KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) has introduced strict Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for entry into its premises to curb the potential spread of the coronavirus pandemic.
(more…)Tag: COVID-19
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Google announces vaccine requirement for its officials
Google is the first big tech company to announce a vaccine requirement for returning to its offices. The decision may push other tech companies to follow with similar moves.
Google will now require employees who work in its offices to be fully vaccinated and is pushing back its start date for when they need to report back to the office in response to the highly contagious delta variant spreading across the United States and around the world.
Google made the announcement in a note sent to employees from CEO Sundar Pichai on Wednesday.
In it, Pichai says the company has seen high vaccination rates for Google employees so far and that is why it is comfortable in bringing workers back into the office.
Currently, there are some early volunteers who are already working at various Google campuses.
“For those of you with special circumstances, we will soon be sharing expanded temporary work options that will allow you to apply to work from home through the end of 2021,” said Pichai in the note.
In the spring, Apple, Google, Facebook and Amazon started rolling out their return-to-office plans which largely involved a hybrid approach — three days of work in the office and two at home, starting for most employees in the fall.
For the most part, wearing masks was not going to be a requirement for vaccinated in-office workers at most companies, and getting vaccines was not mandated. Now the companies’ plans appear to going through another round of revisions.
Apple was the first company to change its fall 2021 return-to-office date, announcing in July that workers would not be required back until October instead of the previously announced date in September.
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Get $100 for coronavirus vaccination
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has announced to pay $100 for people to get vaccinated against the coronavirus.
New Yorkers, who get their first vaccine dose, starting Friday at a city-run vaccination site will get a $100 incentive, the mayor announced Wednesday.
News reports quoted De Blasio as saying the $100 will make a “big impact, particularly in a world in which more and more things are going to be determined by whether you’re vaccinated or not.”
“We wanted to supercharge it by saying we’ll give you extra, direct personal incentive to get this done now.”
Residents and city employees will receive a $100 prepaid debit card, said Rachel Loeb, president of the New York City Economic Development Corporation.
Residents can immediately redeem the card digitally, or receive a physical debit card.
The incentive is the latest the mayor has announced to get the city vaccinated. De Blasio said Wednesday that 9,902,097 doses have been administered.
Fifty-nine percent of the city’s population has received one dose of a coronavirus vaccine, according to data from the city, while 54 percent have been fully inoculated.
• AFL-CIO backing vaccine requirement for workers
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On Monday, de Blasio said that all city employees would need to be fully vaccinated or undergo frequent coronavirus testing by September 13.
The mayor said that while vaccine mandates are a “crucial part” of the solution, mandates work well with incentives.
“We’ve talked the last few days about mandates, and there’s no question in my mind that mandates are a crucial part of the solution, and we’ll keep working on those. But we also still believe in incentives. Incentives help immensely. Both go well together,” de Blasio quoted as saying.
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Tax exemption allowed on import of 30 million face masks
In a proactive move to support the ongoing efforts in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has granted a significant tax exemption on the import of 30 million face masks.
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FBR officials ordered strictly follow COVID SOPs
The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has issued a stern directive to its officials, emphasizing the strict adherence to Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
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FPCCI opposes new SOPs by Sindh government
KARACHI: The Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI), the apex trade body of the country, has voiced concerns over the enforcement of new Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for COVID-19 prevention by the Sindh government.
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Pak Oxygen invests Rs2.5bn for ASU setup
KARACHI: Pakistan Oxygen Limited on Monday announced to set up an Air Separation Unit (ASU) with an amount of Rs2.5 billion.
The company will set up the unit in the northern of Pakistan. This is company’s fifth ASU plant in the country.
The board of directors of the company approved the investment plan on July 16, 2021. The investment will meet the growing demand of Oxygen in the country. It will meet demand from healthcare and industrial segments.
The company hoped new plant to come on stream by 2023. It made efforts to meet demand for COVID-19 patients. The company will install ASU plant in Khyber Pkhtunkwha province. The new ASU shall serve the various CPEC related projects in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
The company approved around Rs10 billion. The largest investment of this is Rs6.3 billion for under construction plant at Port Qasim Karachi.
The company has three ASU plants in two major cities. These ASU plants have combined capacity of 263 tons per day.
In February this year company announced investment of Rs417.5 million to set up European technology electrode manufacturing in Karachi.
Pakistan Oxygen Limited is a leading supplier of industrial and medical gases. It provides pipeline services and welding solutions.
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Knowledge Platform launches free online solution for exam preparation
ISLAMABAD: To enhance continued support to teachers and students, Knowledge Platform has launched a free online examination preparation solution called ‘Exam Prep Master’.
This solution will prepare SSC students, who are studying to appear in the Federal and Punjab Boards’ Matriculation examinations in July 2021.
Knowledge Platform, a leading ed-tech organisation in Pakistan, is aware of the challenges schools, teachers, and students face to effectively prepare for the board examinations.
Talhah Munir Khan, CEO, Knowledge Platform, stated: “Covid-19 has changed the way students are obliged to prepare for their board exams. With zero or less classes being held, the resources are limited for exam preparation.
“To address this issue, we have come up with a solution suitable for students and teachers whereby they can prepare for their examinations in a short time span. We are obliged to assist our youth in these unprecedented and difficult times, and we will continue our support for them with innovative learning solutions.”
