Urdu News

A special aircraft of the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) departed for Beijing on Sunday to bring the first batch of a China-made Covid-19 vaccine to Pakistan. According to the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), all arrangements for storage, transportation and administration of the vaccine have been finalised. It said all measures for vaccine distribution across Sindh and Balochistan provinces have also been finalised. The NCOC said a special vaccination centre has been set up in Islamabad while such centres in all provinces at a district-level are yet to be established. China had promised to gift 500,000 doses of a coronavirus vaccine to Pakistan by January 31. A day earlier, Federal Planning and Development Minister Asad Umar said that Pakistan will likely get 17 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine by March. Turning to social media via his official Twitter handle, the federal minister announced, “Good news on covid vaccine front.” He added that Pakistan received a respon...

Apple Inc’s smartphone shipments jumped 22 per cent to record levels in the fourth quarter, making it the world’s biggest seller, while those for Huawei plunged as US sanctions took effect. An expanded number of models and a new look for the iPhone 12 lineup, Apple’s first 5G-enabled devices, tapped pent up demand for upgrades, especially in China. Shipments hit 90.1 million phones, a record for any quarter, giving it global market share of 23.4pc, data from research firm IDC showed. “In China, Apple seized the perfect opportunity to capture Huawei’s market share in the high end, when the latter has essentially not enough supply even though demand for the brand is still there,” said Nicole Peng, who tracks China’s smartphone market at Canalys. The data comes on the heels of Apple reporting record holiday quarter sales on Wednesday, with revenue crossing $100 billion for the first time. Sales in Greater China, which includes Hong Kong and Taiwan, surged 57pc. “We had two of the ...

WhatsApp has started to use its own Status feature update in a bid to allay users' concerns that the app will not violate their privacy. Bought by Facebook in 2014, WhatsApp is one of the most popular apps of all time, used by an estimated two billion people across the globe. However, ever since its announcement a few weeks ago that WhatsApp has the right to share user data across its other units such as Messenger and Facebook, users around the globe have been switching to other messaging platforms. The user data included phone numbers, locations and other information. "We'll let you know about new features and updates here," read WhatsApp's first ever Status post. "One thing that isn't new is our commitment to your privacy." WhatsApp clarified to users that it "can't read or listen to your personal conversations as they're end-to-end encrypted", which has been one of the main causes of concern for people, businesses and even...

France’s Pasteur Institute said on Monday it was ending development of a Covid-19 vaccine with US pharmaceutical company Merck after clinical trial results proved disappointing. The partners announced a tie-up last May to develop a jab based on an existing measles vaccine, which was put into Phase 1 clinical trials in August. The announcement is a further blow for hopes of a French-led vaccine following recent news that leading national pharmaceutical company Sanofi is also struggling to bring its vaccine candidate to market. Sanofi announced in December that its jab would be ready by the end of 2021 at best, and the group is now being encouraged by the government to help produce rival vaccines that have already been authorised for use in Europe. These include products from German-American tie-up BioNTech/Pfizer and US pharma group Moderna. Britain has also authorised the use of a vaccine developed by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca, which is being assessed by European ...

The federal government on Monday informed the Islamabad High Court that it will review the social media regulations that had been introduced earlier this year, earning a positive response from the high court. The IHC was informed of the government's decision by Attorney General Khalid Javed Khan in a case concerning the regulations which was being heard by the high court. IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah was informed that the government will consult with the petitioners and the stakeholders when it reviews the regulations. During the hearing, Justice Minallah observed that Article 19 and 19-A of the Constitution are related to fundamental rights. “It seems that the stakeholders were not consulted in formulating the social media rules,” observed the court. To this, the attorney general told the judge that petitioners will be consulted and shutting down a social platform was not the right solution. He asked the court to grant the government some time so that the Pakistan Telec...

