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  • Diriliş: Ertuğrul | Turkish series showcases life with values: Pakistan PM

    The Turkish television series Resurrection: Ertugrul is an “interesting” drama which shows Islamic culture, said Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan.

    “It is part of history in which values of Islamic culture have been showcased,” Khan told journalists in Islamabad on Friday.

    Click here to watch the Serial

    State-run Pakistan Television (PTV) late Saturday launched the first episode of the popular Turkish drama series that highlights Muslim history during 13th century to coincide with first day of Ramadan.

    Khan said a “third-hand culture was being promoted in Pakistan due to Hollywood and Bollywood.”

    “I want our children and youth to learn where is the difference and that we also have our own culture,” he said, referring to the release of the series.

    PTV dubbed the series in Urdu after Khan visited Turkey last year and was informed about the importance of the series.

    Expressing “disappointment” about content generated by Bollywood, he said “it is badly effecting our children; schools and drug culture was flourishing while sex and crimes related to children were increasing.”

    The broadcast of Resurrection: Ertugrul in Urdu aims to inform viewers that there is “another way and style of life laced with values,” Khan said. “It directly impacts our family system … remember, the family system collapses when immorality rises in the society.”

    Often described as the Turkish Game of Thrones, the series is woven around 13th century Anatolia and tells the story prior to the establishment of the Ottoman Empire. It illustrates the struggle of Ertugrul Gazi, father of the empire’s first leader.

    Shortly after the 45-minute long first episode was broadcast, #ErtugrulUrduPTV was trending with viewers welcoming the series as they shared “scenes” from the first episode on social media.

    “Great initiative taken by PMIK [Prime Minister Imran Khan] to make the younger generation know the magnificent and historical past of the Muslims. Indeed a visionary leader,” wrote Twitter user Dr Uzair Noor.

    “Every Muslim feels proud of Ertugrul series irrespective of the nationality,” a Pakistani citizen reflecting on the series told Anadolu Agency.

    Turkey-Pakistan Parliamentary group Chairman and Justice and Development (AK) Party lawmaker Ali Sahin thanked Khan for the launch of the series for an Urdu-speaking audience.

    “In the name of our nation I kindly thank to The Prime Minister @ImranKhanPTI and @PTVHomeOfficial for airing @DirilisDizisi [Ertugrul Gazi] in Urdu,” said Sahin, who studied in Pakistan and speaks Urdu.

    PTV management took to Twitter to thank viewers.

    “Dear PTV viewers, the PTV management would like to thank you for the most encouraging feedback for Episode 1, and for making it the TopTrend on Twitter Pakistan!,” it said.

    Turkey, Pakistan and Malaysia agreed last September to fight the rising global trend of Islamophobia, mainly in the West.

    The trio of nations decided to launch a television channel dedicated to confronting challenges posed by Islamophobia and to produce films on Muslim heroes.

  • U.S. records 2,494 more coronavirus deaths in 24 hours: Johns Hopkins

    AFP

    The United States recorded 2,494 more coronavirus deaths in the past 24 hours, according to figures reported Saturday night by Johns Hopkins University.

    The country now has an overall death toll of 53,511, with 936,293 confirmed infections, according to a tally by the Baltimore-based university at 8:30 pm (0030 GMT Sunday).

    The United States is by far the hardest-hit country in the global pandemic, in terms of both confirmed infections and deaths.

    The toll of 2,494 was a jump from Friday, when the US recorded the lowest number of virus deaths —1,258 — in nearly three weeks

  • Coronavirus | WHO warns over virus immunity as global death toll crosses 200,000

    United Nations has joined world leaders to speed up development of a vaccine, but effective treatments for COVID-19.

    AFP

    The World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Saturday that recovering from coronavirus might not protect people from reinfection as the death toll from the pandemic crossed 200,000 around the globe.

    Governments are struggling to limit the economic devastation unleashed by the virus, which has left half of humanity under some form of lockdown and reported infections approaching three million

    The United Nations has joined world leaders to speed up development of a vaccine, but effective treatments for COVID-19, the disease caused by coronavirus, are still far off.

    But with signs the disease is peaking in the US and Europe, governments are starting to ease restrictions, weighing the need for economic recovery against cautions that lifting them too soon risks a second wave of infections.

