases.

Even as vaccination drives have brought down infection numbers in many wealthy countries, the Delta strain of the virus remains a concern.

Fresh outbreaks

* Thailand will from Monday reimpose restrictions on restaurants, construction sites and gatherings in the capital Bangkok. * Indonesia setting a new daily infection record of more than 21,000. * Russia has seen an explosion of new infections since mid-June driven by the Delta variant. Officials in Moscow are pushing vaccine-sceptic Russians to get inoculated. * Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel’s office announced he is self-isolating for 10 days after testing positive. * The Delta variant is also feeding fresh outbreaks in Southeast Asia and Australia where authorities have brought back or extended restrictions. * AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford on Sunday began trials to test a modified vaccine against the Beta variant, which first emerged in South Africa.

The variant is now in 85 countries and is the most contagious of any Covid-19 strain so far identified, according to the World Health Organization.

While in much of Europe and the United States curbs on daily life are easing as vaccination programmes bear fruit, Russia is grappling with a deadly third wave.

Workers spray disinfectant solution on the concourse during a deep clean operation at Leningradsky railway station in Moscow on June 24. Image Credit: Bloomberg

Moscow on Sunday recorded 114 Covid-19 deaths in the last 24 hours, a day after Saint Petersburg set Russia’s previous highest figure.

Saint Petersburg has hosted six Euro 2020 matches and is due to host a quarter-final on Friday, with spectator numbers capped at half but still upwards of 26,000 people.

Russia has seen an explosion of new infections since mid-June driven by the Delta variant. Officials in Moscow are pushing vaccine-sceptic Russians to get inoculated.

Rapid, large-scale vaccination was the only answer, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin told state-run television on Saturday.

“Nobody has invented any other solution.”

South African 3rd wave

South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa announced fresh restrictions in a televised address Sunday. The country, he said, “is facing a massive resurgence of infection”.

The government has banned the sale of alcohol, and all gatherings except for funerals, capped at 50 people. The overnight curfew has been extended by an hour, and restaurants and other outlets can now only serve take away food.

“The peak of this third wave looks set to be higher than the previous two,” the president warned. South Africa, the worst-hit nation on the continent, has already suffered nearly 60,000 deaths.

The Delta variant is also feeding fresh outbreaks in Southeast Asia and Australia where authorities have brought back or extended restrictions.

More than five million Sydney residents endured their first full day of a two-week lockdown Sunday. Restaurants, bars and cafes were shuttered and stay-at-home orders were issued, leaving the city centre virtually deserted.

More than 110 Covid-19 cases have been reported in Sydney since a driver for an international flight crew tested positive in mid-June for the Delta variant.

The flare-up has been a shock for a place that had returned to relative normality after months with few local cases.

Australia’s northern city of Darwin also entered a separate snap 48-hour lockdown on Sunday after a handful of cases linked to a coronavirus outbreak on a remote gold mine.

Restrictions reimposed

Similar spikes in infections have been seen across Southeast Asia, with Indonesia setting a new daily infection record of more than 21,000.

Hospitals are flooded with patients in the capital Jakarta and other Covid-19 hotspots across the region’s hardest-hit nation.

Thailand will from Monday reimpose restrictions on restaurants, construction sites and gatherings in the capital Bangkok. Its latest wave began in April when a cluster was found in upscale Bangkok clubs.

Premier Prayut Chan-O-Cha has said he plans to fully reopen the country by October, but this would require hitting a target of vaccinating 50 million Thais in four months.

In neighbouring Malaysia, the prime minister announced a nationwide lockdown already in place for about a month will continue. He gave no date for the lifting of restrictions.

Migrants leave for their native places after Bangladesh’s authorities ordered a new lockdown to contain the spread of Covid-19 coronavirus in Dhaka on June 28, 2021. Image Credit: AFP

Bangladesh also said it would impose a new national lockdown from Monday, with offices shut for a week and only medical-related transport allowed.

The announcement prompted tens of thousands of migrant workers to desert the capital Dhaka, where the lockdown will cut off their revenue sources.

“During lockdown, there is no work,” Fatema Begum, 60, told AFP while waiting for a ferry. “And if we don’t work, how do we pay rent? So we packed up everything and are going back to our village.”

Infections declined in May but started to rise again this month, with a pandemic high of 119 deaths on Sunday, according to the health ministry.

Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel’s office announced he is self-isolating for 10 days after testing positive for Covid shortly after a European Union summit.

None of the other 26 EU leaders who attended is considered a contact case, a statement said.

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Pakistan: Eight legislators punished for bringing charpoy to Sindh Assembly

Karachi: Sindh Assembly Speaker Agha Siraj Khan Durrani has penalised eight opposition legislators for bringing a charpoy to the Assembly to demonstrate a symbolic “funeral of democracy” during a session to register their protest.

The lawmakers belonged to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, the main Opposition political party in the Sindh Assembly. It was the first time in the history of the Sindh Assembly that a charpoy was brought to the house during a session as a symbol of protest.

The Speaker deemed the incident as a violation of the sanctity and decorum of the provincial legislature.

While exercising his powers, the Speaker suspended the eight lawmakers from rest of the session of the assembly.

The lawmakers said that they wanted to register their protest as they were not allowed to speak on the budget of the Sindh government.

They said that the ruling Pakistan Peoples’ Party had acted against the democratic traditions and norms by stifling the voice of opposition.

Violent scenes were noticed during the session when the security staff of the assembly intercepted to bring the situation under control.

The legislators later staged a sit-in near the rostrum of the Speaker with a protest banner on which it was written in Urdu that it was ‘democracy’s funeral.’

Leader of the Opposition, Haleem Adil Shaikh, condemned Speaker’s action, saying that the decision violated the democratic and parliamentary norms.

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Tokyo shapes up to be No-Fun Olympics with many rules, tests

Tokyo: The Tokyo Olympics, already delayed by the pandemic, are not looking like much fun: Not for athletes. Not for fans. And not for the Japanese public. They are caught between concerns about the coronavirus at a time when few are vaccinated on one side and politicians who hope to save face by holding the games and the International Olympic Committee with billions of dollars on the line on the other.

Japan is famous for running on consensus. But the decision to proceed with the Olympics - and this week to permit some fans, if only locals - has shredded it.

“We have been cornered into a situation where we cannot even stop now. We are damned if we do, and damned if we do not,'' Kaori Yamaguchi, a member of the Japanese Olympic Committee and a bronze medalist in judo in 1988, wrote in a recent editorial published by the Kyodo news agency. “The IOC also seems to think that public opinion in Japan is not important.''

Support for going ahead seems to be increasing, but there's persistent opposition with small street protests planned on Wednesday, one month before the July 23 opening. Much of that concern stems from qualms about the health risks. While the number of new cases has been receding in Tokyo, only about 7 per cent of Japanese are fully vaccinated - and even though the government is now supercharging its vaccine drive after a slow start, the vast majority of the population still won't be immunised when the games start.

That's left the IOC and the Japanese government going through contortions to pulls this off. Dr. Shigeru Omi, the government's top COVID-19 adviser, called it "abnormal" to hold the world's biggest sports event during a pandemic. He also said the safest Olympics would be with no fans.

He was overruled on both counts by the government of Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and organisers.

The official cost of the Tokyo Olympics is $15.4 billion, but government audits suggest it's twice that. All but $6.7 billion is public money. The IOC chips in only about $1.5 billion to the overall cost.

The pressure to hold the games is largely financial for the Switzerland-based IOC, a nonprofit but highly commercial body that earns 91% of its income from broadcast rights and sponsorship. Estimates suggest a cancelation could cost it $3 billion to $4 billion in broadcast rights income.

Beyond financial concerns, putting on a successful Olympics is also a major source of pride for the host country. Some economists compare it to throwing a big party. You overspend but hope your guests go away bragging about the hospitality.

“It's a bit like a gambler who already has lost too much,'' said Koichi Nakano, a political scientist at Sophia University in Tokyo. “Pulling out of it now will only confirm the huge losses made, but carrying on you can still cling to the hope of winning big and taking it all back.''

Before the postponement 15 months ago, Japan was on track to host a well-run if expensive Olympics. It had a beautiful new National Stadium by architect Kengo Kuma, meticulous organisation, and a grand stage for a country that mounted historic games in 1964 - just 19 years after defeat in the Second World War. IOC President Thomas Bach called Tokyo the “best prepared Olympics ever'' - and he still says it repeatedly.

But now, worries that the games will be become an incubator for the virus hang over them. For now, the rolling averages of deaths and cases have stabilised in a country that has reported more than 14,000 deaths - good by global standards but worse than many of its Asian neighbours.

