The great pandemic: A longish update

First, the numbers: We reported 379,237 new cases and 3,535 deaths yesterday. The number of average daily deaths over the past seven days is the highest in the world. A very good related read: This India Today interview with leading virologist Dr Jacob John—who offers a long view of the pandemic. (h/t founding member George Thomas)

Undercounting deaths #1: This time, it’s the Delhi government that is undercounting its dead. The official number for the past 10 days: 3,049. The number of funerals that followed Covid protocol: 6,958. The number of ‘not-Covid’ funerals in the same time period: 5,111. Point to note: Funerals follow Covid protocols only when a hospital certifies that either person was infected, or was a “suspected” case. So anyone who dies at home falls outside that category. Indian Express digs into the numbers.

Undercounting deaths #2: Times of India reporter looked at Bangalore and found: For every Covid death reported in the city, at least 2 bodies are cremated. Also this:

“Crematoria staff from these places have cremated 3,104 bodies under Covid protocol in 57 days, while [the] official number of deaths was only 1,422. The government is yet to report deaths of 1,682 patients, which makes the gap in reporting and cremations more than double.”

Read his thread here. 

Speaking of deaths: BBC News has an excellent piece on how social media often makes the difference between life and death in the midst of a collapsing healthcare system. Also: this powerful video report on nurse Manjusha Mathew unsuccessfully trying to revive a patient in the ICU. Also moving: This clip shows two sons taking their mother’s body to the crematorium on a motorbike because they couldn’t get any other kind of transportation.

Speaking of variants: The government has now asked states to send 150 Covid-positive samples for genome sequencing every two weeks. Why this is mystifying: This is lower than the original requirement of 5% of all positive cases—which is much higher. As per the original requirement, Maharashtra would have sent 20,000 samples over the past week. Why this matters: We have zero usable data on the variant and its role in this terrible second wave. The Telegraph has more.

Siddique Kappan update: The Supreme Court has ordered that the journalist be moved to a big Delhi hospital like AIIMS. The Kerala Union of Working Journalists (KUWJ) says he has tested positive—a claim refuted by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta. 

Trying to do good: Big IT firms that have set up war rooms to organise oxygen, beds and medicines. Quartz has a must-read on how dedicated school teachers are on the frontlines of ensuring that most urgent Covid cases in Mumbai receive emergency care. Also read: The Better India profile of a district collector who is expertly managing the Covid crisis in Nandurbar, Maharashtra. He has 150 vacant beds and two oxygen plants with a third one on the way (h/t founding member Sushma Joseph). 

Covidiot of the day: BJP MLA Manchan Kesari who invited at least 2000 guests to his son's wedding on April 26. See rage-inducing pic below:

On the lighter side: That famous Hitler scene from ‘Downfall’ has now been repurposed to trash the government’s handling of the second wave:

Doing good for a Covid cause

Subscriber Vishal Jain wrote in a request to highlight IndiaShield.in—which is dedicated to helping people in need of critical information about oxygen, beds and medicines. Right now, they are looking for volunteers to help add and verify information at the local level. You can get more information about the effort at IndiaShield.in. And you can sign up to become a volunteer here.

Sri Lanka set to ban burqas

The Sri Lankan cabinet has passed a proposal to ban full-face veils on grounds of national security. They had been temporarily banned after the Easter suicide bomb attacks in 2019. If passed by the parliament, they will be made entirely illegal. This is part of the crackdown on Muslims by the strongman government led by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. Reminder: Muslims make up 9% of Sri Lanka’s population. (Al Jazeera)

A brilliant solution for microplastics

Microplastics are tiny plastic fragments that are released into the environment during production and breakdown of items like grocery bags—or during everyday activities like doing laundry or using personal care products with microbeads. They hang around forever, and enter into the wastewater—and ultimately, the oceans—endangering marine life. Now, scientists have found a way to eliminate them using bacteria—which will literally stick to the microplastics, capture them and form “an easily disposable and recyclable blob.” The Guardian has more on this exciting breakthrough. 

A big social media boycott

All British football, cricket and rugby teams will boycott all social media for four days, starting at 3 pm on Friday. The reason: They are taking a stand against racist trolling of black athletes. The immediate trigger: a series of high-profile attacks against Liverpool players Trent Alexander-Arnold, Naby Keïta and Sadio Mané after their club lost to Real Madrid. A good related read: The Guardian on racism in English football.

Hong Kong new no-exit laws

With a legislature stripped of all opposition, the city government passed a new law that gives unlimited powers to stop people from entering or exiting the city. 

“Activists, lawyers and some business figures have sounded the alarm over provisions in the bill, including one allowing the city’s immigration chief to bar people from boarding planes to and from the city. No court order is required and there is no recourse to appeal.”

Why this matters: “Exit bans” are often used in mainland China against activists and protesters. It can also be used to detain and deport refugees. (The Guardian)

In other China-related news: Apparently, married Chinese women are drugging their husbands with a drug called diethylstilbestrol—“a synthetic estrogen which can prevent men from achieving an erection”—to prevent the men from cheating on them. It basically makes them impotent, which would be handy except WHO has labeled the drug as a carcinogen. (Global Times)

Zomato files for an IPO

In a highly anticipated move, the food delivery company has filed its papers to be listed on the stock exchange. Why this matters: 

“Valued at $5.4 billion—higher than around the $5-billion valuation of its arch-rival Swiggy—Zomato would most likely turn sentiments of investors and startups towards the local ecosystem of capital raising and exits if it pulls off a successful IPO.”

A da Vinci disappointment

A gorgeous sculpture of Flora—the Roman goddess of flowering plants—has been revealed as a fake… sort of. The sculpture was claimed to be the work of Leonardo da Vinci, but new research shows that it is most certainly not. The giveaway clue: It’s made of ‘spermaceti’—a waxy material found in the heads of sperm whales and bottlenose whales, which was almost never used by Renaissance artists. Apparently, the real creator is some English guy called Richard Cockle Lucas in the 19th century—almost 300 years after da Vinci died. But, hey, she is still gorgeous! Check out The Smithsonian for a full-length image.

Say hello to six fun things

Because we need it, damn it!

Hello, Coldplay! The band appears to be signalling a new album called ‘Alien Radio’. There’s a weird clip and equally weird billboards in New York, London, Santiago and Seoul. Fans claimed to have cracked the code, and we leave it to you to decipher the video:

Hello, Lucy! We have the first photos of Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem as Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz—in a movie directed by Aaron Sorkin. And they look pretty darn cool. 

Hello, BMW? Is this the ugliest Beamer of all time? The massive front grills on the latest M3 and M4 models has everyone talking about “double-coffin-shaped noses”—which is not exactly the kind of talk you want when you roll out a new car. OTOH, GQ really really likes it.

Hello sexy grenade? A woman jogger spotted what looked like a grenade in Germany. It turned out to be a… sex toy! BBC News has the story. Hilarious photo is below:

Hello, very tall hotel! In 2018, the 356-meter (1,168 feet) Gevora Hotel in Dubai became the tallest hotel in the world. Now, another hotel in Dubai is set to eclipse its claim to fame. The Ciel Tower will be 365 meters (1,200 feet) upon completion, and will have 1,000-plus rooms and suites spread across 82 floors. CNN has more on the vision and the architect. Also, it will look like this (very skinny and long):

Hello, Tony Blair… really? The former UK Prime Minister is now sporting an iron-grey mullet. And the tabloids can’t get enough of it! Politicians in overly long gray hair… hmm, who does that remind us of?