The great pandemic: a quick update
- First, the numbers. India reported 241,003 new cases yesterday. Infections increased by more than 165% compared with the case count a week ago. Indian Express notes that while the cases are rising, the growth rate is slowing down.
- In the US, hospitalisations have reached an all-time high—with the seven-day average hitting 140,576. (Wall Street Journal)
- Indian doctors are flagging the “irrational and rampant use” of the antiviral drug molnupiravir—which has been approved for sale for treating Covid, but is not recommended by the official protocol. The Telegraph has more details.
- As expected, e-deliveries are booming—and delivery times are slowing down. It now takes 1-2 days to get something that arrived in 6-8 hours a fortnight ago.
- A hospital in Faridabad has found a novel way to deal with a serious shortage in doctors—by reducing testing of its medical staff, and reducing the number of days of mandatory isolation to three.
- Earlier this month, a scientist in Cyprus announced a new mutant variant called 'Deltacron'—which combined characteristics of Delta and Omicron. Most medical experts agree it doesn’t exist—and the results were likely caused by lab contamination. Popular Science has more.
- Twitter posts and UK tabloids are sharing footage from China that seem to show people being shoved into tiny metal boxes in so-called ‘quarantine camps’.
- Quebec has threatened to slap a financial penalty on citizens who refused to get jabbed.
- In Bulgaria, the anti-vaxxers are putting up a fierce fight—and attempted a Capitol Hill-style invasion of the parliament building. But heavy police presence prevented a full-blown siege.
Rising Russia-West tensions over Ukraine
The latest round of talks between Russia and NATO resulted in a dead end—much like the recent confab with the US. The aim is to defuse a growing confrontation over a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine (explained here). Meanwhile, Democrats in the US Senate unveiled a bill that would impose sweeping sanctions on Russia if such an invasion were to occur. In another sign of rising tempers, the head of the International Energy Agency has accused Russia of orchestrating a fuel crisis in Europe—by deliberately withholding up to a third of its gas exports: “I would note that today’s low Russian gas flows to Europe coincide with heightened geopolitical tensions over Ukraine.”
Still loving Russia: Kanye West who is planning his first ever concert in the country—and a meeting with President Vladimir Putin. His advisor said Russia is going to be “a second home” for West: “He will be spending a lot of time out there.” Billboard has that story.
Boris Johnson’s ‘party’ problem
In May, 2020, during the first big lockdown in the UK, Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s staff sent out a party invite to 100 people—for "socially distanced drinks in the No 10 garden this evening.”
The problem: At the time, ordinary citizens were banned from leaving their homes—except to get food or medicine etc. Employees who had to go to work were told "to minimise all meetings and other gatherings in the workplace." In other words, schmoozing over cocktails was definitely not on the list of essential activities.
The bigger problem: Johnson himself attended this party—a fact he finally admitted in Parliament yesterday. He apologised but insists it was a work event and “technically” broke no rules. As one lawyer points out:
"If you were doing something which wasn't necessary for work then you weren't outside of your house [with] a reasonable excuse and you were potentially committing a criminal offence."
The fallout: Johnson was ripped apart by Labour party leader Keir Starmer, who said: “The only question is: will the British public kick him out, will his party kick him out, or will he do the decent thing and resign?” But it’s not just the opposition leaders who want his head. Senior Tory leaders are now saying that Johnson must resign.
Why this matters: If 54 backbench Conservative MPs send letters to the party committee expressing their lack of confidence in Johnson, it will trigger a leadership challenge.
This BBC News analysis explains why Johnson’s future looks precarious. Meanwhile, BoJo is being trolled by the airline RyanAir which put out this drinks menu:
Election season of defections contd.
Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath has now lost two cabinet ministers and at least five MLAs in two days. The latest exit: senior minister Dara Singh Chauhan who walked out while describing his government as a “sinking ship”. He too cited the party’s neglect of backward castes. Interestingly, a UP court has issued an arrest warrant in a 2014 case filed against Swami Prasad—the first defector and widely seen as the mastermind behind this rebellion.
But the BJP is trying to offset the loss. Two MLAs—from Congress and Samajwadi Party, respectively—defected to the saffron party, as well. But the entry of these outsiders immediately stirred anger in the party ranks. The Telegraph and Indian Express have more details.
Djokovic drama gets even murkier
After he won the appeal in a federal court—which ruled that he can enter Australia and play in the Open—Novak Djokovic finds himself mired in even greater controversy. Media investigations into his legal documents and claims have uncovered new discrepancies (If you haven’t been tracking this drama, check out our explainer here):
- His visa application says ‘no’ when asked: “Have you travelled or will you travel in the 14 days prior to your flight to Australia?” Yet there are clips of Djokovic training in Spain during that period.
