India will permit several activities in rural areas starting next week, including manufacturing and infrastructure building, to provide relief to workers impacted by the COVID-19 lockdown, the government said on Wednesday. The Home Ministry guidelines came a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi extended a nationwide lockdown to May 3. The easing of the lockdown would start next Monday and take place only in those rural areas where there were no COVID-19 containment zones or...
China has spent the last few days trying to manage a damaging story about how local authorities in the city of Guangzhou have been targeting black African migrants for eviction and forced coronavirus testing. The story rapidly went global after numerous videos and images of Africans being evicted, blocked from hotels or even being barred from a local McDonald’s went viral on social media platforms including Twitter, Facebook and WhatsApp. Beijing had tried to downplay...
The World Health Organisation (WHO) says Coronavirus (COVID-19) is 10 times deadlier than swine flu which caused a global pandemic in 2009. WHO Director-General, Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus, stated this at a virtual news conference in Geneva on Monday. He said that the virus could spread more easily in crowded environments like nursing homes. “We know that early case-finding, testing, isolating caring for every case and tracing every contact is essential for stopping transmission. “We know...
* G20 likely to endorse debt moratorium this week-sources * African nations pushing for broad debt relief * China now Africa’s largest bilateral creditor * Beijing finds itself in an unfamiliar role (Adds comment from Chinese foreign ministry) April 13 (Reuters) – Support is growing for debt relief to help the world’s poorest, indebted nations – most of them in Africa – confront the economic havoc wreaked by COVID-19. But there is one big question...
China reported the highest number of new coronavirus cases in nearly six weeks on Monday, as the country tries to prevent a second wave of COVIS-19 infections. Authorities counted 108 new coronavirus infections over the past day, including 98 cases among travelers returning from abroad, according to the National Health Commission. This is the highest number of reported infections since March 6, when authorities counted 143 new cases. China is focusing its efforts on preventing...
UK prime minister, Boris Johnson expressed profound gratitude towards the country’s Health services following his recovery from the novel disease, Coronavirus. On March 27, Boris announced that he tested positive for Coronavirus. He noted that he would continue to lead the country as he was only experiencing mild symptoms. But 10 days after this announcement, the prime minister was taken to St Thomas Hospital, London for showing persistent COVID-19 symptoms. He was moved to the...
(Bloomberg) — Apple Inc. and Google unveiled a rare partnership to add technology to their smartphone platforms that will alert users if they have come into contact with a person with Covid-19. People must opt in to the system, but it has the potential to monitor about a third of the world’s population. The technology, known as contact-tracing, is designed to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus by telling users they should quarantine or...
South Korea said on Saturday that it would use electronic wristbands on people who violated self-isolation rules to better contain the spread of the novel coronavirus. Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said the country would make self-isolation violators wear electronic wristbands since the number of cases of people breaching the self-quarantine in recent weeks has raised concerns. “After deep consideration, the government has decided to put electronic wristbands on people who violate self-isolation rules, such as...
The World Health Organisation (WHO) Boss, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he had received death threats and racist insults since the outbreak of COVID-19 three months ago. The Ethiopian born microbiologist and internationally recognised malaria researcher who became the health agency’s Director-General in 2017 made this known in a conference call while responding to a question about whether criticisms from world leaders during the pandemic makes it difficult for him to manage the WHO. “I can...
The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, said Nigeria joined the OPEC+ to cut crude oil supply by 10 million Barrel Per Day. Sylva disclosed this at the ongoing 9th Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and Non OPEC ministerial webinar meeting. “Nigeria joined OPEC+ to cut supply by up to 10mbpd between May and June 2020, Eight Million Barrels per day between July and December 2020 and Six Million barrels per...
