With more than 1.5 million cases of coronavirus reported across 209 countries and territories, very few populations remain unaffected.
Yet if current travel restrictions were lifted and we were able to move more freely, might some of the world's more remote communities be a safer bet to shelter from the pandemic?
Heading off to far-flung Pacific Ocean islands or even the Arctic tundra might seem like a sensible, if somewhat drastic, option.
But before you pack your bags it might be an idea to do some homework first.
Here, our look at living in some of the most isolated places in the world reveals there is every reason to exercise caution.
La Rinconada
At 5,100 meters, this Peruvian mining town is the highest permanent settlement on Earth.
The lure of La Rinconda is gold, with a boom from 2001 to 2009 boosting the population to 30,000 people.
Conditions are grim, with no plumbing or sanitation, while hypoxia, an altitude sickness than can lead to death, is an everyday hazard.
Miners often work 30 days without pay in the hope the ore they can collect free on the 31st day contains gold.
Mercury, used to extract the gold from rock, has contaminated the land and polluted water supplies as far as Lake Titicaca.
The world’s most northerly town, Longyearbyen is on the west coast of Spitzbergen, an island in the north of Norway.
There are no roads connecting the town with other settlements, with transport options including snow mobile and boats, while Svalbard Airport connects the population of 2,700.
Coal mining continued until the late 1950s, with the town rebuilt after the Second World War when it was destroyed by the German battleships Tirpitz and Scharnhorst.
No-one is born here, because pregnant women are required to fly to the mainland three weeks before giving birth, where hospitals can deal with emergencies.
Death is also complicated. The permafrost means no-one can be buried, so bodies are also flown out for funerals.
Because of the danger of coronavirus in a community with only limited medical services, all visitors were ordered to leave on March 15.
Ittoqqortoormiit
On the east coast of Greenland, this community of just under 500 people is as difficult to spell as it is to get to. It is also the most remote community in the Western Hemisphere.
Hunting is big here, along with some fishing, hampered by the fact that sea ice blocks access to the town for nine months of the year. Otherwise, contact with the rest of the world is by helicopter.
The town was founded in 1925 and its name means “Big-House Dwellers” in the local dialect.
It is too cold for trees, but has some tourists from Denmark during the few ice free months.
Being mauled by a polar bear is a much bigger risk than coronavirus. A visiting reporter from the London Daily Telegraph last September was told "never leave without a rifle."
Palmerston Island
This atoll in the middle of the Pacific is part of the Cook Islands, whose capital Rarotonga is 800 kilometres away and administered jointly with New Zealand, a distant 3,000km.
There is no air service, so Palmerston Island can only be reached by boat. The good news is that a telephone was recently installed.
The island’s claim to fame is that all but three of its 70-odd inhabitants are descended from William Marsters, a sailor from Gloucester, England, who settled there in 1863, along with three wives.
The local accent still reflects his West Country burr, as does the surname which originally was probably Masters.
Located in the tropics, Palmerston Island is also prone to destructive cyclones.
Utqiagvik
This Alaskan town started the New Year in lockdown, not from an early bout of Covid-19, but because of rabies.
The cause of the quarantine was a rabid fox that bit a local dog, not an unusual occurrence in Utgiagvik.
Originally called Barrow, the town changed its name in 2016, to the Inuit for “gathering wild roots,” or possibly potato, or maybe snowy owl. Around 4,500 people live here, the most northerly town in the USA.
Around 2,000km from the North Pole, only 2.6 per cent of the world is further from the Equator.
Snow generally falls in October and only thaws in May, with the Sun below the horizon for 66 days. The area is one of the cloudiest places in the world.
The town’s biggest claim to fame is that it is where the American actor and humorist Will Rogers died in a plane crash in 1959.
Tristan da Cunha
Anyone with coronavirus is likely to realise they have it before they reach Tristan da Cunha, given the shortest journey to the island is a week-long boat trip from South Africa.
Just to be sure though, the island council recently imposed a total ban on visitors “until further notice”.
A British Overseas Territory, Tristan, as the locals call it, is nearly 2,500km from Cape Town and nearly 10,000km from London and the mother country. Not for nothing is it called the world’s most remote island.
Settled by Britain in the 19th Century, Napoleon died here in exile. Tristan was completely cut-off from the outside world from 1909 to 1919, when a passing Royal Navy cruiser stopped to tell them of the First World War.
