sameer hashmi in the for us. —— sameer hashmi in the for us. —— sameer hashmi in the for us. —— sameercale" coronavirus outbreak that could overwhelm its hospitals. after early success against covid—19, hong kong has, he for the past week, reported more than 100 new infections each day. 0ur correspondent martin yip is in hong kong. this morning from carrie lam that the hospital system faces collapse is alarming. why is there the spike in new cases, why is that happening, given the other success of hong kong in dealing with and controlling and containing covid—19? in dealing with and controlling and containing covid-19? well, from the government point of view, all they knew at this point was that a series of local cases, local clusters, which involves the eateries, cafes, as well as some government facilities have been involved in the latest crisis, but the health experts are arguing that some of these cases which the government has no trace of its origin, perhaps where links to imported cases brought in by air and bought. scientist talked about this at the meeting. the government is no

our correspondent sameer hashmi is there.here. a very long journey to ma so is a very long journey to mars, so this first stage was successful, what are the next steps that will be watching for? we know about the next stage very soon because what happens after the launch is within a couple of hours, once the spacecraft reaches a certain distance, it separates itself from the rocket and then itself from the rocket and then it starts sending signals to the control room over here. so, thatis the control room over here. so, that is very critical moment in this launch phase because if the control room starts receiving those signals, it means so receiving those signals, it means so much as been successful in the can focus on the rest of the journey which isa the rest of the journey which is a long one and would take seven months of it. we're waiting for the announcement will be in the next few minutes where it has reached that critical point in sending signals back to the control room. the uae is doing something that few countries

our correspondent sameer hashmi is there. desire to move away from the gulf states. in fact, when the mission was announced, one of the main objectives was that this mission programme will be used for building in knowledge—based economy which will move away from the dependence on oil. and create a workforce for the future which will be focused on science and technology. one of the main objectives of this mission and what the government is saying is that this will not only inspire young people in this country, but even in the arab countries. the dependency on oil and the big big way, all of those countries than saudi arabia, which is the largest producer of oil in this region, they're not trying to focus on programmes which will help them move away and build new industries, skill —based industries from 20 years from now and start taking the pressure off the oil industry in space is a great opportunity. it is a sector where a lot needs to be discovered and explored and the uae is one of the very few countries in the world to se

to move away from oil and gas production and enter the global space industry. 0ur correspondent sameer hashmito mars. the liftoff was successful from the japanese island, however this is just the first step, still a long journey, it's going to take seven months for the robe, which is called hope, to reach mars and then after that it will circle around the planet for one martian year which is equal to 687 earth days to cover some critical data about the climate. scientists are hoping that will give them more insight into the red planet. for the uae, this is an historic night. the mission was announced in 2014 and within six years, they have been able to launch this mission. the country, this programme is not just about science but also hoping to inspire the population of this country to start taking up science in school which will help the country to build up its knowledge base economy and help them away from the depends on oil. from a political point of view, this mission is important because until now, israel was a letter when it came to spaceflight. and if it succeeds, if they succeed, it w

the mission is being overseen at the dubai space centre. 0ur correspondent, sameer hashmi, is there.s' time. how exciting is this for the uae and for other countries in the middle east? it is a huge moment for the uae. the political achievement has described this as its greatest achievement ever. this depends on whether the launch will be successful and is able to accomplish the main objective of the mission. there is a lot of buzz at the media centre, the building next to the control centre, which will be monitoring the launch, which is expected in less than three hours, now. so, all eyes on that, we had a project head of team out explaining the process. they had to delay the launch twice because of the weather but we are hoping that they will be third time lucky today, even though the final go—ahead will be given only one hour before the launch. people are expressing surprise that the uae is entering the space age, but the arab world gave us some of our first knowledge of the planets. people were observing mars, 1000 yea rs people were observing mars, 1000 years ago, from observato

our correspondent sameer hashmi is there. exciting times. are they all set for liftoff, then?d briefing us a while ago, saying that the weather seems to be clear, which was the problem last week when they had to postpone the launch two times. now they are sounding pretty confident. they will get the final go—ahead just one hour before liftoff, which will be at 1:50am local time and about 958 gmt. that is the time to look out for. things are looking very exciting. this is the media centre, which is right next to the building where you have the control centre. this is where the team will be setting, monitoring the launch, which will ta ke monitoring the launch, which will take place at 1:58. it will take an hourfor take place at 1:58. it will take an hour for the spacecraft to go into the air, after that it will dismantle from the rocket then try to make a connection with the control room by sending a signal back and that is when the team will know whether the mission has been successful or not. a very complicated launch. lots of bitten fingernails there, i'm sure. that probe sp

joining me now is our middle east business correspondent sameer hashmi.ng up tourism because they have had lot down measures in place since march. in some places travellers have to get a coronavirus test, 96 hours before they arrive in the city. if they fail to do so they will have to go through the test here in dubai. if they are found negative they are free to go and roam around the city but if they turn out to be positive they have to quarantine themselves for two weeks and they also have to pay for the expenses related to the treatment if they are hospitalised or quarantined in a hotel. everything else has opened up, the usual guidelines is that people have to wear a mask, maintain social distancing, pretty much all the places have been opened but they are pretty clear about sticking to these basic guidelines, in fact there's a fine of 800 us dollars for violating some of these basic conditions not wearing a mask or not maintaining social distancing and public. and how has dubai done economically since this pandemic began?m has been a huge challenge,

our correspondent sameer hashmi was there for the launch.ears which is quite soon considering the scale and ambition of the project and it was down to this moment. the rocket, which is a island japan, will lift off, carrying the space probe called hope into mars. it is notjust about the launch here, notjust about the launch here, notjust about the launch here, notjust about the left off. it will ta ke about the left off. it will take a little more than an hour to figure out whether the space probe is sending signals back to the control room over here. and that is also the time where it will also dismantle and separate itself from the rocket. that is really the key moment. liftoff is the first phase and then the team is going to wait for an hour to receive the signals from space probe once it reaches a certain distance. in 2014, when the mission was announced... you in 2014, when the mission was announced. . . you can in 2014, when the mission was announced... you can see some clapping going out now. applause. some of the team members here, a

here's our reporter sameer hashmi in the uae on how this hajj will be different.e pictures that are coming in from the holy city of mecca. usually there are between 2.5 million pilgrims in mecca on the first day when hajj starts and then they proceed to the valley which is another important part, that is seven kilometres away from the holy city. that whole journey of travelling from mecca, even though it is just seven kilometres, it takes hours, because the millions of people move there together. this time it is going to be really different, because there are just 1000 people, they will not be moving there together in a group, they are divided into smaller groups and they will be travelling at different points of time in order to maintain social distancing. in addition to that, these pilgrims who are participating in hajj this year, they were asked to quarantine at their home towns in saudi arabia before arriving at mecca. and then they would have to quarantine for a few days at their hotels. usually on the first day they moved to the valley, and usually what happ