For long as one can remember, Hollywood has dominated the world box office and considered as the biggest. But the pandemic seem to have changed the dynamics. 
 
For the first time in history motion picture China has overthrown North America and become the world's biggest box office. 
 
According to a report in 'The Hollywood Reporter', movie ticket sales in China for this year has shot up to a whopping to $1.988 billion on Sunday. The collection has surpassed North America's total of $1.937 billion. Experts believe that the gap is only going to widen by the end of 2020. 
 
Trade pundits have, for long, predicted that the world's most populous country would one day emerge as the leader in terms of box office collection. But it took a pandemic to change the dynamics. Hollywood is still grappling due to the coronavirus, with theatre owners still weary of opening up cinema halls amid the pandemic. 
 
Meanwhile, China has been able to effectively contain COVID-19, with country's theatres running at 75 percent occupancy keeping in mind the safety measures. 
 
From October 1-8, China's cinemas sold $586 million worth of tickets. Local blockbuster 'My People, My Homeland' brought in $19.1 million in the last weekend. China also produced the world's biggest hit of 2020, WWII epic 'The Eight Hundred', with $460 million and counting. 
 
In North America, with most theatres still shut due to alarming rise of Covid-19 studios are postponing big ticket films for 2021 and some even for 2022. AMC Theatres, North America's largest cinema chain, warned last week that it could run out of cash by the end of this year. 
 
Pundits are also worried that the political tensions between America and China could adversely effect Hollywood's strong foothold in China. Hollywood has gained a lot in the last few years by releasing its films in China.

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For long as one can remember, Hollywood has dominated the world box office and considered as the biggest. But the pandemic seem to have changed the dynamics. For the first time in history motion picture China has overthrown North America and become the world's biggest box office.

For long as one can remember, Hollywood has dominated the world box office and considered as the biggest. But the pandemic seem to have changed the dynamics. For the first time in history motion picture China has overthrown North America and become the world's biggest box office. According to a report in 'The Hollywood Reporter', movie ticket sales in China for this year has shot up to a whopping to $1.988 billion on Sunday. The collection has surpassed North America's total of $1.937 billion. Experts believe that the gap is only going to widen by the end of 2020. Trade pundits have, for long, predicted that the world's most populous country would one day emerge as the leader in terms of box office collection. But it took a pandemic to change the dynamics. Hollywood is still grappling due to the coronavirus, with theatre owners still weary of opening up cinema halls amid the pandemic. Meanwhile, China has been able to effectively contain COVID-19, with country's theatres running at 75 percent occupancy keeping in mind the safety measures. From October 1-8, China's cinemas sold $586 million worth of tickets. Local blockbuster 'My People, My Homeland' brought in $19.1 million in the last weekend. China also produced the world's biggest hit of 2020, WWII epic 'The Eight Hundred', with $460 million and counting. In North America, with most theatres still shut due to alarming rise of Covid-19 studios are postponing big ticket films for 2021 and some even for 2022. AMC Theatres, North America's largest cinema chain, warned last week that it could run out of cash by the end of this year. Pundits are also worried that the political tensions between America and China could adversely effect Hollywood's strong foothold in China. Hollywood has gained a lot in the last few years by releasing its films in China.

China takes over North America as world's biggest box office in 2020

More than 140,000 companies with 1.9 million local employees here will receive Singapore dollars 5.5 billion (USD 4.5 billion) this month as part of a jobs scheme to help them retain their employees during the COVID-19 pandemic that has upended life and businesses across the globe.

The latest payout is Singapore dollars 1.5 billion more than the last round of disbursement in July, according to a Channel News Asia report.

First announced by Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat in February's Budget, the Jobs Support Scheme (JSS), to be implemented from October 29, is a wage subsidy programme aimed at helping companies retain their workers as businesses have taken a hit from the COVID-19 pandemic.

With the October payouts, more than Singapore dollars 21.5 billion (USD 15.8) in JSS support would have been given out, said the Ministry of Finance and Inland Revenue Authority.

Meanwhile, Singapore reported four imported COVID-19 cases on Monday, all of whom have been placed under the Stay-Home Notice (SHN), taking the national tally to 57,915.

There was no locally transmitted coronavirus case, said the Ministry of Health (MOH).

The five imported cases, reported on Sunday, came from the Philippines, Greece, France and Guatemala. &nbsp;They are under SHN.

There are currently 40 confirmed cases in hospital and 36 are isolated and cared for at community facilities for mild symptoms.

Nine COVID-19 patients were discharged from hospitals and community facilities on Sunday, taking the recoveries to 57,807.

Separately, the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) has suspended operations of Hawaii Hostel from October 11 to November 9 for failing to comply with safe management measures.

The hostel is not permitted to accept new bookings or accept check-ins for the duration of its suspension.

Under the COVID-19 measures act, such first-time offenders face a fine of up to Singapore dollars 10,000.

Subsequent offences may result in a fine of up to Singapore dollars 20,000, said STB.

More than 140,000 companies with 1.9 million local employees here will receive Singapore dollars 5.5 billion (USD 4.5 billion) this month as part of a jobs scheme to help them retain their employees during the COVID-19 pandemic that has upended life and businesses across the globe.

More than 140,000 companies with 1.9 million local employees here will receive Singapore dollars 5.5 billion (USD 4.5 billion) this month as part of a jobs scheme to help them retain their employees during the COVID-19 pandemic that has upended life and businesses across the globe. The latest payout is Singapore dollars 1.5 billion more than the last round of disbursement in July, according to a Channel News Asia report. First announced by Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat in February's Budget, the Jobs Support Scheme (JSS), to be implemented from October 29, is a wage subsidy programme aimed at helping companies retain their workers as businesses have taken a hit from the COVID-19 pandemic. With the October payouts, more than Singapore dollars 21.5 billion (USD 15.8) in JSS support would have been given out, said the Ministry of Finance and Inland Revenue Authority. Meanwhile, Singapore reported four imported COVID-19 cases on Monday, all of whom have been placed under the Stay-Home Notice (SHN), taking the national tally to 57,915. There was no locally transmitted coronavirus case, said the Ministry of Health (MOH). The five imported cases, reported on Sunday, came from the Philippines, Greece, France and Guatemala. They are under SHN. There are currently 40 confirmed cases in hospital and 36 are isolated and cared for at community facilities for mild symptoms. Nine COVID-19 patients were discharged from hospitals and community facilities on Sunday, taking the recoveries to 57,807. Separately, the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) has suspended operations of Hawaii Hostel from October 11 to November 9 for failing to comply with safe management measures. The hostel is not permitted to accept new bookings or accept check-ins for the duration of its suspension. Under the COVID-19 measures act, such first-time offenders face a fine of up to Singapore dollars 10,000. Subsequent offences may result in a fine of up to Singapore dollars 20,000, said STB.

Singapore to give SGD 5.5 billion to 140,000 companies to help them during COVID-19 pandemic

Mario Buelna, a healthy 28-year-old father, caught a fever and started having trouble breathing in June. He soon tested positive for COVID-19.

Weeks later, after what had seemed like a recovery, he felt weak and started vomiting. At 3 a.m. on Aug. 1, he passed out on the floor of his home in Mesa, Arizona.

Paramedics rushed him to a nearby hospital, where doctors put him in intensive care after saving him from a coma. They told him he could have died. Their diagnosis – type 1 diabetes – stunned and frightened him. He had no history of the disease.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="http://13.235.153.162/world/coronavirus-worldwide-cases-surpass-40-million-more-than-50-cases-from-us-india-and-brazil-336386" hreflang="en">Coronavirus: Worldwide cases surpass 40 million; more than 50% cases from US, India and Brazil</a>

“COVID triggered it,” Buelna said the doctors told him.

Buelna’s ordeal and similar cases reflect a new worry about the dangerous relationship between diabetes and COVID-19 that’s being urgently studied by doctors and scientists around the world. Many experts are convinced that COVID-19 can trigger the onset of diabetes - even in some adults and children who do not have the traditional risk factors.

It’s already been well-documented that people with diabetes face much higher risks of severe illness or death if they contract COVID-19. In July, U.S. health officials found that nearly 40% of people who have died with COVID-19 had diabetes. Now, cases like Buelna’s suggest the connection between the diseases runs both ways.

“COVID could be causing diabetes from scratch,” said Dr. Francesco Rubino, a diabetes researcher and chair of metabolic and bariatric surgery at King’s College London.

Rubino is leading an international team that is collecting patient cases globally to unravel one of the biggest mysteries of the pandemic. Initially, he said, more than 300 doctors have applied to share cases for review, a number he expects to grow as infections flare up again.

“These cases are coming from every corner of the world and every continent,” Rubino told Reuters.

In addition to the global registry, the U.S. National Institutes of Health is financing research into how the coronavirus may cause high blood sugars and diabetes.

In these situations, symptoms can escalate quickly and become life threatening. These cases may take months to surface after exposure to COVID-19, so the full extent of the problem and the long-term ramifications may not be known until well into next year. More intensive research is needed to definitively prove, beyond the mounting anecdotal evidence, that COVID-19 is triggering diabetes on a wide scale.

“We have more questions than answers right now,” said Dr. Robert Eckel, president of medicine and science at the American Diabetes Association. “We could be dealing with an entirely new form of diabetes.”

‘ABSOLUTELY TERRIFYING’ DIAGNOSIS

Type 1 diabetes occurs when the body’s immune system mistakenly destroys insulin-producing cells in the pancreas, preventing the regulation of blood sugar levels. About 1.6 million Americans have the disease.

Type 2 diabetes is more prevalent, afflicting about 30 million Americans. Those patients still produce insulin, but over time their cells become insulin-resistant, allowing blood sugar to rise.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="http://13.235.153.162/world/italy-announces-new-restrictions-amid-coronavirus-surge-in-europe-336284" hreflang="en">Italy announces new restrictions amid coronavirus surge in Europe</a>

Type 1 diabetes cases have previously been associated with other viral infections, including influenza and previous coronaviruses. It is known that infections can stress the body and increase blood sugar levels. But this tends to happen in people predisposed to the disease. Only some of them eventually develop diabetes, and scientists still don’t fully understand why.

This year, doctors also are seeing some people without the risk factors for type 2 diabetes - such as being older or overweight - experience a diabetic emergency after exposure to COVID-19.

In type 1 diabetes, initial symptoms can include extreme thirst, fatigue, frequent urination and weight loss. Arthur Simis had no idea those were signs for the disease.

This summer, he and his wife, Sarah, noticed their 12-year-old son, Atticus, appeared thin and slept a lot. They figured he was stressed out from being trapped at home in the pandemic, or going through a growth spurt.

On July 9, as his symptoms persisted, Arthur Simis took his son to an urgent care center near their home in Gardnerville, Nevada. The medical staff detected dangerously high blood sugar levels and ketones in his urine, both indicators that Atticus was in diabetic ketoacidosis, or DKA.

The doctor told Simis that his son needed hospital care immediately to avoid slipping into a coma from his newly diagnosed type 1. An ambulance took them 50 miles to the nearest hospital in Reno.

His father spent three nights sleeping at his side in the pediatric ICU. He sobbed on the phone to his wife, because only one parent was allowed inside, a measure to control coronavirus infections.

“How could he have diabetes?” Simis recalls asking the doctors. “It was absolutely terrifying.”

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="http://13.235.153.162/world/as-the-coronavirus-surges-a-new-culprit-emerges-pandemic-fatigue-336261" hreflang="en">As the coronavirus surges, a new culprit emerges - pandemic fatigue</a>

Simis believes his son had been infected by the coronavirus because the father and his wife experienced symptoms in the spring. The couple went to urgent care but never got tested for the coronavirus because of stricter testing criteria at the time. Atticus tested negative for an active coronavirus infection in the ICU, medical records show. But he was never tested for antibodies that could show whether he was exposed weeks earlier.

Doctors say that’s not unusual in a fast-moving pandemic, as they focus on individual emergencies rather than big-picture research questions. But the lack of testing in many of these cases, they say, may complicate efforts to detect whether and how the coronavirus might be causing diabetes.

CHILDREN IN INTENSIVE CARE

The initial reports of COVID-related diabetes include more children with cases like that of Atticus.

In a study published in August, researchers at Imperial College in London and several hospitals there found that cases of type 1 diabetes among children nearly doubled to 30 during late March to early June - as the pandemic raged - compared to the same period in previous years. Five of the children tested positive for a prior coronavirus infection, but the study’s authors said many of the children were not tested.

In the United States, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles said the percentage of newly diagnosed type 2 patients who arrived in diabetic ketoacidosis, a potentially fatal buildup of acid in the blood, has nearly doubled for March through August compared to the same period in 2018 and 2019.

Dr. Lily Chao, director of the type 2 diabetes clinic there, said the hospital is still investigating whether this increase is driven by exposure to COVID-19.

Brandi Edwards, a registered nurse and diabetes educator at Alabama’s Huntsville Hospital, said calls about pediatric cases began to surge in May. Doctors summon her when a child arrives in the emergency room or ICU so she can counsel the family on insulin injections, glucose readings and how daily life will change going forward.

“We’ve seen more type 1 cases this year than I ever remember,” Edwards said. “There were three kids in the pediatric ICU at the same time. That is so rare.”

EVICTION NOTICE

After surviving a diabetic emergency, life for a newly diagnosed patient can be overwhelming. Medication and other supplies to manage diabetes can cost hundreds of dollars every month, and long waits to see an endocrinologist are common in many areas.

Buelna, the patient in Arizona, is still waiting for his Medicaid plan to approve a continuous glucose monitor more than two months after his diagnosis. The disease knocked him out of work for weeks and wrecked his family’s finances. His wife, Erika, is eight months pregnant and they have a 3-year-old daughter, Katalina. The family got an eviction notice on Aug. 2, while Mario was in the ICU, and they rely on a food bank for some meals.

Buelna said he fell into a depression in the hospital, cut off from family visits, and credits his sister with lifting his spirits in phone calls.

“I want to get better so I can see my kids grow up,” he said. “I’m not ready to go yet.”

Mario Buelna, a healthy 28-year-old father, caught a fever and started having trouble breathing in June. He soon tested positive for COVID-19. Weeks later, after what had seemed like a recovery, he felt weak and started vomiting.

Mario Buelna, a healthy 28-year-old father, caught a fever and started having trouble breathing in June. He soon tested positive for COVID-19. Weeks later, after what had seemed like a recovery, he felt weak and started vomiting. At 3 a.m. on Aug. 1, he passed out on the floor of his home in Mesa, Arizona. Paramedics rushed him to a nearby hospital, where doctors put him in intensive care after saving him from a coma. They told him he could have died. Their diagnosis – type 1 diabetes – stunned and frightened him. He had no history of the disease. Also read: Coronavirus: Worldwide cases surpass 40 million; more than 50% cases from US, India and Brazil “COVID triggered it,” Buelna said the doctors told him. Buelna’s ordeal and similar cases reflect a new worry about the dangerous relationship between diabetes and COVID-19 that’s being urgently studied by doctors and scientists around the world. Many experts are convinced that COVID-19 can trigger the onset of diabetes - even in some adults and children who do not have the traditional risk factors. It’s already been well-documented that people with diabetes face much higher risks of severe illness or death if they contract COVID-19. In July, U.S. health officials found that nearly 40% of people who have died with COVID-19 had diabetes. Now, cases like Buelna’s suggest the connection between the diseases runs both ways. “COVID could be causing diabetes from scratch,” said Dr. Francesco Rubino, a diabetes researcher and chair of metabolic and bariatric surgery at King’s College London. Rubino is leading an international team that is collecting patient cases globally to unravel one of the biggest mysteries of the pandemic. Initially, he said, more than 300 doctors have applied to share cases for review, a number he expects to grow as infections flare up again. “These cases are coming from every corner of the world and every continent,” Rubino told Reuters. In addition to the global registry, the U.S. National Institutes of Health is financing research into how the coronavirus may cause high blood sugars and diabetes. In these situations, symptoms can escalate quickly and become life threatening. These cases may take months to surface after exposure to COVID-19, so the full extent of the problem and the long-term ramifications may not be known until well into next year. More intensive research is needed to definitively prove, beyond the mounting anecdotal evidence, that COVID-19 is triggering diabetes on a wide scale. “We have more questions than answers right now,” said Dr. Robert Eckel, president of medicine and science at the American Diabetes Association. “We could be dealing with an entirely new form of diabetes.” ‘ABSOLUTELY TERRIFYING’ DIAGNOSIS Type 1 diabetes occurs when the body’s immune system mistakenly destroys insulin-producing cells in the pancreas, preventing the regulation of blood sugar levels. About 1.6 million Americans have the disease. Type 2 diabetes is more prevalent, afflicting about 30 million Americans. Those patients still produce insulin, but over time their cells become insulin-resistant, allowing blood sugar to rise. Also read: Italy announces new restrictions amid coronavirus surge in Europe Type 1 diabetes cases have previously been associated with other viral infections, including influenza and previous coronaviruses. It is known that infections can stress the body and increase blood sugar levels. But this tends to happen in people predisposed to the disease. Only some of them eventually develop diabetes, and scientists still don’t fully understand why. This year, doctors also are seeing some people without the risk factors for type 2 diabetes - such as being older or overweight - experience a diabetic emergency after exposure to COVID-19. In type 1 diabetes, initial symptoms can include extreme thirst, fatigue, frequent urination and weight loss. Arthur Simis had no idea those were signs for the disease. This summer, he and his wife, Sarah, noticed their 12-year-old son, Atticus, appeared thin and slept a lot. They figured he was stressed out from being trapped at home in the pandemic, or going through a growth spurt. On July 9, as his symptoms persisted, Arthur Simis took his son to an urgent care center near their home in Gardnerville, Nevada. The medical staff detected dangerously high blood sugar levels and ketones in his urine, both indicators that Atticus was in diabetic ketoacidosis, or DKA. The doctor told Simis that his son needed hospital care immediately to avoid slipping into a coma from his newly diagnosed type 1. An ambulance took them 50 miles to the nearest hospital in Reno. His father spent three nights sleeping at his side in the pediatric ICU. He sobbed on the phone to his wife, because only one parent was allowed inside, a measure to control coronavirus infections. “How could he have diabetes?” Simis recalls asking the doctors. “It was absolutely terrifying.” Also read: As the coronavirus surges, a new culprit emerges - pandemic fatigue Simis believes his son had been infected by the coronavirus because the father and his wife experienced symptoms in the spring. The couple went to urgent care but never got tested for the coronavirus because of stricter testing criteria at the time. Atticus tested negative for an active coronavirus infection in the ICU, medical records show. But he was never tested for antibodies that could show whether he was exposed weeks earlier. Doctors say that’s not unusual in a fast-moving pandemic, as they focus on individual emergencies rather than big-picture research questions. But the lack of testing in many of these cases, they say, may complicate efforts to detect whether and how the coronavirus might be causing diabetes. CHILDREN IN INTENSIVE CARE The initial reports of COVID-related diabetes include more children with cases like that of Atticus. In a study published in August, researchers at Imperial College in London and several hospitals there found that cases of type 1 diabetes among children nearly doubled to 30 during late March to early June - as the pandemic raged - compared to the same period in previous years. Five of the children tested positive for a prior coronavirus infection, but the study’s authors said many of the children were not tested. In the United States, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles said the percentage of newly diagnosed type 2 patients who arrived in diabetic ketoacidosis, a potentially fatal buildup of acid in the blood, has nearly doubled for March through August compared to the same period in 2018 and 2019. Dr. Lily Chao, director of the type 2 diabetes clinic there, said the hospital is still investigating whether this increase is driven by exposure to COVID-19. Brandi Edwards, a registered nurse and diabetes educator at Alabama’s Huntsville Hospital, said calls about pediatric cases began to surge in May. Doctors summon her when a child arrives in the emergency room or ICU so she can counsel the family on insulin injections, glucose readings and how daily life will change going forward. “We’ve seen more type 1 cases this year than I ever remember,” Edwards said. “There were three kids in the pediatric ICU at the same time. That is so rare.” EVICTION NOTICE After surviving a diabetic emergency, life for a newly diagnosed patient can be overwhelming. Medication and other supplies to manage diabetes can cost hundreds of dollars every month, and long waits to see an endocrinologist are common in many areas. Buelna, the patient in Arizona, is still waiting for his Medicaid plan to approve a continuous glucose monitor more than two months after his diagnosis. The disease knocked him out of work for weeks and wrecked his family’s finances. His wife, Erika, is eight months pregnant and they have a 3-year-old daughter, Katalina. The family got an eviction notice on Aug. 2, while Mario was in the ICU, and they rely on a food bank for some meals. Buelna said he fell into a depression in the hospital, cut off from family visits, and credits his sister with lifting his spirits in phone calls. “I want to get better so I can see my kids grow up,” he said. “I’m not ready to go yet.”

