Branded Harry Potter buses that generally take fans to Warner Bros.' The Making of Harry Potter studio tour in the UK are now being used to transport key National Health Service (NHS) workers for free between hospitals battling coronavirus.

The buses have been provided by Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden and bus operator Golden Tours to transport key workers between West Herts Hospitals NHS Trust's three sites, reported Variety.

"Our workforce has been depleted due to sickness or self-isolation and so it's really important that those staff who are well but have transport issues can come back," Variety quoted Paul da Gama, chief people officer at West Herts Hospitals as saying.

"A special shuttle bus, which will have strict social distancing rules, is the perfect solution and we are so grateful to Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden and Golden Tours for making this happen. Our staff might not be travelling to exotic locations or seeing behind the scenes of a major movie, but they will be making magic happen in their own way," he added.

The free service runs its first journey just after 6 a.m. and its last drop-off at 10:40 p.m. (local time) between the Trust's three sites.

"We couldn't think of a better way to use the buses at this time. We are delighted to play a part in supporting our local NHS in its time of need," Variety quoted a spokesperson for Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden as saying.

The UK has reported more than 90,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus while the toll due to the coronavirus has surged past 12,000.

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England star all-rounder Ben Stokes will run his first ever half marathon on Tuesday to raise funds for the National Health Services (NHS) Charities Together and national children's cricket charity Chance to Shine. The 28-year-old all-rounder who admitted that the longest he had ever run was 8 km, will be running a half marathon near his home. "A half marathon is always been something that I've thought about doing a but never really got around to overdoing it. Obviously we have been in lockdown so I thought what a great option to go out and if I'm going to do it I might as well try and raise some funds for a good cause," Stokes said in an Instagram video.

Stokes got inspired by the efforts of three men who ran full marathons in their back gardens over the weekend. "I will be hopefully inspiring people to make some donations towards the Cricket Garden Marathon, I'm just trying to add some more funds to what they've managed to do for the great cause," said Stokes. "I've done absolutely no training, the longest distance that I've ever run is 8 kilometres. So, I don't even know I'm going to be able to complete it but hopefully, I can," he added.

The left-handed Stokes on April 8 became the first English cricketer since 2005 to be named as Wisden's Leading Cricketer in the World. In 2005, Andrew Flintoff was named as Wisden's Leading Cricketer of the Year.

The year 2019 proved as an instrumental year for Stokes as he played a key role in England's first 50-over World Cup win and then he went on to play a memorable inning against Australia during the third Ashes at Headingley.

Also, the English all-rounder was named as ICC's cricketer of the year in January 2020.

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Health officials in Singapore said on Monday that they reported a record 1,426 new Coronavirus cases, out of which 1,410 are foreign workers, including Indians residing in dormitories, health officials said. With the fresh cases, the total number of Coronavirus cases in the city-state stands at 8,014, the Ministry of Health said.

"We are still working through the details of the cases," said the ministry in a statement. A total of 18 foreign worker dormitories have been gazetted as isolation areas, as the number of COVID-19 cases continue to rise. As of Sunday, the cluster at S11 Dormitory at Punggol remained the biggest, with 1,508 confirmed cases.

The next biggest cluster was at Sungei Tengah Lodge, with 521 confirmed cases. Though the dormitories are being disinfected and bedding accommodation re-arranged, most of these were overcrowded, leading to a large number of cases as foreign workers are now undergoing screening and testing. All foreign workers in the construction sector have been placed on mandatory stay-home notices until May 4 as a precautionary measure against the spread of COVID-19.

The Ministry of Manpower and the Building and Construction Authority noted that while the recent rise in the number of infected foreign workers has mostly been concentrated in dormitories, there have been cases at construction sites.

SL won't relax curfew
The Sri Lankan government on Monday dropped its decision to relax the nationwide curfew and extended it to April 27 following a sudden spike of 41 cases in the past 24 hours.

