Issue #16
Hello reader,
Thank God it’s Friday!
Shout out to our four new subscribers. Welcome to the Soft Life!
Here's a pro tip;
When meeting someone for the first time, especially at informal events, try not to ask the kind of job the person does. Instead, you could ask what the person is interested in. Nicely put, ask what they're into or their hobbies.
Today we’ll be looking at:
A new COVID-19 variant in South Africa.
Oil spills in the Niger Delta.
A New Variant in Town
The World Health Organization is holding a meeting today to discuss the surprising surge in COVID-19 cases in South Africa that has been blamed on a new variant of the virus.
The variant appears to be the most heavily mutated so far in the outbreak.
Joe Phaahla, South Africa’s minister of health, identified the new variant as B.1.1.529 and said it seems highly contagious among young people.
The BBC reported that the new variant comes off to be the most heavily mutated so far in the outbreak. James Gallagher, the health correspondent, wrote that one scientist described the variant as "horrific." He said the meeting of the WHO will likely result in the variant receiving a Greek code-name, like the Delta variant.
"This variant did surprise us," Tulio de Oliveira, the Director of the Center for South Africa’s Epidemic Response and Innovation, told the news outlet. "It has a big jump on evolution [and] many more mutations that we expected."
Nature magazine reported that the variant was first reported in Botswana earlier this month. The report explained that scientists are trying to determine if the variant can somehow circumvent the immune response. One researcher in Johannesburg said, "We’re flying at warp speed."
Aris Katzourakis, an expert on virus evolution at the University of Oxford, said, "A burning question is does it reduce vaccine effectiveness because it has so many changes."
Meanwhile, the British government has temporarily banned flights from the Southern African countries effective at noon (1200 GMT) today and that anyone who had newly entered the UK from those countries would be asked to take a coronavirus test.
The U.K. Health Secretary Sajid Javid asserted that there were scepticisms around the new variant "may be more transmissible" than the dominant delta strain, and "the vaccines that we currently have may be less effective" against it.
3 Weeks long oil spillage wreck the Niger Delta
On the 5th of November 2021, Nigerian oil company, Aiteo Eastern E&P reported an oil spill of an “extremely high order” from a jointly-owned well in the Niger Delta. Due to the pressure emanating from the wellhead, all efforts to control the leak proved abortive and the company released a statement saying they were currently looking for experts that could put the situation under control.
Over the last three weeks, the oil head has been spewing into the atmosphere, destroying the vegetation and water in the area. The situation was brought under control yesterday according to a report by This Day Newspapers.
Many stakeholders in the area have expressed concern over the oil spill. Local environment group Environmental Rights Action said the latest spill in Bayelsa State was yet another incident that would devastate the marine ecosystem on which most fishing depended.
The Bayelsa State government also expressed worry over Aiteo’s inability to curb the spillage.
In a statement, it said,
“The governor is gravely concerned that if the high volume of crude being spilled continuously is not stopped immediately, it will spread to many more communities.”
To understand the impact of this spill, watch this video by Arise TV
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WORTH READING 📚
Reference letters perpetuate inequity. Let’s end them. Quartz at work.
A pair of binoculars - A review of Orode's “Bring Me Flowers in April”. Tares Oburumu.
WORTH WATCHING 🎥
How to cope when mental illness shuts down our mind. The School of Life.
How to become 37.78 times better at anything. Atomic habits summary (by James Clear). Escaping Ordinary.
Humans on the Internet
Special thanks to Ruth Owota for actively sharing the Soft Pallet Newsletter. She’s our subscriber of the Week! 🥂
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This brief was put together while listening to Need Your Love by R2bees ft Gyakie.