A big India Covid study
Indian health authorities have always been stingy with pandemic data—making it impossible for experts to draw any meaningful conclusions about its spread. But two states—Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu—have finally shared data from 575,000 contacts of 84,965 confirmed Covid-19 patients with a group of US-based scientists. And this is what they learned:
- There is a strong risk of transmission among similar-age contacts, with the highest such risk among children aged 14 years.
- The chance of catching the virus when exposed to an infected person was only 1.2% in healthcare settings, 2.6% in the community, 9% within households and 79% if travelling in the same vehicle for six hours or longer.
- Half of 5,733 Covid-19 deaths in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu occurred within six days of diagnosis and 1,042 (18.2%) within 24 hours or even before a test result.
- This tells us that Indians only seek or get help in the later stages of the disease—typically after developing severe breathlessness.
- Interestingly, much older Indians are not any more likely to become infected. This could be due to stringent stay-at-home orders for the elderly.
- But it can also indicate a “survivability bias”—i.e. those who live to a very old age in India (and beat the average life expectancy of 69 years) are likely healthier and wealthier than average.
- A related good read: The Print lays out theories that explain why the death toll is lower in India.
In related news: As per the latest Unlock guidelines, theatres can throw open their doors from October 15—with only 50% occupancy. States have been left free to take their call on schools. But since 71% of Indian parents are unwilling to send their kids to school, a big reopening is unlikely. Also: central air conditioning and smoking breaks at the workplace are strictly forbidden.
Elsewhere in the world: Japan plans to distribute free vaccines to all its citizens. Half a million sharks may be killed because their liver is an essential ingredient in certain Covid vaccines. And 25% of working women in the US are planning to leave their jobs, cut back hours, or otherwise scale back work due to childcare burdens.
Babri Masjid accused go scot-free
A special CBI court has acquitted all the 32 people accused of tearing down the mosque—including former deputy prime minister Lal Krishna Advani—in a verdict that shocks nobody. What was somewhat unexpected: the creative reasoning offered by the judges. For example: "The accused tried to stop the demolition." If you care, Indian Express has a solid explainer on the case. The best tweet belongs to Nidhi Razdan: “The mosque just fell down on its own”—despite Advani-ji’s best efforts to hold it up a la Samson, of course.
The ugly-ass presidential debate
There’s been plenty of ink spilled on the ugliness of the first presidential debate—so ugly that TIME magazine is demanding that the rest of them be cancelled. ICYMI: Here’s Joe Biden telling Trump to shut up—and saying ‘Inshallah’ which is far more remarkable. Hillary Clinton jumped into the mix on Twitter. A compare and contrast moment that tells you a lot about the Trump marriage. Also: Trevor Noah’s analysis is the best recap of the hot mess. The upside for Biden: He raised a record $3.8 million during the debate.
In China’s crosshairs: Google
Egged on by Huawei, Beijing is planning to open an antitrust investigation into Google. Why Huawei? The US government banned all US companies from sharing tech with the Chinese telecom giant. That means Google had to stop providing technical support to new Huawei phone models—and block its access to Google’s developer services (which is critical for Android apps). Tit for Tat for Tit…
The good Google news: Gmail users can make free and unlimited Meet calls until March 31. The bad news: Google is cracking down on any app offering gamified cashback incentives related to the IPL—including Zomato and Swiggy.
The good Amazon news: Prime just rolled out its ‘preview’ feature in India. It allows you to get an exclusive sneak peek at coming attractions. A bigger Amazon rollout: Americans may soon be able to pay for their shopping by simply scanning their hands at offline Amazon stores. The company plans to offer this tech to other retail chains as well.
Anurag Kashyap is summoned
The director has been asked to come for questioning by the Mumbai police—in connection with the sexual assault allegation made by actor Payal Ghosh. This is after Ghosh and a Union BJP minister met with the Maharashtra governor to demand action on her complaint. (Firstpost)
Related ‘clean chit’ tamasha: Times of India did a big splash claiming that Deepika Padukone, Sara Ali Khan and Shraddha Kapoor are likely to get a clean chit from the Narcotics Control Bureau. The reason:
“Padukone and Prakash on Saturday reportedly told NCB officials that in 2017 WhatsApp chats, they had used the words maal, weed, hash and doob as code names for various kinds of cigarettes ‘for fun’. The two said they referred to low quality cigarettes as maal, slim and better quality ones as hash and weed, and thick ones as doob. NCB officials asked Padukone and Prakash the same set of questions in separate rooms. ‘We were satisfied as both corroborated the codes,’ said an official. NCB was questioning the duo over their 2017 WhatsApp chats where they had discussed certain code words and it was assumed they were discussing drugs.”
NCB officials have vehemently denied receiving any such enlightenment and called all reports of leniency “devoid of the facts and truth."
Plants are going extinct
A global report based on the research of 200 scientists in 42 countries suggests that two-fifths of the world's plants are at risk of extinction—including 723 that are used for vital medicines.
"We're losing the race against time because species are disappearing faster than we can find and name them. Many of them could hold important clues for solving some of the most pressing challenges of medicine and even perhaps of the emerging and current pandemics we are seeing today."
In other worrying news: A new US study suggests that queer folks are more likely to suffer from migraines than others: “One in six adults overall experience migraine headaches in their lifetime, but among lesbian, gay, and bi people, that figure jumps to one in three.” One possible reason: the stress induced by discrimination. The Cut has that story.
In better news for the planet: Back in 2018, Japanese researchers revealed an engineered version of an enzyme that literally eats plastic. Now, researchers have built a super-enzyme that can do it six times faster. The really good news: Given the pace of progress, it could be used for recycling within a year or two! The Guardian has more.
