The great pandemic: A long-ish roundup
First, the numbers: We added 3,54,880 new cases and a whopping 2,809 deaths yesterday—and reporting on a weekend typically tends to be low. We added 2.25 million cases in one week—and our official death count surged by 89%. As of Saturday, India recorded over five times the average daily cases of the US. We now account for half of all the new Covid cases in the world. A great Covid loss: classical singing legend, Rajan Mishra. A silver lining: numbers in Maharashtra appear to be plateauing.
A very good watch: Nirmala Sitharaman’s husband Parakala Prabhakar eviscerating the government’s mismanagement of the pandemic (h/t founding member Shalini Dayanidhi):
A very good read: India Ahead spoke to BJP leaders—including two ministers—about the political impact of the current crisis on the party’s political fortunes. The TLDR quote: “People will forget all this once the situation normalises. More importantly, there is no opposition to take advantage of this. Social media is entirely with us. There is no cause for worry.”
Point to note: A new study suggests that people are becoming reinfected due to declining antibody levels in their body after 5-6 months.
A woeful undercount: In the New York Times, a leading epidemiologist calls the misreporting of deaths “a complete massacre of data.” One reason: crematoriums increasingly put ‘beemari’ as the cause on death certificates—due to pressure from authorities and families who feel Covid shame. Another problem, as The Guardian points out, is people who die before they can get tested, especially in villages. Watch Dr Shahid Jameel break down as he claims the data is “completely false.”
Adding to the horror: It is becoming a nightmare to cremate the dead. Mortuaries and hospitals pressure families to take bodies in the middle of the night—but state crematoriums shut shop at 6/7 pm. (The Hindu)
Oxygen shortage: The scarcity crisis continues due to skyrocketing demand. As of now, 54.5% of those admitted to hospital need some form of oxygen support—which is a 13.4% increase from last year’s peak. Punjab has shut down its iron and steel industries to meet the demand for medical oxygen. Mumbai is facing a severe shortage of ventilators.
In denial: of the enormity of the tragedy, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta who—while representing the union government in the Delhi High Court—said: “Let's try and not be a cry baby." Also in denial: Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath who said,“There is no shortage of oxygen in any COVID hospital, be it private or government.” He asked officials to use the National Security Act to arrest those who spread “rumours” on social media and try to “spoil the atmosphere.” Meanwhile, Indian Express and The Wire report on the desperate situation in UP, where people can’t get medicines, oxygen or a hospital bed.
Doctors/hospitals in crisis: Delhi hospitals remained on the edge of disaster—while others tipped over the edge. Example: Jaipur Golden Hospital where 25 patients died due to fluctuating oxygen levels. The Delhi High Court has ordered police protection for hospitals to protect their employees from the rage of patients’ families. Meanwhile, doctors in Gujarat are personally begging, borrowing and transporting oxygen to save their patients. Also, the director of Moolchand Hospital started to cry as she described the situation (clip here). The head of Batra Hospital simply said, “It’s over” (clip here). BBC News has a must-see video report from the frontlines at the hospitals—watch to appreciate the level of commitment of our healthcare workers:
Point to note: Most states shut down their special Covid centres just before the second wave. Indian Express has that story. And this 900-bed military medical centre—inaugurated with great fanfare by Amit Shah on Friday—is still inoperational.
World to the rescue: Here are the countries that have rushed assistance:
- The US will immediately make available raw materials needed to make vaccines—whose export was previously restricted. Supplies of “therapeutics, rapid diagnostic test kits, ventilators, and Personal Protective Equipment” will immediately be made available. The US will also pursue “options to provide oxygen generation and related supplies on an urgent basis.” Point to note: Serum Institute CEO Adar Poonawalla says he doesn’t really need the raw materials to make Covishield.
- Russia is planning to fly special planes carrying oxygen generators and concentrators as well as Covid medicines.
- Singapore has provided four cryogenic oxygen tanks, while Saudi Arabia is sending 80 metric tonnes of oxygen.
- Meanwhile, a number of other countries have expressed solidarity and promised to help.
- The UK is sending 600 medical devices which will include oxygen concentrators and ventilators. Watch the British high commissioner make the announcement in Hindi. PS: The UK is increasingly worried by the presence of the Indian variant on its shores—which may reverse the gains of the recent lockdown.
