World Coronavirus Dispatch: Bats, the human intrusions and the virus

Russia tries to gain public trust over vaccination, Germany set to impose harsh curbs, Hunting is one of Covid's big winners, and other pandemic-related news around the globe

Study shows an Arthritis drug may help Covid patients recover

Hospitalised Covid patients treated with an Arthritis drug coupled with antiviral drug remdesivir recovered one day faster than those who had received remdesivir alone, a trial conducted on more than 1,000 hospital patients who received remdesivir has found. People who were sick enough to require a high dose of supplemental oxygen or ventilation recovered eight days faster when baricitinib was included in their drug regimen. Experts pointed out that the combination treatment comes with high cost and also cited side effects. Many doctors also inclined towards treating patients with steroids like dexamethasone as they are cheap and widely available. Read more here

Let's look at the global statistics

Global infections: 72,270,693

Change Over Yesterday: 543,863

Global deaths: 1,613,260

Nations with most cases: US (16,256,754), India (9,884,100), Brazil (6,901,952), Russia (2,629,699), France (2,430,612).

Source: John Hopkins Coronavirus Research Center. 

Russia tries to gain public trust over vaccination

Even as Russia rolled out its mass vaccination programme with Sputnik V, officials are finding it difficult to convince the masses about the safety and efficacy if its vaccine. Sputnik V is yet to complete the phase 3 trials and president Vladimir Putin said Sputnik V was “quite effective” when he approved it. A deep-rooted suspicion of authorities and the proliferation of anti-vaccine content online mean 61 per cent of Russians do not trust official data on coronavirus, while 59 per cent do not plan to get the vaccine, according to an independent poll. Read more here

Germany set for hard lockdown

Germany set to impose harsh restrictions from Wednesday, with all schools and shops closed, as the country fights a massive surge in coronavirus infections. Under the rules, private social gatherings of more than five people will be banned. These will be slightly relaxed between December 24 and 26 so families can spend Christmas together. Public consumption of alcohol will also be proscribed. All public gatherings will be banned on New Year’s Eve, as will firework displays in public squares. The sale of fireworks before December 31 will also be prohibited and people will be strongly discouraged from setting off pyrotechnics in view of the high risk of injury and the enormous strain on the health system. Read more here

Japan set to drop Tokyo from travel campaign

Last week's record-breaking numbers of new Covid-19 infections are expected to push Japan's government to suspend its signature $12 billion travel stimulus subsidies for Tokyo and other major cities. The move would come as a blow for Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, who sought to balance the health of the population with boosting Asia's second-largest economy. But amid the resurgent virus and declining favorability numbers in recent opinion polls, he is being urged to respond more firmly to the outbreak. Read more here

Specials

One of the pandemic’s big winners: Hunting

The coronavirus pandemic has shut down Manhattan office buildings, small-town diners and many other aspects of normal life, but it’s been a boon to hunting. It’s an activity seemingly designed for a pandemic: outdoors, thriving in small groups and featuring built-in social distancing. Following decades of decline brought on by demographic and lifestyle changes, hunting rebounded this year thanks to seasoned hunters spending more time in the woods, rekindled interest among lapsed hunters and a wave of first-timers like Vasquez. The pandemic has given more people the time to try the sport, the urge to escape long days at home and the opportunity to explore the outdoors while many vacation options are closed off. Read more here

How Art lovers weathered the pandemic

Museums, galleries and artists adapted quickly to the Covid world, expanding and intensifying their existing online activities, rapidly improving what was already there and how it could be used. For those who regularly attend shows and for those who teach, this meant increased time spent at our computers, seeking possibilities and sometimes making rewarding discoveries. Inaccessible exhibitions were soon viewable virtually, some more effectively than others. Many artists had maintained websites and regularly posted images and comments on Instagram since its inception; now with studio visits on hold and planned exhibitions canceled or indefinitely postponed thanks to Covid-19, an online presence became essential. Read more here

Opinion: The virus, the bats and us

Some people blame bats for the dangerous pathogens they carry — including, potentially, the precursor of the new coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2. That virus may have gotten into us from one of the several kinds of horseshoe bat from southern China. If so, the fateful event probably had more to do with what some human wanted from bats than with what some bat wanted from humans. Bat viruses spill into humans; they don’t climb into us. They don’t seek us out. And the spilling generally happens when we intrude upon bats in their habitats, excavating their guano for fertiliser, capturing them, killing them or transporting them live to markets, or otherwise initiating a disruptive interaction. Read more here