While the games may still end up wowing television audiences who will tune in around the world, the pandemic has removed any sense of celebration. Athletes are meant to stay in the village or venues. Most others entering Japan for the Olympics can only shuttle between their hotels and venues for the first 14 days, must sign a pledge of follow the rules, and could have their movements monitored by GPS.

There will be no public viewing areas in Tokyo. The few fans who can attend venues must wear masks, social distance, refrain from cheering, and go straight home afterward. No stopping off at the local izakaya for beer and skewers of grilled chicken.

With spectators from overseas ruled out months ago, there's little business for hotels. Local sponsors have paid more than $3 billion to be involved, and some have complained about lost advertising possibilities. Others have expressed concern about being tied to an event that's unpopular at home.

In perhaps a last-ditch effort to save some of the festive spirit, organisers said on Tuesday they were looking into selling alcohol at the venues.

Olympic Minister Tamayo Marukawa indicated financial concerns were at play: Japanese brewer Asahi is one of the sponsors and has kicked millions into the local operating budget.

But after immediate pushback, organizing committee president Seiko Hashimoto reversed the decision at a Wednesday news conference.

“We decided as Tokyo 2020 not to sell alcoholic beverages and to ban drinking alcoholic beverages in the venues,'' she said.

And athletes who might want a drink to celebrate have been told by organisers to “drink alone" in their rooms.

Alcohol is otherwise banned in the athletes' village.

This village will also have a fever clinic, the first stop for anyone who fails a daily test - and the last place anyone wants to go.

“We are hoping that there won't be so many people,'' Dr Tetsuya Miyamoto said, director of medical services for Tokyo 2020. “This is an infectious disease we are talking about. It has the possibility of spreading. So once that happens, the numbers could start to explode."

Details of the opening ceremony are always kept a secret. But this time the questions aren't about which celebrity will light the cauldron but rather will athletes social distance and wear masks as they march through the venue? And how many will march at all?

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Women did three times as much child care as men during COVID-19 pandemic

Child care demands at home skyrocketed during the pandemic, but men and women did not split the burden equally.

Globally, women took on 173 additional hours of unpaid child care last year, compared to 59 additional hours for men, a study released Friday by the Center for Global Development, a poverty non-profit, found. The gap widened in low- and middle-income countries, where women cared for children for more than three times as many hours as men did.

Charles Kenny, a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development and one of the study's authors, said the pandemic merely exposed existing gender disparities. In 2017, a Pew Research Center report found moms did more than twice as much child care as dads in the U.S. Globally, the gap varies widely, but an OECD survey found women spend an average of between three and six hours on caretaking, compared to an average of 30 minutes to two hours for men.

"Every year, year in year out, there are trillions of hours of unpaid care work being done, the considerable majority by women," he said. "We are not going to get to a world that sees gender equality until that burden is more evenly shared."

The study used figures from Unesco and the OECD to measure the number of children home from school and the average time men and women in various countries spent on unpaid childcare before the pandemic. In India, where school closures added 176 billion hours of child care, the study estimated women took on more than 10 times the burden men did.

Some governments tried to help families with child care needs. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau proposed a measure aiming to lower the cost of daycare to C$10 a day. Australian lawmakers are considering a budget that would pour A$1.7 billion into childcare subsidies, removing annual caps on support for many families and increasing payments to families with multiple children. The U.S. government, for its part, allocated $53 billion to keep day care centers from closing during the pandemic.

In many places, those measures haven't been enough to keep women from leaving the workplace or to get many of them back. And as economies reopen and emergency budgets expire, Kenny warned that these disparities won't disappear either.

"The exhaustion, the stresses on families"-they don't just go away when kids go back to school," he said. "This could be something that has a fairly long shadow."

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Sydney faces 'scariest period' in COVID-19 pandemic amid Delta outbreak

Sydney: Australia's most populous state, New South Wales (NSW), reported a double digit rise in new locally acquired cases of COVID-19 for the third straight day as officials fight to contain an outbreak of the highly contagious Delta variant.

"Since the pandemic has started, this is perhaps the scariest period that New South Wales is going through," state Premier Gladys Berejiklian told reporters in Sydney.

NSW has imposed tough restrictions in Sydney, Australia's largest city and home to a fifth of the country's 25 million population, with health officials saying transmission could be happening even through minimal contact with infected persons.

