The great pandemic: a quick update
- First the numbers: India reported 313,603 new cases—a rise of 27% from last week. But a top government health official says Covid could become endemic by March 11—if Omicron replaces Delta as the dominant virus.
- The UK government has dropped all Covid safety measures—including the requirement to wear masks in public. It recently reported 108,069 new cases a day. Some experts read this as a “political decision”—perhaps to distract from Boris Johnson’s many parties held during lockdown.
- Meanwhile, the US will distribute 400 million N95 masks for free.
- A new study has found that mild cases can still lead to attention and memory loss—even when they don’t exhibit classic ‘long Covid’ symptoms. Something to keep in mind with Omicron.
- Interesting new research shows that people who display symptoms—like headaches, short-term fatigue and arm pain—after a Covid vaccine are likely suffering from the ‘nocebo’ effect. This is the negative version of the placebo effect—where we attribute these things to the jab due to anxiety and apprehension.
- Here’s something new we learned about Novak Djokovic: He has an 80% stake in a Danish biotech firm aiming to develop a treatment for Covid-19 that does not involve vaccination. But its CEO insists Djoko is “not anti-vax.”
- Dutch museums and theatres turned themselves into salons and gyms to protest new rules that require them to stay closed—while opening the likes of salons, gyms etc.
- One Chinese woman became stuck in the flat of her blind date—and shot to fame for livestreaming her experience. But there were no sparks or a happy-ever-after. Now another woman in a similar situation has announced her engagement, claiming: “souls are compatible.” South China Morning Post has that story.
International flights cancelled
Aviation authorities and airlines are worried about the new 5G service being rolled out in the US—despite wireless providers agreeing to not offer it within 2 miles of an airport runway. International carriers have been canceling their US flights—including Air India which canned all routes to Chicago, Newark, New York and San Francisco. Emirates, British Airways and Lufthansa have also done the same. Why everyone is worried: “5G signals could interfere with radio altimeters, which measure how high a plane is in the sky and are a crucial piece of equipment for pilots, particularly when landing in bad weather.” (The Telegraph)
Ashneer Grover takes a break
The BharatPe founder—now best known for threatening to kill a Kotak Mahindra bank employee—has taken “voluntary leave” until the end of March. He was furious because Kotak did not give him a loan to buy a haul of Nykaa’s IPO shares—which is something banks do for high net worth clients. The audio clip went viral, and stories of Grover’s previous bad behaviour also started to leak into the press. What’s most striking: the icy-cold statement issued by the company:
“For now, the board has accepted Ashneer’s decision which we agree is in the best interests of the company, our employees and investors, and the millions of merchants we support each day.”
Economic Times has more.
A great day for Smriti Mandhana
The ace cricketer is the only Indian named in the ICC T20 women's Team of the Year. An exceptional achievement considering not a single Indian made the men’s side. FYI: Mandana is the vice captain of the T20 team—and was the country's highest scorer in the format in 2021 with 255 runs at an average of 31.87. (The Hindu)
André Leon has died at 73
The legendary creative director for Vogue was one of the few persons of colour to achieve great success in the white world of high fashion. Vogue and Washington Post offer the best tributes to his talent. Our favourite photos of the great man are below:
Targeting Meghan Markle
A Twitter analytics service released a report that reveals a coordinated campaign to target Meghan—carried out by a relatively small number of people. Seventy percent of the hateful posts came from just 83 accounts—and had an estimated reach of 17 million users. Quote to note:
“This campaign comes from people who know how to manipulate the algorithms, manipulate Twitter, stay under the wire to avoid detection and suspension. This level of complexity comes from people who know how to do this stuff, who are paid to do this stuff.”
The Cut has lots more details.
Speaking of exiled royals: A new documentary on pedophile billionaire Jeffrey Epstein and his girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell includes an interview with Prince Andrew’s former protection officer—who shared this nugget:
“Page also reveals that the prince keeps ‘50 or 60 soft toys’ on his bed and a laminated photo of them at his bedside. If the maids don’t put them back in exactly the order shown, he shouts, screams and becomes ‘verbally abusive’.”
Yes, you read that right. (The Guardian)
Shaadi.com courts queer folks
The matrimonial website has leaped into the 21st century and will now help LGBTQ+ folks find their soulmate. Nope, no Grindr-style hook ups allowed, as founder Anupam Mittal made clear:
“Anything we do, we have to do with serious dating, finding a companion or finding a life partner. Not for finding a date tonight or finding the right partner. That’s not a business we are in or we want to be in.”
Three studies of note
One: New research has found that your retina offers an easy, non-invasive way to determine a body’s biological age—which is not the same as the number of years you’ve been alive. Researchers used AI to study retinal images to determine a "retinal age gap" between the actual biological health of the eye and the person's chronological age. Why this gap matters:
“There was a 2% increase in the risk of death from any cause for each year of difference between a person's actual age and the older biological age identified in the eye, the study found. Larger gaps of three, five and 10 years between actual age and biological age measured from the retina were significantly associated with up to a 67% higher risk of death from specific diseases.”
Two: Elon Musk just can’t stop pissing people off. And this new study is certain to make astronomers unhappy. It found that SpaceX’s Starlink satellites are leaving streaks on images taken by telescopes—which makes it harder to detect important astral phenomena. And the more satellites Musk keeps launching, the bigger the problem of blurring will be:
“If SpaceX does eventually manage to create a constellation of about 10,000 satellites, the authors of the study expect every twilight image taken by the ZTF to have a streak from a Starlink satellite in it.”
Three: If you take fish oil supplements, you may want to pay close attention to a new US report that shows that a lot of them are dodgy. They have high levels of oxidized oils—which can make them taste rancid and smell rotten. More importantly: “oxidized fish oil may simply not provide the same potential benefits as fresh fish oil and could even have a negative effect on blood cholesterol levels.” (Gizmodo)
Two very odd stories
One: Ok, this story made us wince multiple times while reading it. According to a recently published paper, a man and his partner attempted to treat his erectile dysfunction by doing this:
“According to the report, the 45-year-old man had been inserting various objects into his urethra for some time as an aid for erectile dysfunction. During one such occasion, he and his partner had decided to use a straw attached to a can of weatherproofing spray, when the partner ‘inadvertently pressed the button deploying the foam.’”
The foam then hardened inside. Doctors were able to remove it but now he will need extensive repair to his urethra. Like we said: Ouch!. (Gizmodo)
Two: Silicon Valley—the cradle of uber-rich techies—is experiencing an unexpected problem: crows, lots and lots of them. They are “‘dive-bombing’ people outside at night, rooting through trash, and defecating all over the sidewalks” of towns like Sunnyvale. And authorities are turning to green lasers to scare them away—because crows are apparently scared of them. Though ornithologists are pretty sure it won’t work: “They’re like teenagers and Covid. You can’t stop them getting together.” See? Our Indian crows are so much better—raised on good bharatiya culture. See a somewhat alarming pic below. (New York Times)
Two things to see
One: The trailer for Apple TV’s latest series ‘Severance’ looks absolutely brilliant! It’s directed and produced by Ben Stiller—and has an excellent cast, including Adam Scott, Patricia Arquette, Christopher Walken and more. It premieres February 18.
Two: India’s Navdeep Kaur took the top prize in the National Costume category at Mrs World 2022 with this awesome ensemble—inspired by the kundalini chakra, no less. (NDTV)
