Features

LONDON — Stranded on superyachts or confined to their sprawling mansions worrying about their wine cellars, the world's super rich have invited ridicule throughout the coronavirus pandemic with their apparent insensitivity to the plight of ordinary people.

"Sunset last night... isolated in the Grenadines avoiding the virus. I'm hoping everybody is staying safe," US media mogul David Geffen wrote on his Instagram account at the end of March.

Above his message, he shared a picture of a huge yacht sailing in calm waters off islands in the Caribbean.

The message triggered an avalanche of online indignation over the inequalities highlighted by the crisis, with Geffen's paradise scene a world away from the grim spectacle of hours-long food queues elsewhere in the world.

Some of the global elite rushed to dream homes in the countryside or were whisked away by private jet to seaside retreats.

Specialist company PrivateFly said it had seen a surge in bookings from people wanting to leave at-risk countries, according to The Guardian.

Others chose to invest in underground shelters, with Texas-based firm Rising S Bunkers telling the Los Angeles Times that their telephone had been ringing off the hook.

Luxury bunkers

Their bunker of choice, called the "Aristocrat", includes a gym, sauna, swimming pool, jacuzzi, greenhouse garden and a garage — all for a cool $8.35 million (£6.6 million, 7.6 million euros).

Once hunkered down, the next question for the global glitterati has been how to cope in confinement.

The Wall Street Journal, daily newspaper of the US business world and a favourite of the wealthy, wondered on April 16: "For the Rich, A Dilemma: Quarantine With Staff, or Do Their Own Chores."

The article cited the manager of a New York finance company who found himself calling his personnel management agency because he could not get the bag out of his vacuum cleaner.

"How to spend it", the weekly glossy supplement of the venerable Financial Times in London, offered advice to the "problems" faced by its prosperous readers.

It focused on the renowned London wine merchant Berry Bros. & Rudd, which sold its entire stock of fine Bordeaux wines at £150 a bottle.

"When the confinement started, I opened some of my best bottles, as if the world was going to end," one unfortunate confined to Provence in the south of France told the magazine.

"I might as well drink them first."

Others have taken the opportunity to refurbish their wine cellars. Spiral Cellars, in the upmarket Wimbledon area of southwest London, reported record-breaking activity.

The FT magazine also stressed the importance of not letting fashion standards slip, even when trapped indoors, recommending to readers luxurious dressing gowns from Dolce & Gabbana and London-based Hamilton and Hare.

Fewer billionaires

Even in confinement some billionaires have found ways to get richer since the beginning of lockdown, according to research group Institute for Policy Studies.

The fortunes of US billionaires increased by nearly 10 per cent to $282 billion between March 18 and April 10, mainly thanks to the stock market rebound of companies including Jeff Bezos' Amazon and Elon Musk's electric car manufacturer Tesla.

Some though are donating to worthy causes, such as Twitter founder Jack Dorsey, who is giving $1 billion to help fight the pandemic. Bezos has offered $100 million to US food banks.

But Forbes says the crisis is beginning to take its toll and has already contributed to a decline in the number of billionaires worldwide from 2,153 in 2019 to 2,095 in 2020.

"The world's richest people are not immune to the devastating impact of the coronavirus," Forbes journalist Kerry Dolan said.

Forbes' billionaires list includes for the first time Eric Yuan, founder of the Zoom videoconferencing application, which has proved very popular during the homeworking lockdown.

By Jean/Baptiste Oubrier

Coughing is one of the hallmark symptoms of being infected with the novel coronavirus. So it’s no surprise that many are swigging dextromethorphan, a workhorse cough suppressant, to calm those bone-rattling expulsions of germs and air.

It may be doing them more harm than good, new research suggests.

As part of an ambitious project to identify drugs that could be repurposed to treat COVID-19, an international team of scientists reported Thursday they had happened upon a surprising finding: A common active ingredient in dozens of over-the-counter cough syrups, capsules and lozenges appeared to boost replication of the SARS-CoV-2 virus when tested under laboratory conditions.

That’s a long way from concluding that cough medicines containing dextromethorphan will worsen the condition of people infected with the new coronavirus, or that it will make frightening outcomes more likely. But the researchers said the findings are concerning enough for them to advise cough sufferers who might be infected with coronavirus to avoid these medications.