1,410
No. of foreign workers

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A Singapore-based Indian worker and his colleague were killed in an accident involving a car and the motorcycle they were on, it was reported.

The Police were alerted on Saturday morning that a male motorcyclist from Malaysia, 27, and the pillion rider, Sulthan Abdul Kathar Rahman Kareem, 33, from India, were involved in an accident with a sedan car at the junction of Hougang Avenue 3 and Airport Road, The Straits Times reported on Sunday.

The two were taken to the Changi General Hospital, where they were later pronounced dead. The two colleagues were heading to a restaurant where they worked, said a relative of Sulthan's.

"My cousin is the sole bread winner of his family, who were living back home in the Kottaipattinam village in southern India," the relative added. Prior to his death, Sulthan had been working in Singapore for over four years.

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According to a PTI report, all state governments except Maharashtra have been paying for the railway costs to ferry passengers to their native places

Income from assets of French nationals who work in a state other than a member state of the EU, the European Economic Area or Switzerland may be subject to French social security contributions, the European Court of Justice has ruled.

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The decline in natural resources is very real. The International Water Management Institute estimates that nearly every country south of the 35th parallel will experience economic or physical water scarcity by 2025.

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According to Raigarh superintendent of police Santosh Singh, the factory owner did not inform the administration about the incident, which only came to light after the hospital authorities alerted the police.

The Railways took to microblogging site Twitter to state that the loco pilot of goods train tried to stop the train after spotting the migrants on the track but, the train did not stop and eventually hit them.

Norway is characterised by very high levels of migration from within the European Economic Area (EEA) and growing but small scale labour migration from countries outside the EEA.

U.S. employers are demanding skilled workforces, but are not always able to find a local supply, says a new OECD study looking at Job Creation and Local Economic Development.

New Zealand, is one of the OECD countries with large and longstanding labour migration. The report finds that by and large, the New Zealand labour migration system is functioning well. Several features of the NZ immigration system, such as the Expression of Interest system, are gradually about to become an example for selection systems elsewhere in the OECD.

New Zealand should extend access to income support and introduce a longer minimum notice period for all workers to help disadvantaged laid-off workers find a new job and maintain their job quality and living standards, according to a new OECD report.

Canada should improve the support its employment services offer to help laid-off workers find a new job more quickly, according to a new OECD report.

The Netherlands should increase support for workers suffering from mental health issues and their employers and tackle the continued social stigma and limited knowledge around such illnesses, according to a new OECD report.

The Netherlands should improve its policies to attract and retain highly skilled migrants in order to address labour shortages and strengthen its position as a knowledge-based economy, according to a new OECD report.

Employment Rate in India decreased to 46.80 percent in 2018 from 47.80 percent in 2016. Employment Rate in India averaged 48.76 percent from 2012 until 2018, reaching an all time high of 50.80 percent in 2012 and a record low of 46.80 percent in 2018. In India, Worker Population Ratio (WPR) is the percentage of persons employed among the persons in the population. This page provides - India Worker Population Ratio- actual values, historical data, forecast, chart, statistics, economic calendar and news.

Reforms that boost growth by enhancing economic flexibility often meet strong opposition related to concerns that they may imply adverse consequences for categories of workers. This study investigates how making product or labour market regulation more flexible changes workers’ risks of moving out of employment and jobless people’s chances of becoming employed.

Every worker and employer is directly affected by taxes on wages. Taxation is one of the principal ways we finance public services. It also helps us achieve important social objectives, such as redistributing wealth to address inequalities. But as the OECD’s annual Taxing Wages points out, tax policies on labour income may have an impact on individuals’ behaviour with respect to the labour market or their consumption habits.

Workers in OECD countries paid just over a quarter of their gross wages in tax on average in 2017, with just over half of countries seeing small increases in the personal average tax rate, according to a new OECD report.

At the request of concerned countries, the OECD Secretariat has issued guidance on these issues based on a careful analysis of the international tax treaty rules.

