At this point, where COVID-19 or coronavirus cases are increasing by the day, most of us are frantically washing our hands and trying not to touch our faces. However, do you think that is enough? What about our phones that are almost like an extension of our hands?
According to experts, smartphones are nothing less breeding ground for germs. They are much dirtier than you might think.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization are continually asking users to disinfect frequently touched surfaces. Our Smartphones are one of them.
On January 17, ZDNet took to Twitter to ask a simple question: How often do you disinfect your phone? The results were mind-boggling. A whopping 60 percent of the audience admitted that they never cleaned their phone. Only 18.5 percent of the people said they clean their phones weekly, and 7.4% inferred they would clean it after being sick.
Daniel R. Kuritzkes, chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Brigha..
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Ufone Conducts an Awareness Session on Coronavirus for its Employees
Amidst the growing threats of Coronavirus, Pakistani telecom operator Ufone in collaboration with National Institute of Health (Pakistan) conducted a public awareness session on Coronavirus (COVID-19) at the Ufone Tower in Islamabad to educate its employees about the pandemic, its symptoms and key preventative measures that should be taken on an individual level to avoid any risk.
Dr. Mumtaz Ali Khan, Senior Scientific Officer and Focal Person for Infection Prevention, Control and Patient Safety (NIH, Pakistan) was invited to deliver the session. He highlighted some crucial global and local statistics related to the number of people being affected by the virus.
Ufone’s GM Human Resources presents a shield to Dr. Mumtaz Dr. Mumtaz stressed on the adoption of preventive measures such as regular washing of hands, avoiding close contact and covering mouth & nose while coughing and sneezing, in order to avoid the risk of contracting the disease. Demonstrations about certain safety precaut..
Sindh Education Minister Announces New Exam Schedule
Sindh Education and Literacy Department has rejected rumors on social media that students across the province will be promoted without exams.
In a clarification on Monday, the Sindh Education Minister Saeed Ghani said that the exams for the classes 1st to 8th will be taken from 1st to the 15th of June when the schools reopen.
“Exams for the classes 1st to 8th will be held from the 1st of June to the 15th of June. After the results, students will be promoted to the next courses,” said Ghani, adding that this is when the new academic year in the province will start.
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Govt Seals Major Restaurants in Karachi
Addressing a press conference in Karachi, the minister said that all steps have been taken to contain the spread of coronavirus. The decision was made in the Steering Committee, convened ahead of the press conference.
The minister added that the exams of 9th and 10th grades will start from the 15th of June, continuing until the 30th of June. The result will be out by the..
Excise Dept Working on Rules for Re-Registeration of Vehicles in Punjab
There are media reports that the Punjab Excise and Taxation Department has started creating rules and regulation pertaining to the re-registration procedure of vehicles that are already registered in other provinces.
According to the information, the department carried this out in the past as well but the process wasn’t completely finished; the department issued new number plates after finishing the documentation and cancelling the old registration plates.
Sadly, due to limited use of information technology, the facility was put on hold after several cases of fraud were discovered in 2002. After that, under section 30 of the Motor Vehicle Act of 1963, the department was empowered through the finance bill in the 2016 financial budget to restart this with a condition that that a formal order would be signed by the Secretary Punjab Excise after the rules and regulation were drafted.
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Govt to Complete Imported Car Verification Within 3 Days
The drafted rules show that only th..
Banking Industry’s Deposits Surge to Rs. 14.8 Trillion
Banking Industry continued to receive handsome inflows of deposits that have surged to Rs. 14.8 trillion and are likely to touch Rs. 15 trillion within the next month.
According to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), the banking industry recorded an addition of Rs. 142 billion, on the account of deposits thanks to higher interest rates which provided an opportunity for banks to attract customers with higher profit rates.
Some banks cashed in on the opportunity and offer profit rates of up to 14 percent on different saving products mainly Term Deposit Certificates for a period of one to five years. Besides the certificate, banks—Islamic and conventional—received healthy deposits in non-remunerative accounts from new customers and account holders including corporations and various associations which also added inflows in their deposits.
Among these banks, some have stopped their high-profit rate Term Deposit Certificate ahead of the announcement of the new policy rates, which is expecte..