There is no air connection, nor mobile phone network, and only a single internet cafe. The island was becoming a popular cruise ship stop until this was halted by Covid-19.
Oymyakon
Social distancing is not really a concern in Oymyakon, where temperatures right now are a balmy -8 Centigrade.
This remote Siberian town is one of the coldest places on Earth, with winter temperatures dropping to as low -71C. Schools only close when the mercury drops below -50C.
Life here is determined by the cold. Vehicle engines are left permanently running to stop them freezing. Because the ground is always frozen, no crops grow, and most people eat largely meat and fish.
Ice cubes made from horse blood and macaroni are a popular snack. Even vodka freezes if left outside. Bonfires are lit for several days to thaw the ground to bury the dead.
Climate change is the biggest threat to the community, whose numbers have dropped by nearly two thirds in recent years, to around 800.
Summer temperatures now peak well over freezing, bring the risk of fires, new diseases, and buildings collapsing as the permafrost melts.
Villa Las Estrellas
Keep going past the beaches of Rio, the rolling pampas of Argentina and the snowy peaks of Chile, and at last you reach Villa Las Estrellas, one of only two civilian settlements in Antarctica.
One condition of moving to the “Village of the Stars” is the removal of your appendix, since health care is limited. There is a post office, a community centre and a souvenir shop, run by local women.
Villa Las Estrellas made headlines when the weather station recorded 18.3C in February this year, a record high for Antarctica.
Spare a thought, though, for those further south, where scientists at the Antarctic research stations are completely cut off during the winter months. For the moment though, it remains the only continent completely free of coronavirus.
Siwa Oasis
Around 33,000 people live in this isolated oasis, nearly 600km from Cairo.
Long cut off from the rest of Egypt, its Berber population have developed a distinct culture, which once permitted same sex marriage among men.
The Siyaha festival celebrates the community’s patron saint, while a traditional dish served at Eid Al Adha is the skin of a sheep filled with its innards.
In 1893 it was visited by the German explorer Herman Burchardt, who would go on to take the first photographs of Abu Dhabi.
Plentiful fresh water springs mean dates and olives are cultivated, but it is tourism that it the mainstay of the economy - or was until coronavirus.
Kerguelen Islands
All you need to know about the Kerguelen Islands is that their unofficial name is the “Islands of desolation,” or “Iles de la Désolation” in French.
It is France who administers the islands, one of the most isolated places on Earth and over 3,000km from the nearest population in Madagascar.
Close to the Antarctic, rough seas keep the islands ice free, with the only connection by ship.
Not including a flock of sheep, the population of between 50 to 100 consists of French scientists at a research station, who may reflect that right now at least life on the “Iles de la Désolation” is better than being back home.
Farage on Muslim Brotherhood
Nigel Farage told Reform's annual conference that the party will proscribe the Muslim Brotherhood if he becomes Prime Minister.
"We will stop dangerous organisations with links to terrorism operating in our country," he said. "Quite why we've been so gutless about this – both Labour and Conservative – I don't know.
“All across the Middle East, countries have banned and proscribed the Muslim Brotherhood as a dangerous organisation. We will do the very same.”
It is 10 years since a ground-breaking report into the Muslim Brotherhood by Sir John Jenkins.
Among the former diplomat's findings was an assessment that “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” has “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
The prime minister at the time, David Cameron, who commissioned the report, said membership or association with the Muslim Brotherhood was a "possible indicator of extremism" but it would not be banned.
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
Ziina users can donate to relief efforts in Beirut
Ziina users will be able to use the app to help relief efforts in Beirut, which has been left reeling after an August blast caused an estimated $15 billion in damage and left thousands homeless. Ziina has partnered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to raise money for the Lebanese capital, co-founder Faisal Toukan says. “As of October 1, the UNHCR has the first certified badge on Ziina and is automatically part of user's top friends' list during this campaign. Users can now donate any amount to the Beirut relief with two clicks. The money raised will go towards rebuilding houses for the families that were impacted by the explosion.”
