Urdu News

Germany has administered only 15% of the AstraZeneca coronavirus shots it has available, the health ministry said, as the vaccine faces public resistance after trials showed it to be less effective than alternatives. The ministry said the vaccine would be offered to people that are in other priority groups after saying earlier this week state workers such as teachers and police would get priority access. “Nothing must be left behind,” a spokesman for the ministry told journalists in a regular briefing on Wednesday. Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman on Wednesday urged people to trust the vaccine which was developed at Britain’s Oxford University, saying it was safe and effective. Earlier on Wednesday, Germany’s health ministry said it expected to receive 16 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine in the second quarter. That could represent a shortfall from the company’s commitments to deliver about twice that number of doses to Germany in that quarter, according to a contract...

Facebook said on Tuesday it will restore Australian news pages after negotiating changes with the government to a proposed law that forces tech giants to pay for media content displayed on their platforms. Australia and the social media group have been locked in a standoff for more than a week after the government introduced legislation that challenged Facebook and Alphabet Inc’s Google’s dominance in the news content market. Facebook last week blocked Australian users from sharing and viewing news content on its popular social media platform, drawing criticism from publishers and the government. But after a series of talks between Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, a concession deal has been struck, with Australian news expected to return to the social media site in coming days. The issue has been widely watched internationally as other countries including Canada and Britain consider similar legislation. “Facebook has refriended Australia, and Australia...

The Ministry of National Health Services has expressed dissatisfaction over the pace of vaccination of frontline health workers against the coronavirus in Islamabad In a letter to the capital’s public and private hospitals as well as labs, the ministry pointed out that the vaccination pace is slow as less than half of the total registered health workers have been inoculated against the virus as yet. It lamented that the vaccination pace didn’t pick up despite its directives in this regard. A total of 8,000 health workers got themselves registered for Covid-19 vaccination in the first phase but a mere 3,200 have been administered jabs, even though vaccination counters remain operational throughout the week in Islamabad. The ministry stressed that the vaccination of health workers is the need of the hour, advising medics and paramedical staff working at health facilities of the capital to get jabs on a priority basis. It said the second phase that will see citizens aged 65 and abo...

Popular audio streaming company Spotify announced late Monday that the service will be launching in Pakistan and other countries in the "next few days" "We launch in 80+ new markets over the next few days. See you soon Bangladesh, Pakistan and Nigeria," said the platform on Twitter along with a video mentioning the countries they will be launching. We launch in 80+ new markets over the next few days. See you soon Bangladesh, Pakistan and Nigeria ? #SpotifyStreamOn pic.twitter.com/Wqv3IFdicz — Spotify (@Spotify) February 22, 2021   "The momentum that is going to give the artist is going to be huge," said American Singer and songwriter Khalid about the launch. Other artists to feature in the video included Rina Sawayma, Anitta, Rosalia, The Kid Lorai, Finneas, Bille Ellish, Camilo, Lous and Yakuza, Mr Eazi. South Korean band Black Pink said that Spotify helps them reach out to "fans from around the world, instantly".       View t...

Facebook has blocked Australia news pages due to ‘pay for news’ plan which leaves news companies, essential services dark. Facebook has blocked Australian users of its platform from reading and sharing local and international news, stepping up its campaign against government plans to force technology giants to pay publishers for their news content. “The proposed law fundamentally misunderstands the relationship between our platform and publishers who use it to share news content,” Facebook said in a blog post announcing the move. “It has left us facing a stark choice: attempt to comply with a law that ignores the realities of this relationship, or stop allowing news content on our services in Australia. With a heavy heart, we are choosing the latter.” Australia is trying to get technology companies, including Facebook and Google, to pay for the news that is widely shared on their sites, as the advertising revenue that once supported publishers evaporates. The law would force them...

