The great pandemic: a quick update

• First, the numbers. India recorded 185,189 cases on Tuesday—marking the highest single day rise in the third wave. Our total number of active cases is now above 900,000.
• A drop in positivity rate—the number of tests that turn up positive—and total number of cases in Mumbai indicates the wave may already be flattening.
• The most detailed models to date predict that the current wave will rise significantly higher than the second—and likely peak between 600,000 and 900,000 cases daily.
• Meanwhile, the Delhi government has ordered all private offices to return to working from home.
• The WHO says that administering repeated boosters of the same vaccine “is unlikely to be appropriate or sustainable” to combat new variants. It's calling for the development of new vaccines. There are 331 vaccines currently being developed around the world.
• The WHO also warned of “a new west-to-east tidal wave sweeping across” Europe—and said more than half of people in the region could be infected in the next six to eight weeks.
• Lata Mangeshkar has tested positive and been admitted into hospital—although she only has mild symptoms: “Considering her age, doctors advised us that she should be in the ICU because she requires constant care. And we cannot take a chance.”
• 1,500 residents of a village in Madhya Pradesh flouted Covid rules to attend the funeral of a langur monkey—who was a frequent visitor to the village.
• Scroll has a must-read investigation into how hospitals and doctors are pushing expensive monoclonal antibody cocktails—even when patients have mild symptoms.
• The Atlantic explains how Omicron is forcing us to rethink how we deal with mild forms of Covid—which may never go away.

A stark World Bank warning

The World Bank warned that the global economy is entering a phase of “pronounced slowdown”—and predicts global growth dropping from 5.5% in 2021 to 4.1% in 2022. And it said that emerging economies will have a harder time dealing with this whiplash—when the economy rebounds only to slow down all over again:

“The World Bank is forecasting a yawning gap in growth rates between advanced and less wealthy economies. Richer nations are expected to see a deceleration in economic growth from 5% last year to 3.8% this year and 2.3% in 2023… For emerging and developing economies, by contrast, the bank is calling for growth rates to plunge from 6.3% last year to 4.6% this year, and 4.4% in 2023—leaving economic growth in those countries 4% below their pre-pandemic trend."

Also very worrying: New research indicates 2021 witnessed the hottest ocean temperatures in recorded history—marking the sixth consecutive year that this record has been broken. The Guardian has the details.

The election season of defections

For a change, its BJP MLAs who are fleeing their party just ahead of the polls. The big blow in Uttar Pradesh is the exit of prominent OBC leader Swami Prasad Maurya—who is also the cabinet minister for labour. Three others have exited along with him. Why this matters: Maurya is considered influential in at least 20 seats. And in his resignation letter, Maurya cited “gross neglect” of Dalits, backwards, farmers etc. As Indian Express notes, this may amplify concerns among these constituencies that the Yogi Adityanath government is a “pro-upper caste” regime. Meanwhile in Goa, four BJP MLAs have fled the stable—leaving the party with only 23 MLAs in the 40-member strong house.

Government gets a Vodafone stake

The Government of India is set to become the largest shareholder of Vodafone Idea—taking a 35.8% stake in the company. Investors were not happy, and its shares plummeted by 21% immediately. What they are worried about: a merger of state-owned BSNL and MTNL with VIL at a later date. But having Big Brother as your stakeholder has its advantages, according to experts: “Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio will need to be careful not to antagonise the government with fierce promotions that may undermine VIL.” Indian Express has an explainer on the deal. (The Telegraph)

New rules for India’s A-list colleges

The Academic Bank of Credit (ABC) system allows students to pursue up to 50% of a course from institutions other than the one with which they are enrolled. The government has now brought the country’s most prestigious institutions—including IITs, IIMs and other Institutions of National Importance—under its ambit. Students can get their credits at other colleges by taking either online or offline courses—or a mix of both. What has some professors are upset: the online option for half of all courses:

“Using the opportunity provided by the pandemic, the Indian government is trying to replace regular classes with online classes as a permanent feature of higher education. No other country in the world is doing this. The quality of education will be the biggest casualty when the online mode is mainstreamed.”

The Telegraph has more on the new system.

Wanna be a Tesla-driving jerk?

A beta version of the car’s ‘Full Self-Driving’ mode lets you choose from three modes: Chill,” “Average” and “Assertive’. They determine how the car will “behave” on the road—with regard to stuff like rolling stops, speed-based lane changes, following distance and yellow light headway.” The ‘Assertive’ version is, well, assertive:

“It’s hard to tell just how much these FSD profiles change the way the vehicle drives, and if they push the limits of safety, especially when traveling in the rain or snow. If the descriptions of these profiles are accurate, this means that a Tesla in ‘Assertive’ mode may follow cars more closely, come to rolling stops, and swap lanes more frequently—behaviors that tend to be more dangerous no matter the car you’re in.”

The Verge has more details, while Axios explains why critics are not happy. Watch a test drive here.

Three key animal-related studies

One: A Cambridge study has found that invasive species are hitching a ride to the Antarctic on ships—and pose a huge hazard to the region’s biodiversity. Example: 

“Mussels.. can survive in polar waters and spread easily, threatening marine life on the seabed. Their water filtering alters the marine food chain and also the chemistry of the water around them.”

Point to note: Tourism accounts for 67% of the visits to Antarctica, followed by research which is 21%, and fishing 7%. (BBC News)

Two: New research into a female dolphin’s clitoris shows that it is “strikingly similar in terms of their anatomy and function” to the human kind: “Our study suggests that female dolphins likely experience pleasure when the clitoris is stimulated during sexual intercourse, homosexual behavior, and masturbation.” (Inverse)

Three: Snapshots of living animal brains—specifically zebrafish—show how they form memories. This is the first time we have been able to observe the synapses (connections between neurons) that are forged—and severed—in the brain in real time. Why this matters: 

“The interesting thing about this is that now we've actually seen synapses that form or that disappeared during memory formation. So, if it were possible to really characterize these things in, say, in a human, it might be possible to go in and actually change them, and in that way, erase the memory [of a traumatic experience].”

A good use of Roald Dahl money

In September, the streaming service acquired the entire works of the greatly beloved—and notoriously anti-Semitic—author Roald Dahl. According to newly filed documents, Netflix will pay Dahl’s estate £370 million—a ‘significant part’ of which will be used to set up a charitable trust to support children’s health, anti-hate and anti-racism. (LitHub)

Three things to see

One: Researchers have discovered a huge 180 million-year-old ‘sea dragon’ in the UK. It is the complete fossil of an ichthyosaur—measuring almost 33 feet and with a skull that weighs one ton. Temnodontosaurus trigonodon looks kinda like a monster-dolphin. (CNN)

Two: The UK government is issuing new stamps to mark the 60th anniversary of the Rolling Stones. The Stones will be the fourth pop music band to be honoured with a dedicated set of Royal Mail stamps—after The Beatles, Pink Floyd and Queen. (Reuters)

Three: A new Japanese robot is an animal named Amagami Ham Ham—and it loves to nibble your fingers, exactly like your average pet. There will be two versions: A Shiba Inu dog known as Kotaru and a cat called Yuzu—and they will offer 24 different kinds of nibbles—incuding Tasting Ham, Holding Tight HAM, and Massaging HAM. (Nerdist)