With the spread of coronavirus creating panic among the people are causing anxiety, Mahira Khan, took to social media to calm her followers are remind them that “we’re all in this together.”
She also urged her followers to protect themselves and others.
Earlier, the actor had urged her followers to practise self-isolation as much as possible.
Cases of coronavirus have crossed 250 in Pakistan.
The rapid spread of coronavirus around the globe has created panic among the people and the health experts are urging people to stay at home, practise social distancing and not travel abroad.
Amid all this, Pakistani actors Adnan Siddiqui, Hira Mani and Humayun Saeed are in the United States for Meray Paas Tum Ho ‘Meet and Greets’.
Though they are taking precautionary measures – like wearing masks – while travelling, Hira does not seem to understand the seriousness of the situation.
In a video on her Instagram stories, the actor says: “There’s a strict curfew here, big brands are closed, streets are empty. I went to a mall here, First Colony and there, all the Pakistani people, salesgirls were present and all white people were on leave; they turned out to be quite cowardly.”
Meanwhile, Hira’s comments sparked outrage on social media.
In between all the coronavirus crisis, one of television’s most-loved couples Ahad Raza Mir and Sajal Aly tied the knot in Abu Dhabi on March 14. While some leaked pictures from their event went viral on social media, fans were still not satisfied and waited for the couple and their families to share pictures from the event.
Read more – Ahad Raza Mir and Sajal Aly are married
Now that the wedding madness has settled, Ahad and Sajal’s family members are sharing some adorable captures from their big day.
The bride and groom with Sajal’s father.
Coronavirus has killed more than 8,000 people globally. What is more dangerous is the huge flow of non-scientific information coming from every corner of the world on how the disease can be cured.
So far, scientists are experimenting with new methods to find the cure. However, they have not achieved this milestone yet.
Amid this panic, it is being believed that the disease is lethal for people who have crossed the age of 40. However, Zhang Guangfen, a 103-year-old Chinese woman from Wuhan, has recovered from this disease and came back home just after spending six days in the hospital, Daily Watch Chutian reported.
She was diagnosed at Liyuan Hospital, Tongji Media College, in Wuhan on the 1st of March.
With the coronavirus – declared a pandemic by the World Health Organisation – spreading fast in Pakistan, the government has opted to shut down all schools, colleges and madrassas throughout the country till April 5 to control the spread of the virus.
Due to the closure of schools and colleges, the kids will have to stay at home to remain safe from the virus. The Current has listed a few exciting activities for the kids so that they can be more productive during these unexpected holidays.
To make sure that your kids spend their holidays learning new things, what you can do is make technology their new friend. YouTube channels for kids, like Crash Course Kids, can be their new learning place. Other YouTube channels from where your kid can learn stuff are:
Apart from YouTube channels there are many free learning websites available over the internet for your kids to learn including:
https://classroommagazines.scholastic.com/support/learnathome.html
https://allinonehomeschool.com
It goes without saying that you cannot force your kids to study or watch informational videos all the time, therefore we have also done our research for some fun indoor activities for your kids to keep them busy.
If your children are still bored after playing all the games and insist on going out, the first thing you need to do is to explain to them why they can’t be outside and then can take them on a virtual tour of the 12 famous museums around the world. To go on a virtual tour, visit the link below:
https://www.travelandleisure.com/attractions/museums-galleries/museums-with-virtual-tours
As the global pandemic of the new coronavirus — COVID-19 — continues to spread in Pakistan with nearly 250 infections, the Chief Minister (CM) Usman Buzdar-led Punjab government appears to be lagging behind other provincial administrations such as that of Sindh where a spike in coronavirus cases has led to strict measures being put in place to contain the disease.
SOCIAL INTERACTION:
As per the details, Punjab has woken up late to the grave challenge of coronavirus, a proof of which is it appearing scrambled to find ways to deal with the crisis while struggling to enforce its own imposition of Section 144 to discourage public gathering as chaos and panic mar daily routine.
While 10,000 people reside at the Tableegi Markaz in Raiwind, another mosque, Masjid Ibrahim, is ramping up preparations to hold a big gathering to mark ‘Shabe Jumma‘. These centres are sending off at least a dozen parties to 150-200 mosques in the city for preaching purposes, whereas almost 1,000 parties [jamaats] are going across Pakistan for the same.
