Friday 27 March 2020

3 Sha'aban - 1441

2 Riyals

www.thepeninsula.qa

Volume 25 | Number 8209

OoredooONE *Terms & Conditions Apply

FREE Wi-Fi device!FREE installation! Full fun!

SPORT | 04BUSINESS | 01

US jobless claims hit 3.3 million,

quadruple previous record

Delay means $12bn Games just got more expensive

Amir issues law amending provisions of Prevention of Infectious Diseases Law

QNA — DOHA

Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani issued yesterday law No. 9 of 2020 amending some of the provisions of the Decree Law No 17 of 1990 on the prevention of infectious diseases. The law makes it compulsory for doctors, heads of institutions and employers to report about any case of infectious disease.

Under the law, the provi-sions of articles 4 of Decree Law No. 17 of 1990 will provide for that burden of reporting stipu-lated in the previous article falls

on every doctor who examines someone who is infected or sus-pected of having an infectious disease; the infected person and their guardian, the president or representative of the infected person’s university, institute or school, infected person’s direct manager — if the infection took place or suspected to have taken place during performing work duties — and on the employer, in case of expatriates, whether the infection took place inside or outside the state; when any of them knows about it.

The provisions of Articles 21 of

Decree Law No. 17 of 1990 will provide for that, without prejudice to any more severe punishment stipulated in any other law:-

Violating the provisions of Articles (3), (4), (6 bis), (7 / second and third paragraphs), (8), (11), and the procedures and measures taken by the Cabinet in accordance with the provi-sions of Article (10 / last para-graph), is punishable by

imprisonment for a period not exceeding three years and a fine not exceeding QR200,000, or by either of these two penalties.

Violating the provisions of Articles (15 / last paragraph), (16) and (17) is punishable by impris-onment for a period not exceeding one month and by a fine not exceeding QR10,000, or by either of these two penalties. �P2

Contracts for increasing Qatar’s strategic stock of food items signed

QNA — DOHA

Minister of Commerce and Industry, H E Ali bin Ahmed Al Kuwari, and Minister of Municipality and Environment, H E Abdullah bin Abdulaziz bin Turki Al Subaie, attended the signing ceremony of contracts to raise the state’s strategic stock of food commodities, yesterday. H E Abdullah bin Abdulaziz bin Turki Al Subaie is also the Chairman of the follow-up committee for the implementation of food security policies in the governmental and private sectors.

Undersecretary for consumer affairs and head of the Strategic Storage Working Group for Food Security at the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, H E Sheikh Jassim bin Jabr bin Hassan Al Thani, signed con-tracts with 14 major companies specialised in the food sector in the country.

Under these contracts, efforts will be done during the first stage to increase the stocks of strategic commodities, most importantly wheat, rice, cooking oils, sugar, frozen red meat, long-life milk, and powdered milk.

This initiative comes in alignment with the state’s food security strategy, and in line with the Ministry of commerce and Industry’s efforts to enhance partnership between the public and private sectors, to enhance the system of strategic stock of food and consumer goods in a way that substantiate the leading position of Qatar as one of the most prominent countries in the region in terms of adequacy in the strategic stock of goods and ability to achieve food security.

Qatar has launched several initiatives aimed at establishing integrated mecha-nisms that would enhance and increase its strategic stocks of food and consumer

goods to support its development policies in the field of food security.

The State has also launched the elec-tronic system for managing and moni-toring the strategic stocks of the country, with the aim of activating the partnership between the government and private sectors, as well as managing and moni-toring the strategic stock through a smart electronic platform designed in accordance with best practices and inter-national standards adopted in this field.

This electronic system enables moni-toring and follow-up of the state’s strategic stock of food and consumer goods; the determination of import rates and sources of importing of strategic goods; identifying the most important companies specialised in this field; and monitoring the movement of internal trade and national production in the country in addition to following up the strategic stock accurately and assessing the effectiveness of its recycling in the local markets in a manner that preserves the quality and suitability of the products.

This system also serves as an important tool for officials and decision-makers; institutions and departments operating in this field; private sector companies; primary suppliers and national producers.

The system also provides an accurate monitoring mechanism for the state’s strategic food commodities and selected vital consumer products, in addition to feed, and any other mate-rials that are added to the system while providing access to details related to these commodities, in addition to mon-itoring and managing all elements of the supply chain from import, storage, recycling, distribution and national production.

Minister of Commerce and Industry, H E Ali bin Ahmed Al Kuwari and Minister of Municipality and Environment, H E Abdullah bin Abdulaziz bin Turki Al Subaie, at the signing ceremony of contracts to raise Qatar’s strategic stock of food commodities.

Qatar Airways expands flights to AustraliaTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

Qatar Airways is expanding operations to Australia to help get people home. From March 29, Qatar Airways will add an extra 48,000 seats to the market to help stranded passengers get home.

The airline will operate, daily service to Brisbane, double daily service to Perth, double daily service to Melbourne and triple daily service to Sydney.

Qatar Airways Group Chief Exec-utive, H E Akbar Al Baker, said: “We know there are many people who want to be with their families and

loved ones during this difficult time. We are thankful to the Australian Gov-ernment, Airports and staff for their support in helping us to add additional flights to get people home, and in par-ticular, to bring flights to Brisbane”.

“We continue to operate around 150 daily flights to more than 70 cities worldwide. Sometimes governments put in place restrictions that mean we simply cannot fly to a country. We are working closely with governments around the world, and wherever pos-sible we will reinstate or add more flights,” H E Al Baker said.

As an airline, Qatar Airways

maintains the highest possible hygiene standards, which include the regular disinfection of aircraft, the use of cleaning products recom-mended by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and the World Health Organisation (WHO), and thermal screening of crew.

In addition, Qatar Airways’ aircraft feature the most advanced air fil-tration systems, equipped with indus-trial-size HEPA filters that remove 99.97 percent of viral and bacterial contaminants from re-circulated air, providing the most effective pro-tection against infection. �P3

Law puts burden of reporting on doctors, guardian, infected person, heads of institutions in case of students, employers and department managers of the infected person. Punishment varies from one month imprisonment and/or QR10,000 fine and three years imprisonment and/or QR200,000 fine.

QNA — DOHA

Upon the directives of Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the Qatari Amiri Air Force, represented by the air transport unit, carried out its first flights via its strategic tanker aircraft to the People’s Republic of China to bring the first shipments of medical supplies in cooperation with the Ministry of Commerce and Industry to secure the needs of the local market of these products. �P3

Upon Amir's directives medical supplies from China arrive

‘No Compromise in enforcing Law on Prevention of Infectious Diseases’QNA — DOHA

The Supreme Committee for Crisis Management said that there will be zero tolerance with violators of the law issued by Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani amending some of the provisions of the Decree Law No 17 of 1990 on the prevention of infectious diseases.

At a regular press conference yes-terday, the committee stressed that there will be no compromise in applying the law and related proce-dures to all violators. H H the Amir issued yesterday a decision amending some of the provisions of the Decree Law No 17 of 1990 on the prevention of infectious diseases.

Under the law, the provisions of Article 4 will provide for that the burden of reporting stipulated in the previous article falls on every doctor who examines someone who is infected or suspected of having an infectious disease; the infected person and their guardian, the pres-ident or representative of the infected person’s university, institute or

school, infected person’s direct manager — if the infection took place or suspected to have taken place during performing work duties-, and on the employer, in case of expa-triates, whether the infection took place inside or outside the state; when any of them knows about it.

The Spokesperson for the Supreme Committee for Crisis Man-agement, H E Lolwah bint Rashid bin Mohammed Al Khater thanked the security authorities represented by the Ministry of Interior and the Internal Security Forces (Lekhwiya), which spared no effort in imple-menting all these laws and measures.

Her Excellency pointed out that the Attorney General of the State of Qatar had issued a decision to establish a health prosecution spe-cialized in investigating all health-related crimes.

She praised the efforts of doctors, medical staff and officials of the Min-istry of Public Health, who are the first line of defence for our society in this crisis, and who work around the clock to ensure the provision of

high-quality medical services, stressing that they are the soldiers who defend us in this crisis.

Her Excellency announced that, as a continuation of the State’s efforts to limit gatherings and implement the necessary preventive measures to curb the outbreak of the coronavirus (COVID-19), the Ministry of Commerce and Industry decided to completely close unnecessary businesses starting Friday, March 27. These are: All cafes and juice stalls, education services and support centres, centres and work-shops providing arts, theatrical and entertainment services, Wedding and event services and centers, shoe and watch repair booths.

Other commercial shops’ working hours will be limited between 6am to 7pm, and will be pro-hibited from operating beyond that time, she explained.

She noted that the vital sectors identified by the Cabinet, such as food stores, pharmacies, and delivery services, including delivery from res-taurants, are excluded from this.

With regard to the latest medical developments, H E Al Khater said that 12 new COVID-19 cases were recorded today, including three cases for Qatari citizens coming from Europe. She said that all cases are subject to quarantine and their con-ditions are stable.

Her Excellency also announced the recovery of two patients from the disease, bringing the total cases of recovery to 43.

H E the Spokesperson said that the committee understands that the changes in the lives of all people have caused some confusion and anxiety, some fear and anticipation of the future. �P3

H E Lolwah bint Rashid bin Mohammed Al Khater with other officials during the televised press conference, yesterday.

OFFICIAL NEWS

Doha: Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani sent yesterday a cable of condolences to the Pres-ident of the Sovereign Council of the Republic of Sudan, Lieuten-ant General H E Abdul Fattah Al Burhan on the death of Minister of Defence, Lieutenant General Jamal Eddin Omer. Deputy Amir H H Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad Al Thani also sent a similar message to Sudan President. The Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, H E Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa bin Abdulaziz Al Thani sent cables of condolences to the Prime Minister of the Republic of Sudan, H E Dr. Abdalla Hamdok on the death of Minister of Defence Lieutenant General Jamal Eddin Omer. -QNA

Doha: Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani held yesterday a telephone conversation with the Prime Minister of the Republic of India, H E Narendra Modi. During the call, they reviewed bilateral relations and ways to support and enhance them, in addition to dis-cussing several issues of common concern.The call also saw the two sides review both countries’ efforts to combat the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) and ways to cooperate to contain the spread of the virus. -QNA

Doha: Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani held telephone conversation with the Mayor of Los Angeles, California of the United States, H E Eric Garcetti. They reviewed the friendship and coop-eration relations between the two sides and developments of combat-ing the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) and containing its spread. -QNA

Doha: Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani sent a cable of condolences to the President of the Republic of Indonesia, H E Joko Widodo on the death of his mother. Deputy Amir H H Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad Al Thani and the Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, H E Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa bin Abdulaziz Al Thani have also sent cables of condolences to the Pres-ident of the Republic of Indonesia Joko Widodo. -QNA

Doha: Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, H E Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani received yesterday a phone call from the UK Secretary of State for For-eign and Commonwealth Affairs, H E Dominic Raab.The call dealt with reviewing bilateral cooperation, and coordinating efforts to contain the Coronavirus, in addition to discuss-ing issues of joint interest. -QNA

Amir condoles with Sudan’s President

Amir holds telephone talks with Indian PM

Amir holds telephone talks with LA Mayor

Amir condoles with Indonesian President

Foreign Minister receives phone call from UK

02 FRIDAY 27 MARCH 2020HOME

FAJR SUNRISE 04.14 am 05.31 am

W A L R U WA I S : 21o↗ 26o W A L K H O R : 21o↗ 25o W D U K H A N : 19o↗ 31o W WA K R A H : 22o↗ 27o W M E S A I E E D 22o↗ 27o W A B U S A M R A 17o↗ 32o

PRAYER TIMINGS WEATHER TODAY

HIGH TIDE 05:42– 18:44 LOW TIDE 00:59 – 13:27

Partly cloudy with chance of scattered rain, slight dust at times.

Minimum Maximum21oC 27oC

ZUHR

MAGHRIB

11.39 am05.50 pm

ASR

ISHA

03.07 pm07.20 pm

QC Food Security Committee reviews flow of commodities to local marketTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

The Qatar Chamber’s (QC) Food Security and Environment Committee has affirmed the importance of providing support to local producers of food products, particularly producers of poultry and vegetables.

During a meeting yesterday, headed by QC Board Member, Mohamed bin Ahmed Al Obaidli, the committee stressed the need to overcome all obstacles faced by the importers of food products to ensure the flow of commod-ities in the local market in light with the current crisis of Covid-19.

QC Board Member, Dr Mohamed Gawhar Al Mohamed and Director of

Food Security Department at the Min-istry of Municipality and Environment, Masoud Jarallah Al Marri also attended the meeting in the presence of repre-sentatives of food and supply chain

companies. The meeting reviewed the government measures intended to guar-antee the provision of food supplies in the local market, and discussed all devel-opments related to the imported food sector from various destinations of origin in light of the high costs of shipping. The meeting also highlighted the importance of facilitating procedures for entry and exit of commodities to and from ports and to the industrial area, and from the industrial area to sale outlets.

Other topics discussed during the event include the importance of sup-porting productive companies oper-ating in the food sectors, especially those that are working in poultry and vegetables, and providing support in

customs duties on production inputs.Attendees emphasised the read-

iness of the private sector to partic-ipate in strategic stock plans, and praised the Takatuf Initiative, which was recently launched by the Qatar Chamber to encourage all its members from the private sector, public share-holding companies and businessmen to participate in supporting the state’s efforts to curb the spread of the Coronavirus.

On his part, Al Obaidli lauded the government measures in achieving the state’s strategy in food security in coop-eration with the private sector, noting that this cooperation helped in com-bating the current crisis.

QU’s CAM takes precautionary measures to combat coronavirusTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

The Center for Advanced Mate-rials (CAM) at Qatar University is taking precautionary measures to continue scientific research at Center.

Dr. Nasser bin Abdullah Al Juffali Al Nuaimi, Director of (CAM) – (QU) said in a statement about the precautionary proce-dures being followed at the Center, “We have put in place mechanisms to protect our employees and to keep the level of scientific research unaffected during this time in order to control the spread of COVID-19.”

Al Naimi confirmed that he had met with all the members of the center to set mechanisms

for implementing the directives issued by the Supreme Com-mittee for Crisis Management and Higher Management at Qatar University to protect the employees of the center, and to maintain the level of scientific research without any influence.

Dr. Al Naimi said: “We have formed an emergency com-mittee in the center to consider the requests of researchers and adapt the work environment. We began with the emergency committee to respond to all the questions and inquiries of the researchers, technicians and employees of the center, which are related to the virus, as well as inquiries regarding the nature of their work in the current circumstances. Three

people at a time are allowed in one office.”

Regarding safety precau-tions of laboratory’s equipment, Dr. Al Naimi said: “The Center has prepared timetable in which all essential equipment function

during weekdays and it was taken into account that timetable is set in a way that avoids any interaction between the techni-cians and others. The researchers and technicians perform the required analysis, and the results are sent via e-mail.”

Students and researchers have fixed timetable of working individually for four hours daily in laboratory in order to keep them secure. The use of mask and disposable gloves and per-sonal protection glasses are most important requirements in Laboratory. Tissue boxes are provided in each office and open-door policy is made during working hours.

The devices used are required to be assembled at the

end and each individual should not exceed eight hours per week time period. As for the mechanism of research work in the current circumstances, Dr. Al Naimi said: “We encourage researchers at the center to publish research whose data is ready, until the completion of the closure phase. We also encourage researchers to publish review papers as a temporary alternative to publishing scientific papers based on laboratory measurements.”

“In addition we also encourage researchers to write research projects for the current year and the next year so that they are ready and do not consume time after returning from partial closure,” he said.

Dr. Nasser bin Abdullah Al Juffali Al-Nuaimi, Director of CAM – QU

MoPH organises first training workshop for volunteersTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

The Ministry of Public Health (MOPH) yesterday organised the first training workshop for volunteers in the “For Qatar” campaign, which has been launched to support the coun-try’s efforts to curb the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19), yesterday.

During the workshop, which was held at the Student Center, Qatar Foundation in Education City, volunteers were trained on the basic skills required in volun-teering and provided with a glimpse on the “For Qatar” cam-paign, and the role each volunteer will play in this campaign.

The two-hour workshop took into account all the nec-essary precautions, as the

volunteers are also scheduled to receive specialised training in the tasks assigned to them before performing their duties.

The number of volunteers who registered in the “For Qatar” National Campaign, carried in cooperation between the MOPH, Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS) and Qatar Charity, has exceeded 35,000.

Meanwhile, Minister of Public Health, H E Dr. Hanan Mohammed Al Kuwari stressed that the overwhelming turnout on volunteering, by both cit-izens and residents, reflects a strong societal sense and com-mitment to contributing to the state’s efforts against COVID-19.

Her Excellency sent a message to volunteers and said, “You are an honorable model

that we are proud of. You have set concepts of social responsi-bility and made sure that you are the best supporter for our medical staff who are fighting in the front lines against this pandemic. By you and with you, we will succeed in controlling the COVID-19 in our country and in curbing its spread”.

The MoPH, had recently invited volunteers to join the efforts of curbing the spread of

COVID-19 in the country.Volunteers will be dis-

patched, according to need and expertise, to start performing the tasks assigned to them.

The tasks to be undertaken by volunteers include providing support to medical staff working in health facilities through conducting auxiliary health practices, raising com-munity awareness of the risks and symptoms of the COVID-19,

and providing various logistical services. The volunteers are scheduled to be distributed to the various health facilities in the country to carry out the tasks assigned to them, as each will work in shifts for 14 days, or more, dis-tributed over the 12-week program period from the end of March to the end of June. Volunteers are invited to sign up for the “For Qatar” National Campaign on www.covid19vol.qa.

Deputy PM and Defence Minister attends Impregnable Guard 2020 drill

QNA — DOHA

The Joint Special Forces of the Armed Forces concluded the ‘Impregnable Guard 2020’ drill in the Al Qalail field. The closing activities were held under the patronage and presence of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for Defense Affairs, H E Dr. Khalid bin Mohammed Al Attiyah.

The drill witnessed the participation of the Joint Special Forces, the Military Police, the Amiri Air Force,

the Amiri Guard, the Ministry of Interior, and the Internal Security Force (Lekhwiya).

The drill also witnessed the participation a number of forces from friendly countries, such as the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, the Republic of Turkey, the Kingdom of Morocco, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the Sultanate of Oman, the United States of America, the French Republic, and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Nato).

The Impregnable Guard 2020 drill is an annual

exercise through which a set of simulated scenarios are implemented, intended to prepare for any cross-border security threat.

The drill also focuses on combating terrorism, in addition to its contribution to strengthening mil-itary relations with brotherly and friendly countries.

A number of senior commanders in the Armed Forces, and several militaries attaches accredited to the state attended the closing activities.

The meeting also discussed the importance of supporting productive companies operating in the food sectors, especially those that are working in poultry and vegetables, and providing support in customs duties on production inputs.

A view of the training workshop held at the Student Center at Qatar Foundation, in Education City.

Amir issues law amending some provisions of Prevention of Infectious Diseases Law

FROM PAGE 1

In addition, more Articles are added to the Decree Law No. 17 of 1990, including:

Article (6-bis) which stip-ulates that every person who is placed in isolation or quar-antine, with the knowledge of the health authorities, according to the provisions of the previous article, must remain in the place of isolation designated by that authority and abide by the procedures for isolation and control.

