Pak COVID-19 cases surpass 800. (IANS Photo)     ISLAMABAD, APRIL 24 (IANS): At least 253 healthcare providers and medical workers have been infected with coronavirus in Pakistan so far, according to data issued by the National Emergency Operation Centre.   Based on the report which has data up until Wednesday, 124 doctors, 39 nurses and and 90 health workers have been infected by the virus in the country, Dawn news reported on Friday.   Ni

Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro leaves Alvorada Palace, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Brasilia, Brazil on April 20, 2020. (REUTERS Photo)   RIO DE JANEIRO, April 24 (Reuters): President Jair Bolsonaro has fired the head of Brazil's federal police, according to an announcement in the official government gazette on Friday, making a risky political reshuffle as the coronavirus outbreak spreads deeper into the country.   Bolsonaro ha

An Iranian flag flutters in front of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) headquarters in Vienna, Austria on September 9, 2019. (REUTERS File Photo)   LONDON, April 24 (Reuters): The United Kingdom said on Friday that an Iranian satellite launch earlier this week was of significant concern and inconsistent with a United Nations Security Council resolution.   "Reports that Iran has carried out a satellite launch – using ballistic missile technology

People queue to pick up fresh food at a Los Angeles Regional Food Bank giveaway of 2,000 boxes of groceries, as the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues, in Los Angeles, California, US on April 9, 2020. (REUTERS File Photo)   Reuters It’s pitch black in El Paso, Texas, when the minivans and pickups start lining up at 4 a.m., snaking for more than a mile down the desert roadway leading to the city’s largest food bank.   When rations ar

China's Premier Li Keqiang speaks during a joint news conference at the 8th trilateral leaders' meeting between China, South Korea and Japan in Chengdu, in southwest China's Sichuan province on December 24, 2019. (REUTERS File Photo)   BEIJING, April 24 (Reuters): China's economic and social development still faces significant uncertainties amid the coronavirus pandemic, Premier Li Keqiang has said.   The government will step up adjustment of macroeconomic po

U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) wears a face mask as she walks to the House Chamber ahead of a vote on an additional economic stimulus package passed earlier in the week by the U.S. Senate, on Capitol Hill in Washington, US on April 23. (REUTERS Photo)   WASHINGTON, April 24 (Reuters):  After passing $3 trillion of coronavirus relief in a rare seven-week run of bipartisanship, the U.S. Congress is headed back to its normal state of conflict, with lead

Afghanistan's President Ashraf Ghani speaks during his inauguration as president, in Kabul, Afghanistan on March 9, 2020. (REUTERS File Photo)   KABUL, April 24 (Reuters): The Taliban have rejected an Afghan government call for a ceasefire for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and to let authorities focus on tackling the coronavirus, raising new concern about prospects for a fragile peace process.   Hopes for an end to Afghanistan's decades of war were ra

Indonesia's President Joko Widodo attends an ASEAN leaders summit with United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, in Bangkok, Thailand on November 3, 2019. (REUTERS File Photo)   JAKARTA, April 24 (Reuters): Indonesia's government and parliament will delay their deliberation on changes to labour rules as part of a sweeping bill aimed at streamlining regulations and removing red tape, President Joko Widodo said in a statement on Friday.   The labour la

People wearing face masks to protect against contracting the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), sit in a bookstore in central Seoul, South Korea on April 21, 2020. (REUTERS Photo)   SEOUL, April 24 (Reuters): South Korea outlined guidelines on Friday for a two-year return to a post-coronavirus normality including flexible working, bookings on public transport and quick restaurant meals in a country that has been a role model in containing COVID-19.   The Korea C

Seoul, April 24 (IANS) North Korean media outlets have remained quiet on leader Kim Jong-un's whereabouts without putting out any reports on his public activity amid persisting speculation over his health.   Speculation about Kim's health problems spiked after a CNN report earlier this week, citing a US official, said that Washington was looking into intelligence that Kim was in "grave danger" after a surgery, reports Yonhap News Agency.   But South Korea downplay

AP Photo Islamabad, April 24 (IANS) As the number of coronavirus cases in Pakistan has increased to 11,155 with 237 deaths, the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) has revealed that 79 per cent of these infections were caused by local transmission.   As the nature of the infection has undergone this change, the government has decided to introduce track and trace system under which random testing of people will start in a few days, reports Dawn news.  

A medical staff member, wearing protective suit and face mask, works in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) patients at the Centre Cardiologique du Nord private hospital in Saint-Denis near Paris as the spread of the coronavirus disease continues in France, April 22, 2020. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes   Paris, April 24 (IANS) France's COVID-19 death toll reached 21,856, while hospitalizations and the number of patients in intensive care continued to

Tehran, April 24 (IANS) Iranian officials have downplayed the recent US threats and vowed to respond if the security of Iranian territory was at stake. US President Donald Trump had said on Wednesday that he has ordered the US Navy to shoot down and destroy Iranian gunboats if they harass their ships at the southern waters of Iran, reports Xinhua news agency. Before Trump's statement, the US Navy had earlier said in a statement that 11 military vessels of Iran's Islamic Revolutio

United Nations, April 24 (IANS) UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres stressed the need to protect human rights in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.   "The COVID-19 pandemic is a public health emergency. But it is far more: it is an economic crisis, a social crisis, and a human crisis that is fast becoming a human rights crisis," said Guterres in a video message for the launch of a policy brief on the importance of human rights in the response to the pandemic on Thurs

New York, April 24 (IANS) New York, the epicentre of the coronavirus pandemic in the US, has seen 13.9 per cent positive results in the state's antibody tests, which means around 2.7 million people could be infected with the COVID-19, Governor Andrew Cuomo said.   Launched by the state's health department earlier this week, the testing collected samples of 3,000 supermarket shoppers from 40 locations in 19 counties in the state, Xinhua news agency quoted Cuomo as saying on T

The data and facts on the ground suggest that the US is making great progress, Trump said. In 23 states, new cases have declined. In the peak week 40 per cent of American counties have also seen a rapid decline in new cases.   Washington, April 24 (PTI): US President Donald Trump has favoured safe and phased reopening of the American economy, which has been devastated by the coronavirus pandemic that has killed more than 50,000 people and infected over eight lakh in a matter

A woman is seen wearing a protective face mask, as the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues, London, Britain April 21, 2020.   REUTERS   April 23 (PTI): The United Kingdom government on Thursday laid out a series of measures to be put in place to ramp up testing for the novel coronavirus as the daily COVID-19 hospital death toll spiked by 616 to hit a total of 18,738.   UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock said that though the daily rise in the

A protective mask is seen on the face of the "Fearless Girl" sculpture in the financial district, during the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in New York City, New York, U.S. April 23, 2020. REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz   April 24 (Reuters) - U.S. coronavirus deaths topped 48,000 on Thursday as the number of lives lost in April rises by an average of 2,000 a day, according to a Reuters tally.   At current rates, U.S. deaths will reach 50,000 later this week

New Delhi, April 23 (PTI): Human trials of an eagerly-awaited vaccine, developed by the prestigious Oxford University, against the novel coronavirus began in the UK on Thursday, with scientists giving it an 80 per cent chance of success.   The United Kingdom government has pledged £20 million to support the "ChAdOx1 nCoV-19" coronavirus vaccine trial programme, with UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock saying the government would "throw everything at" finding a vaccine against

French President Emmanuel Macron attends a video conference with members of the European Council, amid the outbreak of COVID-19 disease, at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France on April 23. (REUTERS Photo)   BRUSSELS, April 23 (Reuters): Divided European Union leaders began their search on Thursday for a joint financial fund of up to 2 trillion euros to help recover from the coronavirus pandemic and avoid economic collapse in the bloc's poorer south.   With the