Elderly man in Sharjah, UAE, wearing mask lifts his hands in prayer outside a mosque, which has been closed amid the pandemic. AFP
Elderly man in Sharjah, UAE, wearing mask lifts his hands in prayer outside a mosque, which has been closed amid the pandemic. AFP

2020 - The COVID-19 pandemic

Short Url
Updated 19 April 2025
Follow

2020 - The COVID-19 pandemic

2020 - The COVID-19 pandemic
  • The emergence of the novel coronavirus in China brought the world to a standstill, starkly revealing the interconnectedness and fragility of the global system

LONDON: In his new-year message on Jan. 2, 2020, the director-general of the World Health Organization urged the world to “take a moment to thank all the brave health workers around the world.”

Within a few weeks, the words of Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus would begin to take on an unexpectedly urgent meaning. It quickly became clear the modern world was about to be engulfed in a fight for its life with a microscopic organism capable of a virulence not seen since the flu pandemic of 1918-19.

It also swiftly became apparent that for all the advances in medicine and technology in the intervening century, still we remained at the mercy of wayward nature, thanks in part to the inability of the world’s governments to act as one even in the face of a deadly global crisis.

On Jan. 26, 2020, I wrote an op-ed article, syndicated throughout the region, urging Gulf and other states to, at the very least, screen incoming passengers from China, where the virus emerged.

“The only correct reaction at this stage,” I wrote, “is prudent overreaction.”

How we wrote it




Arab News dedicated multi-page coverage to global updates on the day the WHO declared COVID-19 a pandemic.

On Feb. 17, I hardened the message: The single most effective defense our interconnected world had against the new virus was to ground every aircraft.

At the time, I was a medical journalist, writing investigative articles for the British Medical Journal and other publications. But in the case of the COVID-19 pandemic I was not blessed with any special insight. The tragedy of what would soon unfold was the fact that all the steps we could have taken to prevent it at the outset were simply common sense.

Yet at first, few outside of the central Chinese city of Wuhan seemed overly alarmed by the cluster of more than 40 mysterious, pneumonia-like cases reported by China to the World Health Organization’s local country office on the last day of 2019.

A week after Tedros’ speech, which made no mention of anything untoward brewing in China, Chinese authorities announced they had identified the cause of the outbreak: a novel form of coronavirus, a family of viruses common in animals and humans.

Where did it originate? For years, the theories have spread thick and fast. At first, the finger was pointed at pangolins, a scaly mammal prized in Chinese folk medicine for the supposed healing powers of its scales, and often traded illegally.




Dubai’s Burj Khalifa lit up with a message “Stay Home” reminding citizens to stay home amid the COVID-19 pandemic, on March 24, 2020. AFP

Conspiracy theorists suggested the origin of the virus was a Chinese lab, where it was deliberately engineered and then leaked out. This theory resurfaced as recently as January this year, when John Ratcliffe, US President Donald Trump’s newly appointed head of the CIA, revived a claim in which his own agency previously said it has “low confidence.”

The reality is we will almost certainly never know the true origins of the virus.

Most human coronavirus infections are mild but during the previous 20 years, two versions emerged that hinted at the family’s capacity to cause serious harm: severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus, or SARS-CoV, and Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus, or MERS-CoV. Together, they accounted for “only” 10,000 cases, with mortality rates of 10 percent and 37 percent respectively.

The new coronavirus that was emerging in early 2020 had far bigger, and more sinister, ambitions. On Jan. 11, China reported the first death caused by the virus, of a 61-year-old man with underlying health conditions who had been a customer at the market where, at first, the virus was thought to have jumped from animals to humans.

Over the coming days, and even weeks, the virus could still have been contained. But Chinese authorities were slow to introduce effective lockdown procedures. Aircraft continued to fly and, at first, the rest of the world looked on with a seemingly detached indifference that would soon prove fatal, to people and economies worldwide.

Even as the virus spread rapidly within China, the WHO played down the threat, declining to recommend the introduction of travel restrictions to the country or specific health precautions for travelers.

On Feb. 4, in fact, WHO chief Tedros even urged countries not to ban flights from Wuhan for fear of “increasing fear and stigma, with little public health benefit.”




