Tuesday 2 June 2020

10 Shawwal - 1441

2 Riyals

www.thepeninsula.qa

Volume 25 | Number 8276

BUSINESS | 01 PENMAG | 03 SPORT | 08

La Liga

announces

fixtures as

restart looms

Classifieds

and Services

section

included

PPP law will spur

growth and drive

industrial

diversification

NEW DEATHS

TOTAL DEATHSTOTAL

DEATHS

TOTAL

RECOVERED

GLOBALLY

C VID-19

C VID-19

QATAR UPDATES ON 01 JUNE 2020

OTOTTOTTOTTOTALALALAL

DEATHS

OTOTTOTTOTTOTALALALAL

RECOVERED

6,242,065 374,260 2,687,591

NEW CASES ANNOUNCED

1,523

240

NEW RECOVERIES

3,147

ACTIVE CASES

24,956

TOTAL RECOVERIES

33,437

TOTAL

POSITIVE

NEW CASESANNOUNCED

NEWRECOVERIES

ACTIVECASES

TOTALRECOVERIES

Ooredoo among top brands in Qatar to support fight against COVID-19: PollTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

Ooredoo’s efforts to support the government of Qatar in the ongoing battle against COVID-19 have been recognised by Qatari citizens and resi-dents as among the best in the country, according to a poll conducted by Ipsos, one of the world’s largest market research organisations.

The telecommunications leader was named in a list of the top 10 companies in Qatar for their efforts in managing the coronavirus situ-ation, following a survey of Qatari citizens and resident who were asked a series of questions about their experiences of various entities in Qatar since the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak. Ipsos asked survey participants in

Qatar which entities and organisations they con-sidered had contributed most significantly and effectively to the fight against the pandemic. The top 10 were then listed as Ooredoo, Min-istry of Public Health, Qatar Charity, Qatar Red Crescent, Al Meera, Qatar National Bank, Doha Bank, Qatar Airways, Qatar Foundation and Qatar Petroleum.

The result of the survey reflects the overall satisfaction with the significant efforts Ooredoo has been making to combat the spread of the virus. �P3

THE PENINSULA — DOHA

Qatar Petroleum (QP) entered into three agreements yesterday to reserve LNG ship construction capacity in the Republic of Korea to be utilised for Qatar Petroleum’s future LNG carrier fleet requirements, including those for the ongoing expansion projects in the North Field and in the United States.

Under the agreements, the “Big 3” Korean shipyards — Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME), Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) and Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI) — will reserve a major portion of their LNG ship construction capacity for Qatar Petroleum through the year 2027.

The agreements were signed by H E Saad Sherida Al Kaabi, Minister of State for Energy Affairs, and the Pres-ident and CEO of QP, in a virtual signing ceremony attended by H E Sung Yun-mo, Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy of the Republic of Korea. Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa Al Thani, CEO of Qatargas, also attended the ceremony.

Also in attendance were the CEOs of the Korean shipyards, senior representatives from Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, as well as executives from Qatar Petroleum, Qatargas, and the three Korean shipyards.

On the Korean side, the agreement with DSME was signed by Sung Geun Lee, Pres-ident and CEO of DSME, the

agreement with HHI was signed by Sam H Ka, President and Board member of HHI, and the agreement with SHI was signed by Joon Ou Nam, President and CEO of SHI.

H E Al Kaabi said: “The signing of today’s agreements with the three esteemed Korean com-panies reflects our commitment to the North Field expansion projects, even during these extraordinary times. As I have pre-viously stated, we are moving full steam ahead with the North Field expansion projects to raise Qatar’s LNG production capacity from 77 million today to 126 million tonnes per annum by 2027 to ensure the reliable supply of additional clean energy to the world at a time when investments to meet these requirements are most needed. These agreements will ensure our ability to meet our future LNG fleet requirements to support our expanding LNG production capacity and long-term fleet replacement requirements.”

H E Al Kaabi, added: “With the conclusion of these mile-stones agreements, we have eve-rything in place to commence the largest LNG shipbuilding program in history. We have secured approximately 60 percent of the global LNG shipbuilding capacity through 2027 to cater for our LNG carrier fleet requirements in the next 7-8 years, which could reach 100+ new vessels with a program value in excess of QR70bn.”

H E the Minister highlighted Korea’s position as a key and strategic energy partner with Qatar. �P2

Qatar Petroleum’s LNG carrier fleet program is the largest of its kind in the history of the LNG industry.

Over 1.6 million

workers benefit

from ‘Better

Connections’

programme

THE PENINSULA — DOHA

The “Better Connections” programme, a nationwide initi-ative targeted at improving the wellbeing of expatriate workers in Qatar, has surpassed its pre-set target of 1.5 million beneficiaries by providing digital inclusion opportunities, to 1,679,000 beneficiaries, within a five year time-frame since its launch.

Better Connections was launched in 2014 under the umbrella of the Ministry of Transport and Communica-tions (MoTC) to enhance the social wellbeing of expatriate workers in Qatar by facilitating and promoting digital inclusion. With the support of MoTC, Min-istry Administrative Devel-opment, Labour and Social Affairs (MADLSA), Reach Out to Asia (ROTA), a program under Education Above All, and other stakeholders, the number of participating companies and beneficiaries has significantly grown bolstering the success of the programme.

Phase I of the programme, which ran from April 2015 to December 2017, focused on resourcing and delivering the outlined objectives, by pro-viding expatriate workers with access to the Internet, com-puters, online services, and training at their accommo-dation. As an active partner of “Better Connections”, ROTA contributed significantly towards this goal by recruiting, training and managing volun-teers, to help companies set up computer labs at the accommodations.

Volunteers also provided training to workers on digital literacy, bringing Better Con-nections’ ambitious plans to success. Following the positive outcomes from the first Phase, MoTC and MADLSA announced Phase II to scale up implementation starting in July 2017 till the end of February 2020. �P3

Government schools to be disinfected every weekTHE PENINSULA —DOHA

Qatar’s Ministry of Education and Higher Education has awarded a contract to Boecker, the Middle East and Central Africa’s public health pioneer, to disinfect government schools throughout the country which have been closed since the middle of March.

The contract will see Boecker disinfect 217 gov-ernment schools on a weekly basis over the next 10 weeks with a 100 percent biode-gradable disinfectant that is non-toxic, non-corrosive and

has residual effect. It is the first step in a planned extensive pre-caution and prevention control programme being implemented by the Ministry to safeguard the safety of all pupils, faculty, and staff throughout the country’s education system.

The Ministry said this pro-cedure is aimed at ensuring the wellbeing of students, faculty, and staff members during the COVID-19 outbreak.

Boecker, which has 23 years’ experience in the disin-fection of private and public places has dedicated highly trained technicians to carry out

the disinfection in the schools to international safety standards wearing appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) and using the latest misting and spraying technology.

Since February 15 this year, the company was in the

front-line of defending public safety during the COVID 19 pan-demic and has provided more than 400 tonnes of sanitising and disinfecting products in 12 countries on three continents and has carried out more than 356,000 manhours of infection

control treatments, and this why the Ministry of Education and Higher Education has put its trust in Boecker to provide utmost safety and disinfection procedures in the country’s government schools.

The contract has been awarded to Boecker under the supervision of Macro Qatar, the facilities services managing agent which supports the Min-istry in creating and main-taining a safe and secure envi-ronment through best-in-class facilities management, service delivery practices and modern technology.

All preventive measures taken for students’ safety during exams

QP signs largest LNG shipbuilding agreements

QNA — DOHA

The examinations of the end of the second semester of the general and specialised Secondary School Certificate for the academic year 2019/2020 started yesterday. The exami-nations will continue for a period of two weeks, ending on on June 13.

As many as 11,500 students are taking the exams being held in 149 centres. The Ministry of Education and Higher Education has allocated about 6,100 employees to work as monitors and steering committees.

Minister of Education and Higher Education, H E Dr. Mohammed bin Abdulwahed Al Hammadi, affirmed that the Ministry had taken — within the measures taken by the State to curb the outbreak of the new coronavirus epidemic — all pre-cautionary and preventive measures that will ensure the health and safety of male and female students, and all school

personnel during the examinations.

He noted in this regard that the Ministry had set standards and requirements for safety in terms of the safe distance between students, providing a safe and healthy environment to take the examinations, taking into account the current condi-tions and reducing exams time and the number of questions included in each examination.

This came during his visit yesterday to Doha Preparatory and Secondary Schools for Boys to check on the proper func-tioning of the exams, and the precautionary measures to curb the outbreak of the corona

epidemic in the new high school certificate committees.

H E the Minster praised the close and constructive cooper-ation between the Ministry and the other Ministries and depart-ments concerned in the State, in order to secure the examina-tions and take all precautions, which made them go smoothly and quietly.

H E the Minister expressed thanks to the teaching and administrative bodies that carry out their work with all sincerity and responsibility, whether in developing examinations, mon-itoring or marking, wishing success to all male and female students.

Amir holds telephone talk with President of Ghana

QNA — DOHA

Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani held yesterday a telephone conversation with President of the Republic of Ghana, H E Nana Akufo-Addo, during which they discussed the relations between the two friendly countries and ways of boosting them in various fields.

During the phone call, the developments con-cerning the pandemic of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) and efforts and cooperation of the two countries to combat the virus were also discussed.

In this regard, H E the Ghanaian President expressed his thanks and appreciation to H H the Amir, for the support of the State of Qatar and its assistance to The Republic of Ghana in this field.

Minister of Education and Higher Education, H E Dr. Mohammed bin Abdulwahed Al Hammadi (left), during his visit to a school where Secondary School Certificate exams are being held.

As many as 11,500 students are taking the

exams being held in 149 centres.

Special COVID-19 preventive measures taken

include ensuring distance between the candi-

dates as well as reducing the number of

questions and the overall exam time.

217 schools will be disinfected on a regular

basis with a 100 percent biodegradable

disinfectant that is non-toxic and non-

corrosive. It is part of an extensive

programme to ensure safety of pupils,

faculty and schools' staff.

02 TUESDAY 2 JUNE 2020HOME

FAJR SUNRISE 03.15 am 04.43 am

W A L R U WA I S : 28o↗ 37o W A L K H O R : 23o↗ 43o W D U K H A N : 29o↗ 41o W WA K R A H : 28o↗ 46o W M E S A I E E D 28o↗ 46o W A B U S A M R A 28o↗ 43o

PRAYER TIMINGS WEATHER TODAY

HIGH TIDE 00:31–14:56 LOW TIDE 08:31 – 20:28

Very hot daytime with slight dust at times and relatively hot by night.

Minimum Maximum30oC 44oC

ZUHRMAGHRIB

11.32 am06.22 pm

ASR ISHA

02.56 pm07.52 pm

MoPH: 3,147 more

recover; 1,523

new cases

THE PENINSULA — DOHA

The Ministry of Public Health reported 1,523 new confirmed cases of COVID-19, with 3,147 people having recovered from the virus, bringing the total number of recovered people in Qatar to 33,437, yesterday.

The Ministry also announced two deaths due to the virus.

The total number of pos-itive COVID-19 cases recorded in Qatar till now stands at 58,433 and there are 24,956 active cases under treatment. So far, 40 people died from coronavirus in Qatar. The Min-istry has tested 3,850 people yesterday, taking the total tests done so far to 225,919 tests.

The Ministry stated that the two new deaths recorded are people aged 50 and 58, who had received the necessary medical care in intensive care. The Ministry offered sincere condolences and great sym-pathy to the families of the deceased. The Ministry also said that 22 new patients were admitted to intensive care, bringing the total number of cases currently in intensive care to 240. The Ministry states that Qatar is still in the peak phase of the outbreak, which is seeing a rise in the number of infections recorded daily.

Labor Ministry

launches Digital

Authentication

System THE PENINSULA — DOHA

The Ministry of Administrative Development, Labor & Social Affairs has launched Digital Authentication System for Multi-lingual Employment Contract, which aims to offer an integrated digital alter-native for authenticating employment contracts in companies.

It enables companies to use the service electronically as an alternative to direct visits, said the Ministry on its official website. The new system eases the process for companies to conclude con-tracts between the company and workers subject to labour law via website without the need for a direct visit to the Ministry’s headquarters or the Government Services Complex. The launch is a con-tinuation of the Ministry’s efforts to update and offer various electronic services tar-geting the beneficiary groups, especially with the increased demand of users who seek to complete applications via the website and Amerni appli-cation during the last period.

Public-private sector partnership law translates wise leadership’s confidence in private sector: Al KuwariQNA — DOHA

The Minister of Commerce and Industry, H E Ali bin Ahmed Al Kuwari (pictured), has praised the law regu-lating the partnership between the public and private sectors, which was issued by Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, stressing that the law translates the belief and confidence of the wise leadership in the ability of the Qatari private sector to participate effectively in the economic devel-opment of Qatar.

His Excellency said in a press statement, that the issuance of this law culminates in the process the fruitful and constructive cooperation between the public and private sectors, which contributed to the consolidation of the strength of the Qatari economy despite various regional and global challenges.

His Excellency also noted that the law is an important step to expand investment prospects in the State of Qatar and provide more opportunities

for cooperation between the public and private sectors to implement devel-opment projects that entrench the eco-nomic diversity of the state, and on the other hand provides a legislative framework that contributes to raising the efficiency of project governance, distribution and management of risks, reducing costs and encouraging com-petition and innovation to allow the state to implement a greater number of projects that support the national economy.

His Excellency pointed out that the state has sought for several years to adopt the principle of partnership between the public and private sectors in the implementation of many major development projects, in coordination with all government agencies and private sector companies and institu-tions, either directly or through gov-ernment committees affiliated with them, such as food security projects, building educational and health facil-ities, central markets, logistics areas and low-cost warehouses.

The Ministry stated that this law aims to develop the capabilities of Qatari private sector companies, encourage competition, enhance its role and contribution to economic development, and direct government agencies to take a new direction and a modern vision to manage national projects in a manner that supports the efficiency and effectiveness of their implementation and enhances their sustainability at the lowest costs.

The Ministry of Commerce and Industry stated that this law was pre-pared in the light of studies conducted by the Ministry in coordination with Qatar Chamber of Commerce and all relevant government agencies with the aim of studying the current situation of the business environment in the

State of Qatar and identifying priority sectors for partnership projects and the readiness of government agencies and private sector institutions to enter into partnerships to implement these projects, in addition to discussing ways to raise the challenges facing the two sectors in this field, inventory current laws, legislations and policies, analyse their performance in the field of part-nership between the two parties, as well as study the capabilities and expertise available on both sides.

The Ministry noted that the issued law includes institutional and con-tractual arrangements through the contract between the government agency and the private sector and the distribution and sharing of risks and roles through the regulatory and con-tractual frameworks, according to the model and method of partnership adopted by the two parties in accordance with the project policy and the goals that the contracting authority (government agency) aspires to achieve.

His Excellency noted that the law is an important step to expand investment prospects in Qatar and provide more opportunities for cooperation between the public and private sectors to implement development projects.

QP signs largest LNG shipbuilding agreementsFROM PAGE 1

H E Al Kaabi thanked H E Minister Sung Yun-mo and the Korean companies for their role in supporting the strong Qatar-Korean business relations and hoped that this milestone will take the relationship with Korean business partners to greater and wider horizons.

Al Kaabi said: “The new LNG vessels will be equipped with the latest generation slow speed dual fuel engines, utilising LNG as a fuel. This will ensure the most effi-cient performance and com-pliance with the latest global emission and environmental reg-ulations. We will continue working on reducing emissions from our fleet to protect the regional and global environment in line with the environmental objectives of the Qatar National Vision 2030.” “I would like to take this opportunity to thank the DSME, HHI and SHI teams for all the hard work to bring these agreements to fruition during these challenging times. I would also like to express my great appreciation to Your Excellency Sung, for your leadership and great support to this effort in line with our mutual desire to build upon the already excellent rela-tions between Korea and Qatar, especially during the

unusual circumstances the world is currently facing. I am also very grateful to Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa Al Thani, the CEO of Qatargas, and to the Qatar Petroleum and Qatargas teams, whose dedicated efforts were instrumental in realizing this agreement,” H E Al Kaabi concluded.

