covid19

How COVID-19 is impacting the globe Confirmed coronavirus cases are at 3.85 million worldwide, according to Johns Hopkins University. More than 269,000 people have died from the virus, while over 1.2 million have recovered. Confirmed cases in Russia continue to rise. The country has recorded 10,699 new coronavirus infections, marking the sixth day with more than 10,000 positive tests. There are now 187,859 confirmed infections and 1,723 deaths linked to COVID-19. 2.  US unemployment rate surges to 14.7% for April The US economy lost a staggering 20.5 million jobs in April, the steepest plunge in payrolls since the Great Depression and the starkest sign yet of how the novel coronavirus pandemic is battering the world’s biggest economy, Reuters reports. The Labor Department’s monthly employment report also showed the unemployment rate surging to 14.7% last month, shattering the post-World War Two record of 10.8%, whihc was reached in No...

COVID-19: Top Science Stories Of The Week, From Twins To Pollution Scientists say twin studies illuminating possible genetic influence of COVID-19 must be interpreted with caution Immune response to COVID-19 differs from other respiratory infections Evidence mounts for air pollution link to severity of illness Twin studies should be interpreted with caution A recent (unpublished) study comparing the symptoms of identical and non-identical twins infected with COVID-19 concluded that COVID-19 symptoms appear to be around 50% genetic. The findings were based on data collected from over 2,600 twins via the COVID-19 Symptom Tracker app developed by a team at King’s College London. Scientists not involved in the study have told the public to exercise caution when interpreting the findings from this and other studies of siblings, because it can be hard to tease apart environmental and genetic influences on disease outcome, particularly if people live in...

COVID-19 Shows We Need A Broader Definition Of Safe Mobility We must redefine “safe mobility” beyond reducing vehicular crashes to consider factors such as biosafety and public safety to eliminate risks to drivers and passengers. A safer future of mobility requires maximizing the use of automated driving systems to support, augment and replace human drivers where appropriate. Safety is an intrinsic, essential part of any successful mobility service, but COVID-19 has forced us to re assess what safety means. The crisis has revealed three core areas where mobility can be strengthened. Addressing these issues will mean expanding the notion of safe mobility for everyone going forward. Protecting Drivers With fewer people driving every day as a result of physical distancing measures, one might expect fewer road accidents. Unfortunately, as a byproduct of a 40% decline in traffic, there has been a drastic increase in speeding, with law enforcement agencies...

Why COVID-19 Makes A Compelling Case For The Wider İntegration Of Blockchain The COVID-19 crisis has revealed a general lack of connectivity and data exchange built into our global supply chains. Future resiliency will depend on building transparent, inter-operable and connective networks. When it became clear that many of us would soon be working from home, a majority took a cursory glance at their home office set-ups and decided it needed upgrading. What ensued was an unanticipated rush and surge of online orders for office desks, chairs, lamps and computer hardware. But such was the sudden spike that it has unsurprisingly caught suppliers large and small unprepared, off guard and exposed gaping holes in their ability to track purchases from one end of their supply chains to the other. Some customers, who have spent no small amount on revamping their home offices are still waiting to do so, without the consolation of being able to see where their orders are, or when they...

What the COVID-19 Pandemic Tells us About Gender Equality Women make up 70% of all health and social-services staff globally. Domestic, sexual and gender-based violence increases during crises. Women earn just 79 cents for every dollar men make. Given that the COVID-19 crisis affects men and women in different ways, measures to resolve it must take gender into account. For women and girls, vulnerabilities in the home, on the front lines of health care, and in the labor market must be addressed. Regardless of where one looks, it is women who bear most of the responsibility for holding societies together, be it at home, in health care, at school, or in caring for the elderly. In many countries, women perform these tasks without pay. Yet even when the work is carried out by professionals, those professions tend to be dominated by women, and they tend to pay less than male-dominated professions. The COVID-19 crisis has thrown these gender-based differences into ...

The COVID-19 Pandemic Could Last For 2 Years, According To US Experts A new report from researchers at the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy lays out three scenarios for how the coronavirus pandemic will progress in the coming months. Using the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic as a model, experts suggested the COVID-19 outbreak will last between 18 and 24 months. The pandemic "likely won't be halted until 60% to 70% of the population is immune", the report authors said. The worst of the three scenarios they outline involves a second, larger wave of coronavirus infections this fall and winter. The coronavirus pandemic may last until 2022, according to a report published Thursday. A group of researchers at the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) suggest that the COVID-19 outbreak won't end until 60% to 70% of the human population is immune to the virus, which may take between 18 and 24 mon...

Coronavirus: Public Health Emergency or Pandemic – Does Timing Matter? The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the spread of COVID-19 to be a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) on January 30 this year and then characterized it as a pandemic on March 11. Declaring a PHEIC is the highest level of alert that WHO is obliged to declare, and is meant to send a powerful signal to countries of the need for urgent action to combat the spread of the disease, mobilize resources to help low- and middle-income countries in this effort and fund research and development on needed treatments, vaccines and diagnostics. It also obligates countries to share information with WHO. Once the PHEIC was declared, the virus continued to spread globally, and WHO began to be asked why it had not yet declared the disease a pandemic. But there is no widely accepted definition of a pandemic, generally it is just considered an epidemic which affects many countries glob...

The Coronavirus Pandemic And The New World İt İs Creating The COVID-19 crisis is not a war but it is ‘war-like’ in that it requires the mobilisation and direction of resources at unprecedented levels. Solidarity between countries and a readiness to make sacrifices for the common good are decisive.  Only by pulling together and cooperating across borders can we beat the virus and contain its consequences – and the EU has a central role to play . This was the clear and united position of EU Foreign Ministers when we discussed the crisis on 23 March via video-link. It is sometimes said that wars are won not by tactics or even strategy, but by logistics and communications. This seems true for COVID-19 as well: whoever is best at organising the response, quickly drawing on lessons learnt from around the world and communicating successfully towards citizens and the wider world, will come out strongest. There is a  global battle of narratives  going on in which timing is...