Doctors probe whether COVID-19 is causing diabetes

Britain’s Oxford University on Monday claimed that in some cases, COVID-19 symptoms persist for&nbsp;last way longer than previously thought.

Initial findings from a study suggest that symptoms such as breathlessness, anxiety, fatigue, and depression continue to appear months after contracting the virus. The study is observing the long-term impact of COVID-19.

Additionally, scientists found abnormalities in the organs of many coronavirus survivors, and believe that continued inflammation may continue to be a factor for people who had developed COVID-19.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="http://13.235.153.162/world/living-coronavirus-found-on-frozen-food-packaging-for-the-first-time-in-china-336243" hreflang="en">Living coronavirus found on frozen food packaging for the first time in China</a>

Coronavirus emerged last year in Wuhan, China and has led to a loss of lives across the globe.

On Monday, the novel coronavirus crossed another grim milestone with the confirmed infections surpassing 40 million.

More than 50 per cent of the infections are from the three worst-hit countries: the United States with 8,154,935 cases, India with 7,550,273 and Brazil 5,235,344.

The deadly virus which was detected in China last year has also recorded 2.5 million cases in the last seven days.&nbsp;

Meanwhile, on Sunday, figures confirmed that more than 250,000 people have died in Europe of COVID-19 as the continent battles a second wave of the deadly virus.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="http://13.235.153.162/world/as-the-coronavirus-surges-a-new-culprit-emerges-pandemic-fatigue-336261" hreflang="en">As the coronavirus surges, a new culprit emerges - pandemic fatigue</a>

Countries like Britain, France have reimposed strong measures to curb the spread of COVID-19 as the fear of rising cases putting stress on the medical system grows.&nbsp;

COVID-19 has caused 40,000,234 infections and 1,113,896 fatalities worldwide, according to an AFP tally compiled on official figures.&nbsp;

Britain’s Oxford University on Monday claimed that in some cases, COVID-19 symptoms persist for last way longer than previously thought. Initial findings from a study suggest that symptoms such as breathlessness, anxiety, fatigue, and depression continue to appear months after contracting the virus.

Britain’s Oxford University on Monday claimed that in some cases, COVID-19 symptoms persist for last way longer than previously thought. Initial findings from a study suggest that symptoms such as breathlessness, anxiety, fatigue, and depression continue to appear months after contracting the virus. The study is observing the long-term impact of COVID-19. Additionally, scientists found abnormalities in the organs of many coronavirus survivors, and believe that continued inflammation may continue to be a factor for people who had developed COVID-19. Also read: Living coronavirus found on frozen food packaging for the first time in China Coronavirus emerged last year in Wuhan, China and has led to a loss of lives across the globe. On Monday, the novel coronavirus crossed another grim milestone with the confirmed infections surpassing 40 million. More than 50 per cent of the infections are from the three worst-hit countries: the United States with 8,154,935 cases, India with 7,550,273 and Brazil 5,235,344. The deadly virus which was detected in China last year has also recorded 2.5 million cases in the last seven days. Meanwhile, on Sunday, figures confirmed that more than 250,000 people have died in Europe of COVID-19 as the continent battles a second wave of the deadly virus. Also read: As the coronavirus surges, a new culprit emerges - pandemic fatigue Countries like Britain, France have reimposed strong measures to curb the spread of COVID-19 as the fear of rising cases putting stress on the medical system grows. COVID-19 has caused 40,000,234 infections and 1,113,896 fatalities worldwide, according to an AFP tally compiled on official figures.

COVID-19 survivors experience symptoms months after catching virus: Oxford University

CHICAGO — When the coronavirus began sweeping around the globe this spring, people from Seattle to Rome to London canceled weddings and vacations, cut off visits with grandparents and hunkered down in their homes for what they thought would be a brief but essential period of isolation.

But summer did not extinguish the virus. And with fall has come another dangerous, uncontrolled surge of infections that in parts of the world is the worst of the pandemic so far.

The United States surpassed 8 million known cases this past week and reported more than 70,000 new infections Friday, the most in a single day since July. Eighteen states added more new coronavirus infections during the seven-day stretch ending Friday than in any other week of the pandemic.

In Europe, cases are rising and hospitalizations are up. Britain is imposing new restrictions, and France has placed cities on “maximum alert,” ordering many to close all bars, gyms and sports centers. Germany and Italy set records for the most new daily cases. And leaders in the Czech Republic described their health care system as “in danger of collapsing,” as hospitals are overwhelmed and more deaths are occurring than at any time in the pandemic.

The virus has taken different paths through these countries as leaders have tried to tamp down the spread with a range of restrictions. Shared, though, is a public weariness and a growing tendency to risk the dangers of the coronavirus, out of desire or necessity. With no end in sight, many people are flocking to bars, family parties, bowling alleys and sporting events much as they did before the virus hit, and others must return to school or work as communities seek to resuscitate economies. And in sharp contrast to the spring, the rituals of hope and unity that helped people endure the first surge of the virus have given way to exhaustion and frustration.

“People are done putting hearts on their windows and teddy bears out for scavenger hunts,” said Katie Rosenberg, the mayor of Wausau, Wisconsin, a city of 38,000 where a hospital has opened an extra unit to treat COVID-19 patients. “They have had enough.”

In parts of the world where the virus is resurging, the outbreaks and a rising sense of apathy are colliding, making for a dangerous combination. Health officials say the growing impatience is a new challenge as they try to slow the latest outbreaks, and it threatens to exacerbate what they fear is turning into a devastating autumn.

The issue is particularly stark in the United States, which has more known cases and deaths than any other country and has already weathered two major coronavirus surges; infections spiked during the spring in the Northeast and again this summer across the Sun Belt. But a similar phenomenon is setting off alarms across Europe, where researchers from the World Health Organization estimate that about half the population is experiencing “pandemic fatigue.”

“Citizens have made huge sacrifices,” said Dr. Hans Kluge, the WHO’s regional director for Europe. “It has come at an extraordinary cost, which has exhausted all of us, regardless of where we live or what we do.”

If the spring was characterized by horror, the fall has become an odd mix of resignation and heedlessness. People who once would not leave their homes are now considering dining indoors for the first time — some losing patience after so many months without, others slipping in a fancy meal before the looming winter months when the virus is expected to spread more readily. Many people are still wearing masks to support their neighbors and keep others safe, but sidewalks that were decorated with chalk messages of encouragement for health care workers and others at Easter are likely to be bare at Halloween.

“In the spring, it was fear and a sense of, ‘We are all in it together,’” said Vaile Wright, a psychologist at the American Psychological Association who studies stress in the United States.

“Things are different now,” she said. “Fear has really been replaced with fatigue.”

In New York, Indra Singh, 60, took the toddler she babysits to a playground on a recent morning.

“I am so tired of everything,” she said, pulling at the black mask on her face and worrying about what she will do when the weather turns cold. “Is it going to be over?” she said. “I want it to be over.”

Medical treatments for the virus have vastly improved since the spring, and deaths remain lower than at the worst peak, but the latest growth in coronavirus infections has left public health officials worried. More than 218,000 people have died in the United States since the start of the pandemic, and daily reports of deaths have stayed relatively consistent in recent weeks, with about 700 a day.

In some parts of the world, behavior has changed, and containment efforts have been tough and effective. Infections have stayed relatively low for months in places like South Korea, Japan, New Zealand, Australia and China, where the virus first spread. After a dozen cases were detected in the Chinese city of Qingdao, authorities sought this past week to test all of its 9.5 million residents.

“We have very little backlash here against these types of measures,” said Siddharth Sridhar, an assistant professor of microbiology at the University of Hong Kong. “If anything, there’s a lot of pushback against governments for not doing enough to contain the virus.”

The response in the United States and much of Europe has been far different. While residents willingly banded together in the spring, time has given rise to frustration and revolt.

Hot spots are emerging in the South and the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States and expanding rapidly in the Midwest and the Mountain West. Illinois this past week recorded its highest daily number of confirmed cases since the pandemic began and the most deaths in a single day since June.

In Spain, a summer of travel and dancing has led to a new surge this fall. In Germany, health authorities on Thursday registered 7,334 infections in a 24-hour period, a national record. Even Italy, which imposed one of the most sweeping lockdowns in Europe this spring, is now seeing disturbing new growth and considering a 10 p.m. curfew nationwide.

The virus has seeped through communities, rural and urban. In Chicago, public schools remained closed to students for a sixth consecutive week as the city’s rate of positive coronavirus tests inched up near 5%. In Gove County, Kansas, population 2,600, nine people have died from the virus in recent days, health officials reported. Clusters of infections have emerged from a spa in Washington state, a hockey league in Vermont, a Baptist church in North Carolina and a Sweet 16 party on Long Island.

Sick people are telling contact tracers they picked up the virus while trying to return to ordinary life. Beth Martin, a retired school librarian who is working as a contact tracer in Marathon County, Wisconsin, said she interviewed a family that had become sick through what is now a common situation — at a birthday party for a relative in early October.

“Another case said to me, ‘You know what, it’s my adult son’s fault,’” she recalled. “‘He decided to go to a wedding, and now we’re all sick.’”

Mark Harris, county executive for Winnebago County, Wisconsin, said he had been frustrated by the “loud minority” in his county that had been successfully pushing back against any public health measures to be taken against the pandemic.

They have a singular frame of mind, he said: “‘This has been inconveniencing me long enough, and I’m done changing my behavior.’”

In the Czech Republic, a politically divided nation, people met the initial order to shelter at home this spring with an unusual show of unity. They began a national mask sewing campaign, recognized around the world for its ingenuity. Confidence in the government, for its handling of the crisis, reached a record 86%.

Since then, support for the government response has plummeted, and the country is now experiencing the fastest increase in virus cases in Europe. Roughly half of the more than 150,000 cases recorded in the Czech Republic have come in the past two weeks, and more than half of the country’s nearly 1,300 deaths have come this month.

Poland is not far behind, with an explosion of new cases and a waning interest in volunteerism. The country of 38 million has the lowest number of doctors per capita in the European Union, and some doctors are now refusing to join coronavirus teams, concerned about safety protocols.

“We are on the brink of catastrophe,” Pawel Grzesiowski, a prominent Polish immunologist, told the Polish radio station RMF FM.

There are growing signs that the ongoing stress is taking a toll. In the United States, alcohol sales in stores are up 23% during the pandemic, according to Nielsen, a figure that could reflect the nation’s anxiety as well as the drop in drinks being sold at restaurants and bars.

Overdose deaths, too, are on the rise in many cities. In Cuyahoga County, Ohio, which includes Cleveland, there were recently 19 overdose deaths in a single week, far more than most weeks.

“Like a lot of other people, I’ll be happy to see 2020 end,” said Dr. Thomas Gilson, the county’s medical examiner.

In the initial days of the pandemic, Shanna Groom, 47, kept busy spreading uplifting messages in her neighborhood in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. She drew smiley faces in chalk in her driveway, waved the school flag when teachers did a drive-through visit of the neighborhood and positioned a teddy bear in her window as part of a “bear hunt” for neighborhood children.

The bear, which was dressed like a nurse, wearing a mask and mint green scrubs, sat in her dining room window for months. This month, Groom finally removed the bear to paint the room.

“It kind of made me a little sad,” said Groom, who is a nurse. “We were doing sprints in the beginning, and now it’s a marathon. We’re a little tired.”

In many states, businesses are open and often operating free of restrictions, even as hospitalizations have been driven up. This past week in Wisconsin, a field hospital at the state fairgrounds with a 530-bed capacity was reopened for coronavirus patients.

Dr. Michael Landrum, who treats coronavirus patients in Green Bay, Wisconsin, said mask use is more widespread than in the spring, personal protective equipment is easier to come by for hospital workers, and treatment of the virus is more sophisticated.

Back then, it was not as hard to figure out where sick patients had contracted the coronavirus. There were outbreaks at meatpacking plants in town, and many cases were tied to them. Now it is more complicated.

“The scary scenario is the number of patients who really just don’t know where they got it,” Landrum said. “That suggests to me that it’s out there spreading very easily.”

The challenge ahead, he said, would be convincing people that they need to take significant steps — all over again — to slow down spread that could be even worse than before.

“We’re trying to get people to change their behavior back to being more socially distanced and more restrictive with their contacts,” Landrum said. “There’s been a false sense of complacency. And now it’s just a lot harder to do that.”

CHICAGO — When the coronavirus began sweeping around the globe this spring, people from Seattle to Rome to London canceled weddings and vacations, cut off visits with grandparents and hunkered down in their homes for what they thought would be a brief but essential period of isolation.

CHICAGO — When the coronavirus began sweeping around the globe this spring, people from Seattle to Rome to London canceled weddings and vacations, cut off visits with grandparents and hunkered down in their homes for what they thought would be a brief but essential period of isolation. But summer did not extinguish the virus. And with fall has come another dangerous, uncontrolled surge of infections that in parts of the world is the worst of the pandemic so far. The United States surpassed 8 million known cases this past week and reported more than 70,000 new infections Friday, the most in a single day since July. Eighteen states added more new coronavirus infections during the seven-day stretch ending Friday than in any other week of the pandemic. In Europe, cases are rising and hospitalizations are up. Britain is imposing new restrictions, and France has placed cities on “maximum alert,” ordering many to close all bars, gyms and sports centers. Germany and Italy set records for the most new daily cases. And leaders in the Czech Republic described their health care system as “in danger of collapsing,” as hospitals are overwhelmed and more deaths are occurring than at any time in the pandemic. The virus has taken different paths through these countries as leaders have tried to tamp down the spread with a range of restrictions. Shared, though, is a public weariness and a growing tendency to risk the dangers of the coronavirus, out of desire or necessity. With no end in sight, many people are flocking to bars, family parties, bowling alleys and sporting events much as they did before the virus hit, and others must return to school or work as communities seek to resuscitate economies. And in sharp contrast to the spring, the rituals of hope and unity that helped people endure the first surge of the virus have given way to exhaustion and frustration. “People are done putting hearts on their windows and teddy bears out for scavenger hunts,” said Katie Rosenberg, the mayor of Wausau, Wisconsin, a city of 38,000 where a hospital has opened an extra unit to treat COVID-19 patients. “They have had enough.” In parts of the world where the virus is resurging, the outbreaks and a rising sense of apathy are colliding, making for a dangerous combination. Health officials say the growing impatience is a new challenge as they try to slow the latest outbreaks, and it threatens to exacerbate what they fear is turning into a devastating autumn. The issue is particularly stark in the United States, which has more known cases and deaths than any other country and has already weathered two major coronavirus surges; infections spiked during the spring in the Northeast and again this summer across the Sun Belt. But a similar phenomenon is setting off alarms across Europe, where researchers from the World Health Organization estimate that about half the population is experiencing “pandemic fatigue.” “Citizens have made huge sacrifices,” said Dr. Hans Kluge, the WHO’s regional director for Europe. “It has come at an extraordinary cost, which has exhausted all of us, regardless of where we live or what we do.” If the spring was characterized by horror, the fall has become an odd mix of resignation and heedlessness. People who once would not leave their homes are now considering dining indoors for the first time — some losing patience after so many months without, others slipping in a fancy meal before the looming winter months when the virus is expected to spread more readily. Many people are still wearing masks to support their neighbors and keep others safe, but sidewalks that were decorated with chalk messages of encouragement for health care workers and others at Easter are likely to be bare at Halloween. “In the spring, it was fear and a sense of, ‘We are all in it together,’” said Vaile Wright, a psychologist at the American Psychological Association who studies stress in the United States. “Things are different now,” she said. “Fear has really been replaced with fatigue.” In New York, Indra Singh, 60, took the toddler she babysits to a playground on a recent morning. “I am so tired of everything,” she said, pulling at the black mask on her face and worrying about what she will do when the weather turns cold. “Is it going to be over?” she said. “I want it to be over.” Medical treatments for the virus have vastly improved since the spring, and deaths remain lower than at the worst peak, but the latest growth in coronavirus infections has left public health officials worried. More than 218,000 people have died in the United States since the start of the pandemic, and daily reports of deaths have stayed relatively consistent in recent weeks, with about 700 a day. In some parts of the world, behavior has changed, and containment efforts have been tough and effective. Infections have stayed relatively low for months in places like South Korea, Japan, New Zealand, Australia and China, where the virus first spread. After a dozen cases were detected in the Chinese city of Qingdao, authorities sought this past week to test all of its 9.5 million residents. “We have very little backlash here against these types of measures,” said Siddharth Sridhar, an assistant professor of microbiology at the University of Hong Kong. “If anything, there’s a lot of pushback against governments for not doing enough to contain the virus.” The response in the United States and much of Europe has been far different. While residents willingly banded together in the spring, time has given rise to frustration and revolt. Hot spots are emerging in the South and the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States and expanding rapidly in the Midwest and the Mountain West. Illinois this past week recorded its highest daily number of confirmed cases since the pandemic began and the most deaths in a single day since June. In Spain, a summer of travel and dancing has led to a new surge this fall. In Germany, health authorities on Thursday registered 7,334 infections in a 24-hour period, a national record. Even Italy, which imposed one of the most sweeping lockdowns in Europe this spring, is now seeing disturbing new growth and considering a 10 p.m. curfew nationwide. The virus has seeped through communities, rural and urban. In Chicago, public schools remained closed to students for a sixth consecutive week as the city’s rate of positive coronavirus tests inched up near 5%. In Gove County, Kansas, population 2,600, nine people have died from the virus in recent days, health officials reported. Clusters of infections have emerged from a spa in Washington state, a hockey league in Vermont, a Baptist church in North Carolina and a Sweet 16 party on Long Island. Sick people are telling contact tracers they picked up the virus while trying to return to ordinary life. Beth Martin, a retired school librarian who is working as a contact tracer in Marathon County, Wisconsin, said she interviewed a family that had become sick through what is now a common situation — at a birthday party for a relative in early October. “Another case said to me, ‘You know what, it’s my adult son’s fault,’” she recalled. “‘He decided to go to a wedding, and now we’re all sick.’” Mark Harris, county executive for Winnebago County, Wisconsin, said he had been frustrated by the “loud minority” in his county that had been successfully pushing back against any public health measures to be taken against the pandemic. They have a singular frame of mind, he said: “‘This has been inconveniencing me long enough, and I’m done changing my behavior.’” In the Czech Republic, a politically divided nation, people met the initial order to shelter at home this spring with an unusual show of unity. They began a national mask sewing campaign, recognized around the world for its ingenuity. Confidence in the government, for its handling of the crisis, reached a record 86%. Since then, support for the government response has plummeted, and the country is now experiencing the fastest increase in virus cases in Europe. Roughly half of the more than 150,000 cases recorded in the Czech Republic have come in the past two weeks, and more than half of the country’s nearly 1,300 deaths have come this month. Poland is not far behind, with an explosion of new cases and a waning interest in volunteerism. The country of 38 million has the lowest number of doctors per capita in the European Union, and some doctors are now refusing to join coronavirus teams, concerned about safety protocols. “We are on the brink of catastrophe,” Pawel Grzesiowski, a prominent Polish immunologist, told the Polish radio station RMF FM. There are growing signs that the ongoing stress is taking a toll. In the United States, alcohol sales in stores are up 23% during the pandemic, according to Nielsen, a figure that could reflect the nation’s anxiety as well as the drop in drinks being sold at restaurants and bars. Overdose deaths, too, are on the rise in many cities. In Cuyahoga County, Ohio, which includes Cleveland, there were recently 19 overdose deaths in a single week, far more than most weeks. “Like a lot of other people, I’ll be happy to see 2020 end,” said Dr. Thomas Gilson, the county’s medical examiner. In the initial days of the pandemic, Shanna Groom, 47, kept busy spreading uplifting messages in her neighborhood in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. She drew smiley faces in chalk in her driveway, waved the school flag when teachers did a drive-through visit of the neighborhood and positioned a teddy bear in her window as part of a “bear hunt” for neighborhood children. The bear, which was dressed like a nurse, wearing a mask and mint green scrubs, sat in her dining room window for months. This month, Groom finally removed the bear to paint the room. “It kind of made me a little sad,” said Groom, who is a nurse. “We were doing sprints in the beginning, and now it’s a marathon. We’re a little tired.” In many states, businesses are open and often operating free of restrictions, even as hospitalizations have been driven up. This past week in Wisconsin, a field hospital at the state fairgrounds with a 530-bed capacity was reopened for coronavirus patients. Dr. Michael Landrum, who treats coronavirus patients in Green Bay, Wisconsin, said mask use is more widespread than in the spring, personal protective equipment is easier to come by for hospital workers, and treatment of the virus is more sophisticated. Back then, it was not as hard to figure out where sick patients had contracted the coronavirus. There were outbreaks at meatpacking plants in town, and many cases were tied to them. Now it is more complicated. “The scary scenario is the number of patients who really just don’t know where they got it,” Landrum said. “That suggests to me that it’s out there spreading very easily.” The challenge ahead, he said, would be convincing people that they need to take significant steps — all over again — to slow down spread that could be even worse than before. “We’re trying to get people to change their behavior back to being more socially distanced and more restrictive with their contacts,” Landrum said. “There’s been a false sense of complacency. And now it’s just a lot harder to do that.”

As the coronavirus surges, a new culprit emerges - pandemic fatigue

Hospital's Intensive Care Units (ICU) are filling up again, the lockdowns are back and&nbsp;new infections are breaking records.

The worst of this oandemic, it seems, is not over yet. Right now, the world has four active hotspots. The United States is reporting a massive surge from 30,000- 35,000 new cases in early September,&nbsp;America is now averaging 50,000 new cases daily. In one week, the US reported more than 350,000 cases. Those numbers were recorded from Ocotber 08-14.

Second is India with the world's second highest number of cases. While there has been a drop in the number of daily infections, we are far from containing the virus.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/winter-is-coming-is-the-world-ready-to-fight-coronavirus-in-winters-335853">Also read|&nbsp;Winter is coming: Is the world ready to fight coronavirus in winters?</a>

In Europe, dozens of cities have been forced to go into a lockdown again because the continent is reporting more daily infections that the three worst hit countries — the United States, India and Brazil. Over the past week, Europe has recorded more than 100 thousand new infections every day.

In Russia too the coronavirus is far from contained. More than 15,000 infections were recorded in the past 24 hours alone; it's a new record for Russia.

This is the second wave of the novel coronavirus. We may have learned to live with the virus but that hasn't slowed it down.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/pfizer-plans-to-seek-authorisation-for-covid-vaccine-in-november-335807">Also read|&nbsp;Pfizer plans to seek authorisation for Covid vaccine in November</a>

As the restrictions were lifted worldwide, more people were infected and&nbsp;the cases began to rise.

As a result, the entire continent suppressed the first wave of infections and&nbsp;re-opened cities. Now the European governments are battling the worst outbreak since April and France is among the worst hit. It has declared a state of health emergency.

The United Kingdom is imposing restrictions in hard hit regions such as Liverpool where the people were just not ready to accept the latest round of curbs. So, they took over the streets and&nbsp;partied right before the restrictions kicked in.

Similar scenes played out in Glasgow and the Hague,&nbsp;in the Netherlands too. The images from the streets left the authorities and health experts horrified. They face a real struggle in containing the pandemic.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/remdesivir-did-not-cut-hospital-stay-or-mortality-in-virus-patients-who-335678">Also read|&nbsp;Remdesivir did not cut hospital stay or mortality in virus patients: WHO</a>

The World Health Organization (WHO) has issued a warning for Europe that if the restrictions are relaxed the daily mortality rates could go up by four to five times. Experts say the changing weather is contributing to the surge.

The Regional Director for Europe at the WHO, Dr. Hans Kluge said, "The fall/winter surge continues to unfold in europe with exponential increases in daily cases and matching percentage increases in daily deaths. The evolving epidemiological situation in Europe raises great concern: daily numbers of cases are up, hospital admissions are up and covid is now the fifth leading cause of deaths and the bar of a 1,000 deaths per day has now been reached."

The situation is not just worsening in Eruope. The virus is surging again and the authorities around the world are running out of options. More and more countries are imposing another round of lockdowns and tougher restrictions because&nbsp;we don't have a vaccine or an effective treatment yet, even after ten months of the outbreak.

The second major threat is that of re-infections, which means those recovered from the virus may be infected again. Such cases are rare right now, but scientists have found that immunity to this virus fades.

The US President Donald Trump should take note because he has been going around calling himself immune and threatening to kiss people.

A case from Nevada of a 25-year-old is worth mentioning here who was infected twice and in&nbsp;both instances he showed symptoms. India too has three suspected cases of re-infection. Indian authorities have now decided to consider 100 days as the cut-off period for a re-infection.

So, we have no vaccine or treatment for the deadly vius yet, and some believe that it may never go away like the&nbsp;flu or cold, but much deadlier.

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The pandemic can end, if we take notes from history.&nbsp;Pandemics of the past ended, when enough people developed immunity to a disease either through herd immunity or through a vaccine.

Hospital's Intensive Care Units (ICU) are filling up again, the lockdowns are back and new infections are breaking records. The worst of this oandemic, it seems, is not over yet.

Hospital's Intensive Care Units (ICU) are filling up again, the lockdowns are back and new infections are breaking records. The worst of this oandemic, it seems, is not over yet. Right now, the world has four active hotspots. The United States is reporting a massive surge from 30,000- 35,000 new cases in early September, America is now averaging 50,000 new cases daily. In one week, the US reported more than 350,000 cases. Those numbers were recorded from Ocotber 08-14. Second is India with the world's second highest number of cases. While there has been a drop in the number of daily infections, we are far from containing the virus. Also read| Winter is coming: Is the world ready to fight coronavirus in winters? In Europe, dozens of cities have been forced to go into a lockdown again because the continent is reporting more daily infections that the three worst hit countries — the United States, India and Brazil. Over the past week, Europe has recorded more than 100 thousand new infections every day. In Russia too the coronavirus is far from contained. More than 15,000 infections were recorded in the past 24 hours alone; it's a new record for Russia. This is the second wave of the novel coronavirus. We may have learned to live with the virus but that hasn't slowed it down. Also read| Pfizer plans to seek authorisation for Covid vaccine in November As the restrictions were lifted worldwide, more people were infected and the cases began to rise. As a result, the entire continent suppressed the first wave of infections and re-opened cities. Now the European governments are battling the worst outbreak since April and France is among the worst hit. It has declared a state of health emergency. The United Kingdom is imposing restrictions in hard hit regions such as Liverpool where the people were just not ready to accept the latest round of curbs. So, they took over the streets and partied right before the restrictions kicked in. Similar scenes played out in Glasgow and the Hague, in the Netherlands too. The images from the streets left the authorities and health experts horrified. They face a real struggle in containing the pandemic. Also read| Remdesivir did not cut hospital stay or mortality in virus patients: WHO The World Health Organization (WHO) has issued a warning for Europe that if the restrictions are relaxed the daily mortality rates could go up by four to five times. Experts say the changing weather is contributing to the surge. The Regional Director for Europe at the WHO, Dr. Hans Kluge said, "The fall/winter surge continues to unfold in europe with exponential increases in daily cases and matching percentage increases in daily deaths. The evolving epidemiological situation in Europe raises great concern: daily numbers of cases are up, hospital admissions are up and covid is now the fifth leading cause of deaths and the bar of a 1,000 deaths per day has now been reached." The situation is not just worsening in Eruope. The virus is surging again and the authorities around the world are running out of options. More and more countries are imposing another round of lockdowns and tougher restrictions because we don't have a vaccine or an effective treatment yet, even after ten months of the outbreak. The second major threat is that of re-infections, which means those recovered from the virus may be infected again. Such cases are rare right now, but scientists have found that immunity to this virus fades. The US President Donald Trump should take note because he has been going around calling himself immune and threatening to kiss people. A case from Nevada of a 25-year-old is worth mentioning here who was infected twice and in both instances he showed symptoms. India too has three suspected cases of re-infection. Indian authorities have now decided to consider 100 days as the cut-off period for a re-infection. So, we have no vaccine or treatment for the deadly vius yet, and some believe that it may never go away like the flu or cold, but much deadlier. × The pandemic can end, if we take notes from history. Pandemics of the past ended, when enough people developed immunity to a disease either through herd immunity or through a vaccine.

Second wave of coronavirus is near, end of pandemic is not

The pandemic has negatively affected millions of people all around the world, and especially the poor countries where people are struggling to get enough food to eat.

The NGO Oxfam has now published a report urging the first-world countries to come forward and help the poor countries come out of food insecurity.

As per the report, titled&nbsp;"Later Will Be Too Late", Oxfam has claimed that the international community's response to global food insecurity is&nbsp;"dangerously inadequate".

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/worlds-richest-1-cause-double-co2-emissions-of-poorest-50-says-oxfam-329722">Also read|&nbsp;World's richest 1% cause double CO2 emissions of poorest 50%, says Oxfam</a>

"The threat of 'Covid famines' and widespread extreme hunger is setting off every alarm bell within the international community, but so far sluggish funding is hampering humanitarian agencies' efforts to deliver urgent assistance to people in need," Oxfam wrote.

Oxfam has claimed that more than 55 million people are facing extreme hunger in mainly seven countries:&nbsp;Afghanistan, Somalia, Burkina Faso, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, South Sudan and Yemen. The food security in these countries, specifically, is&nbsp;"abysmally low".&nbsp;

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/around-29-million-women-and-girls-victims-of-modern-slavery-un-report-334530">Also read|&nbsp;Around 29 million women and girls victims of modern slavery: UN report</a>

The organisation also accused countries of offering no funding at all for five out of seven countries. Funding is highly scarce for&nbsp;coronavirus-related nutrition assistance part of the UN's $10.3-billion humanitarian appeal, the report said.

"As of today, donors have pledged just 28 per cent of the UN Covid appeal that was launched back in March this year," Oxfam said. As per the report, "some of the worst funded sectors are food security and nutrition."

However, it is not just food and security. These countries are also "chronically under-funded" in other important sectors such as&nbsp;&nbsp;gender-based violence, protection, health, and water, sanitation and hygiene.

The pandemic has negatively affected millions of people all around the world, and especially the poor countries where people are struggling to get enough food to eat.

The pandemic has negatively affected millions of people all around the world, and especially the poor countries where people are struggling to get enough food to eat. The NGO Oxfam has now published a report urging the first-world countries to come forward and help the poor countries come out of food insecurity. As per the report, titled "Later Will Be Too Late", Oxfam has claimed that the international community's response to global food insecurity is "dangerously inadequate". Also read| World's richest 1% cause double CO2 emissions of poorest 50%, says Oxfam "The threat of 'Covid famines' and widespread extreme hunger is setting off every alarm bell within the international community, but so far sluggish funding is hampering humanitarian agencies' efforts to deliver urgent assistance to people in need," Oxfam wrote. Oxfam has claimed that more than 55 million people are facing extreme hunger in mainly seven countries: Afghanistan, Somalia, Burkina Faso, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, South Sudan and Yemen. The food security in these countries, specifically, is "abysmally low". Also read| Around 29 million women and girls victims of modern slavery: UN report The organisation also accused countries of offering no funding at all for five out of seven countries. Funding is highly scarce for coronavirus-related nutrition assistance part of the UN's $10.3-billion humanitarian appeal, the report said. "As of today, donors have pledged just 28 per cent of the UN Covid appeal that was launched back in March this year," Oxfam said. As per the report, "some of the worst funded sectors are food security and nutrition." However, it is not just food and security. These countries are also "chronically under-funded" in other important sectors such as gender-based violence, protection, health, and water, sanitation and hygiene.

'Not enough': Oxfam accuses governments of not helping poor countries amid pandemic

Governments around the world are using the pandemic as a justification to expand surveillance and crack down on dissent online, resulting in a 10th consecutive annual decline in internet freedom, a human rights watchdog report said Wednesday.

The report by Washington-based Freedom House said authorities in dozens of countries have cited the COVID-19 outbreak "to justify expanded surveillance powers and the deployment of new technologies that were once seen as too intrusive."

This is leading to increasing censorship of dissent and the expansion of technological systems for social control, according to the report.

"The pandemic is accelerating society's reliance on digital technologies at a time when the internet is becoming less and less free," said Michael Abramowitz, president of the nonprofit group.

"Without adequate safeguards for privacy and the rule of law, these technologies can be easily repurposed for political repression."

Freedom House's index of internet based on a score assigned on a 100-point scale to 65 countries shows a drop in internet freedom for a 10th straight year.

The scale is based on 21 indicators pertaining to obstacles to access, limits on content and violations of user rights.

China was the worst-ranked country for the sixth consecutive year, according to the report.

It said Chinese authorities "combined low- and high-tech tools not only to manage the outbreak of the coronavirus, but also to deter internet users from sharing information from independent sources and challenging the official narrative."

The report said these trends are showing a growing trend toward Chinese-style "digital authoritarianism" globally and a "splintering" of the internet as each government imposes its own regulations.

Freedom House said that of the estimated 3.8 billion people using the internet, just 20 percent live in countries with a free internet, 32 percent in countries "partly free," while 35 percent were in places where online activities are not free. The remainder live in countries that weren't among the 65 assessed.

The report cited notable declines in countries where authorities have imposed internet shutdowns including Myanmar, Kyrgyzstan and India, and in Rwanda for its use of "sophisticated spyware to monitor and intimidate exiled dissidents."

The United States remained among those counties ranked free but saw its score decline in light of increased surveillance used by law enforcement against protest movements, executive orders on social media regulations, disinformation propagated by President Donald Trump and moves to ban Chinese-owned apps TikTok and WeChat.

The app bans were described as "an arbitrary and disproportionate response to the genuine risks" from those services.

Governments around the world are using the pandemic as a justification to expand surveillance and crack down on dissent online, resulting in a 10th consecutive annual decline in internet freedom, a human rights watchdog report said Wednesday.

Governments around the world are using the pandemic as a justification to expand surveillance and crack down on dissent online, resulting in a 10th consecutive annual decline in internet freedom, a human rights watchdog report said Wednesday. The report by Washington-based Freedom House said authorities in dozens of countries have cited the COVID-19 outbreak "to justify expanded surveillance powers and the deployment of new technologies that were once seen as too intrusive." This is leading to increasing censorship of dissent and the expansion of technological systems for social control, according to the report. "The pandemic is accelerating society's reliance on digital technologies at a time when the internet is becoming less and less free," said Michael Abramowitz, president of the nonprofit group. "Without adequate safeguards for privacy and the rule of law, these technologies can be easily repurposed for political repression." Freedom House's index of internet based on a score assigned on a 100-point scale to 65 countries shows a drop in internet freedom for a 10th straight year. The scale is based on 21 indicators pertaining to obstacles to access, limits on content and violations of user rights. China was the worst-ranked country for the sixth consecutive year, according to the report. It said Chinese authorities "combined low- and high-tech tools not only to manage the outbreak of the coronavirus, but also to deter internet users from sharing information from independent sources and challenging the official narrative." The report said these trends are showing a growing trend toward Chinese-style "digital authoritarianism" globally and a "splintering" of the internet as each government imposes its own regulations. Freedom House said that of the estimated 3.8 billion people using the internet, just 20 percent live in countries with a free internet, 32 percent in countries "partly free," while 35 percent were in places where online activities are not free. The remainder live in countries that weren't among the 65 assessed. The report cited notable declines in countries where authorities have imposed internet shutdowns including Myanmar, Kyrgyzstan and India, and in Rwanda for its use of "sophisticated spyware to monitor and intimidate exiled dissidents." The United States remained among those counties ranked free but saw its score decline in light of increased surveillance used by law enforcement against protest movements, executive orders on social media regulations, disinformation propagated by President Donald Trump and moves to ban Chinese-owned apps TikTok and WeChat. The app bans were described as "an arbitrary and disproportionate response to the genuine risks" from those services.

Governments use pandemic to crack down on online dissent: Watchdog

The novel coronavirus can survive on surfaces of items like banknotes and phones for 28 days in dark and cool conditions, a study by Australia's national science agency claimed.

Coronavirus can survive on phones, banknotes for 28 days: Study

Mark Martin's family restaurant weathered two world wars, the Dust Bowl, and the Great Depression, serving up heaping plates of hand-battered fried chicken, mashed potatoes and creamed corn to a devoted clientele. But it could not survive the pandemic.

The restaurant, nestled by the highway in Abilene, Kansas, closed permanently on Sept. 25, after struggling to break even amid shutdowns caused by the COVID-19 outbreak.

"We're kind of in shock that this will be the end of it for us," said Martin, the fourth generation to run the Brookville Hotel, a name that reflects its origins as a small hotel in nearby Brookville, Kansas that his family acquired in 1894.

The virus has upended travel and spending habits for millions of Americans. Small business failures in the first months of the pandemic were modest, however, as federal aid helped companies make payrolls as they waited for life to return to normal.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="http://13.235.153.162/world/pangolins-found-to-carry-coronavirus-strains-still-being-used-in-china-334888" hreflang="en">Pangolins, found to carry coronavirus strains, still being used in China</a>

But the virus continues to spread, shattering records&nbsp;for new cases in the Midwest last week, while emergency federal aid is running out. With cold weather and flu season nearing, which typically brings a drop in business for restaurants even in good years, Brookville's fate may be a harbinger of things to come.

Based on an analysis of credit card transactions by the online marketing firm Womply, one in five small businesses in the United States open at the beginning of 2020 had permanently stopped operating as of mid-September - including 23% of restaurants. About 40% of restaurants recently surveyed&nbsp;by the National Restaurants Association say they will be out of business in six months unless there is more financial relief from the government.

Martin, 70, said he was hopeful in the first months of the pandemic. The restaurant secured a $57,000 loan through the federal government's Paycheck Protection Program - a vital lifeline, he said. Three-quarters of that went to pay his several dozen employees, "which allowed us to free up those dollars to pay other expenses, like the mortgage and gas bill — all the stuff a restaurant needs," he said.

They reopened Easter weekend for takeout only and hit their goals: 200 meals on Saturday and 400 on Easter itself. Mother's Day was a hit, with 700 takeout meals. They were eventually able to reopen the dining rooms, with limited seating.

However, business remained half the level of a year ago, Martin said. Summer is normally the busy season, thanks to a steady stream of visitors to the nearby Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum. Often, Brookville would have two tour buses a week stop by for lunch or dinner. But the museum remains closed, and they had just two buses all summer.

Martin cut costs everywhere, including switching to hauling the restaurant's garbage to the dump with his own trailer to shave the $375 a month cost of pickup - but it was not enough to turn a profit.

By the time they closed in September, he estimates he had lost $50,000 in total for the year, compared to the up to $50,000 annual profit he was used to.

SHUTDOWN RIPPLES THROUGH COMMUNITY

Martin and his wife Connie rebuilt the restaurant in Abilene in 2000, painstakingly mirroring the old hotel's distinctive look, with a round-roof facade and the words "Since 1870" in large letters. His mortgage, which helped to fund the revamp, stands at around $700,000.

There was no fifth generation waiting to take over. The couple's only child, daughter Brandy Lea, passed away 25 years ago at age 17.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="http://13.235.153.162/world/i-feel-so-powerful-trump-returns-to-campaign-trail-after-testing-negative-for-coronavirus-334848" hreflang="en">'I feel so powerful': Trump returns to campaign trail after testing negative for coronavirus</a>

Martin has heard from his bank that there might be interest from someone who could reopen the restaurant, but he thinks that is unlikely until after the pandemic subsides. He said he has no plans to retire, in part because he has poured most of his savings into the restaurant, and just applied for a job as a courier.

Among the personal things he took with him: the framed bronze medallion Brookville received in 2007 from the James Beard Foundation when they were given an 'America's Classics' award.

The shutdown has rippled through the Abilene community, population 6,300. Kim Palenske, who hostessed at the restaurant for eight years, said she knew they were struggling but was still startled when Martin decided to close.

The restaurant was so well known, Palenske said, she was sure it would survive. "We had people from Australia," she said, "and there were people who would make a day of it to drive from Wichita to have lunch on a Sunday."

Palenske, who also works part-time at the local school, said she will need something new to make up for the lost income. "I haven't started looking yet," she said. "I'm still kind of in shock."

Customers are also reeling. Mary Stirtz and her husband, local retirees, would pick up dinner almost every warm Friday night and eat it at nearby Eisenhower Park while they watched the swimmers in the outdoor pool. They celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in the park two years ago, with 35 dinners from Brookville for extended family and friends who attended.

"We loved it," she said. "We just loved it."

Mark Martin's family restaurant weathered two world wars, the Dust Bowl, and the Great Depression, serving up heaping plates of hand-battered fried chicken, mashed potatoes and creamed corn to a devoted clientele.

Mark Martin's family restaurant weathered two world wars, the Dust Bowl, and the Great Depression, serving up heaping plates of hand-battered fried chicken, mashed potatoes and creamed corn to a devoted clientele. But it could not survive the pandemic. The restaurant, nestled by the highway in Abilene, Kansas, closed permanently on Sept. 25, after struggling to break even amid shutdowns caused by the COVID-19 outbreak. "We're kind of in shock that this will be the end of it for us," said Martin, the fourth generation to run the Brookville Hotel, a name that reflects its origins as a small hotel in nearby Brookville, Kansas that his family acquired in 1894. The virus has upended travel and spending habits for millions of Americans. Small business failures in the first months of the pandemic were modest, however, as federal aid helped companies make payrolls as they waited for life to return to normal. Also read: Pangolins, found to carry coronavirus strains, still being used in China But the virus continues to spread, shattering records for new cases in the Midwest last week, while emergency federal aid is running out. With cold weather and flu season nearing, which typically brings a drop in business for restaurants even in good years, Brookville's fate may be a harbinger of things to come. Based on an analysis of credit card transactions by the online marketing firm Womply, one in five small businesses in the United States open at the beginning of 2020 had permanently stopped operating as of mid-September - including 23% of restaurants. About 40% of restaurants recently surveyed by the National Restaurants Association say they will be out of business in six months unless there is more financial relief from the government. Martin, 70, said he was hopeful in the first months of the pandemic. The restaurant secured a $57,000 loan through the federal government's Paycheck Protection Program - a vital lifeline, he said. Three-quarters of that went to pay his several dozen employees, "which allowed us to free up those dollars to pay other expenses, like the mortgage and gas bill — all the stuff a restaurant needs," he said. They reopened Easter weekend for takeout only and hit their goals: 200 meals on Saturday and 400 on Easter itself. Mother's Day was a hit, with 700 takeout meals. They were eventually able to reopen the dining rooms, with limited seating. However, business remained half the level of a year ago, Martin said. Summer is normally the busy season, thanks to a steady stream of visitors to the nearby Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum. Often, Brookville would have two tour buses a week stop by for lunch or dinner. But the museum remains closed, and they had just two buses all summer. Martin cut costs everywhere, including switching to hauling the restaurant's garbage to the dump with his own trailer to shave the $375 a month cost of pickup - but it was not enough to turn a profit. By the time they closed in September, he estimates he had lost $50,000 in total for the year, compared to the up to $50,000 annual profit he was used to. SHUTDOWN RIPPLES THROUGH COMMUNITY Martin and his wife Connie rebuilt the restaurant in Abilene in 2000, painstakingly mirroring the old hotel's distinctive look, with a round-roof facade and the words "Since 1870" in large letters. His mortgage, which helped to fund the revamp, stands at around $700,000. There was no fifth generation waiting to take over. The couple's only child, daughter Brandy Lea, passed away 25 years ago at age 17. Also read: 'I feel so powerful': Trump returns to campaign trail after testing negative for coronavirus Martin has heard from his bank that there might be interest from someone who could reopen the restaurant, but he thinks that is unlikely until after the pandemic subsides. He said he has no plans to retire, in part because he has poured most of his savings into the restaurant, and just applied for a job as a courier. Among the personal things he took with him: the framed bronze medallion Brookville received in 2007 from the James Beard Foundation when they were given an 'America's Classics' award. The shutdown has rippled through the Abilene community, population 6,300. Kim Palenske, who hostessed at the restaurant for eight years, said she knew they were struggling but was still startled when Martin decided to close. The restaurant was so well known, Palenske said, she was sure it would survive. "We had people from Australia," she said, "and there were people who would make a day of it to drive from Wichita to have lunch on a Sunday." Palenske, who also works part-time at the local school, said she will need something new to make up for the lost income. "I haven't started looking yet," she said. "I'm still kind of in shock." Customers are also reeling. Mary Stirtz and her husband, local retirees, would pick up dinner almost every warm Friday night and eat it at nearby Eisenhower Park while they watched the swimmers in the outdoor pool. They celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in the park two years ago, with 35 dinners from Brookville for extended family and friends who attended. "We loved it," she said. "We just loved it."

After frying chicken for over 100 years, Kansas restaurant is shut by pandemic

When the pandemic forced Dick’s Sporting Goods to close its hundreds of stores in March, the retailer hustled to set up curbside pickup within two days. Its initial attempt, though, was just this side of a children’s lemonade stand.

“When you drove up, there was a sign in the window with a phone number, and people used the landline to call the stores and they’d deliver it out,” Lauren Hobart, president of Dick’s, said of the “very scrappy” operation. Email and text alerts would come later.

Scrappy or not, curbside pickup not only rescued Dick’s sales during the lockdowns, it has also emerged as many retailers’ best strategy for long-term survival in the e-commerce age. And what started as a coronavirus stopgap is likely to have a permanent impact on the way people shop, along with giving them a new reason to continue to visit beleaguered physical stores.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/technology/romance-fraud-on-the-rise-in-uk-amid-coronavirus-pandemic-334069">Also read|&nbsp;Romance fraud on the rise in UK amid coronavirus pandemic</a>

The popularity of curbside pickup reveals that the future of retail is not just more packages piling up on people’s doorsteps. Beyond satisfying the need for contactless shopping in the pandemic, it taps into Americans’ desire to drive to a store, a pull that can be just as strong as, or even stronger than, the convenience of home delivery.

“Americans are used to their cars and actually do like stores, so this is kind of a hybrid where you’re getting the best of both worlds,” said Oliver Chen, a retail analyst at Cowen.

As of August, about three-fourths of the top 50 store-based retailers in the United States offered curbside pickup, according to Coresight Research, an advisory and research firm that specializes in retail and technology. Anything from a sweater to a book is now as easy to pick up as a sandwich.

Target said its curbside sales grew more than 700% in the last quarter, while Best Buy reported nearly $5 billion in online revenue in the second quarter, a company record, and said 41% of that had come from curbside or in-store pickup.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/spain-invokes-state-of-emergency-over-madrid-lockdown-as-europe-grapples-with-virus-334020">Also read|&nbsp;Spain invokes state of emergency over Madrid lockdown as Europe grapples with virus</a>

The rise in curbside pickup, part of a larger surge in e-commerce sales, has implications for preserving retail jobs, though workers’ duties are likely to transform. It is also helping to keep brick-and-mortar spaces relevant when thousands of storefronts have emptied out as more customers move online.

Curbside allows certain big-box retailers to convert their stores into mini e-commerce fulfillment centers, while avoiding the money-losing step of shipping goods to homes.

By driving to the store to pick up an online order, “the customer takes the last mile,” Chen said, referring to the typically expensive final step in package deliveries.

The rising popularity of curbside coincided with Amazon’s struggles with its vaunted supply chain and usually seamless home delivery system in the early months of the pandemic. As people rushed to place orders for everything from toilet paper to backyard swimming pools, Amazon dealt with out-of-stock items, price gouging and delayed or inaccurate shipments.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/why-dont-young-people-vote-and-what-can-be-done-about-it-334085">Also read|&nbsp;Why don’t young people vote, and what can be done about it?</a>

That was a boon for chains like Dick’s, Best Buy, Target and Walmart, which harnessed the merchandise in their thousands of stores to new effect especially as summer began.

“Amazon struggled a bit at the beginning like everybody did, because, boom, when the demand came, it was so great it hit the whole system and kind of overwhelmed it,” said Walter Robb, a former co-chief executive of Whole Foods and executive-in-residence at S2G Ventures, a venture fund focused on food. “Those that have been able to be agile on their feet with these digital offerings have made some gains.”

But nowhere is the shift more significant than at big-box chains that also sell groceries. The 700% growth in Target’s Drive Up offering has spurred the chain to add fresh and frozen groceries to the service and create up to 12 additional parking spaces for pickup at stores. It has announced plans to double the number of store employees dedicated to in-store and curbside pickup services during this holiday season. The retailer has even included product samples in orders.

Walmart, with about 4,700 stores in the U.S., was one of the earliest chains to offer curbside pickup, with a focus on groceries. Curbside orders are part of an overall boost in its e-commerce sales, which accounted for 11% of the chain’s revenue in the quarter that ended July 31, up from 6% a year earlier.

It’s helping the retailer keep pace with Amazon online, though the gap between the two remains large. Robb noted that Amazon seemed to be expanding its own physical footprint — through its ownership of Whole Foods and a partnership with Kohl’s — to match Walmart on curbside.

The drive-up service is giving Walmart and other chains another significant advantage — the ability to make a profit on online orders, where the economics are notoriously difficult. Target has said that its order pickup and curbside services at stores cost the company about 90% less on average than fulfilling orders from a warehouse.

On a $100 curbside order, the labor costs of picking the groceries reduce Walmart’s profit by $1.50 while still leaving $3 in profit, estimated Edward Yruma, an e-commerce analyst at Keybanc. By comparison, Walmart loses money on its traditional e-commerce sales, in which customers order online and the products are shipped to their home, Yruma said. In its recent second-quarter-earnings report, Walmart said that it had “significantly reduced losses” in its traditional e-commerce business.

Walmart now employs 74,000 workers across more than 3,000 stores to pick groceries on orders and then take them out to customers’ cars. Five years ago, there were fewer than 1,000 of those jobs. But during the pandemic, filling those roles was a big driver behind Walmart’s hiring boom, which increased the company’s 1.5 million-person workforce by 14%.

That is a significant number for the nation’s largest private employer, particularly at a time when the economy has been shedding jobs.

But some retailers are not hiring more employees to pack online orders — they are simply adding these tasks to the workers’ workloads without increasing their pay. In fact, many retailers have ended the raises and bonuses that workers were receiving in the early months of the pandemic, a decision labor groups have criticized because workers now face both heavier workloads and the threat of contracting the virus in the store.

“If you are having an increase in sales and in productivity, the workers should share in that benefit,” said Marc Perrone, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers union, representing tens of thousands of grocery store workers. “Right now, the owners of these companies are the only ones benefiting.”

Labor experts and Wall Street analysts also predict that the job of picking items off the shelf and taking them to a customers’ cars can easily be done by machines, which means that the boom in jobs may be fleeting.

Even now, that work is highly automated. Workers fulfilling curbside orders at Walmart use a hand-held device that indicates the order in which they should pick each item, for maximum efficiency.

“They can sometime feel like robots,” Perrone said.

A recent report by the Labor Center at the University of California, Berkeley, and the nonprofit Working Partnerships USA predicted that workers would come under new pressure as stores began to resemble Amazon warehouses, and noted that “stock clerks’ jobs seem destined for more radical change than any of the other major retail job categories.”

“On the store floor, they also will be more frequently prompted by ‘alerts’ to replenish stock,” the report said. “As with cashiers, this could make stocker jobs more varied and interesting, but in combination with new ways of tracking work, it also could result in jobs that are surveilled, closely watched, sped up and stressed.”

Jean-André Rougeot, chief executive of Sephora Americas, said that on a recent visit to Walmart, he saw more employees pushing carts for pickup orders than he did shoppers. He anticipates that people will return to Sephora’s stores to touch and try its beauty products, but acknowledged that the pandemic would transform how people shopped and received goods.

“Every grandparent in America knows how to use Zoom now because that’s how they spoke to their grandkids for the last six months, so it’s not just young people,” Rougeot said. “The whole population has become much more comfortable with technology and the ability to order things differently.

“There’s a whole group of consumers that literally discovered e-commerce during this period,” he added. “These people, because of COVID, started to do that, and I don’t think you can put the genie back in the bottle.”

When the pandemic forced Dick’s Sporting Goods to close its hundreds of stores in March, the retailer hustled to set up curbside pickup within two days. Its initial attempt, though, was just this side of a children’s lemonade stand.

