16 - 31 March 2020 The Asian Independent

6 16-03-2020 to 31-03-2020 ASIA
www.theasianindependent.co.uk
Gyms, nightclubs, gatherings
of over 50 banned in Delhi
Aus orders all arrivals to
self-isolate for 14 days
New Delhi : The Delhi government
on Monday directed the closure of all
gymnasiums, nightclubs, theatres,
weekly markets and spas in the city till
March 31, apart from gatherings of
more than 50 people. Making the
announcements, Chief Minister Arvind
Kejriwal also urged people to postpone
impending marriages, if possible.
"Gatherings of over 50 people has
been barred in Delhi, excluding marriages.
We request people concerned to
postpone marriages, if possible,"
Kejriwal told the media after a meeting
with the Special Task Force. He also
informed that all the weekly markets in
Delhi will also be suspended till March
31. Kejriwal said all the shopping malls
should be disinfected daily and shall
also make provisions of availability of
an ample number of hand sanitisers at
main entrance. The special task force
headed by Kejriwal has also ordered all
the DMs and the SDMs to install hand
wash dispensers across Delhi.
"Entry in malls should be allowed
only after cleaning hands with the sanitisers.
The area SDMs have been asked
to arrange for handwashing facilities.
They were directed to arrange for hand
sanitisers in public places where mobile
washbasin cannot be installed,"
Kejriwal said. The Delhi Health
Department has also issued an order
regarding the announcements to deal
with the coronavirus spreading. The
order says that mass gathering is
restricted to 50 people till March 31.
"Any gathering -- social, cultural,
political, religious, academic, sports,
seminar, conference and family mass
gathering, except marriage, is restricted
to a maximum of 50 persons in Delhi till
March 31," the order said. The order,
Kejriwal said, is extended to the protests
in the city, including the Shaheen Bagh
protest. "We are following all the guidelines
being issued by the Centre," the
Chief Minister added.
Asking the people to contribute in
the same, he urged the public to stop
shaking hands, avoid touching the face
and keep cleaning the hands repeatedly.
Kejriwal said seven coronavirus
cases were reported in Delhi, of which
four are recovering in hospitals.
"One death has been reported so far,
while two persons have recovered," he
said. The Aam Aadmi Party government
has already shut the schools, colleges,
Anganwadis, cinema halls and public
swimming pools to control the spread of
the COVID-19 virus. The IPL matches
and mass gathering of over 200 people
were barred until now. On shutting
down the malls, Kejriwal said the government
also have to see that "the essential
commodity is not affected." "One by
one we have shut all the public places."
On community transfer of the virus, he
said: "Thankfully, community transmission
has not started yet in India."
Kejriwal said the SDMs have the power
to act against those not following the
orders, as coronavirus has been declared
an epidemic in Delhi and India.
Newborn baby diagnosed with
COVID-19 at London hospital
London : A newborn baby has reportedly been diagnosed with the novel coronavirus
in London, becoming the
global pandemic's youngest confirmed
case, a media report said. The
child's mother was reportedly rushed
to the North Middlesex Hospital in
the borough of Enfield with suspected
pneumonia days earlier, the Metro
newspaper said in the report on
Friday.
It is thought that she only learned
of her diagnosis right after giving
birth. The newborn was thought to
have been tested within minutes of
being born. Doctors were now trying
to establish how the baby caught the disease - either through the womb or during
birth. The mother was now being treated at a specialist facility while her child has
been admitted in another hospital. As of Saturday, the number of coronavirus
cases in the UK were 798 with 10 fatalities.
Sydney : Australian Prime Minister
Scott Morrison on Sunday ordered a 14-
day self-isolation for anyone arriving in
the country in an effort to halt the
spread of the coronavirus. "This is very
important, what we've seen in recent
weeks is more countries having issues
with the virus and that means the source
of some of those transmissions are coming
from more and more countries," the
BBC quoted Morrison as saying at a
briefing here. "We know that the virus
cannot be absolutely stopped - no-one
can do that - but we can slow the
spread. And we anticipate that will be
our task over the next six months." The
measure will come into force from
Sunday midnight. The Prime Minister
also urged people to practise more
"social distancing", including not shaking
hands.
Appearing alongside him,
Australia's chief medical officer
Brendan Murphy admitted that these
Afghan govt
confirms 16 positive
COVID-19 cases
Kabul : The Afghanistan government
has detected five more positive
coronavirus cases, bringing the total
number of infections in the country to
16, a health official said on Sunday.
According to the spokesman for
Public Health Ministry, Wahid Mayar,
four new positive cases of the disease
have been detected in Herat and another
one in the central Daikundi province,
reports Xinhua news agency.
The first positive case in
Afghanistan was detected in Herat bordering
Iran weeks ago and so far 10
positive cases of the disease have been
confirmed in the province, according to
Mayar. According to the officials, the
number of suspected cases has been on
rise and so far 206 suspected patientins
have been tested across Afghanistan.
The majority of those carrying the
killing virus have returned from Iran, a
neighbouring country that has been
hosting more than two million Afghan
refugees, according to health officials.
were "difficult times" for the country
and called on Australians to be sensible
when buying necessities, warning
against panic buying, reports the BBC.
The Australian government has also
banned foreign cruise liners from docking
in the country for 30 days, but
schools will remain open. Australia has
reported 249 confirmed cases, with
three deaths.
Coronavirus cases
in Pak reaches 33
Islamabad : With the emergence of
five new cases of the novel coronavirus
in Pakistan, the total number of COVID-
19 infections in the country has
educational institutions till May 30.
The federal government, a day earlier,
decided to adopt a number of precautionary
measures to contain the
increased to 33. On Saturday, spread of novel coronavirus including
Balochistan reported two cases, Karachi
two and Islamabad one, reports The
Express Tribune. A woman, who had
recently arrived in Islamabad from the
US, was tested positive at the Pakistan
Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) on
Saturday, the health facility's spokesperson
Waseem Khawaja confirmed.
The patient is in critical condition
and has been put on ventilator, he
added. With two fresh cases of COVID-
19 in Karachi, the tally in Sindh
province rose to 17. Sindh now has two
locally transmitted cases of COVID-19.
As part of precautionary measures,
the Sindh government has closed all
sealing the country's western border
with Iran and Afghanistan and cancelling
the Pakistan Day parade scheduled
for March 23.
The closure of the two borders will
begin on March 16 "for an initial period
of two weeks in order to prevent the
spread of COVID-19, in the best interest
of all three brotherly countries", the
Ministry of Interior said in a letter on
Friday. The decision was taken by the
country's top civil and military leadership
at a meeting of the National
Security Committee (NSC), presided
over Prime Minister Imran Khan in
Islamabad on Friday.