The great pandemic: India edition

• Big cause for concern: Karnataka, which witnessed a one-day surge of 3,176 cases—including 1,975 in Bangalore. The state’s health minister’s response: “Only God can save us, and we have to bring in caution on our own." The state is currently under a 7-day lockdown.
• Also going back into lockdown until July 18: Pune.
• The Finance Ministry defended its decision to slap an 18% GST tax on alcohol-based hand sanitisers in the midst of a pandemic: “Lower GST rates help imports by making them cheaper. This is against the nation’s policy on Atmanirbhar Bharat.” Mint lays out the convoluted logic if you care.
• Air India is sending a number of its employees on leave without pay for up to five years! It is also ending the WFH option starting July 20.

The great pandemic: global edition

A global pattern: Whether it is the US or India or Mexico, the countries experiencing an uncontrollable surge have one thing in common: “After weeks or months of trying to suppress the virus, they reopened their economies, only to find that the virus came roaring back. Now they are using a more limited arsenal to contain the spread, with little success.” 

Israel: On May 17, the country reported only 10 new cases. It was also the day when the government decided to reopen schools. Today, 2,026 students, teachers, and staff have been infected, and 28,147 suspected cases are in quarantine. And Israel reported an all-time daily high of 1,681 new cases. More than 40% of the new cases are linked to schools—especially kids in middle school:

“Adults, including teachers and other employees, brought it into schools, which are, in the end, closed spaces… The younger students were more obedient and easier to control in a classroom setting, and had more respect for their teachers. Among high schoolers, there was a greater ability to understand. But it is in the nature of middle-school kids to rebel, not to obey teachers, not to wear masks or keep apart.”

Tokyo: has raised its coronavirus alert status to ‘red’ due to record-high daily totals, but insists that the city is on track to host the Olympics in 2021.

Good vaccine news: Oxford University and AstraZeneca will publish the results of their first human trials today. The news is expected to be good. The Moderna vaccine also performed well in the initial human trials, and is gearing up for a 30,000-person study that will be its real test. Also starting human trials: Indian company Zydus.

A ‘jaw-dropping’ crash in global fertility rates

According to a new Lancet study, the global fertility rate—i.e. the average number of children a woman gives to—is falling rapidly. Once it falls below 2.1, the total population starts to shrink. The global rate was 2.4 in 2017, and is expected to fall to 1.7 by 2100. The result: we will hit peak population in 2064 at 9.7 billion—and then drop to 8.8 billion by the end of the century. The nations most affected: 23—including Spain and Japan—whose populations will decline by 50% by 2100. BBC News explains why this isn’t exactly good news.

A brief Sachin Pilot update

Yesterday, he informed all and sundry that he will not be joining the BJP. One rumoured reason: The 12 MLAs loyal to Pilot do not want to switch loyalties. Congress leaders are still asking him to come back home, while CM Ashok Gehlot continues to attack him in public:

“Speaking good English, giving bites to the media are not enough. You are hobnobbing with the BJP. What is in your heart for the country? What is your ideological commitment? The fork of gold is not for eating.”

Related infographic: These charts that show the 70-plus times the Congress party has split—the most successful breakaway being Trinamool.

Whiskey is best served in paper

Johnnie Walker will be sold in recyclable paper bottles starting next year. This is in contrast to the likes of Coca Cola which has refused to abandon plastic bottles or cans. 

In related Coke news: The shortage of diet varieties of Coke is real. The reason: a shortage of artificial sweeteners and aluminium to make cans.