About vaccines: Four states—Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Punjab—say they simply don’t have vaccines to start inoculating everyone above the age of 18, starting May 1. All of them claim that they’ve been told by Serum that fresh supplies will not be rolled out before May 15. And the union government clarified that everyone between the ages of 18 and 44 will have to buy their vaccines on the private market—and will not be inoculated as part of the government’s campaign.
Point to note: Vox points out that it isn’t easy to ramp up vaccinations in the midst of a raging second wave because it is “the same nurses or technicians deployed to vaccinate people are often the same personnel who need to attend to Covid-19 patients or conduct testing and contract tracing.”
Vaccine prices: Everyone—especially the state governments—are outraged at the prices announced for Bharat Biotech’s—which will be even pricier than Covishield. It has been priced at Rs 600 for the state government, and Rs 1200 for private hospitals. The export price: between $15-20. Why this is astonishing: This is a vaccine developed in partnership with the government. So this is our own government price-gouging its citizens. FYI, our private purchase price for Covishield aka the Oxford vaccine is the highest in the world—$8 compared to say Bangladesh’s $4. See comparison here.
Social media cleansing: The government has sent 150-plus requests to Twitter, Facebook and other social media platforms to take down content that includes “unrelated, old and out of the context images or visuals, communally sensitive posts and misinformation about COVID19 protocols.” All the posts are also highly critical of the government. Twitter has blocked viewing of 50 tweets in India—including those of Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera, Member of Parliament Revanth Reddy, ABP News editor Pankaj Jha, filmmaker Avinash Das and former journalist Vinod Kapri. The government has since targeted 100 other posts across platforms. Check out screenshots of the blocked tweets here.
Good samaritans: Delhivery plus Zomato. Also: Indian Youth Congress leader BV Srinivas.
Be a good samaritan: Mutual Aid India has put out a useful database of ongoing fundraisers for good people and groups that are doing brilliant work right now. Please help support these extremely important causes! Check out the list here of the groups and their fundraising goals. And email covidmutualaidindia@protonmail.com if you want to help volunteer with them.
A huge vaccine breakthrough!
Here’s great vaccine news. A team of Oxford University scientists have tested a vaccine that offers 77% protection against malaria. Why this matters: There were 229 million cases of malaria across the world in 2019—and they resulted in 409,000 deaths! BBC News has more on this bit of very good news.
Zoom is a lot harder for women
A new study shows that far more women (14%) suffer from Zoom fatigue than men (5.5%). And that’s for three reasons. Women are more likely to suffer from ‘mirror anxiety’—where the sight of yourself triggers negative feelings. Women also are more likely to feel “stared at”, and they feel “physically trapped” when they have to stay on camera for hours. (CBS News)
Climate change is changing Earth’s axis
Contrary to popular knowledge, Earth’s gravity is constantly changing. These changes in turn affect what happens on the poles—and our axis naturally shifts in a phenomenon described as ‘polar drift’. But this movement has picked up due to climate change:
“The poles are now moving at nearly 17 times the rate they were in 1981, a fairly remarkable speed-up. What’s even more remarkable, though, is that poles actually began moving in a new direction quite suddenly in 2000, at a rapid clip.”
In terms of effect, this isn’t quite as worrying as, say, rising sea levels or depleting groundwater. But it is powerful evidence of how humans are reshaping our planet. (Gizmodo)
Three very cool (and fun) things
Big boat, teeny canal: A gigantic superyacht was maneuvered through the narrow canals of the Netherlands—to get it out to sea. The good news: unlike Ever Given, it did not get stuck. Better news: Photographer Tom van Oossanen captured amazing images of the event. CNN has the story:
A brilliant feminist gesture: German gymnast Sarah Voss said no to revealing unitards, and instead competed in a full body suit—in a stand against the sexualisation of women’s bodies in the sport. Voss was later joined by two of her team-mates. She said:
"We women all want to feel good in our skin. In the sport of gymnastics it gets harder and harder as you grow out of your child's body. As a little girl I didn't see the tight gym outfits as such a big deal. But when puberty began, when my period came, I began feeling increasingly uncomfortable."
BBC News has the story. See her outfit below:
An Earth Day beauty: Buddhist monks at a monastery near Bangkok marked the occasion by lighting 330,000 candles—in an attempt to enter the Guinness book of world records. We aren’t sure if they managed to do so, but the sight truly is glorious —though maybe not quite environmentally friendly.