The great pandemic: A long update
First, the numbers: India recorded 366,317 new cases and 3,747 new deaths. The numbers are lower thanks to the weekend slump. Among those testing positive: Kangana Ranaut—who called it a “small time flu.” Maharashtra (48,401) is #1, followed by Karnataka (47,930) and Kerala (35,801).
About those deaths: NDTV reported on the sight of dozens of bodies floating down the Yamuna (clip here) in Uttar Pradesh. The Telegraph flagged the deaths of three dozen former and current employees at the Aligarh Muslim University over the course of one month. Going viral: This thread by Dr Ashish Jha that argues we are losing around 25,000 people to Covid every day. A related good read: Murad Banaji does an excellent job of concisely outlining what’s wrong with our fatality data in The India Forum.
Covid politics: Everyone’s talking about this Sunday Indian Express story based on interviews with senior BJP sources—who are increasingly anxious about the political consequences of the second wave. TLDR: This is the closest any of them come to admitting fault: “The Government is making efforts but is falling short in articulating a convincing political message… The government might need to revamp its team to deliver results”. Speaking of bad press, this was the front page of the Gujarat Samachar—the state’s largest daily. The headline reads: “Prime minister immersed in his ₹22,000 crore Central Vista project”.
A big new worry: Mucormycosis or ‘black fungus’ is spreading among recovering and recovered patients in Mumbai and across Gujarat. What is black fungus: It is a rare infection caused by exposure to mucor mould which is “ubiquitous and found in soil and air and even in the nose and mucus of healthy people.” It affects the sinuses, brain and lungs and can be life-threatening in diabetic or severely immunocompromised individuals.
Covid patients who are often prescribed steroids are especially vulnerable to it—since the medicines suppress immunity and push up blood sugar levels. Why this is very worrying: the disease has an overall mortality rate of 50%—and can cause “blindness, organ dysfunction, loss of body tissue and even death, if not treated in time.” BBC News has more context, Indian Express offers an explainer.
About that variant: One Belgian scientist who analysed the data out of India says:
“‘Based on this data, the new variant from India has a very big transmission or growth advantage,’ even over B.1.1.7, he says. ‘It's kind of like the U.K. variant squared.’”
NPR has more details. The big caveat as always: We are simply not collecting enough data to say anything meaningful about the variant. On a related note: Bolton, UK, is now the latest hotspot for the Indian ‘double mutant’ variant. The total number of such cases in the UK: 520.
Bangalore bed scam update: After all the fuss raised by BJP MLA Tejasvi Surya (explained here), the police have unearthed a link to his colleague Satish Reddy—who incidentally accompanied him on that infamous war room raid. The investigation is now centered on a middleman with close links to his personal assistant. Indian Express has more on this and others who have been arrested—none of whom, btw, are Muslim. FYI: there is also ongoing silliness over Surya’s apology—which he denies but has been confirmed by witnesses 🙄 . A good related read: Scroll on the severe crunch in healthcare workers—that we are trying to fill by offering nurses poorly paid, contract jobs.
About that oxygen shortage: The Supreme Court has set up a special National Task Force—composed of experts and top bureaucrats—to formulate “a methodology for the scientific allocation of oxygen” to states. A move that doesn’t seem to have occurred to the government. FYI: as per government data, nearly 50,000 patients in India are currently in ICUs, 14,500 on ventilator support, and over 137,000 are on oxygen support. A good related read: The Telegraph looks at how Mumbai’s superior planning helped it avoid Delhi’s fate. The Hindu has more on how strict rules on receiving foreign funds has made it impossible for hospitals and NGOs to receive assistance.
About those vaccines: Indians who are not digitally adept are being hurt by the government rule that all vaccine registrations for ages 18-45 must be done via the CoWin portal. Now, young people from Mumbai are hogging slots in nearby rural areas. Times of India has that story. Two big picture good reads: Quartz’s deep dive into how we ended up with a massive vaccine shortage; Indian Express on how the new government rules decentralised vaccine distribution has created bottlenecks and chaos. Irony alert: The 93 countries who received vaccines from India are in a far better position than us.
On the global front: Wealthy Indians and the middle class are whizzing off to places like Maldives and Dubai to escape the second wave. But their poorer counterparts—i.e. migrant workers—are returning to places like Nepal, and taking the disease with them. FYI: Nepal has registered a 1200% spike in cases within a few weeks.
