(July 23 – August 5, 2020)
Another 3.5 million new COVID-19 cases have been registered in just two weeks since DevelopmentAid’s last bi-weekly coronavirus report, published on July 22. The number of infections worldwide today reached the 18.5 million mark with the pandemic now having caused 701,000 deaths. The Americas remain the epicenter by region with more than 9.7 million cases. The US and the Brazil, two of the most affected countries from both that region and in the world, have amassed 7.5 million cases according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. The Americas are followed by Europe (3.4 million infections, of which the Russian Federation and the United Kingdom share over 1.1 million COVID-19 cases), South-East Asia (2.2 million, with 1.8 million coronavirus patients registered in India alone), Eastern Mediterranean (1.5 million, Iran, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia together accounting for over 870,000 COVID-19 cases), Africa (over 825,000) and Western Pacific (over 332,000).
With many people believing during the early weeks of the pandemic that the virus would be influenced by the seasons, it is now almost certain that this is not the case. Dr. Margaret Harris, World Health Organization (WHO) spokesperson, highlighted many people’s “fixed” belief of this, saying that “the season does not seem to affect the transmission of this virus”.
“What is affecting the transmission is mass gatherings, it is people coming together, and people not social distancing, not taking the precautions to ensure they are not in close contact” she added.
At the same time, the WHO official pointed out the lower than expected influenza cases registered during the early winter which is now underway in the Global South. The WHO expects the flu season to arrive later in the southern hemisphere.
The coronavirus, however, has had a serious impact on a range of other diseases. In addition to the direct toll of the virus, the WHO Emergency Committee on COVID-19 gathered at a meeting on August 3 and noted the impact that disrupted services are having on a range of other diseases that are compounding reduced immunization coverage, cancer screening and care, and mental health services. According to the WHO Director-General, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, “on top of the health impact, COVID-19 is causing social, economic and political damage.”
Cybercriminals are one of the groups that are exploiting the uncertainty and fear of the new reality shaped by the coronavirus. Thus, major corporations, governments, and critical infrastructure are the new targets following a shift from individuals and small businesses who were the previous targets attacked by hackers in pre-COVID times.
An INTERPOL assessment of the cybercrime landscape in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic highlights increasing rates of vulnerability to the theft of data as a result of organizations and businesses deploying remote systems and networks to support employees working from home. Criminals are taking advantage of increased security vulnerability to generate profits and cause disruption. “A further increase in cybercrime is highly likely in the near future” concluded the Interpol report.
Misinformation is one of the instruments used by cybercrooks. Unverified information inadequately understood threats, and conspiracy theories have contributed to anxiety amongst communities and, in some cases, facilitated the execution of cyberattacks according to Interpol.
DevelopmentAid interviewed international experts for their comments on the rise of fake news in global development, asking them about the consequences of and the solutions for addressing this negative phenomenon.
The great equalizer
More than one billion students worldwide have been affected by the pandemic according to United Nations (UN) estimates. Millions of pupils and students have yet to be reached by means of tele- and audio-lessons delivered via the internet, television and radio. Among those with the highest risk of being left behind are members of minority or disadvantaged communities, refugees and displaced persons.
The UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, issued recommendations about how to get children back into the classroom in a policy brief launched alongside a new global campaign called Save our Future. The UN official described education as “the key to personal development and the future of societies”.
“As the world faces unsustainable levels of inequality, we need education – the great equalizer – more than ever”
One of the examples of how the current pandemic has deepened the gap between different groups of a population is the story of Nepalese girls who are likely to quit education because of the economic struggle faced by their parents.
In many low-income communities in Nepal, parents depend on daily wages that have been disrupted due to the lockdown measures implemented to minimize the effect of COVID-19. When parents are under pressure because of limited income and resources, they are likely to deprioritize girls from learning; be this by keeping them at home to take care of younger siblings or to enter an early marriage.
A DevelopmentAid journalist from Nepal has covered the topic of multiple obstacles to attend school faced by the girls from this country in the latest article published on our platform.
Earlier in July, Education Cannot Wait (ECW, a global fund dedicated to education in emergencies and protracted crises) announced US$19 million in emergency response funding to the COVID-19 pandemic across 10 crisis-affected countries. With this new funding, ECW’s total COVID-19 response has now reached 33 countries and crisis-affected contexts, with US$43.5 million in funding approved so far.
You are welcome!
Citizens of Moldova, one of the poorest countries in Europe, are on the blacklist of almost all EU countries because of the negative forecasts and trends regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. However, Turkey, which is also subject to an increasing number of coronavirus cases, is welcoming Moldovan tourists.
Apparently, Ankara has adapted its tourism sector to the new realities of travel and accommodation during COVID-19.
Turkey is one of the 87 destinations that have now eased travel restrictions, according to the United Nations World Tourist Organization (UNWTO) which recently reported that about 40% of all destinations worldwide that have now eased the restrictions they had placed on international tourism in response to COVID-19. At the same time, 115 destinations (53% of all destinations worldwide) continue to keep their borders completely closed to tourism.
Of the 87 destinations that have eased restrictions recently, 20 are Small Island Developing States (SIDS), many of which depend on tourism as a central pillar of employment, economic growth and development.
At the end of July, the European Council recommended that EU member-countries gradually lifted the travel restrictions at their external borders for residents of the following third countries:
-
- Australia
- Canada
- Georgia
- Japan
- Morocco
- New Zealand
- Rwanda
- South Korea
- Thailand
- Tunisia
- Uruguay
- China, subject to confirmation of reciprocity
About COVID-2019 Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that are common in many different species of animals including camels, cattle, cats and bats. Rarely, animal coronaviruses can infect people and then spread between them such as was the case with MERS (2012) and SARS (2003).The symptoms of the virus are very similar to those of a common cold – runny nose, headache, cough, sore throat, fever, a general feeling of being unwell. Blood tests are necessary in order to prove the presence of the virus in the organism. Named by scientists as the “Wuhan seafood market pneumonia virus”, COVID-19 is a coronavirus, like MERS and SARs, all of which have their origins in bats. Initial reports show that, in the early stages of the outbreak (early January 2020), many of those infected in Wuhan had some link to a large seafood and live animal market – the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market, mainly its western wing where wildlife animals are traded. This suggests that the virus initially affected an animal and subsequently spread to a person in a what a CDC has called “the species barrier jump”.
