Microchip Announces the 53100A Phase Noise Analyzer for Precision Oscillator Characterization

Loan agreements outline the terms of an agreement for a loan. This document dated 6 May 2020 is provided for the ADB project 54183-001 in Bhutan.

ADB has a vacancy for the position of Senior Operations Assistant in the Pacific Department. The deadline for submitting applications is on 21 May 2020.

ADB today approved an additional $500 million loan to bolster the efforts of the Government of Bangladesh to manage the impact of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic on the country’s economy and the public health.

Safeguards due diligence reports are prepared as part of safeguard due diligence and review to ensure compliance with ADB safeguard policy due diligence requirements. This document dated May 2020 is provided for the ADB project 51039-002 in Afghanistan.

Safeguards due diligence reports are prepared as part of safeguard due diligence and review to ensure compliance with ADB safeguard policy due diligence requirements. This document dated May 2020 is provided for the ADB project 2020-05-07 in Afghanistan.

Environmental monitoring reports describe the environmental issues or mitigation measures of a project. This document dated May 2020 is provided for the ADB project 43319-022 in the Lao People's Democratic Republic.

Grant agreements outline the terms of an agreement for a grant. This document dated 7 May 2020 is provided for the ADB project 54229-001 in Fiji.

The Philippines’ Department of Health (DOH), with support from ADB, has set up a new laboratory in Pampanga province, north of the capital Manila. It will significantly increase the government’s testing capacity for COVID-19...

ADB has a vacancy for the position of Senior IT Officer (Project Management) (3 Vacancies) in the Information Technology Department . The deadline for submitting applications is on 22 May 2020.

ADB has released the 13th annual performance report of its corporate results framework, the Development Effectiveness Review, a management tool that monitors performance and progress during 2019.

ADB has a vacancy for the position of Senior Operations Assistant in the Central and West Asia Department. The deadline for submitting applications is on 22 May 2020.

Providing safely managed sanitation services for all requires extending the partnership between the public and private sectors.

Even though the central government issues strict regulation policies, it is the local governments’ discretion to adjust and enforce compliance.

This ADBI–WCTRS webinar will examine land use and transport interactions for inter-regional accessibility enhancements achieved through high-speed rail development.

ADBI, CCAF, and the JBSEEL are offering an 8-week Online Course on Fintech & Regulatory Innovation and related scholarships for select policy makers from Asian Development Bank developing member countries.

ADB Asia Clean Energy Forum (ACEF) 2020 is going virtual and will be held during the week of 15-19 June 2020.

The ADB Transport Forum on 24-28 August 2020 in Manila, Philippines focuses on solutions for transport in Asia and the Pacific to become more equitable, safer, and resilient in a changing world.

NOIDA: The Noida Authority is set to start work on a six-lane bridge, parallel to the existing Okhla Barrage, this month bringing a sigh of relief to thousands of commuters who travel between Delhi, Noida and Faridabad. Technical bids for the project are to be finalized on February 3, while financial bids will be decided a week later. According to the officials, the construction of the Rs 150 crore bridge is expected to be ready in two years. Officials further revealed that the Central Water & Power Research Station (CWPRS), Pune, Yamuna Action Plan (YAP) and IIT-Delhi have already approved the proposed project last year and it is being fast […]

Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri Thursday dismissed as not useful the meeting held the previous day at Baabda Palace to discuss the economic financial rescue plan which he and his parliamentary Future bloc boycotted.

Lebanon confirms one new coronavirus death, 12 more infections

Lebanon registered one new death due to coronavirus Friday, and 12 new infections, raising the total number of registered cases to 796.

Lebanon’s mosques reopened their doors for Friday prayer as the country gradually scales back its coronavirus containment measures implemented almost two months ago.

Life returned to normal Saturday in the Rashidiyeh Palestinian refugee camp, south of Tyre, after a night of clashes that left one person dead and five others injured.

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The coronavirus lockdown wiped out 20.5 million US jobs in April, destroying nearly all the positions created in the previous decade in the world's largest economy, the country's labour department reported on Friday.

The unprecedented collapse drove the unemployment rate to 14.7 per cent — well beyond the peak hit in late 2009 during the global financial crisis — from 4.4pc in March.

And job losses in March were worse than initially reported, falling 870,000 even though the business closures mostly happened in the second half of the month.

The plunge in non-farm payroll employment was the largest ever recorded since 1939, while the jobless rate was the highest and the biggest increase since 1948, the report said.

Employment fell sharply in all major industry sectors, with particularly heavy job losses in leisure and hospitality, the first sector hit and the one bearing the brunt of the impact of the lockdowns.

However, the labour department noted that the some workers were misclassified in the report as employed when they should have been counted as laid off.

Had they been listed properly, the unemployment rate would have been nearly five percentage points higher.

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump downplayed unprecedented US job losses, saying they were not a surprise.

“It's fully expected, there's no surprise. Somebody said, 'oh look at this,'” he said on Fox News minutes after the labour department published the figures.

“I'll bring it back,” he said.

TOKYO: Japan on Thursday approved Gilead Sciences Inc’s remdesivir as a treatment for Covid-19, making it the country’s first officially authorised drug to tackle the coronavirus disease.

Japan reached the decision just three days after the US drugmaker filed for fast-track approval for the treatment.

“There has so far been no coronavirus medicine available here so it is a significant step for us to approve this drug,” a Japanese health ministry official said at a press briefing. Remdesivir will be given to patients with severe Covid-19 symptoms, he added.

With no other approved treatments for Covid-19, interest in the drug is growing around the world. Administered by intravenous infusion, it was granted authorisation last week by the US Food and Drug Administration for emergency use for the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.

Gilead says the drug has improved outcomes for people suffering from the respiratory disease and has provided data suggesting it works better when given in the early stages of infection.

Japan, with just over 16,000 infections and under 800 deaths, has recorded fewer cases than other major industrialised nations.

However, a steady rise in cases has put pressure on medical facilities in some parts of the country, and a drug that helps patients recover more quickly could help in freeing up hospital beds.

