International News: 12/09/2020

 ASIA

-Coronavirus

Total Cases: Cross 8.3 million 

Total Deaths: About 160,000

-Japan: Japan's economy shrank more than expected in second quarter, highlighting the challenge policy makers face in averting(preventing) a deeper recession. The world's third-largest economy shrank an annualized 28.1 percent in April-June, according to gross domestic product data showed on Tuesday suffering its worst post-war contraction. Separate data showed household spending fell 7.6 percent in July compared with a year earlier. Real wages(salaries) also fell for the fifth straight month in July, pointing to possible deeper strains(burdens) ahead for consumer spending.

-India: Doctors at one of the largest COVID-19 facilities in the Indian capital say they are exhausted and facing staff shortages after nearly six months of relentless work. At Max Smart Super Speciality Hospital, the 32-bed COVID-19 ICU (intensive care unit) is full. Patients showing signs of recovery are quickly moved to the other wards to free up ventilators.

     "Everyone is mentally exhausted", said Ronak Mankodi, a doctor at the ICU. "It requires continues level of attention and care."

    "We are exhausted by this, but the cases are exponentially rising, that's why we are working", Sunil Khandelwal, one doctor in the Delhi ICU said. "We are doctors and we have to do this."

(Note: Delhi is now reporting more than 3,000 per day as the city opens up, including restarting its metro system on Monday for the first time since March. Hospitals in the capital are under additional pressure as patients from other states travel into the city to seek better healthcare.)

NORTH AMERICA

-Coronavirus

Total Cases: Cross 7.8 million

Total Deaths: About 287K

-USA: US President Donald Trump has been nominated for the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize over the deal his administration negotiated between Israel and the United Arab Emirates. The nomination was submitted by Norwegian politician Christian Tybring Gjedde. "For his merit, I think he has done more trying to create peace between nations than most other peace prize nominees", Mr. Tybring-Gjedde told. He also mentioned the President's attempts to reach a denuclearization deal with North Korean dictator Kim Jung-Un and praised his decision to withdraw a large number of US troops from the Middle East. "I'm not a big Trump supporter", Mr. Tybring-Gjedde stressed. " The committee should look at the facts and judge him on the facts, not the way he behaves sometimes. The people who have received the Peace Prize in recent years have done much less than Donald Trump. For example, Barack Obama did nothing."

       Mr. Barack Obama won the Peace Prize in 2009, just months after taking office, for what the Nobel Committee described as his "extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and co-operation between peoples." That decision was widely mocked. Mr. Obama himself admitted he was 'surprised' and he considered not receiving the prize in person. "I do not feel that I deserve to be in the company of so many of the transformative figures who have been honored by this prize", he said.

     Even Mr. Trump's election opponent, Democratic nominee Joe Biden, welcomed the deal as a "historic step" that would help ease tensions in the region -though he stopped short of praising and even mentioning the President personally. "The UAE's offer to publicly recognize the state of Israel is a welcome, brave and badly needed act of statesmanship", Mr. Biden said when it was announced. 

(Note: Mr. Trump has been nominated for the 2021 Peace Prize, as the deadline for this year's nominations passed in February. Anyone can be nominated for the prize, as long as their name is submitted by a "qualified nominator". A few hundred people tend to nominate each year. Four US presidents have won the prize in the past- Teddy Roosevelt, for "having negotiated peace in the Russo-Japanese war"; Woodraw Wilson, for being " the leading architect of the league of Nations"; Jimmy Carter, for "his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts"; and as mentioned before, Mr. Obama. That has been a source of consternation(shock) for Mr. Trump in the past. "They gave it to Obama. He didn't even know what he got it for. He was there for about 15 seconds and he got the Nobel Prize", Trump said in February of last year. "With me, I probably will never get it."

