World Coronavirus Dispatch: A fight of survival for world's best nightclubs

Tanzania sees 300% rise in infections, Tokyo volunteers and anticipating fans suddenly have nothing to do, and other pandemic-related news across the globe

Britain’s nightlife prepares for reopening wounded by pandemic

Britain's nightclub business, one of the most vibrant in the world, is preparing to re-open, bruised and wounded by the pandemic, after a gap of over 16 months. The country is home to 12 of the world's top 100 nightclubs. Britain’s Night Time Industries Association estimates its members contribute $91 billion a year to the economy and employ 1.3 million people in bars, restaurants, theaters, festivals and music concerts. However, the pandemic risks upending the  UK’s leading status in the global nightclub business. While restaurants were allowed to reopen starting in April and for many weeks last year, nightclubs and live music events have remained mostly off limits throughout the pandemic. Most nightclubs are struggling under massive debts. It's a fight for survival. Read here

Let's look at the global statistics

Global infections: 186,463,245

Global deaths: 4,025,037

Vaccine doses administered: 3,417,371,194

Nations with most cases: US (33,847,784), India (30,837,222), Brazil (19,069,003), France (5,870,463), Russia (5,688,807).

Source: John Hopkins Coronavirus Research Center

Tanzania sees 300% increase in Covid-19 cases in two weeks

After playing down the threat of pandemic for more than a year, Tanzania is slowly moving towards acknowledging that virus is indeed a problem. The country says it now has 408 cases, up 300 per cent from around 100 infections reported on June 28. The IMF had earlier said that if Tanzania has to get approval for a $500 million emergency loan, it has to publish data on the spread of the virus. Reporting numbers on coronavirus infections and deaths would be an about turn for the government that hasn’t done so since May last year. Read here

An Olympics without fans: Tokyo volunteers suddenly have no roles

The inevitable has happened in the time of Covid. Fans will be banned from the Tokyo Olympics, reducing the Games to be a mere TV event. Now, what about the volunteers, who had already received uniforms and were planning to guide spectators to venues within the city. Japan's decision to bar Olympics spectators in Tokyo and three surrounding prefectures will force sports venues to rethink their plans, with the ripple effect reaching volunteers, medical personnel and security guards. Tokyo had planned to have roughly 30,000 volunteers help visitors at airports and stations. The capital hopes to find different roles for them. Read here

The flaws fuelling Indonesia’s Covid surge

Indonesia has since faced one of the worst outbreaks in south-east Asia, though demographics and geography have offered some cover over the past year. To make the matters worse, the country's pandemic response has been fraught from the start. It was not until March 2 last year that the country confirmed it had detected two Covid cases, despite indications the virus had been present in the country as early as January. The new Delta strain, combined with travel related to Eid al-Fitr, has laid bare the longstanding failures in the country’s pandemic measures. Read here