A trial performed by the US Institutes of Health (NIH) showed the drug cut hospital stays by 31 per cent compared with a placebo treatment, although it did not significantly improve survival.

On Monday, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe extended a month-long state of emergency until the end of May in an attempt to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

Japan as yet does not know when it will get its first doses of remdesivir or how much, the health ministry official said.

Gilead on Tuesday said it was in discussion with several companies, including generic drugmakers in India and Pakistan to produce remdesivir in large quantities.

Remdesivir, which previously failed as a treatment for Ebola, is designed to disable the ability by which some viruses make copies of themselves inside infected cells.

Published in Dawn, May 8th, 2020

A white former police officer and his son were arrested on Thursday in Georgia, United States of America, and charged with murder in the shooting death of an unarmed black man, an incident that touched off a furore in the community and among civil rights activists nationwide.

Gregory McMichael, 64, and his son Travis, 34, were taken into custody by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and charged with aggravated assault as well as murder in the killing of Ahmaud Arbery in the town of Brunswick, the agency said in a statement.

The Feb 23 shooting death of Arbery, 25, as he ran unarmed through the small town was captured on video by an unnamed witness in a vehicle near the scene. The video’s wide broadcast in recent days ignited outrage among activists, politicians and celebrities who saw the incident as the latest case of white perpetrators killing a black man and going unpunished.

It was not immediately clear on Thursday if the two men had retained attorneys.

A district attorney appointed to handle the high-profile case after two other prosecutors recused themselves said on Wednesday he would ask a county grand jury to decide if the two men should face charges.

The men’s arrest by the GBI, one day after the agency opened an investigation into the case, appears to have sidelined any grand jury probe.

Three shots

The video footage shows Arbery jogging down a narrow two-lane road and around the McMichaels’ white pickup truck, which had stopped in the right lane with its driver’s door open.

As Arbery crosses back in front of the truck, a gunshot is fired. Arbery is then seen struggling with a man holding a long gun as a second man stands in the bed of the truck brandishing a revolver. Two more shots are heard before Arbery stumbles and falls face down onto the asphalt. The GBI said it was Travis McMichael who fired the fatal round.

According to a police report obtained by the New York Times, Gregory McMichael, a former Glynn County police officer and district attorney’s investigator, told detectives the incident began when he spotted Arbery from his front yard “hauling ass” down the street.

McMichael told police that, because he suspected Arbery in a string of recent neighborhood break-ins, he and his son gave chase in the truck, with Gregory McMichael carrying a .357 Magnum revolver and Travis armed with a shotgun.

Gregory McMichael said Arbery began to “violently attack” his son, fighting him for the shotgun, prompting Travis to open fire.

According to a letter obtained by the Times, the prosecutor in Brunswick argued there was not probable cause to arrest the McMichaels because they were legally carrying firearms, had a right to pursue a burglary suspect and use deadly force to protect themselves.

KARACHI: Afghan Taliban chief Mullah Akhtar Mansour’s five properties, estimated to be worth over Rs32 million and purchased by him in Karachi by using fake identities, have been taken over by the anti-terrorism court for auction, sources told Dawn on Thursday.

The FIA had booked Mullah Mansour, aliases Mohammad Wali and Gul Mohammad, Akhtar Mohammad and Amaar in a case lodged under Section 11H (pertaining to fundraising and money laundering) of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997, read with sections 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating) and 471 (using as genuine a forged document) of the Pakistan Penal Code.

Mullah Mansour, who was killed in a drone strike along the Pakistan-Iran border on May 21, 2016, had purchased five properties, including plots and houses, in Karachi.

This revelation came in a report submitted by the Federal Investigation Agency to the ATC-II in July last year regarding an investigation into a case related to alleged fundraising by the slain Afghan Taliban leader and his accomplices through the purchase of properties on the back of forged identities.

Mullah Akhtar Mansour bought Rs32m properties in Karachi using fake identities

Since January, the court had been directing the investigation officer (IO) to complete the process of attachment of Mullah Mansour’s properties and proclamation of his two alleged absconding accomplices — Akhtar Mohammad and Amaar — under sections 87 and 88 of the Criminal Procedure Code.

On April 24, the court had ordered the Nazir (a court official) to take over the properties of Mullah Mansour after the IO submitted a compliance report regarding completion of the attachment process of the properties by the Federal Investigation Agency.

The court had ordered the Nazir to auction those properties and get advertisements published in newspapers.

When the matter came up before the ATC-II judge recently, the court’s Nazir filed a report regarding seizure of property owned by Mullah Akhtar Mansour on behalf of the court.

The judge asked the Nazir to file a report about publication of the auction advertisement in newspapers on the next date of hearing.

The judge granted a request by Rehmatullah Domki, the investigation officer, to hear the case next month. She scheduled a hearing from June 11.

During a previous hearing, the IO had informed the court that the FIA had unearthed five properties purchased by the Taliban leader before his death. An estimated value of the properties is Rs32 million.

The court had already called for reports from the commissioners of Peshawar and Quetta regarding the process of proclamation of Mullah Mansour’s alleged absconding accomplices and attachment of their properties.

Published in Dawn, May 8th, 2020

NEW DELHI: India’s top medical research body has turned down a proposal by the Modi government to test water from the Ganges river as a cure for coronavirus, ThePrint news portal said on Thursday.

It said the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) turned down the government’s “request” to conduct research on a theory that Gangajal, or water from Ganges river, could possibly cure Covid-19.

Speaking to ThePrint, a source in the ICMR said the agency has refused to get involved as it is focussing on the Covid-19 battle and doesn’t want to waste time on other research amid the pandemic.

The move came after the country’s apex medical research body received a “request” from the Ministry of Jal Shakti to conduct “further research” on a proposal by an NGO, Atulya Ganga, said an ICMR official, who didn’t wish to be named.

In its letter last month, Mr Atulya had cited the presence of a “ninja virus”, called bacteriophage, in Ganges water that could cure Covid-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus. Bacteriophage is a special type of virus that eats harmful bacteria, the letter said.

