Donald Trump's Dalliance with Covid-19

The context for the above is based on a suggestion Donald Trump made during last week Thursday’s press conference – that in order to kill Covid-19, you can ingest or inject disinfectant! 

You may read more from my post “Donald Trump’s Deadly Covid-19 Treatments” dated April 25. 

Also check out these twelve cartoons on Trump’s dalliance with the coronavirus:

Covid-19 Numbers are Steadying

A scrutiny of the Covid-19 statistics for Tuesday suggests that with a couple of exceptions, the number of infections and fatalities in many countries are steadying. 

Nonetheless, Italy’s total confirmed cases rose to 201,505, while for Canada and Peru, their numbers climbed to 50,026 and 31,190 respectively. 

India also went beyond 30,000 cases and recorded more than 1,000 deaths.

Brazil found itself in dire straits when its total deaths scaled up to more than 5,000. 

Turkey too but with just over 3,000 deaths.

And Malaysia witnessed its 100th Covid-19 fatality.

A small but significant mention about UK – again, it’s a case of under-reporting. 

The number of coronavirus deaths in England and Wales up to April 17 is 54% higher than the UK government’s daily updates for the corresponding period, according to figures released by the Office of National Statistics. 

To the north, Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon (left) had made the recommendation for people to wear face coverings – although, she cautioned against them feeling "invincible" just because they wear a mask. 

The Scottish government statement on Tuesday: "The evidence on the use of face coverings is limited, but there may be some benefit in wearing a facial covering when you leave the house and enter enclosed spaces, especially where physical distancing is more difficult and where there is a risk of close contact with multiple people you do not usually meet. Examples include, traveling on public transport or entering a food shop where it is not always possible to maintain a 2 meter distance from another customer. There is no evidence to suggest there might be a benefit outdoors, unless in an unavoidable crowded situation, where there may be some benefit".

Shame On You, America!

"In the richest nation on the face of this earth", its health workers are up in arms. 

They’re demonstrating in honor of the co-workers they lost due to the coronavirus pandemic. They’re protesting over the lack of resources. They’re against the authorities’ abject failure to protect them from illness and death as they treat and care for Covid-19 patients. They’re blaming Donald Trump, Congress, the CDC, OSHA and the hospital industry for neglecting them. 

According to one news report published April 21, 2020 that I read, health care workers sum up about 16% of Covid-19 victims in the US. 

Please watch this video:

This is America today! Shame on you, America!

Noodle Ads That Don’t Show Noodles

Screengrab from YouTube/Indomie

Indonesia’s top instant noodle brand is taking it to a whole new level of advertising with the launch of Indomie’s ‘Special Pack 5-in-1 Edisi Ramadan’ by making all the visuals noodle-free. 

Instead of mouth-watering Indomie noodles, an empty plate is presented alongside the words “Selamat Menunaikan Ibadah Puasa” which translates to “Happy Fasting This Ramadhan”.

Kindly check out the commercial:

It has been claimed that the picture of noodles on their packaging was removed to address religious sensitivity during the fasting month. 

I don’t know if that is true or not – but to me, it is just clever advertising. 

But that’s not all. Indomie comes up with another version of the advertisement that’s aired after the breaking of fast in which the noodles finally get some precious airtime:

Two Indomie moments that work for the brand!

Certainly, netizens are loving the advertising because not only is it creative and inventive – but it possesses a certain charm that is endearing and inviting. Not to mention that it is too funny for words. 

“Imagine having a food brand so powerful that you don’t need to show your food and people will still buy your products”, wrote @snowlattes. 

In case you wanna know, this is my favorite brand of instant noodles.

3 Million Covid-19 Cases Worldwide

Yesterday, Covid-19 infections sprinted past the 3-million mark – the pandemic has now affected 210 countries and territories around the world. 

Despite the grim milestone, many countries are cheering as new cases and fatalities are slowing down. 

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern (right), for one, has claimed her country scored a significant victory against the spread of the coronavirus as it begins a phased exit from lockdown. 

"There is no widespread, undetected community transmission in New Zealand", Ardern declared. "We have won that battle". 

Notwithstanding this bit of encouraging news, Russia has confirmed 6,198 new coronavirus infections on Monday, bringing the country’s official number of cases to 87,147 – and therefore, surpassing China to become the world's ninth most-affected country amid the pandemic. 

Russia's cases, unsurprisingly, are mainly concentrated in Moscow – although infections have been confirmed in every one of the country’s 85 regions.

Also on Monday, the US of A posted one million confirmed cases.

Donald Trump (right) again let loose his tongue – he again faulted China for the Covid-19 spread and saying his administration is conducting "serious investigations" into what happened. 

“We are not happy with China”, the blockhead asserted.

Interestingly, CNN reported that researchers from the Yale School of Public Health had detected ‘notable increases’ – about 15,000 excess deaths in the US from March 01 to April 04 – yet these had not been attributed to Covid-19. 

Over in Southeast Asia, Singapore is just one or two days away from reaching 15,000 confirmed cases – given the spikes in numbers, it is the worst hit country in ASEAN.

And the Philippines recorded 501 deaths Sunday.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (left) is not budging from his position. 

He is still insisting the coronavirus pandemic is “far from over” – and that “we have a long road ahead of us and a lot of work to do”.

Not many governments are listening though.

Donald Trump, The Emperor of Tweets

My last post on Donald Trump’s fixation on Twitter refers. 

I am adding to that said piece, a collection of cartoons that I have compiled about this compulsive habit of his. Check them out here: