Whoever persisted with ordering Chinese PPE after reports of failures all across the world should be officially lynched.
Iran , China and Now Pakistan will quietly bury all the dead , without much fuss
Here Bengal and Bihar will also do the same
Iran numbers are fixed for infected they pick a random number between 2600-3200 and for dead the pick between 125-150. Watched it for couple of weeks, while things got worst from one country to anther this range remained same.
Frankly, this isn't true of just Bihar & WB. As the situation worsens, I have no doubt you'd see this in a lot of States . Maharashtra remains a prime suspect. Khujli can't do much as the administrative responsibilities are divided in Delhi. The strange part is the central government isn't calling out this chicanery except for mild raps on the knuckles.
The less one speaks about MSM presstitutes the better. They can expend tons of ink on why Modi isn't testing enough or how the lockdown is sinking the economy or how we lack adequate medicine, PPEs or how the Modi government is stigmatizing single source , etc.But not a word on state governments totally botching up their response to the calamity.
WB & Maharashtra are prime examples. Mamta has even gone do far as to release a press statement detailing 10 deaths nearly 10-12 days ago only to issue a statement 4-5 days later stating the casualties were 3. Nobody in the MSM called out this brazen lie.
As lockdown extends, Railways to run special trains for Army officers, jawans – Indian Defence Research Wing
If this virus continues to destroy US and EU we may not see country named China but multiple small small countries. Sanctions, non tariff barriers, penalization, extreme regulations, inspections China will struggle to sell anything to developed markets.
Slowing down of economy will break hold of CCP on people. Without monetary incentives, degrading work atmosphere people will be more agitated, helped with western money and strategy China may see Hong Kong protests all across the country, starting from Hubei. China will either change too much or will break.
Slowing down of economy will break hold of CCP on people. Without monetary incentives, degrading work atmosphere people will be more agitated, helped with western money and strategy China may see Hong Kong protests all across the country, starting from Hubei. China will either change too much or will break.
Trust me when I say this, I have never seen Canadians openly being undiplomatic to Chinese .... until now.
Why does India have so few Covid-19 cases and deaths?
Why does India have so few Covid-19 cases and deaths?
3 hours ago
By Anup Malani, Arpit Gupta & Reuben Abraham
FROM OUR OBSESSION
Global Economic Disruptions
Globalization, automation, and inequality—oh my!
India is four times more populous than the US, but has just 2% the number of cases and only 1.5% of the number of Covid-19 deaths. How has the country, whose per capita income is just tenth of the US, avoided being flattened by the pandemic?
There are four possible explanations:
While the lockdown will certainly have an effect on the pandemic in India in the long run, there has not been enough time for its impact to be felt. So the current low level of deaths is really telling us about what happened before the lockdown began. Moreover, it is unclear that the lockdown has been total. Besides videos of migrants crowding the Delhi/Uttar Pradesh border or Bandra station in Mumbai waiting to go home and the news of the Tablighi Jamaat Markaz event in New Delhi (which led to a spike in cases), there is also Google Mobility data that backs this thesis. In addition, if India’s caseload is low because of the lockdown, it will not help when the lockdown ends.
India, like many countries, has been unable to procure enough tests. The lack of surveillance means that many deaths due to Covid-19 may not have been classified as such. A Covid-19 death typically is confirmed by a Covid RT-PCR test. Those tests are in short supply and cost INR 4500 ($60) in India. Moreover, if an individual with Covid-like symptoms dies, but a test is not performed before his death, it does not make sense to waste scarce resources on the cadaver. Nor do officials report unconfirmed, Covid-like deaths, because there are many reasons that one may die from flu-like symptoms, and officials do not want to create panic.
As a backstop, one can look at all-cause mortality. If the coronavirus has really taken off, surely we would see the impact in total deaths. Such an analysis is complicated, however, by the fact that the lockdown has led to delays in updating death records. Moreover, the lockdown has affected mortality in ways that are unrelated to Covid-19. By shutting down travel and factories, it has eliminated transport-linked deaths and deaths triggered by air pollution. Physical distancing measures may also lower deaths from influenza, just as they reduce Covid-19 deaths. So it is theoretically possible that Covid-19 has had a substantial mortality impact, but that total deaths have not risen because the lockdown reduced non-Covid deaths.
This leaves the intriguing possibility that Covid-19 will have less of an impact in India than in other countries. However, it is important to not use it as an excuse to be less vigilant. Its reproductive rate in India is around 1.8, which implies that approximately 65% percent of the population will be infected without a lockdown or vaccine. Even if India has a death rate as low as Germany’s 0.3%, two million people could die.
