Saudi Arabia: 429 new corona cases found; total 4462 including 59 deaths

Abu Dhabi, May 18: Bollywood superstar Salman Khan has recorded a special message for Indian expats in the UAE as the country fights the coronavirus pandemic.

Khan - one of the biggest stars of Bollywood for decades - enjoys a large fan following in the Gulf, which is why Abu Dhabi roped in the actor to record a special video message for expats, urging them to cooperate with authorities in the capital and the country as they carry out sanitisation and testing programmes.

In the video, tweeted by the Abu Dhabi Media Office on Sunday night, the superstar appeals to Indians in Abu Dhabi to become heroes by staying home (stepping out for essential work/errands only), following precautionary measures and simply 'do the right thing' by getting tested if they have any Covid-19-related symptoms.

"كونوا أبطالاً، وقوموا بالعمل الصائب"
النجم الشهير سلمان خان، والذي صور أفلاماً عديدة في أبوظبي، يناشد الجالية الهندية باغتنام كرم وإنسانية حكومة وشعب أبوظبي، والتعاون معها من خلال الالتزام بتعليمات الجهات المعنية وإجراء الفحوصات عند ظهور أي عوارض الإصابة بفيروس كوفيد-19. pic.twitter.com/PVfaWg2j4z

— مكتب أبوظبي الإعلامي (@admediaoffice) May 17, 2020

Khan, who has shot his recent super hit films (Race 3) in the capital, assured expats that Abu Dhabi authorities will not leave the community in these challenging times as it is a hospitable city who takes care of all residents.

"Following preventive measures also protects your family from the virus - so do the right thing as heroes do," Khan concludes.

The second phase of Abu Dhabi's sanitisation and testing in labour areas is underway, which started on May 16. Special testing facilities have been set up in the city for this purpose that test thousands of workers everyday.

As of May 17, UAE has confirmed over 23,000 cases along with over 8,000 recoveries and 220 deaths.

The country recently made a breakthrough in treating Covid-19 by using stem cells to help with the recovery.

The UAE leadership has thanked citizens and residents for their cooperation and assured that the country will take care of everyone in the country - with food and medicines being the red line, and that there will be no shortage of either during the crisis. Stimulus packages have been announced to help businesses stay afloat.

Dubai, Jan 4: Three UAE airlines have made it to lists of the safest carriers in 2020, reinforcing the value these companies provide passengers in the increasingly competitive aviation scene.

Abu Dhabi's Etihad Airways and Dubai's Emirates are in the list of the top 20 safest airlines, while Sharjah-based Air Arabia is in the list of the top 10 low-cost carriers, safety and product rating website AirlineRatings.com reported on Thursday.

It named Qantas as the safest airline for 2020 out of the 405 carriers it monitors.

The top 20, in order, are Qantas, Air New Zealand, EVA Air, Etihad Airways, Singapore Airlines, Emirates, Alaska Airlines, Qatar Airways, Cathay Pacific Airways, Virgin Australia, Hawaiian Airlines, Virgin Atlantic Airlines, TAP Portugal, SAS, Royal Jordanian, Swiss, Finnair, Lufthansa, Aer Lingus and KLM.

"These airlines are clear standouts in the airline industry and are at the forefront of safety," said AirlineRatings.com editor-in-chief Geoffrey Thomas.

"For instance, Australia's Qantas has been recognised by the British Advertising Standards Association in a test case in 2008 as the world's most experienced airline."

"Qantas has been the lead airline in virtually every major operational safety advancement over the past 60 years and has not had a fatality in the pure-jet era," said Thomas.

AirlineRatings.com editors also identified their top 10 safest low-cost airlines; they are, in alphabetical order, Air Arabia, Flybe, Frontier, HK Express, IndiGo, Jetblue, Volaris, Vueling, Westjet and Wizz.

Saj Ahmad, chief analyst at StrategicAero Research in London, says that it isn't a surprise that UAE carriers are on those lists.

"UAE airlines almost always feature in the top rankings for safety because they value the equipment that they fly their passengers on each and every day," he told Khaleej Times on Thursday.

"All airlines do; but for the UAE, where airlines have expanded rapidly in the last couple of decades, it's an amazing feat that they rank so highly while inducting so many new aeroplanes."

There's little benefit to adding luxurious cabins if maintenance, security and safety protocols as well as routine engineering schedules are not adhered to, he stressed.

"And with the UAE itself sporting MRO activities as well as through companies like Strata, which supply components to Airbus and Boeing directly, airlines here have harnessed that tech-change to ensure that their fleets have the highest redundancy and safety checks at every possible chance," Ahmad added. "That translates into passenger confidence - and we can see the brand and loyalty strength across Emirates, flydubai, Air Arabia and Etihad; it's no surprise that each year, they all fly more and more passengers across their network."

In making its selections, AirlineRatings.com editors and its industry advisors take into account numerous critical factors that include: Audits from aviation's governing bodies and lead associations, government audits, airline's crash and serious incident record, fleet age, financial position and pilot training and culture.

"All airlines have incidents every day and many are aircraft or engine manufacture issues instead of airline operational problems. And it is the way the flight crew handles incidents that determines a good airline from an unsafe one. So just lumping all incidents together is very misleading," said Thomas.

New Delhi, Jun 5: As part of global efforts to combat COVID-19, the UAE has provided more than 708 tonnes of medical aid, personal protection kits and supplies to 62 countries, including India, with direct beneficiaries exceeding 708,000 health workers, a UAE Embassy statement said.

The UAE is regarded as the main lifeline for the logistic operations of the international organizations' strategic warehouses in Dubai's International Humanitarian City (IHC) where the UAE is the first responder to the global crises, especially in providing assistance in relation to the current COVID-19 pandemic, it said.

Dubai's IHC has dispatched more than 132 shipments to 98 countries around the world so far since the beginning of this year, and is working as a central hub to distribute the personal protection kits, the statement said.

While the UAE continues its constant work of supporting the global efforts aimed at curbing the spread of the COVID-19 disease, it has provided more than 708 tons of medical aid, personal protection kits and supplies to 62 countries worldwide to date, with direct beneficiaries exceeding 708,000 health workers, it said.

In addition, 65 million indirect beneficiaries profited from the UAE's global efforts in combating the spread of the virus, the statement said.

Meanwhile, Etihad Airways, effective June 10, said it will link 20 cities in Europe, Asia and Australia via Abu Dhabi.

The new transfer services will make it possible for those travelling on the airline's current network of special flights to connect easily through the UAE capital onwards to key global destinations.

Etihad recently launched links from Melbourne and Sydney to London Heathrow, allowing direct transfer connections to and from the UK capital via Abu Dhabi.

Easy transfer connections via Abu Dhabi will now be available from Jakarta, Karachi, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, Melbourne, Seoul, Singapore, Sydney, and Tokyo to major cities across Europe including Amsterdam, Barcelona, Brussels, Dublin, Frankfurt, Geneva, London Heathrow, Madrid, Milan, Paris Charles de Gaulle, and Zurich, the airline said.