Manzoor Abbasi died on June 11. Later that day, his body was lowered into the ground in the village of Murree, by strangers as his family stayed away.
Such is the fear of catching coronavirus in Pakistan, where cases of the disease on Sunday reached 176,617 including more than 3500 deaths.
Abbasi’s son, Muhammad Ali, is diabetic and was advised by his doctor not go near his father’s body. The grief and guilt haunt him and his other family members, all of whom chose to miss 60-year-old Abbasi’s last rites for fear they may contract the virus.
"The funeral and burial arrangements were made by the rescue workers and police as everyone was panicked," Mr Ali told The National.
His younger sibling Ikram Hassan, a pseudonym, said he stayed home to protect the other 12 members of his family.
“If somehow I get infected the entire family will be at risk of getting infection easily as we have a large family living in a single compound”.
The rapid spread of Covid-19 is giving a new rise to social taboos in Pakistan, experts say. One such false belief is that the virus can be caught from the bodies of those who have died from it.
The WHO says current research has found the virus can be contracted only through “respiratory droplets, by direct contact with infected persons, or by contact with contaminated objects and surfaces”.
“Due to the lack of awareness people think they are more likely to contract the disease from dead bodies than from the alive Covid-19 patients,” said Khizar Hayat, chairman of the Punjab Young Doctors Association.
“The reason is the strict burial procedures and government should tell people that with precautions the disease cannot spread.”
The panic and social stigma has led to some refusing to receive the dead bodies of family members from hospitals. Instead, medical teams are sent to bury them.
“Now that the number of Covid-19 cases has been increasing sharply, it's hitting closer to home for most people,” said Dr Uzma Ambareen, a consultant psychiatrist and vice president of the Pakistan Association for Mental Health.
“People had been afraid of Covid being falsely diagnosed in their relatives who were taken to hospitals for some other illness, and in case of their death, not being allowed to receive the body for burial.”
Dr Ambareen said she believed many people in Pakistan were in denial about the disease, which has infected more than eight million people worldwide, leaving them “ill-equipped” to deal with it.
“Conspiracy theories have been rife, and people continue to be doubtful of the reasons behind the forced lockdown,” Dr Ambareen said.
“Another important reason was the mixed messages received from various people in power who caused more confusion and doubt. A third reason has been the actual information related to the virus, which keeps getting modified, as scientists around the world keep discovering and reporting new facts, through research”.
Coronavirus around the world
Police in various parts of Pakistan’s largest province, Punjab, report family members abandoning the bodies of coronavirus victims, leaving them unclaimed in hospitals. Although a handful of cases of abandonment have been confirmed, police say there are probably more such cases across the country.
"The way people are abandoning their parents is quite disturbing for me and we are heading towards social and moral disaster," said Zahid Islam, a police official who participated in the burial of two abandoned bodies told The National.
On June 6, in the Punjab’s Sialkot city police service was called when the body of Arslan Ahmed, who died from the virus at home, was abandoned by his family. Local residents called rescue workers and police, who collected and later buried the body.
There is no legal punishment for abandoning bodies.
A coronavirus patient from the village of northern Punjab told The National he had not disclosed his test results to his family or wider community for fear of being ostracised.
“The suspicion and stigma with the corona infected patient is mentally disturbing and I hope I will recover soon but I hope I haven’t infected anyone else,” he said.
“Even after a full recovery, there are risks of social stigma from the people among the neighbourhood and wider community”.
Unicef has issued a set of guidelines for addressing social stigma associated with the pandemic and intended to support governments and media.
Mental health experts say that politicians and celebrities who have publicly announced their infection with the virus may help to ease the stigma.
A survey conducted in Hong Kong in 2003 several years after Sars outbreak, another form of coronavirus which caused almost 800 deaths revealed that a small group of the population still stigmatise people who contracted the virus.
How the bonus system works
The two riders are among several riders in the UAE to receive the top payment of £10,000 under the Thank You Fund of £16 million (Dh80m), which was announced in conjunction with Deliveroo's £8 billion (Dh40bn) stock market listing earlier this year.
The £10,000 (Dh50,000) payment is made to those riders who have completed the highest number of orders in each market.
There are also riders who will receive payments of £1,000 (Dh5,000) and £500 (Dh2,500).
All riders who have worked with Deliveroo for at least one year and completed 2,000 orders will receive £200 (Dh1,000), the company said when it announced the scheme.
