From Foreign Waters

The world is suffering and working hard to come out victorious from the COVID-19 pandemic. But the situation isn’t the same everywhere.   The coronavirus infection started in China with its epicenter in Wuhan. From there it spread like a wildfire to Europe and North America, making New York as the next epicenter. And now the current situation indicates South America as the next hotspot.   So, what went wrong?   The politics in South America countries seemed to be the driving factor of different ideologies on how to tackle the pandemic spreading across borders. Poverty and hunger just added to the mayhem created by reckless policies of administrations.   Mexico President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador is keen to open country despite a rising number of coronavirus cases to kickoff important projects in-country, including a new railroad project in the southeast.   In Brazil, president Jair Bolsonaro has consistently defied his country’s medical authorities guidelines of social distancing and

Locusts are being treated as a big threat to crops in India this year, reported the Agriculture department. The tropical grasshoppers that have been crossing over from Pakistan’s Sindh province since April 11 are said to be bigger this year.   The swarms of locusts have already invaded around 90,000 hectares in Rajasthan and are now crossing over to Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.   The Locust Warning Organization (LWO), a part of Union Agriculture Ministry, situated in Jodhpur said that last year locusts came after a gap of 26 years, and were mature affecting 12 districts in Rajasthan. Whereas, this year the locusts are immature having crossed the India-Pakistan border soon after birth.   Immature locusts are deemed to cause more harm due to their longer life span. The breeding grounds in Balochistan this year are the reason of mass movement of 10-12 days old locusts towards Thar desert. The immature locusts are flying from there in search of food.   These locusts that flew from Sud

As the world continues to fight COVID-19 pandemic, few questions remain unanswered and unclear regarding the true nature of this virus. Are we going to gain immunity to the coronavirus like many other? How soon would the vaccines be available? Why is it taking so long for vaccines to be developed? What would be the long term effects of this virus and is re-infection possible?   This “mystery” virus is leaving the nations confused, people anxious and economies battered.   Is re-infection from coronavirus possible?   This is still unclear as we are in the ‘primary phase’ of the infection. However, we do know that the antibodies developed in our bodies post infection will provide us immunity, but for how long is still unknown.   Dr. Ben Killingley, Acute medicine and infectious disease consultant at University College London Hospital said, “We know from ‘normal’ coronavirus studies done in the past you can infect people after about a year following an initial infection.”   A detailed scru

Living in unprecedented times battling with the COVID-19 pandemic has made the population anxious and apprehensive of the days ahead. The current trends suggest that we would need to make some significant changes in our lifestyles.   One such industry that is heavily affected during this crisis is the entertainment industry. Many livelihoods depend on the arts – performing and visual, which are affected vastly.   The world is slowly advancing towards normalcy and opening up transitioning with changes. Lockdown in India is going to lift eventually but the things won’t go back to exactly as earlier.   The cinema halls and malls will open but owing to the larger gathering at a place, how many people would like to go and enjoy a movie in theater or shop in the bustling malls? It looks unlikely at the moment.   People are adapting to online streaming media for entertainment. Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hotstar are just some of the most popular online streaming sources that have a record surge in

-Monica Aggarwal As the global efforts to tackle the transmission of COVID-19 virus continue, the UAE has transferred 16 tonnes of urgent medical supplies to Palestine to support the country's fight against the pandemic. Releasing a statement on May 19, Office of the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process (UNSCO) has expressed gratitude towards the UAE government for its assistance to Palestine during the difficult time. According to the statement, the supplies include personal protective equipment (PPE) and other medical equipment, including 10 highly-needed ventilators to treat the infected the patients. The UN also noted that the UAE's aid is in line with the UN COVID-19 Response Plan for the occupied Palestinian territory, which provides assistance to the efforts of the government in battling the global health pandemic and mitigating its impact. Nickolay Mladenov, Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, also appreciated the initi

Stem cell therapy that was given to an Emirati dentist after she contracted COVID-19 infection from a patient she was treating, has been reported successful. The dentist is reportedly doing fairly well. Dr Mohamed Salim Al Olama, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Health and Prevention (MoHAP) recently visited the dentist along with the head of the Board of Directors of the Emirates Health Services Corporation.   An innovative stem cell therapy was provided to Dr Muhra Abdul Rahim Al-Awadi, a dentist. She is presently under the care at Obaidullah Elderly Hospital in Ras Al Khaimah.   Stem Cell Therapy is a new and promising approach making its way into treatment of COVID-19 patients. The efficiency of stem cell therapy is based on the immunomodulatory effect of stem cells. The studies conducted initially in Beijing on coronavirus cases and now being tested across countries suggest the intravenous transplantation of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs).   The researchers who conducted the Beiji

UAE’ s Covid-19 combat plan helped the nation sail through the hardest splash of coronavirus wave. The nation was quick in implementing few measures to mitigate the impact of pandemic outbreak. It emphasised on actively reaching out the community members and increasing testing to detect and treat more individuals. Besides, the nation ensured equal access to medical facilities to all its residents including both nationals and non-nationals. In order to provide economic and medical relief to its residents, especially the migrant workers, UAE government made sure that the workers obtained their wage s even if they were not working (due to coronavirus infection) and were receiving proper treatment. The nation, where population comprises about 90% foreigners, was quick to realise the need to ensure their economic, mental and physical safety. The UAE’s federal government implemented a rule giving the workers the option of taking an early leave, which allowed them to return to their countr

Countries across the world are currently fighting a war against a common enemy - the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. In this battle to save the citizens from a global health pandemic, international cooperation or multilateralism is certainly the best defence. An array of experts and analysts have identified the global health crisis as the most precarious threat to human life since World War 2. Therefore, they have argued that multilateralism and maintaining global commons are crucial to getting through this crisis. IMF's chief economist Gita Gopinath has also advocated the need for multilateral cooperation as vital to the health of the global economic recovery as the world faces the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. However, it has been witnessed that countries are individually implementing measures in response to the crisis, side-lining international cooperation. While the world governments were compelled to take draconian steps to contain the spread of the virus and

As a few countries across the world have started reopening their schools, universities, and other institutions, drastic changes are being observed in the 'new normal' of the education system. From ensuring prominent safety and cleanliness measures to maintaining social distancing, the authorities are diligently working to alleviate the effects of the health crisis. Schools have disinfected their facilities, distributed medical supplies, conducting temperature checks, and implemented new regulations. Countries like Norway and Denmark reopened their schools around mid-April and in order to ensure social distancing, classes have been divided into groups of no more than 15. Pictures clicked from several schools and universities show students, especially children, wearing masks and headgears, sitting at distances from each other in classrooms and lunch cafeterias. China began reopening its school step-by-step starting in April. As per media reports, China's Education Minist

United States Secretary of State Michael Pompeo claimed “enormous evidence” endorse that, Corona virus outbreak began in the Wuhan laboratory. But, Pompea didn’t provide any proof for his claims about the starter point of Corona Pandemic. But, Pompea said to media that, he can identify a significant amount of evidence that Covid-19 came from that laboratory in Wuhan. He also exclaimed that, this isn't the first time that world suffered to viruses which breakout as a result of failures in a Chinese lab. United President Donald Trump have began accrediting China laboratory as the only for the breakout of corona virus and thus the Secretary of State adjoins him in blaming China for corona pandemic. On a step-ahead, Donald Trump have promised that, the United States govt will be providing a detailed report very soon, which will describe about the Chinese origin of ongoing coronavirus outbreak. Donald Trump also claimed that, he doubts that Beijing had misled the entire world into a