Given that cough suppressants are likely to be widely used by people with coronavirus infections — whether they’ve got an official diagnosis or not — the researchers called for more research on dextromethorphan’s safety.

Dextromethorphan stifles signals in the brain that set off the reflex to cough. It is a key ingredient of virtually all over-the-counter cough and cold formulations, including those sold as Robitussin, Benylyn, DayQuil/NyQuil, Delsym, Triaminic, and Theraflu.

In tests conducted at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, researchers found that when dextromethorphan was introduced into the cells of African green monkeys growing in petri dishes, the subsequent addition of SARS-CoV-2 resulted in more prolific viral growth.

UC San Francisco pharmacologist Nevan J. Krogan, one of the team’s leaders, said that the group had alerted officials overseeing the government’s COVID-19 response to its concerns.

The findings were reported Thursday in the journal Nature.

But the group’s discoveries raise hopes as well.

The research team, led by scientists at the Pasteur Institute and UC San Francisco, had set out to find promising potential treatments for COVID-19 among compounds that were already known to scientists, physicians and consumers. The idea was to identify drug candidates that could be deployed quickly, either separately or in combinations, to short-circuit the coronavirus’s ability to infect and sicken humans.

Their search turned up an array of drugs that have long been in use, including the antihistamine clemastine (present in Tavist and Allerhist), the antipsychotic haloperidol (marketed as Haldol), the cough medication cloparastine (which is used widely in Japan, Hong Kong and Europe), and the hormone progesterone, abundantly present in females and used in hormone replacement regimens and in reproductive and sexual-health drugs.

Other promising compounds turned up in their search are still being tested for a variety of cancers, including the experimental drug zotatifin from San Diego-based Effector Therapeutics Inc.; plitidepsin, a substance derived from a Mediterranean marine worm that’s being tested in Spain as a treatment for multiple myeloma; and ternatin, a mushroom-derived compound in early testing for its anti-cancer properties.

In the past, drug-hunters faced with a new viral threat have found new treatments by examining the distinctive features on the virus’ surface. Then, they’d look for known chemical compounds that would latch on to those particular features and kill or weaken the virus.

The 22-person team that launched the latest search in mid-March took a starkly different approach.

Starting with the blueprints contained in the 30 genes of the new coronavirus, they built its world from the inside out. They synthesised all the proteins the virus makes and recorded how each one interacts with proteins inside a human host. Then they identified 332 distinct steps necessary to ensure the coronavirus can enter a cell, hijack its machinery, and make copies of itself.

The result was a commando’s road map. Next, they had to find any compound known to intervene somewhere in that long chain of events.

Their search turned up 69 existing drugs, experimental drugs, or compounds still on the way to becoming drugs. Collectively, they offered the possibility of disrupting the virus’ life cycle in 62 different ways.

Some of the compounds the team identified are “many times more potent” than remdesivir, a failed Ebola drug that is finding new life as a COVID-19 treatment, said Krogan, senior author of the Nature study.

Krogan and his colleagues noted that many of the compounds would probably work best in tandem with remdesivir rather than competing against it.

“A treatment that will be successful will be combinatorial,” said Krogan, a UCSF cellular molecular pharmacologist.

If scientists use his team’s insights about where and how the coronavirus might be disrupted, he added, it should help them create a potent cocktail of drugs that will attack and disrupt the virus at many points in its life cycle, he added.

By Melissa Healy

We are lucky to have technology providing us with the tools to make video calls and to meet online easily, with image and sound quality that were unthinkable only a few years ago. The software applications that let us do this are many. Are they all equal? What are the differences? Does it matter at all?

It certainly matters, for at least one very good reason. Despite the recent and most welcome loosening of the lockdown that was introduced by the authorities since the Covid-19 outbreak, everything indicates that some of the working and living habits we adopted since the beginning of the crisis are to be with us for a while.

The social, the business and the government systems have discovered the advantages (and the disadvantages…) of “doing it online” as much as possible and whenever it is possible, whether we are confined at home or not. Therefore, even once this crisis is over, the population will probably keep going for increased usage of software that lets us meet online.

