New Delhi: The novel coronavirus pandemic continues to devastate countries across the world — the latest count being over 6.7 crore cases and more than 15 lakh deaths.
Researchers have revealed that mass testing reduced the Covid infection rate in Slovakia by 60 per cent in just one week. Indonesia’s social affairs minister Juliari Batubara could become the first Indonesian to face the death penalty for corruption and the South African government has urged school students, who attended ‘rage’ parties, to isolate themselves for 10 days after some of the parties became ‘super-spreader events’.
ThePrint brings you the most important global stories on the coronavirus pandemic and why they matter.
Mass testing in Slovakia brings infection rate down by 60 per cent
Researchers have revealed that mass testing for coronavirus reduced the infection rate in Slovakia by 60 per cent in just one week, reports The Guardian.
The country combined testing with tough quarantine rules and other measures.
“In Slovakia, there is relatively strong evidence that lockdown plus mass testing has led to a very large reduction in the burden of Covid-19 infections,” Dr Stefan Flasche, associate professor at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, was quoted as saying.
He added: “At the very least, you buy some time so you don’t need to have a four- or five-week lockdown.”
Slovakia has recorded 1,17,283 cases of Covid-19 and 1,018 deaths so far.
Also read: Christmas poses greater Covid risk than Thanksgiving, Fauci warns Americans
Canadian govt ‘passed over’ private options for Covid vaccine
The Canadian government “passed over” offers by private companies to produce Covid-19 vaccines by the end of 2020 and invested in its own production facility instead, which is now “almost a year behind schedule”, reports The Globe and Mail.
“The decision to pitch money into a delayed and still-under-construction government lab was made after Ottawa vowed to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to develop the country’s anaemic bio-manufacturing sector,” the report states.
“With uncertainty emerging around whether Canada will be able to produce its own doses of the life-saving vaccine, those familiar with Canada’s pharmaceutical industry say Ottawa has charted the wrong course,” it adds.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also admitted that the government failed to meet its target.
Canada has recorded 4,23,054 cases of Covid-19 and 12,777 deaths.
Indonesian minister may face death penalty for Covid funds corruption
Social Affairs Minister Juliari Batubara could be the first Indonesian to face the death penalty in the country for corruption. He allegedly took “kickbacks” in the distribution of social assistance of Covid-19 related funds, reports Asia Times.
Batubara is accused of accepting $1.4 million from contractors who were responsible for delivering daily essentials to 10 million families during the pandemic.
In the report, President Joko Widodo was quoted as saying, “That’s the people’s money, especially as it is related to social assistance in the context of handling Covid and restoring the economy.”
Indonesia has recorded 5,81,550 cases of Covid-19 and 17,867 deaths.
Also read: Canada has reserved more vaccine doses per person than any other country
South Africa recommends quarantine after ‘super-spreader’ student parties
South African government has urged school students who attended a couple of end-of-year parties to isolate themselves for 10 days. The recommendations were made by the government after four such parties were identified as “super-spreader events”, reports Reuters.
“South Africa is experiencing a resurgence of new cases in the Western Cape and Eastern Cape with President Cyril Ramaphosa on Thursday announcing new restrictions in the Eastern Cape,” notes the report.
South Africa has recorded 8,17,878 cases of Covid-19 and 22,249 deaths.
South Korea to increase testing after surge in Covid threatens ‘medical collapse’
South Korean President Moon Jae-in has asked health authorities to increase testing, tracking and tracing coronavirus infections after new restrictions failed to curb the rise in cases, reports The Straits Times.
The country had imposed new measures Saturday, which included a night curfew, to arrest surge in cases.
The report quotes Health Minister Park Leung-Hoo as saying, “Unless we curb the spread of the virus…we will see an explosive spread of infections and the country’s medical system will falter.”
The country reported 615 new infections of Covid-19 Monday. Officials warned that if the pace of infection continues then daily cases could cross 900 soon.
South Korea has recorded 38,755 cases of Covid-19 and 552 deaths.
Also read: The super-rich are buying luxury online like never before
Lockdown imposed in California again after increase in hospitalisations
Most of California was under lockdown Monday after there was a “serious enough” shortage of hospital beds, reports The New York Times.
The state is recording an average of 21,000 daily cases, which is double the number California was recording in the first week of summer.
California was the first US state to impose a lockdown in March but experts note that the efforts then were perhaps insufficient.
Dr George Rutherford, an epidemiologist at the University of California, San Francisco, told NYT, “What we’ve seen is that those policies were insufficiently strict, or insufficiently enforced, or insufficiently compiled with to make a difference with transmission.”
The US has recorded 1,53,69,049 cases of Covid-19 and 2,90,443 deaths.
What else we are reading:
Number of active coronavirus cases falls to 3,777 in Saudi Arabia: Arab News
UK trial to mix and match Covid vaccines to try to improve potency: The Guardian
Also read: South Korea imposes stricter social distancing measures as cases hit 9-month high