MOSCOW: Russia’s coronavirus case tally surged to 177,160 on Thursday after a record daily rise in infections, meaning it now has the fifth highest number of registered cases in the world and more cases than in Germany or France.
The number of new cases of the virus jumped by 11,231 in the last 24 hours, the country’s coronavirus taskforce said.
More than half of all cases and deaths are in Moscow, the center of Russia’s outbreak, which on Thursday reported a record overnight increase of 6,703 new cases.
Russia’s official death toll, which remains far lower than in many countries, rose to 1,625 after 88 people died overnight, the taskforce said.
Sergei Sobyanin, Moscow’s mayor, said on Wednesday that confirmed cases were rising in the capital because authorities had sharply increased testing and that the situation had actually somewhat stabilized.
Russia says it has carried out more than 4.8 million coronavirus tests.
President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday backed a plan put forward by Sobyanin to gradually begin lifting some lockdown restrictions after May 12, allowing for instance certain industrial facilities to begin working.
Moscow and other Russian regions are in their sixth week of a lockdown.
The capital’s residents have been told to stay at home except in certain circumstances such as going out to buy food and medicine. They must obtain a digital permit to travel anywhere by public or private transport.
Russia’s relatively low death rate has prompted some Kremlin critics to suggest the authorities may be covering up the real toll of the outbreak by failing to correctly identify coronavirus deaths as such.
The authorities deny those allegations, pointing out that Russia’s coronavirus outbreak began later than in many other countries, allowing it to better prepare for the pandemic.
Russia now has the fifth largest number of cases in the world, according to a tally kept by the John Hopkins University in the United States.
Russia overtakes Germany and France in coronavirus case numbers after record daily rise
https://arab.news/yasck
Russia overtakes Germany and France in coronavirus case numbers after record daily rise
- Number of new cases of the virus jumped by 11,231 in the last 24 hours
- Russia says it has carried out more than 4.8 million coronavirus tests
India, Arab League target $500bn in trade by 2030
- It was the first such gathering of India–Arab FMs since the forum’s inauguration in 2016
- India and Arab states agree to link their startup ecosystems, cooperate in the space sector
NEW DELHI: India and the Arab League have committed to doubling bilateral trade to $500 billion by 2030, as their top diplomats met in New Delhi for the India–Arab Foreign Ministers’ Meeting.
The foreign ministers’ forum is the highest mechanism guiding India’s partnership with the Arab world. It was established in March 2002, with an agreement to institutionalize dialogue between India and the League of Arab States, a regional bloc of 22 Arab countries from the Middle East and North Africa.
The New Delhi meeting on Saturday was the first gathering in a decade, following the inaugural forum in Bahrain in 2016.
India’s Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar said in his opening remarks that the forum was taking place amid a transformation in the global order.
“Nowhere is this more apparent than in West Asia or the Middle East, where the landscape itself has undergone a dramatic change in the last year,” he said. “This obviously impacts all of us, and India as a proximate region. To a considerable degree, its implications are relevant for India’s relationship with Arab nations as well.”
Jaishankar and his UAE counterpart co-chaired the talks, which aimed at producing a cooperation agenda for 2026-28.
“It currently covers energy, environment, agriculture, tourism, human resource development, culture and education, amongst others,” Jaishankar said.
“India looks forward to more contemporary dimensions of cooperation being included, such as digital, space, start-ups, innovation, etc.”
According to the “executive program” released by India’s Ministry of External Affairs, the roadmap agreed by India and the League outlined their planned collaboration, which included the target “to double trade between India and LAS to US$500 billion by 2030, from the current trade of US$240 billion.”
Under the roadmap, they also agreed to link their startup ecosystems by facilitating market access, joint projects, and investment opportunities — especially health tech, fintech, agritech, and green technologies — and strengthen cooperation in space with the establishment of an India–Arab Space Cooperation Working Group, of which the first meeting is scheduled for next year.
Over the past few years, there has been a growing momentum in Indo-Arab relations focused on economic, business, trade and investment ties between the regions that have some of the world’s youngest demographics, resulting in a “commonality of circumstances, visions and goals,” according to Muddassir Quamar, associate professor at the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University.
“The focus of the summit meeting was on capitalizing on the economic opportunities … including in the field of energy security, sustainability, renewables, food and water security, environmental security, trade, investments, entrepreneurship, start-ups, technological innovations, educational cooperation, cultural cooperation, youth engagement, etc.,” Quamar told Arab News.
“A number of critical decisions have been taken for furthering future cooperation in this regard. In terms of opportunities, there is immense potential.”
