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A doctor leading a team of medics screening people for Covid-19 in Dubai’s Naif district says extraordinary safety measures are being taken to “break the chain of transmission” in crowded communities.
Dr Rohit Kumar, medical director and head of surgery at Medeor Hospital in Dubai, and his crew have examined hundreds of patients, and segregated them based on assessments, inside a testing station set up in one of the oldest parts of the emirate.
To protect themselves against infection, the group of 13 doctors, nurses and support staff wear two layers of medical gowns, gloves, an N95 mask beneath a surgical mask, protective eye wear and boots.
We work continuously without a break and we do not take anything, no water, not even a drop. We can't take a chance
They are not to eat, drink or use the toilet during the six-hour testing stint.
"I told them I can't risk anyone of you. Whatever you want to eat or drink, do that now and use the washroom before we leave [the hospital]," Dr Kumar told The National.
“We work continuously without a break and we do not take anything, no water, not even a drop. We can’t take a chance.”
Wearing the many layers beneath the heat of the midday sun made the experience all the more taxing.
“It was pretty hot and with the PPE (personal protective equipment) we were sweating like crazy but I had explained to my team that we can do the same work in 10 hours or we can do it in a shorter frame so exposure is minimum.”
Hundreds of residents are being screened and tested for coronavirus as part of an intensive drive across congested areas of the country.
Naif is at the mouth of Al Ras neighbourhood, which has been barricaded off to visitors for two weeks to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
In Naif too, residents of some buildings have been asked to self-isolate after coming into contact with people who tested positive for the virus.
Testing began the doorsteps of buildings last Thursday in both Naif and Al Ras and resumed on Tuesday as the country ramped up measures to combat the pandemic.
Police, volunteers, local and federal health authorities and private healthcare providers have all worked together to organise the testing.
Maintaining distance between patients and frequency using sanitisers have been a crucial part of preventing an increase in cases.
“Distancing is very important and even the Emirates identity card has to be sterilised,” said Dr Kumar.
“Every time an Emirates identity is handled it is cleaned with sanitiser and, after every examination of a patient, we sanitise our gloves so we don’t transfer [the virus] from one patient to the other.
“We have to consider that if someone is positive and they gives us their identity card, our gloves get positive and so, when we take the second Emirates ID, [the virus] goes into the next person,” he said.
“We don’t want to do that. We want to break the cycle by following safety and hygiene.”
Inside the tent in Naif, volunteers record the temperature of each resident, documenting their Emirates ID number, name and nationality.
The residents are then sent to the doctor for examination.
“I check for any history of contact with a confirmed case, look for breathlessness or a cough, check their lungs and for fever,” Dr Kumar said.
As part of triage in the makeshift tent, the doctor assigned red, yellow and green spaces to demarcate the degree of urgency and treatment of patients.
“We created three zones, the red is hospitalisation, yellow needs to be screened so we do a PCR test ]polymerase chain reaction] that is a swab test of the nose and mouth,” he said.
“Yellow is doubtful, symptomatic but stable. Once the results come we will follow up with these patients. Green is asymptomatic and no risk so we send them home.”
He said a majority, about 90 per cent, had fever and cough and some reported breathing problems.
“Some have [concerns] that their room partner has tested positive,” he said.
In areas with a high population of workers, about 15 to 20 often live in one flat to save on rent.
The doctors counsel the patients, explain the treatment and why separation in a hospital is required.
“Sick patients were sent to hospital because they were symptomatic or had been in touch with people who were positive,” Dr Kumar said.
“Those who are suspected and require quarantine were taken straight by police to a hotel."
Over two days of screening on Tuesday and Wednesday about 520 residents were moved to a hotel, Dr Kumar said.
"This is a very good thing the government is doing.
"They are not waiting for the result to come but taking them out even if they are suspected to have corona.
“If the result comes negative they can go back home but if the result is positive they are already out,” he said.
Like medical staff on the front lines across the country, the medics will return for testing to the area.
“You have to be strong from inside. We are trained for this,” Dr Kumar said.
“I picked my team carefully and they are all briefed on what to expect. We have to break the cycle.”
