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RAS AL KHAIMAH / WAM Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority (RAKTDA) unveiled support measures that will be in place from mid-April aimed at helping tourism industry in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. It include a six-month waiver of all touristic licences; waiver of tourism dirhams from March to May; a complete exemption of tourism licencing fees for Q2 ...

ABU DHABI / WAM A United Arab Emirates aid plane carrying approximately 10 tonnes of medical supplies was dispatched to Italy to assist the country in combating the Covid-19 pandemic, benefitting over 10,000 healthcare professionals. This initiative is part of the UAE’s commitment to cooperating with countries affected by the Covid-19 outbreak in order to bolster global efforts to curb ...

Sharjah / Emirates Business In the wake of the global coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic and as part of the UAE government’s preventative measures to curb its spread, Sharjah Business Women Council (SBWC), an affiliate of NAMA Women Advancement Establishment (NAMA), unveiled a new initiative to move its popular #SBWCTours campaign onto a virtual platform to enable it to stay connected ...

DUBAI / WAM Emirates Auction implemented remote working for all its branches, including the head office, in response to the government’s precautionary measures being taken to combat the spread of Covid-19. The new work system has been implemented using the latest techniques, applications and systems to help employees accomplish their tasks smoothly, with high quality and efficiency and without any ...

SHARJAH / WAM The Sharjah Entrepreneurship Centre (Sheraa) awarded its first Access Sharjah winner, ‘Little Thinking Minds’, a $100,000 equity-free grant. ‘BoBu’, ‘Narrativa’, and ‘almentor.net’ in second position, were presented with a $20,000 equity-free grant, said a press release issued by Sheraa on Monday. Sheraa dedicated the inaugural edition of the programme, which was launched in celebration of Sharjah World ...

ABU DHABI / WAM The Ministry of Health and Prevention (MoHaP) announced 294 new cases of the novel coronavirus in the UAE, bringing the total number of cases to 1,799. MoHAP said in a statement that the new cases were detected upon examining people who came in contact with previously infected patients and did not adhere to preventive measures or ...

Dubai / WAM The Ministry of Finance (MoF), has announced the launch of the unified digital platform to settle fees for common federal and local government services, to find an optimal interconnected alternative with the aforementioned systems, and to provide shared government services without manual procedures. The new platform will manage financial settlements and accounting operations, thus aligning data accuracy ...

DUBAI / WAM Emirates NBD and Emirates Islamic have contributed AED4 million to the UAE’s Ministry of Education in support of its online and distance learning initiatives launched across all the schools during the Covid-19 pandemic. The contribution — comprises AED2 million on behalf of Emirates NBD and AED2 million from Emirates Islamic — will help provide laptops to UAE ...

ABU DHABI / WAM The gross domestic product (GDP) of Abu Dhabi at current prices (nominal GDP) grew 4.6 percent to around AED620 billion, during the first nine months of 2019 from around AED592.9 billion in the comparable period of 2018. The growth was led by the momentum recorded across all economic platforms during the reference period, according to combined ...

Bloomberg When government official Kiran Dighavkar heard that a 56-year-old man who’d recently died in the Mumbai suburb of Dharavi had tested positive for Covid-19, he knew his next moves would determine the trajectory of the outbreak in India’s commercial capital. The man, who died on April 1, lived with seven members of his family in a 400 square foot ...