Middle East Experience

Thousands of new Palestinian households fell below the poverty line due to COVID-19 which is an additional challenge to the government’s efforts in the fight against the epidemic and ramifications on the community.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: How is Palestine dealing with added hunger, poverty from COVID-19?

Despite government measures to help those most affected by a general lockdown aimed at containing the spread of the coronavirus, Tunisia’s economy is being dealt a heavy blow.
Source: Al Monitor
Full Article: Coronavirus lockdown uncovers vulnerability of Tunisia’s economy

To date, there have been 8,756 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the UAE
Source: Arabian Business
Full Article: UAE announces 518 new Covid-19 cases, four deaths

Saudi Arabia reported seven new deaths and 1,158 new cases of the coronavirus in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of cases in the Kingdom to 13,930, Ministry of Health spokesman Mohammed al-Abd al-Ali said on Thursday.For more coronavirus news, visit our dedicated page. The total number of virus-related deaths in the country is 121, he added.A 69-year-old Saudi Arabian woman died of the coronavirus in Jeddah, as well as six other non-Saudi nationals in Jeddah and Mecca. They were between the ages of 23 and 67 years old and most suffered from chronic illnesses, al-Abd al-Ali said.Saudi Arabian citizens make 15 percent and non-Saudi residents make up 85 percent of the newly reported cases.Read more:Ramadan under lockdown: How coronavirus is affecting Muslims country-by-country guideCoronavirus: Dubai outlines guidelines for malls reopening, including children banIn Medina, 293 cases were reported, 209 in Mecca, 208 in Jeddah, and 157 in Riyadh.The other cases were detected in several cities and provinces around the Kingdom.Al-Abd al-Ali on Thursday said that numbers would continue to rise as these field testing programs take place around the country.Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Health Tawfiq al-Rabiah said on Monday that the spike in the numbers of daily reported coronavirus cases this week is due to cases being detected by the expanded field testing programs.Medical teams have been conducting mass coronavirus screenings in neighborhoods across the Kingdom since Friday to ensure that cases are detected early.“Instead of waiting for someone to tell us that they have been infected and having to isolate all those who had direct contact with them, we go to the neighborhoods that we feel might have a lot of cases. We go to homes, we go to residential complexes so we can discover the cases before they come to us,” al-Rabiah said.So far, 1,925 people have recovered from the coronavirus in Saudi Arabia.
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Coronavirus: Saudi Arabia reports seven deaths, 1,158 new cases

The move is valid for the tax period ending March 31
Source: Arabian Business
Full Article: UAE's FTA extends deadline for VAT filings, payments

Donors can provide meals through a variety of different channels during Ramadan
Source: Arabian Business
Full Article: Over 450,000 meals donated as part of '10 Million Meals' campaign

