Tag: coronavirus

  • Broken seals at Wuhan lab holding 1,500 different strains of virus, including bat coronavirus

    Broken seals at Wuhan lab holding 1,500 different strains of virus, including bat coronavirus

    In a rare glimpse inside a Chinese laboratory in Wuhan amid global suspicions about the COVID-19 pandemic, scenes from the “secretive” Institute of Virology have sent shockwaves over the internet.

    According to Mail Online, pictures from inside the laboratory show a broken seal on the door of one of the refrigerators used to hold 1,500 different strains of virus, including the bat coronavirus that has jumped to humans with over 2.4 million infections and over 165,000 deaths since the first case in November last year.

    The pictures, first released by a state-owned Chinese newspaper in 2018, were also published on Twitter last month, before being deleted.

    Meanwhile, according to New York Post, the director of the lab denies that the bug accidentally spread from his facility.

    “There’s no way this virus came from us,” Yuan Zhiming, director of the Wuhan Institute of Virology, told state media.

    Yuan admitted that the lab is studying “different areas related to the coronavirus,” but told the English-language state broadcaster CGTN that none of his staff has been infected.

    “As people who carry out viral studies we clearly know what kind of research is going on at the institute and how the institute manages viruses and samples,” he said.

    He said that since the lab is in Wuhan “people can’t help but make associations”, but claimed that some media outlets are “deliberately trying to mislead people”.

    But officials in the past have raised concerns over the safety conditions of the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

    In March 2018, US science diplomats dispatched to the lab issued two “sensitive” diplomatic cables about inadequate safety measures at the lab, the Washington Post reported, citing intelligence sources.

    The first cable warned the experiments conducted in the lab on coronavirus in bats “represented a risk of a new SARS-like pandemic,” according to the report.

    The cable, written by two US-China embassy officials, said there is a “serious shortage of appropriately trained technicians and investigators needed to safely operate this high-containment laboratory,” according to the report.

  • Team of ‘Ishrat Made in China’ tested for COVID-19

    Team of ‘Ishrat Made in China’ tested for COVID-19

    After a long wait and some hitches along the way, the cast and crew of Ishrat Made in China including Sanam Saeed, Shamoon Abbasi, Mohib Mirza and Sara Loren have tested negative for COVID-19. They had returned from Thailand on April 14 on a special flight arranged by the Government of Pakistan after being stranded there for almost two weeks.

    Sanam took to social media to share the results and thank Deputy Commissioner Islamabad for his support and assistance. The actor also cleared the air regarding the issues they had faced upon their arrival back home.

    Read more – Shamoon Abbasi, Sanam Saeed face gross mismanagement as they arrive in Pakistan

    Shamoon also updated his fans about their results.

  • We’re on your side, dear minister

    We are all familiar with the adage that journalism is not a crime. Unfortunately, it seems that the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) for some reason thinks it is.

    When The Current, with pictorial evidence, reported how unhygienic the conditions at a quarantine facility in Peshawar were, and when a few journalists shared the story on social media, the government did not take it very well. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Health Minister Taimur Khan Jhagra took to Twitter and quote-tweeted journalist Benazir Shah.

    Other than questioning the report, he said:

    Targeting a well-respected journalist for tweeting a story about bad conditions at a quarantine facility in KP came as a surprise to many who had been commending both the KP government and Jhagra for their hard work in the fight against coronavirus. Jhagra could have ignored the story and not responded at all or just acknowledged the unhygienic conditions. If neither, he certainly could have responded without targeting Shah. 

    Jhagra is known to be decent and hardworking unlike many of his colleagues. Thus it came as a surprise when he targetted an accredited journalist, despite being fully aware of how the trolling brigade works. By targeting Shah specifically, he unleashed a troll army that is always ready to attack the media, especially women journalists.

    The notoriety of the ruling party’s troll army is an open secret despite official denial. Twitter trends against the media and renowned journalists have become a norm. Sharing private pictures of journalists taken from their social media accounts is another feather in the cap of these trolls. Any journalist who has attended Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan’s media briefings in recent days and dared to ask him a tough question, has faced online trolling and vile attacks.

