World

We need to spend whatever it takes on wartime-style mobilisation to make, distribute and inject vaccines, says the Financial Times’ Simon Kuper. LONDON: When I listen to scientists talk about where we might be a year from now, two main scenarios emerge. The first one is good: COVID-19 keeps circulating but loses its sting. Most people in rich countries, and the most vulnerable in developing countries, get vaccinated in 2021. The vaccines prevent disease caused by all strains. COVID-19 weakens. Once it finds potential victims protected either by vaccination or past infection, it becomes at worst a nasty cold. “The most likely thing is that it will mutate into a more benevolent form. That may solve the problem,” says Anthony Costello, a former director at the World Health Organizatio...

DUBAI: As much of the world tightens lockdowns to stem coronavirus, Dubai has flung its doors open, branding itself as a sunny, quarantine-free escape - despite a sharp rise in cases. While mask-wearing and social distancing are strictly enforced, life in the tourism-reliant emirate looks much like normal, with its restaurants, hotels and mega-malls open for business. Images of sports stars and television personalities enjoying life at beach clubs and cocktail bars have flooded social media - sometimes to disapproval back home. Emirates, which restored its network to about three-quarters of pre-pandemic levels, is again operating A380 super-jumbos - the world's largest commercial airliner - ferrying in visitors from Britain and Russia. Russian tourist, Dmitriy Melnikov, said he cam...