New Zealand health officials said on Sunday they were investigating what they said was probably the country’s first community coronavirus case, in months in a woman who recently returned from overseas. The 56-year-old, who returned to New Zealand on Dec. 30, tested positive for the virus that causes COVID-19 days after leaving a two-week mandatory quarantine at the border where she had twice tested negative. “We are working under the assumptions that this is a positive case and that it is a more transmissible variant, either the one identified first in South Africa or the UK, or potentially Brazil – or another transmissible variant,” Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield told a news conference. It is not known how the woman was infected or whether the infection is new, Bloomfield said. But since the woman tested positive several days after being released from quarantine and has been at home, the authorities are treating it as a “probable community case”. New Zealand, one o...

The Facebook-owned messaging platform WhatsApp, which is widely being criticised by users across the globe due to its new policy update, has started adding support for phone and video calls to its web version. It has been reported that the feature is being slowly rolled out to some of the web users. Several users took to Twitter to share the screenshot of the new feature. Wabetainfo confirmed that some users have spotted Beta Voice and Video Calls in the chat header on WhatsApp Desktop because the feature is being slowly rolled out. “WhatsApp is rolling out beta calls for specific users but unfortunately, being a beta feature, it’s available for very few people. We hope you’re lucky but, if it doesn’t, don’t worry: every day more users receive that activation and, at present, WhatsApp Desktop has a higher priority,” the Wabetainfo read. The feature would allow users of WhatsApp Web to make phone and video calls directly via the web app. The features will work the same way as the ...

The countrywide COVID-19 tests positivity ratio stands at 3.96pc, as the number of critically ill patients stands 2,273, the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) stated on Sunday. The highest positivity rate of Covid-19 cases was recorded in Hyderabad at 11.57 per cent in the past 24 hours. Province-wise, Sindh recorded the highest Covid-19 positivity ratio at 10.23, followed by Azad Jammu and Kashmir 5.97pc, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 5.25pc, Balochistan 3.52pc, Punjab 2.54pc, Islamabad 1.18pc and Gilgit Baltistan 0.56pc. The second highest positivity ratio was witnessed in Peshawar, which is 11.29pc, according to the NCOC statement. The positivity rate of COVID-19 tests in Karachi was recorded 10.68pc, Lahore 4.23pc, Bahawalpur 4.46pc, Swat 3.41pc, Faisalabad 3.21pc, Quetta 2.41pc, Mirpur 5.04pc and Muzaffarabad 2.50pc. Pakistan has recorded as many as 1,594 new cases of the novel coronavirus in a single day with 48 more fatalities today. According to the latest update releas...

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Friday the new English variant of COVID-19 may be associated with a higher level of mortality although he said evidence showed that both vaccines being used in the country are effective against it. “We’ve been informed today that in addition to spreading more quickly, it also now appears that there is some evidence that the new variant – the variant that was first discovered in London and the southeast (of England) – may be associated with a higher degree of mortality,” he told a news briefing. The warning about the higher risk of death from the new variant, which was identified in England late last year, came as a fresh blow after the country had earlier been buoyed by news the number of new COVID-19 infections was estimated to be shrinking by as much as 4% a day. Johnson said however that all the current evidence showed both vaccines remained effective against old and new variants. Data published earlier on Friday showed that 5.38 mi...

Alphabet's Google has threatened to block its search engine in Australia if the government proceeds with a code forcing it and Facebook Inc to pay media companies for the right to use their content. Google’s threat escalates a battle with publishers such as News Corp that is being closely watched around the world. The search giant had warned that its 19 million Australian users would face degraded search and YouTube experiences if the new code were enforced. Australia is on course to pass laws that would make tech giants negotiate payments with local publishers and broadcasters for content included in search results or news feeds. If they cannot strike a deal, a government-appointed arbitrator will decide the price. “Coupled with the unmanageable financial and operational risk if this version of the Code were to become law, it would give us no real choice but to stop making Google Search available in Australia,” Mel Silva, managing director for Australia and New Zealand, told ...