According ThePrint, the NGO asked the government on April 3 to conduct a study on the possibility of this virus acting as a cure. It sent a copy each to the ministry and the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO). The ministry’s National Mission for Clean Ganga, the department administering the Modi government’s ambitious Namami Gange programme, then wrote to ICMR on April 30 requesting a clinical trial.

The ICMR then held a meeting to discuss the idea, but refused to proceed, offering only its “help” to the NGO, ThePrint said. “We had indeed received a letter from the Ministry of Jal Shakti for such research. The experts at ICMR also held a meeting on this matter. Then we asked those proposing this research that you should tell us about hospitals and doctors that are ready and willing to conduct some research on it. We will certainly help them in this regard,” said the ICMR official.

“As of now we are still treating plasma therapy as a trial for treatment for corona (Covid-19), then how can we so quickly accept a virus called bacteriophage, found in the water of Ganges, as a cure? Right now, there is no logic in the argument that the virus found in Ganga’s water can indeed fight the coronavirus disease,” added the official.

However, he added that if the ministry takes an initiative into the matter then ICMR will extend its assistance to it.

Speaking to ThePrint, Dr Rajnikant Srivastava, ICMR’s head of the Department of Research Management, Policy Planning and Communication, in Delhi and Director of Regional Medical Research Centre, Gorakhpur, said: “A presentation was made after the Jal Shakti ministry’s proposal. The matter is at a very preliminary stage. Nothing has been decided on the future course of action. We will support the Jal Shakti ministry in all the work it does on this front.”

A senior official of the Ministry of Jal Shakti, meanwhile, said there are several special properties in the river and many people were demanding research on them.

Published in Dawn, May 8th, 2020

A wholesale market in the central Chinese city of Wuhan played a role in the outbreak of the novel coronavirus last year, as the source or possibly as an “amplifying setting”, the World Health Organisation said on Friday, calling for more research.

Chinese authorities shut down the market in January as part of efforts to stop the spread of the virus and ordered a temporary ban on trade and consumption of wildlife.

“The market played a role in the event, that’s clear. But what role we don’t know; whether it was the source or amplifying setting or just a coincidence that some cases were detected in and around that market,” said Dr Peter Ben Embarek, a WHO expert on food safety and zoonotic viruses that cross the species barrier from animals to humans.

It was not clear whether live animals or infected vendors or shoppers may have brought the virus into the market, he told a Geneva news briefing.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said there is “a significant amount of evidence” the virus came from the Wuhan laboratory, although he has also said there wasn’t certainty.

Read: The Wuhan lab at the core of a virus controversy

No public evidence has linked the outbreak to the lab in Wuhan and scientists have said the coronavirus appears to have developed in nature. A German intelligence report cast doubts on Pompeo’s allegations, Der Spiegel reported.

Ben Embarek did not address the accusations. He noted that it took researchers a year to identify camels as the source of the Mers (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome) virus, a coronavirus that emerged in Saudi Arabia in 2012 and spread in the Middle East, adding: “It’s not too late.”

“What is important, what would be of great help, is to get hold of the virus before it adapted to humans, before the version we have now. Because then we would better understand how it adapted to humans, how it evolved,” he said.

“In terms of investigations, China has most probably, most likely, all the expertise needed to do these investigations. They have lot of very qualified researchers to that,” he said.

A common sight across Asia, wet markets traditionally sell fresh produce and live animals, such as fish, in the open air.

Many markets worldwide that sell live animals must be better regulated and hygiene conditions improved, and some should be closed down, Ben Embarek said. “But the vast majority can be fixed, can be better organised.”

It is often a question of controlling waste management, the movement of people and goods, and of separating live animals from animal products and from fresh goods, he said.

The governments of Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan on Friday announced the partial easing of lockdown measures imposed to curb the spread of the coronavirus, even as the number of infections in the country registered a record daily increase.

On Thursday, Prime Minister Imran Khan had announced the lifting of the countrywide lockdown in phases from Saturday by reopening all construction-related industries and shopping centres for five days a week from Fajr (early morning) till 5pm and outpatient departments (OPDs) in hospitals.

The premier, who had announced the decision after a meeting of the National Coordination Committee (NCC) attended by the chief ministers of the four provinces, had acknowledged that the lockdown was being eased "at a time when our curve is going up" but maintained that "it is not edging up as we were expecting.”

The trend continued on Friday, with the country recording 1,807 cases of Covid-19 from the three provinces of Punjab, Sindh and KP alone, and the national tally nearing 27,000. It is the highest daily increase in the number of infections since Pakistan confirmed its first case on February 26.

Also read: Pakistan's Covid-19 death toll doubles in last 10 days

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

A notification issued by the KP relief department said businesses associated with the construction industry will be exempt from closure subject to them following the standard operating procedures (SOPs) already issued for industrial units and sale points.

Businesses of steel and PVC pipes, electric appliances, manufacturers of steel and aluminium equipment, ceramic and paint industries, sanitary, paints, steel and aluminium works, and hardware stores will be allowed to open four days a week, not later than 4:00pm. They will remain closed on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.

All factories which are not included in the negative lists of factories will also be allowed to resume operations.

According to the notification, all shops will be allowed to remain open for four days a week and not later than 4:00pm, subject to their implementation of the government's SOPs.

Meanwhile, Adviser to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister on information, Ajmal Wazir, told a press conference in Peshawar that educational institutions in the province will reopen as per the federal government's instructions and the province will not take an independent decision in this regard.

He added that discussions were being held on inter-district and intra-district transport with transporters and the decision will be shared with the public whenever it is taken.

Punjab

Punjab Information Minister Fayyazul Hassan Chohan said that the provincial government will submit a recommendation to the Centre for not lifting the lockdown in the province's major cities.

Speaking to reporters in Lahore, he said: "We have seen that there is a hype about coronavirus in some big cities. Therefore, we are submitting this recommendation to the federal government and if it is approved, then the lockdown and standard operating procedures will remain in big cities like Lahore, Rawalpindi, Multan and Gujranwala."

Examine: The lockdown dilemma

He added that higher secondary board examinations in Punjab will be cancelled and students will be promoted based on last year's grades. Schools will reopen on July 15.