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Orlando Crowcroft
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- A new “core protection” for refugees moving from permanent to a more basic, temporary protection
- Shortened leave to remain - refugees will receive 30 months instead of five years
- A longer path to settlement with no indefinite settled status until a refugee has spent 20 years in Britain
- To encourage refugees to integrate the government will encourage them to out of the core protection route wherever possible.
- Under core protection there will be no automatic right to family reunion
- Refugees will have a reduced right to public funds
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Lamsa
Founder: Badr Ward
Launched: 2014
Employees: 60
Based: Abu Dhabi
Sector: EdTech
Funding to date: $15 million
Classification of skills
A worker is categorised as skilled by the MOHRE based on nine levels given in the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO) issued by the International Labour Organisation.
A skilled worker would be someone at a professional level (levels 1 – 5) which includes managers, professionals, technicians and associate professionals, clerical support workers, and service and sales workers.
The worker must also have an attested educational certificate higher than secondary or an equivalent certification, and earn a monthly salary of at least Dh4,000.
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Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
Sri Lanka-India Test series schedule
- 1st Test India won by 304 runs at Galle
- 2nd Test India won by innings and 53 runs at Colombo
- 3rd Test August 12-16 at Pallekele
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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Jawbone Press
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PREMIER LEAGUE FIXTURES
Tuesday (UAE kick-off times)
Leicester City v Brighton (9pm)
Tottenham Hotspur v West Ham United (11.15pm)
Wednesday
Manchester United v Sheffield United (9pm)
Newcastle United v Aston Villa (9pm)
Norwich City v Everton (9pm)
Wolves v Bournemouth (9pm)
Liverpool v Crystal Palace (11.15pm)
Thursday
Burnley v Watford (9pm)
Southampton v Arsenal (9pm)
Chelsea v Manchester City (11.15pm)
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The specs
Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
Transmission: seven-speed
Power: 720hp
Torque: 770Nm
Price: Dh1,100,000
On sale: now
Company name: Farmin
Date started: March 2019
Founder: Dr Ali Al Hammadi
Based: Abu Dhabi
Sector: AgriTech
Initial investment: None to date
Partners/Incubators: UAE Space Agency/Krypto Labs
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Habibi Funk: An Eclectic Selection Of Music From The Arab World (Habibi Funk)
The biog
Name: James Mullan
Nationality: Irish
Family: Wife, Pom; and daughters Kate, 18, and Ciara, 13, who attend Jumeirah English Speaking School (JESS)
Favourite book or author: “That’s a really difficult question. I’m a big fan of Donna Tartt, The Secret History. I’d recommend that, go and have a read of that.”
Dream: “It would be to continue to have fun and to work with really interesting people, which I have been very fortunate to do for a lot of my life. I just enjoy working with very smart, fun people.”
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It is named after actress and singer Jane Birkin
Noone from Hermès will go on record to say how much a new Birkin costs, how long one would have to wait to get one, and how many bags are actually made each year.
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Messi (27’, 32’, 87’)
Leganes 1
El Zhar (68’)
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Company Profile
Name: Thndr
Started: 2019
Co-founders: Ahmad Hammouda and Seif Amr
Sector: FinTech
Headquarters: Egypt
UAE base: Hub71, Abu Dhabi
Current number of staff: More than 150
Funds raised: $22 million
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Director: Saeed Roustaee
Starring: Parinaz Izadyar, Payman Maadi
Rating: 4/5
The President's Cake
Director: Hasan Hadi
Starring: Baneen Ahmad Nayyef, Waheed Thabet Khreibat, Sajad Mohamad Qasem
Rating: 4/5
T20 WORLD CUP QUALIFIER
Results
UAE beat Nigeria by five wickets
Hong Kong beat Canada by 32 runs
Friday fixtures
10am, Tolerance Oval, Abu Dhabi – Ireland v Jersey
7.30pm, Zayed Cricket Stadium, Abu Dhabi – Canada v Oman
Dubai World Cup factbox
Most wins by a trainer: Godolphin’s Saeed bin Suroor(9)
Most wins by a jockey: Jerry Bailey(4)
Most wins by an owner: Godolphin(9)
Most wins by a horse: Godolphin’s Thunder Snow(2)
About Krews
Founder: Ahmed Al Qubaisi
Based: Abu Dhabi
Founded: January 2019
Number of employees: 10
Sector: Technology/Social media
Funding to date: Estimated $300,000 from Hub71 in-kind support
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