Innovate for a Sustainable Ocean: World Oceans Day 2020 being celebrated amid COVID-19 pandemic

By Abdul Qadir Qureshi
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

“COVID-19 suffocates the world and takes away our near and dear ones from us irrespective of color, caste, creed and color of the skin. There are seven oceans providing oxygen we breathe therefore they are called ‘the lungs of our planet’. The surface of the earth is approximately 29.1% land and 70.9% water, which is divided into large bodies termed ocean.”

This was stated by Senator Nisar Memon, a former federal minister, in his message on the occasion of the World Oceans Day 2020 to be celebrated on June 8. 

“The World Oceans Day reminds us of the major role ocean plays in our everyday life. It is also a day to celebrate the beauty, the wealth and the promise of the ocean and towards this the theme this year is: Innovation for a Sustainable Ocean. It is a way to celebrate our world’s shared ocean and our personal connection to the sea, and ways people can help protect it,” he observed.

“Every year under the auspices of United Nations, awareness is raised by sharing the actions and programs planned to ‘save life below water’ (Sustainable Development Goal-SDG 14), the nature’s wealth and economic opportunities for travel, food, pearls, sports etc but also help preserve ‘life on land’ (SDG 15),” the former federal minister pointed out. 

Senator Nisar Memon reminded that Pakistan has a comprehensive Vision 2025 developed in 2014 which for oceans includes institutional development, human resource development, capacity building, facilities acquisitions for research for monitoring sea level variations along Pakistan Coast and assessment of natural hazards due to climate change. 

“Our challenge is to continue implementing vision and plans for the good of the country which has only one ocean ‘Arabian sea’ with 1,046 km coastline from Thatta and Karachi in Sindh to Gwadar and Jiwani in Balochistan,” he added.

“This can be done by the government, educationists, scientists, civil society, museums, sports, tourism, and all other institutions and citizens related to oceans. Our key institutions for oceans need strengthening and they include Institute of Marine Science, Karachi University for Education, National Institute of Oceanography for research, and Pakistan Marine Academy for security,” he shared. 

Senator Nisar Memon recalled that an Australian scholar had suggested that the term ‘Indian Ocean’was inappropriate, having argued that this ocean expanse is a ‘string of closely related regional systems stretching from East Asia around the continent and across the Indian Ocean to East Africa to which a new generic name, such as the Asian Sea might well be given.

“Yet another eminent scholar in his book ‘The Indian Ocean’ suggests replacing the ‘Indian Ocean’ with ‘the Afrasian Seas’ to avoid assuming Indian centrality as implied in the Indian Ocean term, or Arab dominance as in the Arabian Sea. Instead, he suggested naming it ‘the Afrasians’ which is all inclusive, taking in not only the Asian shores but also the often ignored area of East African coast,” he narrated.

“The Indian Ocean or Arabian Sea therefore need to be renamed to represent the reality of its geographic position which stretches from China, Australia, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Maldives, India, Pakistan, Iran, Oman, and many other countries and islands as it goes to Africa,” the former federal minister suggested. 

“This year's theme is especially relevant in the lead-up to the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development which will run from 2021 to 2030. The decade will strengthen international cooperation to develop the scientific research and innovative technologies that can connect ocean science with the needs of society,” he opined.

“But above all, we need to allocate sufficient funds in our upcoming government budget for preserving Indus Delta, sustainable offshore oil exploration and fishing industry development; besides individuals and institutional commitment of ‘My Ocean Pledge’ to help save Afrasian Ocean,” he concluded.

China eager to import foodstuff from Pakistan

By Masood Sattar Khan
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

Expressing delight at sail-off of first ship loaded with frozen fish from Pakistan, a senior Chinese diplomat has invited Pakistani traders to explore more avenues for export of various commodities to China.

It may be recalled that a standard sized container of silver croaker fish has set off from Karachi port via cargo ship COSCO recently. 

The Chinese importer, Xu Zhenwei, was expecting to receive the frozen fish consignment by the end of the current month. 

“That’s great progress. Please bring more products including mango, tiger prawns and crabs to China,” remarked Li Bijian, the enthusiastic Chinese Consul General in Karachi. He made these remarks while responding to a blogger June 6.

Replying to another blogger, who was seeking trade information, Li Bijian reckoned that there was huge potential of export from Pakistan to China. 

Another grower informed the Consul General that he owned the largest date farm on the CPEC route and he was keen to find some business opportunity for dates export to China. 

“We have world class best quality of dates but unfortunately we haven’t had the access to Chinese market in the past,” yet another blogger posted. 

The Sindh Chief Minister, Syed Murad Ali Shah, has already announced lifting of ban on fish catching earlier this month in view of the financial constraints of fishermen due to ongoing COVID-19 situation.

Sindh improves COVID-19 recovery rate

Pakistan News & Features Services

The government of Sindh, on June 6, informed the Supreme Court of Pakistan that the ratio of the patients recovered from COVID-19 in the province has moved up to 49 percent from 21 per cent. 

The governments of Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa submitted their replies with regard to the suo moto case in the apex court. 

According to the report, the number of COVID-19 patients has increased by 19,000 in Sindh from May 13 to June 3 while the capacity of ICU beds has been increased from 203 to 226, it said, submitting that 67 ICU beds are still available in the province.

“Per day testing capacity of the province has increased to 8,650, while 1,500 more doctors, 2382 nurses and 500 health technicians have been recruited,” the report added.

Coronavirus Update: Growing cases detected from interior Sindh

By Mukhtar Alam
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

Amidst reports that hospitals were denying treatment to COVID-19 patients, the Sindh health department on June 6 confirmed detection of another 1,475 new cases, including 371 from the interior districts of where the disease was gathering strength, with related 19 new deaths, all reported from Karachi. 

According to the department’s daily summary on the epidemic, the new cases increased the heap of COVID-19 infection to 36,364 in Sindh, including 29,066 at Karachi, with total deaths of 634 patients, an average 6.2 deaths daily since March 19 when the first lethal virus death was reported in the province. So far, 18,265 patients have recovered from the diseases, 17,465, including 14,363 at Karachi and 2,990 in the remaining 23 districts.

The Sindh Chief Minister, Syed Murad Ali Shah, in his statement, shared that 388 COVID-19 patients were still in critical condition, 58 of whom were receiving ventilator support. 

“As many as 16,138 confirmed patients are in home isolation, while 61 are receiving treatment at isolation centres and another 1,266 are admitted in hospitals. 

In the meantime, the Karachi Mayor, Wasim Akhtar, has demanded of the Sindh government to establish a central helpline providing information about capacity in hospitals handling the COVID-19 patients and the existing patient loads. 

“There does not exist appropriate mechanisms to cope with coronavirus pandemic,” he added saying the everyday listing of coronavirus positive patients demanded utmost adoption of preventive measures by the masses and the governments at all level. 

According to the case summary released on June 6, a maximum of 1,104 new cases of coronavirus were reported from Karachi, followed by Ghotki (98), Hyderabad (60), Larkana (58). Sukkur (56), Jacobabad (26), Dadu (21), Khairpur (14), Shikarpur (13), Mirpurkhas (7), Sanghar (5), Sahheed Benazirabad (3), Thatta (2), while Jamsjhoro, Badin, Kambar Shahdadkot, Kashmore and Umerkot reported one case each. 

So far 222,890 samples have been tested, including 7,033 tested during the last 24 hours ending at 9 am on June 6. 

A comparative study of the summaries for over a week showed rapid increase in the number of case in the interior of Sindh. As of May 30, Hyderabad had a total of confirmed 880 cases, followed by Sukkur (878), Larkana (658), Khairpur (628), Ghotki (532), Shikarpur (350), Jacobad (220) and Shaheed Benazirabad (201). 

On June 6 the number of cases had jumped to Sukkur (1,170), Hyderabad (1,154), Larkana (861), Ghotki (834), Khairpur (758), Shikarpur (423), Jacobabad (307) and Shaheed Benazirabad (221) while Karachi’s infected tally rose to 29,066 from 21,970. 

In the prevailing scenario, there were a total 139 ICU beds at 11 hospitals of Karachi, 129 of that are occupied at present, according to a Sindh government report of June 6. The Karachi hospitals had also 310 HDU beds, out which 203 were occupied, while of the 186 isolation beds 21 were occupied. 

The four remaining divisions of Sindh, Hyderabad, Shaheed Benazirabad, Sukkur and Larkana, had 88 ICU beds at nine hospitals, out of which 61 were vacant, while of 197 HDU beds 76 were occupied. The divisions had a total of 867 isolation beds at nine hospitals, out of which 842 were vacant. 

Those who died at Karachi due to COVID-19, as reported by the health department on June 6, included 15 men of age ranging from 40 to 80 years, while four women were in the age brackets of 55 to 78 years. 

Frozen fish export to China resumes

By Masood Sattar Khan
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

With the lifting of ban on fish catch from Sindh Government, exports of frozen fish have started for China, much to the delight of the local fishermen.

Lauding the lifting of ban, a Chinese importer, Xu Zhenwei, was expecting to receive the frozen fish consignment at the end of the the current month. 

“Gutted silver croaker and golden thread fin bream without head and fins, hair tail and squid are very popular” Xu Zhenwei tweeted. 

 He revealed that his company was engaged in importing about 150 containers of frozen seafood from Pakistan. 

The Sindh Chief Minister, Syed Murad Ali Shah, keeping in view the cyclones and financial strains faced by fishermen due to ongoing COVID-19 situation, has decided to provide relief to the fishermen by lifting ban on fishing from June. He had taken the decision earlier in the week while meeting a delegation led by Qadir Patel, a member of the National Assembly.

The Chief Minister was informed that the fishermen had suffered a lot for the past eight to 10 months due to cyclones, high tides, and then coronavirus (COVID-19) which made their survival very difficult. 

It may be noted that the government has had a policy of imposing two-month ban on fishing, during June and July due to breeding, but the fishermen have now already been out of work for the last many months.

