How coronavirus beats best AI models, Bhutan’s new interest in stocks & other Covid news

As the Covid-19 pandemic shows no signs of letting up, ThePrint highlights the most important stories on the crisis from across the globe.

A medical worker drops a Covid-19 test sample into a plastic bag at a testing site in Berkeley, California, US (representational image) | David Paul Morris | Bloomberg File Photo

New Delhi: The novel coronavirus pandemic continues to devastate countries across the world — the latest count is close to 1.5 crore cases and more than 5.92 lakh deaths.

US President Donald Trump’s failure to effectively respond to the pandemic began with the decisions his administration took in mid-April. Even the best AI models couldn’t beat the novel coronavirus. China is going to open its cinemas after six months. And Africa fears it’s nearing a major outbreak it had kept at bay until now. 

ThePrint brings you the most important global stories on the coronavirus pandemic and why they matter.

Behind US failure, absence of leadership on Covid crisis 

The scale and the devastating effects of the Covid-19 pandemic in the US can be traced back to mid-April when the White House adopted overly rosy predictions to proclaim victory, reports the New York Times.

Around the time, as the pandemic was taking hold in the US, the Donald Trump administration decided to hand over the responsibility to the states and adopted rather hopeful estimates to conclude the virus was over. 

“Mr. Trump’s bet that the crisis would fade away proved wrong. But an examination of the shift in April and its aftermath shows that the approach he embraced was not just a misjudgment. Instead, it was a deliberate strategy that he would stick doggedly to as evidence mounted that, in the absence of strong leadership from the White House, the virus would continue to infect and kill large numbers of Americans,” notes the report.

Why best AI models are no match for Covid-19 

The stock market seems indifferent to the pandemic these days, but this was hardly the case in March, when markets had undergone severe correction. Behind that crash was the failure of the best of artificial intelligence (AI) models that run the “quantitative funds”, reports Wired.

“The turbulence may reflect a limit with modern-day AI, which is built around finding and exploiting subtle patterns in large amounts of data. Just as algorithms that grocers use to stock shelves were flummoxed by consumers’ sudden obsession with hand sanitizer and toilet paper, those that help hedge funds wring profit from the market were confused by the sudden volatility of panicked investors,” says the report. 

EU summit logjam over virus recovery fund

On the third day of the European Union (EU) talks to finalise the details of the massive bailout fund, the leaders continued to haggle and may now be dramatically scaling down the size of the package, reports the BBC.

“EU leaders first met on Friday in Brussels to discuss the bloc’s €1 trillion seven-year budget and the planned stimulus package to help countries recover the pandemic,” notes the report.

“Member states are split between those hit hardest by the outbreak, and those concerned about the costs of the recovery plan. Some northern nations like the Netherlands and Sweden have balked at the package, arguing it should take the forms of loans not grants,” adds the report. 

But southern countries such as Italy and Spain are “desperate to revive their shattered economies”, and are now accusing the EU of not doing enough for them.

How Munich turned outbreak into scientific study

A feature in the New Yorker looks at how the German city of Munich turned its coronavirus outbreak into a scientific study.

Michael Hoelscher, director, Department of Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine at Ludwig-Maximilians University, Munich, had realised in the initial days of the outbreak that a wide-scale antibody testing was the only way to understand the true scale of the outbreak. 

“Locally run antibody studies, coördinated by the Robert Koch Institute, the German counterpart to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, are being carried out across Germany in an orchestrated effort to construct an over-all picture of the disease’s penetration in the country,” says the report. 

“Hoelscher’s department is one of the best-resourced, in one of the wealthiest regions, in Germany. It processed the country’s first Covid-19 cases, in January, and produced widely cited studies on asymptomatic transmission in Europe. Since then, Hoelscher’s department has worked to track, record, observe, and quantify the disease, aiding the German government in efforts to at once study and contain SARS-CoV-2,” it adds.

Africa prepares for surge in Covid cases 

A sudden rise in cases in Africa is dashing hopes that the continent had managed to keep the pandemic at bay, reports a new long-read in the Financial Times.

“After months in which Africa escaped the worst of the coronavirus pandemic as the global centre shifted from Asia to Europe and then to the Americas, the number of African infections — and deaths — has begun to increase sharply. At least 14,500 people have now died out of 667,000 confirmed infections. That has raised concern among some experts that the world’s poorest continent may be about to enter a critical phase of the coronavirus outbreak,” notes the report. 

Health experts worry that the pandemic could overwhelm the African countries’ hospitals and healthcare systems — something that is already being witnessed in South Africa, which is considered the continent’s most advanced country.

China’s cinemas start to reopen 

For the first time since the pandemic struck, China would now open its cinemas, reports the BBC.

“The China Film Administration said screens in ‘low-risk’ areas could open their doors again from today. As most of the country is now classified as low risk it is expected to be essentially a nationwide reopening. China’s cinemas were hit hard by the shutdown that started in January, with many already forced out of business,” says the report. 

The cinemas can function at only 30 per cent capacity and show only 50 per cent of the movies as compared to before. 

Covid fails to dim Bhutan’s newfound interest in stocks

Bhutan has a newfound interest in stock markets, and the pandemic has not reduced that, reports the Nikkei Asian Review. 

“For nearly three decades, the Royal Securities Exchange of Bhutan was a sleepy place. But the Land of the Thunder Dragon is stirring as incomes rise. With limited investment options to choose from, the country’s expanding middle class has turned to stocks, spurring a trading boom that has been only partly dampened by the coronavirus pandemic,” explains the report. 

Thailand’s economy could shrink 8.1% this year

Thailand is reeling under major unemployment issues, some that literally begin right at the top of the country, argues an opinion piece in the Nikkei Asian Review.

“Last week, the government’s entire economic team resigned, with departures by the ministers of finance, energy and innovation, as well as Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak, the veteran technocrat charged with efforts to save more than 10 million jobs at risk from COVID-19,” says the piece.

“The exodus seemed partly performance based. Thailand’s economy is expected to shrink 8.1% this year, putting it on track to become Southeast Asia’s worst performer just as Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha’s cabinet celebrates its anniversary,” it adds.

What else we are reading:

Is video dating here to stay? | BBC

Dystopia Isn’t Sci-Fi—for Me, It’s the American Reality | Wired

US coronavirus cases and deaths rising amid ineffective response to pandemic | The Washington Post