Category: World

  • Stay home for 3 months, UK tells 1.5m most at risk

    People should stay at home, protect our NHS and save lives,” Communities secretary Robert Jenrick said in a statement.

    Source: The Hindu

    Up to 1.5 million vulnerable people in Britain, identified as being most at risk from the coronavirus epidemic, should stay at home for at least 12 weeks, the government said Sunday.

    Those with underlying health conditions such as bone or blood cancers, cystic fibrosis, or who have had an organ transplant have been advised by health officials to do all they can to shield themselves from the virus, including confining themselves at home for a long period.

    “People should stay at home, protect our NHS and save lives,” Communities secretary Robert Jenrick said in a statement.

    He added that the government was asking “extremely vulnerable individuals” to take “extra steps to shield themselves”.

    A statement from the communities department outlined the time frame the government wanted the most vulnerable to follow.

    “People identified as belonging to one or more of the at-risk groups will be contacted by their GP practice, specialist or both strongly advising them to stay at home for a period of at least 12 weeks.”

    A dedicated phone line and arrangements to deliver groceries or medicines will also be announced.

    Paul Johnstone, director of Public Health England, said those contacted should “not go out for shopping, for leisure or for travel”.

    Latest figures show 177 people have died in UK from the coronavirus.

    On Friday, the government announced stronger measures to try and combat the spread, including the closing of bars, pubs and restaurants.

    (This story has not been edited by Kashmir Today staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

  • Iran: Coronavirus death toll rises to 1,556

    123 more people died in the last 24 hours in country, pushing number of cases to 20,610

    Source: AA News

    A total of 123 people in Iran have died of coronavirus over the last 24 hours, pushing the death toll to 1,556, said Iranian health officials on Saturday.

    A Health Ministry statement said 966 new virus cases were found, raising the number of cases to 20,610.

    A total of 7,635 people who were treated for the virus have been discharged from hospitals to date, it added.

    The cases of new deaths dropped from the largest number recorded, 149.

    The virus, which emerged in Wuhan, China last December, has spread to at least 166 countries and regions around the globe, while the tally of confirmed cases topped 275,000, according to data compiled by U.S.-based Johns Hopkins University.

    The global death toll has exceeded 11,000, causing a chain reaction as governments place countries on lockdown to stem the spread.

    China, Italy, Iran, and Spain continue to be the most affected countries.

    Despite the rising number of cases, a vast majority of those infected by the virus suffer mild symptoms and recover.

    (This story has not been edited by Kashmir Today staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

  • Italy on Saturday reported 793 new coronavirus deaths, a one-day record, taking total number of deaths to 4,825 — 38.3 percent of the world’s total.

    The total number of fatalities in the northern Lombardy regions around Milan surpassed 3,000. It accounts for nearly two-thirds of Italy’s fatalities.

    Source: NDTV

    Rome: Italy on Saturday reported 793 new coronavirus deaths, a one-day record, taking total number of deaths to 4,825 — 38.3 percent of the world’s total.
    The number of COVID-19 infections rose by 6,557 to 53,578, another record.

    The number of COVID-19 infections rose by 6,557 to 53,578, another record. (File)

    The total number of fatalities in the northern Lombardy regions around Milan surpassed 3,000. It accounts for nearly two-thirds of Italy’s fatalities.

    Italy has reported 1,420 deaths since Friday, a grim figure that suggests the pandemic is breaking through the government’s various containment and social distancing measures.

    The Mediterranean nation of 60 million has been under an effective lockdown since March 12, when public gatherings were banned and most stores shuttered.

    Police were out in force across the streets of Rome on Saturday, checking documents and fining those outside without a valid reason, such as buying groceries.

    Joggers were asked to run around the block of their houses, parks and beaches were closed, and the government in Rome prepared to extend school and other closures into the summer months.

    But the outbreak keeps gathering pace in the new global epicentre of a virus that was first reported in December in China and has since transformed the world, straining health care systems, upending lives for millions and pummelling stock markets globally.

    The figures released Saturday showed deaths still largely contained to Italy’s richer north, whose world-class healthcare system is creaking but still not breaking.

    But it is much better that what is available in the poorer south, whose regions have registered a few dozen deaths each — and which the government in Rome is watching closely.

    The Lazio region that includes Rome has recorded a total of 50 deaths and 1,190 infections.