Doctor attends to patients in intensive care in the COVID-19 ward of the Maria Pia Hospital in Turin. AFP

Few public-health pronouncements have proved to be so ill-judged.

On Feb. 11, the organization gave the virus its official name: severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, or SARS-CoV-2. The disease it caused was also named: COVID-19.

But it would be March 11 before the WHO finally declared the outbreak to be a pandemic, a state of affairs that was already blindingly obvious to the 114 countries that by then were already in the grip of the virus.

Saudi Arabia recorded its first case on March 2. The patient was a man who had traveled from Iran via Bahrain over the King Fahd Causeway and, like the Kingdom’s second patient two days later, he failed to declare he had been in Iran, where cases of the disease were rocketing.

On March 25, just over three weeks after the first case in the Kingdom, COVID-19 claimed its first victim in Saudi Arabia, a 51-year-old Afghani who died in Madinah.

The genie was out of the bottle. Saudi authorities acted swiftly, forming a special action committee composed of representatives from 13 ministries, and introducing a broad range of measures including screening, quarantining all travelers when necessary, and fast-tracking production of essential medical supplies and equipment.

The Umrah pilgrimage was suspended, airports were closed, public gatherings were restricted and the Qatif region, where the Kingdom’s first cases had emerged, was swiftly locked down.

Key Dates

  • 1

    Chinese epidemiologists identify a group of patients in the city of Wuhan experiencing an unusual, treatment-resistant, pneumonia-like illness.

  • 2

    China notifies World Health Organization of “cases of pneumonia of unknown etiology.”

    Timeline Image Dec. 31, 2019

  • 3

    Chinese media report first known death.

  • 4

    The WHO names the new virus severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, or SARS-CoV-2, and the disease it causes COVID-19.

  • 5

    The WHO declares a global pandemic.

    Timeline Image Mar. 11, 2020

  • 6

    COVID-19’s single worst day, with 17,049 deaths reported worldwide.

    Timeline Image Jan. 21, 2021

  • 7

    After 3 years and 5 months, 767 million confirmed cases and 7 million deaths worldwide, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, head of the WHO, declares COVID-19 is no longer a global health emergency.

    Timeline Image May 5, 2023

On March 25, the speed of the Kingdom’s response earned praise from Dr. Ahmed Al-Mandhari, the WHO’s regional director for the Eastern Mediterranean. Saudi Arabia, he said, had learned lessons from its experience a decade earlier with the MERS-CoV coronavirus, and the country was “also drawing from its unique expertise in managing mass gatherings and emergency preparedness during the annual Hajj pilgrimage.”

Around the world, however, few governments reacted as quickly. There was little cohesion in the responses; the already tardy WHO advice was often shunned until it was far too late, ineffective measures were introduced in piecemeal fashion, and there was a failure to coordinate responses internationally.

In the parlance of epidemiology, aircraft served as the fatally efficient vector for the virus, in the same way that the mosquito is the vector that spreads malaria. Yet for too long, governments around the world hesitated to take the extreme, but obviously necessary, action of suspending all commercial air travel.

Eventually, and in an uncoordinated, haphazard fashion, flights were grounded around the world but this came too late to prevent the virus traveling the globe. Ultimately, the delay caused far more global economic disruption than if air travel had been halted early on.

Even then, even after the virus had been allowed to make its way around the world, in many countries there was continued reluctance to act swiftly and shutter shops, offices, restaurants and transport systems, and to confine people to their homes. Lacking firm guidance from their governments, many people continued to mingle at work, on trains, in restaurants, in each other’s homes and on beaches.

And, increasingly, in hospitals.




Healthcare workers ackwoledge applause in memory of their co-worker Esteban, a male nurse that died of COVID-19 at the Severo Ochoa Hospital in Leganes, near Madrid, on April 10, 2020. AFP

As the virus spread inexorably around the globe, it exposed a lack of long-term health planning and preparedness in many countries where authorities, caught flat-footed, found themselves desperately short of bed space and competing ruthlessly with other nations for scarce supplies of the personal protective equipment required by front-line medical staff, all-important mechanical ventilators and, as hastily developed drugs were developed, limited supplies of vaccines.