    The WHO warned on Saturday that there was still no evidence that people who test positive for the new coronavirus and recover are immunised and protected against reinfection.

    The warning came as some governments study measures such as “immunity passports” or documents for those who have recovered as one way to get people back to work after weeks of economic shutdown.

    “There is currently no evidence that people who have recovered from #COVID19 and have antibodies are protected from a second infection,” WHO said in a statement.

    “People who assume that they are immune to a second infection because they have received a positive test result may ignore public health advice,” it said.

    With more than four billion people still on lockdown or stay-at-home orders, governments are debating how to steadily lift curbs, reopen schools, restart businesses and reboot economies without causing a spike in virus cases.

    Some of that discussion centres on new mobile phone apps to alert people to infections, mass antibody testing — to determine who has had the virus and may be immune — and the public use of facemasks to stop transmission.

    “If I’ve already had corona then I’m not infectious,” said Berlin resident Lothar Kopp, hoping to test positive for antibodies as it could allow him to visit his elderly mother.

    Germany has carried out tens of thousands of tests and other countries are also working on determining what may be their so-called level of immunity.

    But on Friday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for international organisations, world leaders and the private sector to join an unprecedented effort to speed up development and distribution of a vaccine.

    “We face a global public enemy like no other,” the UN chief told a virtual briefing. “A world free of COVID-19 requires the most massive public health effort in history.”

    Any vaccine should be safe, affordable and available to all, Mr. Guterres said at the meeting, which was attended by the leaders of Germany and France.

    Absent though were the leaders of China, where the virus first emerged late last year, and the United States, which has accused the WHO of not warning quickly enough about the original outbreak.

    Early stages

    The daily death toll in Western countries seems to be falling, a sign hopeful epidemiologists had been looking for, but the WHO has warned that other nations are still in the early stages of the fight.

    Global COVID-19 deaths have climbed past 197,000, according to an AFP tally, but new reported cases appear to have levelled off at about 80,000 a day.

    The United States is the hardest-hit country by far in the pandemic, recording more than 51,500 deaths and over 890,000 detected infections.

    In a sign of potential risks of reopening, Iranian health officials Saturday also raised fears of a “fresh outbreak” with another 76 fatalities declared, bringing Iran’s official death toll to 5,650.

    Iran has steadily allowed the restarting of businesses that were closed to stop the virus spread. But Alireza Zali, a health coordinator for the capital, criticised “hasty reopenings” that could “create new waves of sickness in Tehran”.

    The UN push for a quick vaccine came a day after US President Donald Trump prompted outcry and ridicule with his suggestion that disinfectants be used to treat coronavirus patients.

    As experts — and disinfectant manufacturers — rushed to caution against any such dangerous experiment, the president tried to row back on his comments, saying he had been speaking “sarcastically”.

    The world’s biggest economy has been hammered by the pandemic, with 26 million jobs lost since the crisis began, and US leaders are under pressure to find ways to ease social distancing measures.

    The governor of Georgia allowed some businesses, including nail salons and bowling alleys, to reopen on Friday.

    The mayor of the state’s capital Atlanta condemned the “irresponsible” move, telling ABC News: “There is nothing essential about going to a bowling alley or giving a manicure in the middle of a pandemic.”

    Lifting lockdown

    The unprecedented situation has left the world staring at its worst downturn since the Great Depression, and beyond the US, other countries have already started loosening restrictions to get back to work.

    Italy — with the second highest virus death toll at nearly 30,000 — announced plans Saturday to set price limits on face masks and ramp up antibody testing as it nears the end of the world’s longest active national coronavirus lockdown.

    Italians are awaiting a decision this weekend about which of its restrictions will be lifted and they will probably be allowed to leave their homes freely for the first time since March 9 by early May.

    Some professional Italian cyclists like Umberto Marengo have already adapted to long lockdown by turning to making food deliveries on his bike across the northern city of Turin as a way to stay fit and help out.

    “The customers are all amazed,” Marengo said. “Especially since I always try to go up by the stairs to stay that little bit fitter.”

    Sri Lanka said it would lift a nationwide curfew on Monday after more than five weeks, as Belgium joined other European nations to announce an easing from mid-May.

    In France, which will be on lockdown until May 11, residents still confined to home have taken to praising health workers and protesting their frustrations with officials on painted banners hung outside their windows.

    “Thank you to the caregivers, shame on the leaders” read one banner hanging outside a building in a Paris suburb.

    On the other side of the world in Australia and New Zealand, people held vigils from the isolation of their own driveways to pay tribute to their war veterans on Anzac Day. Official memorials were behind closed doors.

    Across the Muslim world, hundreds of millions of faithful also opened the Ramadan holy month under stay-at-home conditions, facing unprecedented bans on prayers in mosques and on the traditional large gatherings of families and friends to break the daily fast.

  • India can’t conquer COVID-19 without aggressive testing, says Manmohan Singh

    The Congress released a short video of an online meeting of the party’s consultative group, headed by the former Prime Minister
    Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said that without aggressive testing facilities, India would find it difficult to ‘conquer’ the challenge posed by COVID-19, the Congress said on Sunday.

    The party released a short video of an online meeting of the Congress consultative group, headed by Dr. Singh, where senior leaders and former Union Ministers discuss different aspects of the pandemic every alternate days.

    “There are problems with regard to the inadequacies of the testing facilities. Without aggressive testing facilities, we are not going to conquer this menace,” Dr. Singh.

    Former Union Minister Jairam Ramesh said India had the capacity to triple the amount of testing. “If we have to have reach the threshold of 1% of population, we should do something like 10 million tests,” Mr. Ramesh said.

    Protecting migrants

    Former party chief Rahul Gandhi said there should be a policy of protecting the migrants and the State governments should drive the fight against novel coronavirus.

    “Our migrant strategy should include 100% protection. The idea that you can tell the migrant to forget it or it’s his problem, that has to be censured. The movement of the migrant should depend on and done through States and they should have a conversation,” Mr. Gandhi said.

    Agreeing with Mr. Gandhi, former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said that the Centre should leave it to the States, from where the migrant workers originally came, to find ways to take them back.

    “But the bulk will remain where they are and they need to be given cash and food grains,” Mr. Chidambaram said.

    While party chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said the government’s first financial assistance plan was inadequate and needed to step up, Lok Sabha member Manish Tewari stressed on an exit plan from the lockdown.

    “It is incumbent upon us to collectively apply our minds and see if we can suggest a smart plan as to how do we transition out of this lockdown because of all the issues which have been flagged specially the economic issues,” Mr. Tewari said.

    With inputs from The Hindu

  • Muslims rejoice as Azaan echoes from mosques first time in US state

    West has stood up for the religious rights of Muslims in a historic turn of events. After Azaan echoed across UK and continental Europe, the islamic call to prayer echoes across Minneapolis and the neighboring communities ahead of the Holy Month of Ramadan. Minnesota mayors allow the broadcast of the Adhan to console the Muslim communities.

    In a historic turn of event, Azaan echoes across Minnesota the USA from the loudspeakers of a mosque for the first time.

    The -Islamic call to prayer, azaan (adhan) echoed across Minneapolis and the neighboring communities on Thursday ahead of the holy month of Ramadan. The adhan again broadcasted on Friday. The practice will continue throughout Ramadan five times a day to facilitate the Muslim communities.

    Muslims rejoiced Adhan in Minnesota

    Muslims are told to stay and pray at home during Ramadan amid the strict coronavirus lockdown. The Islamic call to prayers from mosques is believed to console the Muslims missing congregational prayers in the mosque in the blessed month of Ramadan.

    It will fill in the spiritual vacuum caused by the abandoning of community iftars, mass prayers, and social gatherings.

    The Muslim communities are glad and surprised with the broadcast of the adhan from the loudspeakers of the mosque because unlike other Muslim-majority countries, they could hear adhan only inside the mosque or community centers in the USA.

    “There’s a lot of excitement,” said Imam Abdisalam Adam, who is part of the Dar-al-Hijrah mosque from where the adhan will broadcast.

    He said, “Some people see it as historic.” Adding that, “To the point … that they’re not doing it, able to see it in their lifetime.”

    The adhan is expected to reach thousands of people in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood in Minneapolis.

    Minnesota’s Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said they have been thinking of broadcasting the adhan for years but this became pressing in current circumstances when the mosques are closed and worshippers are forced to pray at home.

    “We wanted to touch those individuals who frequently visit this mosque and this community.” Adding that “If we cannot be physically together, at least this echo, this voice, this call to prayer can be an extension of us being together at this difficult time. To give some people some solace,” said a member of the CAIR.

