Coronavirus: six passengers test positive after taking Emirates flight to Australia


Kelly Clarke
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Latest: UAE travel advice - airline flights and testing for residents and tourists explained

Six passengers who travelled on an Emirates airlines flight to Western Australia have tested positive for Covid-19.

Officials said the four women and two men boarded flight EK420 bound for Perth on July 1, and were confirmed to have the virus following testing two days after landing.

Health authorities in Australia said the six people had been quarantined in a hotel, along with an undisclosed number of passengers on the same flight.

It is not yet clear where the six who tested positive contracted the virus, or if testing took place before they left Dubai.

People known to have interacted with the six confirmed cases on the flight, or who were seated in nearby rows, were advised to self-quarantine at home for 14 days.

All other passengers on board were told to closely monitor their health for two weeks and seek immediate medical attention if they experienced any symptoms.

"The six new cases, four women and two men aged between 40-64, were all passengers on a flight from Dubai which arrived in Perth on 1 July," a statement from the Department of Health in the state of Western Australia said.

"[They] returned positive test results following WA Health screening conducted on day two after their arrival."

An Emirates airline representative referred all questions to Australian health authorities.

Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, airlines around the world have introduced a number of safety measures to better protect passengers and crew.

Travellers entering Emirates Terminal 3 in Dubai are required to wear face masks at all times and all check-in counters are fitted with special protective shields.

On the flights themselves, Emirates' aircraft are equipped with air filters which are known to filter out 99.9 per cent of viruses.

A complimentary hygiene kit containing gloves, a face mask, antibacterial wipes and hand sanitiser are also handed out to all those on board. The flight between Dubai and Perth takes approximately 11 hours.

MATCH INFO

Uefa Champions League final:

Who: Real Madrid v Liverpool
Where: NSC Olimpiyskiy Stadium, Kiev, Ukraine
When: Saturday, May 26, 10.45pm (UAE)
TV: Match on BeIN Sports

The most expensive investment mistake you will ever make

When is the best time to start saving in a pension? The answer is simple – at the earliest possible moment. The first pound, euro, dollar or dirham you invest is the most valuable, as it has so much longer to grow in value. If you start in your twenties, it could be invested for 40 years or more, which means you have decades for compound interest to work its magic.

“You get growth upon growth upon growth, followed by more growth. The earlier you start the process, the more it will all roll up,” says Chris Davies, chartered financial planner at The Fry Group in Dubai.

This table shows how much you would have in your pension at age 65, depending on when you start and how much you pay in (it assumes your investments grow 7 per cent a year after charges and you have no other savings).

Age

$250 a month

$500 a month

$1,000 a month

25

$640,829

$1,281,657

$2,563,315

35

$303,219

$606,439

$1,212,877

45

$131,596

$263,191

$526,382

55

$44,351

$88,702

$177,403

 

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Kolkata Knight Riders 169-7 (20 ovs)
Rajasthan Royals 144-4 (20 ovs)

Kolkata win by 25 runs

Next match

Sunrisers Hyderabad v Kolkata Knight Riders, Friday, 5.30pm

The five stages of early child’s play

From Dubai-based clinical psychologist Daniella Salazar:

1. Solitary Play: This is where Infants and toddlers start to play on their own without seeming to notice the people around them. This is the beginning of play.

2. Onlooker play: This occurs where the toddler enjoys watching other people play. There doesn’t necessarily need to be any effort to begin play. They are learning how to imitate behaviours from others. This type of play may also appear in children who are more shy and introverted.

3. Parallel Play: This generally starts when children begin playing side-by-side without any interaction. Even though they aren’t physically interacting they are paying attention to each other. This is the beginning of the desire to be with other children.

4. Associative Play: At around age four or five, children become more interested in each other than in toys and begin to interact more. In this stage children start asking questions and talking about the different activities they are engaging in. They realise they have similar goals in play such as building a tower or playing with cars.

5. Social Play: In this stage children are starting to socialise more. They begin to share ideas and follow certain rules in a game. They slowly learn the definition of teamwork. They get to engage in basic social skills and interests begin to lead social interactions.

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Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal

Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham

Rating: 3.5/5

Company Fact Box

Company name/date started: Abwaab Technologies / September 2019

Founders: Hamdi Tabbaa, co-founder and CEO. Hussein Alsarabi, co-founder and CTO

Based: Amman, Jordan

Sector: Education Technology

Size (employees/revenue): Total team size: 65. Full-time employees: 25. Revenue undisclosed

Stage: early-stage startup 

Investors: Adam Tech Ventures, Endure Capital, Equitrust, the World Bank-backed Innovative Startups SMEs Fund, a London investment fund, a number of former and current executives from Uber and Netflix, among others.

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