London — All McDonald’s restaurants in the UK and Ireland will close by 7pm on Monday – in a move the fast-food company says is to protect the safety of its employees and customers.
The firm, which has 135,000 workers in the UK and Ireland, said it was a “difficult” decision which it had not taken lightly.
The chicken restaurant chain Nando’s also said it was to close more than 400 of its outlets in the UK until further notice, saying “the health and safety of our customers and team is our highest priority”.
The announcements come after Prime Minister Boris Johnson called for pubs, clubs and restaurants to shut on Friday amid the coronavirus outbreak, although he stressed they could continue with a takeaway service, the Kingdomfm reports.
McDonald’s said: “We will work with local community groups to responsibly distribute food and drink from our restaurants in the coming days.
“Thank you to our brilliant employees for their hard work during this incredibly challenging time.
“We look forward to seeing you all again as soon as it is safe for us to reopen.”
Primark has closed all its shops and ceased all orders with suppliers.
Its owner, Associated British Foods (ABF), said the closures would result in roughly £650m in net sales a month.
A statement said: “A variety of work streams have been established to mitigate the effect of the contribution lost from these sales and all expenditure is being reviewed.
“We currently estimate being able to recover some 50% of total operating costs.”
Primark said it took the decision to shut stores, including all 189 sites in the UK, “the health and welfare of our employees and customers” in mind.
Some 37,000 workers will be affected by the closures but will be provided with full pay for 14 days, Sky news writes.
John Lewis, Topshop, New Look and key cutting and shoe repair company Timpson have also announced store closures.
ABF earlier shut stores in France, Spain, Italy and Austria – where governments have already put restrictions on non-essential shops opening to try to combat the threat of coronavirus.
iirline Emirates says it will suspend flights to most destinations because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Meanwhile, Dubai-based Emirates has cut flight destinations from 145 locations to just 13 countries as demand for international travel falls and governments across the world try to stop the spread of COVID-19.
The airline has described it as a “painful but pragmatic” decision, which aims to protect jobs.
The company’s chief executive Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum says they “cannot viably operate passenger services until countries re-open their borders, and travel confidence returns”.
Emirates Group said it will continue to operate cargo flights through its fleet of Boeing 777 freighters for the transport of essential goods, including medical supplies across the world.
It also said the company would reduce salaries for the majority of its employees for three months, but will not cut jobs.
Last week British Airways said its pilots will be taking a 50% pay cut in April and May.
EasyJet and the pilots’ union have signed an agreement to minimise the risk of pilot lay-offs in the UK over the next 18 months, including a pay freeze and asking all crew to take unpaid leave for three months.
Aljazeera, India – Dinesh Bhandari spent two days travelling by bus from his village in rural Nepal to Kathmandu to get a permit to take up a factory job he had been promised in Malaysia.
When he reached the Nepali capital, he found the door to the recruitment agency locked. A note on it read: “No labour permits will be issued by the government until further notice due to the coronavirus.”
The 22-year-old is one of a growing number of migrant workers hit by a wave of travel bans from Asia to the Middle East aimed at combating the virus.
“I am shocked. I don’t know what to do now,” said Bhandari, who had been promised work at a Malaysian glove manufacturer on a monthly wage of nearly $300.
“I have no other plans … and I have to send money to my parents who have no other source of income.”
About 1,500 Nepali migrants leave every day for the Middle East, Malaysia and South Korea to work mainly as domestic and construction workers, and remittances – the money they send back – make up about a quarter of Nepal’s gross domestic product (GDP).
Remittances are a crucial lifeline for families in Nepal and other countries in the region, including Bangladesh and India, which currently has more than 30 million people in jobs overseas, according to the International Labour Organization.
But travel restrictions aimed at slowing the spread of coronavirus, which has infected more than 245,000 people globally and killed more than 10,000, threaten to leave millions of South Asian migrant labourers without work.
Nepal has suspended all permits for migrant workers as part of a programme of travel restrictions that also bars its own citizens from entering the country from Europe, the Middle East and Japan until April 15.
Malaysia, where many South Asian workers go for jobs, has shut its borders to travellers and restricted internal movement until March 31.
Qatar, which relies on about two million mainly Asian migrant workers for the bulk of its labour force, has banned foreigners from entering the country until the end of this month and Saudi Arabia has suspended all international flights for two weeks.
For the hundreds of thousands of families that depend on remittances for everything – from rent, school tuition and transport to groceries and utility bills – the fallout will be harsh, said Ganesh Gurung of the Nepal Institute of Development Studies.
“Lower-middle-class families will grow poorer and poverty will rise,” he predicted.
Despite money worries, most families said their main concern was the health of relatives working in virus-affected countries.
“Hope he remains safe and doesn’t get the virus,” said Bangladeshi mother of three, Rojina Akter, whose husband works at a ship recycling firm in Singapore, where 266 people have been infected by the coronavirus.
In India, the families of about 750 fishermen stranded in Iran – one of the countries worst hit by the epidemic – are demanding that the government bring them home.