    The Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey said the daily broadcast of the adhan would give reassurances and stability to the Muslim community.

    “At a time when physical distancing requires we pray apart, it’s incumbent on leaders to create a sense of togetherness where we can,” Frey said. “Adhan provides solidarity and comfort – both of which are essential during the time of crisis.”

    Adhan in Britain

    A similar arrangement has been made in the UK to facilitate the Muslim communities as mosques across Britain are shut under strict coronavirus lockdown.

    In a first, BBC begins the broadcast of Muslim prayers on its network as mosques shut down across Britain, part of the extensive measures against coronavirus.

    Hence, British-Muslims will hear the Friday prayers broadcast on BBC Radio for the first time. Different imams lead the 5:50 am broadcasts every week on Friday from 14 local radio stations of BBC.

    The imam recites verses from the Holy Quran and quotes of Holy Prophet before delivering the sermon, leading the listeners in prayers. The program is titled, ‘Islamic Reflections’. The arrangements of the adhan have been made to facilitate the Muslim community to the run-up to the month of Ramadan till the end of April.

    With inputs from GBS

  • Coronavirus | UGC to suggest new academic calendar this week

    Will review panels’ recommendations

    Panels set up by the University Grants Commission (UGC) have submitted recommendations on the revised academic calendar and suggestions for holding examinations at a time when the country is under lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

    The Commission’s members are likely to discuss the recommendations via video-conferencing on Monday and issue advisory guidelines for institutions of higher education by the middle of next week, according to UGC officials.

    Meanwhile, Press Trust of India reported that a panel headed by Central University of Haryana Vice-Chancellor R.C. Kuhad had recommended that the new academic year begin in September instead of July. Another recommendation was that universities conduct their year-end examinations online if they had the resources to do so. If not, they should wait until the lockdown is lifted to set a date for the hand-written examinations.

    No semester exams yet

    Most colleges and universities have not yet held their semester examinations to close out the current academic year.

    Apart from Dr. Kuhad’s panel, another panel headed by Indira Gandhi National Open University Vice Chancellor Nageshwar Rao also submitted its report on improving online education in the midst of the lockdown.

    While UGC secretary Rajnish Jain would not confirm these reports, he noted that any guidelines on these matters issued by the Commission would “not be binding, but only advisory in nature”.

    “The situation in every State is different, including the rate of COVID-19 infections. Also, some universities may be small and be able to provide online facilities to all students. Others have thousands of students and fewer resources. We cannot mandate one standard solution for all. There will be flexibility in the guidelines,” said Dr. Jain.

    The vice chancellors of State universities also felt that the decisions of State governments would play a key role in decisions regarding a revised academic calendar.

    “The role of UGC is only as a facilitator,” said the vice chancellor of a law university, speaking on the condition of anonymity. “It may have more control over central universities. Most States have set up their own advisory panels similar to UGC’s panel, which will make their own recommendations,” the vice chancellor added. “Supposing a university is located in a hotspot area, which still has high infection rates late in the year… Ultimately, each university will have to make its own decisions based on the needs of its students.”

    Another vice chancellor, who was consulted by the Kuhad panel, agreed that each institution would have to make its own decisions, but felt that the UGC guidelines would provide a valuable indicator. “There has to be some coordination, so that students do not suffer because of wildly differing calendars,” said the vice chancellor, adding that the major challenge was that many State and central education boards — including the CBSE — have not completed their Class 12 examinations.

    “Those exams cannot be conducted online, so they will only be held once the lockdown is fully lifted. Only after that, major entrance exams can be held and then we can talk about starting the university academic session for those students,” added the senior academic.

    With inputs from PTI

  • COVID-19 Claims 6th Victim, 2 pregnant women, 3 cops among 42 Test Positive

    Srinagar: A 72-year-old man became the sixth COVID-19 fatality in Jammu and Kashmir even as 42 new cases of novel coronavirus were confirmed on Saturday in Kashmir Valley, the biggest one day spike since the outbreak started.

    Among the fresh cases include two pregnant women besides mother and her two minor sons as well as three policemen.

    The government attributed the increase in the positive cases to the testing of over 1000 samples in last 24-hours, the first time since the coming of the novel coronavirus.