    (This story has not been edited by Kashmir Today staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

  • Wuhan Reports No New Virus Cases, Offering Hope To World

    Wuhan- Last month, Wuhan was overwhelmed with thousands of new cases of coronavirus each day. But in a dramatic development that underscores just how much the outbreak has pivoted toward Europe and the United States, Chinese authorities said on Thursday that the city and its surrounding province had no new cases to report.

    The news offered a rare glimmer of hope for the rest of the world as it battles the virus, and perhaps a lesson in the strict measures needed to halt its spread. It came as President Donald Trump likened the fight to “a war” and invoked emergency powers that allow him to compel manufacturers to deal with the pandemic.

    Wuhan was where the outbreak first took hold and thousands once lay sick or dying in hurriedly constructed hospitals. But Chinese authorities said on Thursday that all 34 new cases recorded over the previous day had been imported from abroad.

    “Today we have seen the dawn after so many days of hard effort,” said Jiao Yahui, a senior inspector at the National Health Commission.

    Still, the virus continued to take its toll elsewhere, both human and economic. Stocks tumbled again on Wall Street on fears of a prolonged recession, falling so fast they triggered another automatic trading halt, while major US auto manufacturers said they were shutting down their North American factories.

    The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed more than 1,300 points on Wednesday, or over 6 per cent, and has now lost nearly all of the gains it had posted since Trump’s inauguration. Oil dropped below $21 per barrel for the first time since 2002. Shares in Asia continued their slide on Thursday.

    Around the world, countries closed down their borders, leaving some to wonder how they would get back home. In the Pacific, Australia and New Zealand shut out tourists, allowing only citizens and residents to return, while Fiji reported its first case, a worrying development in a region with poor healthcare.

    The US and Canada both closed their borders to all but essential travel and Trump said he plans to assert extraordinary powers to immediately turn back to Mexico anyone who crosses over the southern border illegally.

    Mexico, meanwhile, reported its first death from the virus and closed its popular spring equinox visits to the Pyramids of the Sun and the Moon at Teotihuacan.

    The White House pressed Congress to swiftly pass a potentially $1 trillion rescue package to prop up the economy and speed relief checks to Americans in a matter of weeks.

    Calling himself a “wartime president,” Trump invoked the Defence Production Act of 1950 to steer industrial output and overcome shortages of face masks, ventilators and other supplies as hospitals brace for an expected onslaught of cases.

    The Korean War-era law gives the president extraordinary authority to compel industries to expand production and turn out vital materials. It was most recently used after the 2017 Puerto Rico hurricane to speed up contracts for food and other necessities.

    Trump likened the coronavirus fight to measures taken during World War II and warned of national sacrifices ahead.

    While China did not report any new cases in Wuhan or Hubei province it did record eight additional deaths.

    Jiao said the “double-zero” increase, which followed several days of improving numbers, meant their control and medical treatment methods were working well.

    Wuhan has been under a strict lockdown since January. Officials are moving to loosen travel restrictions, but only inside the surrounding province of Hubei where most checkpoints will be taken down. Wuhan remains cut-off, with only those with special permission allowed to travel in or out.

    The lockdown will be lifted there only if no additional cases are reported for two consecutive weeks, which may happen next month, Li Lanjuan, a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, was quoted as saying.

    The virus has infected more than 218,000 people worldwide and killed over 8,800, mostly in China, Italy and Iran. The United Nations warned that the crisis could lead to the loss of nearly 25 million jobs around the world.

    More than 84,000 people overall have recovered from the virus, which causes only mild or moderate symptoms such as fever and cough in most cases. Severe illness is more likely in the elderly and those with existing health problems.

    Though China still has the largest number of cases, most of its patients have recovered. China even sent medical supplies to hard-hit France, returning a flavor done by the French weeks ago.

    But in a grim illustration of the pandemic’s shift, deaths in Italy were nearing China’s toll. Italy had more than 2,900 dead after a record one-day total of 475; China’s overall toll was around 3,200. Iran has also been hit hard, with more than 1,100 deaths.

    Around the globe, governments took increasingly drastic measures to fight the epidemic and the threat of a recession, in some cases using emergency powers.

    California’s governor warned that martial law could be imposed. The mayor of New York said the city’s 8.6 million residents should be prepared for a lockdown. The US Census Bureau suspended field operations for two weeks, soon after it began its once-a-decade count of American people.

