News Hour with Jennifer Rogers 20th Oct 2020

QRCS Secretary-General educates HBKU master’s students on International Red Cross Red Crescent Movement

Ali bin Hassan Al-Hammadi, Secretary-General of Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS), delivered yesterday a lecture on Components of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement to the master’s students at Hamad bin Khalifa University (HBKU), as part of their academic program for the year 2020-2021.

The lecture covered the history and evolution of the Movement, its environment of work, fundamental principles, and funding of humanitarian action.

Mr. Al-Hammadi listed the major challenges recently facing humanitarian work, including the complex nature of humanitarian crises, international politics, the field risks for aid workers, violations of the international humanitarian law (IHL), and shrinking sources of funding amid international economic challenges.

Explaining the concept of post-disaster and postwar reconstruction, Mr. Al-Hammadi said, “Typically, any relief intervention is divided into three stages: (1) immediate response to the disaster, by deploying relief teams to assess the needs and start on the spot to distribute urgent aid to the most affected people; (2) early recovery, which involves repairing the direct damage caused by the disaster, while continuing to provide aid for more victims; and (3) long-term recovery, where plans are developed to help the local community to restore its normal life and reopening and operation of damaged utilities and infrastructure”.

He highlighted the concept of preparedness: “We do not wait for the occurrence of a disaster to take action; rather, we work at ordinary times to rehabilitate and empower society, build the capacity of its organizations, and strengthen its utilities and infrastructure to be resilient in the face of disasters sand minimize casualties and damage. There are many universally approved guidelines and references for humanitarian action, such as the Sphere Project, the Guide to Rights of Relief Workers on the Field, and the Geneva Conventions”.

Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Meets Ambassador of Republic of Azerbaijan

HE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Sultan bin Saad Al Muraikhi met Monday with HE Ambassador of Republic of Azerbaijan to Qatar Rashad Ismayilov.

The meeting reviewed the bilateral cooperation relations between the two countries, in addition to issues of joint interest.

Free flu vaccine in Qatar for all from tomorrow

The vaccine is safe for everyone above six months and will be available for free starting tomorrow at the PHCC health centers or at over 40 private and semi-government facilities.

With the flu season approaching, Qatar is all set to launch its annual seasonal influenza campaign.

The campaign kicks off on Tuesday and will continue until February/March 2021, though the vaccine will always be available.

The campaign will be carried out in collaboration with the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH), the Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) and the Primary Health Care Corporation (PHCC). The vaccine will be available for free from government, semi-government and private healthcare facilities.

The vaccine is safe and anyone, including babies as young as six months old, can receive the shot.

This year, the MoPH seeks to vaccinate more than 500,000 people. Last year, the target was 200, 000 and it was a success.

Addressing a press conference on Monday, Deputy Chief Medical Officer and Head of infectious diseases Dr Abdullatif Al Khal said it was more important to take the flu vaccine now as this year’s campaign comes in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

He said if someone has COVID-19 but don’t have symptoms can also take the vaccine. Also, more than 70 private and public healthcare facilities will be providing the vaccine, he added.

Other officials at the press conference included Dr Hamad Eid Al-Rumaihi, Director of Health Protection and Control of Communicable Disease MOPH, Dr Soha Albayat Head of the Vaccination Section at MOPH, and Dr Khalid Hamid Elawad, Subject Matter Expert - Public Health, Clinical Affairs at PHCC.

Qatar introduced entry fees for public parks

Ministry of Municipality and Environment reiterates that the entry charges are related to the zoo at Al Khor Park only and No other Public Park specified for entry fee “at the moment”. There are more than 90 Public Parks in the state where entry is free for all.

The entrance fee for Al Khor Park for a full day will be QR15 for adults and QR10 for children under 10 years and those with special needs. For special events inside the park, the entry fees will be QR50 for the whole dayWhile ticket for feeding animals is QR50, fare for Al Khor Park train has been priced at QR5 per person and free for person with special needs.

As for other parks – to be decided according to the Ministerial decision - the price for a full day ticket is QR10 and QR5 for children under 10 years and people with special needs. During events, it will be QR30.

Flying to Qatar from India? Check out the new travel rules

• The air bubble arrangement with Qatar is valid till 31st October

• Under a bilateral air bubble pact, airlines of both countries can operate international flights with certain restrictions

India has bilateral air bubble agreements in place with several countries to facilitate travel for passengers. The Ministry of Civil Aviation took to microblogging site Twitter to announce the travel eligibility for passengers travelling from India to Qatar and Qatar to India. Both countries have signed a bilateral air bubble pact, allowing airlines of both countries to operate international flights under restrictive conditions.

"India has bilateral air travel arrangements in place with several countries to facilitate travel for passengers. Take a look at the eligibility of passengers planning to travel from India to Qatar and Qatar to India," Ministry of Civil Aviation tweeted.

The air bubble arrangement with Qatar is valid till 31st October. Indian carriers and Qatar Airways can carry the following categories of persons on such flights

From India to Qatar:

• Qatari nationals.

• Any Indian national holding any type of valid Qatar visa and destined for Qatar only. It would be for the airlines concerned to ensure that there is no travel restriction for Indian nationals to enter Qatar with the particular visa category before the issue of ticket/ boarding pass to the Indian passenger

From Qatar to India

• Indian nationals stranded in Qatar.

• All Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) cardholders holding Qatari passports, and

• Qatari nationals (including diplomats) holding a valid visa issued by an Indian Mission in any category covered under Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) guidelines dated 30.06.2020 as amended from time to time.

What is an air bubble agreement?

Under an air bubble pact between the two countries, special international passenger flights can be operated by their airlines into each other's territories under restrictive conditions due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

India has air bubble agreement with 17 countries

Till now, India had formed such arrangements with 16 countries - Ukraine, Afghanistan, Bahrain, Oman, Canada, France, Germany, Iraq, Japan, the Maldives, Nigeria, Qatar, the UAE, Kenya, Bhutan, the UK and the USA.

International flights suspended in India

Scheduled international flights have been suspended in India since March 23 due to the coronavirus pandemic. However, special international passenger flights have been operating in India under the Vande Bharat Mission since May and under bilateral air bubble arrangements formed between India and other countries since July.

China threatens to detain Americans if US prosecutes Chinese scholars

Chinese officials have told the Trump administration that security officers in China might detain US citizens if the Justice Department proceeds with prosecutions of arrested scholars who are members of the Chinese military, US officials said.

The Chinese officials conveyed the messages starting this summer, when the Justice Department intensified efforts to arrest and charge the scholars, mainly with providing false information on their visa applications, the US officials said. US law enforcement officials say at least five Chinese scholars who have been arrested in recent months did not disclose their military affiliations on visa applications and might have been trying to conduct industrial espionage in research centers.