As per the federal government's decision, OPDs in the province will open from May 9, Chohan said.

He added that the SOPs for congregational and Taraweeh prayers in mosques as announced by President Arif Alvi will remain in place.

The first session of the Punjab Assembly since the pandemic began was also to be held today.

Sindh

Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah told a press conference in Karachi that under "phase two" of the easing of the restrictions, businesses linked to construction industries will be allowed to open while observing the preventive guidelines. Selective OPDs will also be allowed to resume services.

Industries will no longer be required to submit an application to resume operations; however, they will have to submit an undertaking and forward the details of their employees to the government.

Shops will be allowed to open after sehri (dawn) and will be required to close at 5pm. They will remain closed on Saturdays and Sundays which will be "safe days with 100 per cent lockdown", the chief minister said.

The businesses permitted to resume from Monday include shops in rural areas and neighbourhood shops situated in residential localities, excluding large market places.

Shah said marriage halls, shopping malls, hotels and restaurants in the province will remain closed and there will be no congregations or sports events either.

"These guidelines will remain applicable until May 31. This is what the federal government has outlined and we are ready to comply with these directives," he said.

The chief minister appealed to citizens to stay at home as much as possible. "If you are allowed to leave your homes, according to the directives issued by the government, then make sure to follow standard operating procedures. Wear a mask," he said.

Referring to the increase in Covid-19 infections, he added: "I am seeing the rise in cases, but for national integrity and uniform policy we are going along."

In a statement released by the CM House later in the day, Shah denied media reports stating that the lockdown will end on Monday, saying: "We are entering the second phase of the lockdown with some extra restrictions, particularly at hotspots."

He maintained that air, train and public transport will continue to remain suspended.

Balochistan

In Balochistan, a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Jam Kamal Khan approved the move to turn the lockdown imposed in the province into a 'smart lockdown', under which restrictions are enforced in virus hotspots only, according to Balochistan government spokesperson Liaquat Shahwani.

He announced that markets will be allowed to open from 3am till 5 in the evening.

Shopkeepers and traders will be bound to implement SOPs for precautionary measures while legal action will be taken against the violators, Shahwani said in a tweet.

Five Frontier Corps (FC) soldiers and one officer were martyred after their vehicle was targeted with an improvised explosive device (IED) near the Pakistan-Iran border, the military's media wing said on Friday.

In a tweet, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said the security personnel were returning from patrolling in Buleda — 14 kilometres from the Pakistan-Iran border — to "check possible routes used by terrorists in the mountainous terrain of Makran".

As they were returning, their vehicle was targeted with a remote controlled IED, it added.

The martyred were identified as Major Nadeem, Naik Jamshed, Lance Naik Khizar Hayat, Lance Naik Taimor, Sepoy Nadeem and Sepoy Sajid.

In December 2019, one FC soldier was martyred and two others were injured in an exchange of fire with terrorists after they raided an FC checkpost in North Waziristan.

"Terrorists raided an FC post in North Waziristan district near the Pak-Afghan border," an ISPR statement had said.

"During the exchange of fire, two terrorists were killed," it had added.

ISLAMABAD: Former Senate chairman Mian Raza Rabbani on Friday said that the National Council for Minorities nominated through a notification after a considerable delay was illegal because it had been formed in violation of a judgement announced by the then Chief Justice of Pakistan Tasaduq Hussain Jilani on June 19, 2014.

“The said act of violating the judgement of the Supreme Court is condemned,” the PPP leader said in a statement.

Mr Rabbani said that the Supreme Court’s judgement had come in the wake of a bomb blast in a Peshawar church in 2013 which left over a hundred members of the Christian community dead.

In a suo motu case, the then Chief Justice of Pakistan, in paragraph 37(iv) of the judgement, had ordered the setting up of the National Council for Minorities to monitor practical realisation of the rights and safeguards of members of minority communities provided in the 1973 Constitution.

The council was supposed to be mandated to frame policy recommendations for safeguarding and protecting minorities’ rights by the federal and provincial governments.

The judgement clearly mentioned eight steps that the governments were to take, including (i) reservation of quota in services, (ii) a special police force to protect places of worship, (iii) steps to discourage hate speeches, and (iv) revision of school curriculum to promote cultural and religious tolerance.

The PPP leader said that none of the steps had been taken so far by the governments.

He said that the federal government had, after the approval of the cabinet, constituted the council through a notification and the body had become controversial even before its birth and as a result the religious affairs ministry had to amend its summary.

The PPP leader said that the council should be constituted through an act of parliament.

Mr Rabbani said that the importance given to safeguarding the rights of the minorities in the country was evident from the fact that the white colour portion of the national flag represented minorities and in over 20 Articles of the Constitution, 1973, the rights of minorities had been guaranteed.

Published in Dawn, May 9th, 2020

ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) Justice Athar Minallah on Friday converted the matter relating to delay in administration of justice into public interest litigation and sought reports from the interior secretary, the chief commissioner of Islamabad and judges of trial courts working within the IHC’s jurisdiction.

Chief Justice Minallah asked the police, district administration and federal government to explain why police reforms could not be enforced in the federal capital even though the law had been promulgated some 18 years ago.

The court framed six questions to be answered by these authorities, including why Police Order 2002 could not be implemented in Islamabad; why proper investigation training was not imparted to investigation officers; whether the code of criminal procedure 1898 and Qanoon-i-Shahadat [Evidence Act] of 1984 were still applicable; whether the state was responsible for delay in administration of justice and whether victims of delayed justice could seek remedy from any forum.

The court appointed criminologist Dr Shoaib Suddle, Kamaluddin Tippu, director general of the National Police Bureau, superintendent of Adiala Jail and vice chairmen of the Pakistan Bar Council and Islamabad Bar Council as amici curiae in the matter.

Further hearing was adjourned to May 14.

During the hearing, the inspector general of Islamabad police submitted a report on the problems arising during investigation of crimes which hindered administration of justice.

In the report, the IG said that the investigation officer (IO) of a case had to pay Rs5,000 parcel fee from his own pocket to send evidence to a forensic laboratory for analysis.

