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Bloomberg Indonesian President Joko Widodo called for an urgent expansion of testing and aggressive containment measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus that’s killed almost 600 people in the world’s fourth-most populous nation. Large scale testing nationwide should be followed by aggressively tracking and isolating those exposed to the deadly disease, Jokowi, as the president is known, told a cabinet ...

Bloomberg While Indian technology outsourcing companies have largely held up better in the coronavirus pandemic than other industries in the nation, predicting how they are likely to perform in the future has never been so hard. The uncertainty stemming from the virus and countries’ efforts to contain it have made it harder to estimate short-term earnings than at any other ...

Bloomberg The US will allow companies to defer paying tariffs on many imported goods for 90 days, a move aimed at freeing up cash for pandemic-hit employers while leaving punitive measures against China and other nations intact. “This will protect American jobs and help these businesses get through this time,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement. The deferral ...

Bloomberg Canada says it will apply extra scrutiny to foreign investment in companies that are related to public health or that supply critical goods during the pandemic. “There are vulnerable businesses that are going to be important to our recovery who are perhaps exposed to foreign purchases,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters in Ottawa. “We will be strengthening our ...

Bloomberg Germany has pledged 2 billion euros ($2.2 billion) to help its beleaguered startups, but the policy has stalled after the country’s governmental departments failed to agree on who has to pay. More than two weeks after the aid plan has been announced, Germany’s finance and economy ministries are yet to find common ground over who is responsible for paying ...

Bloomberg A top Wuhan laboratory official has denied any role in spreading the new coronavirus, in the most high profile response from a facility at the center of months of speculation about how the previously unknown animal disease made the leap to humans. Yuan Zhiming, director of the Wuhan National Biosafety Laboratory, hit back at those promoting theories that the ...

ABU DHABI / WAM The UAE has maintained its global leadership in maximising coronavirus tests in terms of the number of tests per one million people. It has also implemented precautionary measures appreciated by the entire community. According to statistics from the Worldometer website, the UAE has performed over 77,550 tests per million people and has expanded its coronavirus drive-through ...

Dubai / Emirates Business In a bid to support business continuity and enable its business partners to overcome the effects of the current economic slowdown following the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, Dubai Silicon Oasis Authority (DSOA), the regulatory body for Dubai Silicon Oasis (DSO), on Sunday announced exemptions, incentives and flexible payment plans for companies, commercial tenants, and residents ...

ABU DHABI / WAM The United Arab Emirates has sent a plane carrying 18 metric tons of medical and food aid to Mauritania as a gesture of solidarity in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic. The shipment, which contained testing kits, medical devices, and food supplies, will assist approximately 10,000 healthcare workers in Mauritania as they work to contain the ...

DUBAI / Emirates Business Dubai Future Foundation (DFF) has launched the “One Million Arab Coders” Covid-19 Hackathon to engage Arab coders from around the world to develop innovative solutions to challenges that have emerged due to the Covid-19 outbreak, such as access to healthcare services, education, social solidarity and supporting startups. These innovative solutions seek to create effective services and ...