Article (10/last paragraph), which stipulates that the Council of Ministers, upon the proposal of the Minister, and with a view to limiting the spread of the infectious disease, may take appropriate public measures to preserve public health, including imposing restrictions on the freedom of persons to gather, move, reside and pass in certain places or times.

The law is effective starting from the next day of its publi-cation in the official gazette.

03FRIDAY 27 MARCH 2020 HOME

QF’s Doha Debates places future of genetics in spotlightTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

The question of where the line should be drawn in human gene editing, and if it should be allowed to create “super-humans”, has been tackled by Doha Debates in the final debate of the Qatar Foundation production’s first season under its new concept, recently.

Three experts participated in an intense discussion on the ethics and chal-lenges of human genetic enhancement during the debate at Northwestern Uni-versity in Qatar, which, due to the global coronavirus pandemic, was held without its usual live student audience.

But the show’s interactive nature and role as a platform for dialogue and dis-course was preserved by Doha Debates correspondent Nelufar Hedayat, who videoconferenced with students and shared tweets and Instagram videos from viewers in countries including Nigeria, the UK, Sweden, and Ghana.

The debate primarily focused on germline editing, which results in her-itable changes to DNA — meaning that, if embryonic DNA was edited to produce blue eyes, the genes for blue eyes would be present in a person’s children, and their children’s children – and has earned the world’s attention and crit-icism in recent years. Moderator Ghida Fakhry framed the debate by asking whether the aim of gene editing should be to edit out certain debilitating diseases or conditions, and if it will increase global inequality if it is initially only available to those who can afford it.

Professor Julian Savulescu, an eth-icist, moral philosopher and the current Uehiro Chair in Practical Ethics at the University of Oxford, claimed gene editing is “a moral imperative for society”, saying: “What matters to each of us is our overall wellbeing.

“We measure that in terms of things like happiness, whether we can set our own goals and achieve them, and whether we have deep and substantial interpersonal relationships. Genes don’t just affect health; they also affect our capacity for wellbeing — and nature doesn’t allocate genes equally.

“We already use various biological interventions, like iodizing salt because it improves IQ, removing lead from paint because it causes intellectual disabilities, or using prescription drugs to reduce impulsive violence. There’s no difference between environmental and biological interventions — and parents should be able to access these technologies to improve their children’s lives, providing the technologies don’t harm their children or other people. Science can tell us how to achieve these things, but ethics can tell us whether we should — and the promotion of wellbeing is the central ethical principle.” Technology and health care futurist Jamie Metzl, a member of the Human Genome Project-Write con-sortium, said gene editing is “a foregone conclusion”, telling the debate: “We’re already using so many therapies and technologies to improve the human race,

and gene editing is no different.“What if we could engineer people

to be resistant to a new coronavirus, or to eradicate painful genetic conditions; improve health care so that it’s not based on averages of the general population, but customized to your own biology; or allow the human race to live on a planet that will eventually become uninhab-itable?” However, he acknowledged the risks of gene editing and their capacity to cause division, saying that in order to avoid deepening inequalities and flat-tening essential genetic diversity, values and ethics must guide these technologies. “The issue of haves and have-nots — that’s one potential outcome,” he said. :If we don’t want that outcome, we’d better start organizing for a different outcome.” Katie Hasson, the program director on Genetic Justice at the Center for Genetics and Society, asked the online audience: “Let’s really imagine this world, where each baby’s DNA is being manipulated from the moment of their conception in the lab, where parents’ immediate desires are written into their future children’s genome, and the gen-erations to come.

“Would the traits perceived as the ‘best’ be available only to the affluent and privileged? Would gene editing dig deeper trenches between the haves and have-nots? Would parents feel pressured

to select traits based on narrowly defined cultural and social norms? These are the questions we need to consider, and now is the time to do so.

“The practice is not safe, it’s not needed, and it has the potential to vastly increase the already outrageous ine-quality that we’re experiencing. Instead of using gene editing to level the playing field, intellectually and otherwise, we should work to create a society that values people as they are, with a range of abilities and embodiments.” The post-show segment, hosted by Hedayat, sparked a global conversation, with com-ments and questions streaming in from Nigeria, Afghanistan, and Poland to Sweden, Brazil, and the US. Hedayat interviewed special guest Nawaal Akram, a Qatari disability rights activist, athlete and comedian. who has the genetic con-dition muscular dystrophy and said that, for her, this debate was personal.

At three points during the debate, the online audience was asked to score each of the debaters’ three positions. After the opening statements, Hasson’s anti-gene editing position garnered the strongest support, with 51 percent. By the end of the debate, support for the middle ground and anti-gene editing position was nearly the same, with Metzl receiving 36 percent and Hasson 38 percent, while Savulescu gained 25 percent.

beIN to give viewers chance to run biggest TV network in worldTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

For the very first time, beIN Sports (“beIN”) will give viewers the chance to run the biggest TV network in the world. Starting tomorrow, viewers across the Middle East & North Africa (“MENA”) will be able to vote for their favourite football match from a shortlist curated by beIN stars such as Mohammed Abutrika and the match with the highest vote will be shown on beIN Sports HD1 at 22:30 Makkah Time (GMT+3).

Those who want to vote can visit the official beIN Sports Twitter account (@beIN-SPORTS) where a poll will be prepared every day with four different matches – and the match with the highest vote will be announced during the “Allo beIN” program at 20:30 Mecca Time.

With live sport temporarily stopped across the world following the COVID-19 outbreak, beIN Sports will also, for the second week running, broadcast a thrilling thematic sporting schedule of the best com-petitions and programs for its viewers across 24 countries of MENA.

Following the success of last week

which showcased the 2018 FIFA World Cup, UEFA Euro 2016, and the best of European soccer leagues, this week beIN will broadcast matches and highlights from one of the biggest Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) to date, AFCON 2019.

The 2019 Africa Cup of Nations was a hugely successful tournament which fea-tured 24 teams for the first time, and saw Algeria lift their first AFCON trophy in 29 years. After leading his team to glory, Algeria captain and Manchester City star Riyad Mahrez said, ‘It was like when we won the Premier League title with Leicester City. We had the feeling that nobody could stop us. At the 2019 AFCON, it was the same feeling.”

On Sunday , beIN Sports HD1 will have a dedicated 2019 Copa America day with special matches including Qatar and heav-yweights Brazil, Argentina and Colombia

while March 30, will see beIN Sports HD1 broadcast the best matches of FC Bar-celona’s 2019 campaign, including the best goals of LaLiga throughout history. During the rest of the week, beIN Sports HD1 will show the best matches of PSG’s 2019 season

(Tuesday ), FIFA Club World Cup Qatar 2019 (Wednesday ), English Premier League (Thursday ) and LaLiga (April 3)

beIN Sports will also broadcast an exclusive program “Allo beIN” on its beIN Sports HD1 channel every night from 20:30 – 21:30 Mecca Time (GMT+3) with beIN stars and guests including Mohammed Saadon Al Kuwari, Mohammed Abutrika, Wael Gomaa, Haytham Farouk, Nabil Maaloul, Hisham Al Khalsi, Hafid Darradji and more. The program discusses the latest news on sports with live interaction from beIN guests and presenters on social media.

Launching the new initiative for fans to vote for their favourite match, Head of Sports for beIN MENA, Jonathan Whitehead, said: “We are extremely excited to announce that, for the very first

time on beIN Sports and in MENA, our viewers and followers on social media will have the chance to control what they want to watch – as our very own stars including the likes of Abutrika and Gomaa will select 4 different matches and the fixture with the highest vote on social media will be shown on beIN Sports HD1.”

QFFD finances construction of specialised kidney care hospital in Addis AbabaQNA — DOHA

Qatar Fund for development (QFFD) signed a Grant Agreement with Government of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia to finance the construction of a specialized kidney care hospital in Addis Ababa.

The agreement was signed by QFFD Director General, Khalifa bin Jassim Al Kuwari and State Minister of Finance of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, H E Admasu Nebebe.

QFFD said in a statement that the project comes within the framework of the support provided by the State of Qatar to the health sector in Ethiopia, adding that it is an outgrowth of the Qatari-Ethiopian coop-eration that has witnessed sig-nificant growth in recent years, and through which the fund seeks to enhance and develop bilateral relations and joint cooperation between the State of Qatar and Ethiopia.

This grant will fund the

construction and furnishing of Kidney Treatment Hospital in Addis Ababa. When operating at its full capacity, the hospital is expected to provide service to all ranges of kidney diseases that might result in kidney failure, provide dialysis and transplantation for those with kidney failure with an approx-imate capacity of serving 110,000 people annually.

The support also includes training core staffs in order for the center to serve as a self-suf-ficient educational center for medical professionals in Ethiopia.

According to QFFD’s statement, Ethiopian hospitals suffer from severe shortages in the field of technical support provided to the current kidney disease and related services from maintenance of medical devices, supplies and medical drugs in addition to lack of staff capacity building and con-tinuing education. Moreover, there is no sufficient support for the optimal use of the existing resources available.

Upon Amir's directives medical supplies from China arriveQNA — DOHA

Upon the directives of Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the Qatari Amiri Air Force, represented by the air transport unit, carried out its first flights via its strategic tanker aircraft to the People’s Republic of China to bring the first shipments of medical supplies in cooperation with the Ministry of Commerce and Industry to secure the needs of the local market of these products.

THE PENINSULA — DOHA

The Ministry of Adminis-trative Development, Labour and Social Affairs announced yesterday that the Government Services Complex (Mesaimeer branch) will stop of receiving visitors from Sunday until further notice.

The Ministry said in a tweet that “We would like to inform you that we will stop receiving visitors to the Government Services Complex (Mesaimeer branch) starting from Sunday until further notice.”

The Ministry earlier also has said that in the context of the precautionary measures taken by the state to limit the spread of the coronavirus, it has been decided to extend the validity of social security cards of citizens until further notice.

The Ministry has started the procedures for renewing social security cards automatically without the need for the beneficiary to visit the department con-cerned for renewal.

Three experts participated in an intense discussion on the ethics and challenges of human genetic enhancement during the debate at Northwestern University in Qatar, which, due to the global coronavirus pandemic, was held without its usual live student audience.

Experts participating at the event held at the Northwestern University in Qatar.

Mesaimeer Services Complex branch to stop receiving visitors from Sunday

No compromise in enforcing Law on Prevention of Infectious DiseasesFROM PAGE 1

H E the Spokesperson of the Supreme Committee for Crisis Management stressed that at the same time that staying at home and applying prevention measures are the most valuable services that can be provided to our community and our nation during this crisis.

She stressed that the more everyone adhered to instruc-tions, the shorter the time will be while cautioning against negligence that can prolong this period.

She also affirmed that all the bodies and institutions of the State of Qatar are being har-nessed to ensure the continu-ation of a decent life for all.

For his part, Dr. Abd al-Latif al-Khal, Head of the Transi-tional Diseases Center at Hamad Medical Corporation

said the people infected with coronavirus (Covid-19) are divided into three groups. First group is the persons with mild or no symptoms and they are isolated to ensure that the virus does not spread to others. They are kept under continuous monitoring of medical and nursing staff until they are fully recovered. Periodic laboratory examinations are performed on respiratory secretions and are kept in the quarantine until the examination results turn neg-ative.The second group of severe infections often have inflammation of the lower res-piratory tract (lungs) and they are isolated and hospitalised to take a set of drugs to reduce the severity of inflammation.

As for the third group, they need to enter intensive care, and they will be given a larger

group of drugs and put on the ventilator for several days to help their immune system to overcome the virus, and then the gradual improvement will begin.

Dr. Al-Khal confirmed that there is no scientific evidence that taking medications used in hospitals prevents infection, advising to avoid such drugs because of their side effects.

He further stressed on the importance of social distancing between members of society even in the house saying that each individual is obligated to stay in his room as much as possible to reduce the spread of the virus in the community.

He pointed out that the that the state has played its fullest role in providing all necessary needs and taking all decisions, implementation of all

procedures, and publication of all guidelines to reduce gath-erings to reduce infections.

Al Khal said most of the diagnosed cases are still subject to isolation and treatment. Majority of cases are between 20 to 40 years old, and more than 18 people are in intensive care.Dr. Al-Khalil expressed concern that if there are increasing number of cases that need intensive care, especially if those suffering from diabetes, heart, kidney and lung diseases, stressing on the need to protect this group, avoid mixing with them and leaving the house.

He confirmed that there is no relationship between infection with the virus and age, as the disease may be severe in the youth category, which requires admission to the intensive care.

QA expands flights to AustraliaFROM PAGE 1

All the airline’s onboard linen and blankets are washed, dried and pressed at microbial lethal temperatures, while its headsets are removed of ear foams and rigorously sanitised after each flight. These items are then sealed into individual packaging by staff wearing hygienic disposable gloves.

Qatar Aircraft Catering Company (QACC) was the first organ-isation in the world last year to achieve ISO22000:2018 certification from Bureau Veritas with UKAS accreditation, confirming its Food Safety Management System meets the highest standards. All meal service utensils and cutlery are washed with detergents and rinsed with demineralised fresh water at temperatures that kill pathogenic bacteria. All sanitised equipment is handled by staff wearing hygienic disposable gloves, while cutlery is individually re-packed.

04 FRIDAY 27 MARCH 2020 MIDDLE EAST

Iran's virus death toll rises to 2,234; intercity travel bannedAFP — TEHRAN

Iran yesterday announced 157 new deaths from coronavirus, raising the official number of fatalities to 2,234, as it slapped a ban on intercity travel to try to curb the spread.

Health ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour also said that 2,389 new cases have been confirmed in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of declared infections in one of the world’s wost-hit countries to 29,406.

“Fortunately, until today 10,457 of those infected have recovered and been discharged from hospitals,” he told a news conference.

Jahanpour said that the spread of the new coronavirus

and its rate of infection was “growing steadily” in Iran.

The country imposed strict new containment measures Thursday, after weeks of public appeals largely failed to prevent hundreds of thousands of Ira-nians taking to the roads to visit family for the Persian New Year holidays.

“Those who were planning to travel, cancel it right from this moment,” said Hossein

Zolfaghari, a senior official at Iran’s anti-coronavirus committee.

“Those who are out trav-elling should return home quickly,” he added in a televised a n n o u n c e m e n t w h i l e announcing details of the new measures. Zolfaghari said non-residents will not be allowed into cities based on their car plates and drivers’ IDs, and vio-lators will be fined and their cars impounded.

“All official and non-official gatherings... are also banned,” the official said, without elab-orating further.

President Hassan Rouhani said in a cabinet meeting he hoped the “more strict measures” would help to curb the virus. He added the

government was going to ask Iran’s supreme leader for per-mission to draw $1bn from its national development fund to

address “the coronavirus’ com-plexities and issues, especially the medical sector’s needs”.

The country will also

provide businesses which have not laid off workers during the outbreak with low-interest loans, Rouhani said.

COVID-19: Kuwait cases rise to 208; 109 in Oman QNA — KUWAIT/MUSCAT

The Kuwaiti Ministry of Health confirmed yesterday 13 new cases of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) during the past 24 hours, bringing the total of registered infections in the country to 208 cases.

Kuwaiti news agency (KUNA) today quoted the min-istry’s spokesman, Dr. Abdullah Al Sanad, as saying that six of the new cases are for citizens linked with travel, two have recently arrived from Saudi Arabia, two from Egypt, one from France and the other one is still under investigation.

Furthermore, the other seven cases are for people who were in contact with infected patients, two of them were in contact with cases linked to travel to Saudi Arabia, two with cases from Azerbaijan (one is Kuwaiti and the other is Indian),

in addition to one Kuwaiti who contacted a case linked to travel to UK, one is with a case from Philippines while the other one is a Somali who was in contact with a Somali patient and is under investigation.

The Spokesman revealed

that out of the 208 cases, 49 have recovered and 159 are still receiving treatment, after the Kuwaiti Health Minister Sheikh Dr. Basil Al Sabah announced earlier yesterday the recovery of six COVID-19 cases.

Al Sanad indicated that

seven cases are still in the ICU, two of them are in critical con-dition while the other five are stable.

He said 853 people had fin-ished the quarantine period after completing their specific time.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health of the Sultanate of Oman announced yesterday the reg-istration of 10 new confirmed cases of novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) for Omani citizens, bringing the total of whom infected in the country to 109 cases.

The ministry said five out of the 10 cases are linked to contact with infected patients, and two cases are linked to travel to the UK, while three cases are still under investi-gation, pointing out that 23 cases have recovered from the virus, according to Oman news agency (ONA).

Iraq, Lebanon extend virus restrictions for two weeksAP/AFP — BEIRUT

Iraq and Lebanon prepared yesterday to extend government-imposed restric-tions on movement for two more weeks, the latest measures announced to stem the spread of the new corona-virus.

Iraq’s Health Ministry reported a jump of coronavirus-related deaths by seven in 24 hours, according to a statement yesterday, the highest since the government began recording cases. At least 36 people among 382 confirmed infected cases have died.

Iraqis have struggled to adhere to the days-long curfew in place since March 17, prompting senior Iraqi officials and prominent religious figures to call for the public to stay at home and avoid congregating in crowds.

Iraq’s Cabinet declared yes-terday it would extend the

curfew until April 11, the second extension since the curfew was first imposed.

Health officials said that they expect numbers to rise as more are tested in the coming weeks. An Iraqi army statement said it would send units to enforce a weeks long curfew to stem the spread of the virus, and even cordon off areas where cases were mounting.

The provinces of Baghdad, Basra and Karbala saw the highest number of new cases, according to the ministry.

One of Iraq's first precau-tionary measures was to close its 1,500-kilometre (940-mile) land border with Iran late last month.

Iraq has since ramped up its measures against the virus, with individual provinces imposing curfews before the government last week announced a coun-trywide lockdown.

Authorities have struggled

to enforce previous curfews.Last Saturday, tens of thou-

sands of Shia pilgrims turned out in Baghdad and cities across the south to commemorate the death of a revered imam.

Meanwhile, Lebanon’s Higher Defence Council said it recommended to the gov-ernment a two-week extension to the nationwide lockdown that was to expire tomorrow.

The Cabinet was likely to adopt the recommendation,

extending the lockdown until April 12. The Defence Council, which includes the President and prime minister, also called for tightening punitive measures against violators of the restrictions that have ordered businesses and gov-ernment offices to shut down.

Lebanon, a country of nearly 5 million, has recorded six deaths of the virus while 386 people have been confirmed as infected.

Municipal workers disinfect a vehicle near Khiam, Lebanon, yesterday.

Health officials check body temperature of drivers and passengers at an entrance to Tehran, yesterday.

A teacher records an online class in an empty classroom at a school closed due to the virus outbreak, in Karbala, Iraq, yesterday.

UAE announces overnight curfew; Saudi cases top 1,000 with 3 dead

REUTERS — DUBAI

The United Arab Emirates directed most of the public and private sectors to have the majority of staff work from home, and imposed overnight curfews as a temporary measure this weekend for a nationwide disinfection to combat the coronavirus.