The men have said the Gulf fishing firms that hired them confiscated their passports and then transferred them to the Iranian coast from the UAE.
Fishermen largely from southern India have traditionally migrated to Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the UAE for lucrative jobs on fishing vessels, but have sometimes been accused by Iranian officials of trespassing.
And despite repeated assurances from Indian authorities, the men say they have been left stranded and without food.
“Why are we ignored? We have families too,” said Shanu Mariyadasan, a fisherman from India’s coastal Kerala state. “Are we supposed to die here?”
London — Thirty-seven people – aged between 18 and 102 – have died after testing positive for coronavirus in England bringing the total there to 257, NHS England said.
18-year-old with Covid-19 has become the youngest victim of the coronavirus sweeping the UK, the NHS announced on Sunday.
The teenager, who is said to have had underlying health conditions, passed away at the University Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire.
Across the UK the death toll currently stands at 281 and nearly 6,000 people have tested positive for the disease.
All those who died were in vulnerable groups including with underlying conditions, the NHS said. They included five deaths at Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust, four at St. Georges University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, and four at Croydon Health NHS Trust.
Wales recorded a further seven new deaths, with the previous figure standing at 240. Scotland later reported an additional three deaths. It comes as 5,683 people tested positive for Covid-19 in the UK. Confirmed case numbers rose by 665 in a day, Metro reports.
The Government has ruled out shutting off the capital entirely and preventing traffic in and out of the city. It is still possible to travel, the Telegraph reports.
Emergency legislation has been tabled in Parliament to give the Government the power to restrict individuals and businesses more than it usually could.
Across the world :
– Australia has unveiled a 66.4 billion Australian dollar (£33 billion) stimulus package in a bid to ward off a recession and safeguard employment from the coronavirus pandemic.
– The Chinese city of Wuhan, where the global pandemic was first detected, went a fourth consecutive day on Sunday without reporting any new or suspected cases of the virus.
– China reported 46 new cases over the previous 24 hours, 45 of them coming from overseas. The health ministry did not say where the domestic case was found.
– Tokyo 2020 organisers have started drafting possible plans to delay the Olympics this summer, according to Reuters. This is despite the Japanese government’s insistence that postponement is not an option.
– Hundreds of millions of Indians stayed indoors on Sunday, heeding Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s appeal to citizens to self-isolate as authorities battled to contain the fast-spreading epidemic.
RIYADH — King Salman on Sunday issued an order imposing a curfew across Saudi Arabia from Monday evening to control the spread of the COVID-19 disease.
A royal court statement carried by the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) said the curfew will start at 7 p.m. until 6 a.m. every day for 21 days from the evening of 28 Rajab 1441 in the Hijri calendar, equivalent to March 23, 2020 in the Gregorian calendar, Arabnewa reports.
King Salman’s order followed an announcement by the Health Ministry of 119 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, raising the total number in the Kingdom to 511.
The order enjoins citizens and residents alike to stay in their homes during the curfew hours for their own safety.
The statement said the Ministry of Interior will undertake the necessary measures to implement the curfew, and all civil and military authorities are ordered to cooperate fully.
Exclusions
A subsequent statement issued by the Ministry of Interior and carried by SPA said those excluded from the curfew are workers from the following vital industries and government services:
• Food sector (points of sale) such as catering and supermarkets And poultry and vegetable shops, meat, bakeries, food factories and laboratories;
• Health sector, such as pharmacies and the like, medical clinics (dispensaries), hospitals, laboratories, factories, factories and materials and medical devices;
• Media sector in its various means;
• Transportation sector, such as those transporting goods, parcels, customs clearance, warehouses, warehouses, logistics services, supply chains for the health sector, the food sector, and port operations;
• E-commerce activities such as those working in the electronic procurement applications for the excluded activities and those working in the delivery applications of the excluded activities;
• Accommodation services activities such as hotels and furnished apartments;
• Energy sector such as gas stations and emergency services for the electric company;
• Financial services and insurance sector, such as direct accidents (Najm), urgent health insurance services (approvals), and other insurance services;
• Telecom sector as Internet and communication network operators;
• Water sector, such as the water company emergency services and home drinking water delivery service (graying).
Kathmandu — The government of Nepal has decided to close all border points with India and China for a week beginning Monday in an effort to avert the spreading of the COVID-19 pandemic.
A meeting of the Cabinet held on Sunday evening – first time after Prime Minister K P Oli’s kidney transplant — made the decision to this effect.
The meeting has also instructed the Ministry of Home Affairs to write to the districts — sharing borders with India and China — to shut down the entry points from 10 am Monday morning.
However, goods will continue to be transported across the border entry points during the period.
The Cabinet’s decision on Sunday has been taken to prevent any infected person entering Nepal from its neighbors, Khabarhub writes.
The World Health Organization (WHO) had recently suggested Nepal to close all its border points in an effort to avert spreading of the epidemic.
Similarly, the government has also decided to set up an emergency fund of Rs five hundred million to prevent and tackle COVID-19. All cabinet ministers have decided to deposit their one month’s salary to the fund.
