Saudi, UAE labs and clinics lead bidding for express COVID-19 test

This picture taken on March 16, 2020 shows an electronic billboard displaying a message by the Saudi health ministry advising people to wash their hands for 40 seconds as a precaution against COVID-19 coronavirus disease, along Tahli street in the centre of the Saudi capital Riyadh. (AFP)
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Updated 16 March 2020
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Saudi, UAE labs and clinics lead bidding for express COVID-19 test

  • The two Gulf countries joined Austria in their preliminary bids for the purchase of more than 500,000 kits
  • The detecting system was granted funding by the Supervisory Board of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF)

DUBAI: Laboratories and clinics in Saudi Arabia and the UAE have made bids for a new accelerated testing system that could lead to the early detection of COVID-19.

The two Gulf countries joined Austria in their preliminary bids for the purchase of more than 500,000 kits.

The announcement comes after the system was granted funding by the Supervisory Board of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), Russia’s sovereign wealth fund and could be ready by April, 2020. 

“From the very beginning of the spread of the virus, RDIF, together with international partners, has been actively searching for the most effective technologies and methods for controlling coronavirus,” Kirill Dmitriev, CEO of RDIF.

“The activities of the Centre of Expertise will make it possible to quickly find the best methods, which will significantly reduce the time of diagnosis and help scale the most effective world practices.”

And he said the network of international partnerships with the leading investors around the world “strengthened RDIF’s expertise on the best world practices in various fields, including the combat against coronavirus, and enables the promotion of successful Russian technologies in international markets.” 

The system uses special technology that helps to accelerate the detection of coronavirus without the need for a stationary laboratory, within 30 minutes.

“This express testing system reflects successful cooperation between Russian and Japanese companies and scientists,” a statement from the RDIF explained.

“Full scale use of the testing system is expected in April 2020.” 

The system has been adapted so that it can be used in fixed and mobile lab environments – small enough to fit in a suitcase and can therefore be used anywhere, including hospitals and public institutions.

“Large-scale use of the system will help prevent the spread of coronavirus infection through the rapid detection of infected individuals,” the statement added.

It went on to explain that the early detection will increase the effectiveness of treating infected people. 

“According to RDIF’s analysis of the best technologies for testing for coronavirus, this technology is the most advanced.”

Russian-Japanese tests on the system began at the start of March, 2020 in the Vector scientific center of the Federal Service for Surveillance of Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing (Rospotrebnadzor). 

The RDIF is promoting the technology in foreign markets, and the developed system is undergoing an accelerated certification process and obtaining the necessary permits in Europe, Asia and the Middle East.


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UNRWA chief vows to continue aid to Palestinians despite Israeli ban

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World must keep pressure on Israel after Gaza truce: Palestinian PM

OSLO: The international community will have to maintain pressure on Israel after an hoped-for ceasefire in Gaza so it accepts the creation of a Palestinian state, Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Mustafa said on Wednesday.
A ceasefire agreement appears close following a recent round of indirect talks between Israel and Hamas, with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken saying late Tuesday that a deal to end the 15-month war was “on the brink.”
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He was speaking at the start of the third meeting of the Global Alliance for the Implementation of the Two-State Solution to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, gathering representatives from some 80 states and organizations in Oslo.
Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide, the host of the meeting, said a “ceasefire is the prerequisite for peace, but it is not peace.”
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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, firmly supported by US President-elect Donald Trump, is opposed to the creation of a Palestinian state.
Israel is not represented at the Oslo meeting.
Norway angered Israel when it recognized the Palestinian state, together with Spain and Ireland, last May, a move later followed by Slovenia.
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The then-head of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, Israeli prime minister and his foreign minister were honored for signing the Oslo accords a year earlier, which laid the foundation for Palestinian autonomy with the goal of an independent state.


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Syrians in uproar after volunteers paint over prison walls

DAMASCUS: Families of missing persons have urged Syria’s new authorities to protect evidence of crimes under president Bashar Assad, after outrage over volunteers painting over etchings on walls inside a former jail.
Thousands poured out of prisons after Islamist-led rebels toppled Assad last month, but many Syrians are still looking for traces of tens of thousands of relatives and friends who went missing.
In the chaos following his ouster, with journalists and families rushing to detention centers, official documents have been left unprotected, with some even looted or destroyed.
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A petition appeared on Tuesday calling for the new Syrian authorities to better protect evidence, and give investigating the fate of those forcibly disappeared under Assad “the highest priority.”
It slammed what it called “the insensitive treatment of the sanctity” of former detention centers.
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The president of the International Committee for the Red Cross said last week determining the fate of those who went missing during Syria’s civil war would be a “huge challenge.”
Mirjana Spoljaric said the ICRC was following 43,000 cases, but that was probably just a fraction of the missing.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor, says more than 100,000 people have died in detention from torture or dire health conditions across Syria since 2011.


Iran’s navy unveils its first signals intelligence ship

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Iran’s navy unveils its first signals intelligence ship

DUBAI: Iran’s navy received its first signals intelligence ship on Wednesday, semi-official Tasnim news organization reported, a few days after the country’s army took delivery of 1,000 new drones.
The Zagros is a new category of military vessel equipped with electronic sensors and the ability to intercept cyber-operations and conduct intelligence monitoring, Tasnim said.
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Earlier this month, Iran started two-month-long military exercises which have already included war games in which the elite Revolutionary Guards defended key nuclear installations in Natanz against mock attacks by missiles and drones.
The military drills and procurement come at a time of high tensions with arch-enemy Israel and the United States under incoming US president Donald Trump.
In October, the spokesperson of Iran’s government said the country plans to raise its military budget by around 200 percent to face growing threats.