Webex, in the business world mainly, along with Facebook Messenger and Skype have been the most popular and the most widely used till now. Over the last couple of months we have also (re)-discovered Microsoft Teams and Zoom. The first has been here since 2017, and Zoom since 2013. Let’s not forget WhatsApp video calling that lets up to three people meet. Video and voice calling over WhatsApp is a special case, however, for some countries are blocking the service sometime, and in Jordan for instance, it seems that it only works over Wi-Fi and not over 4G.

Using all these services extensively, on an almost daily basis, leads you to comparing them, to analysing their features and functionality. Fitness for use depends on what you want to do. Understandably, a one-on-one video call to a friend is different from a business meeting that would include 20 people or more. You also need to know if you are just going to “chat” or to exchange documents and information, to make some of the documents or the photos available for all to see and discuss.

Zoom, for instance, is very practical and friendly when it comes to viewing the same document by all parties. It lets you switch from webcam view to screen contents view. Skype lets you also do that, but Zoom has an important plus, it can let any participating party take control of the screen that is showing the shared document, scroll, edit, write on it, etc.

Interestingly virtually all these applications let you have a free subscription that you can put to good use for testing them and then decide which the best is for you. Zoom is free for unlimited use for two participants, and for meetings of up to 40 minutes for 100 participants. For more than this subscriptions start at $15 a month. Fair enough.

Facebook Messenger meeting is still popular, mainly because it is linked to your main Facebook account. Many find it to be the easiest to use, though it comes with limited features. Greatest ease of use and limited functionality often go hand in hand.

Last but not least is the kind of video meeting for musicians to play together remotely, for students to learn music online or for teachers to teach the art. For this kind of virtual meetings none of the above mentioned software would be good enough. Indeed, to share music this way the connection must be very fast, with almost no time lag at all (called latency in technical jargon), and image and especially sound, must be excellent.

To achieve the lowest possible latency the connection of the computer to the Internet must be done via cable (i.e. not wireless or Wi-Fi) and of course through fibre optic. Smartphones and tablets are excluded here and only a powerful computer with a professional sound card would do the job. These systems are used in all the online global concerts we have recently seen on YouTube and other channels, like for example the “One World Together at Home — Global Citizen” concert, where many famous musicians performed all together, live, online, and in perfect sync, but actually were each in their own house.

Such systems include Nucorder, JamKazam and Jammr, to name but a few. Only pro musicians used to know them, but the lockdown has now brought more people to discover and to operate them, though they remain naturally less frequently used than Skype, Zoom, Messenger and the like.

Doctors are learning more about COVID-19’s newest and oddest skin manifestation, dubbed COVID toes, as the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention adds to the growing list of symptoms associated with the coronavirus.

The American Academy of Dermatology has compiled a registry of skin manifestations associated with COVID-19. About half of the more than 300 total cases on the dermatological registry consist of COVID toes.

The registry is made up of entries by physicians and other health care professionals who fill out a 5-7 minutes survey about patients with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 who develop skin manifestations, as well as patients with existing dermatological conditions who develop COVID-19 and patients on dermatological medications who developed COVID-19. Entries can not be made by patients themselves.

Dr Esther Freeman, director of Massachusetts General Hospital Global Health Dermatology and member of the AAD task force on COVID-19, said COVID toes are pinkish-reddish “pernio-like lesions” that can turn purple over time.

She said this shouldn't be confused with a different medical condition that occurs in critically sick patients called purpura fulminans.

When she first started the registry with the academy, she was expecting to see viral rashes often driven by inflammation.

“What was more surprising to me was this overwhelming representation of these ‘COVID toes,’” she said.

Pernio, also called chilblains, are skin sores or bumps that occur on a patient’s feet when they’re exposed to cold temperatures. The reason why Freeman calls the new symptom “pernio-like” is because she believes COVID toe lesions aren’t a result of cold temperatures.

While experts can’t confirm why COVID toes appear, they have some educated guesses. One could be inflammation in the toes' tissue, which is similar to pernio. Another hypothesis is inflammation of the blood vessel wall, medically known as vasculitis. And finally, Freeman said it is possible COVID toes could be caused by small blood clots that form inside the blood vessel.

