Thursday, May 14, 2020

Coronavirus News (99)



The economic devastation wrought by the pandemic could ultimately kill more people than the virus itself The economic devastation the pandemic wreaks on the ultra-poor could ultimately kill more people than the virus itself. ....... The United Nations predicts that a global recession will reverse a three-decade trend in rising living standards and plunge as many as 420 million people into extreme poverty, defined as earning less than $2 a day. ....... As for the 734 million people already there, the economic tsunami will make it harder for them to ever climb out. .......... Hunger is already rising in the poorest parts of the world, where lockdowns and social distancing measures have erased incomes and put even basic food items out of reach. ........ Recent phone surveys in places as disparate as Senegal and rural China suggest that large swaths of society have lost their livelihoods and, as a result, are eating less. ....... The U.N. predicts the coronavirus could push an additional 130 million people to the brink of starvation by the end of 2020. World Vision, an international Christian aid organization, warns that

30 million children are at risk of dying

.......... “I want to stress that we are not only facing a global health pandemic but also a global humanitarian catastrophe” ....... The pandemic, which began in an industrial Chinese city but has since spread to even the remotest corners of the Amazon rainforest, has exposed the radical interdependence of the modern world — causing disruptions in everything from manufacturing to the global narcotics trade. .........

In many of the world’s poorest places, the lockdowns have proved more destructive than the virus itself.

........ Clean water is scarce, and families live 10 to a room in moldy cinder-block shacks.

The recommended separation for social distancing — six feet — is the length of some apartments.

....... “Hunger has more victims now than corona.” ....... “I’ve entered houses where the people have no bread, no cans of food, no sugar, no cooking gas,” said Mohammad S Al-Zawahreh, a Jordanian civil society activist. “It’s not going to work to tell these people to develop yourself — learn Skype or Zoom — while their children are starving.” .........

The U.N. and private aid groups have raised the alarm in recent weeks, saying a concerted international strategy is needed.

....... Last week U.N. officials increased the size of their coronavirus aid appeal from $2 billion to $6.7 billion, cautioning that “the specter of multiple famines” looms on the horizon. ........ “Unless we take action now, we should be prepared for a significant rise in conflict, hunger and poverty” ......... At risk is three decades of progress. Since 1990, more than 1 billion people — 13% of the world’s population — have risen out of extreme poverty .......... Longtime debates in the development world over the importance of hiring local foreign aid workers and the usefulness of cash transfers — as opposed to the donation of goods — may be settled by new travel restrictions.




Wisconsin Bars Packed After State Supreme Court Lifts Stay-At-Home Orders
‘Trump was right’: President claims pandemic has proved his economic theories The remarks represent a reinforcement of the White House’s largely isolationist foreign policy outlook.
Rick Bright, ousted director of vaccine agency, warns that administration lacks 'centralized, coordinated plan'

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