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UAE reports 2,950 new COVID-19 cases, 3 deaths

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Emiratis shop at the Dubai grand market, in the Gulf city of Dubai, on Jan. 6, 2021. (AFP)
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Members of UAE Team Emirates, including Slovenian rider Tadej Pogacar (pictured), received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine in the UAE. (WAM)
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Members of UAE Team Emirates received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine in the UAE. (WAM)
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Updated 09 January 2021
Arab News
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UAE reports 2,950 new COVID-19 cases, 3 deaths

  • UAE says 2,218 have recovered over the past 24 hours
  • Kuwait records 495 cases and 2 deaths, Bahrain reports 397 cases and 1 death
Updated 09 January 2021
Arab News

DUBAI: The UAE on Friday recorded 2,950 new coronavirus cases and three virus-related deaths.
Officials from the Ministry of Health and Prevention (MoHAP) said the total number of cases since the pandemic began had reached 224,704, while the death toll rose to 697.
It also said that 2,218 people had recovered from the virus in the past 24 hours. The total number of recoveries is 201,396.
G42 Healthcare, a subsidiary of Abu Dhabi-based Group 42, has conducted a genome sequencing study that has identified the genomic source of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The new expanded study contributes to monitoring and identifying patterns of spread and developments of the virus since its first cases were recorded in the UAE. The full study will be published after its preparation as a comprehensive research paper,” the artificial intelligence company said on its website.
Ashish Koshy, CEO of G42 Healthcare, said: “Our genomics technology and scalable expertise strongly support the UAE’s national genome project, while also underpinning our groundbreaking work during the pandemic, which has enabled us to create unmatched solutions that will change the face of the health care sector for the better.”
The study provides additional information and data that will help monitor changes of the virus genome, “which will positively affect the country’s capabilities in facing any future epidemics.”
MoHAP said that 53,859 people had received a dose of the COVID-19 vaccine during the past 24 hours, bringing the total number to 941,556, in line with the Emirate’s plan to inoculate more than half the country’s population, especially the elderly and individuals with chronic diseases.
Meanwhile, riders and staff members of UAE Team Emirates, the cycling team that won Tour de France 2020, received the first dose of China’s Sinopharm vaccine approved by MoHAP, following successful trials of the 4Humanity campaign sponsored by G42 Healthcare.

So far, 27 cyclists have received the vaccine, including Slovenian rider Tadej Pogacar, who won the 2020 Tour de France, along with 32 members of staff.
“As a UAE team we are enormously proud of the efforts the nation and its leadership have taken at every level to both combat the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and to be a leader in the efforts to bring life back to normal,” said Mauro Gianetti, principal of the UAE team.

During daily inspection tours, Dubai Economy issued a fine to one commercial establishment for failing to adhere to anti-COVID-19 measures. Inspection teams found 566 other businesses to be compliant.
The Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Foundation, in collaboration with Abu Dhabi Police, distributed 150,000 face masks and more than 16,000 jackets to workers at industrial cities, as part of efforts to support community segments that were most affected by the pandemic.

Elsewhere, Kuwait reported 495 new coronavirus cases, raising the total number to 153,473. The death toll rose to 940 after two coronavirus-related deaths were reported in the previous 24 hours.

In Bahrain, one death was reported, raising the death toll to 354, while 397 new infected cases were confirmed.

Topics: Kuwait UAE Coronavirus COVID-19 Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Foundation Abu Dhabi Police dubai economy Bahrain Sinopharm G42 G42 Healthcare Ashish Koshy Ministry of Health and Prevention Abu Dhabi Dubai Sinopharma Tadej Pogacar UAE Team Emirates

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Israeli forces repeatedly target Gaza aid workers, says Human Rights Watch

Updated 13 min 3 sec ago
AFP
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Israeli forces repeatedly target Gaza aid workers, says Human Rights Watch

  • They are among more than 250 aid workers who have been killed in Gaza since the war erupted more than seven months ago, according to UN figures
  • Israel has killed more than 35,000 Palestinians in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory
Updated 13 min 3 sec ago
AFP

JERUSALEM: Human Rights Watch said on Tuesday that Israel had repeatedly targeted known aid worker locations in Gaza, even after their coordinates were provided to Israeli authorities to ensure their protection.
The rights watchdog said that it had identified eight cases where aid convoys and premises were targeted, killing at least 15 people, including two children.
They are among more than 250 aid workers who have been killed in Gaza since the war erupted more than seven months ago, according to UN figures.
In all eight cases, the organizations had provided the coordinates to Israeli authorities, HRW said.
This reveals “fundamental flaws with the so-called deconfliction system, meant to protect aid workers and allow them to safely deliver life-saving humanitarian assistance in Gaza,” it said.
“On one hand, Israel is blocking access to critical lifesaving humanitarian provisions and on the other, attacking convoys that are delivering some of the small amount that they are allowing in,” Belkis Wille, HRW’s associate crisis, conflict and arms director, said in Tuesday’s statement.
HRW highlighted the case of the World Central Kitchen, a US-based charity who saw seven of its aid workers killed by an Israeli strike on their convoy on April 1.
This was not an isolated “mistake,” HRW said, pointing to the other seven cases it had identified where GPS coordinates of aid convoys and premises had been sent to Israeli authorities, only to see them attacked by Israeli forces “without any warning.”