NSW officials have so far resisted calls for a hard lockdown although Australia has a good record of successfully suppressing past outbreaks through snap lockdowns, tough social distancing rules and swift contact tracing.

Australia has reported just under 30,400 cases and 910 deaths since the pandemic began.

Berejiklian said despite the virus variant being very infectious, her government was "at this stage comfortable" with the current level of restrictions.

Western Australia state premier Mark McGowan has urged NSW authorities to place the state in a lockdown to "crush and kill" the virus, warning "light touch" curbs could trigger a spike in infections. Western Australia has closed it border to NSW.

NSW authorities have imposed mandatory masks in all indoor locations in Sydney, including offices, restricted residents in seven council areas in Sydney's east and inner west from leaving the city, and limited home gatherings to five to contain the state's first outbreak in more than a month.

The state has been effectively isolated from the rest of the country after some states, like Western Australia, slammed their borders shut while others introduced tough border rules.

Local cases

Eleven new local cases were reported on Thursday, taking the total infections in the latest outbreak to more than 40.

Thursday's data includes six cases detected after the 8 pm

cut-off deadline, which will be included in Friday's tally.

NSW state parliament on Thursday released a restricted list of politicians allowed into the chamber after state Agriculture Minister Adam Marshall tested positive for COVID-19 and Health Minister Brad Hazzard in isolation after he was deemed to be a possible close contact of a positive case.

Victoria state, which shares its border with NSW, on Thursday reported its first case likely linked to the NSW outbreak after a man in his 60s tested positive after returning home from Sydney. It reported another case earlier in the day linked to an existing cluster.

Queensland state reported three new local cases but officials said the infections pose low risk to the community as they were in isolation when they contracted the virus.

Neighbouring New Zealand reported no new local cases on Thursday, a day after it raised the alert level in the capital Wellington over exposure concerns after an Australian tourist tested positive for COVID-19 upon returning to Sydney after a weekend visit.

Wellington moved to a 'level 2' alert, or one short of a lockdown, until Sunday midnight as a precaution against any potential outbreak.

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Pictures: Italian hospital uses CT scan to unveil secrets of Egyptian mummy

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Pakistan: Fallen mountaineer’s son on expedition to search for his father, missing climbers’ remains

ISLAMABAD: Sajid Ali Sadpara, the climber-son of renowned Pakistani mountaineer Mohammad Ali Sadpara, were to set out on a search expedition of K2 to look for the bodies of his father and two other climbers who had gone missing early this year in an attempt to ascend K2.

Sajid Ali Sadpara announced on social media that he, along with the Canadian award-winning documentary maker Elia Saikaly, were leaving on Friday (June 25), on a search operation for the three missing climbers — Mahammad Ali Sadpara of Pakistan, John Snorri Sigurjónsson of Iceland and Juan Pablo Mohr of Chile.

Sajid Sadpara and Elia Saikaly were also part of the expedition but had to return to Camp 3, hours before the fateful departure due to malfunctioning of the oxygen supplement regulator. They were to join them but could not due to bad weather conditions.

The three climbers were last seen on February 5 near the bottleneck on K2 as they attempted to reach the summit.

Later, an aerial rescue operation was launched but it had to be aborted after around 12 days and the missing mountaineers were officially declared dead on February 18.

Earlier, Elia Saikaly also announced he was in Pakistan and “headed to K2 with Sajid Sadpara to help him search for answers around the disappearance of his father Ali Sadpara, our friend John Snorri and JP Mohr.”

In his post on Instagram, Elia Saikaly said ‘the truth is he couldn’t do anything for his friends and teammates’.

“We were making a film about their winter ascent. We were supposed to be with them the night they disappeared with JP Mohr and we are likely alive because fate intervened as an oxygen mix-up forced PK and I back just below camp 3. Ali, JP Mohr and John never returned. Sajid survived.”

Before his attempt, Sajid Sadpara called on the High Commissioner of Canada Wendy Gilmour and thanked her for the support.

Wendy wished the junior Sadpara and his colleague success in their expedition and safe return. “I look forward to seeing you at BC,” she said in a post on social media.

An emotional video clip showing the US mountaineer Colin O’Brady remembering his friends, ‘the fallen heroes’ is also doing the rounds on social media.

Filmed atop the Mount Everest, which Brady has scaled recently, the footage shows him calling out names of his friends JP Mohr (Chile), Sergi Mingote (Spain), John Snorri (Iceland), Atanas (Bulgaria) and Ali Sadpara (Pakistan) and showing flags of their countries.