    “Finally J&K breaks the 1000 test barrier- 1071 samples tested in the last 24 hours. But that also means more positives,” Principal Secretary Information and government spokesman Rohit Kansal tweeted.

    Officials sources said of the among 42 cases, 28 were confirmed at Viral Diagnostic Lab of SKIMS Soura and include seven from Bandipora, three from Shopian as many as from Baramulla and one from Kupwara district.

    The bulk of the cases—28—were confirmed at the COVID-19 testing laboratory at Chest Disease hospital Dalgate and include 23 from Anantnag district and five from Srinagar. While these cases have pushed the J&K COVID-19 tally to 496, 116 were confirmed in the last four days alone.

    The weekend started with the “unfortunate” death of a septuagenarian patient from Qazipora Tangmarg in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district. He died at SKIMS hospital Bemina here, making it the fifth death in Kashmir and overall 6th fatality due to the novel coronavirus in J&K.

    The elderly, they said, had tested positive for the dreaded disease earlier this month and admitted to the hospital on April 13 with underlying ailments such as pneumonia, hypertension and other “comorbidities.”

    “He was admitted to the high dependency unit. He was pneumonia, hypertensive, AF and BCH patient,” Dr Shafa A Deva, Medical Superintendent SKIMS Bemina told GNS. “He was shifted to ICU yesterday where he died,” the doctor said.

    Regarding 23 fresh cases from Anantnag, a senior doctor told GNS that five of them belong to a single family from Kulail—30-year-old female, 60-year-old woman, 30-year-old man, 35-year-old male and 60-year-old male— besides 39-year-old woman, her two sons— aged 4 and 7-years-old—from Kulial. Both pregnant women are also from Anantnag—30-year-old from Mukhdampora and 26-year-old from Nowgam. The other cases from the southern Kashmir district include 8-year-old female from Kanilwan, 10 persons from Kharpora—six females (aged 15, 16, 18, 40, 48, and 60) and four males—aged 19, 52, 62 and 65—while one person—46-year-old man is from Pushroo.

    Regarding seven cases from Bandipora, sources said, they include four males—aged 23, 31, 43 and 80—and three females—aged 15, 32 and 60. Being contacts of previous patients, four of them are from Naidkhai, two from Gund Kaiser and one from Gund Jahangir, CMO Bandipora Dr Tajamul Hussain told GNS.

    Five cases were reported from Srinagar after break of more than a week and they include two residents of Bemina—60-year-old man and 55-year-old female from Bemina besides one each from Takanwaripora, Nishat and Gulab Bagh areas.

    “New MHA order allows local authorities to take call per situation. See the Covid map of Srinagar and think. We’ve 5 new cases after break of more than a week. Trust us for all your needs. Local solutions being worked out. Situation calls for more caution,” deputy commissioner Srinagar, Dr Shahid Iqbal Choudhary tweeted.

    The Shopian cases are from Heerpora, a small village comprising around 1000 households and include 65-year-old and 40-year-old women besides 19-year-old male. With these cases, Heerpora now has 48 COVID-19 patients even as a few among them have recovered.

    Baramulla district’s three cases are policemen—two of them aged 40-years-old each from Malpora Sheeri who are uncle of a previous patient, also a cop. The duo is posted at District Police Lines Baramulla while the third case is 50-year-old, a resident of Takiya Sultan and is posted in DIG office Baramulla.

    Deputy Commissioner Baramulla Dr GN Itoo told GNS that samples of all other policemen posted at DPL (photo section) as well as DIG office have returned negative and “there was no need to panic.” “They all were already in quarantine,” he said.

    The last case was reported from Kupwara, a 50-year-old male who is a healthcare worker from Ganipora, Handwara.

    “One health care worker from Gonipora earlier deployed at COVID Hospital Kupwara has tested positive today. The patient is already under isolation and primary contacts are being shifted to quarantine for sampling. All other samples for today including those from Red Zone Anderhama have tested negative. Total Active Cases for Kupwara stand at 38 now,” deputy commissioner tweeted.

    CMO Kupwara Dr Kounser Amin told GNS that two persons including the first COVID-19 patient from Anderhama Muqam-e-Shahwali have recovered and were discharged.

