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Germany has shown that low tech contact tracing efforts work- no apps needed, a phone, a desktop computer with a centralized database, and most important the human relations skills of the person doing the calls. The  sensitivity to the situation facing each person being called, being able to talk to the person in the language they speak in a multilingual environment such as California, is shown here. A 40 person team operates in San Francisco consisting of public health officials, clinicians, medical students and librarians. They call the contacts of people with coronavirus, arrange tests, and as needed send packages of food and medicines to hotel rooms or homes. Every call is expected to last 15 minutes but all sorts of questions are handled.  English and Spanish are used. Here one of the persons doing the contact tracing says she does not use apps, just an open source software used in the fight against Ebola. Definitely low tech, no waiting, get going is the message to every city in the world. She says apps software such as what Google and Apple are putting out can tell you whether the person went to some place, but cannot tell you more about that person, cannot tell you about problems the person is having being tested, and how they are having difficulty providing for families. One of the big lessons from Germany and efforts such as this one in San Francisco, and in other places such as Paris, Singapore, Taiwan, is that there is a complex nature to contact tracing that cannot be solved by tech. In fact the best thing to do is to get started immediately, with a phone and a database on a computer, as long as you have a person who has the motivation and skills, empathy with people, a lot can be done. Waiting for apps is a dangerous waste of time is shown by the low tech German experience, and the experience in other places. Most important is starting immediately. The example shown here of working with migrant workers in contact tracing shows in the most vulnerable places it is these human relations skills that count, that no tech app can do. It requires detective skills to find out and get people to share their history of movements and contacts for 14 days . In Singapore crowded dormitories house 300,000 of 1.4 million migrant workers. Singapore using an app also but its use is secondary. Apps don't work in many situations but fail in the most critical situations such as these dormitories and other eccentric or atypical situations such as faced by South Korea with religious groups and gay communities, elderly people in Europe, that generate the worst dangers of spread and need to be cluster isolated quickly. Human contact tracing has a history of being an effective method and was used in China and South Korea during the 2003 SARS epidemic. More countries need to adopt the method used in Asia and in Germany, particularly Britain, the U.S., France and India. It is OK that Britain's NHS and India's national government with Aarogya Setu app have put out their own apps which balance privacy concerns with the need to act immediately and cover the entire country, but the hard slog of human contact tracing teams in each district is indispensable. This is why the former Health minister in Britain calls it Britain's national mission to do this. Speed is key- putting together teams across the country in every district from skilled volunteers or government workers, and pulling together the phone and a centralized database on a computer as basic equipment. The fact that this is easily doable and people with human skills needed can always be recruited as they have been in Germany- from public officials in local government who are less busy in lockdowns, medical students, clinicians, volunteers, people from different professions- makes it inexcusable not to learn from others experience and get going. Just Do It. You want to reopen business, professions, offices and public services- Just Do It, it makes this possible. You want to prevent spread of the virus- Just Do It, it makes this possible. You want to limit damage to the economy and get the recovery going- Just Do It, it makes this possible. People of all shades of opinion can agree on this- its the only thing that works, even when there is a lack of enough proper accurate testing. ...

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Pictures and videos of creative ways in which Germany is responding in reopening its economy from DW.com. This shows how creative ideas are being used to seat people in restaurants, theatres, and music concerts. The Berliner Ensemble theater setup by Bertolt Brecht after the war is shown with new seating arrangement. The Dresden Palais Sommer,  a major summer festival will have 100 events from July 17 to August 23. Also open is the Frankfurt Book Fair. In every case the social distancing required by the German government till June 29 is being followed with a sense of good humor and willingness even when only a fraction of the capacity is used.

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In a video interview the Indian army chief says the tensions at the India China border in the mountainous Himalayan region arise from different perceptions of where the border is, with each side patrolling the area based on its perception of the border. In random situations both sides are patrolling the same area leading to tensions. This has happened before and is likely to happen again. Cross border discussion mechanisms between the two sides have been setup to tackle the situation of patrols.

The Indian border is defined by the McMahon line for India, and set during British times. China has its own perceptions of the border and China was further away from the Indian border till it moved into Tibet in 1950.

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A look at Day 64 of India's lockdown in the Indian Express.

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900 volunteers are part of a special contact tracing programme launched by French hospitals in the Paris region called "Covisan."