SOUTH AMERICA

-Coronavirus

Total Cases: Cross 7 million

Total Deaths: About 225K

-Brazil: The Brazilian state of Bahia signed an agreement to conduct phase-three trials clinical trials for Russia's Sputnik V vaccine against COVID-19. Governor Rui Costa said a confidentiality agreement was signed on Tuesday to undertake the trials. If the trials that are expected to start in October are successful, Bahia will look to market the Russian Vaccine in Brazil through its pharmaceuticals research center Bahiafarma, the state's health secretary Fabio Vilas-Baos said in a statement. 

EUROPE

-Coronavirus

Total Cases: Cross 4 million

Total Deaths: About 211K

-UK: Drug giant AstraZeneca said Tuesday it has passed global trials of its coronavirus vaccine because of an serious adverse reaction in one of the volunteers. The vaccine, being developed by pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford is being tested at dozens of sites around the world. But the adverse reaction, which AstraZeneca says is an unexplained illness, is believed to have affected a single participant in the UK. A suspected "serious adverse reaction" means the participant may require hospitalization. It could result in life-threatening illness or even death. 

(Note: Trials hold are common, but is a blow to worldwide hopes for a shot to be ready in the coming months, as the AstraZeneca shot was considered by many -including the World Health Organization(WHO) -to be the leading candidate worldwide.)

AFRICA

-Coronavirus

Total Cases: Cross 1.3 million 

Total Deaths: About 32K

-Lagos: Lagos, a coastal city of 24 million people, clarifies how air quality is upending Africa megacities' growth, health and livelihoods. In 2018, ambient air pollution led to about 11,200 premature deaths, the highest in West Africa. Children under five were the most affected accounting for 60% of total deaths while adults suffered from heart disease, lung cancer, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. While WHO recommends an acceptable annual mean PM2.5 concentration level of 10 µg/m³, Lagos has recorded levels of 68 µg/m³, in the same range as other polluted megacities such as Beijing (73 µg/m³), Cairo (76 µg/m³) and Mumbai (64 µg/m³).

👉Road transport is the main source of ambient air pollution in Lagos. Most vehicles are over 15 years old, using old emission technologies and fuel with high sulfur levels.

👉Industrial emissions are the second source of air pollution. Industrial and commercial zones like Apapa. Idumota, Ikeja and Odogunyan, where cement, chemicals, furniture, refinery, steel industries are concentrated, have high levels of pollution.

👉Generators supply half of Lago's total energy demand and are the third source of air pollution. The poor combustion of the gasoline and oil, used to operate the generator, pollutes the air and causes huge health damage.

[Note: Ambient(surroundings) air pollution is a major contributor to mortality and morbidity(the rate of disease in a population). Fine particulate matter (PM2.5) is especially harmful to health because it can pass lung barriers and enter the blood stream, causing pre-mature deaths, and respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. Globally, exposure to ambient PM2.5 caused 2.9 million premature deaths in 2017. The problem is particularly acute in Nigeria which had the highest number of premature deaths due to ambient PM2.5 in the region]

OCEANIA

-Coronavirus

Total Cases: Cross 29k

Total Deaths: About 830

-New Zealand: If re-elected, Labor party is promising to give a pay rise to those government cleaners, caterers and security guards on minimum wages. Workplace Relations Minister Andrew Little, who launched the policy in Auckland with Economic Development Minister Phil Tyword, said it could mean almost an extra $100 a week for a contracted worker who is currently on minimum wage. Labor party estimated thousands of workers were likely to benefit from the policy. The policy would cost the government $18 million more a year.

       "COVID-19 has shone a light on the many workers who do important work in our community but who are not well paid for it. We can do a lot better at lifting wages and easing financial stress for hard-working New Zealander", said Little. "These are the workers that clean the office late at night, start work early to cater for conferences and stand in the cold making sure our offices are safe for everyone. Paying contracted workers a living wage will be a great boost to their household incomes and improve life for them and their families. This money will be spent back in the community, meaning it will benefit the wider economy at the same time."

(Note: In New Zealand, the 'living wage' for those people is currently $21.1 an hour while the minimum wage is $18.9 per hour i.e. living wage is just $2.2 ahead of minimum wage.)