Around the world, major international events, from Dubai’s Expo 2020 to the Tokyo Olympics, tumbled like dominoes as governments and organizers finally acknowledged that any gathering of people was a recipe for magnifying the disaster.

From the perspective of the history books, in terms of everything other than the virus and the savage toll it exacted in lost lives and devastated economies, 2020 had become the year that never was.

By the beginning of April, just three months after the first victims had been identified in Wuhan, the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 had passed 1 million, more than 50,000 people had died, and much of the world was living in isolation and fear.

Faced with agonizingly difficult life-or-death decisions, health systems worldwide found themselves forced to adopt triage systems of a kind more typically seen on battlefields, allocating limited resources to those most likely to survive.

Horror stories of loss and sacrifice emerged every day, in almost every country around the globe. On the front lines, some of the courageous health workers who had been honored in the WHO chief’s new-year speech paid for their continued dedication with their lives.

It would be May 5, 2023, more than three years after COVID-19 was designated a pandemic, before the WHO declared the global public health emergency to be over.

Victory over SARS-CoV-2 came at terrible cost: more than 14 million lives lost between Jan. 1, 2020, and Dec. 3, 2021, alone; billions left seriously ill; and traumatic disruption imposed on economies and everyday life across much of the world.

In Saudi Arabia, the Interior Ministry signaled an early victory over the virus, lifting the bulk of precautionary and preventive measures on June 13, 2022.




Muslim worshippers circumambulate the Holy Kaaba in Makkah’s Grand Mosque amid COVID-19 restrictions. AFP

During the 833-day war against the virus in the Kingdom there were 780,135 confirmed cases and 9,176 deaths. Almost 43 million COVID-19 tests were carried out and 66.5 million vaccinations administered.

The virus has not disappeared from the planet. But improved treatments and the fact that a critical mass of more than 70 percent of the world’s population has now been vaccinated means that the first great plague of modern times is now no more — or less — of a threat than the flu.

The “Keep Your Distance” stickers on pavements, shop floors and public transport have mostly faded away, and most of us have forgotten the advice we once followed so diligently: cover your cough, practice good hand hygiene and, if a home test reveals you have COVID-19, stay home until you have been fever-free for at least 24 hours.

But public-health agencies, at least, remain vigilant. XEC, one of the latest variants of the virus, caused concern when it emerged in the autumn of 2024. It seemed genetically equipped to evade both our immune defenses and the barriers erected by vaccines. But so far, hospitalizations in the US, where tests have revealed high levels of the XEC variant in wastewater, have not risen.

Either way, the next pandemic is only a matter of when, not if, whether it is a variant of SARS-CoV-2 or another virus altogether.




Woman has her temperature checked in an effort to contain COVID-19 spread in Nongchik district on the border of Thailand's southern province of Pattani. AFP

As a global reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic, member states of the World Health Organization will gather at the World Health Assembly in May to agree a Pandemic Preparedness Treaty designed “to foster an all-of-government and all-of-society approach, strengthening national, regional and global capacities and resilience to future pandemics.”

Unfortunately, though, it seems that one of the world’s largest countries will not be there. On Jan. 20, 2025, the first day of his second term, President Donald Trump signed an executive order withdrawing the US from the WHO.

One immediate consequence of this could be that the US stops sending data on the occurrence of diseases to the organization and, especially in terms of monitoring the SARS-CoV-2 virus, that would be of great concern. In the 28 days to Jan. 12, 2025, there were 2,861 deaths from COVID-19 reported to the WHO, the vast majority of them in the US.

  • Jonathan Gornall, a writer for Arab News, was a former investigative medical journalist for the British Medical Journal.


Oil Updates — crude up as investors weigh chance of US intervention in Iran-Israel conflict

Oil Updates — crude up as investors weigh chance of US intervention in Iran-Israel conflict
Updated 21 min 36 sec ago
Follow

Oil Updates — crude up as investors weigh chance of US intervention in Iran-Israel conflict

Oil Updates — crude up as investors weigh chance of US intervention in Iran-Israel conflict

BEIJING: Oil prices rose on Thursday after President Donald Trump gave mixed signals on potential US involvement in the Israel-Iran conflict, while the Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged.