    With these fresh cases, Bandipora now has 115 COVID-19 patients, highest in all districts, followed by Srinagar (84), Shopian (63), Baramulla (55), Kupwara (46), Anantnag (38), Jammu (26), Udhampur (20), Ganderbal (14), Budgam (14), Kulgam (6), Rajouri (4), Samba (4), Pulwama (3) while Kathua, Kishtwar and Ramban districts have one case each.

    Meanwhile, according to officials, out of the positive cases, 378 are Active Positive, 112 have recovered and while six patients died so far.

    Furthermore, till date 66343 travellers and persons in contact with suspected cases have been enlisted for surveillance which includes 6324 persons in-home quarantine including facilities operated by government, 263 in Hospital Quarantine, 376 in hospital isolation and 10974 under home surveillance. Besides, 48400 persons have completed their surveillance period.

    Officials said that out of 12835 test results available, 12341 samples have tested as negative till April 25.

    Moreover, 03 more COVID-19 patients have recovered and discharged, 01 from SKIMS Soura and 02 from CD Hospital Jammu. (GNS)

  • DA Cut | No need to impose hardship on govt servants: Manmohan Singh

    Former Prime Minister opposes government’s decision to roll back hike in allowance

    PTI

    Opposing the government’s decision to cut back on hike in dearness allowance (DA) for government employees and pensioners, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said he did not think that at “this stage” such cuts were “necessary”.

    The government, in an announcement on Friday, rolled back the hike in DA announced for 1.14 crore government employees and pensioners, with an aim of saving up to ₹21,000 crore.

    In a two-minute video clip released by the Congress, showing the meeting of the party’s consultative group via video-conference, the party slammed the BJP government for continuing with construction of “vanity projects” such as the new Parliament building and the central vista, bullet train and so on while cutting into the allowances of government servants.

    “We should be on the side of the people whose DA is being cut. I sincerely believe that it is not necessary at this stage to impose hardship on the government servants and the armed forces personnel,” Dr. Singh said.

    At the time of the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown, with many struggling for bare necessities, former Congress president Rahul Gandhi said that the government was not cutting back on extraneous expenditure.

    “I see the problem is that you are building your central vista at the same time. You are taking money from the middle class, not giving money to the poor people and spending it on central vista,” Mr. Gandhi said.

    Lok Sabha MP Manish Tewari opined that before the government went around cutting everyone’s allowances and salaries, it should first set up an “expenditure rationalisation commission”.

    Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said if projects such as the reconstruction of central vista were halted, the government could easily save up to ₹2-2.5 lakh crore.

  • Killed militants to be buried at safer, isolated places to prevent transmission of Covid-19: Govt.

    Srinagar: To enforce strict lockdown for safety of general public, J&K administration has decided to conduct burial of killed militants at safer and isolated places onwards. In this regard families of the slain militants will be provided passes by concerned Deputy Commissioners to facilitate their presence in last rites in presence of Magistrates.

    According to Kashmir News Service (KNS), Government of India and Union Territory of J&K have issued several directions for enforcement of strict lockdown for the safety of general public in view of combating the spread of Covid-19 pandemic.

    After Covid-19 outbreak across J&K, administration has taken strong note of huge gatherings, funerals and burials of militants killed in Arwani, DH Pora and Sopore areas during lockdown period where militant sympathizers instigated mobs towards violence.

    “Besides security agencies, health authorities also took note of these incidents as there were genuine apprehensions of mass transmission of Corona Virus during such gatherings”, sources told. They added, “It has been learnt that few militants have also been infected by the virus”.

    They said in order to ensure health security of the people at large, the administration has decided to conduct burial of militants at safer and isolated places during which proper procedure of burials will be followed such as conduct of Post Mortem and lifting DNA samples of killed militants prior to their burial in accordance with religious customs.

    Sources said that the families who identify and claim the bodies of killed militants are being provided passes by concerned DC’s in order to facilitate their participation in last rites in presence of Magistrates.

    They said the same procedure was earlier followed at central Kashmir’s Ganderbal district where respective families participated in last rites of three killed militants.

    According to sources, unidentified militants are also being buried in accordance with the religious customs in presence of Magistrates.

    Sources said that allowing funerals at native places of killed militants would lead to the breakdown of the strict protocols of lockdown thereby endangering the health and wellbeing of the community at large. They said such examples of breach were witnessed during the burials of militants in Sopore, Arwani and DH Pora.

