The workers of Utility Stores Corporation went on across the country on Friday. The workers have stopped working to record their protest to convince the government for their demands. They want the authorities to declare them as permanent employees and increase their salaries.
“The strike will be continued for an indefinite period as Utility Stores Corporation (USC)Umar Lodhi has not accepted their demands regarding their status and pay,” said All Pakistan Workers Unions President.
He said that they announced countrywide strike following failed negotiations with owners and unions.
Talking to a news outlet, USC Executive Director Umar Lodhi said that the department was not able to clear the dues of the employees because of the loss. But all the other demands were fulfilled, he said.
A man in Waziristan broke into a cultural dance after he was discharged from quarantine.
The man was quarantined in the District Headquarters (DHQ) Hospital after testing positive for coronavirus. However, after being in self-isolation and taking the necessary precautions, his tests came out negative and he started dancing to celebrate his recovery. The video of his cheerful dance went viral on social media.
Here are perfect time to celebrate something special 🤗The single #COVID patient of South Waziristan Mousam Khan is dancing the traditional attan to celebrate his recovery from Corona. He thanked the authorities & health workers for taking very good care of him.#Coronafighterspic.twitter.com/QP7xwT2K0A
A marriage ceremony took place in Karachi, where a groom came on a motorbike to take his newly wedded wife.
As per reports, the groom went to his in-laws’ house with two witnesses for nikkah on motorbikes due to lockdown and imposed section 144 due to coronavirus spread.
Last month, at least nine members of a family contracted coronavirus after they attended a marriage ceremony in Karachi.
According to details, the nine-member family attended a marriage ceremony, where a woman infected with COVID-19 was present. The woman had arrived from Saudi Arabia and was diagnosed with the deadly virus.
The coronavirus patient met with the family in the marriage ceremony and had dinner together and infected all the people with the virus.
Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Information and Broadcasting Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan has announced that Pakistan Television (PTV) will live telecast Tarawih prayers during Ramadan.
In a tweet, Awan said that Prime Minister Imran Khan had directed PTV to live telecast tarawih prayers so that people can take part in the prayers from their homes and practise social distancing. The tarawih prayers will be broadcast live on PTV News every night at 9:30 pm.
رحمتوں اورمغفرتوں کےبابرکت ماہ صیام کا آغازہونےجارہاہے۔وزیراعظم کی ہدایت پرپی ٹی وی نےنمازِتراویح براہ راست دکھانےکااہتمام کیاہے۔ ہمیشہ کی طرح ماہ رمضان کی رحمتوں سے ہرگھرروشن ومنورہوگا۔ وباکے اس دور میں عوام اپنے گھروں میں رہتے ہوئےنمازتراویح میں شریک ہوکر فیوض وبرکات سمیٹیں گے۔ pic.twitter.com/MffJFnuVb0
— Dr. Firdous Ashiq Awan (@Dr_FirdousAwan) April 23, 2020
Meanwhile, a consultative session of religious scholars chaired by President Arif Alvi on April 18 agreed to a 20-point preventive measure plan against the highly contagious novel coronavirus disease during prayers in the month of holy Ramadan.
The government, in a conditional agreement, allowed congregational prayers and taraweeh in Ramadan with preventive measures.
President Alvi in the meeting said that the people should perform ablutions for prayers at homes and during prayers “a space of two persons should be left between two people offering prayers in a row.”
It was further agreed that the floor of mosques should be washed with water mixed with chlorine and that no collective Sehri or Iftar arrangements will be made at the mosques.
The Okara police is using drone cameras to stop people from flying kites in the city.
The police have created teams in each neighborhood to monitor the problem and each team has been given a drone.
Speaking to a news oultlet, Okara SHO Malik Tariq Awan said the drones have made it easier to catch the kite flyers.
“Earlier, it was tough for us to know which house’s roof the kite flyers were standing on because Okara is very populated and houses are built close to each other,” said Awan.