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Confusion prevails over India flights to UAE, thousands of passengers stuck in Kerala

Thiruvananthapuram: The good news that the UAE is now open to receiving passengers from India was a major relief for thousands of Keralites awaiting return to the Gulf, but confusion and uncertainty have continued to plague outbound passengers.

On Thursday, it was still unclear when passengers would actually be able to board flights to the UAE, even as inbound flights into Kerala have been operating in limited numbers.

RT-PCR tangle

At the heart of the matter is the stipulation that RT-PCR (reverse transcription- polymerase chain reaction) tests have to be done for passengers travelling to the UAE, within four hours of departure. The stipulation is extremely difficult for most passengers given that they have to travel many hours to reach the airports.

Kerala has four international airports at Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, Kozhikode and Kannur which are used by passengers, many of who reside more than 100 kms away.

The state government is keen to have RT-PCR test centres at the four airports, but groundwork towards this is still work in progress.

CIAL ready

“If the government wants individual airports to establish rapid RT-PCR tests, we are ready,” Cochin International Airport Ltd (CIAL) spokesman P.S. Jayan told Gulf News.

CIAL has already called for expression of interest to set up a rapid RT-PCR test centre at the airport. The rapid tests are near-identical to the conventional tests, even using the same chemicals, with the difference that the equipment used in rapid testing is different, which is able to analyse many more samples at the same time.

Government nod required

“CIAL has already started the process to establish rapid RT-PCR testing for passengers. Before installation of the facility, the identified labs have to obtain approvals from regulatory authorities. The infrastructure is already established at Terminal-3 departure. Once the nods from authorities are obtained, we can start the testing, hopefully within days,” a statement from CIAL said.

However, in the absence of clear deadlines for setting up the testing centres or whether it is the government that will set up the labs or airports have to do it themselves, there is no clarity on when the rapid test centres will come up at airports.

Officials said rapid test facilities can analyse roughly 90 samples at a time.

Jobs, businesses affected

Thousands of Keralites who came home from the UAE when travel restrictions were eased but are now stuck at home owing to new protocols having kicked in, are worried over their jobs and businesses, and in several cases about reuniting with families in the UAE.

“My presence is urgently required in Dubai for different strategic reasons for my company. Even approval of payments from and to key clients and signing up important deals are all held up owing to the flight disruption,” Ebby Abraham, managing director of Dubai-based Roots Advertising LLC told Gulf News.

Abraham, who has been in the UAE for nearly three decades, came to Kerala on what was meant to be a short visit earlier this year, but now has been held up for a few months.

George Varghese, an insurance professional based in Dubai who is currently in Kerala, is also worried about when he can get back to the UAE.

Varghese, from Mallapally in Pathanamthitta district, came to Kerala when his mother fell ill, hoping that he could be with his mother for some time and then return. But the new protocols for outbound travel involving RT-PCR tests have left him in uncertain territory.

New regulations for passengers to Dubai

On Saturday, the Supreme Committee of Crisis and Disaster Management in Dubai announced updates to Dubai’s travel protocols for inbound passengers from South Africa, Nigeria and India, effective from June 23. It was announced that only passengers with a valid residence visa who have received two doses of a UAE-approved vaccine, are allowed to travel to Dubai from India.

Among the mandatory requirements announced for the India flights was the need for a negative test certificate from a PCR test taken 48 hours before departure. Only QR-coded negative PCR test certificates were accepted, it was announced.

The new protocol also said passengers from India were required to undergo a rapid PCR test four hours prior to departure to Dubai. They also had to undergo another PCR test on arrival in Dubai. In addition, following arrival, passengers from India had to undergo institutional quarantine until they receive their PCR test result, which is expected within 24 hours.

Inbound flights on course

Meanwhile, several inbound international flights are calling at Kerala’s airports, where passengers are mandatorily asked for swab samples, after which they can head home.

But that does not apply for outbound passengers from Kerala, who now have to do the rapid RT-PCR test before they can board. Officials at the Cochin airport said outbound flights may begin only by Sunday or Monday, at the earliest. And that hinges on how fast rapid-test facilities can be established at the airports. Presently, incoming flights are returning empty.

However, flights to Oman, Bahrain and Maldives have been operating in limited numbers, an official at CIAL said.

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