Around the World (Timeline)

“More than half the residents of slums in three areas in India’s commercial capital, Mumbai, tested positive for antibodies to the coronavirus, a new survey has found.”

Science: ‘It’s a tricky thing.’ COVID-19 cases haven’t soared in Nigeria, but that could change
(July 14, 2020)

OO: Zero COVID-19 Deaths in Vietnam (July 9, 2020)

nature: ‘The epidemic is growing very rapidly’: Indian government adviser fears coronavirus crisis will worsen (June 26, 2020)

“Coronavirus infections are rising rapidly in the country, and the surprisingly low death rate could be misleading.”

nature: A massive number of viral imports seeded the UK outbreak (June 11, 2020)

A team at Oxford using genomics found 1,356 introductions of cases into the UK.
About one-third came from Spain, just under one-third from France.
Only 0.1% came from China.
Not yet peer reviewed.

NYT: Surging Coronavirus Cases Push Latin America ‘to the Limit’ (June 10, 2020)

PopSci: What we can learn from New Zealand’s successful fight against COVID-19
(June 10, 2020)

DW: Coronavirus latest: Moscow eases lockdown restrictions (June 9, 2020)

Latest news from around the world.

PopSci: New Zealand has eliminated COVID-19. Here’s how they’re keeping it that way.
(June 8, 2020)

“The last confirmed COVID-19 patient in New Zealand left the hospital 12 days ago. Since then, the country has kept a watchful eye to see if any new cases would pop up. With much relief, on Monday, health officials announced that, for now, the novel coronavirus has been eliminated in New Zealand.”
“New Zealand joins a handful of countries, including Iceland, that were able to successfully eliminate the virus. But the future is still uncertain. New Zealand’s final phase of reopening still includes strict health measures, including severe travel restrictions. Only New Zealand residents can enter the country, and Kiwis reentering from travel abroad will have to quarantine themselves for two weeks.”

BBC: India coronavirus: The man who survived 36 days on a ventilator (June 3, 2020)

AP: VIRUS DIARY: Sweden stayed open. I stayed at home. (June 2, 2020)

“Official advice tells anyone not ‘vulnerable’ to stay home only if symptomatic, and to socially distance when out. We’re not actively seeking herd immunity, they say. But equally, we don’t want to suppress the virus by locking down, testing and tracing.”

BNR: In 2021, Bulgaria expects to reach economic level before Covid-19 (May 31, 2020)

“The forecasts are that in 2021 Bulgaria will be able to restore the economic conditions before the pandemic.”
“The 60% state support measure for salaries and social security contributions has saved 240,000 jobs. Without the “60/40″ measure, unemployment in the country would now be 18%, the minister stressed.”

Bulgaria seems to be one of the countries that have best managed to survive the first wave of the pandemic. It was the last European Union country to have its first Covid-19 case. It learned from the hard hit countries to the west and took measures early. It followed advice from the WHO and the ECDC. Strict measures focused on restricting events and business-customer interactions, and also imposed night curfews and restrictions of non-essential travel from city to city, without however disrupting daily life as much as has happened in other countries. – MH

May 30, 2020

CNN: How Vietnam managed to keep its coronavirus death toll at zero (May 30, 2020)

Official numbers for Vietnam are 328 cases and 0 deaths.
Vietnam took very conservative measures early without waiting for any guidelines from the WHO. Authorities assumed the worst.
“Fighting this epidemic is like fighting the enemy,” the Prime Minister said.
Immediate lockdown of a community after cases were detected.
Rigorous contact tracing
- Use of media to search for all contacts plus contacts of contacts
- Direct contacts were quarantined in official centers
43% of the first 273 cases were asymptomatic.
Clear communication and propaganda
- Situation updates online and through phone apps
- “Telephone hotlines”
- Through loudspeakers, posters, media
- Catchy hand-washing song
Earlier epidemics have helped Vietnam prepare.

NPR: New Zealand Now Has Just 1 Active COVID-19 Case (May 29, 2020)

Science: Yemen was facing the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. Then the coronavirus hit
(May 28, 2020)

In an ongoing civil war since 2015, many hospitals have been destroyed, 3.6 million people are displaced and 2.3 million people are affected by a cholera outbreak.
WHO is expecting Covid-19 to infect about half of Yemen’s population of around 30 million people and kill around 30,000 to 40,000 people, but it could be many more if the UN cannot obtain the necessary funds.