    Jhagra also implied in his Twitter thread regarding The Current’s story that the “privileged” cannot bear 48 hours of discomfort as the quarantine facilities may not be ideal. Well, this wasn’t about privilege. It was about highlighting the unhygienic conditions at a quarantine facility and nothing to do with privilege. Both the privileged and the under-privileged deserve clean quarantine facilities. This problem isn’t limited to Pakistan. In neighbouring India, many such cases of poor and unclean quarantine facilities have been highlighted on social as well as mainstream media.

    We understand that the government has limited resources and it will be difficult to deal with such pressures. We also acknowledge how hard the federal, as well as provincial governments, are working to fight the coronavirus and that mistakes are unavoidable as this is something the world hasn’t seen in recent times.

    We commend the hard work of our public officials, healthcare workers, doctors, policemen, security officials and everyone out there who is working day in and day out to ensure that the people of Pakistan stay safe and healthy during the pandemic. But we will also mention and highlight facts and news so that our readers stay informed. It is not our job to only highlight the positives; we have to report the truth even if the state does not like it. Journalists cannot be bullied by online trolls or campaigns against them. The media is not your enemy; coronavirus is our common enemy. Fight the virus, don’t fight the media without any reason.

    We don’t have rose-tinted glasses on, and red flags are not just flags to us…

  • After Al-Fatah denial, DIG Operations Lahore confirms coronavirus positive employees

    After Al-Fatah denial, DIG Operations Lahore confirms coronavirus positive employees

    Rumours that Al-Fatah’s large department store at Hussain Chowk in Gulberg, Lahore had employees that tested positive for coronavirus was doing the rounds this week. The store was closed and customers were told that the closure was for fumigation and that the rumours were false. Delivery was still open.

    When DIG Operations Lahore was asked on Twitter whether the rumours were true or false, he confirmed that three employees tested positive for coronavirus and that the store was closed.

    Lahoris also alleged that Al Fatah had posted a notice denying the rumours and had deleted the notices today.

    There were notices posted outside the store and people called in to find out what was going on. People who called were told that there was fumigation going on but the news of positive cases was not true.

    The notice, which was saved by twitter users is now circulating on the social media platform with people asking why it was deleted.

    https://twitter.com/nabihameher/status/1251835072459800577?s=21

  • VIDEO: PTI, PML-N lawmakers join hands to flout social distancing at funeral of colleagues’ mother

    In a rather shocking development, lawmakers from both Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and its rival Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) among other political parties have come together to attend the funeral of two of their colleagues’ mother, flouting social distancing as well as the ban on public gatherings to curb the spread of coronavirus in the country.

    As per the details, the mother of PTI MPA from Gojra Bilal Asghar Warraich and PML-N MNA Khalid Javed Warraich passed away on Friday. With her funeral prayers being held on Saturday morning, scenes from the venue in Gojra city of Toba Tek Singh district showed violation of the government-ordered ban on public gatherings to deal with the COVID-19 outbreak that has so far claimed 144 lives with 7,654 infections across the country.

    WATCH VIDEO:

    Hundreds of participants at the funeral also included prominent personalities such as senior PTI leader and lawmaker Riaz Fatyana.

    A day earlier, a lack of consensus between religious leaders and the government saw congregational prayers still being held at some mosques across the country, in defiance of government guidelines on social distancing.

    In the federal capital, hundreds gathered at the Red Mosque, led by hardline religious leader Abdul Aziz, to offer prayers, standing shoulder-to-shoulder and filling the mosque’s main hall to capacity.

    Reports indicated that congregational prayers were also held at major mosques in other cities, with varying levels of social distancing.

  • ‘China let coronavirus become a pandemic’

    ‘China let coronavirus become a pandemic’

    Top officials of the Chinese government by January 14 knew that the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan could snowball into a pandemic, yet they kept the world in dark from the unfolding catastrophe for the next six days, The Associated Press (AP) has reported on the basis of retrospective infection data.

