Educational institutions cannot be closed if COVID-19 persists for a year: Shafqat Mahmood

Educational institutions cannot be kept closed for a year if the COVID-19 problem persists until the health crisis rises to a level that forces the government to close schools and colleges, said Federal Minister for Education Shafqat Mahmood.

“Take the example of Europe where the second wave of the coronavirus is said to be raging. But their schools are open,” said the minister, speaking to private news channel'.

“We give health a great priority. That’s why the government said it would review the situation on September 22 in accordance with the advisory of the Ministry of Health. The National Command and Operation Centre is gathering the required data.”

He said, however, the results that are being received from across the country do not necessitate an immediate decision for the closure of educational institutions.

It should be mentioned here that the Sindh government has decided not to reopen schools in the second phase for classes 6-8 until September 28.

The provincial government had said it will contact the federal government about resuming secondary education classes if the infections persist.

Sindh Education Minister Saeed Ghani, addressing a press conference Friday, had said that the infection rate in schools is 2.4. The provincial minister urged the federal government to act to stem the spread of the virus.

Closing schools 'easiest thing to do'

The federal minister lamented the provincial government’s decision as "a knee-jerk response", saying that they should have consulted the Centre so that the response is uniform.

“As many as 31,549 tests were conducted nationwide in public schools. Of them, 118 tested positive. This amounts to 0.7% – an average infection rate across the country,” he said. Closing schools is the easiest thing to do, he said.

After Sindh’s decision, Shafqat said he talked to other provinces who replied that they would follow the action plan that had already been decided by all stakeholders. He said that the COVID-19 situation was not as grim as it was being portrayed.

“However, wherever we see a problem, including the lack of implementation of coronavirus SOPs or a rise in infections, we will go for a micro lockdown by closing down a school,” he maintained.

Talking about the negative effects of announcing the closure of schools, he said that parents panic and think the pandemic has gotten out of control if such decisions are taken.

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Sindh government has initiates audits of local governments across the province

Sindh government has initiated an audit into the accounts of the local governments across the province for the expenditure incurred during coronavirus pandemic.

The audit division of Sindh has written a letter to all the departments working under the local governments across Sindh to present their accounts.

Secretary Local Government Department has convened a meeting of the audit committee on Sept 24 to proceed with the audit wherein it will seek the authorities of all the departments, working in the purview of local governments, to furnish their expenditure report.

The agenda of the meeting according to the letter is to carry out an audit of all the municipal corporations and town committees for the period of four months, from March to June 2020, as they worked towards the containment of COVID-19 spread and did relief work for the affected people.

The audit is to assess the expenditure spent by these departments amid the COVID-19 outbreak in the province. The letter warned the officers against evading the audit committee meeting with stern action.

It also read that the offices that fail to furnish their expenditure reports for the said period will be dealt with strictly.

The audits will extend to district councils, municipal corporations, municipal committees and town committees all over the province. The municipal commissioners and chief officers among others with relevant portfolios will be sought to represent their departments and compile their expenditure spent in the time of COVID-19 outbreak in the province.

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Sindh government has initiates audits of local governments across the province

Sindh government has initiated an audit into the accounts of the local governments across the province for the expenditure incurred during coronavirus pandemic.

The audit division of Sindh has written a letter to all the departments working under the local governments across Sindh to present their accounts.

Secretary Local Government Department has convened a meeting of the audit committee on Sept 24 to proceed with the audit wherein it will seek the authorities of all the departments, working in the purview of local governments, to furnish their expenditure report.

The agenda of the meeting according to the letter is to carry out an audit of all the municipal corporations and town committees for the period of four months, from March to June 2020, as they worked towards the containment of COVID-19 spread and did relief work for the affected people.

The audit is to assess the expenditure spent by these departments amid the COVID-19 outbreak in the province. The letter warned the officers against evading the audit committee meeting with stern action.

It also read that the offices that fail to furnish their expenditure reports for the said period will be dealt with strictly.

The audits will extend to district councils, municipal corporations, municipal committees and town committees all over the province. The municipal commissioners and chief officers among others with relevant portfolios will be sought to represent their departments and compile their expenditure spent in the time of COVID-19 outbreak in the province.

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Past letter unveils the Queen’s real reaction towards Princess Diana’s death

Princess Diana’s death truly is a tragedy for the masses and while many never stopped criticizing the monarchy’s decision to mourn privately, a newly recovered letter gives some much needed catharsis to angry royal fans across the globe.

ABC News reports that the letter in question was a reply made out to Lady Henriette after the royal expressed her condolences towards the irreplaceable loss.

While most of the letter was typed, there was a handwritten part that was obtained by the DailyMail. The letter was auctioned off after the death of Lady Abel back in 2005.

The typed portion of the letter read, "It was indeed dreadfully sad, and she is a huge loss to the country. But the public reaction to her death, and the service in the Abbey, seem to have united people round the world in a rather inspiring way.”

"She also talked about the strength of her grandchildren during the traumatic time: 'William and Harry have been so brave and I am very proud of them.'"

The handwritten portion of the note detailed the horrific event in a candid light. It read, "I think your letter was one of the first I opened—emotions are still so mixed up but we have all been through a very bad experience.”

The letter differed from most, of the Queen’s usual pieces. It was more casual, more familiar and also provided fans a glimpse into her raw emotional response following the news.