NPR: 14 Million People In Latin America, Caribbean At Risk Of Hunger, U.N. Report Says
(May 28, 2020)

Science: As India’s lockdown ends, exodus from cities risks spreading COVID-19 far and wide (May 27, 2020)

SciAm: How Anti-Science Attitudes Have Impacted the Coronavirus Pandemic in Brazil
(May 27, 2020)

nature: Scientific networks are helping African countries to access coronavirus lab supplies
(May 26, 2020)

Researchers in Africa are switching over to work with Covid-19 and are receiving donations of needed supplies, which have become too expensive for Africans, through their international connections

Science: Japan ends its state of emergency (May 26, 2020)

Japan, lacking the legal right to impose lockdown, has so far succeeded in driving down (within 1.5 months) the rate of new cases per day to nearly 0.5 per 100,000 people “with voluntary and not very restrictive social distancing and without large-scale testing”. They concentrated their efforts instead on finding clusters through contact tracing and then taking appropriate measures based on causes, for example by urging people to avoid “closed spaces, crowds, and close-contact settings”.
However, there were many outbreaks in hospitals and nursing homes and the health-care system was stretched to “the point of collapse”.
The state of emergency has been lifted but guidelines continue for events.

STAT: As Covid-19 tears through Navajo Nation, young people step up to protect their elders (May 26, 2020)

Science: Study tells ‘remarkable story’ about COVID-19’s deadly rampage through a South African hospital (May 25, 2020)

The contagion throughout the hospital was mostly by staff and through the surfaces of medical devices, likely “from hands and shared patient care items like thermometers, blood pressure cuffs, and stethoscopes.”

This story is “remarkable” in how it could be reconstructed in such detail. This provides some evidence as to how very contagious the virus is through surfaces.

NPR: Stockholm Won’t Reach Herd Immunity In May, Sweden’s Chief Epidemiologist Says
(May 25, 2020)

May 24, 2020

CNN: Report: Brazil’s indigenous people are dying at an alarming rate from Covid-19
(May 24, 2020)

Activists claim that illegal land clearing in the Amazon, which has risen in the past year, increases the threat of the pandemic on the indigenous population.
The average distance of these people to an ICU is 315 km. For 10% of them it is 700 to over 1000 km. Many are not reachable except by boat or plane. “There isn’t a single field hospital just for indigenous people.”

NPR: Brazilian Farmers Hatch A Plan To Send Healthy Food To The Favelas (PHOTOS)
(May 24, 2020)

AP: Virus accelerates across Latin America, India, Pakistan (May 22, 2020)

Bihar is the Indian city with the most new cases. Some people walked great distances for over a month and in crowds to return there from work in other cities.
ICUs are overburdened in Peru, Chile and Ecuador, even after strict shutdowns and quarantines.
“The crematoriums are saturated” in the suburb of Ecatepec, Mexico City.

nature: Tackle coronavirus in vulnerable communities (May 19, 2020)

“The pandemic has hit care homes, prisons and low-income communities hardest. Researchers are ready to help, but need data to be collected and shared.”
“Evidence-based strategies are urgently needed to prevent the spread of infection in shared settings, and to detect cases early.”

AP: Ukraine’s overburdened doctors in desperate virus fight (May 18, 2020)

“We are like in a war situation here, like on a front line!”
Some Ukrainians returned from temporary work abroad with Covid-19.
20% of Covid-19 cases in Ukraine are of hospital workers.
Knowing about the “weaknesses in the health care system,” a strict lockdown was ordered early on March 12, closing most companies. A partial reopening began on May 11 “under pressure from desperate farmers, businessmen and others”.

May 17, 2020

NPR: Senegal Pledges A Bed For Every Coronavirus Patient — And Their Contacts, Too
(May 17, 2020)

In Senegal, everyone diagnosed with Covid-19, regardless of how mild the symptoms, is given a bed in a health center or in a hospital in order to be isolated and observed – “a key element to Senegal’s strategy to contain the virus”.
Senegal’s Health Emergency Operation Center began in December 2014 to protect from Ebola that was spreading in Africa. The WHO and other countries have since helped Senegal to be prepared for a pandemic.

BBC: How Covid-19 is threatening Central America’s economic lifeline (May 17, 2020)

Many people in Central America depend on money being sent from family members working in the US, but now many of them have lost their jobs.