Delivering his congratulations on the signing ceremony, Minister H E Sung Yun-mo said: “Despite the recent difficulties facing the international community, today’s signing was made possible by the long-standing mutual trust between Korea and Qatar as well as the outstanding risk man-agement capability of His

Excellency Minister Al Kaabi.” Sung Yun-mo also expressed his commitment to enhance eco-nomic cooperation with Qatar by adding, “I will not spare any effort to further strengthen our bilateral cooperation in energy and ship-building, as well as diversify our cooperation across various fields including ICT, healthcare, plant construction and more.“

Sung Geun Lee, said: “I would like to express our sincere appre-ciation to Qatar Petroleum for choosing DSME as a partner for this historic Mega LNG project in Qatar. I have no doubt that Qatar will reinforce its position as the world’s leading LNG exporter through this great project. As the world’s first-class shipbuilding and maritime specialists, DSME is delighted to contribute to this project with our cutting-edge LNG technologies together with our eco-friendly and smart ship expertise. In the same manner as a decade ago for the previous Qatar project, we will soon invite you to witness our production in person at our advanced Okpo shipyard.”

On his part, Sam H Ka, said: “We are very proud and excited to work with Qatar Petroleum for this unprecedented, and the world’s largest, LNG project. It is our firm belief that this project will

enhance Qatar’s global reputation as the World’s Premier LNG Sup-plier and effectively contribute to the increasing global market demand for cleaner energy of the future. To this end, we will join forces with Qatar Petroleum and Qatargas with the highest standards of excellence for the successful construction and delivery of vessels that are more efficient and eco-friendly than ever.” Joon Ou Nam, said, “I am deeply grateful for the signing of this agreement between Qatar Petroleum and Samsung Heavy Industries. SHI promises to deliver the best quality LNG carriers with on-time delivery. Particularly, we will build the best LNG carriers for Qatar Petroleum in terms of effi-ciency, reliability and HSE through the technology and workmanship developed within our company. I hope that today’s event will provide momentum to further strengthen our cooperative eco-nomic relationship between Qatar and Korea.” Qatar Petroleum’s LNG carrier fleet program is the largest of its kind in the history of the LNG industry, and will play a pivotal role in meeting the shipping requirements of Qatar Petroleum’s local and interna-tional LNG projects, as well as replacing part of Qatar’s existing LNG fleet.

H E Saad Sherida Al Kaabi, Minister of State for Energy Affairs and the President and CEO of Qatar Petroleum, signing the agreements.

03TUESDAY 2 JUNE 2020 HOME

NCED initiative to promote culture of independent learning THE PENINSULA — DOHA

Qatar University’s National Center for Educational Development (NCED) has announced its new interactive initi-ative “Your Summer with NCED”, which aims to cultivate the culture of independent learning and continuous learning among students. This initi-ative encourages students to invest their spare time during the annual vacation period in educational work that is useful and fun.

At the societal level, family and friendship relations between members of the same family are strengthened through participation in targeted activities. It also con-tributes to finding ways to enhance social separation and stay at home to prevent the spread of the global epidemic.

The initiative is divided into three sub-initiatives: “I complete the story” and “I discover the solution (I am thinking)” and “I am designing my project”. The first initiative includes the presentation of heritage or global stories dealing with various questions that enhance students’ three main skills, namely reading, writing, numerical competence and other sub-skills.

The second and third initiatives will include cooperation with and participation of family members. The second requires discovering the correct solutions to various intelli-gence puzzles and games. The last ini-tiative is to produce and photograph various projects in a fun and enter-taining way that will give them new and useful skills and knowledge.

The Center has announced that those wishing to participate can send answers to story questions or project videos with their data and personal photos to the e-mail address ncedqu20@gmail.com for a specialised committee to review the validity of the answers and the suitability of the videos and agree to publish them on the Center’s multiple platforms, as well as announcing the names and pub-lishing photos of the participants who come up with correct answers to the questions of the stories and producing quality videos on the Center’s multiple platforms. The winners will be invited to honour them at a special ceremony that the Center will hold in the first semester of the academic year 2020-2021.

It is worth noting that this initiative comes in line with the “Support for Qatar” campaign and the “Aid for Qatar” campaign that the Center launched earlier this year, and the suc-cesses they achieved in supporting the distance learning process, and in response to the requests received by the Center to continue to introduce new initiatives in light of the corona-virus pandemic.

It also aims to contribute to investing in children and family time during the quarantine period.

Online QFCRA internship puts Georgetown students at QF on path to career successTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

Nine undergraduate students at QF partner Georgetown University in Qatar (GU-Q) were chosen to pilot a six-week long online internship program at the Qatar Financial Centre Regulatory Authority (QFCRA), gaining valuable hands-on work experience without ever setting foot in an office. The QFCRA, which is the independent regulator for the Qatar Financial Centre, developed the virtual internship prior to the pandemic, quickly becoming a timely model initiative when the crisis hit.

When the pandemic crisis created a shift to work from home to prevent the spread of the virus, the student interns were already working online. Head of Interna-tional Cooperation at QFCRA Maryam Mohammed, who managed the project, said “At the Regulatory Authority, internships that train future leaders in the finance sector are an important effort in developing Qatar’s economy and a key driver of Qatar’s national development. Through the launch of our first online internship, we wanted to expand those opportunities, and to let high achieving students know that they can begin building their careers from anywhere.”

The first-of-its-kind internship was the result of a collaboration between Prue Morris, Managing Director of the Policy and

Enforcement division, and Dr. Alexis Antoniades, Director and Chair of International Economics at Geor-getown, who connected the QFCRA with students enrolled in his eco-nomics course. “For our future policy makers, lawyers, bankers, analysts, and researchers, this internship opportunity was an excellent way to gain valuable professional skills and job training at an institution that plays a complex and critical eco-nomic role both domestically and internationally,” explained Dr. Antoniades.

The nine students, working in a total of four cohorts, conducted research and analysed the economic, political, and regulatory jurisdictions of QFC’s global business partners. Maryam connected online with each team weekly, to review their

progress and to provide feedback. Third year International Eco-

nomics major Abdul Rehmaan Qayyum decided to sign up for the internship to gain experience for a future career in finance. “This internship was the right fit for me because it required an interest in finance, and working knowledge of economics and politics, fields that are the focus of my degree. And I was sure I would receive unparalleled mentorship from QFCRA. It was a great experience that taught me a lot in terms of skills and knowledge.”

Prior to this innovative program, the two institutions have jointly col-laborated on several in-person internships for highly qualified stu-dents. All QFCRA internships are supported by the Authority’s Al Masar (“The Path) Program, an award-winning, five-stage devel-opment program that focuses on developing talent within the organisation.

Abdul Rehmaan Qayyum, a GU-Q student and an intern at QFCRA

The QFCRA, the independent regulator for the Qatar Financial Centre, developed the virtual internship prior to the pandemic, quickly becoming a timely model initiative when the crisis hit.

High-level Qatari participation expected atGlobal Vaccine Summit, says UK envoyFAZEENA SALEEM THE PENINSULA

A high-level delegation from Qatar is likely to join the Global Vaccine Summit virtually to be hosted by the UK on June 4 as countries across the globe pledge to develop vaccines to fight coronavirus, said Jonathan Wilks, the new British Ambassador.

“The summit helps weaker health sectors across the country. We hope for a high-level delegation from Qatar to participate in the summit. We also hope Qatar will make strong financial contribution,” he said speaking to media persons during a virtual press conference held yesterday.

According to Wilks, effective vac-cination is always vital to public health and the summit will play a key role in helping to move beyond this unprecedented global pandemic.

The UK will host Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance’s third donor pledging con-ference to mobilise at least $7.4bn in additional resources to protect the next generation with vaccines as well as to reduce disease inequality and create a healthier, safer and more prosperous world. It will also encourage the international com-munity to come together to support the development of a COVID-19 vaccine.

The summit, Wilks said, is an

important milestone in securing support to immunise 300 million children and save up to eight million lives by 2025.

The summit will virtually bring together political leaders, civil society, public and private donors, vaccine manufacturers and govern-ments to support the global vacci-nation body Gavi.

In addition to the Global Vaccine Summit, Wilks also emphasised on UK-Qatar bilateral relation and coop-eration with Qatar in the fight against COVID-19.

Wilks took up his posting to Doha in March. He was previously Ambas-sador to the Republic of Iraq, Oman and Yemen. He was also the UK Syria Envoy and Regional Arabic Spokesman, when he was a regular guest in Doha of Al Jazeera.

“In the past three months, several high level telephonic discussions were held between Qatar and UK, related to COVID-19 and other issues,” he said.

“UK has medical research coop-eration with Qatar before COVID-19. But now the focus is more in how to

combat COVID-19,” he added. Qatar Airways (QA) has helped

thousands of stranded travellers return home in these challenging circumstances.

“We really appreciate the role of Qatar Airways to repatriate British nationals by operating transit flights, in a time when many airlines have stopped their operations,” said Wilks.

He stressed that despite the COVID-19 pandemic, Qatar and the UK continue their cooperation in several areas including trade, security and regional issues. Wilks is opti-mistic about building on existing partnerships between Qatar and UK in different areas.

“We seek to be the premier partner of Qatar in hosting FIFA 2022. Our discussions to support Qatar for the 2022 World Cup con-tinues and hopefully an agreement for cooperation will be signed soon,” he said. In reply to a question about the ongoing unjust blockade imposed on Qatar, Wilks said, “The UK has great relationship with all the Gulf states. We do the best we can to resolve the dispute, including by supporting Kuwaiti mediation. We encourage countries to take small steps to defuse the tension.” In trade, Qatari investment into the UK, is estimated over £37bn.

The summit helps weaker health sectors across the country. We hope for a high-level delegation from Qatar to participate in the summit. We also hope Qatar will make strong financial contribution.

Jonathan Wilks, new British Ambassador

FROM PAGE 1 Efforts include large-scale

awareness campaigns via SMS and social media; encouraging community members to stay at home with a range of free offers and service upgrades on home and mobile internet services; dou-bling internet speeds for schools and universities at no extra cost, effectively contributing to distance education; and adding new dedicated educational channels to the Ooredoo tv service. Ooredoo has also exempted its cus-tomers from download fees and data charges for the use of the Ehteraz app.

In order to ensure awareness campaigns and support reached as many sectors of the community as possible, the telco leader distributed awareness leaflets about COVID-19 in industrial zones and, in collabo-ration with the Qatar Red Crescent, distributed recharge cards to labourers so they could communicate with their families and friends.

The company has also played a pivotal role in encouraging indi-viduals to volunteer and participate in the Ministry of Public Health’s efforts to combat the virus.

Ooredoo was a prominent con-tributor to the Let’s Celebrate Eid Together initiative in Qatar, which

was launched with the aim of pro-moting community cohesion and sol-idarity with the people of Qatar affected by the pandemic. The initi-ative included the provision of 50,000 food baskets containing many basic supplies, and coronavirus prevention materials such as gloves, masks and sanitising gel. Ooredoo also distributed data and calling cards to the beneficiaries of the campaign.

Sabah Rabiah Al Kuwari, Director PR at Ooredoo, said: “The coronavirus outbreak poses an unusual challenge to the whole world, so from the outset we have been keen to develop a

comprehensive plan to support the efforts of official entities as they manage the impact of the pandemic. Our focus has been on raising awareness of how best to avoid transmission of the virus, as well as supporting our communities in various ways as they follow gov-ernment guidelines to stay home; whether by introducing valuable offers on telecommunications services, by providing additional services or by enhancing other services at no addi-tional cost. We intend to continue our efforts and launch new initiatives in the near future to maximise our contribu-tions to our communities until life returns to normal.”

Ooredoo among top brands in Qatar to support fight against COVID-19: Poll

Over 1.6 million workers

benefit from ‘Better

Connections’ programme

FROM PAGE 1

During this phase, ROTA played a key role in the monitoring and evaluation of the program. This included designing data collection tools, training volunteers to collect data, and analyzing and reporting on project progress and results.

Maryam Majareh, Project Manager from ROTA, commented on the achievements of the program stating, “Through all of our combined efforts, we have provided transforming oppor-tunities for workers who used technology to stay in touch with their families and friends, learn develop new skills, and benefit from a variety of online services and platforms like Hukoomi. We thank all who have been part of this process, especially our volunteers whose dedication is a testament to the kindness of the community that we live in. People who were digitally excluded have been empowered by Better Connections so that they too can benefit from the numerous advantages of the Internet.”

Results across Phase II of the program exhibit its success in providing professional and per-sonal development opportunities to workers, especially those who may have had limited schooling in their own countries.

Beneficiaries reported improvements in happiness, wellbeing, and confidence. Overall, they indicated they are better able to commu-nicate, to learn independently using ICT’s and Internet, and expressed satisfaction with the program.

04 TUESDAY 2 JUNE 2020 HOME

QRCS restores 14 water wells for 12,250 beneficiaries in YemenTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

The representation mission of Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS) in Yemen has begun the civil and construction works for digging and deepening water wells in the Al Marawi’ah and Al Sukhnah districts of Al Hudaydah Governorate.

Serving up to 1,750 families (12,250 persons), this is part of a larger project to rehabilitate water projects in Taiz and Al Hudaydah, with a total budget of $399,999.

The sites of wells were handed over by the municipal-ities of the two districts, in the presence of representatives of Yemen’s Supreme Council for Management and Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and International Cooperation (SCMCHA), municipal officials, and the public.

Eng. Abdul Baset Mohamed, representative of QRCS, said they would work on 14 water wells – five in Al-Marawi’ah and nine in Al-Sukhnah. “Phase 1 involves the civil and con-struction works,” he explained.

“The wells will be dug, deepened, and maintained to give access to more water. Then, the wells will be lined with con-crete blocks and raised above the ground level for protection against pollution. The outer openings will have concrete covers”.

Other works include installing taps with plastic

tanks, so that water is supplied through pumping pipelines, making it easier for the inhab-itants to get clean water safely. “In Phase 2, submerged solar pumps will be installed, with a whole solar power system. The planned timeline is five months,” Eng. Mohamed revealed.

At the handover site,

representative of SCMCHA in Al Sukhnah, Mohamed Al Moafa, stated, “QRCS is most welcome. They had previously imple-mented a shelter project in the district. Now, they are providing clean water for the poorest families”.

The project, he expected, would largely meet the water needs of the target

communities, who used to bring water from remote areas, carried by donkeys, women, or children. This was too exhausting and unhealthy.

“It is an important project that serves those in need. We hope that QRCS would expand their projects, especially water and artesian wells. Many wells are out of service due to lack of fuel, and water supply networks and pumping stations are required in many villages,” he concluded.

The locals were happy to see their suffering come to an end. Ahmed Ali, a chieftain, spoke hopefully about the

project: “We are very opti-mistic. Our problem is pol-luted and scarce water at times of drought. It has been a long-awaited moment for us to find some clean water to drink without too much dif-ficulty. Until this day, we still get water manually (with buckets). Our kids are at risk of falling down into the wells. In our village, there are no wells, so we have to bring water from neighboring villages”.

He thanked QRCS for reaching out to such a remote village, hoping for more assistance. “We are badly in need of a water supply system. This is our greatest dream,” he added. “We are so grateful to the donors. May Allah bless them”.

The districts covered by QRCS interventions are des-titute and underserved. Women and children have to walk for hours to bring water from far places. The available water wells are obsolete, and the manual pumps are damaged.

Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS) officials at the site of a water well in Yemen.

HBKU strengthens commitment to learner successTHE PENINSULA — DOHAIn line with its ambition to remove barriers to success for its online learners, Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU) has joined Quality Matters (QM) — the international leader for quality assurance in online and innovative digital teaching and learning envi-ronments.

Membership of QM pro-vides HBKU with access to a comprehensive research-supported quality assurance process to design and develop accessible and engaging online courses.

Additional tools and resources allow HBKU to evaluate course and program design to ensure that the needs of today’s online learners are being met.

QM’s professional devel-opment opportunities provide faculty and staff with a pathway to develop and strengthen key online design and delivery skills. “Joining the QM community — a com-munity that puts learners first – aligns perfectly with the goals of HBKUx to develop quality online and blended programs,” said Dr. Ala Al-Fuqaha, Acting Associate Provost for Teaching and Learning.

“There is significant movement towards online engagement as it equips learners with the skills required to work in an increasingly digital world. Learners who were previ-ously classified as ‘non-tra-ditional’ now make up the largest number of student enrolments worldwide and this is uniquely the case at HBKU being a graduate uni-versity. Working adults who seek to reskill and upskill are a huge market for online learning. These workforce changes present a unique opportunity for agile univer-sities to find creative ways to equip millions of workers to transition into new jobs and provide ongoing training to help individuals keep pace with the new world of work.”

