PIA to bring more than 2 million more Sinopharm vaccine

An aircraft of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) will bring more than two million doses of Sinopharm vaccine to Pakistan.

The PIA spokesperson said that two Boeing 777 aircraft will arrive in Pakistan from Beijing on Saturday morning (today) with more than two million doses of the Sinopharm vaccine.
It added more than 15 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine had been brought to Pakistan through over 10 flights of the national carrier.

Earlier on Friday, as many as 64,000 more doses of Pfizer vaccine had reached Pakistan.

The American vaccine had arrived in Islamabad onboard a foreign airline’s flight, the sources said.

Pakistan had signed an agreement with Pfizer Inc for procurement of 13 million doses of the vaccine. 100,000 doses of the vaccine had arrived in Islamabad last month.

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Pakistan records 95 corona deaths, 4,720 fresh cases report within a day

Pakistan has reported 4,720 new COVID-19 cases during the past 24 hours,quoting the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) on Saturday.

The NCOC said that the country’s number of overall confirmed cases has risen to 1,063,125, including 959,491recoveries, adding that the positivity rate of infections was recorded at 8.24 per cent.
The COVID-19 claimed 95 more lives across Pakistan in the last 24 hours, taking the death toll from the disease to 23,797, the NCOC said, adding that 4,275 people are in critical condition.

Overall 16,393,404 tests have been conducted so far to diagnose the deadly virus in Pakistan including 57,233 in the past 24 hours.
Sindh province is the most affected region of the country with 396,918 infections, followed by the Punjab province which has reported 362,557 cases.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa remains third on the list with 147,452 cases. Islamabad, 90,093, Balochistan, 31,069, AJK, 26,086 and GB have reported 8,615 new infections, so far.

 

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YouTube’s new feature to highlight creators

YouTube has launched a new feature, ‘On The Rise’, which will highlight its rising creators.

“Starting today, we’ll highlight creators who are ‘On The Rise’ in a new section of our Trending Tab in Pakistan. Each week, a different creator will be highlighted and featured for a full day on Trending with the following badge: Creator on the Rise,” says a press release.

It says any creator with over 1,000 subscribers is eligible to be featured. ‘On The Rise’ creators will be highlighted based on a bunch of factors, including but not limited to view count, watchtime, and subscriber growth and will roll out to more languages in future.

Our team is also involved in the process to help select which eligible creators will be featured.

“One creator will be highlighted each week; we’ll let them know when they are featured so they can share the moment with their fans, old and new! We hope this will help the world discover inspirational new creators,” the press release, issued by Syntax Communications, further says.

It says Google’s mission is to organise the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.

Through products and platforms like Search, Maps, Gmail, Android, Google Play, Chrome and YouTube, Google plays a meaningful role in the daily lives of billions of people and has become one of the most widely-known companies in the world. Google is a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc.

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Seven die after outbreak of Colombian variant of Covid-19 at Belgian nursing home

Seven residents of a nursing home in Belgium have died after being infected with the Colombian variant of the coronavirus, despite being fully vaccinated, the virology team that conducted tests said on Friday.

The variant of COVID-19 that originated in Colombia, or B.1.621, has been detected in recent weeks in the United States but cases in Europe have been rare.

The seven people who died at the nursing home in the Belgian town of Zaventem, near Brussels, were all in their 80s or 90s, and some of them were already in a poor physical condition, said Marc Van Ranst, a virologist at the University of Leuven which conducted tests on the strain found at the nursing home.

“It is worrisome,” Van Ranst said, commenting on the fact that the residents died despite being fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

So far, scientists do not know if the Colombian variant is more transmissible than other variants, he said.

In Belgium, the variant currently accounts for less than 1% of known cases of COVID-19, he said, compared to 2% of cases in the United States and more than that in Florida.

At the nursing home in Zaventem, 21 residents were infected with the variant along with several members of staff, Van Ranst told Reuters. The infected staff experienced only mild symptoms.

Van Ranst said the dominant coronavirus variant in Belgium with around 95% of infections is the Delta, first discovered in India, followed by the Alpha that was previously dominant in Britain.

Additional tests will be run on Friday to rule out any possibility that the nursing home residents died from a different variant of the virus or a different respiratory disease, Van Ranst said.

“It is unlikely but not impossible,” he said.

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Early signs Covid-19 vaccines may not stop Delta transmission, England says

There are early signs that people who have been vaccinated against Covid-19 may be able to transmit the Delta variant of the virus as easily as those who have not, scientists at Public Health England (PHE) said on Friday.

The findings chime with those from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which last week raised concerns that vaccinated people infected with Delta could, unlike with other variants, readily transmit it.

