‘Hospitals are full’ as Argentina COVID-19 cases hit 3 million
Argentina coronavirus cases hit 3 million on Sunday since the pandemic began, as medical workers said hospitals were full to capacity despite toughened government measures to bring down the spread of infections. The country’s health ministry said there were 11,394 new cases over the last 24-hour period, bringing up the grim new milestone, with 156 […]
Cambodia reports daily record of 730 COVID-19 cases
Cambodia reported a daily record of 730 new coronavirus cases, the health ministry said in a statement on Sunday, as the country struggles to contain a wave of infections that emerged about two months ago. The Southeast Asian nation has recorded one of the world’s smallest COVID-19 caseloads, but the recent outbreak that was first […]
Vaccination centres close in Mumbai as India posts another record rise in COVID-19
All vaccination centres in India’s financial capital of Mumbai were shut for three days starting Friday due to a shortage of vaccines, said authorities, as the country posted another record daily rise in coronavirus cases. India reported 386,452 news cases on Friday, while deaths from COVID-19 jumped by 3,498 over the last 24 hours, according […]
Lockdown accounting
Many countries have implemented social distancing and lockdown policies to tame the spread of Covid-19. This column discusses the potential GDP and employment effects of lockdown policies for a broad cross-section of countries ranging in income per capita from Niger to Luxembourg. It shows that the employment and GDP effects of lockdown policies are U-shaped in income per capita. While workers in rich countries have a substantially higher ability to work from home, which mitigates declines in employment and GDP, poor countries concentrate employment and value-added in essential sectors that are not shut down. Middle-income countries see the largest declines as they feature relatively large employment shares in non-essential sectors and relatively low work from home ability.
From Amazon to Tata, industry steps up to combat India’s coronavirus crisis
Sachin Ravikumar, Nivedita Bhattacharjee, Chris Thomas Global and Indian firms are flexing their industrial muscle to help the world’s second biggest population battle coronavirus, coming to the rescue of a public health system buckling under the weight of surging infections and deaths. Amazon.com (AMZN.O), Intel (INTC.O) and Google, as well as Indian firms Tata Sons, Reliance Industries (RELI.NS) and JSW […]
Brazil’s Bolsonaro says military would follow his orders to take the streets
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said on Friday that if he were to order the military to take the streets and restore order, “the order will be followed,” raising fresh questions about his politicization of the armed forces. Speaking during a TV interview, Bolsonaro said he would not “go into details into what I’m preparing.” But […]
India’s daily coronavirus cases climb to new world record as hospitals buckle
India’s coronavirus infections rose by 346,786 overnight, the health ministry said on Saturday, setting a new world record for the third consecutive day, as overwhelmed hospitals in the densely-populated country begged for oxygen supplies. India is in the grip of a rampaging second wave of the pandemic, hitting a rate of one COVID-19 death in […]
Return the favour: South Korea looks to U.S. for COVID-19 vaccine aid
South Korea hopes the United States will help it tackle a shortage of coronavirus vaccine in return for test kits and masks Seoul sent to Washington earlier in the pandemic, the foreign minister said on Wednesday. The government has drawn fire from the media for not doing enough to secure enough vaccines early, with just […]
India to increase oxygen supplies amid shortage -govt
At least 22 patients died on Wednesday in a hospital in western India after a disruption to their oxygen supply caused by a leaking tank, the health minister said, as a nationwide surge in coronavirus cases soaks up supplies of the crucial gas. The incident in the city of Nashik, one of India’s worst-hit areas, […]
UK PM Johnson cancels trip to India due to coronavirus worries
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday cancelled a planned trip to India, scheduled to take place next week, due to the current coronavirus situation in India, Johnson’s office said.
