Health

Confirmed coronavirus cases in Israel have jumped by 40 percent to 427 in the past 24 hours, the Health Ministry said on Wednesday, predicting a steeper rise as mass-testing is implemented, reports Reuters.

18 Mar 2020; MEMO: A 103-year-old Iranian woman successfully recovered after contracting the deadly coronavirus, which has claimed thousands of lives worldwide since early this year, reports Anadolu Agency.

According to Nevid Danayi, the rector of Semnan University of Medical Sciences, the old lady was discharged from the hospital, becoming the second oldest person ever to recover from the disease known as COVID-19.

17 Mar 2020; MEMO: Moroccan King Mohammed VI has issued instructions to set up a $1 billion fund to rehabilitate the health sector and support vulnerable economic sectors affected by the coronavirus outbreak.

17 Mar 2020; MEMO: Saudi Arabia announced on Sunday the suspension of employees’ attendance at all government workplaces for a period of 16 days starting yesterday as a precautionary measures against the spread of the coronavirus, the Saudi News Agency reported.

The Saudi government’s decision does not include those working in the health, security and educational sectors.

17 Mar 2020; MEMO: China has called for the immediate lifting of sanctions imposed on Iran amidst its fight against the novel coronavirus, Xinhua reported yesterday.

17 Mar 2020; MEMO: Representative of the people in Tehran at the Iranian Assembly of Experts, Ayatollah Hashem Bathaei-Golpaygani, died of the coronavirus yesterday morning, local media reported.

Seventy-eight-year-old Bathaei-Golpaygani was reported to have lost his life at Tehran’s Shahid Beheshti Hospital, where he had been receiving treatment for the novel coronavirus.

The Assembly of Experts is a body that supervises and appoints the Supreme Leader of Iran.

Berlin, Mar 16 (AFP/PTI) The German government has promised to defend itself against alleged attempts by US president Donald Trump to buy exclusive rights to a German company's research into a vaccine against the coronavirus.

"Germany is not for sale," economy minister Peter Altmaier told broadcaster ARD, reacting to a front page report in Welt am Sonntag newspaper headlined "Trump vs Berlin".

Mumbai, Mar 17 (PTI) Veteran devotional singer Anup Jalota on Tuesday said he is in isolation at a Mumbai hotel as a preventive measure in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

The 66-year-old singer, who was in Europe for a concert, landed in Mumbai early morning today, was soon taken to a hotel in suburban Andheri.

Lucknow, Mar 17 (PTI) To contain the coronavirus spread, the Uttar Pradesh government on Tuesday extended the closure of all educational institutions, cinemas, mulitplexes and tourists places in the state till April 2.

Briefing reporters here after a meeting of the UP Cabinet, minister Shrikant Sharma said, "Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has directed that all schools, colleges and educational institutes will remain closed till April 2."

New Delhi, Mar 16 (PTI) COVID-19 extended its footprint in India on Monday with the eastern state of Odisha reporting its first coronavirus patient and one new case each in Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, and Kerala, taking the total count to 114, Health Ministry officials said.

The Maharashtra government also reported four more patients of the infection, as concerns over the pandemic steered decisions across all sectors and states, including in politically volatile Madhya Pradesh.