Posted inCoronavirus Covid-19 Government

COVID-19 Tests in Pakistan Aren’t 100% Accurate

During the session of the Punjab assembly on Monday, provincial health minister Dr. Yasmeen Rashid revealed that COVID-19 testing kits currently available are not producing 100% accurate results. Total Coronavirus cases in Pakistan have crossed 32,000 with 706 deaths. Coronavirus cases in Punjab are nearing 12,000. 4,500 people have recovered and 211 have died in Punjab. In the last 24 hours, Punjab conducted around 4,500 tests, of which 300 came back positive, Dr. Yasmeen apprised the house. Opposition lawmakers criticized the Punjab government for its response to the Coronavirus pandemic. They claimed that the government is busy in political point-scoring by leveling allegations against the opposition. In response to the uncalled for criticism, Dr. Yasmeen said that the government has made sufficient arrangements to tackle the Coronavirus outbreak in Punjab. It includes the disbursement of cash under the Ehsaas Emergency relief program, announcement of Coronavirus risk allowance f..
Twitter Will Now Tell You if Coronavirus Info is Misleading
Posted inCoronavirus Covid-19 Government

Twitter Will Now Tell You if Coronavirus Info is Misleading

Social media giants have been on a crackdown against COVID-19 misinformation ever since the start of the pandemic. YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram have all introduced new features and tools to reduce misinformation, and now Twitter will start labeling misleading Coronavirus information to prevent it from spreading. All Tweets with potentially harmful or misleading information relating to the virus will now be labeled as misleading. This change will be applied retroactively, so misleading tweets shared before the update will also be marked as misleading. Twitter will also insert a link underneath the tweet that will redirect people to reliable and verified information. The action taken against the tweet will depend on whether Twitter deems it as “misleading”, “disputed”, or “unverified”. Based on how severe the claim is, Twitter will either label the content, remove it, send a warning, or take no action. The image below shows what type of content will get labeled, removed, warned, et..
WhatsApp to Support 50 Person Video Calls Soon
Posted inCoronavirus Covid-19 Government

WhatsApp to Support 50 Person Video Calls Soon

WhatsApp, only recently, added support for up to eight people in a video call. However, in comparison with Zoom, House party, Google Duo, and the newly minted Facebook Messenger Rooms, WhatsApp still has a long way to go. According to WABetainfo, Facebook is already trying to remedy that. The company recently spotted a test feature in WhatsApp that will redirect users to messenger rooms allowing them to conduct video calls and meetings with as much as 50 people. WABetainfo spotted the test feature in the latest version of WhatsApp web client. A similar version of the feature was also spotted in the beta version of the Android application. This shows that Facebook is working on the integration of both services. According to the website, the shortcut for messenger rooms appears in “both the paper clip menu within chaps, as well as the main menu of the web client.” If you click it, you will receive a prompt about being redirected to messenger rooms along with a warning that those call..
Posted inCoronavirus Covid-19 Government

Asad Umar Explains Smart Lockdown & Virus Hotspots

Asad Umar the Minister for Federal Planning and Development said that the government will utilize technology to track Covid-19 patients and map out virus hotspots as part of its ‘smart lockdown’ strategy. While talking to the media he said, “We need to ensure that the policies we are making can be implemented on the ground as well.” The Minister who chairs the NCOC said they had initially carried out the ‘test, track and quarantine’ strategy but now they needed to see the areas where the virus had spread. ALSO READ COVID-19 Tracking is Violating Pakistanis’ Privacy Laws He said, “With the help of data which has been collected thus far, the government will implement a ‘smart lockdown’ to help curb the spread of the coronavirus.” At the briefing, he showed a map showing the virus hotspots in the country and he showed that with more cases, it can be narrowed down to neighborhoods. Elaborating on the smart lockdown he said that healthcare teams would inspect the areas and determine ho..
Posted inCoronavirus Covid-19 Government

Sindh’s Young Nurses Boycott Work Amid the Coronavirus Pandemic

Sindh Young Nurses Association (SYNA) has announced to boycott work in hospitals province-wide and organize a sit-in at Karachi Press Club (KPC) from today. President SYNA, Aijaz Kaleri, claims that the Sindh health department has consistently been undermining the efforts of frontline health workers by transferring them without any reason amid the Coronavirus pandemic. Transfer of nurses has become a matter of daily routine. Whenever nurses raise their voice for their rights, Sindh health department either initiates legal action against them on flimsy grounds or transfers them to a different hospital as revenge. ALSO READ COVID-19 Tracking is Violating Pakistanis’ Privacy Laws Sindh health department has yet to pay Coronavirus risk allowance and health professional allowance to the nurses risking their lives in order to save COVID-19 patients while working with inadequate personal protection, SYNA President added. SYNA will be demanding from the Sindh government to put a halt to ..
Posted inAviation Coronavirus Covid-19