Dr. Yaping Gao, Senior Academic Director of Member Services and Partnerships for Quality Matters, said, “Quality Matters continues to engage with the global education com-munity, ensuring a streamlined digital learning experience. Our current membership com-prises more than 1,250 institu-tions across 19 countries spanning six continents. It is an honor to welcome HBKU on board as the first member institution in Qatar. Our col-laboration underpins quality assurance in education excel-lence in Qatar and beyond, and is one which enables both institutions to learn from and support each other as we strive to positively impact the online learning experience across the globe.”

Serving up to 1,750 families (12,250 persons), this is part of a larger project to rehabilitate water projects in Taiz and Al Hudaydah in Yemen with a total budget of $399,999.

HMC provides innovative solutions to give physiotherapy services during COVID-19 pandemicQNA — DOHA

Each year the Physiotherapy Department at Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) provides physical therapy to patients during more than 270,000 outpatient visits. Public health measures put in place to contain and curb the spread of COVID-19 have meant that many treatments and hands-on therapies are only available for the most critical of cases and the physiotherapy team at HMC has responded by imple-menting a number of creative solutions to ensure their patients continue to receive the specialist care they need.

Chief of Physiotherapy at HMC, Noora Al Mudahka said the COVID-19 pandemic has changed every aspect of how healthcare is delivered, and she says her team has worked hard to ensure patients are continuing to have access to physiotherapy services.

“We immediately started planning to adapt our treatment programs so that physical therapy services were not interrupted and that the progress of our patients was not compromised.

At any given time, we have hundreds of patients under our care and as a team, we were determined to ensure these patients continued to have access to the physical therapy interven-tions they required while also ensuring their potential exposure to the COVID-19 virus was reduced,” she said.

Around 80 percent of HMCs regular outpatient services are now being provided through tele-medicine, with clinical teams across all specialties providing care during more than 27,000 tel-ephone consultations each week.

With male, female, and pedi-atric physiotherapy clinics at Qatar Rehabilitation Institute, Rumailah Hospital, Bin Omran Physio-therapy Center, Al Wakra Hospital, and Al Khor Hospital, Al Mudahka said the first step in launching the virtual service for the Physio-therapy Department involved consulting with each patient by telephone.

“Our teams called each patient to determine if there were any changes in their condition since

their last outpatient appointment. They assessed what tools and exercise equipment patients had in their home and began working on individualized treatment plans that allowed patients to safely continue their rehabilitation from their own home,” said Al Mudahka.

Acting Male Outpatient Super-visor and Physical Therapy Spe-cialist Kamel Zaaror said if the patient has a computer, tablet, or smartphone with a camera, his team can continue caring for them, even though they are not in the treatment facility.

“A big proportion of physio-therapy involves hands-on treatment, but physical therapy is also about observing and assessing someone’s movement and

listening to them talk about what causes their pain, and this can be done very effectively virtually. Technology is allowing our physical therapists to demonstrate a series of exercises, ask the patient to perform them, and then determine what is and isnt pos-sible by having the patient describe whether the pain increases or decreases with the motion,” said Zaaror.

Zaaror says while a virtual system is not ideal in every situ-ation, most patients have adapted well. He says a surprise benefit to the launch of the telemedicine service has been the realization that having greater control over their rehabilitation can lead to a better outcome for some patients, and he noted that there are plans to further expand the service.

“Through our telemedicine service, we are currently caring for over 3,000 patients who are recovering from a range of ill-nesses and injuries. We are also continuing to expand the services we provide and are developing interventional exercise videos spe-cific to various clinical conditions, such as stroke, traumatic brain injury, post-operative, and guiding mothers in the care of babies who had been ventilated. Each video will be customized for the various phases of recovery. We plan to deliver this service through a link shared with patients through SMS and will monitor the progress of our patients through virtual con-sultations,” added Zaaror.

Inspectors from

MME's wildlife

protection dept

nab wild

reptile hunters

THE PENINSULA — DOHA

T h e m u n i c i p a l inspectors on patrolling from the Department of Protection and Wildlife at the Ministry of Municipality and Envi-ronment (MME) have caught some individuals hunting wild reptiles to protect environment of the country.

The action was taken following the Law No. 4 of 2002 regulating the hunting of wild animals, birds, and rep-tiles, the Ministry has tweeted.

The ministry said that the necessary legal measures are being taken against violators to preserve the environment of the country.

The patrols of the Department of Pro-tection and Wildlife also seized a violation of transporting mud (clay) without a permit and caused damage to the plant environment, where the necessary legal measures were taken against the vio-lator to preserve the environment of Qatar.

A doctor at the HMC assisting a patient via video call.

QF scientists aim to understand how coronavirus affects different populationsTHE PENINSULA — DOHA

Scientists around the world continue to study the coronavirus and its nature, but Qatar Foun-dation’s Qatar Genome Program (QGP) has chosen to look at it from a different perspective.

Led by its Chairperson, Pro-fessor Asmaa Al Thani, QGP is investing its resources in using the data it has obtained on the Qatari genome, as well as con-tinually collecting more data with the aim of supporting efforts to determine how and why the coronavirus has a different effect on different people and populations.

“In a certain few countries, young people seem to be more susceptible to contracting the virus and becoming critically ill from it, while other places have higher rates among their older population,” said Professor Al Thani. “Age is definitely a factor, but these variances all point towards the importance of inves-tigating the underlying genetics of these populations and relating them to the virus sequences cir-culating in those communities.”

Having already sequenced over 18,000 Qatari genomes, QGP is well-positioned to conduct this kind of research. While samples collected by Qatar Biobank, also a member of Qatar Foundation, and studied by QGP

were previously limited to Qataris in order to build a genome database for the popu-lation, the range has now been widened to include residents of Qatar — a nation with a hugely diverse population spanning a wide range of nationalities including children.

Infection rates among children are low, and observing their genomes might help in understanding why. “We’re also seeking consent from patients suffering from COVID-19 to sequence their genomes. That will be a key factor in allowing us to determine how this virus manifests itself differently in patients,” Professor Al Thani said.

In her academic and research role, Dr. Al Thani — who holds a PhD in medical virology — is a professor of virology at Qatar University and Adjunct Virology professor at QF partner uni-versity Weill Cornell

Medicine-Qatar. Her work includes supporting efforts to increase local capacity in responding to viral outbreaks, and, as director of the Biomedical Research Center at Qatar Uni-versity (BRC), she leads the only Biosafety level 3 laboratory for research in Qatar, which is cur-rently used to help the Ministry of Public Health face the pandemic.

Student research plays an integral role as well. Dr. Al Thani is supervising several PhD and Master’s students in this field, including research at QF member Hamad Bin Khalifa University with Dr. Hadi Yassine, Faculty at BRC, on genetic susceptibility to infectious diseases.

QGP has also established a new platform with Oxford Nan-opore Technologies, which enables whole genome sequencing to be conducted within just eight hours. This

allows for a deeper study of tracing infection, as well as the discovery of mutations that might cause some people to be affected more severely than others. If mutations like these are dis-covered, scientists at QGP can inform clinicians to closely monitor patients for severe symptoms.

Since genetic variations among different populations may be responsible for the severity of infection rates and illness in certain parts of the world, QGP aims to compare outcomes of Qatar’s genome sequencing with that of other countries. Collabo-rations with Genomics England and Tor Vergata University of Rome, Italy, with its rector and world-renowned medical genet-icist Professor Giuseppe Novelli, are already underway to find if viral outcomes are different and why. “We’re also hoping to conduct a comprehensive

convergent study on how the virus is affecting different populations from a genomics perspective, the topic of the PhD research of Maria Samati, a student of HBKU,” said Professor Al Thani.

Genomic and viral surveil-lance is a significant part of pre-paredness when it comes to viral outbreaks like COVID-19. According to Professor Al Thani, the SARS outbreak led to consid-erable international research investments in the field in the years 2003 and 2004, but unfor-tunately, once the situation eased, these efforts were withdrawn.

“A lack of qualified personnel globally is one of the primary reasons why we have a huge gap in understanding this virus and potentially preventing mutations, as well as a lack of funding for research into infectious diseases and emerging outbreaks either in humans or animals.” she explained.

A researcher working at QGP laboratory.

Led by its Chairperson, Professor Asmaa Al Thani, QGP is investing its resources in using the data it has obtained on the Qatari genome, as well as continually collecting more data with the aim of supporting efforts to determine how and why the coronavirus has a different effect on different people and populations.

05TUESDAY 2 JUNE 2020 MIDDLE EAST

AGENCIES — OCCUPIED JERUSALEM

Hundreds of Palestinians have bid farewell to a mentally disabled Palestinian, who was killed by Israeli forces in occupied East Jerusalem on Saturday. Eyad Hallaq was fatally shot by Israeli forces after they suspected he had a gun, according to Israeli media.

Funeral prayer took place late on Sunday at Jerusalem’s Al Aqsa Mosque after the body was transferred from Makassed Hos-pital, where Israeli authorities held his body for over 36 hours.

The Israeli Broadcasting Corporation stated that the medical autopsy of Eyad Hallaq’s body showed that he was shot twice in the abdomen.

The UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Nickolay Mladenov offered his condolences to the family of Hallaq.

He said the incident was “a tragedy that should and could have been avoided”, going on to call on the Israeli authorities to “swiftly investigate and make sure such incidents are not allowed to happen”.

The UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace

Process condemned the killing of an unarmed, disabled Pales-tinian man by Israeli police in Jerusalem over the weekend.

Eyad Hallaq, 32, a resident of the Wadi Joz neighbourhood of East Jerusalem with special needs, was shot near the Old City of Jerusalem,.

“My heartfelt condolences to the family of Eyad Hallaq, an unarmed Palestinian shot and killed yesterday in Jeru-salem. A tragedy that should and could have been avoided!” Nickolay Mladenov, the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process said Twitter on Sunday.

Palestinians bury autistic, unarmedyouth shot dead by Israeli police

Poverty in West Bank maydouble as annexation loomsAFP — RAMALLAH

Poverty in the occupied West Bank may double as Pales-tinians are hit by the corona-virus, the World Bank warned yesterday, just weeks before Israel aims to kick-start plans to annex parts of the territory.

The United Nations has warned that such a move by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government would stifle financial and aid flows to the Palestinians and “most likely trigger conflict”.

Israel may start the annex-ation process as soon as July 1 with the support of US Pres-ident Donald Trump, who in January published a peace plan that was roundly rejected by the Palestinians.

The UN warned in a report that, without improved rela-tions between the two sides and if annexation goes ahead, “the achievements of the Palestinian government over the last quarter century will fade.

“The peace and security sit-uation will worsen, and a hardened and more extremist politics on both sides will inev-itably result,” it said.

The annexation plans loom weeks after Netanyahu forged a unity government following more than a year of political deadlock, and as both Israel and the Palestinian territories are assessing the impact of the pan-demic. The Palestinian terri-tories have seen low infection rates after acting quickly to curtail the spread of COVID-19, with three deaths out of 450 cases registered among some five million residents in Gaza and the West Bank.

But the Palestinian Author-ity’s (PA’s) financial situation is “expected to become increas-ingly difficult” due to loss of income and increased spending

on healthcare and other areas, the World Bank said in a report.

The fallout is expected to see the number of households living below the poverty line rise this year from 14 to 30 percent in the West Bank, largely due to Palestinians being unable to cross into Israel for work. The PA last week announced an end to the lockdown it had imposed in early March across the West Bank after a virus outbreak in the city of Bethlehem, a major tourist site. The easing allowed more than 63,000 Palestinians to pass through checkpoints for work on Sunday, according to the Israeli military branch han-dling civilian affairs in the Pal-estinian territories.

The borders of the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, which has been under a crippling Israeli blockade since 2007, remain closed to all but a few returning Gazans, who are quarantined on arrival. The poverty rate was already 53 percent in Gaza before the pandemic and the World Bank forecast it would jump to 64 percent this year.

Overall, the Palestinian economy is set to shrink between 7.6 and 11 percent, the global body said, a severe downturn after one percent growth in 2019.

The report recommended investing in mobile networks to boost the economy. Pales-tinians rely on 2G and 3G mobile data networks in Gaza and the West Bank respectively, at a time when some countries

are adopting 5G. While the PA has taken

steps to manage the economic blow brought by coronavirus, the World Bank said its financial gap “could increase alarmingly” from $800m last year to $1.5bn this year.

“At this point, it is not pos-sible to say how long it will take for the economy to recover from the current containment measures,” the bank said.

The Palestinian gov-ernment relies heavily on donor support to function as it is unable to implement stimulus measures used by countries elsewhere, such as lowering interest rates or accessing inter-national capital markets.

Despite the increased financial needs, support for this year’s PA budget is the lowest in two decades, according to the World Bank. Last month, an Israeli official said an 800m shekel ($228m) loan had been approved for the PA, to help make up for revenues lost during coronavirus. While humanitarian and development aid remains important, the United Nations said, “different and bolder action is required to avert economic collapse”.

Official Palestinian news agency Wafa said yesterday that Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh would hold a video-conference today with donors from 40 countries to present a report on the economic situ-ation in the Palestinian territories.

Turkey’s Grand Bazaar reopens along with restaurantsAFP — ISTANBUL

Turkey reopened restaurants, cafes and Istanbul’s iconic 15th century Grand Bazaar market yesterday as the government further eased coronavirus restrictions.

Many other facilities including parks, beaches, libraries and museums reo-pened across the country, while millions of public sector employees returned to work.

At Istanbul’s landmark Grand Bazaar, traders were dusting the shelves and tidying their shops while janitors scrubbed floors as the world-famous site welcomed visitors again.

The bazaar on the historic peninsula, also home to tourist sites such as the Hagia Sophia museum and the Blue Mosque, was closed on March 23 to stem the spread of the coronavirus.

It was the market’s longest closure in its more than

550-year-old history that did not involve fires or earthquakes. Its reopening was a symbolic move not only for Turkey, but for the world, said celebrity chef Nusret Gokce, nicknamed Salt

Bae, who runs a steak res-taurant in the bazaar.

“Istanbul is the capital of the world and the (Grand Bazaar) is the first shopping mall of the world. We are

waiting for everyone,” he said. Diners at his popular eatery

are encouraged to read the menu on their phones instead of looking at menus.

Elsewhere at the market,

some shop owners were eager to get business back on track, though acknowledged it could take time for the crowds to return. “I cannot say business is good for the time being but God willing it will gradually be soon,” said carpet vendor Ali Amac.

Turkey, with a population of 83 million, has recorded over 4,500 virus-related deaths.

The government has boasted of its success in han-dling the outbreak and avoiding becoming a virus hotspot such as Italy or the United Kingdom.

Officials say the pandemic is now under control, but have repeatedly warned citizens to respect social distancing rules and wear masks outside.

Domestic flights also resumed between a limited number of cities as an inter-city travel ban was lifted, with national carrier Turkish Air-lines taking its first trip since early April. International flights remain suspended until June 10.

Iran reports 81 new virus deaths; riskssecond wave if people ignore restrictions REUTERS & AFP — DUBAI/BEIRUT

Iran could face a second, stronger wave of novel coro-navirus infections if people ignore guidance and social distancing rules, health minister Saeed Namaki said yesterday.

The Islamic Republic, one of the worst-hit countries in the region, started easing its lockdown in April after a drop in deaths.

But May saw an uptick in the rate of reported infections compared with mid to late April - an acceleration the gov-ernment put down to increased testing. “The outbreak is not over yet and at any moment it may come back stronger than before,” Saeed Namaki said in a news conference broadcast on state TV. “If our people fail to respect the health protocols... we must prepare ourselves for the worst situation.”

Iran has reported a total of 154,445 infections as of

yesterday, an increase of 2,979 from the previous day.

It also reported 81 new deaths, taking the toll to 7,878.

Government employees went back to work and mosques resumed daily prayers on Saturday as part of the relax-ation of the lockdown.

But authorities had to reimpose restrictions in the southern provinces of Khuz-estan and Sistan Baluchestan in mid-May after an uptick of cases there. “There is still a long way ahead of us in our fight against this virus... All the health protocols should be respected,” Namaki said.

