New Delhi: The novel coronavirus pandemic continues to devastate several countries across the world — the latest count is 79,96,874 cases and more than 4,35,665 deaths.
BBC tries to calculate the true global death toll caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Singapore’s status as a financial hub has taken a hit because of the pandemic. Meanwhile, Iran’s clergy helped fight the coronavirus and why an opera is playing to plants in Barcelona.
ThePrint brings you the most important global stories on the coronavirus pandemic and why they matter.
True scale of global Covid-19 death toll
Several countries have reportedly been under-reporting the Covid-19 death toll, and as a result the global death count has also been understated. In an attempt to fill this gap, the BBC conducted a research, which shows that “at least another 130,000 people worldwide have died during the coronavirus pandemic on top of 440,000 officially recorded deaths from the virus”.
“A review of preliminary mortality data from 27 countries shows that in many places the number of overall deaths during the pandemic has been higher than normal, even when accounting for the virus,” notes the report.
“These so-called ‘excess deaths’, the number of deaths above the average, suggest the human impact of the pandemic far exceeds the official figures reported by governments around the world.”
Cases surge in US states, but federal health agencies are silent
The number of coronavirus cases continues to surge across at least 21 states in US, but now the fight against the pandemic is being driven predominantly by state and local governments and the federal health agencies have turned off their megaphones, reports The New York Times.
“The federal government’s leadership in the coronavirus crisis has so faded that state and local health officials have been left to figure out on their own how to handle rising infections and to navigate conflicting signals from the White House,” explains the report.
“About 800 Americans a day are still dying of Covid-19, a pace that, if sustained over the next few months, would yield more than 200,000 dead by the end of September. Arizona, Florida, Nevada, Oregon and Texas all reported their largest one-day increases in new cases on Tuesday,” it adds.
How the pandemic destroyed Singapore’s stock exchange
For years, Singapore has been one of Asia’s major financial hubs, but the island-state’s stock markets have now taken a hit following the coronavirus pandemic, reports the Financial Times. This has come after a series of de-listings have erased liquidity and are making it harder for Singapore to compete with its other Asian rival, Hong Kong.
“Nine companies have dropped off the Singapore Exchange this year, or are in the process of doing so, according to Dealogic data, while just five companies have listed, putting this on track to be the second year in a row when more businesses have left the market than joined,” notes the report.
“Analysts say that these departures have become a persistent problem for Singapore thanks to low liquidity and valuations, with frequent accounting and governance scandals at quoted companies eating away at investor confidence,” it adds.
England’s ‘world beating’ infection tracker is anything but
Last month UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson unveiled a coronavirus contact tracing application and claimed that it was the best in the world, but it might not be that efficient, reports The New York Times.
“As with much of the government’s response to the pandemic, however, the results have fallen short of the promises, jeopardizing the reopening of Britain’s hobbled economy and risking a second wave of death in one of the countries most debilitated by the virus,” notes the report.
“In almost three weeks since the start of the system in England, called N.H.S. Test and Trace, some contact tracers have failed to reach a single person, filling their days instead with internet exercise classes and bookshelf organizing,” it adds.
There is a shortage of coins because of Covid-19
Some countries like the US are facing an unusual shortage of coins due to the coronavirus pandemic, reports the Washington Post.
“The economic shutdowns to stem the spread of the novel coronavirus, spurring the deepest recession in decades, have had the unintended consequence of halting the flow of coins through households, businesses and banks, the head of the Federal Reserve confirmed Wednesday,” says the report.
“As the economy ground to a halt earlier this year, ‘the flow of coins through the economy has gotten all — it’s kind of stopped,’ Fed Chair Jerome H. Powell said in a Wednesday hearing before the House Financial Services Committee. Powell said the Fed has been working with the U.S. Mint and reserve banks to fix the temporary issue,” it adds.
How Iran’s clergy fought back against coronavirus
Iran has been the worst-hit country by the pandemic across the Middle East, but its clergy played a leading role in helping the country fight the virus, reports the Financial Times.
“The senior clergy’s acquiescence and co-operation helped subdue the spread of the virus — which, as of Wednesday, has caused 9,185 deaths out of 195,051 confirmed cases — analysts said,” notes the report.
“The co-operation of senior clergy with the health authorities has been crucial, say officials and analysts. They allowed officials to enforce restrictions on rituals and funerals and discouraged religious zealots who initially challenged the state’s instructions,” it adds.
Tanzania’s president is taking on coronavirus and imperialism
Tanzanian President John Magufuli has come under sharp criticism for his repeated attacks on ‘imperialists’ and declaring that his country had eradicated the novel coronavirus, reports the BBC.
“But this is unlikely to bother him as, throughout his presidency of more than five years, he has styled himself as a stout African nationalist and a devout Catholic waging war against foreign powers seeking to exploit the East African nation,” notes the report.
One of his biggest battles was against Canadian mining giant Barrick Gold Corp.
“He demanded a 60% stake for the government in three of its gold mines to end the “exploitation” of Tanzania’s resources,” according to the report.
However, the civil society in the country warned that Magufuli’s actions have become increasingly illiberal.
“This healthy suspicion sometimes fuels paranoia, which is strange for a president who has consolidated so much power. His nationalism has also turned illiberal and populist. He is squeezing the opposition, narrowing civic space, cracking down on the media and increasing surveillance,” remarks Tanzanian analyst Thabit Jacob.
Spanish opera house reopens with concert for plants
In the first post-lockdown concert at Barcelona’s Liceu opera house next week, a string quartet will be playing to an audience of potted plants, reports The Guardian.
“Well aware of the need to return with a spectacle as grabby as a venus flytrap, the Catalan venue has announced a concert for 2,292 plants when it reopens next Monday. Non-vegetable music fans will also be able to enjoy the performance as it will be livestreamed,” notes the report.
“According to the Liceu’s artistic director, Víctor García de Gomar, the Concert for the Biocene is intended to help us ponder the current state of the human condition and how, in lockdown, we have become “an audience deprived of the possibility of being an audience,” it adds.
What else we are reading:
Beijing cuts flights, shuts schools as new coronavirus cases raise alarm: Washington Post
‘Enter through the back door’: secret church services in Mexico and Brazil defy Covid-19 rules: The Guardian
Hundreds of abattoir workers test positive in Germany: BBC
Egypt thought it dodged the worst of the pandemic. But now hospitals are being overwhelmed: Washington Post
The shows must go on: inside Netflix’s race to restart filming: Financial Times