• Health workers disinfect a train converted to a Covid-19 care centre after a surge in the number of positive coronavirus cases in Guwahati, India. AP
    Health workers disinfect a train converted to a Covid-19 care centre after a surge in the number of positive coronavirus cases in Guwahati, India. AP
  • A worker caring for Covid-19 patients takes a break in the ICU ward at the Holy Family hospital in New Delhi, India. Getty
    A worker caring for Covid-19 patients takes a break in the ICU ward at the Holy Family hospital in New Delhi, India. Getty
  • A worker attends to a patient in the emergency ward at the Holy Family hospital. Getty
    A worker attends to a patient in the emergency ward at the Holy Family hospital. Getty
  • Covid-19 patients in the emergency ward at the Holy Family hospital. Getty
    Covid-19 patients in the emergency ward at the Holy Family hospital. Getty
  • Volunteers help with the funeral pyres at a cremation ground in New Delhi. The capital's crematoriums and burial grounds have been overwhelmed during the second wave of the pandemic. AFP
    Volunteers help with the funeral pyres at a cremation ground in New Delhi. The capital's crematoriums and burial grounds have been overwhelmed during the second wave of the pandemic. AFP
  • A Covid-19 patient breathes with the help of oxygen provided by a gurdwara, a place of worship for Sikhs. The tent along the roadside in Ghaziabad is helping people who need oxygen support. AFP
    A Covid-19 patient breathes with the help of oxygen provided by a gurdwara, a place of worship for Sikhs. The tent along the roadside in Ghaziabad is helping people who need oxygen support. AFP
  • Kashmiris mourn over the coffin of a relative who died of Covid-19 at a graveyard on the outskirts of Srinagar. EPA
    Kashmiris mourn over the coffin of a relative who died of Covid-19 at a graveyard on the outskirts of Srinagar. EPA
  • Urns containing ashes of dead people, including those who died of Covid-19. The urns are kept at a crematorium in New Delhi and will be immersed after the lockdown. Reuters
    Urns containing ashes of dead people, including those who died of Covid-19. The urns are kept at a crematorium in New Delhi and will be immersed after the lockdown. Reuters
  • A distraught relative of a coronavirus victim at a cremation ground on the banks of the River Ganges at Garhmukteshwar in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh. Reuters
    A distraught relative of a coronavirus victim at a cremation ground on the banks of the River Ganges at Garhmukteshwar in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh. Reuters
  • Masked customers line up outside a pharmacy to buy medicines in Guwahati. AP
    Masked customers line up outside a pharmacy to buy medicines in Guwahati. AP
  • A health worker takes a nasal swab sample to test for Covid-19 as others wait their turn outside a field hospital in Mumbai. AP
    A health worker takes a nasal swab sample to test for Covid-19 as others wait their turn outside a field hospital in Mumbai. AP
  • A health worker takes a break outside a field hospital in Mumbai, India. AP
    A health worker takes a break outside a field hospital in Mumbai, India. AP

India's virus surge pressures Narendra Modi to impose strict lockdown


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India posted another record in daily Covid-19 infections on Friday, adding to pressure on Prime Minister Narendra Modi to impose a nationwide lockdown amid a debate whether restrictions imposed by individual states are enough.

Many medical experts, opposition leaders and some Supreme Court judges suggested lockdown seems to be the only option with the virus raging in cities and towns. Hospitals are forced to turn patients away for lack of space and crematoriums and burial grounds are struggling to handle the dead.

On Friday, India reported a new record of 414,188 confirmed cases in the previous 24 hours. Its tally has risen to more than 21.4 million since the pandemic began with faint hopes of the curve going down quickly. The Health Ministry reported 3,915 additional deaths, bringing the total to 234,083. Experts believe both figures are an undercount.

The official daily death count has stayed above 3,000 for the past 10 days.

Over the past month, nearly a dozen of India's 28 states announced less stringent restrictions than the nationwide lockdown imposed for two months in March last year.

Mr Modi, who consulted with elected leaders and officials of the worst-hit states on Thursday, has so far left the responsibility for fighting the virus to poorly equipped state governments.

Randeep Guleria, a government health expert, said a complete, aggressive lockdown was needed in India just like last year, especially in areas where more than 10 per cent of those tested have contracted Covid-19.

Srinath Reddy, president of the Public Health Foundation of India, a public-private consultancy, acknowledged that states were experiencing different intensities of the epidemic, but said a "co-ordinated countrywide strategy" was still needed.

According to Mr Reddy, decisions need to be based on local conditions but should be closely co-ordinated by the central government.

“Like an orchestra which plays the same sheet music but with different instruments,” he said.

Anthony Fauci, US President Joe Biden's chief medical adviser, suggested that India might need a complete shutdown for two to four weeks to help ease the surge of infections.

“As soon as the cases start coming down, you can vaccinate more people and get ahead of the trajectory of the outbreak of the pandemic,” Dr Fauci said in an interview with the Indian television CNN News18 news channel on Thursday. He did not provide specifics of what a shutdown should entail.

He said it appeared there were at least two types of virus variants circulating in India. He said B117, which is the UK variant, tended to be concentrated in New Delhi and that the 617 variant was concentrated in the worst-hit western Maharashtra state.

“Both of those have increasing capability of transmitting better and more efficiently than the original Wuhan strain a year ago,” Dr Fauci said.