Nancy 9 (Hassa Beek)
Nancy Ajram
(In2Musica)
SHOW COURTS ORDER OF PLAY
Wimbledon order of play on Saturday, July 8
All times UAE ( 4 GMT)
Centre Court (4pm)
Agnieszka Radwanska (9) v Timea Bacsinszky (19)
Ernests Gulbis v Novak Djokovic (2)
Mischa Zverev (27) v Roger Federer (3)
Court 1 (4pm)
Milos Raonic (6) v Albert Ramos-Vinolas (25)
Anett Kontaveit v Caroline Wozniacki (5)
Dominic Thiem (8) v Jared Donaldson
Court 2 (2.30pm)
Sorana Cirstea v Garbine Muguruza (14)
To finish: Sam Querrey (24) leads Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (12) 6-2, 3-6, 7-6, 1-6, 6-5
Angelique Kerber (1) v Shelby Rogers
Sebastian Ofner v Alexander Zverev (10)
Court 3 (2.30pm)
Grigor Dimitrov (13) v Dudi Sela
Alison Riske v Coco Vandeweghe (24)
David Ferrer v Tomas Berdych (11)
Court 12 (2.30pm)
Polona Hercog v Svetlana Kuznetsova (7)
Gael Monfils (15) v Adrian Mannarino
Court 18 (2.30pm)
Magdalena Rybarikova v Lesia Tsurenko
Petra Martic v Zarina Diyas
MOUNTAINHEAD REVIEW
Starring: Ramy Youssef, Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman
Director: Jesse Armstrong
Rating: 3.5/5
Quick%20facts
%3Cul%3E%0A%3Cli%3EStorstockholms%20Lokaltrafik%20(SL)%20offers%20free%20guided%20tours%20of%20art%20in%20the%20metro%20and%20at%20the%20stations%3C%2Fli%3E%0A%3Cli%3EThe%20tours%20are%20free%20of%20charge%3B%20all%20you%20need%20is%20a%20valid%20SL%20ticket%2C%20for%20which%20a%20single%20journey%20(valid%20for%2075%20minutes)%20costs%2039%20Swedish%20krone%20(%243.75)%3C%2Fli%3E%0A%3Cli%3ETravel%20cards%20for%20unlimited%20journeys%20are%20priced%20at%20165%20Swedish%20krone%20for%2024%20hours%3C%2Fli%3E%0A%3Cli%3EAvoid%20rush%20hour%20%E2%80%93%20between%209.30%20am%20and%204.30%20pm%20%E2%80%93%20to%20explore%20the%20artwork%20at%20leisure%3C%2Fli%3E%0A%3C%2Ful%3E%0A
Six large-scale objects on show
- Concrete wall and windows from the now demolished Robin Hood Gardens housing estate in Poplar
- The 17th Century Agra Colonnade, from the bathhouse of the fort of Agra in India
- A stagecloth for The Ballet Russes that is 10m high – the largest Picasso in the world
- Frank Lloyd Wright’s 1930s Kaufmann Office
- A full-scale Frankfurt Kitchen designed by Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, which transformed kitchen design in the 20th century
- Torrijos Palace dome
Company profile
Company: Verity
Date started: May 2021
Founders: Kamal Al-Samarrai, Dina Shoman and Omar Al Sharif
Based: Dubai
Sector: FinTech
Size: four team members
Stage: Intially bootstrapped but recently closed its first pre-seed round of $800,000
Investors: Wamda, VentureSouq, Beyond Capital and regional angel investors
England's lowest Test innings
- 45 v Australia in Sydney, January 28, 1887
- 46 v West Indies in Port of Spain, March 25, 1994
- 51 v West Indies in Kingston, February 4, 2009
- 52 v Australia at The Oval, August 14, 1948
- 53 v Australia at Lord's, July 16, 1888
- 58 v New Zealand in Auckland, March 22, 2018
RACECARD
4.30pm Jebel Jais – Maiden (PA) Dh60,000 (Turf) 1,000m
5pm: Jabel Faya – Maiden (PA) Dh60,000 (T) 1,000m
5.30pm: Al Wathba Stallions Cup – Handicap (PA) Dh70,000 (T) 2,200m
6pm: The President’s Cup Prep – Conditions (PA) Dh100,000 (T) 2,200m
6.30pm: Abu Dhabi Equestrian Club – Prestige (PA) Dh125,000 (T) 1,600m
7pm: Al Ruwais – Group 3 (PA) Dh300,000 (T) 1,200m
7.30pm: Jebel Hafeet – Maiden (TB) Dh80,000 (T) 1,400m
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
German plea
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the German parliament that. Russia had erected a new wall across Europe.
"It's not a Berlin Wall -- it is a Wall in central Europe between freedom and bondage and this Wall is growing bigger with every bomb" dropped on Ukraine, Zelenskyy told MPs.
Mr Zelenskyy was applauded by MPs in the Bundestag as he addressed Chancellor Olaf Scholz directly.
"Dear Mr Scholz, tear down this Wall," he said, evoking US President Ronald Reagan's 1987 appeal to Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev at Berlin's Brandenburg Gate.
MATCH INFO
Asian Champions League, last 16, first leg:
Al Jazira 3 Persepolis 2
Second leg:
Monday, Azizi Stadium, Tehran. Kick off 7pm
BIGGEST CYBER SECURITY INCIDENTS IN RECENT TIMES
SolarWinds supply chain attack: Came to light in December 2020 but had taken root for several months, compromising major tech companies, governments and its entities
Microsoft Exchange server exploitation: March 2021; attackers used a vulnerability to steal emails
Kaseya attack: July 2021; ransomware hit perpetrated REvil, resulting in severe downtime for more than 1,000 companies
Log4j breach: December 2021; attackers exploited the Java-written code to inflitrate businesses and governments
Chatham House Rule
A mark of Chatham House’s influence 100 years on since its founding, was Moscow’s formal declaration last month that it was an “undesirable
organisation”.
The depth of knowledge and academics that it drew on
following the Ukraine invasion had broadcast Mr Putin’s chicanery.
The institute is more used to accommodating world leaders,
with Nelson Mandela, Margaret Thatcher among those helping it provide
authoritative commentary on world events.
Chatham House was formally founded as the Royal Institute of
International Affairs following the peace conferences of World War One. Its
founder, Lionel Curtis, wanted a more scientific examination of international affairs
with a transparent exchange of information and ideas.
That arena of debate and analysis was enhanced by the “Chatham
House Rule” states that the contents of any meeting can be discussed outside Chatham
House but no mention can be made identifying individuals who commented.
This has enabled some candid exchanges on difficult subjects
allowing a greater degree of free speech from high-ranking figures.
These meetings are highly valued, so much so that
ambassadors reported them in secret diplomatic cables that – when they were
revealed in the Wikileaks reporting – were thus found to have broken the rule. However,
most speeches are held on the record.
Its research and debate has offered fresh ideas to
policymakers enabling them to more coherently address troubling issues from climate
change to health and food security.
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
