Month: April 2020

KARACHI: The World Health Organisation (WHO) is supervising a research about fast-track development of Covid-19 treatment in Pakistan which would help ascertain the effectiveness of anti-Malaria drugs while treating the coronavirus patients, officials and industry sources said on Wednesday. The development emerged after Getz Pharma — Pakistan’s only WHO-approved manufacturing facility — joined hands with the University of Health Sciences in Lahore to support research projects that could include clinical trials of hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malarial drug shown to be effective against the coronavirus, pushing the US Food and Drug Administration…

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LONDON: Since April 9, the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has not taken any passengers — stranded in Britain because of the coronavirus pandemic — back to Pakistan. The April 9 flight had flown members of a federal minister from London to Islamabad. The national airline has no information whether or when there will be any flight to repatriate nearly 400 stranded Pakistanis back home in the near future, sources within the airline say. Sources in PIA have also confirmed that special arrangements were made for the April 9 flight because…

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Nations belonging to the G20 group of leading economies have agreed to suspend debt payments owed to them by some of the world’s poorest countries. The agreement covers money that is due to be paid to G20 governments up to the end of 2020. The aim is to help countries deal with the health and economic impacts of the coronavirus pandemic. The Jubilee Debt Campaign group has described the move as a first step, but called for much more. The UK-based charity estimates that the delay will cover $12bn (£9.6bn)…

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At a time in the world when countries are desperately seeking a cure and are trying to stem the spread of COVID-19, not only has society’s daily routine been transformed, but the electric industry’s as well.  Patterns of energy demand that have been largely predictable are now turned on their heads. In addition, social distancing has led to lower energy demand, impacting revenue streams and shifting load curves, potentially impacting long term contracts.  How are utilities addressing this new “normal” and what strategies are they putting in place to be…

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KARACHI: Pakistan’s leading pharmaceutical company, Getz Pharma donated 15000 testing kits as well as 1.9 million tablets of Hydroxychloroquine to the Sindh government to help in its fight against the Coronavirus pandemic. Hydroxychloroquine, or HCQ 200 is an anti-malarial drug shown to be effective against the Coronavirus. Getz Pharma is among a handful of companies that manufactures the drug. The company also donated 1500 units of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for doctors and healthcare workers, which have been dispatched to more than 50 hospitals, isolation wards, quarantine centers and clinics…

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