    Czech authorities used emergency powers to raid a warehouse and seize hundreds of thousands of face masks. And Hong Kong widened the use of electronic wristbands that monitor people under self-quarantine.

    With a growing number of Americans thrown out of work by the near-shutdown of much of the US economy, Trump also said the Housing and Urban Development Department will suspend foreclosures and evictions from public housing.

    The Trump administration’s plan for issuing relief checks to Americans calls for the payment of $500 billion in two instalments over the next two months. The amounts have yet to be decided but would be based on income and family size.

    Ford, General Motors and Fiat Chrysler, along with Honda and Toyota, said they will shut all of their factories in the US, Canada and Mexico. The closing of Detroit’s Big Three alone will idle about 150,000 workers, who are likely to receive supplemental pay in addition to unemployment benefits.

    At GM’s pickup truck assembly plant in Flint, Michigan, workers have been fearful since the virus surfaced in the US, said Tommy Wolikow, who has two young daughters.

    “That’s the thing that I was scared the most about, being the one to bring it home to them,” he said.

    The US has reported more than 9,400 coronavirus cases and at least 138 deaths, about half of them in Washington state, where dozens of residents from a suburban Seattle nursing home have died.

    Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida is the first known member of Congress to test positive for the virus. Other members of Congress have self-quarantined, but none have reported positive test results.

    Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, who last week announced he tested positive, is sharing his experience in a daily YouTube diary and on Twitter as he runs the city from home isolation. His wife and children are staying with relatives.

    “The longer I live with COVID-19, the more I understand just how crucial social distancing is,” Suarez wrote.

    Scientists have no doubt the true number of people infected is higher than reported because of the possibility that many mild cases have gone unrecognised or unrecorded, and because of the lag in large-scale testing in the US

    In the first breakdown of its kind in the US, the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said that the nation’s coronavirus deaths so far mirror what has been reported in other countries, with about 4 out of 5 fatalities occurring in people 65 and older, and no deaths in children.

  • Pakistan records two deaths from coronavirus as confirmed cases rise to 301

    Source: GK News Network

    Pakistan shares a 960-kilometre border with Iran, with the main crossing point at Taftan in Balochistan province.

    Pakistan on Wednesday reported its first two casualties due to the deadly coronavirus that has infected 301 people across the country.

    “Sad to report one patient who passed away in Mardan,” Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Health Minister Taimur Khan Jhagra tweeted late Wednesday night.

    Within two hours after the tweet, Jhagra again announced that a second coronavirus death was also reported from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

    The minister tweeted that the patient, a 36-year old person from Hangu district, died in a hospital in Peshawar.

    The number of cases in the worst-hit Sindh province reached to 208 on Wednesday after 19 people in Karachi tested positive, said Meeran Yousuf, the media coordinator of the health and population welfare minister. She said the province recorded total 36 new cases on Wednesday.

    Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar said the number of coronavirus cases in his province rose to 33 on Wednesday.

    “I can confirm that there are 33 confirmed #COVID19 patients in Punjab. 20 quarantined in Dera Ghazi Khan tested positive & have been shifted to hospital. 6 patients in Lahore, 5 in Multan and 2 in Gujrat are also under treatment,” he tweeted.

    Majority of Pakistan’s COVID-19 cases are linked to those who went on pilgrimage to Iran, one of the countries hardest-hit by the disease, while less than half a dozen are locally transmitted.

    Pakistan shares a 960-kilometre border with Iran, with the main crossing point at Taftan in Balochistan province.

    The Taftan border has been closed since March 16, but thousands of Pakistan Shia pilgrims who were visiting religious sites in Iran have been allowed to return subject to two weeks’ quarantine.

    More 10 cases were reported in Gilgit-Baltistan and its Chief Minister Hafeezur Rehman said that the total number of infection in the region was 15.

    Also, the first coronavirus case was reported from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, where a 45-year old person who had recently come back from Iran was found positive.

    Punjab Chief Minister Buzdar also announced that the restaurants, hotels and shopping malls would be shut down by 10pm every day to reduce exposure. He also said that number of staff at offices will be reduced.

    Already 19 cases were reported from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, 16 from Balochistan and 2 from Islamabad.