Meanwhile, Lebanon’s health minister said yesterday that the worst of the corona-virus pandemic has passed but declaring victory against the disease would be premature, as the country gradually opened up. “I think the worst-case sce-nario has passed and is behind us, but at the same time we

need to stay alert and we are taking measures in all regions,” Hamad Hassan said.

The country of six million has recorded a remarkably low number of cases and the official death toll is around 10 times lower than some countries with roughly the same population such as Israel, Norway or the United Arab Emirates.

According to figures pro-vided by the health ministry, Lebanon has recorded 1,233 COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic and only 27 deaths. After weeks of lockdown, the government announced on Sunday that restrictions would be eased this week, including a curfew which is pushed back from 7pm to midnight.

“It’s still early to announce a victory but we have scored points against the virus and we won’t relinquish our lead,” Hassan said speaking from his home in the city of Baalbek.

786 new COVID-19 cases in Oman; half of government staff resume workAGENCIES — MUSCAT

The Omani Ministry of Health said yesterday that it registered 786 new coronavirus (COVID-19) cases in the country. Among those, 488 new cases were of expats and 298 were citizens.

The total cases in the country has now reached 12,223, with 50 deaths and 2682 recoveries.

Government officials resumed work on Sunday as authorities allowed half of the public workforce to return to offices.

The Supreme Committee tasked with dealing with the novel coronavirus pandemic allowed earlier this week 50% attendance in government offices starting May 31.

It also lifted lockdown measures across the Muscat gover-norate on May 29, which were in place since early April to slow the spread of the virus. The committee, however, reminded that the loosening of restrictions did not mean the end of the outbreak, urging the public to adhere to precautionary and protective measures such as wearing face masks “in order to protect yourself and your loved ones.”

Omani Minister of Health, Dr. Ahmed bin Mohammad Al Saidi, said that the coronavirus is still very dangerous and widespread. Al Saidi added, in a statement to the Sultanate of Oman TV, and relayed by the Oman News Agency (ONA), that the number of people in hospitals is 199, of whom 43 percent are in intensive care, and many of them exceeded their stay in intensive care for four weeks. He said that reducing the recovery period to less than 14 days in some Gulf countries led to a high rate of recovery for them, pointing out that one of the biggest challenges in facing the coronavirus is expatriate labor, stressing at the same time that the epidemiological investigation is active.

Iran: Scientist

jailed in US to

return soonAFP — TEHRAN

Tehran said yesterday that scientist Sirous Asgari, one of more than a dozen Iranians behind bars in the United States, is set to return to the Islamic republic within days.

Asgari was accused by a US court in 2016 of stealing trade secrets while on an aca-demic visit to Ohio.

But the 59-year-old sci-entist from Tehran’s Sharif University of Technology was acquitted in November.

The academic told British newspaper The Guardian in March that the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency was keeping him in a detention centre in Louisiana without basic sanitation and refusing to let him return to Iran despite his exoneration.

“Dr. Sirous Asgari’s case has been closed in America and he will probably return to the country in the next two or three days,” said Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi. “That is, if no issues or obstacles come up,” he said, quoted by semi-official news agency Isna. Iran’s foreign ministry said last month that Asgari had contracted the novel coronavirus while in US custody. If he returns to Iran, the scientist would become one of the few detainees held by either side not to have been released in a prisoner exchange.

Both Iran and the United States hold a number of each other’s nationals and they have recently called for them to be released amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Iran is battling what is the Middle East’s dead-liest outbreak of the virus, while the US has reported the highest total number of deaths worldwide from the disease.

Iran is holding at least five Americans and the US has 19 Iranians in detention. Ten-sions between the two arch enemies escalated in 2018, after President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew the US from a landmark nuclear agreement.

125 civilians killed in Syria in May: WatchdogANATOLIA — ANKARA

A total of 125 civilians, including 26 children and six women, were killed in Syria this May, mostly as a result of bombings, a rights group said yesterday.

Of these fatalities, the Syrian regime forces killed 10 civilians, including two women, while Russian forces killed one civilian, according to

a report released by the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR). Meanwhile, seven civilians, including two children, were killed in the attacks carried out by the YPG/PKK terrorist organization, the report said. Some three civilians were killed at the hands of anti-regime armed groups, and seven civilians, including two children and one woman, were killed by the fac-tions of the armed opposition, it said.

Official Palestinian news agency Wafa said yesterday that Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh would hold a videoconference today with donors from 40 countries to present a report on the economic situation in the Palestinian territories.

Palestinians carrying the coffin of Eyad Hallaq, who was shot dead by Israeli police, during his funeral in Jerusalem late on Sunday.

People wearing protective facemasks walk on the street in Ankara, yesterday. Turkey reopened restaurants and cafes as the government further eased coronavirus restrictions.

Deserted street in Baghdad

06 TUESDAY 2 JUNE 2020MIDDLE EAST / AFRICA

Nigeria to relax coronavirus curbs on places of worship from todayREUTERS — ABUJA

Nigeria will relax coronavirus restrictions on places of worship from today, the chairman of the presidential task force for COVID-19 said.

Nigeria, Africa’s most pop-ulous country where Christianity and Islam are widely practised, has recorded 10,162 confirmed cases and 287 deaths.

Boss Mustapha, the coun-try’s most senior civil servant,

also said a lockdown in the northern city of Kano would be eased, one of a number of changes over four weeks from today.

“Nigeria has not reached the peak of confirmed cases,” Mustapha told reporters.

Another official said the aviation industry had been asked to prepare for the pos-sible resumption of domestic flights from June 21. He added that a national curfew would

be shortened to 10 pm -4 am from today, from the current 8 pm-6 am order.

Nigeria’s financial sector will also be able to resume normal working hours, said Sani Aliyu, the national coordi-nator of the task force.

Other curbs remain in place, such as a ban on inter-state travel, with a few excep-tions, such as for essential workers. And face masks must still be worn in public.

Closed shops are seen in Baghdad yesterday as Iraq announced a one-week curfew from Sunday due to an increase in the number of coronavirus cases.

Uganda detains two MPs for leading COVID-19 protestANATOLIA — KAMPALA

Ugandan police yesterday arrested two lawmakers for allegedly mobilising protesters in order to demand the closure of a border town with South Sudan amid a rise in corona-virus cases, local media reported.

The two MPs from Kilak county, Gilbert Olanya and Samuel Odonga Otto, were arrested near Cerellenu, a suburb of Gulu town.

The demonstrators said Ugandans were getting infected

by truckers who arrive in the country through the Elegu border point with South Sudan, according to the Daily Monitor news website.

A police spokesman said the politicians were arrested because they did not seek per-mission from the police. An army official, meanwhile, said all means will be used against the protestors to prevent them from assembling.

“We shall use every means we have including force not to give way for such meaningless demonstrations... they break the

social distance protocol during which we potentially risk getting more infections,” he was quoted as saying.

Protestors, meanwhile, expressed the urgent need to close the border town to avoid more virus cases.

“The government is reluctant to close Elegu border so that they keep us in lockdown, yet the people are starving,” Tony Oboma, one of the protestors, said.

“Our interest is that the gov-ernment shuts down Elegu border and lock down the entire

town for two weeks in order to control infections currently stemming from there and spreading across Acholi region.”

Gilbert Olanya, another protestor, expressed similar sentiments. “There could be cases of the virus in the com-munity since the truck drivers have interacted freely with the community,” he said.

As many as 450 COVID-19 cases have been reported in the East African country thus far, with no virus-linked deaths, according to figures compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Haftar’s forcesretake districtsouth of TripoliAFP — TRIPOLI

Libyan military strongman Khalifa Haftar’s forces said they retook a district south of Tripoli yesterday, after a series of losses to pro-unity government troops.

“Units of the armed forces were able to seize the Al Assabia area this morning after a string of air strikes” on forces backing the Government of National Accord, said Ahmad Al Mesmari, a spokesman for Haftar’s forces. Images and videos on social media and Libyan television appeared to show Haftar’s troops entering the area, some 40 kilometres (25 miles) south of Tripoli.

Pro-GNA forces said Monday they had escalated their own air raids in Al-Assabia, without confirming they had lost the district.

“The air force targeted three military vehicles (an Emirati Tiger armoured vehicle, an ammunition truck and a truck mounted with a 14.5 anti-aircraft gun), on the edges of Al Assabia, spokesman Mohamad Gnunu said.

He said pro-GNA forces had been ordered to “crush the rebels... without mercy or pity”.

The 2011 uprising that toppled and killed longtime dictator Muammar Gaddafi

plunged Libya into years of chaos, with two rival adminis-trations and scores of militias struggling for power.

Haftar, who controls much of eastern and southern Libya, launched an offensive last spring to seize Tripoli from the United Nations-recognised GNA. Foreign support for the warring parties has added to the fighting, with Haftar receiving Emirati and Russian support while Turkey has increasingly backed the GNA with drones and air defence systems.

The offensive quickly stalled on the edges of the capital, and in recent weeks GNA forces have taken back a string of towns and districts around the capital including key coastal cities further west and the strategic airbase of Al Watiya.

Kenya President

seeks constitution

changes to end

poll violence

BLOOMBERG — NAIROBI

Kenya needs to amend its constitution to enable the East African nation to end “senseless cycles of violence” that have plagued elections for the past two decades, President Uhuru Kenyatta said.

The comments are the latest signal the president may call for a referendum on changes to governance structures.

A panel picked by Kenyatta and Raila Odinga, his biggest rival in elections in 2017, have proposed reforms to end Kenya’s winner-takes-all political system.

The 2010 constitution was drafted in response to the dis-puted 2007 vote that led to the death of more than 1,100 people, and was meant to decentralize power, create accountable government and share resources more equitably.

This is “not a moment to replace the 2010 constitution, but one to improve on it,” Ken-yatta, the son of the nation’s first president, said in a speech to mark Independence Day.

“A moment that we right what we didn’t get correct in 2010.”

The National Assembly is due to consider a proposed law on referendums this month.

Zimbabwe summons US envoy over remarks on Floyd protestsBLOOMBERG — HARARE

Zimbabwe summoned the US ambassador over a White House official’s remarks suggesting the southern African nation is exploiting protests over the killing of George Floyd.

After Senator Marco Rubio said on Twitter that at least three unidentified “foreign adversaries” used social media to stoke and promote violence in the US, National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien later

identified Zimbabwe, China and Iran among America’s adversaries.

Protests erupted across the US at the weekend demanding justice for Floyd, who died after a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for more than eight minutes during an arrest for an alleged counterfeit $20 bill.

“I want to tell our foreign adversaries, whether it’s a Zim-babwe or a China, that the dif-ference between us and you is that that officer who killed

George Floyd, he’ll be investi-gated, he’ll be prosecuted, he’ll receive a fair trial,” O’Brien said in an interview with broad-caster ABC.

“The American people that want to go out and protest peacefully, they’re going to be allowed to seek redress from their government, they’re not going to be thrown in jail for peaceful protesting.”

In a statement issued after he met Foreign Minister Sibusiso Moyo yesterday, US Ambassador to Zimbabwe Brian

Nichols highlighted the state’s failure to bring to justice those responsible for the disap-pearance of opposition activists including Patrick Nabanyama and Itai Dzamara.

Nick Mangwana, a spokesman for Zimbabwe’s government, said the nation doesn’t consider itself an adversary of the US gov-ernment. The US is Zimbabwe’s biggest aid donor.

“We prefer having friends and allies to having unhelpful adversity with any other nation

including the USA,” said Man-gwana in a statement on his official Twitter account. George Charamba, a spokesman for President Emmerson Mnangagwa, declined to comment.

O’Brien said the foreign adversaries will face repercus-sions, without specifying what they’ll be.

“There’ll be a response and it’ll be proportional, but this is not something that our adver-saries are going to get away with for free,” he said.

DR Congo confirms new Ebola caseANATOLIA — KIGALI

The Democratic Republic of Congo confirmed a new case of Ebola in the western province of Equateur, the health minister said.

The new case was confirmed in the Mbandaka area, over 1,000km from the ongoing outbreak in the country’s east, Eteni Longondo told reporters in the capital Kinshasa.

He added that a team of health experts is being dispatched to Mbandaka to support response teams. In 2018, the Bikoro area of the Equateur province experienced an Ebola outbreak which killed 33 people. Since the August 2018 outbreak in the provinces of North Kivu and Ituri, Ebola has claimed nearly 2,300 lives.

The new outbreak in Mbandaka represents a challenge, but it is one we are ready to tackle, Matshidiso Moeti, World Health Organization regional director for Africa, said in a tweet.

Citing a strengthened capacity to respond to outbreaks, she said that with each experience the response is faster and more effective.

Students of Al Haramain secondary school learn social studies as they attend their first day of reopened school in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, yesterday.

Tanzania reopens varsitiesdespite virus concernsAFP — DAR ES SALAAM

Universities in Tanzania reopened yesterday, despite a lack of clarity on the spread of coronavirus after the government decided to stop updating figures in April.

As students entered dozens of campuses across Tanzania for the first time since mid-March, there were only cursory efforts to impose measures preventing the spread of COVID-19.

New hand-washing stations were spottily used while crowded lecture halls made a mockery of social distancing, leaving some students concerned.

“My parents were not happy to allow me back to the college, but there’s no way since it’s the government order to resume classes,” said Chris-topher Andrew, one of around 6,000 students at Dar es Salaam University College of Education.

In one lecture hall, a teacher admonished students after most removed their masks as they sat down.

“Next time, if you don’t wear a mask you will not get access to my class,” the lecturer warned.

Student Aisha Abdul said it was impossible to follow hygiene guidance.

“It’s difficult to sit a metre apart because the course has a lot of students and that means the space is not enough to comply with social distancing principles,” she said.

Tanzania’s President John Magufuli has consist-ently downplayed the seri-ousness of the coronavirus pandemic, and his gov-ernment has not released official infection figures since April 29, when a total of 480 cases and 16 deaths had been recorded.

A government spokes-person said figures were not being released to avoid panic.

“Absence of data is actually my biggest worry,” said one concerned student, who did not want to be named.

“If the trend shows decreasing cases then why

should they worry to give us hope?” “We are forced to believe that COVID-19 cases have dropped,” he said, adding that despite the uncertainty, “I need to finish my degree, so there’s no way I can dodge classes.”

Others, however, wel-comed the reopening as a

chance to see friends and get out of their homes.

“I was bored staying home. This is the moment I have been waiting for!” said Salha Juma, adding that he would “take precautions”.

The political opposition, foreign governments and activists have all criticised

T a n z a n i a f o r h i d i n g information.

“It’s important we get com-plete and regular information so that we know the direction and can take relevant deci-sions,” said Onesmo Ole-Ngu-rumwa, national coordinator of the Tanzania Human Rights Defenders Coalition.

Burkina Fasoaid convoyattack toll up

AFP — OUAGADOUGOU

The death toll from a weekend attack on an aid convoy in Burkina Faso rose to 13 yesterday, the regional governor said, blaming “armed terrorists groups” for the ambush.

“The (death) toll is seven police and six civilians,” Centre-North regional gov-ernor Casimir Segueda told media after visiting survivors in hospital following the attack.

Burkina Faso has suffered from increasingly frequent and deadly attacks attributed to a number of militant groups—often referred to as “armed terrorist groups”— including the Group to Support Islam and Muslims (GSIM) and Islamic State in the Greater Sahara.

“Six other police officers are missing,” following the attack near the northern town of Barsalogho, he added.

Barsalogho mayor Abdoulaye Pafadnam con-firmed the fatalities toll, adding that more than 40 people had been hospitalised in the town with seven of the more seriously injured taken to a regional clinic at nearby Kaya.

An earlier provisional toll had listed ten dead—five civilians and five gendarmes.

The humanitarian convoy had been returning from the northern town of Foube after making a food delivery.

At least 53 people have been killed in a string of attacks in recent days in the west African country.

An attack on a livestock market in the east of the country earlier Saturday claimed at least 25 lives -- 30 according to local people.

“Units of the armed forces were able to seize the Al Assabia area this morning after a string of air strikes” on forces backing the Government of National Accord, said a spokesman for Haftar’s forces.

India cautiously opensup despite upwardtrend in new infectionsAGENCIES — NEW DELHI

More states opened up and crowds of commuters trickled onto the roads in many of India’s cities yesterday as a three-phase plan to lift the nationwide coronavirus lockdown began despite an upward trend in new infections.

Businesses and shops reo-pened in many states and the railways announced 200 more special passenger trains. Some states also opened their borders, allowing vehicular traffic.