It should be noted that the government had on last Friday decided to close all non-essential services starting from Sunday.
Meanwhile, all international flights have been suspended from today for another 10 days.
The government has also suspended all long-distance transportation until further notice from Monday.
RET.ie, New Delhi — Over one billion people in India have been asked to observe a 14-hour long curfew as authorities battle to contain the fast-spreading epidemic.
India launched a 14-hour long curfew on Sunday to limit the fast-spreading coronavirus epidemic in the country, where 315 people have so far been found to have contracted the disease and four deaths were reported in India due to coronavirus, according to official data.
In a few minutes from now, the #JantaCurfew commences.
Let us all be a part of this curfew, which will add tremendous strength to the fight against COVID-19 menace. The steps we take now will help in the times to come.
At least 300,097 infections have been confirmed worldwide, including 12,895 deaths, in 169 countries, according to data collected from national authorities and the World Health Organisation.
Around 80% of cases of Covid-19 will be a mild to moderate illness, close to 14% have severe disease and around 6% are critical.
Generally, a person needs to be 15 minutes or more in the vicinity of an infected person, within 1-2 metres, to be considered at-risk or a close contact.
While the curfew is voluntary and is not an outright ban on the movement of people, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s national appeal for social distancing has helped dramatically reduce the number of people taking to India’s densely crowded streets.
Experts have warned that the country’s cases are growing at rates seen during the early stages of the outbreak in other countries, which subsequently reported exponential increases in infections.
With over 1.3 billion people, India is trying to battle a pandemic with limited resources.
Minutes before the self-imposed curfew kicked in, Mr Modi said the curbs would help authorities better fight the Covid-19 menace. “The steps we take now will help in the times to come,” he said in the tweet.
While the curfew will be relaxed by Sunday evening, authorities have declared lockdowns in many cities and suspended several rail and road transport services as fears of community transmission of the virus grew across India.
“The curfew period has given us a chance to scale down each and every activity across India,” said a senior aide to Mr Modi, adding that a more rigid approach could trigger protests or unrest.
“A breakdown of law and order will be the worst thing to happen at this point of time,” he said on conditions of anonymity.
London – An ex-Gurkha soldier has died of complications related to coronavirus, his family members have confirmed.
www.wenepali.com has reported that Lila Bahadur Rai, 66, died on Tuesday (17thMarch) while undergoing treatment at the Northwick Park hospital, London.
Born in the eastern hilly district of Sankhuwasabha, Nepal, Mr Rai was living in South Harrow, London, along with his family.
The news portal quoted a family member of late Rai as saying that Mr Rai was admitted for a few days at the hospital but was discharged on Tuesday. “But after his health condition deteriorated at around 4 pm, we took him to the hospital again but doctors declared him dead at around 8 pmthe same day,” the unnamed family member said.
Three days after the death of Mr Rai, the hospital called his family and confirmed that his death was caused due to the Covid-19. The entire family of Mr Rai have now been placed under isolation.
Mr Rai had arrived in the UK in 2008 after the British government announced that Gurkhas, who had served at least for four years in the British army, would be allowed to settle in the UK.
Mr Rai was discharged from the army after serving the Crown for 17 years. He had undergone kidney transplant nearly two decades ago, the news report said.
Nepalese living in the UK have the custom of visiting the family of the deceased to express their condolence and show their solidarity. But the Sankhuwasabha Samaj UK has advised its members not to visit Mr Rai’s family as they are placed in isolation.
London—The Nepali embassy in London has urged Nepalese living in the UK, Ireland and Malta to remain alert and follow the directives issues by their respective governments.
In a statement issued on Friday, the embassy urged the Non-Resident Nepali Association (NRNA), Nepali diaspora associations, organisations, societies in the UK, Ireland and Malta, brothers and sisters to provide suggestions, information sharing and assistance to Nepalese affected by the COVID-19 diaster.
“It is our responsibility to extend mutual cooperation, support and help. All the NRN communities are requested to help and support each other, share the information and provide help to the needy people,” the embassy of Nepal to the UK said in an appeal.
The infection of COVID-19 is increasing day by day. (Hence), it is our prime duty to play the role from our part for the safety and security of all our stakeholders, customers, diplomatic friends and fellow Nepalese, the statement said. The embassy further said:
In order to receive daily consular services i.e.: passport renewal, travel permission, NRN card, Visa and document validation, all the customers are requested to follow the instruction mentioned in the embassy website ( www.uk.nepalembassy.gov.np) and send all the documents by post.
Customers are advised to visit the Embassy in case of urgent tasks such as preparing power of attorney and letter of consent only where you are required to sign on the documents in person.
Customers are requested to book an appointment via phone or email prior to visiting the Embassy for any urgent task during the office hours from 10 am to 1 pmand from 2 pm to 4 pm. Only the person concerned is advised to visit.
In order to receive services from the Embassy, all the customers are advised to call and email as follows:
London — Chancellor Rishi Sunak has already announced a £330bn package of support for businesses, equivalent to 15 per cent of GDP.
