The Indian Weekender

The Indian Weekender Friday, October 02, 2020
WORLD 15
Covid-19: New global test
will give results 'in minutes'
A
test
that can diagnose Covid-19 in minutes will
dramatically expand the capacity to detect cases
in low- and middle-income countries, the World
Health Organization (WHO) has said.
The $5 test could transform tracking of Covid-19 in less
wealthy countries, which have shortages of healthcare
workers and laboratories, the BBC reported on Monday.
A deal with manufacturers will provide 120 million
tests over six months.
The WHO's head called it a major milestone.
Lengthy gaps between taking a test and receiving a
result have hampered many countries' attempts to control
the spread of coronavirus.
In some countries with high infection rates, including
India and Mexico, experts have said that low testing rates
are disguising the true spread of their outbreaks.
The "new, highly portable and easy-to-use test" will
provide results in 15-30 minutes instead of hours or days,
WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus
told a news conference on Monday.
Drugs manufacturers Abbott and SD Biosensor have
agreed with the charitable Bill and Melinda Gates
Trump drags
India into US
presidential
debate, twice
US President Donald Trump
on Tuesday alleged India,
Russia and China might
not be reporting correct Covid-19
toll figures as he sought to defend
his own handling of the public
health crisis at his first debate with
Democratic challenger Joe Biden.
The president also brought up the
three countries in an exchange with
Biden over climate change, saying
India, Russia and China “send up real
dirt into the air”.
Trump has frequently brought
up Covid-19 testing in India to
claim the United States was doing
a far better job of it, and attributing
more testing to the higher toll. And
he had previously alleged China
was concealing the true magnitude
of its Covid-19 crisis. But this was
probably the first time he had alleged
under-reporting by India.
“You don’t know how many died
in China. You don’t know how many
people died in Russia. You don’t
know how many people died in
India,” he said, adding, “They don’t
exactly give a straight count, just so
you understand.”
Of the more than 1 million killed
worldwide by the pandemic, over
200,000 were in the United States,
97,497 in India, 20,456 in Russia
and 4,739 in China, according to
the Johns Hopkins University’s
Covid-19 tracker.
Questions have been raised before
Foundation to produce 120 million of the tests, Tedros
explained. The deal covers 133 countries, including many
in Latin America which is currently the region hardest-hit
by the pandemic in terms of fatality and infection rates.
"This is a vital addition to their testing capacity and
especially important in areas of high transmission,"
Tedros added.
"This will enable the expansion of testing, particularly
in hard-to-reach areas that do not have laboratory facilities
or enough trained health workers to carry out tests," he
said.
about China’s figures that seemed
to be dramatically low for a country
where the epidemic started last
December. It has serious credibility
issues in this regard also because it
did not tell the world early enough
that the virus can have human-tohumsn
transmission and that it can be
transmitted by asymptomatic people.
Trump has attacked India and
China before in the context of climate
change. In fact, he pulled the United
States out of the Paris Accord falsely
claiming it gave India and China a
sweeter deal. He has repeated that
claim several times since, always
without any proof or truth.
UK at 'critical moment' with
coronavirus: PM Boris Johnson
The prime minister told a No
10 briefing the UK was at a
"critical moment" and the
rising number of cases and deaths
shows "why our plan is so essential".
He said he would "not hesitate" to
impose further restrictions if needed.
Chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick
Vallance said: "We don't have this
under control at the moment."
"There's no cause for complacency
here at all," he added.
It comes as the latest UK
coronavirus figures showed there
have been a further 7,108 cases and
another 71 deaths.
Last week, Mr Johnson introduced
restrictions including a 10pm
closing time for pubs, bars and
restaurants in England, with similar
announcements in Scotland and
Wales, and a 15-person limit on
weddings.
Since then, further local lockdowns
have come into force, including
in north-east England, where
households are banned from mixing
indoors.
At the press conference at
Downing Street, Mr Johnson also
said the nation could face the winter
"with confidence" because it was
now better prepared than in March.
The preparations include being
on track for 500,000 tests a day by
the end of October, 2,000 beds in
seven Nightingale hospitals and a
four-month supply of protective
equipment (PPE) such as masks,
gowns and visors.
He said they had trebled the
number of ventilators in the NHS to
31,500 in the last six months.
There were 312 Covid-19 patients
in mechanical ventilator beds as of
Tuesday, the government said, and
2,252 in hospital, as reported.
