NEW YORK: The latest member of the US president’s inner circle or senior Republican to come down with the virus in recent days is Donald Trump’s press secretary Kayleigh McEnany who on Monday announced that she has contracted coronavirus.

McEnany on Twitter said that she had tested negative since Thursday, when the president tested positive, and had no symptoms. Indicating that she intended to work during her quarantine period, she said no journalists were listed on her contact tracing information as having been in close contact with her.

A short time later, reports surfaced saying two other press office staffers also are positive, including a deputy press secretary, Chad Gilmartin.

Along with the president, she joins a list of positive White House and Trump campaign officials that includes First Lady Melania Trump, campaign boss Bill Stepien, senior aide Hope Hicks, Trump “body man” Nick Luna and others.

‘Don’t tell anybody’

The White House officials say Trump first tested positive on Thursday night, but a report published on Sunday evening claimed his first positive test was earlier that day.

“Don’t tell anybody,” he reportedly told one close aide before he jetted off to a campaign fundraiser at his New Jersey resort, according to media reports. He also knew Hicks had tested positive and was feeling poorly. What’s more, McEnany briefed reporters that day from the White House briefing room.

In her statement, she denied knowing of Hicks’ diagnosis.

“Moreover, I definitively had no knowledge of Hope Hicks’ diagnosis prior to holding a White House press briefing on Thursday,” she wrote.

Hicks is one of the president’s closest aides. They reportedly talk multiple times a day and she often is a member of his traveling party.

McEnany revived somewhat regular White House briefings, but her quarantine period, typically 14 days, means updates on the president’s health will continue to come from his medical team and Chief of Staff Mark Meadows – even though they have contradicted each other and sown confusion for two days.

She has held press briefings with no mask, and gaggled with reporters while not wearing one on Sunday in the White House driveway.

DUBAI/DNA

Sheikha Jawaher Bint Mohammed Al Qasimi, Wife of His Highness the Ruler of Sharjah, announces Dhs4.4 million grant for Peshawar cancer hospital

Following the directives of Her Highness Sheikha Jawaher Bint Mohammed Al Qasimi, Wife of His Highness the Ruler of Sharjah, Chairperson of The Big Heart Foundation (TBHF), and Founder and Royal Patron of the Friends Of Cancer Patients (FOCP), the Ameera Fund, a global fund run collaboratively by FOCP and TBHF, has announced the allocation of Dhs4.4 million for the procurement of state-of-the-art medical equipment to facilitate the commencement of surgical oncology services at the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre (SKMCH&RC) in Peshawar, Pakistan.

https://bit.ly/3izzGZY

Around 2,500 cancer patients will benefit from access to a wide range of high-quality surgical treatment options at two fully equipped operating rooms fitted out with financial assistance from the Ameera Fund. The contribution aims to support the leading humanitarian efforts of the Shaukat Khanum Hospital & Research Center in Peshawar by helping to enhance the facility’s overall capacity to offer specialised care to more patients, especially in the surgical field, and furthers the hospital’s goal of offering financial support to 75 per cent of its patients.The collaboration follows Her Highness Sheikha Jawaher’s visit to Pakistan in February this year when she met with several humanitarian organisations including the SKMCH&RC in Lahore.

Supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) and energy management systems (EMS) will be introduced into the electricity sector of Uzbekistan, the Ministry of Energy said.

This project is being implemented in accordance with the program “Digital Uzbekistan – 2030”, developed as part of the presidential decree “On measures for the widespread introduction of the digital economy and e-government” dated April 28, 2020, and the state program “Year of Development of Science, Education and Digital Economy”.

The goal of the project is to create a modern automated dispatching system for managing the electric power sector, its implementation is scheduled for 2020-2024. The investment project worth $90 million will be financed by the World Bank.

“The implementation of this project will make it possible to manage the electric power sector with the help of innovative solutions and modern digital technologies,” said Feruz Kurbanov, Deputy Chairman of the Board of JSC National Electricity Networks of Uzbekistan. “Moreover, through the use of energy-saving technologies in power transmission lines, it is envisaged to reduce energy losses in the system, online analysis of emergency situations, and increase the reliability and quality of power supply with the help of a modern integrated automated control system. Within the framework of the project, it is also planned to train and improve the qualifications of young specialists in developed countries”.

Work on the development of a technical-economic basis and tender documents for the implementation of supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) and energy management systems (EMS) in JSC National Electric Networks of Uzbekistan will be carried out in conjunction with the EDF-CIST company, selected through international tenders (Électricité de France – France).