Special Assistant to Prime Minister Imran Khan on Health Dr Faisal Sultan on Wednesday announced that the government will provide COVID-19 vaccines free of charge to the general public across the country. Addressing a press conference in Islamabad, Dr Faisal Sultan said that they were devising a mechanism for the provision of the vaccine to the people. After clinical trial, the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) approved AstraZeneca and Sinopharm’s vaccines for emergency use in the country, he said, adding that Pakistan would initially procure over 20 million doses of the coronavirus vaccines. Dr Faisal Sultan, however, said that Sinopharm’s efficiency was 80 per cent. He further said that the government will provide 1 million doses of the vaccine to the general public during the first quarter of the current year. In the first phase, the coronavirus vaccine will be provided to healthcare workers and people over 60 years of age, he added. Earlier on January 19, Prime Mi...

Britain reported a record number of deaths from COVID-19 on Tuesday with 1,610 people dying within 28 days of positive coronavirus test, exceeding the previous peak set last week. The number was steeply up from the 599 deaths reported in Monday’s official figures. There is often a lag in reporting new deaths after the weekend. There were 33,355 new cases recorded, down from the 37,535 reported on Monday. England and Scotland announced new national lockdowns on Jan. 4 in a bid to stem a surge in cases after the discovery of a more transmissible UK variant of the coronavirus late last year. The lockdown has seen new cases come down from a seven-day average peak of around 60,000 new daily cases on January 7, though health officials have warned that the numbers of deaths will rise even as reported cases start to come down. “Whilst there are some early signs that show our sacrifices are working, we must continue to strictly abide by the measures in place,” said Yvonne Doyle, Medical ...

The Drug Regulatory Authority (DRAP) on Monday authorised China’s Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use in Pakistan, making it the second vaccine to get local approval. The permission was given in the DRAP registration board meeting after China’s Sinopharm sought permission from Pakistan for the emergency use of its COVID-19 vaccine in the country. Sinopharm, a state-run Chinese firm, is developing two COVID-19 vaccines. Pakistan will purchase 1.2 million doses of the corona vaccine from China. Pakistan is also running phase III clinical trials of another Chinese vaccine from CanSino Biologics’, led by the National Institute of Health. Pakistan, which is seeing rising numbers of coronavirus infections, granted permission on Saturday to use Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine (AZD1222) in an emergency situation. The Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) had given the approval for urgent-use of the British COVID-19 vaccine. AstraZeneca has been a British-Sweden join...

Search and advertising giant Google has closed its deal to buy fitness tracking company Fitbit, the companies said on Thursday, even as the US Justice Department said it was continuing its probe of the $2.1 billion transaction. The Justice Department, which sued Alphabet’s Google in October for allegedly violating antitrust law in its search and search advertising businesses, said it “has not reached a final decision about whether to pursue an enforcement action” regarding the Fitbit deal. “We complied with the DOJ’s (Justice Department’s) extensive review for the past 14 months, and the agreed upon waiting period expired without their objection,” a Google spokesperson said. “We continue to be in touch with them and were committed to answering any additional questions.” It is rare for a big deal to close without anti-trust approval. Australia has also not yet approved the transaction. Google won EU anti-trust approval last month for its Fitbit bid after agreeing to restrictions o...

Three patients who were contaminated by the new strain of Covid in UK have recuperated their wellbeing, affirmed the Sindh Health Department on Saturday. As per details, the three patients were isolated at a private hospital in Karachi after arrival in Karachi on December 29 from the UK. The relatives of the infected persons were tested negative for the new strain of the virus. On December 29, three UK returnees were confirmed with the new strain of coronavirus by the Sindh Health Department. In a Twitter post, the department had said: “Samples of 3 UK returnees show a 95% match to the new Corona Virus variant from UK in the first phase of Genotyping.” Health officials had said they took samples of twelve people upon their return from the UK for genotyping, out of which six turned out to be positive while three showed the new strain of the virus in the first phase. from Health - SUCH TV https://ift.tt/3swVv2k https://ift.tt/38OmleL admin.web@suchtv.pk (Web Desk) https://ift....

The phase III clinical trials for a Chinese coronavirus vaccine candidate at the Shifa International Hospital in Islamabad will end this week. The lead physician of the clinical trial, Dr Ejaz A Khan said that the Ad5-nCoV vaccine is developed by CanSino Biologics and a research unit backed by the Chinese military. “The trials began in September last year with a target of 17,500 volunteers.” The physician, who is also the chairman of infection control at the hospital, said the sample will be reviewed by Dalhousie University in Canada. “The university will determine the efficacy of the vaccine.” The trial will then enter phase IV which is when a vaccine is green-lighted for manufacturing, marketing, and distribution, he added. A health official told Geo.tv that the data of Chinese vaccines, Sinopharm and Ad5-nCoV, has been submitted to the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) for grant of emergency use. “First limited supply [of vaccine] likely to start in February,”...

Responding to the on-going news threads regarding the change in privacy terms and conditions of WhatsApp, the Ministry of Information and Technology in a statement said that it is monitoring the current developments and clarifications provided by Facebook. “It is brought to notice that subject changes in privacy are applicable on WhatsApp business accounts only while regular non-business/individual profiles/accounts are not affected,” reads the statement. WHATSAPP PRIVACY CONCERNS EFFECTING PUBLIC DATA Reference to on-going news threads by National Media & social media platforms regarding change in privacy terms & conditions of WhatsApp, @MoitOfficial is monitoring the current developments and clarifications provided by Facebook. — Ministry of IT & Telecom (@MoitOfficial) January 13, 2021 IT ministry further said that all digital platforms should strengthen their engagements with Govt of Pakistan so that concerns of the general public and businesses can be well add...

The head of the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) Asad Umar has said that the completion of the procurement process of COVID-19 vaccines will take some time as the federal government initiated talks with China. Asad Umar, while addressing a press conference today, said that efforts are underway for getting the COVID-19 vaccines and talks with China have commenced. Vaccines for frontline workers will arrive soon in Pakistan, he said. However, the completion of the procurement process of COVID-19 vaccines will take some time, said Asad Umar. He once again appealed the nationals to continue taking precautions against the virus. The Minister for Planning and Development said that the federal government had been recommended to implement strict curbs amid the recent situation of the pandemic instead of imposing smart lockdown. A survey conducted by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) revealed that around 55.5 million workforce exists in the country including a large numb...

After coming under intense scrutiny from users across the world, WhatsApp on Tuesday issued a clarification regarding its new terms and conditions with the service saying that the new policy will not affect user's private communication with "friends or family". "Today we're answering some common questions we've received [regarding] WhatsApp," announced Head of WhatsApp at Facebook Will Cathcart on Twitter. He shared a link to WhatsApp page on their website answering those questions as well. The head of the service clarified that the new policy gives clarity to users regarding "business communication" and brings "transparency". "It does not impact how people communicate privately with friends or family," said Cathcart. WhatsApp vows not to weaken end-to-end encryption Separately, WhatsApp said that whatever users share with their friends, family, and co-workers on WhatsApp stays between them. "We can’t see your p...

A meeting of the registration board of the Drug Regulatory Authority Pakistan (DRAP) has been summoned today with approval of a vaccine from China likely on the agenda. The DRAP registration board will remain in session until January 14, according to the sources at the Ministry of National Health. The DRAP will likely to approve registration of China’s Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine in this session, sources said. Sinopharm had recently sought permission from Pakistan for emergency use of its COVID-19 vaccine in the country. The Chinese vaccine firm has submitted the data of the clinical trials of its vaccine to the DRAP. The registration board will likely to approve the vaccine fore emergency use in Pakistan, sources said. The approval from the Drug Regulatory Authority will allow the use of the Chinese vaccine in Pakistan, sources said. According to the health ministry sources, Sinopharm’s registration documents were incomplete with technical flaws and the Chinese firm has been a...

