Mar 24: Saudi Arabia has recorded its first death from the coronavirus in a 51-year-old Afghani resident, Health Ministry spokesman Mohammed Abdelali told a televised news conference on Tuesday.
The man's health deteriorated quickly after reporting to a hospital emergency room in the city of Medina and he died on Monday night, Abdelali said.
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.
Apr 20: Eight Indians, including two engineers, have died due to the novel coronavirus in Saudi Arabia, according to a media report on Sunday.
Mohammed Aslam Khan, an electrical engineer in Makkah, and Azmatullah Khan, an engineer at the Makkah Haram power station, have died due to the COVID-19, Saudi Gazette reported.
Aslam Khan, aged 51, who hailed from Meerut in Uttar Pradesh, was admitted to King Faisal Hospital, Makkah on April 3, following worsening of his condition after being infected with fever and throat pain.
He had been on ventilator for more than two weeks and breathed his last on Saturday night, the paper said.
Khan is survived by wife and a daughter and a son. His wife and children are under self-imposed home quarantine.
Azmatullah Khan, from Telangana, died of coronavirus on Friday.
Mujeeb Pukkottoor, a prominent Indian social worker and general secretary of Makkah chapter of Kerala Muslim Cultural Center, told the paper that the body of Khan was buried in Makkah on Sunday.
Khan, aged 65, had been working with Saudi Binladin Group for the last 32 years.
Fakre Alam, an employee at the Haram Project of Saudi Binladin Group in Makkah, died on Sunday due to infection, the paper said.
Barkt Ali Abdullatif Fakir, an electrical technician working in Medina, also died of coronavirus, it said.
According to the Saudi Ministry of Health’s daily report published on April 14, the number of coronavirus infected cases among workers of Saudi Binladin Group in various parts of the Kingdom stood at 117, and these included 70 cases in Makkah.
The first two Indian fatalities were reported from Medina and Riyadh earlier this month with the death of Shebnaz Pala Kandiyil (29) and Safvan Nadamal (41), both from Kerala.
Mohammed Sadiq, from Hyderabad, working in Jeddah and Suleman Sayyid Junaid (Maharashtra) are other Indians who died due to COVID-19 in the Gulf kingdom, the paper said.
Shebnaz from Panoor in Kannoor district died on April 3 and his body was buried in Medina on April 7. He came back to the Kingdom March 3 after his marriage in January.
Safvan, a taxi driver from Chemmad in Malappuram district, died on April 2 and was buried in Riyadh on April 8.
Sharjah, May 28: The Ministry of Interior has warned the public against visiting wadis during bad weather conditions, including rainy seasons, to avoid the risk of getting caught in flash floods that could endanger their lives.
A video posted on its official Instagram account depicted several such incidents involving cars being swept away by floods.
The warning comes after four people were found dead this week in Sharjah's Wadi Al Helo, an area hit by floods during heavy rains that lashed the emirate, authorities said.
The National Search and Rescue Centre (NSRC) found the bodies as it conducted an operation to look for seven people who were reported missing amid the unstable weather conditions.
In a separate incident yesterday, 20 passengers of a bus that got stuck in Wadi Hatta's Umm Al Nosor area in Dubai were also rescued by police after their vehicle was swept away by floods.
The ministry urged the public to follow the directives issued for their own safety.
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