Week’s quarantine must if in contact with patient: AD
Adam Driver, best-known for his roles in TV show ‘Girls,’ features alongside France’s Marion Cotillard in a rollercoaster production tracing the rise and fall of a celebrity couple
Abu Dhabi Emergency, Crisis and Disasters Commitee, in collaboration with Abu Dhabi Public Health Centre, has updated the home quarantine guidelines for those in contact with a positive case, to protect the health and safety of all community members.
The health authorities said that even if the person is vaccinated, a seven-day quarantine period is must.
The person must take a PCR test on day six to make sure he/she is COVID-19 negative.
A wristband would be given to the person from the day he/she is declared a close contact with a COVID case. Authorities will only take off the wristband if the results are negative. Health experts have issued another set of guidelines for people who are not vaccinated. These people will be asked to do a 12-day quarantine period. On the 11th day of quarantine, they will be asked to take a PCR test. If the test result is negative, the authorities will remove the wristband.
The emergency team has set up a dedicated centre for PCR tests for these people at COVID-19 Prime Assessment Centres at Zayed Port, Mafraq Hospital and ADNEC. People registered with the home quarantine system can do a walk-in PCR test for free. The wristband will be removed ater obtaining a negative result.
The authorities said those who have difficulty in accessing the Prime Assessment Centres can just visit the Al Ain Convention Centre, Madinat Zayed in Al Dhafra as well as all SEHA hospitals in Al Dhafra.
The Health Ministry and Prevention (MOHAP) said that the Abu Dhabi EDE technology is the best system to detect COVID-19 cases in public places in minutes.
The authorities said, “EDE technology for infection detection is an innovative, fast and safe way to detect the possibility of infection with COVID-19 through remote investigation without the need to take samples for testing.”
Health experts during a media briefing on the latest development on COVID said, “The system achieved 93.5% in accuracy of identifying infected individuals, and 83% in identifying uninfected individuals.”
Meanwhile, MOHAP said the UAE has built a comprehensive healthcare system to detect and curb the spread of coronavirus in the society.
The spread is controlled via applying methods of early detection, fast response and professionalism when dealing with infected individuals and their contacts following the latest global practices.
Health experts said, “We recently witnessed a decrease in positive cases, confirming the health sector’s and concerned entities’ ability to control the spread of the virus.”
The Health Ministry on Tuesday announced 1,552 new coronavirus cases and four deaths in the UAE.
MOHAP noted that an additional 1,518 individuals had fully recovered from COVID-19. The Health Ministry also announced that 76,347 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine were administered during the past 24 hours. The total number of doses provided up to Tuesday stands at 15,650,988 with a rate of vaccine distribution of 158.24 doses per 100 people.
The Indian government slammed huge crowds at popular northern tourist spots, saying such “gross violations” of COVID-19 health measures could spark a new surge in infections.
With northern India sweltering in the summer heat ahead of the arrival of the annual monsoon, big crowds travelled to the picturesque Himalayan states of Utarakhand and Himachal Pradesh.
There was public outrage ater pictures and video emerged on social media of traffic congestion on the way to the popular sites and large numbers of people — some maskless — visiting shopping districts with no social distancing.
The famed Cannes Film Festival opens on Tuesday, and despite social distancing subduing some of its signature glamour, excitement is rife for the first fully fledged film festival since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
The world’s biggest film festival fell victim to the pandemic in 2020, and although stars will be allowed to go maskless on the red carpet this year, a health pass is required to enter, and there will be fewer glitzy parties. “COVID is still there, but being here in the opening film ... it’s a huge sense of relief and excitement,” US actor Adam Driver said. Driver kickstarts the festival co-starring with French actress Marion Cotillard in “Annete,” a musical directed by cult favourite Leos Carax.
UAE coronavirus cases decrease with early detection, people’s commitment to precautionary steps; country reports 1,552 cases, 4 deaths; EDE scanner best way to detect virus cases at public places in minutes; excitement as Cannes begins after pandemic.
“Annete,” the musical brainchild of enigmatic director Leos Carax and geeky pop duo Sparks, opened Cannes on Tuesday, with lead Adam Driver telling AFP he will sneak off during the screening to avoid seeing himself act. Driver, best- known for his roles in TV show “Girls” and the Star Wars franchise, features alongside France’s Marion Cotillard in a rollercoaster production tracing the rise and fall of a celebrity couple. It’s a film that brings together the supremely gited and the socially awkward as the stars sing their way through a story that began as an idea by Ron and Russell Mael, the eccentric Los Angeles pop duo Sparks.
But as an eager crowd climbs the Cannes steps on opening night for the first major postpandemic film festival, one man will be heading for the exit. “My plan is to go in and when the lights go down, I run,” Driver, who has a history of avoiding watching his own films, said.
He said he would try to find an empty office and sit out the screening while “playing with staplers” and making phone calls. Describing his usual technique, he said “then I go back, and when the lights come up, I stand up I pretend that I was there the whole time.”
If that stunt points to a touch of eccentricity, Driver is in good company. Strangeness is the stock in trade of French director Carax, who was once called a sadist by actor and exgirlfriend Juliete Binoche. Ever since bursting on the international scene with his “The Lovers on the Bridge,” he has had film lovers debating whether he is the best French filmmaker in generations, or just an oddball.
Adam Driver has picked his side: “He’s one of the best directors of all time,” he said. Meanwhile, the Mael brothers have had dibs on eccentricity in pop ever since topping the charts with “This Town Ain’t Big Enough For The Both Of Us” in 1974.
And some 25 albums later, they still have an uncanny knack for coupling musical elegance with tonal weirdness and unusual lyrics, resulting in a wealth of catchy pieces.
“Annete” was their idea, which they brought to Carax ater meeting him at Cannes at 2013. They feared that his intermitent engagement might mean that film would never see the light of day but “we kept the faith and Leos stayed focused on the project”, Ron Mael said. The result is a rock opera with musical styles ranging from danceable electro to classically inspired lyrical passages. The stars do most of their own singing which, Cotillard said, required “a major preparation effort in a very limited time,” adding that “music is a strong vector of emotion”. Neither is a trained singer, but that was not an issue, said Driver: “The singing was secondary to what our intentions were.” Night-time Los Angeles is the backdrop for the action, with a vintage-style motorcycle as Carax’s prop of choice, apart from a puppet that plays a very central role in the story.