There are 40 illegal housing societies in Islamabad, the Capital Development Authority (CDA) told the Islamabad High Court on Thursday. A bench, headed by Chief Justice Athar Minallah, was hearing a petition filed by a man challenging the CDA demolition notice of his farmhouse. Justice Minallah asked that CDA just issues notices to poor people but what about the illegal housing societies.
Remdesivir, an antiviral medicine, has cured nearly all coronavirus patients after the clinical trial. A hospital in Chicago administering Remdesivir reported that the patients recovered from fever and respiratory difficulties. Remdesivir is a product of Gilead Sciences, an American biotechnology company. Following the outbreak of Coronavirus in Wuhan, several laboratory tests identified Remdesivir as the potential cure of COVID-19 disease.
Health experts at the Dow University of Health Sciences, Karachi, discovered that certain variants of human genes resist against coronavirus. The study published in the Journal of Medical Virology states that 2 variants of ACE2 (Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 gene) i.e. S19P and E329G might make an individual resistant to COVID-19. The experts analysed genome data of more than 1000 patients hailing from china and found that the patients had both the variants in extremely small quantities.
Newborns infected with the coronavirus don’t show symptoms and can be a danger to people near them. Babies can become carriers of the virus especially in the maternity unit of the medical facility where the baby is delivered. Neurologist Dr Shabbir Ahmed Malik asked to stay safe and warned to take extra precautions to prevent the spread of this virus in newborn babies.
Health officials deployed at Jinnah International Airport in Karachi are reportedly using coronavirus outbreak to make money. The officials at the airport who assess every passenger using thermal scanners have been coercing passengers, who have no symptoms of the disease whatsoever, to pay bribe. Some passengers have also revealed that the medical staff even allowed them to leave the airport without screening them for COVID-19.
Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution (BSTI) has found excessive mercury and hydroquinone, cancer causing chemicals in 8 Pakistani beauty creams. BSTI had collected a total of 13 fairness creams imported from Pakistan to assess their composition at its laboratory. According to BSTI standards, skincare products are allowed to have 1 ppm mercury and 5 ppm hydroquinone.
The Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s founder Altaf Hussain is selling his London secretariat on London’s Edgware road for £1,000,000. Hussain is selling the MQM’s international secretariat to raise money for his court trial in London on the charges of encouraging terrorism during one of his speeches in August 2016. The trial will begin on June 1.
The recent coronavirus outbreak is also a respiratory disease, much similar to the flu, which still claims thousands of lives each year. The seasonal flu kills around 0.1 per cent of patients as compared to two per cent of the 1918 flu strain, which had a huge fatality rate. But the more contagious coornavirus, is estimated to have the death rate at 1.4 per cent now based on 1,099 cases.
Aqsa Ajmal, an Industrial Designer designed a sewing machine for the visually impaired and presented the concept for the Lexus Design Award 2020. Miss Ajmal completed her degree from he NUST School of Art, Design, and Architecture. Even though she struggled with grades but overcame her struggles and became one of the 6 finalists for the award. Her friend, who lost eyesight during a devastating accident, inspired her.
Pakistan is named world’s most affordable country to live in 2020, according to a recently published report ‘Most Expensive Countries in the World to Live In 2020’ by the CEOWORLD magazine. While Switzerland was declared as the most expensive country. To compile a list, the magazine analyses different metrics such as cost of living and purchasing power etc. of the country to assign it an average score.