The world’s largest smartphone and TV maker Samsung has introduced 24 hours for 365 days call center operational service as the first company in doing so in the related sector in Bangladesh.

The dynamic call center went operational from Monday (February 03), said Seungwon Youn, country manager, Samsung Bangladesh.

Seungwon Youn said “We’re constantly finding ways to upgrade and adapt our after-sales service by understanding our local customers’ needs and wants.”

As a leader in the digital technology industry, Samsung strives to offer excellence in customer service, which will ultimately drive brand attractiveness among its customers, he added.

Customers from across the country can easily reach Samsung helpline by dialing to 08000 300 300 (toll-free) at any time from the aforementioned date for service and product information.

YouTube is making clear  there will be no "birtherism" on its platform during this year's US presidential election.

Also banned: Election-related "deepfake" videos and anything that aims to mislead viewers about voting procedures and how to participate in the 2020 census.

The Google-owned video service clarified its rules ahead of the Iowa caucuses Monday. The company is mostly reiterating content guidelines that is has been putting in place since the last presidential election in 2016.

Google said that it will remove any videos that advance false claims about whether political candidates and elected officials are eligible to serve in office.

The company's announcement comes about nine years after celebrity businessman Donald Trump began to get notice for claiming that Barack Obama, the nation's first African American president, was not born in the United States.

Trump repeatedly voiced citizenship doubts even after Obama produced his long-form birth certificate. Trump only fully backed off from the idea in the final stages of his 2016 presidential campaign.

YouTube said it will also crack down on any attempts to artificially increase the number of views, likes and comments on videos. It changed its systems for recommending what videos users watch last year in a push to curb harmful misinformation.

The World Health Organization is working with Google to ensure that people get facts from WHO first when they search for information about the new virus that recently emerged in China.

 Director-General  Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told the opening of WHO's executive board meeting on Monday that social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Tencent and TikTok have also taken steps to limit the spread of misinformation and rumors about the virus and outbreak that first emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan in late December and has now spread to 23 other countries.

"To that end, we have worked with Google to make sure people searching for information about coronavirus see WHO information at the top of their search results," he said.

Pausing on a couple of occasions to cough, clear his throat, and drink water, Tedros — who visited China and met with President Xi Jinping to discuss the outbreak last week — quipped: "Don't worry: It's not corona," prompting laughter.

Since the outbreak began, a number of misleading claims and hoaxes about the virus have circulated online. They include false conspiracy theories that the virus was created in a lab and that vaccines have already been manufactured, exaggerations about the number of sick and dead, and claims about bogus cures.

On Sunday, WHO lamented that the outbreak and response have been accompanied "by a massive 'infodemic' — an overabundance of information — some accurate and some not — that makes it hard for people to find trustworthy sources and reliable guidance when they need it."

The report said WHO, the U.N. health agency, was working "24 hours a day to identify the most prevalent rumors that can potentially harm the public's health, such as false prevention measures or cures."

"These myths are then refuted with evidence-based information," it said, noting that WHO is providing myth busters on its social media channels in China and beyond.

Tedros also reiterated his decision last week to classify the virus outbreak as a global emergency, saying the move was prompted by increased human-to-human spread of the virus to numerous countries and the fear it could have a significant impact on developing countries with weaker health systems.

As of Monday morning, the outbreak had infected more than 17,300 people, including 17,238 cases and 361 deaths confirmed in China, Tedros said. Outside China, there were 151 confirmed cases in 23 countries, and one death, reported in the Philippines on Sunday, he said.

Tedros said recent outbreaks including the new virus and Ebola demonstrated the shortcomings of the "binary" emergency system, calling it "too restrictive, too simplistic, and not fit for purpose.""

"We have a green light, a red light, and nothing in-between," he said, adding that WHO was considering options to allow for an "intermediate level of alert."

The WHO executive board, which is starting a six-day meeting, plans to hold a special technical session on the coronavirus Tuesday.

Chinese scientists say they have more evidence that the new virus that recently emerged in China likely originated in bats. In two papers published Monday in the journal Nature, scientists report that genome sequences from several patients in Wuhan show the virus is closely related to the viruses that cause Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, or SARS.