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The treaty of handover by Britain of Hong Kong under one country, two systems was flawed in the way it was negotiated. French commentators looking at the problem say the city is caught between its past in the British Empire and the new monolithic state that China represents. Under the British French visitors looked at the city and wondered how there was freedom but no democracy, people were just selfishly just interested in making money. Chris Patten, Britain's administrator of the territory tried but failed to get democratic process, During the negotiations in 1984 for handover the chief British negotiator, Percy Cradock, a former ambassador to China, tells the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that - In Hong Kong where there is such a disparity in strength between the two sides, you go for the best you can get, I take the simple view that half a loaf is better than no bread." Britain had very little leverage to secure a separate future for Hong Kong because it was small compared to much larger China resulting unequal negotiations. The same is true today as the best Britain could do is to get out a joint declaration with Australia and Canada saying that it did not approve the new security law, that it violated the treaty signed by Britain and China. The French view expressed by the editor of La Croix is that hasty poorly planned British exits- as happened in British India -have led to crises and conflicts for postcolonial generations, a legacy of British colonial rule. India and Pakistan still sorting out Kashmir, and India and China still fighting about the McMahon Line border area. The situation is very different for the U.S. which now has to respond in some way, and this comes as trade tensions and coronavirus tensions about its origins in China and the failure of Beijing to allow quick entry for an American team into Wuhan. This being for 7 weeks between Jan 6 request and February 16 permission. America sees this as losing 7 precious weeks to make up its own determination of the dangers when every week health experts say means saving or losing tens of thousands of lives. With loss of 100,000 lives the Trump administration has a sense of being misled. This French report in FR24 points out that the lack of a strong response from the U.S. would be something similar to letting the Berlin Wall happen without a response. Both sides in a situation where the territory of Hong Kong remained mostly about money and with a disproportionate influence of business interests similar to its founding under the unequal treaties of the 1850's. ...

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California's economy is going through tough times during the coronavirus. Unemployment is up to over 20% which compares to 14.7% for the U.S., closer to that of New York. The state depends on the tourism industry, agriculture in the San Joaquin Valley, and entertainment industry around Los Angeles for jobs. Tech in the San Jose area does not account for as many jobs. The state also has a public university system and foreign students mostly from China bringing in $7 billion.   Its port system around Long Beach and Los Angeles connects with the Asian economies and China, for goods mainly transported to the rest of the U.S.  All these sectors are the ones most badly hit during the coronavirus.  California now has a deficit of $54 billion and was the first state to borrow from the federal government to pay $13 billion in unemployment claims. Undocumented Californians are not able to collect unemployment because of their immigration status, creating an American version of the informal economy that is found in India and Italy or Spain. California has 83 million people taking plane trips to the state for a tourism industry that normally brings in $145 billion. 600,000 travel industry jobs were lost in the state. Taxes related to travel are a significant source of revenue for cities in California bringing in $12 billion. The only sector that is less affected is the tech industry, yet this makes up only about 10% of the jobs or 1.7 million higher paid but fewer jobs. This tech sector at about just 15% of the California economy GDP, is of a precarious nature with a boom bust pattern, the last boom one that happened since the 2009 financial crisis. It in no way forms a significant support for employment or income for people in California or the U.S., and may even be responsible for distortions in the allocation of capital away from infrastructure and public services, through its disproportionate influence on how the nation's capital is allocated. The broader changes underway during coronavirus are likely to affect the state over many years, as supply chains shift away from China, and as infrastructure and public services investment assume their rightful role again in the nation rebuilding effort, agriculture and rural America become a part of the American renewal story.   ...

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Britain has come together in surprising ways during coronavirus with a community of ten million volunteers helping with food and medicine and other voluntary work. It is a beacon of hope during the crisis and it is here to stay.

