ESSAYS

BRITAIN CINEMAS UNDER THE COVID CRISIS 

Due to coronavirus restrictions, the Cineworld and Picturehouse cinema chains have closed indefinitely whilst Vue cinemas have cut back screenings. Major films such as the latest James Bond and Death on the Nile have been rescheduled and Disney showed its latest release Mulan on its streaming service which has caused concern for the cinema industry trying to bounce back with Covid restrictions.

CZECH BEER INDUSTRY STRUGGLES

MARTIN DIVISEK

The Czech Republic’s world-famous beer industry has for centuries been one of the country’s major cultural attractions, an industry that flourished through two world wars, occupation by an invading army as well as decades of communism, all while barely losing a drop in sales. But all that has changed with the Covid-19 pandemic, which has severely dented Czech beer profits as restrictions imposed to curb the spread of the deadly disease, including the closure of bars and restaurants, have taken a heavy toll, brewers say.

JAPAN STATE OF EMERGENCY

DAI KUROKAWA

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on 16 April declared a state of emergency for the entire country as it struggled to slow the spread of the coronavirus. The government requested companies to allow employees to work from home in a bid to reduce commutes by 70 percent, but many workers in the capital are unable or not allowed to do so, resulting in tens of thousands commuting in packed trains and stations in key areas of the city, raising the risks of contagion.  Many who were forced to commute to their offices expressed concerns that they were unnecessarily exposing themselves and others to potential infection. Unlike in Europe, Japan’s lockdown measures were not mandatory. The government could request and urge people to stay at home, but there were no penalties for leaving home and keeping businesses open. 

THE ASTRONAUTS

MARK R. CRISTINO

‘Here come the astronauts! COVID, COVID!’ Bystanders joke around while covering their mouths as a group of volunteer health workers enter an alley in Village 775, Zone 84 of Manila to check on positive and suspected cases of COVID-19. ‘It’s funny; we used to get irked when we were called names, but now we’re used to it. ‘Astronaut’ is their favorite,’ quips one of the volunteers. Mercelina Villacampa, Vannessa Morales, Fe Bacunawa and Richell Arsenio have been conducting home visits twice a day since mid-March, when the northern Philippine island of Luzon was put under lockdown in a bid to contain the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. 

STAYING EN POINTE

MARTIN DIVISEK

The coronavirus first appeared in the Czech Republic on 01 March 2020 – less than two weeks later, the government became one of the first in Europe to impose a full lockdown to try to slow the spread of the outbreak. The shutdown affected every aspect of Czech life, including the arts and the country’s most famous National Theater, which is home to the Czech National Ballet. The nationwide quarantine forced all non-essential workers, including artists, into home confinement. For ballet dancers whose profession requires a rigorous exercise routine, these new restrictions pose major challenges to keep fit and ready to put on a show.  

OBS-CU-RA

BRUNO ALENCASTRO

The history of photography is directly related to the point of view of a window, as it was from the window of a home in the French countryside that, in 1826, Niepce took history’s first-ever photograph – requiring some 8 hours of exposure. Beyond photography and throughout the history of art, the window as a point of view is a recurring motif among painters, portraitists, filmmakers, and visual artists in general. From “Young woman at the window”, by Salvador Dalí, to Alfred Hitchcock’s “Rear Window”. Amid the global confinements imposed by Covid-19, contemporary artists are finding renewed significance and meaning in these windows that are so common in visual art.

DUBAI UNDER LOCKDOWN

MAHMOUD KHALED

Authorities in Dubai locked the city down during April with some of the most severe measures in the world, and have been gradually easing back to reopening. The approach appears to have worked during the initial phase of the pandemic, having kept infection and mortality rates relatively low. But numbers of visitors to the Gulf, one of the richest regions in the world, have plummeted as international travel restrictions largely remain in place. 

DRONE VIEW IN OCEAN CITY

JIM LO SCALZO

  Tourist resorts, normally bustling as summer approaches, were forced to close, as illustrated by a deserted and eerie Ocean City, Maryland captured from above.

COVID-19 FAULT LINES

KIM LUDBROOK

In the barren expanses of the Karoo (Great dry land) in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa, a perfect storm of circumstances has had a major and devastating effect on the local people. Three months of Covid-19 coronavirus lockdown, a harsh seven-year drought, and ongoing impact of the general economic slowdown over the past years along with an ill-prepared local and provincial government have left the vast majority of the local people under financial, physical and spiritual pressure.

1 DAY & 1 NIGHT AT A COVID-19 IC

CHRISTOPHE PETIT TESSON

Medical workers in Intensive Care Units have been thrust into the spotlight throughout the pandemic, as the potentially devastating effects of Covid-19 on patients saw these specialist wards filled and stretched to breaking point as infection rates continued to spiral.

CHINA UNDER COVID-19

ROMAN PILIPEY

As the nation where the pandemic originated, China was the first country in the world that had to deal with the early stages of the virus, and provide lessons to the rest of us on what was to come. Chinese citizens were the first to be locked at home as nationwide shutdowns came into effect, lasting over two months, in some places three. They were the first to build hospitals and expand ICUs to deal with the massive caseloads in major hotspots like the epicenter Wuhan. And they were the first to emerge from quarantine into a new, post-Covid world, demonstrating how staying at home, social distancing and surveillance would become integral parts of our new normality.