In one study, Shi Zhen-Li and colleagues at the Wuhan Institute of Virology reported that genome sequences from seven patients were 96% identical to a bat coronavirus. SARS is also believed to originate in bats, although it jumped to civet cats before infecting people in the 2002-2003 international outbreak. Although scientists suspect the latest virus outbreak in China began at a seafood market in Wuhan where wild animals were on sale and in contact with people, the animal source has not yet been pinpointed.

"In essence, it's a version of SARS that spreads more easily but causes less damage," said Ian Jones, a professor of virology at the University of Reading who was not connected to the two studies. "The virus also uses the same receptor, the door used to get into human cells, which explains transmission and why it causes pneumonia," he said in a statement.

A cruise ship industry group says its members will ban anyone, including guests or crew, who has traveled from or through mainland China in the previous 14 days, the maximum incubation period for a new virus that originated in China.

The Cruise Lines International Association, which says it represents more than 50 cruise lines and is the world's largest cruise industry trade association, said its members have suspended all crew movements from mainland China.

Last week, a scare over a woman with flu-like symptoms led Italian authorities to keep 6,000 passengers and 1,000 crew members on a cruise ship docked north of Rome. The Costa Crociere cruise line said the woman and her partner, who had no symptoms, were put into isolation Wednesday. The passengers were allowed to disembark on Thursday after tests for the new virus came back negative.

The number of people infected by the virus globally has topped 17,000. It has killed more than 360 people, all but one in China.

The head of the World Health Organization says it's working with Google to ensure that searches about the new virus from China turn up information from the United Nations health agency first, part of efforts to fight "rumors and misinformation" about the outbreak.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told the opening of WHO's executive board meeting on Monday that social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Tencent and TikTok "have also taken steps to limit the spread of misinformation" about the virus and outbreak that first emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan in late December and has now spread to 23 other countries.

The number of people infected by the virus globally has topped 17,000. It has killed more than 360 people, all but one in China.

Russia's Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin says the country may start deporting foreigners infected with the new coronavirus.

Mishustin said at a Cabinet meeting Monday that it is one of the measures outlined in a government-approved plan of action for preventing the virus from spreading in Russia.

On Friday, Russia reported its first two confirmed cases of coronavirus — two Chinese nationals were hospitalized in two different regions of Siberia. It wasn't immediately clear from Mishustin's statement whether they would be deported.

Like other countries, Russia has halted most of its air and train traffic with China, shut down its land border with China and Mongolia and temporarily stopped issuing work visas to Chinese citizens.

On Monday, authorities announced Russia was suspending the last operating train that connects Moscow and Beijing and all trains between Russia and North Korea.

Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova also said that several Russian planes would fly to China on Monday to evacuate Russian citizens. Golikova said there are currently around 130 Russian nationals in Hubei province, the epicenter of the outbreak.

Hong Kong's leader Carrie Lam announced the city will shut almost all land and sea border control points to the mainland from midnight to stem the spread of the novel coronavirus from China.

Lam said in a briefing Monday that only two border checkpoints — at Shenzhen Bay and the bridge to Macau and Zhuhai — will remain open.

Lam denied that the move was due to pressure from medical workers who threatened a five-day strike to demand the government shut all borders to the mainland. Public broadcaster RTHK reports that some went on strike Monday and more threatened to walk out on Tuesday if their demands were not met.

Lam said the border closures had "absolutely nothing to do with the strike" and was instead simply a measure to stem the spread of the virus which has infected 15 people in Hong Kong. Lam urged Hong Kong residents to "stand united" in combating the outbreak.

The Czech Republic has plans to suspend all flights to and from China in an effort to prevent the new coronavirus from spreading.

Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis says the ban will take effect on Sunday. The lag gives 100 Czechs in China a chance to return home.

About 620,000 Chinese tourists visited the Czech Republic last year. The first direct flight connection between Prague and China was established in 2015. Three Chinese airlines operate flights to Prague from Shanghai, Beijing, Chengdu and Sian (Xi'an).

Dubai's long-haul carrier Emirates says it will continue flying to mainland China amid the ongoing coronavirus outbreak, but will fly smaller aircraft on many routes.

The airline said Monday it would swap out its double-decker Airbus A380 for a Boeing 777 on several routes to Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai.