The country, which has confirmed 333 cases of the virus and two deaths, has not announced an official curfew or work suspension but has increasingly clamped down on movement.

Authorities announced restrictions on movement of traffic and people overnight from Thursday until Sunday for the disinfection drive. The restrictions will last from 8pm to 6am.

Only essential service workers would be allowed out and violators will face fines, a security forces spokesman said in a press conference yes-terday. Public transport including trams and metro services will be suspended, while private cars, cabs and delivery vehicles can operate outside those hours.

The UAE has slowly fol-lowed other Gulf states in sus-pending passenger flights and closing public venues such as restaurants and malls.

The number of cases in Saudi Arabia passed 1,000 after authorities yesterday announced 112 new infections, most of them in the capital Riyadh and the holy city of Makkah. They also reported a third death from the virus, a resident in Madina who had suffered from chronic diseases.

The six Gulf states now have over 2,600 cases, with nine deaths. Saudi Arabia has released 250 foreign detainees held on non-violent immi-gration and residency offences.

Rockets hit Iraq’s Green Zone as US-led coalition leaves baseAFP — QAYYARAH BASE , IRAQ

Two rockets slammed into the Iraqi capital’s high-security Green Zone early yesterday, hours before US-led forces were set to pull out of a second base in the country.

Some 7,500 troops are in Iraq as part of the US-led coa-lition helping local troops fight jihadist remnants, but those numbers are being significantly drawn down this month.

The alliance is temporarily bringing some trainers home as a precautionary measure against the coronavirus pan-demic and is also leaving other Iraqi bases altogether.

Those bases and foreign embassies, particularly the American mission, have been targeted in more than two dozen rocket strikes since late October.

The attacks, which the US has blamed on an Iran-backed armed group, have prompted fears of a proxy war on Iraqi soil.

Before dawn yesterday, two rockets punched into an empty square near an Iraqi security headquarters in the Green Zone, where government buildings and foreign embassies are based, the Iraqi security forces

said in a statement.An Iraqi security source said

the intended target appeared to be the US embassy, a sprawling compound a few hundred metres further south on the banks of the Tigris.

Sirens could be heard going off shortly afterwards in the Green Zone. There were no reports of casualties, but other attacks have been deadly.

Earlier this month, two US military personnel and a British soldier were killed in a rocket attack on the Taji airbase further north, which was hit again two days later.

The 5,200 US troops sta-tioned across Iraqi bases make up the bulk of the coalition force helping hunt down Islamic State group sleeper cells across the country. Iraq declared IS defeated in late 2017, and the coalition is now implementing plans developed last year to consolidate its troop presence across the country.

A senior coalition source told reporters that most of the departing troops would be redeployed in other parts of Iraq but the rest would leave the country, including to support coalition operations in Kuwait and neighbouring Syria.

Around 300 coalition troops

left the western Qaim base in mid-March, handing it over in full to Iraqi troops.

Yesterday, around 800 troops were set to leave the northern Qayyarah air base, used in 2016 and 2017 to help plan the fight against IS in nearby Mosul.

The departing forces included US and French troops as well as civilian contractors, according to a statement by the US-led coalition. In the coming weeks, they will also leave the expansive base in Kirkuk.

Rockets have rained down on Qayyarah and Kirkuk in recent months, with one late December attack killing a US contractor stationed in Kirkuk.

The US has blamed those attacks on Kataeb Hezbollah, an Iran-backed group within the Hashed Al Shaabi military network.

The Hashed has been for-mally integrated into the Iraqi state’s security forces but more hardline groups continue to operate independently.

Iraqi commander Muhammad Fazil Abbas (left) and Coalition commander Vincent Barker are seen after the US-led coalition against the IS terror group yesterday formally handed over to Iraq the Qayyarah airbase in southern Mosul, Iraq.

US grants Iraq sanctions waiver for Iran gasAFP — BAGHDAD

The United States yesterday granted Iraq a 30-day waiver to keep importing Iranian gas despite American sanctions, two Iraqi officials said, the shortest extension yet.

The US slapped tough sanctions on the Iranian energy sector in late 2018 and has granted Iraq a series of waivers, usually for 45, 90 or 120 days.

Baghdad relies on gas and electricity imports from its neighbour Tehran to supply about a third of its power grid, crippled by years of conflict and poor maintenance.

“This is the final extension,” one source at the Iraqi President’s office said.

The country reported 2,389 new cases in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of declared infections to 29,406.

Iran says missing ex-FBI agent left country years ago

AFP – TEHRAN

Iran implicitly denied yesterday that a missing former FBI agent had died in its custody as his family claims, restating its longstanding position that he left the country “years ago”.

US President Donald Trump did not confirm Bob Levinson’s death, saying that Iran had not communicated any news on the former agent, who has been missing since 2007 and would have turned 72 this month.

“Based on credible evi-dence, (Levinson) left Iran years ago for an unknown des-tination,” foreign ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said in a statement.

He added that Iran had done everything it could to trace what happened after he left but had found “no evi-dence of him being alive”.

Levinson’s family said it had learnt that he was dead but gave no information on how or when.

“We recently received information from US officials that has led both them and us to conclude that our wonderful husband and father died while in Iranian custody,” a statement from the family said.

Mousavi called on Wash-ington to make an official announcement if Levinson’s death was confirmed, without “politicising and exploiting the family’s feelings”. Iran’s chief press officer at the United Nations Alireza Miryousefi had said earlier that Tehran had “no knowledge” of Levinson’s whereabouts.

Levinson's family until now insisting he was alive.

He vanished in March 2007 in Kish, an island that has more lenient visa rules than the rest of Iran, and was said to have been investigating cig-arette counterfeiting.

But The Washington Post reported in 2013 that Levinson, who had retired from the FBI, was working for the CIA and had gone on a rogue mission aimed at gathering intelligence on Iran.

05FRIDAY 27 MARCH 2020 ISLAM

DR CRAIG CONSIDINE

Do you know who else suggested good hygiene and quarantining during a pandemic?

Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), over 1,400 years ago.

While he is by no means a “tradi-tional” expert on matters of deadly diseases, Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) nonetheless had sound advice to prevent and combat a development like COVID-19.

Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) said: “If you hear of an outbreak of plague in a land, do not enter it; but if the

plague outbreaks out in a place while you are in it, do not leave that place.”

He also said: “Those with conta-gious diseases should be kept away from those who are healthy.”

Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) also strongly encouraged human beings to adhere to hygienic practices that would keep people safe from infection. Consider the following hadiths, or sayings of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH):

“Cleanliness is part of faith.”“Wash your hands after you wake

up; you do not know where your hands have moved while you sleep.”

“The blessings of food lie in washing hands before and after eating.”

And what if someone does fall ill? What kind of advice would Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) provide to his fellow human beings who are suf-fering from pain?

He would encourage people to always seek medical treatment and medication: “Make use of medical treatment,” he said, “for God has not made a disease without appointing a remedy for it, with the exception of one disease—old age.”

Courtesy: Newsweek

Human nature desires a society based on morals and manners which

provides a stable and secure life leading to liberty and happiness for all people.

Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) had a character as a model for all humanity to follow. The Quran describes the Prophet (PBUH) as: By an act of mercy from God, you O’ Prophet were gentle in your dealings with them - had you been harsh, or hard-hearted, they would have dispersed and left you - so pardon them and ask forgiveness for them. Consult with them about matters, then, when you have decided on a course of action, put your trust in God: God loves those who put their trust in Him? Quran 3:159

Following is list of 75 good manners that we can learn from the Glorious Quran:

Don’t lie (22:30)Don’t spy (49:12)Don’t exult (28:76)Don’t insult (49:11)Don’t waste (17:26)Feed the poor (22:36)

Don’t backbite (49:12)Keep your oaths (5:89)Don’t take bribes (27:36)Honour your treaties (9:4)Restrain your anger (3:134)Don’t spread gossip (24:15)Think good of others (24:12)Be good to guests (51:24-27)Don’t harm believers

(33:58)Don’t be rude to parents

(17:23)Turn away from ill speech

(23:3)Don’t make fun of others

(49:11)Walk in a humble manner

(25:63)Respond to evil with good

(41:34)Don’t say what you don’t do

(62:2)Keep your trusts & promises

(23:8)Don’t insult others’ false

gods (6:108)Don’t deceive people in

trade (6:152)Don’t take items without

right (3:162)Don’t ask unnecessary

questions (5:101)Don’t be miserly nor

extravagant (25:67)Don’t call others with bad

names (49:11)Don’t claim yourselves to

be pure (53:32)Speak nicely, even to the

ignorant (25:63)Don’t ask for repayment for

favours (76:9)Make room for others at

gatherings (58:11)If enemy wants peace, then

accept it (8:61)Return a greeting in a better

manner (4:86)Don’t remind others of your

favours (2:264)Make peace between

fighting groups (49:9)Lower your voice and talk

moderately (31:19)Don’t let hatred cause you

to be unjust (6:108)Don’t ask too many favours

from people (2:273)Greet people when entering

their home (24:27)Be just, even against

yourself & relatives (4:135)Speak gently, even to

leaders of disbelief (20:44)Don’t criticize small contri-

butions of others (9:79)Don’t call the Prophet how

you call others’ (24:63)Try to make peace between

husband & wife (4:128)

Don’t call the Prophet from outside his rooms (49:4)

Opprression/corruption is worse than killing (2:217)

Preach to others in a good and wise manner (16:125)

Don’t accuse others of immorality without proof (24:4)

Consider wives of the Prophet like your mothers (33:6)

Don’t raise your voice above that of the Prophet’s (49:2)

Don’t call someone a dis-believer without knowing (4:94)

Seek permission before entering someone’s room (24:59)

Know your enemies can become your close friends (41:34)

Don’t wrongly consume the wealth of the vulnerable (4:29)

Don’t turn your cheek away from people in arrogance (31:18)

Forgive others, as you would like Allah to forgive you (24:22)

Seek Prophet’s permission when leaving his gathering (24:62)

Don’t hold secret meetings

for sin, rather do so for piety (58:9)

Don’t order others to do good while forgetting it yourself (2:44)

Be patient with your teacher & follow his instruc-tions (18:67-69)

Don’t frown, turn away or neglect those who come to you (80:10)

If unable to help a needy person, at least speak nice words (17:28)

Be lenient to those under you, and consult them in matters (3:159)

Verify information from a dubious source before acting upon it (49:6)

Don’t remain in the Prophet’s home unnecessarily after a meal (33:53)

Those who can should con-tinue to spend on those less for-tunate (24:22)

Don’t enter homes without permission & return if refused entry (24:27-28)

Don’t sit with those who mock religion until they change the subject (4:140)

Say it’s not appropriate to talk of slander when it’s men-tioned to you (24:16)

If required to ask the Prophet’s wives, then do so from behind a screen (33:53)

Divorce in an amicable manner instead of keeping & harming your wife (2:231)

Punish in an equivalent manner to how you were harmed or be patient (16:126)

Differences in color & lan-guage are signs of Allah, not means of superiority (49:13)

Don’t take women by force, nor take back bridal gift without a valid reason & live with them in kindness (4:19)

www.islamcity.org

List of 75 good manners in the Holy Quran

Personal hygiene and Sunnah of Prophet

AISHA STACEY

In the last two decades the escalating changes in society and technology have led to the emergence of newly

recognised diseases and the re-emer-gence of known diseases. These include bacterial and viral diseases, and many of them are spread via water, food and air.

Addressing these emerging infec-tions requires a strong public health infrastructure a need for the general populations of developed and devel-oping nations to follow basic hygiene practices. Islam has many traditions and procedures that closely follow the methods of 21st century infection control.

Coughs & SneezesIn 2014 MIT (Massachusetts

Institute of Technology) released their findings on gas clouds released by coughing and sneezing. We now know that gas clouds from coughing or sneezing can stay suspended in the air for much longer than originally thought.

The small droplets released these clouds can travel 5 to 200 times further than droplets not from a cough and sneeze cloud. We have been aware for quite some time that indiscriminate coughing and sneezing spreads air-borne bacteria and viruses.

This new finding however, adds another layer to the reasons why we cover our mouths and noses when we have a cold or flu like illness.

The Holy Quran and the traditions of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) encourage cleanliness, which covers both spiritual and physical cleanliness. God said in the Quran that He loves those who turn to Him in repentance and purify themselves (Quran 2:222) and Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) described cleanliness as half of faith. [1]

When we examine the practices of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), we can easily discover Islam’s attitude to sneezing and coughing openly. Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) instructed his fol-lowers to cover their faces when sneezing. [2]

Hand WashingWhen coughing, sneezing or

yawning, a Muslim covers his mouth and nose with a handkerchief or tissue, or his hand. Covering with the hand is acceptable as long as the person follows the Islamic guidelines for hand washing.

Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) advised his followers to wash their hands, before praying, before and after eating [3] and upon waking up in the morning [4].

Hygienic habits are intrinsically part of wudu, the ritual washing or ablution a Muslim performs before prayer. Without wudu a Muslim’s prayer is invalid. Wudu involves cleaning the hands, mouth, faces, and arms to the elbow, head, ears and feet. These basic hygiene practices are now known to be integral to good health.

Many viruses and bacteria infect people only when they enter the nose or mouth. People with diseases trans-mitted via the faecal-oral route can spread the disease to nearby objects or food if they don’t wash their hands well after using the toilet.

Airborne illnesses spread through droplets in the air, which land on nearby objects. Touching an infected object transmits germs to your hands; touching your nose or mouth with your unwashed hand infects you with the virus or bacteria. Hand washing is now known to be the single most important method of preventing the spread of infection.

Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) advised his followers to wash their hands after several daily activities and before each of the five daily prayers. His recommendations closely follow best practice guidelines promoted by health care workers and facilities across the globe.

Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) sug-gested that when a person wakes up he should not touch anything until he washes his hands [5]; touching an object, any object, which is infected with viruses or bacteria spreads infection. He instructed people to wash their hands, both before and after eating [6] and after a person had used the toilet facilities for any purpose. This effectively stops dis-eases spread by the faecal oral route mentioned above.

The Respiratory SystemRinsing the nose with water is an

important part of a Muslim’s daily life. Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) advised sniffing water into the nose first thing after waking up in the morning [7] and blowing it out in an exaggerated way two or three times. [8]

Consistent cleaning of the inside of the nose helps prevent colds, chronic nasal congestion, post nasal drip, fre-quent sinus infections, asthma and other respiratory ills.

Nose cleanliness is important because the nose processes the air you breathe before it reaches your lungs. Thus your nose protects your health by filtering the air and preventing par-ticles as small as pollen grains from entering your lungs.

A nose in a good clean condition does this with 100% efficiency. It humidifies the air by adding moisture to prevent the lining of the lungs and bronchial tubes drying out. And the nose warms cold air to body temper-ature before it arrives in your lungs.[9]

Regularly washing our bodies

breathing filter helps to flush out viruses, bacteria, mould, allergens, dust, and mucus from nasal and sinus passages.

Dental HygieneRecent research has linked gum

(periodontal) disease with the risk of heart disease and stroke. While the research does not say that gum disease causes these conditions [10], several studies have shown that those with gum disease are more likely to suffer from heart disease then people with healthy mouths.

The two conditions have some of the same risk factors including smoking, poor nutrition and diabetes, however even in the non-smoking population there is a strong correlation between oral health and heart disease.

One theory is that bacteria from the mouth spread throughout the body, worsening inflammatory conditions, such as heart disease, rheumatoid arthritis and type 2 diabetes.

Cleaning the teeth and general oral hygiene was a practice highly rec-ommend by Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). When he told his followers about the virtues of oral hygiene he

mentioned that it was among four things the previous prophets did and recommended, the others being using scent, marriage and modesty. [11]

Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) also said that using miswak [12] cleans the mouth and pleases God [13] and that he would have ordered the believers to clean their teeth before every prayer except that he thought it might over-burden them. [14]

According to an article in the journal of the National Library of Med-icine miswak contains salvadorine and trimethylamine, which are shown to exhibit anti-bacterial effects. They also support gum health and are an effective mouthwash.[15] It is considered to be at the very least as effective as tooth brushing in reducing plaque and gin-givitis.[16]

There are numerous Islamic prac-tices that closely conform to the science of 21st century hygiene practices. These contribute to good health; and in Islam the health of the body mind and soul are equally important.

References:[1] Saheeh Muslim[2] Al Mustadrak Hakim[3] Abu Dawood[4] Saheeh Bukhari[5] Saheeh Bukhari[6] Abu Dawood[7] Saheeh Bukhari[8] Hajar[9] http://www.entnet.org/content/

your-nose-guardian-your-lungs[10] American Heart Association[11] At Tirmidhi[12] A miswak, is a softened small stick

cut from the Salvadora persica plant with which the teeth are rubbed and cleaned.

[13] Saheeh Bukhari[14] Saheeh Muslim[15] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/

articles/PMC3760353/[16] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/

pubmed/15224592(From Discovering Islam’s

archive)

The Holy Quran and the traditions of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) encourage cleanliness, which covers both spiritual and physical cleanliness. God said in the Quran that He loves those who turn to Him in repentance and purify themselves (Quran 2:222). There are numerous Islamic practices that closely conform to the science of 21st century hygiene practices. These contribute to good health, and in Islam the health of the body mind and soul are equally important.

Cleanliness is part of faith

The Quran describes the Prophet (PBUH) as: By an act of mercy from God, you O’ Prophet were gentle in your dealings with them - had you been harsh, or hard-hearted, they would have dispersed and left you - so pardon them and ask forgiveness for them. Consult with them about matters, then, when you have decided on a course of action, put your trust in God: God loves those who put their trust in Him? Quran 3:159

06 FRIDAY 27 MARCH 2020AFRICA

Mali opposition leader kidnapped ahead of parliamentary pollAFP — BAMAKO

Mali’s government said yesterday that leading oppo-sition figure Soumaila Cisse had been kidnapped in West African nation’s volatile centre, just days before a long-delayed parliamentary poll.

In an unprecedented first for a Malian politician of his rank, unidentified gunmen kid-napped Cisse and his team on Wednesday afternoon, his party said.

The Union for the Republic and Democracy (URD) party sounded the alarm later on Wednesday after Cisse failed to turn up to an appointment and was no longer answering his phone.

Cisse is a former finance minister and has run for the presidency three times.

The circumstances of his disappearance remain unclear, but the government and URD members have said it was a kidnapping.

Yesterday morning, URD spokesman Demba Traore told reporters that Cisse was trav-elling with a group of 12 people on two jeeps when unidentified gunmen took them.

Five people were freed on Thursday morning, he said, adding that two from the freed group were wounded. One later died. “During the kidnap, there was shooting,” he said, explaining that Cisse’s body-guard had been hit.

“Unfortunately, he couldn’t survive his injuries and passed away,” Traore said.

Mali has been struggling to contain an Islamist insurgency

that erupted in the north in 2012, and which has claimed thousands of military and civilian lives.

Despite the presence of thousands of French and UN troops, the conflict in Mali has engulfed the centre of the country and spread to neigh-bouring Burkina Faso and Niger.

Al Qaeda-affiliated jihadists are active in the area where Cisse and his team disappeared. “All the arrangements are being made to find the missing people and return them to their families,” Mali’s gov-ernment said in a statement yes-terday, referring to the disap-pearance as a kidnapping.

