4 May 2020 Blog: my week in the news

I keep hoping that I will wake up one morning to the news that the pandemic is over but unfortunately Coronavirus is still continuing to spread. I cannot believe that more than 3.2 million people in the world have now been infected! In the UAE, as there has been a lot of testing, we are hearing of around 500 or more cases a day but lockdown restrictions have been loosened now as I suppose shops cannot stay closed forever. In fact governments in several other countries are also announcing that they are loosening restrictions. For example, people in Spain are now allowed to go outside and exercise for the first time in 7 weeks. I am really glad that governments are loosening restrictions but some people may think that they are doing this too early.

Most of the news about Coronavirus has been worrying news for people. However, as people are not going outside and driving often, the environment is staying clean and is being less polluted. So, I was really disappointed when I read an article about the highest levels of microplastics (which are tiny tiny plastic pieces less than 1 mm) ever recorded on the seafloor. I cannot believe that they found 1.9 million microplastics per square metre. Let's hope that the level of microplastics decreases, the environment continues to improve and Coronavirus will end soon.

I’m enjoying reading during this time at home – I really enjoyed “The Indian in the Cupboard” and the next thing on my list is to watch the movie!