Govt Speeds Up Coronavirus Testing Policy at Airports

Following the PM’s directive on bringing stranded overseas Pakistanis back home as early as possible, NCOC, in coordination with the provinces and health professionals, have reduced the quarantine period before testing for inbound air passengers from 48 hours to earliest possible. Passengers will be transported to quarantine centers and will stay there until the return of test results, after which they may be quarantined or instructed to self-isolate at home according to the provincial health authorities’ directions. This strategy will allow increasing the weekly cap for inbound passengers from 7,000-8,000 to 11,000-12,000 under the current policy. SAPM Dr. Moeed Yusuf said, “We are working day night to resolve the problems of stranded Pakistanis as per the direction of the Prime Minister,” while announcing the new policy in a press briefing. Inbound passengers will be allowed a preference between two modes of quarantine, free of cost government quarantine centers or paid governmen..
Posted inAviation Business Coronavirus

Masroor Mahmud Appointed as General Electric’s CEO for Pakistan

General Electric (GE) has announced the appointment of Masroor Mahmud as its CEO for Pakistan. He is mandated with driving the company’s growth in the country and aligning business strategy across all GE sectors with the government’s vision for development. In addition, Masroor will focus on enhancing talent development, ensuring risk management, and building a strong brand, through long-term, strategic partnerships. A GE veteran of 14 years, Masroor has held several leadership roles in finance, commercial, and operations, working across the Middle East, Africa, Europe, and the U.S. He began his career with GE in 2006, when he joined the Financial Management Program in Europe. Subsequently, he was selected to the Corporate Audit Staff where he progressed to take on multiple global assignments in the Aviation, Power, Corporate, and Research divisions. Nabil Habayeb, President and CEO of GE in the Middle East, North Africa, and Turkey, said, “GE has had a presence in Pakistan since th..
Asus Flying Fortress 8 is the Most Affordable High-End Gaming Laptop
Posted inAsus Aviation Business

Asus Flying Fortress 8 is the Most Affordable High-End Gaming Laptop

Taiwanese tech giant Asus has updated its gaming laptop lineup with the Flying Fortress 8, which may just be the cheapest option in its price range given its high-end specifications. It has a 144Hz display, a GTX 1660Ti GPU and a Core i7 processor, all for $800. Specifications like this might be difficult to find on laptops that cost even $1000. The Flying Fortress 8 comes with a 15.6-inch display with a 144Hz refresh rate and 1080p resolution. The keyboard has RGB backlighting and the keystroke is 1.8mm. Asus says that the laptop’s design is based on a stealth fighter. Which stealth fighters sport RGB remains a complete mystery. Under the hood, it is packed with Intel’s 10th generation of Core i5 and i7 processors with 512GB SSD and 8GB DDR4 RAM but there are also options to go up to 16GB RAM and 1TB storage. GPU options include the powerful GTX 1650 Ti as well as the 166o Ti. As for connectivity, it does not disappoint, there are three USB A ports, one USB C port, an HDMI port, an..
These Courses Will Level Up Your Skills During Quarantine
Posted inAsus Aviation Business

These Courses Will Level Up Your Skills During Quarantine

The global coronavirus pandemic has created a rift in business, work, and life as we know it. The event has not only disrupted work-life but has also put an end to our social lives. Where many are working from home, millions around the world have been laid off due to dwindling revenues. However, this is not a reason to give up on you career, business, or entrepreneurial dream. You can consider it as an opportunity to pick up new skills, which is quite easy thanks to plenty of MOOCs (Massive open online course) offering great value. As Alibaba group’s Jack Ma puts it: For people in business, 2020 is really just a year for staying alive. Don’t even talk about your dreams or plans. Just make sure you stay alive. If you can stay alive, then you would have made a profit already. Here we are with part 2 (Part 1) of the online platforms you can benefit from via free online courses to brush up your skills during this downtime. Skillshare Covering a vast array of topics, Skillshare can hel..
Posted inAsus Aviation Business

Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Will Have a Massive Display & No Ultra Model

Rumors related to Samsung’s flagship phablet series, the Galaxy Note 20, started pouring in as early as six months ahead of its launch. Last month, a famous tipster, Max Weinbach, leaked a couple of design and display related specifications of the series. This time around, Ross Young, founder, and CEO of Display Supply Chain Consultants (DSCC), via his official twitter account, has leaked information about the display for the upcoming phones. The tweet details that the vanilla Note 20 is expected to feature a 6.42-inch display, up from 6.3-inch in Note 10, with 2345 x 1080 resolution, 19.5:9 aspect ratio, up from 19:9 and a similar 401 PPI pixel density. Young also unveiled that the series will come with a 120 Hz refresh rate, which is not a surprise. To optimize battery consumption, Samsung has used a Low-Temperature Polycrystalline Oxide (LTPO) display that uses low power. Hence, the smartphone is expected to provide better battery life even at the 120 Hz refresh rate mode. The S..