- Djoko has now blamed his agent for this “administrative mistake.”
- He also admits that, yes, he did take a RT-PCR test on December 16—and hang out maskless with children on December 17. But he didn’t know he was positive until after the event.
- No, he didn’t wait for the results before making that call. And he told the Australian court that he knew he was positive on December 16.
- He knew he was positive when he did an interview and photo shoot on December 18—because he “felt obliged” to and “didn’t want to let the journalist down.” Yeah, he now sees this was “an error of judgement.”
- And then there are anomalies on his December 16 Covid test—whose QR code gives varying results each time someone scans it. The Guardian has all the confusing details if you need them.
- The cherry on this pile of steaming turd: Djokovic is now being investigated in Spain—where authorities are trying to determine if he entered the country illegally: “Since September 20, citizens from Serbia need a vaccine certificate OR a special exemption to enter Spanish territory but so far the authorities say they did not receive any request from Djokovic.”
Last but not least, here are a bunch of Australian TV anchors caught sharing their frank opinion of Djoko on a hot mike:
In other sports-related news: The chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board, Ramiz Raja, has proposed an annual four-nation T20i tournament with India, Pakistan, Australia and England. (Indian Express)
WEF issues global risk report
The top four global risks identified by the World Economic Forum’s annual report are the climate crisis, growing social divides, heightened cybersecurity threats and uneven global recovery. In the case of India, the top five are: “fracture of interstate relations, debt crises in large economies, widespread youth disillusionment, failure of technology governance and digital inequality.” Keep an eye on “youth disillusionment.” It’s likely to play out in a variety of ugly ways, and erode our so-called “demographic dividend”—i.e. the advantage of being a young nation. NPR has more on the global picture, while NDTV has the India angle.
India’s ‘ghost’ plantations revealed
When the government mows down trees in the name of development, it is supposed to plant a compensatory number of trees elsewhere. This is required by our environmental laws. A Scroll investigation has revealed that this 20-year-old “compensatory afforestation” program is a total dud:
“[O]ur examination of 2,000 files from six states and one union territory… threw up several instances where there was no sign of plantation activity. In the more outlandish instances, supposedly afforested land corresponded to absurd locations on the map, such as the middle of the Arabian Sea… visits to plantation sites in two states confirmed the worst of our suspicions: like in Ladkhan Nayagaon, many plantations that exist on paper are simply missing on the ground.”
Point to note: the government has spent around Rs 590 billion (59,000 crore) just between 2009-2020 on the program. We strongly recommend reading this eye-opening exposé over at Scroll.
Two animal things
One: A hungry badger has uncovered a trove of Roman coins in a Spanish cave. The coins date back to the 3rd-5th century AD—and are being described as "largest treasure trove of Roman coins found.” They were forged in places as far as Constantinople, London and Thessaloniki. (The Guardian)
Two: In every depiction of battles from the medieval period, the warhorses are huge beasts. New research shows that they were actually “surprisingly small” ponies—standing at an average of 14.2 hands or 4 feet and 10 inches. (The Guardian)
Five things to see
One: Eighty ostriches broke out of a local farm in Chongzuo City, China—and were seen racing down the streets. Mercifully, the birds have been returned and are safe… well, as safe as one can be at a farm dedicated to serving you up as someone’s meal. (China Global Television Network)
Two: Thanks to infrared technology, we are discovering all sorts of amazing things hidden under great paintings. The latest find: a composition of Madonna and child buried in Sandro Botticelli's ‘Man of Sorrows’. Ok, in the interest of complete honesty: some of us can’t make out any damn Madonna or child in the images below (tap to zoom). (CNN)
Three: Pope Francis popped in to one of his fave old haunts which he frequented as a lowly cardinal—a music store in downtown Rome. No, he didn’t buy anything—despite being a huge fan of the opera. But he did score a free CD (which is adorably quaint). (Associated Press)
Four: Yesterday, a video of a herd of elephants struggling to cross a canal went viral. We now know more about what happened in Mysore thanks to Karnataka forest officials: "The herd was chased by a group of villagers and finally got a space in the canal where the elephants managed to cross the canal. The elephants were not harmed in any way.” They are now safely in the Nagarahole Tiger Reserve—and you can see them get out of the canal below. Of course, no one’s asking why we are building canals in elephant corridors. (Indian Express)
Five: Here’s an odd cameo you never saw coming: SpaceX Starship and the company’s robot dog Zeus in Katy Perry’s latest music video. (Futurism)