    Authorities in Pakistan have screened over 1,015,900 travellers since the virus was first detected in the country. At least 20,088 travellers have been screened in the last 24 hours.

    Sindh government has come out criticising Centre for lack of foresight in quarantine arrangements in Taftan where over 9,000 pilgrims returning from Iran had been quarantined by the Balochistan government in a tent city’.

    After completing the 14-day incubation period, the pilgrims were allowed to travel back to their cities. However, Sindh and K-P sent the pilgrims to isolation facilities in Sukkur and Dera Ismail Khan and tested them before allowing further travel.

    In its March 13 National Security Committee meeting, Centre formed a Novel Coronavirus Core Committee with daily meetings between federal and provincial authorities.

    (This story has not been edited by Kashmir Today staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

  • US Imposes Fresh Sanctions on Iran Amid Coronavirus Outbreak

    Washington: The United States has announced a new round of sanctions against Iran as part of its so-called “maximum pressure” campaign against the Islamic Republic.

    US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Tuesday that Washington had blacklisted three Iranian entities for engaging in what he called “significant transactions” to trade in Iranian petrochemicals.

    While he did not name any firms or individuals, Pompeo said the measure included blacklisting Iran’s armed forces social security investment company and its director for investing in the sanctioned entities.

    In a separate statement, the US Commerce Department also said it would boycott a number of entities, including five Iranian nuclear scientists, for aiding Tehran’s nuclear program.

    President Donald Trump reinstated US sanctions on Iran in May 2018 after he unilaterally left the 2015 nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), signed between Iran and major world powers.

    The International Court of Justice (ICJ) — known as the World Court — has ordered the US to lift the sanctions it has illegally re-imposed on humanitarian supplies to Iran.

    Over the past weeks, calls have been growing on the world stage for the US to lift its illegal sanctions, which have severely affected Iran’s healthcare systems at a time when all countries are trying to join forces against the pandemic.

    The new sanctions come as China and Russia, in particular, have urged the US to remove its sanctions on Tehran since the restrictions could interfere with Iran’s efforts to contain the coronavirus outbreak in the country.

    The coronavirus, which causes a respiratory disease known as covid-19, emerged in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in Hubei Province late last year and is currently affecting more than 160 countries and territories across the globe. It has so far infected over 180,000 people and killed more than 7,400 others.

    In Iran, the total number of infections has reached 16,169. Also, the fatality count increased on Tuesday to 988, with 135 news deaths, according to the latest figures provided by the Health Ministry. A total of 5,389 patients have fully recovered.

  • Italy coronavirus deaths rise by record 475 in a day

    Source: BBC World News

    The number of people dying from coronavirus in Italy has risen by 475 in one day to nearly 3,000 – the biggest increase since the outbreak.

    There are a total of 35,713 confirmed cases in the country, with more than 4,000 having successfully recovered.

    Lombardy, the worst-hit region, recorded 319 deaths in one day.

    Italy is the world’s worst affected country after China, where the virus originated last year. At least 8,758 people have died, most in China.

    The vast majority of the more than 200,000 confirmed cases – 80% – have occurred in Europe and the Western Pacific region, which includes much of Asia, the World Health Organization (WHO) says.

    Many countries have taken drastic measures, including social distancing and cancelling major events to help slow transmission and reduce pressure on the health systems.

    “But to suppress and control epidemics, countries must isolate, test, treat and trace,” the WHO chief said on Wednesday.

    Italy has been on lockdown for almost two weeks as authorities try to halt the progress of the virus.

    People have been asked to stay indoors – but the number of deaths has continued to spiral.

    The WHO’s emergencies director, Mike Ryan, said this was probably due to the “astonishing” number of cases within the health systems, as well as the high number of elderly people in the population at large.

    Dr Tedros hailed the beginning of the first vaccine trial so soon after the emergence of the virus as “an incredible achievement”.

    How bad is the situation in the rest of Europe?

    Spain now has 598 dead and 13,716 infections. An inquiry is to be launched into the deaths of at least 17 residents of a nursing home in Madrid, where dozens of cases of Covid-19 have been reported.

    In France, the number of confirmed cases grew by more than 16% on Tuesday, reaching 7,730, while the death toll rose to 175, with 7% of the dead aged under 65.

    In the UK, the number of dead has reached 104.