Specs
Engine: 2-litre
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 255hp
Torque: 273Nm
Price: Dh240,000
Cricket World Cup League Two
Oman, UAE, Namibia
Al Amerat, Muscat
Results
Oman beat UAE by five wickets
UAE beat Namibia by eight runs
Fixtures
Wednesday January 8 –Oman v Namibia
Thursday January 9 – Oman v UAE
Saturday January 11 – UAE v Namibia
Sunday January 12 – Oman v Namibia
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 261hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 405Nm at 1,750-3,500rpm
Transmission: 9-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 6.9L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh117,059
More coverage from the Future Forum
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
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Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
Brief scoreline:
Wolves 3
Neves 28', Doherty 37', Jota 45' 2
Arsenal 1
Papastathopoulos 80'
How Voiss turns words to speech
The device has a screen reader or software that monitors what happens on the screen
The screen reader sends the text to the speech synthesiser
This converts to audio whatever it receives from screen reader, so the person can hear what is happening on the screen
A VOISS computer costs between $200 and $250 depending on memory card capacity that ranges from 32GB to 128GB
The speech synthesisers VOISS develops are free
Subsequent computer versions will include improvements such as wireless keyboards
Arabic voice in affordable talking computer to be added next year to English, Portuguese, and Spanish synthesiser
Partnerships planned during Expo 2020 Dubai to add more languages
At least 2.2 billion people globally have a vision impairment or blindness
More than 90 per cent live in developing countries
The Long-term aim of VOISS to reach the technology to people in poor countries with workshops that teach them to build their own device
Profile of Bitex UAE
Date of launch: November 2018
Founder: Monark Modi
Based: Business Bay, Dubai
Sector: Financial services
Size: Eight employees
Investors: Self-funded to date with $1m of personal savings
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Tips for job-seekers
- Do not submit your application through the Easy Apply button on LinkedIn. Employers receive between 600 and 800 replies for each job advert on the platform. If you are the right fit for a job, connect to a relevant person in the company on LinkedIn and send them a direct message.
- Make sure you are an exact fit for the job advertised. If you are an HR manager with five years’ experience in retail and the job requires a similar candidate with five years’ experience in consumer, you should apply. But if you have no experience in HR, do not apply for the job.
David Mackenzie, founder of recruitment agency Mackenzie Jones Middle East
How to invest in gold
Investors can tap into the gold price by purchasing physical jewellery, coins and even gold bars, but these need to be stored safely and possibly insured.
A cheaper and more straightforward way to benefit from gold price growth is to buy an exchange-traded fund (ETF).
Most advisers suggest sticking to “physical” ETFs. These hold actual gold bullion, bars and coins in a vault on investors’ behalf. Others do not hold gold but use derivatives to track the price instead, adding an extra layer of risk. The two biggest physical gold ETFs are SPDR Gold Trust and iShares Gold Trust.
Another way to invest in gold’s success is to buy gold mining stocks, but Mr Gravier says this brings added risks and can be more volatile. “They have a serious downside potential should the price consolidate.”
Mr Kyprianou says gold and gold miners are two different asset classes. “One is a commodity and the other is a company stock, which means they behave differently.”
Mining companies are a business, susceptible to other market forces, such as worker availability, health and safety, strikes, debt levels, and so on. “These have nothing to do with gold at all. It means that some companies will survive, others won’t.”
By contrast, when gold is mined, it just sits in a vault. “It doesn’t even rust, which means it retains its value,” Mr Kyprianou says.
You may already have exposure to gold miners in your portfolio, say, through an international ETF or actively managed mutual fund.
You could spread this risk with an actively managed fund that invests in a spread of gold miners, with the best known being BlackRock Gold & General. It is up an incredible 55 per cent over the past year, and 240 per cent over five years. As always, past performance is no guide to the future.
AndhaDhun
Director: Sriram Raghavan
Producer: Matchbox Pictures, Viacom18
Cast: Ayushmann Khurrana, Tabu, Radhika Apte, Anil Dhawan
Rating: 3.5/5
UAE squad
Esha Oza (captain), Al Maseera Jahangir, Emily Thomas, Heena Hotchandani, Indhuja Nandakumar, Katie Thompson, Lavanya Keny, Mehak Thakur, Michelle Botha, Rinitha Rajith, Samaira Dharnidharka, Siya Gokhale, Sashikala Silva, Suraksha Kotte, Theertha Satish (wicketkeeper) Udeni Kuruppuarachchige, Vaishnave Mahesh.