    Sources added that using force to disperse such gatherings on such occasions would only lead to significantly worse outcomes. Therefore, to avoid such situations, the measures being taken are purely in the interest of the people. (KNS)

  • Bats, coronaviruses evolving together for millions of years: Study

    The study, published in the journal Scientific Reports, noted that bats are natural carriers of coronaviruses

    PTI

    Different groups of bats have their own unique strains of coronavirus, a family that includes the COVID-19 causing virus, according to a study which reveals that the flying mammal and coronaviruses have been evolving together for millions of years.

    The study, published in the journal Scientific Reports, noted that while bats do a lot of good for the world such as pollinating plants, eating disease-carrying insects, and dispersing seeds of tropical forest trees, they are also natural carriers of coronaviruses.

    To understand this diverse family of viruses, scientists, including those from Chicago’s Field Museum in the US, compared the different kinds of coronaviruses living in 36 bat species from the western Indian Ocean and nearby areas of Africa.

    “We found that there’s a deep evolutionary history between bats and coronaviruses,” said study co-author Steve Goodman from Chicago’s Field Museum.

    “Developing a better understanding of how coronaviruses evolved can help us build public health programs in the future,” Goodman said.

    According to the researchers, there are a vast number of types of different coronaviruses, potentially as many as bat species, and most of them are unknown to be transferred to humans and pose no known threat.

    The coronaviruses carried by the bats part of the study are different from the one behind COVID-19, the scientists cautioned, adding that learning about these viruses in bats can help better understand the pandemic causing virus.

    They said that all animals have viruses living inside them, and bats, as well as a range of other mammal groups, happen to be natural carriers of coronaviruses.

    While these coronaviruses don’t appear to be harmful to the bats, the researchers warned that there’s potential for them to be dangerous to other animals if the viruses have opportunities to jump between species.

    In the study, the researchers assessed the genetic relationships between different strains of coronaviruses and the animals they live in.

    Goodman and his colleagues took swabs, and in some cases blood samples, from more than a thousand bats representing 36 species found on islands in the western Indian Ocean and coastal areas of the African nation of Mozambique.

    They found that eight per cent of the bats they sampled were carrying a coronavirus.

    “This is a very rough estimate of the proportion of infected bats. There is increasing evidence for seasonal variation in the circulation of these viruses in bats, suggesting that this number may significantly vary according to the time of the year,” said Camille Lebarbenchon, Disease Ecologist at the Universite de La Reunion.

    By comparing the coronaviruses isolated and sequenced in this study with ones from other animals like dolphins, alpacas, and humans, they built a family tree showing how different kinds of the virus are related to each other.

    “We found that for the most part, each of the different genera of families of bats for which coronavirus sequences were available had their own strains,” Goodman said.

    “Based on the evolutionary history of the different bat groups, it is clear that there is a deep coexistence between bats — at the level of genus and family — and their associated coronaviruses,” he added.

    Citing an example, he said fruit bats of the family Pteropodidae from different continents and islands formed a cluster in their tree.

    The coronaviruses they carried were genetically different than the strains of other groups of bats found in the same geographical zones, the study noted.

    In rare cases, the researchers said, bats of different families, genera, and species that live in the same caves and have closely spaced day roost sites shared the same strain of coronavirus.

    But the study said transmission between bat species is the exception, not the rule.

    “It is quite reassuring that the transmission of coronavirus in the region between two bat species seems to be very rare given the high diversity of bat coronaviruses,” said Lea Joffrin, a disease ecologist who worked on bat coronavirus during her PhD at the Universite de La Reunion.

    “Next, we need to understand environmental, biological, and molecular factors leading to these rare shifts,” Joffrin said.

    The scientists believe that learning how different strains of coronavirus evolved can help prevent future outbreaks.

    “Before you can actually figure out programs for public health and try to deal with the possible shift of certain diseases to humans, or from humans to animals, you have to know what’s out there,” Goodman said.

    He also noted that despite the fact that bats carry coronaviruses, we shouldn’t respond by harming or culling of bats in the name of public health, adding that the good they do, outweighs potential negatives.

    “There’s abundant evidence that bats are important for ecosystem functioning, whether it be for the pollination of flowers, dispersal of fruits, or the consumption of insects, particularly insects that are responsible for transmission of different diseases to humans,” he said.