The activities are nothing but a recipe for disaster as they can lead to a countrywide spread of the virus. But Raiwind Assistant Commissioner (AC) Adnan Rasheed says the ijtima [gathering] won’t lead to an increase in the coronavirus cases as the authorities have washed and chlorinated the area where the gathering is being held.
Deputy Commissioner (DC) Afzal Danish, on the other hand, says the Raiwind gathering is in violation of the law and such transgression would be dealt with. “All gatherings have been banned. There is no decision on Friday prayers as of yet because we need the sanction of religious authorities,” he said, adding any other activity inside or outside any mosque would be a violation.
But that’s not it.
While according to the DC, shelter homes — another place with maximum social interaction — have been told to serve food to groups of two or three at a time in addition to bedding made at a distance of three feet, The Current has learnt that none of the shelter homes in Lahore are observing the measures as almost 4,484 people are living together and hundreds gather there to eat on a daily basis.
EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS:
Meanwhile, schools and universities are also flouting the government’s ban. The Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) and various private schools remain open for faculty in complete disregard of the measures taken by the government.
To prevent children and students from getting infected by the coronavirus pandemic, the government of Punjab had last week ordered all educational institutes, including private ones, throughout the province to remain closed till April 5 at least.
The instructions had come keeping in view the situation of the pandemic as the government had also imposed an emergency in the province. Punjab Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid had said that the Punjab CM reviewed the situation emerging out of an increasing number of positive coronavirus cases in the region and the status of preparedness at health facilities in the province.
ECONOMICS:
According to reports, the Punjab government is also grappling with the shortage of hand sanitisers while face masks are being sold at exorbitant rates. “Most of the stores do not have face masks and hand sanitisers, and if they have, they are selling these items at a 300 per cent surge rate,” read a report submitted to CM Buzdar.
With the courts being petitioned to take notice in this regard, Lahore High Court (LHC) Chief Justice (CJ) Mamoon Rashid Sheikh has summoned the federal and provincial authorities concerned to explain their position. In an earlier hearing, Punjab healthcare officials had told the court that the government imposed a ban on hoarding and profiteering of surgical masks in wake of their demands following the coronavirus pandemic.
It said FIRs [Firs Information Reports] were being registered against the hoarders and profiteers under Price Control and Prevention of Profiteering and Hoarding Act of 1977 among other laws. However, shopkeepers, amid the unavailability of these commodities, are blaming wholesalers.
DOCTORS AT RISK:
Separately, young doctors have also gone on a strike over the shortage of safety kits.
Young Doctors’ Association (YDA) has demanded safety kits for the entire staff of hospitals dealing with the suspected corona patients, including doctors, nurses and paramedics, while terming the arrangements made by the government as insufficient.
The YDA office bearers said that the safety kits provided to the doctors in hospitals are not according to the standards of the World Health Organization (WHO) and that they were working under highly vulnerable circumstances. “The N95 masks are not available in the hospitals despite the fact that the staff treating corona patients used the same mask in all the hospitals across the globe,” the doctors said.
While following a meeting with Punjab Governor Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar, YDA has announced calling off its strike in public sector hospitals, they have warned taking to streets once again if their demands are not met at the earliest. Sarwar has reportedly taken notice and ordered the vice chancellor of the University of Health Sciences to provide safety kits to the doctors within 24 hours.
WHAT THE GOVT IS DOING:
It has been reported that the government is going to purchase 200 ventilators and expand isolation wards in Mayo and Services hospitals. The Pakistan Kidney and Liver Institute and Research Center (PKLI&RC), on the other hand, has been dedicated to coronavirus treatment while a separate 70-bed block is being established.
Punjab government would also purchase 300 screening kits. Further, the government will provide coronavirus kits at subsidised rates to private hospitals and laboratories.
A hostel of the University of Engineering Technology (UET) has been converted into a 400-bed hospital for coronavirus patients, while the campuses of UET and GCU in Kala Shah Kaku are where suspected patients will be kept.
