Health

JAKARTA, April 27 (NNN-Xinhua) — The Indonesian police have thwarted thousands of people planning to go back to hometowns for celebrating the Islamic festivity as the country has been beefing up strides to cushion the spread of COVID-19.

Nearly 5,000 vehicles carrying people have been stopped by police personnel and ordered them to turn back to their original cities including the capital of Jakarta from which they started departures, Chief of the National Police’s Traffic Corps General Istiono said.

TEHRAN, April 27 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Iran plans to reopen mosques in parts of the country that have been consistently free of the coronavirus outbreak as restrictions on Iranians gradually ease, President Hassan Rouhani said.

Iran, one of the countries hardest hit by the pandemic, will be divided up into white, yellow and red regions based on the number of infections and deaths, Rouhani said, according to the presidency’s website.

DUBAI, April 27 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The emirate of Dubai said it has lifted its full lockdown on two commercial districts which have a large population of low-income migrant workers, after the United Arab Emirates eased nationwide coronavirus curfews over the weekend.

Dubai on Friday cut its emirate-wide 24-hour lockdown back to a 10pm to 6am curfew.

It has now taken the same step in the Al Ras and Naif districts, which had been sealed off as part of efforts to contain the spread of the virus.

WASHINGTON, April 27 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said it has approved a disbursement of $309 million to help Mozambique meet urgent balance of payment and fiscal needs stemming from the coronavirus pandemic.

African nations including Mozambique have become heavily indebted in the past decade and are seeking support from the IMF, World Bank and European Union for wide-ranging debt relief.

MADRID, April 27 (NNN-AGENCIES) —Spain, which has been one of the countries worst hit in the coronavirus pandemic, has reported its lowest daily death toll in more than a month.

Its health ministry said that 288 more people had died of the virus, the lowest number since March 20.

The figure is a steep drop from the 378 deaths recorded on Saturday.

On Sunday, children under the age of 14 were allowed to leave their homes for the first time in six weeks. They are now allowed outside for one hour a day.

NEW YORK, April 27 (NNN-AGENCIES) — New York Governor Andrew Cuomo pointed to research showing that strains of the novel coronavirus entered his state from Europe, not China, and said that travel bans enacted by US President Donald Trump were too late to halt its spread.

Cuomo cited research from Northeastern University estimating that more than 10,000 New Yorkers may have contracted the disease by the time the state had its first confirmed case on March 1. He said he believed Italy was the likely source.

Beijing/Wuhan, Apr 26 (PTI) The number of hospitalised COVID-19 patients in China's Wuhan, where the virus first emerged before turning out to be a pandemic, on Sunday dropped to zero for the first time, marking yet another milestone for the city which was opened up on April 8 after a 76-day lockdown.

Singapore, Apr 26 (PTI) Coronavirus cases in Singapore crossed the 13,000-mark on Sunday after 931 positive cases were confirmed with majority of them continued to be foreign workers, including Indian nationals, living in dormitories.

The vast majority of the new cases are work permit holders residing in dormitories for foreign workers, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said in its preliminary release of figures.

New Delhi, Apr 26 (PTI) The lockdown in Delhi will not be relaxed beyond what the Union home ministry has suggested in its guidelines, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Sunday and added that his government's focus is on bringing down COVID-19 infections in the city.

Addressing an online media briefing, the chief minister said, "We are going through difficult times. We will have to continue our efforts to reduce the number of COVID-19 infections in Delhi."

Pune, Apr 25 (PTI) The orders issued by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) for relaxation of lockdown will not be applicable for Pune city, Joint Commissioner of Police Ravindra Shisve said on Saturday.

The MHA had clarified that relaxation orders were not applicable for the areas affected by the coronavirus pandemic, he said.

Therefore, the orders issued by the local police officials to prevent the spread of coronavirus will remain in force, he said.