Brent crude futures rose 0.69 cents, or 0.9 percent, to $77.39 a barrel by 10:21 a.m. Saudi time, after gaining 0.3 percent in the previous session when high volatility saw prices fall as much as 2.7 percent.

US West Texas Intermediate crude for July was up 0.84 cents, or 1.12 percent to $75.98 a barrel, after settling up 0.4 percent in the previous when it dropped as much as 2.4 percent.

The July contract expires on Friday and the more active August contract was down 8 cents, or 0.11 percent, to $73.42 a barrel.

There is still a “healthy risk premium baked into the price as traders await to see whether the next stage of the Israel-Iran conflict is a US strike or peace talks,” Tony Sycamore, market analyst at IG, said in a client note.

Goldman Sachs on Wednesday said a geopolitical risk premium of about $10 a barrel is justified given lower Iranian supply and risk of wider disruption that could push Brent crude above $90.

Trump on Wednesday told reporters that he may or may not decide whether the US will join Israel in its attacks on Iran. The conflict stretched into its seventh day on Thursday.

Direct US involvement would widen the conflict, putting energy infrastructure in the region at higher risk of attack, analysts said.

As a result of the unpredictability that has long characterised Trump’s foreign policy, “markets remain jittery, awaiting firmer signals that could influence global oil supply and regional stability,” said Priyanka Sachdeva, senior market analyst at Phillip Nova.

Iran is the third-largest producer among members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, extracting about 3.3 million barrels per day  of crude oil.
About 19 million bpd of oil and oil products move through the Strait of Hormuz along Iran’s southern coast and there is widespread concern the fighting could disrupt trade flows.
Separately, the US Federal Reserve kept its interest rates steady on Wednesday but pencilled in two cuts by the end of the year. Chair Jerome Powell said cuts would be “data-dependent” and that it expects accelerated consumer inflation from Trump’s planned import tariffs.

Lower interest rates would stimulate the economy, and as a result demand for oil, but that could exacerbate inflation.


5 things we learned from Al-Hilal’s 1-1 draw with Real Madrid at FIFA Club World Cup

5 things we learned from Al-Hilal’s 1-1 draw with Real Madrid at FIFA Club World Cup
Updated 21 min 45 sec ago
Follow

5 things we learned from Al-Hilal’s 1-1 draw with Real Madrid at FIFA Club World Cup

5 things we learned from Al-Hilal’s 1-1 draw with Real Madrid at FIFA Club World Cup
  • Bounou and Al-Dawsari dazzle as Inzaghi puts Saudi and Arab talent in the spotlight at Hard Rock Stadium

WASHINGTON D.C.: Nineteen-time Saudi Arabian champions Al-Hilal held European giants Real Madrid to a 1-1 draw in their opening match of the FIFA Club World Cup in Miami on Wednesday night as Ruben Neves’ penalty cancelled out Fran Garcia’s opener.

Impressively dominant for much of the first half, Hilal were in the end grateful to goalkeeper Yassine Bounou, who saved an added time penalty from Federico Valverde to secure a point.

Bono puts in star turn inside the Hard Rock

With the name “BONO” on his back, Hilal goalkeeper Yassine Bounou was destined to put in a star turn inside the Hard Rock Stadium.

Not to be confused with the U2 singer, Bounou was relatively quiet in the first-half as Hilal peppered the goal of his opposite number, Thibaut Courtois, with 11 shots.

Blameless for Fran Garcia’s first-half goal, which ricocheted off the Madrid player’s own planted foot to bobble up and over the diving Moroccan, Bounou was called into action more regularly in the second half.

Vini Jr found more space on the left, substitute Arda Guler danced dangerously around midfield, and Gonzalo Garcia forced a pair of smart saves.

Yet it was in injury-time that Bounou took center stage. The 34-year-old, who came close to joining Madrid before making the move to Hilal from Sevilla in August 2023, produced a rock star penalty save fitting of the setting.

This ensured the 2021 AFC Asian champions held on to what could be a crucial point in their quest to progress through Group H. 

Al-Dawsari within millimeters of reproducing big stage heroics

Al-Hilal captain Salem Al-Dawsari was already the talk of the Spanish-speaking media before the match kicked off in Miami as they seemed to realize who the No. 29 was.

