When WHO first declared COVID-19 a global pandemic in March 2020, there was a great deal of apprehension about how India - the country with the highest TB cases and diabetes, inadequate health infrastructure and a population of 1.3 billion - would fare. Between the Janata Curfew and the first vaccinations, a massive machinery has been working as seamlessly as possible to make sure that, despite some missteps and missed infections, India conquers what has been the greatest challenge the world has encountered in decades. Covering the pandemic from the start, first for The Indian Express and then for ThePrint, Abantika Ghosh has had a ringside view of India's battle against the pandemic. A thrilling tale of unnamed thousands battling against a little-understood virus from the frontlines, Billions Under Lockdown brings that gripping theatre and its dramatis personae to life.
This handbook is a comprehensive source of information, analysis and directions in disaster studies. It goes beyond the oft-explored issues of management and science related to the topic and explores policies, governance, law and decision-making combined with the processes of implementation and enforcement, all the while integrating the latest science and technology updates related to the topic, such as artificial intelligence and early warning systems. It brings together studies which relate to sociology, politics and institutional economics, which work under the impact of resource availability, issues of leadership and international laws. Disasters are trans-boundary and disaster studies are trans-disciplinary. It is this aspect which would form the fulcrum of contributions and present a new, refreshing and innovative design for the handbook. The transformatory pedagogy which started with the Hyogo Framework for action 2005-2015 and The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 outlines seven clear targets and four priorities for action to prevent new and reduce existing disaster risks. The four priority areas around which the book would revolve are (i) Understanding disaster risk; (ii) Strengthening disaster risk governance to manage disaster risk; (iii) Investing in disaster reduction for resilience and; (iv) Enhancing disaster preparedness for effective response, and to "Build Back Better" in recovery, rehabilitation and reconstruction.
Governments, businesses, and individuals around the world are thinking about what happens after the COVID-19 pandemic. Can we hope to not only ward off another COVID-like disaster but also eliminate all respiratory diseases, including the flu? Bill Gates, one of our greatest and most effective thinkers and activists, believes the answer is yes. The author of the #1 New York Times best seller How to Avoid a Climate Disaster lays out clearly and convincingly what the world should have learned from COVID-19 and what all of us can do to ward off another catastrophe like it. Relying on the shared knowledge of the world’s foremost experts and on his own experience of combating fatal diseases through the Gates Foundation, Gates first helps us understand the science of infectious diseases. Then he shows us how the nations of the world, working in conjunction with one another and with the private sector, how we can prevent a new pandemic from killing millions of people and devastating the global economy. Here is a clarion call—strong, comprehensive, and of the gravest importance.
Everyone is aware of the public outcry regarding how the elderly were abandoned to die of Covid-19 in care homes and in their houses. There’s a big reveal in that the UK has taken global leadership in under-counting and under-reporting its official death toll. Countries over-run by the pandemic are heavily attributing Covid-19 deaths to underlying conditions and co-morbidities. That has been surprising. But what is even more shocking, is the extent to which this has happened. To say, it is a tip of the iceberg is perhaps an understatement. Is the UK’s actual death toll as much as 15 times the official figures? That’s the big reveal. There is a reason why the official death toll only focused only on the NHS and hospital deaths. The book reveals it is a tip of the iceberg, but the extent is one that is shocking. The book highlights the women leaders who protected their countries from the crisis contrasting them with macho men leaders who chose the path of herd immunity, even against shocking scenes – yet due to massive egos, refused to change course. The book covers George Floyd in a unique way. The race for a vaccine is presented – but, will the public accept the shortcuts and the methods used?
