Category: Life & Style

The United Arab Emirates government’s National Emergency Crisis and Disaster Management Authority updated its guidance by ending the mandatory requirement to wear face masks and obligatory quarantine for COVID-19 contact cases.

The rule went into effect on Saturday, where the fully vaccinated passengers will no longer require PCR tests. The management said, “for economic and tourist sector, physical distancing has been canceled while mask-wearing in closed places is still mandatory”.

Abu Dabhi, UAE’s capital, also removed the requirement for those coming from other UAE emirates to pass a PCR test on entry. However, these places will have social distancing that will be observed. EDE scanners and the Green passes will be placed in these places and the same rule will be applicable for the events. According to the NCEMA, the capacity for private events will be increased to 90%.

A green pass will be required even for all the employees, visitors, and contractors visiting Abu Dhabi’s government offices and unvaccinated employees will be restricted to enter the government office with a prior exemption notice.

January has seen a fall in the daily coronavirus cases from 3000 to 600.

The Singapore government announced on 16 February 2022 that it will extend the Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) scheme to several countries. These countries included Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, the Philippines, Israel, UAE, and a new VTL to Hong Kong. the scheme came into force in a phased manner starting from 25 February.

This decision allowed vaccinated travelers to fly quarantine-free into Singapore from the approved countries. Singapore said it will gradually lift the 50% cap on VTL travelers to let more people in.

In a press release, the Ministry of Health said, “We will progressively launch VTLs with more destination as we move towards facilitating fully vaccinated travel”.

Within 24 hours of arrival, travelers from these low-risk countries will have to go through a supervised antigen rapid test (ART) instead of the costly polymerase chain.

According to the Singapore Consul General in Dubai, many people had been anxiously waiting for the restriction to be eased down by the government.

He said, “I have often been asked by businessmen in Dubai when they can travel to Singapore quarantine-free. I am aware that many Singapore businessmen had deferred travel to the UAE due to the SHN requirement in Singapore. We can expect to see business travel pic up from Expo 2020 Dubai and the trade exhibitions here”.

On Thursday, Canada approved the use of the world’s first plant-derived Covifenz Covid-19 vaccine. The vaccine is jointly developed by GlaxoSmithKline Plc. and Medicago Inc.

A two-dose regimen of 3.75 micrograms per dose is authorized by Medicago Covifenz which is to be administered 21 days apart. The trial for this was found to be 71% effective against the infection within the Symptomatic patients and 100% effective against the severe disease caused by the coronavirus.

Covifenz uses Glaxo’s adjuvant that consists of DL-alpha-tocopherol, polyphosphate 80, squalene, phosphate-buffered saline. Living plants are used as bioreactors to produce a particle that mimics the target virus. Through a process of synthesis, incubation, infiltration, purification, and harvest, the virus-like particles are VLPs are developed.

According to Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada, the vaccine is cleared for the age group between 18 to 64 for safety and effectiveness.

Covifenz was shown to be effective against Delta and Gamma variants, as well as Alpha, Lambda, and Mu variants.

COVID-19 plant-based protein technology vaccine’s approval can help overcome the vaccine hesitancy in many countries which are struggling to raise vaccination rates after a certain threshold.

Bhutanese movie, “Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom” was nominated for the popular Academy Award- Oscars on 8th February. The film is Pawo Chonyning Dorji’s feature debut and is Bhutan’s first Oscar entry in 23 years.

The film was the kingdom’s second Oscar entry and the first nomination. Bhutan was selected last year to compete for an Oscar nomination at the 2021 awards. However, the Academy Awards refused to accept the film since Bhutan hadn’t submitted a film since 1999. Bhutan’s Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom is the second Oscar entry since Khyentse Rinpoche’s The Cup in 1999 and the first to be nominated.

Bhutan created a special selection committee for the 2022 awards. Out of 93 films nominated for the Academy Award, Lunana was among the shortlisted films.

Director Dorji wrote in a Facebook post, “The improbable journey of this film from the glaciers of the Himalayas to the Oscars is a celebration of all the possibilities in art and creativity. We hope our film, displaying very simple and essential human values from one of the most remote places in the world, will continue to touch people’s hearts, especially during these difficult times”.

On Thursday, the United Kingdom pledged an extra $290 million to boost the global vaccine drive. The nation aims to produce a global shot within 100 of any future pandemic.

In addition to the £276 million that Britain has already donated to the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), a global partnership to create vaccines against future pandemics launched in 2017.

British health minister Sajid Javid said in a statement, “This pandemic is a global challenge and it has shown the best way to chart a course back to freedom is by standing side by side with our international partners”.

He further added that they have pledged 160 million euros to support CEPI’s vital work to cut vaccine development to 100 days and protect everyone against future health threats.

Ahead of the Global Pandemic Preparedness Summit in London on March 7 & 8, this announcement was made. The meet will be attended by the WHO chief Tedros and chief medical adviser to US President Jow Biden- Anthony Fauci along with other leading global politicians.