The Chief Minister, stating to be well aware of the situation, assured to provide relief to the fishermen community. He directed the Secretary Fisheries to put up a summary to lift the ban on fishing in June so that with the easing of lockdown, the fishermen could resume their work and earn bread and butter for their families. 

He added that he had always protected the interest of fishermen on priority basis. “We would not let any segment of society, including fishermen alone. Our government would be supporting them to steer them out of the present crisis,” he concluded.

CDWP accords approval to 13 projects worth PKR 36.18 billion

By Masood Sattar Khan
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

The Central Development Working Party (CDWP) has approved as many as 13 projects worth PKR 36.18 billion on June 6.

The CDWP meeting held in Islamabad was chaired by Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission, Mohammad Jehnzeb Khan, according to the statement of the Federal Ministry of Planning and Development. 

The Secretary Planning, Zafar Hasan, and other senior officials from the Planning Commission and federal ministries/divisions also participated in the meeting which approved and recommended ML-1 project to ECNEC for further action.  

The Mainline-1 (ML-1) happens to be one of the major projects of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) having multiple outstanding features. 

Upon the completion of ML-1, the speed of passenger trains would increase from 65/110 km/h to 160 km/h while the Speed of the freight trains will increase upto 120 km/h. The line capacity will increase from 34 to 137/171 trains each way per day and the freight trains trailing load will be increased from 2,400 to 3,400 tons. 

The establishment of a dry port near Havelian Railway Station and upgradation of the Pakistan Railway/Academy Walton in Lahore were also included in the ML-1. 

The ML-1 will start from Karachi and passes through Kotari, Hyderabad, Rohri, Multan, Lahore and Rawalpindi before terminating at Peshawar. The meeting also recommended four projects worth PKR 184 billion to ECNEC for consideration.

Gwadar Port to intertwine global trade

By Masood Sattar Khan
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

The operationalization of the Gwadar port will help ease congestions on county’s existing two ports as well as intertwine global trade as the port and free zone in Gwadar have already become operational thus creating opportunities for employment, investment and commerce, according to Pakistan’s Ambassador to China, Naghmana Hashmi.

The Gwadar port will complement our other port and make Pakistan an increasingly efficient and attractive trans-shipment hub between China, Central Asia, Middle East and Africa, she said in an interview with Beijing Review, an English language magazine published from China. 

The interview has been headlined ‘A Friendship: Here to Stay’ by the magazine as she spoke at length about the various aspects of bilateral relations on the occasion of the 69th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relationship between Pakistan and China. She termed the friendship as ‘the ties mark 69 years of concord, cooperation and connectivity.’

Reflecting on the monumental journey traversed by Pakistan and China over the past decades called to mind the Chinese proverb ‘finding a soulmate who knows one’s heart is far harder than striking gold,’ she reckoned. 

Tracing the history of diplomatic ties, Ambassador Naghamana Hashmi recalled that the first high-level contact, between Pakistani Prime Minister, Mohammad Ali Bogra, and the Chinese Premier, Zhou Enlai, on the sidelines of the Bandung Conference in Indonesia in 1965 initiated a tradition of frequent exchanges that have endured todate. Premier Zhou had visited Pakistan a record number of times, a unique feat in bilateral relationship. 

She pointed out that on the international stage, where ceaseless change is the only certainty along the long road to harmonious interdependence, she cherished at the wisdom of successive generation of the two nations in forging a bond of stronger than steel, and bequeathing the invaluable legacy to those to follow.

Apple to offer COVID-19 tests to returning employees at headquarters

By Syed Sajid Aziz in USA
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

The Apple employees returning to its Silicon Valley headquarters will reportedly will be having the option of getting tested for the coronavirus (COVID-19), CNN reported quoting Bloomberg News.

The company had started bringing back some workers to its Apple Park office in Cupertino, California, last month, offering them nasal-swab tests for the virus and requiring temperature checks and masks.

The other precautions included closed kitchens and a two-person limit in elevators which generally accommodated 10 users. 

The company had closed its offices and retail outlets around the world because of the pandemic but has gradually been reopening them with additional safety measures. 

The operations had resumed at more than 100 stores across the US last month although the vast majority of them were only open for curbside pickup of online orders. The stores allowing customers inside will require masks and temperature checks.

US stocks soar on strong jobs report

By Syed Sajid Aziz in USA
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

The US stocks surged at the conclusion of the week on June 5, after the government reported that 2.5 million jobs were added in May and that the nation's unemployment rate fell to 13.3%.

It has been viewed as a surprise because the economists had been expecting significant job losses and a spike in the unemployment rate to near 20%. 

But the reopening of several states, leading to more Americans than expected returning to work has seemed to have brought about the positive change. 

The Dow soared nearly 830 points or 3.2% while the S&P 500 rose 2.6% and the Nasdaq was up more than 2% to finish the day just below its record closing level from February 19. 

The tech-heavy Nasdaq, home to Apple (AAPL), Amazon (AMZN) and the rest of the FAANG stocks, also notched a new intraday all-time high of 9,846. 

The five most valuable companies in the United States, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Google and Facebook, were now collectively reported to be worth $5.7 trillion while Netflix had a market cap of nearly $185 billion and shares were up 30% during the current year.