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J&K records 2 fresh corona deaths, toll climbs to 26

Srinagar (NVI): Jammu and Kashmir today recorded two Covid-19 deaths within a span of two hours in Srinagar and Anantnag district of south Kashmir, taking the total number of fatalities due to coronavirus to 26, health officials said.

They said that a 55-year-old man from Srinagar, who was tested positive for Covid-19 few days ago, died due to cardiac arrest at Chest Diseases Hospital this afternoon after his condition deteriorated.

Dr Salim Khan, nodal officer for Covid-19 at Government Medical College (GMC) Srinagar said that the deceased had undergone a crucial surgery on May 5. “The patient was kept in Surgical Intensive Care Unit (SICU) of SMHS hospital and later shifted to Chest Diseases hospital after testing positive,” the doctor said.

He said that the patient was improving but all of a sudden his condition deteriorated this afternoon after which he suffered cardiac arrest and died. The second death took place in Sarnal area of South Kashmir’s Anantnag district. A doctor said that the deceased was 80-year-old and was tested positive for the deadly virus. He also had a history of pneumonia and other ailments.

With two fresh deaths, J&K’s Covid death tally has mounted to 26 of which 23 have been reported from Kashmir and 3 from Jammu region. Health officials said that the bodies of the deceased were sent to their native areas– Fateh Kadal in Srinagar and Sarnal in Anantnag– where their family members were informed to follow the Covid protocols. Only a few close relatives will offer the funeral prayers and take part in burial while wearing Personal Protection Equipment (PPE), they said.

Nepal reports 114 new coronavirus cases, total climbs to 886

New Delhi (NVI): 114 new positive Covid-19 cases have been reported from Nepal, taking the toll in the Himalayan nation to 886, according to local media reports.

The country’s Ministry of Health and Population said, this is the first time more than 100 cases have been listed in a single day.

According to ministry, new cases were seen districts, including Baglung, Rautahat, Jhapa, Makawanpur, Saptari, Mahottari, Bara, Rautahat, Siraha, Dhanusha, Banke, Kapilvastu, Arghakhanchi, Gulmi, Rupandehi, Kailali, Achham, Syangja and Surkhet districts.

As many as 35 people have tested positive in Rautahat district today.

Likewise, Jhapa reported 17 news cases today. Dang reported 15 new cases, Baglung 6, Bara 8, Saptari 11, Surkhet 15, Banke 16, Siraha 2, and Rukum East 3.

So far, 47 districts have witnessed the transmission of COVID-19. As many as 103 cases have been detected in seven districts of Province 1, 324 cases have been seen in eight districts of Province 2, and 39 cases in 11 districts of Bagmati Province.

Similarly, 13 cases have been reported in four districts of Gandaki Province, 365 cases in nine districts of Province 5, 25 cases in three districts of Karnali Province, and 17 cases in five districts of Sudurpaschim Province.

Meanwhile, 28 people have been discharged from various health facilities across the country taking the total number of recoveries to 183.

At present, a total of four people have died of coronavirus in Nepal.

J&K: Horse put under ‘home quarantine’, owner’s test results awaited

A caretaker feeding the horse under quarantine at Darra area of Thanamandi, Rajouri (Photo via arrangement).

Abid Bashir

Srinagar (NVI): A horse, which is under ‘home quarantine’ in Rajouri district of Jammu since yesterday after traveling to the red zone in Kashmir’s Shopian, was examined by a team of veterinary experts today and found asymptomatic, even as the local administration has decided to wait for the Covid-19 test results of its owner.

Speaking exclusively to NVI, Tehsildar of Thanamandi, Rajouri, Anjuman Anjum Khatak said that he invited a team of veterinary experts to medically examine the horse, who reached Thanamandi area along with his owner late last evening. “The horse was thoroughly examined by a team of doctors who checked his body temperature, tongue, nose feet and skin, etc. They found the horse asymptomatic with no signs of any disease etc,” Khattak said.

He said that the horse is in a cattle shed at Darra area of Thanamandi, the native village of his owner. “The owner of the horse is in an administrative quarantine and his samples were taken immediately after his arrival. The results are expected in a day or two,” the Tehsildar said.

He, however, said that the team of doctors who examined the horse reiterated that the caretakers of the horse should wear proper Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) while taking care of the animal especially while feeding grass or water to the animal.

“This is a rare case since the outbreak of pandemic in J&K,” the Tehsildar said. He said that the veterinary doctors who examined the horse stressed that a distance must be maintained between caretakers and the animal until the report of his owner comes.

“We will not take any chance even though a majority of veterinary experts are sure that a horse can’t be a potential carrier of the virus. But they maintained that if the owner’s test result comes positive for Covid-19, there may be a possibility that the virus may be present on the skin and hair of horse too as he was also travelling along with his owner from Kashmir’s Shopian district,” the Tehsildar said.

