Former Indian President Pranab Mukherjee is dead

By Masood Sattar Khan
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

Pranab Mukherjee, a former Indian President, passed away at the Army's Research and Referral Hospital in New Delhi on August 31. He was 84. His health had deteriorated earlier in the day after suffering a septic shock due to his lung infection. 

He was admitted to the military hospital on August 10 and also tested positive for COVID-19 prior to the surgery. He later developed a lung infection 

He had himself tweeted having tested positive for COVID-19 and urged people who had come in contact with him in the previous week to isolate and get tested for the novel coronavirus. 

A powerful orator and scholar, Mukherjee was known to be a Congress stalwart before being elected as India's 13th President and serving from July 2012 to 2017 at the top post. 

“India grieves the passing away of Bharat Ratna Shri Pranab Mukherjee. He has left an indelible mark on the development trajectory of our nation. A scholar par excellence, a towering statesman, he was admired across the political spectrum and by all sections of society,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted.

Coronavirus Update: Sindh’s fatalities cross 2,400

By Mukhtar Alam
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

Sindh' tally of ÇOVID-19 fatalities crossed 2400 on August 30 when it reported 80 new infections, with three new related deaths, during the last 24 hours across the province.

According to national COVID-19 dashboard, Sindh's total deaths came as 2401, while overall case tally for the province was 129,348 out which 122,939 recovered from the disease. 

The official report disclosed that Sindh in all tested 5,625 samples and found 80 new COVID-19 cases. 

On August 27, the number of new cases was 204, which decreased to 98, 89 and 80 on August 28, 29 and 30, respectively. 

LUMHS laboratory at Hyderabad handled 4,896 suspected samples, against its maximum capacity of testing 5000 samples per day, during the last 24 hours and found 46 positive cases, including 44 new infections. 

As many as 20 COVID-19 laboratories, out of 28 in the province, did not conduct any test during the last 24 hours ending on August 30.

The Karachi laboratories just examined 729 samples, including DUHS (11), CHK (44), AKUH (395), Dr Ziauddin Hospital (46), SIUT (41), JPMC (128) and PCMD-KU (64), and detected 49 positives, including 36 new cases.

As of August 30, the number of patients occupying the intensive care beds at different hospitals of Karachi remained 73, including 17 on ventilators.

The latest district wise overall number of COVID-19 cases came as: Karachi (91,569), Badin (1,104), Dadu (1,243), Ghotki (3,533), Hyderabad (4,893), Jacobabad (1,001), Jamshoro (1,473), Kambar Shahdakot (1,022), Kashmore (978), Khairpur (1,254), Naushero Feroze (993), Sanghar (1,440), Shaheed Benazirabad (1,927), Shikarpur (1,778), Sujawal (547), Sukkur (3,815), Tando Allahyar (808), Tando Mohammad Khan (580), Tharparkar (1191), Thatta (949) and Umerkot (748).

As many as 37 were cured, while 174 were in critical condition, as of August 30 while three people lost their lives to COVID-19 in Sindh on August 29, including two at Karachi and one at Sujawal, according to the official report.

Xinjiang officials refute allegations

By Masood Sattar Khan
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

The authorities of Northwest China Xinjiang have refuted rumors and termed as lies conjured up by Adrian Zenz, a scholar from Germany on population and family planning issues in the province.

A spokesperson for the information department of Xinjiang, Ilijan Anagyit, addressing press conference on August 29, clarified that in a woman named Zamira Dawut had given birth to her third child at the Maternal and Child Care Centre in Urumqi in 2013 after having voluntarily signed the requisite documents to have cesarean section and tubal ligation. 

Meanwhile Tursunay Abdurahim, an officer of Xinjiang Static Branch, explained that between 2010 and 2018, contrary of the false claims, the permanent population of Xinjiang has increased by 13.99 percent to about 24.87 million with ethnic minority population up by 24.14 percent to 15.86 million.

In the same way the population of Uyghur ethnic group rose by 25.04 percent to nearly 12.72 million.

Primary schools across China reopen

By Masood Sattar Khan
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

The primary schools across China, including in Beijing, have reopened after summer vacations on August 31. 

As it was raining on the first day of reopening after vacations in Beijing, teachers in one of the schools were holding colourful umbrellas so that pupils could not get wet from rain. It was a sign of mutual care and respect. 

The summer vacation in China generally starts around July 1 and ends around August 31 while the winter vacation usually take place in January or February depending on the date of the Spring Festival.

Coronavirus Update: Sindh ahead in fatalities

By Mukhtar Alam
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

Amidst a rain interrupted field activities, Sindh added three more COVID-19 deaths to the national tally on August 29 when it registered 89 infections during the last 24 hours across the province.

According to the national COVID-19 dashboard managed by the government, country had in all four related deaths reported by Sindh (three) and Punjab (one). 

The provinces that reported new confirmed cases on August 29 were Sindh (89 cases), Punjab (42), KPK (46) and Balochistan (38). 

Sindh’s overall number of infections came as 129,268, with total 2,398 relevant deaths, while the number of people cured of COVID-19 in the province stood as 122,902, including 67 who recovered from the disease on August 29. 