“There should not be any laboratory fee or it should be responsibility of the district administration [to pay the fee],” he said.

The IG noted that it took around two months to send evidence to laboratory for analysis. “An IO should be given the authority to send evidence to a laboratory without waiting for the approval of high officials,” he suggested.

Similarly, he said, an IO paid Rs15,000 for preparation of a sketch of a suspect believed to have committed a crime. “Such a sketch should be prepared within two days.”

The report said that plaintiffs did not cooperate with police after registration of first information reports.

The absence of a forensic laboratory in Islamabad, lawyers’ strikes and deployment of police personnel for special duties also delayed investigation process and subsequently trials, the report said.

Earlier, acquitting a murder suspect Chief Justice Minallah had observed that the existing criminal justice system had failed to deliver and it was on the verge of collapse.

The court had observed that the existing criminal justice system failed to prevent and prosecute crime and it was perpetuating miscarriages of justice.

It had noted that low-paid investigating officers did not have sufficient resources to visit the crime scene when a crime was reported, let alone sending the sealed samples and arranging the payment of the fee to a laboratory for conducting forensic examinations.

Published in Dawn, May 9th, 2020

LAHORE: A sharp increase in confirmed Covid-19 cases across Punjab has further burdened state-run health facilities, taking their bed occupancy ratio to 54 per cent.

The rate increased during the last two weeks or so due to widespread transmission of the virus.

Official figures reported by the health department portray a grim picture as 3,693 people contracted the virus during the last seven days in the province.

Punjab had reported around 3,686 positive cases for the virus during a period of one month starting from March 15, when the first Covid-19 case was spotted.

Most of the confirmed patients were taken care of in Lahore where the 1,000-bed Expo Centre Field Hospital is housing 450 patients, with 45pc bed occupancy.

Ratio may touch 80pc in two weeks

Similarly, the Mayo Hospital houses 420 patients (70pc bed occupancy) while the Pakistan Kidney and Liver Institution 100 patients (100pc bed occupancy).

The health authorities believe that this percentage is likely to reach 80pc in coming two weeks if cases continue to grow at the same rate.

The Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) is very much concerned over the increasing number of coronavirus patients and rising death toll.

“We are extremely disturbed that how our hospitals would mange the load of corona patients in future because of the scale of transmission of the virus,” said PMA Secretary Dr Qaisar Sajjad.

He said the government would have to revisit the current health system in order to remove flaws and create more space for coronavirus patients, keeping in view the future requirements.

While sharing the fresh report, a spokesperson for the Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department said Punjab reported a record 961 confirmed cases of the virus on Friday and it was the highest figure in a single day so far since the pandemic surfaced in the province.

“The government has allocated 7,753 beds for the corona patients at all the teaching, district and other field hospitals across the province,” he said. Of them, 4,239 had been occupied by the patients.

“We have 6,744 beds for corona patients at all the teaching and field hospitals that fall under the specialised healthcare and medical education department in Punjab,” SH&MED Additional Secretary (development) Nadir Chattha said.

He said 3,370 of them were allocated in teaching hospitals and 3,374 at field hospitals. Of the 6,744 beds, he said 2,261 (34pc) had been occupied by the patients.

“We are going to make available 984 more beds in coming days,” he said.

Of the total admitted patients, Mr Chattha said 40 were in a critical condition, with 34 of them on ventilators. He said so far 186 corona patients had died in Punjab.

On the other hand, of the total 961 confirmed cases on Friday, 488 were reported from Lahore which was also another record number (of people testing positive) in the provincial capital in just a day. Of them, 87 were reported from Gujrat, 77 from Rawalpindi, 60 Faisalabad, 45 Multan and 67 from Muzaffargarrh besides some other cities.

The total number of confirmed cases in Lahore and Punjab rose to 3,856 and 10,033, respectively, on Friday.

Surprisingly, the health department said only one patient died (in Muzaffargarh) of coronavirus in Punjab during the last 24 hours.

Published in Dawn, May 9th, 2020

LAHORE: Pakistan head coach and chief selector Misbah-ul-Haq says being confined to home due to the coronavirus-forced lockdown can become depressing and wants some cricket activities to resume soon even if the matches have to take place behind closed doors with proper safety barriers.

There are reports that the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) was contemplating rescheduling and organising the three Test matches against Pakistan in August behind closed doors at Old Trafford, Manchester and Southampton.

Misbah said he would love to see some cricket activities resume at the international level, and has no problems in playing in empty stadiums.

“It is not an ideal situation for anyone because of this coronavirus pandemic and obviously the health and well being of everyone should be our top priority. But if matches can be held even in empty stadiums with the right safety barriers...I would have no problems,” Misbah was quoted as saying in a Press Trust of India report that appeared on The New Indian Express website on Friday.

The former Pakistan skipper said that the players have had nothing much to do except stay indoors for the last two months since the Pakistan Super League (PSL) was called off due to the global health crisis in March.

“Everyone is confined and I just think that if even if it can be made possible to bring some live cricket action to people sitting at home it would do them a lot of good,” Misbah said.

“It becomes depressing when you have nothing to do and hear about mostly Covid-19 news all the time. In this situation if sports can be resumed and if cricket can be started at least it will allow the people to watch cricket at home.”

Misbah, who took charge last year in September, said if the right safety barriers and precautions are put in place for players, match officials and other stake holders, cricket boards can move forward.

He, however, reminded that boards will have to follow their government instructions on the coronavirus.

German football league Bundesliga is set to resume on May 16 and Misbah said it was a positive development.

“But even they first got clearance from their government. Cricket boards also will have to do that,” he insisted.

The 45-year-old said the players were responsible for maintaining fitness standards during these testing times and he expects them to be in top condition whenever cricket resumes.

“I told them as cricket professionals it is their individual responsibility to take care of themselves and their fitness. Because they can be called on duty anytime,” he said.

Misbah said he had told the players fitness standards are essential nowadays because if they are fit they can also get back to form and match fitness quickly.

Published in Dawn, May 9th, 2020

ISLAMABAD: As many as 1.6 billion of the world’s 2bn informal economy workers are affected by Covid-19 lockdown and containment measures, a new briefing paper issued by the International Labour Organi­sation (ILO) said.