A government spokesperson told The Current that while CM Buzdar is engaging senior journalists and religious leaders to help the government in spreading coronavirus awareness, the government itself is also doing its best to deal with the crisis.
The spokesperson shared that the government had 40 high dependency units (isolation wards) in major government hospitals across Punjab, one government testing facility in Lahore and Rawalpindi each and a private testing facility of Shaukat Khanum helping them for free. They also shared details of the quarantine facilities the government has ready for patients and said that protective suits were provided to all healthcare professionals working in isolation wards.
“The CM himself is at the forefront, and in this regard, will today (Wednesday) chair an apex committee meeting, visit the quarantine facilities established in Multan and Dera Ghazi Khan besides holding a media briefing to clarify the situation for people,” the spokesperson added.
To a question, they said the government was deliberating certain other steps too, but couldn’t do much without the masses’ help.
An Indian Army soldier, posted in the mountainous region of Ladakh, has tested positive for the novel coronavirus, The Economic Times reported on Wednesday.
According to reports, the soldier’s father had returned from Iran on February 27. At the time, the soldier was on leave. He rejoined his post on March 2.
After returning to Ladakh, his father was quarantined at a local hospital where he tested positive for COVID-19 on March 6. A day later, the soldier was quarantined. On Monday, he also tested positive for the virus.
During his quarantine period, the soldier was staying in his native village and helping his family. His sister, wife and two children have also been placed in quarantine.
The soldier and all his colleagues were placed in isolation after the former tested positive.
Earlier on Wednesday, another army official attached to the College of Military Engineering in Pune has been asked to self-quarantine after he showed symptoms of flu.
As of now, 147 people have tested positive in India.
To contain the spread of the coronavirus, India’s Health Ministry has announced a temporary travel ban from the European Union (EU), United Kingdom (UK) and Turkey.
With cases of coronavirus close to 250 in Pakistan, celebrities, politicians and health experts are requesting everyone to do their bit in ensuring that the virus does not spread. One of the most challenging tasks is making people understand the importance of social distancing considering that the virus is highly contagious. With workplaces are shutting down and companies switching to work from home, daily wage earners in the country are expected to be hit the hardest as their services will no longer be required.
Mansha Pasha, in a recent tweet, urged her followers to do their bit and help out those most affected by the setback.
She also proposed the damn fund be used to battle this unexpected crisis.
Earlier, Mahira Khan had also requested her followers to practise social distancing.
We have all been scouring stores looking for hand sanitizer in every market and pharmacy and it’s nowhere to be found. If you do find it, the price is incredibly high and doesn’t feel worth the cost.
The main ingredient in hand sanitizer is rubbing alcohol, which is easily available in pharmacies. Experts suggest the hand sanitizer should have 60-70 % of rubbing alcohol for it to be effective in killing germs.
RELATED: All Coronavirus Updates
The following is a tried and tested recipe for a homemade hand sanitizer. Aloe vera is also easily available and buying the plant might be even cheaper.
The Japanese media is reporting that a drug created in Japan to treat new strains of the flu has appeared to be effective in coronavirus patients in China.
Medical authorities have used the drug during a drug test in China reports The Guardian, and according to an official of China’s science and technology ministry, “it is clearly effective in treatment”.
The drug, known as favipiravir, developed as a subsidiary of Fujifilm, has produced encouraging results in clinical trials in Wuhan and Shenzhen. The trials included 340 patients.
READ MORE: All Coronavirus Updates
In Shenzhen, patients who were given the medicine, showed negative for the virus, four days after they had tested positive. This is in comparison to people who showed negative to the virus after 11 days of testing positive. X-rays also showed improvements in lung conditions in “about 91% of the patients who were treated” with the medication, “compared to 62% of those without the drug,” reported The Guardian.
Simultaneously, doctors in Japan were using the same drug in their studies on coronavirus patients with mild to moderate symptoms but their results suggested that it doesn’t work on people with more severe symptoms.
RELATED: The U.S. warns coronavirus “will last 18 months or longer”
The drug was first used in 2016 by the Japanese government as an emergency medication to counter the Ebola virus in Guinea. Since this drug was originally intended to treat the flu, it would need government approval for full use on coronavirus patients.