Disney World set to reopen on July 11

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

Having shut its doors because of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic for nearly four months, Walt Disney World has announced that it will welcome guests back to its flagship theme park in Orlando, Florida, and reopen a cornerstone of its business over the weekend.

According to the media reports, the Disney (DIS) resort has planned to begin a phased reopening on July 11 for its Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom parks, followed by EPCOT and Hollywood Studios on July 15. 

Disney will be implementing several measures to reopen safely but there remained question marks over reopening of a dense theme park around the size of San Francisco at a time when cases were spiking in Florida. 

The resort has more than 75,000 employees and it has been visited by millions of people every year. The Magic Kingdom alone, which houses trademark attractions like Cinderella Castle and Space Mountain, accounted for more than 20 million visitors in 2018, according to a report by AECOM. 

Disney World is also described as the heart of the brand as whenever one talked about Disney most of the people thought of Disney World immediately.

Coronavirus Update: Sindh’s infection crosses 100,000

By Mukhtar Alam
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

Sindh’s overall number of COVID-19 infected persons surpassed 100,000 on July 9 when the provincial health authorities confirmed 1,538 more infections across the province, with 40 related deaths, within the last 24 hours. 

The first positive case of coronavirus was reported in Karachi in a 22-year-old man on February 26 and since then there is no respite from the disease that originated from the Chinese city of Wuhan late last year. 

Sindh’s overall COVID-19 infection tally was 421, with one death, on March 26, which increased to 4,615 on April 26, with 81 deaths, 23,507, with 374 deaths, on May 26 and 76,318, with 1205 deaths, on June 26.

In terms of positive cases, Sindh was followed by Punjab (84,587), KPK (29,052), Balochistan (11,052), Islamabad Capital Territory (13,731), Gilgit- Baltistan (1,605) and Azad Jammu Kahsmir (1,459).

According to the Sindh health department data, the overall infections rose to 100,900, with 1,677 deaths, involving all the districts of the province, on July 9.

The COVID-19 daily summary issued by the department revealed that Karachi reported the maximum of 714 new infections during the last 24 hours ending July 9 morning, followed by Hyderabad (96), Sukkur (89), Naushero Feroze (72), Badin (65), Mirpurkhas (63), Sanghar (56), Shikarpur (55), Matiari (42), Tharparkat (31), Sujawal (26), Thatta (24), Umerkot (23), Kambar Shadadkot (23), Larkana (22), Khairpur (21), Ghotki (21), Tando Allahyar (19), Jamshoro (14), Tando Muhammad Khan (9), Dadu (9), Jacobabad (8), Shaheed Benazirabad (7) and Kashmore (7).

According to an official report, the COVID-19 cases were reported mostly among the age group 21-30 years (24,016), followed by age group 01-10 (3,018), 11-20 (7,695), 31-40 (23,734), 41-50 (13,334), 61-70 (6,324), 71-80 (2,165), 81-90 (474), and 91-100 (50).

The highest number of the cases were reported from the Karachi division (76,921), followed by Hyderabad (3,626), Sukkur (3,081), Ghotki (2,691), Khairpur (2,114), Larkana (1,793) and others.

The male-female infection proportion remained 70.8% and 29.2%, respectively.

According to reports, Karachi Central Jail had 348 prisoners in isolation, while another 42 infected citizens were admitted at the Karachi Expo Centre’s field medical facility and one person was quarantined at Shaheed Benazirabad Labour Colony.

Coming to the deaths among the positive cases, the summary said that 25 men and 13 women lost their lives in Karachi. Men were in the age brackets of 35 to 84 years while women were aged from 40 to 70 years. Another man, aged 60 years, died of COVID-19 in Tando Allahyar, while a man of 33, not a resident of Sindh, also died in the province during the last 24 hours.

Of the deceased patients, a maximum of 184 were admitted at Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, followed by 180 at the Civil Hospital Karachi, 167 at DUHS Hospital, 137 at the Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation, 124 at Indus Hospital Karachi, 98 at AKU Hospital, 72 at the Karachi Trauma Centre, 69 at Ziauddin Hospital, Clifton, 51 at Lyari General Hospital, 41 at Ziauddin Hospital, North Nazimabad, and others.

Beijing services sector set for recovery

By Masood Sattar Khan
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

After Beijing reported no new COVID-19 cases for three consecutive days, the services sector from retail vendors, travel agents, delivery drivers to restaurant owners, were awaiting a much-anticipated recovery in the coming months. 

"Once the coronavirus is fully contained in Beijing and banquets are allowed, liquor sales will boom," Song Zongheng, who owns Beijing Yongsheng Cigarette and Liquor Co, was quoted as saying as he remained positive about the city's service sector revival. 

However, restaurants were more cautious about a quick recovery as the latest outbreak of COVID-19 started in the sprawling Xinfadi wholesale food market, infecting vendors and some restaurant workers who purchased food supplies there. 

The owner of a Sichuan restaurant in Beijing's Chaoyang district said that their customers had only recovered to half of its capacity and the recent outbreak had brought another blow to the city's catering industry. 

While dining-in services were hurt, many people who were laid off found work with couriers and food delivery companies thanks to the city's broad 4G and 5G coverage, which enabled mobile delivering platforms. 

"After the epidemic, delivery orders are surging now,” a deliveryman surnamed Zhang who works for Meituan-Dianping, an online food delivery platform, remarked. Some people in the tourism sector are struggling to pay their office rent while others refuse to close their business. 

Jia Jianqiang, CEO of 6renyou, an online tourism agency in Beijing, informed that the company had shifted its core business from arranging overseas trips to domestic service. 

Online travel agency Trip.com shared that flight reservations by Beijing residents for July and August, summer vacationing time for students, were the highest among cities in China. 

The Chinese guesthouse booking platform Tujia said that the bookings from Beijing surged four times after the capital city as the residents leaving the city no longer required a proof of negative COVID-19 test result. It estimated that bookings will recover up to 70 percent in the summer vacation. 

In 2019, the service sector had contributed 87.8 percent to Beijing's economic growth, having played a pivotal role.