World Coronavirus Dispatch: Can sniff tests screen people for Covid?

Burberry sales fall as Covid forces store closures, 'Listen here, you idiot' is trending on Malaysia Twitter and other pandemic-related news across the globe

US coronavirus death toll passes 400,000

Over 400,000 Americans have died of the coronavirus, according to the John Hopkins University and the experts say there is still some steam left in the pandemic as more transmissible strains spread across the country. The US expected the vaccine roll-out to bend the curve, but that was not to be as the country missed many inoculation goals due to shortages in supply and logistical issues. African Americans and Latinos bore the brunt of the pandemic and have experienced a higher death rate. Read here

Let's look at the global statistics

Global infections: 96,215,324

Change Over Yesterday: 609,221

Global deaths: 2,058,551

Nations with most cases: US (24,254,144), India (10,595,639 ), Brazil (8,573,864), Russia (3,595,136), United Kingdom (3,476,804).

Source: John Hopkins Coronavirus Research Center.

Could a smell test screen people for Covid?

Loss of smell and taste is one of the most common symptoms of coronavirus. Scientists are now weighing whether people can be tested for these symptoms to detect the pathogen, if not accurately, but somewhere close to it. A smell test cannot determine whether or not one contracted coronavirus in case of asymptomatic patients. However, a theoretical study, that has not yet been published in a scientific journal, showed that sniff-based tests, if administered sufficiently widely and frequently, might detect enough cases to substantially bring the transmission down. There is no real-world data available yet to support the effectiveness of smell tests as tool for detecting the coronavirus. Read here

Tokyo games unlikely to go ahead: London Olympic organising Committee member

Looking at the pandemic situation around the world, it is highly unlikely that the delayed Tokyo Olympics would go ahead as planned this year, said Keith Mills, deputy chairman of the London Organising Committee for the 2012 Olympic Games. However, Tokyo organisers and the International Olympic Committee are in no doubt the Games will start in July despite a fresh wave of infections sweeping Japan and around the globe. A state of emergency has been extended in Japan to combat rising coronavirus rates. Read here

'Listen here, you idiot’ is trending in Malaysia Twitter amid lockdown frustration

A twitter user vent out his frustration on the platform that he/she had missed the dinner for two days due to multiple delivery issues. Another user with a username @yarafaee_ hit back saying the delivery apps were left hanging to dry with thousands of orders at the same time, something which they could cope with. The tweet went viral and the result is a nation-wide trending hashtag "#SiBodohKauDengarSini" which loosely translates to 'Listen, here you idiot.' The user's words reflect her frustration with shortened operating hours for restaurants during the latest Covid-19 lockdowns and it resonated with netizens disappointed by the government’s handling of the pandemic, and were tired of the government flip-flopping over Covid policies. The hashtag has since been tweeted more than 62,000 times. Read here

Burberry sales fall as pandemic forces store closures

Despite a strong growth in the Asia-Pacific region, the British luxury goods group, Burberry reported a worse-than-expected numbers in the third quarter as overall store sales declined 9 per cent. The company said more than a third of stores worldwide were subject to reduced opening hours or other operating restrictions and 15 per cent of them are closed altogether. Burberry reported a strong double-digit growth in sales in mainland China. The revenue was down 8 per cent in the America's and down 37 per cent in Europe and the Middle East, reflecting much lower demand and higher levels of store closures. Read here