Related: The WHO's six step guide to easing coronavirus lockdowns
More than three months on from the emergence in Wuhan of Covid-19, the lockdown gripping the Chinese city was finally lifted last week.
After a 76-day ban on travel, authorities allowed train, road and air links to start up after China’s infection rate plummeted to the extent that most new cases now involve people entering the country.
Some major Chinese population centres, such as Shanghai, plan to reopen schools this month, while restaurants are reopening in Beijing, albeit with tables kept apart.
While the UAE's stay-home orders and restrictions on travel continue, with the exception of allowing some shops to open for Ramadan, governments elsewhere are following China's lead in allowing some businesses to open amid concerns over the economic effects of shutdowns.
At this stage of this new virus, it's better to overreact in favour of stopping the virus rather than the other way around
Austria is allowing garden centres to trade, some regions of Italy are permitting shops to open, while in Spain, where the rate of new infections has fallen, construction is starting up and factories are reopening.
Trying to predict what effects such loosening of restrictions may have is made more difficult by the fact that the coronavirus pandemic involves a new pathogen.
However, earlier outbreaks of another viral infection, influenza, offer pointers, even if infection patterns may not be the same.
Several years after the 2009 swine flu pandemic, where about one billion people are thought to have been infected and about 300,000 died, researchers concluded that closing schools in June that year curtailed a major outbreak, only for their reopening three months later to trigger new infections.
In a world where a small minority is immune to the novel coronavirus, the World Health Organisation has warned that infection rates could spike if lockdowns are lifted too early.
A number of academics, including Professor John Oxford, emeritus professor of virology at Queen Mary University of London and co-author of the textbook Human Virology, favour such a cautionary approach.
Saying that “all of us need patience”, he indicated that high levels of testing, quarantine and isolation, and continued lockdowns, were required.
The 1918 to 1920 Spanish flu pandemic is thought to have cost more than 50 million lives and was described by a Yale University academic writing in 1923 as, apart from the First World War, “perhaps the most terrible calamity that has afflicted the world since the Black Death of the fourteenth century”.
As outlined by the United States Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, measures to prevent infections included the use of disinfectants, better personal hygiene, isolation and quarantine, and limits on public gatherings.
A 2007 study by UK and Netherlands researchers published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA found that no US cities found the "optimal point" at which interventions produced a peak of minimal size during the 1918 outbreak. Nonetheless, the conclusions may be useful for today's policymakers.
“The cities that got closest to the theoretical maximum possible reduction in mortality were those that implemented both early and effective interventions throughout the first peak and then were able to reintroduce these when transmission again increased,” the authors wrote.
In 2013 researchers set out, using complex statistical methods, to tease apart the factors that may have affected 1918-20 pandemic’s complex pattern of infections, which saw some areas hit by as many as three outbreaks.
School openings and closures had an influence, as did the weather, because the infection rate fell as temperatures increased. Most important, though, was human behaviour, because people appear to have reduced contact with others in response to the outbreak.
Viral evolution may also affect a pandemic, creating a risk of later outbreaks if the pathogen becomes easier to transmit or more difficult for the immune system to fight off, mirroring the situation when a population lacks widespread “herd” immunity.
“We have to be very, very careful,” Prof John Oxford said, adding that China’s example “definitely” showed the importance of strict containment measures.
“You cannot be more strict than they were. They’ve knocked the virus on the head.
“At this stage of this new virus, it’s better to overreact in favour of stopping the virus rather than the other way around.”
Ultimately, though, with a new virus, the outcome remains uncertain. The world is, said Prof Oxford, “walking into unknown territory”.
COMPANY PROFILE
Initial investment: Undisclosed
Investment stage: Series A
Investors: Core42
Current number of staff: 47
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Our Time Has Come
Alyssa Ayres, Oxford University Press
RESULTS
5pm: Sweihan – Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 (Turf) 2,200m
Winner: Shamakh, Fernando Jara (jockey), Jean-Claude Picout (trainer)
5.30pm: Al Shamkha – Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 1,200m
Winner: Daad, Dane O’Neill, Jaber Bittar
6pm: Shakbout City – Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 1,200m
Winner: AF Ghayyar, Tadhg O’Shea, Ernst Oertel
6.30pm: Wathba Stallions Cup – Handicap (PA) Dh70,000 (T) 1,200m
Winner: Gold Silver, Sandro Paiva, Ibrahim Aseel
7pm: Masdar City – Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 1,400m
Winner: AF Musannef, Tadhg O’Shea, Ernst Oertel
7.30pm: Khalifa City – Maiden (TB) Dh80,000 (T) 1,400m
Winner: Ranchero, Patrick Cosgrave, Bhupat Seemar
The five stages of early child’s play
From Dubai-based clinical psychologist Daniella Salazar:
1. Solitary Play: This is where Infants and toddlers start to play on their own without seeming to notice the people around them. This is the beginning of play.