The forward had etched his name into the annals of global football at the World Cup 2022 in Qatar when he scored the winning goal against eventual winners Argentina, handing Messi and company their only defeat of the tournament.

He has Club World Cup pedigree too, having netted three goals across two semifinals in 2019 and 2022. Could he — would he — do it again?

A constant threat on the left side of Hilal’s attack, the 33-year-old repeatedly exploited the space behind Madrid new boy Trent Alexander-Arnold.

On the stroke of half-time, just minutes after Neves had equalized, he came within millimeters of replicating his World Cup feat.

He drove at the Madrid defense, played a cute combo with Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, and fired at goal only to see his curling effort nick a white boot and bend the wrong side of the far post. It deserved more, and so did Al-Dawsari, who was at the heart of all Hilal’s attacks in the first half.

Inzaghi ‘completely satisfied’ following ‘wonderful performance’

While Madrid’s new coach Xabi Alonso seemed content at times to sit in his dugout and let his players do what was asked, Hilal coach Simone Inzaghi, also leading out his new club for the first time, instead appeared to be a constant ball of tension as he tried to drill messages into his players.

The Italian led Inter Milan to two UEFA Champions League finals in three years, but has barely unpacked in Riyadh since replacing the departing Jorge Jesus.

He already finds himself in the midst of a continental tournament where his club, as the sole representative of a league and country changing the face of global football, is under huge scrutiny.

Yet he said post-match he could not have asked for more from his players.

Praising them for their “high organization and wonderful performance,” Inzaghi said he was “completely satisfied.”

Fullback Joao Cancelo joked he was not quite as content: “We know Italian coaches are very tactical. He has different ideas to Jesus, very good ideas, but we have run too much in training — too much.”

Arab talent gets its chance to shine

While Inzaghi’s first Hilal lineup included only three Saudi Arabia nationals — and notably only one less than the Madrid team had Spaniards — he was not afraid to trust them in the later stages of the tie, even as they tried to stem a flow of attacks from Los Blancos.

And while it was Mohammed Al-Qahtani who was harshly adjudged to have fouled Garcia for Madrid’s injury time penalty, when the final whistle blew, seven Saudi players were on the field — a fact not lost on Hilal forward Malcom.

“Al-Hilal is the biggest team in Asia and we are very happy to have the best Arab players in our squad,” the Brazilian told Arab News.

“They have a very high level and that is what makes the biggest difference when we play in our domestic championships. They have a lot of quality, so it is easy to trust them.”

Inzaghi saved special mention for his three starters: captain Al-Dawsari, Hassan Tambakti, and Nasser Al-Dawsari, revealing he only told them they would play three days earlier.

“They bring great value to the team,” the coach said. “Arab players possess quality and they proved that today.”

Fans turn South Beach blue

Hilal fans may have been vastly outnumbered amid the 62,415 fans inside the Hard Rock Stadium, but in South Beach at least, the Saudi club’s azure blue has been as inescapable as the Miami heat this week.

Set up next to a hookah bar on the bustling pedestrianized Lincoln Road, an interactive fan fest complete with immersive virtual reality shooting drills and a reactive rondo testing ball control, proved such a hit that organizers ran out of flags and other prizes.

Even the local sportswear shops felt obliged to apologize for selling out of Hilal merchandise.

Once the action got underway, 15-time European champions Madrid — unsurprisingly one of the best supported teams in a city where Spanish at times feels like the first language — enjoyed the lion’s share of support.

Hilal though were not without their moments.

Chants of “Heeeeeeelal” went round the ground sporadically, while Neves’ equalizer shortly before half-time saw the little blue pockets of fans erupt in song to share a little Riyadhi vibe to proceedings.

Hala Hilal, indeed. 


Iranian official warns US against involvement in Israel-Iran conflict

Iranian official warns US against involvement in Israel-Iran conflict
Updated 13 min 48 sec ago
Follow

Iranian official warns US against involvement in Israel-Iran conflict

Iranian official warns US against involvement in Israel-Iran conflict
  • Kazem Gharibabadi: Iran has ‘all the necessary options on the table’

DUBAI: Iran’s deputy foreign minister warned against any direct US involvement in the conflict between Israel and Iran, saying Iran had “all the necessary options on the table,” in comments reported by Iranian state media on Thursday.