The decision comes after Western and Arab airlines stopped flying to China over the outbreak. The UAE has pushed for more Chinese tourists and investment amid an economic slowdown.

The United Arab Emirates also instituted a new rule Monday that any school staff or student returning to the country from China needed to spend 14 days at home before returning to class.

The Shanghai Composite index has lost nearly 8% as Chinese regulators moved to stabilize markets jolted by a virus that has spread to more than 20 countries, slamming regional tourism and threatening global growth.

The outbreak of the virus in China has prompted governments around the world to step up surveillance and quarantine requirements as airlines cancel hundreds of flights. Millions of Chinese remained in lock-down as the number of people infected by the virus topped 17,000 as of Sunday night. It has killed more than 360 people, all but one in China.

The Shanghai benchmark dropped almost 9% after markets opened on Monday after a week-long Lunar New Year holiday that was extended by three days. It was its worst day since August 2015, despite the central bank's effort to put billions of dollars of extra cash into the markets through short-term securities purchases.

Many analysts have dropped their forecasts for China, the world's second-largest economy, to near 5% from earlier forecasts of 6% economic growth for the year.

Aviation authorities say that two flights carrying dozens of Pakistani students, Chinese and other passengers landed in Pakistan days after Islamabad suspended all flights with Beijing amid the outbreak of a new virus there.

The passengers on Monday were permitted to leave the airport after their medical examinations.

Civil Aviation Authority spokesman Abdul Sattar Khokhar says the ban on flights to and from China ended Sunday night and that the government health department had made "special arrangements" for screening incoming passengers.

Last week's ban on flights with China affected 22 weekly flights.

So far, Pakistan has no plans to evacuate some 30,000 nationals, including students, living in China.

Authorities say that so far four Pakistani students in China have been diagnosed with the new virus and their conditions are listed as stable. About 500 Pakistani students were in Wuhan — the site of the outbreak — at the time it surfaced.

South Korea's defense ministry says about 800 South Korean soldiers have been placed under quarantine as a precaution against a new coronavirus from China.

Ministry spokeswoman Choi Hyunsoo told reporters Monday that the soldiers either recently visited China, Hong Kong or Macau, or contacted people who visited those countries.

She says 450 of them are quarantined at their military bases and the remaining 350 at their homes.

South Korea has so far reported 15 cases of the new coronavirus, but none of them is affiliated with the country's 600,000-strong military.

Apple is temporarily closing its 42 stores in mainland China, one of its largest markets, as a new virus spreads rapidly and the death toll there rose to 259 on Saturday.

The iPhone maker said in a statement it was closing stores, corporate offices and contact centers in China until Feb. 9 "out of an abundance of caution and based on the latest advice from leading health experts."

"Our thoughts are with the people most immediately affected by the coronavirus and with those working around the clock to study and contain it," the statement said.

Apple's online store will remain open.

China is the company's third biggest market in terms of sales behind the United States and Europe and it is also where most iPhones and other devices are made. CEO Tim Cook told analysts on Tuesday that uncertainty due to the outbreak was keeping the Cupertino, California-based company from offering more specific guidance about its financial performance in the coming months after announcing results for the holiday shopping season that were far better than investors anticipated.

That performance propelled Apple's stock price to new highs earlier this week, but the escalating uncertainty about the situation in China quickly dampened spirits. Apple shares dropped 4% Friday to finish at $309.51.

In a Saturday note, Wedbush Securities analyst Daniel Ives predicted the store closures will have a "negligible" impact on Apple, largely because consumers in mainland China will still be able to buy iPhones and other products through online channels. Even if the shutdown of the brick-and-mortar stores extends throughout the entire month of February, Ives predicted it would lower only lower Apple's annual iPhone sales in that region by about 3%. Apple doesn't disclose how many iPhones it sells in China, but the company generated nearly $44 billion in revenue from the country in its last fiscal year.

Cook also said the company's contractors in China have been forced to delay reopening factories that closed for the Lunar New Year holiday.

Cook said the company was looking for ways to minimize supply disruptions. Some of its suppliers are in Hubei, the Chinese province at the center of the outbreak that's been under lockdown for more than a week.