Emirates passengers to undergo COVID-19 blood tests before boarding

Passengers undergo blood testing for COVID-19 before boarding an Emirates flight to Tunisia at Dubai International Airport on April 15, Dubai. (Photo courtesy: Emirates Airlines)
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Updated 16 April 2020
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Emirates passengers to undergo COVID-19 blood tests before boarding

  • The test results will be available within 10 minutes
  • Emirates says they plan to scale up testing capabilities in the future

ISLAMABAD: In a step to make air travel possible again, Emirates has started conducting rapid-on site COVID-19 blood tests on its passengers.

According to a statement released by the airline, the first rapid tests took place on Wednesday at Dubai International Airport, with passengers on a flight to Tunisia. Results were available within 10 minutes.
 
The tests were conducted by the Dubai Health Authority at the group check-in area of Terminal 3.




A man undergoes blood testing for COVID-19 before boarding an Emirates flight at Dubai International Airport. (Photo courtesy: Emirates)

"We are working on plans to scale up testing capabilities in the future and extend it to other flights, this will enable us to conduct on-site tests and provide immediate confirmation for Emirates passengers traveling to countries that require COVID-19 test certificates," Emirates chief operating officer Adel Al-Redha said.

The airline has also modified its check-in and boarding procedures to follow social distancing requirements and asked all passengers to wear masks at all times, even onboard flights.

Magazines and other print reading material will not be available on board, while food and beverages will be offered in modified packaging to reduce any infection risk. Carry-on items allowed in the cabin will be limited to laptops, handbags, briefcases and baby items.

The company said all Emirates aircraft will go through enhanced cleaning and disinfection processes in Dubai, after each journey.


Iraqi police clash with paramilitary fighters who stormed government building

PMF is an umbrella group of mostly Shiite paramilitary factions that was formally integrated into Iraq’s state security forces.
Updated 50 min 11 sec ago
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Iraqi police clash with paramilitary fighters who stormed government building

  • PMF fighters burst into the building during an administrative meeting, causing panic among staff who alerted police
  • Security sources and three employees at the scene said the fighters had wanted to stop the office’s former director from being replaced

BAGHDAD: A gunbattle erupted in Iraq’s capital on Sunday between police and fighters from a state-sanctioned paramilitary force that includes Iran-backed groups, killing at least one police officer and leading to the arrest of 14 fighters, authorities said.
The clash broke out in Baghdad’s Karkh district after a group of fighters from the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) stormed an Agriculture Ministry building as a new director was being sworn in, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.
The PMF, known in Arabic as Hashd Al-Shaabi, is an umbrella group of mostly Shiite paramilitary factions that was formally integrated into Iraq’s state security forces and includes several groups aligned with Iran.
According to the Interior Ministry, the PMF fighters burst into the building during an administrative meeting, causing panic among staff who alerted police.
Security sources and three employees at the scene said the fighters had wanted to stop the office’s former director from being replaced.
A statement from the Joint Operations Command, which reports directly to Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani, confirmed that the detainees were PMF members and had been referred to the judiciary. At least one police officer was killed and nine others were wounded, police and hospital sources said.
Sudani ordered the formation of a committee to investigate the incident, the command said.
The arrested fighters belong to “PMF brigades 45 and 46,” the statement added. Both brigades are affiliated with Kataib Hezbollah, an Iran-aligned Iraqi armed group, according to Iraqi security officials and sources within the PMF.


Jordan and UAE carry out humanitarian airdrops over Gaza as aid efforts intensify

Updated 27 July 2025
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Jordan and UAE carry out humanitarian airdrops over Gaza as aid efforts intensify

  • Royal Jordanian Air Force and UAE Air Force C-130 aircraft joint operation airlifted 25 tons of food and basic necessities into Strip

GAZA: The Jordan Armed Forces and the UAE carried out three humanitarian airdrops on Sunday to deliver vital food and supplies to several areas across the Gaza Strip, the Jordan News Agency reported.

Using Royal Jordanian Air Force and UAE Air Force C-130 aircraft, the joint operation airlifted 25 tons of food and basic necessities amid worsening humanitarian conditions in the war-torn enclave.

The operation forms part of Jordan’s ongoing relief efforts, conducted in coordination with the Jordan Hashemite Charity Organisation and international partners, to support the Palestinian population and ease the impact of the conflict, JNA added.

The UAE also said on Saturday that it would resume aid drops over Gaza at once, citing the “critical” humanitarian situation in the blockaded territory, where aid groups have warned of mass starvation.

“The humanitarian situation in Gaza has reached a critical and unprecedented level,” UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al-Nahyan said in a post on X.

“We will ensure essential aid reaches those most in need, whether through land, air or sea. Air drops are resuming once more, immediately.”

Since the outbreak of war, the Jordanian military has completed 127 airdrops, in addition to 267 conducted in cooperation with other nations.

While airdrops offer a rapid way to deliver emergency aid to areas that are otherwise inaccessible, officials stress that ground convoys remain the most effective and prioritized method of delivering humanitarian assistance.

To date, Jordan has sent 181 land convoys into Gaza in coordination with the JHCO, the World Food Programme, and World Central Kitchen. These convoys have delivered a total of 7,932 trucks loaded with aid.


UN aid chief welcomes ‘humanitarian pauses’ in Gaza

Updated 27 July 2025
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UN aid chief welcomes ‘humanitarian pauses’ in Gaza

  • OCHA says UN teams in place to ramp up deliveries into the Palestinian territory ‘as soon as they are allowed to do so’
  • OCHA notes constraints imposed by the Israeli authorities had hampered humanitarians’ ability to respond

GENEVA: The United Nations’ aid chief welcomed Israel’s announcement Sunday of secure land routes into Gaza for humanitarian convoys, and said the UN would try to reach as many starving people as possible.

“Welcome announcement of humanitarian pauses in Gaza to allow our aid through,” UN emergency relief coordinator Tom Fletcher said on X.

“In contact with our teams on the ground who will do all we can to reach as many starving people as we can in this window.”

Fletcher’s UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warned Friday that conditions on the ground in Gaza were “already catastrophic and deteriorating fast.”

“The starvation crisis is deepening,” it said, warning that hunger and malnutrition increase the risk of illnesses, and adding that the consequences can quickly “turn deadly.”

It said that “the trickle of supplies that are making it into the Strip are nowhere near adequate to address the immense needs.”

OCHA said UN teams were in place to ramp up deliveries into the Palestinian territory “as soon as they are allowed to do so.”

“If Israel opens the crossings, lets fuel and equipment in, and allows humanitarian staff to operate safely, the UN will accelerate the delivery of food aid, health services, clean water and waste management, nutrition supplies, and shelter materials,” it said.

OCHA said constraints imposed by the Israeli authorities had hampered humanitarians’ ability to respond.

It said that on Thursday, for example, out of 15 attempts to coordinate humanitarian movements inside Gaza, four were “outright denied,” with another three impeded.

One was postponed, and two others had to be canceled, meaning only five missions went ahead.

On Friday OCHA issued an aid delivery plan in the event of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.


Israeli army says two soldiers killed in south Gaza

Updated 27 July 2025
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Israeli army says two soldiers killed in south Gaza

  • Israeli military sources said they were killed when their armored vehicle exploded in the city of Khan Yunis

JERUSALEM: Two Israeli soldiers were killed in combat in southern Gaza on Sunday, the military said, a day after confirming another soldier had died of wounds sustained last week.
“We have lost three young heroes — some of our finest — who gave their lives for the security of our state and the return of all our hostages,” Defense Minister Israel Katz said on X.
The two soldiers, aged 20 and 22, served in the Golani Infantry Brigade’s 51st Battalion.
Israeli military sources said they were killed when their armored vehicle exploded in the city of Khan Yunis.
Military correspondents from several Israeli media outlets said the blast was caused by an improvised explosive device detonated by a militant who emerged from a tunnel.
An investigation was underway.
The Israeli military says 462 soldiers have been killed since the start of its ground offensive in Gaza on October 27, 2023.
Israel launched its Gaza military campaign after Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack, which resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
The Israeli campaign has killed 59,733 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.


Activist boat Handala seized off Gaza brought to Israel

Updated 27 July 2025
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Activist boat Handala seized off Gaza brought to Israel

  • The ship’s interception comes as Israel faces mounting international criticism over the worsening humanitarian situation in Gaza

Israeli forces brought the pro-Palestinian activist boat Handala into the port of Ashdod on Sunday, after seizing the vessel in international waters and detaining the crew, an AFP journalist saw.
Campaigners from the Freedom Flotilla Coalition had attempted to breach an Israeli naval blockade of the Palestinian territory of Gaza, but were intercepted late Saturday.
The legal rights centre Adalah told AFP its lawyers were in Ashdod and had demanded to speak to the 21-strong international crew, which includes two French parliamentarians and two Al Jazeera journalists.
"Israeli forces intercepted the Handala in international waters at around midnight on 27 July 2025 and contact with the activists was lost. This peaceful civilian mission was dedicated to the children of Gaza," the group said.
"This ship, which sailed as part of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, is part of the coalition's ongoing efforts to break Israel's illegal and deadly blockade on the Palestinian people in Gaza."
Earlier, the Israeli foreign ministry said the Israeli navy stopped the Handala to prevent it from entering the coastal waters off the territory of Gaza.
"The vessel is safely making its way to the shores of Israel. All passengers are safe," it said.
Just before midnight local time on Saturday, video live stream broadcast from the Handala showed Israeli troops boarding the vessel. An online tracker showed the ship in international waters west of Gaza.
The ship had been on course to try to break an Israeli naval blockade of Gaza and bring a small quantity of humanitarian aid to the territory's Palestinian residents.
The Handala's crew had said before their capture in a post on X that they would go on a hunger strike if the Israeli army intercepted the boat and detained its passengers.
On board were activists from 10 countries, including two French MPs form the left-wing France Unbowed party, Emma Fourreau and Gabrielle Cathala.
A previous boat sent by Freedom Flotilla, the Madleen, was also intercepted by the Israeli military in international waters on June 9 and towed to Ashdod.
It carried 12 campaigners, including prominent Swedish activist Greta Thunberg. The activists were eventually expelled by Israel.