    Germany has 12 deaths and 8,198 cases. Chancellor Angela Merkel is to make the unusual step of speaking to the nation in a TV address later on Wednesday. She is not expected to announce new measures, but rather appeal to citizens to help fight the virus.

    Belgium has 14 deaths and 1,486 cases.

    What’s happening across Europe’s borders?

    Travellers from outside the EU are being turned away from airports and borders after the 27-country bloc imposed a 30-day ban to halt the spread of coronavirus.

    EU leaders agreed that internal borders that have been erected in recent days should come down.

    (This story has not been edited by Kashmir Today staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

  • Emirates Asks Pilots to Take Unpaid Leave, Qatar Airway Lays off Staff

    Source: NDTV

    Tourism and aviation are vital to Dubai’s economy, which does not have the vast oil wealth of some of its neighbours

    Middle East airline Qatar Airways laid off about 200 Filipino staff in Doha this week and rival Emirates asked pilots to take unpaid leave as the coronavirus outbreak hammers demand for travel. The state-owned airlines have had to slash dozens of flights, which are crucial for their Gulf hubs that millions of passengers pass through each year. Philippine Labour Secretary Silvestre Bello told Reuters on Wednesday that the government was trying to ascertain the “real cause” behind the unexpected decision to lay off the workers.
    Qatar Airways did not respond to an emailed request for comment.

    The layoffs were reported earlier by ABS-CBN. It said the Filipino employees, including engineers and maintenance staff, were laid off on Tuesday and others had also lost their jobs.

    State-owned Qatar Airways had warned it would report its third consecutive loss this financial year, which ends this month, before the outbreak battered global travel demand.

    Dubai’s Emirates has joined other airlines around world in asking pilots to take unpaid leave.

    “You are strongly encouraged to make use of this opportunity to volunteer for additional paid and unpaid leave,” the airline said in an internal email to pilots seen by Reuters.

    Emirates, one of the world’s biggest international airlines, did not immediately respond to an email request for comment.

    Tourism and aviation are vital to Dubai’s economy, which does not have the vast oil wealth of some of its neighbours.

    Emirates Group, which employed over 100,000 people, including about 4,000 pilots as of March 2019, asked staff to take unpaid leave earlier this month, although pilots were not included in the request then.

    Emirates has told staff the coronavirus epidemic could be the biggest challenge it has faced in many years.

    The airline has frozen recruitment and continues to cut flights as the situation worsens globally.

    In response to a Reuters query as to whether the Dubai government would provide support to its state aviation entities, the state media office sent a statement from the emirate’s airport operator.

    Dubai Airports said it was working with business partners to mitigate the impact of the coronavirus but could not comment further as commercial arrangements were confidential.

    Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Airways on Wednesday announced another raft of flight cancellations, including to India and Egypt.

    (This story has not been edited by Kashmir Today staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

  • Coronavirus outbreak: What Dubai based Hindu priests/astrologers predict

    Source: Gulf News

    DUBAI: As the fear of coronavirus spreads faster than the disease, raising more questions than answers globally, astrologers with their star perspectives are in the spotlight, with even the most die-hard sceptics giving them a listen-in.

    Nothing can perhaps illustrate this better than one of the umpteen comments on a YouTube video on coronavirus by Indian astrologer Ashish Mehta that has gone viral.

    “I always take astrology with a pinch of salt but this time, I really, really want it to be true,” says one sceptic after listening to the video.

    The reason? As Mehta, who is highly sought after for his predictions, explains in the video, things will begin to look up from March 24, thanks to planetary movements, the result of which will begin to be felt by March 30. The advent of summer on April 13, he said, will only help matters, with a cure for coronavirus being approved and the world slowly, but surely, coming back to normalcy thereafter.

    “A lot of people ask about the coronavirus these days. Out of curiosity or out of fear, everyone’s question remains, now what next?” says Mehta. “Any virus is born from the conjunctions of Rahu or Ketu (the invisible planets that denote the points of intersection of the paths of the sun and moon). Due to the combination of Guru (Jupiter) and Ketu, it intensifies.”

    Mehta points to the planetary positions for the spread of coronavirus from China to the rest of the world. “But fortunately, on March 30, Guru is leaving Ketu’s alliance and entering Capricorn. That means after March 30, we will all be free from the effects of the coronavirus. This will start from 2.58pm on March 24 itself.”

