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Not only WHO but US health agency also failed, sex workers in limbo and 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.

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New Delhi: The novel coronavirus pandemic continues to devastate several countries across the world — the latest count is 6,575,177 cases and more than 3,88,060 deaths.

US’ Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was meant for a moment like the current coronavirus pandemic, yet, it failed to effectively respond to it. The man behind Swedish model accepts that it may have led to too many deaths. Meanwhile, flawed data is making decision-making harder for Spanish policymakers, and nearly 40 per cent of Chinese cinemas risk going bust.

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

What went wrong with US’ CDC

The US’ Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was dubbed as the world’s leading health agency — till it botched up its response to the coronavirus pandemic, notes a report in The New York Times. The report tries to explain why the agency failed during such an important crisis.

“The C.D.C., long considered the world’s premier health agency, made early testing mistakes that contributed to a cascade of problems that persist today as the country tries to reopen. It failed to provide timely counts of infections and deaths, hindered by aging technology and a fractured public health reporting system. And it hesitated in absorbing the lessons of other countries, including the perils of silent carriers spreading the infection,” states the report.

“Located in Atlanta, the C.D.C. is encharged with protecting the nation against public health threats — from anthrax to obesity — and serving as the unassailable source of information about fighting them. Given its record and resources, the agency might have become the undisputed leader in the global fight against the virus. Instead, the C.D.C. made missteps that undermined America’s response,” it adds.


Also read: Hackers target University of California leading Covid antibody testing & clinical trials


Scientist behind the Sweden model says that they allowed too many deaths

For a while, the Swedish model — which enforced no lockdown and minimal social restrictions — was being advocated by certain experts as the ideal way ahead during the coronavirus pandemic.

However, now, the Swedish scientist who was behind the model has said that he would have rather pushed for a lockdown, as the Swedish model has led to “too many deaths”, reports the Washington Post.

“The official Swedish death toll rose to 4,468 on Wednesday, a toll of 44 per 100,000 residents, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. The United States stood at roughly 33 deaths per 100,000 residents. Britain, Italy, Spain and Belgium are worse off than Sweden, according to the data,” notes the report.

Rebel threats, secret burials and shuttered hospitals mask spread of Yemen’s epidemic

Even as most of the advanced countries struggle to effectively and transparently respond to the coronavirus pandemic, the threat becomes more acute when a war-torn and near-failed State is forced to deal with such an outbreak. This is exactly what is happening in Yemen, reports the Washington Post.

“As the coronavirus epidemic sweeps through Yemen, rebels who control the north of the country have been threatening medical workers to keep them quiet, part of an effort to cover up the true toll of the outbreak, humanitarian officials say. In southern Yemen, ill-equipped hospitals are turning away patients with coronavirus symptoms, leaving them uncounted and at risk of dying at home, say international aid workers, local health officials and postings on social media,” according to the report.

“The result is an outbreak health experts say is dramatically larger than the almost 400 cases and 87 deaths reported by official sources as of Wednesday,” reports The Post. 

Flawed data casts doubt over Spain’s lockdown strategy

The fear of flawed official coronavirus-related data in Spain has raised uncertainty among policymakers about the precise policies they should adopt going ahead, reports the Financial Times.

“This week Spain reported what should have been cause for huge celebrations: according to the official coronavirus statistics, there were no new deaths in the 48 hours to midday on Tuesday. Yet on the same day, at least two regions — Madrid and Castile-La Mancha — reported 17 deaths from the virus between them. The health ministry insisted it had not been informed of any death that had taken place in the previous 24 hours,” notes the report.

“The confusion, in one of the countries worst hit by the pandemic, underlines what experts say is a big challenge as Spain relaxes its lockdown: a misleading impression that the coronavirus threat is past, which could encourage people to behave recklessly,” it adds.


Also read: Trump not trying to unite Americans or even pretending to try: Ex-defense secretary Mattis


What will it take to reopen worldwide travel?

As New Zealand, Australia, the Baltic countries, Fiji, Israel and Costa Rica plan to gradually restart international travel, a report in The New York Times asks what it will take for the world to completely resume international travel.

“International travel has always been a proxy for trust among nations and people, but the pandemic has poisoned the air. Now, relationships are being rebuilt under enormous economic pressure, with a wary eye on a pathogen that is not going away anytime soon,” notes the report.

According to several travel analysts, airport executives, doctors, and tourism officials a mix of “precautions and incentives” would be the way ahead. However, the immediate future might be rather bleak.

“While places like Sicily and Japan are looking at flight or lodging subsidies to lure visitors, long flights in a mask have limited appeal. And the white-collar crowd — in finance, in consulting — that once travelled without much thought has discovered that it can get the job done without being away from home for 100 or more days a year,” said the report.

World’s sex workers fear for the future

While most of the global economy is drawing plans to gradually return to the “new normal”, the world’s sex workers cannot figure out the path forward, reports the BBC.

“With social distancing rules in place and strip clubs and brothels closed, sex workers around the world have seen their incomes disappear almost overnight as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Fearing for their livelihoods, as well as their health, some are offering services online to keep their business going, while others are turning to charities for help,” notes the report.

This problem is evident in a place like Amsterdam, where most of the city including hairdressers and beauticians have returned to work, but the workers in city’s red light district have been asked by the authorities to wait until September for future instructions, according to The New York Times.


Also read: Singapore will have far fewer new jobs this year than those being lost, warns top official


Poland to conduct crucial election in late-June

After an abrupt delay in the presidential polls scheduled to be held in May due to the coronavirus pandemic, Poland will conduct the elections on 28 June, reports Al Jazeera.

“Planning for the election had plunged Poland into political turmoil after the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party abruptly called it off four days before the original May 10 date,” states the report.

“After a grueling political fight between the far-right Law and Justice Party, which heads the government, and opposition parties on how and when to hold a presidential election during a global pandemic, Poland says the ballot will now go ahead on June 28,” notes another report in G Zero Media.

For PiS, this election is integral for pushing its agenda of social conservatism, but the economic fallout due to the pandemic might make victory harder. 

40% of Chinese cinemas could go bust

As the world’s television and film industry is gradually accepting online streaming as the way forward in the near future, the cinema owners and staff have been badly hit by the pandemic. This is evident in China, where nearly 40 per cent of cinemas might go bust due to the coronavirus crisis according to a report by China Film Association.

“There are now more than 12,000 cinemas in China according to market research firm IBISWorld. This figure has more than doubled in the last decade as China has embraced movie-going. But four out of ten said they “are very likely to close” in the near future, according to the China Film Association survey. This could mean nearly 5,000 cinemas going bust as a result of the pandemic,” notes the report in BBC.

What else we are reading:

Alibaba’s AI helps detect coronavirus pneumonia within a minute: Nikkei Asian Review

How Germany got coronavirus right: Financial Times

Demands grow for ‘green industrial revolution’: BBC

The rise of the pandemic-era “gap year”: BBC

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