Bitcoin hit yet another record high on Friday, and moved within sight of a market capitalisation of $1 trillion, blithely shrugging off analyst warnings that it is an “economic side show” and a poor hedge against a fall in stock prices. The world’s most popular cryptocurrency jumped 2.6% to an all-time high of $52,932, setting it on course for a weekly jump of over 8%. It has surged around 60% so far this month. Bitcoin’s gains have been fuelled by signs it is winning acceptance among mainstream investors and companies, from Tesla and Mastercard to BNY Mellon. Its latest gains took its market capitalisation – all the bitcoin in circulation – to about $982 billion, according to cryptocurrency data website CoinMarketCap, with all digital coins combined worth around $1.6 trillion. Still, many analysts and investors remain sceptical of the patchily-regulated and highly volatile digital asset, which is still little used for commerce. Analysts at JP Morgan said bitcoin’s current pric...

Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Health Dr Faisal Sultan said Thursday that Pakistan would begin its next vaccination phase from March, with the arrival of the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine. Addressing a press conference in Islamabad, the prime minister's aide said that people above 65 years of age would be given the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine that Pakistan is set to receive through the COVAX facility. The special assistant said that till March, Pakistan would receive 2.8 million doses of the vaccine. "This is a positive development as we will be able to kick-start our second phase." He said that the government had announced on February 15 that people above 65 years of age should start registering themselves for the vaccine. Procedure The procedure is the same, send your CNIC number — without dashes — at 1166. "You will get further information from the message you receive." He said that the World Health Organisation has approved it and that nearly...

A shipment of Covid-19 vaccine developed by China's Sinopharm arrived in Hungary on Tuesday, making it the first member of the European Union (EU) to receive a Chinese vaccine. The 550,000 vaccine doses would be enough to treat 275,000 people with the two-dose jab, Dr Agnes Galgoczy of the National Public Health Centre told a press conference. The shipment was welcomed at the Liszt Ferenc International Airport by Tamas Menczer, state secretary from the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Chinese Ambassador to Hungary Qi Dayu. "We are the first country in the EU that uses [the] Sinopharm vaccine. We try to save lives and preserve the economy, and we are fighting together with our Chinese friends against Covid-19," Menczer told Xinhua. "It is a very important day for Hungary." Dayu said that China and Hungary were fighting the coronavirus side by side and the vaccines arriving embodied China's commitments to making its vaccine a global p...

The World Health Organization has alerted six countries to watch out for potential Ebola cases after fresh outbreaks in Guinea and Democratic Republic of Congo, a spokeswoman said on Tuesday. Guinea declared a new Ebola outbreak on Sunday in the first resurgence of the disease there since the 2013-2016 outbreak, while the Democratic Republic of Congo reported a resurgence of the virus on Feb. 7. “We have already alerted the six countries around, including of course Sierra Leone and Liberia, and they are moving very fast to prepare and be ready and to look for any potential infection,” the WHO’s Margaret Harris told a Geneva briefing. She did not specify the other countries. Harris added that health authorities had identified close to 300 Ebola contacts in the Congo outbreak and around 109 in the Guinea one. Gene sequencing of Ebola samples from both Congo and Guinea to learn more about origins of new outbreaks and identify the strains was under way, she said. “We don’t know if t...

The federal government has opened registration for citizens falling under the age of 65 years and above for COVID-19 vaccine shots. Federal Minister for Planning and Development and National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) Asad Umar in his tweet said: “Pleased to announce that registration for getting covid vaccine is now open for all citizens 65 and above. Just write down ur CNIC number and send a message on 1166. Inshallah vaccinations for this age group will start in March.” A countrywide Covid vaccination drive started on February 3. 0.5 million doses of the Sinopharm vaccine gifted by China is being used in the first phase. Sindh had been provided 84,000 doses of the vaccine, Punjab 70,000, KP 65,000, and Balochistan 10,300 doses. from Health - SUCH TV https://ift.tt/3dkrNst https://ift.tt/3deQuq3 admin.web@suchtv.pk (Web Desk) https://ift.tt/3dkrNst

The British High Commission on Sunday announced that Pakistan will soon receive doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine. According to a statement from the Commission, the country will receive "17 million doses of the vaccine before April". Thereafter, "before June", Pakistan will receive an "additional 10 million doses", said the statement. With the vaccine, more than eight million people will receive protection from coronavirus, it added. The chief of the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), Asad Umar, had earlier broke the good news that COVAX has indicated a supply of up to 17 million doses of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine for Pakistan in the first half of 2021. "Good news on COVID vaccine front. Received a letter from COVAX of [an] indicative supply of up to 17 million doses of AstraZeneca in 1st half 2021," Umar wrote on Twitter. According to the planning minister, six million of the total 17 million doses will be received by...

