PRIVATE operator of LRT-1, Light Rail Manila Corporation (LRMC) announces its partnership with the Light Rail Transit Authority (LRTA) to share the ikotMNL app technology for the benefit of LRT-2 passengers. LRTA is the public transport operator of LRT-2. The ikotMNL mobile app, which was launched by LRMC in November 2019, is the first railway and tourism app in the Philippines. Available for download on iOS and Android device, it equips LRT-1 passengers with information so they can plan their commutes ahead. The app’s core features include real-time train arrivals and departures, fare information, station crowd monitoring, tourism content, safety reminders, passenger advisories, news and announcements, a chat box for customer service assistance, and a feedback form to help improve train service and passenger experience. Last July 2020, ikotMNL app launched two newest features: (a) contact tracing via Bluetooth LE technology and (b) the integration with Sakay.ph app for better trip ... » Learn More about LRMC, LRTA ink partnership for LRT-2 on ikotMNL app
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Hopes of mid-2021 Thailand getaways dim under renewed restrictions
As a result, many fans of the country and people working in Thailand's tourism industry have been hoping vaccinated travellers would soon be returning to the country. In March, Phuket presented plans according to which vaccinated travellers might be allowed to holiday on the island quarantine-free from July onwards. However the future of these plans is now uncertain in light of rising infection numbers and renewed restrictions in mid-April. There is a bit of a panic in the country at the moment. Thai authorities have ordered the closure of bars, schools and entertainment venues in an effort to curb the latest coronavirus outbreak, which has led to record numbers of new daily infections. Officials say the latest outbreak, which includes the more contagious variant of the virus first discovered in Britain, started spreading in nightclubs in Bangkok. Taweesin Visanuyothin, spokesperson for the government's coronavirus task force, announced that the new measures also include a ... » Learn More about Hopes of mid-2021 Thailand getaways dim under renewed restrictions
Sea crew member who preliminarily tested positive for B117 strain is Singapore’s sole community case
SINGAPORE: A sea crew member who preliminarily tested positive for the B117 strain is the sole community case among 23 new COVID-19 infections reported in Singapore on Sunday (Apr 18). The remaining 22 cases were imported, said the Ministry of Health (MOH) in its daily update. All were placed on stay-home notice or isolated upon their arrival in Singapore, it added. No new infections were reported in foreign workers' dormitories. COMMUNITY CASE TOOK HIS FIRST DOSE OF COVID-19 VACCINE The sea crew member, a 39-year-old Indonesian national who works on board a bunker tanker, is currently unlinked, said MOH. He had not disembarked from the vessel except to go for COVID-19 testing and vaccination. The man is asymptomatic and was detected when he was tested on Apr 15 as part of the rostered routine testing. His pooled test result came back positive the next day. Identified as Case 62113, the man had tested negative in earlier rostered routine testing, the last of which ... » Learn More about Sea crew member who preliminarily tested positive for B117 strain is Singapore’s sole community case
Cambodia uses wedding halls for COVID-19 patients as cases hit a daily record
PHNOM PENH: Cambodia began setting up thousands of hospital beds in two wedding party halls on Sunday (Apr 18) to cope with an influx of COVID-19 patients in a country that up until recently had largely managed to contain infections. Cambodia also reported a daily record 618 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, its health ministry said, in a spike in infections following an outbreak first detected in late February. The new numbers took the overall tally to 6,389. Cambodia until recently had one of the world's lowest numbers of infections. It has reported 43 deaths, all in the past two months. "The Ministry of Health has decided to use the Premiere Centre Sen Sok to prepare for the COVID-19 treatment centre which can accommodate more than 1,500 COVID-19 patients," Cambodia national television TVK said on Sunday, citing a health official. READ: Cambodia's Hun Sen says country on 'brink of death' from COVID-19 surge Or Vandine, secretary of state and health ministry spokeswoman ... » Learn More about Cambodia uses wedding halls for COVID-19 patients as cases hit a daily record
Young and infected: COVID-19’s new patients as India battles huge surge
NEW DELHI: Ajay Singh Yadav only managed a final video call with Raj Karan before his close friend became the latest of an alarming number of young Indians, including children, falling victim to the COVID-19 wave sweeping the country. Some doctors say the reason that under-45s are now vulnerable is that they go to work and eat out more, but there is no definitive proof. They could also be more prone to a new "double mutant" variant found in 60 per cent of samples in Maharashtra, the hardest-hit state. Karan, 38, was campaigning in village elections when he fell ill. Yadav rushed him to a hospital, but he too tested positive and was put into isolation. "I am devastated ... I could only see him via a video call," Yadav, 39, told AFP in the northern city of Lucknow. The nation of 1.3 billion people has been hit by a new wave that has caused 1 million positive tests in a week, and authorities are rattled. At the start of the year, India thought it had beaten the pandemic ... » Learn More about Young and infected: COVID-19’s new patients as India battles huge surge
