Bill Gates has called for Covid-19 drugs and an eventual vaccine to be made available to countries and people that need them most, not to the “highest bidder”. The billionaire philanthropist said that relying on market forces would prolong the deadly pandemic. He stated that leaders needed to make hard decisions about distributing based on equity.
Newly reopened theme parks in Japan are asking riders not to scream on roller coasters. The recommendation against screaming — along with use of masks — is included in guidelines issued by the country’s theme-parks associations as a means of preventing the spread of the coronavirus, and most parks are following suit. Parkgoers have been struggling to comply with the no-screaming requirement.
Poverty and hunger resulting from the novel coronavirus crisis can lead to more deaths than the disease itself, Oxfam warned. According to an Oxfam report, The Hunger Virus, Covid-19 is “deepening the hunger crisis in the world’s hunger hotspots” like Venezuela and South Sudan. Additionally, the health crisis is giving birth to new “epicentres of hunger” across the world.
Trading volumes for the Shiba Inu meme-based cryptocurrency spiked nearly 2,000% in the last two days as videos on TikTok encouraged users to invest. The whimsical asset’s price climbed 35% to $0.035 over the same period. Some of the videos on TikTok, garnered more than 100,000 “likes,” while all videos with the “dogecoin” hashtag amassed several million.
A 17-year old boy from India spent Rs. 1.6 million on PUBG Mobile for in-app purchases of game cosmetics, battle passes, ammunition, and other items. The money that was used by the boy was set aside as savings for the father’s medical expenses. The parents thought the boy was using the smartphone for online courses during the lockdown.
Authorities in Inner Mongolia in China are on high alert after a suspected case of bubonic plague, the disease that caused Black Death pandemic, was reported Sunday. The case was discovered in the city of Bayannur. A hospital alerted municipal authorities of the patient’s case and local authorities had issued a citywide Level 3 warning for plague prevention.
Rapper Kanye West made a shocking revelation last night, in which he declared his candidacy for US president. The unlikely challenger to Donald Trump and Joe Biden, chose American independence day to make the surprise announcement on Twitter, triggering a social media storm. It is however not clear whether Kanye had filed any official paperwork to appear on state election ballots.
A new flu virus found in pigs in China has become more infectious to humans and can become a potential “pandemic virus”, a new study has found. A team of Chinese researchers looked at influenza viruses found in pigs from 2011 to 2018 and found a “G4” strain of H1N1 with “all the essential hallmarks of a candidate pandemic virus”.
As border tensions increase between world’s two most populous nations, India on Monday banned 59 Chinese mobile apps, including the wildly popular TikTok and WeChat. The apps were banned over national security and privacy concerns after several complaints were received by the ministry alleging theft of users’ data and violations of user privacy. It was unclear when the ban would come into force.
As Europe slowly eases border restrictions, external borders opening from July 1 will not be allowing travelers from Pakistan, US, Russia, Brazil and Qatar. Some 47 countries are on the draft list of acceptable countries; travellers from 54 nations are likely still to be barred. The criteria are based on the “epidemiological situation and the response to COVID-19 in the third country”.