The South African government has asked drugmaker Serum Institute of India (SII) to take back the one million doses of the AstraZeneca-Oxford Covid-19 vaccines it had sent in early February, the Economic Times reported on Tuesday, a week after the country suspended the use of the shot after preliminary studies suggested limited effectiveness against the more contagious local variant of the virus.

South Africa received one million doses of the license-made AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine last week and another 500,000 were set to arrive in the next few weeks.

South Africa’s health minister previously noted that the vaccines which arrived from India have an expiry date in April and had asked SII to swap them out for doses with later expiry dates.

But after the vaccines roll out was halted last week, the minister said the government may sell the doses to other nations.

The country, which has yet to begin its vaccination program, will begin vaccinating health workers with the Johnson & Johnson single dose shot as part of an “implementation study” with researchers, although a date for the rollout has not yet been set.

The Economic Times report cited officials aware of the development, however, SII has not yet commented on the issue.

KEY BACKGROUND

Last week, South Africa halted plans to roll out the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine after a preliminary study suggested that the shot provides “minimal protection” against mild disease from the more contagious variant of the virus spreading in the country. This decision was made despite the World Health Organization giving emergency approval to the shot allowing it to be rolled out in several poorer nations. The AstraZeneca-Oxford shot is currently being rolled out in large scale across several countries including the U.K., India and it has also been approved for emergency use by the Australian government.

TANGENT

SII, the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer, has emerged as a key supplier of the AstraZeneca shot around the world. Even the U.K., which is home to AstraZeneca, is reportedly auditing SII’s sites for future orders of the vaccine amid a crunch in supplies. Last year, SII inked a deal with AstraZeneca to manufacture a billion doses of the Oxford vaccine for India and lower- and middle-income countries during the pandemic and sell it at the cost of production. The firm has a similar license manufacturing deal for Novavax’s vaccine candidate and is also developing its own vaccine.

BAHAWALPUR, FEB 16 – Samsung believes in making Innovation accessible to all and is committed to providing its products to customers all across Pakistan. As a reaffirmation of this resolve, Samsung inaugurated its Premium Outlet on Thursday, the 11th of February, 2021 in Bahawalpur, The inauguration was done by MD Samsung Pakistan & Afghanistan Mr. Roy Chang along with Head of Mobile Division Mr. Umer Ghumman and Mian Irfan Aziz, GM Telecom sales, Airlink communication Ltd. The ceremony was attended by the Samsung team as well as notable local media representatives.

This will enable customers in Bahawalpur to shop the entire range of Samsung Galaxy products with complete peace of mind and will be able to benefit from the expertise of Samsung’s expert customer representatives.

Located on Haqi Center opposite DC office chowk, University club road the newly inaugurated brand shop will offer official Samsung products, enabling patrons to avail benefits such as warranties and genuine accessories for their products all under one roof.

ISLAMABAD, FEB 16 (DNA) – The Virtual Teachers Training Academy Portal established at the Lahore Regional Centre of the Allama Iqbal Open University ) AIOU) will be available to teachers across Pakistan and will go a long way in eliminating physical barriers hindering the professional development of teachers, said Prof. Dr. Zia Ul-Qayyum, Vice Chancellor AIOU at the inaugural ceremony of the Portal today (Tuesday).

Raja Rashid Hafeez, Provincial Minister for Literacy and Non-Formal Basic Education was chief quest at while amongst others Secretary Literacy and Non-Formal Basic Education Department, Punjab, Waqas Ali Mahmood, Prof. Dr. Nasir Mahmood, Dean, Faculty of Education AIOU, Senior Education Advisor JICA-AQAL II Abid Gill, Dr. Shafqat Ali of National Commission for Human Development, Deputy Chief of Party of ALIGHT Pakistan, Kamran Iftikhar Lone, Raja Umer Younis, Director Coordination and Follow-up, AIOU, and Dr. Zahid Majeed were also present on this occasion. The Virtual Teachers Training Academy Portal has been jointly envisaged and established by AIOU, JICA, and ALIGHT, Pakistan.

Speaking at the ceremony the Provincial Minister, Raja Rasheed hoped that the Virtual Teachers Training Academy will go a long way in equipping teachers in far flung areas with the latest pedagogical skills and content knowledge leading to quality blended education of the pupils in non-formal schools and literacy. He lauded the services of AIOU in promotion of education in the country, and commended the efforts of Prof. Dr Zia for digitalization of the AIOU. He viewed that this the age of technology and every institution has to adopt the latest technology otherwise it will lag behind its competitors.

Professor Dr Zia Ul-Qayyum while explaining about the Portal said that, “it is basically a learning management system which includes content, quality videos, learning activities, assessment and feedback policy to achieve standard training performances of the teachers living across the country, especially the far flung areas. He said that AIOU soon all operations of the AIOU will be transferred to automated mode, and the university will be fully digitalized by July 2021, he hoped. The teachers residing in far off areas with no internet facilities will be able to avail the offline facility and manuals will be delivered to them via post or email to enhance their professional development and create a holistic teaching experience to engage students in activity based teaching, he added.

Deputy Chief of Party of ALIGHT Pakistan Kamran Iftikhar Lone appreciated AIOU for support in the development of the portal and training content/modules, which will help ensure that our educators and learners are primed for success. He said that this training portal will cater to the training needs of Non-Formal Education (NFE) teachers following formal or Accelerated Learning Programme (ALP) curriculum and teachers of adult literacy programme.

ISLAMABAD, FEB 16 – The Pakistan government has for the first time introduced the medical visa category in its revised visa policy, making it easier for people to enter Pakistan for health-related emergencies, the ministry of interior has said.