    The report cited Chinese media and claimed there was enough data to prove that COVID-19 was spreading person-to-person as people who had never been to Wuhan’s animal market contracted the disease as early as December, yet the Chinese government hid the fact from the public and the World Health Organisation (WHO).

    President Xi Jinping warned the public on the seventh day — January 20 — but by that time, more than 3,000 people had been infected during almost a week of public silence internal documents revealed.

    That delay from January 14 to January 20 was neither the first mistake made by Chinese officials at all levels in confronting the outbreak, nor the longest lag, as governments around the world have dragged their feet for weeks and even months in addressing the virus.

    But the delay by the first country to face the new coronavirus came at a critical time — the beginning of the outbreak. China’s attempt to walk a line between alerting the public and avoiding panic set the stage for a pandemic that has infected more than 2.1 million people and taken more than 147,000 lives.

    Zuo-Feng Zhang, an epidemiologist at the University of California, has said that had they taken action six days earlier, there would have been much fewer patients and medical facilities would have been sufficient. “We might have avoided the collapse of Wuhan’s medical system.”

    Moreover, the Chinese Center for Disease Control had stopped registering any cases from Wuhan’s local hospitals from January 5 to 17. However, thousands of patients were admitted to hospitals not just in Wuhan but all over China during that period.

    It is understood that doctors in local hospitals feared that they might receive the same punishment for rumor-mongering as the eight doctors, including Dr Li Wenliang, who tried to alert the public before any official authorities.

    It’s uncertain whether it was local officials who failed to report cases or national officials who failed to record them. It’s also not clear exactly what officials knew at the time in Wuhan, which only opened back up last week with restrictions after its quarantine.

    But what is clear, experts say, is that China’s rigid controls on information, bureaucratic hurdles and a reluctance to send bad news up the chain of command muffled early warnings.

  • VIDEO: ‘PM didn’t recognise me,’ says Faisal Edhi, who met Imran to donate Rs1 crore

    Son of the late philanthropist Abdul Sattar Edhi and incumbent head of the Edhi Foundation, Faisal Edhi, has said that Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan didn’t recognise him when they met in Islamabad earlier this week, as the former donated Rs10 million (1 crore) to the premier’s coronavirus relief fund.

    “Initially, he didn’t recognise me,” Edhi told anchorperson Nadeem Malik on his show on Thursday night.

    He said the PM didn’t even talk to him for six or seven minutes — until one of the two industrialists sitting with PM Imran, one of whose father’s body was bathed [ghusl] by Abdul Sattar Edhi in New York, recognised him.

    WATCH VIDEO:

    https://twitter.com/nadeemmalik/status/1250829957691047937

    “He told the premier that I was [Abdul Sattar] Edhi Sahab’s son, after which PM Imran recognised me,” Edhi said.

    “We had a half-minute talk at the door of his office,” the Edhi Foundation head said, adding that he told the premier how he wanted to establish a university in the name of his father.

    PM Imran had announced the establishment of corona relief fund on March 27 in order to to provide relief to the people amid coronavirus crisis.

    The premier had emphasised on providing relief to the neglected segments of the society and urged the people to help those in need. He had added that the federal government was mapping deserved persons to directly provide them financial assistance.

  • As economies fall, Apple ‘quietly’ launches new, only $399 iPhone

    As economies fall, Apple ‘quietly’ launches new, only $399 iPhone

    Apple has “quietly” — without fanfare — unveiled a new entry-level iPhone, aiming to appeal to consumers facing a suddenly bleaker economic backdrop.

    The updated iPhone SE will start at $399, or less than half the price of its flagship devices, and be available for order as of today (Friday) in more than 40 markets.

    Apple made the announcement in a statement, forgoing the normal splashy product launch events of the past few years.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQIbeAk-bFA

    The screen is on the small side for smartphones, measuring 4.7 inches diagonally — bigger than the first-generation iPhone SE but smaller than the newest phones — yet boasts high-definition graphics for rich visuals.

