World coronavirus Dispatch: 'Painful' US experience, dubious China figures

From some scary new death toll projections coming from the US to a tobacco maker's bid to produce vaccines and Saudi planning to postpone hajj, read these and more in today's international dispatch

US President Donald Trump has warned that the next two weeks will be painful, as new projections by experts fix the potential death toll at 240,000. This is despite stringent social-distancing measures being followed in the country.

“We’re going through the worst thing that the country’s probably ever seen,” Trump said.

Elsewhere, there is growing scepticism around the official pandemic numbers reported from China, which added only 68 new cases yesterday.

Residents of Wuhan, where the virus originated, have dismissed official figures. Most people believe deaths could be as many as 40,000, not the 2,400 officially reported from the city.

From a global point of view, we may be underestimating the coronavirus death toll.

Let’s look at the global statistics:

Total confirmed cases: 874,081

Change over previous day: 74,032

Total deaths: 43,291

Total recovered: 185,196

Nations hit with most cases: US (189,633), Italy (105,792), Spain (102,136), China (82,308), and Germany (72,383).

Source: Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Research Center

UN estimates on pandemic crisis: UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres called the coronavirus the biggest threat the world faced since the World War II. The UN also launched a report on the potential impact which predicted among other things that 25 million jobs around the world will be lost and there will be up to 40 per cent "downward pressure" on global foreign investment. Read more here.

Tackling ICU beds shortage: With a shortage of ICU beds, European nations are on a building and hiring spree, putting together makeshift hospitals and shipping coronavirus patients out of overwhelmed cities via high-speed trains. London is putting up 4,000 beds in a massive convention centre. Dozens of hotels across Spain are turned into recovery rooms, while in Milan beds are being put on fair grounds. Read more here.

Germany scores early against virus: The country has seen a steady rise in the number of infections, but so far deaths there have been lower than in many of its European neighbours. Labs were quick to ramp up their testing capacity and experts now say up to 500,000 tests can be conducted in Germany each week. Read more here.

Saudi may cancel annual Hajj: A senior Saudi official has urged over a million Muslims intending to travel this year for performing the hajj at Islam's holiest sites, located in this kingdom, to delay making any plans. The statement suggests the kingdom could cancel the annual pilgrimage. Read more here

Bangladesh situation hits garments industry: Garment exports account for 84 per cent of the country’s total exports, and its 4,600 garment factories support more than 4.1 million jobs. Now, as apparel retailers shut their doors, the market for those goods has evaporated. The hit could be to the tune of as much as $6 billion. Read more here.

Tobacco maker making Covid-19 vaccines: British American Tobacco, which makes Camel cigarettes, said it was using “proprietary, fast-growing tobacco plant technology” in pre-clinical testing on animals. It has cloned a portion of the virus’ genetic sequence and developed a potential antigen. Through this process it hopes to produce up to three million doses a week from June for clinical testing. Read more here.

Warehouse workers revolt: Amazon workers in New York city led a walkout, alarmed that the company did not close the centre after a colleague fell ill. Even workers at the grocery delivery firm Instacart marched out after the management did not meet their demands for disinfecting material, bigger tips and shares of delivery fees. Read more here.

Hospitals threaten doctors against speaking up: Hospitals in the US are threatening to fire healthcare workers who publicise their working conditions during the coronavirus pandemic; and they have in some cases followed through. Back in December, when a doctor in China had posted online about a mysterious new virus, he had been reprimanded and forced to sign a police statement that the post was illegal. He later contracted the disease from a patient and died. Read more here.

Specials

Understanding the outbreak: This collection of stories explains the new coronavirus and what it means to you. The series curates important articles on major subjects from truth about alcohol sanitisers to why the situation in New York worsened. Read more here.

Understanding the cure: Scientists around the world are focusing their attention on the Covid-19 genome, and the 27 proteins that it is known to produce, seeking to deepen their understanding and find ways to stop it in its tracks. The resulting plethora of activity has resulted in the posting of over 300 papers on Medrxiv, a repository for medical-research work, since February 1, and the depositing of hundreds of genome sequences in public databases. Read more here.

Proved – Masks are essential: Wired sifts through decades of scientific research, lessons from past pandemics and expert comments to the question “do marks work” is a resounding yes. Also understand the anatomy of two of the most used marks: the N95s and surgical marks. Read more here.