This comes on top of previously announced £30bn package of support for businesses to help them cope.
Many firms are warning of collapse, wiping out thousands of jobs, as life in the UK is largely put on hold.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson signalled Chancellor Rishi Sunak would be saying more on Friday about the extended package the government is putting forward for workers.
The PM has urged struggling businesses to “stick by their employees, because we’re all going to need them”.
The chancellor is set to announce an employment and wage subsidy package to try to protect millions of jobs today, BBC reported.
One proposal under discussion is for the UK to follow the lead of countries such as Denmark, where the government has promised to cover 75% of salaries at private companies for three months, if they promise not to let staff go, various media sources say.
The simple guidelines of previously announced business relief package are as follows :
The government will extend the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan scheme from up to £1.2m per business to £5m with no interest payable for six months. This new loan scheme will be up-and-running by the end of next week. “Any business that needs access to cash will be able to get a government-backed credit on attractive terms,” said Sunak.
Government will increase £3,000 cash grant announced in the Budget to up to £10,000 per business. This scheme will be administered by local authorities and the business department will be talking to local authorities this week about how the scheme will work. This is a £20bn package for local authorities. Sunak advised any small businesses in distress to speak directly to their local authorities.
Businesses in retail, hospitality and leisure with a rateable value of between £15,000 to £51,000 will be able to access a bigger grant of £25,000.
All retail, leisure and hospitality companies will be exempt from business rates for a whole year.
Treasury will work with business groups to develop an Employment Support Package that will help to mitigate employment costs for small firms, thereby preventing lay-offs.
The Treasury will stand behind those businesses that do have business interruption insurance policies that do include pandemics but will have excluded COVID-19 because it is such a new virus. However, most small businesses will still not be insured through business interruption policies because most just apply to fire and flood.
HMRC will extend “time to pay” arrangements for companies affected by acts of God such as flooding to coronavirus. These arrangements are negotiated on an individual basis between SMEs and Treasury, which means debt collection is suspended if they cannot afford to pay their tax bill. And HMRC said that during the coronavirus pandemic, the usual 3.5 per cent annual interest on deferred tax payments will be scrapped.
Kathmandu — According to various media sources , Nepal is also preparing to block the human movement via Nepal-India border points, a minister shares.
It will be the government’s latest move in its bid to protect its citizens from the deadly novel coronavirus pandemic.
Even if the government blocks the human movement, it will continue letting vehicles carry essential goods from India to Nepal, according to him. The border points have already been closed for the entry of people from other countries as India has suspended all visas, Onlinekhabar writes.
The decision is likely to be made on Thursday. Nepal’s Foreign Secretary, Shanker Das Bairagi, summoned Indian Ambassador to Kathmandu, Vinay Mohan Kwatra, to his office on Wednesday to consult about the issue, a source informs. During the meeting, Kwatra told Bairagi that he would give his opinion about consulting concerned officials in New Delhi. Hence, the Nepal government is currently awaiting New Delhi’s response.
The movement via various border points has already been restricted and, currently, only four points are open.
Though Nepal does not have any active coronavirus infection case now, three persons have already died and nearly 150 are infected in India, with which Nepal shares a long open border.
India has already closed its all land border points with Nepal except Raxaul, Banbasa, Raniganj and Sonouli to be effective from Wednesday.
London– The Association for Nepal and Himalayan Studies (ANHS) has appointed Dr. Jeevan Sharma and Dr. Michael Heneise as Co-Editors of Himalaya journal.
“The ANHS is thrilled that Drs. Sharma and Heneise bring such experience and vision to the Association’s flagship journal, and looks forward to their tenure as Co-Editors, set to begin in the fall of 2020,” said a statement issued by the Association.
Dr. Sharma is a Senior Lecturer in South Asia and International Development at the School of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Edinburgh. He is as an executive committee member of the Britain Nepal Academic Council and the British Association of South Asian Studies. He is also sub-editor of South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies.
Dr. Heneise is Associate Professor in the Department of Archaeology, History, Religious Studies and Theology at UiT – The Arctic University of Norway, and Director of the Kohima Institute, where he coordinates research teams working in health, ecology, and indigenous knowledge in the Eastern Himalayas. Inspired by Open Access publishing while a doctoral student at Edinburgh University, he founded The South Asianist (journal and blog) published by the Centre for South Asian Studies, and co-founded The Highlander: Journal of Highland Asia. He has focused his editing and publishing efforts on developing student editorial teams, and on expanding networks and collaborations, most notably with the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), Kyoto University, Jawaharlal Nehru University, and the British Association of South Asian Studies.
Under their editorship, Drs. Sharma and Heneise will invite explorations of contemporary and historical challenges facing the Himalayan region, spanning migration, borders and citizenship, populist politics, gender studies, urbanization, transnational networks, citizen protests, climate change, medical pluralism, ethno-linguistics, among other topics, the statement said.
“They are deeply committed to ensuring that the journal’s readership, contributors, and the editorial board continues to reflect and embrace the geographic and disciplinary diversity now increasingly constitutive of Himalayan studies,” the Association said.