BBC: The unsurpassed 125-year-old network that feeds Mumbai (May 16, 2020)

I added this page here, because if areas of the world social distance to flatten the curve, based on scientific predictions, we also must be prepared to feed the underprivileged. – MH

DW: Autopsies reveal: Coronavirus is more than a lung infection (VIDEO)

CSM: From pandemic to famine: Can world meet food crisis fast enough?
(May 15, 2020)

If we’re social distancing to save lives, we should certainly prevent people from dying in other ways, such as of hunger. (Unfortunately, even if a society does not formally social distance, the poor may sometimes easily be forgotten during a crisis.) – MH

NYT: India’s ‘Maximum City’ Engulfed by Coronavirus (May 14, 2020)

“Overflowing hospitals. Exhausted cops. Desperate slums. Here are images from Mumbai as the coronavirus upends the metropolis.”

DW: Coronavirus: Pandemic slowing in Europe, WHO says (May 14, 2020)

The WHO says there is “no room for complacency (feeling we already did enough)”.
Germany will start opening borders on Saturday, but borders are expected to operate normally by June 15.

Science: From Black Death to fatal flu, past pandemics show why people on the margins suffer most (May 14, 2020)

“Inequality made historical pandemics ‘worse than they had to be’”

NYT: Latin America’s Outbreaks Now Rival Europe’s. But Its Options Are Worse
(May 12, 2020)

NPR: Wuhan To Test All 11 Million Residents After New Coronavirus Cases Emerge
(May 12, 2020)

NPR: Argentina Reacted Early And Kept The Coronavirus Largely Contained
(May 12, 2020)

NYT: 64,000 Missing Deaths: Tracking the True Toll of the Coronavirus Outbreak
(May 11, 2020)

Reuters: Northeast China hit by coronavirus infections, Wuhan reports new case
(May 10, 2020)

“Chinese authorities reported on Sunday what could be the beginning of a new wave of coronavirus cases in northeast China, with one city in Jilin province being reclassified as high-risk, the top of a three-tier zoning system.”
“[T]he first case for more than a month was [detected] in the city of Wuhan in central Hubei province where the outbreak was first detected late last year.”

BBC: Coronavirus: How lockdown is being lifted across Europe (May 10, 2020)

This is a good overview of how Europe is planning on reopening step by step.

BBC: Coronavirus lockdown around the world in pictures (May 10, 2020)

DW: Coronavirus latest: Germany’s infection rate rises again (May 9, 2020)

“Germany’s R number rose to about 1.1, meaning that [on average] every infected patient passes the coronavirus to more than one other person.”

SFC: Latinos’ coronavirus burden (May 8, 2020)

National Geographic: Fear, anger, desperation: How Bogotá’s residents are coping with COVID-19 (May 8, 2020)

“Bogotá, the capital [of Colombia], went into strict lockdown on March 18, even earlier than the rest of the country, and most residents are allowed to walk only to nearby pharmacies, hospitals, or food stores for now. Despite these measures, the coronavirus numbers are bad, and climbing rapidly.”

Visual Capitalist: Hunger Pandemic: The COVID-19 Effect on Global Food Insecurity

We must not forget the poor who are hungry during this pandemic. If our primary goal is to save lives from Covid-19, we should not lose lives in other ways. Every life is precious. -MH (May 8, 2020)

MGH: Researchers release COVID-19 symptom tracker app (May 5, 2020)

NPR: U.N. Warns Number Of People Starving To Death Could Double Amid Pandemic
(May 5, 2020)

DW: Coronavirus latest: Up to 1.8 million cases in Germany, researchers find
(May 4, 2020)

“A study has found that the German infection rate may be 10 times higher than reported. It comes as Germany edges closer to normality with the reopening of some schools and businesses.”

DW: How Greece’s crisis is helping it bend the COVID-19 curve (May 2, 2020)

“The lockdown was imposed much earlier than in most countries in the western world. The government reacted in a very competent manner, listening to the right people and making the right judgement.”
Based on the numbers mentioned in this article, Greece had only 17.4% of the Covid-19-related deaths per capita that Italy had.
Unfortunately, the country is facing today an economic crisis.

