Stresses of strains: emerging coronavirus variants
Economist Podcasts
The Economist
4.4 • 4.9K Ratings
🗓️ 5 January 2021
⏱️ 19 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
It is no surprise that more-transmissible coronavirus variants are cropping up. We ask how worrisome the strains found in Britain and South Africa are. American authorities have lodged a landmark case against Walmart for its role in the country’s worsening opioid crisis—a problem with clearly more than one cause. And dealing with the pile of unused vacation days from 2020.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to the Intelligence on Economist Radio. |
| 0:07.0 | I'm your host, Jason Palmer. |
| 0:09.0 | Every weekday we provide a fresh perspective on the events shaping your world. |
| 0:17.0 | A lawsuit filed by America's Department of Justice against Walmart is just the latest salvo in a growing war on the country's opioid crisis. |
| 0:26.0 | But retailers are just one link in the drug supply chain. |
| 0:30.0 | And a settlement of any size won't solve the deeper problem. |
| 0:35.0 | And the odds are that you weren't able to take all of your annual leave last year. |
| 0:40.0 | Our management columnist looks at the problems raised by all that carried over time off. |
| 0:45.0 | For those lucky enough to carry it over in the first place. |
| 0:56.0 | But first... |
| 1:01.0 | Yesterday, Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced another full national lockdown for England after a dramatic rise in COVID cases. |
| 1:10.0 | Our hospitals are under more pressure from COVID than at any time since the start of the pandemic. |
| 1:16.0 | It's the latest attempt to keep the coronavirus under control. |
| 1:19.0 | After a new strain, thought to be 50 to 70% more transmissible has swept through Britain. |
| 1:26.0 | It's clear that we need to do more together to bring this new variant under control while our vaccines are rolled out. |
| 1:36.0 | And it's not the only variant. |
| 1:38.0 | We will all have heard that there is a new variant of COVID-19 that is now well established in South Africa. |
| 1:47.0 | Our scientists briefed... |
| 1:49.0 | Another new strain has also been identified in South Africa after cases surged there, leading to further restrictions, including curfews and a curb on the sale of alcohol. |
| 1:59.0 | It appears that it may be more contagious than the virus that drove the first wave of infections. |
| 2:08.0 | Viruses are expected to change over time, and now policies and perhaps even vaccines will have to change with them. |
| 2:16.0 | Mutations happen in all living things, they're the driving force of evolution. |
... |
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