Coronavirus cases in Turkey have overtaken those of Iran to become the highest in the Middle East, exceeding 82,329, Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said on Saturday.
A sharp increase of 3,783 cases in 24 hours pushed the country’s confirmed tally to within a few hundred of China, where the novel coronavirus was first reported.
Dr Koca said 121 more people had died from Covid-19, taking the death toll to 1,890. A total of 10,453 people have recovered from the disease so far in Turkey.
On Saturday, the interior ministry extended a ban on entering and leaving 31 provinces for 15 days. These provinces, including Istanbul and the capital, Ankara, are on a weekend lockdown to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
Last week, the Turkish parliament approved a law allowing for the release of tens of thousands of prisoners as a safety measure against the outbreak. Some countries have released prisoners to limit the spread of the virus through crowded jails.
Rights groups have criticised the new ruling for failing to include detainees charged under controversial counterterrorism laws, including journalists, politicians and lawyers in pretrial detention. Many are behind bars following Turkey’s crackdown in response to a failed 2016 coup.
Iran, which until now had suffered the worst outbreak in the Middle East, has temporarily released 100,000 prisoners, including the British-Iranian charity worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe.
On Saturday, the government in Tehran announced an easing of its lockdown measures with some businesses allowed to reopen in the capital and nearby cities.
Iran’s leaders have said they have to consider the economic toll of the quarantine measures as the country struggles under strict sanctions imposed by US President Donald Trump.
Gyms, restaurants, shopping malls and Tehran’s grand bazaar will remain closed. Shrines and mosques are also shut, and a ban on public gatherings remains in place.
Iran was slow to respond to the virus outbreak, imposing lockdown measures only after several other countries in the region with fewer cases told businesses to close.
There are 80,868 confirmed cases in Iran and 5,031 people have died from the virus, although a report released by the Iranian parliament on April 14 suggested that the death toll from the coronavirus pandemic was probably nearly double the officially reported figures, because of undercounting and a lack of testing.
The report, which was written by nonpartisan experts within the country, said health ministry death toll figures counted only those who died in hospitals and discounted people who had died in their homes.
The number of people infected is probably “eight to 10 times” higher than the reported figures, the report said.
If correct, the report’s worst-case figures would put Iran’s death toll potential as more than 8,500, with about 760,000 total cases. That would catapult Iran to the country with the highest number of infections in the world.
More than 160,000 people have now died during the pandemic, with 2.3 million people confirmed to have contracted the virus. More than 595,000 have recovered worldwide.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Essentials
The flights
Etihad and Emirates fly direct from the UAE to Delhi from about Dh950 return including taxes.
The hotels
Double rooms at Tijara Fort-Palace cost from 6,670 rupees (Dh377), including breakfast.
Doubles at Fort Bishangarh cost from 29,030 rupees (Dh1,641), including breakfast. Doubles at Narendra Bhawan cost from 15,360 rupees (Dh869). Doubles at Chanoud Garh cost from 19,840 rupees (Dh1,122), full board. Doubles at Fort Begu cost from 10,000 rupees (Dh565), including breakfast.
The tours
Amar Grover travelled with Wild Frontiers. A tailor-made, nine-day itinerary via New Delhi, with one night in Tijara and two nights in each of the remaining properties, including car/driver, costs from £1,445 (Dh6,968) per person.
Company profile
Date started: January, 2014
Founders: Mike Dawson, Varuna Singh, and Benita Rowe
Based: Dubai
Sector: Education technology
Size: Five employees
Investment: $100,000 from the ExpoLive Innovation Grant programme in 2018 and an initial $30,000 pre-seed investment from the Turn8 Accelerator in 2014. Most of the projects are government funded.
Partners/incubators: Turn8 Accelerator; In5 Innovation Centre; Expo Live Innovation Impact Grant Programme; Dubai Future Accelerators; FHI 360; VSO and Consult and Coach for a Cause (C3)
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Marwan Lutfi says the core fundamentals that drive better payment behaviour and can improve your credit score are:
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Dhadak 2
Director: Shazia Iqbal
Starring: Siddhant Chaturvedi, Triptii Dimri
Rating: 1/5
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.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
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Volvo ES90 Specs
Engine: Electric single motor (96kW), twin motor (106kW) and twin motor performance (106kW)
Power: 333hp, 449hp, 680hp
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