With that caveat, let’s consider why the death rate may be lower in India. Initial data from China suggested that the mortality rate from Covid-19 infection is much higher among the elderly: it is 14.8% for those above 80, but just 0.2% for individuals below 39. In India, only 0.8% of the population is above 80 and nearly 75% are below the age of 40. An offsetting factor, however, is the poor health of even younger Indians. The fatality rate rises by roughly 30% if a person has cardiovascular disease, diabetes, chronic respiratory disease, or hypertension. India has roughly double the rate of heart disease as Italy, and among the highest prevalence of respiratory diseases in the world. In addition, India is home to one in six people with diabetes.
Another complicating factor is that India is home to many multi-generational, joint families. This structure places elderly Indians at considerable risk from catching diseases from younger family members, especially asymptomatic ones.
A second explanation is that hotter temperatures in India may slow the virus. There is some evidence consistent with this theory. Countries with latitudes between 30-50 degrees above or below the equator, and average temperatures between 5 and 11 degrees celsius have, thus far, borne a higher burden from Covid. However, some preliminary research has suggested that India may face higher transmission rates during the monsoon, which is India’s flu season. Humidity may also play a role; studies have found varying results on its importance as a factor. In addition, a brand new study at Harvard has suggested that Covid-19 may not go away in warm weather as colds do, because significant parts of the population remain vulnerable to the virus. The weather alone is insufficient to protect India.
Other explanations center on universal BCG vaccination in India, or domestic hydroxychloroquine use to combat malaria. While it is true, for instance, that countries with BCG vaccination appear so far to have less transmission, these countries are also warmer, have younger populations, and—because they are poorer—likely tested late. So it is hard to know whether there is a true link between Covid-19 and BCG or malaria burdens. Further analysis is required, though it may not come fast enough to help in this epidemic.
Ultimately, India’s relatively light exposure to Covid-19 remains a puzzle. It may have certain characteristics that protect it from the deadliest impact, but they do not suggest that it will escape the pandemic unscathed. Great care and vigilance are still necessary.
Why does India have so few Covid-19 cases and deaths?
3 hours ago
By Anup Malani, Arpit Gupta & Reuben Abraham
FROM OUR OBSESSION
Global Economic Disruptions
Globalization, automation, and inequality—oh my!
India is four times more populous than the US, but has just 2% the number of cases and only 1.5% of the number of Covid-19 deaths. How has the country, whose per capita income is just tenth of the US, avoided being flattened by the pandemic?
There are four possible explanations:
- The epidemic may have struck later than in other countries. Since epidemics have exponential growth at the start, a small delay can have massive effects on the number of cases.
- India’s 21-day lockdown may have successfully suppressed the epidemic. Physical distancing is one of the best ways to slow the epidemic and, if anything, many have criticized the lockdown for being too draconian in that regard.
- India has not been able to test enough to count all cases and deaths. Without sufficient testing, many deaths may not be labeled with Covid-19 for official statistics, leading to an underestimation of the severity of the crisis.
- India may have protective characteristics against Covid-19. Researchers have proposed that the low share of elderly in the population, the high temperatures and humidity in India, widespread BCG vaccination for tuberculosis, or resistance to malaria have helped India escape the brunt of the pandemic.
While the lockdown will certainly have an effect on the pandemic in India in the long run, there has not been enough time for its impact to be felt. So the current low level of deaths is really telling us about what happened before the lockdown began. Moreover, it is unclear that the lockdown has been total. Besides videos of migrants crowding the Delhi/Uttar Pradesh border or Bandra station in Mumbai waiting to go home and the news of the Tablighi Jamaat Markaz event in New Delhi (which led to a spike in cases), there is also Google Mobility data that backs this thesis. In addition, if India’s caseload is low because of the lockdown, it will not help when the lockdown ends.
India, like many countries, has been unable to procure enough tests. The lack of surveillance means that many deaths due to Covid-19 may not have been classified as such. A Covid-19 death typically is confirmed by a Covid RT-PCR test. Those tests are in short supply and cost INR 4500 ($60) in India. Moreover, if an individual with Covid-like symptoms dies, but a test is not performed before his death, it does not make sense to waste scarce resources on the cadaver. Nor do officials report unconfirmed, Covid-like deaths, because there are many reasons that one may die from flu-like symptoms, and officials do not want to create panic.