'Will the second wave be
less severe?'
It is now clear the second wave is
here. Infections, hospital cases and
deaths are all rising.
But what happens next is the big
unknown. The doomsday scenario
of a doubling of cases every week
that was put forward last week is
not materialising. The increase in
hospital admissions is even more
gradual - and the total numbers being
admitted are more than 10 times
lower than they were at the peak.
It points to a slower, less severe
wave this time round.
But it is still early days.
We are just at the start of the
autumn and winter period when
respiratory viruses circulate more.
World: Coronavirus cases
Confirmed: 34,153,075
Deaths: 1,018,732
Recovered: 25,424,847
NEWS in BRIEF
'Arrivals to Aus from Covid-19 safe nations could
quarantine at home'
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Tuesday that people
arriving in the country from "Covid-19 safe" nation could be allowed
to quarantine at home, than at a hotel.
Since late March, international arrivals to Australia were to spend two
weeks in hotel quarantine at their port of entry, the Australian Broadcasting
Corporation (ABC) said in a news report.
Addressing the media, the Prime Minister said that the Australian Health
Protection Principal Committee (AHPPC), the government health advisory
body, was currently mulling the move to allow people coming in from "safe"
countries to quarantine at home.
"I think home quarantine can play a role in the future and it's something
that is being considered by the AHPPC, particularly as we move beyond the
phase we're in now.
"(As) we do look to have our borders open up at some point to safe
locations, whether it be New Zealand or parts of the Pacific, or places like
South Korea or Japan, or countries that have had a much higher rate of
success, then there are opportunities to look at those alternative methods,"
the ABC news report quoted Morrison as saying.
NASA targets Halloween for next manned SpaceX
mission
NASA and SpaceX now are targeting October 31 for the launch of the
agency's SpaceX Crew-1 mission with astronauts to the International
Space Station. The US space agency had earlier targeted October 23 for
the launch of the mission which comes after the SpaceX Demo-2 test flight
which flew astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley to the space station.
The new target date which falls on Halloween will deconflict the Crew-1
launch and arrival from upcoming Soyuz launch and landing operations,
NASA said on Monday.
While a Soyuz capsule launch is scheduled for October 14, a Soyuz
departure from space station is set to take place on October 21.
NASA said the additional time is needed to ensure closure of all open
work, both on the ground and aboard the station, ahead of the Crew-1 arrival.
The Crew-1 mission will take astronauts Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover,
and Shannon Walker of NASA and Soichi Noguchi of the Japan Aerospace
Exploration Agency (JAXA) to the station on the SpaceX Crew Dragon
spacecraft on a Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA's
Kennedy Space Centre in Florida.
After 493 days, Belgium gets new PM
After a wait of 493 days since the last federal election, Belgium got its
new Prime Minister Alexander De Croo on Wednesday.
De Croo is set to lead the country's 7-party Vivaldi coalition of Flemish
and Francophone socialists, liberals and greens.
De Croo will spearhead the Vivaldi coalition in steering the country through
the aftershocks of the pandemic, and is set to face fierce pushback from
the Flemish opposition parties, sidelined from the incoming administration
despite making big gains in the election, reported Brussels Times.
The choice of De Croo follows calls for the country's new Prime Minister
to be a Dutch-speaker, since the last PM to lead a full-fledged government,
Charles Michel, was Francophone. As De Croo's fellow government
formator, the Francophone socialist Paul Magnette, who leads the largest
party within the Vivaldi coalition, was also tipped for premiership.
Two-thirds of US voters don't expect winner on
election night
Two-thirds or 66 per cent of the US voters do not expect the result of the
November 3 election to be declared on the same night, according to a
new poll.
The Politico/Morning Consult poll released on Monday showed that only
20 per cent believed the winner will be declared on November 3 itself. Also,
19 per cent said they think the election will be resolved within a week, while
and 26 per cent others said it will be between two and seven days after the
polls close, the poll showed.
An additional 21 per cent of voters believe the period of uncertainty will
stretch past one week.
A majority of voters or 53 per cent in the Politico/Morning Consult poll
said they were either very or somewhat concerned that President Donald
Trump would prematurely declare victory for the election.
One-third of respondents expressed the same concerns about his rival,
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden.
Meanwhile, an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll showed Biden ahead
of Trump nationally by a margin of 51 per cent to 43 per cent.