The deputy prime minister of Iraq's northern self-ruled Kurdish region tested positive for coronavirus.
"After having received the test, the results show that I'm infected with the coronavirus," Qubad Talabani announced in a tweet on Monday.
"I have to distance myself and avoid interaction until I pass through it," Mr Talabani said, calling for adherence to precautionary measures.
Last year, the pandemic claimed the lives of the governor of Erbil, the capital of the Kurdish region, as well as three members of the federal parliament.
Iraq has recorded a decrease in daily new coronavirus infections and deaths during the past weeks. It has been registering fewer than 1,000 cases a day.
Late last year, daily cases hovered around 4,000 a day.
On Tuesday, the Iraqi Health Ministry recorded 810 new cases with five deaths. That brought the total number of confirmed cases since the outbreak to 604,549 and deaths to 12,911.
Last month, Iraq signed an agreement to reserve 1.5 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. The country will start receiving the vaccine early next month.
Iraqi security forces will be given priority, followed by frontline health workers, the elderly and those with chronic diseases.
With the spread of the new coronavirus strain late last year, Iraq last month reimposed some precautionary measures.
It issued a travel ban to Britain, South Africa, Australia, Denmark, The Netherlands, Belgium, Japan and Iran. And a 14-day quarantine period will be applied to Iraqis arriving from these countries, while non-Iraqi passengers will not be allowed from the countries on the list.
Public areas such as restaurants and shopping centres closed for two weeks, as did border crossings.
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Dubai Bling season three
Cast: Loujain Adada, Zeina Khoury, Farhana Bodi, Ebraheem Al Samadi, Mona Kattan, and couples Safa & Fahad Siddiqui and DJ Bliss & Danya Mohammed
Rating: 1/5
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VEZEETA PROFILE
Date started: 2012
Founder: Amir Barsoum
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: HealthTech / MedTech
Size: 300 employees
Funding: $22.6 million (as of September 2018)
Investors: Technology Development Fund, Silicon Badia, Beco Capital, Vostok New Ventures, Endeavour Catalyst, Crescent Enterprises’ CE-Ventures, Saudi Technology Ventures and IFC
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What drives subscription retailing?
Once the domain of newspaper home deliveries, subscription model retailing has combined with e-commerce to permeate myriad products and services.
The concept has grown tremendously around the world and is forecast to thrive further, according to UnivDatos Market Insights’ report on recent and predicted trends in the sector.
The global subscription e-commerce market was valued at $13.2 billion (Dh48.5bn) in 2018. It is forecast to touch $478.2bn in 2025, and include the entertainment, fitness, food, cosmetics, baby care and fashion sectors.
The report says subscription-based services currently constitute “a small trend within e-commerce”. The US hosts almost 70 per cent of recurring plan firms, including leaders Dollar Shave Club, Hello Fresh and Netflix. Walmart and Sephora are among longer established retailers entering the space.
UnivDatos cites younger and affluent urbanites as prime subscription targets, with women currently the largest share of end-users.
That’s expected to remain unchanged until 2025, when women will represent a $246.6bn market share, owing to increasing numbers of start-ups targeting women.
Personal care and beauty occupy the largest chunk of the worldwide subscription e-commerce market, with changing lifestyles, work schedules, customisation and convenience among the chief future drivers.
If you go
- The nearest international airport to the start of the Chuysky Trakt is in Novosibirsk. Emirates (www.emirates.com) offer codeshare flights with S7 Airlines (www.s7.ru) via Moscow for US$5,300 (Dh19,467) return including taxes. Cheaper flights are available on Flydubai and Air Astana or Aeroflot combination, flying via Astana in Kazakhstan or Moscow. Economy class tickets are available for US$650 (Dh2,400).
- The Double Tree by Hilton in Novosibirsk ( 7 383 2230100,) has double rooms from US$60 (Dh220). You can rent cabins at camp grounds or rooms in guesthouses in the towns for around US$25 (Dh90).
- The transport Minibuses run along the Chuysky Trakt but if you want to stop for sightseeing, hire a taxi from Gorno-Altaisk for about US$100 (Dh360) a day. Take a Russian phrasebook or download a translation app. Tour companies such as Altair-Tour ( 7 383 2125115 ) offer hiking and adventure packages.