‘Exam Prep Master’ is an online preparation platform that includes a wide range of selected practice questions with solutions, based on past board examination papers.
The aim is to support the students academically and reduce their exam-related anxiety by providing a real-life examination experience, thus, helping them prepare in limited available time for their board exams.
The online preparation solution is comprised of Mock Exams, Animated Video Lessons, Exam Tips, Cheat Sheets and Past Papers. Other key features and benefits of this examination preparation solution include free of cost support for all, Grades Covered from 9th and 10th, biology, chemistry, mathematics, physics subjects are covered in this solution.
Self-diagnostic test to check if students are ready for the board exam, two mock tests of 20 questions each per grade per subject, to help students practice, weekly publishing of additional mock tests and solutions within study groups, immediate availability of report card showing students’ strong and weak skills are the key features of this solution.
Opportunity for students to study at their own pace using a mobile phone, tablet, or laptop in the comfort of their homes. Students may directly register for the online examination preparation programme from Learn Smart Pakistan.
Knowledge Platform, the leading learning solutions company in Pakistan, is already working with 450,000+ students and 1,000+ schools across Pakistan.
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SBP allows banks to charge fee on high value transactions
KARACHI: State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Wednesday allowed banks to charge a minimal fee on high-value transactions of Interbank Fund Transfer (IBFT).
The central bank in a statement said that the new instructions allow banks and other service providers to charge a minimal fee on high-value transactions while protecting and encouraging the low-income segments of population to continue using digital transactions free of cost.
The SBP directed banks to provide free of cost digital fund transfer services to individual customers up to, at least, a minimum aggregate sending limit of Rs25,000 per month per account/wallet. However, banks may choose to set this aggregate limit at a higher amount as well.
This would allow individual customers to make as many free fund transfer transactions remaining within their aggregate monthly limit of free transfers.
For transactions above the aggregate limit of Rs25,000 per account in a month, banks may charge individual customers, a transaction fee of no more than 0.1% of the transaction amount or Rs200, whichever is lower.
This will enable service providers to recover part of costs they incur on providing inter-bank fund transfer service and build sustainable and innovative business models.
Nevertheless, the new instructions encourage banks to provide free of cost digital fund transfer services to their customers to promote adoption of digital payments in the country.
SBP has also advised banks that all digital fund transfer transactions between different accounts within the same bank (intra-bank fund transfers) shall remain free. Further, incoming interbank fund transfer transactions shall also remain free. SBP has further directed banks to ensure proper disclosure of charged and free IBFT amounts along with applicable fees to their customers by sending regular notifications through SMS, apps and email. After every digital transaction, banks are required to send free of charge SMS to their customers on their registered mobile numbers intimating them about the transaction amount and the charges being recovered.
In order to provide seamless digital banking services to the public, SBP has further advised banks to remove any limits on the number of fund transfer transactions on their customer accounts/wallets unless there are genuine concerns related to AML/CFT or frauds.
To cope with the extraordinary situation of lockdowns amid Covid-19 Pandemic in 2020, SBP advised banks and other service providers in March 2020 to offer free of cost Inter Bank Fund Transfer (IBFT) services to all their customers regardless of the size of transaction. The objective was to facilitate bank customers to meet their banking services needs through online services during exceptionally difficult times and to avoid in person interaction to curb the spread of COVID. This step resulted in an overwhelming response by customers, with internet and mobile banking transactions more than doubling in Q2FY21 over the last year.
The SBP appreciates the support of all service providers for this initiative by allowing free of cost interbank fund transfer services to the public without recovering their operational cost and incurring substantial revenue losses.
It is encouraging that the Covid-19 situation has improved significantly and despite fluctuating number of cases the overall conditions now allow relaxations in mobility restrictions while following proper SOPs. In this backdrop, SBP reviewed the current IBFT pricing mechanism and has made some changes to ensure that free of charge IBFT services are provided by banks and other financial institutions on a sustainable basis.
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Karachi Chamber organizes COVID vaccination facility
KARACHI: The Karachi Chamber of Commerce & Industry (KCCI) in collaboration with Red Crescent Society organized a daylong COVID-19 Vaccination Facility on Saturday, which was attended by scores of members, general public, managing committee members and the staff.
According to a statement issued, single dose Cansinobio vaccine recently introduced by the government for people above 30 years of age was given to visitors who appreciated numerous arrangements made at KCCI where people were being vaccinated in a pleasant and hassle-free environment.
President KCCI Shariq Vohra, while commenting on the occasion, stated that every single citizen of not just Karachi but the whole country must get themselves vaccinated at the earliest in order to save themselves and their loved ones from the life-threatening COVID-19 pandemic.
He also appreciated all the efforts being made by the Federal and Sindh Governments who were trying their level best to somehow contain further spread of COVID-19 pandemic but the public must also join hands and come forward to fight against the pandemic by getting themselves vaccinated as quickly as possible.
He particularly mentioned that the efforts made Senior Vice President Saqib Goodluck, Chairman of KCCI’s Health & Education Subcommittee Jawed Siddiq Mittiwala and Advisor Ateeq ur Rehman deserve to be applauded that resulted in setting up of an ideal vaccination center for a day at KCCI. “More such initiatives have to be taken under Businessmen Group’s policy of public service to not only serve the business and industrial community but also all the citizens of Karachi without any discrimination”, he added.