01-02-2021 The Asian Independent

24 01-02-2021 to 15-02-2021 WORLD
www.theasianindependent.co.uk
UK to impose mandatory hotel quarantine
on arrivals from 'red list' nations
London : UK Prime Minister Boris
Johnson has confirmed that the country
will impose mandatory hotel quarantine
for arrivals returning from "red list"
nations in an effort to preventing new
coronavirus variants from spreading.
Travelers who return from "red list"
countries will be placed in quarantine
in government-designated accommodation
such as hotels for 10 days, Xinhua
news agency quoted Johnson as saying
while addressing lawmakers on
Wednesday during the Prime Minister's
Questions in the House of Commons.
It is understood that travellers will
have to pay to isolate in a monitored
hotel, with coronavirus testing carried
out during their stay.
In a statement released later in the
day, the government announced further
action for outbound and inbound passengers
to minimise travel across international
borders and reduce the risk of
Covid-19 transmission.
For those wishing to travel out of the
UK, the reason for travel will be
checked. Anyone who does not have a
valid reason for travel will be directed
to return home and may face a fine,
according to the statement.
There will be an increased police
presence at ports and airports, fining
those in breach of the stay at home regulations.
The statement confirmed that
those arriving from countries where
Britain has imposed international travel
bans and who cannot be refused entry
will be required to isolate in hotels for
10 days without exception and more
details will be provided in due course.
The UK has banned all travel from
22 countries where there is a risk of
known variants including South Africa,
Portugal and South American nations.
Regarding the decision, Home
Secretary Priti Patel said: "There are
still too many people coming in and out
of our country each day. The rules are
clear -- people should be staying at
home unless they have a valid reason to
leave. Going on holiday is not a valid
reason. "As we have done throughout
this global health emergency, we will
continue to take all steps necessary to
protect the public and help prevent the
spread of the virus."
The Prime Minister in his address
also said that he and the government
take "full responsibility" after the coronavirus-related
deaths passed the
100,000 milestone on Tuesday.
"I mourn every death in this pandemic
and we share the grief of all
those who have been bereaved. I and
the government take full responsibility
Indian startups want to hire TikTok
employees affected by job cuts
New Delhi : With TikTok
announcing the decision to
scale down the size of its workforce
constituting over 2,000
employees in the country,
Indian short video platforms
like Bolo Indya and Chingari
have expressed willingness to
hire some of the affected
employees.
TikTok said it decided to
downsize the workforce in India
as it has not received a clear
direction from the government
on how and when its apps could be reinstated.
Some reports pegged the number
of employees who will be affected by
the decision at around 1,800, although
there is no official confirmation from
the ByteDance-owned platform yet.
Bolo Indya said it is looking to ramp up
its team by recruiting people from the
talent pool hit by the Chinese apps ban
in India including Bytedance platforms
like TikTok and Helo.
"It is unfortunate to see Indian talent
in a fix as a result of Chinese app ban in
India. Indians working in these companies
are highly talented, enthusiastic,
committed, and passionate to create a
positive impact," Varun Saxena, CEO
and Founder Bolo Indya, said in a statement.
"We look forward to onboard
quite a few of them where there is a
strong cultural fit as well and have them
as part of our journey to empower content
creators to transform social capital
to financial independence, and at the
same time ensure a high user delight in
consuming content on the platform."
The company had already confirmed
last week that it is in advanced talks to
raise fresh funding which shall be
utilised to ramp up the team by close to
100 per cent.
The hiring would be across domains
including business development, user
engagement, product management,
community management, content
strategy, content moderation functions,
Bolo Indya said. Besides this,
the company is also looking at filling
various Vice President and
Assistant Vice President level positions
to expand its leadership team.
Launched in May 2019, Bolo Indya
claims to have over 68 lakh monthly
active users.
Another homegrown short video
platform Chingari also said that it
will hire some of the potential talent
affected by job cuts.
"Indians are capable of doing wonders.
And our priority right now is
Indian market and in near future we will
expand our footprints," said Aditya
Kothari, Co-founder and chief strategist,
Chingari.
"The lay off is unfortunate. None of
the companies or founder wish so for his
or her employee. We will hire some of
the potential talent," he said. TikTok
featured among the 59 Chinese apps that
the government has decided to ban permanently.
The development came several
months after the government had first
banned Chinese apps temporarily last
June.
for all the actions we have taken to fight
this pandemic."
Johnson said that the government
will reflect on the decisions taken, but
he did not think it is the right time now
as Britain remains in the middle of the
pandemic.
The government needs to focus on
keeping the virus under control and
continuing the fastest vaccine rollout in
Europe, he said.
More than 7.1 million people in
New Delhi : A group of journalists
and others rallied outside the Delhi
Police Headquarters on the Jai Singh
Road here on Sunday to protest
against the arrest of freelance journalist
Mandeep Punia.
Police on Saturday arrested Punia
after alleging that he had misbehaved
with a station house officer (SHO) at
the Singhu border. Police said that he
was moving through roadblocks and
barricades when the alleged incident
took place. Calling it an 'attack on
journalism', the protesters working for
different media organsitations carried
posters and placards to show support
Britain have received their first dose of
a coronavirus vaccine, according to latest
official figures.
Asked about the government's "legacy
of poor decisions", Johnson said that
it followed scientific advice and did
everything it could to minimise suffering.
There were "no easy solutions" but
Britain could be proud of its efforts to
distribute the vaccine, he said. Calum
Semple, who sits at the government's
Scientific Advisory Group for
Emergencies, told the BBC that he
would not surprised to see more deaths
before the pandemic is brought under
control. "The deaths on the way up are
likely to be mirrored by the number of
deaths on the way down in this wave."
Talking about the high mortality, he
said that the country had experienced
some "bad luck" with the emergence of
a new, more transmissible variant,
while the country had also suffered
from "decades of underinvestment" in
the National Health Service (NHS).
The UK is the first European nation
and the fifth country in the world to
pass the grim landmark of 100,000
deaths, following the US, Brazil, India
and Mexico.
As of Thursday morning, the country's
coronavirus caseload and death
toll stood at 3,725,637 and 102,085,
respectively. England is currently under
the third national lockdown since the
outbreak of the pandemic in the country.
Similar restriction measures are
also in place in Scotland, Wales and
Northern Ireland.
Journalists stage protest
outside PHQ against
freelancer's ARREST
to the journalist.
Traffic movement was briefly
closed on Jai Singh Marg and Bangla
Sahib lane due to the demonstration.
"Punia has been booked under
Sections 186 of the IPC (obstructing
public servant in discharge of public
functions) and 353 (assault or criminal
force to deter public servant from
discharge of his duty). A case has been
registered at Alipur police station,"
Said a senior police officer.
Another journalist, Dharmender
Singh, was also picked up but later
allowed to go after he showed his
press ID, police said.