A three-year-old boy tested positive for Covid-19 in the Indian state of Kerala.
The family had travelled from Italy and took a connecting flight from Dubai International Airport to Kochi on March 7.
"The boy, who came on an Emirates flight to Kochi, has tested positive for Covid-19," Dr S Sreedevi, a district surveillance officer told The National.
“They came from Italy to Dubai. They were at Dubai airport for a short while and then took a connecting flight to India.
During the screening at Kochi airport, the boy vomited and also had fever so he was immediately taken to Ernakulum Medical College
“During the screening at Kochi airport, the boy vomited and also had fever so he was immediately taken to Ernakulum Medical College (hospital).
“His clinical condition is stable and the parents are in the isolation ward as their samples have been sent for testing. The results are awaited,” she said.
The boy was among four people who have recently tested positive in India taking the tally in the country to 43 on March 9.
Several patients have recovered but remain under observation, India’s health ministry said.
Emirates said it is working with local authorities and medical teams to report suspected cases of Covid-19 on flights.
“If any of our flights transport a suspected or confirmed case, we implement deep cleaning and disinfection of the aircraft in a process that takes between six to eight hours to complete,” the spokeswoman said.
“We have implemented enhanced cleaning and complete disinfection of all cabins on all our aircraft departing from Dubai.
“Our crew are trained to handle various medical incidents onboard, and since the Covid-19 outbreak began, we have been providing our crew community with regular updates on staying safe while on duty and the actions to take if they feel unwell. Our crew members, who operate flights with confirmed cases on-board, undergo health screening.”
The airline said it would not comment on individual cases.
Passengers transiting Dubai International Airport go through thermal scanners before boarding connecting flights.
Dubai Health Authority conducts nasal swabs on passengers arriving from Beijing, Beirut, Rome, Milan, Venice, Bologna, Bangkok and Phuket, if Dubai was their final destination.
Passengers were given DHA’s health declaration forms that needed to be handed over during the testing.
DHA declined to comment on specific cases but said it is following all World Health Organisation protocols.
In India, the country has suspended all visas granted to nationals of Italy, Iran, South Korea and Japan that were issued on or before March 3 to prevent an outbreak.
Regular and electronic visas issued to nationals from these countries was suspended with immediate effect, according to a Covid-19 revised travel advisory from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in India.
This is in addition to cancellation of visas to Chinese nationals from February 5, the ministry said.
As part of the new guidelines, passengers on all international flights entering the country from any port must furnish details of their travel history in a declaration form to health and immigration authorities.
Indian and foreign travellers who entered the country from a transit destination after boarding a flight from China, South Korea, Japan, Iran, Italy, Hong Kong, Macau, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Nepal, Thailand, Singapore and Taiwan will also undergo medical screening at the port of entry.
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has urged people to not panic and work together to prevent the spread of the virus.
Global coronavirus cases passed 109,000 on Monday, while at least 3,800 deaths have been reported so far.
Sun jukebox
Rufus Thomas, Bear Cat (The Answer to Hound Dog) (1953)
This rip-off of Leiber/Stoller’s early rock stomper brought a lawsuit against Phillips and necessitated Presley’s premature sale to RCA.
Elvis Presley, Mystery Train (1955)
The B-side of Presley’s final single for Sun bops with a drummer-less groove.
Johnny Cash and the Tennessee Two, Folsom Prison Blues (1955)
Originally recorded for Sun, Cash’s signature tune was performed for inmates of the titular prison 13 years later.
Carl Perkins, Blue Suede Shoes (1956)
Within a month of Sun’s February release Elvis had his version out on RCA.
Roy Orbison, Ooby Dooby (1956)
An essential piece of irreverent juvenilia from Orbison.
Jerry Lee Lewis, Great Balls of Fire (1957)
Lee’s trademark anthem is one of the era’s best-remembered – and best-selling – songs.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
How Alia's experiment will help humans get to Mars
Alia’s winning experiment examined how genes might change under the stresses caused by being in space, such as cosmic radiation and microgravity.
Her samples were placed in a machine on board the International Space Station. called a miniPCR thermal cycler, which can copy DNA multiple times.
After the samples were examined on return to Earth, scientists were able to successfully detect changes caused by being in space in the way DNA transmits instructions through proteins and other molecules in living organisms.
Although Alia’s samples were taken from nematode worms, the results have much bigger long term applications, especially for human space flight and long term missions, such as to Mars.
It also means that the first DNA experiments using human genomes can now be carried out on the ISS.
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
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