The police have sealed 107 shops and arrested 78 people in Balochistan for violating the lockdown. A lockdown has been imposed in the province to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). A total of 281 known cases have been reported in the province. Forty new cases emerged on Thursday, according to Balochistan government spokesperson Liaquat Shahwani.
Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah said that the next two weeks of the lockdown will be more intense. He appealed to the public to adhere to the restrictions. He emphasised that the reason all provinces have agreed to increase the lockdown is because our combat with the novel coronavirus isn’t over yet. He also explained explained that certain industries were exempted from the lockdown after a calculated analysis.
Singer-songwriter Abdullah Qureshi has released a new single ‘Daro Na’, to pay tribute to the masked heroes fighting the coronavirus. Qureshi, who also produced the song, says he wrote it over a video call with his band mates. He said that he himself was feeling sad about what is going around the world and this song is just to lighten a candle of hope in people’s hearts.
Students and teachers from remote areas of the country will especially benefit from the new Teleschool Channel, Special Assistant to PM on Information and Broadcasting Firdous Ashiq Awan said. The channel was launched by Prime Minister Imran Khan on April 13 to make up for the academic loss faced by students because of coronavirus pandemic. The channel will also contribute to to the overall literacy rate in the country, she added.
Former first-class cricketer Zafar Sarfraz passed away at the age of 50 after being tested positive for coronavirus. The left-handed batsman scored 616 runs from 15 first-class fixtures after making his debut in 1988. He also had 96 runs from six one-day games. Sirfaraz was being treated at a private hospital in Peshawar for the past three days.
China has imposed restrictions on the publication of academic research on the origins of the novel coronavirus. The restriction is imposed according to a central government directive and online notices published by two Chinese universities that have since been removed from the web. Under the new policy, all academic papers on Covid-19 will be subject to extra vetting before being submitted for publication.
A total of 13 areas in Lahore have been sealed because they have reported a higher number of coronavirus cases. Raiwind had already been sealed and 12 other areas were sealed Saturday. These are Sikandria Colony, Bhatta Chowk, Bedian Road, China Scheme, Mughalpura, Samnabad, Shahdara, Small Industries, Bahria Town and some areas in Saddar, Gulshan-e-Ravi and Rustam Park.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) warned countries about the dangers of premature lifting of coronavirus restrictions. WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a press conference that lifting restrictions could lead to a deadly resurgence. He added that there had been a slow of epidemics European countries but there had been an alarming acceleration elsewhere including Africa.
TikTok, the fast-growing mobile video app, pledged Thursday to contribute $250 million to coronavirus relief efforts around the world. The funds would be for front line medical workers, educators, and local communities deeply affected by the global crisis. The move follows similar announcements from technology firms including Google, Facebook and Netflix as well as from leaders of Microsoft, Amazon and Twitter.
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.