ISLAMABAD: The statistics of National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) has shown that the coronavirus pandemic claims 40 more lives, whereas, 2,007 new infections were reported during the last 24 hours. In the past 24 hours, 40 more people succumbed to the disease, taking the death toll to 10,598. 1,617 patients have recovered from the virus in a day and …

The U.S. drugs regulator said on Friday genetic variants of COVID-19, including the one found in the UK, could lead to false negative results from some molecular COVID-19 tests, but the risk of the mutations affecting overall testing accuracy is low. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said it has alerted lab staff and healthcare providers to the possible …

NEW DELHI: Ten newborns were killed on Saturday in a massive fire at a hospital in Maharashtra, India’s richest state, a doctor said, as leading politicians expressed grief at the loss of life. “The fire broke out at 2 a.m. (2030 GMT) today,” said Pramod Khandate, civil surgeon at Bhandara District General Hospital in the western state. Seven of the …

CAPE TOWN: South Africa have included uncapped seamers Daryn Dupavillon and Ottniel Baartman in an extended 21-man Test squad for their first return to Pakistan for more than 13 years later this month. South Africa will play Tests in Karachi and Rawalpindi, starting on Jan 26 and also welcome back fast bowler Kagiso Rabada and all-rounder Dwaine Pretorius, as well …

MELBOURNE: Novak Djokovic and Rafa Nadal will be among top men and women players heading to Adelaide to serve their 14-day mandatory quarantine before travelling to Melbourne for next month’s Australian Open, organisers have said. Hundreds of players and entourages will arrive in Australia from January 15 and undergo a mandatory, 14-day quarantine as part of Covid-19 health protocols before …

TOKYO: Tokyo Olympics organisers insisted Friday that the coronavirus-postponed Games will still go ahead despite Japan declaring a state of emergency less than 200 days before the opening ceremony. Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga on Thursday announced the month-long measure covering the greater Tokyo area, taking effect from Friday, as the country battles a surge in infections. Tokyo 2020 chiefs have …

LAHORE: Due to Covid-19 pandemic the Pakistan Cricket Board’s plan to hold matches of the 2021 HBL Pakistan Super League at five centres instead of four, has now been reduced to just two — Karachi and Lahore — as the PCB on Friday announced the schedule of the league starting on Feb 20. Last year, the PCB staged all the …

KARACHI: The first-round action in the Pakistan Cup on Friday saw Khyber Pakht­unkhwa and Southern Punjab both comfortably chase down 300-plus totals and five batsmen post centuries across the three matches. In the televised fixture at the SBP Sports Complex, Southern Punjab rode on an Agha Salman’s second List A ton to hand Sindh a four-wicket defeat with nine deliveries …

First innings heroes Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith steered Australia to a commanding 197-run lead in the high-stakes third Test on Saturday, leaving an injury-hit India with a mountain to climb. They came to the crease after Will Pucovski and David Warner fell early, pushing them to 103 for two at stumps and a strong position with the four-Test series …

ISLAMABAD: Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Chairman Javed Ghani has constituted a committee for timely designing, finalisation and simplification of income tax return forms for individuals, association of persons and companies for the tax year 2021. The decision to simplify the income tax return came six months before the filing of the tax return. Normally, the changes in the return …