Coronavirus Reads, Digest 17
India's infections close to 10,000 as lockdown deadline ends, a hydroxychloroquine study has been halted after patients developed irregular heartbeats.
It’s Monday, April 13th.
India news
As India’s infections inches towards 10,000 and the highest one day death toll (as many 51 deaths in 24 hours), we are entering the last day of the 21 day lockdown. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will give an address at 10am on Tuesday for details on what restrictions will continue.
In Mumbai, as COVID positive cases mount in Dharavi, infections are in their hundreds in several other “slum” areas in the city.
India’s order of rapid-test kits from China has been delayed. Tamil Nadu authorities said a consignment of test kits meant for India have instead been shipped to the U.S.
The Washington Posts reports how the southern state of Kerala’s approach to the pandemic through aggressive testing and shelters and food for migrant workers is effectively reducing the infection spread.
Meanwhile migrant workers who stayed in Delhi are struggling to survive, trying to access meagre meals at shelters, and risking being beaten by the police on the streets, reports Supriya Sharma in Scroll.
The lockdown has led to blood bank shortages, as drives have been cancelled and potential donors are finding it difficult to leave their homes, reports Sohini Chattopadhyay in LiveMint.
India is asking the U.S. to reconsider visa sanctions, as India continues to keep a hold on reentry of its own citizens who are in the US, either on cancelled visas or there illegally. Indians constitute one of the largest groups of illegal aliens in the U.S. Suhasini Haider reports in The Hindu.
U.S. and International
The U.S. is considering when and what sectors of industries or schools can be reopened. Russia has reported a spike in infections, with 2,500 new confirmed cases. A hydroxychloroquine study has been halted in Brazil after patients developed irregular heartbeats putting them at risk of fatal heart arrhythmias.
Heartbreaking aerial photos here of thousands of cars lining up to access a food bank in San Antonio, Texas.
This, while farms are destroying millions of pounds of food because restaurants, and the hospitality sector, and schools are closed, cutting off their demand.
Dumped Milk, Smashed Eggs, Plowed Vegetables: Food Waste of the Pandemic
Side Effects of the Pandemic
The pandemic has had a dramatic effect on the Hindi film industry, film releases have been postponed indefinitely, and shoots have been suspended.
Bollywood: Coronavirus brings India's mega movie industry to standstill, BBC
The empire of Disney has been dramatically affected, bringing its CEO Bob Igor back to manage the crisis after he announced he was stepping down in February.
Ben Smith reports:
“No big media company is more dependent on its customers’ social and physical proximity than Disney, with its theme parks and cruise lines. Few have been hit harder by the pandemic.”
Food for Thought
Why are some people more infectious than others? Why are some people “superspreaders,” where a few people spark large outbreaks?
Novelist R.O. Kwan writes, “it’s normal...not to be able to just go on as usual,” at this time.
An excerpt:
Coronavirus grief is already a vast, monstrous grief, its reach and breadth expanding daily. It’s also a collective grief, a worldwide loss that — physically isolated though many of us have to be — a lot of other people are, in one way or another, also mourning. I hope, in this extraordinarily difficult time, to be better than I’ve been at letting myself mourn. I’ll start at the beginning: This is hard. I hurt. If you’re hurting, too, you’re not alone.
Trouble Focusing? Not Sleeping? You May Be Grieving, R.O. Kwan