headlines that matter
India’s Covid numbers: Why is this happening?
First, the numbers: Total cases: 548,318. Total deaths: 16,475. Total recoveries: 321,722. Data points to note:
- We recorded nearly 20K cases over a 24-hour period on Saturday for the first time. Cases added on Sunday: 19,700.
- Our number of deaths and cases are increasing rapidly. Our daily growth rate is #2 in the world on both counts. In comparison, the number of deaths in the US is increasing by only 0.6% each day.
- We have the worst case fatality ratios (3.1%) in South Asia—i.e. percentage of infections that lead to death.
- Just eight states account for 85% of the cases and 87% of the deaths: Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Telangana, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Bengal.
- Here’s the chart that says it all.
Why are we spiralling? There is no one answer to that question in a country as large as India. But here are some answers from the most-affected states:
Tamil Nadu: Significant parts of the state have gone back into lockdown—including Chennai which has 68% of the cases. The reason: The state delayed increasing the number of tests until mid-June—even though the number of cases were rising steadily. Increased testing = higher totals. Reason for the increased number of deaths: Previously hidden or “fudged” data is now being “reconciled.”
Delhi: There was very little contact tracing during the lockdown. More importantly, the lack of coordination with private hospitals made residents too scared to get tested:
“If you get calls from the police, if you get calls from the district surveillance officer saying you’ll get dragged away to some quarantine facility, who would get tested?... You would rather wait it out. The process is the punishment.”
So now the city is conducting a house-to-house screening of 29 million residents, and randomly sampling 26,000 people across the city. Expect those numbers to go even higher.
Karnataka: Over the weekend, its daily case numbers rose sharply—918, more than double its previous highest single-day total. One possible reason: this may reflect a backlog of 11,500 samples that remained untested due to the shutdown of two big government labs. Officials also blame the end of the lockdown—but have only restored a Sunday-only and night curfew in response. Cause for worry: 13,000 cases have violated home quarantine just in the past week.
Telangana: In the past week, the state recorded 3,200 cases—which is 41% of its entire total. Telangana has among the lowest testing rates in the country. And yet it has a very high positivity rate: 31 out of every 100 tests are positive compared to 27.5 in Delhi. The government has now suspended all testing in Hyderabad. The reason: a backlog of 8,253 samples. Why Hyderabad matters: 75% of the tests were conducted here with near-zero testing in the rest of the state.
A v. good FAQ: on the numbers is this Rajdeep Sardesai interview with a leading AIIMS doctor.
Big brands are still boycotting social media
Mark Zuckerberg personally lost $7 billion due to a growing Facebook boycott by some of the biggest brands. The result of the #StopHate4Profit campaign: the Zuck did a U-turn and changed FB’s content policy. The platform will now slap a label on deranged Trump posts to politically indicate they are problematic—much as Twitter has done before. Irrespective of the changes, brands like Starbucks, Unilever, Diageo and Coca Cola are not ending their boycott of social media.
In related BLM news: L’Oreal will remove words like ‘whitening’ from its advertising. And Princeton is removing a US President—Woodrow Wilson—from its prestigious school of international affairs.
What’s new on the China front
Talking tough: Despite rounds of talks, both sides are dialing up the heat—both in rhetoric and actions. While the PM refuses to mention China by name, “highly placed sources” are talking tough—at least with journalists. They claim that the government is ready for a military response if needed: “We are not going to step back, we will take them on.”
In related news: China is now building a helipad near the lake—and moving in 20 martial art trainers to prepare its troops. India is also ramping up its air defence missile systems in the area. According to Mint: “India is also very shortly getting a highly capable air defence system from a friendly country which can be deployed and the entire area can be taken care off to prevent any enemy flying there.” Our guess re. the ‘friendly country’: Israel.
Not a new thing: The first signs of Chinese aggression at Lake Pangong were apparent as early as September—right after the government suspended Article 370 and made Ladakh a Union Territory. The connection between the two: China is intent on protecting the vital China-Pakistan Economic Corridor—which connects its territory to the strategic port of Gwadar in Pakistan—and passes right next to the Ladakh border.
In more boycott news: Zomato workers burned their ‘Made in China’ t-shirts, and Delhi hotels have banned Chinese nationals. Mint reports on the key sectors that will be caught in the crossfire.
Also in boycott mode: The government-owned Prasar Bharti. It is mad at the Press Trust of India. The reason: the wire agency's breaking news tweet on the Indian ambassador’s meeting with his Chinese counterparts said this: “India hopes China will realise its responsibility in de-escalation and disengaging by moving back to its side of LAC.” Now Prasar Bharti is planning to cancel its subscription in protest of such “anti-national” reporting.
Russia paid Taliban to kill US soldiers
A shocking New York Times report revealed that Moscow placed a bounty on the head of US soldiers in Afghanistan—and paid Taliban fighters each time they scored a ‘kill’. This secret effort was coordinated by Unit 29155, an arm of Russia’s military intelligence agency, known widely as the G.R.U. Worse: President Trump had been briefed on this information and took no action—which he firmly denies. The news is likely to be rich election campaign fodder for Trump’s opponents. For example: this blistering ad.
Also trolling Trump: Tik-Tokers. The primary modus operandi: data manipulation. One tactic—called ‘shopping cart abandonment’—encourages users to load up their carts with Trump merch at his online store, and then ‘forget about it’. Why this works: brands typically spend (or in this case, waste) millions in targeted ads in trying to re-engage such shoppers. Also: it totally effs up the site's user data. Another tactic is this:
Locusts have landed!
Gurgaon, Faridabad and Dwarka woke up this weekend to swarms of creepy-crawlies. The capital is now on high alert. See video below.