The coastal state of Mahar-ashtra, home to the financial hub of Mumbai and Bollywood, allowed the resumption of film production with some restric-tions in place. In New Delhi, the capital, authorities announced the reopening of all industries and salons, while keeping the borders sealed until June 8 to try to prevent a spike in new virus cases.

Although social distancing and the wearing of masks in public are still mandatory across India, some people were seen forgoing both in many places. Others violated

lockdown rules. In Prayagraj, a city in northern India’s Uttar Pradesh state, hundreds of Hindu devotees took a dip in the sacred Ganges river even though congregations at reli-gious venues remain barred.

But as India eases more restrictions, it continues to report a rise in infections.

India yesterday climbed to the seventh spot in countries worst hit by the virus, passing Germany and France, as its con-firmed cases rose to more than 190,000, including over 5,400 deaths.

The first phase of the easing of the lockdown, called Unlock

1, will restrict curbs to con-tainment zones — areas that have been isolated due to coro-navirus outbreaks. It gives states more power to decide and strategise lockdown imple-mentations locally.

More than 60 percent of the country’s virus fatalities have been reported in only two states — Maharashtra and neigh-bouring Gujarat. The new cases are largely concentrated in six states, including New Delhi.

Critics fear that the lockdown, which started over two months ago, is being eased too soon. There are concerns that the virus may be spreading through India’s villages as mil-lions of jobless migrant workers return home from big cities.

Experts warn that the pan-demic has yet to peak in India, and many states have begun to identify more high-risk zones where coronavirus lockdowns will continue until June 30. But restaurants, malls and religious venues are permitted to reopen elsewhere on June 8.

Meanwhile, long queues stretched outside railway sta-tions in major cities yesterday.

Rail services, apart from the movement of some essential cargo, were abruptly halted in late March ahead of efforts to contain the virus that froze almost all economic activity, putting millions out of work overnight.

At least 149,000 passengers were expected to board trains yesterday as Indian Railways ramped up the number of journeys from 30 to 200.

Almost 2.6 million people are booked to travel in June on interstate trains -- a network which normally carries over 20 million passengers a day, the

railway ministry said.Railway police in the

southern city of Secunderabad organised passengers into two 500-metre long queues outside the station under the sizzling summer sun.

At New Delhi railway station, some people waiting outside were unable to get a sought-after ticket.

In a radio address to the nation on Sunday, Prime Min-ister Narendra Modi cautioned citizens and asked them to remain vigilant.

“Becoming careless or lack-adaisical cannot be an option,”

he said. Modi’s government has stressed that restrictions are being eased to focus on pro-moting economic activity, which has been severely hit by the lockdown.

India implemented the lockdown - one of the world’s strictest - on March 25, ordering everyone to stay inside, except for emergencies and essential services, leading to a sudden halt to the economy. The lockdown was brutally devas-tating for daily laborers and migrant workers, who fled cities on foot for their family homes in the countryside.

Vehicles queue in a long traffic jam at Delhi-Gurugram border after few restrictions were lifted during an extended nationwide lockdown to slow the spread of the coronavirus disease, in New Delhi, yesterday.

US anti-racism

protests stretch

to distant

New Zealand

AFP — WELLINGTON

Protests sweeping the United States over the death of George Floyd reverberated on the other side of the globe yesterday when thousands marched in solidarity on the streets of New Zealand.

The rallies were peaceful in contrast to the days of some-times violent protests in the US after Floyd, an African-American, died while hand-cuffed and as a white police officer, who has since been charged with third-degree murder, knelt on his neck.

In Auckland, about 2,000 people marched to the US Con-sulate chanting “no justice, no peace” and “black lives matter”.

Another 500 gathered in Christchurch, with a similar number standing in the rain at an evening vigil at Parliament in Wellington where they were presented with hundreds of names said to be Americans who have died due to racial injustice.

Nigerian-New Zealand musician, Mazbou Q, who organised the protest, said the gatherings were not just about the death of Floyd.

“The... persecution of the black community is an ongoing phenomenon. The same white supremacy which has led to disproportionate killings of black people in the US exists here in New Zealand,” he told the crowd in Auckland.

“We pride ourselves on being a nation of empathy, kindness and love. But the silence from the government and the media does not reflect that at all. In fact, it makes us complicit.”

Australia relaxes curbs further and intensifies recovery effortsREUTERS — SYDNEY

Several Australian states eased social distancing restrictions further yesterday, allowing restaurants to host more people and public attractions to reopen, as the government moves to revive an ailing economy through accelerated infrastructure spending.

Australia has recorded about 7,200 coronavirus cases and 103 deaths. And, with new infections now largely under control, the government has embarked on a three-step plan to remove the bulk of curbs by July.

In Australia’s most pop-ulous state, New South Wales (NSW), a maximum of 50 people are now allowed to sit down for a meal in a cafe or restaurants, while 20 can attend a funeral. The previous limits were set at 10.

Public attractions, such as art galleries, museums, and libraries and zoos were also allowed to reopen.

“It’s pretty crazy being back out into society and we’re super excited to get to the zoo,” Eliz-abeth Conlon, who took her two kids to Sydney’s Taronga Zoo, said.

“They were very excited this morning, getting up and knowing that it was a zoo day. We used to come to the zoo all the time as well, so it’s very exciting to get back here.” While reopening public spaces

for the first time in several months, authorities have said there will be limits on the number of people allowed to enter in a bid to ensure there is no second wave of infections.

Each site will need to ensure a social distancing norm of 1.5 metres between visitors is observed at all time.

In Victoria state, which has taken the most cautious approach to reopening, restau-rants and cafes reopened yes-terday. However, patrons are restricted to a maximum of 20 people.

Australia hopes removing restrictions will boost eco-nomic growth, though Prime Minister Scott Morrison said yesterday that additional, tar-geted stimulus would be needed.

Australia’s government and central bank has pledged about A$250bn ($167bn) in stimulus, though the bulk of this is expected to end by September.

The government is consid-ering a plan to offer home-owners one-off grants for ren-ovations, while federal infra-structure projects will be bought forward, Morrison said.

He added that the gov-ernment plans to spend another A$5.25bn to extend a train route to a airport being con-structed in the west of Sydney.

“A big part of coming out of the COVID-19 crisis is our infrastructure spending,” Mor-rison told 2GB Radio.

Cyclone to cross Maharashtra, Gujarat coasts in 2 daysIANS — NEW DELHI

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) yesterday said that the depression in the Arabian Sea is slated to further intensify into a cyclonic storm ‘Nisarga’ and cross north Maharashtra and Gujarat coasts between Hari-hareshwar in Raigard district and Daman tomorrow.

According to IMD’s scientist Ananda Kumar Das, the depression is located about 370 kilometres southwest of Goa’s Panjim, 690km south-southwest of Mumbai and 920 kilometres south-south-west of Gujarat’s Surat.

“It is very likely to move nearly northwards initially till June 2 morning and then recurve north-northeastwards and cross north Maharashtra and south Gujarat coasts between Harihareshwar (Raigad, Maharashtra) and Daman during evening or night of June 3,” Das stated.

Harihareshwar town is over 200km from both Mumbai and Pune, and is over 360km from Daman.

The well-marked low-pressure area over the south-east and adjoining east-central Arabian Sea and Lakshadweep area had concentrated into a

depression in the early hours on Monday morning.

A low pressure area and a depression are the first two levels on the IMD’s eight-cat-egory scale used to classify cyclones based on their intensity.

The depression is likely to intensify into a deep depression by Monday evening. It will further become furious and turn into a cyclonic storm in the wee hours of the morning on June 2 and then into a severe cyclonic storm by evening or night of June 3.

When it becomes a severe cyclonic storm, it will have a wind speed of 105-115, gusting to

125km per hour at 5.30pm on June 3. According to the IMD, it again will weaken into a cyclonic storm with wind speed of 60-70, gusting to 80 kilometre per hour at 5.30pm on June 4.

IMD’s cyclone track shows that Nisarga will cross very close to the Mumbai coast while entering the land.

Maharashtra and Gujarat are on pre-cyclone alert as very heavy to extremely heavy rainfall is expected in parts of the states on June 3 and June 4. Fishermen are advised not to venture into t he sea for the next few days as it is expected to be very rough.

Swab test in Sri LankaA medical professional (left) uses a swab to collect a sample from a man for a COVID-19 test, in Colombo, Sri Lanka yesterday.

Singapore to overhaul worker dorms after virus outbreakBLOOMBERG — SINGAPORE CITY

Singapore, which has been coping with an outbreak of coronavirus infections among its foreign workers living in tightly spaced dormitories, plans to build additional facil-ities with better standards. They will not come cheap, and some will be located closer to resi-dential areas in the tiny island nation, the government cautioned.

The country plans to create extra space to house around 60,000 workers by the end of this year, the ministries of national development and manpower said on Monday in a joint statement. Longer term, there will also be new purpose-built dormitories to house up to 100,000 workers to replace the short to medium-term housing, they said.

“Given our land constraints,

some dormitories will inevi-tably be located closer to resi-dential areas,” the ministries said in the statement.

“Singaporeans must therefore do our part too. We must reject the Not in My Backyard mind-set and instead appreciate these workers who keep Singapore going.”

The new facilities may be developed on a different model compared to the present system, where currently land is released for the commercial operators to bid, build or operate, the statement said. The additional and improved housing arrangements will also come at a cost.

Authorities say specifica-tions for the new facilities will look into their design, facilities, management and regulation, as well as factor in social inter-action and disease-response needs.

These improved standards that will be piloted at new quick build dormitories may include less than 10 beds per room, and at least one toilet, bathroom and sink to five beds, according to the government.

The announcement comes as Singapore today enters the first of three phases to ease partial lockdown measures that have been in place since the beginning of April. With the end of the so-called “circuit breaker,” more businesses and schools will be allowed to open, while about a third of employees will be able to resume work on site.

As of Monday at noon, the city-state confirmed 408 new Covid-19 infections, all of whom were among migrant workers living in often cramped dormi-tories. That brings the total figure up to over 35,000, more than 90 percent of which are

among such workers.Face Masks, Shields Sepa-

rately on Monday, authorities said masks would be required as a default for those going out, as Singapore moves into the first of its phased reopening. Previously during the partial lockdown, face shields had also been permitted along with masks.

“With the re-opening of our economy and society, we can expect more activities and close contact amongst people, including on public transport. So masks will now be required as the default,” the Ministry of Health said in a statement.

“The design of face shields

typically leaves a gap between the face shield and the face.” There will be some exceptions to the must-have mask rule, allowing some groups to go on using face shields. These include children twelve years and below; people who have breathing or other medical dif-ficulties when using a mask; and those speaking to a group in a classroom or lecture-style setting.

Singapore, with a popu-lation of just 5.7 million, has the highest number of reported cases in Southeast Asia followed by Indonesia, which as of Monday had nearly 27,000 con-firmed infections.

07TUESDAY 2 JUNE 2020 ASIA

Authorities say specifications for the new facilities will look into their design, facilities, management and regulation, as well as factor in social interaction and disease-response needs.

In New Delhi, authorities announced the reopening of all industries and salons, while keeping the borders sealed until June 8 to try to prevent a spike in new virus cases.

Pandemics usually end when there aren’t enough people left to infect, or when human intervention - through vaccines, or brute-force measures such as isolation or quarantine - scores a decisive victory. We’re not there yet. But the feeling of getting closer is palpable, and worth relishing.

08 TUESDAY 2 JUNE 2020VIEWS

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Quote of the day

If G7 takes place in an expanded and face-to-

face format this year, it will be a milestone in

preparations for the post-coronavirus era. It will

also herald that the world is returning to a normal

life and economy.

Moon Jae-in, President of South Korea

Medical workers watch the ‘Blue-Impulse’ aerobatic team of Japan Air Self-Defense Force as they fly over the Self-Defense Forces Central Hospital to salute the medical workers at the frontline of the fight against the coronavirus disease in Tokyo.

The story of COVID-19 has been pretty bleak, from the scale of the novel coronavi-rus’s death toll to the pain of draconian lockdowns imposed by, in many cases, unprepared and under-resourced governments.

But several weeks after the tentative lifting of tough stay-at-home restrictions in several major European countries, there are reasons to be optimistic about the risk of a second wave of cases - with a dose of appropriate caution.

In France, the government is forging ahead with the reo-pening of bars, restaurants, museums, parks and cross-country travel after the first phase of “deconfinement” went much better than expected. The daily increase in cases here averaged around 0.5% last week, according to Bloomberg data, and the virus’s basic repro-duction rate is below 1, according to the French gov-ernment and other estimates based on hospitalizations.

Elsewhere, Italy, Germany and Spain have also avoided serious flare-ups in cases and deaths as restrictions are eased. It’s similar in Austria and Denmark, which lifted lockdowns back in April. Weekly confirmed cases show the continuation of a declining trend. That’s despite people going out and about once again, albeit with face masks and hand gel, and a stay on big-crowd events for now.

Retail and recreational footfall in these countries, which was near zero during the lockdown, has recovered to around 50% below the pre-crisis baseline, according to Google data. In parks and public spaces, it’s back to normal. Con-sumers are even booking flights again. Visions of a radi-cally new society emerging from the rubble of COVID-19 may have to be rethought.

There’s no consensus yet on why things are going rela-tively well. Some experts say the virus itself may have changed, possibly weakened by the summer heat or mutating into a more benign form. Society has changed,

too. More social distancing, more hand-washing and more tools such testing and contact tracing are proving their worth.

Whatever the reason, doctors are increasingly voicing relief and optimism. “Of course, we shouldn’t lower our guard...But right now, it’s as if the epidemic was behind me,” French medical professor Frederic Adnet said last week. On Friday, Christian Drosten, a virologist at the Charite Uni-versity Hospital in Berlin, told Der Spiegel he was confident the outbreak could be kept under control without another lockdown: “There is theoreti-cally a possibility that we can forego a second wave.”

None of this means that the virus has disappeared. Areas such as Latin America are still being hit hard. The World Health Organization says the strength of the virus in the developing world indi-cates we are globally still in the first wave, rather than past it.

Nor does it make sense for all countries to lift restric-tions to the same extent. Sci-entists in the U.K., where daily case growth has been higher than in neighboring countries, have expressed concern about curbs being eased too fast. It’s pretty unlikely we are any-where near herd immunity, and if the virus is a seasonal one, a return in the winter months can’t be ruled out.

Still, countries in Europe are proving they can return to some semblance of normal life while containing the virus’s spread, and this is a very pos-itive development. We’re far better prepared to

contain “super-spreader” events than at the beginning of the epidemic, when the virus thrived below the surface. Earlier this month, more than 100 infec-tions were traced to a service in a German church, which closed its doors as a result.

And economic activity is recovering, as captured by the quite rational rally in financial markets. Bank of America analysts expect key indicators to point to an expanding euro-zone economy by Sep-tember at the latest.

If infections from the novel coronavirus or another one like it do spike again, we will have had more time to keep researching existing drugs for possible treatments, as well as working on the more distant goal of a vaccine. The extra resources being poured into testing, medical research and hos-pitals should help us avoid the worst of both worlds - high excess deaths and blanket, economy-killing lockdown measures - even if cases climb.

The scenario of this virus simply disappearing, perhaps in the way the 2003 SARS disease did, remains a dream. Pandemics usually end when there aren’t enough people left to infect, or when human intervention - through vaccines, or brute-force measures such as isolation or quarantine - scores a decisive victory. We’re not there yet. But the feeling of getting closer is palpable, and worth relishing.

Lionel Laurent is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering Brussels.

JAMIL ZAKI THE WASHINGTON POST

What if pandemic trauma could inspire personal growth around the world?

The psychological toll of COVID-19 is still evolving but already staggering. Calls to mental health and suicide crisis hotlines have soared, and anxiety and depression have more than tripled com-pared with early 2019. The pandemic is a slow, ambient tragedy that chips away at stability. Outside our homes, safety is never assured. Tradi-tional places of refuge, including schools and houses of worship, are a threat. Eco-nomic and social systems are collapsing underneath us.

Sudden awareness of how little we control is reminiscent of how researchers describe traumas: as seismic psycho-logical events. People tend to believe that the world is

generally safe; traumas such as war and assault shatter those assumptions and make it difficult for survivors to regain a sense of normalcy.