When the pandemic forced Dick’s Sporting Goods to close its hundreds of stores in March, the retailer hustled to set up curbside pickup within two days. Its initial attempt, though, was just this side of a children’s lemonade stand. “When you drove up, there was a sign in the window with a phone number, and people used the landline to call the stores and they’d deliver it out,” Lauren Hobart, president of Dick’s, said of the “very scrappy” operation. Email and text alerts would come later. Scrappy or not, curbside pickup not only rescued Dick’s sales during the lockdowns, it has also emerged as many retailers’ best strategy for long-term survival in the e-commerce age. And what started as a coronavirus stopgap is likely to have a permanent impact on the way people shop, along with giving them a new reason to continue to visit beleaguered physical stores. Also read| Romance fraud on the rise in UK amid coronavirus pandemic The popularity of curbside pickup reveals that the future of retail is not just more packages piling up on people’s doorsteps. Beyond satisfying the need for contactless shopping in the pandemic, it taps into Americans’ desire to drive to a store, a pull that can be just as strong as, or even stronger than, the convenience of home delivery. “Americans are used to their cars and actually do like stores, so this is kind of a hybrid where you’re getting the best of both worlds,” said Oliver Chen, a retail analyst at Cowen. As of August, about three-fourths of the top 50 store-based retailers in the United States offered curbside pickup, according to Coresight Research, an advisory and research firm that specializes in retail and technology. Anything from a sweater to a book is now as easy to pick up as a sandwich. Target said its curbside sales grew more than 700% in the last quarter, while Best Buy reported nearly $5 billion in online revenue in the second quarter, a company record, and said 41% of that had come from curbside or in-store pickup. Also read| Spain invokes state of emergency over Madrid lockdown as Europe grapples with virus The rise in curbside pickup, part of a larger surge in e-commerce sales, has implications for preserving retail jobs, though workers’ duties are likely to transform. It is also helping to keep brick-and-mortar spaces relevant when thousands of storefronts have emptied out as more customers move online. Curbside allows certain big-box retailers to convert their stores into mini e-commerce fulfillment centers, while avoiding the money-losing step of shipping goods to homes. By driving to the store to pick up an online order, “the customer takes the last mile,” Chen said, referring to the typically expensive final step in package deliveries. The rising popularity of curbside coincided with Amazon’s struggles with its vaunted supply chain and usually seamless home delivery system in the early months of the pandemic. As people rushed to place orders for everything from toilet paper to backyard swimming pools, Amazon dealt with out-of-stock items, price gouging and delayed or inaccurate shipments. Also read| Why don’t young people vote, and what can be done about it? That was a boon for chains like Dick’s, Best Buy, Target and Walmart, which harnessed the merchandise in their thousands of stores to new effect especially as summer began. “Amazon struggled a bit at the beginning like everybody did, because, boom, when the demand came, it was so great it hit the whole system and kind of overwhelmed it,” said Walter Robb, a former co-chief executive of Whole Foods and executive-in-residence at S2G Ventures, a venture fund focused on food. “Those that have been able to be agile on their feet with these digital offerings have made some gains.” But nowhere is the shift more significant than at big-box chains that also sell groceries. The 700% growth in Target’s Drive Up offering has spurred the chain to add fresh and frozen groceries to the service and create up to 12 additional parking spaces for pickup at stores. It has announced plans to double the number of store employees dedicated to in-store and curbside pickup services during this holiday season. The retailer has even included product samples in orders. Walmart, with about 4,700 stores in the U.S., was one of the earliest chains to offer curbside pickup, with a focus on groceries. Curbside orders are part of an overall boost in its e-commerce sales, which accounted for 11% of the chain’s revenue in the quarter that ended July 31, up from 6% a year earlier. It’s helping the retailer keep pace with Amazon online, though the gap between the two remains large. Robb noted that Amazon seemed to be expanding its own physical footprint — through its ownership of Whole Foods and a partnership with Kohl’s — to match Walmart on curbside. The drive-up service is giving Walmart and other chains another significant advantage — the ability to make a profit on online orders, where the economics are notoriously difficult. Target has said that its order pickup and curbside services at stores cost the company about 90% less on average than fulfilling orders from a warehouse. On a $100 curbside order, the labor costs of picking the groceries reduce Walmart’s profit by $1.50 while still leaving $3 in profit, estimated Edward Yruma, an e-commerce analyst at Keybanc. By comparison, Walmart loses money on its traditional e-commerce sales, in which customers order online and the products are shipped to their home, Yruma said. In its recent second-quarter-earnings report, Walmart said that it had “significantly reduced losses” in its traditional e-commerce business. Walmart now employs 74,000 workers across more than 3,000 stores to pick groceries on orders and then take them out to customers’ cars. Five years ago, there were fewer than 1,000 of those jobs. But during the pandemic, filling those roles was a big driver behind Walmart’s hiring boom, which increased the company’s 1.5 million-person workforce by 14%. That is a significant number for the nation’s largest private employer, particularly at a time when the economy has been shedding jobs. But some retailers are not hiring more employees to pack online orders — they are simply adding these tasks to the workers’ workloads without increasing their pay. In fact, many retailers have ended the raises and bonuses that workers were receiving in the early months of the pandemic, a decision labor groups have criticized because workers now face both heavier workloads and the threat of contracting the virus in the store. “If you are having an increase in sales and in productivity, the workers should share in that benefit,” said Marc Perrone, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers union, representing tens of thousands of grocery store workers. “Right now, the owners of these companies are the only ones benefiting.” Labor experts and Wall Street analysts also predict that the job of picking items off the shelf and taking them to a customers’ cars can easily be done by machines, which means that the boom in jobs may be fleeting. Even now, that work is highly automated. Workers fulfilling curbside orders at Walmart use a hand-held device that indicates the order in which they should pick each item, for maximum efficiency. “They can sometime feel like robots,” Perrone said. A recent report by the Labor Center at the University of California, Berkeley, and the nonprofit Working Partnerships USA predicted that workers would come under new pressure as stores began to resemble Amazon warehouses, and noted that “stock clerks’ jobs seem destined for more radical change than any of the other major retail job categories.” “On the store floor, they also will be more frequently prompted by ‘alerts’ to replenish stock,” the report said. “As with cashiers, this could make stocker jobs more varied and interesting, but in combination with new ways of tracking work, it also could result in jobs that are surveilled, closely watched, sped up and stressed.” Jean-André Rougeot, chief executive of Sephora Americas, said that on a recent visit to Walmart, he saw more employees pushing carts for pickup orders than he did shoppers. He anticipates that people will return to Sephora’s stores to touch and try its beauty products, but acknowledged that the pandemic would transform how people shopped and received goods. “Every grandparent in America knows how to use Zoom now because that’s how they spoke to their grandkids for the last six months, so it’s not just young people,” Rougeot said. “The whole population has become much more comfortable with technology and the ability to order things differently. “There’s a whole group of consumers that literally discovered e-commerce during this period,” he added. “These people, because of COVID, started to do that, and I don’t think you can put the genie back in the bottle.”

Customers still like to shop in person, even if they get only to the curb

The power of social media! On Wednesday Delhi based food blogger Gaurav Wasan shared a video of an elderly couple struggling to run a small eatery in New Delhi. The video was shared on Wasan's Youtube channel as well as Instagram handle and went viral almost immediately.

The video features a small eatery called ‘Baba Ka Dhaba’ in Malviya Nagar in South Delhi and has the stall's 80-year-old owner Kanta Prasad and his wife showing vessels full of home-cooked food to the camera. Prasad gets teary-eyed near the end of the video as Wasan asks how much has been his earning for the day. Prasad can be seen taking out a few Rs 10 notes and saying that the pandemic has effected his small business.

The couple state they are unable to more than Rs 80 a day, despite starting their day as early as 6.30 am. “Ever since the lockdown, life has been very difficult”, Prasad said. Wasan can be heard promising him help.

<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/b-WSTYgFA8k" width="560"></iframe>

The heart wrenching video has caught the Internet's attention and has been viewed over 1 lakh times on Youtube alone. There has been an outpour of help with celebrities as well as political leaders reaching out to extend financial help for the couple. What more, on Thursday the small eatery was sold out in the first half of the day as people lined up to taste home-cooked meals by the couple.

A social media campaign led to the #BabaKaDhaba and #MalviyaNagar trend on Twitter and multiple people posted images and videos of their visits to the eatery after seeing the video.

“There was no sale during the lockdown but now it feels like whole India is with us,” said Prasad on Thursday as he served people.

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<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WATCH?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WATCH</a>: "It feels like whole India is with us. Everyone is helping us", says Kanta Prasad, owner of <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BabaKaDhabha?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BabaKaDhabha</a>. 
 
The stall in Delhi's Malviya Nagar saw heavy footfall of customers after a video of the owner couple went viral. <a href="https://t.co/nNpne6Arqs">pic.twitter.com/nNpne6Arqs</a>
— ANI (@ANI) <a href="https://twitter.com/ANI/status/1314135284997480448?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 8, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Cricketer R Ashwin, actors Randeep Hooda, Sonam Kapoor, Swara Bhasker, Raveena Tandon, and a host of other stars have extended support and urged their fans on social media to go visit the eatery.

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I am not able to message you, but is there a way I can help that man?? I would like to contribute.
— Ashwin 🇮🇳 (@ashwinravi99) <a href="https://twitter.com/ashwinravi99/status/1313911261835517952?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 7, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Hi could you please dm me details.
— Sonam K Ahuja (@sonamakapoor) <a href="https://twitter.com/sonamakapoor/status/1313953205622132736?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 7, 2020</a></blockquote>
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<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/%E0%A4%AC%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%AC%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%95%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%A2%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%AC%E0%A4%BE?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#बाबाकाढाबा</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/dilliwalon?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#dilliwalon</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/dil?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#dil</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/dikhao?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#dikhao</a>. Whoever eats here, sends me pic, I shall put up a sweet message with your pics ! ♥️ <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/supportlocalbusiness?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#supportlocalbusiness</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/localvendors?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#localvendors</a> <a href="https://t.co/5DH73wz3SD">https://t.co/5DH73wz3SD</a>
— Raveena Tandon (@TandonRaveena) <a href="https://twitter.com/TandonRaveena/status/1314061059305553920?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 8, 2020</a></blockquote>
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दिल्ली! चलो ‘बाबा का ढाबा’ पर मटर पनीर खाते हैं! मालवीय नगर में! 🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽💜💜💜 <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SupportSmallBusinesses?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#SupportSmallBusinesses</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/VocalForLocal?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#VocalForLocal</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ShowHeart?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ShowHeart</a> <a href="https://t.co/khus7WJMB8">https://t.co/khus7WJMB8</a>
— Swara Bhasker (@ReallySwara) <a href="https://twitter.com/ReallySwara/status/1313952907977465856?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 7, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Do visit if you are in Delhi! 🙏🙏 
 
बाबा का ढाबा 
Block B, Shivalik Colony, Opposite Hanuman Mandir, Malviya Nagar, South Delhi. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SupportLocal?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#SupportLocal</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BabaKaDhaba?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BabaKaDhaba</a> <a href="https://t.co/yEfZPx3YAG">https://t.co/yEfZPx3YAG</a>
— Randeep Hooda (@RandeepHooda) <a href="https://twitter.com/RandeepHooda/status/1314088379877793792?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 8, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Spread the word around. 
 
Wipe his tears <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BabaKaDhaba?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BabaKaDhaba</a> <a href="https://t.co/BE9cXGEnSs">https://t.co/BE9cXGEnSs</a>
— RAHUL SRIVASTAV (@upcoprahul) <a href="https://twitter.com/upcoprahul/status/1314048286949478400?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 8, 2020</a></blockquote>
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The local MLA, AAP leader Somnath Bharti also has visited the stall. “Will take care of them n I am starting a drive 2 take care of similarly placed people,” he tweeted and later shared photos of his visit.

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.<a href="https://twitter.com/RICHA_LAKHERA?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@RICHA_LAKHERA</a> .<a href="https://twitter.com/VasundharaTankh?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@VasundharaTankh</a> .<a href="https://twitter.com/sohitmishra99?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@sohitmishra99</a> .<a href="https://twitter.com/sakshijoshii?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@sakshijoshii</a> .<a href="https://twitter.com/RifatJawaid?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@RifatJawaid</a> .<a href="https://twitter.com/ShonakshiC?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@ShonakshiC</a> .<a href="https://twitter.com/TheDeshBhakt?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@TheDeshBhakt</a> Visited "Baba Ka Dhaba" n hv done d needful to bring SMILE on their faces as promised. Will take care of them n I am starting a drive 2 take care of similarly placed people. <a href="https://t.co/S9A94AmJxK">pic.twitter.com/S9A94AmJxK</a>
— Adv. Somnath Bharti (@attorneybharti) <a href="https://twitter.com/attorneybharti/status/1314040199685574656?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 8, 2020</a></blockquote>
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&nbsp;

The power of social media! On Wednesday Delhi based food blogger Gaurav Wasan shared a video of an elderly couple struggling to run a small eatery in New Delhi. The video was shared on Wasan's Youtube channel as well as Instagram handle and went viral almost immediately.

The power of social media! On Wednesday Delhi based food blogger Gaurav Wasan shared a video of an elderly couple struggling to run a small eatery in New Delhi. The video was shared on Wasan's Youtube channel as well as Instagram handle and went viral almost immediately. The video features a small eatery called ‘Baba Ka Dhaba’ in Malviya Nagar in South Delhi and has the stall's 80-year-old owner Kanta Prasad and his wife showing vessels full of home-cooked food to the camera. Prasad gets teary-eyed near the end of the video as Wasan asks how much has been his earning for the day. Prasad can be seen taking out a few Rs 10 notes and saying that the pandemic has effected his small business. The couple state they are unable to more than Rs 80 a day, despite starting their day as early as 6.30 am. “Ever since the lockdown, life has been very difficult”, Prasad said. Wasan can be heard promising him help. The heart wrenching video has caught the Internet's attention and has been viewed over 1 lakh times on Youtube alone. There has been an outpour of help with celebrities as well as political leaders reaching out to extend financial help for the couple. What more, on Thursday the small eatery was sold out in the first half of the day as people lined up to taste home-cooked meals by the couple. A social media campaign led to the #BabaKaDhaba and #MalviyaNagar trend on Twitter and multiple people posted images and videos of their visits to the eatery after seeing the video. “There was no sale during the lockdown but now it feels like whole India is with us,” said Prasad on Thursday as he served people. #WATCH: "It feels like whole India is with us. Everyone is helping us", says Kanta Prasad, owner of #BabaKaDhabha. The stall in Delhi's Malviya Nagar saw heavy footfall of customers after a video of the owner couple went viral. pic.twitter.com/nNpne6Arqs — ANI (@ANI) October 8, 2020 × Cricketer R Ashwin, actors Randeep Hooda, Sonam Kapoor, Swara Bhasker, Raveena Tandon, and a host of other stars have extended support and urged their fans on social media to go visit the eatery. I am not able to message you, but is there a way I can help that man?? I would like to contribute. — Ashwin 🇮🇳 (@ashwinravi99) October 7, 2020 × Hi could you please dm me details. — Sonam K Ahuja (@sonamakapoor) October 7, 2020 × #बाबाकाढाबा #dilliwalon #dil #dikhao. Whoever eats here, sends me pic, I shall put up a sweet message with your pics ! ♥️ #supportlocalbusiness #localvendors https://t.co/5DH73wz3SD — Raveena Tandon (@TandonRaveena) October 8, 2020 × दिल्ली! चलो ‘बाबा का ढाबा’ पर मटर पनीर खाते हैं! मालवीय नगर में! 🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽💜💜💜 #SupportSmallBusinesses #VocalForLocal #ShowHeart https://t.co/khus7WJMB8 — Swara Bhasker (@ReallySwara) October 7, 2020 × Do visit if you are in Delhi! 🙏🙏 बाबा का ढाबा Block B, Shivalik Colony, Opposite Hanuman Mandir, Malviya Nagar, South Delhi. #SupportLocal #BabaKaDhaba https://t.co/yEfZPx3YAG — Randeep Hooda (@RandeepHooda) October 8, 2020 × Spread the word around. Wipe his tears #BabaKaDhaba https://t.co/BE9cXGEnSs — RAHUL SRIVASTAV (@upcoprahul) October 8, 2020 × The local MLA, AAP leader Somnath Bharti also has visited the stall. “Will take care of them n I am starting a drive 2 take care of similarly placed people,” he tweeted and later shared photos of his visit. .@RICHA_LAKHERA .@VasundharaTankh .@sohitmishra99 .@sakshijoshii .@RifatJawaid .@ShonakshiC .@TheDeshBhakt Visited "Baba Ka Dhaba" n hv done d needful to bring SMILE on their faces as promised. Will take care of them n I am starting a drive 2 take care of similarly placed people. pic.twitter.com/S9A94AmJxK — Adv. Somnath Bharti (@attorneybharti) October 8, 2020 ×

Crowds throng Delhi's small eatery 'Baba Ka Dhaba' as emotional video goes viral

The global downturn caused by the coronavirus pandemic offers an opportunity for governments to implement new policies that could simultaneously address climate change and boost the economy, the IMF said Wednesday.

The right mix of carbon taxes to dampen consumption, and subsidies to help consumers and boost green technology research could create jobs and soften the blow as countries transition to greener energy sources, the IMF said in its World Economic Outlook.

"Fiscal stimulus — which will likely be needed in the aftermath of the pandemic — can be an opportunity to boost green and resilient public infrastructure," the report said.

<a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/global-warming-makes-september-2020-the-worlds-hottest-month-ever-333135">Also read:&nbsp;Global warming makes September, 2020 the world's hottest month ever</a>

IMF research showed there is still time to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 but the window "is closing rapidly," and advanced economies alone cannot reach the goal.

"Joint action by the largest economies is critical to avoid the worst outcomes of climate change," the fund said, singling out fast-growing countries like India.

"An initial green investment push combined with initially moderate and gradually rising carbon prices would deliver the needed emission reductions" while rebates or subsidies to low income households would soften the blow from higher energy prices, according to the proposal.

Most of the costs are offset by the expected 120 percent growth in global GDP by 2050, and by the absence of negative impacts that climate change is likely to have, including on the health of populations due to worsening pollution.

The global downturn caused by the coronavirus pandemic offers an opportunity for governments to implement new policies that could simultaneously address climate change and boost the economy, the IMF said Wednesday.

The global downturn caused by the coronavirus pandemic offers an opportunity for governments to implement new policies that could simultaneously address climate change and boost the economy, the IMF said Wednesday. The right mix of carbon taxes to dampen consumption, and subsidies to help consumers and boost green technology research could create jobs and soften the blow as countries transition to greener energy sources, the IMF said in its World Economic Outlook. "Fiscal stimulus — which will likely be needed in the aftermath of the pandemic — can be an opportunity to boost green and resilient public infrastructure," the report said. Also read: Global warming makes September, 2020 the world's hottest month ever IMF research showed there is still time to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 but the window "is closing rapidly," and advanced economies alone cannot reach the goal. "Joint action by the largest economies is critical to avoid the worst outcomes of climate change," the fund said, singling out fast-growing countries like India. "An initial green investment push combined with initially moderate and gradually rising carbon prices would deliver the needed emission reductions" while rebates or subsidies to low income households would soften the blow from higher energy prices, according to the proposal. Most of the costs are offset by the expected 120 percent growth in global GDP by 2050, and by the absence of negative impacts that climate change is likely to have, including on the health of populations due to worsening pollution.

Pandemic downturn offers path to address climate change: IMF

LONDON — As the coronavirus stampeded across Europe and the United States this spring, governments made their depleted citizens a tantalizing promise: Soon, legions of disease detectives would hunt down anyone exposed to the virus, confining them to their homes and letting everyone else get on with their lives.

Nearly eight months on, as a web of new infections spreads across Europe and the United States, that promise has nearly evaporated.

Despite repeated vows by Western nations to develop “world-beating” testing and tracing operations, those systems have been undone by a failure of governments to support citizens through onerous quarantines or to draw out intimate details of their whereabouts. That has shattered the hope of pinpoint measures replacing lockdowns and undermined flagging confidence in governments.

Beholden to privacy rules, Western officials largely trusted people to hand over names to contact tracers. But that trust was not repaid, in large part because governments neglected services that were crucial to winning people’s cooperation: a fast and accurate testing system and guarantees that people would be housed, fed and paid while they isolated.

“Public health leaders fell in love with the idea of contact tracing as an important tactic — and it is — but that’d be like if you’re going into war and were just talking about the tanks,” said Brian Castrucci, president of the de Beaumont Foundation, a public health charity in Maryland.

Just as important, officials overlooked the impact of raging mistrust in government and a thicket of conspiracy theories about the virus’s spread. Fearful of plunging themselves or their friends into a painful period off work, infected patients have handed over a paltry number of contacts and often flouted self-isolation rules. Contact tracers are struggling to reach people who test positive and being rebuffed once they do.

In theory, countries were to build mass testing programs that would provide quick diagnoses. Then a group of tracers would find others who had crossed paths with the infected person and tell them to stay home.

Elected officials presented the system as a critical bridge between lockdown and a vaccine, allowing them to contain small outbreaks without shutting down large parts of society. But construction of that bridge has been rocky, at best.

The West’s public health systems have not matched the success in parts of East Asia where the fear of epidemics became more ingrained after outbreaks of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS).

Following those outbreaks, places like Taiwan and South Korea built robust tracing systems and legal frameworks for limiting civil liberties during an epidemic. Some contact tracers have used cellphone and credit card data to identify people who were potentially exposed.

But in Europe and the United States, which have largely relied on the public to provide information and follow quarantine rules voluntarily, the response has been spotty.

The West also ran up against the blunt fact that contact tracing, while useful in containing limited cases, has become overwhelmed by a new explosion of infections. In the past week, Europe has averaged about 60,000 new daily cases, while the United States is registering more than 40,000.

“The track and trace system is unrealistic and useless,” said Mahmoud Salamon, 27, a recent business school graduate on a visit to Brighton, on England’s south coast, where a testing center at a stadium was recently closed for the start of soccer season. He said he distrusted restaurants or stores with his personal information.