Lockdowns are the wrong policy to contain the spread of the new coronavirus, are politically dangerous and will be difficult to exit, said Swedish Professor John Giesecke, one of the world’s most senior epidemiologists.Many countries have reacted to the coronavirus pandemic by imposing harsh restrictions on movement and social gatherings, ranging from closing schools to implementing full curfews in which residents are not allowed to leave their homes and the economy has ground to a halt. Sweden is one of the few countries not to impose a lockdown, instead allowing most aspects of life to continue as usual, including gatherings of up to 50 people.Rather than help countries “flatten the curve” of daily infections, Giesecke argued that there is no evidence that lockdowns actually work – and that instead, they have damaging political consequences and will be unable to prevent COVID-19 from inevitably becoming part of daily life like influenza. He advises Sweden’s government and the World Health Organization (WHO) on their COVID-19 strategy.Read the latest updates in our dedicated coronavirus section.“When you start looking around now at the measures that are being taken by different countries you find that very few of them have a shred of evidence-based [support] ... border closures, school closures, social distancing – there’s almost no science behind most of these,” said Giesecke in a wide-ranging interview with Unherd’s Lockdown TV.According to Giesecke, lockdowns will make little real difference to the number of deaths in the long-term, are unfeasible in democracies, and have led to a rise in power grabs by some European leaders.“What I’m saying is that people who will die a few months later are dying now, so that’s maybe not nice, but comparing that to the effects of the lockdown – I mean, what am I most afraid of? It’s the dictatorial trends in Eastern Europe … I mean the ramifications could be huge. We haven’t even started seeing them,” he said.Read more: Here is how, when countries are easing coronavirus lockdownsCoronavirus: Sweden to achieve partial ‘herd immunity’ in weeksCoronavirus ‘Great Lockdown’ likely to cause worst recession in a century: IMFCoronavirus: Sweden takes different approach to tackling the outbreak as numbers riseAntibody tests will reveal mass herd immunityWhile countries under lockdown such as Germany and Austria are beginning to say they have flattened their curves, Giesecke told Lockdown TV that the real reason infections were slowing down was likely due to immunity to the disease from people having already caught it.According to Giesecke, once reliable antibody tests are available on a mass scale, they will likely reveal that more than half of the population in countries such as the UK and Sweden have had the disease without even realizing it. Giesecke was referring to “herd immunity,” which he described as a byproduct of Sweden’s approach.The UK government briefly considered a similar approach to Sweden, until the government performed a U-turn and instituted a lockdown after mounting political pressure on UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the publication of an influential study from Imperial College that suggested the approach could lead to 250,000 deaths in the country.Read more: The UK response to coronavirus: ‘Herd immunity’ and its risks explainedFor Giesecke, the UK made the wrong decision and should have stuck to an approach similar to Sweden, partly because it will now struggle to exit the lockdown without experiencing a second or third spike in deaths – resulting in a similar amount of deaths in the long run. This is because governments will be forced to ease one measure at a time and check whether it leads to an increase in deaths or not. For example, a government might decide to reopen schools, only for a spike in deaths to occur.Sweden currently has 16,004 coronavirus cases, with almost 2,000 deaths according to John Hopkins University data. The UK, whose population is around 6.5 times larger than Sweden's, has 134,639 confirmed cases with 18,151 deaths - a higher total per capita than Sweden.Read more: UK has not reached coronavirus peak so lockdown will stay, says health ministerCoronavirus 'tsunami' is unavoidable, lockdown or no lockdownUltimately, argued Giesecke, COVID-19 would become normalized as democratic governments failed to sustain lockdowns and the disease eventually spread through the majority of society.“I think what we’re seeing is a tsunami of a usually quite mild disease which is sweeping over Europe, and [regardless of each countries’ approach] ... in the end there will be very little difference,” he said.Giesecke clarified that by “usually quite mild” he meant that “most people that get it won’t even notice they were infected” and said he thought the fatality rate was “much, much lower” than the numbers being talked about, at around 0.1 percent, because the vast majority of people who caught it won’t be identified.Read more: The UK says it will create COVID-19 vaccine by autumn – but is it possible?Asked whether he was advocating for coronavirus to be allowed to pass through the majority of the population except at-risk groups, Giesecke agreed: “There are people that should be protected, but I don’t think you can stop it spreading. You can stop it for some time, but then; I mean countries that have been successful – South Korea is giving up now, they can’t maintain their policy.”“The tsunami will roll over Europe no matter what you do,” he added.Read more: Austria eyes Easter ‘resurrection’ as it loosens coronavirus lockdown at shops
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Coronavirus lockdowns unproven, politically dangerous and hard to exit: Expert

Around the millions, hundreds of millions of people are under strict lock down amid the coronavirus pandemic
Source: Arabian Business
Full Article: ITP Live encourages world to 'let these days count' amid Covid-19 pandemic

UAE aviation regulator awards air operating certificate to Air Arabia Abu Dhabi, a joint-venture between Abu Dhabi's Etihad Airways and Sharjah's Air Arabia
Source: Arabian Business
Full Article: Air Arabia Abu Dhabi to fly when 'market improves'

Saudi Arabia announced that it has submitted a letter of intent to hold the 21st Asian Games in 2030 in Riyadh, according to a statement.The Asian Games, also known as Asiad, is the largest sporting event in Asia with all 45 members of the Olympic Council of Asia eligible to participate. Saudi Arabia envisions 10,000 athletes from these nations competing across 40 sports in Riyadh.“Bidding for the Asian in 2030 is part of our new SAOC strategy and is fully aligned with the Kingdom’s Vision 2030. The interest shown by the public for the initial edition of the Saudi Games … [has] given us additional motivation to enter this exciting race,” said Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Alfaisal, President of the Saudi Arabian Olympic Committee (SAOC).Plans are underway to turn the Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh “into a megatropolis,” President of The Royal Commission for Riyadh City Fahd al-Rasheed told Al Arabiya English back in January.The plan calls for around an 8 percent growth in population every year, with infrastructure projects on the way to support this growth – such as the $27 billion Riyadh metro project.“By the year 2030, Riyadh will be among the most attractive cities in the world, the impact of sport seen in the whole society and our athletes ready to perform at their best and be part of an exciting journey of transformation that is ought to be shared,” said Prince Abdulaziz.A decision on the host for the 2030 Asian Games will be taken in November 2020 by the General assembly of the Olympic Council of Asia.Read more:Saudi Arabia postpones Saudi Games over coronavirusIOC stands firm on Tokyo Games despite coronavirus fearsCoronavirus: Usain Bolt’s former coach calls on IOC to postpone Tokyo Olympics
Source: Al Arabiya
Full Article: Saudi Arabia Olympic Committee reveals bid for 2030 Asian Games