Love-struck Diana was willing to move to Pakistan: Jemima Khan

New Delhi, Apr 14: The World Health Organization on Tuesday lauded "India's tough and timely actions" against the coronavirus spread as Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the extension of current lockdown till May 3.

"It may be early to talk about results in numbers, but a six-week nationwide lockdown to facilitate effective physical distancing, coupled with the expansion of core public health measures such as detection, isolation and tracing contact of coronavirus positive people, would go a long way in arresting the virus spread," said WHO's South-East Asia Regional Director, Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh.

"Despite huge and multiple challenges, India has been demonstrating unwavering commitment in its fight against the pandemic," she said.

"In these testing times, the action lies as much with the communities as with the authorities and the health workforce," she added.

"It is indeed time for each and every one to contribute their best and together to beat the virus," Dr Singh said.

Modi on Tuesday said the implementation of the lockdown will be strictly ensured in coming days to ensure that the virus does not spread to new areas

The prime minister said a detailed guideline on the implementation of the new lockdown will be announced on Wednesday.

According the Union Health Ministry figures, a total of 339 people have died of COVIOD-19 till date in the country, while the number of infected cases has soared to 10,363 on Tuesday.

A PTI tally of figures reported by various states as on Monday evening, however, showed at least 346 deaths.

There has been a lag in the Union Health Ministry figures, compared to the number of deaths announced by different states, which officials attribute to procedural delays in assigning the cases to individual states.

Johannesburg, Feb 22: To meet shortage of skilled nursing staff, private hospitals in South Africa are recruiting senior Indian nurses for their good work ethics and ability to become efficient trainers for the local staff, according to a media report.

A report at a 2018 jobs summit indicated that the country had a shortage of more than 47,000 nurses.

The shortage of the skilled nursing staff has been attributed to several factors, including preference of highly qualified nurses to emigrate or take up contract employment in countries such as the UK, the United Aarb Emirates, Saudi Arabia or New Zealand for want of higher salaries, a report in the weekly Business Times said.

Mediclinic, one of South Africa's largest private hospital groups, confirmed that it is recruiting 150 nurses from India this year.

“To supplement our training, as an internal strategy, we will continue to recruit senior registered nurses from India,” a Mediclinic spokesperson told the Business Times.

Mediclinic started recruiting nurses from India in 2005 but could not provide details about how many among the more than 8,800 nurses it employs at its hospitals are from India.

Another company, Life Healthcare SA, said it employed 135 Indian nurses between 2008 and 2014.

Top managements at the hospital groups lauded senior Indian nurses as being very efficient trainers for local staff.

“But we find that many of them prefer coming here on short-term contracts due to family commitments," a hospital executive said on the basis of anonymity.

The official said that the few who apply for long-term positions are usually young newly-qualified nurses, which is not the group in demand.

“They work hard, with a patient-oriented work ethic, and do not have the nine-to-five approach of many local nurses, especially those who are unionised," the official said.

“We would be very happy to take in more nursing staff from India," the official added.

Feb 13: Two Indian crew on board a cruise ship off the Japanese coast have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, the Indian Embassy in Japan said on Wednesday as authorities confirmed that 174 people have been infected with the deadly disease.

The cruise ship Diamond Princess with 3,711 people on board arrived at the Japanese coast early last week and was quarantined after a passenger who de-boarded last month in Hong Kong was found to be the carrier of the novel virus on the ship.

A total of 138 Indians, including passengers and crew, were on board the ship.

“Due to the suspicion of novel coronavirus (nCoV) infection, the ship has been quarantined by the Japanese authorities till February 19, 2020,” the embassy said in a statement.

“Altogether 174 people have been tested positive for nCoV, including two Indian crew members,” it said.

All the infected people have been taken to hospitals for adequate treatment, including further quarantine, in accordance with the Japanese health protocol, it said.