Mr Modi last year imposed a stringent two-month lockdown on four hours' notice. It stranded tens of millions of migrant workers who were left jobless and fled to villages with many dying along the way. Experts say the decision helped contain the virus and bought time for the government.

India's economy contracted by 23 per cent in April-June last year and showed recovery as the restrictions were eased. The International Monetary Fund's projection of 12.5 per cent growth in the 2021-2022 financial year, beginning in April, is expected to suffer again with the surge in infections.

Mr Modi's policy of selected lockdowns is supported by some experts, including Vineeta Bal, a scientist at the National Institute of Immunology. She said states have different needs, and local particularities need to be taken into account for any policy to work.

In most instances, in places where health infrastructure and expertise are good, localised restrictions at the level of a state, or even a district, are a better way to curb the spread of infections, Ms Bal said. "A centrally mandated lockdown will just be inappropriate," she said.

Yogesh Jain Ganiyari of the Peoples Health Support Group, a low-cost public health programme in the central state of Chhattisgarh, said that lockdowns, scientifically, are the most effective way of curbing infections.

"But we don’t live in a lab. We need to take into account the humanitarian aspect,” Dr Ganiyari said. “Those who look at lockdowns just as disease control mechanisms are heartless. You have to think about the people.”

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Unresolved crisis

Russia and Ukraine have been locked in a bitter conflict since 2014, when Ukraine’s Kremlin-friendly president was ousted, Moscow annexed Crimea and then backed a separatist insurgency in the east.

Fighting between the Russia-backed rebels and Ukrainian forces has killed more than 14,000 people. In 2015, France and Germany helped broker a peace deal, known as the Minsk agreements, that ended large-scale hostilities but failed to bring a political settlement of the conflict.

The Kremlin has repeatedly accused Kiev of sabotaging the deal, and Ukrainian officials in recent weeks said that implementing it in full would hurt Ukraine.

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Sole survivors
  • Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
  • George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
  • Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
  • Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
Defending champions

World Series: South Africa
Women’s World Series: Australia
Gulf Men’s League: Dubai Exiles
Gulf Men’s Social: Mediclinic Barrelhouse Warriors
Gulf Vets: Jebel Ali Dragons Veterans
Gulf Women: Dubai Sports City Eagles
Gulf Under 19: British School Al Khubairat
Gulf Under 19 Girls: Dubai Exiles
UAE National Schools: Al Safa School
International Invitational: Speranza 22
International Vets: Joining Jack

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Engine: 4.0-litre V8 twin-turbocharged and three electric motors

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TOURNAMENT INFO

Women’s World Twenty20 Qualifier

Jul 3- 14, in the Netherlands
The top two teams will qualify to play at the World T20 in the West Indies in November

UAE squad
Humaira Tasneem (captain), Chamani Seneviratne, Subha Srinivasan, Neha Sharma, Kavisha Kumari, Judit Cleetus, Chaya Mughal, Roopa Nagraj, Heena Hotchandani, Namita D’Souza, Ishani Senevirathne, Esha Oza, Nisha Ali, Udeni Kuruppuarachchi

Teachers' pay - what you need to know

Pay varies significantly depending on the school, its rating and the curriculum. Here's a rough guide as of January 2021:

- top end schools tend to pay Dh16,000-17,000 a month - plus a monthly housing allowance of up to Dh6,000. These tend to be British curriculum schools rated 'outstanding' or 'very good', followed by American schools

- average salary across curriculums and skill levels is about Dh10,000, recruiters say

- it is becoming more common for schools to provide accommodation, sometimes in an apartment block with other teachers, rather than hand teachers a cash housing allowance

- some strong performing schools have cut back on salaries since the pandemic began, sometimes offering Dh16,000 including the housing allowance, which reflects the slump in rental costs, and sheer demand for jobs

- maths and science teachers are most in demand and some schools will pay up to Dh3,000 more than other teachers in recognition of their technical skills

- at the other end of the market, teachers in some Indian schools, where fees are lower and competition among applicants is intense, can be paid as low as Dh3,000 per month

- in Indian schools, it has also become common for teachers to share residential accommodation, living in a block with colleagues

The 12 Syrian entities delisted by UK 

Ministry of Interior
Ministry of Defence
General Intelligence Directorate
Air Force Intelligence Agency
Political Security Directorate
Syrian National Security Bureau
Military Intelligence Directorate
Army Supply Bureau
General Organisation of Radio and TV
Al Watan newspaper
Cham Press TV
Sama TV

UK's plans to cut net migration

Under the UK government’s proposals, migrants will have to spend 10 years in the UK before being able to apply for citizenship.

Skilled worker visas will require a university degree, and there will be tighter restrictions on recruitment for jobs with skills shortages.

But what are described as "high-contributing" individuals such as doctors and nurses could be fast-tracked through the system.

Language requirements will be increased for all immigration routes to ensure a higher level of English.

Rules will also be laid out for adult dependants, meaning they will have to demonstrate a basic understanding of the language.

The plans also call for stricter tests for colleges and universities offering places to foreign students and a reduction in the time graduates can remain in the UK after their studies from two years to 18 months.

'Munich: The Edge of War'

Director: Christian Schwochow

Starring: George MacKay, Jannis Niewohner, Jeremy Irons

Rating: 3/5