Covidiot alert: A care centre in Gujarat is “using eight Ayurvedic medicines prepared from cow milk, ghee and urine” to treat Covid patients:
“We are primarily using Panchgavya Ayurved therapy to treat patients having Covid-19 symptoms. We use ‘gau tirth’ which is made from urine of ‘desi’ cows and other herbs. Then there is a treatment for cough and here too we use cow urine based medicine. We also have an immunity booster ‘chawanprash’ which is made from cow milk.”
Celebrity factor: Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma became the first desi power couple to speak up about the second wave. They expressed support for frontline workers and ordinary Indians who’ve helped each other through the crisis (watch the clip here). And they’ve set up a fundraiser—personally contributing Rs 2 crore (20 million). No donations to PM-Cares then? Also putting out videos in support of India: the Tottenham Hotspur and actor Drew Barrymore.
Also very good samaritans: The greatly maligned members of the Tablighi Jamaat—who volunteered to conduct over 500 funerals:
“We conduct the funerals based on their religious traditions. If the victim is a Hindu, we put a cloth and flower garland; if they are Christian, we put the body in a coffin and call up a Church father to arrange a prayer; and if they are a Muslim, we hold a Janaze ki Namaz (rituals).”
So you want to do good: The most marginalised are often the last to receive help. Founding member Hardik Nagar is working with trans communities, and has helped set up campaigns for them. He is personally involved with each of these efforts, and has verified each one of them. Here is a very good list worth your money and time.
Chinese rocket falls to Earth
Long March 5B was a booster rocket used on April 29 to carry the first module of China’s own space station. The Chinese, however, did not make plans for what will happen after it completed its job—i.e. ensure that it will have a controlled reentry into the Earth’s atmosphere over a predetermined remote area or ocean. As a result, for over a week, everyone has been anxious about where it will land. On Sunday, it finally crashed into the Indian Ocean—somewhere close to the Maldives. Point to note: The 18-tonne rocket is one the largest bits of space debris to make an “undirected dive into the atmosphere” in decades. So folks over at NASA are naturally upset with Beijing for “failing to meet responsible standards regarding their space debris.” Beijing, in turn, pointed to parts of the SpaceX rockets that routinely land on farmland in the US. See the exact location of the crash site below. (Washington Post or BBC News)
A massive pipeline attack
The United States suffered a serious ransomware attack on the main line that supplies 45% of the gasoline, diesel and jet fuel consumed on the East Coast. The silver lining: The hack—executed by a private group of hackers called Darkside—only compromised Colonial Pipeline’s IT systems—but the company has shut down the pipeline as a precautionary measure. If it doesn’t go back up within a few days, fuel prices are expected to escalate on the East Coast. Why this matters, according to experts:
“Colonial Pipeline is ultimately the jugular of the U.S. pipeline system. It’s the most significant, successful attack on energy infrastructure we know of in the United States. We’re lucky if there are no consequences, but it’s a definite alarm bell.”
Swiping left on Ben Affleck
A young woman matched with the actor on the dating app Raya but she ‘unmatched’ him—thinking it was a fake account. Here’s what’s really funny: Affleck then sent her video over DM on Insta, complaining: “Nivine, why did you unmatch me? It’s me.” Lol! Because nobody would ever reject Ben for being Ben? The Cut has the story. Her TikTok video is below:
Two feel-good animal stories
Freedom for lions: It will soon be illegal in South Africa to keep or breed lions in captivity. This is wonderful news as lions are kept in terrible conditions—“to ultimately be killed and their parts sold for trophies or for use in traditional medicines in Asia.” Also banned: ‘canned’ hunting—where lions are put into large enclosures for hunters to shoot and kill. (Associated Press)
The perfect whale hug: Researchers videotaped two North Atlantic right males swimming ‘belly-to-belly’—each with a fin draped over the other. Why is this astonishing: This behaviour is usually seen during mating, play, and between mothers and calves. North Atlantic right whales are highly endangered, and the photographer said, “the gentleness of the whole thing. It was like a slow waltz… Having a ringside seat on a private time in that group somehow had a heartbeat of hope.” National Geographic has the story. See the lovely footage below (laptop viewing is highly recommended):