All hypotheses are still open in the World Health Organization’s search for the origins of COVID-19, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a briefing on Friday. A WHO-led mission in China said this week that it was not looking further into the question of whether the virus escaped from a lab, which it considered highly unlikely. The United States has said it will review the mission’s findings. “Some questions have been raised as to whether some hypotheses have been discarded. Having spoken with some members of the team, I wish to confirm that all hypotheses remain open and require further analysis and study,” Tedros said. “Some of that work may lie outside the remit and scope of this mission. We have always said that this mission would not find all the answers, but it has added important information that takes us closer to understanding the origins of the COVID-19 virus,” he said. The mission has said its main hypotheses are that the virus originated in a bat, alth...

The Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) on Friday has approved the emergency use of Chinese COVID-19 vaccine from CanSino Biologics. According to the report, the registration board of the regulatory authority has greenlighted the manufacturer's coronavirus vaccine which comprises a single dose. A request for the approval of the vaccine for emergency use was submitted to DRAP's registration board by AJM Pharma (Pvt) Limited, the report said, adding that the decision to approve it was taken during the third meeting of the authority's registration board. Pakistan is the second country to approve CanSinoBIO's vaccine, the report said, adding that a day ago, Mexico had also approved it. Clinical trials for CanSinoBIO's vaccine were already going on in several countries, including Pakistan. On Monday, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Health Dr Faisal Sultan had announced that China's CanSinoBIO COVID-19 vaccine is nearly 75% effective against...

A Chinese spacecraft entered Mars' orbit on Wednesday on a mission to land a rover, collect data on underground water and possible signs of ancient life, state media said. “China’s probe Tianwen-1 successfully entered the orbit around Mars on Wednesday after a nearly seven-month voyage from Earth,” the Xinhua News Agency said in a brief report. The orbiter-rover combo became the second spacecraft in two days to reach the red planet. An orbiter from the United Arab Emirates led the way on Tuesday. A US rover called Perseverance is also aiming for a February 18 touchdown next week on Mars to search for signs of ancient microscopic life and to collect rocks for a return to Earth in the next decade. All three Mars missions launched last July to take advantage of the planet’s close alignment with Earth that occurs only every two years. The Chinese mission is its most ambitious yet. If all goes as planned, the rover would separate from the spacecraft in a few months and attempt to...

Federal Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry congratulated the UAE government and nation on the successful Mars mission. “My heartfelt congratulation to people and the Government of UAE. You have achieved a milestone for humanity, truly a proud moment for Muslim Ummah and particularly for the Arab world,” the minister said in a video message which he shared on the microblogging website Twitter. My heartfelt congs to people and the Government of ⁦@uaegov⁩ you have achieved a milestone for humanity truly a proud moment for Muslim Ummah And particularly for Arab World ⁦@uaeembassyisb⁩ pic.twitter.com/itGxTtSoBg The United Arab Emirates’ first mission to Mars reached the red planet and entered orbit on Tuesday after a seven-month, 494 million km journey, allowing it to start sending data about the Martian atmosphere and climate. This makes the UAE the fifth space agency to reach the planet. The Mars programme is part of the UAE’s efforts to develop its scientific and te...

Sindh government on Tuesday said that it had so far vaccinated 18,598 frontline health workers against COVID-19. According to the provincial health ministry, out of the total health workers vaccinated in the province, 2453 were inoculated at Khaliq Dina Hall, 1146 at Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC), 1695 at DOW University Ojha Campus, 2486 at Qatar Hospital and 675 at Sindh Government Hospital New Karachi. The health department further shared 1267 frontline health workers were vaccinated against COVID-19 in Liaquatabad Hospital, 666 at Children Hospital New Karachi, 2003 at Sindh Government Hospital Korangi, and 1838 at Urban Health Unit near Thado Nullah in Malir. Furthermore, 1542 health workers were vaccinated at Liaquat University Medical and Health Sciences in Jamshoro while 2827 medics were inoculated at CMH Centre in Shaheed Benazirabad. It is pertinent to mention here that besides receiving over 80,000 jabs for the frontline health workers, Sindh health minister...