The highly infectious Delta variant has become the dominant coronavirus type globally, sustaining a pandemic that has already killed more than 4.4 million people.

Vaccines have been shown to provide good protection against severe disease and death from Delta, especially with two doses, but there is less data on whether vaccinated people can still transmit it to others.

"Some initial findings ... indicate that levels of virus in those who become infected with Delta having already been vaccinated may be similar to levels found in unvaccinated people," PHE said in a statement.

"This may have implications for people's infectiousness, whether they have been vaccinated or not. However, this is early exploratory analysis and further targeted studies are needed to confirm whether this is the case."

PHE said that of confirmed Delta cases that had ended up hospitalised since July 19, 55.1 per cent were unvaccinated, while 34.9pc had received two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine.

Nearly 75pc of the British population has had two vaccine doses, and PHE said that "as more of the population gets vaccinated, we will see a higher relative percentage of vaccinated people in hospital".

Separately, PHE said another variant, known as B.1.621, first detected in Colombia, had shown signs of evading the immune response triggered by either Covid-19 vaccines or previous infection.

PHE has labelled the variant "under investigation" but has not declared it a "variant of concern" — a designation that can trigger strong policy responses.

"There is preliminary laboratory evidence to suggest that vaccination and previous infection may be less effective at preventing infection with (B.1.621)," it said, adding there had been 37 confirmed cases of the variant in England.

"However, this data is very limited and more research is required. There is no evidence to suggest that (it) is more transmissible than the dominant Delta variant."

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KPL 2021: Organisers set up bio-secure bubble for players, staff members

With thousands of fans waiting with baited breath for the Kashmir Premier League (KPL) action to kick off today (Friday), the management has placed all players, management and support staff members in the league's bio-secure bubble as part of a safety protocol to protect them from the coronavirus.

The decision to place players, management and support staff members has become a necessary move considering the outbreak of the coronavirus over the past year or so.

The development takes place at a time when the Delta variant of the coronavirus has wreaked havoc in several countries around the world, and has led to a surge of coronavirus cases in both India and Pakistan.

Bio-secure bubble

A bio-secure bubble or a bubble is a new terminology that emerged in the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic that is rampaging around the globe since December 2019. It is a hosting arrangement for sporting events. It requires events to be held at a centralized site.

It usually involves quarantining strictly and following safety protocols to curb the chance of infections spreading among those in the bubble.

A bio-secure bubble comprises sites close to each other, including player residences (such as hotels), training facilities, and the event's venue. The bio-secure protocols require that all participants, including players, team crew and other staff (such as broadcasting staff present on-site) to be properly screened and tested for COVID-19 before entering it. They may not leave it until the event concludes.

All 100 rooms available at the local hotel have been reserved for KPL teams and officials. Also, the teams have been assigned separate timings for breakfast and gym training in accordance with the Covid-19 SOPs.

All six teams have been divided into two groups for training purposes in order to avoid crowding at spaces.

The KPL management has also limited the number of spectators visiting the grounds to watch the live action of the cricketing event.

Only 30% of spectators will be allowed to come to the ground to watch the KPL matches, said President KPL Arif Malik while talking to Geo News.

"Only vaccinated people will be able to come to the ground," he specified.

The KPL chief also announced that a vaccination centre will be set up at the game venue with the help of the local government. Spectators will also have to follow basic Covid-19 SOPs as long as they are on the ground, said Arif Malik.

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Lionel Messi to leave Barcelona due to financial constraint

Argentina striker Lionel Messi will leave Barcelona despite both parties having reached an agreement over a new contract, the La Liga club said on Thursday, citing economic and structural obstacles to the renewal of deal.

"Despite FC Barcelona and Lionel Messi having reached an agreement and the clear intention of both parties to sign a new contract today, this cannot happen because of financial and structural obstacles (Spanish La Liga regulations)," Barca said in a statement.

"As a result of this situation, Messi shall not be staying on at FC Barcelona. Both parties deeply regret that the wishes of the player and the club will ultimately not be fulfilled.

"FC Barcelona wholeheartedly expresses its gratitude to the player for his contribution to the aggrandisement of the club and wishes him all the very best for the future in his personal and professional life."

Messi was free to negotiate a transfer with other clubs after his deal ran out at the end of June, but Barcelona had always maintained he wanted to stay with the club. The 34-year-old was reported to sign a new five-year deal.

Messi had tried to leave Barcelona in August 2020, making a formal request for an exit after a break down in his relationship with then president Josep Maria Bartomeu but successor Joan Laporta, who presided over the Argentine's rise to greatness, convinced him to stay.

Messi, who joined Barca's youth set up aged 13, is the club's all-time top scorer and appearance maker with 672 goals in 778 games in all competitions.

 

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