In Taiwan, an infected person names more than 15 contacts on average, and tracers often interview patients in person, trying to extract details about secret jobs or marital affairs. But the picture in Europe is far different, and the low level of cooperation has startled public health experts.

In Spain, where hospitals are struggling with a new rush of cases, contact tracers identify, on average, only three contacts for each known case. In France, the figure has fallen below three.

Yet even those numbers are higher than in the United States. In New York City, each infected person hands over an average of 1.1 other names.

In England, people are neither handing over many contacts — about five, on average — nor following the rules. In a survey of about 32,000 Britons, less than 1 in 5 who reported coronavirus symptoms said they had stayed home. Of those alerted that they had been close to an infected person, only 1 in 10 said they had complied with orders to self-isolate.

“It suggests there is some degree of skepticism in the population to engagement,” said professor Christophe Fraser of the University of Oxford, an adviser to the government’s tracing program, referring to the proportion of known cases — a fifth — who handed over no other names.

Crucially, many Western governments have failed to cushion the financial and psychological blow of self-isolation by guaranteeing people tests or giving them enough money to weather two weeks without work.

People self-isolating and unable to work in England were eligible for just 13 pounds, or $16.70, per day until the government increased the payments this past week.

“You need to have the trust of people for this to work, and trust comes by whether you’re going to take care of me,” said Dr. Jason Wang, a Stanford University professor of health policy who has studied Taiwan’s coronavirus response. “If I’m sick, are you going to help me or just quarantine me? Are you going to get me tested on time?”

With tests results lagging in many countries, contact tracers cannot get ahead of the virus. In Paris, people wait up to a week to get testing appointments and results. England recently recorded a backlog of nearly 200,000 untested lab samples, making it impossible to track the virus through newly reopened schools.

Danielle Lennon, who lives in hard-hit northeastern England, sat in a mile-long line of idling cars for almost an hour to get her 7-year-old daughter tested, only for someone to announce that the testing center was closed.

“The government has kind of lost the general public on this, through incompetence,” she said.

Some elected leaders have blamed recalcitrant citizens for undermining contact tracing. Prime Minister Boris Johnson recently said the problem was that Britain was “a freedom-loving country.”

But the evidence for such claims is thin. Some countries have successfully tracked the virus despite people’s resistance, in large part by investing in chronically underfunded health departments, epidemiologists said.

In Germany, people said they would refuse to hand over names to contact tracers at double the rate of Britons, according to a poll by Imperial College London. Even so, the country has largely kept a small uptick in new infections under control.

Beyond Germany’s strong testing program, said Ralf Reintjes, a professor of epidemiology at Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, the country also responded to the pandemic by pouring money into its roughly 400 local public health offices, which had long conducted contact tracing for communicable diseases.

England, by contrast, awarded a 108 million British pound ($138 million) contract to an outsourcing company, putting the fate of contact tracing in the hands of ill-trained call center workers.

Gerry, a former nurse who asked not to be fully identified because she was barred from speaking publicly, said she had quit her job as a more senior contact tracer in England because so few people either picked up the phone or helped her track cases.

Western countries have been slow to introduce mobile contact tracing apps like those used in parts of Asia, which notify users who have spent time near an infected person. Even if only 15% of people download them, they can reduce infections by 8% and deaths by 6%, according to research by Fraser, the Oxford professor.

But the dissonance of countries asking people to take personal and professional risks in handing over contacts’ names, while at the same time scarcely supporting those who do, makes tracking the virus a difficult order.

“We say we’d like you to quarantine for the good of your neighbors, but in doing so, potentially your kids starve and you lose your home,” Castrucci said. “That’s bad math.”

LONDON — As the coronavirus stampeded across Europe and the United States this spring, governments made their depleted citizens a tantalizing promise: Soon, legions of disease detectives would hunt down anyone exposed to the virus, confining them to their homes and letting everyone else get on with their lives.

LONDON — As the coronavirus stampeded across Europe and the United States this spring, governments made their depleted citizens a tantalizing promise: Soon, legions of disease detectives would hunt down anyone exposed to the virus, confining them to their homes and letting everyone else get on with their lives. Nearly eight months on, as a web of new infections spreads across Europe and the United States, that promise has nearly evaporated. Despite repeated vows by Western nations to develop “world-beating” testing and tracing operations, those systems have been undone by a failure of governments to support citizens through onerous quarantines or to draw out intimate details of their whereabouts. That has shattered the hope of pinpoint measures replacing lockdowns and undermined flagging confidence in governments. Beholden to privacy rules, Western officials largely trusted people to hand over names to contact tracers. But that trust was not repaid, in large part because governments neglected services that were crucial to winning people’s cooperation: a fast and accurate testing system and guarantees that people would be housed, fed and paid while they isolated. “Public health leaders fell in love with the idea of contact tracing as an important tactic — and it is — but that’d be like if you’re going into war and were just talking about the tanks,” said Brian Castrucci, president of the de Beaumont Foundation, a public health charity in Maryland. Just as important, officials overlooked the impact of raging mistrust in government and a thicket of conspiracy theories about the virus’s spread. Fearful of plunging themselves or their friends into a painful period off work, infected patients have handed over a paltry number of contacts and often flouted self-isolation rules. Contact tracers are struggling to reach people who test positive and being rebuffed once they do. In theory, countries were to build mass testing programs that would provide quick diagnoses. Then a group of tracers would find others who had crossed paths with the infected person and tell them to stay home. Elected officials presented the system as a critical bridge between lockdown and a vaccine, allowing them to contain small outbreaks without shutting down large parts of society. But construction of that bridge has been rocky, at best. The West’s public health systems have not matched the success in parts of East Asia where the fear of epidemics became more ingrained after outbreaks of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS). Following those outbreaks, places like Taiwan and South Korea built robust tracing systems and legal frameworks for limiting civil liberties during an epidemic. Some contact tracers have used cellphone and credit card data to identify people who were potentially exposed. But in Europe and the United States, which have largely relied on the public to provide information and follow quarantine rules voluntarily, the response has been spotty. The West also ran up against the blunt fact that contact tracing, while useful in containing limited cases, has become overwhelmed by a new explosion of infections. In the past week, Europe has averaged about 60,000 new daily cases, while the United States is registering more than 40,000. “The track and trace system is unrealistic and useless,” said Mahmoud Salamon, 27, a recent business school graduate on a visit to Brighton, on England’s south coast, where a testing center at a stadium was recently closed for the start of soccer season. He said he distrusted restaurants or stores with his personal information. In Taiwan, an infected person names more than 15 contacts on average, and tracers often interview patients in person, trying to extract details about secret jobs or marital affairs. But the picture in Europe is far different, and the low level of cooperation has startled public health experts. In Spain, where hospitals are struggling with a new rush of cases, contact tracers identify, on average, only three contacts for each known case. In France, the figure has fallen below three. Yet even those numbers are higher than in the United States. In New York City, each infected person hands over an average of 1.1 other names. In England, people are neither handing over many contacts — about five, on average — nor following the rules. In a survey of about 32,000 Britons, less than 1 in 5 who reported coronavirus symptoms said they had stayed home. Of those alerted that they had been close to an infected person, only 1 in 10 said they had complied with orders to self-isolate. “It suggests there is some degree of skepticism in the population to engagement,” said professor Christophe Fraser of the University of Oxford, an adviser to the government’s tracing program, referring to the proportion of known cases — a fifth — who handed over no other names. Crucially, many Western governments have failed to cushion the financial and psychological blow of self-isolation by guaranteeing people tests or giving them enough money to weather two weeks without work. People self-isolating and unable to work in England were eligible for just 13 pounds, or $16.70, per day until the government increased the payments this past week. “You need to have the trust of people for this to work, and trust comes by whether you’re going to take care of me,” said Dr. Jason Wang, a Stanford University professor of health policy who has studied Taiwan’s coronavirus response. “If I’m sick, are you going to help me or just quarantine me? Are you going to get me tested on time?” With tests results lagging in many countries, contact tracers cannot get ahead of the virus. In Paris, people wait up to a week to get testing appointments and results. England recently recorded a backlog of nearly 200,000 untested lab samples, making it impossible to track the virus through newly reopened schools. Danielle Lennon, who lives in hard-hit northeastern England, sat in a mile-long line of idling cars for almost an hour to get her 7-year-old daughter tested, only for someone to announce that the testing center was closed. “The government has kind of lost the general public on this, through incompetence,” she said. Some elected leaders have blamed recalcitrant citizens for undermining contact tracing. Prime Minister Boris Johnson recently said the problem was that Britain was “a freedom-loving country.” But the evidence for such claims is thin. Some countries have successfully tracked the virus despite people’s resistance, in large part by investing in chronically underfunded health departments, epidemiologists said. In Germany, people said they would refuse to hand over names to contact tracers at double the rate of Britons, according to a poll by Imperial College London. Even so, the country has largely kept a small uptick in new infections under control. Beyond Germany’s strong testing program, said Ralf Reintjes, a professor of epidemiology at Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, the country also responded to the pandemic by pouring money into its roughly 400 local public health offices, which had long conducted contact tracing for communicable diseases. England, by contrast, awarded a 108 million British pound ($138 million) contract to an outsourcing company, putting the fate of contact tracing in the hands of ill-trained call center workers. Gerry, a former nurse who asked not to be fully identified because she was barred from speaking publicly, said she had quit her job as a more senior contact tracer in England because so few people either picked up the phone or helped her track cases. Western countries have been slow to introduce mobile contact tracing apps like those used in parts of Asia, which notify users who have spent time near an infected person. Even if only 15% of people download them, they can reduce infections by 8% and deaths by 6%, according to research by Fraser, the Oxford professor. But the dissonance of countries asking people to take personal and professional risks in handing over contacts’ names, while at the same time scarcely supporting those who do, makes tracking the virus a difficult order. “We say we’d like you to quarantine for the good of your neighbors, but in doing so, potentially your kids starve and you lose your home,” Castrucci said. “That’s bad math.”

Contact tracing, key to reining in the virus, falls flat in the West

WASHINGTON — When Linda Spangler asked her mother, in a video chat, what she would like as gift for her 92nd birthday, the response came promptly.

“I’d like a dog,” Charlene Spangler said. “Is Wolfgang dead?” Wolfgang, a family dachshund, had indeed died long ago; so had all his successors. Charlene Spangler, who lives in a dementia care facility in Oakland, California, has trouble recalling such history.

Her daughter, a doctor, considered the request. Before visitors were barred from the residence because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Linda Spangler had seen her mother every other day, often taking her to Lake Merritt in her wheelchair to see the ducks and to pat passing dogs.

In her facility, Charlene Spangler had eaten meals with several other residents, joined art classes and listened to visiting musicians.

Now activities and communal meals have vanished. Aside from one quick visit in the lobby, she has not seen her daughter in person in six months; they communicate through 15-minute video calls when staff members can arrange them.

“She’s more isolated in her room now,” Linda Spangler said. “And she misses having a dog.”

Knowing that her mother couldn’t manage pet care, even if the residence had permitted animals, Linda Spangler looked online for the robotic pets she had heard about.

She found a fluffy puppy with sensors that allow it to pant, woof, wag its tail, nap and awaken; a user can feel a simulated heartbeat. Unable to deliver the robot personally, she asked a staff member to take it inside. In a subsequent video chat, Linda Spangler learned that her mother had named the robot dog Dumbo.

Such devices first appeared in American nursing homes and residences for seniors several years ago. A Japanese company began distributing an animatronic baby seal called PARO in 2009, and Hasbro started marketing robotic cats in 2015.

But the isolation caused by the coronavirus, not only in facilities but also among seniors living alone in their homes, has intensified interest in these products and increased sales, company executives said. It has also led to more public money being used to purchase them.

Long before the pandemic, loneliness and social disconnection were acknowledged public health problems for older people, linked to measurably poorer mental and physical health. Now, their risk for serious illness from the coronavirus has denied many seniors the stimulation and comfort of personal visits, cultural events, volunteering, even grocery shopping.

Isolation particularly threatens people with dementia, who are less able to embrace online diversions and communication.

“COVID has created a bizarre world where nobody can hug anybody,” said Laurie Orlov, a veteran industry analyst and founder of the newsletter Aging and Health Technology Watch. “The idea of a pet you can hold — a tactile experience — transcends that somewhat.”

In part because of its $6,120 price tag, PARO (the name echoes the Japanese term for “personal robot”) has primarily been adopted by institutions: hospitals, nursing homes, assisted living facilities. Because the Food and Drug Administration classifies the robot as a biofeedback device, Medicare will cover its purchase and use by therapists.

Since the pandemic, “we’re seeing a lot of interest,” said Tom Turner, general manager of PARO Robots U.S., which sells about 50 robot seals annually but expects a big increase as insurance coverage broadens.

Researchers have reported benefits from interacting with PARO, although the studies were often small and short-term. At facilities in Texas and Kansas, for instance, investigators followed 61 residents with dementia who had 20-minute group sessions with a PARO three days a week for three months. Their stress and anxiety decreased, the researchers found, and they needed less medication for pain and problem behaviors.

Front Porch, a nonprofit senior living provider, acquired several PAROs in 2015 and tracked their effects through about 900 surveys reporting residents’ interactions. Over six months, the staff reported that the robots — which acquired names and, at holidays, festive outfits — helped calm residents, increased their social behavior and improved mood and appetite.

More recently, researchers have started analyzing the use of robotic pets outside institutional settings, by seniors living in their own homes. Of particular interest is the Joy for All brand sold by Ageless Innovation, a spinoff of Hasbro, and available from retailers like Walmart and Best Buy for about $120.

One of the largest studies, underwritten by United HealthCare and AARP, distributed free Joy for All robots to 271 seniors living independently.

All the seniors suffered from loneliness, according to a screening questionnaire. At 30 and 60 days, “there was improvement in their mental well-being, in sense of purpose and optimism,” said Dr. Charlotte Yeh, chief medical officer of AARP’s business subsidiary and a study co-author. The study also found “a reduction in loneliness,” Yeh said, although the questionnaires showed that participants remained lonely.

Armed with such findings, Ageless Innovation has been offering discounted robots to state agencies working with seniors. (Both Joy for All and PARO robots can be sanitized to prevent viral transmission, the companies said.)

New York state ordered and distributed 1,100 pets after a pilot study found that participants reported less isolation and loneliness. “Families were sending me thank-you notes,” said Becky Preve, executive director of the Association on Aging in New York. Florida purchased 375.

Ageless Innovation said that a dozen states had placed orders totaling 6,000 devices. But that’s small potatoes compared to the sales potential if Medicare Advantage plans, offered through private insurers, agree to cover robotic pets.

One already does — HealthPartners, in the Midwest — and “we are in conversations with many other Medicare Advantage plans,” Ted Fischer, chief executive of Ageless Innovation, said in an email. The company is also eyeing certain Medicaid programs.

The idea of a robot, however fuzzy, as an antidote to loneliness produces both enthusiasm and revulsion. “These animals are helping people,” said Preve, a fan.

But Sherry Turkle, a psychologist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who has long studied how older people use technology, objected. “The promise is that it becomes a companion and you have a relationship with it,” she said of a robotic animal. “As though there’s mutuality. There’s not mutuality. It’s a bunch of bits and bytes.”

Sister Imelda Maurer, who, as a member of the Sisters of Divine Providence of San Antonio, has long been involved with elder care, dislikes the notion of deceiving people who have dementia and may think robots are actual pets. “There’s an element of ethical dishonesty about it,” she said.

Both she and Turkle pointed out that the enthusiasm for robots spotlighted the many failings in the way our society cares for older people, whether in understaffed facilities or isolated at home.

Moreover, how seniors will react is unpredictable. Emily White, a social work consultant in Sunnyvale, California, watched in amazement as her 96-year-old mother, who had dementia and depression and had largely stopped eating, warmed up to a Joy for All cat — and promptly asked for a piece of cake.

But Timothy Livengood, a planetary scientist in Columbia, Maryland, said his 80-year-old mother, who has dementia and lives in a facility, largely ignored a robotic cat. “She never really attached to it,” he said. “It didn’t have a personality.”

As for Charlene Spangler, during a recent video chat she mentioned that her dog was barking and that she could feel its heartbeat. “It seems like there’s some interaction,” her daughter said.

But a caregiver must repeatedly present the dog and remind her mother to pet or talk to it; otherwise, she forgets about it. How often that will happen, and whether it will assuage the pain of isolation, remains an unanswered question.

“I’m not sure how well this is going to work,” Linda Spangler said. “But for $120, it was worth a try.”

WASHINGTON — When Linda Spangler asked her mother, in a video chat, what she would like as gift for her 92nd birthday, the response came promptly. “I’d like a dog,” Charlene Spangler said.