Olivier Salgado, the spokesman for the UN peace-keeping mission in Mali, said the United Nations had deployed a helicopter to search for the missing politician and his associates.

The European Union’s ambassador to Mali, Bart Ouvry, also said on Twitter on Thursday that Cisse’s disap-pearance was worrying.

Cisse disappeared while

campaigning for a long-awaited parliamentary poll which is scheduled to take place in Mali on Sunday, and which has been delayed several times due to insecurity in the country.

The vote on Sunday is viewed by many as a first step towards ending the spiral of violence in Mali.

After being postponed several times, holding a parlia-mentary election was a key rec-ommendation from crisis talks in December, which aimed at exploring non-military solu-tions to the country’s crisis.

The current crop of MPs in the country was elected in 2013, in a ballot won by President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita’s Rally for Mali party. Another parlia-mentary vote was meant to take place in late 2018, following Keita’s re-election.

But it never did, and the poll was postponed several times for reasons such as a strike by judges and spiralling insecurity in Mali.

Keita announced on Wednesday that a first round of voting would go ahead on Sunday, despite rumours of a possible postponement due to coronavirus.

Mali has recorded two coro-navirus cases to date, in two nationals who had recently arrived from France. Keita said that the vote would take place in “scrupulous respect” of health measures, however.

Mali has stopped flights to and from virus-stricken coun-tries. On Wednesday, Keita also announced a nationwide night-time curfew in order to curb its spread.

Officials carry out disinfection works as part of COVID-19 precautions at Martyrs’ Square in Tripoli, Libya.

Battles escalate in Libya as COVID-19 arrives in countryANATOLIA/REUTERS — ISTANBUL

Libya’s UN-recognised government launched an oper-ation yesterday in response to ongoing attacks by warlord Khalifa Haftar’s forces.

Prime Minister Fayez Al Sarraj said Operation Peace Storm will take place within the framework of the right to legit-imate self-defence and in com-pliance with the international law.

“We are a legitimate civilian government that respects its obli-gations towards the international community, but above that, is committed to its people and has an obligation to protect them,” Al Sarraj said in a statement on the Facebook page of the Government of National Accord (GNA).

The GNA started to make gains on Wednesday as its troops seized the Al Watiya air

base located southwest of the capital Tripoli.

Al Watiya, considered the most strategic military air base in the country after Tripoli’s Mitiga airport, was captured by Haftar’s forces in August 2014.

Battles erupted around Tripoli on Wednesday following inten-sified bombardment of the Libyan capital, defying international pleas for a truce to tackle the coronavirus after the first case was confirmed in the country.

“Attacks and counterattacks in Libya continue to inflict further suffering and civilian casualties,” the UN mission said in a tweet, calling for an imme-diate halt to the violence.

Residents of Tripoli, seat of the GNA, said the shelling was the worst in weeks, shaking windows in the city centre miles from the front line in the southern suburbs.

The escalation in the fighting

could spell disaster for Libya’s already fragmented and badly stretched health system in han-dling the coronavirus, after author-ities confirmed the first case of the disease late on Tuesday.

“Libyans have suffered for years under this brutal conflict, and now they face yet another threat to their health and well-being,” said Elizabeth Hoff, the World Health Organisation rep-resentative in Libya.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres had called for a complete ceasefire in conflicts around the world as govern-ments and local authorities struggle with a pandemic that has spread to most countries.

“We sit at home hearing the clashes, which are a daily routine since 2011. But now we are scared of coronavirus. I am scared for my family,” said Akram, a 28-year-old barista in Tripoli.

Vice-President of Malawi sues President over electoral body

AFP — BLANTYRE, MALAWI

Malawian Vice-President Saulos Chilima has filed a lawsuit against President Peter Mutharika after he refused to fire the electoral commis-sioners who oversaw last year’s failed election, his lawyer said yesterday.

A battle has been raging for months between the oppo-sition and head of state over the May 21 vote, which was tainted by irregularities.

Mutharika has refused to promulgate laws to hold the new ballot and to fire members of the Malawi Election Com-mission (MEC), which was requested by the constitutional court in its historic judgment.

Parliament’s public appointment committee also found that the commissioners were incompetent to manage fresh elections.

“Following the judgement by the constitutional court, the MEC commissioners’ con-tinued presence in the office is both unconstitutional and illegal,” Chilima’s attorney, Chikosa Silungwe, said.

Chilima has also sued the commissioners for their refusal to resign and is seeking a stay order to stop them from working. Silungwe said the court is yet to give a date for hearing the case.

The rerun of the election has been scheduled for July 2, but it could be delayed by a petition that Mutharika has filed to the Supreme Court of Appeal, con-testing the cancellation. His appeal will be heard from April 15.

In its landmark ruling, the Constitutional Court last month said the poll results were fraught with widespread irregularities — in particular the “massive” use of correction fluid on tally sheets — and ordered a rerun within 150 days.

Mutharika has refused to give his assent to electoral law amendments that require a more than 50 percent majority to secure a second term.

Ramaphosa tests negative for COVID-19; S Africa to begin lockdownREUTERS — JOHANNESBURG

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has tested negative for coronavirus after taking the test as a precautionary measure, the presidency said in a statement yesterday, hours before the start of a countrywide lockdown.

The president underwent the test on Tuesday on the advice of physicians and received his results on Wednesday night, the statement said, adding Ram-aphosa had held meetings with a

variety of people in recent weeks.South Africa has 709 con-

firmed coronavirus cases, with no reported deaths. Health Minister Zweli Mkhize has warned infec-tions are expected to keep rising.

Ramaphosa has been praised for ordering some of the toughest measures on the con-tinent, including a 21-day lock-down to begin today morning from midnight. He has deployed the army to support the police.

But the lockdown threatens to cripple an economy already

beset by power cuts and shrinking since the end of last year.

“I’ve got two months cash in the bank. Nothing more. After that we close down,” Rajan Govender, 51, said at his fam-ily-run Indian restaurant in a Johannesburg suburb, as he prepared to send staff on com-pulsory paid leave.

“We can weather a few weeks, but not longer.” Mining and metal refining companies, the core of South Africa’s

economy, are either reducing or shutting down production altogether. Mines Minister Gwede Mantashe said on Wednesday that South Africa will continue to process platinum group metals, even as gold, chrome, manganese are scaled down.

The rand has hovered around four year lows for the past two and a half weeks, and on Thursday it weakened from a brief respite, as relief faded over an announcement by the

central bank of a quantitative easing programme.

State power utility Eskom has applied for its critical staff to be exempt from the stay at home order so electricity sup-plies will not be interrupted. It has said coal supplies are adequate.

Businesses are bracing for further damage from the lockdown, with Airlink becoming the latest local airline to suspend flights from mid-night yesterday.

Shoppers queue to stock up on groceries at a Makro Store ahead of a nationwide 21 day lockdown in an attempt to contain COVID-19 outbreak in Durban, South Africa, yesterday.

WhatsApp service in South Africa goes global in WHO coronavirus fightBLOOMBERG — JOHANNESBURG

The World Health Organisation plans to reach at least 50 million people with a WhatsApp information service that delivers information on demand about the coronavirus and is so successful in South Africa it will be used around the world.

The free service, the first of its kind launched globally by the WHO, garnered 10 million users within three days of its March 20 launch. It employs artificial intelligence to offer

information on topics ranging from symptoms of the disease and where to get tested to debunking myths about it.

While information may be less readily available in regions such as Africa, Southeast Asia and Central America, many people have mobile phones. Social media can circumvent government communications that may be inadequate because of a lack of resources or political considerations, said Andy Pattison, manager of digital solutions at the WHO in Geneva.

“We want to give everyone a democratisation of health mes-sages,” he said by phone. “More messages to more channels to more people, that’s what we are trying to do. The coronavirus has just acted as a catalyst to get a lot more things done quickly.”

WHO will work together with Praekelt.org, a non-profit company that developed the service in South Africa, where it now has 2.6 million users. That company was introduced to the WHO by WhatsApp, which is owned by Facebook Inc.

Nigerian Army prepares for moving sick to hospitals and ensuring lockdownREUTERS — ABUJA

The Nigerian Army is preparing to forcibly transfer the sick to hospital and enforce curbs on movement to try to shield the country from the coronavirus, and is leasing equipment for “possible mass burial”, according to an army memo.

The memo from Army headquarters also outlines plans to protect government food storage from looters as Africa’s most populous nation braces for the illness to spread further in the country.

“Following the rise and continuous spread in cases of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Nigeria, the (Chief of Army Staff) has deemed it necessary for all to take protective measures to ensure the safety of (army) per-sonnel and their families,” the memo said.

There are currently 46 con-firmed cases in Nigeria, and one death, but the infection has hit the top levels of society, i n f e c t i n g P r e s i d e n t Muhammadu Buhari’s chief of staff.

With a population of 200 million, 20 million of whom are packed into the commercial capital of Lagos, many fear the virus could spread quickly

without containment.The memo said the army

was suspending leave passes for all personnel and called for them to be on “maximum security alert and be ready for deployment.”

The virus has swept across the world, killing thousands and forcing millions into quar-antine. Several nations have activated armed forces to help combat it.

Nigerian Finance Minister Zainab Ahmed told the heads of parliament’s two houses that the government would release 6.5bn naira ($18m) to the National Centre for Disease Control to help fight the virus, the Senate president’s office said in a statement.

And the central bank said it would remain open amid the global outbreak to ensure “monetary and price stability”.

Also on Wednesday, the governor of the southern Rivers State said he would close the state’s borders to people crossing from Thursday.

The state’s capital, Port Harcourt, is the gateway to the oil-rich Delta region, and com-panies such as Nigeria LNG and Royal Dutch Shell have key offices in the city.

Oil provides more than half of Nigeria’s government revenue.

Yesterday morning, URD spokesman Demba Traore told reporters that Soumaila Cisse was travelling with a group of 12 people on two jeeps when unidentified gunmen took them.

07FRIDAY 27 MARCH 2020 ASIA

S Korea warns of deportation, jail for quarantine violatorsREUTERS — SEOUL

South Korea warned yesterday that it will deport foreigners while its citizens could face jail if they violate self-quarantine rules after a surge in imported coronavirus cases.

South Korea has tightened entry rules for travellers from countries suffering big outbreaks, subjecting them to two weeks of mandatory quarantine but at least 11 people violated self-quar-antine rules between March 13 and 24, the health ministry said. It did not specify their nationalities.

“We will apply zero-tol-erance principles in taking action against those who leave their self-isolation venue without legitimate reasons,” Yoon Tae-ho, director-general for public health policy at the health ministry, told a briefing.

“Foreign nationals will be forcibly repatriated and Korean citizens will be reported to police for due penalties and lose financial support provided for those who have faithfully imple-mented a 14-day quarantine.”

South Koreans who violate the rules could be jailed for up to a year and fined $8,100.

South Korea reported 104 new coronavirus cases yesterday, including 30 imported one, the Korea Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) said. That brought its total cases to 9,241, with a new death toll of 142, up from 126.

The number of infected trav-ellers arriving in South Korea has grown more than five-fold to 284 over the past two weeks, the KCDC said.

Other countries in Asia, including China and Singapore, have also seen sharp increases in imported cases, threatening their largely successful efforts to get domestic epidemics under

control. Many of those coming back are citizens of those Asian countries who have been studying in Britain and the United States, now leaving as the coro-navirus spreads rapidly there and their schools and universities suspend classes.

People arriving in South Korea on long-term visas from Europe must be tested for the virus and spend two weeks in quarantine.

People arriving from the United States will also have to undergo quarantine from today, though only people showing symptoms of the coronavirus will be tested. Nearly 90 percent of the foreigners subject to the rules have signed up for a smartphone application that tracks their

movements while in quarantine while some 60 percent of South Koreans have, an interior min-istry official said.

The KCDC said it was looking in to ways to keep in touch with

those who are unable to use the application.

“Up to 90 percent of the overseas arrivals are our citizens and there were many new cases among them,” deputy director

Kwon Jun-wook told a separate briefing.

“Travellers please stay home for two weeks upon return and join our efforts to contain the spread of the virus.”

People wearing face masks cross a road in downtown Seoul, yesterday.

India: 800 quarantined after Delhi doctor tests positive for virusANATOLIA — NEW DELHI

Despite a complete lockdown in the country, the coronavirus cases in India continued to rise yesterday.

The second day of the com-plete lockdown in the country saw a rise of 48 new cases. India had seen the highest surge in infections on Monday, with 99 cases, the day Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a lockdown in the country, con-fining 1.3 billion people indoors.

According to the US-based John Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Centre, India has so far reported nearly 700 COVID-19 cases, and 13 deaths.

Yesterday morning, a doctor from a Delhi government-run clinic, along with his wife and daughter, tested positive for COVID-19, taking the total cases in Delhi to 36. A total of 800 people who came in contact with the doctor have been quar-antined for 14 days, said Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain to local media.

“All Mohalla Clinics will remain functional as this is par-amount to keep patients away from tertiary hospitals, saving

them from infection and travel- Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal clarified all doubts in the press conference,” tweeted Kejriwal’s office, after the doctor, from a Mohalla clinic — a Delhi gov-ernment-run primary health clinic — tested positive in Maujpur area of East Delhi.

Videos circulating on social media showed police using the strictest methods to keep people indoors.

Delhi Police, in its tweet, confirmed that they have been issuing ‘curfew passes’ for the movement of people involved in the essential good and services, the concerned Delhi-based organisations have to get the curfew passes from their respective district police headquarters.

“Single window system installed at Delhi Commissioner of Police Office of Outer North district, Samaypur Badli, for issuing curfew passes,” tweeted DCP of North area.

Leading to measures to ensure the supply of medical textiles, the Textiles Ministry, on Wednesday, announced the setting-up of an Emergency Control Office.

“Government has set up an Emergency Control Room under the Textiles Ministry to monitor production and supply of medical textiles including N95 masks, Body Coveralls and melt-blown fabric, required in connection with COVID-19. Anyone having any issue regarding the supply of these medical textiles may contact officers,” tweeted Smriti Irani, the union minister for textiles.

Modi also asked people to not panic and avoid going into a self-medicating mode.

“When it comes to fighting

COVID-19, please do not self-medicate. Consult your doctors and then move ahead,” tweeted Modi.

The government also banned the export of anti-malarial drug hydroxychloro-quine with immediate effect to ensure sufficient availability of the medicine in the domestic market. The Indian Council of Medical Research had recom-mended its use for treating healthcare workers handling coronavirus cases.

Announcing the lockdown on Tuesday, Modi said only

essential services such as water, electricity, health services, fire services, groceries, and municipal services will be allowed to operate.

All shops, commercial establishments, factories, work-shops, offices, markets and places of worship will be closed and interstate buses and metros will be suspended. Construction activity will also be halted.

After first appearing in Wuhan, China last December, the novel coronavirus has spread to at least 175 countries and territories.

Security personnel stand guard at a checkpoint during a government-imposed nationwide lockdown, in New Delhi, yesterday.

Bangladesh enforces lockdown in Rohingya refugee camps

ANATOLIA — DHAKA

Bangladesh has begun lockdown in all 34 Rohingya refugee settlements in the coun-try’s southern district of Cox’s Bazar as part of its effort to stem coronavirus pandemic.

Authorities have asked more than one million members of the persecuted Rohingya community, who have migrated from Myanmar’s Rakhine province, to stay inside their makeshift camps until further notice.

“Since Wednesday we have started s lockdown in all Rohingya camps as per guide-lines issued by the government due to the prevailing scare over coronavirus outbreak,” said Md Mahbub Alam Talukder, Bang-ladesh’s Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner (RRRC). Citing the global spread of coronavirus Talukder said: “It will be a very difficult job for us to control the situation if coronavirus spreads in the crowded Rohingya camps.”

He said it was because of this fear that we are asking Rohingya to stay home.

“We urge them to stay home and not move except for emer-gency needs,” he said.

New Zealand mosque attacker pleads guilty to murder, terrorismAP — WELLINGTON

The man who committed the worst atrocity in New Zealand’s modern history when he slaughtered 51 worshippers at two Christchurch mosques unexpectedly pleaded guilty to all charges yesterday.

The attacks targeting people praying at the mosques a year ago shocked the nation and prompted new laws banning the deadliest types of semi-automatic weapons.

It also prompted global changes to social media pro-tocols after the gunman lives-treamed his attack on Facebook, where it was viewed by hundreds of thousands of people. The sudden turn in the case took survivors and rela-tives by surprise, and brought relief to people across New

Zealand. Many had feared Aus-tralian white supremacist Brenton Harrison Tarrant would try to use his trial as a platform to promote his views. He’d outlined those views in a 74-page manifesto he published online shortly before the attacks.

Tarrant, 29, pleaded guilty to 51 counts of murder, 40 counts of attempted murder and one count of terrorism at the Christchurch High Court. He had previously pleaded not guilty to all charges and his trial had been scheduled to start in June.

Tarrant is the first person to be found guilty of terrorism in New Zealand under laws passed after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the U.S.

The change in plea came less than two weeks after New

Zealanders commemorated those who died during the attacks on March 15, 2019.

“Honestly, I’m still trying to process what just happened,” said Aya Al-Umari, whose brother Hussein was killed in the attack on the Al Noor mosque.

“I feel conflicted.” She said that on the one

hand, she had wanted to find out more details about what happened at the trial but on the other hand was feeling relieved about not having to face the trauma of sitting through it.

Temel Atacocugu, who sur-vived being shot nine times during the attack at Al Noor, said he was surprised by the turn of events and hoped the judge would set an example at the sentencing by imposing the harshest punishment in the

country’s history and helping ensure nothing like it would happen again.

“I’m happy that he has accepted that he is guilty,” Ata-cocugu said.

,Judge Cameron Mander has not yet set a sentencing date. Tarrant faces life imprisonment, with the judge having some dis-cretion in deciding the minimum number of years Tarrant must serve before becoming eligible for parole.

The change in plea came at a hastily arranged court hearing at a time that New Zealand was beginning a four-week lockdown to try and combat the new coronavirus. The lockdown meant Tarrant appeared in the court via video link from his jail cell in Auckland and only a handful of people were allowed inside the courtroom.

Virus-stricken cruise ship told to leave Australian watersAFP — SYDNEY

A cruise ship stricken by a coro-navirus outbreak was yesterday to leave Australian waters, days after local infection numbers spiked when passengers on another vessel were allowed to disembark and roam freely around Sydney.

Seven passengers have tested positive for COVID-19 aboard the Artania, which had been due to travel onward to South Africa but is now anchored near the port of Fremantle. Its operators say they

are planning to fly the vessel’s mostly German passengers home from Australia on a chartered plane by tomorrow.

Western Australian Premier Mark McGowan said he would ask the national government to call in the navy if the ship refused to move on from Australian waters.

“This ship needs to leave immediately,” he told reporters.

“No one will be disembarking at Fremantle unless a passenger is in a life-threatening emer-gency,” he said.

Two other cruise ships are in nearby waters.

The Magnifica, carrying around 1,700 passengers, departed Fremantle on Tuesday after being allowed to refuel but was forced to turn back when told it could not dock in Dubai.

