Bloomberg India distributed about $14 each to more than 350 million people to ease their financial stress amid a nationwide lockdown enforced to prevent the coronavirus from spreading, the government said. The assistance totaling more than 370 billion rupees ($4.84 billion) was given under a state program named “PM Garib Kalyan,” KS Dhatwalia, a spokesman for the administration said. That’s ...

DUBAI / WAM Dubai continues efforts to contain Covid-19 with proactive measures, long lasting stock of strategic commodities Only 12 out of 1,200 frontline paramedics of Dubai Corporation for Ambulance Services (DCAS) tested positive for coronavirus, five of them fully recovered and returned to perform their duties, said Khalifa Hassan Al Drai, the Corporation’s Executive Director. Al Dari made the ...

Dubai / Emirates Business Dubai Future Accelerators (DFA), one of Dubai Future Foundation’s (DFF) initiatives, has announced the successful implementation of a virtual program in collaboration with a group of government and private entities in Dubai. The organisation’s efforts to navigate the current environment and shift towards a remote way of working aims to enable an uninterrupted and impactful completion ...

ABU DHABI / WAM His Highness Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, has re-affimred the UAE’s determination to foster the long-standing partnership ties between UAE and India in various fields. This came in a phone call with Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Minister of External Affairs of India, wherein the two top diplomats reviewed the global ...

ABU DHABI / WAM The Abu Dhabi Department of Energy (DoE) issued the 2019 Annual Technical Report for Water, Wastewater and Electricity Sectors in Abu Dhabi, as part of its role as the regulating body, in charge of improving the technical performance of the energy sector. The aim is to enable the sector to play its critical part in driving ...

AJMAN / WAM As part of its efforts to improve its services provided to the public, Ajman Transport Authority announced that it has linked its digital services with Ajman Pay. This is an important initiative to improve the quality of services and provide multiple payment channels and options that suit various customer segments. This agreement between Ajman’s Department of Finance ...

Bloomberg Indonesia opted for less punishing social-distancing measures than its neighbors to stem the spread of the coronavirus. Now analysts are warning its economy will take much longer to recover than others in Southeast Asia. With the pandemic’s peak expected in late May, President Joko Widodo is recalibrating his strategy of large-scale social distancing rules and calling for a ramp-up ...

Bloomberg India’s government is allowing smaller neighbourhood stores to reopen, bringing relief to residents after a month into the world’s biggest lockdown that’s restricting 1.3 billion people. The shops can deploy a maximum of 50% of their staff, all wearing masks and following social distancing rules, according to the order issued by the home ministry. The order includes standalone stores ...

Bloomberg Singapore home prices fell less than initially estimated in the first quarter, with an extended lockdown threatening to further push down values as the residential property comes to a standstill. Housing prices fell 1% in the three months ended on March 31, data from the Urban Redevelopment Authority showed. That compares to a preliminary estimate of a 1.2% decline. ...

Bloomberg The Philippines is known for training nurses and exporting them to all corners of the world, but now the nation finds itself shorthanded just as its number of coronavirus infections and deaths skyrocket. The islands’ death toll from Covid-19 has surged nearly fivefold since April 1 to 462, and the confirmed cases have tripled to 6,981 as of April ...