Author: News Desk

A total of 335,000 residents in Abu Dhabi’s Mussaffah area will be screened for coronavirus over the next two weeks. The testing will be undertaken as part of the National Screening Project, which aims to provide widespread COVID-19 testing in the country. To support the efforts, the Abu Dhabi Health Services Company (Seha), the emirate’s public health provider, has launched a new screening centre that will increase daily testing capacity by 80 per cent. In a statement sent today, Seha said the new centre, which will span 3.500 square metres, will allow for contactless registration, triaging and swabbing. Nurses will…

Iran is reopening mosques in parts of the country deemed at low risk from the coronavirus, as it says almost 80,000 people hospitalized with the illness have recovered and been released. Health ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour says 74 new fatalities bring to 6,277 the total number officially recorded in Iran since it reported its first cases in mid-February. The country recorded 47 deaths yesterday, its lowest daily count in 55 days. Another 1,223 cases of COVID-19 infections were recorded in the past 24 hours, Jahanpour said, raising the total to 98,647. Today, mosques were allowed to reopen to worshipers in…

The Kuwait Ministry of Education has stopped work in all its sectors after discovering a single coronavirus infection case among the staff. Stoppage covered all studios where long-distance teaching lessons were recorded said Faisal Al-Maqseed, the Assistant Undersecretary and official spokesman of the Ministry in a press statement on Monday. Some sectors of the ministry have pursued work to tackle necessary issues, in the shadow of the coronavirus crisis, where the state imposed a general lockdown affecting the public sector and various fields in the country. The whole ministry building was sterilised after discovering the single case, he added.

The Government of India will be facilitating the return of Indian nationals stranded abroad on compelling grounds in a phased manner, a government statement confirmed on Monday. “Travel will be arranged by aircraft and naval ships. Standard Operating Protocol (SOP) has been prepared in this regard,” read the statement. “Indian Embassies and High Commissions are preparing a list of distressed Indian citizens. This facility would be made available on payment-basis. Non-scheduled commercial flights would be arranged for air travel. The travel would begin in a phased manner from May 7,” the statement added. https://twitter.com/cgidubai/status/1257291347469275136?s=20 Medical screening of passengers would be done…

Emirates SkyCargo will relaunch full-scale operations to 67 destinations from this week, including 15 cities in Europe and six in the Americas. “Over the last six to eight weeks, we have had to work around-the-clock to move essential cargo to destinations where they were most needed,” said Nabil Sultan, Emirates Divisional Senior Vice President, Cargo. “We started with just about a dozen cities served by our Boeing 777-300ER passenger freighters at the end of March. But within the space of a month we have scaled our operations to a point where we now have more than 65 destinations as part of…

A total lockdown has been imposed on an industrial area in Oman’s Muscat that houses migrant workers as part of efforts to combat the spread of coronavirus in the densely populated area, the Ministry of Health and the Muscat Municipality announced on Monday. The lockdown, which will begin today, was imposed on the al-Wadi al-Kabir area and will remain closed until further notice. Oman has so far reported 2,637 confirmed coronavirus cases and 12 virus-related deaths. Mass gatherings for Ramadan have been banned and the current lockdown in Muscat was extended until May 8. However, ahead of the holy month, Oman allowed some…

Kuwait’s Health Minister Shaikh Dr. Basel Al Sabah said on Monday coronavirus recoveries climbed to 1,947 after 171 people more were cured. The cases were proven negative according to laboratory and radiological tests, the minister said. Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) reports. They will be transferred to the rehabilitation wing of the hospital, designated to receive those infected with the virus, in preparation for their discharge within the next two days.

China has questions to answer over the information it shared about the novel coronavirus outbreak but a post mortem over its role should come later, Britain’s defence minister said on Monday. According to Reuters, asked by LBC radio if China had questions to answer over how quickly it made the world aware of the extent of the crisis, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said: “I think it does.” “The time for the post mortem on this is after we’ve all got it under control and have come through it and our economies are back to normal,” Wallace said. “China needs to…

Kuwaiti security forces broke up a riot by Egyptian workers seeking repatriation who were being held in shelters dedicated for those in violation of the Gulf Arab state’s residency laws, the Ministry of Interior said on Monday. Security forces intervened after “riots and chaos” broke out and seized several people who would face legal measures, the statement carried on state media said. Representatives of the Egyptian embassy in Kuwait went to the shelter and reassured workers that repatriation flights would begin this week, the statement said. The Egyptian embassy also apologized for the riots, it added. Several Gulf governments are…

Contributions have poured for the World’s Tallest Donation Box, shining 180,000 lights on 18 floors of Burj Khalifa within 24 hours of the initiative’s launch, stated Emirates News Agency (WAM). The donations raised on the first day will help provide 180,000 meals for individuals and families affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in the UAE, as part of the initiative that aims to illuminate Burj Khalifa’s 1.2 million lights in a message of hope and solidarity to the world. Launched as part of the ’10 million meals’ campaign on Saturday, the World’s Tallest Donation Box enables companies, entities and the public…