Neither the Magnifica nor the Artania are carrying Australian travellers.

But authorities are planning to allow around 800 Australian passengers aboard the Vasco de Gama to leave the vessel.

McGowan said those from

Western Australia would be quarantined for 14 days on Rot-tnest Island, a former Aboriginal prison site and modern-day holiday destination, while other Australians would be flown to their home states.

The remaining passengers would need to wait on board until they could be flown home by their governments, he added.

More than 130 coronavirus cases have been detected among cruise ship passengers in Sydney last week, including one death.

Hong Kong district councillor briefly detained over ‘seditious intention’REUTERS — HONG KONG

Hong Kong police briefly arrested a 60-year-old pro-democracy district councillor on suspicion of “seditious intention,” the first person ever cited under the city’s colonial-era law, drawing widespread criticism from activists.

Police confirmed the arrest of Cheng Lai-king, chairwoman of the Central and Western Dis-trict Council, under the offence. They declined to provide further

details, saying an investigation was under way. Cheng, who has not been formally charged, was freed yesterday after more than 10 hours in custody and declined comment. Separately, police confirmed on social media that the Secretary for Justice filed a lawsuit against an unnamed woman for contempt of court against “doxxing” of police. Doxxing refers to publicly releasing private or identifying information about an individual or organisation.

South Korea has tightened entry rules for travellers from countries suffering big outbreaks, subjecting them to two weeks of mandatory quarantine but at least 11 people violated self-quarantine rules between March 13 and 24, the health ministry said. It did not specify their nationalities.

Australia enters 4,000 healthcare workers in trial for virus vaccineREUTERS — SYDNEY

Thousands of Australian healthcare workers will begin a trial to see if a century-old vaccine for tuberculosis can fight off the new coronavirus, researchers said, joining a global test of the unorthodox solution underway in several countries.

The vaccine bacillus Cal-mette-Guérin, or BCG, is given to more than a million children a year in countries with tuber-culosis, but researchers say it may also combat the new coro-navirus because of its ability to power up the immune system broadly. Vaccines help the body fight off viruses and diseases by building up a person’s immunity but do not cure diseases.

About 4,000 employees of Australian hospitals will

participate in a trial of the vaccine starting in the next week, with results expected in about six months, said the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (MCRI) in Melbourne on Friday.

Half the participants will take the vaccine, which has few side effects, while the other half will take a placebo, and both groups will allow their health to be tracked through a software application attached to their smartphone, the institute said.

They join trials ramping up in the Netherlands, the United states and elsewhere, it added.

“It’s repurposing a very old vaccine for a new purpose,” said Nigel Curtis, group leader of infectious diseases at the MCRI, on a call with journalists.

The sudden collapse of air travel triggered by travel restrictions and customer fears of coronavirus is having a severe impact on airport cash flows. The fees they get from airlines have been cut to the bone, as have commercial revenues from services like car-parking.

08 FRIDAY 27 MARCH 2020VIEWS

CHAIRMAN

SHEIKH DR. KHALID BIN THANI AL THANI

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

DR. KHALID BIN MUBARAK AL-SHAFIeditorinchief@pen.com.qa

ACTING MANAGING EDITOR

MOHAMMED SALIM MOHAMEDm.salim@pen.com.qa

DEPUTY MANAGING EDITOR

MOHAMMED OSMAN ALI osman@pen.com.qa

EDITORIAL

THE current coronavirus pandemic has spread so fast and massively many countries are struggling with their stretched healthcare infrastructure and tired healthcare workers. Qatar has managed to stay on top of the crisis due to investment in healthcare sector over the years.

Qatar’s Government Communications Office (GCO) tweeted today that “despite the global Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, Qatar’s investment in self-suf-ficiency in medicine and medical supplies has reinforced our efforts to safeguard the health and wellbeing of our citizens and residents.”

The also published some statistics, which showed how advance Qatar’s health infrastructure is.

The State of Qatar ranks highly on several key global healthcare metrics. It stands first in doctors per capita in the world with 77.4 physicians per 10,000 people. According to World Health Organisation (WHO) Qatar has the highest number of doctors capita in the world.

Qatar is fourth in satisfaction with healthcare. Qatar has invested heavily in its health infrastructure, leading to one of the world’s highest levels of population sat-isfaction according to the Legatum Institute.

Qatar ranks fifth for health globally. The 2019 Legatum Prosperity Rankings place Qatar in the top five globally per for health, the highest in the region.

The country has also made great strides towards achieving 100% self-sufficiency in both medicines and medical supplies. At any given time, Hamad Medical Corporation maintains extensive reserves of all vital medications and associated supplies.

It is reassuring to the citizens and residents to know that the state has set up world class infrastructure and employed the best in the field and additionally on war footing setting up new facilities to face any kind of sce-nario that might arise from the coronavirus pandemic.

As much as the state and its various bodies do, it also becomes the responsibility and duty of every person residing in the country to assist the authorities to perform their task without any hindrance and also follow all pro-cedures and instructions from the professionals.

One of the main requests by all the healthcare pro-fessionals and authorities is to stay at your home. Don’t venture out unless absolutely necessary. Avoid gath-erings as this help break the chain of virus spreading among more people. And observing other instruction like wash your hands often with soap and water, maintain social distancing, visit a doctor if you think you have the symptoms and most importantly don’t spread fear mongering by sharing unfound news and videos.

We can all play a part in the big fight against the virus by doing our part – small and big.

#ForQatarStayHome

Excellence in healthcare

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF OFFICE: TEL: 4455 7741 / 767FAX: +974 4455 7758

MANAGING EDITOR: TEL: 4462 7505

DEPUTY MANAGING EDITOR: TEL: 4455 7769

LOCAL NEWS SECTION: TEL: 4455 7743

BUSINESS NEWS SECTION: TEL: 4462 7535

SPORT NEWS SECTION: TEL: 4455 7745

ONLINE SECTION: TEL: 4462 7501email: INFO@PEN.COM.QA

PUBLIC RELATIONS: TEL: 4455 7613email: PR@PEN.COM.QA

ADVERTISING DEPARTMENT: TEL: 4455 7837 / 780FAX: 4455 7870, email: adv@pen.com.qa

CLASSIFIED DEPARTMENT: TEL: 4455 7857email: adv@pen.com.qa

SUBSCRIPTION & DISTRIBUTION: TEL: 4455 7809 / 839 FAX: 44557819, email: info@tawseelqatar.com

D-RING ROAD, POST BOX: 3488, DOHA - QATAR

EMAIL: editor@pen.com.qa

Quote of the day

Turkey will overcome the coronavirus outbreak in two to three weeks through good measures, with as little damage as possible.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey's President

A near-empty airport in the Netherlands, like many others globally.

Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson Inter-national, the world’s busiest airport, has turned a runway into a parking lot for grounded aircraft; about 80% of Frankfurt airport workers have had their working hours cut and many now won’t go to work at all; Manchester has closed two of its three terminals and short-hop specialist London City Airport is suspending all flights until the end of April. Orly airport near Paris is also closing temporarily.

The sudden collapse of air travel triggered by travel restric-tions and customer fears of coro-navirus is having a severe impact on airport cash flows. The fees they get from airlines have been cut to the bone, as have com-mercial revenues from services like car-parking. If retail conces-sions or car rental agents go bust, another source of income could be wiped out. European airport oper-ators estimate that they face a 14 billion euro ($15 billion) hit to revenues.

Like their airline customers, the world’s airports are calling on governments for financial assistance. Some help is justified - not least because airports play a vital role in transporting essential medical supplies. But for priva-tized airports, like those in the UK, it could be more difficult to convince authorities that help is merited. International investors who’ve funded a massive expansion of global airport capacity in recent years may have to make sacrifices too.

Where airports remain in public hands, as in the US, bailouts aren’t so controversial: airports are due to get a $10 billion handout as part of the government’s $2 trillion rescue plan. Without it, they worry they won’t be able to service a combined $100 billion debt load. A default would push up borrowing costs across the sector.

The main Paris and Frankfurt airports, though part of listed groups, also have public anchor shareholders, which guarantees them a sympathetic ear should the need arise. French president Emmanuel Macron has wanted to sell down the state’s 50% share-holding in Aeroports de Paris but hasn’t made much progress.

But in the UK, taxpayer help for airports is more sen-sitive because much of the infra-structure is owned by interna-tional investors who’ve piled on debt and reaped large profits.

Heathrow’s co-owners, which include Qatar Holding, the Gov-ernment of Singapore Investment Corporation and China Investment Corporation, have lately collected about 500 million pounds ($592 million) annually in dividends. London Gatwick’s owner Global Infrastructure Partners pocketed a 640 million pound dividend before selling a majority stake to French infra-structure group Vinci SA for 2.9 billion pounds last year. GIP also sold the much smaller London City Airport to a Canadian-led consortium in 2016 for 2 billion pounds. Willie Walsh, the boss of British Airways owner Interna-tional Consolidated Airlines Group SA, described the sky high price as “foolish”. After its tem-porary closure this week, Walsh probably wouldn’t revise his opinion.

It’s no wonder the new UK finance minister Rishi Sunak is

playing hardball. Writing to air-lines and airports this week, Sunak told them to first try to raise money from shareholders or to seek flexibility from lenders before asking the public for help. Because of favorable regu-lation and the asset-heavy nature of the business, airports have been thought capable of sup-porting higher than average debt loads. Heathrow has 12.4 billion pounds of net debt, or 6.5 times ebitda (an imperfect measure of cash earnings).

But it’s still a risky business. The danger that a global pandemic could sap future demand for air travel is clearly spelled out in airport loan documents. The financial health of airports is also intertwined with the airlines that use them most. British Airways contributes more than 40% of Heathrow’s airline-related income, while Lufthansa provides Frankfurt airport with about 60% of its passengers. Both are now grounding the bulk of their fleets.

For now, UK airports have stopped short of asking for gov-ernment cash or loans. Some are better placed to cope than others. Heathrow says it has 3.3 billion pounds in liquidity, suffi-cient for at least a year of cash needs. In contrast, Gatwick held only about 15 million pounds of cash, plus a 300-million-pound undrawn loan facility, according to the most recent accounts. But its new majority owner Vinci has 14.5 billion pounds of cash and undrawn credit facilities.

Instead, UK airports are calling for a reduction in regulatory and policing costs, relief from business taxes and that lenders be required to not enforce loan covenants temporarily. European peers are saying all aviation taxes should be suspended until the end of the year.

DAVIDE BARBUSCIA AND PARISA HAFEZI REUTERS

Shut out of international capital markets and facing a further hit to its finances with the collapse in oil prices coming on top of US sanctions, Iran is struggling to shield its economy from the coronavirus pandemic.

While Iran has the worst reported outbreak in the Middle East with a death toll that lags only Italy, China and Spain, it is spending only a fraction of the amounts its wealthier neighbours are throwing at their economies.

In a sign of its financial stress, Iran has asked the Inter-national Monetary Fund (IMF) for $5 billion in emergency funding, its first request since the overthrow of the Shah and the foundation of the Islamic Republic in 1979.

To mitigate some of the economic pressure, Iran has delayed business taxes and loan repayments until May and said about 3 million lower-income families without per-manent jobs would get handouts of up to six million rials ($400) in four stages.

But with state coffers bat-tered by U.S. curbs on oil sales and with other exports declining following the closure of several borders to Iranian trade because of the outbreak, Tehran’s financing options are limited.

The IMF estimated that Iran’s foreign exchange reserves would drop to nearly $70 billion this year from $86 billion in 2019, and that was before the coronavirus crisis hit. Cut out of international capital markets, Iran can raise funds domestically though

analysts say borrowing costs will be high and add pressure to its budget because of rampant inflation, which is being exacer-bated by a weaker currency.

“Debt servicing costs will go up because of the high yields local bond investors ask for in light of the high inflation expectations,” said Niels de Hoog, economist at credit insurer Atradius. The rial dropped against the dollar this month to its weakest since Sep-tember 2018, when U.S. Pres-ident Donald Trump pulled out of the 2015 nuclear deal and reimposed sanctions.

According to foreign exchange website Bonbast.com, the dollar was offered for as much as 159,500 rials on Wednesday, far weaker than its official rate of 42,000 rials. The Statistical Centre of Iran said the inflation rate was 34.8% in

the 12 months ending on March 19 while the IMF has projected a rate of 31% for 2020.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has said the country has the capa-bility to overcome any kind of crisis or challenge, including the coronavirus outbreak.

Saeed Leylaz, an economist based in Iran, said the country may face national poverty but the economy was far from col-lapse. “Iran has the domestic production capacity ... there is a long way for Iran’s economy to collapse. Iran’s heavy industry and agriculture sectors, both main parts of the real economy, have remained intact,” he said.

“All the aid packages count for around 7% of Iran’s budget ... this is not a huge amount,” said Leylaz. “Iran’s main problem now is containing the outbreak.”

The world’s airports are fast becoming ghost towns

/PeninsulaQatar

/ThePeninsulaQatar

/Peninsula_Qatar

/ThePeninsulaNewspaper

+974 6698 6188

www.thepeninsula.qa

Iran has limited scope for coronavirus economic stimulus

Established in 1996

CHRIS BRYANT BLOOMBERG

09FRIDAY 27 MARCH 2020 ASIA

Japan sees ‘national crisis’ after Tokyo virus surgeREUTERS — TOKYO

Japan, so far spared the mass spread of coronavirus that has hit Europe and North America, took urgent new steps yesterday to respond to what Prime Minister Shinzo Abe described as a “national crisis” following a surge of cases in Tokyo.

With 47 new cases reported in the capital, Abe banned entry from 21 European countries and Iran, and set up a new crisis task force — a preliminary step towards declaring a state of emergency, although his gov-ernment said none was planned.

“In order to overcome what can be described as a national crisis, it is necessary for the state, local governments, medical community, and the people to act as one and press ahead with measures against coronavirus infections,” Abe said at a task force meeting.

He said he had launched the task force under a recently revised law, after receiving a report of a high chance the chance the virus would spread widely.

The daily total of new cases in Tokyo has nearly tripled over the past four days. After meeting

Abe yesterday evening, governor Yuriko Koike told reporters that she had requested strong support and that Tokyo would work with the central gov-ernment on a possible decla-ration of emergency.

Japan was an early focus of the coronavirus outbreak, and for a time last month a cruise ship docked offshore near Tokyo was the biggest source of infec-tions outside China. But since then Japan has averted the wide-spread transmission that has seen Europe and North America hit by thousands of new cases

per day. Japanese authorities fear a rise in cases with no known source of infection could signal a bigger new wave.

“I told Prime Minister Abe there is a high risk of corona-virus spreading widely,” Health Minister Katsunobu Kato told reporters after meeting Abe and Economy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura.

As of yesterday evening, Japan had 1,369 domestic cases of coronavirus, as well as 712 from the cruise ship, according to tallies from broadcaster NHK. There have been 46 domestic deaths and 10 from the cruise ship. Under a law revised this month to cover the coronavirus, the prime minister can declare a state of emergency if the disease poses a “grave danger” to lives and if its rapid spread threatens serious economic damage.

That would give local authorities legal basis to ask res-idents and businesses to restrict movement and work. Nishimura, the economy minister, said no such declaration is planned for now.

On Wednesday, Koike warned of the risk of an explosive rise in infections in the capital and asked residents to

avoid non-essential outings through April 12, especially over the weekend. She repeated her call yesterday.

Koike has requested the neighbouring prefectures of Saitama, Chiba and Kanagawa ask their residents to refrain from non-urgent, non-essential

travel to Tokyo, the Nikkei business daily reported. The governor of Kanagawa later asked residents to stay at home this weekend.

“The government and local authorities will cooperate based on the awareness that this is a very critical time to prevent the

spread of the virus,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yosihide Suga told a news conference.

Suga later said the risk of the infection spreading was high, but there was no need to change a plan to reopen schools in early April. Many closed earlier this month at Abe’s request.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (front right) delivers a speech during a meeting on measures against coronavirus outbreak, in Tokyo , yesterday.

Wuhan lockdown bought health systems vital time: StudyAFP — PARIS

The lockdown in the Chinese outbreak city of Wuhan brought the COVID-19 epidemic crashing to a halt, giving health systems crucial breathing room to deal with serious cases, new research showed yesterday.

Chinese authorities ordered schools, universities and busi-nesses shut following a cluster of COVID-19 cases in the transport hub in January, confining millions of people to their homes in a bid to contain the outbreak.

The measures sent the numbers of new cases tumbling, and parts of Hubei province, where Wuhan is situated, have slowly started returning to normal.

With roughly three billion people currently advised to stay at home amid the pandemic, a study published in The Lancet

Public Health examined what the rest of the world can learn from Wuhan. Researchers developed a model to estimate the impact that school and business closures had on COVID-19 transmission rates, using data on how often people interact and where.

The Wuhan outbreak came at the worst possible time — on the eve of Lunar New Year, when tens of millions of Chinese travel to celebrate with their families.

The study compared three separate scenarios: no inter-vention and no holiday travel; no physical distancing and normal holiday travel; and school clo-sures with only key workers at work.

They found that intervention in form of school and business closures had a significant impact in reducing new cases, buying vital time for health systems to process the spike in cases.The

team also predicted the impact of lifting control measures. Their models suggested that waiting until April to lift social distancing would reduce total infections by a quarter.

It would also delay a second peak of the virus from August to October, again buying health workers vital time.

“The unprecedented measures the city of Wuhan has put in place to reduce social con-tacts in school and the

workplace have helped to control the outbreak,” said lead author Kiesha Prem from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

“However, the city now needs to be really careful to avoid prematurely lifting physical distancing measures, because that could lead to an earlier secondary peak in cases.

But if they relax the restric-tions gradually, this is likely to both delay and flatten the peak.”

Commenting on the research, James Gill, honorary clinical lec-turer at Warwick Medical School, said it had “profound” implica-tions for countries seeking to learn lessons from the Chinese COVID-19 response.

He said the study showed the “sought-after ‘flattening of the curve’, along with the reduction of total cumulative infections, whilst also demonstrating a delay in the peak of the outbreak by two months.”

Medical workers wearing protective suits as a preventive measure against the coronavirus are seen at a fever clinic in Huanggang, in China’s central Hubei province, yesterday.

Nine doctors die from virus in PhilippinesAFP — MANILA

Nine doctors have died in the Philippines from the corona-virus, the country’s top medical association said yesterday, as hospitals were overwhelmed and medics complained about a lack of protection on the front lines.

The announcement of the doctors’ deaths heightened fears that the scale of the health crisis in the Philippines is much worse than is being officially reported, with the confirmed virus death toll at just 38.

The main island of Luzon, home to 55 million people, is in the second week of a lockdown to contain the spread of the disease, however medics are warning there is a surge in cases.

The Philippine Medical Association said yesterday a ninth doctor had died of the virus, and that health workers were not getting enough protection.

“If it were up to me, test the frontliners first and test them again after seven days. Doctors could be carriers themselves,” Benito Atienza, vice president of the Philippine Medical Asso-ciation said.

Three large Manila hospitals announced on Wednesday they had reached full capacity and would no longer accept new coronavirus cases.