The Western nations were criticized for the lack of availability of vaccines in the poorer nation during the pandemic and were accused of “unforgivable moral failure” by former prime minister Gordon Brown.

On Tuesday, Dubai opened its Museum of the Future and its structure touts as the world’s most beautiful building. Build on Sheikh Zayed Road, the city’s main highway, the structure is a seven-story hollow silver ellipse. It is decorated with Dubai’s ruler quotes in Arabic calligraphy.

Dubai’s ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum officially inaugurated the Museum. It was opened with a vision of the future that has been credited as the driving force behind the construction of the museum.

Before the inauguration, the building was lit by the laser light show in the evening for the crowd who gathered outside to catch a glimpse.

It is the most recent addition to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) collection of flashy architecture, following the $7-billion Expo world fair, which featured a swath of futuristic designs and opened on the outskirts of Dubai in September 30.

The content of the museum is yet to be revealed, however, according to the organizers it will exhibit design and technology innovation that will take the visitor on a “journey of the year 2071”.

The nation is also home to another landmark, a branch of France’s Louvre museum with a cost of $186 million.

On Monday, the United Arab Emirates has exempted Indian travelers from the at-airport RT-PCR test for the COVID-19 infection.

The UAE announced the abolition of the at-airport RT-PCR ceding to aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia’s demand. Tho negotiate an increase in the number of flights between the two countries, one of the members said, “Minister Scindia made it clear to the UAE authorities that the increase in seat entitlements would happen after this requirement is removed”.

The abolition is made for Indian nationals flying to Dubai and other emirates, bringing some relief for the travelers who were supposed to reach six hours before the flight.

Dubai was keen to increase the number of flights so that flights entitlements between India to Dubai increase from 33,600 seats to 62,000 seats per week. This application was applied in August and then again in December.

It was reported that initially, UAE removed test requirements only for the passengers flying out of Kolkata airport. However, this clause was not acceptable to the Indian side.

After the negotiation, the health minister has approved an increase in the number of flights to pre-covid levels. But, the final order is yet to be confirmed by the aviation industry.

On Monday, Australia reopened its international borders to fully vaccinated travelers. The nation opened its borders for tourists after nearly two afters of being shut due to a pandemic.

The tourism and hospitality sector is looking forward to rebuilding its economy after getting hammered by Covid-19 restrictions. Hundreds of people were reunited with their family and friends. Approximately 50 international flights are scheduled to touch down through the day that will including 27 flights in Sydney itself.

Dan Tehan, Tourism Minister welcomed travelers with a jar of Vegemite- an essential staple for Australia along with the stuffed Koala toys. He said in the broadcast, “It is a party out here, music playing, smiles on people’s faces, they will be dancing soon, I’m sure”.

The tourism minister further added that there will be a “very strong” rebound in the tourism sector with Qantas Airways Ltd. they are looking to fly with more than 14,000 passengers to Australia this week.

Australia’s biggest industry is the Tourism industry worth more than A$60 billion ($43 billion) which employs 5% of the country’s workforce. However, the tourism sector was badly crippled due to the pandemics restriction imposed within the nation in March 2020.

On Saturday, The U.K. government confirmed that people with COVID-19 will not have to legally be required to self isolate themself from next week. This major step was taken under the “living with COVID” plan that will result in testing for the coronavirus scaled back.

UK prime minister Mr. Borris Johnson said that the government is ending all the legal restrictions brought in to retrain the spread of the infection. Speaking ahead of the conference alongside England’s chief medical officer Prof Chris Whitty, and Sir Patrick Vallance, the UK government’s chief scientific adviser said that his plan would help the society “towards a return to normality”.

The Covid vaccine program has got the UK in a “strong position to consider lifting the remaining legal restrictions”. The legal requirement to self-isolate for a fixed period of time after testing positive has been in place since the start of the pandemic which is being rolled out.

At present, the positive or asymptomatic people are required to isolate themselves for 10 days. However, they can end their isolation before 10 days if they register negative after the fifth or sixth day.

On Tuesday, for the next five years, The European Union and the Gates Foundation will invest more than 100 million euros to help set up an African medicines regulator to boost the continent’s drugs and vaccine commission.

The announcement comes ahead of a summit of EU and AU leaders when a 150-billion-euro investment package in Africa is expected to be reaffirmed by the EU. In November, a treaty establishing the African Medicines Agency (AMA) came to force. However, the agency is currently existing only on papers. Currently, just over half of the 55 member states of the African Union have ratified the agreement creating the regulator.

The EU Commission said in a statement that the funding for the AMA will be processed from the EU Commission, France, Belgium, Germany, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation- a non-profit foundation that plays a major role in global health.

EU commissioner for international partnerships Jutta Irpilainen said, “We are trying to support African partners so that they could produce 60% of the vaccines they use by 2040”.

COVID-19 revealed the region’s dependency on foreign vaccines and medicines and prompted the race to establish the AMA.