    Psyched out

    The explanation is music to the ears as it spells early hopes for hundreds and thousands of residents, who like the rest of the world, have been psyched out by the novel coronavirus and its meteoric rise across the planet over the last few weeks.

    “March 30? That’s not too bad, we all just need to hang in there,” says Leela Raman, a Dubai-based housewife.

    “Let’s hope he is right,” says Ian Hammonds, a software engineer, also based in Dubai.

    Transitions behind the upheaval
    According to some astrologers in the UAE, however, the wait for full relief may get a bit longer.

    Dubai-based Acharya Sandeep Bhargava, astrologer and life coach, is looking at May 11 for the world to be at peace again.

    Acharya Sandeep Bhargava

    He attributes what is happening around us to the transitions of Saturn (on September 18 last year and January 24 this year) and Jupiter on November 5.

    “These transitions collectively explain the upheaval around us. Also Mars was placed in its own house Scorpio which governs physical and mental health. All these together spell calamities, whether natural or man-made,” he says.

    Another astrologer and Hindu priest in Dubai, Upendra Shastri, said, “Ketu is the main factor behind the creation of coronavirus. The astrological impact of the virus outbreak is said to have actually begun on November 5, 2019, when the planet Jupiter entered the house of Sagittarius.

    Upendra Shastri

    He said the combination of Ketu, Jupiter and Sagittarius has triggered the virus outbreak. “From December 14, 2019 to January 15, 2020, Jupiter remained in abeyance due to which the virus did not spread so much. But it is when Jupiter began to rise after January 15, the world began to see the impact of the virus.”

    Cure for the virus

    Shastri says Jupiter will be in Capricorn from March 30 until June 30. “When this happens, Jupiter becomes weak and the coronavirus is likely to become weak and we will see a cure for the virus during this period. Also the negative impact of the virus will be lowered during this period. Things are going to take a positive turn from May onwards.”

    Fellow Hindu priest and astrologer Acharya Umesh, also based in Dubai, agrees that May is the time when there will be relief from coronavirus.

    Acharya Umesh

    “Rahu is passing through its own constellation. Rahu’s variance in the constellation is spreading poison all over the world. The spread of any type of virus is due to this. Rahu will depart from here on May 20. After this, the global situation will come under control.”

    Staying positive

    A fifth astrologer Raju Pandit says, “The important thing is to stay positive during a time like this. Things can only get better after something as trying as this.”

    He says salutations to the sun are important as the new year with the summer months begins in mid-April.

    “Let us pray and stay positive, the worst will soon be behind us,” he adds.

    (Except headlines, this story has not been edited by Kashmir Today staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

  • What does coronavirus mean for Dubai Expo 2020?

    C&IT

    With the world’s biggest live event set to open in Dubai in October, organisers released a statement about the coronavirus threat.

    The World Expo 2020 is due to run in Dubai from October to April, but the coronavirus threat looms on the horizon as events all around the world are cancelling or postponing.

    As the UAE’s total expenditure on the event approaches around US $9 billion, according to figures released by the Expo 2020 Dubai Bureau, organisers have made a statement on the potential impact that coronavirus might have.

    “Alongside the government of the UAE, we are working hard to adapt to unfolding events surrounding the spread of COVID-19,” said an Expo 2020 Dubai spokesperson.

    “The health and wellbeing of everyone living in and visiting the UAE is our top priority and will not be compromised. Like many governments around the world, the UAE authorities have taken robust preventative measures to contain the rapid spread of the virus.

    “In common with other organisations, Expo 2020 Dubai is closely monitoring ongoing developments and taking sensible precautions to manage and mitigate the risk to all those involved in the Expo.

    “As we continue to prepare for this event, we will be adjusting planned preparations, as changing circumstances require. We will be diligently following the latest guidance from the Dubai Health Authority, Ministry of Health and Prevention, World Health Organisation and other relevant bodies.

    “Expo 2020 is not due to open until late October and we continue on track. We are working very closely with UAE authorities and the International Bureau of Expositions in Paris as the situation around the world evolves.

    “We will remain attentive and alert in the coming days and weeks and are confident that the collective strength and resilience of our Expo community will enable us to navigate through these most difficult of times.”

    Expo 2020 is planned to be 173 days of global music, tech, culture and creativity, with 60 live events every day and 150,000 average daily visitors.

    (This story has not been edited by Kashmir Today staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)