Health

Washington, May 16 (PTI) President Donald Trump has announced that the US will donate a lot of ventilators to India to help it fight the "invisible enemy", moments after he underlined the close partnership between the two countries and called Prime Minister Narendra Modi his "good friend".

Trump also said the US and India were cooperating to develop a vaccine for the deadly coronavirus that has claimed 307,666 lives and infected more than 4.5 million people globally since it emerged in China in December last year.

Chennai, May 16 (PTI) A well-known city-based surgeon is among the Indian medical professionals in Dubai to have joined the war against Covid-19 in the middle eastern country, following an appeal from the Indian High Commission there.

Laparoscopic surgeon Dr J S Rajkumar was on a visit to Dubai when he decided to heed the Indian High Commission's call and volunteer himself.

LONDON, May 16 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Cars will be banished from miles of streets in central London to encourage more walking and cycling and help public transport cope with social distancing restrictions, the city’s mayor said. 

Sadiq Khan said the plan, which covers major cross-town routes, would transform parts of central London into one of the largest car-free zones in any capital city.

“COVID-19 poses the biggest challenge to London’s public transport network in TfL’s (Transport for London) history,” he said.

BRASILIA, May 16 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The coronavirus pandemic has hit 38 indigenous groups in Brazil, raising fears for populations that have a history of being decimated by outside diseases, the Brazilian Indigenous Peoples’ Association (APIB) said. 

“The virus is reaching indigenous territories across Brazil with frightening speed,” the association said in a statement.

An APIB survey found 446 cases of the new coronavirus and 92 deaths among the affected groups, mainly in the Brazilian Amazon.

BANGKOK, May 16 (NNN-TNA) – Thailand’s Ministry of Transport said on Friday that, state-run buses will resume cross-country services between Bangkok and the North and Northeast on May 18, a day after the Phase Two lock-down restrictions are eased.

Inter-provincial buses were suspended in mid-Apr to curb the COVID-19 outbreak.

Services to the South will start on June 1.

Meanwhile, the Bangkok Mass Transit Authority (BMTA) said, the number of its passengers will increase by 100,000 a day, when shopping centres reopen on May 17.

Kanpur: Lockdown leaves the humming market desolate in Lal Bungalow locality of Jajmau area here. It is one of the main markets in the area. Its expansion has taken place in the past several years.

After a gap of nearly fifty days when one to pass through the market, one was completely stunned by the eerie silence prevailing in the approaching road to the bustling market.

NEW DELHI, May 15 (NNN-BERNAMA) — India’s medical facilities are coming under growing pressure as coronavirus cases rise sharply despite a nationwide lockdown to contain the pandemic.

The crisis has brought to the fore the issue of under-investment in the public healthcare system whereas private hospitals have enjoyed exponential growth.

With about 82,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases, India on Friday looked set to reach six-digit figures soon, and if the current rate of infections continued its hospitals might become burdened with patients.

ISTANBUL, May 15 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Turkey’s coronavirus death toll topped 4,000 on Thursday, as the number of confirmed cases reached nearly 145,000.

In a tweet, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said 55 more deaths were recorded in the last 24 hours while there were 1,635 new cases.

The total number of reported infections now stands at 144,749, making Turkey the ninth most COVID-19 affected country.

The 83-million strong country is gradually moving to a “new normal” as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said the coronavirus pandemic is “under control”.

GENEVA, May 15 (NNN-AGENCIES) — World leaders past and present insisted that any eventual COVID-19 vaccines and treatments should be made available to everyone, free of charge.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan were among more than 140 signatories of a letter saying any vaccine should not be patented while the science should be shared between nations.

The World Health Assembly, the policy-setting body of the UN’s World Health Organization, holds its annual general meeting next week.

PARIS, May 15 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The novel coronavirus has killed more than 300,000 people worldwide, mostly in Europe and the United States, since it emerged in China late last year.

A total of 300,140 people have died across the globe from 4,403,714 officially registered cases.

The United States has registered the most deaths at 85,813 followed by Britain with 33,614, Italy at 31,368, France at 27,425 and Spain with 27,321 fatalities.