Flying kites has been banned in Pakistan since 2005 when the Supreme Court imposed a ban on its production. The ruling decision was made to prevent the loss of lives due to kite strings that are laced with chemicals.
Prime Minister Imran Khan will collect donations from the public for the PM’s Corona Relief Fund while appearing on different channels today at 4 pm.
According to PTI Senator Faisal Javed, a large number of philanthropists and humanitarians would be part of the telethon. The donations would be made to an account in the Karachi branch of the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP).
He announced that religious scholar, Maulana Tariq Jameel will also be a part of the telethon today.
مولانا طارق جمیل صاحب آج ہونے والی پرائمنسٹر احساس ٹیلیتھون میں دعا کرائینگے انشاءاللہ – آپ سبکو شرکت کی دعوت دیتے ہیں آج شام 4 بجے PST آپکی ٹیلیویژن سکرین پر -اس تاریخی ٹیلیتھون میں شرکت کریں اور دل کھول کر عطیات کریں – اللہ سب کا حامی و ناصر ہو آمین#PMIKEhsasTelethonpic.twitter.com/AOvnoZi1y6
Earlier, the senator has tweeted that every citizen can also contribute towards Prime Minister’s COVID Relief Fund by sending a text message “Fund” at 6677.
You can SMS "Fund" at 6677 and contribute Rs. 20 per SMS towards Prime Minister's Covid Relief Fund. Contribute as much as you can as it will reach those who are in need. Together we can and together we must. #PMFundForCovid19pic.twitter.com/D0PXI0d0Vk
PM Imran had announced the relief fund on April 1 to fight the pandemic in the country.
“Prime Minister’s COVID-19 Pandemic Relief Fund-2020 has been set up to help us fight this pandemic. I want everyone to donate towards this fund which will be used to take care of all those who have been made destitute by the lockdown,” the premier said on Twitter.
PM Imran asked the citizens to send their tax-deductible donation to account number 4162 786 786 set up at the main branch of National Bank of Pakistan in Karachi.
The PM had said money from the fund will be used to buy essential items for their families.
The Saudi Embassy in Pakistan delivered 150 tonnes of dates as a gift from the Saudi Arabia to Pakistan ahead of Ramzan.
As per reports, the gift was delivered by the Saudi Ambassador to Pakistan, Nawaf bin Saeed Al Malki, during a ceremony that was held at the Saudi Embassy’s headquarters in Islamabad.
The ceremony was attended by the Director of the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center (KSrelief) Branch in, Pakistan Dr Khalid bin Mohammed Al Othmani.
At the entrance of an Istanbul mosque, racks usually reserved for the shoes of the faithful are loaded with pasta packages, oil bottles, biscuits — like a supermarket. But they aren’t for sale. Instead, they are destined for the needy, hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic.
The sign on the mosque’s window ask anyone, who can, to leave something, and says those in need can take something.
Abdulsamet Cakir, 33, imam of the Dedeman mosque in the Sariyer district, came up with this idea of reaching out to the poor via the place of worship after Turkey suspended mass prayers in mosques until the risk of outbreak passes, AFP reported.
The young imam, who takes the products from the floor and places them on the shelves at the entrance, said he was inspired by a donation culture in the Ottoman period called “charity stone” — a small pillar stone erected at certain locations of the city to connect rich people with the poor.
In this Ottoman system aimed at giving charity in a dignified manner without offending the needy, people with means would leave whatever amount they wanted in a cavity on the top of the charity stone. Those who were in need would then take the amount they needed and leave the rest for others.
“After the coronavirus pandemic, we have thought about what we can do to help our brothers in need,” said Cakir, who would already help the poor in his neighbourhood before the outbreak.
“With the inspiration from our ancestors’ ‘charity stone’ culture, we decided to fill the racks in our mosque with the help from our brothers with means,” he added.
Cakir hangs a list on the wall of the mosque where citizens who need help write their names and telephone numbers.