A trauma lens offers useful perspective for understanding how the pandemic affects mental and emotional health and, surprisingly, some hope for how we all might grow through it. When an earth-quake topples a building, archi-tects are unlikely to rebuild exactly what was there as before. Elevators might have been too small, hallways too gloomy. Reconstruction offers a chance to build back better.

Trauma survivors often do something similar. They might change careers to better fit their values or seek out estranged relatives. Many report greater purpose, spirit-uality, empathy and appreci-ation of life, as well as strengthened relationships. These positive changes are

known as post-traumatic growth, or PTG. Though less famous than post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), post-traumatic growth appears common. A 2019 meta-study found that more than half of the 10,000-plus trauma sur-vivors surveyed reported at least some growth.

Crises can produce a col-lective version of post-trau-matic growth. More than 60 years of research demon-strates that after bombings, tsunamis, earthquakes and hurricanes, people tend to work together, act selflessly and care more deeply for one another. After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, volun-teering and charitable dona-tions shot up across the United States. Likewise, psy-chologists’ surveys after the 2004 bombings in Madrid found that the attacks socially magnetized Spaniards - cre-ating a flurry of emotional

conversations that led to decreased loneliness and increased solidarity. Surveys of war-torn communities across the world have found evidence of noticeably increased civic engagement and altruism.

For all its horrors, the COVID-19 pandemic has unearthed wells of empathy and togetherness. People in many countries have created “mutual aid” forms to help vul-nerable neighbors. Social dis-tancing is a global act of social cooperation, one in which people are more willing to engage when it is framed as an act of kindness rather than self-preservation. Post-traumatic growth differs from recovery. It is not a return to “normal” but the creation of a stronger new normal. And while, of course, no one wanted a pandemic, the United States could in many ways benefit from cultural shifts.

What if we can avoid a second wave?

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The trauma of the pandemic can inspire personal growth

Established in 1996

LIONEL LAURENT BLOOMBERG

A LEARNING society is really an asset for global pros-perity and it plays a key role in the overall development of any nation. This is the sole reason why the State of Qatar gives prime importance to the promotion of education, not just at national level but internationally too. The nation calls for relentless, meritorious and hassle-free edu-cation process across the globe even during calam-ities, conflicts and other disturbances.

Cognizant of the significance of education in sus-tainable development, Qatar has also kept education as one among the eight pillars of development with economic diversification, environment sustainability, healthcare, social protection, public safety and security, culture and sports, and international technical cooperation. The nation firmly believes that sustainable development can only be realised when there is social progress, economic growth and environmental change and has been committed to achieving sustainable development since 1971.

The adoption of the proposal made by H H Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, Chairperson of Education Above All and member of the UN Sustainable Development Goals’ Advocates, by United Nations General Assembly puts spotlight on Qatar’s huge strides towards the cause and is really a recognition of the efforts Qatar has been taking on global level for the promotion of education.

The proposal calls for the allocation of September 9 as “International Day to Protect Education from Attacks”, a resolution advocated and led by Qatar to mobilise international support in order to ensure accountability for the persistent and deliberate attacks on education and the armed violence from which children around the world are suffering.

According to the Minister of Education and Higher Edu-cation, H E Dr. Mohamed bin Abdulwahed Al Hammadi, this reaffirms the fact that Qatar is proving education is its strategic choice that it has taken over two decades ago under the supervision of Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser. “The adoption of the draft resolution came during the crisis of COVID-19 pandemic, which had a profound impact on all aspects of life to emphasise the importance of education and schools as a safe haven for children against any attack, especially during armed conflicts targeting edu-cational institutions.”

Even during the current COVID-19 pandemic, the nation was taking all possible and effective measures to ensure the safety of students and all government organ-isations worked hand-in-hand to avoid any disruption in education. By launching virtual classrooms and creating an atmosphere conducive for learning during the pan-demic, Qatar showed once again its unique mettle and determination in leading students further braving all odds. This is a prestigious moment for the whole nation as it added one more golden feather on Qatar’s crown and the nation owes much to H H Sheikha Moza for lifting nation’s pride to new horizons through this proposal.

Lifting nation’s pride

09TUESDAY 2 JUNE 2020 ASIA

Overseas Pakistanisirked at Minister’sremark on flight costsINTERNEWS — LONDON

The statement by Federal Minister for Aviation Ghulam Sarwar Khan that overseas Pakistanis who cannot pay the extra costs incurred for special flights should stay where they are, instead of returning to Pakistan, has drawn criticism from overseas Pakistanis including members of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) as well.

“People are not happy in any condition. If an empty plane is sent to the US and it returns with 50 percent occupancy who will bear the expenses,” the avi-ation minister had said during a press conference, referring to overseas Pakistanis. “Obviously, the ones who are coming will bear them. If they can’t afford it, they shouldn’t come.”

The minister went on to say that such a policy was abso-lutely justifiable and was not unfair because if overseas Paki-stanis wanted to return to their country in urgency, then they would have to pay the extra cost for it.

The statement has been criticised by various overseas Pakistanis, who say they donate to causes in Pakistan without a

second thought, but fail to receive due consideration from Islamabad when they them-selves are in trouble.

Previously, an issue was raised when overseas Paki-stanis stuck in Pakistan were unable to return to their coun-tries due to the ban on interna-tional air travel in Pakistan. Many overseas Pakistanis bought a ticket multiple times but were unable to go back to their country.

Senior PTI UK official and Punjab Overseas Commission Advisory Board member, Asif Khan, ‘strongly condemned’ the statement by the Sarwar. He said that the government should not take overseas

Pakistanis for granted and noted that they were always ready to serve their country. He said that overseas Pakistanis were “not sheep or voiceless people”.

“Most countries in the world repatriated their citizens free of cost or at subsidised rates due to the COVID-19 pan-demic,” said former Punjab Assembly member, Dr Ashraf Chohan. “The way the aviation minister is saying that people should pay extra shows that he is unable to do anything for the plight of overseas Pakistanis and shows that his government can’t do anything for them.”

Commenting on the situ-ation, Solicitor Sheikh Asif Salam, said: “Pakistan has always been highly dependent on foreign remittances and arguments like the one from the aviation minister justifying exorbitant fares for those being brought back to the country in the pandemic is deplorable.”

“If there is an extraordinary situation, the state should provide relief to us without expecting extraordinary costs.”

The aviation minister issued a clarification and said that his comments were twisted and used against him.

The Federal Minister for Aviation, Ghulam Sarwar Khan, said that overseas Pakistanis who cannot pay extra costs incurred for special flights should stay where they are, instead of returning to Pakistan.

Pakistan condemns

India’s declaring

of diplomats as

persona non grata

INTERNEWS — ISLAMABAD

Pakistan has strongly condemned the Indian government’s decision to declare two officials of Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi as persona non grata, requiring them to leave India within 24 hours.

Foreign Office spokes-person Aisha Farooqui in a statement said the Indian action has been accompanied by a negative pre-planned and orchestrated media campaign, which is a part of persistent anti-Pakistan propaganda.

She said the two staff members of Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi were lifted by Indian author-ities yesterday on false and unsubstantiated charges. They were, however, released on intervention by the High Commission.

Pakistan PM defends decisionto lift lockdown; cases surgeAFP — ISLAMABAD

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan announced yesterday his government would end several months of coronavirus restric-tions, even as it emerged cases of the disease are likely many times higher than previously thought. In a televised address, Khan said impoverished Pakistan cannot afford to keep businesses closed and said almost all sectors — including domestic tourism — would re-open.

His announcement came shortly after an alarming gov-ernment report was leaked to the media that showed cases of novel coronavirus in the eastern city of Lahore are estimated to be at about 670,800. “No workplace

and residential area of any town (in the Lahore region) is disease-free,” the report notes.

Officially, about 72,000 people have tested positive, with 1,543 deaths, across all of Pakistan. The daily rate of new cases is accelerating.

The report by Punjab health officials, cited limited random-sample tests finding that in some parts of the city of about 11 million people, almost 15 percent of the population are positive. “I request you all to please follow SOPs (standard operating pro-cedures), as we are opening eve-rything on the conditions of these SOPs,” Khan said in his address, warning people will suffer if they do not take precautions.

“Unfortunately, the way

lockdown occurred, that was very painful for our lower class,” Khan said, adding that the lockdown had affected the coun-try’s tax-revenue collections.

He defended his decision to reopen, arguing lockdowns don’t stop the virus. “You will have to understand this coronavirus, it’s not going to go unless a vaccine is discovered. We have to live with the coronavirus. The entire world has reached this con-clusion,” Khan said, pointing to eased restrictions in US states. “Today, America, the richest country in the world, where 100,000 people have died because of corona, they too have decided that their economy would collapse if they (continue) a lockdown,” Khan said.

People wearing face masks buy mobile phones at a shop in a market in Rawalpindi, yesterday.

US ‘interference’ in Hong Kong bound to fail: ChinaANATOLIA — ANKARA

China yesterday termed US’ move to end some trading priv-ileges for Hong Kong “a violation of international law,” saying such attempts will fail.

At a news briefing in Beijing, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Zhao Lijian, said: “The US interference in China’s national security legislation for Hong Kong has completely vio-lated basic principles of inter-national law and international relations and is bound to fail,” daily Global Times reported.

On Friday, Trump ordered his administration to halt Hong Kong’s preferential treatment under US law in retaliation for China’s decision to apply a national security law to the semi-autonomous territory.

China’s National People’s Congress, the country’s top leg-islative body, formally passed the Hong Kong security legis-lation on Thursday. Activists fear it will be used by Beijing to quash dissent in the territory.

Hong Kong, a semi-auton-omous region under China since 1997, last year witnessed months of protests against a move to legalise extradition to mainland China. The Beijing statement

also came after local gov-ernment in Hong Kong said the specially administered region was “an inalienable part of China”. The Hong Kong admin-istration led by Carrie Lam expressed “deep regret” that the US government continued to “smear and demonise the legit-imate rights” and duty of China towards Hong Kong.

Trump had said that Beijing, by instituting the controversial law, “unilaterally imposed control over Hong Kong’s security.” The Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said passing the buck to China over COVID-19 “can neither help to

tame the virus nor save lives”.“We persuade those US pol-

iticians who are busy politicizing coronavirus to focus on the anti-epidemic works,” Zhao said. Coronavirus was first reported in China’s Wuhan city in last December and spread to more than 188 countries and regions, affecting nearly 6.19 million people. Over 372,000 people have died due to the infection.

On China’s border conflict with India, Zhao said: “Situation on China-India border is gen-erally stable and under control and the two sides are keeping diplomatic and military commu-nication lines open.”

A pro-democracy demonstrator wearing a face mask waves the British colonial Hong Kong flag during a protest against new national security legislation in Hong Kong, China, yesterday.

HK blocks Tiananmen vigil; rush on for UK passportsAP — HONG KONG

Hong Kong police rejected an application yesterday by organ-isers for an annual candlelight vigil marking the anniversary this week of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown, as residents rushed to apply for passports that could allow them to move to the United Kingdom It would be the first time in 30 years that the vigil, which draws a huge crowd to an outdoor space, is not

held in Hong Kong. The vigil commemorates China’s deadly military crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989.

The decision follows a vote by China’s ceremonial par-liament to bypass Hong Kong’s legislature and enact national security legislation for the semi-autonomous territory. Democracy activists and many legal experts worry that the law

could curtail free speech and opposition political activities.

Throngs of people lined up yesterday at DHL courier outlets across the city, many to send documents to the UK to apply for or renew what is known as a British National (Overseas) passport.

“My BNO passport expired in 2004, but at the time I didn’t renew it because I trusted China,” said 40-year-old Peter Chan, who works in asset

management and waited in line for more than two hours. Chan said he was worried about political and security issues in Hong Kong stemming from the national security law as well as a push by the territory’s legis-lature to enact a bill that would make it illegal to insult the Chinese national anthem. Even though there is rising anti-immi-grant and anti-Asian sentiment in the UK, “it’s still better than Hong Kong,” he said.

Black boxes from crashed Pakistan jet head to France for analysisREUTERS — PARIS/KARACHI

Air crash investigators were en route from Pakistan to France yesterday with two ‘black box’ flight recorders of a Pakistani airliner that crashed in a resi-dential area while trying to land in the port city of Karachi last month, airport officials said.

An Airbus test plane, unu-sually commissioned to transport the boxes because of disruption from the corona-virus crisis, was due to arrive yesterday afternoon at Le Bourget near Paris where France’s BEA air accident agency was standing by to open them.

The French agency is involved in the Pakistan-led probe because the crashed A320 was designed by France-based Airbus, and is addi-tionally carrying out the crucial task of decoding the recorders because it has state-of-the-art equipment.

The A320 operated by Pakistan International Airlines

crashed short of the runway on May 22, killing 97 people on board after the pilots reported the loss of both engines.

Two passengers survived and there were no reports of casualties on the ground. The crash site remained sealed off on Monday.

BEA experts are expected to open and download infor-mation from the boxes - one containing cockpit voice recordings and the other air-craft data - on Tuesday, subject to the recording chips being intact inside their crash-resistant shells.

Initial reports suggested the jetliner scraped its engines along the runway on a first attempt to land following what appeared to be an unstable approach, arriving steep and fast.

Investigators will analyse the cockpit data to try to under-stand whether damage to the engines from the first landing attempt caused them to cut out before the second attempt.

North Korea to

reopen schools

as fears easeAFP — SEOUL

North Korea will reopen schools this month after shut-tering them over the corona-virus pandemic, reports said yesterday.

Pyongyang has not con-firmed a single infection but has imposed strict rules, including closing its borders and putting thousands of its people into isolation.

The new school term – ini-tially scheduled to start early April — has been repeatedly postponed, although some universities and high schools were allowed to resume classes in mid-April.

Manila reopens despite jump in virus casesAFP — MANILA

Manila emerged yesterday from one of the world’s longest coro-navirus lockdowns as the Phil-ippines seeks to repair its badly damaged economy even as the number of new infections surges.

Streets in the capital were choked with traffic and limited public transport resumed as commuters flooded back to work in the city of 12 million after nearly three months of

strict home quarantine. Most businesses have been allowed to reopen in the city, but schools, dine-in restaurants all remain shuttered.

“The virus is frightening but it’s either you die from the virus or you die from hunger,” salesman Himmler Gaston, 59, said as he entered the train station where commuters had their temperatures checked.

The Philippines has so far reported 18,638 cases and 960 deaths, but experts fear limited

testing means the true figures are likely much higher.

There has been a roughly 30 percent jump in new cases in the past week, which health officials said was mainly due to efforts to clear backlogs from laboratories as they boost testing.

Quarantine measures to contain the virus vary across the Philippines, but the strictest and longest lockdown has been in Manila, the centre of the country’s outbreak.

Fireworks displays cheer up virus-weary public across JapanAFP — TOKYO

Dozens of fireworks displays erupted simultaneously across Japan yesterday to cheer up the public, urge the gods to end the coronavirus pandemic and provide practice for struggling pyrotechnic artisans.

More than 160 manufac-turers launched their displays at precisely 8pm at secret loca-tions across the country for a five-minute display called “Cheer up Hanabi” (fireworks). In an era of social distancing,

the synchronised shows were designed to be long enough for people to rush to balconies or doorsteps to see them but too short for people to race to the launch sites.

With traditional summer festivals cancelled due to the coronavirus, fireworks artisans said they wanted to bring light to the skies during these dark times. “Historically fireworks in Japan have been launched to pray for the eradication of plagues and to console the spirits of the deceased,” Tokyo

craftsman Kouhei Ogatsu, 38, said.

“In the business we have been discussing what we can do in this society that has been changed so much by the coro-navirus,” and decided to hold shows nationwide to cheer up the public, he said.

The pandemic has been particularly harsh for fireworks producers who spend all year making and testing their crafts and now are unable to sell them because summer festivals have been called off, said Ogatsu,

whose family has run a fire-works business in Tokyo since 1864. Artisans need to keep making fireworks in order to maintain their skills. But they can only keep a certain amount of gunpowder by law, forcing them to search for ways to use their stock but avoid encour-aging crowds.

Even before the coronavirus spelled the end for many summer festivals, several fire-works displays had been rescheduled or cancelled due to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

10 TUESDAY 2 JUNE 2020EUROPE

2 million pupils returnto school in Englandas restrictions easeAFP — LONDON

Younger children went back to schools in England yesterday as Britain began to stir back to life, while the government reported the lowest coronavirus death toll since the start of the national lockdown in late March.

Outdoor markets also swung open their gates and car showrooms tried to lure back customers and recoup losses suffered since Britain effectively shut down for business to ward off a disease that has now offi-cially claimed 39,045 lives in the country.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said Britain was making “significant progress” against the virus after its daily toll dropped to 111 — the lowest since the stay-at-home order was issued on March 23.

Reporting of virus cases and fatalities is often lower after a weekend and many people still appeared hesitant to start using public transport or shop.

“It’s very different from usual,” Danish Londoner John Jellesmark said on a visit to the usually bustling Camden Market

in the north of the capital.“It’s still pretty slow. It looks

like the market is basically waking up.”

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has set out a timeline that allows two million younger children in England to return to school on Monday and older ones from June 15.

The devolved governments in Scotland and Northern Ireland are eyeing a return in August and September, while Wales is still weighing the ben-efits of human contact against the dangers of children catching the disease and bringing it home.

A survey conducted by the National Foundation for Edu-cational Research found that primary school leaders expect about half the families to keep their children home.

Principal Claire Syms at the Halley House School in east London said children who do turn up need to feel comfortable in an unfamiliar setting where the desks are spaced out and many around them wear masks.

“We’ve been really con-scious about keeping things as normal and as consistent as we can for our children,” Syms said.

“We’re really mindful of their wellbeing and their mental health.” The UK government has been encouraged by the positive experience of other European countries that have started to return to something resembling normal life.

The House of Commons will debate a government push to get everyone to start voting in person instead of remotely when parliament returns from a break today.

But critics of the easing believe the so-called R rate of transmission — estimated nationally at between 0.7 and

0.9 — was still dangerously close to the 1.0 figure above which the virus’ spread grows.

Scientists and lawmakers are not the only ones to express concern that the government’s “cautious and phased” reo-pening is moving too quickly.

“We’re only able to take these steps because of what we have achieved together so far,” finance minister Rishi Sunak said as he toured Tachbrook Market in central London.

London’s Metropolitan Police Federation chairman Ken

Marsh said current rules such as those allowing people to gather in groups of six in England were unenforceable.

“I don’t think the public are taking much notice of what is laid down in front of them,” Marsh told The Daily Telegraph. “They are doing it how they want to do it.” English parks and beaches have been inundated with people over two successive May weekends that came on the sunniest month ever recorded in Britain.

Police had warned after seeing growing numbers ignore

social distancing measures a week ago that they were serious about sanctioning those who gather in large groups.

But some London parks looked like one giant party on Sunday and police issued just a tiny fraction of the fines they had handed out before people were allowed to leave their homes more freely on May 13.

“Policing have told the gov-ernment that unless it’s a huge gathering, it’s pretty much unenforceable now,” a senior police source told The Daily Telegraph.

People buy food from a stall in Portobello Market in west London yesterday, following the easing of the lockdown restrictions to curb the spread of coronavirus pandemic.

Guggenheim

becomes Spain’s

first big museum

to reopen

AFP — MADRID

Bilbao’s Guggenheim Museum was Spain’s first large museum to reopen its doors as the country further loosened its lockdown yesterday, with 70 percent of the country enjoying beaches and restau-rants.

The t i tanium-clad museum, a landmark in the Basque city due to its curvy exterior designed by architect Frank Gehry, was opened on a reduced schedule of five hours which will continue throughout June, its website said.

All museums across Spain have been shuttered since the government declared a state of emergency in mid-March to slow the spread of the virus, which has claimed more than 27,000 lives in the country.

With the numbers of new cases and deaths slowing, Spain began a gradual, staged transition out of the lockdown which Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez hopes will be com-pleted by July 1.

During the rollback period, museums can reopen to vis-itors at between 30 to 50 percent of their normal capacity.

But some of the biggest museums, such as Madrid’s Prado and the Reina Sofia, have delayed their reopening until June 6.

By yesterday, much of the population was enjoying the second phase of the rollback under which beaches and res-taurants could open, along with cinemas, theatres and shopping centres, although with limited capacity.

Also yesterday, several smaller islands in the Canaries and the Balearics entered the third and final phase during which bars could fully reopen along with casinos, zoos and other entertainment venues.

Italian doctor’s claim virus ‘no longer exists’ sparks rowAFP — ROME

A claim by a leading Italian doctor that the new coronavirus “no longer exists” in the country sparked a furore yestgerday, with the government urging caution.

Italy is preparing this week for the next big step in easing a national lockdown imposed three months ago. From Wednesday, foreign tourists will be able to enter the country again and people will be able to move between regions.

But the government has insisted this is one of the most dangerous phases of a pan-demic that has claimed over

33,000 lives in the country.It has urged people to abide

by social distancing rules and wear masks to prevent the virus from spreading once again.

“In reality, the virus clini-cally no longer exists in Italy,” said Alberto Zangrillo, head of the San Raffaele Hospital in Milan, the capital of the northern Lombardy region, which has been the worst-hit by the pandemic.

“The swabs performed over the past 10 days have showed a viral load that is absolutely infinitesimal in quantitative terms compared to those carried out a month or two months ago,” he said in an

interview on RAI television on Sunday.

“Someone has to take responsibility for terrorising the country”.

That prompted cries of dis-belief from other experts, who said Zangrillo may have mis-taken a higher detection rate of asymptomatic cases for dimin-ished potency of the virus.

“In a situation where the numbers of severe cases are falling, there may be time to start observing people with less severe symptoms — giving the impression that the virus is changing,” said Martin Hibberd, a professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

Dr. Oscar MacLean, of the MRC-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research, said Zangrillo’s claims were “not supported by anything in the scientific literature, and also seem fairly implausible on genetic grounds”.

The government also said it was too early to celebrate.

“Pending scientific evidence to support the thesis that the virus has disappeared, I would invite those who say they are sure of it not to confuse Italians,” health ministry under-secretary Sandra Zampa said in a statement.

National Health Council head Franco Locatelli said he

was “baffled” by Zangrillo’s comments.

“It’s enough to look at the number of new positive cases confirmed every day to see the persistent circulation in Italy of the new coronavirus,” he said.

The director of the pres-tigious Spallazani infectious dis-eases institute in Rome, Giuseppe Ippolito, also said there was no scientific proof the virus had mutated or changed in potency.

A contact-tracing app to help the country avoid a virus relapse was being launched Monday in four of the country’s 20 regions, with others soon to follow.

French gyms gearing up for reopening

A worker disinfects a weight bench at the “Body Staff Gym” fitness centre in Artigues-pres-Bordeaux, southwestern France, as part of safety measures on the eve of the reopening of the gym.

Wildlife groups increase pressure on drug makers to curb crab blood useREUTERS — ZURICH

Wildlife advocates are pushing drug makers to curb their use of horseshoe crab blood by switching to a synthetic alter-native for safety tests, including those needed before a COVID-19 vaccine can be used for humans.

Every year, fishermen net hundreds of thousands of the creatures off the US East Coast

and Asia before their prized milky-blue blood is drained for use in medical safety tests that detect bacterial contamination in intravenous drugs and implants.

The National Audubon Society, Defenders of Wildlife and other groups called for greater use of a man-made option, called recombinant Factor C (rFC), in a statement released yesterday by umbrella

organisation the Horseshoe Crab Recovery Coalition.

They say this shift could save 100,000 horseshoe crabs annually on the US East Coast alone and help threatened migratory birds that depend on crab eggs for survival.

However the testing indus-try’s impact on the US crab pop-ulation is disputed, with varying estimates for post-bleeding mor-tality. Swiss biotech firm Lonza,

a leader in the field, said good stewardship had led to “stable to increasing” populations.

Regulatory hurdles to rFC also remain, with a US standards group last week cancelling plans to put the synthetic test on equal footing with industry-standard crab blood trials.

So far, just two drugs, both from Eli Lily, have been approved after relying on rFC for final endotoxin tests.

The wildlife groups pledged to target legislators and regu-lators to spur action.

“It is unfortunate that bio-medical research still relies on the harvesting of a vulnerable wild animal population when there is a simple, effective, sus-tainable replacement,” said Ryan Phelan, a campaigner with California-based conservation group Revive & Restore.

H o r s e s h o e c r a b s ’

copper-rich blood has helped the species survive for 450 million years — and made it a source of one of the drug indus-try’s most unusual raw mate-rials because it clots in the presence of bacterial endotoxins.

Drained from live crabs, the blood has long been the standard to detect contami-nation in shots, infusions and medical devices.

Hydroxychloroquine: A drug dividing opinion worldwideAFP — PARIS

Banned in some countries, promoted in others — the drug hydroxychloroquine as a potential treatment for the new coronavirus is dividing opinion worldwide.

Scientists looking to find licenced medicines that could be repurposed as a treatment for COVID-19 had started tests of hydroxychloroquine, nor-mally used to treat arthritis, and chloroquine, an anti-malarial.

Both drugs can produce potentially serious side effects, particularly heart arrhythmia, leading many experts to warn against their use outside of clinical trials.

But that has not stopped prominent figures like US Pres-ident Donald Trump endorsing hydroxychloroquine despite a lack of evidence of its efficacy.

Escalating the debate, The Lancet on May 22 published a study of nearly 100,000 coro-navirus patients that showed no benefit in treating them with the two drugs — and even increased the likelihood of them dying in hospital.

This led the World Health

Organisation to suspend clinical trials of hydroxychloroquine, but dozens of scientists have since raised concerns over the study’s methodology.

The Lancet corrected part of the data, but researchers have stood by their conclusions.

Countries worldwide vary on their own policies. The study prompts several countries to halt the use of hydroxychloroquine.

France does so on May 27, days after controversial French doctor Didier Raoult — whose own methodology has been questioned — rejected the study and stood by his belief the drug can help patients recover from the virus.

Other countries including Italy, Egypt, Tunisia, Colombia, Chile, El Salvador, Cape Verde, Albania, and Bosnia and Herze-govina also ban the use of the drug for COVID-19 patients, though in Italy it remains pos-sible in clinical trials.

Hungary meanwhile does not use the drug “for newly diagnosed patients” but con-tinues to do so “for patients who already started taking it”, according to a government

spokesperson.Even before the study some

countries had stopped using hydroxychloroquine for COVID-19 patients.

Sweden had used the drug in the early phases of the pan-demic to treat patients with severe symptoms, but halted its use in April after the European Medicines Agency recom-mended it only be used in clinical trials.

Germany too had judged that the current studies did not allow for the drug to be used on individual COVID-19 patients and it could only be used in clinical trials.

Several countries continue to promote the use hydroxy-chloroquine in the fight against the virus.

These include Brazil, Algeria, Morocco, Turkey, Jordan, Romania, Portugal, Kenya, Senegal, Chad and the Republic of Congo.

Russia, Bahrain, Oman and the United Arab Emirates have not yet suspended the use of the drug either, and in Iran recent social media posts of prescrip-tions show virus patients are still receiving it there.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said Britain was making “significant progress” against the virus after its daily toll dropped to 111 — the lowest since the stay-at-home order was issued on March 23.

11TUESDAY 2 JUNE 2020 EUROPE / AMERICAS

Moscow eases 9-week lockdown despite high casesAFP — MOSCOW

Moscow residents ventured out to exercise, stroll and shop yesterday as the city eased a strict nine-week lockdown, but millions remained largely confined to their homes as Russia recorded thousands more coronavirus cases.

President Vladimir Putin has ordered officials to begin easing restrictions despite Russia having the world’s third-highest number of confirmed infections, and was due yes-terday to be presented with an ambitious economic recovery plan. Putin said last week that Russia had passed the peak of its epidemic and is anxious to get the country moving again, especially in Moscow where he announced plans for huge mil-itary parade on June 24.

Russia continues to record a significant number of coro-navirus cases — with 9,035 new infections yesterday bringing its total to 414,878, behind only the United States and Brazil in the global tally.

Another 2,297 cases were recorded in Moscow, the epi-centre of the crisis in Russia.

Officials say the high

numbers are the result of large-scale testing and that a steady decline in new infections and a low reported death toll of 4,855 mean Russia can ease restric-tions. Critics have accused authorities of under-reporting deaths and of putting people at risk by moving too quickly to lift the most severe lockdown measures.

With more than half of the recorded cases in Moscow and the surrounding region, author-ities in the city of more than 12 million have been cautious in lifting restrictions in place since March 30.

Yesterday, retail shops and shopping malls were allowed to re-open and residents were able to exercise outdoors before 9am, but with masks required at all times and gloves needed

in shops and on public transport. At her shop selling handbags and jewellery in central Moscow, Olga said she was happy to be serving cus-tomers again.

“We opened two hours ago but we already have a few clients. I’m pretty optimistic, I think people will come back little by little.”

But millions of the city’s res-idents were still required to spend most of their time in their homes, with those allowed to work required to obtain official passes.

As a two-week test measure, Mayor Sergei Sob-yanin said residents will be allowed to take walks within two kilometres of their homes according to a staggered schedule based on their address.

The convoluted system — which allows walks between 9am and 9pm no more than three times a week — has drawn ridicule, with some quipping that life in Moscow was beginning to imitate dystopian

fiction such as the novels of Aldous Huxley and Yevgeny Zamyatin.

Popular comedian Maxim Galkin, who has nearly eight million followers on Instagram, released a sketch in which Putin

and Sobyanin discuss a “breathing schedule” for Moscow residents.

Restaurants, cafes and cinemas were to remain closed and no mass gatherings would be allowed until at least June 14.

People walk during rain on a street in downtown Moscow as residents venture out to exercise, stroll and shop as the city eased a strict nine-week lockdown, yesterday.

Russia continues to record a significant number of coronavirus cases — with 9,035 new infections yesterday bringing its total to 414,878, behind only the United States and Brazil in the global tally. Another 2,297 cases were recorded in Moscow, the epicentre of the crisis in Russia.

Russia to vote on July 1 on reforms that could extend Putin’s ruleREUTERS — MOSCOW

Russia will hold a nationwide vote on constitutional reforms on July 1, President Vladimir Putin said yesterday, setting the stage for a delayed ballot that could extend his rule until 2036.

Putin postponed the original vote, which had been set for April 22, because of the coronavirus outbreak, saying the health and safety of cit-izens was his top priority as the global coronavirus pan-demic worsened.

But he says the situation has now broadly stabilised and the number of coronavirus infections in Moscow has dropped sharply, allowing the

capital to start easing some restrictions. The changes that

Russians will vote on, already approved by parliament and

Russia’s Constitutional Court, would reset Putin’s presi-dential term tally to zero, allowing him to serve two more back-to-back six-year terms until 2036 if re-elected.

“I really hope the country’s citizens will take part actively in the vote on the amendments to the constitution,” Putin, whose current term ends in 2024, told a televised gov-ernment meeting.

Critics have dismissed the vote as a constitutional coup which they fear will be rigged and urged voters to stay away or to reject the proposed changes.

One critic, Lyubov Sobol, said July 1 was too early, given

the coronavirus situation.“Let everyone get infected,

just so long as the granddad in the Kremlin is satisfied?” she wrote on Twitter.

The Kremlin has said authorities will take all nec-essary measures to ensure voters’ safety. Russia’s economy has been hit hard in the last two months, both by lower oil prices and a lockdown that has stoked resentment among some business owners.

Putin’s approval rating, though still high, has slipped to its lowest level in more than two decades though support for his plan to change the con-stitution rose to 47 percent in April, an opinion poll showed last month.

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting via teleconference call at Novo-Ogaryovo state residence, outside Moscow, yesterday.

Belarus jails

opposition leader

after ralliesAFP — MINSK

Belarus opposition leader Mikola Statkevich was sentenced to 15 days in police detention yesterday, as dozens of activists were held by the authorities after rallies throughout the country.

Tensions in ex-Soviet Belarus have ratcheted up since authorities announced presidential elections would be held August 9.

Alexander Lukashenko, who has ruled the country with an iron fist since 1994, has confirmed he will run again.

Statkevich, who was detained on Sunday, was found guilty of organising an unauthorised rally in the capital Minsk on May 24, his wife Marina Adamovich said.

Lukashenko yesterday slammed opposition activists as “bands of criminals” who want to disrupt the upcoming ballot.

The country’s strongman leader said he was ready to “face them alone, if nec-essary.” Rights groups denounced what they described as the political per-secution of popular video blogger Sergei Tikhanovsky, who was arrested and accused of using violence against a police officer at a rally on Friday.

