World Coronavirus Dispatch: Bizarre Covid conspiracies trouble Pakistan

World's richest accumulated $400 bn during pandemic, a new virus variant threatens Britain's covid response, and other-pandemic related news around the globe

Pakistan battles a much more brutal second wave

Having contained the virus better than its neighbour India and most Western countries, prime minister Imran Khan attributed it to the limited lockdowns, and effective mask wearing. But infections rose through the winter with positivity rates going over 7 per cent in recent months. Imran Khan ruled out a second lockdown saying it will destroy the economy and result in hunger deaths. Many in Pakistan feel that the government is overstating the threat of Covid to get western aid and some don't even believe the virus exists. Other bizarre conspiracies are being circulated widely, making it making it difficult for authorities to enforce mask-wearing and curbs on mass gatherings. Religious leaders too have openly defied the state and organised large congregations. Read more here

Let's look at the global statistics

Global infections: 76,306,498

Change Over Yesterday: 559,310

Global deaths: 1,685,834

Nations with most cases: US (17,658,048), India (10,031,223), Brazil (7,213,155), Russia (2,792,615), France (2,516,957).

Source: John Hopkins Coronavirus Research Center

What is the new Covid variant

The UK health authorities alarmed by the increasing threat from a new virus strain, that is likely to transmit more faster than the original variant and infect more people. Scientists say it may take weeks to assess the nature new variant, whether it can cause severe disease and does it threaten the efforts of immunisation. Britain is seeing a concerning surge in infections lately and the prime minister tightened Christmas restrictions. Addressing a press conference he said, the new strain poses a much greater health risk. Read more here

World's richest accumulated $400 billion during pandemic

The coronavirus had plundered nations' wealth, destroyed economies, resulting in deep divisions and extreme poverty that may last decades. Many nations are still struggling to put together a decent response to offset the impact of the virus. On the contrary, few tech billionaires have amassed huge wealth during this period. Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, has seen his wealth rocket by $70 billion since March. Other super-rich elites who have seen huge financial benefits during the crisis include: Elon Musk, the founder of Tesla; Bernard Arnault, the French billionaire who owns most of luxury brand portfolio Louis Vuitton; Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg; and Google’s Larry Page. Read more here

Thailand to vaccinate half of its population in 2021

A country of 60 million people, Thailand is planning to achieve herd immunity through immunisation by 2022, that is to vaccinate around 70 per cent of the population. It also aims to vaccinate about half of its population by 2021. Thailand has already secured 26 million doses of Oxford vaccine and is in advanced talks with several other vaccine makers to get more shots. Among the few countries to have successfully contained the virus, Thailand has reported hundreds of cases last week, almaring the authorities. Read more here

Specials

How China censored the coronavirus

When the coronavirus was wreacking havoc in late January and early February, that even resulted in the death of a doctor who alerted the officials about the virus, the state mounted a spirited campaign to stamp out unfavourable information and shape public discourse. It involved sending diktats to social media platforms to remove trending topic pages, pushing websites not to send alert notifications among others. This New York Times investigation reveals how China employed massive resources to monitor online content, curb sensitive negative virus information. Read more here