New Events
Covid-19 Dashboard: >2M known cases, >143k deaths - Johns Hopkins, NYT Tracker … up from 1.5M cases, >89k deaths last Friday, … up from 1M cases, 50k deaths the Friday-before … WHO estimates global crude fatality rate at 3.4% - Link
North Africa / Egypt / Sudan (266m)
Security Council sticks to resolutions on Western Sahara, upsets Polisario - Link … the disagreement between Algeria & Morocco continues …
Libya: “Which death is going to be worse?” - Link … Coronavirus invades a conflict zone. Video.
Sudan bans all inter-city passenger travel to halt coronavirus - Link … also, 12-hour curfew, schools shuttered, gatherings banned …
East Africa / Horn / Ethiopia / Somalia (520m)
The problem with militias in Somalia: everyone wants them despite the dangers - Link
Locust plague 20x larger than last wave could devastate parts of East Africa - Link … “seedlings are just coming up… so basically that’s it for these crops…”
West Africa / Nigeria (457m)
Coronavirus curfew causes water shortage for Burkina Faso’s poorest - Link … “scolds her children when they wash with too much water”
Northern economic northern hub of Kano imposes week-long lockdown over virus - Link … lockdowns also in place on other cities …
South & Middle Africa (275m)
Zimbabwe: Coronavirus will affect women and girls more than anyone - Link … fears it will bring an end to WFP food deliveries …
Congo was about to declare victory over the Ebola virus - Link … then one more case popped up - Link
At least half of the rivers in the Comoros have dried up - Link … deforestation, climate change …
West Asia / Gulf / Saudi / Turkey / Iran / Iraq (303m)
#Migrants
Coronavirus fears terrify, impoverish migrants in the Persian Gulf - Link … locked down, laid off, stranded, no where to turn to for help …
Gulf’s migrant workers left stranded & struggling by the virus - Link … virus has spread in densely districts where many expatriates share housing to save on rent….
UAE warns of possible action against countries that refuse to allow worker repatriation - Link … “would review labor ties”
#Gulf
Battles rage in Syria despite coronavirus cease fires - Link
Yemen faces a nightmare as first coronavirus case confirmed - Link
Saudi cases could reach 200,000 within weeks, says minister - Link … Saudi Arabia extends virus curfew indefinitely - Link
Jordan to ban mosque prayers during the month of Ramadan - Link … “will not allow public worship” …
#Iran/Iraq
Worst-case: 75% of Iranians may contract coronavirus - Link … peak in Iran as far away as November, when a second wave may await …
Iran renews virus warning as “low-risk” activities restart - Link
Iraq: Cloud of doubt surrounds coronavirus figures reported by Iraqi government - Link … “The numbers… are not real numbers…” … Baghdad, a city gone still - Link
Central Asia / Caucasus (78m)
Virus spreads at major Kazakh oil field worker’s camp - Link
Turkmenistan’s strongman remains in denial about the virus - Link
South Asia / Pakistan / India / Bangladesh (2,040m)
#Pakistan
AP: Child sex abuse by clerics rampant in Pakistan religious schools - Link
“God is with us”: Muslims in Pakistan flout the coronavirus ban in mosques - Link … “we wash our hands and face 5x a day when we say our prayers” …
Pakistan struggles to fight Covid-19 - Link … Doctors concerned about Pakistan’s health care capacity …
Afghanistan: Concerns about returning refugees spreading virus - Link
#India
India extends world’s biggest lockdown as virus cases cross 10,000 - Link … extended until May 3. some things have changed under the new rules - Link
India says it’s ready to tackle rising virus cases - Link … “with over 100,000 beds in 600 hospitals” …
As hunger grows, the fear of starvation is real - Link … 100 million people are outside of the Public Distribution System …
Migrants keep running away from quarantine centers - Link … when they return home, supposed to be quarantined, but …
Virus piles on the pain for India’s untouchables - Link … caste made a crucial role in determining who received health care …
Shutdown will hit India’s small businesses hard - Link … 4 weeks = 19% of jobs lost, 8 weeks = 43% of jobs …
Atlantic: “The callousness of India’s Covid-19 response” - Link … world’s harshest lockdown: police brutality, lack of transparency, shortage of compassion …
Unraveling urban India’s water challenges amid Covid-19 - Link … urban poor lacked decent access to safe water before handwashing became life & death …
The children struggling to survive India’s lockdown - Link … worst affected are millions of child laborers and street children …
The “shadow pandemic” of domestic violence in the midst of lockdown - Link … tension, strain, + women isolated with violent partners …
Coronavirus fans religious hatred - Link
#Bangladesh
extends lockdown by 11 days - Link
East Asia / China / Taiwan / Korea / Japan (1,677m)
#China
Birth of a pandemic: inside the first weeks of the virus outbreak in Wuhan - Link … Reuters interactive graphic: how coronavirus hitched a ride through Asia - Link
How Wuhan’s ICU doctors survived - Link … “I spent 7 weeks in a Wuhan ICU - here’s what I learned” - Link
China to step up virus testing for people leaving Wuhan - Link
On China’s “color codes” and life after Covid - Link … countries have turned to new tech to track citizen’s movements. … will they be able to give the surveillance up when Covid is over?