WASHINGTON — When Linda Spangler asked her mother, in a video chat, what she would like as gift for her 92nd birthday, the response came promptly. “I’d like a dog,” Charlene Spangler said. “Is Wolfgang dead?” Wolfgang, a family dachshund, had indeed died long ago; so had all his successors. Charlene Spangler, who lives in a dementia care facility in Oakland, California, has trouble recalling such history. Her daughter, a doctor, considered the request. Before visitors were barred from the residence because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Linda Spangler had seen her mother every other day, often taking her to Lake Merritt in her wheelchair to see the ducks and to pat passing dogs. In her facility, Charlene Spangler had eaten meals with several other residents, joined art classes and listened to visiting musicians. Now activities and communal meals have vanished. Aside from one quick visit in the lobby, she has not seen her daughter in person in six months; they communicate through 15-minute video calls when staff members can arrange them. “She’s more isolated in her room now,” Linda Spangler said. “And she misses having a dog.” Knowing that her mother couldn’t manage pet care, even if the residence had permitted animals, Linda Spangler looked online for the robotic pets she had heard about. She found a fluffy puppy with sensors that allow it to pant, woof, wag its tail, nap and awaken; a user can feel a simulated heartbeat. Unable to deliver the robot personally, she asked a staff member to take it inside. In a subsequent video chat, Linda Spangler learned that her mother had named the robot dog Dumbo. Such devices first appeared in American nursing homes and residences for seniors several years ago. A Japanese company began distributing an animatronic baby seal called PARO in 2009, and Hasbro started marketing robotic cats in 2015. But the isolation caused by the coronavirus, not only in facilities but also among seniors living alone in their homes, has intensified interest in these products and increased sales, company executives said. It has also led to more public money being used to purchase them. Long before the pandemic, loneliness and social disconnection were acknowledged public health problems for older people, linked to measurably poorer mental and physical health. Now, their risk for serious illness from the coronavirus has denied many seniors the stimulation and comfort of personal visits, cultural events, volunteering, even grocery shopping. Isolation particularly threatens people with dementia, who are less able to embrace online diversions and communication. “COVID has created a bizarre world where nobody can hug anybody,” said Laurie Orlov, a veteran industry analyst and founder of the newsletter Aging and Health Technology Watch. “The idea of a pet you can hold — a tactile experience — transcends that somewhat.” In part because of its $6,120 price tag, PARO (the name echoes the Japanese term for “personal robot”) has primarily been adopted by institutions: hospitals, nursing homes, assisted living facilities. Because the Food and Drug Administration classifies the robot as a biofeedback device, Medicare will cover its purchase and use by therapists. Since the pandemic, “we’re seeing a lot of interest,” said Tom Turner, general manager of PARO Robots U.S., which sells about 50 robot seals annually but expects a big increase as insurance coverage broadens. Researchers have reported benefits from interacting with PARO, although the studies were often small and short-term. At facilities in Texas and Kansas, for instance, investigators followed 61 residents with dementia who had 20-minute group sessions with a PARO three days a week for three months. Their stress and anxiety decreased, the researchers found, and they needed less medication for pain and problem behaviors. Front Porch, a nonprofit senior living provider, acquired several PAROs in 2015 and tracked their effects through about 900 surveys reporting residents’ interactions. Over six months, the staff reported that the robots — which acquired names and, at holidays, festive outfits — helped calm residents, increased their social behavior and improved mood and appetite. More recently, researchers have started analyzing the use of robotic pets outside institutional settings, by seniors living in their own homes. Of particular interest is the Joy for All brand sold by Ageless Innovation, a spinoff of Hasbro, and available from retailers like Walmart and Best Buy for about $120. One of the largest studies, underwritten by United HealthCare and AARP, distributed free Joy for All robots to 271 seniors living independently. All the seniors suffered from loneliness, according to a screening questionnaire. At 30 and 60 days, “there was improvement in their mental well-being, in sense of purpose and optimism,” said Dr. Charlotte Yeh, chief medical officer of AARP’s business subsidiary and a study co-author. The study also found “a reduction in loneliness,” Yeh said, although the questionnaires showed that participants remained lonely. Armed with such findings, Ageless Innovation has been offering discounted robots to state agencies working with seniors. (Both Joy for All and PARO robots can be sanitized to prevent viral transmission, the companies said.) New York state ordered and distributed 1,100 pets after a pilot study found that participants reported less isolation and loneliness. “Families were sending me thank-you notes,” said Becky Preve, executive director of the Association on Aging in New York. Florida purchased 375. Ageless Innovation said that a dozen states had placed orders totaling 6,000 devices. But that’s small potatoes compared to the sales potential if Medicare Advantage plans, offered through private insurers, agree to cover robotic pets. One already does — HealthPartners, in the Midwest — and “we are in conversations with many other Medicare Advantage plans,” Ted Fischer, chief executive of Ageless Innovation, said in an email. The company is also eyeing certain Medicaid programs. The idea of a robot, however fuzzy, as an antidote to loneliness produces both enthusiasm and revulsion. “These animals are helping people,” said Preve, a fan. But Sherry Turkle, a psychologist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who has long studied how older people use technology, objected. “The promise is that it becomes a companion and you have a relationship with it,” she said of a robotic animal. “As though there’s mutuality. There’s not mutuality. It’s a bunch of bits and bytes.” Sister Imelda Maurer, who, as a member of the Sisters of Divine Providence of San Antonio, has long been involved with elder care, dislikes the notion of deceiving people who have dementia and may think robots are actual pets. “There’s an element of ethical dishonesty about it,” she said. Both she and Turkle pointed out that the enthusiasm for robots spotlighted the many failings in the way our society cares for older people, whether in understaffed facilities or isolated at home. Moreover, how seniors will react is unpredictable. Emily White, a social work consultant in Sunnyvale, California, watched in amazement as her 96-year-old mother, who had dementia and depression and had largely stopped eating, warmed up to a Joy for All cat — and promptly asked for a piece of cake. But Timothy Livengood, a planetary scientist in Columbia, Maryland, said his 80-year-old mother, who has dementia and lives in a facility, largely ignored a robotic cat. “She never really attached to it,” he said. “It didn’t have a personality.” As for Charlene Spangler, during a recent video chat she mentioned that her dog was barking and that she could feel its heartbeat. “It seems like there’s some interaction,” her daughter said. But a caregiver must repeatedly present the dog and remind her mother to pet or talk to it; otherwise, she forgets about it. How often that will happen, and whether it will assuage the pain of isolation, remains an unanswered question. “I’m not sure how well this is going to work,” Linda Spangler said. “But for $120, it was worth a try.”

In isolating times, can robo-pets provide comfort?

Oscar-winning film directors James Cameron, Clint Eastwood and Martin Scorsese joined forces with movie theater owners on Wednesday in an appeal for financial help, saying they feared for the future of the industry.

In a letter to the leaders of the US Senate and House of Representatives, they said the coronavirus pandemic had dealt a devastating blow to movie theaters and that without funds "theaters may not survive the impact of the pandemic."

The letter was signed by more than 70 directors and producers along with the National Association of Theater Owners, the Directors Guild of America and the Motion Picture Association. 
 
The pandemic forced movie theaters to close their doors in mid-March. Big chains including AMC Entertainment and Cineworld Plc`s Regal Cinemas have reopened, with reduced capacity, in many US cities, but not in the biggest markets of Los Angeles and New York City. 
 
Efforts to get Americans back into theaters have proved disappointing, and Hollywood studios have delayed the release of big movies like 'Black Widow' and 'Top Gun: Maverick' to 2021.

The letter said that 69% of small and mid-sized movie theater companies will be forced to file for bankruptcy or close permanently unless help is forthcoming.

"Cinemas are an essential industry that represent the best that American talent and creativity have to offer. But now we fear for their future," the letter said. 
 
Others signing the letter included James Bond movie producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson, 'Wonder Woman' director Patty Jenkins, and action movie director-producer Michael Bay. 
 
They asked Congress to redirect unspent funds from the coronavirus aid package passed earlier this year, or enact new proposals that would help movie theaters weather the pandemic.

Oscar-winning film directors James Cameron, Clint Eastwood and Martin Scorsese joined forces with movie theater owners on Wednesday in an appeal for financial help, saying they feared for the future of the industry.

Oscar-winning film directors James Cameron, Clint Eastwood and Martin Scorsese joined forces with movie theater owners on Wednesday in an appeal for financial help, saying they feared for the future of the industry. In a letter to the leaders of the US Senate and House of Representatives, they said the coronavirus pandemic had dealt a devastating blow to movie theaters and that without funds "theaters may not survive the impact of the pandemic." The letter was signed by more than 70 directors and producers along with the National Association of Theater Owners, the Directors Guild of America and the Motion Picture Association. The pandemic forced movie theaters to close their doors in mid-March. Big chains including AMC Entertainment and Cineworld Plc`s Regal Cinemas have reopened, with reduced capacity, in many US cities, but not in the biggest markets of Los Angeles and New York City. Efforts to get Americans back into theaters have proved disappointing, and Hollywood studios have delayed the release of big movies like 'Black Widow' and 'Top Gun: Maverick' to 2021. The letter said that 69% of small and mid-sized movie theater companies will be forced to file for bankruptcy or close permanently unless help is forthcoming. "Cinemas are an essential industry that represent the best that American talent and creativity have to offer. But now we fear for their future," the letter said. Others signing the letter included James Bond movie producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson, 'Wonder Woman' director Patty Jenkins, and action movie director-producer Michael Bay. They asked Congress to redirect unspent funds from the coronavirus aid package passed earlier this year, or enact new proposals that would help movie theaters weather the pandemic.

Martin Scorsese, Clint Eastwood say US movie theaters may not survive pandemic

The British government tightened restrictions on socialising in parts of northeast England in response to high and increasing COVID-19 infection rates in the region.

WION Dispatch: UK govt imposes new COVID restrictions, ban on indoor meeting in Liverpool

Alcohol consumption among women in the United States rose during the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a new study published Tuesday.

Researchers found that women drank about 5.4 days per month compared to their 2019 average of 4.6 days

What's more, women drank heavily on average 0.6 days a month during the pandemic compared to 0.4 before, according to the study in JAMA Network Open.

Heavy drinking was defined as five or more drinks for men and four or more drinks for women within a couple of hours.&nbsp;

The authors used survey data from April-June of 2019 to establish a baseline and compared those responses to May-June 2020, when bars and restaurants were again open in many parts of the US after virus-related shutdowns.

The data firm Nielsen had previously reported a 21 percent increase in off-premise alcohol sales in the week ending June 13, 2020 compared to the year before, but it wasn't clear how much more people were actually drinking.

This gap has now been partly filled by the new study, which compared the responses of the same 1,500 people in the two waves.

The results also suggested that men drank more frequently, but the data was inconclusive.

What was more certain was men continued to be the biggest drinkers, with around 23 drinks per month compared to 15 for women.

The authors cautioned that a limitation of their study was it was based on self-reporting, which could have distorted the results

Alcohol consumption among women in the United States rose during the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a new study published Tuesday. Researchers found that women drank about 5.

Alcohol consumption among women in the United States rose during the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a new study published Tuesday. Researchers found that women drank about 5.4 days per month compared to their 2019 average of 4.6 days What's more, women drank heavily on average 0.6 days a month during the pandemic compared to 0.4 before, according to the study in JAMA Network Open. Heavy drinking was defined as five or more drinks for men and four or more drinks for women within a couple of hours. The authors used survey data from April-June of 2019 to establish a baseline and compared those responses to May-June 2020, when bars and restaurants were again open in many parts of the US after virus-related shutdowns. The data firm Nielsen had previously reported a 21 percent increase in off-premise alcohol sales in the week ending June 13, 2020 compared to the year before, but it wasn't clear how much more people were actually drinking. This gap has now been partly filled by the new study, which compared the responses of the same 1,500 people in the two waves. The results also suggested that men drank more frequently, but the data was inconclusive. What was more certain was men continued to be the biggest drinkers, with around 23 drinks per month compared to 15 for women. The authors cautioned that a limitation of their study was it was based on self-reporting, which could have distorted the results

US women drank more during pandemic: Study

Nearly half of Argentina's population was dragged into poverty in the second quarter of this year by the brutal effects of the the coronavirus pandemic on the country's longstanding economic crisis, researchers estimated on Wednesday.

Ahead of official government figures due later in the day, the Catholic University of Argentina (UCA) estimated the poverty rate spiked to between 46% and 47% by the end of June following months strict lockdowns to battle the coronavirus.

"There is greater general poverty. We are all a little poorer - we already were last year - and now with greater inequality," said UCA researcher Agustín Salvia.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="http://13.235.153.162/world/argentina-mexico-to-produce-astrazeneca-covid-19-vaccine-320099" hreflang="en">Argentina, Mexico to produce AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine</a>

He blamed the loss during the pandemic of 3.5 million jobs, mostly informal, for the rise, which was up from the 40.8% poverty rate recorded by UCA at the end of last year. The poverty line is drawn at 14,718 pesos ($193) per month.

According to the government's official statistics agency Indec, 35.5% of Argentines were living in poverty in the second half of 2019. Indec will publish the official figure for the first half of 2020 later on Wednesday.

The numbers reflect an everyday reality for Argentines like Guillermo Garay, who works as a street vendor during sporting events and saw his livelihood virtually disappear under the pandemic shutdowns.

"I survived because of family that supported me, because I had no possibility of doing anything," Garay said while selling Argentine flags at a protest in the capital, Buenos Aires.

UNEMPLOYMENT

Argentina's economy contracted a record 19.1% in the second quarter versus a year earlier as the coronavirus crippled production and demand, and is on track for a 12% economic plunge in 2020, analysts say.

Small companies that produce for the domestic market were hit particularly hard as activity came to halt and businesses closed across the county for months beginning in March, driving unemployment up to 13.1% in the second quarter.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="http://13.235.153.162/business-economy/argentina-reaches-debt-restructuring-deal-with-creditors-official-318131" hreflang="en">Argentina reaches debt restructuring deal with creditors: Official</a>

Argentina recently struck a deal with its creditors to restructure about $65 billion in foreign debt and has a bumpy fiscal road ahead, sapping the spending power for social programs that could have helped alleviate the effect of the pandemic on the poor.

"To get out of this poverty crisis requires a lot of imagination on the part of those in charge. The traditional programs of a few public works and a slight improvement in wages will not be enough," said local economist Andrés Asiain.

Salvia said it seemed unlikely that poverty levels would improve in the immediate future, and predicted about 45% of Argentines would still be in poverty at the end of the year.

"To get back to the 35% (poverty rate) we had before the crisis, which was already a scandal, I do not see it possible this year or next year," Salvia said.

Nearly half of Argentina's population was dragged into poverty in the second quarter of this year by the brutal effects of the the coronavirus pandemic on the country's longstanding economic crisis, researchers estimated on Wednesday.

Nearly half of Argentina's population was dragged into poverty in the second quarter of this year by the brutal effects of the the coronavirus pandemic on the country's longstanding economic crisis, researchers estimated on Wednesday. Ahead of official government figures due later in the day, the Catholic University of Argentina (UCA) estimated the poverty rate spiked to between 46% and 47% by the end of June following months strict lockdowns to battle the coronavirus. "There is greater general poverty. We are all a little poorer - we already were last year - and now with greater inequality," said UCA researcher Agustín Salvia. Also read: Argentina, Mexico to produce AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine He blamed the loss during the pandemic of 3.5 million jobs, mostly informal, for the rise, which was up from the 40.8% poverty rate recorded by UCA at the end of last year. The poverty line is drawn at 14,718 pesos ($193) per month. According to the government's official statistics agency Indec, 35.5% of Argentines were living in poverty in the second half of 2019. Indec will publish the official figure for the first half of 2020 later on Wednesday. The numbers reflect an everyday reality for Argentines like Guillermo Garay, who works as a street vendor during sporting events and saw his livelihood virtually disappear under the pandemic shutdowns. "I survived because of family that supported me, because I had no possibility of doing anything," Garay said while selling Argentine flags at a protest in the capital, Buenos Aires. UNEMPLOYMENT Argentina's economy contracted a record 19.1% in the second quarter versus a year earlier as the coronavirus crippled production and demand, and is on track for a 12% economic plunge in 2020, analysts say. Small companies that produce for the domestic market were hit particularly hard as activity came to halt and businesses closed across the county for months beginning in March, driving unemployment up to 13.1% in the second quarter. Also read: Argentina reaches debt restructuring deal with creditors: Official Argentina recently struck a deal with its creditors to restructure about $65 billion in foreign debt and has a bumpy fiscal road ahead, sapping the spending power for social programs that could have helped alleviate the effect of the pandemic on the poor. "To get out of this poverty crisis requires a lot of imagination on the part of those in charge. The traditional programs of a few public works and a slight improvement in wages will not be enough," said local economist Andrés Asiain. Salvia said it seemed unlikely that poverty levels would improve in the immediate future, and predicted about 45% of Argentines would still be in poverty at the end of the year. "To get back to the 35% (poverty rate) we had before the crisis, which was already a scandal, I do not see it possible this year or next year," Salvia said.

Poverty batters almost half of Argentines due to crisis plus pandemic: Researchers

New virus found in China -&nbsp;The Cat Que Virus -&nbsp; The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has warned of the danger posed by another virus found in China&nbsp; - the Cat Que Virus.&nbsp;

According to the ICMR, the virus has potential to spread diseases across India. The CQV may cause febrile illnesses, meningitis, and paediatric encephalitis among humans.&nbsp;

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="http://13.235.153.162/world/why-china-must-be-punished-for-its-contribution-in-global-spread-of-coronavirus-331011" hreflang="en">Why China must be punished for its contribution in global spread of coronavirus</a>

The virus has been spotted in culex mosquitoes and pigs across China and Vietnam. India, too is home to species of culex mosquitoes.

New virus found in China - The Cat Que Virus 

Researchers at the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune have found antibodies for the virus in two out of the 883 human serum samples which were taken from various Indian states. This implies that people have been infected with the virus.

During the course of the study, the virus was not found in human or animal samples.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="http://13.235.153.162/india-news/interferon-insufficiency-is-the-reason-why-coronavirus-is-deadly-for-some-patients-330858" hreflang="en">‘Interferon’ insufficiency is the reason why coronavirus is deadly for some patients</a>

The two samples that tested positive for CQV antibodies came from Karnataka - one from 2014 and the other from 2017.

The findings of the study were published in the latest issue of Indian Journal of Medical Research (IJMR).

According to the ICMR study, Indian mosquitoes are susceptible to CQV, which could also become a public health pathogen..

Its natural host is a mosquito. Domestic pigs are also considered the primary mammalian host of the Cat Que Virus.&nbsp;

New virus found in China - The Cat Que Virus - The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has warned of the danger posed by another virus found in China - the Cat Que Virus.

New virus found in China - The Cat Que Virus - The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has warned of the danger posed by another virus found in China - the Cat Que Virus. According to the ICMR, the virus has potential to spread diseases across India. The CQV may cause febrile illnesses, meningitis, and paediatric encephalitis among humans. Also read: Why China must be punished for its contribution in global spread of coronavirus The virus has been spotted in culex mosquitoes and pigs across China and Vietnam. India, too is home to species of culex mosquitoes. New virus found in China - The Cat Que Virus Researchers at the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune have found antibodies for the virus in two out of the 883 human serum samples which were taken from various Indian states. This implies that people have been infected with the virus. During the course of the study, the virus was not found in human or animal samples. Also read: ‘Interferon’ insufficiency is the reason why coronavirus is deadly for some patients The two samples that tested positive for CQV antibodies came from Karnataka - one from 2014 and the other from 2017. The findings of the study were published in the latest issue of Indian Journal of Medical Research (IJMR). According to the ICMR study, Indian mosquitoes are susceptible to CQV, which could also become a public health pathogen.. Its natural host is a mosquito. Domestic pigs are also considered the primary mammalian host of the Cat Que Virus.

India: ICMR warns of danger posed by another virus from China - Cat Que Virus

Pakistan has recorded 694 new coronavirus cases, taking the nation-wide tally of infections to 310,275, the health ministry said on Sunday.

The Ministry of National Health Services said that 6 patients also died in the last 24 hours, pushing the number of Covid-19 deaths in the country to 6457.

295,613 People recovered so far across Pakistan making it a significant count.There is no patient on vent in Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) &amp; &nbsp;Balochistan.

106 vents occupied across Pakistan out of 1912 vents allocated for COVID-19. A total of 310,275 cases detected so far in the Islamic republic.

Globally, the coronavirus, which first originated in China’s Wuhan city in December last year, has claimed around 10 lakh lives and infected nearly 33 million people, with the US being the worst affected country, according to Johns Hopkins University data.

(With inputs from agencies)

Pakistan has recorded 694 new coronavirus cases, taking the nation-wide tally of infections to 310,275, the health ministry said on Sunday. The Ministry of National Health Services said that 6 patients also died in the last 24 hours, pushing the number of Covid-19 deaths in the country to 6457.

Pakistan has recorded 694 new coronavirus cases, taking the nation-wide tally of infections to 310,275, the health ministry said on Sunday. The Ministry of National Health Services said that 6 patients also died in the last 24 hours, pushing the number of Covid-19 deaths in the country to 6457. 295,613 People recovered so far across Pakistan making it a significant count.There is no patient on vent in Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) & Balochistan. 106 vents occupied across Pakistan out of 1912 vents allocated for COVID-19. A total of 310,275 cases detected so far in the Islamic republic. Globally, the coronavirus, which first originated in China’s Wuhan city in December last year, has claimed around 10 lakh lives and infected nearly 33 million people, with the US being the worst affected country, according to Johns Hopkins University data. (With inputs from agencies)

Pakistan reports 694 new Covid-19 cases, records 6 fresh deaths

Mattia Maestri, whose coronavirus case confirmed one of the world’s deadliest outbreaks was underway is now participating in a relay race.

