🌎 📸 COVID under control?

🌎 World News

Denmark, first to halt their Covid vaccine programs - CNBC

Denmark is the first country to put a stop to their COVID vaccine program as they claim the virus is now under control. ‘“Spring has arrived, vaccine coverage in the Danish population is high, and the epidemic has reversed,” the Danish Health Authority said in a statement Wednesday.’ Hence the National Board of Health has ended the vaccination programs for this season, and from May 15th, people will no longer be invited to be vaccinated though mostly everyone has finished their course of vaccination. Denmark has started to publicize their vaccination campaign after Christmas 2020, and now 4.8 million citizens are vaccinated with 3.6 million have had a booster shot. However, the Danish Health and Medicines Authority has stated that there would most likely be a need to start vaccinations again in the fall, as the virus could continue to mutate.

Kansas faces a tornado - BBC

The National Weather Service, NWS, has informed that there are severe thunderstorm warnings for the following states; Kansas, Iowa, Missouri and Nebraska. The city of Wichita, there were 50 to 100 structures which faced damage due to the storm. Fortunately, this storm didn’t result in casualties or any injuries, mostly damages to buildings and to cars. There are planes and drones that being deployed to assess the damage and the severity of the situations. According to NWS, Kansas is the so-called ‘tornado alley,’ and can be considered to be the most active with tornados.

Fighting COVID with metal - AP news

There have been several districts in Shanghai that have placed metal barriers last weekend, as sections of the city have moved into holding protests and evoking anger in some individuals. Eventually, ‘workers in white head-to-toe protective gear’ have blocked off roads, communities and entrances of buildings with wired fences and different metal barriers. The city of 25 million residents and a large portion of it has been prevented from leaving its residents. Though the use of physical barriers is foreign to the people of Shanghai, these methods have been used throughout the pandemic in other cities in China, such as parts of Beijing and Wuhan.

- Written by Jenna Cho; Source - CNBC & BBC

📣 Political Commentary

China's Latest Lockdowns

Following Covid-19 outbreaks in China, the nation has introduced lockdowns in its two largest cities, Beijing and Shanghai, as a continuation of its "zero-COVID policy". The President's goal with this is to reach a point where there are no Covid-19 cases at all among China's population through strict quarantining of infected persons and close contacts, as well as conducting mass-testing. Shanghai has seen more than 500,000 new cases since the start of March, and is currently reporting 15,000+ new cases per day, while Beijing has shut down schools and quarantined some residential buildings.

Protests have gained a new fervour recently in the two cities, and with it, censorship has grown as well. Many citizens in Shanghai have been under tight restrictions-- including quarantines-- since April, and have vented their frustrations through social media. After posts come flooding through from those residing in Shanghai expressing frustration with the indefinite lockdown and desperation to be admitted to hospitals, Chinese censors began cracking down. Negative posts have been removed but censors are having a fairly difficult time keeping up as citizens are trying to find ways of outwitting them.

Liberal Political Commentary

China has taken a different approach from many of the Western nations regarding COVID-- especially America-- but that doesn't mean their approach was bad so to speak, just different. From the obvious point of view, China took COVID more seriously. When lockdowns needed to happen to protect the people from a deadly virus, they did. While it certainly has its problems, the ruling Communist Party valued its citizen's health and safety over profit. The same can't be said for the US, whose government was overall ill-equipped and frankly unwilling to deal with the pandemic. The "profit over people" outlook that the US and some European nations kept in the first few months of the pandemic was costly, both to the economy and to the overall health of the country.

The main reason why the West was so reluctant to institute COVID lockdowns, or even mask mandates, was a perceived idea of freedom that was used to elevate the individual over the collective good. Somehow, wearing masks become equal to wearing muzzles and quarantines become tyranny to a significant portion of the population. Even while protests were going on, government officials knew what was best for public health. COVID-19 spread rapidly and took lives, and China recognized that. Since the start of the pandemic, China has taken the steps necessary to protect its people. Their continuation of trying to maintain public health is admirable, and it's likely saving hundreds of thousands of lives.

When all is said and done, no country's approach to managing the spread of COVID is perfect, including China's. While the government accounts for everyone's basic needs during the lockdown, such as food, there are still people who inevitably slip through the cracks and don't receive the supplies they need. As hospitals fill up, patients in need of routine hospital visits often aren't able to leave the place they are quarantined in, which of course poses a risk to their health. Balancing public good and individual interest is a toss-up, but despite these challenges, China had a positive response to the pandemic.

- Written by Ashlyn Hill

Conservative Political Commentary

China has adopted a Zero-Covid policy since early 2020 when the initial Pandemic began in Wuhan(Rao). Since then, they have successfully mitigated the number of deaths in the country, especially when compared to other developed countries such as the UK and the United States(Rao). This is because, unlike Western countries, China understands that personal liberties are useless if one is dead and they were unwilling to allow millions to die to afford the few the freedom to make choices that endanger others. The success of this policy was evident in the fact that the country had gone over a year without any cases of coronavirus. Then in March, a surge of coronavirus occurred in the country as the omicron variant flooded in due to the ease with which it is transmitted(Brant). As a result, Shanghai’s 25 million residents were put into a lockdown immediately and have remained for the last month(Yeung).

Many have argued for the government’s right to have such strict sanctions; however, it is inarguable that these methods work. When public safety is at risk then the government has the right to interfere for the greater good. While the lockdowns are not without error and there have been documented issues from them the proof is in the pudding with China’s methods. A pandemic is never pretty and although there are documented stories of suffering it is still preferable to the chaos and death toll that occurred in other countries unwilling to make their citizen’s safety a priority.

Unfortunately according to one Dr. Chen, a professor of epidemiology at the University of Oxford, has stated that “[China] is a victim of its own success” referring to the fact that since there haven’t been any cases of the coronavirus the greatest amount of vaccinations have been amongst the young rather than the elderly meaning with this new resurgence of coronavirus the most vulnerable demographic is still unprotected and the need for extreme measures to protect them is of the highest priority(Rao).

The President of China, Xi Jinping, has tied his presidency to the efficiency of the no-covid policy with the aim of curbing any flare-ups swiftly and is dedicated to maintaining the policy(Lui and Woo). According to the Global Times the idea that Shanghai a city “endowed with the country’s best medical system, is in dire need of help” necessitates that the sanctions must continue (Yeung). It is without a doubt that although severe these sanctions are effective, especially when you compare the death rate of covid-19 victims in China to other western nations.

- Written by Alexis Walker; Source CNN & AP News

📈 Economy

  • Grocery prices have increased internationally, with the US government reporting a 10% rise in the past 12 months, and 5.9% in the UK. Understandably, these price jumps are paired with inflation-- largely stemming from the Ukraine war-- that has been sweeping much of the Western world. Due to supply chain issues, large companies have been forced to raise their prices, causing stores to raise their prices as well in response (Source: MarketWatch, BBC News)

  • The US property rights annual blacklist has come out, and seven nations made the list including Russia and China. This list is made up of countries that the US believes have too little enforcement of intellectual property rights and is accompanied by a watch list as well with several other countries added. Nations are typically removed from these lists either due to extreme circumstances-- as Ukraine was-- or due to crackdowns on counterfeit goods as Saudi Arabia achieved this year. (Source: AP News)

  • The US trade deficit decreased by .1% in February after reaching a record level in January. Trade deficits-- which occur when a nation imports more than they export-- tend to have a poor effect on a nation's economy. In February, the US imported $317.8 billion while they exported $228.6 billion. (Source: The Wall Street Journal)

- Written by Ashlyn Hill

💼 Startups

Enabling online restaurants

The pandemic has thrown obstacles at everybody, however, it is the food industry that has been hit especially hard. Castiron is a company that has provided a solution by creating an online software platform to assist independent chefs, bakers & artisans to start, build and grow their businesses.

Business Model

Castiron is a platform that is free for sellers to use. The company earns its revenue by charging their customers a 10% convenience fee, a 2.9% standard as well as a $0.30 payment processing fee.

Funding

Castiron has a $6 million seed funding round from Bowery Capital, Foundry Group and High Alpha. The online platform is also being used by "several hundred users" according to TechCrunch.

- Written by Revathi Angajan; Source TechCrunch & Unicorner

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