“If the US wants to actively intervene in support of Israel, Iran will have no other option but to use its tools to teach aggressors a lesson and defend itself ... our military decision-makers have all necessary options on the table,” Kazem Gharibabadi said, according to state media.

“Our recommendation to the US is to at least stand by if they do not wish to stop Israel’s aggression,” he said.


For fans of film and TV, England offers countless nostalgia-stirring sites 

For fans of film and TV, England offers countless nostalgia-stirring sites 
Updated 39 min 7 sec ago
Follow

For fans of film and TV, England offers countless nostalgia-stirring sites 

For fans of film and TV, England offers countless nostalgia-stirring sites 

JEDDAH: England is a place where cinematic fiction and reality often blur — its charming neighborhoods and historic landmarks have served as the backdrop to some of the world’s most beloved films. 

In May, Arab News joined a press trip organized by VisitBritain in partnership with Virgin Atlantic, celebrating the launch of the airline’s new Riyadh to London route.  

Having arrived well-rested, following a luxurious experience in Virgin’s Upper Class cabin, we checked into London’s The May Fair Hotel, just off Piccadilly — a surprisingly tranquil central base for the adventure ahead. 

Our trip was a deep dive into the UK’s cinematic soul, featuring a bespoke tour of London in classic Mini Coopers, driven by enthusiastic local guides. Our first stop was the famous blue door at 280 Westbourne Park Road — from the 1999 rom-com “Notting Hill,” starring Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts — where a replica, painted to match the film’s version, has been installed — perfect for a nostalgic photo op. 

Just around the corner is Alice’s, the whimsical antique shop featured in 2014’s “Paddington.” With its vintage charm, Alice’s felt straight out of a storybook. Portobello Road, where the shop is located, is a cinematic destination all on its own, brimming with colorful buildings, lively market stalls, and timeless London charm. 

Colin Farrell outside Huntsman tailors on Savile Row, as featured in ‘Kingsman - The Secret Service.’ (Supplied)

Next was the distinguished Huntsman at 11 Savile Row, a prestigious bespoke tailor that inspired the secret service headquarters in “Kingsman: The Secret Service” (2014), and which draws in fashion lovers and film fans alike. 

At Borough Market, one of London’s oldest food markets, we visited the flat above The Globe Tavern, famous as the heroine’s home in 2001’s “Bridget Jones’s Diary,” outside of which the street fight between Mark Darcy and Daniel Cleaver was filmed. 

No culture-themed visit to London is complete without a West End musical, and we attended “The Devil Wears Prada” at the Dominion Theatre. With soaring vocals, sharp choreography, and impeccable fashion details, the performance successfully captured the wit and flair of the beloved 2006 film on which it is based. 

On our third day, we journeyed to the serene city of Oxford, passing through the storybook English countryside — rolling hills, stone cottages, and emerald fields. Before exploring the city, we checked into Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons, founded by celebrated chef Raymond Blanc. This luxurious manor blends rustic elegance with culinary excellence and is surrounded by lavender-scented gardens, orchards, and organic vegetable patches — a whimsical escape into an English fairytale. Afternoon tea was served in the charming cottages scattered across the estate, which offer each guest their own intimate space overlooking the gardens. Every detail was immaculate: from the handpicked fruit platter to delicate chocolate and mandarin cakes, and airy macarons made with sustainable, organic ingredients harvested on-site. It was a moment of calm indulgence — a countryside retreat that felt both restorative and magical. 

In Oxford, the charismatic Jim Palmer led us on a walking tour of its most famous corners. The city — particularly its prestigious university — has appeared in dozens of productions, but none as magical as the “Harry Potter” series. At Christ Church College, we stood in the Great Hall that inspired Hogwarts’ dining room, and climbed the grand staircase featured in “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.” The Divinity School nearby doubled as Hogwarts’ infirmary and classrooms in several of the films. 

London’s ‘Portobello Road,’ where you can find Alice's, the antique store from ‘Paddington.’ (Supplied)

We also visited New College, where fans of “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” will recognize the ancient tree beneath which Draco Malfoy is turned into a ferret by Professor Moody.  