DrOM PRASAD GAUTAM is a public health expert and behaviour change scientist with more than 20 years of work and research experiences in Water, Sanitation & Hygiene (WASH), health, behaviour change, child health, immunization, food safety, and HIV/AIDS programme.
Dr Gautam holds PhD from London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), UK and Master’s degrees in Public Health and Social Sciences. He iscurrently working at the WaterAid UK as a Senior WASH Manager – Hygiene (global lead on hygiene behaviour change).He spoke to SOUTH ASIA TIME focusing on COVID-19.
Dr Om Prasad Gautam
Excerpts of the interview:
In the wake of coronavirus pandemic, it is being advised to wash our hands with soap and water. Is this the best prevention?
Yes, washing both hands with soap and water frequently and thoroughly is one of the effective methods of controlling the spread of COVID–19 (the disease caused by Coronavirus). Hands are likely to be contaminated frequently as people touch surfaceswith any source and they can pick the virus. So,washing both hands with soap and water thoroughly removes virus from hands. Both hands should be washed frequently mostly at key moments such as before eating and feeding; before touching nose/face, after going to the toilet; after exposure with any dirt/dust/body fluids and after touching any frequently touched places. It is important to note that, hands should be washed with soap and water more frequently and thoroughly as they get contaminated frequently. Hand washing with soap at various critical times also reducesthe cases of acute respiratory infection by 16-23%, reduction in pneumonia cases by 50% and up to 48% reduction in endemic diarrhoea. Washed hands also look good and people feel comfortable. Hand washing with soap has lots of advantages.
What about the use of mask? Is it a must or can we do without it?
If you have any respiratory infection, allergy, or if you are sneezing and coughing, use mask. A healthy person doesn’t need to wear a mask. A healthy person can do it without a mask in the present context. Mask can only be effective if you are also washing hands because people will be using hands to put on and remove the mask. Mask is necessary for healthcare providers, people who are dealing with any sick person/patients and people with any underlying health conditions.
Elderly people, especially Gurkha veterans who can’t speak English, seem to be more vulnerable. How can the Nepali community help and support them?
This is a new virus, and anybody can get this virus. There is no specific treatment and no vaccine is available to prevent this virus by now despite variousefforts in different countries. So, any Nepali residing in the UK, including elderly Gurkhas, are equally susceptiblefrom this virus. It is important to note that the virus appears to cause only a mild illness in around 80% of cases, but in 20% cases there could be more serious illness. Severe illness and mortality rate is heavily influenced by the underlying health conditions of people including elderly population.So, Gurkha veterans need to be very alert as elderly people will be severely ill if infected by this virus.I would like to request all Nepalese as wellas Gurkhafamily members not to panic but take extra precautionary measure to protect themselves from the virus.
So, how could elderly people protect themselves and how the Nepali community can help them?
I think elderly people could protect themselves through following ways:
• By practicing hand washing with soap: Frequently washing both hands with soap and water regularly and thoroughly (especially before eating and feeding; before touching the nose/face, after going to the toilet; after exposure with any dirt/dust/fluids and after touching any public surfaces).
• By practicing respiratory hygiene: Covering nose and mouth when coughing and sneezing (sneezing or coughing into the elbow and disposing of tissue if it is used into a closed bin) to be followed by hand washing with a soap.
• By maintaining social distancing: Avoiding close contact with people who are unwell (with symptoms) and confirmed cases. I recommend non-contact greetings and ‘Namaste’ is most hygienic greetings for now.
• By adopting cleanliness practices: Cleaning frequently-touched surfaces regularly such as door handle, mobile phone, electric switch etc.
• By practicing food hygiene: Eating thoroughly cooked food especially meat /eggs and thoroughly washed fresh fruits/vegetables, washing hands with soap before cooking /handling food.
• By isolating and seeking immediate care: Self-isolation (stay at home) if you feel sick and seek immediate medical care if unwell (high fever, cough and difficulty breathing).
The early symptoms of the diseases include high fever, cough and difficulty in breathing – similar to other flu like illnesses. So, anyone with this symptoms pleaseself-isolate and call NHS/111.
Nepali elderly Gurkhaswho can’t speak English may not be aware and may have limited understanding regardingsymptoms and protective measures about the virus. In this context, Nepali community can help them to communicate how they can protect themselves practicing above mentioned protective measures and self-isolate if they catch virus. While communicating, it is important to avoid group gathering and person to person contact. Using their network / using the database, they can call them to make them aware of above measures, produce promotional materials in their native language and pass them at their door step. If any elderly are self-isolating and if they don’t have any care givers, it is also important to see how they are cooping with the daily consumable items including food and medicine.It is also important to offer moral support to the people. More importantly, for elderly, it is important to guide through UK Government procedures such as self-isolation, social distancing, procedures to call NHS/111and key hygiene practices.
How can people in the UK and Europe protect themselves and their children in the wake of coronavirus transmission?