The person along with his horse traveled through Mughal Road from the Shopian district of south Kashmir and reached Thanamandi, Rajouri district of Jammu late last evening. The owner was sent to administrative quarantine while the horse was sent to “home quarantine” at a cattle shed where there is no other animal present.

Bangladesh COVID-19 tally exceeds 38,000; 544 dead

Bangladesh lockdown

New Delhi (NVI): The total number of deaths from coronavirus in Bangladesh has reached 544 after 22 more people lost their lives in the last 24 hours, according to United News of Bangladesh.

The total number of coronavirus infections rose to 38,292 after 1,541 new infections were reported during this period.

COVID-19 infection rate for Wednesday has been recorded at 19.22 percent in the country.

In the last 24 hours, 346 coronavirus patients made full recovery, raising the number of total recoveries to 7,925 total.

In addition to this, Bangladesh government is likely to decide tomorrow over the extension of general holidays as the period of the ongoing holidays to combat the spread of coronavirus will expire on May 30.

Coronavirus cases nearing 60,000-mark in Pakistan

New Delhi (NVI): Pakistan is witnessing a sharp surge in the number of positive coronavirus cases as nearly 1,000 new cases were reported in the last 24 hours, taking the overall tally to 59,850 with at least 1,231 fatalities recorded so far.

Looking at the breakdown of cases, Sindh province has reported 24,206 coronavirus cases, highest among all the provinces, while Punjab has 21,118 positive cases.

On the other hand, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa has recorded 8,259 cases, Balochistan is at 3,536, Gilgit-Baltistan at 638, Islamabad at 1,879 and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir is at 214 cases so far, according to Geo News.

According to the Ministry of National Health Service, 18,314 patients have till now recovered from the virus.

Meanwhile, another 178 Pakistan citizens who were stranded in India after the outbreak of COVID-19 arrived in Lahore today via Wagah border, local media reported.

625 new COVID cases in Afghanistan; tally hits 12,456

New Delhi (NVI):Afghanistan witnessed a rise in coronavirus cases with 625 new cases, taking the overall tally to 12,456 across the country, according to Afghan media reports

In the last 24 hours, among the new Covid-19 cases, 360 were reported in Kabul, 108 in Herat, 50 in Balkh, 26 in Parwan, 24 in Takhar, 14 in Kunar, 9 in Baghlan.

In addition, 9 cases were reported in Panjshir, 5 in Nangarhar, 8 in Laghman, 2 in Bamiyan, 1 in Kunduz, 1 in Farah and 8 in Ghor.

Meanwhile, Kabul remain the country’s worst affected city by COVID-19 and, despite a government authorised lockdown.

So far, 33,864 people have been tested in the country.

According to the Health Ministry, 7 people lost their lives over the past 24 hours, taking the death toll from coronavirus to 227.

At least, 1,138 patients have been cured from virus or discharged.

J&K cops greet doctors with flowers after medical staff alleges harassment

Abid Bashir

Srinagar (NVI): In a goodwill gesture, Jammu and Kashmir Police today distributed sweets and flowers to doctors at a Srinagar hospital, a day after protests by medicos and paramedics who alleged misbehavior, harassment and manhandling by cops on the ground.

Doctors and the paramedics at Lal Ded hospital in Srinagar were taken by surprise after a team of policemen reached the lone maternity home with sweets, garlands and red roses. Earlier today, three gynecologists of LD hospital had alleged harassment by the cops deployed outside the hospital.

In a bid to defuse the situation and to prevent further protests by the doctors, the J&K Police without wasting any time pacified the healthcare professionals at the hospital. “We are one against the Covid battle. Doctors and policemen are Covid warriors. There was some confusion, we thought let’s start with red roses and sweets to clear the same,” a police official told NVI.

Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Srinagar, Haseeb Mughal said that there was a mild argument between some female doctors and cops outside the hospital over the entry from the rear side. “The entry from the rear side has been closed in view of Covid pandemic as that would trigger jumbling. But doctors had insisted on entering the hospital from the rear side which triggered an argument,” he said, adding that the issue was being blown out of proportion.

However, Dr Farhat Jabeen, a leading gynecologist at the LD hospital, told NVI that cops used foul language and also misbehaved with three other female gynecologists.

Meanwhile, J&K LG’s security advisor B R Bhatnagar, who is currently under quarantine, said that Director General of Police Dilbagh Singh and principal secretary Health Atul Dhuloo have taken note and things have been sorted out amicably.

“There was some mild argument which is over now. Both, doctors and policemen on the ground are Covid warriors and are doing a tremendous job as far as the fight against the pandemic is concerned,” he said.