As a backstop, one can look at all-cause mortality. If the coronavirus has really taken off, surely we would see the impact in total deaths. Such an analysis is complicated, however, by the fact that the lockdown has led to delays in updating death records. Moreover, the lockdown has affected mortality in ways that are unrelated to Covid-19. By shutting down travel and factories, it has eliminated transport-linked deaths and deaths triggered by air pollution. Physical distancing measures may also lower deaths from influenza, just as they reduce Covid-19 deaths. So it is theoretically possible that Covid-19 has had a substantial mortality impact, but that total deaths have not risen because the lockdown reduced non-Covid deaths.
This leaves the intriguing possibility that Covid-19 will have less of an impact in India than in other countries. However, it is important to not use it as an excuse to be less vigilant. Its reproductive rate in India is around 1.8, which implies that approximately 65% percent of the population will be infected without a lockdown or vaccine. Even if India has a death rate as low as Germany’s 0.3%, two million people could die.
With that caveat, let’s consider why the death rate may be lower in India. Initial data from China suggested that the mortality rate from Covid-19 infection is much higher among the elderly: it is 14.8% for those above 80, but just 0.2% for individuals below 39. In India, only 0.8% of the population is above 80 and nearly 75% are below the age of 40. An offsetting factor, however, is the poor health of even younger Indians. The fatality rate rises by roughly 30% if a person has cardiovascular disease, diabetes, chronic respiratory disease, or hypertension. India has roughly double the rate of heart disease as Italy, and among the highest prevalence of respiratory diseases in the world. In addition, India is home to one in six people with diabetes.
Another complicating factor is that India is home to many multi-generational, joint families. This structure places elderly Indians at considerable risk from catching diseases from younger family members, especially asymptomatic ones.
A second explanation is that hotter temperatures in India may slow the virus. There is some evidence consistent with this theory. Countries with latitudes between 30-50 degrees above or below the equator, and average temperatures between 5 and 11 degrees celsius have, thus far, borne a higher burden from Covid. However, some preliminary research has suggested that India may face higher transmission rates during the monsoon, which is India’s flu season. Humidity may also play a role; studies have found varying results on its importance as a factor. In addition, a brand new study at Harvard has suggested that Covid-19 may not go away in warm weather as colds do, because significant parts of the population remain vulnerable to the virus. The weather alone is insufficient to protect India.
Other explanations center on universal BCG vaccination in India, or domestic hydroxychloroquine use to combat malaria. While it is true, for instance, that countries with BCG vaccination appear so far to have less transmission, these countries are also warmer, have younger populations, and—because they are poorer—likely tested late. So it is hard to know whether there is a true link between Covid-19 and BCG or malaria burdens. Further analysis is required, though it may not come fast enough to help in this epidemic.
Ultimately, India’s relatively light exposure to Covid-19 remains a puzzle. It may have certain characteristics that protect it from the deadliest impact, but they do not suggest that it will escape the pandemic unscathed. Great care and vigilance are still necessary.
Nothing of the sort will happen if China opens up her purse strings - of which we see preliminary examples & if the US doesn't come up with the equivalent of a Marshall Plan - of which we've seen preliminary examples as well. As far as the people of China go, they've been thru far worse . The 5 pests Campaign & the Great Leap forward saw nearly 40-50 million deaths & China was dirt poor then. Today when they're a 15 trillion USD economy with a 12,000 per capita income, why would they jeopardize their future for a few thousand deaths. There's anger against the CCP. There's no doubt about it. But not the kind that would sweep away or even damage the CCP severely. I'm venturing the regime in Iran too will survive. It'd definitely be in a far more weakened state but it'd survive as there is no active or credible opposition. As far as our brother in arms go, it has more lives than a cat.
My father & his father's generation have always maintained North Karnataka was a backward place. As the above clipping demonstrates they're happy to be this way.
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Nothing of that sort will happen. Only the outsourcing would temporarily halt and will continue in the next fiscal year with new operating procedures in case of pandemic. World has learnt the side effects of globalisation. World has also learnt that there are other people required to run the civilisation other than IT guys.
India dials up medical diplomacy, sends 85 mn HCQ tablets, paracetemol to 108 countries
The exercise to deliver the HCQ and paracetamol tablets has been a complicated exercise since most countries, including India, do not permit flight operations.
Updated: Apr 16, 2020 21:51 IST
By Shishir Gupta
Hindustan Times, New Delhi
India has dialled up its medical diplomacy, sending loads of medicines to 100-plus countries over the last two weeks to help them fight the Covid-19 pandemic. A top government official told Hindustan Times that India is supplying nearly 85 million hydroxychloroquine tablets and close to 500 million paracetamol tablets to the 108 countries.
This is apart from the 1,000 tonnes of paracetamol granules that have been sent to make tablets.
“As we speak, a total of 4,000 plus consignments to 60 countries are being cleared for dispatch,” the government official cited above said. In all, the medicine supplies will cover 108 countries.