Advocacy group Viasna said some 50 people have been detained at the demon-stration in Grodno in the west of the country and at gath-erings in other cities.

Footage from the rally, where Tikhanovsky’s wife Svetlana was collecting signa-tures for her presidential cam-paign, showed a police officer falling, and authorities launched a probe into police violence. More people who gathered to support Svetlana Tikhanovskaya’s candidacy were detained on Sunday.

During a campaign event on Friday Lukashenko dis-missed the possibility of a female president in Belarus.

“We’ll have a man for president. I’m certain of it,” he said in a speech to factory workers.

Greece lifts lockdown on hotels, pools AP — ATHENS

Greece lifted lockdown restric-tions yesterday for hotels, open-air cinemas, golf courses and public swimming pools as the country ramped up prepara-tions for the crucial summer tourism season to start in two weeks. Primary school children also returned to class.

Strict public safety measures have kept Greece’s COVID-19 infection rate low. The country has seen only 175 virus-related deaths, according to Health Min-istry data.

International flights with screening procedures will return to Athens and Greece’s second-largest city of Thessaloniki starting on June 15 and will be expanded to the rest of the country on July 1.

Screening for arriving pas-sengers will be based on an assessment by a European Union flight safety authority, with arrivals from low-infection countries being subjected only to random testing.

“Greece is continuously mon-itoring epidemiological data, in collaboration with experts and European and international organisations,” government spokesman Stelios Petsas said.

“We will receive visitors from

countries that are improving in their infection curve and remain vigilant in the event of any deterioration.”

Year-round hotels were allowed to reopen yesterday but many chose to remain closed until closer to the start of the tourism season, citing low bookings.

Panos Betis, who runs a

travel business and three hotels in Athens, decided to reopen yes-terday, arguing that it would be easier to gradually increase capacity.

“Today, we opened two rooms and tomorrow three. It’s like building an anthill,” Betis said as employees wearing face masks tidied a rooftop restaurant and cleaned a window facing the

ancient Acropolis.“We can’t compare the

season to last year. We were at 95 percent capacity. Our aim now is to hang in there till 2021,” he said.

Other businesses in Greece were allowed to restart yes-terday, including campsites, wedding reception services and parlours.

Students stand in line respecing the social distancing rules at a primary school in Thessaloniki, yesterday, as Greece eases some coronavirus measures.

Armenian PM, family test positive as virus cases surgeAFP — YEREVAN

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, who turned 45 yesterday, said he and his family had tested positive for the new coronavirus and that he would be working from home.

Pashinyan, said in video message posted on Facebook that his “coronavirus test was positive yesterday” and that his wife and four children were also infected.

He did not have any “visible symptoms” and would be working from home “to the best

of my ability”, Pashinyan added in the clip he recorded himself.

The ex-Soviet republic with a population of around three million people has registered 9,492 coronavirus cases and 139 deaths. COVID-19 patients have overwhelmed hospitals and health officials last week said that intensive care beds could be soon reserved for patients with the best chance of survival.

Health Minister Arsen Torosyan has said that out of 186 intensive care units in the country reserved for virus patients, only

32 are empty and those would soon be filled. Russian President Vladimir Putin called Pashinyan to congratulate him on his birthday and to offer “words of support” for a speedy recovery, the Kremlin said.

Pashinyan’s announcement came nearly one month after Armenia lifted a state of emer-gency imposed in March to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

He has acknowledged failings in his government’s coronavirus response including efforts to enforce anti-virus measures.

He told a cabinet meeting several days ago that “false rumours that the pandemic is a fiction” were to blame for wide-spread quarantine violations.

“People don’t believe that the virus exists, because 70 percent of cases are asymptomatic,” he said. Analysts said conspiracy theories and disinformation on social media had undermined government efforts to fight the outbreak.

“Quarantine didn’t work in Armenia,” virologist Nuneh Bakunts said, because people

believed disinformation and so didn’t “take the threat seriously.”

An investigation by the UK-based website openDemocracy revealed that controversial local news portal Medmedia.am had been spreading “incredibly dan-gerous” virus disinformation.

Medmedia.am reported the pandemic was fake and falsely claimed that a local morgue offered money to a dead patient’s relatives to sign documents saying the death was caused by the virus, openDemocracy said.

Peru and Chile

record sharp rise

in virus cases

AFP — LIMA

Peru on Sunday reported 8,800 new COVID-19 infections, setting a new daily record for a country that already has the second highest number of novel coronavirus cases in Latin America after Brazil.

The death toll is now at 4,506, the third highest in the region — itself the new hotspot of the deadly disease — after Brazil and Mexico, with Pres-ident Martin Vizcarra warning the country is only halfway through the crisis.

Infections have jumped in Peru despite a months-long mandatory lockdown and a nightime curfew and the gov-ernment ordering international borders to be closed.

The spike is concentrated around the capital Lima, where one third of the population lives, and put tremendous strain on Peru’s economy and healthcare system.

Four out of every ten Peru-vians lost their source of income when the lockdown began, according to one study, and last week Peru secured a two-year, $11bn credit line from the Inter-national Monetary Fund.

Neighbouring Chile on Sunday reported 57 more fatal-ities in the past 24 hours, a new record that brings the country’s COVID-19 death toll to 1,054.

“We are facing the largest pandemic of the past 100 years,” said Deputy Health Minister Paula Daza, as she announced the latest figures.

“It is a tremendous chal-lenge; we are living very difficult times in our country.” In San-tiago, where the 80 percent of the virus cases were reported, 96 percent of the emergency room beds were taken, officials said.

Officials reported a sharp increase in cases over the past two weeks.

12 TUESDAY 2 JUNE 2020AMERICAS

US cities brace for more fury as officer’s hearing postponedAFP — WASHINGTON

US cities braced yesterday for more fury on the streets as a hearing was postponed for a Minneapolis police officer over the killing of an unarmed black man that ignited the country’ most sweeping unrest in decades.

Violence erupted outside the White House for the third straight night on Sunday with police firing tear gas and protesters setting nearby structures ablaze, as inside Donald Trump refrained from delivering the sort of uni-fying national message histori-cally associated with US presidents.

Some 40 US cities including Chicago, Los Angeles, Phila-delphia and Washington have imposed rare nighttime curfews in hopes of quelling unrest, which included a death overnight in Louisville, Kentucky.

Protests, initially peaceful, erupted after the killing a week ago of George Floyd, a black man in Minneapolis who was accused of buying cigarettes with a coun-terfeit bill.

In shocking final moments captured on video, Floyd pleaded for his life and said he could not breathe as a white police officer, Derek Chauvin, knelt on his neck

for nearly nine minutes.“We are tired of this hap-

pening. This generation is not having it. We are tired of oppression,” said Muna Abdi, a 31-year-old African-American woman at a peaceful demon-stration at the Minnesota capitol in St Paul on Sunday.

Pointing to her three-year-old son, she said: “I want to make sure he stays alive.”

Chauvin, who had remained in the police force despite per-sistent complaints about his behaviour, had been due to appear in court yesterday but the judiciary said the initial hearing had been postponed to June 8.

The news immediately trig-gered a storm on social media, a major organising ground for pro-tests, with outraged activists vowing to keep up pressure over the coming week.

Such delays are common in

criminal cases in the United States. Minnesota has made clear that it seeks to punish Chauvin and has tasked the prosecution personally with the state’s attorney general, Keith Ellison, a prominent former US congressman.

But protesters have also demanded the arrest of three police officers who stood by and shielded Chauvin from outsiders as Floyd pleaded for his life.

St Paul Mayor Melvin Carter, an African-American and son of a police officer, supported arresting the trio, saying all police had a duty to intervene.

“That is an incredible insult to our humanity,” he told CNN of the three officers who apparently abetted Chauvin.

The overwhelming number of protesters have been peaceful, with multiracial marches seeking an end to racism and

police brutality, but consecutive evenings have descended into clashes with officers and wide-spread looting.

Washington’s mayor, Muriel Browser, said a curfew will start yesterday at an unusually early 7pm in hopes of preventing a repeat of the destruction in the US capital — which included a fire at St John’s, the two-century-old “church of the presidents” across from the White House.

It was the most widespread unrest in the United States since 1968, when cities went up in flames over the slaying of civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr and rekindled memories of 1992 riots in Los Angeles after police were acquitted in the brutal beating

of black motorist Rodney King.But unlike in Los Angeles, the

latest unrest has primarily tar-geted property, although both protesters and police have reported non-life-threatening injuries.

One person was killed, however, in Kentucky’s largest city Louisville. Police chief Steve Conrad said officers and the National Guard “returned fire” just after midnight after being shot at as they dispersed a crowd in a parking lot.

Governor Andy Beshear said he was ordering an independent investigation “given the seri-ousness of the situation.” The dead man was David McAtee, the owner of a popular barbecue business, according to the

Louisville Courier Journal, which quoted his nephew.

Louisville, the home of Muhammad Ali and Kentucky Fried Chicken, has seen espe-cially passionate protests due to the police killing in March of an African American woman, Breonna Taylor, in her own apartment.

The 26-year-old emergency room technician was shot dead after police barged into her home, alleging that drug dealers had used the apartment to receive packages.

While presidents traditionally seek to bridge national divides during tumult, Trump was again holed up at the White House tweeting attacks on his political rivals and the media.

Policemen stand guard during a violent protest near White House over the death of George Floyd, in Washington, yesterday.

WHO pushes to keep ties with ‘generous’ US despite Trump’s exit moveREUTERS — LONDON

The head of the World Health Organisation (WHO) yesterday praised the United States’ “immense” and “generous” contribution to global health in a push to salvage relations after President Donald Trump said he was severing ties with the UN agency.

Accusing it of pandering to China and overlooking an ini-tially secretive response to the COVID-19 outbreak, Trump said on Friday he was ending Wash-ington’s relationship with the WHO. But WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told an online media briefing he hoped his organisation could continue its longstanding collaboration with the United States.

“The United States’ contri-bution and generosity towards global health over many decades has been immense, and it has made a great difference in public health all around the world,” he said.

Tedros said he only knew about the US decision from the media, with no formal commu-nication yet from Trump’s gov-ernment. He declined to answer further questions about the US stance.

Asked about potential health risks from protests that have flared up in the United States

over racism, another WHO official, epidemiologist Maria Van Kerkhove, said close contact could heighten the risk of spreading the COVID-19 disease. At the briefing, chief sci-entist Soumya Swaminathan said the WHO should have enough information in 24 hours to decide whether to continue suspending trials of hyrdroxychloroquine.

Trump has been one of those promoting the anti-malaria drug to help combat the COVID-19 disease, despite medical warnings about asso-ciated risks.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

Biden meets black leaders, promises to earnAfrican-American support amid protestsREUTERS — WILMINGTON

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden promised black community leaders in Delaware yesterday he would earn their support amid nationwide police brutality protests, saying he would create a police oversight board within his first 100 days in the White House.

Biden, who met with more than a dozen black leaders in a church in Wilmington, also said he would soon unveil an eco-nomic plan to deal with the dis-proportionate toll on the black and Latino communities from the coronavirus outbreak.

“I’ve never taken you for granted,” Biden, who visited a protest site on Sunday, told the leaders after sitting quietly and taking note of their concerns. “It has to be earned, earned every single time.”

Cities across the country awoke from a smoldering weekend of violent protests over race and policing sparked by the death of a black man, George Floyd, in Minneapolis police custody last Monday.

Biden said his economic plan would include components on housing, education and access to capital in the black community.

“We’re going to make sure that the economic recovery deals with the institutional

structures, the institutional racism,” said Biden, who wore a mask as he listened and pulled it down to talk.

Biden’s appearance was a contrast with the approach of Republican President Donald Trump, who has made no major public statement to address the growing crisis but issued tweets as he remained out of sight in the White House.

He was due yesterday to meet his top law enforcement officer and hold a call with gov-ernors, law enforcement and

national security officials.The community leaders at

Wilmington’s Bethel AME Church urged Biden to pick a black vice-presidential running mate, and said the protests were a reflection of frustration about the lack of attention and resources for African-American communities.

“Young people out there are going mad” from a lack of effort to address their problems, said Bishop Thomas Wesley Weeks, pastor at New Destiny Fellowship in

Wilmington. Weeks and others said the choice of a black running mate would show Biden’s commitment to one of the Democratic Party’s most loyal constituencies.

“A black female will over-whelm and excite and turn the heads of these young people and everybody out there,” Weeks said.

Biden, who has promised his No 2 will be a woman, told the group several black women were on his list of potential running mates.

Last month, Biden apolo-gized for telling a black radio host that he “ain’t black” if he was still weighing whether to support him or Trump in the November 3 US presidential election.

Biden has chafed at being stuck in his Delaware home during the coronavirus out-break, and a Biden adviser said there was an internal divide on whether to get Biden out on the trail, with his wife Jill resisting.

“I can tell you with confi-dence that Joe wants to get out there, Jill doesn’t want him too. She knows her husband and it’s impossible for him not handshake,” the adviser said.

Floyd’s death was the latest in a string of similar incidents involving unarmed black men in recent years that have raised an outcry over excessive police force and racism.

Democratic US presidential candidate Joe Biden visits a site of the protest over the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody, in Wilmington, North Carolina, on Sunday.

Bolsonaro tries to rein in backers as protests shake BrazilREUTERS — BRASILIA

Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro told his supporters yesterday they should put off their protests against the country’s Supreme Court next weekend after counter-demonstrations triggered violent clashes on Sunday.

“Leave things alone on Sunday,” the right-wing pres-ident said, referring to the pro-tests, at the gates of his official residence the day after he greeted supporters on horseback at a rally against the top court.

Bolsonaro’s critics blame him for undermining Brazil’s democracy by endorsing almost weekly protests against the top court, which authorised an investigation into the president for allegedly interfering with police appointments for per-sonal motives.

The judge heading that

probe said the way Bolsonaro was endangering democracy was comparable to Hitler’s Germany. In rallies in Brasilia, Sao Paulo and other big cities on Sunday, his supporters urged the military to intervene and close down Congress and the Supreme Court.

Anti-Bolsonaro demon-strators protesting against what they said was “fascism” threat-ening Brazil’s democratic system clashed with police in a counter-demonstration on Sao Paulo’s main avenue, hurling stones at riot police who responded with tear gas.

Bolsonaro said he had no role in organising the protests against the Supreme Court. “I don’t coordinate anything... I just attend,” he said.

The confrontation between Bolsonaro and the court thrust Brazil into a political crisis in the midst of the world’s second worst outbreak of coronavirus

that has paralysed Latin Amer-ica’s largest economy and raised fears of a military coup.

In a newspaper interview published yesterday, Vice-Pres-ident Hamilton Mourao, a retired army general, said there was no danger of a coup. But he urged the country’s institutions

to allow the democratically elected Bolsonaro to govern the country.

“Let the guy govern! If he makes mistakes, as others have in the past, there are elections in 2022 and he will be judged by voters,” the vice-president told Valor Economico.

Demonstrators take part in a protest in favour of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, in Brasilia, on Sunday.

Mexico begins reopeningafter 2-month lockdownAFP — MEXICO CITY

Mexico began gradually reopening its economy yesterday after more than two months of shutdown because of the coro-navirus pandemic.

With almost 10,000 COVID-19 deaths and more than 90,000 confirmed cases, Mexico is second only to Brazil in Latin America for the number of fatal-ities and fourth in the region in terms of infections.

“Today we began production activities related to the auto-motive industry, mining and the construction industry,” said Pres-ident Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

“We have to move towards the new normal because it’s nec-essary for our national economy, our people’s wellbeing; we need to, little by little, return pro-duction, economic, social and

cultural activity to normal.” Mexico shut down all but nec-essary economic activity on March 23, after Lopez Obrador had come under intense criticism and bucked the regional trend by resisting calls to impose a lockdown much earlier.

On a visit to Quintana Roo state, where the popular Cancun seaside resort is located, Lopez Obrador also said tourism activity would be reopened from next week. In red zones only “essential” activities such as con-struction and mining can restart, whereas in green zones activities in public spaces and even schools can reopen, albeit while respecting social distancing and personal hygiene guidelines.

The capital Mexico City will remain a red zone until at least June 15, and until hospital bed occupancy drops below the current 65 percent.

Violence erupted outside the White House for the third straight night on Sunday with police firing tear gas and protesters setting nearby structures ablaze, as inside Donald Trump refrained from delivering the sort of unifying national message historically associated with US presidents.