Author: News Desk

New York has a total of 113,704 COVID-19 cases, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said today during a press conference. The state recorded a new high of positive cases Friday with 10,841. There are 15,905 people in the hospital and 4,126 in ICU, Cuomo said. As of today, 3,565 people have died due to COVID-19. “By the numbers, we’re not yet at the apex. We’re getting closer,” Cuomo said. New York City’s numbers are dropping and Long island positive case numbers are growing, Cuomo said. New York City’s Javits Convention Center will have 2,500 beds and will be staffed entirely by the federal government, Cuomo said.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has announced that the country’s state of alarm, which demands strict limits on people’s movements and continues the closure of schools and most businesses, will continue for a further two weeks, until April 26. We are facing the great crisis of our lives,” Sanchez said in a nationwide address. The state of alarm had already been extended until April 11. The government will ask the Spanish parliament to approve the extension on Tuesday. Sanchez added: “Weeks of strict restrictions await us. We ask families to stay at home. To young people, to continue to study, to…

China has mourned the victims of the coronavirus outbreak by observing a three-minute silence, bringing the nation to a halt. A day of remembrance was declared in China on Saturday to honour the more than 3,300 people who died of COVID-19. At 10:00 local time (03:00 GMT), people stood still nationwide for three minutes in tribute to the dead. Cars, trains, and ships then sounded their horns, air raid sirens rang as flags were flown at half-mast. The first cases of coronavirus were detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan in Hubei province late last year. Since then, the virus…

A US health expert is concerned that prisons and jails could cause the coronavirus to spread faster in those facilities and outside. Dr. Barun Mathema, an assistant professor of epidemiology at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, said that because of the high, concentrated number of people in these facilities, community spread is likely. “The prison population in and of itself has a fairly sizable, vulnerable population within that have a lot of chronic conditions, other types of infections,” Mathema said. “We should also ensure that what happens in a prison, or jail for that matter, does not pose an undue risk to the community. In this…

The United Kingdom has recorded 708 new deaths from coronavirus, the largest one-day rise since the outbreak began. According to figures released by the Department of Health and Social Care, a total of 4,313 have now died in the UK. The figures are current to 5 p.m. (12 p.m. ET) on April 3 but were released a day later. The number of confirmed cases of coronavirus as at 9 a.m. (4 a.m. ET) April 4 is 41,903, which is an increase of 3,735 from the previous day’s figures.

A new national scheme to train Bahrainis as barbers and hairdressers has been launched today. The project is spearheaded by the Noaim Charity Society in association with the Labour and Social Development Ministry and in co-ordination with Tamkeen. It would see Bahrainis licensed to open shops or work in hospitals and homes for the elderly or people with disabilities. The scheme has been nominated as the frontrunner to receive the ministry’s top innovative schemes award, which entitles the society for a cash award towards developing the scheme.

The UAE Ministry of Health Prevention, MoHAP and the Ministry of Interior, MoI, have announced the continuation of the ‘National Disinfection Programme’ as part of the preventive and precautionary measures taken by the UAE to contain COVID-19 reported Khaleej Times. The two ministries said new facilities and establishments would be added to the disinfection plan, which was due to end on Saturday, April 4, in all emirates of the country. The programme is being carried out with the support and cooperation of several competent bodies and participation of hundreds of workers, supervisors, and administrators from federal and local governments. The…

Scores of professionals are expected to participate in a webinar titled ‘COVID executive checklist: Six Urgent Priorities’. The opening note will be delivered by Her Royal Highness Shaikha Noora Al Khalifa who delivers more than 20 Keynote inspiring speeches per year at prestigious conferences and events around the globe. The Webinar is set to take place on 15th April (Wednesday) from 12 pm to 4 pm. The session will be addressed by prominent personalities; Abdul Tehman Arif (topic: people involvement), Usman Barkat (topic: offense-redefining strategy), Saba Riaz (topic: B2B sales optimization) to name a few. Key points will also be…

According to Reuters, Kuwait will ramp up oil output in April until it reaches about 3.15 million barrels per day, the state news agency KUNA reported on Friday, citing the chief executive of Kuwait Petroleum Corp. The increase in output will come from the Neutral Zone, an area Kuwait shares on the border with Saudi Arabia, KUNA said. Oil Minister Khaled al-Fadhel announced on Friday the resumption of crude shipments from the Neutral Zone for the first time in five years. Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, both OPEC members, agreed last year to end a five-year dispute over the zone.

Stocks are being checked on a daily basis in Saudi Arabia by the country’s Ministry of Commerce. There is no shortage of goods or rise in the cost of essential commodities, said Majed M. Al-Tahan, co-founder and managing director of Danube Online, the hypermarket chain reported Rashid Hassan. Speaking exclusively to Arab News, “We have full support from the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Telecommunications and they are dealing with us closely to give whatever support we need to make sure people are getting what they want,” said Al-Tahan. With Danube Online and the Danube app, in approximately…