The good, the bad, the ugly: What went wrong during India’s Covid-19 response

‘According to our village-level digital entrepreneurs in the SoochnaPreneur programme at Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF), the four essential systems that were massively hit by the pandemic were education, healthcare, finance, and citizen entitlements. When the pandemic was raging, our SoochnaPreneurs reported that all people wanted was food and rations, a device to access online education for their children, the ability to talk to a doctor or health worker to learn how to keep themselves safe, and to make some money to meet their daily needs from the confines of their homes. Ironically, given the stringent nature of the lockdowns, all this needed access to the internet.

‘However, across the country, lack of access to resources, high levels of digital illiteracy, and the deepening digital divide exacerbated by the pandemic acted as major roadblocks in India’s COVID-19 response. Even as the government announced relief packages—food grains and cash payments—the mechanisms of delivery to beneficiaries at the last mile were unclear.’

Read here (IPS New, Nov 23 2021)

The Covid-19 vaccine: Lessons and challenges

‘The rapid deployment of vaccines is key in accelerating the return to normalcy... As policymakers vaccinate their populations against an ever-changing COVID-19, they’re discovering numerous challenges along the way. In this episode of The McKinsey Podcast, McKinsey partners Lieven Van der Veken and Tania Zulu Holt share insights on progress and lessons learned so far, and how to help get the vaccine distributed as quickly and safely as possible. An edited transcript of their conversation follows.’

Listen here (McKinsey & Co, Apr 9, 2021)

What Europeans have learned from a year of pandemic

‘From the first case diagnosed a year ago at a hospital in northern Italy to the empty shops, restaurants and stadiums of Europe's cities, the lives of Europeans have been changed forever. Curbs on movement have forced every country and society to adapt its rules and rethink its culture. There have been hard truths and unexpected innovations in a year that changed Europe.

• Restrictions are tough for societies used to freedom
• Experts are essential, but mistakes have been made
• The EU wasn't set up for a pan-European health crisis
• Societies have responded in different ways
• A Europe without borders is fine in theory
• Hard truths about how we slaughter animals
• Europeans embraced lifestyle change in different ways

Read here (BBC, Feb 20, 2021)

How to heal the 'mass trauma' of Covid-19

‘When the pandemic is over, how should we process the memories of what happened? Ed Prideaux discovers counter-intuitive answers from the science of trauma... 

• What happens when trauma goes viral
• How trauma affects groups and individuals
• The problem of forgetting

‘Covid-19 is a mass trauma the likes of which we've never seen before. Our most complex social extensions, and the building-blocks of our personal realities, have been coloured indelibly. The ways we live and work together, and view each other as common citizens: everything means something different in the viral era, and with potentially traumatic effect. 

‘All pandemics end, however. And this one will. But to forget the trauma, move on, and pay it no mind, won't help. It'd be a disservice to history and our own minds. Maybe to the future, too. ’

Read here (BBC, Feb 4, 2021) 

Nothing to learn from East Asia?

‘Although most East Asian economies have successfully contained the pandemic without nationwide ‘stay in shelter lockdowns’, many governments have seen such measures as necessary. But lockdowns are blunt measures, with inevitable adverse consequences, especially for businesses and employment. 

‘Many countries have thus imposed lockdowns, citing China’s response in Wuhan. But as the first WHO fact-finding mission to China noted, “The majority of the response in China, in 30 provinces, was about case finding, contact tracing, and suspension of public gatherings—all common measures used anywhere in the world to manage [infectious] diseases.

‘Lockdowns were limited to a few cities where contagion went “out of control in the beginning”. The key lesson from China was “all about…speed. The faster you can find the cases, isolate the cases, and track their close contacts, the more successful you’re going to be.”

Read here (IPS News, Jan 19, 2021) 

Vietnam is fighting Covid without pitting economic growth against public health

‘The motto for the first phase was that if we stay alive, the question of wealth and the economy can come later. Ordinary people did suffer, such as the gig economy workers: whenever I order a Grabcar (a south-east Asian version of Uber) these days, the vehicle that arrives is always newer and more expensive that what I’m used to; as a driver explained, those who used to pick me up in their cheaper cars have had to sell them to stay afloat, leaving only those with deeper pockets left in the market.

‘But now the government has shifted its anti-Covid strategy towards the economy. The tactics for the second wave are more sophisticated. Contact tracing is still prompt and aggressive but lockdown and isolation are more selective; international flights have been opened for foreign workers, such as engineers from South Korea’s LG, who are needed to keep the economy functioning.’

Read here (The Guardian, Oct 20, 2020)

How people coped in lockdown: Jules Evans

‘What conclusions can we draw from this? Here are some personal suggestions and reflections:

1. Difficult times bring out the best (and sometimes the worst) in people. As Stoic philosopher Epictetus said: ‘Difficulties reveal people’s characters’. Most of us are finding the pandemic incredibly hard, we’re tired, anxious and sometimes feel defeated. But there’s cause for hope too — the emergency is bringing out the best in people, and helping us rediscover what really matters.
2. Doctors and health authorities should be careful not to pathologize the normal and appropriate suffering people feel in hard times, or to immediately prescribe pills for emotional suffering. Anti-depressants can be helpful in the short-term, but they also have side effects and can lead to long-term dependency. Declaring a mental health ‘epidemic’ and saying mental health services are the only solution can create bottlenecks for services that either don’t exist or have long waiting lists.
3. Instead, as well as supporting mental health services, we should also emphasize people’s strengths, assets and natural coping skills, including community approaches like getting to know your neighbours or joining local mutual aid groups. This empowers people rather than making them feel weaker and more dependent on medical experts.
4. For two decades, as part of the ‘politics of well-being’, policy makers have tried to improve people’s happiness in schools, companies and society. There is some evidence this is counter-productive, especially in difficult times. It can make people ashamed of feeling anxiety, anger or grief, even if these emotions are appropriate. Instead of focusing narrowly on happiness, we can help people develop psychological flexibility, and discover what gives them a sense of meaning and purpose, especially in adversity. This could make people more resilient and less prone to ‘the happiness trap’ (ie avoiding activities that make them feel anxious in the short-term).
5. Mental health and flourishing involve all aspects of society, from the economy to the arts to travel and green spaces. Building a flourishing organisation or society means taking a joined-up approach. That joined-up approach needs to come from the top — from the head of state, or the CEO of an organisation, or the head of a school or university.
6. An example of that joined-up approach to flourishing is social prescribing — perhaps 25% of people who go to see their GP (local doctor) don’t have anything physically wrong with them. Instead, they’re mainly suffering from loneliness and disconnection. Under a new NHS programme, the GP can refer them to a ‘link worker’, who then connects them to local community groups (sports, arts, faith and philosophy, and so on). Rather than asking ‘what’s wrong with you’ they can ask ‘what matters to you? What do you value?’
7. The challenge is that we are discovering the importance of these community approaches to flourishing just as the pandemic destroys community infrastructure — shutting down theatres, churches, youth groups, sports facilities and pubs. Yes, online courses have boomed, but we can’t go entirely digital, nor should governments only support big national arts projects. We all need to support local organisations that foster well-being, especially local companies.
8. In an age of emergency, you are only as strong as your community. The fantasy of the invulnerable Stoic individual is just that - a fantasy. We need each other, now more than ever, so the best thing you can do to support your long-term mental health is to invest in your community and in community relationships.

Read here (Jules Evans, Philosophy for Life, Sept 18, 2020)

Europe is near the brink of a second wave of Covid-19. Will its new containment strategy work?

‘While new daily cases are still several times lower than they were during Europe’s peak in March and April, one thing we know about COVID-19 is that it can spread exponentially if allowed to get out of control. Now, all eyes are on Europe to see if it can prevent that from happening.’ This story examines the following:

• Where are cases rising?
• What’s causing the increase?
• Is anything different compared to the first wave?
• Has tourism caused cases to increase?
• What other factors are to blame?
• How are leaders around Europe responding to the increase in cases?
• What lessons can the rest of the world learn?

Read here (Time, August 7, 2020)

Coronavirus: Sweden has become the world's cautionary tale

‘Sweden's grim result - more death and nearly equal economic damage - suggests that the supposed choice between lives and pay cheques is a false one: A failure to impose social distancing can cost lives and jobs at the same time.’

Read here (Straits Times, July 8, 2020)

‘Fighting Covid-19: China in action’

China's State Council Information Office published on June 7, 2020, a 65-page white paper to ‘keep a record of China’s efforts in its own fight against the virus, to share its experience with the rest of the world, and to clarify its ideas on the global battle.’

Read here (XinHua, June 7, 2020)

New coronavirus losing potency, top Italian doctor says

‘The new coronavirus is losing its potency and has become much less lethal, a senior Italian doctor said on Sunday. “In reality, the virus clinically no longer exists in Italy,” said Alberto Zangrillo, the head of the San Raffaele Hospital in Milan in the northern region of Lombardy, which has borne the brunt of Italy’s coronavirus contagion. “The swabs that were performed over the last 10 days showed a viral load in quantitative terms that was absolutely infinitesimal compared to the ones carried out a month or two months ago,” he told RAI television.’

Read here (Reuters, June 1, 2020)

The pieces of the puzzle of covid-19’s origin are coming to light

‘Many scientists think that with so many biologists actively hunting for bat viruses, and gain-of-function work becoming more common, the world is at increasing risk of a laboratory-derived pandemic at some point. “One of my biggest hopes out of this pandemic is that we address this issue—it really worries me,” says Dr Pilch. Today there are around 70 bsl-4 sites in 30 countries. More such facilities are planned...

‘The question of whether they really are [unrecognised zoonoses], and how those threats may stack up, needs attention. That attention needs laboratories. It also needs a degree of open co-operation that America is now degrading with accusations and reductions in funding, and that China has taken steps to suppress at source. That suppression has done nothing to help the country; indeed, by supporting speculation, it may yet harm it.’

Read here (The Economist, May 2, 2020)

What history can teach us about building a fairer society after coronavirus

‘In recent weeks, some people have optimistically predicted that the Covid-19 outbreak will force governments to build fairer economic systems. But the peasants’ story reminds us that change isn’t automatic, and Spain’s history shows that the bad guys can take advantage of a crisis, too. Look at the Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán, seizing the right to rule by decree while citing Covid-19 as his excuse.

‘There are great strategic challenges ahead. Lockdown gives workers and renters power – the government has to pay people not to work, and landlords are struggling to evict tenants or get new ones – but it will not last. While previous pandemics cut the labour force, this crisis will increase unemployment, perhaps to levels unknown for centuries, and bosses will exploit workers’ desperation so that they can keep wages low and conditions poor.’

Read here (The Guardian, April 18, 2020)