Saudi Arabia gives $31 billion aid to 78 countries, Yemen tops list

Arab News
June 22, 2018

Jeddah, Jun 22: Since the foundation of Saudi Arabia, its wealth has not been limited to its citizens but has been spread throughout most of the world.

It has provided humanitarian aid, charitable grants and soft loans to countries regardless of color or race. The Kingdom has always been one of world’s top providers of aid.

To highlight the Kingdom’s effort internationally and to preserve its right to give in the same way as the major donor countries, King Salman issued a royal decree, under the guidance of the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre (KSRelief), to establish a database of Saudi aid, including the Kingdom’s humanitarian assistance in coordination with the relevant authorities.

The center worked on the design and prepared the platform for the registration of humanitarian, development and philanthropic projects and contributions based on international standards in the registration and documentation of the Development Assistance Committee of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (DAC-OECD), and the UN's Financial Tracking Service (UNFTS) and the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI).

Saudi aid is in cash and in-kind  assistance, provided in humanitarian and charitable grants and soft loans to promote development. The aid data also includes payments and subsequent financial commitments.

Saudi donors have been trained to provide and classify the aid in three phases: The first 10 years (2007-2017) — the current phase — the second phase (1996-2006) and the third phase, which includes the rest of the assistance provided since the establishment of the Kingdom.

The Kingdom has a long history in a variety of sectors and fields, where it is called the Kingdom of Humanity and its name is associated with issues that call for peace and giving.

The Kingdom’s humanitarian tenders in accordance with the official Saudi Aid Platform in its current phase (2007-2017) has reached a total of $32.83 billion.

The number of the Kingdom’s humanitarian, development and philanthropic projects reached 1,084, with a total of $31.90 billion for 78 benefiting countries.

The financial contributions to international organizations and entities included (489) contributions totaling $929,711,258 to 37 beneficiaries. Development aid amounted to $493.88 billion and humanitarian aid to $353.440 billion, while philanthropic aid reached $82.381 billion.

The top five recipient countries of aid from Saudi Arabia are: Yemen, with a total of $14 billion for 290 projects, followed by Syria with a total of $3 billion/153 projects, Egypt was ranked third with a total of $2 billion/20 projects, while Niger was ranked fourth with a total of $1.230 billion/7 projects and Mauritania was ranked fifth with 14 projects and a total of $1.219 million.

The top five beneficiaries of the Kingdom were the UN with 45 contributions totaling $303.37 million, the General Secretariat of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf with 23 contributions totaling $225.849 million, the League of Arab States with 28 contributions totaling $140.810 million, the UN Development Program with 24 contributions totaling $80.200 million and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation with 21 contributions totaling $48.395 million.

The official public statistics of Saudi humanitarian, development and philanthropic projects to serve the continents and regions worldwide have reached more than $21.165 billion in Asia, $9.810 billion in Africa, $379 million in Europe, $376 million in North America and $170 million in Europe and Central Asia.

The number of partners was 192, the number of sectors was 20 and Saudi donors amounted to 10 entities, where the value of development aid amounted to $21 billion, humanitarian aid was $21 billion, while philanthropic donations amounted to $39 billion.

The top 10 projects have reached the highest level by sector, including humanitarian aid relief aid in emergency cases by 69 percent for 716 projects, transportation with 73 projects, religious and social philanthropic activities with 62 projects, education with 60 projects, health with 42 projects, water and public health with 29 projects, power generation and supply with 20 projects in addition to other projects.

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Agencies
January 9,2020

Noida, Jan 6: A fire broke out at the ESIC Hospital in Noida on Thursday morning and firefighting was underway, officials said.

The blaze broke out in the basement of the seven-storey hospital building located in Sector 24, a police official said.

Fire tenders were rushed to the spot after the Fire Department was alerted about it around 8 am, the official said.

After that, a search was done to see if anyone was trapped in the building, he said.

The cooling process is now underway.

He said the fire had engulfed the ground, first and second floors of the building, except the basement.

Police said they received information about fire at Kaveri printing press at 2:45 am, when the manager Yogesh called them. The press owners have been identified as Atul and Anuj Goyal, residents of Sukhdev Vihar, they said.

The man who died in the fire has been identified as Phool Dev, from Bihar, who used to work as a help there. Dev went inside the building in the night to sleep before the fire started and died due to suffocation, the fire department official said.

The body has been kept at Lal Bahadur Shastri Hospital and the post-mortem will be done once the family reaches here, police said.

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Agencies
July 29,2020

If everything goes as Russia’s expectation, it will be world’s first country to approve a coronavirus vaccine for widespread in the second week of August despite safety and efficacy concerns, according to a report. The adenoviral vector-based vaccine developed by Russian military and government researchers is currently in phase 2 trials.

According to a report from CNN, Russian officials are hoping to get approval for the COVID-19 vaccine developed by the Moscow-based Gamaleya Institute on Agust 10 or even before that. The officials told the outlet that the vaccine will be approved for public use with frontline healthcare workers receiving it first.

“It’s a Sputnik moment,” said Kirill Dmitriev, head of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, which is financing Russian vaccine research, referring to the successful 1957 launch of the world’s first satellite by the Soviet Union, according to CNN.

“Americans were surprised when they heard Sputnik’s beeping. It’s the same with this vaccine. Russia will have got there first,” he was quoted as saying.

However, Russia is yet to release the scientific data on its coronavirus vaccine trials, hence, questions remain about the safety and efficacy of the vaccine, said the report. The vaccine is in the second phase of testing with developers planning to launch the phase 3 trials sometime after August 3.

Earlier, Interfax reported, citing Health Minister Mikhail Murashko, that the vaccine will be widely used in parallel with phase 3 trials. He said the country plans to vaccinate medics who are at high-risk for COVID-19 next month before clinical trials are completed.

Murashko added that individuals at higher risk of getting infected with the coronavirus such as older people or those with health conditions will also be prioritised for the vaccine, although he did not estimate or reveal when that would happen. The minister added 800 people will be recruited for the phase 3 trials.

Meanwhile, health officials were more cautious considering the fact that human testing of the vaccine is incomplete, and the state registration is expected to begin after August 3, reported The Moscow Times.

On Monday, Moderna and Pfizer announced the commencement of the final phase 3 trials of their candidate vaccines against the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which has so far claimed at least 654,477 lives and infected 16,514,500 people worldwide. 

Researchers will recruit up to 30,000 volunteers in separate trials both backed by the US government. India's first indigenous coronavirus vaccine, COVAXIN, is undergoing phase 1 human clinical trials across the country. More than 150 COVID-19 vaccines are being developed all over the world with at least six candidates already in late-stage clinical trials.

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News Network
July 19,2020

New Delhi, Jul 19: With the highest single-day spike of 38,902 cases reported in the last 24 hours, India's total COVID-19 tally on Sunday reached 10,77,618, informed the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry on Sunday.

The death toll has gone up to 26,816 with 543 fatalities reported in the last 24 hours.

The Health Ministry said the total number of cases includes 3,73,379 active cases and 6,77,423 patients have been cured/discharged/migrated.

Maharashtra remains the worst affected state with 3,00,937 cases reported until Saturday.
Meanwhile, as per the information provided by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), 1,34,33,742 samples have been tested for COVID-19 till July 18, of these 3,61,024 samples were tested yesterday.

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