Most are working in the hardest-hit sectors or in small units more vulnerable to shocks including workers in accommodation and food services, manufacturing, wholesale and retail, and the more than 500 million farmers producing for the urban market, the report says. Women are particularly affected in high-risk sectors, it adds.

The Covid-19 lockdown and containment measures threaten to increase relative poverty levels among the world’s informal economy workers by as much as 56 percentage points in low-income countries.

In high-income countries, relative poverty levels among informal workers is estimated to increase by 52 percentage points, while in upper middle-income countries the increase is estimated to be 21 percentage points.

In addition, with these workers needing to work to feed their families, Covid-19 containment measures in many countries cannot be implemented successfully. This is endangering governments’ efforts to protect the population and fight the pandemic. It may become a source of social tension in countries with large informal economies, the report says.

More than 75 per cent of total informal employment takes place in businesses of fewer than ten workers, including 45pc of independent workers without employees.

With most informal workers having no other means of support, they face an almost unsolvable dilemma: to die from hunger or from the virus, the briefing says. This has been exacerbated by disruptions in food supplies, which has particularly affected those in the informal economy.

For the world’s 67 million domestic workers, 75pc of whom are informal workers, unemployment has become as threatening as the virus itself. Many have not been able to work, whether at the request of their employers or in compliance with lockdowns. Those who do continue to go to work face a high risk of contagion, caring for families in private households. For the 11 million migrant domestic workers the situation is even worse.

The countries with the largest informal economies, where full lockdowns have been adopted, are suffering the most from the consequences of the pandemic. Informal economy workers significantly impacted by lockdown vary from 89pc in Latin America and the Arab states to 83pc in Africa, 73pc in Asia and the Pacific, and 64pc in Europe and Central Asia.

Countries need to follow a multi-track strategy that combines several lines of actions relating to both the health and economic impacts of the pandemic, the ILO said.

Among its recommendations, the report highlights the need for policies that reduce the exposure of informal workers to the virus; ensure that those infected have access to health care; provide income and food support to individuals and their families; and prevent damage to the economic fabric of countries.

Published in Dawn, May 9th, 2020

ISLAMABAD: The country witnessed a record rise in Covid-19 cases on Friday, a day before lifting of the nationwide lockdown in phases announced by Prime Minister Imran Khan.

Although the decision to lift the lockdown from Saturday was taken in consultation with all the provinces, Punjab and Sindh on Friday expressed their desire to extend the lockdown restrictions for some more time.

With the addition of 2,000 new cases during the last 24 hours, the total number of infections in the country on Friday stood at 26,954.

Prime Minister Khan, after chairing a meeting of the National Coordination Committee (NCC) on Thursday, announced the lifting of the lockdown by opening several industries, businesses and markets from Saturday (today).

Punjab, Sindh express wish to extend lockdown restrictions; Umar dismisses Murad’s claim about unilateral decisions by Centre; PM reviews economic situation

On Friday, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah and Punjab Information Minister Fayyazul Hassan Chohan said they wanted to extend the lockdown but agreed to the Centre’s call at the NCC meeting that the restrictions should be lifted from Saturday.

“It was our desire that the lockdown should be extended, but we agreed to whatever decided at the NCC meeting on Thursday,” CM Shah said at a press briefing.

The PTI-led Punjab government took a step forward and recommended that major cities of the province should remain under lockdown as there was an increasing trend of the viral disease there. “We want continuation of lockdown in eight to 10 cities, including Lahore, Rawalpindi, Multan and Gujranwala,” Mr Chohan said at a press conference.

In a related development, the federal government expressed its surprise and dismay over Sindh chief minister’s remarks that Islamabad was imposing its decision regarding ending the lockdown. Federal Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar, who also heads the National Command and Operation Centre, in a television programme categorically on Friday evening, said that all decisions were made with the approval of the provincial governments. He even said that some of the federal government’s proposals on which there were objections, or difference of opinion, were not included as the government wanted to have complete consensus on the matter.

Prime Minister Khan has urged people to follow the standard operating procedures (SOPs) evolved by the government when the lockdown is lifted, otherwise there will be trajectory of Covid-19 and then the government will have no option but to enforce another lockdown.

The prime minister presided over a meeting on Friday to review the economic situation and its future outlook in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. The finance ministry briefed the meeting on the overall situation and the performance of various macroeconomic indicators during the last nine months of the current financial year, as well as the impact of coronavirus on the economy, an official press release said.

The meeting reviewed the progress and impact of the Rs1.25 trillion economic stimulus package announced by the government to provide relief to the poor and vulnerable segments of society and support various sectors of the economy affected by the pandemic.

The prime minister appreciated the efforts made by the finance ministry to ensure financial discipline and provision of relief during the Coved-19 situation. He emphasised that greater attention should be paid to supporting small and medium enterprises and the agriculture sector, enabling them to create greater job opportunities for people. “The process of reforming public sector organisations should be expedited to plug leakages of the economy,” he added.

The prime minister said the process of provision of subsidies should also be reviewed to make these interventions more effective and target-oriented. “Out of the box solutions are needed to meet the present day economic challenges,” he emphasised.

Reviewing the future economic outlook, Mr Khan said all-out efforts should be made to provide maximum possible relief to the people. He emphasised that priorities and targets for the next Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) should be clearly defined with a focus on completion of projects rather than mere initiation. He stressed the need for maximum utilisation of the public-private partnership model and involving international development partners to enhance and broaden the PSDP scope.

Meanwhile, Special Assistant to the PM on Health Dr Zafar Mirza said the government had signed a memorandum of understanding with the International Organisation of Migration, which helps connect countries with expatriates.

At a press conference, he said the government wanted to develop a networking system with overseas Pakistani doctors in order to learn from their experiences and expertise even after the coronavirus crisis is over.

Published in Dawn, May 9th, 2020

MUMBAI: Fourteen migrant labourers walking back to their villages after being left destitute by India’s strict coronavirus lockdown were killed on Friday after being hit by a train, officials said.

The men were returning home when they were hit by the goods train near Aurangabad, in the western state of Maharashtra, police official S.S. Sutale said.

They were among millions of migrant workers who have been left unemployed, officials said, after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a national lockdown in March, sparking an exodus from major cities.

Hours after the incident, the Indian rail ministry tweeted that the train driver applied the brakes after seeing the men, but was unable to stop the train in time.

Three others were injured and taken to hospital, the ministry said, announcing an inquiry.

State police official Vaibhav Kalumbarme said officers were investigating the accident as there were strict guidelines to prevent migrants accessing the railway tracks from stations.

“But it is impossible to monitor every inch of the tracks when they take shortcuts,” Kalumbarme said.

Although states announced special trains to return migrant labourers, many continue to walk long distances to reach their villages.

Local media reported some provinces were charging for the rail tickets, which most can’t afford.

The return home has proved deadly for several workers ever since the lockdown started.

A study conducted by the non-profit SaveLIFE Foundation said 140 were killed in car crashes across the country — with at least 42 of them migrant labourers travelling home.

“We have been running campaigns cautioning people not to walk on tracks and we are doing everything we can urgently to get them back to their families. This is a tragic incident,” Kalumbarme added.

Published in Dawn, May 9th, 2020

An estimated 29 million babies will be born in South Asia in the nine months after the Covid-19 outbreak was classified as a pandemic by the World Health Organisation (WHO), while five million births will be reported in Pakistan, according to a report released by the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef).

The report — released on May 6 — has predicted that an estimated 116 million babies will be born across the world in the 40-week period between March 11 and December 16, with almost a quarter of them in South Asia.

India is expected to report 20 million births, the highest in the region, during this period, the report said, followed by Pakistan, Bangladesh (2.4 million) and Afghanistan (one million).

The report also warned that lockdown measures imposed to curb the spread of the coronavirus may cause disruptions in life-saving health services "putting millions of pregnant mothers and their babies at great risk".

"The continuing rapid spread of Covid-19 across South Asia means new mothers and newborns will be greeted by harsh realities, including global containment measures such as lockdowns and curfews, health centres overwhelmed with response efforts, supply and equipment shortages, and a lack of sufficient skilled birth attendants as health workers [...] are redeployed to treat Covid-19 patients.

"Unicef cautions that although evidence suggests that pregnant mothers are not more affected by Covid-19 than others, countries need to ensure they still have access to antenatal, delivery and post-natal services.

"Likewise, sick newborns need emergency services as they are at high risk of death. New families require care to ensure the health and well-being of mothers, support to start breastfeeding, and to get medicines, vaccines and nutrition to keep their babies healthy," the report said.

The UN body urged governments and healthcare providers to take a few steps to save lives in the coming months by:

• Helping women receive regular checkups during their pregnancy, skilled delivery care and post-delivery care
• Ensuring health workers are provided with the necessary personal protective equipment and priority testing and vaccination for Covid-19 when it becomes available
• Ensuring that all infection prevention and control measures are being followed at health facilities
• Allowing healthcare workers to reach pregnant women through home visits, encouraging women living in rural areas to visit maternal waiting homes, and using mobile health strategies for tele-consultations
• Training, protecting and equipping health workers with kits to attend to home births
• Allocating resources to lifesaving services and supplies for maternal and child health

The report also urged pregnant women to take precautionary measures by practicing social distancing, avoiding physical gatherings and using online health services.

Read: Mothers may pass coronavirus to unborn children, say Chinese doctors

It also advised them to continue breastfeeding their children even if they are infected as "the virus has not been found in samples of breast milk".

"Mothers with Covid-19 should wear a mask when feeding their baby, wash hands before and after touching the baby, and routinely clean and disinfect surfaces," it cautioned.

WASHINGTON: The United States on Friday accused China and Russia of stepping up cooperation to spread false narratives over the coronavirus pandemic, saying Beijing was increasingly adopting techniques honed by Moscow.

“Even before the Covid-19 crisis we assessed a certain level of coordination between Russia and the PRC (Peoples Republic of China) in the realm of propaganda,” said Lea Gabrielle, coordinator of the State Department’s Global Engagement Center, which tracks foreign propaganda.

“But with this pandemic the cooperation has accelerated rapidly,” she told reporters.

“We see this convergence as a result of what we consider to be pragmatism between the two actors who want to shape public understanding of the Covid pandemic for their own purposes,” she said.

The Global Engagement Center earlier said that thousands of Russian-linked social media accounts were spreading conspiracies about the pandemic, including charging that the virus first detected last year in the Chinese metropolis of Wuhan was created by the United States.

China outraged the United States when a foreign ministry spokesman tweeted a conspiracy that the US military brought the virus to Wuhan, but the two countries reached an informal rhetorical truce in late March after telephone talks between President Donald Trump and his counterpart Xi Jinping.

Tensions have again soared as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo pushes the theory that the virus originated in a Chinese laboratory, even though both the World Health Organisation and the US government’s top epidemiologist say there is no evidence of this.

According to the Global Engagement Centre, China has again intensified its online campaign to defend its handling of the pandemic, which has killed some 270,000 people worldwide, and criticise the United States.

“Beijing is adapting in real time and increasingly using techniques that have long been employed by Moscow,” Gabrielle said.

China has increasingly used bot networks to amplify its message, Gabrielle said.

She said that official Chinese diplomatic accounts suddenly witnessed a surge in late March, going from adding around 30 new followers daily to more than 720, often from freshly created accounts.

She said that China was first observed using such online methods to “sow political discord” in its autonomous territory of Hong Kong, which has witnessed major pro-democracy demonstrations.

Published in Dawn, May 9th, 2020

UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations called on governments, companies and billionaires on Thursday to contribute to a $6.7 billion fund for immediate needs in fighting the coronavirus pandemic in vulnerable countries, warning that a failure to help could lead to a hunger pandemic, famine, riots and more conflict.