Doctors at the American Academy of Dermatology have discovered trends studying the registry that weren’t previously known about COVID toes. Freeman says COVID toes have appeared in some cases of asymptomatic patients. The majority of the toe cases manifested simultaneously or after more common COVID-19 symptoms, rather than before.

Freeman said some patients test positive for the PCR COVID test when they develop COVID toes, indicating they may still be infectious. Others test negative, suggesting the symptom would appear later in the infection.

“The timing is complex and difficult to pin down,” she said.

The majority of COVID toe patients in the registry are younger people in their 20s and 30s, Freeman said, and doctors haven’t seen a lot cases reported from older people. She also said most patients with COVID toes are healthy and “have done well in their clinical course.”

“I think it’s important not to induce panic if you were to develop these lesions on your toes,” she said. “Most of our patients seem to be doing well.”

Freeman recommends patients speak to their health care provider if they develop these lesions to assess if they are caused by a different medical condition, or any other reason.

“But if there isn’t, then they should talk about COVID testing or isolate or consider other ways to reduce the spread,” she said. 

By Adrianna Rodriguez

LOS ANGELES — Movie moguls, directors and lawyers are searching for radical solutions to reopen Hollywood as soundstages gather dust and studio profits slide weeks after cameras stopped rolling due to coronavirus.

The film industry has been on lockdown in California since mid-March following strict stay-at-home orders, with movie and television shoots particularly exposed to the pandemic because of the large casts and crews required.

But even as politicians mull a gradual easing of restrictions, insiders say Tinseltown's sky-high costs — and liabilities — mean filmmaking could look very different to what came before, and be many months away.

"It's impossible to make a 'Star Wars' or a Marvel movie tomorrow morning," said Nicolas Chartier, Oscar-winning producer of "The Hurt Locker."

"Logically, there's too much liability and there's too much fear," agreed fellow producer Stephen Nemeth ("Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.")

"I can't see a movie like 'Dune' getting produced now. I can't see another epic film like 'Mad Max' — these films are 250 crew members and 250 extras. We just can't control it."

Though California has been praised for its pandemic response, the movie industry heartland has still recorded 45,000 cases, disproportionately centred around Los Angeles.

As such, insurance companies refuse to cover future production halts caused by on-set coronavirus outbreaks — delays that could cost millions on blockbuster projects.

"Coronavirus waivers" signed by employees have been touted as a way to protect studios from lawsuits, but are unproven particularly where A-list stars are involved.

Replacing crowd scenes with computerized background actors is another option being explored, but "would cost a fortune," said Chartier.

"In my opinion, the big movies as we knew them — to the extent that they're ever going to be back as we knew them — won't be until there is an actual vaccine," added Nemeth.

- 'Moral dilemma' -

One possible interim solution is temperature, virus or antibody tests for those entering sets.

On-set social distancing is being trialled in Sweden and Denmark, where production has resumed on sterilised soundstages, and studios are discouraged from hiring over-70s or those with health conditions.

Steven Soderbergh, director of prescient 2011 pandemic thriller "Contagion," is leading a taskforce to explore similar options in Hollywood.

But those restrictions are far from practical on crowded film sets, and could lead to discrimination and other dangers, warned producers Jean de Meuron and Elena Bawiec.

"The crew that are most vulnerable is the 'below-the-line' crew — the gaffers, the grips, the electric, the camera," said de Meuron.

"You can't put six-feet distance... the focus puller is right next to the camera operator, they're within a couple of inches from one another."

"How are you going to change that?"

Crews of workers "who have tested positive for antibodies and bring certificates" could become a reality, suggested Bawiec.

"But are there going to be people who are going to go and get themselves infected on purpose, so that they could have the virus and then be immune?

"It's a moral dilemma."

'For peanuts'

Filmmakers are being forced to experiment with new locations, techniques and even genres which lend themselves to a locked-down world.

Most involve dramatic downsizes. Nemeth is planning to shoot a movie at his home in the Hollywood Hills, where he can house a skeleton cast and crew throughout a brief shoot.

"We could have hyper-regional, hyper-close productions... it would work in Silver Lake, in Malibu, in Hollywood Hills," he said, referring to local movie hotspots.

"I'm doing it and I promise you I'm not the only one."

