Day: July 31, 2022

New York has declared a public health emergency due to a monkeypox outbreak. Mayor Eric Adams and Department of Health and Mental Hygiene Commissioner Dr. Ashwin Vasan made the announcement Saturday.

The two officials said in a joint statement that “New York City is currently the epicenter of the outbreak, and we estimate that approximately 150,000 New Yorkers may currently be at risk for monkeypox exposure.”

“Over the past few weeks, we have moved as quickly as possible to expand outreach and access to vaccines and treatment to keep people safe,” the officials said. “We will continue to work with our federal partners to secure more doses as soon as they become available. This outbreak must be met with urgency, action, and resources, both nationally and globally, and this declaration of a public health emergency reflects the seriousness of the moment.”

On Friday, New York state Governor Kathy Hochul issued an executive order declaring a state disaster emergency because of the monkeypox outbreak. In her executive order, Hochul said that “More than one in four monkeypox cases in this country are in New York State.” Her declaration also expanded the number of health care individuals who can administer the monkeypox vaccines.

The World Health Organization has declared the global monkeypox outbreak a public health emergency of international concern.

WHO chief Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said recently that while 98% of global monkeypox cases “are among men who have sex with men, anyone exposed can get monkeypox, which is why WHO recommends that countries take action to reduce the risk of transmission to other vulnerable groups, including children, pregnant women and those who are immunosuppressed.”

Tedros said, “In addition to transmission through sexual contact, monkeypox can be spread in households through close contact between people, such as hugging and kissing, and on contaminated towels or bedding.”

Source: Voice of America

BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 31. The Central Bank of Iran (CBI) announced an official rate of foreign currencies on July 31, Trend reports referring to CBI.

According to the currency exchange rate of the Central Bank of Iran, 20 currencies have grown and 14 have decreased in price, compared to July 30.

According to CBI, $1 equals 42,000 Iranian rials and 1 euro equals 42,946 rials.

Currency Iranian rial on July 31 Iranian rial on July 30

1 US dollar USD 42,000 42,000

1 British pound GBP 51,155 51,177

1 Swiss franc CHF 44,091 44,140

1 Swedish krona SEK 4,156 4,123

1 Norwegian krone NOK 4,346 4,342

1 Danish krone DKK 5,768 5,755

1 Indian rupee INR 530 530

1 UAE dirham AED 11,437 11,437

1 Kuwaiti dinar KWD 136,562 136,811

100 Pakistani rupees PKR 17,493 17,486

100 Japanese yens JPY 31,522 31,519

1 Hong Kong dollar HKD 5,351 5,351

1 Omani rial OMR 109,233 109,235

1 Canadian dollar CAD 32,811 32,808

1 New Zealand dollar NZD 26,384 26,363

1 South African rand ZAR 2,532 2,527

1 Turkish lira TRY 2,345 2,344

1 Russian ruble RUB 675 669

1 Qatari riyal QAR 11,539 11,539

100 Iraq dinars IQD 2,878 2,875

1 Syrian pound SYP 17 17

1 Australian dollar AUD 29,355 29,330

1 Saudi riyal SAR 11,200 11,201

1 Bahraini dinar BHD 111,702 111,704

1 Singapore dollar SGD 30,423 30,405

100 Bangladeshi takas BDT 44,309 44,374

10 Sri Lankan rupees LKR 1,172 1,170

1 Myanmar kyat MMK 23 23

100 Nepalese rupees NPR 33,073 33,065

1 Libyan dinar LYD 8,649 8,660

1 Chinese yuan CNY 6,228 6,228

100 Thai baths THB 115,664 115,444

1 Malaysian ringgit MYR 9,438 9,438

1,000 South Korean wons KRW 32,220 32,152

1 Jordanian dinar JOD 59,238 59,239

1 euro EUR 42,946 42,845

100 Kazakh tenge KZT 8,806 8,803

1 Georgian lari GEL 15,219 15,219

1,000 Indonesian rupiahs IDR 2,810 2,827

1 Afghan afghani AFN 468 468

1 Belarus ruble BYN 16,634 16,668

1 Azerbaijani manat AZN 24,706 24,707

100 Philippine pesos PHP 75,857 74,066

1 Tajik somoni TJS 4,123 4,122

1 Turkmen manat TMT 12,007 12,025

In Iran, the official exchange rate is used for the import of some essential products.

SANA system is a system introduced by the Central Bank of Iran to the currency exchange offices, where the price of 1 euro is 292,920 rials, and the price of $1 is 286,465 rials.

NIMA is a system intended for the sale of a certain percentage of the foreign currency gained from export.

The price of 1 euro in this system is 270,790 rials, and the price of $1 is 264,823 rials.

On the black market, $1 is worth about 316,000-319,000 rials, while 1 euro is worth about 324,000-327,000 rials.

Source: TREND News Agency

Whether it’s abstinence, avoiding nightclubs, limiting sexual partners or pushing for a swift vaccine rollout, Spain’s gay community is on the front line of the monkeypox virus and is taking action.

“With this monkey thing, I prefer to be careful. … I don’t have sex anymore, I don’t go to parties anymore, and that’s until I’m vaccinated and have some immunity,” said Antonio, a 35-year-old from Madrid who declined to give his last name.

Antonio, who often went to nightclubs and sometimes to sex parties, decided to act as cases continued to increase.

Spain on Saturday reported its second monkeypox-related death.

Outside of Africa, the only other such death has been in Brazil.

More than 18,000 cases have been detected throughout the world outside of Africa since the beginning of May, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Spain is one of the world’s worst-hit countries. The health ministry’s emergency and alert coordination center put the number of infected people at 4,298.

As cases increase globally, the WHO has called on the group currently most affected by the virus, men who have sex with men, to limit their sexual partners.

Lack of vaccines

“This is not like Covid, the vaccine already exists, there’s no need to invent it. If it wasn’t a queer disease, we would have acted more — and faster,” said Antonio.

Like other members of the gay community, he believes the authorities have not done enough.

NGOs have denounced a lack of prevention, a shortage of vaccines and stigmatization linked to the virus.

This is despite the WHO declaring the monkeypox outbreak a global health emergency.

Early signs of the disease include a high fever, swollen lymph glands and a chickenpox-like rash.

The disease usually heals by itself after two to three weeks, sometimes taking a month.

A smallpox vaccine from Danish drug maker Bavarian Nordic, marketed under the name Jynneos in the United States and Imvanex in Europe, has been found to protect against monkeypox.

It took Antonio three weeks to get an appointment to be vaccinated, after logging on to the official website every day at midnight.

Appointments “are going as fast as tickets to the next Beyonce concert,” another said.

So far, Spain has only received 5,300 doses, which arrived in late June.

The Spanish health ministry declined to comment when contacted by AFP.

‘Anyone can catch it’

Nahum Cabrera of the FELGTBI+ NGO, an umbrella group of more than 50 LGBTQ organizations from all over Spain, insists there is an urgent need to vaccinate those most at risk.

That means not just gay men, but anyone who has “regular sex with multiple partners, as well as those who frequent swingers’ clubs, LGTBI saunas, etc.,” he said.

“It risks creating a false sense of security among the general population, and they relax into thinking that they are safe and that it only happens to men who have sex with men,” he said.

The target age group for vaccination is those ages 18 and 46, he added.

Older people are vaccinated against smallpox which was eradicated in Europe in the early 1970s.

“We are facing a health emergency… that affects the LGBTI community, so people think it is insignificant, that it is not serious,” said Ivan Zaro, of the Imagina MAS (Imagine More) NGO. “This is exactly what happened 40 years ago with HIV.”

Image director Javier spent three days in hospital in early July after becoming infected.

The 32-year-old, who is in a monogamous relationship, said he still did not know how he had caught it.

“I warn everyone,” he said. “It’s an infectious disease, anyone can catch it.”

Source: Voice of America

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said the ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’ is turning into a mass movement and urged people to put ‘tiranga’ as a profile picture of their social media accounts between August 2 and 15, Trend reports citing The Tribune.

In his ‘Mann ki Baat’ radio broadcast, Modi noted that under the ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’ programme to mark the 75th anniversary of India’s Independence, a special campaign ‘Har Ghar Tiranga’ is being organised between August 13 and 15.

He urged people to hoist or display the national flag at their homes during the campaign.

“Let us further this movement by hoisting the national flag at our homes,” he said.

Modi also urged people to put from August 2-15 tricolour as the profile picture of their accounts on social media platforms, noting that August 2 is the birth anniversary of Pingali Venkayya who had designed the flag.

The prime minister said he was happy that the Mahotsav is taking the form of a mass movement, with people from all walks of life and from every section of society participating in different programmes across the country.

“When India completes 75 years of its Independence, all of us are going to witness a splendid and historic moment,” he said referring to August 15.

It is the current generation’s good fortune to witness the Independence Day’s 75th anniversary.

“Had we been born in the era of slavery, then how would have we imagined this day,” he said, asserting that the biggest message that emerges from all events being organised in the ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’ is that the countrymen should follow their duty with full devotion.

“Only then will we be able to fulfil the dream of those countless freedom fighters and to build the India of their dreams,” he said.

That is why this ‘Amrit Kaal’ of our next 25 years is “Kartavyakaal”, a period of duty for every citizen.

The prime minister also paid tributes to Udham Singh on his death anniversary on Sunday.

Noting that there are many railway stations associated with the history of the freedom movement, Modi said 75 of them across 24 states have been identified and they will host several programmes.

Modi also lauded Indian sportspersons for performing “exceptionally well” at several international events and said the month of July has been full of action when it comes to sports.

Ace shuttler PV Sindhu has won her first title of Singapore Open while Neeraj Chopra also continued his excellent performance and won the silver medal for the country in the World Athletics Championship, he said.

He also mentioned performance of Indian players in different tournaments.

An Indian team, full of youthful enthusiasm is representing the country in the Commonwealth Games, he said.

“I am also happy that India is going to host the FIFA Under 17 Women’s World Cup as well. This tournament will be held around October, which will enhance the enthusiasm of the daughters of the country towards sports,” he said.

Source: TREND News Agency