Hundreds of medical staff are no longer accepting patients because they are undergoing 14-day self-quarantines after suspected exposure, the hos-pitals said. Just under 2,000 people had been tested in the Philippines as of Tuesday from those with severe symptoms and those considered most vul-nerable to COVID-19.

Uzbekistan locks down 3 more cities

REUTERS — TASHKENT

Uzbekistan is locking down the cities of Samarkand, Namangan and Andijan to prevent the spread of corona-virus, the three cities’ municipal authorities said yesterday.

Uzbekistan, which has already locked down its capital Tashkent, has reported 65 cases of the disease, including some in the densely populated Fergana valley where Namangan and Andijan are located.

Samarkand, a popular tourist attraction, has so far reported no cases of the disease.

Uzbekistan has closed its borders and made protective masks mandatory in all public areas.

New Zealand falls silent on day one of virus lockdownREUTERS — WELLINGTON

New Zealand started a one-month compulsory lockdown yeserday to slow the spread of the coronavirus, with warnings from authorities to stay at home or face big fines and even jail.

Motorways, train stations and streets in downtown Auckland and Wellington were eerily silent in the morning as people stayed indoors. Office towers and shopping arcades were shuttered.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said most things were going according to plan.

“The streets are essentially empty... that’s a remarkable feat and I want to thank New Zealanders for that,” Ardern said at a news conference.

The government has allowed people in essential services to go to work. But schools, offices, restaurants, places of worship and even playgrounds have been shut as part of the unprecedented lockdown.

Ardern declared a national state of emergency on Wednesday as the number of cases of COVID-19, the disease associated with the corona-virus, surged by 50 to take the national tally to 205.

“Breaking the rules could kill someone close to you,” Ardern warned on Wednesday.

The number of cases rose by 79 yesterday, taking the tally

to 283.Police Chief Mike Bush said

there were some people ignoring the lockdown and they could face serious conse-quences, including jail of up to six months.

“There were people driving around, flouting these rules, claiming that they had no knowledge about this. For those people, if they are seen again... there will be a conse-quence of those actions,” Bush said in an interview with state broadcaster TVNZ.

This is only the second time in New Zealand’s history that a national emergency has been declared, with the first in Feb-ruary 2011, after a 6.3 mag-nitude earthquake struck the South Island city of Christchurch, killing almost 200.

New Zealand, with about 5 million people, has fewer infec-tions than many other coun-tries, but Ardern’s government wants to move fast to halt the spread.

Countries that have locked down their populations to prevent the spread need to put a premium on finding new cases and doing everything they can “to suppress and control” the virus, the World Health Organisation said on Wednesday.

India, the world’s second most populous country, put its 1.3 billion citizens in lockdown from midnight on Tuesday.

Majority of positive virus cases in Pakistan are young adultsINTERNEWS — ISLAMABAD

The majority of the 1,022 confirmed cases of the corona-virus in Pakistan constitute young adults falling in the age bracket of 21-30 years, contrary to the trend seen in China where cases of the contagion were highest among elderly people aged 65 years and above.

“24 percent of the confirmed cases in Pakistan so far are between 21 to 30 years of age. This constitutes a majority of the cases. The pattern is unlike other countries where cases mostly comprise older people,” Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Health Dr Zafar Mirza said on Wednesday.

Although the SAPM did not share a complete picture of coro-navirus trend in the country, the numbers highlighted indicated

that no age group was immune to the virus — the young and the old were equally susceptible to contracting the disease.

Moreover, new evidence from the United States and Europe also drew attention toward young adults falling extremely sick because of COVID-19. According to the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention in the US, 705 of the first 2,500 coronavirus cases in the United States were aged 20-44 years.

However, complications and ICU admissions among younger people were relatively lower as compared to the older age bracket, the centre underlined.

“The fact that Pakistan has a higher young population as com-pared to China and many other affected countries, explains why a majority of the confirmed cases

in Pakistan constitute young adults,” Chief Epidemiologist at the National Institute of Health, Dr Rana Safdar, said.

Presenting further analysis of data as the number of con-firmed cases in Pakistan crossed the 1,000 mark, the SAPM added that local trans-mission of the virus stood at 7 percent, meaning that 93 percent of the confirmed patients contracted the disease in countries already affected by it. Men account for 64 percent of the cases, with 36 percent being women, he noted.

Dr Mirza shared that 5,225 people were currently isolated in quarantine facilities across Pakistan. Of these, 23 percent had tested positive, while all others were being sent back home with explicit instructions for protection.

Policemen (right) wearing facemasks saluting a doctor as security personnel stand at a checkpoint, in Islamabad, yesterday.

With 47 new cases reported in the capital, Abe banned entry from 21 European countries and Iran, and set up a new crisis task force — a preliminary step towards declaring a state of emergency, although his government said none was planned.

10 FRIDAY 27 MARCH 2020EUROPE

Spain extends virus lockdown, in ‘war’ to buy medical suppliesREUTERS — MADRID

Spain extended its coronavirus lockdown yesterday and said it was fighting a “real war” over medical supplies to contain the world’s second-highest virus death toll, turning to China for many critical products, where officials reported fraud and massive price increases.

A further 655 people died overnight, pushing Spain’s toll to 4,089, second only to Italy and further beyond China where the outbreak began.

Elderly nursing home resi-dents have been particularly hard hit. An analysis by radio network Cadena Ser found 1,307 residents had died from the coronavirus, nearly one third of the total dead.

“Old people have been abandoned in an astonishing way,” said Carmen Flores, head of patient rights group Defensor

del Paciente. The government said it was collecting data from the regions managing such homes and could not confirm or deny the report.

In Madrid, Spain’s biggest city and located in the country’s worst affected region, an ice rink has been converted into a morgue and 13-times Cham-pions League winners Real Madrid said their Santiago Bernabeu stadium would be used to store medical supplies.

Coronavirus cases rose by 18

percent to 56,188, a slower rate than in the past few days. Health emergency chief Fernando Simon said the start of mass testing would reveal more infec-tions, even as Health Minister Salvador Illa cautiously told par-liament the data “make us think we are starting a stabilisation phase.”

With the world’s fourth-highest number of cases, Spain is feeling the pinch of a global shortage of protective equipment.

“We are in a real war to get hold of ventilators, face masks and quick test kits,” government spokeswoman Maria Jesus Montero told Telecinco television.

“All the countries are fighting to secure domestic production, fighting to get supplies from China,” she said.

Spain has ordered $471.4m of goods from China, asked Nato

for help and pledged to support factories adapting their pro-duction lines to make goods more at home.

Separately, the government returned a batch of faulty Chinese-made rapid tests to the Spanish firm that supplied them. China’s Embassy in Madrid wrote on Twitter that the manufacturer did not have a licence to sell. Spain coun-tered that the products had

European certification.Parliament extended until

April 12 emergency measures including the lockdown that has confined people to their homes except to buy food or medicine and to work.

“It is not easy to extend the state of emergency,” Prime Min-ister Pedro Sanchez told parliament.

“I am convinced the only efficient option against the virus

is social isolation.” Although the main oppo-

sition conservative People’s Party supported the measure, its leader, Pablo Casado, chas-tised Sanchez for what he called a late and inadequate response.

While Spain’s death toll is still well below Italy’s 8,165, it has been rising faster, and has soared 10-fold since Spain declared the state of emergency on March 14.

Medical staff wearing protective gear arrive with a patient to an emergency room at a hospital, in Leganes, Spain, yesterday.

A further 655 people died overnight, pushing Spain’s toll to 4,089, second only to Italy and further beyond China where the outbreak began.

In drastic step, Italy shuts most factories to halt virusAP — SOAVE

Italy has become the first western developed nation to idle most of its industry to halt the spread of the coronavirus, a potential cautionary tale for other governments, such as the Trump administration, that are resisting such drastic measures.

After more than two weeks of a nationwide lockdown, the Italian government decided to expand the mandatory closure of nonessential commercial activities to heavy industry in the eurozone’s third-largest economy, a major exporter of machinery, textiles and other goods.

The move by Italy, which is leading the globe in virus deaths, is more in line with dra-conian measures taken by China than with declarations coming out of other democratic partners, who are at least a week or two behind Italy’s rate of virus infections.

The industrial closures put in stark contrast concerns over protecting lives in a country with an especially vulnerable aging population against fears of hurting an economy that already was on the brink of recession.

The industrial lobby

Confindustria estimates a cost of $77bn-$110bn of national wealth a month if 70 percent of companies are closed, as antic-ipated. Though some big com-panies had already suspended activities, thousands of smaller manufacturers had continued after adopting new safety reg-ulations, and will now shut down.

“We are entering a war economy,’’ said Confindustria President Vincenzo Boccia.

The government decree mandates the industrial shutdown for one week, but as with the rest of the harsh con-tainment measures they are likely to be extended depending on the pace of contagion.

It’s a sobering prospect for other countries in Europe and for the United States, where President Donald Trump has said he aims to have com-mercial businesses reopen by mid-April, despite warnings from health experts that that is unlikely. There has been no dis-cussion of closing U.S. manu-facturing as a nationwide measure.

Unions in Italy have fought especially hard to have more sectors considered nonessential in order to protect workers. They won limits on activity at

call centers as well as the pro-duction of plastic packaging, some paper and chemical products. The powerful CGIL union confederation had said the government’s initial list

counted 800,000 companies as essential, with workers num-bering 7.5 million, or 57 percent of the workplace.

In all, hundreds of thousands of small, medium-sized and

large companies will be closed, with workers receiving partial salaries under short-term unem-ployment schemes that have been extended to even the smallest businesses.

A volunteer visits a home to deliver face masks in the municipality of Castiglione della Pescaia, Grosseto, Italy, yesterday.

N Ireland man arrested for coughing on police officersAFP — DUBLIN A Northern Ireland man has been charged with attempting to commit grievous bodily harm after claiming to have coronavirus and deliberately coughing on police officers, the police service said yesterday.

The man was held for common assault following a domestic incident in north Belfast on Wednesday, according to the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).

It is alleged he then told two arresting officers he had coronavirus before inten-tionally coughing over them.

“A 39 year-old man has been charged with common assault and two counts of attempting to commit grievous bodily harm,” a PSNI spokesman said in a statement.

Germany ramps up coronavirus tests to 500,000 a weekAFP — BERLIN

Germany has boosted its coro-navirus test rate to 500,000 a week, a virologist said yesterday, adding that early detection has been key in keeping the country’s death rate relatively low.

“The reason why Germany has so few deaths compared to the number of infected people can be explained by the fact that we carry out an extremely large number of laboratory diagnostic tests,” said Christian Drosten, who heads the Institute of Virology at Berlin’s Charite University Hospital.

“Estimates from the last days show that we are carrying out half a million tests a week,” he added.

Drosten also highlighted Germany’s dense network of laboratories spread across its territory as a factor contrib-uting to early detection.

Meanwhile the research ministry said it would commit $164m to improve communi-cation between hospitals and laboratories about coronavirus patients’ health data, hoping the information exchange could feed into development of a vaccine.

Official data compiled by the disease control agency Robert Koch Institute show that 36,508 people have been infected in Germany, including 198 who have died from the disease.

At 0.54 percent, Germany’s death rate is far lower than the 7.3 percent in Spain where 4,089 deaths were recorded for 56,188 confirmed cases.

France has also recorded 1,331 fatalities of 25,233 con-firmed infections — a death rate of 5.2 percent.

Besides the large-scale testing, experts in Germany also said that the virus has largely affected a younger, healthier section of the popu-lat ion compared to elsewhere.

At the same time, experts have repeatedly warned that in the country where almost a quarter of the population is over 60, the number of deaths could still skyrocket if people do not stick to measures to help halt contagion.

Lockdown measures are in place across Germany, pre-venting people from leaving their homes except for essential trips, while most shops, restau-rants and bars are closed.

Macron mobilises France in fight against COVID-19ANATOLIA — PARIS

French President Emmanuel Macron said the fight against the novel coronavirus is unlike any a wartime commander is likely to face as the country’s death toll from the disease mounted on Wednesday.

“We are at war, with an invisible enemy,” said Macron, using words he has uttered many times over the past few weeks as he leads the nation through a peacetime battle of untold proportions.

As the death toll in France rose by 231 to 1,331 and the number of cases to 25,233, he

again issued a battle cry to his compatriots, doing so, ironically, in front of a makeshift military field hospital set up in a parking lot in Mulhouse. The city sits in France’s Grand Est region bor-dering Germany and has been hammered by the epidemic.

The president spoke with force and vigor, rallying the troops — in this case, medical personnel — against this enemy. He announced Operation Resil-ience, a mobilisation that will involve the military in supporting the country in hospital environ-ments as well as public services.

He praised and thanked all healthcare workers repeatedly,

recognising that they have been consumed by insurmountable cases of COVID-19.

“In this war, all of our car-egivers are on the front line,” he said, remembering those doctors who have recently died from the disease.

“I want to salute the memory of the caregivers who paid with their lives for their commitment to save other lives.”

Macron promised a “massive investment and upgrading plan” for hospitals that will be “deep and lasting” which will include increased overtime hours and exceptional bonuses for all nursing staff and civil servants.

People wait to be seen by medical personnel before being screened for COVID-19, in Marseille, southeastern France, yesterday.

Prince Charles did not jump the queue for a virus testREUTERS — LONDON

Britain yesterday said heir-to-the-throne Prince Charles, who has coronavirus, did not jump the queue for a test because his symptoms and condition met the criteria.

Charles, 71, tested positive for coronavirus earlier this week but is in good health and is now self-isolating at his residence in Scotland with mild symptoms along with his wife Camilla, who tested negative, his office said.

The prince, who is in good spirits, was working at his desk as usual yesterday, a royal source said. He has received hundreds of get well messages, the source added.

When asked why the heir had had a test while millions of frontline health workers have not, Britain’s junior health min-ister, Edward Argar, said: “My understanding is that his symptoms, his condition, met that criteria.”

“The Prince of Wales didn’t jump the queue,” Argar told Sky news.

According to advice on the Scotland’s National Health Service website, most people with symptoms of the virus are simply instructed to stay at home and will not be tested.

“Generally, you’ll only be tested for COVID-19 if you have a serious illness that requires admission to hospital,” the advice says.

A royal source said that Charles had a test because of his age and medical history, while declining to give further details.

11FRIDAY 27 MARCH 2020 EUROPE

Virus response topples first European govt in KosovoBLOOMBERG — PRISTINA

Kosovo lawmakers have ousted Prime Minister Albin Kurti (pictured), becoming the first nation in Europe to vote out a government over the way it handled the coronavirus outbreak.

The government collapsed late on Wednesday, just months after it took office. The vote was called by a junior coalition partner who criticised steps taken to curb the contagion.

Kurti ordered a curfew and banned public gatherings to stem the spread, defying President Hashim Thaci, who wanted to declare national emergency.

The two officials have been at odds all along, mainly on how Kosovo should mend ties with Serbia and

which of them should lead those efforts.

The Cabinet’s collapse is a setback for the Balkan state, which seeks to gain full international recognition after

it declared unilateral independence from Serbia in 2008.

Its neighbour has been lobbying against Kosovo’s efforts to join inter-national institutions. Relations deteri-orated again in 2018, when Kosovo imposed a tax on Serb products in retaliation for its steps against it.

Kurti remains in charge as care-taker premier for up to two weeks. During that time, his party may propose a new government leader but it may struggle to find a coalition

partner. More than 70 people have been infected with the virus in the landlocked nation of 1.8 million.

Kurti’s ouster showed an unusual split among Western powers. While German and French ambassadors spoke out against the no-confidence vote, their US colleague said he was pleased to see the motion taking place. That also reflects their division on how ties with Serbia should be fixed.

“Now the US is pushing an approach that’s directly opposed by key European nations,” said Gerald Knaus, chairman of the European Sta-bility Initiative think-tank based in Berlin.

“We’re back in the 1990s, when the West was completely divided on the core issues in the former Yugoslavia,

which leaves countries like Kosovo in an impossible position.”

While Kurti has been saying that any deal with Serbia should be nego-tiated by parliament, Thaci has wanted to still be the one in charge of talks with his Serb counterpart Aleksandar Vucic.

Two years ago, the two Presidents floated an idea of a reconciliatory deal that also included redrawing of borders, an explosive issue in the Balkans.

“It’s obviously a foreign policy battle between the United States and European Union,” Vucic’s adviser, Suzana Vasiljevic, told the state broad-caster RTS in Belgrade.

“It’s about two different policies, two different perceptions of the situ-ation in Kosovo.”

Russia can beat virus in 2-3 months: PutinREUTERS — MOSCOW

President Vladimir Putin said yesterday he hoped Russia would defeat coronavirus in 2-3 months if it imposed tough measures, as authorities suspended international flights, ordered most shops in the capital to shut and halted some church services.

Russia reported 182 new coronavirus cases, its biggest one-day rise yet, bringing its official tally to 840.

Authorities in the capital and the region that surrounds it announced the closure of all cafes, restaurants and shops, apart from those selling food and medicine, beginning on Saturday and lasting at least until April 5.

Although the case load is still much lower than in many European countries, the mayor of Moscow told Putin on Tuesday that the real scale of the problem in the capital far

exceeded official figures.Putin, in a televised speech

to the nation on Wednesday, unveiled new measures designed to slow the trans-mission of the virus, declaring next week a non-working week for many Russians and urging people to stay at home.

He discussed those moves at a televised meeting with entrepreneurs on Thursday.

“These are forced measures, they are temporary and forced. But they will be shorter, the more effective they are and frankly the tougher they are. Then this period will be reduced,” he said.

Addressing a businessman who said it might take 2-3 months for normal conditions to return, Putin added: “But when we finally get out of this situation, and we definitely will get out of it... I hope that will be even sooner than what you said.”

Authorities in Russia’s

second biggest city, St Petersburg, banned religious gatherings until April 5, but said priests would still be allowed to go to their churches.

The government submitted legislation to parliament for review that would give it

powers to declare an emer-gency across the country or in parts. Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said his ministry was building 16 infectious diseases centres and planned to com-plete a first batch of eight by April 30 and the rest by May 16.

Under the airline restric-tions, Russian flights will still be allowed to fly to other countries to bring Russian citizens back or if they are authorised by special government decisions, the government said on its website.

Medical staff walk out of the train after checking Ukrainian citizens evacuated from Poland upon the arrival at the central railway station in Kiev, Ukraine, yesterday.

Swiss COVID-19 cases top 10,000 with 161 deadREUTERS — ZURICH

Switzerland’s confirmed coro-navirus infections jumped to more than 10,000 cases yesterday, as health officials warned it was too early to lift restrictions on gatherings and border controls aimed at slowing the epidemic.

Switzerland is pumping bil-lions of francs into its crisis-hit economy while army medical units are being deployed at hospitals to help in crisis regions like Ticino, bordering hard-hit Italy.

The Alpine country of 8.6 million people had 10,714 con-firmed cases and 161 people have died as of yesterday morning, the Federal Office of Public Health said, up from 103 deaths and 9,765 cases on

Wednesday. “It’s without question too early to think about easing restrictions,”

Daniel Koch, head of infec-tious diseases at the federal health agency, said at a news conference in Bern. “This is a marathon without kilometre markers.”