The Netherlands should increase support for workers suffering from mental health issues and their employers and tackle the continued social stigma and limited knowledge around such illnesses, according to a new OECD report.

The number of doctors and nurses has reached record levels in the OECD. Countries should now reform their training and employment strategies to better respond to people’s changing health needs and also reduce their reliance on foreign-trained health workers from developing countries, according to a new OECD report.

Australia should provide early access to more intensive employment services for disadvantaged laid-off workers to help them find a new job more quickly, according to a new OECD report.

Japan could help laid-off workers find a job more quickly by improving co-ordination between public employment services and companies, as well as ensuring that all workers benefit from adequate Employment Insurance (EI) benefits, according to a new OECD report.

The unemployment rate among young people has reached painfully high levels, in particular among those young people with low levels of education.

Knowing who gains and loses from regulatory reform is important for understanding the political economy of reform. Using micro-level data from 26 countries, this paper studies how regulatory reform of network industries, a policy priority in many advanced economies, influences the labour market situation of workers in network industries.

Reforms that boost growth by enhancing economic flexibility often meet strong opposition related to concerns that they may imply adverse consequences for categories of workers. This study investigates how making product or labour market regulation more flexible changes workers’ risks of moving out of employment and jobless people’s chances of becoming employed.

Governments must deploy policy packages that take advantage of the synergies between labour, product and financial market reforms to escape the low-growth trap and ensure that benefits are broadly shared by the vast majority of citizens, according to the OECD’s annual Going for Growth report.

Employment and hours worked are already at the highest since independence. The unemployment rate has fallen below historical norms. Nevertheless, more qualified people are needed.

More than a quarter of adults in the United Kingdom have low basic skills, which has a negative impact on career prospects, job quality and productivity growth.

The gig economy is changing how labour is taxed, affecting employers, workers and public finances. This is why.

Have you ever used your smartphone to hail a taxi? Order in lunch? Or to find the help you need, whether from a cleaner or a childminder? If you have, then like millions of people, you probably did so via digital platforms. Every day people are connecting online, whether to use or provide myriad services.

Wages In the Euro Area increased to 1887 EUR/Month in the third quarter of 2019 from 1869 EUR/Month in the second quarter of 2019. Wages in the Euro Area averaged 1528.05 EUR/Month from 1999 until 2019, reaching an all time high of 1887 EUR/Month in the third quarter of 2019 and a record low of 1176 EUR/Month in the first quarter of 1999. This page provides the latest reported value for - Euro Area Average Monthly wage per person - plus previous releases, historical high and low, short-term forecast and long-term prediction, economic calendar, survey consensus and news.

Household Saving Rate in Japan decreased to 17.10 percent in March from 28.30 percent in February of 2020. Personal Savings in Japan averaged 12.02 percent from 1963 until 2020, reaching an all time high of 59.20 percent in December of 2019 and a record low of -9.90 percent in May of 2012. In Japan, Workers' Households Ratio of Net Savings and Insurance corresponds to the ratio of income saved to net disposable income during a certain period of time. From Jan 2000 data, the survey includes agricultural, forestry and fisheries households. This page provides - Japan Workers Savings - actual values, historical data, forecast, chart, statistics, economic calendar and news.

Remittances in Russia increased to 584 USD Million in the fourth quarter of 2019 from 566 USD Million in the third quarter of 2019. Remittances in Russia averaged 256.97 USD Million from 2001 until 2019, reaching an all time high of 584 USD Million in the fourth quarter of 2019 and a record low of 44 USD Million in the first quarter of 2002. In Russia, Remittances refers to inflows of migrants’ and short-term employee income transfers (personal remittances). This page provides the latest reported value for - Russia Remittances - plus previous releases, historical high and low, short-term forecast and long-term prediction, economic calendar, survey consensus and news.

This switch has long been brewing — and will probably outlast the coronavirus pandemic 

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