    Apple trimmed coasts by leaving out some of high-end features such as facial recognition, giving iPhone SE a fingerprint sensor and a home-screen button which fans will remember from previous generations.

    While the iPhone had been in the works for months, the launch comes amid a pandemic-induced economic slump which has hammered the smartphone market and hit consumer sentiment.

    “It is incredibly fortuitous timing,” said Bob O’Donnell, analyst with Technalysis Research.

    “This is the exactly the phone a large percentage of people will want. It’s hard to justify spending $1,200 on a smartphone in this economic climate, yet people still depend heavily on their phones and a lot of people want to upgrade.”

    O’Donnell said the new device is also likely to appeal to consumers seeking a small-format handset, and in countries where consumers may have not been able to afford iPhones.

  • Scenes from KP’s quarantine facility for foreign travellers will give you nightmares

    Scenes from KP’s quarantine facility for foreign travellers will give you nightmares

    As coronavirus continues to spread across the country, the federal and all provincial governments are taking strict measures to contain the outbreak. One of the many steps being taken by the authorities is quarantining foreign travellers before they are allowed to interact with anyone in Pakistan.

    Amid reports that travellers are being transferred to the quarantine facilities set up across the country right from the airport, one of the quarantined passengers, who had travelled from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to Peshawar during the wee hours of Wednesday, reached out toThe Current and shared pictures of the nightmarish conditions they are being forced to live in.

    “We are stuck here at Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Postgraduate Paramedical Institute in Peshawar after being told that we’ll be tested and then allowed to leave. It will soon be two days since we were locked up here and no one has conducted our tests yet,” the traveller said.

    They said they were being treated like criminals, and it was unfortunate how the conditions they and several others were being forced to live in were entirely different than what was being claimed by government officials in front of media.

    “Test us as soon as we land and just let us go. We were obviously also tested by the country we are coming in from,” the traveller said further, adding that the procedure didn’t take more than two hours but the negligence of the authorities had led to their suffering.

    The district administration had last month declared educational institutions in Peshawar as coronavirus quarantine facilities.

    A notification issued by the administration had said the premises declared as the quarantine facilities were student hostels at Peshawar University, sub-campuses of other universities and educational institutes within these premises, Postgraduate Medical Institute Peshawar, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Postgraduate Paramedical Institute and Pakistan Academy for Rural Development.

    The administration had also asked the police to ensure deployment across the facilities to prevent any unauthorised movements in or out of the premises.

  • Heartwarming video shows Punjab cop buying food for stray dogs, feeding them

    Heartwarming video shows Punjab cop buying food for stray dogs, feeding them

    As the lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus stays in place and animal rights activists voice concerns over strays starving to death, a heartwarming video over the internet has shown a Punjab Police cop buying food and feeding stray dogs by the side of a road.

    “If only people considered us policemen as humans. Forgive our mistakes. We are your servants. We deserve that much love,” wrote Lahore’s Deputy Inspector General (DIG) for Investigation Dr Inam Waheed as he tweeted the video that showed the cop, namely Ishtiaq, buying food and feeding it to dogs.

    WATCH VIDEO:

    https://twitter.com/inamkhan24/status/1250479090399883264

    Here’s what Twitterati, including celebrities, have to say about it:

    “I salute such great people,” wrote another user.

    Earlier, amid appeals by activists to take care of strays during the lockdown, heartwarming stories had surfaced of people helping animals suffering and adjusting to the changes caused by the coronavirus outbreak.

    “During the lockdown, animals have been abandoned in cages in markets and pet stores in Karachi. Many have starved and died. Dr Sheila is a vet working tirelessly to help collect, vaccinate and find shelter for these poor animals. Please, please, please donate. And share,” tweeted a user.

    Another user shared the picture of a group of volunteers feeding monkeys.

    Have something to add to this story? Let The Current know in the comments below.