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As the pandemic continues to spread and numbers grow with reopening of the economy the question remains -what can we learn from other countries positive experience in controlling spread? Here the Times provides the example of German contact tracing- chancellor Merkel has emphasized that a lot depends on "total" contact tracing, and contact tracing "above all else." Germany's experience is that even if you don't get everything right, you make an honest effort with everything you've got and do it early it makes a real difference. Some of the offices across Germany are stretched and short of staff but they have been working since the beginning of March, sometimes in the early days 7 days a week. Only 33% or one third of the offices throughout Germany for contact tracing have the required 5 person team for every 20,000 people, and 35% are overstretched or at their limit, according to one survey. No apps, just a low tech effort with people from the state administrations who were not working during lockdown trying doing something else, or volunteers. Mainly using the phone, talking to people and tracing the contact chain of people testing positive. Putting this information on the computer with a central database.  The Berlin office has 115 workers and has tracked down every one of 666 virus cases it was given. Because of privacy concerns at the Munich office sometimes even the patient's name is not given and office staff have to locate the name and the person. It requires dedication, flexibility and above all resilience, says Harold Rau, the deputy Mayor of the Cologne office, cited in this Times report. The doctor alerts the local office with a test result. The office calls the person and finds out who he has been in contact with for the last 14 days. Then the people who were in contact with are grouped based on the directness of contact, face to face, so on. These people are asked to quarantine for 14 days, sometimes with the rest of their household. They get daily call to find out how their doing for symptoms. The effort goes back to Robert Koch in the 1892 cholera epidemic in Hamburg. Robert Koch, microbe hunter in Germany, was called in after the epidemic spread from Moscow. It devastated Moscow and Tokyo, but Hamburg suffered far less about 8605 deaths as a result of the contact tracing and strict closing off quarantining of affected chains after isolating them, closing off affected parts of the city. Bit by bit the cholera epidemics sparks were put out before turning into flames, says Koch. In the current pandemic Germany has suffered 8241 deaths and 178,000 confirmed cases. So far this is in line with the cholera epidemic in Hamburg 1892, and this for all of Germany. And it is not just affluent nations that can do this. where there is a will there is a way. In Kerala state in southwestern India, similar efforts have worked to limit spread  with even better results than Germany. ...

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There is a bright spot for the airlines. Demand for shipping cargo has dropped only slightly by 15%. Also noticed by airline executives is the low prices, for jet fuel at this time, and the surging demand for shipping quickly medical supplies and related products. This combination gives airlines more hope for coming out of this ciris. There are revenues and profits from cargo shipped not only in cargo space but also inside the space that normally is used by passengers. This type of creative solution is what can take us out of this crisis.

American has done 140 flights a week, Virgin 90 flights a week, and Lufthansa a significant number of flights, shipping cargo to international destinations.

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India is storing as much oil as it can at today's low oil prices of about $20-$30 per barrel in May 2020. With India asking the U.S. to store oil from U.S. shale producers at its strategic petroleum reserve storage facilities in the U.S. Already its existing storage facilities of 5.3 million tonnes (39 million barrels) are full, and the storage capacity will be more than doubled with an additional 6.5 million tonnes (48 million barrels) to be built quickly. About 8.5 million tonnes (62 million barrrels)  are in ships on oceans around the world. Demand is only 20% during the lockdown but is expected to reach levels of 2019 by June 2020. Only about 20% of oil consumption comes from existing storage.   That Indian oil capacity is 39 million barrels of storage shows how little was done over succeeding administrations without national aspirations for a growing country with hundreds of million of young people, when the oil storage capacity today of 39 million barrels compares with over 500 million barrels for Japan and for China. A huge Indian government aid package of $280 billion for the economy can be offset by gains in other areas such as low oil price oil storage, and gains in supply chain manufacturing, increasing the size of the domestic market for local manufacturers with incentives and loans, and new rules for stressing local manufacturing for a self-reliant economy. ...

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Tensions on the India China border as India builds roads and infrastructure in the mountainous Himalayan area close to the border in Ladakh to match the Chinese buildup of roads in the region over the last decade. India has also built up its troop presence in the region to match China's troop presence along the border in Ladakh.

India has supported a call from Australia for an investigation into the early origins of the coronavirus. The call was supported by many countries around the world and by the U.S., Japan and France. The 350,000 deaths from coronavirus and the 5.5 millions confirmed cases, the economic damage, most of them in western nations in North America and Europe, have  led to growing tensions between China and the rest of the world. 

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Ghana, Kenya, South Africa and other countries are using locally developed technology to produce ventilators, vaccine delivery mechanisms, and 3D printed face shields. This local product is made at a tenth or less of the cost of it when imported from Europe or the U.S.

