The great pandemic: A quick update
- India added 186,364 new cases and 3,660 new deaths on Thursday.
- The government has scrapped the requirement for local trials entirely. Pfizer will likely come to the Indian market in July—and the disagreement over the indemnity clause should be resolved soon.
- A vaccine mystery uncovered by the Times of India: According to official data, 6 crore Covaxin doses are available, but only 2.1 crore have been administered. Why?
- States are still struggling to independently import vaccines. Indian Express reports on the bizarre line-up of firms who have lined up to bid on Maharashtra’s tender. They are in the business of food products, apparel, consultancy, even media and film-making—basically, anything but vaccines.
- According to the government, the B.1.617 or the ‘double mutant variant’ accounts for 55% of total cases that involve a ‘variant of concern’.
- Speaking of variants, the head of a Japanese doctors union has warned of an ‘Olympics variant’ that may emerge if Tokyo insists on hosting the summer games: "All of the different mutant strains of the virus which exist in different places will be concentrated and gathering here in Tokyo. We cannot deny the possibility of even a new strain of the virus potentially emerging."
- Want to do good? Splainer subscriber Anusha Ramasubramoney wrote in to give us a heads up about ‘Concerts for Covid Relief’—which feature a number of indie artists from four cities. They will be held over May 28, 29 and 30 between 9-10:30 pm. The minimum ticket price is Rs 300 but you can pay as much as you want. Learn more about the event and buy the tickets here, and learn more about the fund here.
Paytm’s big target
The company plans to raise about Rs 218 billion ($3 billion or Rs 21,800 crores) in its initial public offering later this year. If that happens, it will be the biggest ever opening for a publicly traded company in India. Paytm is targeting a valuation between $25-30 billion. Bloomberg News via Yahoo News has the exclusive.
Naomi Osaka says ‘no’ to pressers
The tennis ace announced that she will not be holding press conferences any more to preserve her mental health—a decision she announced on Insta:
“I’ve often felt that people have no regard for athletes’ mental health and this rings true whenever I see a press conference or partake in one...We are often sat there and asked questions that we’ve been asked multiple times before or asked questions that bring doubt into our minds and I’m just not going to subject myself to people that doubt me.”
Venus Williams’ reaction: “Girl, do you. Your life is yours to live!” Point to remember: Players can be fined up to $20,000 for skipping post-match briefings at Grand Slam matches unless they are injured and physically unable to appear. Osaka hopes the “considerable amount” she will get fined will go to a mental health charity. (NBC News)
In other sports-related news: There’s more bad news for the Tokyo Summer Olympics—already threatened by the ongoing shadow of the pandemic. A new report says intense heat and high humidity could pose a risk to athletes. The reason: Temperatures in Tokyo have “increased by 2.86 degrees Celsius since 1900, more than three times as fast as the world's average.” And the games are scheduled to be held between July 23 and August 8—the hottest part of the Japanese year. Experts say: “Olympic organisers must take the warnings in this report seriously or face a real risk of competitors collapsing through heat exhaustion.” (CNN)
In other hot weather news: Most efforts to battle climate change are aimed at preventing the planet from heating up by more than 1.5°C. But a major study says there is a 40% chance we may hit that unhappy milestone within the next five years. For perspective, during the last decade the probability was only 20%. (BBC News)
The travails of Mehul Choksi
The jeweller accused of defrauding Indian banks of Rs 140 billion (Rs 14,000 crore) was recently arrested in Dominica—after he fled Antigua. Antigua wants Dominica to send him straight back to India—which his lawyer points out is illegal since he is now the citizen of Antigua. His lawyer also claims that Choksi did not abscond from Antigua but was in fact abducted. This may be because Antigua may use the fact that he ran to revoke his citizenship. In other words, this is turning into a full masala movie. Indian Express has an explainer on the criminal charges that Choksi faces in India.
A super-duper ‘blood’ Moon
The rare phenomenon—when the moon turns orangey-red—occurs when the Earth, the Moon and the Sun are very closely aligned—with the Earth in the middle and the Moon entirely in its shadow during a total lunar eclipse. See stunning images in the Guardian report below. Or see an equally gorgeous collection of photos over at BBC News.
Four animal things
‘Flying’ dog: Indian police have arrested a YouTuber (read: total moron) for tying helium balloons to his pet dog “in an attempt to make it fly.” The good news is that the dog flew up in the air and was safely caught by a person on the second floor. He uploaded the video to his channel but has since deleted it due to the backlash. But we found it on Twitter. (BBC News)
Counting birds: According to new first-of-its-kind research, there are 50 billion wild birds—far fewer than previous estimates. There are more than one billion of four species: the house sparrow, European starling, ring-billed gull and barn swallow. But there are less than 5000 left of nearly 1000 species—including the Madagascan pochard and the Hawaiian crow. (Times UK)
A giant tortoise: Conservationists have confirmed the discovery of a giant tortoise in Galapagos—a species that was considered to be extinct over 100 years ago. They are now planning an expedition to find more such tortoises to save the species. Watch the Guardian report below.
The world’s tiniest pig: This isn’t exactly breaking news, but it is a happy story. A 10-inch tall pygmy hog native to India is thriving in the wilderness—after being rediscovered back in 1971. In the mid-1990s, conservationists started capturing the little pig, breeding it in captivity, and then releasing it back into the forests in Assam. There are now 300-400 in the wild, and another 76 in captivity. National Geographic has this success story. PS: There’s even a Gerald Durrell connection.