TheWHO has declared Europe as epicentre of this pandemic as majority of the European countries are worse affected by this virus after China. In this context, it is important to understand the symptoms of the disease(high fever, cough and breath shortness) by every individual residing in the UK and Europe for early isolation. It is more important to practice good hygiene practices by all individuals including children. The key is to reduce the transmission and contain the virus. This can be possible if people maintain social distancing such as maintaining 2 meter distance between healthy and anyone coughing and sneezing, avoiding pubic gathering, self-isolating if anyone has symptomsand seeking immediate medical care. Adopting good hygiene practices such as washing both hands with soap and water frequently and rigorouslyand also eating thoroughly cooked food and washed vegetable/fruits are key preventive measures. Here in the UK and EU, people greet each other by kissing, hugging or shaking hands so it is important to avoid these social greetings now and practice non-touched greetings. People mostly travelby train hence it is important to wash hands immediately after travel or use of alcohol based hand-rub while travelling. It is also important to clean mobile phones regularly as people use them quite frequently while travelling in public places and also in the house. Importantly, please follow the government advice for travel as there are many travel restrictions and follow NHS advice for key practices.The UK government has moved its response from containment to delay phase which meansthat there will be few restrictions such as limiting public gathering, encouraging work from home etc. People need to be agile and up-to-date.Few EU countries such as Italy and Spain are locked down to control the transmission and there are lessons to be learned. As a responsible public, each individualcan support by doing early reporting and self isolating if symptoms appear and by seeking necessary medical care as early as possible.
Countries like Nepal seem to be spared from the spread of coronavirus so far? How should the Nepal government utilise this opportunity to contain and combat the virus?
This virus is spreading quite fast in many countries and creating fear among people. So far, the disease appears to have spread mostly in well-connected countries with relatively strong health systems and even those countries are struggling to contain the virus efficiently and promptly. However, there is a real risk if the virus spreads in many other countries including Nepal where health systems are relatively weaker as compared to the EU/UK. Nepal has just reported one case since the outbreak initiated in China. In any case, we need to ask ourselves, whether Nepal has responsive health system to detect all possible cases, whether test facilities are easily availableat healthcare centres, whether right surveillance system is in place to detect cases early and whether effective responsive mechanism and robust hygiene promotion system is in places or not. Are public aware and practice key behaviours?Despite open border with India and China, we arelucky to have low number of cases so farbut Nepal needs to be agile and system needs to be robust to handle the possible disaster.
Ofcourse, Nepal needs to follow the WHO global guidelines and recommendations to tackle with this virus. Nepal can learn how China, Italy, and other countries are containing, detecting, and treating, managing and protecting people from the virus. There is a lot to be learned and build on. A comprehensive strategy for COVID–19 needs to be placed for containment, detection, response, treatment and protection. It is vital to have efficient checking system in each border pointsincluding airports, travel restrictions, surveillance system to detect the cases, availability of test kits and early testing mechanism, isolation mechanism, and adequate health care services to treat and manage confirmed cases within the health system. Comprehensive preventive and protective measure from different ministries such as hygiene promotionincluding hand washing with soap and water, food hygiene, respiratory hygiene, social distancing andself isolation can be promoted. Nepali people can also individually contribute to contain virus by practicing key hygiene behaviours, being aware about the symptoms, by self isolating if they feel ill and seeking medical care only if necessary.
Nepal, bordering China ( the epicentre of COVID–19), is lucky to have only one confirmed case so far but the government of Nepal should take extra measures to containand combat this virusas a possible threat. This is the time to check whether each of our hospitals and healthcare settings having right test and care mechanism, whether they have hand washing facilities with soap and water in each point of care, whether they have adequate human resources to cope with any potential outbreak in near future and mechanism of support. All institutions also need to be self-agile to have proper hygiene mechanism in place including in public places.
What should countries in South Asia urgently do to contain such epidemic/pandemic in the future?
Well, there are guidelines from the WHO that need to be followed. In my view, having right plan and mechanism in places in each country, SAARC countriescan take collective efforts to containvirus. Having robust regional strategy for travel ban from highly infected countries, mechanism of support forearly detections in each border, public-private partnership to availmedical test kits and equipmentand restricting non-essential travel in each country with immediate effect. It is also important to support each other in the region to have capacity to deal with disease surveillance, case detection, treatment and case management in each country. In Asia, many countries are also dependent on each other on supply chain including medical equipment and medicines, hence it is important to availthose without any restriction is important. Starting multi-country hygiene promotion initiatives for public awareness and encouraging key hygiene behaviours is also key. As a region, they can also plan and invest to contribute towards the research related to this viruswhere necessary.
Fear is also acting as temporary stimulus among individuals, institutions, organisations and global community to demand right health services, better hygiene products and associated practices around the world. This is one of those moments global community need to act together and support each other. Making health systems robust and hygiene behaviour change programme sustainable is also a continuous need for theworld to tackle with this nasty virus and similar types in future — if any.
New Delhi, ANI — Prime Minister Narendra Modi proposed the creation of a COVID-19 emergency fund based on voluntary contributions from all the countries, with India making an initial offer of USD 10 million for the fund during his interaction with the leaders of the SAARC countries through video conference on Sunday.
The Prime Minister held a video conference with the leaders of SAARC member countries to exchange their views in fighting the coronavirus pandemic. However, Pakistan raked up the Kashmir issue, saying that the “lockdown should be lifted” in the region amid the coronavirus outbreak.
“In the spirit of collaboration, Prime Minister Modi proposed the creation of a COVID-19Emergency Fund based on voluntary contributions from all the countries, with India making an initial offer of USD10 million for the fund. The fund can be used by any of the partner countries to meet the cost of immediate actions,” the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a statement.
“He informed that India is assembling a rapid response team of doctors and specialists, along with testing kits and other equipment, which will be on stand-by, to be placed at the disposal of the countries, if required,” the statement added. According to the MEA, the Prime Minister also offered arranging for online training capsules for the emergency response teams of the neighbouring countries and sharing of the software behind India’s Integrated Disease Surveillance Portal to help trace possible virus carriers and the people they contacted. He suggested that existing mechanisms like SAARC Disaster Management Centre can be used to pool in best practices as also the creation of a common research platform to coordinate research on controlling epidemic diseases within the South Asian region. “The leaders thanked the Prime Minister for the proposed initiatives. The Prime Ministerreiterated the resolve to battle together and said that neighbourhood collaboration by SAARC countries should serve as a model for the world,” the statement said. The Prime Minister said that the guiding mantra for India has been “prepare, but don’t panic”. Modi said that India has not only “successfully evacuated almost 1,400 Indians from different countries but also evacuated some of the citizens of the neighbouring countries in accordance with the ‘neighbourhood first policy’.”
During the interaction, Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani said that the greatest vulnerability of Afghanistan is an open border with Iran. He proposed modelling diffusion patterns, creation of a common framework for telemedicine and greater cooperation amongst the neighbouring countries, the MEA said. Maldives President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih thanked India for the medical assistance to deal with COVID-19 cases and for evacuating nine Maldivians from Wuhan.
“He (Solih) highlighted the negative impact of COVID-19 on tourism in the country and its impact on the nation’s economy. He proposed closer cooperation between the health emergency agencies of the countries, formulation of economic relief package and long term recovery plan for the region,” the statement said.
Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa recommended that SAARC leaders work together to help economy tide over the difficult period. “He (Rajapaksa) also recommended the establishment of a SAARC ministerial-level group to share best practises and coordinate regional matters on combating COVID-19,” the statement said. Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina thanked Modi for bringing 23 Bangladeshi students back from Wuhan along with Indian students during the quarantine period. Nepal Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli apprised the SAARC leaders of the steps taken by Nepal to combat COVID-19.
According to the MEA, the Nepal Prime Minister said that the collective wisdom and efforts of all the SAARC nations could help in devising a robust and effective strategy to deal with the pandemic. Bhutan Prime Minister Lotay Tshering said that the pandemic does not follow geographical boundaries and hence, it is all the more important for the nations to work together.
Pakistan‘s state Minister of Health, Dr Zafar Mirza proposed that SAARC Secretariat be mandated to establish a working group of national authorities for health information, data exchange and coordination in real-time, the MEA statement said.
“He proposed hosting SAARC Health Ministers’ conference and development of regional mechanisms to share disease surveillance data in real-time,” it added.
However, Pakistan raised the Kashmir issue during the video conference saying that it is imperative that the lockdown in the region be lifted in view of the health emergency amid coronavirus outbreak. “It is a matter of concern that COVID-19 has been reported from Jammu and Kashmir. In view of the health emergency, it is imperative that all lockdown in the territory must be lifted immediately,” Mirza said.
It was “churlish” of Pakistan to politicise a humanitarian issue by raking up the Kashmir matter at a video conference between SAARCleaders held with an aim to chalk out a joint strategy to fight the coronavirus pandemic, Indian government sources said.
“Pakistan sent their Health Minister who was uncomfortable in speaking. He was given a slip. It is a churlish approach. This is a humanitarian issue and Pakistan tried to politicise the humanitarian issue,” the government sources added. (ANI)
“Please refrain from hand shaking,” read a sign at an event in London I recently attended. Despite increasing anxiety about coronavirus, for many of us, it was the first time we had encountered such a request. Underneath the words was a small image of two disembodied hands shaking, surrounded by a red circle struck through with a diagonal line.
Refraining from such a common behaviour was easier said than done. Handshaking comes automatically to many of us. The art of a proper handshake was drummed into me at a young age when growing up in the United States. When I was around ten years old, my father would rehearse my handshake with me: “Make eye contact first. You don’t want to shake hands like a dead fish.” So I gripped his hand as firmly as I could, my little wrist and fingers straining with pressure, my eyes locked on his.
Since then, I’ve become fascinated with the choreography of the handshake: steady eye contact, slight head nod in acknowledgement, slight step forward, extension of the right hand in one fluid movement before grasping your partner’s hand with just the right amount of pressure.
