Australian Treasurer Josh Frydenberg announces he has Covid
January 8, 2022, 8:10 am

Australian Treasurer Josh Frydenberg announces he has Covid

Australian Treasurer Josh Frydenberg/Facebook page

The Arab News reported that Australian Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said he tested positive to COVID-19, joining other top government officials in contracting the disease as the daily infection rate surpassed 100,000 for the first time amid an outbreak of the omicron variant.

Frydenberg wrote in a short message which he posted to Twitter and Facebook late on Friday: “Like thousands of Australians, I tested positive today to COVID-19.”

“I have the common symptoms and am isolating with my family,” he added without elaborating or disclosing which variant he had.

Other high-ranked Australian lawmakers including Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce and Defense Minister Peter Dutton have contracted and overcome the illness.

Australia-Melbourne-Intersection/Pixabay

Under current Australian COVID-19 guidelines, people who return a positive test and those deemed “close contacts” must isolate for seven days.

Australia has been posting successive record numbers of new daily infections, with another surge on Saturday.

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The country reported 116,024 new cases, smashing the previous day’s record of just over 78,000. Nearly 100,000 of the new cases were in the most populous states Victoria, which is home to the upcoming Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne, and New South Wales.

The state of Western Australia had not reported its daily count. Victoria noted that its daily caseload, which more than doubled the previous day’s to 51,356, included the results of rapid antigen tests taken up to a week before that could only be tabulated after being submitted on a website starting from Friday.

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The country reported 25 new COVID-19 related deaths, its highest since the peak of the Delta wave in October 2021.

Australian leaders, including Frydenberg, have been urging the country to move on from a strategy of stop-start lockdowns now that more than 90 percent of the population aged over 16 is fully vaccinated.

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But state leaders have been reintroducing restrictions amid exploding case numbers, mostly of the highly transmissible omicron variant. A day earlier, New South Wales canceled non-urgent surgery to clear hospital space for COVID-19 patients and resumed a ban on dancing and drinking while standing up in bars.

Source: arabnews

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BENEFIT, the Kingdom’s innovator and leading company in Fintech and electronic financial transactions service, has sponsored the BuildHer CityHack 2025 Hackathon, a two-day event spearheaded by the College of Engineering and Technology at the Royal University for Women (RUW).
Aimed at secondary school students, the event brought together a distinguished group of academic professionals and technology experts to mentor and inspire young participants.
More than 100 high school students from across the Kingdom of Bahrain took part in the hackathon, which featured an intensive programme of training workshops and hands-on sessions. These activities were tailored to enhance participants’ critical thinking, collaborative problem-solving, and team-building capabilities, while also encouraging the development of practical and sustainable solutions to contemporary challenges using modern technological tools.
BENEFIT’s Chief Executive Mr. Abdulwahed AlJanahi, commented: “Our support for this educational hackathon reflects our long-term strategic vision to nurture the talents of emerging national youth and empower the next generation of accomplished female leaders in technology. By fostering creativity and innovation, we aim to contribute meaningfully to Bahrain’s comprehensive development goals and align with the aspirations outlined in the Kingdom’s Vision 2030—an ambition in which BENEFIT plays a central role.”
Professor Riyadh Yousif Hamzah, President of the Royal University for Women, commented: “This initiative reflects our commitment to advancing women in STEM fields. We're cultivating a generation of creative, solution-driven female leaders who will drive national development. Our partnership with BENEFIT exemplifies the powerful synergy between academia and private sector in supporting educational innovation.”
Hanan Abdulla Hasan, Senior Manager, PR & Communication at BENEFIT, said: “We are honoured to collaborate with RUW in supporting this remarkable technology-focused event. It highlights our commitment to social responsibility, and our ongoing efforts to enhance the digital and innovation capabilities of young Bahraini women and foster their ability to harness technological tools in the service of a smarter, more sustainable future.”
For his part, Dr. Humam ElAgha, Acting Dean of the College of Engineering and Technology at the University, said: “BuildHer CityHack 2025 embodies our hands-on approach to education. By tackling real-world problems through creative thinking and sustainable solutions, we're preparing women to thrive in the knowledge economy – a cornerstone of the University's vision.”