UAE tour of Zimbabwe
All matches in Bulawayo
Friday, Sept 26 – First ODI
Sunday, Sept 28 – Second ODI
Tuesday, Sept 30 – Third ODI
Thursday, Oct 2 – Fourth ODI
Sunday, Oct 5 – First T20I
Monday, Oct 6 – Second T20I
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Monster
Directed by: Anthony Mandler
Starring: Kelvin Harrison Jr., John David Washington
3/5
Dust and sand storms compared
Sand storm
- Particle size: Larger, heavier sand grains
- Visibility: Often dramatic with thick "walls" of sand
- Duration: Short-lived, typically localised
- Travel distance: Limited
- Source: Open desert areas with strong winds
Dust storm
- Particle size: Much finer, lightweight particles
- Visibility: Hazy skies but less intense
- Duration: Can linger for days
- Travel distance: Long-range, up to thousands of kilometres
- Source: Can be carried from distant regions
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
THE SPECS
Engine: 3.5-litre supercharged V6
Power: 416hp at 7,000rpm
Torque: 410Nm at 3,500rpm
Transmission: 6-speed manual
Fuel consumption: 10.2 l/100km
Price: Dh375,000
On sale: now
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%3Cp%3EEncourage%20innovation%20in%20the%20metaverse%20field%20and%20boost%20economic%20contribution%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EDevelop%20outstanding%20talents%20through%20education%20and%20training%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EDevelop%20applications%20and%20the%20way%20they%20are%20used%20in%20Dubai's%20government%20institutions%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EAdopt%2C%20expand%20and%20promote%20secure%20platforms%20globally%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EDevelop%20the%20infrastructure%20and%20regulations%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Akeed
Based: Muscat
Launch year: 2018
Number of employees: 40
Sector: Online food delivery
Funding: Raised $3.2m since inception
One in four Americans don't plan to retire
Nearly a quarter of Americans say they never plan to retire, according to a poll that suggests a disconnection between individuals' retirement plans and the realities of ageing in the workforce.
Experts say illness, injury, layoffs and caregiving responsibilities often force older workers to leave their jobs sooner than they'd like.
According to the poll from The Associated Press-NORC Centre for Public Affairs Research, 23 per cent of workers, including nearly two in 10 of those over 50, don't expect to stop working. Roughly another quarter of Americans say they will continue working beyond their 65th birthday.
According to government data, about one in five people 65 and older was working or actively looking for a job in June. The study surveyed 1,423 adults in February this year.
For many, money has a lot to do with the decision to keep working.
"The average retirement age that we see in the data has gone up a little bit, but it hasn't gone up that much," says Anqi Chen, assistant director of savings research at the Centre for Retirement Research at Boston College. "So people have to live in retirement much longer, and they may not have enough assets to support themselves in retirement."
When asked how financially comfortable they feel about retirement, 14 per cent of Americans under the age of 50 and 29 per cent over 50 say they feel extremely or very prepared, according to the poll. About another four in 10 older adults say they do feel somewhat prepared, while just about one-third feel unprepared.
"One of the things about thinking about never retiring is that you didn't save a whole lot of money," says Ronni Bennett, 78, who was pushed out of her job as a New York City-based website editor at 63.
She searched for work in the immediate aftermath of her layoff, a process she describes as akin to "banging my head against a wall." Finding Manhattan too expensive without a steady stream of income, she eventually moved to Portland, Maine. A few years later, she moved again, to Lake Oswego, Oregon. "Sometimes I fantasise that if I win the lottery, I'd go back to New York," says Ms Bennett.
Jebel Ali card
1.45pm: Maiden Dh75,000 1,400m
2.15pm: Handicap Dh90,000 1,400m
2.45pm: Maiden Dh75,000 1,000m
3.15pm: Handicap Dh105,000 1,200m
3.45pm: Maiden Dh75,000 1,600m
4.15pm: Handicap Dh105,000 1,600m
4.45pm: Handicap Dh80,000 1,800m
The National selections
1.45pm: Cosmic Glow
2.15pm: Karaginsky
2.45pm: Welcome Surprise
3.15pm: Taamol
3.45pm: Rayig
4.15pm: Chiefdom
4.45pm: California Jumbo
The Cockroach
(Vintage)
Ian McEwan