Many of the supplies have been made through special Indian Air Force flights, foreign evacuation charters and even diplomatic cargo.
It is a huge exercise, and complicated too given that most countries, including India, have shut flight operations.
[Covid-19: India is supplying HCQ, Paracetamol to 108 countries ]
As one example, officials speak about how Indian HCQ tablets to be delivered to the Dominican Republic, which is the current President of the UNSC, were placed as diplomatic cargo on a US evacuation flight to Atlanta, Georgia. This diplomatic cargo will then be flown from New York to the island in the Carribean region in a Dominican charter later on Thursday.
The HCQ tablets sent as gifts to Mauritius and Seychelles were loaded on special Indian Air Force planes on Wednesday for delivery. For reaching the medicines to Afghanistan, efforts are being made to send the medicine by a special charter.
According to South Block officials, 5 million HCQ tablets and a large quantity of paracetamol has been either supplied or in the process of being supplied to 31 countries as grant assistance to combat Covid-19.
“The emphasis has been on clearing consignments to those friendly countries first which are badly affected by the virus. We will also be clearing requests from some other countries who have sought help in this hour of need. This will be done in a day or two,” said a senior official.
Basically, India has decided to supply all the drugs that were lying in special economic zones or 100 percent export oriented units after ensuring that there was an adequate buffer stock for domestic requirements in a worst-case scenario.
“Broadly, almost everything that was ready and lying at the airports/ports that cannot be used domestically as on April 14 has been cleared for exports,” said a Ministry of External Affairs official.
India has already supplied 80 million HCQ tablets to 24 countries through commercial contracts including US, UK, Russia, France, Spain and Netherlands. It has also supplied large quantities of paracetamol to 52 countries including Italy, Sweden and Singapore. In some cases, both HCQ and paracetamol tablets were supplied.
India dials up medical diplomacy, sends 85 mn HCQ tablets, paracetemol to 108 countries
The exercise to deliver the HCQ and paracetamol tablets has been a complicated exercise since most countries, including India, do not permit flight operations.
Updated: Apr 16, 2020 21:51 IST
By Shishir Gupta
Hindustan Times, New Delhi
India has dialled up its medical diplomacy, sending loads of medicines to 100-plus countries over the last two weeks to help them fight the Covid-19 pandemic. A top government official told Hindustan Times that India is supplying nearly 85 million hydroxychloroquine tablets and close to 500 million paracetamol tablets to the 108 countries.
This is apart from the 1,000 tonnes of paracetamol granules that have been sent to make tablets.
“As we speak, a total of 4,000 plus consignments to 60 countries are being cleared for dispatch,” the government official cited above said. In all, the medicine supplies will cover 108 countries.
Many of the supplies have been made through special Indian Air Force flights, foreign evacuation charters and even diplomatic cargo.
It is a huge exercise, and complicated too given that most countries, including India, have shut flight operations.
[Covid-19: India is supplying HCQ, Paracetamol to 108 countries ]
As one example, officials speak about how Indian HCQ tablets to be delivered to the Dominican Republic, which is the current President of the UNSC, were placed as diplomatic cargo on a US evacuation flight to Atlanta, Georgia. This diplomatic cargo will then be flown from New York to the island in the Carribean region in a Dominican charter later on Thursday.
The HCQ tablets sent as gifts to Mauritius and Seychelles were loaded on special Indian Air Force planes on Wednesday for delivery. For reaching the medicines to Afghanistan, efforts are being made to send the medicine by a special charter.
According to South Block officials, 5 million HCQ tablets and a large quantity of paracetamol has been either supplied or in the process of being supplied to 31 countries as grant assistance to combat Covid-19.
“The emphasis has been on clearing consignments to those friendly countries first which are badly affected by the virus. We will also be clearing requests from some other countries who have sought help in this hour of need. This will be done in a day or two,” said a senior official.
Basically, India has decided to supply all the drugs that were lying in special economic zones or 100 percent export oriented units after ensuring that there was an adequate buffer stock for domestic requirements in a worst-case scenario.
“Broadly, almost everything that was ready and lying at the airports/ports that cannot be used domestically as on April 14 has been cleared for exports,” said a Ministry of External Affairs official.
India has already supplied 80 million HCQ tablets to 24 countries through commercial contracts including US, UK, Russia, France, Spain and Netherlands. It has also supplied large quantities of paracetamol to 52 countries including Italy, Sweden and Singapore. In some cases, both HCQ and paracetamol tablets were supplied.
India dials up medical diplomacy, sends 85 mn HCQ tablets, paracetemol to 108 countries