This book aims to examine the multiple effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on China-Southeast Asia relations from both Chinese and Southeast Asian perspectives. It invites many officials and scholars from the leading think-tanks and famous universities in China and Southeast Asian states to contribute and tries to reveal how has China-Southeast Asia relations been reshaping during/after the COVID-19 pandemic and discuss what kind of measures could be taken to push forward China-Southeast Asia relations and thus ensuring the peace and prosperity in the region. The main content of this book is divided into 10 parts, in which the first chapter briefly introduces the COVID-19 situation in China and Southeast Asia, China’s anti-COVID efforts, and the impacts of the COVID-19 on China-Southeast Asia relations from Chinese and Southeast Asian perspectives. Chapter 2 examines the dual influence of the pandemic on the construction of China-ASEAN community of a shared future and gave some useful policy recommendations on improving China-Southeast Asia relations. The following 8 chapters go deep into the Southeast Asian states’ response to COVID-19 and the economic, political and social effects of the COVID-19 on Southeast Asia–China relations, and look forward the future development of such relations. In addition, it also analyzes Southeast states’ reactions to the intense Sino-US power rivalry during/after the COVID-19 pandemic. This book is probably the first comprehensive study that investigates the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on China–Southeast Asia relations from both Chinese and Southeast Asian perspectives. It would not only open up a new area of study on China and Southeast Asia relations, but provide insightful observations and useful information for governments, companies and social organizations to facilitate cooperation in trade and investment, public health, and people-to-people exchanges. Therefore, the intended readership not only includes the academics but also officials, businessmen, journalists and social activists. The most important feature of this book is that it points out China–Southeast Asia relations would be reshaped by COVID-19 in the long run and analyzes how it would be reshaped. It also shows a well-balanced view on the COVID-19 and China–Southeast Asia relations as both university scholars, think-tank experts and government officials are involved in this book.
This collection discusses different aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic, which began in December 2019 in Wuhan, China, brought together under the slogan of “social worlds”. It is a book dedicated to thinking a posteriori about the implications and consequences of the pandemic, bearing in mind that it was a challenge (political, social, economic and philosophical) that tested the limits of human nature and the condition of humans in a world whose logic seems to slip away. In this sense, this volume brings together different approaches to this topic, ranging from philosophy to sociology, and from politics to social work, thus constituting an original work on such a delicate issue.
This book covers the topic of data science in a comprehensive manner and synthesizes both fundamental and advanced topics of a research area that has now reached its maturity. The book starts with the basic concepts of data science. It highlights the types of data and their use and importance, followed by a discussion on a wide range of applications of data science and widely used techniques in data science. Key Features • Provides an internationally respected collection of scientific research methods, technologies and applications in the area of data science. • Presents predictive outcomes by applying data science techniques to real-life applications. • Provides readers with the tools, techniques and cases required to excel with modern artificial intelligence methods. • Gives the reader a variety of intelligent applications that can be designed using data science and its allied fields. The book is aimed primarily at advanced undergraduates and graduates studying machine learning and data science. Researchers and professionals will also find this book useful.
This book highlights the impacts of COVID-19 on the global economy, at a time when the world economy has experienced large demand and supply shocks. To limit the transmission of the corona virus, all governments shut down production, restricted movement of people, etc, which led to severe curtailment in demand, and disruptions in supply chains all over the world. The COVID-19 pandemic has dragged the world economy into an abrupt and unforeseen recession. According to IMF estimates, world GDP will fall by over 3 percent due to the outbreak of this pandemic - the steepest slowdown since the Great Depression of the 1930s. The ILO has predicted a loss of about 25 million jobs due to this pandemic. Emerging markets will lose at least 2.4 percent of their GDP in 2020 alone. Loss in global travel revenue due to COVID-19 is estimated at USD 810.7 billion. Financial markets have been badly hit and about USD 83 million has been pulled out of developing markets since the outbreak of COVID-19. The list of sectors impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak, is endless All governments have announced stimulus packages comprising a mix of fiscal and monetary measures, but it is difficult to predict how quickly businesses will respond to these measures. The papers in this book, which are the proceedings of an online global conference, have attempted to analyze and summarize the thoughts of academicians on these vexed issues.
This book gathers selected high-quality research papers presented at International Conference on Advanced Computing and Intelligent Technologies (ICACIT 2021) held at NCR New Delhi, India, during March 20–21, 2021, jointly organized by Galgotias University, India, and Department of Information Engineering and Mathematics Università Di Siena, Italy. It discusses emerging topics pertaining to advanced computing, intelligent technologies, and networks including AI and machine learning, data mining, big data analytics, high-performance computing network performance analysis, Internet of things networks, wireless sensor networks, and others. The book offers a valuable asset for researchers from both academia and industries involved in advanced studies.