Health

Kolkata, Apr 17 (PTI) Petrol pumps across West Bengal have decided not to sell fuel to those visiting without a mask, an official of the dealers' association said on Friday.

To create awareness about the measures to contain the spread of coronavirus, it has been decided not to sell petrol or diesel to those drivers and bike owners who are not wearing masks, said S Koley, general secretary of the West Bengal Petroleum Dealers Association.

NILAI, April 17 (NNN-BERNAMA) — The quarantine process imposed on 30 Malaysians who returned here from Spain, United Kingdom and Indonesia on April 2 has ended and they were allowed to go home today.

These students were quarantined for 14 days at the Higher Education Leadership Academy (AKEPT) in Bandar Enstek here before making their way home at 9 a.m. today.

Fifteen of them had returned from Indonesia, 14 from Spain, and one from the United Kingdom. Of the total, 11 were men and 19 women.

MOSCOW, April 17 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Thursday rejected as counterproductive attempts to blame Beijing for delaying informing the world about the coronavirus, the Kremlin said.

Putin and Xi spoke after US President Donald Trump’s administration berated China for not sharing data more quickly.

Washington is also investigating the origins of the coronavirus – which has killed more than 140,000 people worldwide – saying it doesn’t rule out that the disease came from a laboratory researching bats in Wuhan, China.

PUTRAJAYA, April 17 (NNN-AGENCIES) — While Malaysia has not detected any COVID-19 cluster among the foreign workers, there have been continuous efforts to screen them for the coronavirus.

Health Ministry director-general Noor Hisham Abdullah said in a daily press conference that the ministry would focus on high-risk areas with a huge population of foreign workers.

“The screening is ongoing with our district health offices. So far we have not seen a cluster formation. It is a continuous process,” he said.

TOKYO, April 17 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Japan’s Cabinet said on Friday that an official had tested positive for the coronavirus, making him the third case among officials at the Cabinet office.

The case inside the Cabinet office comes as Japan has expanded a state of emergency to all regions. The move allows local municipalities to urge people to stay inside, but without punitive measures or legal force.

DAR ES SALAAM, April 17 (NNN-ALLAFRICA) — Tanzania has canceled this year’s April 26 national holiday celebration commemorating the 1964 merger of Tanganyika and Zanzibar to become Tanzania as the country’s coronavirus tally rises.

Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa said the Union Day observance was called off because of the pandemic.

Majaliwa said President John Magufuli is redirecting the $217,000 set aside for the holiday celebrations to go toward fighting the coronavirus in the country.

16 April 2020; MEMO: Spokesperson for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) Sami Mshasha said the Israeli occupation authorities are impeding UNRWA’s efforts to prevent the spread of the coronavirus in the occupied city of Jerusalem and its refugee camps, the organisation’s spokesperson has said.

New Delhi, Apr 16 (PTI) India needs to "significantly ramp up" the number of tests done across the country to trace COVID-19 infection if the virus is to be contained in time, experts said.

The death toll due to coronavirus rose to 414 and the number of cases to 12,380 in the country on Thursday, according to the Union Health Ministry.

Thiruvananthapuram, Apr 15 (PTI): Amid the nation-wide lockdown, the first flight from Kerala to the UK took off on Wednesday evening with 268 tourists who had been stranded in south India since the coronavirus pandemic put a check on public transportation.

The British Airways plane left the state capital at 7.30 pm with London as the destination and Kochi as a stopover to pick up 158 passengers. As many as 110 tourists boarded from here,apress release said on Wednesday night.

New Delhi, Apr 15 (PTI) A cargo flight carrying personal protective equipment (PPE) from Guangzhou city in China landed in Guwahati on Wednesday evening, officials said.

The PPEs have been procured from the neighbouring country for use by healthcare workers involved in the treatment of coronavirus-infected people.