Germany remembers nearly 80,000 dead in COVID-19 pandemic
BERLIN: Germany is paying tribute on Sunday (Apr 18) to the nearly 80,000 people it has lost to the coronavirus, even as the country struggles to get a grip on another rise in infections. President Frank-Walter Steinmeier will lead a memorial event with other top officials at Berlin's Konzerthaus concert hall. His office says it is also dedicated to the bereaved “who could not accompany their relatives when they died and for whom important and comforting rituals of mourning were not possible". Germany's confirmed death toll from COVID-19 stood at 79,914 on Sunday, an increase of 67 over the previous day. That is the fifth-highest total in Europe, after the UK, Italy, Russia and France. READ: COVID-19 pandemic leaves French hospital interns at breaking point READ: Germany sees biggest jump in COVID-19 cases since early January Germany had a comparatively small number of deaths in the pandemic’s first phase, but saw much higher infection levels in the fall and winter. In ... » Learn More about Germany remembers nearly 80,000 dead in COVID-19 pandemic
COVID-19 pandemic leaves French hospital interns at breaking point
PARIS: After a year working brutally long hours on the "COVID front-line", hospital interns in France are at breaking point, to the extent that some of them have even committed suicide, according to a national union. "These interns are invisible, but they are front-line soldiers," hospital clinical psychologist Anne Rocher told AFP. France has over 300,000 medical student interns, whose average age is 25. In theory, they work 48-hour weeks, "but nobody cares" about that, said Marie Saleten, one of the interns and vice-president of the union for Paris hospitals interns. According to a study carried out over a three-month period in 2019 by the national interns' union ISNI, 58-hour weeks were actually the norm. But with the arrival of the coronavirus pandemic that figure has risen to around 80 hours per week, according to Saleten. "They are on call 24 hours a day, and during the pandemic you don't get to shut your eyes, not even for a micro-nap," said ISNI chief Gaetan ... » Learn More about COVID-19 pandemic leaves French hospital interns at breaking point
More than half of Israelis receive both COVID-19 vaccine doses
JERUSALEM: Israel has administered two doses of COVID-19 vaccine to more than half its 9.3 million population, a health official said on Thursday (Mar 25), a rapid roll-out that has helped the country begin emerging from pandemic closures. Distribution of Pfizer Inc's vaccine in Israel began in December, with eligibility extended to citizens over the age of 16. People who receive it are deemed fully protected a week after the second shot. In a statement announcing the milestone amid a sustained drop in new COVID-19 cases, Health Minister Yuli Edelstein called on citizens "to follow (health) guidelines so that the coronavirus does not return". READ: Israel reopens restaurants, bars with 40% of country fully vaccinated Israel counts East Jerusalem Palestinians as part of its population and has been providing them vaccines. It has also offered vaccines to Palestinians who work in Israel and settlements in the occupied West Bank. Palestinians health officials have launched a ... » Learn More about More than half of Israelis receive both COVID-19 vaccine doses
Germany sees biggest jump in COVID-19 cases since early January
BERLIN: The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany jumped on Thursday (Apr 15) by 29,426 to 3.073 million, the biggest increase since Jan 8 as the government seeks to push through tougher nationwide curbs to try to contain a third wave of the virus. The reported death toll rose by 293 to 79,381 while the number of new infections per 100,000 residents over seven days rose to 160.1, data from the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases showed. Germany is grappling with a more transmissible variant of COVID-19 five months before a national election in which Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives are forecast to suffer major losses. Frustrated by a failure of some regions to implement tougher restrictions despite rising cases, Merkel wants parliament to grant the federal government temporary powers to enforce coronavirus lockdowns in areas with high infections. READ: Germany's COVID-19 vaccine rollout gets shot in the arm from doctors surgeries ... » Learn More about Germany sees biggest jump in COVID-19 cases since early January
Israel reopens restaurants, bars with 40% of country fully vaccinated
JERUSALEM: Israel took another step towards post-pandemic normalcy on Sunday (Mar 7), opening restaurants, bars and cafes to vaccinated "green pass" holders, with about 40 per cent of the population fully inoculated against the coronavirus. "We are coming back to life," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared, as he cut into a pastry at a Jerusalem cafe, in a video posted on Facebook. Israel, which launched its vaccination campaign in December, has given the recommended two jabs of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to more than 3.7 million of its roughly 9 million people. Nearly 5 million have received one shot. READ: Israel postpones drive to vaccinate Palestinian workers The country launched its green pass programme last month, allowing controlled numbers of people with proof of full vaccination - or those who have recovered from COVID-19 - to enter gyms, pools and other facilities. But Sunday's slate of reopenings has been highly anticipated, as it marks the ... » Learn More about Israel reopens restaurants, bars with 40% of country fully vaccinated