Indian businessman dies of coronavirus in UAE
Abu Dhabi: A 62-year-old Indian businessman has died in Abu Dhabi after contracting the novel coronavirus, according to a media report.
PK Kareem Haji, who hailed from Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala, died on Thursday due to complications arising from coronavirus infection, his son Mohammad Abdul Gafoor told the Gulf News.
Haji was a former president of Abu Dhabi Kerala Muslim Cultural Centre (KMCC) and an active member in the Indian Islamic Centre and the Sunni Centre, the daily reported.
Gafoor said his father was a diabetes patient since 15 years. "Two weeks ago he complained of fever, cough. Our local doctor took a swab test and the result came positive (for coronavirus). My father was shifted to Burjeel Hospital in Abu Dhabi. His condition deteriorated and the last two days he was put on ventilator," Gafoor said. Haji is survived by his wife, three sons and four grandchildren.
The Indian community here is in "shock" with Haji's passing, the daily reported.
"We are in shock. Haji tested positive two weeks ago. His condition was pretty serious and he was put on ventilator. But on April 30 he died in the early hours of the morning at 12.36 am. The community is very sad," said Shukoor Ali Kallungan, president of KMCC, Abu Dhabi.
Haji's was leading the fight against coronavirus in Abu Dhabi. He was in-charge of a food drive feeding over 1,000 people. Haji was working with restaurants to send packed meals to workers during the country's sterilisation drive.
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Pakistan reports two more polio cases; Total tally now 52
ISLAMABAD: At least two more cases of poliovirus were reported in Pakistan, taking the number of infections to 52 so far this year, a report said on Friday.
“The Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health has confirmed the detection of two more wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) cases in Pakistan," an official statement said.
The fresh infections — a boy and a girl — were reported from the Dera Ismail Khan district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.
“Genetic sequencing of the samples collected from the children is underway," the statement read. Dera Ismail Khan, one of the seven polio-endemic districts of southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, has reported five polio cases so far this year.
Of the 52 cases in the country this year, 24 are from Balochistan, 13 from Sindh, 13 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and one each from Punjab and Islamabad.
There is no cure for polio. Only multiple doses of the oral polio vaccine and completion of the routine vaccination schedule for all children under the age of five can keep them protected.