Today’s incident comes barely two days after a senior cardiologist at Super Specialty Hospital Srinagar Dr Syed Maqbool was stopped at Hawal area of Srinagar where he was allegedly manhandled by cops and later lodged in Zadibal police station of downtown Srinagar. Dr Maqbool was on a call (duty) that day. Yesterday, a massive protest was held by doctors and paramedics of Super Specialty Hospital after which Inspector General of Police (Kashmir) Vijay Kumar ordered an impartial inquiry into the incident.

COVID-19 testing not mandatory for maternal health services: Govt 

New Delhi (NVI): COVID-19 testing is not mandatory for providing health services related to reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health and should be continued in a restricted manner in areas defined as containment and buffer zones, Health Ministry said today.

In the ‘Guidance note on Provision of Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child, Adolescent Health Plus Nutrition (RMNCAH+N) services during and post COVID-19 pandemic’ released by the Health Ministry stressed that critical services for women, children and adolescent should be provided irrespective of their COVID-19 status.

According to the guidelines, any area exiting a ‘containment/ buffer zone’ can start such activities as listed in areas beyond buffer zone’ after a minimum gap of 14 days following delisting.

The ministry also noted that the mother and newborn should be nursed together as far as possible and breastfeeding must be initiated within 1 hour of delivery, irrespective of COVID-19 status. However, the mother should put on a face mask and practice hand hygiene before feeding the child.

Services such as antenatal and newborn care, immunization, family planning and adolescent health among others are to be provided at different levels in accordance with the zonal categorization of containment zones, buffer zones and beyond these zones, the guidelines elaborates.

Health Ministry added, with more than 2.5 crore pregnancies each year in the country, it is important to ensure the availability of services during this period as any denial of services can have an impact on maternal and newborn mortalities, morbidities as well as the health care costs.

In addition to this, drugs, commodities needed for continuing such services should be treated as essential commodities and home deliveries of essential medicines like calcium, ORS, zinc, contraceptives etc can be organised in containment zones.

Nuclear power output drops by 3% globally due to lockdowns 

New Delhi (NVI): The global nuclear power generation fell by approximately 3 per cent in the first quarter of 2020 as compared with last year’s growth, due to the lockdowns imposed in the wake of Covid-19 outbreak, according to a recent
report by the International Energy Agency (IEA).

The reduction in demand of electricity amid the lockdown situation led to a reduction in output. As per the IEA report, nuclear power has also not been immune to the impacts of the Covid‑19 crisis, apart from conventional sources of energy due to a drastic decline in global demand.

Based on the estimates for the year 2020, due to lower demand and delay in planned maintenance and construction of various projects, nuclear power has declined by nearly 2.5 per cent from 2019.

However, if recovery from the crisis can be faster, the demand for electricity will rise, leading to a reduction in nuclear power in 2020 of just over 1 per cent, the reports said.

In addition to lower demands of electricity, permanent closures of a few nuclear facilities, were also a factor for the plunge in nuclear power growth.

Since the first quarter (Q1) of 2019, six new reactors have come online globally, with a total power capacity of 5.5 GW, but this was only equivalent to half of the nuclear capacity that was permanently shut down over the same period.

Notably, the European Union had the largest reduction in 2020, especially in France, where nuclear power generation was down by around 10 per cent in 2020.

Lower demand led to nuclear output reductions in several countries. Meanwhile, closure of nuclear power plants also led to reductions.

However, China was one of the few regions with nuclear power growth, with a 1% increase in output between Q1 2019 and Q1 2020, according to the IEA report. A pair of large nuclear reactors came online in China in June 2019. Operations at these additional facilities more than compensated for the impact of depressed electricity demand.

According to IEA, this decline would be the largest not associated with a natural disaster, and 40 per cent as large as the reduction in 2011 following the accident at Fukushima Daiichi.

In addition to this, the completion of several projects is likely to be pushed by a few months to 2021, including two reactors in China and one in Finland, where a delay has already been announced.

Other construction delays are likely for projects in France, the United Kingdom and the United States.

US likely to impose sanctions on China over Hong Kong

New Delhi (NVI): The US government is likely to impose sanctions on China for its actions in Hong Kong where people are protesting over China’s proposed national security law that will give Beijing greater control over the region if it is implemented.

According to reports in foreign media, the White House has said that China will likely face sanctions over Hong Kong national security law, and an announcement is likely this week.

US President Donald Trump has also said that he would take action against China this week over its effort to impose national security laws on Hong Kong. However, he didn’t give exact details in the sanctions.

China’s parliament is expected to approve a proposed security law that would reduce Hong Kong’s separate legal status on Thursday, as per reports.

It is calling into question the special economic status the territory currently enjoys under the US law.

China’s move is also likely to undermine the financial hub status that Hong Kong has. The latest Chinese action in the territory has incited strong opposition from pro-democracy activists and politicians.

Thousands of protesters areon streets against the national security law that was introduced on Sunday.

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