AFTER SIX months of the COVID-19 infection outbreak, almost all its impacts have been assessed, but the question that still remains unanswered is: when will the pandemic end? In a pandemic, this is a question of utmost desperation, but we cannot put an end date to it. The world raised this question in early March with a certainty that the modern world would tackle the pandemic effectively and unlike in the past, curtailment would be faster. But the situation does not support this.
As dozens of simulated situations, plotted in graphs, make the rounds with the forecast of the next five to seven months as the probable end of the pandemic, the world is asking yet another question: is it containable? This is a question that reflects people’s surrender and acceptance to the invisible virus that has been living up to its genetic trait: to colonise human hosts as fast as possible and thrive. For the virus, the present situation is turning out favourable since it jumped into the human host somewhere in December last year. More and more countries are in phases of unlockdown, thus breaking the barriers of physical distances much needed to stop the spread.
Bu hikaye Down To Earth dergisinin July 01, 2020 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Giriş Yap
Bu hikaye Down To Earth dergisinin July 01, 2020 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap
The Pill That's Roiling US Drug Regulation
The hard right is challenging FDA's authority to regulate drugs with its lawsuit to ban America's most used abortion pill
TURN OVER A NEW LEAF
The young leaves of pilkhan free are a worthy alternative to leafy vegetables in the spring season
FAIR PRICE
Using a calculator, Uttar Pradesh scientifically fixes fee for transporting faecal sludge to treatment plants
THE FOREVER POLLUTANT
From production to usage to disposal, plastic is a threat to those who come in its contact SIDDHARTH GHANSHYAM SINGH
Seeds from the past
For a decade,200 villages in Odisha have conserved and grown 190 indigenous rice and millet varieties with proven climate resilience
TESTING TIMES
While the world is trying to identify uniform tests to measure soil biodiversity, it still needs investment and infrastructure to make them available to all
BREAKING NEW GROUND
Soil health is typically measured by its nutrient content, by presence of elements like nitrogen and phosphorus. No country in the world measures it in terms of soil biodiversity-a counting of underground faunal populations and microorganisms.
PRIME TRIGGER
Heat stress dominates debate on the causes of a mysterious chronic kidney disease that continues to baffle health experts and is on the rise globally
Coral catastrophe
Consistent ocean heating puts global corals at risk of mass bleaching in 2024
CHIPKO A DISTANT MEMORY
Whenever a dictionary of green terms is written, no matter in what language, it will contain at least one Hindi word-Chipko, which means to hug.