Health

PRETORIA, June 1 (NNN-AGENCIES) — South Africa has pushed back Monday’s reopening of schools by a week, the Department of Basic Education said, saying that a substantial number are not ready to welcome back pupils.

The plan for grades 7 and 12, the last years of primary and secondary school respectively, to return on Monday backfired after teachers’ unions and governing associations urged school staff to defy the government order, saying schools did not have protective equipment (PPE) to keep educators and pupils safe.

BRUSSELS/MADRID, June 1 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A Belgian prince has contracted coronavirus after attending a party during lockdown in Spain, the country’s royal palace says.

Prince Joachim, 28, travelled from Belgium to Spain for an internship on May 26, the palace said.

Two days later, he went to a party in the southern city of Córdoba, before testing positive for Covid-19.

Spanish reports suggest the prince, a nephew of Belgium’s King Philippe, was among 27 people at the party.

YEREVAN, June 1 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said he had tested positive for the novel coronavirus, speaking during a Facebook live video.

“I didn’t have any symptoms, I decided to take a test as I was planning to visit the frontline”, said Pashinyan, adding that his whole family was infected.

WASHINGTON, June 1 (NNN-Xinhua) — The United States has delivered 2 million doses of hydroxychloroquine to Brazil, the two governments announced, days after the World Health Organization (WHO) halted the anti-malaria drug’s clinical trials over safety concerns.

“The United States will also soon be sending 1,000 ventilators to Brazil,” added a joint statement released by the White House.

PRETORIA, June 1 (NNN-AGENCIES) — China will give Africa 30 million test kits per month, as well as 10,000 ventilators and 80 million masks, South African president Cyril Ramaphosa disclosed on Sunday during a virtual meeting with top editors in the country.

He did not specify when this initiative will start or how long it would run. Beijing has sent logistic and human resource support to a number of African countries since the pandemic arrived on the continent.

31 May 2020; MEMO: Turkey opened an emergency hospital in the Turkish metropolis Istanbul as part of the country’s continued fight against the pandemic, reports Anadolu Agency..

The new Yesilkoy Prof Murat Dilmener Emergency Hospital in Istanbul is named after a Turkish doctor and academic who was claimed by the virus on 3 May.

Attending the opening ceremony were Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Vice President Fuat Oktay, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca, and other top officials.

Washington, May 30 (PTI) Three Indian companies have got licences from NASA to manufacture its indigenously developed ventilators for critical COVID-19 patients.

The three Indian companies are Alpha Design Technologies Pvt Ltd, Bharat Forge Ltd and Medha Servo Drives Pvt Ltd, the space organisation said in a statement on Friday.

Apart from the Indian firms, 18 other companies, including eight American and three Brazilian, have been selected to manufacture the critical breathing devices.

MOSCOW, May 31. /TASS/: Deliveries of the Russian drug Avifavir for treatment of coronavirus infection cases may start on June 11, the Izvestiya newspaper reports, citing the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF). The pharmaceutical will not be released for free sale and it will only be used under the supervision by medical workers, the newspaper said.

"It will be supposedly supplied to Russian hospitals on June 11, 2020, RDIF noted," the newspaper reported.

New Delhi, May 30 (PTI) Bodies of persons who died of COVID-19 or suspected to have died of it at hospitals are to be sent to mortuaries within two hours, authorities said on Saturday.

Delhi government's heath department announced additional guidelines for disposal of bodies of patients who had COVID-19 or were suspected to be suffering from it.

The death toll from COVID-19 in Delhi on Saturday rose to 416.

Dehradun, May 31 (PTI) Uttarakhand Tourism Minister Satpal Maharaj's wife and former minister Amrita Rawat has tested positive for COVID-19.

Maharaj, who had attended a meeting of the state cabinet on Friday last, and the rest of the family have been home quarantined at their residence in the city.

Rawat's swab sample report confirming that she is COVID-19 positive arrived from a private lab late on Saturday evening, the minister's OSD Abhishek Sharma said.