A five-day polio immunisation drive has commenced across Pakistan today during which over 40.1 million children will be administered oral poliovirus vaccine (OPV) to prevent children from the crippling disease on Friday. The first anti-polio drive of 2021 has begun across the country which would be continued till January 15 including three days of vaccination and two days of catch-up activities in high-risk areas. During the ongoing campaign, 20.1 million children under five years age will be vaccinated in Punjab, 9.2 million in Sindh, 7.1 million in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), 2.5 million in Balochistan, 7 million in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and 240,000 in Gilgit-Baltistan (GB). Moreover, the children aged between 6 months to five years will also be administered Vitamin A drops in order to boost their immunity of the organism. 285,000 health workers are taking part in the national polio immunisation campaign which includes 28,000 area in-charges and 8,700 UCMOs. 222,000 mobile...

Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin will announce new measures next week to curb a surge in coronavirus cases, a senior minister said on Friday, as the country reported its highest daily number of deaths linked to the epidemic. The Southeast Asian nation has seen a spike in infections since September, with the number of daily reported cases climbing to record highs on two days this week. Friday’s death toll of 16 took total COVID-19 fatalities to 537. The health ministry also reported 2,643 new infections, raising the total number of cases to 131,108. The government has said it was considering imposing targeted lockdowns in some areas, though businesses warned that wider restrictions could further batter the economy. Muhyiddin will announce new measures to tackle the virus surge on Monday, security minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob told reporters. “We are refining and looking at the new measures in detail to ensure that they work for everyone,” he said during a televised news c...

Tesla launched a cheaper variant of the Model Y, bringing its sports utility vehicle’s price closer to that of its Model 3 sedan, the electric-car maker’s least expensive car. The new standard range Model Y is priced at $41,990, only $4,000 more than the entry level Model 3, according to the company’s website. Shares of the carmaker, which have surged more than 700% in 2020, were up nearly 5% at $853.89 in trading before the bell on Friday. Tesla’s stratospheric rally has helped Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk surpass Amazon.com Inc’s top boss Jeff Bezos to become the world’s richest man, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday. Shares in the company jumped nearly 8% to end Thursday’s session at $816.04, putting its market capitalization at $774 billion and making it Wall Street’s fifth-most-valuable company, just behind Google-parent Alphabet Inc and ahead of social media giant Facebook. Tesla’s new Model Y variants come days after the carmaker beat Wall Street targets for 2020 v...

The federal government has made another progress in ongoing preparations for anti-Covid vaccination drive as it has decided to establish 12 coronavirus vaccination counters in Islamabad, citing sources, reported on Friday. Sources privy to the development told that the counters will be established in urban and rural areas located in the federal capital Islamabad in order to facilitate its citizens. The COVID-19 vaccination counters will be established in different health centres located in rural areas, as well as in the federally administered hospitals to administer coronavirus vaccines. The medical facilities where the vaccination counters will be established include Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), Poly Clinic, Federal General Hospital (FGH), National Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine (NIRM), Social Security Hospital (SSH), Rawat Hospital, health centres of Sihala, Tarlai, Bhara Kahu, Shah Allah Ditta and Temar. A three-member health team will be deputed on eve...

The World Health Organization said Tuesday COVID-19 patients should take two doses of the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine within 21-28 days, as many countries grappled with a more highly infectious coronavirus variant. "We deliberated and came out with the following recommendation: two 2 doses of this vaccine within 21-28 days," Alejandro Cravioto, chairman of WHO's Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE), told an online news briefing. He said SAGE did not recommend the Pfizer jab for travellers unless they were in a very high-risk group due to the very limited supply of anti-COVID drugs at present. "While we acknowledge the absence of data on safety and efficacy after one dose beyond the three-four weeks studied in the clinical trials, SAGE made a provision for countries in exceptional circumstances of (Pfizer) vaccine supply constraints to delay the administration of the second dose for a few weeks to maximise the number of individuals benefitin...

