Saudi Arabia Distributes Smart Bracelets for Self-Isolation at Home

Saudi Arabia Distributes Smart Bracelets for Self-Isolation at Home
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Saudi Arabia Distributes Smart Bracelets for Self-Isolation at Home

Saudi Arabia Distributes Smart Bracelets for Self-Isolation at Home

Saudi Arabia has set up technological services in several fields, especially with the coronavirus crisis. A new mobile app named "Tawakkalna,” which issues transportation passes for humanitarian cases and grocery shopping during the curfew, has been released.

The relevant bodies have expanded the app's use, announcing that it will also soon allow passes for walks within neighborhood parameters for one hour. More options will also be added, such as isolating at home instead of health facilities using smart bracelets for tracking.

Other plans include services such as: requesting an ambulance, an alert system for when patients and cases are near, a COVID-19 symptom-checker, and reporting cases during curfews, among others.

App users will be linked to social and humanitarian services such as "Furijat" to relieve the indebted, "Jood Al-Iskan" to help people look for housing, and "Wateen" for blood donations. The "Tawakkalna" app ensured that no fines are issued to those who exceed the specified time limit, saying such moves remain solely the responsibility of relevant security bodies.

New options and services will be added, including a grocery pass inside neighborhoods and an emergency grocery pass for four hours a week after total and partial curfews are imposed. Other passes include one that is issued by employers and appears on the app and a medical appointment pass that is issued by health facilities.

The “Tawakkalna” app, adopted by the Ministry of Health, is considered one of the most modern Saudi efforts to fight the coronavirus by providing live information about the number of cases, breaking news, and medical news issued by the Ministry of Health about the virus, its spread and protective measures.



Eel-eating Japan Opposes EU Call for More Protection

People on bicycles cross a street under the hot sun in Tokyo on June 20, 2025. (Photo by Kazuhiro NOGI / AFP)
People on bicycles cross a street under the hot sun in Tokyo on June 20, 2025. (Photo by Kazuhiro NOGI / AFP)
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Eel-eating Japan Opposes EU Call for More Protection

People on bicycles cross a street under the hot sun in Tokyo on June 20, 2025. (Photo by Kazuhiro NOGI / AFP)
People on bicycles cross a street under the hot sun in Tokyo on June 20, 2025. (Photo by Kazuhiro NOGI / AFP)

Japan's agriculture minister said Friday the country would oppose any call by the European Union to add eels to an endangered species list that would limit trade in them.

Eel is eaten worldwide but is particularly popular in Japan, where it is called "unagi" and traditionally served grilled after being covered in a sticky-sweet sauce.

Minister Shinjiro Koizumi told reporters that the country carefully manages stock levels of the Japanese eel in cooperation with neighboring China, Taiwan and South Korea.

"There is a sufficient population, and it faces no extinction risk due to international trade," AFP quoted him as saying.

Japanese media have reported that the EU could soon propose that all eel species be added to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) which limits trade of protected animals.

There are 19 species and subspecies of eel, many of them now threatened due to a range of factors including pollution and overfishing.

In 2014, the Japanese eel was listed as endangered, but not critically endangered, by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, which cited factors including habitat loss, overfishing, pollution and migration barriers.

Protecting the animal is complicated by their complex life cycle, which unfolds over a vast area, and the many unknowns about how they reproduce.