There were still 3,968 patients receiving treatment at homes, hospitals and isolation centres in the province.

China's resilience lauded

By Masood Sattar Khan
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

The Iranian Ambassador to China, Mohammad Keshavarzzadeh, has praised Beijing’s resistance against the US desire to impose its will on other nations. 

Keshavarzzadeh lauded China’s standing against the US bullying at the United Nations Security Council to exert more pressure on Iran, according to a report. 

He wrote on his twitter page on August 29 that China’s position was actually rejection of the US unilateral policies. 

In relevant remarks, the Iranian Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Majid Takht Ravanchi, was critical of the US violation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and the UNSC Resolution 2231, claiming that Washington's unilateralism was threatening the UN's authority. 

The US President, Donald Trump, a stern critic of the historic deal, had unilaterally pulled Washington out of the JCPOA in May 2018 and unleashed tough sanctions without being able to push Tehran to the negotiating table.

UAE, Israel mull setting up banking ties

By Masood Sattar Khan
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

After agreeing on setting up diplomatic relations, talks for potential business partnership is underway between Dubai’s leading bank Emirates NBD and Bank Leumi of Israel, an Arab newspaper quoted market sources.

“The fact that Emirates NBD has not denied earlier reports of talks with the Israeli bank and the recent normalization of diplomatic relations between the two countries point to something really happening between two entities,” an insider reckoned. 

Although the talks between the two entities were significant as a first step towards the normalization of business between the two countries, any deal of cooperation will require board level approvals of both banks and regulatory approvals of the central banks from both countries. 

“The formalization of ties with the state of Israel through this new law will pave way for more businesses in both countries to explore business opportunities,” the sources added. 

The analysts were of the opinion that the normalization of ties would be mutually beneficial to both countries in terms of business and scientific cooperation.

KFC to gift chicken for school teachers

By Masood Sattar Khan
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

In order to pay respect to the dedication of their job, the KFC has announced donation of one million pieces of chicken for the school teachers that go back after the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. 

For this noble cause the world renowned fast food entity in its social media account announced that this time they will be supporting teachers across the country as they head back to school, people can help KFC recognize the dedicated teacher in their life time by hashtag # KFCback2School. 

Historically, KFC was founded by Colonel Harland Sanders, an entrepreneur who began selling fried chicken from his roadside restaurant in Corbin, Kentucky, during the Great Depression. He had identified the potential of the restaurant franchising concept and the first Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) franchise was opened in Utah in 1952.

PKR 10.5 billion allocated for rehabilitation, implementation of KCR

By Masood Sattar Khan
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

The government has allocated an amount of PKR 10.5 billion for rehabilitation and implementation of the Karachi Circular Railways (KRC) project under the auspices of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). 

According to details, the amount will be spent in phases in the identical manner as the ML-1 project, with the first phase to be followed shortly by the second phase. 

For the restoration of KCR, the most pressing demand of the people of the mega city, the Project Director, Amer Muhammad Daudpota, has informed that there was complete unanimity between the federal government and the provincial government. 

All bottlenecks in restoration of the much awaited KCR has finally been removed, he declared, much to the relief of the residents of Karachi.

Coronavirus Update: Sindh cases upto 129,000

By Mukhtar Alam

(Pakistan News & Features Services)

Sindh witnessed its overall COVID-19 cases surpassing 129,000 on August 27 as authorities declared detection of another 204 positive cases, with six related deaths, across the province during the last 24 hours.

According to the national COVID-19 dashboard, Sindh’s number of infections reached to 129,081, against the country’s overall infection figure of 295,053.

The provincial authorities told a meeting on August 28 that as many as 3,953 infected people were under treatment at homes (3,637 patients), seven at isolation centres and 309 at the various hospitals. 

The meeting was further told that 210 patients were in critical condition, while 31 of them had been put on ventilators during the last 24 hours ending August 27 afternoon. 

As of August 27, the district-wise breakdown of overall COVID-19 cases in Sindh came as: Karachi (91,463 infections), Badin (1,095), Dadu (1,236), Ghotki (3,518), Hyderabad (4,785), Jacobabad (999), Jamshoro (1,430), Kambar Shahdadkot (1,017), Kashmore (973), Khairpur (3,024), Larakana (2,152), Matiari (593), Mirpurkhas (,1241), Naushero Feroze (989), Sanghar (1,432), Shaheed Benazirabad (1,913), Shikarpur (1,768), Sujawal (545), Sukkur (3,812), Tando Allahyar (806), Tando Mohammad Khan (573), Tharparkar (1,191), Thatta (939) and Umerkot (744). 

An official report, in the meantime, revealed that 6,337 samples were tested across the province during the last 24 hours, out of which 259 were found COVID-19 positive, including 204 new infections.

On August 26, the testing rate was around 43% of the maximum collective capacity of 14,950.

A source in the provincial health department confided to this scribe that the overall COVID-19 surveillance and testing activities were affected due to the heavy monsoon pour.

It was further learnt that only 100 of the 409 intensive care beds were occupied by critically ill patients at Karachi hospitals on August 27. According to a report, the four COVID-19 patients who lost their lives on August 26 included three from Karachi and one from Hyderabad.