Government’s Live Coronavirus Dashboard Goes Offline
In a tense environment due to the coronavirus pandemic, misinformation can spell disaster given how quickly it can spread.
Following a surge in cases of coronavirus in Pakistan, the Prime Minister Office (PMO) issued several directives regarding the disease to deal with misinformation.
One such update revealed that the National Institute of Health (NIH) will maintain a dashboard on its official website to provide real-time updates on the situation.
For some time, the live dashboard was working as intended and provided the latest updates on Coronavirus. However, the dashboard is now unavailable on the NIH’s website as this Twitter user points out:
Removal of the coronavirus dashboard from NIH’s website will impede the government’s efforts to fight the pandemic and misinformation at the same time.
The importance of having accurate and government-provided data during the COVID-19 outbreak can be gauged by the fact that a renowned news channel recently misreported the total number of ..
Here’s How You Can Stay Up to Date on Coronavirus
The coronavirus outbreak has brought almost the entire world to a halt and now tech companies are starting to produce tools to help spread awareness and counter the epidemic. Microsoft has now released a live dashboard on bing that tracks the COVID-19 outbreak.
The live tracker collects data from reliable sources including the World Health Organization (WHO), the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).
Although plenty of similar trackers already exist, most of them are meant for desktops only. Unlike most that are currently available, Bing’s dashboard makes it incredibly easy to stay up to date on mobile devices as well.
The dashboard includes a full list of countries with reported cases and aggregated numbers at the top. Clicking on individual countries shows the number of active cases, recovered cases, and fatalities for each country. Additionally, it also shows new stories and videos from each country..
Govt Seals Major Restaurants in Karachi Due to Coronavirus
The Sindh government has begun to seal major restaurants in Karachi to prevent the spread of coronavirus. Karachi police is taking action against the hotels and restaurants violating the government’s orders of limiting large gatherings.
So far, the police have raided Rashid Minhas Road, Gulistan-e-Jauhar and Keamari, sealing all the restaurants violating the orders.
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COVID-19 Cases in Sindh Alone Jump to 76; Pakistan Tally Now Reaches 94
Sindh had issued an advisory on Sunday urging people to avoid crowded places and attending large gatherings amid fears of the contagious disease. The order addresses explicitly those over 40 or immuno-compromised. However, the police haven’t cracked down on smaller tea shops, asking them to close down by 11 pm.
The ramped-up safety measures come after the coronavirus infections in Sindh jumped to 76, with 50 more patients reported within the last 24 hours. The situation has pushed the panic button in the province, especially in Karachi, w..
Pak-China to Establish 2 New Joint Working Groups Under CPEC
Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar says that Pakistan and China will sign a Memorandum of Understand (MoU) on Tuesday, in Beijing for the establishment of two new Joint Working Groups under China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
In his tweet, the minister informed that the new working groups will be formed in areas of agriculture and science and technology.
The joint working groups will work under CPEC Joint Cooperation Committee (JCC) which is co-chaired by Pakistan’s Planning Minister and Chinese Vice Chairman National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).
There are eight working groups that are already functional in a range of areas including planning, energy, transport, Special Economic Zones, international cooperation, Gwadar, security, and socio-economic development.
The agreement will be signed during a visit of a Pakistani delegation headed by President Arif Alvi which left here for Beijing on Monday.
Asad Umar said:
This is part of..
Peshawar Zalmi Draft Sikandar Raza Ahead of Semifinal
Peshawar Zalmi has drafted Pakistani-origin Zimbabwean all-rounder Sikandar Raza in Silver Category ahead of the semifinal clash against Multan Sultans on Tuesday. The two sides are set to lock horns in a day game at Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium.
Sikandar has been included as an immediate replacement for their departing overseas players. Due to the Coronavirus outbreak, most of their foreign players departed the country. The defending champions played their last league game with an all-locals squad.
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Raza will join the squad in Lahore today. He previously represented Karachi Kings in the last season of HBL PSL 2020. Besides him, Peshawar also drafted Hammad Azam last week.
Zalmi was the worst-hit franchise due to foreign players’ departure. All five of their overseas players, including Tom Banton, Carlos Brathwaite, Liam Dawson, Lewis Gregory, and Liam Livingstone, left the tournament midway to return to thei..