headlines that matter
First, the numbers
- Total number of cases: 7,19,664. Total number of deaths: 20,160. Total recoveries: 4,39,947.
- Delhi passed the 100,000 mark, but also reported nearly 72,000 recoveries.
- Hyderabad’s A-list is in a panic after a top jeweller died of Covid after hosting a lavish party. Another jeweller who was at the event has also died.
- A Bangalore startup is developing a six-layer mask that actually kills the virus.
Is the Wuhan virus really the Yunnan virus?
Scientists in 2013 sent frozen virus samples to the Wuhan Institute of Virology from a bat-infested former copper mine in Yunnan province. The reason: six men who cleared the cave of bat feces contracted a pneumonia-type illness, and three of them died. Back in February, Shi Zhengli—the world’s leading virology expert—published a paper saying that the Yunnan virus is 96.2% identical to the Wuhan virus. Why this matters: Donald Trump and others claim that the Covid virus originated in the Wuhan lab. But its director insists it had no live copy of the Yunnan virus for it to leak. (Bloomberg)
Bad news for Indian students in America
The US immigration will not allow foreign students on F-1 or M-1 visas to remain in the country if their universities move all their classes online. The newly released statement says:
“Active students currently in the United States enrolled in such programs must depart the country or take other measures, such as transferring to a school with in-person instruction to remain in lawful status.”
Point to remember: President Trump has insisted that all schools and universities must reopen in September—but it’s a very unlikely prospect if US Covid numbers continue to soar. They have doubled in the past ten days, and now stand at 2,888,729.
In related bad news: 800,000 Indians may be forced to leave Kuwait if the government approves a quota bill aimed at reducing the number of foreign workers. Expats account for 70% of the country’s population. The plan is to bring that number down to 30%. The planned Indian quota: 15% or 245,000. The current size of the Indian community: 1.45 million.
The Covid effect: India edition
Financial blues: According to a new survey, 70% of Indian startups are struggling to survive, while 12% have already shut shop. Only 22% have cash reserves to meet their expenses over the next 3-6 months. More importantly, investors have bailed out: "Over 33% of the startups said investors had put the investment decision on hold and 10% said the deals had been scrapped. Only 8% startups had received funds as per the deals signed before Covid-19 outbreak.” In related news: At least 10,000 techies may have already lost their jobs in the April-June quarter. Plus this: the soaring number of bad loans is expected to total Rs 1.67 lakh crore by the end of this financial year.
The plastic pandemic: Covid has dealt a considerable blow to the ‘ban plastic’ movement—which was gathering speed before the pandemic. Wuhan hospitals alone produced more than 240 tons of plastic waste daily. Experts predict the US will generate an entire’s year worth in just two months. Plastic usage is spiralling in cities across India—and they can do little to control it. For example: Kerala had banned single-use plastic in January but now has procured vast quantities of cutlery, cups etc in order to distribute free food.
Still looking good: Ola co-founders Bhavish Aggarwal and Ankit Bhati together added Rs 544 crore to their personal wealth. The reason: they recently received 2,56,038 in equity at a nominal price of Rs 10 per share. Point to note: the company recently laid off 1,400 employees.
The true ‘Rock’ star on Instagram
The highest paid celebrity on Instagram is not a Jenner or a Kardashian. It is Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson who charged more than $1 million a post last year. Kylie comes in at #2 with $986,000, followed by Cristiano Ronaldo at $889,000. And yes, The Rock also has more followers than Kylie. (BBC News)
It’s ‘Namaste London’ for Akki
Akshay Kumar announced that he is heading to London next month to kick off shooting for his film ‘Bellbottom’—which is the first big Bollywood declaration of a return to business as usual. Of course, India hasn’t opened its international borders as yet—and may not do so on July 31 if our numbers continue to climb. And now that the EU has banned Indian visitors, the UK may well follow suit once/if its situation improves. So Akki may well find himself hanging in Mumbai come August.
India Inc is super-chatty on Twitter
Mint tracked the Twitter activity of 20 global business leaders and found that our tycoons are way more active—but are far less likely to be RT-ed. Also, our guys like to tweet on a variety of topics: "For the global set, about 42% of tweets revolved around their own company against 10% for the Indian set. A large share of tweets by Musk, Cook, and Pichai were centred around their own firms." (Mint)
