A general view outside the Etihad Stadium, home of Manchester City. Alex Livesey/Getty Images
A general view outside the Etihad Stadium, home of Manchester City. Alex Livesey/Getty Images
A general view outside the Etihad Stadium, home of Manchester City. Alex Livesey/Getty Images
A general view outside the Etihad Stadium, home of Manchester City. Alex Livesey/Getty Images

Man City opens Etihad Stadium to UK health workers to fight coronavirus


Nicky Harley
  • English
  • Arabic

Manchester City are making facilities at the Etihad Stadium available to the NHS in the front-line battle against the coronavirus pandemic.

The club has opened up the use of the stadium's executive boxes and conference rooms to help the NHS with training of doctors and nurses during the crisis if needed.

It comes as the UK death toll from coronavirus rose to more than 1,000 on Saturday.

The UK is already constructing three hospitals in London, Birmingham and Manchester to help boost critical care capacity ahead of the expected peak.

As part of contingency planning for the ongoing crisis, the Principality Stadium in Cardiff is also set to be converted into a temporary hospital providing around 2,000 additional beds.

The Manchester Evening News reported that nurse training could begin at the Etihad Stadium as early as next week.

Professional football in England will not resume until April 30 at the earliest as the UK remains in lockdown.

A number of other major UK sporting venues have also offered their premises in the fight against coronavirus, on Saturday Rangers also announced it would make its stadium available.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned on Saturday the coronavirus outbreak will get worse before it gets better.

The leader, who himself tested positive for Covid-19 this week, issued the warning in a leaflet being sent to all UK households explaining how their actions can help limit the spread.

"We know things will get worse before they get better," Mr Johnson wrote.

"But we are making the right preparations, and the more we all follow the rules, the fewer lives will be lost and the sooner life can return to normal."

New health ministry figures on Saturday showed Britain's death toll jumped from 759 to 1,019 in 24 hours, with more than 17,000 people infected.

Mr Johnson is currently self-isolating in Downing Street.

His health minister, Matt Hancock, has also tested positive, and England's chief medical officer, Chris Whitty, is staying at home with suspected symptoms.

Britain was put on lockdown this week as the virus spread, with everybody told to stay home wherever possible, and all non-essential shops and services shut.

2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups

Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.

Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.

Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.

Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, Leon.

Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.

Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.

Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.

Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.

 

 

Some of Darwish's last words

"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008

His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.

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.

Like a Fading Shadow

Antonio Muñoz Molina

Translated from the Spanish by Camilo A. Ramirez

Tuskar Rock Press (pp. 310)

Barings Bank

 Barings, one of Britain’s oldest investment banks, was
founded in 1762 and operated for 233 years before it went bust after a trading
scandal. 

Barings Bank collapsed in February 1995 following colossal
losses caused by rogue trader Nick Lesson. 

Leeson gambled more than $1 billion in speculative trades,
wiping out the venerable merchant bank’s cash reserves.  

German intelligence warnings
  • 2002: "Hezbollah supporters feared becoming a target of security services because of the effects of [9/11] ... discussions on Hezbollah policy moved from mosques into smaller circles in private homes." Supporters in Germany: 800
  • 2013: "Financial and logistical support from Germany for Hezbollah in Lebanon supports the armed struggle against Israel ... Hezbollah supporters in Germany hold back from actions that would gain publicity." Supporters in Germany: 950
  • 2023: "It must be reckoned with that Hezbollah will continue to plan terrorist actions outside the Middle East against Israel or Israeli interests." Supporters in Germany: 1,250 

Source: Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution