Thirteen players at Portuguese club Belenenses have tested positive for the newly discovered COVID variant ‘Omicron’, upon return from national team duty in South Africa.

As many as 44 players and staff at Belenenses are now quarantining while Benfica has not taken the same steps due to what it calls low-risk for getting the virus from their opponents.

It has now been confirmed all 13 players have the Omicron variant, first detected in South Africa last week.

The players, reportedly, wanted to cancel the game, but officials pressed forward with the contest. 

Meanwhile, Portugal’s health authorities are also sequencing the viruses from two passengers who tested positive for COVID after flying in from Maputo, Mozambique. 

Portugal’s health institute INSA, said in a statement that “there is still no scientific data to support [the Omicron variant’s] greater transmissibility or its ability to reduce the effectiveness of current vaccines.”

The World Health Organization (WHO), has declared the new strain a ‘variant of concern’.

During the period of January to October 2021, domestic manufacturing mobile plants in Pakistan produced 18.87 million mobile units, including 7.93 million 4G mobile phones compared to 9.45 million imported mobile phones.

The Ministry of Commerce’s ‘Make in Pakistan’ philosophy is giving the results and “we look forward for sustainable growth for the long run.”

London: Britain’s competition regulator said on Tuesday it has directed Facebook owner Meta Platforms to sell animated images platform Giphy after finding that the deal could harm social media users and UK advertisers.

The Competition and Markers Authority (CMA) said the decision was in line with provisional findings that Facebook’s acquisition of Giphy would reduce competition between social media platforms and in the display advertising market.

“The tie-up between Facebook and Giphy has already removed a potential challenger in the display advertising market …By requiring Facebook to sell Giphy, we are protecting millions of social media users and promoting competition and innovation in digital advertising,” said Stuart McIntosh, chair of the independent investigation for the CMA.

Facebook, now rebranded Meta Platforms as the parent company of the eponymous social media network, said it disagreed with the decision.

“We are reviewing the decision and considering all options, including appeal,” a spokesperson for Meta said.

The CMA in October fined the company about $70 million for breaching an order that was imposed during its investigation into the deal, having hinted in August that it may need Facebook to sell Giphy.

SOURCE: Reuters