According to a letter issued by the interior ministry to the Director-General of Immigration and Passports, the federal cabinet approved new changes to the visa policy on Feb 2. The letter was published by Pakistani media on Monday.

Interior ministry spokesperson Zafaryab Khan told Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper the medical visa category had been introduced for the first time.
“Pak Missions abroad will issue Short Term Medical Visa to cater emergencies (Visa Type: Single Entry/Individual/Family/Attendant) … with duration up to 3 months within a stipulated timeframe of 48 hours subject to submission of requite documents by the applicant,” the interior ministry letter said, adding that security clearance would not be required for short term visas.

 For extended term medical visas of up to one year, the ministry of interior would approve them within 30 days after clearance from security agencies.

“Case shall be assumed as approved in case agencies response is not received within specified time,” the interior ministry document said.
The interior ministry said single-entry work visas for up to three months would be approved within 48 hours of the application’s submission.

Security clearance would not be required but intelligence agencies would be informed, according to the document. Security clearance would, however, be needed if an individual who had been issued a single-entry work visa sought an extension.

ISLAMABAD : Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has challenged the acceptance of nomination papers of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) central leader and former premier Yousaf Raza Gillani for Senate elections.

PTI’s Fareed Rehman alleged that Yousaf Raza Gillani has concealed the facts in the nomination papers. He stated that Gillani does not meet the criteria of Article 62 and he did not mention being a convicted person in his nomination papers.

Fareed Rehman sought rejection of Yousaf Raza Gillani’s nomination papers for the Senate polls.
Earlier on February 13, Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) had announced to support Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) candidate Gillani in Senate elections.

The decision was taken after a meeting between PML-N senior vice-president Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Gillani to hold consultations to field a joint candidate of Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM).

Two former premiers including Raja Pervez Ashraf and Shahid Khaqan Abbasi acted as proponent and seconder in the candidate’s paper.

ISLAMABAD : Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s passport will expire today (Tuesday) with Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed saying that the document cannot be renewed since the PML-N supremo’s name is on the no-fly list.

“If Nawaz Sharif wants to return to Pakistan, he will not be stopped,” said Sheikh Rasheed during a news conference. “However, a person whose name is on the Exit-Control List (ECL) can neither be issued a new passport nor can his existing one be renewed.”

The interior minister said that if the former prime minister wanted to return to the country, the government can issue him a permission within 72 hours.

He said that Sharif’s passport will expired at midnight tonight, criticising the former prime minister for taking “unfair advantage” of the high court’s decision to let him seek medical treatment abroad.

Rasheed said that Sharif had ‘deceived’ everyone by claiming that he needed to go abroad for medical treatment but had not sought it.

The Awami Muslim League chief said that all he could do about the entire matter is to issue the PML-N leader travel documents. “That is all I can do,” he said.

The interior minister, however, admitted that he was among those in the cabinet who voted in favour of letting Sharif go abroad to seek medical treatment.

“I won’t lie, I was among those who voted for him to be allowed to fly abroad,” he said. “

Speaking on the upcoming Senate elections, the interior minister said that there will be “no surprise” in the elections of the upper house, adding that Prime Minister Imran Khan will succeed in the polls.

Nawaz Sharif and his extradition from UK

The government has already approached UK authorities to extradite Nawaz Sharif. Special Assistant to PM Imran Khan on Accountability Shahzad Akbar had said earlier that it is up to the British government to decide on the extradition of the former premier.

The PML-N supremo was granted an eight-week bail on medical grounds in October 2019 and a month later, he was allowed to travel abroad for treatment for four weeks. The government maintains that Nawaz was permitted on condition that he would share details of the medical treatment which he didn’t opt for.

It may be added here that the deposed premier has been declared a proclaimed offender by the Islamabad High Court and an accountability court for failing to appear before the bench.

Adviser to Prime Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Babar Awan had said a few months ago that Nawaz’s stay in London would become illegal after his passport expires.

The only option for the PML-N supremo, after his passport expires, would be to come back to Pakistan and appear in court to face the cases against him, Awan had said.

Can Nawaz Sharif stay in UK after his passport expires?

A leading London immigration law firm spoke to Geo News earlier, saying that there are several options for the former premier to continue living in London even when his passport has expired, cancelled or revoked by the Pakistan government.

Hateem Ali, head of immigration at the leading London law firm GSC Solicitors LLP, had said former PM Nawaz Sharif can continue staying in London when and if his passport is cancelled – without claiming asylum.

The UK Home Office in any event allows those on medical visas normally up to 18 months on the grounds that he is receiving treatment in the UK, he had said.

Ali had said that Nawaz can “potentially extend this even further depending on the nature of the treatment and with the current global pandemic the UK immigration authorities can also take this into consideration and grant further extensions of stay if necessary”.

The immigration law expert had said: “Sharif could claim asylum potentially if he wants to, although it is unlikely that he would do so. He has the ability to claim statelessness (assuming he has no other nationality) if his citizenship has been revoked and he is left with no other nationality.”

The Pakistan government, however, may simply refuse to renew Nawaz’s passport rather than revoke his citizenship, Ali explained, adding that in this type of situation, it would be on Nawaz to prove to the Home Office that his citizenship has effectively been revoked.

He said another option for Nawaz is to apply for formal residence – from within the UK – in a new visa category either as an investor or any other business/employment option.

When you make such an application there is usually a check if there are any other criminal cases anywhere in the world, he said. This may create issues for Nawaz, but the UK authorities can use their discretion in such situations and generally, as long as Nawaz has a clean record in the UK, there are several options for him.