2. Onlooker play: This occurs where the toddler enjoys watching other people play. There doesn’t necessarily need to be any effort to begin play. They are learning how to imitate behaviours from others. This type of play may also appear in children who are more shy and introverted.
3. Parallel Play: This generally starts when children begin playing side-by-side without any interaction. Even though they aren’t physically interacting they are paying attention to each other. This is the beginning of the desire to be with other children.
4. Associative Play: At around age four or five, children become more interested in each other than in toys and begin to interact more. In this stage children start asking questions and talking about the different activities they are engaging in. They realise they have similar goals in play such as building a tower or playing with cars.
5. Social Play: In this stage children are starting to socialise more. They begin to share ideas and follow certain rules in a game. They slowly learn the definition of teamwork. They get to engage in basic social skills and interests begin to lead social interactions.
What the law says
Micro-retirement is not a recognised concept or employment status under Federal Decree Law No. 33 of 2021 on the Regulation of Labour Relations (as amended) (UAE Labour Law). As such, it reflects a voluntary work-life balance practice, rather than a recognised legal employment category, according to Dilini Loku, senior associate for law firm Gateley Middle East.
“Some companies may offer formal sabbatical policies or career break programmes; however, beyond such arrangements, there is no automatic right or statutory entitlement to extended breaks,” she explains.
“Any leave taken beyond statutory entitlements, such as annual leave, is typically regarded as unpaid leave in accordance with Article 33 of the UAE Labour Law. While employees may legally take unpaid leave, such requests are subject to the employer’s discretion and require approval.”
If an employee resigns to pursue micro-retirement, the employment contract is terminated, and the employer is under no legal obligation to rehire the employee in the future unless specific contractual agreements are in place (such as return-to-work arrangements), which are generally uncommon, Ms Loku adds.
Understand What Black Is
The Last Poets
(Studio Rockers)
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Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
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Wicked: For Good
Director: Jon M Chu
Starring: Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Jonathan Bailey, Jeff Goldblum, Michelle Yeoh, Ethan Slater
Rating: 4/5
The biog
Name: Ayisha Abdulrahman Gareb
Age: 57
From: Kalba
Occupation: Mukrema, though she washes bodies without charge
Favourite things to do: Visiting patients at the hospital and give them the support they need.
Role model: Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak, Chairwoman of the General Women's Union, Supreme Chairwoman of the Family Development Foundation and President of the Supreme Council for Motherhood and Childhood.
The specs
Engine: 77.4kW all-wheel-drive dual motor
Power: 320bhp
Torque: 605Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh219,000
On sale: Now
Avatar%20(2009)
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The candidates
Dr Ayham Ammora, scientist and business executive
Ali Azeem, business leader
Tony Booth, professor of education
Lord Browne, former BP chief executive
Dr Mohamed El-Erian, economist
Professor Wyn Evans, astrophysicist
Dr Mark Mann, scientist
Gina MIller, anti-Brexit campaigner
Lord Smith, former Cabinet minister
Sandi Toksvig, broadcaster
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Tightening the screw on rogue recruiters
The UAE overhauled the procedure to recruit housemaids and domestic workers with a law in 2017 to protect low-income labour from being exploited.
Only recruitment companies authorised by the government are permitted as part of Tadbeer, a network of labour ministry-regulated centres.
A contract must be drawn up for domestic workers, the wages and job offer clearly stating the nature of work.
The contract stating the wages, work entailed and accommodation must be sent to the employee in their home country before they depart for the UAE.
The contract will be signed by the employer and employee when the domestic worker arrives in the UAE.
Only recruitment agencies registered with the ministry can undertake recruitment and employment applications for domestic workers.
Penalties for illegal recruitment in the UAE include fines of up to Dh100,000 and imprisonment
But agents not authorised by the government sidestep the law by illegally getting women into the country on visit visas.
The Sand Castle
Director: Matty Brown
Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea
Rating: 2.5/5
White hydrogen: Naturally occurring hydrogen
Chromite: Hard, metallic mineral containing iron oxide and chromium oxide
Ultramafic rocks: Dark-coloured rocks rich in magnesium or iron with very low silica content
Ophiolite: A section of the earth’s crust, which is oceanic in nature that has since been uplifted and exposed on land
Olivine: A commonly occurring magnesium iron silicate mineral that derives its name for its olive-green yellow-green colour
FULL%20RESULTS
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Key recommendations
- Fewer criminals put behind bars and more to serve sentences in the community, with short sentences scrapped and many inmates released earlier.
- Greater use of curfews and exclusion zones to deliver tougher supervision than ever on criminals.
- Explore wider powers for judges to punish offenders by blocking them from attending football matches, banning them from driving or travelling abroad through an expansion of ‘ancillary orders’.
- More Intensive Supervision Courts to tackle the root causes of crime such as alcohol and drug abuse – forcing repeat offenders to take part in tough treatment programmes or face prison.
The%20specs
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