The great pandemic: A longish update
First, the numbers: We reported 319,329 new cases and 2,762 deaths on Monday. The numbers are lower because the number of tests conducted on a Sunday is smaller as well. Our test positivity rate jumped to 21%—as in 21% of those tested turned up positive. The world’s seven-day average of new cases hit 774,404 on Sunday—a jump of 15% from two weeks earlier, and higher than the peak average of 740,390 during the last global surge in January. That’s all thanks to India’s second wave. Related read: Mint on the recklessness of the affluent and the middle class who became superspreaders.
Among those lost: Veteran photographer Vivek Bendre and Guardian news assistant Kakoli Bhattacharya. See Bendre’s best photos here, and read Guardian’s moving tribute.
Looking ahead: According to predictive models, the number of active cases may peak at 38-48 lakh between May 14-18—and hit a daily high of 440,000 between May 4-8. The Hindu has more on how accurate these forecasts are likely to be.
Lockdowns ahead: Karnataka has announced a 14-day lockdown, and for good reason. Bangalore just became the second city to record 20K-plus cases. Also a problem in Karnataka: The official number of patients in the ICU is woefully lower than the actual count.
Covid deaths: Continue apace. In Delhi—which recorded 350 deaths just on Monday—they are converting public parks into cremation sites. The video ground reports from CNN and BBC News offer necessary if grim viewing. Also a must watch: Caravan’s video report on how people are dying at home—unable to get medical help or a hospital bed.
Oxygen shortage: We now have police convoys guarding oxygen supplies both at production sites—and during transport. Watch the sight below:
Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath has a creative solution for the oxygen shortage:
“The chief minister said that action must be initiated against hospitals that put up notices saying they had no oxygen and the patients should be shifted elsewhere. He said there should be a probe to establish whether they deliberately tried to create panic.”
US to the rescue: The Biden White House announced that it will offer its entire 60-million dose stock of the AstraZeneca vaccine to the world. Point to note: AstraZeneca is not even authorised for use in the US. Soon after, Biden and PM Modi got on a call to discuss the situation in India. Meanwhile, fifteen countries are sending oxygen-related supplies. Speaking of AstraZeneca: The EU is getting ready to sue the company for not delivering on promised supplies.
Point to note: A number of states like Maharashtra may not vaccinate the 18-plus starting May 1 due to shortages. Indian Express has that story. Mint has more on why states are worried about shortfalls.
An international spat: Philip Sherwell wrote a scathing piece titled ‘Modi leads India out of lockdown and into a Covid apocalypse’ in The Times. This was then republished by The Australian with the headline: ‘Modi leads India into viral apocalypse’. All of which made the Indian High Commission furious, and it issued an angry statement that said: “Coverage of such motivated and malicious reports in your publication only helps in spreading falsehoods and undermining humanity’s common fight against the pandemic.” The original article is behind a paywall but The Print has put a copy online here. Point to note: The government had no comment on this cartoon from the Australian Financial Review:
Meanwhile at the Delhi courts: A case involving Inox—a major supplier of oxygen—offered eyebrow-raising revelations. The company claimed that the union government had reduced the allocation to Delhi from 105 metric tonnes to 80:
“The Delhi government has issued an order to supply 125 MT to hospitals yesterday while the Centre has also issued an order yesterday, revising our allocation to only 80 MT to Delhi. What should we do?... Please sort this and let us know how much we need to supply to which hospitals.”
In another Delhi High Court case, the union government made clear that states cannot directly procure oxygen—and it has to be allocated by the Centre. The court then asked about the 21 lives lost at Jaipur Golden hospital, which led to the following exchange with Solicitor General Tushar Mehta:
Court: Why haven't you reworked your allocation? 21 lives have been lost.
Mehta: Not because of non-supply by me.
Court: It's not reaching Delhi.
Mehta: It's not my job.
Speaking of Delhi courts: The Delhi government is setting up a special 100-room Covid facility for High Court judges and their families and staff.
Meanwhile in Tamil Nadu: The Madras High Court held the Election Commission of India squarely responsible for not enforcing Covid safety protocols during the state elections—calling it “the only institution responsible for the situation that we are in today.” The judges added: “You should be put up on murder charges probably.” The Telegraph has more on the court ruling. Indian Express charts the EC’s gross negligence.
About that variant: The double mutant variant (B.1.617) has now mutated further into three sub-lineages: B.1.617.1, B.1.617.2 and B.1.617.3. These include a ‘triple mutant’ version which may, in fact, be less lethal. Times of India has everything you need to know about these variations on the variant theme.
Surprising new research: suggests that the social distancing rule of maintaining six feet is pointless—as long as everyone is wearing masks. The variables that matter more: the number of people in a space, whether they wear masks, what they are doing, and the level of ventilation. Yahoo News has more.