 

Topics: War on Gaza Palestine Gaza US Human Rights Watch (HRW)

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EU top diplomat sees US ‘fatigue’ in Mideast

Updated 4 sec ago
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EU top diplomat sees US ‘fatigue’ in Mideast

  • Josep Borrell strongly criticized Israel’s war campaign, saying Gazans were ‘dying and starving and suffering in unimaginable proportions’ and that it was a ‘man-made disaster’
  • Josep Borrell: ‘I see a certain fatigue from the US side to continue engaging in looking for a solution’
Updated 4 sec ago
SAN FRANCISCO: The European Union’s top diplomat has said that the United States is showing “fatigue” in its Middle East diplomacy and called for greater EU efforts toward a Palestinian state.
On a visit to California, the bloc’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell again strongly criticized Israel’s war campaign, saying Gazans were “dying and starving and suffering in unimaginable proportions” and that it was a “man-made disaster.”
“I see a certain fatigue from the US side to continue engaging in looking for a solution,” Borrell said in a speech Monday at Stanford University that was publicly released on Tuesday.
“We are trying to push with the Arab people in order to build together, the Arabs and Europeans, to make this two-state solution a reality,” he said in English.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has made seven trips to the Middle East since the unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas which prompted a relentless Israeli military campaign in Hamas-ruled Gaza.
He has nudged Israel to allow in more aid, pushed against a regional escalation and pleaded for Israel to accept a two-state solution as part of a broader eventual deal that includes normalization with Saudi Arabia.
But the United States vetoed a Security Council bid to give Palestine full UN membership, arguing that statehood can only come though negotiations that address Israel’s security concerns.
The General Assembly last week passed a symbolic vote for Palestinian membership with the United States one of only nine countries to vote against.
The others opposed included two European Union members — the Czech Republic and Hungary. Among EU heavyweights, France voted in favor and Germany abstained.
Borrell acknowledged that the vote showed the European Union was “very much divided” over Gaza, unlike on the Ukraine war, and cited “historical reasons.”
“But it doesn’t mean that we don’t have to take a stronger part of responsibility because we have delegated (to) the US looking for a solution,” he said.
Borrell, a former Spanish foreign minister, in February sharply criticized the US arms flow for Israel, pointing to President Joe Biden’s own words that too many people were dying in Gaza.
Biden last week for the first time threatened to cut military aid to Israel, with one shipment of bombs already halted, if Israel defies US warnings and assaults the packed city of Rafah.

‘Nothing wrong’ with Gaza death toll figures

Updated 13 min 43 sec ago
Reuters
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‘Nothing wrong’ with Gaza death toll figures

  • Israel has killed more than 35,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry
Updated 13 min 43 sec ago
Reuters

GAZA STRIP: The World Health Organization voiced full confidence in Gaza Ministry of Health death toll figures on Tuesday, saying they were actually getting closer to confirming the scale of losses after Israel questioned a change in the numbers.
Gaza’s Health Ministry last week updated its breakdown of the total fatalities of around 35,000 since Oct. 7, saying that about 25,000 of those have so far been fully identified, of whom more than half were women and children.
This sparked allegations from Israel of inaccuracy since Palestinian authorities had previously estimated that more than 70 percent of those killed were women and children.
UN agencies have republished the Palestinian figures, which have since risen above 35,000 dead, citing the source.
“Nothing wrong with the data, the overall data (more than 35,000) are still the same,” said WHO spokesperson Christian Lindmeier at a Geneva press briefing. “The fact we now have 25,000 identified people is a step forward,” he added.
Based on his own extrapolation of the latest Palestinian data, he said that around 60 percent of victims were women and children, but many bodies buried beneath rubble were likely to fall into these categories when they were eventually identified.
He added that it was “normal” for death tolls to shift in conflicts.
“We’re basically talking about 35,000 people who are dead, and really every life matters, doesn’t it?” Liz Throssel, spokesperson for the UN human rights office, said at the same briefing. “And we know that many and many of those are women and children and there are thousands missing under the rubble.”