Companies rushed to tap their banks for 20 billion Swiss francs ($20.58bn) worth of state-backed loans that became available on Thursday. Loans of less than 500,000 francs were interest-free.

Credit Suisse said it received 2,700 loan applica-tions and had paid out half a billion francs by midday in a fast-track procedure. UBS said i t h a d h a d 3 , 0 0 0 applications.

P o s t o f f i c e b a n k

PostFinance, allowed to lend for the first time under the emergency programme, said small businesses were seeking sums ranging from 10,000 Swiss francs ($10,348.75)to far more than 200,000.

“There are over 100 banks registered for the programme, and there will be more to follow,” said Erik Jakob, of the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs.

“Since yesterday, we’ve seen 70,000 downloads of the applications for assistance.” Heinz Schibli, a Zurich berry grower, plans to apply, as he faces a potential double hit: would-be workers from Eastern Europe have so far been blocked from reaching Switzerland due to border restrictions, while a sinking

economy could dent demand, he said.

“We’re dependent on our profits this year to pay for plants for next year,” he said. “If we can’t generate the money, we can’t buy the plants, and then we’ll have a new problem.”

Some cities including Lucerne have also added drive-thru coronavirus testing to tackle the virus spread.

For weeks, the government has urged people remain at home, imposed border controls and banned gatherings of more than five people, under threat of a 100 franc fine.

The Swiss army, which has not been mobilised since World War Two, is also helping healthcare workers on the front line in the battle against coronavirus.

No lockdown in SwedenPeople enjoy the sun at an outdoor restaurant, despite the continuing spread of coronavirus disease, in Stockholm, Sweden, yesterday.

Greece locks down Muslim towns over coronavirusAFP — ATHENS

Greek authorities have quar-antined a cluster of Muslim majority towns and villages in the country’s northeast after several cases and a death from the new coronavirus in the area.

The area in Xanthi pre-fecture was placed in lockdown as of Wednesday evening as nine people in the region overall have tested positive for the virus over the past six days, civil protection deputy minister Nikos Hardalias told reporters.

“All residents have been temporarily confined at home. No exceptions are allowed,” Hardalias said.

The centre of the outbreak appears to be the small Pomak town of Ehinos, a community of about 2,500.

“Ehinos residents will be provided with food and med-icine,” Hardalias said.

Police were deployed yes-terday on a bridge leading into town to enforce the lockdown, television footage showed.

One 72-year-old Ehinos man has died from the virus, local mayor Ridvan Deli Huseyin told Antenna television.

“It’s better to take some measures now than to cry about this later,” said Huseyin, the mayor of the local admin-istrative centre of Miki.

The Pomaks are a Muslim group of Slavic origin who live mainly in neighbouring Bul-garia. They make up part of Greece’s roughly 110,000-strong Muslim minority in the country’s northeast bordering Turkey.

Many of them work as migrant industrial workers in other European countries.

According to state TV ERT, several hundred Pomak workers have recently returned from shipyards and con-struction work in Italy, France, the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany.

“I estimate that around 1,000 workers returned from central Europe, Germany, the Netherlands and France. Many were in Turkey for work or study,” Xanthi mayor Manolis Tsepelis told Ethnos news portal. “Many of them were carrying the virus without knowing,” Tsepelis said.

There are 22 deaths and 821 officially announced infections from the virus in Greece, which has a population of 11 million.

Austria extends lockdown of Tyrol ski resortsREUTERS — VIENNA

A lockdown of Austrian ski resorts that have become hotspots for the spread of the coronavirus in Europe will be extended until Easter Monday, the governor of the province of Tyrol said yesterday.

“This regulation will be extended... until April 13, then we will be in accordance with the rules and regulations of the republic of Austria,” said Guenther Platter, referring to a country-wide call for people to stay at home.

People in the ski resorts, that include Ischgl, St. Anton, St. Christoph and Soelden, would only be allowed to leave if they can provide permits from the ministries of foreign affairs and health, Platter said.

Austria has reported nearly 6,400 cases in its nine prov-inces, a quarter of them in Tyrol.

Austrian economic research institute Wifo warned on Thursday that the economy could shrink by 2.5% this year in a best-case scenario.

The calculation was based on assumptions that lockdown measures are eased in May and daily life is back to normal by the summer, Wifo chief Christoph Badelt said.

Badelt predicts Austria to record a Maastrich deficit of 5.4% and an unemployment rate of 8.4% this year.

More than 150,000 people have registered as newly unemployed since March 15, many of them from the hospi-tality and services sector, according to employment agency AMS, although the gov-ernment has launched a 38 billion euros aid package and promised generous support for s h o r t - t i m e w o r k i n g agreements.

Joining large employers like Austrian Airlines, steel-maker Voestalpine and con-struction group Strabag, state rail operator OBB yesterday said it would reduce working hours for up to 30% of its more than 40,000 staff after pas-senger transport came down 90%.

Belgium says coronavirus peak still aheadREUTERS — BRUSSELS

The peak of Belgium’s coro-navirus infections still lies ahead, the health ministry said yesterday, adding much will depend on how strictly people follow lockdown measures.

Belgium, a country of some 11.5 million people, has so far confirmed 6,235 coronavirus cases and reported 220 deaths due to the disease, which is now ravaging Europe after originating in China late last year.

The government will discuss today whether to extend the lockdown, meant to curb the spread of the virus, beyond April 5.

“We can expect a peak at the beginning of April,” said Steven van Gucht, head of viral diseases at the Belgian Institute of Health. “This is on the condition that we have all reduced our contacts by 50 percent.” Belgium added 1,298 new coronavirus cases on March 25, a spokesman for the Belgian health ministry said on Thursday, the biggest daily jump since the start of the pandemic.

“We can see that the epi-demic is still in its ascending phase in Belgium,” the spokesman, Emmanuel Andre, said.

“The projections that we can do today, assuming the whole population complies with all the measures requested, would bring us to a peak in the coming weeks.” Laurent Jadot, who helps run the intensive care unit at a hospital in the Belgian city of Liege, said he was bracing for a sizeable increase in the number of patients.

Many of those will likely be in intensive care for three-week periods, meaning pressure on beds and a demand for sedatives while patients are on respirators.

Norway extradites man with terror link to ItalyAFP — OSLO

Norway announced yesterday that it had extradited a funda-mentalist Islamic preacher to Italy, despite the ongoing coro-navirus epidemic, where he has been sentenced to jail for leading a jihadist network.

“Krekar is no longer in Norway. Krekar has today been extradited to Italy,” Norwegian

Justice Minister Monica Maeland told a press conference.

The 63-year-old Iraqi Kurd — known as Mullah Krekar, but named Najumuddin Faraj Ahmad — was arrested in July 2019 after he was convicted in his absence by an Italian court and sentenced to 12 years in prison.

The Italian court found him

guilty of having led a now dis-mantled jihadist network, Rawti Shax, a Kurdish movement with alleged links to the Islamic State group and which is suspected of planning attacks in the West.

Krekar arrived in Norway in 1991 as a refugee.

Norway’s Supreme Court authorised the extradition in early February, ending Krekar’s legal attempts to avoid deportation.

Ousted PM Albin Kurti will remain in charge as caretaker premier for up to two weeks.

12 FRIDAY 27 MARCH 2020AMERICAS

US indicts Venezuela’s Maduro for ‘narco-terrorism’REUTERS — WASHINGTON

The US government yesterday indicted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and more than a dozen other top Venezuelan officials on charges of "narco-terrorism," the latest escalation of the Trump administration's pressure campaign aimed at ousting the socialist leader.

The State Department offered a reward of up to $15m for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Maduro, whose country has been convulsed by years of a deep economic crisis and political upheaval.

The indictment, a rare US action against a sitting foreign head of state, marks a serious new phase against Maduro by Washington at a time when some US officials have privately said President Donald Trump is increasingly frustrated with the results of his Venezuela policy.

Attorney General William Barr, announcing charges that also included corruption and drug trafficking, accused Maduro and his associates of

conspiring with a dissident faction of the leftist Colombian guerrilla group FARC "to flood the United States with cocaine.”

"While the Venezuelan

people suffer, this cabal lines their pockets with drug money and the proceeds of their cor-ruption," Barr said of Maduro and the more than a dozen

others who were indicted.Venezuela's information

ministry did not immediately reply to an email seeking comment. The US government has previously lodged criminal indictments against members of Maduro's family and inner circle.

He and his allies have dis-missed such allegations as a smear campaign, and argue the United States is responsible for drug trafficking given its role as a leading consumer.

Maduro is already under US sanctions and has been the target of a US effort aimed at pushing him from power. He took office in 2013 after the death of his mentor President Hugo Chavez, a staunch US foe.

Other Venezuelan officials

whose indictments were announced yesterday include Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez, senior socialist leader Diosdado Cabello and the chief justice of the country's supreme court, Maikel Jose Moreno Perez, 54, who was charged with money laun-dering. The US government is offering $10m for information leading to Cabello's arrest.

The United States and dozens of other countries have recognized opposition leader Juan Guaido as the country's legitimate president. But Maduro has remained in power, backed by the country's military and by Russia, China and Cuba.

US officials have long accused Maduro and his asso-ciates or running a "narco-state," saying they have used drug trafficking proceeds to make up for lost revenue from a Venezuelan oil sector heavily sanctioned by the United States.

The indictments were unsealed in New York, Florida and Washington.

Maduro and his top lieu-tenants ran a "narco-terrorism

partnership with the FARC for the past 20 years,” stated Geoffrey Berman, the US Attorney for the Southern Dis-trict of New York, who said the Venezuelan president "very deliberately deployed cocaine as a weapon.".

"The scope and magnitude of the drug trafficking alleged was made possible only because Maduro and others corrupted the institutions of Venezuela and provided political and mil-itary protection for the rampant narco-terrorism crimes described in our charges," he added.

Berman accused Maduro and his co-defendants of "using their political and miltiary power to promote narco-ter-rorism for their personal gain." He said the case took many years to build.

The US Attorney for the Southern District of Florida Ariana Fajardo Orshan said she sees signs of Venezuelan offi-cials' dirty laundered money throughout her area every day, from fancy yachts to million-dollar condos.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro during a meeting on measures against COVID-19, in Caracas, on March 22, 2020.

Argentine President: Saving lives to take precedence over economyREUTERS — BUENOS AIRES

Argentine President Alberto Fernandez said yesterday that saving lives would take prece-dence over protecting the economy from the impact of coronavirus, which is likely to push the country deeper into recession this year.

The centre-left Peronist had earlier joined a call of G20 leaders to discuss the global response to the pandemic which has led to the deaths of over 20,000 people worldwide and is now starting to spread around Latin America.

“Faced with the dilemma of preserving the economy or life, we do not hesitate: we choose life,” Fernandez said in a tweet after the video conference where he had called for a global humanitarian emergency fund to help tackle the pandemic.

Countries around the world are grappling with the dual health and economic crises that have been sparked by the spread of coronavirus, which emerged in China before hitting Europe and now the United States.

US President Donald Trump has said he wants the country’s economy to reopen by Easter Sunday on April 12, despite the rapid spread of coronavirus in some US states and a rising death toll.

In Brazil, President Jair Bol-sonaro has aligned himself with Trump in prioritising the economy over the shutdowns favoured by public health experts — including his own health minister.

According to a readout of his comments, Fernandez said on the call that the world needed “extraordinary”

solutions to deal with the crisis including a fund helping coun-tries “be better equipped with supplies to deal with the current context.”

He added he welcomed the fact that global bodies like the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) — a major lender to Argentina — had rec-ognized that the debt burdens facing certain countries were unsustainable.

Argentina is in the midst of tense restructuring negotiations involving almost $70bn in foreign debt and a further $44bn from a credit facility extended by the IMF in 2018.

“The time of the greedy has come to an end,” Fernandez said.

“As Pope Francis teaches, we need to let the scales fall off our eyes and hearts in order to act with a new sensibility.”

Soldiers wear protective face masks as they patrol in Cucuta, Colombia, on the border with Venezuela, to enforce restrictions in place to curb the spread of COVID-19 disease, on Wednesday.

An aerial view of a snarl-up on an access road to Buenos Aires on Wednesday due to police controls as part of COVID-19 control measures.

Brazil governors rise up against Bolsonaro’s virus stanceAP — SAO PAULO

Brazil’s governors are defying President Jair Bolsonaro over his call to reopen schools and businesses, dismissing his argument that the “cure” of widespread shutdowns to contain the spread of the coro-navirus is worse than the disease.

Bolsonaro contends that the clampdown already ordered by many governors will deeply wound the already beleaguered economy and spark social unrest.

In a nationally televised address on Tuesday night, he urged governors to limit iso-lation only to high-risk people and lift the strict anti-virus measures they have imposed in their regions.

“What needs to be done? Put the people to work. Pre-serve the elderly, preserve

those who have health problems. But nothing more than that,” said Bolsonaro, who in the past has sparked anger by calling the virus a “little flu.”

The country’s governors protested on Wednesday that his instructions run counter to health experts’ recommenda-tions and endanger Latin Amer-ica’s largest population. They said they would continue with their strict measures. The rebellion even included tradi-tional allies of Brazil’s far-right president.

Governor Carlos Moisés of Santa Catarina state, which gave almost 80% of its votes to Bolsonaro in the 2018 presi-dential runoff, complained he was “blown away” by the pres-ident’s instructions.

Moisés said he would insist that all residents stay home during the pandemic despite the president’s stand.

In a videoconference earlier in the day between Bolsonaro and governors from Brazil’s southeast region, Sao Paulo Governor João Doria threatened to sue the federal government if it tried to interfere with his efforts to combat the virus.

“We are here, the four gov-ernors of the southeast region, in respect for Brazil and Bra-zilians and in respect for dia-logue and understanding,” said Doria, who supported Bol-sonaro’s 2018 presidential bid.

“But you are the president and you have to set the example. You have to be the representative to command, guide and lead this country, not divide it.”

Bolsonaro responded by accusing Doria of riding his coattails to the governorship, then turning his back.

“If you don’t get in the way, Brazil will take off and emerge

from the crisis. Stop cam-paigning,” the President said.

The governors were not the only defiant ones. Virus plans challenged by Bolsonaro were upheld by the Supreme Court. The heads of both congressional houses criticized his televised speech. Companies donated supplies to state anti-virus efforts.

Bolsonaro told reporters in the capital, Brasilia, that he has listened to his US counterpart, Donald Trump, and found their perspectives to be rather similar.

He has found some support among his base — #Bolsonar-oIsRight trended atop Brazilian Twitter on Wednesday — thought that backing has been countered by a week of nightly protests from many Brazilians respecting the self-isolation rules who lean from their windows to bang pots and pans.

Troops enforce virus restrictions

Mexican governor says poor are ‘immune’ to coronavirusAP — MEXICO CITY

The governor of a state in central Mexico argued that the poor are “immune” to the new coronavirus, even as the federal government yesterday suspended all nonessential government activities in a bid to prevent the spread of the virus.

Puebla Gov. Miguel Bar-bosa’s comment on Wednesday was apparently partly a response to indications that the wealthy have made up a sig-nificant percentage of Mexicans infected to date, including some p r o m i n e n t b u s i n e s s executives.

Officials say three-quarters of Mexico’s 475 confirmed cases are related to interna-tional travel, and the poor do

not make many international trips. Some people apparently caught the virus on ski trips to Italy or the United States. The country has seen six deaths so far.

“The majority are wealthy people. If you are rich, you are at risk. If you are poor, no,” Barbosa said of the corona-virus. “We poor people, we are immune.”

Barbosa also appeared to be playing on an old stereotype held by some Mexicans that poor sanitation standards may have strengthened their immune systems by exposing them to bacteria or other bugs.

There is no scientific evi-dence to suggest the poor are in any way immune to the virus that is causing COVID-19 disease around the world.

Chile quarantines 1.3 million in Santiago due to coronavirus

REUTERS/AFP — SANTIAGO

Chile’s government on Wednesday announced a general quarantine for large parts of capital Santiago after the country surpassed 1,000 confirmed cases of corona-virus since the outbreak began locally at the start of March.

Health Minister Jaime Manalich said in an address from La Moneda presidential palace that the total ban on movement would begin on Thursday night and last for seven days.

The measure applies to 1.3 million people living mainly in the wealthy eastern areas of the city where the virus first surfaced among people who had travelled to Europe.

As of Wednesday, a total of 1,142 people in the country were confirmed to have tested positive for the virus and three had died, the health ministry said.

Manalich said health authorities would set up a cordon around the city to contain the advance of the virus, although other cases have been confirmed around the country.

The measure followed an order by authorities to extend school closures until May. Classes were suspended on March 16, just under two weeks after the first corona-virus case was recorded.

Countries across Latin America have tightened measures to halt the spread of the deadly novel corona-virus, with more lockdowns, border and school and uni-versities' closures as well as increased aid to the region's poorest.

Venezuelan communications satellite out of service

AFP — CARACAS

Venezuela’s first communica-tions satellite, launched in 2008, is out of service due to a systems failure, the country’s government said on Wednesday.

“Due to a failure, the Simon Bolivar satellite is no longer working for communi-cation,” said the science and technology minister in a statement, without giving further details.

On Monday, the US-based news site Space News reported that VeneSat1 — the satellite’s other name — “has been stuck for 10 days in an elliptical orbit,” after a “series of manoeuvres left it tumbling in an unusable orbit.”

According to the Bolivarian Agency for Space Activities, the satellite was used to transmit certain television signals, as well as for Internet connections and mobile tele-phone use.

It was built by China and launched in 2008, while Hugo Chavez was in office.

Venezuela launched a second satellite, the “Francisco de Miranda,” in September 2012.

Honduras reports first death from coronavirusREUTERS — TEGUCIGALPA

Honduras has registered its first death from the corona-virus outbreak, said Francis Contreras, spokesman for the National Risk Management System, yesterday.

There are 52 confirmed cases of coronavirus in Honduras.

The State Department also offered a reward of up to $15m for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Maduro.

13FRIDAY 27 MARCH 2020 AMERICAS / CLASSIFIEDS

Hospitals reel as US virus death toll tops 1,000REUTERS — NEW YORK/ NEW ORLEANS

As the coronavirus pandemic’s US death toll topped 1,000 people yesterday, hospitals and government authorities in New York, New Orleans and other hot spots grappled with a surge in cases and a dire shortage of supplies, staff and sick beds.

Medical facilities were running short of ventilators and protective masks and were hampered by limited testing capacity as the number of con-firmed US cases of COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the virus, stood at about 70,000.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said that under almost any realistic scenario his state’s existing hospital capacity would be overwhelmed.

The expected shortfall of ventilators — machines that support breathing for people who have lost the ability on their own — was substantial, the governor said.

“The number of ventilators

we need is so astronomical — it’s not like they have them sitting in the warehouse,” Cuomo told a news conference.

“There is no stockpile available.” The state’s death toll stood at 385, up from 285 a day earlier, the highest in the country. The number of infec-tions rose to 37,000, or about half the US total.

The goal is to get to a capacity of 140,000 hospital beds, up from the current 53,000, and authorities are scouting new sites, Cuomo said.