Amid WhatsApp privacy row, Telegram has become the most downloaded non-gaming app worldwide in January 2021, according to the latest data from Sensor Tower. The messaging app was downloaded 63 million times last month, 3.8 times its downloads in the same month a year ago. The sudden increase in downloads could be attributed to WhatsApp’s privacy policy controversy that sparked outrage among its users and pushed many to switch to Telegram. While TikTok came in a close second followed by Signal and Facebook, WhatsApp slid to the fifth position from its earlier third place, in January. TikTok emerged as the second most installed non-gaming app worldwide last month with close to 62 million installs, Sensor Tower said. WhatsApp, on the other hand, was the third-most installed app on both Apple’s App Store and the Google Play Store in December 2020. Finally, Zoom fell from its December 2020 #5 spot to seventh most downloaded in January 2021. Back in January, 2021 Facebook Inc’s Wha...

COVID-19 survivors might only need one shot of the new vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech, instead of the usual two doses, because their immune systems have gotten a head start on learning to recognize the virus, according to two separate reports posted this week on medRxiv ahead of peer review. In one study of 59 healthcare workers who recovered from COVID-19 and received one of the vaccines, antibody levels after the first shot were higher than levels usually seen after two doses in people without a history of COVID-19. In a separate study, researchers found that 41 COVID-19 survivors developed “high antibody titers within days of vaccination,” and those levels were 10 to 20 times higher than in uninfected, unvaccinated volunteers after just one vaccine dose. “The antibody response to the first vaccine dose in individuals with pre-existing immunity is equal to or even exceeds” levels found in uninfected individuals after the second vaccine dose, the authors of that paper ...

Apple is testing out a feature to fix a problem that’s become commonplace these days – unlocking your iPhone while wearing a face mask. Since iPhone users face difficulties in unlocking their phones using facial recognition feature with partially hidden faces, they have resorted to using passcodes to enter their phones, but Apple has a solution The new feature being tested requires an Apple watch as it lets an iPhone communicate with a synced watch when the phone is raised to use facial recognition. Once the feature is rolled out for the public, it will allow iPhone to automatically unlock and the watch will vibrate. Apple expects to public the feature soon. Separately from the tech world today, the foundation that operates Wikipedia will launch its first global code of conduct, seeking to address criticism that it has failed to combat harassment and suffers from a lack of diversity. “We need to be much more inclusive,” said María Sefidari, the chair of board of trustees for th...

COVID-19 vaccines might offer protection against severe disease even as coronavirus variants evolve to better allow continued transmission between people, the head of the Oxford Vaccine Group Andrew Pollard said on Wednesday. Asked how effective the Oxford/AstraZeneca will be against new variants, he said “they are making changes that allow them to avoid human immune responses, so that they can still transmit.” “So, that does mean that it’s likely over time that the virus will find ways of adapting so that can continue to pass between people,” he told BBC TV. “But that doesn’t mean that we won’t still have protection against severe disease… The virus is much more about the virus being able to continue to survive, rather than trying to cause harm to us.” from Health - SUCH TV https://ift.tt/3cEkjQy https://ift.tt/2MRnIRi admin.web@suchtv.pk (Web Desk) https://ift.tt/3cEkjQy

The national immunization drive against coronavirus kicked off on Wednesday simultaneously in all the provinces. According to the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC), the first tranche of COVID-19 vaccine has reached all the federating units, including Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan. Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar initiated the national immunisation drive in a special ceremony while the chief ministers of all provinces, including Gilgit Baltistan and Azad Kashmir Prime Minister, participated in the event via video link. Asad Umar thanked all the stakeholders and political leaders who work jointly in country's fight against the virus. The provinces also held separate events to start the vaccination drive. Pakistan received 0.5 million doses of Sinopharm vaccine on Monday which is being administered to the frontline healthcare workers in the first phase. The authorities have made special arrangements for the distribution of the vaccine a...