World Coronavirus Dispatch: Chinese journalist jailed for virus reporting

Tourists flee quarantine in Swiss resort, Singapore eases some curbs as it focuses on economy, South Africa hits a million cases and other pandemic-related news across the globe

Turkey's economic tailspin lingers

Even before the pandemic began, Turkey's economy was on the slide and the virus hit final nail in the coffin. As the country endures second wave of infections, citizens are overwhelmed by debt and poverty has worsened. The country had been dealing with a falling currency and double-digit inflation for over two years now. Global agencies say Erdogan tightening his powers had an adverse impact on the economy and country's growth. Authorities have also neglected the extent of outbreak and its impact, which led to delay in effective response in the initial stages. Read here

Let's look at the global statistics

Global infections: 80,792,902

Change Over Yesterday: 419,958

Global deaths: 1,764,872

Nations with most cases: US (19,134,976), India (10,207,871), Brazil (7,484,285), Russia (3,019,972), France (2,616,510).

Source: John Hopkins Coronavirus Research Center.

Tourists flee quarantine in Swiss resort

After the new coronavirus variant was discovered, that is 50 to 70 per cent more transmissible, Switzerland traced down hundreds of UK citizens who arrived in the country since December 14 and were ordered to quarantine. However, many fleed the hotels, breaking quarantine rules in Verbier, an alpine village located in the municipality of Bagnes in Canton du Valais. According to reports, some of them faced Xenophobia from locals after the detection of new virus strain. Some tourists later called back to hotels, enquiring about the bills for their stay they had booked. Read here

Singapore relaxes curbs, fearing economic damage

Relatively confident that the virus is under control, Singapore has eased some of the restrictions, including the limit on gatherings, outdoor shopping among others. This comes as Singapore is scheduled to host the World Economic Forum later next year. The country has plunged into recession recently as srtict measures to control the pandemic has taken its toll. As of now only 37 Covid-19 patients are taking treatment in hospitals, none of whom are in intensive care units. The island nation has registered just 29 deaths since the start of the pandemic. Read here

South Africa hits one million cases

South Africa has reached a grim milestone of over 1 million infections and the worst part is the coronavirus is not showing any signs of dying down in the near future, breaking the country's health care systems. The new coronavirus varaint is accelerating to the surge in many areas and the president is expected to announce new restrictions to contain the outbreak. The seven-day rolling average of daily new cases has nearly doubled over the past two weeks from 10.24 new cases per 100,000 people on to 19.86 new cases per 100,000. Read here

Chinese journalist jailed over reporting on Wuhan virus

A Chinese journalist, who provided a first-hand account of the coronavirus outbreak in wuhan late last year, was sentenced to a four-year jail term. China has been criticised for initial handling of outbreak, when it first emerged and accused of supressing crucial information to the world. The country monitored the virus information on social media platforms and controlled the news flow. Whistle-blowers, such as doctors and frontline workers were warned of reavling sensitive information. Having contained the outbreak, state media has been on the offensive recently saying the virus first emerged outside the country. Read here