Author: News Desk

The COVID-19 pandemic is not even close to being over, World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a briefing on Monday. Tedros noted that, six months after China first alerted the WHO to a novel respiratory infection, the grim milestones of 10 million confirmed infections and 500,000 deaths had been reached. “Most people remain susceptible, the virus still has a lot of room to move,” he said. “We all want this to be over. We all want to get on with our lives. But the hard reality is that this is not even close to being over. Although many…

The central government on Monday decided to ban 59 mobile applications linked to China on grounds of national security. A formal order, asking phone companies to block the applications, was issued after weeks of discussions that started much before the Ladakh border standoff with China. A statement by the information technology ministry said a decision had been taken to block 59 applications “since in view of the information available, they are engaged in activities prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of state and public order. The applications include popular short-video app TikTok, and other utility…

The maker of a drug shown to shorten recovery time for severely ill COVID-19 patients says it will charge $2,340 for a typical treatment course for people covered by government health programs in the United States and other developed countries. Gilead Sciences announced the price on Monday for remdesivir and said the price would be $3,120 for patients with private insurance. The amount that patients pay out of pocket depends on insurance, income and other factors. “We’re in uncharted territory with pricing a new medicine, a novel medicine, in a pandemic,” Gilead’s chief executive, Dan O’Day, told The Associated Press.…

The UAE on Monday reiterated its commitment to strengthening international cooperation after assisting more than 1 million medical workers worldwide through the supply of over 1,000 tonnes of personal protective equipment, PPE, and medical and food aid in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. Speaking on the occasion, Reem bint Ibrahim Al Hashemy, Minister of State for International Cooperation, said, “Since its very founding, the UAE has pursued bonds of friendly cooperation and solidarity with other countries, believing that nations must set aside their differences in favour of unity and the greater good of humankind. Today’s milestone of assisting 1…

Amazon said on Monday it would spend $500 million on one-time bonuses to its front-line employees and partners working through the coronavirus crisis. Employees and partners who have been with the e-commerce company through June will receive bonuses ranging from $150 to $3,000, the company said in a blog post. The world’s largest online retailer, which delivers about 10 billion items a year, has been facing intense scrutiny from U.S. lawmakers and unions over whether it is doing enough to protect staff from the COVID-19 pandemic. Earlier in the day, workers at six Amazon sites in Germany decided to go on…

The Supreme Court is leaving in place a decision that rejected environmental groups’ challenge to sections of wall the Trump administration is building along the U.S. border with Mexico. The high court on Monday declined to hear an appeal involving construction of 145 miles (233 kilometers) of steel-bollard walls along the border in Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas. The Center for Biological Diversity, the Animal Legal Defense Fund, Defenders of Wildlife, and the Southwest Environmental Center had challenged a federal law that allows the secretary of Homeland Security to waive any laws necessary to allow the quick construction of…

The British are far fatter than any other nation in Europe bar the Maltese so there needs to be a debate about how to tackle soaring rates of obesity which cost the country dearly, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Monday. Johnson, who said at the start of the year that he needed to lose weight, was hospitalised in April with coronavirus and treated in intensive care with oxygen. He later said doctors in the National Health Service (NHS) had saved his life. Asked about how ill he had been in an interview with Times Radio, Johnson said: “I did…

Bahrain’s government would pay 50% of salaries for private company workers in sectors that were hard-hit by the coronavirus pandemic. The new payments would start in July, BNA said, adding that the government would extend its assistance for three more months to Bahraini citizens by also paying electricity and water bills. Bahrain had said it was spending $570 million on paying salaries to all 100,000 of its citizens employed in the private sector from April to June to help soften the economic blow from the coronavirus outbreak. The government also decided to sponsor electricity and water bills for all citizens for…

Saudi Arabia has reported 3,943 new cases and 48 deaths from coronavirus, taking the total cases to 186,436. The death toll raised to 1,599 after reporting the new deaths. Meanwhile, 2,363 patients fully recovered from the virus, bringing the total recoveries to 127,118. In line with recent trends, the majority of the new cases are in Al Hofuf (433), followed by Riyadh (363) and Dammam (357). https://twitter.com/media_ksa/status/1277580649814245377?s=20

Kuwait has reported 582 new coronavirus cases, of which 319 are citizens, taking the total confirmed cases in the country to 45,524, according to the Ministry of Health. 2 patients died of the coronavirus in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of deaths to 350. 819 new recoveries have been reported in the country, raising the total recoveries to 36,313. Kuwait has done 3,504 NP swab tests in the past 24 hours, as the country ramps up its efforts to test more people and detect cases early, according to the health ministry. So far, the country has conducted…