Chartier intends to make a film "for peanuts" shot via Zoom or Skype in which four couples discuss a murder.

"The actors will film themselves at home, with their own clothes and no makeup," he explained.

Hollywood lore is filled with heroic filmmakers who overcame huge obstacles to shoot great movies, but Chartier is not getting carried away.

"Either it will be a good script and the story will be good and it will be interesting, or we will get bored after 15 minutes and... too bad!"

By Andrew Marszal

I was wrong about “Final Fantasy VII Remake.” When it was first announced, I didn’t see the point in redoing the landmark Japanese role-playing game. It was a title that shined brightest at its release but hasn’t aged well.

At its 1997 launch, “Final Fantasy VII” erupted onto screens with an incandescent hype. It showed fans a new world where polygons and computer-generated images brought surreal worlds to startling life. Back then, the graphics were groundbreaking and the soundtrack equally as epic, setting the tone for an era of video games.

Unfortunately, what was revolutionary back then is primitive now, and the visual pizzazz that Square Enix hung its hat on seems trite. One can only be impressed by so many dazzling cut scenes and fancy attacks before they all feel “meh.” “Final Fantasy VII” was a distinct product of history, a game that arrived at the right point and time, capturing the wide-eyed imagination of a generation. I had doubts that a 2020 remake could duplicate that sense of wonder.

But somehow Square Enix found a way to elicit that feeling. Part of that is due to the inherent nostalgia, but it’s the team’s careful approach to the “Final Fantasy VII Remake” that makes the difference. With more than 20 years of video game advancement since the original, the team rethought almost everything about JRPG and made a classic even better.

The difference between the remake and the original is in the details. It’s like seeing a masterpiece in a photograph and then seeing the same painting at the museum. The former gives viewers an idea of the picture but to get the full experience such as the picture’s size, frame and brush strokes, they need to see it in person.

In a similar manner, the “Remake” doesn’t just tell the same story with prettier graphics. Square Enix overhauls everything and retells the story of Cloud Strife with a more measured approach. It follows the former super-soldier-turned-mercenary as he takes a job with Avalanche, a ragtag group of fighters battling the Shinra Corporation. The giant conglomerate is sucking the life force out of the planet and this resistance force faces an uphill battle stopping it.

In this iteration, more of the spotlight falls on tertiary characters such as Jessie, Wedge and Biggs who were extras in the original. The “Remake” fleshes their characters out and also smooths out the history of its pivotal heroes in flashbacks. The story even manages to capture the agonising choice players face between Aerith Gainsborough or Tifa Lockhart as the romantic lead for Cloud. They’re written and voice acted in a way that makes veterans of the series fall in love with both of heroines again.

The other half of this successful formula is a complete revamp of the combat system. For years, the franchise has struggled to evolve combat beyond turn-based systems. What fans have gotten are strange hybrids that awkwardly blend the old style with the action-oriented newer one. With the “Remake,” Square Enix finally balances the two.

The combat relies on square being used for attack with defensive options of dodging and blocking. This gives the “Remake” the feel of a simple action RPG, but the developers layer in more advanced attacks with the triangle button. Those actions differ depending on the character and that gives each hero a distinct style.

The more important element though is how Square Enix reintroduces the Active Time Battle system that has been a hallmark of some of the best entries in the series. The “Remake” elegantly incorporated this vital feature into the real-time battle system. Players can attack at any time but to use spells, abilities or items, they need to wait for their ATB bar to fill. That can be sped up by players taking control of a character or it can be modified via gear. Whatever the case, the ATB adds a strategic aspect to combat that already requires smart spacing and timing.

It takes a few hours to adjust to the combat, but once players understand the nuance, it becomes shockingly fun to play. Add in the character progression through weapons and materials and players can customise a party of three to take on challenges in different ways. The system has potential but players likely won’t realise it until later.

Because of its slow burn, the “Remake” covers most of the story in the city of Midgar. The “Remake” doesn’t have the full campaign. That’s a danger because it’s uncertain whether Square Enix can pull off the same quality as this first section. With the inevitable follow-up, players will enter unknown territory as the plot sprawls out and players face a wider in-game world and likely a new generation of consoles. This epic endeavour could end like “Breaking Bad” with a fantastic finale or it could devolve like the last seasons of “Game of Thrones.”