To end on a good note: Scroll has an excellent piece on the impressive operations of the Mumbai municipal Covid war room. This Twitter thread tracks all the amazing work individuals have done to help others in the midst of this nightmare. Among those generous people: Pyare Khan who has spent Rs 85 lakhs to deliver 400 metric tonnes of oxygen to government hospitals. Also: The Indirapuram Gurdwara in Ghaziabad has started an ‘oxygen langar’ that distributes oxygen to at least 400 people each day. Also: Amazon is airlifting 10,000 oxygen concentrators and machines.
An Indonesian submarine tragedy
On April 21, an Indonesian navy submarine carrying 53 people went missing during a training exercise. The rescue mission has finally found the sub in the Bali Sea, but it has broken into at least three pieces—and all aboard are dead. (The Guardian)
IPL has a Covid problem
First, Ravichandran Ashwin said he’s dropping out to support his family—which is facing Covid-related challenges. Then, Australian cricketers Kane Richardson and Adam Zampa of Royal Challengers Bangalore, and Andrew Tye of Rajasthan Royals also dropped out for personal reasons. In their case, the cricketers may be worried that Australia will soon impose a travel ban on India. Tye also said:
“Looking at it from an Indian point of view, how are these companies and franchises spending so much money, and the government, on the IPL when there’s people not being able to get accepted into hospital?”
OTOH, the other Aussie Pat Cummins has donated $50,000 to the PM-Cares fund instead. The Indian Cricket Board has decided, however, the show will go on—since most of the big-ticket names are still on board. And officials plan to add more public service announcements about masks and social distancing to look more caring. And one league official offered this defence:
“IPL is at least helping people to stay indoors and at home. Then why all such talk? Yes everyone feels for what is happening around us... People need succour during these times of distress and the IPL is capable of providing that. It provides positive vibes all around. Remember, the IPL is also contributing to the economy in a big way. A lot of livelihood is dependent on it. It’s easy to find a scapegoat and vent one’s ire but we should think about it logically.”
Farmer protests: The latest update
In an interesting turn of events, actor Deep Sidhu—arrested for his antics at the Red Fort on Republic Day—has been freed on bail by a Delhi court (His actions explained here and here). There are two FIRs that have been registered against Sidhu. He was granted bail on the first FIR,—and hours later he was re-arrested on a second FIR. Also, he was held in custody since February 9 but formally arrested only on April 17. An irate court said:
“This clearly suggests that it was an attempt to defeat the bail order… and is a grave affront to the personal liberty of the accused and runs foul of rights guaranteed under Article 21. Such vicious and sinister action of investigative authorities amounts to playing fraud with established criminal process and shows scant regard to constitutional protections enshrined, protected and cherished under the Constitution on India.”
Too bad, no court is willing to step in for Siddique Kappan who has Covid, but is still in jail without bail, and allegedly chained to a hospital bed.
Two big tech updates
Apple: has released its highly anticipated software update: iOS 14.5. It includes a privacy tool called App Tracking Transparency, which works like this:
“When an app wants to follow our activities to share information with third parties such as advertisers, a window will show up on our Apple device to ask for our permission to do so. If we say no, the app must stop monitoring and sharing our data.”
This is good news for users, but it may force ad-tech firms to find more creative ways to stalk you. The person who is likely to be more upset about this new tool: Mark Zuckerberg:
“If we choose not to let Facebook track us, it will be harder for the company to see what we are shopping for or doing inside other apps, which will make it more difficult for brands to target us with ads.”
New York Times has more. BuzzFeed News has the other new features that are being rolled out.
Zoom: is rolling out a new feature called ‘Immersive View’—which allows the host to create custom backgrounds, shared by everyone on the call. So you can virtually sit next to others in a classroom, a boardroom or anywhere else. Cnet has a guide. Demo video below:
In not-so-great tech news: Hackers have released the database of over 20 million BigBasket customers—including email addresses, phone numbers, hashed passwords, physical addresses and dates of birth. Yikes! This may explain why a recent survey showed that Indians are more likely to trust the government with their personal data than ecommerce sites.
Ingenuity goes wheee!
Everyone’s favourite drone took a more ambitious flight on Mars’ surface—rising to a height of 5 metres, and then speeding off for a distance of 50 metres, which is half the length of a football field. BBC News has the details. The video is below:
Two amusing animal things
Beavers: chewed through a key fibre cable and knocked out internet connectivity for 900 customers in Canada. According to the injured company, this wasn’t an accident:
“Our team located a nearby dam, and it appears the beavers dug underground alongside the creek to reach our cable, which is buried about three feet underground and protected by a 4.5-inch thick conduit.”
They then used the materials to build their dam. As the company noted, this was a “very bizarre and uniquely Canadian turn of events."
Dog days: Turkmenistan now has a new national holiday which celebrates the country’s fave native breed: The Alabay. The occasion was marked with many events—a best-in-breed competition and an award ceremony for the bravest Alabay ever, given out by the President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov himself. All this after the prez personally unveiled a 19-foot gold statue dedicated to the pooch last year: