Health

BEIJING: China hit out at the “dark history” of the US intelligence community on Thursday, after President Joe Biden ordered a probe into the Covid-19 origins which threatens to set the course for relations between world’s top economies. Washington is reviewing its diplomatic position with China on issues spanning trade, technological supremacy and rights, while it steps up efforts to …

KARACHI: Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah decided on Thursday to continue the ongoing restrictions and Covid-19 standard operating procedures (SOPs) and said that the situation would be reviewed again on Monday. Presiding over a meeting of the Provincial Task Force on Coronavirus at Chief Minister House, he thanked the people of the province for their cooperation and support during …

Punjab School Education Minister Murad Raas on Friday urged teachers in Lahore to get vaccinated, saying schools in the province would be reopened from June 7. He was speaking to the media alongside Punjab Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid after inaugurating the first dedicated ‘Vaccination Centre for Teachers’ at the Government Pilot Higher Secondary School located on Wahdat Road in …

TOKYO: Japan’s Asahi Shimbun newspaper, an official Tokyo Olympics sponsor, called for the Games to be cancelled on Wednesday, in the latest sign of opposition less than two months before the opening ceremony. The call comes with public opinion in Japan firmly against holding the Games this summer, and after prominent business leaders voiced their concern in recent weeks. Organisers insist however …

WASHINGTON: Presid­ent Joe Biden ordered US intelligence agencies on Wednesday to report to him in three months on whether the Covid-19 virus first emerged in China from an animal source or from a laboratory accident. Agencies should “redouble their efforts to collect and analyse information that could bring us closer to a definitive conclusion, and to report back to me …

Afghanistan’s capital has become an unlikely pandemic transit route for Pakistanis desperate to reach the riches of Saudi Arabia despite deteriorating security and the threat of bomb blasts. With most Gulf flights from Pakistan cancelled as the country is added to a growing number of coronavirus travel blacklists, thousands of workers are hoping to reach the kingdom after first spending two weeks …

LONDON: The British government “disastrously” failed the public by mishandling the start of the coronavirus pandemic, Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s former top adviser and Brexit architect Dominic Cummings told lawmakers on Wednesday. In an excoriating account of the crisis’s early days, Cummings — a divisive figure who carved out a uniquely powerful role in Johnson’s government before stepping down in …

LAYYAH: Prime Minis­ter Imran Khan on Wednesday said that provision of health cards to every citizen would ensure complete and free health coverage, which he said was unimaginable during past governments in the country. Addressing a ceremony for the launch of Sehat Sahulat card for the people of Sahiwal and Dera Ghazi Khan divisions, the prime minister said that with …

ISLAMABAD: A microbiologist on Wednesday said though some black fungus cases had been reported in Pakistan, situation is not as alarming as in India. However, the number of cases can increase in coming days, he added. Talking to Dawn, he said while around 5pc of patients are severely affected and hospitalised due to the Covid-19 related complications, black fungus is going …

TOKYO: Top Japanese officials said on Tuesday they did not expect a US advisory against travel to Japan due to coronavirus (Covid-19) concerns to affect the Tokyo Olympics — less than two months away — and that US support for the Games was unchanged. The US State Department’s ‘Do Not Travel’ advisory and guidance for Japan on Monday did not …