The imam later sends the list to local authorities who check whether the names are really in need and his team then sends a message that they can visit the mosque and receive whatever they need: eight items at maximum.
The mosque has been providing services for two weeks and reaches out to 120 people in need per day. And the list includes over 900 people.
A maximum of two people wearing masks and gloves enter the mosque and take what they need, while others wait outside, standing a few paces from each other.
“We spread the services through the day. We call 15 people for each half an hour so that we respect social distancing and do not cause big queues,” the imam said. “We are doing our best to help our sisters and brothers in the best possible way without offending them.”
The mosque does not accept cash donations and instead receives aid packages and the mosques shelves are full of products sent from all over Turkey and even abroad.
“Producers also donate. A miller brings in flour, a baker brings in bread, a water distributor brings in water,” Cakir said, adding, “Everyone does whatever they can to help people in need. For example, a brother who lives in France did online shopping and directed the aid to our mosque.”
People, receiving the aid, are very thankful to the mosque for arranging this service. They said that due to the coronavirus lockdown, they are facing unemployment and with Ramzan a few days away, the situation appeared to be very bleak.
Turkey’s official death toll from the virus now stands at 2,259 after 119 more deaths were reported on Tuesday, and major cities including Istanbul will be under lockdown for four days from Thursday.
A pilot of Icelendair — flag carrier airline of Iceland — has drawn a heart in the sky over hospitals in the capital city of Reykjavík to thank healthcare workers for their bravery and dedication during the coronavirus pandemic.
According to The Reykjavík Grapevine — an Icelandic magazine –, during a recent flight from China, the anonymous pilot of the Boeing 767 aircraft drew a large heart with the plane’s flight path. It was an important journey of nearly 5,600 miles, as the Icelendair flight was importing much-needed medical supplies.
Before the flight landed, the plane doubled back to doodle a heart above two of the capital city’s hospitals. Though the change in course reportedly added another nine minutes to the flight, it was a heartfelt salute for the nation’s healthcare personnel.
The plane marked the last of three flights from China that have carried a total of some 50 tonnes of various medical supplies, including masks and protective suits, intended for Iceland’s healthcare workers treating those infected with the coronavirus.
As of Wednesday, 1,778 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus had been reported in Iceland. The viral disease has also claimed the lives of at least ten people in the Nordic island nation.
A school teacher from Assam, India, had gone to Apollo Hospitals in Chennai for the treatment of his father and got stuck there because of the lockdown. He then had to cover a distance of 2,700 km in an ambulance to reach home.
The 60-hour journey cost them 1,60,000 Indian Rupees in total.
“My father has blockages in his heart. On March 4, I, along with my brother, took him to Chennai in a train ambulance. There, doctors found that he had problems in his kidney as well. He was recovering and our return flight to Guwahati was on March 18. But on March 17, my father’s health suddenly deteriorated and he had to be admitted to the ICU,” said Baharul Islam.
On March 30, doctors said he could be brought back home in an ambulance with ICU and oxygen supply provisions. Islam, with the help of his friend arranged an ambulance and started the journey.
“They charged me Rs 1.6 lakh for the ambulance. Along with my father, my uncle also came with us. There were two drivers and between them they drove for 23 hours each day. We started from the hospital at 10am on March 31 and reached home at 10pm on April 2,” Islam said.
“It wasn’t the best of the journeys for me…carrying two patients cramped in an ambulance from Chennai was an experience that I will never forget. But I am happy to be back home safe. We stopped a few times on the way to have food. We drove very fast as there was hardly any traffic,” Islam said.
Islam added that they were stopped by police twice.
“They checked our papers and let us go. As we reached Kajalgaon near our home, one of the drivers received a call to stop at the nearest hospital. All of us then went to the nearest hospital where doctors did a check-up and sent us, including the two drivers, to home quarantine for 14 days, which ended on April 16,” Islam added.