Oxford’s cinematic résumé stretches far beyond wizards, though. Its colleges, libraries, and cobblestone streets have appeared in “The Theory of Everything,” “The Golden Compass,” “Shadowlands,” “Brideshead Revisited,” and even the “X-Men” franchise. Fans of TV detective dramas will also recognize it from “Inspector Morse,” “Lewis,” and “Endeavour.”  

After our tour, we were whisked off to the luxury shopping destination Bicester Village. At The Apartment, an exclusive lounge space, we were pampered with gourmet treats and a concierge service that made high-end shopping feel both effortless and elegant. 

Our trip concluded in style back at Heathrow Airport, where we enjoyed the Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse — an oasis of calm featuring sleeping zones, yoga areas, private showers, and premium dining. 

From Oxford’s collegiate quietude to the sparkle of London’s West End, and from iconic film locations to moments of personal luxury, this trip offered more than sightseeing; it was a cinematic immersion that brought some of our favorite stories to life. 


Governments scramble to evacuate citizens from Israel, Iran

Governments scramble to evacuate citizens from Israel, Iran
Updated 58 min 55 sec ago
Follow

Governments scramble to evacuate citizens from Israel, Iran

Governments scramble to evacuate citizens from Israel, Iran
  • Foreigners have rushed to leave both countries after Israel launched an unprecedented bombing campaign last Friday
  • Pakistan has shut its border crossings with neighboring Iran, except to Pakistanis wanting to return home

HONG KONG: Governments around the world are attempting to evacuate thousands of their nationals caught up in the rapidly spiraling Israel-Iran conflict, organizing buses and planes and in some cases assisting people crossing borders on foot.

Foreigners have rushed to leave both countries after Israel launched an unprecedented bombing campaign last Friday targeting Iran’s nuclear and military facilities, sparking retaliation from Tehran.

But with Israel’s air space closed and the two countries exchanging heavy missile fire, many people are being evacuated from third countries.

European countries have already repatriated hundreds of their citizens from Israel.

The Czech Republic and Slovakia said Tuesday they had taken 181 people home on government planes.

“It was not possible to send the army plane straight to Israel,” the Czech defense ministry said in a statement, citing the air space closure.

“The evacuees were taken to an airport in a neighboring country by buses. They crossed the border on foot.”

The German government said flights were scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday via Jordan, while Poland said the first of its citizens were due to arrive back on Wednesday.

Greece said it had repatriated 105 of its citizens plus a number of foreign nationals via Egypt, while a private plane with 148 people landed in the Bulgarian capital Sophia on Tuesday.

The US ambassador to Israel on Wednesday announced plans for evacuating Americans by air and sea.

The embassy is “working on evacuation flights & cruise ship departures” for “American citizens wanting to leave Israel,” Ambassador Mike Huckabee posted on X.

Australia has started evacuating around 1,500 citizens from Iran and more than 1,200 from Israel – but missile barrages have made it too risky for civilian aircraft to land in either country, it’s foreign minister said.

“There’s no capacity for people to get civilian aircraft in, it is too risky, and the airspace is closed,” Foreign Minister Penny Wong told national broadcaster ABC.

“We have taken the opportunity to get a small group of Australians out of Israel through a land border crossing.

“We are seeking to try and do more of that over the next 24 hours.”

Pakistan has shut its border crossings with neighboring Iran, except to Pakistanis wanting to return home.

Around 1,000 Pakistanis have fled so far, including at least 200 students.

The foreign ministry said the families of diplomats and some non-essential staff from Iran had been evacuated.

Around 110 Indian students have been evacuated from Iran on a special flight from Armenia, India’s foreign ministry said Thursday.

New Zealand said Thursday it had closed its embassy in Iran, evacuating two staff members and their family to Azerbaijan by land.

“If and when opportunities arise to assist the departure of other New Zealanders in Iran and Israel, we will pursue them with urgency,” Foreign Minister Winston Peters said in a statement.

Japan has ordered military planes to be on standby for around 1,000 Japanese nationals believed to live in Israel, and around 280 in Iran, according to government ministers.

The Japanese embassies in Iran and Israel are preparing to use buses to evacuate citizens to neighboring countries, a government spokesman said, as the war entered its seventh day.