He is taking part in a 180-kilometer (112-mile) relay race as a sign of hope after he himself recovered from weeks in intensive care.

Maestri, a 38-year-old Unilever manager, was tested positive on February 21.

Wearing a dark face mask, Maestri said the race was a “beautiful initiative” uniting the two virus-ravaged towns and the hard-hit swath of territory between them. He said he was thrilled to even be alive to participate.

“I feel very lucky,” he said at the starting line.&nbsp;

Meanwhile, Globally, the coronavirus, which first originated in China’s Wuhan city in December last year, has claimed around 10 lakh lives and infected nearly 33 million people, with the US being the worst affected country, according to Johns Hopkins University data.

(With inputs from agencies)

Mattia Maestri, whose coronavirus case confirmed one of the world’s deadliest outbreaks was underway is now participating in a relay race. He is taking part in a 180-kilometer (112-mile) relay race as a sign of hope after he himself recovered from weeks in intensive care.

Mattia Maestri, whose coronavirus case confirmed one of the world’s deadliest outbreaks was underway is now participating in a relay race. He is taking part in a 180-kilometer (112-mile) relay race as a sign of hope after he himself recovered from weeks in intensive care. Maestri, a 38-year-old Unilever manager, was tested positive on February 21. Wearing a dark face mask, Maestri said the race was a “beautiful initiative” uniting the two virus-ravaged towns and the hard-hit swath of territory between them. He said he was thrilled to even be alive to participate. “I feel very lucky,” he said at the starting line. Meanwhile, Globally, the coronavirus, which first originated in China’s Wuhan city in December last year, has claimed around 10 lakh lives and infected nearly 33 million people, with the US being the worst affected country, according to Johns Hopkins University data. (With inputs from agencies)

First coronavirus patient of Italy joins relay race as sign of hope 

Russian authorities are considering chartering a plane from China to fly over parents who have been estranged from their babies born to surrogates in Russia due to coronavirus restrictions

Russia mulls sending charter plane to China

Russian cosmonauts set to blast off for the International Space Station said on Thursday it was too early to get a coronavirus vaccine touted by President Vladimir Putin.

“I’d personally say that I would not get vaccinated because I tread very carefully on this issue,” said Sergei Ryzhikov, the 46-year-old leader of the next expedition to the ISS in October.&nbsp;

The space mission of the next crew to the International Space Station (ISS), which will leave for the ISS aboard the Soyuz MS-17 spacecraft from the Baikonur cosmodrome in October, will last 177 days, Russian Cosmonaut Sergey Ryzhikov, the head of the crew, said on Thursday, though Roscosmos has said that the mission will last 186 days.

"According to the current plan, the duration of our expedition is 177 days. We are expected to return back [on Earth] on April 9 next year if nothing changes," Ryzhikov said at a press conference.

Meanwhile, More than 60 percent of Russian citizens are not ready to be vaccinated against the novel coronavirus to be able to go abroad if vaccination becomes a mandatory condition for travel, according to the results of a recent poll by the travel service website, Tutu.ru.

(With inputs from agencies)

Russian cosmonauts set to blast off for the International Space Station said on Thursday it was too early to get a coronavirus vaccine touted by President Vladimir Putin.

Russian cosmonauts set to blast off for the International Space Station said on Thursday it was too early to get a coronavirus vaccine touted by President Vladimir Putin. “I’d personally say that I would not get vaccinated because I tread very carefully on this issue,” said Sergei Ryzhikov, the 46-year-old leader of the next expedition to the ISS in October. The space mission of the next crew to the International Space Station (ISS), which will leave for the ISS aboard the Soyuz MS-17 spacecraft from the Baikonur cosmodrome in October, will last 177 days, Russian Cosmonaut Sergey Ryzhikov, the head of the crew, said on Thursday, though Roscosmos has said that the mission will last 186 days. "According to the current plan, the duration of our expedition is 177 days. We are expected to return back [on Earth] on April 9 next year if nothing changes," Ryzhikov said at a press conference. Meanwhile, More than 60 percent of Russian citizens are not ready to be vaccinated against the novel coronavirus to be able to go abroad if vaccination becomes a mandatory condition for travel, according to the results of a recent poll by the travel service website, Tutu.ru. (With inputs from agencies)

Cosmonauts say not ready to try Russia’s virus vaccine

Chinese virologist&nbsp;Dr Li-Meng Yan has claimed that the deadly coronavirus was developed in a government laboratory in Wuhan and also said that Chinese government was aware of the Covid-19 spread, in an interview with news channel WION.&nbsp; 
 
In an exclusive interview with WION's Executive Editor Palki Sharma, Chinese virologist, who investigated the origin of the COVID-19 virus during the initial outbreak in Wuhan, said that she discovered a cover-up operation in Wuhan and said that the Chinese government knew about the spread of the virus before publicly acknowledging it.

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According to Dr Yan the World Health Organization (WHO) is very much part of the cover up.

Wuhan wet market is just a smokescreen from the Chinese Communist Party, said Chinese virologist, on the origin of novel coronavirus. 
 
Dr Li-Meng Yan, who was a post-doctoral fellow in virology and immunology at Hong Kong School of Public Health said that she was muzzeled by her supervisors. 
 
Yan claims the Chinese government is now trying to tarnish her reputation through social media, conduct cyber-attacks on her and intimidate her family in China.

Earlier on September 14, Chinese virologist Dr Li-Meng Yan had claimed that COVID-19 was made in a Wuhan laboratory. Yan, who was associated with the Hong Kong School of Public Health, had been researching on the coronavirus for a long time. The Chinese virologist claimed that during her research she came across that coronavirus was developed in a laboratory in China.

(With inputs from agencies)

Chinese virologist Dr Li-Meng Yan has claimed that the deadly coronavirus was developed in a government laboratory in Wuhan and also said that Chinese government was aware of the Covid-19 spread, in an interview with news channel WION.

Chinese virologist Dr Li-Meng Yan has claimed that the deadly coronavirus was developed in a government laboratory in Wuhan and also said that Chinese government was aware of the Covid-19 spread, in an interview with news channel WION. In an exclusive interview with WION's Executive Editor Palki Sharma, Chinese virologist, who investigated the origin of the COVID-19 virus during the initial outbreak in Wuhan, said that she discovered a cover-up operation in Wuhan and said that the Chinese government knew about the spread of the virus before publicly acknowledging it. According to Dr Yan the World Health Organization (WHO) is very much part of the cover up. Wuhan wet market is just a smokescreen from the Chinese Communist Party, said Chinese virologist, on the origin of novel coronavirus. Dr Li-Meng Yan, who was a post-doctoral fellow in virology and immunology at Hong Kong School of Public Health said that she was muzzeled by her supervisors. Yan claims the Chinese government is now trying to tarnish her reputation through social media, conduct cyber-attacks on her and intimidate her family in China. Earlier on September 14, Chinese virologist Dr Li-Meng Yan had claimed that COVID-19 was made in a Wuhan laboratory. Yan, who was associated with the Hong Kong School of Public Health, had been researching on the coronavirus for a long time. The Chinese virologist claimed that during her research she came across that coronavirus was developed in a laboratory in China. (With inputs from agencies)

WION exclusive | Beijing tried to cover-up Wuhan virus and WHO is very much part of it: Chinese virologist Dr Li-Meng Yan

In an exclusive interview with WION's Executive Editor Palki Sharma, Chinese virologist, who investigated the origin of the COVID-19 virus during the initial outbreak in Wuhan, will talk about the unequivocal evidence that the virus was not of natural origin. In this segment of WION, watch the full interview with Dr Li-Meng Yan at 7 PM today.

Dr Li-Meng Yan has specialised in virology and immunology at Hong Kong School of Public Health. She says she was one of the first scientists in the world to study the novel coronavirus.

In the article, “Unusual Features of the SARS-CoV-2 Genome Suggesting Sophisticated Laboratory Modification rather Than Natural Evolution and Delineation of Its Probable Synthetic Route,” Dr Yan and her colleagues have offered a detailed description of how the virus was synthesized in laboratories controlled by China’s military.

Yan claims the Chinese government is now trying to tarnish her reputation, conduct cyber-attacks on her and intimidate her family in China.

In an exclusive interview with WION's Executive Editor Palki Sharma, Chinese virologist, who investigated the origin of the COVID-19 virus during the initial outbreak in Wuhan, will talk about the unequivocal evidence that the virus was not of natural origin.

In an exclusive interview with WION's Executive Editor Palki Sharma, Chinese virologist, who investigated the origin of the COVID-19 virus during the initial outbreak in Wuhan, will talk about the unequivocal evidence that the virus was not of natural origin. In this segment of WION, watch the full interview with Dr Li-Meng Yan at 7 PM today. Dr Li-Meng Yan has specialised in virology and immunology at Hong Kong School of Public Health. She says she was one of the first scientists in the world to study the novel coronavirus. In the article, “Unusual Features of the SARS-CoV-2 Genome Suggesting Sophisticated Laboratory Modification rather Than Natural Evolution and Delineation of Its Probable Synthetic Route,” Dr Yan and her colleagues have offered a detailed description of how the virus was synthesized in laboratories controlled by China’s military. Yan claims the Chinese government is now trying to tarnish her reputation, conduct cyber-attacks on her and intimidate her family in China.

WION exclusive Straight Talk with Chinese virologist Dr Li-Meng Yan at 7 PM

Only 285,000 students returned to class this week in the West Bank, out of 1.3 million in the territory but Hassan Allan's 300 students must wait to see their newly refurbished school.

Teachers in West Bank rebuild school; Watch video

India on Thursday recorded 95,735 new cases of the coronavirus disease which pushed the overall tally to 44,65,863, according to Union health ministry data.

The number of active cases stand at 9,19,018, while the number of patients discharged from the hospital has reached 34,71,783.

The disease also claimed 1,172 lives in the last 24 hours, which pushed the overall death toll to 75,062, the health ministry data showed.

Meanwhile, a grim global milestone was also reported today as the worldwide toll due to the virus crossed the 9 lakh mark, according to Johns Hopkins tally.

The death toll now stands at 901,050 with 27.7 million total cases and 18.6 million recoveries.

(With inputs from agencies)

India on Thursday recorded 95,735 new cases of the coronavirus disease which pushed the overall tally to 44,65,863, according to Union health ministry data. The number of active cases stand at 9,19,018, while the number of patients discharged from the hospital has reached 34,71,783.

India on Thursday recorded 95,735 new cases of the coronavirus disease which pushed the overall tally to 44,65,863, according to Union health ministry data. The number of active cases stand at 9,19,018, while the number of patients discharged from the hospital has reached 34,71,783. The disease also claimed 1,172 lives in the last 24 hours, which pushed the overall death toll to 75,062, the health ministry data showed. Meanwhile, a grim global milestone was also reported today as the worldwide toll due to the virus crossed the 9 lakh mark, according to Johns Hopkins tally. The death toll now stands at 901,050 with 27.7 million total cases and 18.6 million recoveries. (With inputs from agencies)

With 95,735 fresh cases, India records highest ever daily spike; tally breaches 44.6 lakh

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced at a coronavirus briefing a “moonshot plan” for UK. Announcing the details the PM urged people to abide by new restrictions that outlaw gatherings of more than six people indoors and out, and said they were imperative if the country was to avoid further toughening of the rules.

WION Fineprint: What is UK PM's new 'Moonshot Plan'?

Twenty-six scientists, most of them working at universities in Italy, have signed an open letter questioning the reliability of the data presented in the early-stage trial results of the Russian COVID-19 vaccine, named "Sputnik-V".

Addressing the editor of The Lancet, the international peer-reviewed medical journal in which Moscow's Gamaleya Institute published its early-stage trial results, the scientists said they saw patterns in the data that looked "highly unlikely".

The letter, published on the personal blog page of one of the signatories, said the Phase I/II trial results data showed multiple participants reporting identical antibody levels.

"On the ground of simple probabilistic evaluations the fact of observing so many data points preserved among different experiments is highly unlikely," the open letter said.

However, the scientists said they were basing their conclusions on summaries of the Russian trial result data, published in the journal, rather than the original data itself.

"In lack of the original numerical data, no conclusions can be definitively drawn on the reliability of the data presented, especially regarding the apparent duplications detected," the letter said.

The Gamaleya Institute, which developed the vaccine, rejected the critique.

"The published results are authentic and accurate and were examined by five reviewers at The Lancet," Denis Logunov, a deputy director at the institute, said in a statement.

He said his institute submitted the entire body of raw data on the trial results to The Lancet.

"We presented specifically the data that was produced (by the trial), not the data that is supposed to please Italian experts," Logunov said.

Naor Bar-Zeev, deputy director at John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, who peer reviewed the Russian data, defended his analysis of the research.

"Science must maintain a balance between incredulity, skepticism and trust. That trust is borne out through plausibility, repeatability and falsifiability."

"The results are plausible, and not very different to those seen with other AdV vectored products," he said.

The researchers had provided more detail than was needed for the review and responded to his questions "intelligently and in a matter-of-fact and confident but understated manner".

"Bottom line, I saw no reason to doubt the legitimacy of these results over others I have read and reviewed. But of course one can never know," he said in an email.

A spokeswoman for the Lancet said the journal had invited the study's authors to respond to the questions raised in the open letter. It was following the situation closely, she said.

Russia published results on Friday of its Phase I/II trial, which included 76 participants and was conducted in June-July this year. Participants developed a positive immune response and no serious side effects, the study's authors said.

A Phase III trial, involving 40,000 participants, was launched on Aug. 26. Around 31,000 people have already subscribed to take part, Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said.

Twenty-six scientists, most of them working at universities in Italy, have signed an open letter questioning the reliability of the data presented in the early-stage trial results of the Russian COVID-19 vaccine, named "Sputnik-V".

Twenty-six scientists, most of them working at universities in Italy, have signed an open letter questioning the reliability of the data presented in the early-stage trial results of the Russian COVID-19 vaccine, named "Sputnik-V". Addressing the editor of The Lancet, the international peer-reviewed medical journal in which Moscow's Gamaleya Institute published its early-stage trial results, the scientists said they saw patterns in the data that looked "highly unlikely". The letter, published on the personal blog page of one of the signatories, said the Phase I/II trial results data showed multiple participants reporting identical antibody levels. "On the ground of simple probabilistic evaluations the fact of observing so many data points preserved among different experiments is highly unlikely," the open letter said. However, the scientists said they were basing their conclusions on summaries of the Russian trial result data, published in the journal, rather than the original data itself. "In lack of the original numerical data, no conclusions can be definitively drawn on the reliability of the data presented, especially regarding the apparent duplications detected," the letter said. The Gamaleya Institute, which developed the vaccine, rejected the critique. "The published results are authentic and accurate and were examined by five reviewers at The Lancet," Denis Logunov, a deputy director at the institute, said in a statement. He said his institute submitted the entire body of raw data on the trial results to The Lancet. "We presented specifically the data that was produced (by the trial), not the data that is supposed to please Italian experts," Logunov said. Naor Bar-Zeev, deputy director at John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, who peer reviewed the Russian data, defended his analysis of the research. "Science must maintain a balance between incredulity, skepticism and trust. That trust is borne out through plausibility, repeatability and falsifiability." "The results are plausible, and not very different to those seen with other AdV vectored products," he said. The researchers had provided more detail than was needed for the review and responded to his questions "intelligently and in a matter-of-fact and confident but understated manner". "Bottom line, I saw no reason to doubt the legitimacy of these results over others I have read and reviewed. But of course one can never know," he said in an email. A spokeswoman for the Lancet said the journal had invited the study's authors to respond to the questions raised in the open letter. It was following the situation closely, she said. Russia published results on Friday of its Phase I/II trial, which included 76 participants and was conducted in June-July this year. Participants developed a positive immune response and no serious side effects, the study's authors said. A Phase III trial, involving 40,000 participants, was launched on Aug. 26. Around 31,000 people have already subscribed to take part, Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said.

‘Unlikely patterns in Russia vaccine data’: 26 scientists warn in open letter

The government of Britain is banning gatherings of more than six people in England from September 14, as officials try to keep a lid on daily new coronavirus infections after a sharp spike across the UK. 
 
<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/covid-19-vaccine-astrazeneca-voluntarily-pauses-clinical-trials-after-unexplained-illness-326112">Also read | COVID-19 vaccine: AstraZeneca 'voluntarily pauses' clinical trials after unexplained illness</a> 
 
The sharp increase in the number of cases has been largely blamed on party-going young adults disregarding social distancing rules. 
 
Also read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/china-handled-covid-19-openly-and-transparently-xi-jinping-325898" hreflang="en">China handled COVID-19 openly and transparently: Xi Jinping</a>

First offenders will be fined £100, which will double on each further repeat offence up to £3,200.

The new rule does not apply to households or bubbles of more than six, or gatherings for work or education. Weddings, funerals, and organised team sports carried out in a COVID secure way are also exempted.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/russia-releases-first-batch-of-covid-19-vaccine-sputnik-v-into-public-325883" hreflang="en">Russia releases first batch of Covid-19 vaccine Sputnik V into public</a>

The full list of exemptions will be revealed by the government before the law changes on Monday.

The number of cases in the United Kingdom has begun to rise sharply again in recent days.

There were 2,460 new infections reported on Tuesday, 2,948 on Monday and 2,988 on Sunday - a sharp rise from levels of around 1,000 per day in August and attributed to high levels of transmission among young people.

Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, which together make up the United Kingdom, set their own lockdown policies.

(With inputs from agencies)

The government of Britain is banning gatherings of more than six people in England from September 14, as officials try to keep a lid on daily new coronavirus infections after a sharp spike across the UK.

The government of Britain is banning gatherings of more than six people in England from September 14, as officials try to keep a lid on daily new coronavirus infections after a sharp spike across the UK. Also read | COVID-19 vaccine: AstraZeneca 'voluntarily pauses' clinical trials after unexplained illness The sharp increase in the number of cases has been largely blamed on party-going young adults disregarding social distancing rules. Also read: China handled COVID-19 openly and transparently: Xi Jinping First offenders will be fined £100, which will double on each further repeat offence up to £3,200. The new rule does not apply to households or bubbles of more than six, or gatherings for work or education. Weddings, funerals, and organised team sports carried out in a COVID secure way are also exempted. Also read: Russia releases first batch of Covid-19 vaccine Sputnik V into public The full list of exemptions will be revealed by the government before the law changes on Monday. The number of cases in the United Kingdom has begun to rise sharply again in recent days. There were 2,460 new infections reported on Tuesday, 2,948 on Monday and 2,988 on Sunday - a sharp rise from levels of around 1,000 per day in August and attributed to high levels of transmission among young people. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, which together make up the United Kingdom, set their own lockdown policies. (With inputs from agencies)

Covid-19: Social gatherings of more than 6 people banned in England from September 14

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