Hearty good will
The handshake has long been understood as a gesture that establishes a positive connection between two people. It’s one of the first gestures mentioned in Henry Siddons’s 1807 Practical Illustrations of Rhetorical Gesture and Action, a manual of gestures designed for English actors that was an adaptation of a classic earlier text, Ideen zu Einer Mimik (1785), by Johann Jacob Engel of the National Theatre Berlin.
Siddons defines the handshake, an action that “joins two extremities of the human body to each other”, as:
An expression usual in friendship, benevolence, and salutation. This gesture is rich in signification, for the hand is the tongue of hearty good will.
But what do we do when the formerly benevolent handshake becomes potentially dangerous? Angela Merkel’s interior minister Horst Seehofer recently rebuffed the German chancellor’s extended hand, while Italians, reeling from the highest numbers of infections in Europe, are trying out new rules of social engagement that represent a drastic departure from their high-contact normal social gestures of kissing and embrace.
But perhaps the most extreme example comes from Denmark, where naturalisation ceremonies have been suspended because a handshake has been a legally mandated part of the ceremony since a conservative change to the law in 2018. Widely criticised at the time as an anti-immigration initiative, the law is now making hundreds wait for Danish citizenship because of the pandemic.
Does this all spell the beginning of the end of hand-shaking?
Teaching without touching
I wondered about this as I walked into a conference room at the aforementioned handshake-free event where I was to teach an improvisation workshop for drama teachers, many of whom had considerable acting experience. I had planned to lead several exercises that involved touch, including one where the participants support the weight of one another’s bodies as a means to understand their relationship as a group. Another began with a series of handshakes exchanged throughout the room.
Before we began, I decided to ask participants whether they felt comfortable touching one another. Most didn’t mind – but some did, so I adapted the workshop to remove all direct contact that might, to echo Siddons, join the human body together. I asked participants to work in groups as originally planned, but mime the handshake (and other such gestures) with a gap between their bodies.
The removal of touch had a palpable impact on the workshop, as participants struggled to maintain the gap and resist the impulse to touch one another. The German dramatist Bertolt Brecht recognised the power of performance to make the familiar seem strange – what he famously termed the Verfremdungseffekt – thereby revealing that which is hiding in plain sight of society. Indeed, the shift in focus made the familiar handshake seem strange; removing the element of touch called attention to its ubiquity within common gestures.
Replacing the handshake with a representation increased the group’s awareness of the learned impulse to perform collegiality with one another. People kept apologising for not touching one another.
What comes after?
The coronavirus outbreak is causing people to rethink the handshake and seek other gestures that perform similar functions without touch. The news site India Today has advocated the replacement of the (western) handshake and cheek kiss in favour of a return to the traditional namaste greeting: a slight bow with hands pressed together. Besides noting its hygienic advantages, the article championed the desi (local to the Indian subcontinent) nature of this form.
This global health crisis calls into question the role of touch in culturally specific gestures of greeting and expressions of connection. Removing the assumption that we will probably touch one another fundamentally changes the repertoire of gestures we have at our disposal. The request to “refrain from hand shaking” has the potential to significantly re-script how we perform our relationships to one another.
A global response might result in moving toward new performed gestures that redefine how we interact with one another.
Kathmandu — Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi reached out to the eight-member regional grouping on Friday and pitched for a video conference among the leaders of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) to chalk out a strong strategy to combat coronavirus outbreak.
Timely action for a healthier planet.
Tomorrow at 5 PM, leaders of SAARC nations will discuss, via conferencing, a roadmap to fight the challenge of COVID-19 Novel Coronavirus.
I am confident that our coming together will lead to effective outcomes and benefit our citizens.
The SAARC nations will chalk out a joint strategy to fight coronavirus, said MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar, Livemint reported.
Pakistan responded positively to Modi’s proposal, saying it was ready to participate in the conference, acknowledging that coordinated efforts were needed to minimise the threat posed by the deadly coronavirus.
Modi’s suggestion was backed by all member states of SAARC.
All the leaders of the grouping welcomed the Prime Minister’s proposal.
London— The University of Oxford has established two academic prizes in the name of Professor Surya P. Subedi to honour outstanding performance by its law students. The first is the Dr Surya Subedi Prize in Human Rights Law to be awarded to the student attaining the highest mark in the paper in Human Rights Law each year.
The second is a new prize, the Dr Surya Subedi Prize for the DPhil in Law to be awarded to the best doctoral thesis in the Faculty of Law each year. The DPhil prize will be awarded to the thesis that makes the most exciting original contribution to the relevant field of scholarship and is best crafted in terms of organisation, style and presentation.
Professor Subedi is an alumnus of Oxford. He obtained a doctoral degree (DPhil) in Law with a prize in 1993. Oxford awarded him a higher doctorate (महाविद्यावारिधि) – the degree of Doctor of Civil Law (DCL) – in 2019 in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the development of human rights and international law. Such higher doctorates are awarded rarely and only in exceptional cases at the University of Oxford.
He currently is Professor of International Law at the University of Leeds, England, and Barrister at Three Stone Chambers, Lincoln’s Inn, London.