NYT: Millions Had Risen Out of Poverty. Coronavirus Is Pulling Them Back
(April 30, 2020)

“While everyone will suffer, the developing world will be hardest hit.”
“Most at risk are people working in the informal sector, which employs two billion people who have no access to benefits like unemployment assistance or health care.”
“Poverty is a huge driver of disease, and illness is one of the big shocks that drive families into poverty and keep them there.”

BBC: Coronavirus: New Zealand claims no community cases as lockdown eases
(April 27, 2020)

“No community cases” basically means that all known cases could be traced in order to know exactly how the virus is spreading. New Zealand is managing to control the spread.
“The country brought in some of the toughest restrictions in the world on travel and activity early on in the pandemic, when it only had a few dozen cases.”
“It closed its borders, started enforcing quarantine of all arrivals in the country, brought in a stringent lockdown and mounted an extensive testing and contact tracing operation.”

CSM: With science and shared values, Sweden charts own pandemic course
(April 27, 2020)

“The emphasis of Sweden’s response to the pandemic has been on citizens taking personal responsibility”
“Dr. Tragdarh says decisions made by Swedish authorities have been science-based rather than political”
“The governments of Finland and Denmark “were given similar advice from their health agencies, but they decided to shut down public life anyway.”
“A lot of the strategy is based on cultural norms, the narrative that Swedes will follow the recommendations and trust the authorities,” however the outcome was not as good as expected. (As of April 27, Sweden has around three times more deaths per capita than Denmark and around six times more than Finland.)
Twenty-two Swedish experts” demanded “the government to take a different course of action”.

AP: Perfect storm: Lombardy’s virus disaster is lesson for world (April 26, 2020)

AP: Virus lockdown raises tensions in France’s poorest areas (April 26, 2020)

“Alongside the food crisis, there has been scattered violence, with youths targeting French police in confrontations that end in clouds of tear gas, including in Clichy-sous-Bois. The town is where filmmaker Ladj Ly shot his Oscar-nominated modern police drama ‘Les Misérables’.”

CNN: Singapore had a model coronavirus response, then cases spiked. What happened?
(April 19, 2020)

NYT: Relying on Science and Politics, Merkel Offers a Cautious Virus Re-entry Plan
(April 16, 2020)

The German chancellor, who has a doctorate in physics and therefore understands science very well, states that Germany so far has succeeded in slowing down the virus enough in order not to overburden the medical system.

NYT: Ultra-Orthodox Enclave in Israel Opens to Outsiders to Fight a Virus (April 15, 2020)

“When an insular religious community became an epicenter for the coronavirus, its leaders did the unthinkable, calling on the military to help turn things around.”
This unfortunate situation is explained by their not following social distancing orders.

BBC: Life on Estonia’s ‘corona island’ (April 15, 2020)

An island of 33,000 people with perhaps half of the population infected. They anticipate around seven times the number of patients that their hospital can handle.

CNN: Italy aims to turn suffering to advantage with experimental Covid-19 treatment
(April 15, 2020)

Italy plans to collect blood plasma containing antibodies from individuals who have had Covid-19 in order to use it to treat new patients of the disease. This needs to wait until there is a reliable test for these antibodies.

Inside an intensive care unit in Barcelona’s Hospital Del Mar (VIDEO) (April 9, 2020)

Coronavirus in Berlin (VIDEO) (April 7, 2020)

How satellite images show global lockdown (VIDEO) (April 7, 2020)

Coronavirus ‘could kill 2 million in Bangladesh’ (VIDEO) (April 6, 2020)

Inside a London hospital as doctors fight to save lives (VIDEO) (April 6, 2020)

Sweden’s no-lockdown approach to coronavirus (VIDEO) (April 1, 2020)

The Swedish government chose to let citizens decide on their own how much social distancing is done rather than to impose measures. It is my understanding that Swedes are very well informed of the situation and the science behind it. For example, vulnerable individuals can isolate themselves. As seen in the video some people do not seem to be doing any social distancing. This may be a dangerous “experiment”. Time will tell how this may result in more deaths. Still, I expect the outcome to be better than areas of the world where the population is not well informed or where people do not realize how valuable scientific evidence is. – MH

STAT: Covid-19’s resurgence in Hong Kong holds a lesson: Defeating it demands persistence (March 26, 2020)

STAT: A plea from doctors in Italy: To avoid Covid-19 disaster, treat more patients at home
(March 21, 2020)

BBC: Coronavirus: First death outside China reported in Philippines
(February 2, 2020)