 

Topics: War on Gaza Palestine Gaza US

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Lebanon state media says Israel strike kills two

Updated 26 min 14 sec ago
AFP
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Lebanon state media says Israel strike kills two

  • The enemy drone strike that targeted a car on the Tyre-Al-Hush main road martyred two people
Updated 26 min 14 sec ago
AFP

BEIRUT: Lebanon’s state-run news agency said an Israeli drone strike on a car in the country’s south killed two people on Tuesday evening.
Israel and Hamas ally Hezbollah have exchanged near-daily fire following the Palestinian group’s October 7 attack on southern Israel that sparked war in Gaza.
“The enemy drone strike that targeted a car on the Tyre-Al-Hush main road martyred two people,” the National News Agency said, also reporting that ambulances had headed toward the site of the strike.
At least 413 people have been killed in Lebanon in seven months of cross-border violence, mostly militants but also including 79 civilians, according to an AFP tally.
Israel says 14 soldiers and 10 civilians have been killed on its side of the border.
Tens of thousands of people have been displaced on both sides.

Topics: War on Gaza Lebanon Israel Hezbollah

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Hostages’ plight casts pall over Israel’s Independence Day

Updated 57 min 2 sec ago
AFP
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Hostages’ plight casts pall over Israel’s Independence Day

  • The more than seven-month war in Gaza and the absence of the remaining hostages have cast a long shadow over the normally joyous day
  • “Like in Pesach (Jewish Passover), I didn’t feel it’s really a holiday of liberation,” Lavi Miran added
Updated 57 min 2 sec ago
AFP

TEL AVIV: On Israel’s 76th Independence Day, victory feels far away for many agonizing over the fate of dozens of hostages still held in the war-ravaged Gaza Strip.
“On one side we’re still here, my daughters are still here, my family’s still here, and Israel is still here,” said Lishay Lavi Miran, from the Nir Oz kibbutz community, less than a kilometer (0.62 miles) from the Gaza border.
“But it’s not really independence because... Omri is over there,” added the 39-year-old, referring to her husband who was kidnapped and taken to the Palestinian territory on October 7 alongside about 250 other hostages.
He is among 128 captives who remain in Gaza, 36 of whom the army says are dead.
On May 14 every year, Israelis celebrate the anniversary of their state’s creation.
But the more than seven-month war in Gaza and the absence of the remaining hostages have cast a long shadow over the normally joyous day.
“Like in Pesach (Jewish Passover), I didn’t feel it’s really a holiday of liberation. I don’t feel now that there is really something to be happy about,” Lavi Miran added.
Batia Holin, from the neighboring kibbutz community of Kfar Aza, expressed similar feelings, saying “there is no independence here.”
Several Kfar Aza residents are still captive in Gaza.
Holin and other residents of the southern Israeli communities surrounding the border with Gaza have been evacuated since the October 7 Hamas attack.
“Even though I am in my country, I cannot be in my home and I will not be able to return for at least three years,” Holin, 71, said. “What kind of independence is this?“
And in northern Israel, where there have been a regular exchange of fire between Israeli forces and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, tens of thousands have been displaced.
“They can’t go home and have become refugees,” lamented Holin.
The unprecedented October attack saw militants surge through Gaza’s militarised border and resulted in the deaths of more than 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures.
Israel responded with a relentless military campaign in the Hamas-run territory that has so far killed more than 35,100 people, according to the Gaza health ministry.
Israel is “a sovereign country where its citizens are refugees... It’s terrible,” Holin continued, recalling a brief return home to the community where more than 60 people were killed. She shut the door and left.
“That’s it. I don’t have a home anymore.”
Israel was founded in 1948 on the vow of a “Jewish national home” with the promise of safety to Jews, six million of whom were murdered during the Holocaust.
Based on this promise, many migrated to the newly formed state, including Lavi Miran’s grandparents who arrived from Libya and Azerbaijan.
For Palestinians, that period is known as the “Nakba,” or catastrophe, marked on May 15 every year to commemorate the mass displacement of around 760,000 Palestinians during the war that accompanied Israel’s creation.
During the Hamas attack, fighters ransacked Lavi Miran’s home “and took a lot of things. Even after seven months, I can’t touch stuff over there,” she said.
“They trashed all the house. They threw all of our clothes.”
But to her, the priority remains the return of the hostages. She has joined the regular protests by thousands calling on the Israeli government to reach a deal that would bring them back.
On Sunday, during a ceremony marking Memorial Day to commemorate fallen soldiers and civilian victims of attacks on Israel, army chief Herzi Halevi acknowledged he was “fully responsible” for the events of October 7.
“Hamas won the war, because they’re not here,” said Lavi Miran, referring to the hostages.
“Home, it’s just when he comes back,” she continued, referring to her husband Omri, a 47-year-old massage therapist.
“It’s like a nightmare. They’re in hell.”

Topics: War on Gaza Israel Hamas Hostages

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