Why lockdown silence was golden for science: From acoustic engineers in Britain to marine biologists in Canada, researchers made the most of the drastic drop in noise from human activity

The end of social confinement and COVID-19 re-emergence risk: The lack of effective pharmaceutical interventions for SARS-CoV-2 raises the possibility of COVID-19 recurrence. We explore different post-confinement scenarios by using a stochastic modified SEIR (susceptible–exposed–infectious–recovered) model that accounts for the spread of infection during the latent period and also incorporates time-decaying effects due to potential loss of acquired immunity, people’s increasing awareness of social distancing and the use of non-pharmaceutical interventions. Our results suggest that lockdowns should remain in place for at least 60 days to prevent epidemic growth, as well as a potentially larger second wave of SARS-CoV-2 cases occurring within months. The best-case scenario should also gradually incorporate workers in a daily proportion at most 50% higher than during the confinement period. We show that decaying immunity and particularly awareness and behaviour have 99% significant effects on both the current wave of infection and on preventing COVID-19 re-emergence. Social distancing and individual non-pharmaceutical interventions could potentially remove the need for lockdowns.

Policing of European Covid-19 lockdowns shows racial bias – report: Amnesty says pandemic has led to greater ‘marginalisation, stigmatisation and violence’ in 12 countries including UK

COVID-19 Disinformation Data

Global Deaths Due to Various Causes and COVID-19

Fact-checking networks fight coronavirus infodemic: While physical responses to the ongoing pandemic—stay-at-home orders, social distancing, and lockdowns—have been effective in mitigating the spread of the virus in many countries, misinformation remains rampant online.

Tracking covid-19 excess deaths across countries | Graphic detail: Official covid-19 death tolls still under-count the true number of fatalities