The one factor going for the “Final Fantasy VII” is that the foundation is already strong and the “Remake” reinforces that. Here’s hoping that Square Enix doesn’t leave players hanging for too long as it reimagines one of the most important games of all time.

By Gieson Cacho

OCALA, Florida — Since the United States closed its movie theatres in March to halt the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, a small drive-in cinema in Florida has enjoyed a revival that recalls life in the 1950s.

"The old cliché that 'the show must go on' is not a cliché. It's a way of life to us," said John Watzke, owner of the Ocala Drive-In in the Florida town of Ocala.

He said that his is one of only 11 still operating across the nation during the lockdowns.

The rusting sign surrounded by stars revives memories of the heyday of the drive-ins, when movie-goers would park their cars in front of a huge screen and order drinks and popcorn from servers who would come to their car window.

"We are a rarity right now," said cashier Jeff Mellott.

"We're helping people. Everybody is cooped up. So this is a chance for some people to get out."

The viewers, many of them wearing face masks, park their cars on the open field to see the movies as night falls.

"Everybody stays their distance, the customers outside are all parked 12 or 14 feet apart," said Watzke.

Of the four films being screened at the weekend, two had already debuted online in recent weeks, "Trolls: World Tour" and "Resistance."

Since customers stay in their own cars during the show and thereby avoid gatherings of more than 10 people, Watzke's business is permitted to remain open, offering a welcome outlet to people in the midst of the pandemic lockdown.

Hansel Sanchez drove almost two hours from Sanford, another city in Florida "just to break the monotony of sitting at home."

"My daughter has never been to a drive-in. Neither has my wife. So it's something cool to do," he told AFP.

In a world of online streaming services and smart phones, drive-ins have all but disappeared.

The pandemic may trigger something of a comeback.

The United Drive-in Theatre Owners Association estimates that there are currently 305 businesses that qualify as drive-ins in the United States, where once there were thousands.

The Los Angeles Times reported that other drive-ins in California, Kansas, Oklahoma and Missouri have also seen a bump in ticket sales.

First launched in 2015 and revised for the current model year, the Land Rover Discovery Sport’s subtle aesthetic refresh is combined with a more significant driveline and technology overhaul. A practical and moderately sized family SUV with genuine off-road ability, smooth driving manners and cabin versatility that includes optional 7-seat configuration, the Discovery Sport was recently recognised as the 2020 Middle East Car of the Year awards’ best Compact Premium SUV in a category also contested by the Mercedes-Benz GLC-Class, Infiniti QX50 and its own Range Rover Evoque relation.

A new pecking order

Winning over its Evoque sister model with which it shares platform and much of its technology, engines and even basic design cues, the Discovery Sport’s victory comes due to it offering greater practicality and somewhat better value for a very similar product, despite the Evoque being pitched as more luxurious and stylish. This result also highlights the narrowing differentiation between the Indian-owned British manufacturer’s more accessible premium Land Rover products and its more high-end premium Range Rover badge vehicles, in terms of luxury, ability, technology, components and pricing.

Discretely face-lifted, the updated Discovery Sport rides on the same platform as before, but its body is, however, now 13 per cent stiffer and features rigidly-mounted subframes for improved refinement, comfort and collision safety. Marginally longer at the front, the revised Discovery Sport is little altered in design and still features a clamshell bonnet, floating roof design with forward-tilted C-pillars. It, however, looks more bulbous and imposing with its revised bumpers, including slimmer and taller front side intakes, which lend its fascia a higher-set and more imposing presence.

Subtle electrification

Freshened up with more angular front and rear light elements in place of its predecessor’s ‘crosshair’ style elements, the new Discovery Sport’s fascia has a more squinting and dramatic feel to it, while the rear looks distinctly more up-market. More extensively revised under its skin, the new Discovery Sport is now powered by Jaguar Land Rover’s in-house designed turbocharged 2-litre 4-cylinder Ingenium petrol engines, mated with a standard mild hybrid electric vehicle (MHEV) system, in place of the Ford Ecoboost-based engine of the same displacement that the model launched with back in 2015.

