New Delhi: The novel coronavirus pandemic continues to devastate several countries across the world — the latest count is 50,90,064 cases and more than 3,29,732 deaths.
China plans to legislate a nationwide ban on consumption and trading of wildlife while in US, the Senate has passed a bill targeting Chinese companies. The coronavirus pandemic has exposed the dark underbelly of Singapore and why artificial intelligence has been so helpless against the virus.
ThePrint brings you the most important global stories on the coronavirus pandemic and why they matter.
China’s legislators to decide on ban on wildlife trade
As China’s top political leadership is all set to meet for the National People’s Congress — the key annual political event in Beijing — a proposed ban on wildlife consumption and trade is on the agenda, reports Reuters.
After scientists claimed that the novel coronavirus seemed to have jumped from an exotic animal to humans via Chinese wet-markets, the country temporarily banned wildlife trade in late-January. Then in February, the government claimed that it would soon enact a permanent law banning it.
“Though legislative changes are expected to be discussed at the national session of parliament starting on Friday, regions are already taking action to implement the February ruling,” notes Reuters.
This is a significant development at a time when Beijing is facing massive global backlash for not just its poor handling of the coronavirus pandemic, but also for allowing widespread wildlife consumption in the first place.
Also read: Fate of the world’s health rests between China and Trump — right where WHO is stuck
US Senate bill targets some Chinese companies listed in American markets
As anti-China sentiment continues in the US, the Senate has passed a bill that could force some Chinese firms to de-list from US stock markets if they don’t comply with American accounting rules, the Financial Times is reporting.
“The legislation, which needs also to be passed by the House of Representatives, calls for a company to be barred from listing securities on US exchanges if it has not complied with the US accounting board’s audits for three consecutive years. It would also require listed companies to disclose whether they are owned or controlled by a foreign government,” notes the report.
“There are plenty of markets all over the world open to cheaters, but America can’t afford to be one of them. China is on a glide path to dominance and is cheating at every turn,” remarked John Kennedy, a Republican senator who co-sponsored the bill.
World sees highest daily increase in virus cases: WHO
In the past 24 hours, 1.06 lakh new Covid-19 cases were reported across the world — the highest surge in a single day. The announcement was made by WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who also expressed concerns about the rising cases in lower-income countries, according to BBC. The WHO head also warned all countries that the fight against coronavirus was far from over.
His warning comes after several countries, including India, began the process of loosening lockdown restrictions.
Also read: Creepy technologies are invading European office spaces as people go back to work
Pandemic is deepening Spain’s Left-Right political divide
The number of coronavirus cases in Spain may be decreasing but it is now looking at a new crisis with the country’s moneyed class rising up in protest against extension of the lockdown, reports Financial Times.
“Thousands… in the district of Salamanca and beyond — bang pots and pans at 9pm every night to signal their disapproval of the lockdown and the Socialist-led government that imposed it. The protest often lasts longer and is much louder than the now sporadic applause for health workers,” it notes.
In several neighbourhoods, these protests by the country’s rich have been supported by the hard-right Vox party. “The nation’s polarised political tribes are fighting over the lockdown, its loosening and the aftermath,” states the report.
Meanwhile, the government has also not sugarcoated its response to the protesters.
“There are some countries like Italy where the citizens are demonstrating because certain social needs aren’t being met. But what the [demonstrations] are asking for in Spain is freedom of movement; that is to say, freedom of contagion,” said María Jesús Montero, Spain’s budget minister.
Spain is one of the hardest-hit countries by the Covid-19 pandemic with over 2,30,000 cases and more than 27,800 deaths. On Wednesday, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez secured a key parliamentary vote to extend the lockdown in the country for the fifth time till 7 June.
How the pandemic has brought out Singapore’s dark side
For at least a couple of months, Singapore seemed to have ducked the coronavirus pandemic. Then the virus spread through Singapore’s poor migrants, who remain packed in dormitories, exposing the city-state’s oft-hidden dark side.
The New York Times reports that while everyone thought the novel coronavirus had vanished from Singapore, “The virus was being passed from one body to the next in the cramped dormitories where some 200,000 low-paid foreign workers sleep, wash and eat,” states the report. “The threat had not gone away; it was still gnawing at the city, unseen, from the margins.”
“In April, a dramatic surge of infections among poorly paid foreign workers crushed Singapore’s sense of invulnerability. The city is built and maintained by an army of laborers who come from other Asian countries — Bangladesh, India, China. They can be lodged as many as 20 men to a single room; one toilet is legally considered enough for 15 people,” it adds.
Also read: Drug trial of antiviral Avignan continues in Japan despite inconclusive interim result
Peru’s lockdown was on time, so why didn’t it work?
Peru seemed to be doing everything right, yet the country has failed to contain the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, highlights The Guardian.
The country enforced a lockdown on 16 March, one of the earliest in the region. As opposed to Brazil, where the president still continues to flout social distancing norms, Peruvian government implemented all of WHO’s recommendations.
“But more than two months later the country is one of the region’s worst-hit by Covid-19 and has been unable to flatten the curve of infections. Peru now ranks second only to Brazil in Latin America with 104,020 confirmed cases and a death toll of 3,024 according to official figures on Tuesday,” notes the report.
While the government did everything on its part, the people chose to avoid these recommendations — resulting in a major outbreak. “Deadly outbreaks on Peru’s northern coast and Amazon regions – where social distancing was routinely flouted – laid bare the gaping holes in Peru’s chronically underfunded healthcare system,” it adds.
How armed gangs are using lockdown to target activists in Colombia
According to BBC, since the pandemic began in Colombia, the country has seen increasing violence by the radical right-wing paramilitaries. These attacks are especially directed at Colombia’s activist community.
“Since the start of the lockdown in late March, 28 activists and human rights defenders across Colombia have been murdered. The killings are not a new phenomenon: more than 800 activists have been murdered in Colombia since 2016, according to the think tank Indepaz,” notes the report.
“But community activists from different parts of Colombia have told the BBC that restrictions on movement imposed to curb the spread of virus mean that they have become even easier targets. Stuck at home for most of the day and only venturing out to address emerging humanitarian needs in their community has turned them into sitting ducks,” reports BBC.
Also read: Turkey declares ‘#MissionAccomplished’ against coronavirus
Why AI couldn’t stop the pandemic
Artificial intelligence and big data have been dubbed as the solution to all problems, but their failure to help predict and combat the coronavirus pandemic has been stark. However, AI models require “solid data” to work, which seemed to be missing given the unpredictable nature of the infection and its spread, argues Wired. This lack of good data explains the failure of AI in such testing times.
According to the report, “Reliable AI depends on our human ability to collect data and make sense of it. The pandemic has been a case study in why that’s hard to do mid-crisis. Consider the shifting advice on mask wearing and on taking ibuprofen, the doctors wrestling with who should get a ventilator and when. Our daily movements are dictated by uncertain projections of who will get infected or die, and how many more will die if we fail to self-isolate.”
“As we sort out that evidence, AI lags a step behind us. Yet we still imagine that it possesses more foresight than we do,” it adds.
What else we are reading:
In China’s Crisis, Xi Sees a Crucible to Strengthen His Rule: The New York Times
Rural Ecuador faces coronavirus outbreak without doctors: Reuters
Let’s Rebuild the Broken Meat Industry—Without Animals: Wired