UN humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock said that Covid-19 has now affected every country and almost every person on the planet. He said the UN’s initial $2 billion appeal unveiled March 25 was being increased because there is already evidence of incomes plummeting and jobs disappearing, food supplies falling and prices soaring, and children missing vaccinations and meals. He added that the peak of the pandemic isn’t expected to hit the worlds poorest countries for three to six months.

Lowcock said in a video briefing launching the new appeal that the poorest countries face a double whammy the health impact of Covid-19 and the impact of the global recession and the domestic measures taken to contain the virus.

We must be prepared for a rise in conflict, hunger, poverty and disease as economies contract, export earnings, remittances and tourism disappear, and health systems are put under strain, he warned. Lockdowns and economic recession may mean a hunger pandemic ahead for millions.

The executive director of the World Food Programme, David Beasley, said there are two keys to averting the possibility of 265 million people being on the brink of famine by the end of the year: providing money and keeping supply chains running smoothly.

The UN appeals to wealthy nations for funding all the time, he said, but the pandemic is a one-time phenomena, a catastrophe were hitting, so its not unreasonable to ask the wealthiest people and the wealthiest companies to give.

I don’t mean just a few million. I’m talking about hundreds of millions of dollars, billions, Beasley said.

He also urged action to address the breakdown of supply chains globally. Nations must ensure that we don’t have export-import bans, restrictions at borders, shutdown of ports, shutdown of distribution points, he said, saying that some countries have already imposed export bans that are having ripple effects on food supplies.

As an example, Beasley said that if young people in urban areas in Africa lose their jobs as a result of the economic impact of the pandemic, they don’t have bank accounts to fall back on. And if they don’t have food, you’re going to have protests, riots, unrest and destabilisation. Its going to cost the world a hundredfold more to react after the fact, he warned.

He said that if the world doesn’t respond with sufficient funding, it will be catastrophic.

Were facing famine of biblical proportions,” he said. We can avert famine if we act and we act now.

The UN’s initial $2 billion appeal has so far raised $1 billion, including a lot from Europe Germany, Britain, the European Commission with contributions also from Japan, Persian Gulf countries, Canada and others, Lowcock said.

The updated appeal adds nine vulnerable countries to the 54 nations covered in the initial appeal Benin, Djibouti, Liberia, Mozambique, Pakistan, the Philippines, Sierra Leone, Togo and Zimbabwe.

Lowcock said more countries are being monitored for possible addition to the list.

Published in Dawn, May 9th, 2020

A llama called Winter could prove useful in the hunt for a treatment for Covid-19, according to US and Belgian scientists who have identified a tiny particle that appears to block the new coronavirus.

The scientists, from Belgium’s VIB-UGent center for medical biotechnology and the University of Texas at Austin, published research on Tuesday in the journal Cell, with the llama in Belgium central to their studies.

The group began four years ago looking into antibodies that might counter the Sars virus, which spread in 2003, and the Mers virus that flared up in 2012.

“The work was a side project in 2016. We thought maybe this was interesting,” said Xavier Saelens, joint leader of the Belgian part of the collaboration. “Then the new virus came and it became potentially more crucial, more important.”

Winter, the llama, was given safe versions of the Sars and Mers viruses and samples of its blood were later taken.

Llamas and other members of camel family are distinct in creating standard antibodies and smaller antibodies, with which scientists can more easily work.

The Belgian part of the research team, also led by Bert Schepens, identified fragments of the smaller antibodies, known as nanobodies, to see which bound most strongly to the virus.

Saelens describes the new coronavirus as the cousin of the Sars virus. Both have a corona, or crown, shape with protein spikes, onto which an antibody can latch.

The team intend to begin tests on animals, with a view to allowing trials with humans to begin by the end of the year. Saelens said negotiations were under way with pharmaceutical companies.

The research is not the first into nanobodies derived from camels or llamas. French group Sanofi paid 3.9 billion euros ($4.23 billion) in 2018 to buy Ghent-based nanobody specialist company Ablynx.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Saturday that Saudi Arabian authorities recently detained and are holding incommunicado Prince Faisal bin Abdullah, who had previously been netted in an anti-corruption drive and released in late 2017.

The US-based rights group, citing a source with ties to the royal family, said Prince Faisal bin Abdullah, a son of late monarch King Abdullah, was detained by security forces on March 27 while self-isolating due to the coronavirus pandemic at a family compound northeast of the capital Riyadh.

Reuters could not immediately independently verify the detention. The Saudi government media office did not immediately respond to a detailed Reuters request for comment.

Earlier in March, authorities had detained King Salman’s brother, Prince Ahmed bin Abdulaziz, and former crown prince Mohammed bin Nayef, who was replaced in a 2017 palace coup and placed under house arrest, sources had told Reuters.

Sources with royal connections said at the time that the move was a preemptive effort to ensure compliance within the ruling Al Saud family ahead of an eventual succession to the throne by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman upon the king’s death or abdication.

It was not clear if the reported detention of Prince Faisal was related to those in early March, which also saw Ahmed’s son Nayef and Mohammed bin Nayef’s brother Nawaf detained.

Saudi authorities have not commented on those detentions, which follow crackdowns on dissent in which clerics, intellectuals and rights activists have been arrested, and an anti-corruption drive launched in 2017 that netted scores of royals, ministers and businessmen.

Critics have said the campaigns were part of moves by Crown Prince Mohammed, the king’s son and the kingdom’s de facto ruler, to consolidate his grip on power.

“Now we have to add Prince Faisal to the hundreds detained in Saudi Arabia without a clear legal basis,” said Michael Page, deputy Middle East director at HRW.

The kingdom has regularly denied allegations of unfair detention.

Authorities said last year the government was winding down the anti-corruption campaign after 15 months, but would continue to go after graft.

HRW said Prince Faisal’s whereabouts or status are not known.

“The source said that Prince Faisal has not publicly criticised authorities since his December 2017 arrest and that family members are concerned about his health as he has a heart condition,” it added.

In late December 2017, a senior Saudi official said Prince Faisal and another royal, Prince Meshaal bin Abdullah, were released from Riyadh’s Ritz-Carlton hotel, where people nabbed in the anti-corruption drive were being held, after reaching an undisclosed financial settlement with the government.