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Combating COVID-19: Nepal extends lockdown by a week

Nepal on Sunday extended the lockdown by a week to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Italy's COVID-19 death toll increases by 636 to 16,523

A further 636 people have died after testing positive for COVID-19 in Italy, raising the overall death toll since the start of the outbreak to 16,523, health officials confirmed on Monday, adding that the number of patients in intensive care had decreased for the third day in a row.

International

Taiwan warned, WHO ignored and Covid-19 became pandemic

The coronavirus, which originated in China, could have been stopped from turning into a pandemic if the World Health Organisation paid heed to Taiwan's early warnings regarding the human to human transmission of the virus.

International

Pak Cabinet reshuffle: Imran Khan dismisses Bakhtiar as Food Minister

In yet another Cabinet reshuffle amid coronavirus crisis, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday dismissed Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiar as Federal Minister for National Food Security and replaced him with PTI leader Syed Fakhar Imam.

International

Journalists protest against police barbarity in Gilgit amid COVID-19 outbreak

Journalists and media personnel hit the streets of Pakistan occupied Kashmir's Gilgit Baltistan to protest against police forces.

International

Coronavirus: Sindh, PoK governments abandon Kashmiri migrant workers

Thousands of migrant workers from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) including daily wagers, factory workers and labourers are stuck in the Karachi city of Pakistan's Sindh province due to Coronavirus lock-down.

International

Pakistan mulling massive army deployment in Gilgit Baltistan at COVID-19 pretext, alleges activist

A human rights activist has said that the Pakistan Army is considering a massive deployment of troops in the illegally-occupied Gilgit Baltistan (GB).

International

COVID-19 survivor from New York pleads to China to tell the actual truth about coronavirus

An eminent Indian-American attorney and survivor of COVID-19 wants China to tell the deadly pathogen's "raw truth" to the ...

International

Singapore govt to quarantine returnees in five-star hotels

The government has blocked 7500 hotel rooms for quarantine purposes.With the occupancy at hotels plunging to unprecedented levels and many jobs at risk, the Singapore government may have found a novel way to help the hotel industry in Singapore.Last week, the World Travel and Tourism Council reported that layoffs in global tourism is mounting at a rate of one million a day, estimating that up to 50 million jobs in the sector are at immediate risk and that the industry may possibly lose as much as USD 2.1 trillion by the end of the year.Singapore reported its first case of COVID-19 on January 23. One of the reasons for the spike could be due to residents returning from other countries in March as countries around the world started to lockdown and close their borders.Singapore is a densely packed island city on about 720 square kilometers of land and a population of 5.7 million people. With the insidious nature of COVID-19 which can be asymptomatic or mild in many people, undetected infected returnees may have spread the pathogen in the densely populated island.From the middle of March, Singapore began tightening restrictions on returnees and by March 20, anyone entering Singapore from anywhere in the world was served a legally binding 14-day quarantine or stay-at-home (SHN) noticed. In order to prevent transmission of the virus to their family members at home, those returning from the US and UK are made to quarantine themselves in hotels fully paid by the government.In a Singapore government statement in March, it explained that the UK and US accounted for the largest share of imported cases in Singapore by far. Transportation will be arranged to send the returnees directly from the airport to the hotels.In so doing the Singapore government has not only found a solution to accommodate returning residents so that they do not infect others in the country but is also supporting the hospitality sector which is in a dire situation with next to zero occupancy and potentially safeguarding jobs in the industry.Reports say over 7,500 rooms have been booked for this purpose by the Singapore Tourism Board.Looking at accounts of people who are publicising their serving of stay at home notice at hotels on social media, it appears that the hotels that are being used include the Conrad Centennial, Swissotel The Stamford in Raffles City, Village Hotel Sentosa, Shangri-la Rasa Sentosa Resort and Village Hotel Albert Court.

International

Police arrest 150 protesting doctors, paramedics in Balochistan

Police here on Monday arrested doctors and medical staff, who were protesting over the lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) kits for safety during the treatment of coronavirus patients.