Author: News Desk

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs launched a virtual assistance service “Ask MOFA” which is a new channel to provide electronic services using artificial intelligence technology to communicate and interact around the clock throughout the entire week with citizens and residents to answer their questions and inquiries regarding all services provided by the ministry and the diplomatic missions abroad. This e-service will provide inquirers with immediate support through common inquiries and frequently asked questions, while also helping them to activate a live chat if needed in order to provide efficient and high-quality services. The service was launched through the Ministry of…

Residents and citizens looking to take their dog for a walk during Dubai’s 24-hour national sanitation program can apply for a permit through the emirate’s new website, multiple users reported. On Saturday, Dubai extended its previous nighttime curfew to all day and night for two weeks, subject to renewal, as authorities step up lockdown measures to combat the spread of the coronavirus, officially known as COVID-19. The UAE Ministry of Health has advised that everyone should wear a mask when in public for safety, and to practice good social distancing measures to control the spread of the virus. Individuals who work in vital sectors…

Media Spokesperson of Riyadh Police Lieutenant Colonel Shaker bin Sulaiman Al-Tuwaijri announced today the capture of a citizen who has defamed police authority in general and a policeman, in particular, who was stampeded to death following a run-over incident last Friday. Lt. Col. Al-Tuwaijri said the arrestee was found to have circulated on the social media insulting drawings and comments to security men of the country. He was apprehended, and legal procedures were taken against him to refer him to general prosecution, he added.

The Sultanate is experiencing a significant drop in blood donations amid the coronavirus pandemic due to the fear of infection, said Dr. Zainab bint Salim Al Fanna al-Araimi,  Director of Blood Banks Services at the Ministry of Health. However, She assured that the banks are taking all the necessary measures to protect donors. To avoid any decrease in blood unit stocks, the department coordinated with a number of authorities to organize urgent campaigns in addition to liaising with donors and volunteers to donate at the blood banks. This was carried out by determining the number of donors each time. Moreover, the…

Banks will focus more on preserving asset-quality indicators than generating new business. Conventional and Islamic banks in the GCC countries will see a drop in revenue and credit growth in 2020, according to S&P Global Ratings. The sharp drop in oil prices and measures implemented by regional governments to contain transmission of the coronavirus (COVID-19) will take a toll on sectors such as real estate, hospitality, the rating agency said in a new report. “Under our base-case scenario, we assume that these measures will be relatively short-lived and forecast a gradual recovery in non-oil activity from third-quarter 2020. However, severe…

Russian health authorities said on Monday that the number of the new coronavirus, COVID-19, infections reached 954 in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of cases to 6,343. The number of patients recovered from the disease has reached 406, Interfax news agency reported on Monday. Of all the new cases, 591 have been registered in Moscow and 82 in the Moscow region. Two coronavirus patients have died in the last 24 hours, bringing the death toll to 47. As many as 51 people have been discharged from hospitals over the same period of time, bringing the total number…

The International Monetary Fund cited limited but encouraging signs of recovery in China, the first country to suffer the full force of the COVID-19 pandemic, but said it could not rule out a resurgence of the pandemic in China and elsewhere, reported Reuters. In a blog published Monday, top IMF economists said the pandemic caused by the new coronavirus had pushed the world into a recession that would be worse than the global financial crisis and called for a global, coordinated health and economic policy response. “The economic damage is mounting across all countries, tracking the sharp rise in new…

U.S. officials on Monday girded the country for a “peak death week” from the coronavirus pandemic as the accelerating American death toll closed the gap with Italy and Spain, the countries with the most fatalities to date reported Reuters. “It’s going to be the peak hospitalization, peak ICU week and unfortunately, peak death week,” Admiral Brett Giroir, a physician and a member of the White House coronavirus task force, told ABC’s “Good Morning America” on Monday. Giroir raised a particular alarm for New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Detroit, and reinforced the messaging from U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams who…

Researchers at Khalifa University’s Healthcare Engineering Innovation Centre, HEIC, are stepping up to serve the UAE’s project to develop emergency ventilators. The researchers have developed a working prototype and are now engineering the production plant to be able to produce the ventilators at scale to meet rising local and global demands, said a press release issued by Khalifa University on Monday. The team, led by Dr. Cesare Stefanini, Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Director of HEIC, is working in response to the global need for increased ventilator manufacturing capacity due to COVID-19. Though the disease caused by the novel coronavirus…

Lebanon has reported 541 cases of coronavirus and 19 deaths. Lebanon’s President Michel Aoun has appealed for the international community to help the country that is passing through its worst economic and financial crisis in decades, made worse in recent weeks by the new coronavirus. Aoun said in a speech Monday in front of ambassadors of the International Support Group for Lebanon that includes the U.N., U.S., China, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, Britain, EU, and the Arab League that Beirut was getting ready to launch work to revive the economy when coronavirus hit the world, The Associated Press reported. We…