While the royal family has often been criticized for not showing more of an emotional response regarding the death of the princess, this letter serves the purpose and provides a rare insight into what was lost to the public for years prior.

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Trump administration wrote controversial US health agency guidelines on testing: report

US President Donald Trump's administration posted controversial recommendations on coronavirus testing to the US health agency's website against its objections, The New York Times reported on Thursday.

The guidelines, which said testing was not necessary for people who were exposed to Covid-19 but not displaying symptoms, were criticised when they were issued last month.

That is because healthcare experts at the time were pushing for more, not less, testing to help track and control the spread of the respiratory disease that has now killed almost 200,000 people in the United States.

The newspaper said the recommendation was posted to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention's website “despite their serious objections”, citing internal CDC documents and unnamed officials familiar with the issue.

“The Department of Health and Human Services did the rewriting and then 'dropped' it into the CDC's public website, flouting the agency's strict scientific review process,” the newspaper said.

A federal official told the paper that the document came from the Department of Health and Human Services, or HHS, and from the White House Coronavirus Task Force.

“That policy does not reflect what many people at the CDC feel should be the policy,” the official said.

The Times said healthcare experts at the CDC had “serious objections” to the document, and noted that it contained “elementary errors” as well as recommendations “inconsistent” with the CDC's advice, making it obvious it came from elsewhere, a senior CDC scientist told the paper under condition of anonymity.

The Times said that at the time of the guidelines' publication, administration officials had said the “document was a CDC product and had been revised with input from the agency's director, Dr Robert Redfield".

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Pakistan summons Indian envoy to protest against ceasefire violations

Pakistan on Friday summoned a senior Indian diplomat to register a strong protest over Indian occupation forces' ceasefire violations along the Line of Control (LoC) on 17th September 2020, resulting in serious injuries to three innocent civilians.

According to the statement from the Foreign Office, due to Indian forces' indiscriminate firing in Hotspring and Jandrot Sectors of the LoC, 15-year-old Irum Riaz, 26-year-old Nusrat Kausar, and 16-year-old Mukheel — residents of Andrala Nar Village — sustained serious injuries.

Indian forces, along the LoC and the Working Boundary (WB), have been continuously targeting civilian populated areas with artillery fire, heavy-calibre mortars and automatic weapons.

"This year, India has committed 2280 ceasefire violations to date, resulting in 18 shahadats and serious injuries to 183 innocent civilians," read the statement.

Condemning the deplorable targeting of innocent civilians by the Indian occupation forces, it was underscored that such senseless acts are in clear violation of the 2003 Ceasefire Understanding and are also against all established humanitarian norms and professional military conduct.

"These egregious violations of international law reflect consistent Indian attempts to escalate the situation along the LoC and are a threat to regional peace and security," the statement said.

It was conveyed that by raising tensions along the LoC and the WB, India cannot divert attention from the grave human rights situation in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu & Kashmir (IIOJK).

The Foreign Office asked the Indian side to respect the 2003 Ceasefire Understanding, investigate this and other such incidents of deliberate ceasefire violations and maintain peace along the LoC and the WB.

"The Indian side was also urged to allow the United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) to play its mandated role as per the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Resolutions," the statement added.

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Bilawal invites Nawaz to virtually attend opposition's APC

PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari invited on Friday former three-time prime minister Nawaz Sharif to virtually attend the opposition's All Parties Conference (APC) scheduled to take place on September 20.

Bilawal took to Twitter to announce that he had enquired after Nawaz's health and invited him to attend the conference which will be hosted by the PPP.

"Just spoke to Mian Mohammad Nawaz Sharif. Enquired about his health. Also invited him to virtually attend opposition APC, hosted by PPP, on 20th September," tweeted the PPP chairman.

Opposition parties including the PPP, PML-N and the JUI-F have said that they will use the platform to try to come up with a joint strategy focused on ousting the incumbent government.

New election or in-house change?

The opposition parties had decided to convene an APC at the Zardari House in Islamabad on September 20. The decision was taken after a Rahbar Committee meeting comprising leaders from all opposition parties, who decided that it was time to show the incumbent government the door.

"The situation in the country has reached a stage where we cannot afford even a moment's delay," JUI-F's Durrani had said.

"We want free and fair elections in the country, with no interference whatsoever," he had further said, terming the 2018 general elections "a disgrace to the whole country".

Durrani had said that opposition parties were on the same page that giving the incumbent government one more day in power would be unjust. "This government has destroyed the country in its two years" of rule, he added.

The upcoming APC, he had said, would decide on the future plan of action as the opposition leaders had already made up their minds on numerous issues that the country was facing.

"The APC will decide whether there will be a new election or an in-house change," he had said.

'Friendly opposition'

Earlier, sources had reported that Nawaz had assured Bilawal — during a telephonic conversation between the two that took place last month — that the decisions taken by the APC will be implemented.

The former prime minister had also spoken to JUI-F chief Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman and assured him that the PML-N will cooperate with the joint opposition in the future.

Fazl had complained to Nawaz that major political parties like the PML-N and the PPP have been playing the role of a "friendly opposition" in the parliament despite being signatories to a joint communiqué issued by opposition parties.

The joint communiqué had, after the 2018 elections, termed the PTI government a product of stolen, illegal and unconstitutional mandate.

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