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Requests, consensus, and social pressure played a bigger role than just strict rules and penalties in controlling the virus in Japan. By contrast in Germany states imposed strict rules and fines, some consensus, a better equipped hospital system, added contact tracing, to limit the spread. More than 100 industries in Japan have drawn up new guidelines for reopening to minimize risks. Prime minister Abe said recently " Now we are going to venture into a new arena. Therefore we need to create a new lifestyle from now on. We need to change our way of thinking." The new social consensus on the best way to behave outdoors and at work is the way Japan is tackling reopening.  The effort is focused on avoiding high risk situations the 3 C's crowded, closed spaces, and close contact, close conversations. Japan started with a fumbled response but gradually the right spirit and social distancing caught on. The universal health care system helped Japan detect cases early, even in the remote rural areas. ...

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Angela Merkel said that contact tracing was "above all else" in importance in tracking down infection chains. Apps would not work in Germany because tracking movements and recording information is a sensitive subject in Germany with its history of communism and fascism. Germany still did it but very early on adopted a low tech way that so far is working. Staff from provincial administrations have shifted to do contact tracing work as other work is slow or suspended. Volunteers also have taken up the work. Germany's goal is 5 contact tracers for every 25,000 people- or about 16,000 for a population of 83 million. All the contact tracers have is the phone and a central database of information on the desktop computer as shown here in this report in the Washington Post. There is no advanced technology or software.  Most important say experts is social skills - to talk to people in a way that makes them feel comfortable to share information about how they are and their contacts in a very informal friendly setting, that even includes some humor. Here a contact tracer in Reinikendorf describes the work she is doing and a typical day. There are about 75 contact tracers for 260,0000 people in her area. When she calls someone she notes down what contacts they have had and puts them in Category 1,  2 , or 3 depending on the need for quarantine. The calling is mainly about asking the contact about his or her movements. A contact for more than 15 minutes is Category 1, less than 15 minutes Category 2. The whole conversation is for 10 minutes. Then someone from the health department will call the person contacted everyday. Reickendorf began building up contact tracing in March after an outbreak in a kindergarten was too much for the usual number of health officials to handle. The German trace and quarantine approach, home grown, low tech,  and based on what resources are available, the most important thing being start immediately, has its flaws. Yet it has worked to limit infections and deaths.  In about 65% of cases health authorites have no idea how a person was infected. Asymptomatic carriers are not detected. In some area the resources are limited.  This effort has helped control the virus first cluster in Bavaria at a car part manufacturer. Sixteen people had tested positive and hundreds were quarantined. The German approach is that testing is fine but if you are in quarantine testing is not going to make a difference in spreading. Testing with a negative result is also not helping as it could be that its too early for the infection to register because of the incubation period. ...

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Japan lifts a state of emergency. Germany continues social distancing rules till the beginning of July. The U.S. stops visitors from Brazil entering the country. Moscow continues under a lockdown.

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In Britain 6500 nursing homes are seen as "not fit for purpose" of elderly care. They are now seen as possibly closing without an investment of $15 billion pounds to make them fit for use. This also shows the neglect of elderly care in countries such as the UK, and the U.S. A clear distortion of priorities when so much money is being wasted in misallocation on the fringes of tech and elsewhere, without money for basic infrastructure and basic services. It also shows a mistaken set of priorities that have taken over in recent decades,a lack of decent respect for people as they get older in life. Countries such as Brazil neglected basic sanitation in the country worsening health and epidemics while building large soccer stadiums in the north and financing the Olympics. U.S. Britain, E.U. neglected elderly care and infrastructure, in the tech led booms of the past two decades, and pushed money into the wrong places through a distorted set of priorities. ...

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A new internet speed record of 44 terabits per second has been set by a team from three Australian Universities. This is a million times faster than the 44 Mbps average speed in Australia. The average speed is 133 Mbps in U.S. and 67 Mbps in UK.The team used a micro-comb, a small optical chip that replaces 80 separate infrared lasers. It used normal cable technology to do the test, so that it has potential for use on current broadband networks.

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A group in the Tory party of prime minister Johnson sees a bigger risk for Britain in allowing 35% content in nonsensitive parts of Britain's 5G network as approved earlier. Tory views have changed since the coronavirus crisis and after the U.S. government decision on May 20 to require a government approval before U.S. companies can sell any semiconductors made abroad with U.S. technology. The use of other alternatives increases the risk for Britain, say Tory MP's. The National Security Council met to reconsider the earlier decision and called for a reassessment.

Britain would be left out of the Five Eyes Club of intelligence sharing with the U.S. if it does not also exclude Huawei from 5G networks. Mr. Trump says the U.S. will not share intelligence with Britain if it continues with the earlier decision.