Early Covid-19 missteps have an all-too mundane explanation - Link
Number of people crossing China’s borders reduced 90% - Link … in the medium term, it will be progressively harder to cross borders everywhere
As Covid-19 fades, xenophobia and nationalism flares - Link
China’s “Donation Diplomacy” raises tensions with the USA - Link
Observing Qingming during the coronavirus crisis - Link … grave-cleaning ceremonies, and what churches are doing during this time
#Taiwan / Mongolia / Macau / Hong Kong
Hong Kong’s domestic workers: when ‘stay at home' means ‘live at work' - Link
#Japan
Japan extends state of emergency to all parts of the country - Link
#Koreas
South Korea reports recovered patients testing positive again - Link … it’s definitely happening, tho unclear why
Southeast Asia (700m)
China dams held back Mekong waters during drought, study finds - Link … China limited the Mekong’s flow, other countries suffered a drought - Link
How Saudi Arabia’s religious project transformed Indonesia - Link … Thanks to Saudi $, influence, Indonesia has taken a sharply conservative turn …
In a Manila slum, coronavirus lockdown hits hard - Link
In Myanmar, hunger overshadows Covid-19 for Yangon’s poorest - Link … inspiring charitable donations and labor strikes …
Bali’s “mysterious immunity” - Link … although Indonesia is “widely regarded as a virus ticking time-bomb” … study predicts case surge: millions head to provinces in post-Ramadan pilgrimages - Link
Singapore: migrant coronavirus cases highlight containment weak link - Link … around the world, migrants will be less and less welcome due to carrier chances
Europe / North America (1,125m)
Coronavirus restrictions eased in Europe - Link … Germany opens schools, some shops - Link … France will begin opening up May 11 - Link
But, Hungary extends lockdown - Link
And, Russia reports new record daily rise in virus cases - Link … Russian border town becomes China’s 2nd virus wave frontier - Link … footage captures chaotic scenes as ambulances queue for hospitals in Moscow - Link … Putin warns of ‘extraordinary coronavirus crisis, military may be called to assist - Link
Malta says it can no longer rescue, accept migrants - Link … yet another example of virus fears focusing on migrants as carriers …
New Data
Our World in Data now has up a 26-slide deck of data on the virus - Link
IMF predicts worst recession since the Great Depression - Link … Global economy like to contract by 3% … 1929-1932 global economic contraction was 10%
New Longreads
Why the world shut down for Covid-19, but not Ebola, SARS or MERS - Link … Covid-19 not as fatal, but more infectious …
How long does it take to recover from coronavirus? Link
After coronavirus: six predictions for a new world order - Link … The ‘long emergency', the ‘Suez Scenario', migrant crises, regionalism vs nationalism, more
#Regional Surveys
Covid in Asia: a country-by-country guide from The Diplomat - Link
Red Cross: Coronavirus could cause upheaval across the Middle East - Link … “potentially devastating aftermath… socio-economic earthquake…”
How the spread of coronavirus is testing Africa - Link
Why lockdowns may not work in Africa - Link
Africa could see “millions of coronavirus cases”, tentative WHO forecast shows - Link … “from thousands now to 10 million within 3 to 6 months”… … who will want refugees from Africa to cross their borders? … … UN report suggests as many as 300,000 could die in Africa - Link
Africa to roll out 1 million coronavirus tests - Link
Complete collapse of economies ahead as Africa faces the virus - Link
In parts of Africa, police accused of excessive force during coronavirus lockdowns - Link … “an officer in the capital beating a taxi cab driver for violating one-passenger limit” …
#Migrants
The virus threatens some more than others - Link … refugees, migrant laborers, poor access to health/sanitation, who can’t afford to miss work
Coronavirus finds fuel in a world of migrants - Link
#ReligiousChanges
How to celebrate some of the most important religious celebrations of the year, virtually - Link
A very different Good Friday, in photographs - Link
Muslims grapple with Ramadan rituals in the coronavirus era - Link
Lockdowns weigh heavily on Orthodox Easter - Link … will test Eastern Europe’s lockdowns - Link
#OtherTrends
Virus choking off what Africa needs most: food - Link … How to stop a looming food crisis - Link
An opinion: oil prices will never recover and rise above $20-$30 a barrel - Link … I personally always flinch at “never”, but he makes an argument …
New Technology
#Surveillance
South Korea is a testing ground for balance of surveillance for health & individual privacy - Link
Covid-19 boosts India’s growing surveillance state - Link
How Apple & Google are tackling privacy problems to solve contact tracing - Link … 5 ‘burning questions' about the effort [that must be solved] - Link
“Rice ATM” feeds Vietnam’s poor amid virus lockdown - Link
At least one airline is contemplating removing the middle seat for passenger safety - Link
With drones and tests, India battles to keep viruses out of Mumbai’s slums - Link … “when cameras captured dozens of shoppers thronging a market…” … “officials called in police to disperse the crowd…”