The federal cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday allowed the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination to purchase Covid-19 vaccine. According to details, Special Assistant to Prime Minister Imran Khan on Health Dr Faisal Sultan briefed the cabinet on the current Covid-19 situation in Pakistan. It is to be noted that the ECC had already approved a supplementary grant for the advance purchases of the vaccines. Pakistan has planned to vaccinate health workers and senior citizens in the first phase in a bid to save them from the deadly pandemic. The government has decided to purchase the coronavirus vaccine from the Chinese state-owned pharmaceutical company Sinopharm. The cabinet had already given nod procurement of more than one million coronavirus doses which will cover all frontline health workers. The cabinet, which met in Islamabad today (Tuesday) with Prime Minister Imran Khan in the chair, also approved setting up of an ins...

Alibaba Group will close its music streaming platform Xiami Music next month, in a move that marks a step back from its ambitions to push into China’s entertainment industry. “Due to operational adjustments, we will stop the service of Xiami Music,” the online music arm of the Chinese e-commerce giant said on Tuesday on its Weibo account, adding that the closure will occur on Feb. 5. Alibaba acquired the music service in 2013, and invested millions of yuan to compete in China’s online music market, which is dominated by Tencent Holdings. Its efforts however have not paid off and the app currently only has 2% of China’s music streaming market, behind KuGou Music, QQ Music, KuWo, and NetEase Cloud Music, according to Beijing-headquartered data intelligence company TalkingData. Xiami’s closure also comes after Chinese regulators announced that they had launched an antitrust investigation into Alibaba, which beyond its core e-commerce business also operates in sectors such as financia...

Tesla Inc on Saturday reported better-than-expected 2020 vehicle deliveries, driven by a steady rise in electric vehicle adoption, but narrowly missed its ambitious full-year goal during a punishing year for the global auto industry. The company delivered 499,550 vehicles during 2020, above Wall Street estimates of 481,261 vehicles, according to Refinitiv data – but 450 units shy of CEO Elon Musk’s target. Musk tweeted here he was “proud of the Tesla team for achieving this major milestone.” “At the start of Tesla, I thought we had (optimistically) a 10% chance of surviving at all,” he said. On Twitter, congratulations from supporters and bullish investors poured in, lauding the electric vehicle maker for its stellar year, which has defied wider auto industry trends of slumping sales, quarterly losses and global supply chain disruptions. Tesla’s share price has risen more than 700% over the last year, the company has reported five consecutive quarterly profits and in December it...

The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Covid-19 confirmed on Monday that two cases of the highly contagious coronavirus variant that first emerged in the UK have been detected in Pakistan. It said the National Institute of Health (NIH) examined a number of samples taken from UK return travellers suspected to be carrying the new Covid-19 variant, out of which two matched with the variant, named B117. The variant was first detected in Britain last month, the NCOC said, adding it has also been found in 31 other countries. It said Pakistani citizens returning from the UK need to take a mandatory PCR test for the new strain of the deadly virus. Earlier, on December 29, the Sindh Health Department had confirmed that samples of three people returning from the UK showed a 95 per cent match with the new coronavirus variant in the first phase of genotyping. from Health - SUCH TV https://ift.tt/2JFNlTM https://ift.tt/393FS9Y admin.web@suchtv.pk (Web Desk) https://ift.tt/2JF...

American pharma giant Pfizer Inc and Turkish-couple owned BioNTech have planned to give volunteers who received a placebo in the coronavirus vaccine trial an option to receive a first dose of the anti-dote by March 1, 2021 - while staying within the study. Under the trial's Vaccine Transition Option, all participants aged 16 or above have the choice to discover whether they were given the placebo and the patients, who learn they received placebo, have the option to receive the investigational vaccine while staying in the study. On their websites, the companies have maintained that trial participants who received the placebo would have two doses of the vaccine reserved for them within the study. “The study doctor will follow the latest guidance from the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and their local health authorities to offer the Vaccine Transition Option to participants in a prioritised manner,” the companies said. Vaccine supply BioNTech is workin...