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Dec. 08, 2024 06:16PM EST
May. 19, 2021 06:57AM EST
India reports world record in daily COVID deaths
India's health ministry reported 4,529 deaths from COVID-19 in a single day on Wednesday and another 267,122 new cases.
Why it matters: It's the most number of deaths from the coronavirus reported by a country in a 24-hour period since the pandemic began, per the Washington Post, citing Johns Hopkins data.
The big picture: India's total number of cases confirmed now exceed 25 million and the official death toll has increased past 283,000, though scientists and local health workers say the actual numbers are much higher.
- Since the beginning of last month, infection numbers have doubled and more than 100,000 deaths have been recorded amid "shortages of hospital beds, oxygen and critical drugs," AFP notes.
What they're saying: V.K. Paul, head of the government's COVID-19 task force, said the fact the number of new cases has remained below 300,000 for three days in a row shows the "pandemic curve is stabilizing," though he noted the big picture was "mixed," the Indian Express reports.
Between the lines: Experts say the "slowing down" in infection numbers in cities like New Delhi and Mumbai can be attributed to successful local government lockdowns, per the New York Times, which notes the virus is accelerating in some rural areas.
- "The death toll has remained over 4,000 for several days, suggesting that even if new infections are going down in urban centers, those infected earlier are dying," the Times notes.
The bottom line: Per the NYT, hospitals are still experiencing shortages and the vaccination drive remains sluggish.
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Apr. 22, 2021 03:57PM EST
Greta Thunberg criticizes "loopholes" in climate commitments at Biden summit
Climate activist Greta Thunberg released a video Thursday denouncing world leaders for the "hypothetical targets" announced at President Biden's virtual climate summit this week.
Why it matters: The virtual summit came hours before Thunberg urged U.S. lawmakers "to listen to and act on the science" in testimony before a House Oversight Committee panel.
- "These targets could be a great start," Thunberg said in the four-minute-long clip, "if it wasn't for the fact that they're full of gaps and loopholes."
Thunberg lambasted the leaders for "leaving out emissions from consumption of imported goods, as well as international aviation, shipping and the burning of biomass; using baseline manipulation; excluding most tipping points and feedback loops; and ignoring global aspects of equity and historic emissions."
- "They will call these hypothetical targets ambitious. But when you compare our insufficient targets with the overall current best available science, you clearly see that there's a gap. There are decades missing."
- The Swedish activist said the goals are "reliant on future, fantasy-scaled, currently barely-existing negative emissions technologies."
State of play: Biden announced on Thursday the U.S. would seek to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 50%-52% by 2030 relative to 2005 levels — about twice as ambitious as a goal set during the Obama administration.
- Leaders in Brazil, Canada and Japan also announced new targets at the summit.
The bottom line: "The point ... is that we can keep cheating in order to pretend that these targets are in line with what is needed," Thunberg said. "But while we can others and even ourselves, we cannot fool nature and physics."
- "The emissions are still there, whether we choose to count them or not."
Go deeper: All the new emissions targets announced at Biden’s climate summit
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Dec. 08, 2024 10:04PM EST