Asked about media reports of some New York City healthcare workers resorting to using plastic trash bags to try to protect themselves, Cuomo acknowledged issues with the distribution of protective equipment and said there was

enough in stock for the “imme-diate need” but not for the longer term.

At Elmhurst Hospital in New York’s borough of Queens, about a hundred people, many wearing masks with their hoods pulled up, stood in line behind barriers outside the emergency room entrance, waiting to enter a tent to be screened for the coronavirus.

The federal government was sending “everything we can” to help New York including ventilators, gloves and pro-tective masks for use in hos-pitals, White House trade adviser Peter Navarro said.

“But we’ve also got an emerging problem in New Orleans. We got Detroit, we’ve got Chicago, Seattle, California, my home state. Like I said, there’s planes in the air every-where now,” Navarro added.

A running tally kept by Johns Hopkins University showed that at least 1,070 people in the United States had died from COVID-19, which has proven especially dangerous to

the elderly and people with pre-existing medical conditions.

While New York is the current coronavirus epicenter in the United States, Louisiana — driven by a dire situation in New Orleans — could be the next one. Dr. Rebekah Gee, head of Louisiana State University’s healthcare services division, said that Mardi Gras, when 1.4 million tourists descended on New Orleans for celebrations that included tightly packed

street parades, fuelled the city’s outbreak.

“You can manufacture masks, you can create more beds. But what you can’t man-ufacture is workforce. You can make a mask in a day. You can’t make a pulmonary critical care doc in a day,” Gee said on Wednesday.

Warner Thomas, chief exec-utive at Ochsner Medical Center, Louisiana’s largest hos-pital system, added: “We are

seeing an escalation in cases across our system.” Under-scoring the threat to healthcare workers striving to cope with the pandemic, Thomas said 300 Ochsner employees were under quarantine, including 60 diag-nosed with COVID-19.

About half the United States was under stay-at-home orders to try to curb the spread of the virus, with its side effects of strangling the economy and unleashing a wave of layoffs.

People stand in line to get tested for the coronavirus (COVID-19) at Elmhurst Hospital Center in the Queens borough of New York City, yesterday. The state’s death toll from the virus rose to 385 yesterday.

Trump says Feds developing new guidelines for virus riskAP — WASHINGTON

President Donald Trump said yesterday that federal officials are developing guidelines to rate counties by risk of virus spread, as he aims to begin to ease nationwide guidelines meant to stem the coronavirus outbreak.

In a letter to the nation’s governors, Trump said the new guidelines are meant to enable state and local leaders to make “decisions about maintaining, increasing, or relaxing social distancing and other measures they have put in place.” States and munici-palities would still retain authority to set whatever restrictions deem necessary.

Trump has been seeking for days to determine how to contain the economic fallout of the guidelines issued by his administration as well as local leaders to slow the tide of infections.

Last week Trump unveiled a 15-day program advising against large gatherings and calling for many Americans to remain at home. The guide-lines, issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Pre-vention, are voluntary, but many state and local leaders have issued mandatory restrictions in line with, or even tighter than, those issued by the CDC.

On a conference call with governors Thursday, Trump stressed the need to reopen businesses and to recognize regional differences in the virus’ impact.

“We all have to get smart,” Trump said on the call. “We have to open up our country, I’m sorry.”

The announcement of the forthcoming new guidelines comes days after Trump said he hoped to “reopen” the country by Easter.

Canada urges US not to put troops at border during pandemicAP — TORONTO

Canada has told the Trump administration that a proposal to put troops at the US-Canada border amid the pandemic is entirely unnecessary and would damage relations between the two longtime allies.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his government has been in discussions with the White House about convincing the US not to do it.

“Canada and the United States have the longest un-mil-itarized border in the world and it is very much in both of our interests for it to remain that way,” Trudeau said.

The White House declined

comment. General James McCo-nville, chief of staff of the US Army, told Pentagon reporters during a press conference that the Army has not gotten any directive to go to the border.

Few people cross into the border into the US from Canada illegally. And COVID-19 cases are surging more in the US than in Canada.

Canadian Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said they have told the Trump administration there is no jus-tification for troops at the border.

“What we have said is, ‘We really do not believe at all that there would be a public health justification for you to take this

action,’” Freeland said. “And we have said ‘We

really don’t think is the right way to treat a trusted friend and military ally.’”

Freeland said the specifics of what the US is proposing is a question for American officials to answer and declined to say what the Trump administration is contemplating.

She said they are “very directly and very forcefully” expressing the view that “this is an entirely unnecessary step” that Canada would “view as d a m a g i n g t o t h e relationship.”

Freeland stressed that they are talking about a potential decision by the US and said they

first learned of the proposal a few days ago.

Trudeau’s office has been in direct contact with the White House and Canada’s defense and public safety ministers have spoken to their counterparts.

“Our understanding is that a decision has yet not been acted upon or fully taken. But having said that, decisions are taken speedily by all govern-ments around the world including ours,” Freeland said.

“Canada is strongly opposed to this US proposal.”

Canada has more than 3,400 cases, 35 deaths and has tested over 158,000 people.

Canada relies on the US for 75 percent of its exports. About

18 percent of Canada’s exports go to the US. The two countries have already closed the border both ways to all non-essential travel.

“This is strictly show-manship on the part of the American president. It will have no practical impact. It is an attempt to impress the American public that the pres-ident is doing something,” said Nelson Wiseman, a political science professor at the Uni-versity of Toronto.

Bruce Heyman, a former US ambassador to Canada, said it would be a serious misuse of resources and a dangerous and inappropriate use of American troops.

US Senate passes $2.2 trillion aid plan, House votes todayAP — WASHINGTON

The US Senate has passed a mammoth $2.2 trillion economic rescue package steering aid to businesses, workers and health care systems engulfed by the coro-navirus pandemic, an unprec-edented response amid record new jobless claims and mounting evidence that the economy is in a recession.

The unanimous Senate vote late Wednesday came despite misgivings on both sides about whether it goes too far or not far enough and capped days of difficult negotiations as Wash-ington confronted a national challenge unlike it has ever faced.

Thursday brought grim eco-nomic news as the government reported 3.3 million new weekly unemployment claims, four times the previous record, fresh evidence that the US is sinking into recession as coro-navirus isolation steps have led to business closures.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said in a tele-vised interview that the

economy “may well be in a recession.”

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi swung behind the bipar-tisan agreement, saying it “takes us a long way down the road in meeting the needs of the American people.” The measure is set for House passage on Friday and President Donald Trump’s immediate signature.

The 880-page measure is the largest economic relief bill in US history.

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell appeared somber and exhausted as he announced the vote — and he released sen-ators from Washington until April 20, though he promised to recall them if needed.

“Pray for one another, for all of our families and for our country,” said McConnell.

“The legislation now before us now is historic because it is meant to match a historic crisis,” said Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

“Our health care system is not prepared to care for the sick. Our workers are without work. Our businesses cannot do business. Our factories lie idle.

The gears of the American economy have ground to a halt.”

The package is intended as relief for a sinking economy and a nation facing a grim toll from an infection that’s killed more than 21,000 people worldwide.

“This is a unique situation. This is not a typical downturn,” Fed chief Powell told NBC’s “Today” show.

“What’s happening here is people are being asked to close their businesses, to stay home from work and to not engage in

certain kinds of economic activity and so they’re pulling back. And at a certain point, we will get the spread of the virus under control and at that time confidence will return, busi-nesses will open again, people will come back to work.”

Insistently optimistic, Trump said of the greatest public health emergency in anyone’s lifetime, “I don’t think its going to end up being such a rough patch” and anticipated the economy soaring “like a rocket ship” when it’s over.

US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi speaks during a news conference, following a Senate vote on the coronavirus relief bill on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, yesterday.

Canada passes coronavirus aid package after all-night session

AFP — OTTAWA

Canadian lawmakers on Wednesday approved a more than Can$100bn aid package to help individuals and busi-nesses through the pandemic, after all-night negotiations on what emergency powers to grant the minori ty government.

Following approval by the House of Commons, they were adopted by the Senate.

The measures include Can$52bn ($37bn) in direct support for families and busi-nesses, instead of Can$27 as previously announced by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and Can$55bn in tax deferrals.

The total aid package of Can$107bn will allow for a new emergency fund that will dispense Can$2,000 per month for four months to Canadian workers who find themselves without an income due to the new coronavirus.

Nearly one million have been laid off following tem-porary closure orders given to many businesses in an effort to slow the virus’s spread.

The government expects to enact the emergency measure from April 6, according to Finance Minister Bill Morneau.

He said he was pleased at obtaining “unanimous consent with the other parties to move forward” with the response plan. To respect “social dis-tancing” measures during the pandemic, only 32 members of Parliament, proportionally representing each party instead of the full 338, had gathered in Ottawa for a vote Tuesday on the emergency measures.

But opposition parties balked at additional provisions giving Trudeau’s Liberals unlimited borrowing and spending powers for 21 months without oversight.

Five earthquakes rattle West Texas; no injuries AP — EL PASO, TEXAS

A series of five earthquakes centered near the same remote area of West Texas rattled the region yesterday.

The temblors registered between 3.0 and 5.0 starting around 4am yesterday, according to the US Geological Survey.

The epicenter was about 40km west of Mentone in Loving County on the border with New Mexico. The largest was a magnitude 5.0 about six hours later.

That quake could be felt as far as 245km away in El Paso, Texas, and neigh-boring Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.

No major damage or injuries were immediately reported in the sparsely pop-ulated area. Loving County has only about 100 residents but is full of truck traffic serving the oil drilling industry in the sur-rounding Permian Basin.

Number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the US has risen to 70,000.

14 FRIDAY 27 MARCH 2020CLASSIFIEDS

ARTECHSage Accounting, Peachtree, QuickBooks, Dynacom, DacEasy, Tally, POS, Bar Code, Fixed Assets Software’s.Tel: +974 44375654 E-mail: artech@ar-technology.net

ACCOUNTING SOFTWARES

GEM ADVERTISING & PUBLICATIONS(Overseas Newspaper Advertisements) Tel: 44442001 - GSM: 55783303

ADVERTISING OVERSEAS NEWSPAPER

ATTESTATION

CALIBRATION SERVICES

ASIA TRANSLATION & SERVICES CENTRELeading Legal Translators & Document Legalization Since 1987. Indian Certificate Attestation. Head Office: 44364555/50233133 - Al Hilal Branch: 44621334 - Salwa Road Branch: 66038181 Mobile Contacts: Sufiyan - 66192881/Yoonus - 77813190

ARMSTRONGWindow/Split/Package/Central Units. Sales, Services, Spare Parts/Window/Split & Central A/C. Annual Contracts. Mobile: 555 54 274 (Kumar)E-mail: service@armstrongmachinery.com www.armstrongmachinery.com

A/C MAINTENANCE & SERVICES

ALWASEEM TRANSLATION & SERVICES CENTERAuthorized Translators - Company Formation and PRO Services (Opp-Karwa Bus Stat. Doha, Al-Saeed Buil.2nd Floor.) M : 50822292 / 31586616 T : 44116727 E-mail : info.alwaseemtranslation@gmail.com Web : www.alwaseemtranslation.com

BUSINESS SET-UP

HELPLINE GROUPCertificate attestation from INDIA| UK | USA | CANADA | PHILIPPINE and Gulf Countries20 Years of experience and ISO Registered CompanyHELPLINE GROUP, C Ring Road Tel:(+974)-44271100Mob: 31550149 Email: info@Qatarhelplinegroup.com

HELPLINE GROUPCompany Registration, Local Sponsorship, Trademark, Feasibility Study, Tax systems and PRO Services. Our branches QATAR| KUWAIT | UAE | INDIA | UK | CANADA. (formed more than 3000 companies)HELPLINE GROUP, C Ring Road Tel: (+974)-44271100MOB: 77711129 Email: cf@qatarhelplinegroup.com

AL HAYIKI TRANSLATION & SERVICES EST.Authorized Translation & Certificate Attestation since 1992Sofitel Complex (Mercure Hotel) Ground Floor, Office No. 25Mob: 33411150 & 33411153, Tel: 44367755 & 44181990E-mail: hayiki4u@gmail.com Web: www.alhayikitranslation.com

QUEENS LAND SERVICESBusiness Set-up and Sponsorship. Debt Collection. Real Estate Services Mob: 77776917 E-mail: info@qlsqatar.com

INVEST IN QATAR

IMMIGRATION SERVICES

HELPLINE GROUPComplete Manpower SolutionsBusiness Structure and Business PlanningTel: (+974)-44271100 Mob: 77711129 Web: helplinehrconsulting.com

HR CONSULTATION

AL SALEH GROUP(HR)Tel: 44423838Send CV to Email: alsalehmanpower444@gmail.com

ARMSTRONGRepairs/Spare Parts & Rentals. Power from 5KVA to 2000KVA Sales/Services/ Spare Parts & Rentals. Annual Contracts.Mobile: 555 54 274 (Kumar) E-mail: secretary@armstrongmachinery.com www.armstrongmachinery.com

GENERATORS SERVICING

CLEANING AND MAINTENANCE

AL MUTWASSIT CLEANING & PEST CONTROLComplete General Cleaning For Residential & Commercial. Supply of Cleaning Staff on Contract Basis. Pest Control Services. Office: 44367555 Mob: 30029977/55875920 E-mail: info@amcqatar.co

AL SALEH CLEANING & HOSPITALITYComplete General Cleaning Services for Old & New Villas.Tel: 44423838 GSM: 55508393 - 55526943 - 50190005

CAPITAL CLEANING COMPANY W.L.L.Complete General Cleaning Services for Old and New VillasTel: 44582257 Mobile: 33189899/ 55565328E-mail: capitalcleaningwll@gmail.com

WOKEER INDUSTRIAL AREAFrom 150 - 200 LaborsMobile: 660 02 704 (Steve)E-mail: portacabins@iescoqatar.com

LABOUR CAMP FOR RENT

ARMSTRONG1000-4000 Gallon Tankers - Daily/Monthly/Yearly Contracts. Mobile: 660 41 449 (Neil)E-mail: portacabins6@iescoqatar.comwww.iescoqatar.com.

SEWAGE & WASTE REMOVAL

SCAFFOLDING

APOLLO ENTERPRISES SCAFFOLDING DIVISIONContract/Hire/Sale - Salwa Road. Tel: 44693334 Fax: 44416274 GSM: 55521089/55560246/55536285 www.apollo-qatar.net - E-mail: apolloscaff@qatar.net.qa

REAL ESTATE

AL MUFTAH SERVICESTel: 44634444/44010700 Mob: 55542067/55823100 E Mail: reservations@rentacardoha.com Website: www.rentacardoha.com

TRANSLATION

HELPLINE GROUPAuthorized Translation Centre.We speak more than 100 Languages. C Ring Road, Near by Toyota Signal Tel: (974)-44271100 Mob: 70114857 Email: info@helplinetranslation.com

PARTY KINGDOMNear Jaidah Flyover, Nasrallah Centre. Tel: 44353501/ 44366431 E-mail: partykingdom10doha@yahoo.com

PARTY ITEMS & BALLOON DECORATION

ARMSTRONGPorta Cabins/Pre-Fabricated Buildings/Toilets/Security Cabins. Fire Rated/Non Fire Rated. Mobile: 66041449 (Chris)E-mail: portacabins2@iescoqatar.com www.iescoqatar.com.

PORTA CABINS (Sales & Rentals)

ARMSTRONGFive Peals-USA Sales/Rental Service/Cleaning, Sewage Removal. Daily/Monthly/Yearly. Mobile: 66041449 (Chris)E-mail: portacabins2@iescoqatar.com www.iescoqatar.com.

PORTABLE & CHEMICAL TOILETS (Sales & Rentals)

MEDIA SERVICES

RENT A CAR

AL MUFTAH RENT A CARMain Office: D’ Ring Rd, T: 44634444/44010700 Branches: Airport: 44634433 Al Khor: 44113344 E Mail: reservations@rentacardoha.com Website: www.rentacardoha.com

OASIS RENT A CARYOU RENT MORE THAN A CAR WITH OASISAllen: 6641 7354 Tel: 4413 0011 - OasisCars.com Rental@OasisCars.Com - - Great deals on long term rentals

REGENCY FLEETS (A Regency Group Co.)Special Corporate leasing and Rental rates. Price includes Comprehensive Insurance, Maintenance, Replacement Vehicle etc. Driven by Values. E-mail: info@regencyfleets.com Tel: 44433822/44554046/44554048 Fax: 44554047 Airport Branch (24hrs): Tel.: 70482655

NATIONAL - ALAMO RENT A CARCars - 4WDs - Pickups - Buses - Chauffeur Drive Call: 5547 8150, 5040 0624 Web: www.national-qatar.comE-mail: info@national-qatar.com

BUDGET RENT A CARCompetitive Rates for Car Rental & Leasing, 24/7 Airport Rental Section,Free Road Side Assistance, Easy & Fast Booking ProcessHead Office: Barwa Village T: 44325500 M: 66971703 Toll Free: 800-4627Email: info@budgetqatar.com Website: www.budgetqatar.com

AL SALEH REAL ESTATETel: 44423838. Mob: 33721133 E-mail: abnaasalehgroup@gmail.com

HOME CARE

ARMSTRONGAblution & Event Toilets Rental, Porta Cabins, Chemical Toilets & Other Equipment Rental.Mobile : 66041449 (Chris) E-mail: portacabins2@iescoqatar.comwww.iescoqatar.com

EVENT RENTALS/ ABLUTIONTOILETS

MASSAGE

KOTTAKKAL AYURVEDIC MASSAGE CENTREAyurvedic Massage, Philippine & Thai Massage. Near Badriya Signal, Bin Mehmood. Tel.: 44360061 GSM: 33453697

MEDIHERB MASSAGEKerala Ayurvedic, Thai, Philippine Massage (Gents & Ladies) for back pain, body pain, arthritis etc shirodhara, steam, Moroccan Bathe, Body Scrub etc. E-Ring Road, Near ICC Signal, Nuaija. Tel: 66167700 - 50736611

AUTHENTIC THAI MASSAGE CENTERSFB: Royal Thai Men Spa, New Slata (Men Only)www.thaimassagedoha.com, Tel: 44666145FB: Royal Thai Lady Spa, Al Waab (Ladies Only)www.royalthailadyspa.com, Tel: 44142400

WATER TANK CLEANING

AL MUTWASSIT CLEANING & PEST CONTROLKharaba st, Behind white Mosque. Fax: 443679 99 - GSM. 55875920/55860432

CAPITAL CLEANING COMPANYCleaning Water Tanks & Pest Control. GSM: 55565328/ 33189899 Tel: 44582257 E-mail: capitalcleaningwll@gmail.com

WOKEER INDUSTRIAL AREAAvailable Sizes: 358/415/510/830/1340 Sqm.Mobile: 660 02 704 (Steve)E-mail: portacabins@iescoqatar.com

WAREHOUSE FOR RENT

ARMSTRONGNew & Used Containers - Sales/Rental (Certified & Uncertified) Mobile: 557 80 396 (Steve)E-mail: portacabins2@iescoqatar.com www.iescoqatar.com.

USED CONTAINERS (Sales & Rentals)