Positive News During the Covid-19 Pandemic

One of the great quotes from Hollywood is "hope is a beautiful thing" (from Shawshank Redemption). In these times of #covid19pandemic we do need positive news to keep up our hope in the future and our hope in mankind. 

I have taken it upon myself to collect five positive news every few days and share with people I know. 

Due to my background, most of these will be related to #innovation and #engineering. You may follow me on Tweeter (@mister_mangu) for these updates. 

Else you can visit this blog where I maintain an archive of these pieces. #fightagainstcorona #positiveenergy #goodnews #covid19southafrica #covid19news 

05-May-2020

1. The science barometer has reported record-high confidence of people in science (in Germany). Would it mean that post-Covid19 society would be a more pragmatic and logical society with less scope for hate and more for truth and love? https://www.wissenschaft-im-dialog.de/projekte/wissenschaftsbarometer/wissenschaftsbarometer-corona-spezial/ 
2. In my last list of positive news, we read about EU's initiatives towards running united research to fight Corona. A global fundraising was started on the 4th of May. It has already met its $8 Billion target!  #UnitedAgainstCoronavirus https://researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-europe-innovation-2020-5-8bn-covid-19-r-d-target-met-with-1bn-from-horizon-2020/
3. The virus is mutating. But contrary to Hollywood mutation these virus mutations are making it weaker. It also makes a little bit of common sense. Mutations are mostly supported by the organism's chances of survival. A virus survives longer if the host lives. Hence, the death of a host is a bad grade for the virus! So as they get better at survival strategy they should get less lethal. Again, I am no virologist. I may be absolutely wrong. But mutations are happening and they are making the virus weaker. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-8286181/Coronavirus-mutation-one-sample-signal-getting-weaker.html
4. Following the logic of double-negative, here is a piece of positive news based on the disproving of negative news! News around reinfections were false-positives! https://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2020/may/03/coronavirus-reinfections-were-false-positives-says-who-technical-lead-video
5. And some nice stats as always. The total number of recovered cases is now more than 1.1 million. Rate of increase of cases in Germany has been less than 1% and in the USA has been less than 3% for ten days. And Singapore is still one of the best warriors with less than 0.09% death rate. And yes, 80-90% of the cases in India are asymptomatic!

26-April-2020

1. Accepting freebies is a shame in traditional Indian culture. Some people still believe in it. Some migrant labourers in Rajasthan were quarantined in a local school. In return for the care and free-food, they painted the whole school building! https://thelogicalindian.com/latest-news/migrant-workers-paint-quarantine-school-sikar-20760 #dignity 
2. In spite of jaw-dropping numbers, the infection increase-rates are actually easing in the USA. The rate of increase in the numbers of new cases has consistently stayed below 5% for the past two weeks. 
3. Many might have missed the phenomenal news that the world's first portable MRI machine has got FDA approval during the Corona outbreak. Such instruments will be crucial in fighting pandemics. https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/fda-approves-worlds-first-portable-mri-scanner/
4. Innovators are working round the clock in enabling us to fight the pandemic. Here is an excellent list of such innovations. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/04/coronavirus-covid19-pandemic-gadgets-innovation-technology/ #innovation While we are at it, let me also state that entrepreneurs are the happiest people working! https://www.forbes.com/sites/elainepofeldt/2014/03/05/survey-entrepreneurs-are-happier-than-employees/#544cdaea62d9
5. Disasters unite. Global disasters unite the globe! Major world organisations are inviting all countries and organisations to join hands in the fight against Covid_19. https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/qanda_20_731  #UnitedAgainstCoronavirus

17-April-2020

1. Germany has been one of the most successful nations in terms of tackling Covid-19. In an important meeting, held on 15th April, the Chancellor discussed how the restrictions shall slowly be eased. They aim to open the schools on 4th of May. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-52299358 
2. In spite of jaw-dropping numbers, the infection increase-rates are actually easing in the USA. The rate of increase in the numbers of new cases has consistently stayed below 7% since 11th April 2020. 
3. In spite of the growing number of new cases, the effective number of patients under treatment (i.e. infected - recovered) has stabilised in some of the worst-hit nations like Spain and Italy. It actually has been decreasing in Germany. 
4. A major aim behind any drastic measures like border-sealing or lockdown must be to buy time to get prepared. Finland closed borders to its worst-hit state of Uusimaa on 28th March. They have been preparing the medical facilities in other parts so long and shall mostly lift the blockade next week. https://yle.fi/uutiset/osasto/news/daily_govt_not_planning_to_extend_uusimaa_border_closure/11303010 
5. The government of Odisha (in India) took an out-of-the-box step in dealing with Covid19. They employed Mr. Subroto Bagchi (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subroto_Bagchi), the ex-director of a successful IT company (Mindtree: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mindtree) to manage the state's response. During the ongoing lockdown, Bagchi's team has been working in exemplary manner and now they have prepared 36 new hospitals in all major cities of the state to face the waves when the lockdown is finally lifted.    https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/odisha-to-have-36-dedicated-hospitals-for-covid-19-patients-soon-report-2212462

09-April-2020

1. Around 10,000 people recovered from Covid-19 just today (8-9 April 2020) in Spain and 13,000 in Germany.
2. Govt. of India has launched an aggressive funding scheme (of around US$ 7.5M) for startups planning to work on developing products to enable the fight against Covid-19. https://isba.in/cawach/ 
3. Round the world, countries, agencies and philanthropists are offering a massive amount of funding to entrepreneurs to help fight Covid-19. https://sciencebusiness.net/news/live-blog-rd-response-covid-19-pandemic 
4. Finland, the happiest country in the world, seems to have been doing what every other country must be doing, i.e. to have a reserve of medical accoutrement. Apparently, they touched their medical reserve for the first time since WW II. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/05/world/europe/coronavirus-finland-masks.html 
5. Companies around the world have been working on making easy to use inexpensive test-kits to facilitate large-scale testing. E.g. 
1. Brazil: https://tinyurl.com/w6zhy8c 
2. India: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-52064427 
3. Finland: https://tinyurl.com/rybcoro 
4. Germany (Siemens): https://tinyurl.com/u3lwcj9 
5. South Africa: In SA, they will use the existing TB test-equipments to speed up the testing. https://tinyurl.com/wqmbuar

 06-April-2020

1. “Rate” of growth of the infection has been consistently decreasing in the USA for the past 15 days. https://tinyurl.com/uxh3fja
2. India to double the number of ventilators by June using inhouse made ones. https://tinyurl.com/wkvj29d 
3. Odisha govt. (in India) sanctions $70,000 to feed stray animals during the lockdown. https://tinyurl.com/vmk68cr 
4. Doctor drives 540km to drop a patient home during the lockdown in India. https://tinyurl.com/wjfrkhs
5. A rising number of startups working to fight #covid19 https://tinyurl.com/tys9w8j