Developing 197BHP at 5,500rpm and 236lb/ft throughout a broad and easily accessible 1,250-4,500rpm torque band in entry-level P200 tuned version of two petrol versions using the same engine, the Discovery Sport’s combustion engine is aided by a 48-volt starter/generator MHEV system. Recovering energy on braking and storing it in underfloor batteries, it powers ancillary systems and contributes slightly to driving on hard acceleration. MHEV allows engine switch off below 17km/h on deceleration. Weighing more than its predecessor, the new Discovery Sport, however, returns slightly improved fuel efficiency partially owing to its MHEV system.

Confident and comfortable

Responsive from standstill with a quick-spooling turbo, and willing to its redline, the Discovery Sport P200 is, however, at its best in its torque-rich mid-range where it is smooth, flexible and effortless. Driving all four wheels through a slick shifting 9-speed automatic gearbox to best utilise its output for performance, versatility and economy over a broad range of ratios, the P200 accelerates through 0-100km/h in 9-seconds, 80-120km/h in 6.9-seconds and onto 207km/h. Meanwhile, it returns 7.8l/100km combined cycle fuel efficiency. Smooth driving and well insulated from noise, vibration and harshness, the Discovery Sport proved stable, reassuring and settled at speed.

A comfortable and confident drive, the Discovery Sport is an easy-to-drive and manoeuvrable SUV with compact dimensions and clever packaging inside. It features a well-adjustable and commandingly high driving position with good sightlines despite the high-set bonnet, and with an 11.8-metre turning circle, is easy to drive in town an confined parking areas. Comfortably forgiving over imperfections including a particular poorly maintained stretch of high way during test drive, the Discovery Sport’s suspension is set-up to well-absorb vertical impacts. It remains comfortable over all but the sharpest sudden bumps, despite large, firm optional R-Design package alloy wheels and 235/50R20 tyres.

Premium package

Turning tidily into corners with good grip and quick, direct and light 2.31-turn electric-assisted steering, the Discovery Sport’s sense of body lean may seem slightly exaggerated due to its high driving position. However, its balanced handling, cornering adjustability and outright grip lend it a reassuring confidence through twists and turns, and with its active torque vectoring four-wheel-drive, has an unexpected agility. A capable daily driver with genuine off-road ability, the revised Discovery Sport retains similarly good approach, departure and break-over angles as its predecessor, and the same 212mm ground clearance and 600mm water fording capability.

Featuring a standard Terrain Response 2 system that adapts various driving and system parameters for different conditions and surfaces, the Discovery Sport also features additional all-terrain systems and a ground view camera for more accurate manoeuvrability along narrow off-road routes. Highly well equipped with standard driver assistance, safety and convenience features too numerous to list in top HSE specification, it also features a rearview camera and mirror display with clear unimpeded views. With logical layouts, plenty of useful storage space, and roomy, versatile and configurable seating and cargo area, the Discovery Sport is practical and features quality materials and designs for a premium ambiance inside.

Specifications

• Engine: 2-litre, all-aluminium, turbocharged, transverse 4-cylinders
• Bore x stroke: 83 x 92.29mm
• Compression ratio: 10.5:1
• Valve-train: 16-valve, DOHC, continuously variable valve timing, direct injection
• Gearbox: 9-speed automatic, active four-wheel-drive
• Ratios: 1^st 4.713; 2^nd 2.842; 3^rd 1.909; 4^th 1.382; 5^th 1.0; 6^th 0.808; 7^th 0.699; 8^th 0.58; 9^th 0.48
• Reverse/final drive: 3.83/4.544
• Power, BHP (PS) [kW]: 197 (200) [147] @5,500rpm
• Specific power: 98.6BHP/litre
• Power -to-weight: 103.6BHP/ton (kerb)
• Torque, lb/ft (Nm): 236 (320) @1,250-4,500rpm
• Specific torque: 160.1Nm/litre
• Torque-to-weight: 168.3Nm/ton (kerb)
• 0-100km/h: 9-seconds
• 80-120km/h: 6.9-seconds
• Top speed: 207km/h
• Fuel consumption, combined: 7.8l/100km
• Combined CO2 emissions: 177g/km
• Fuel capacity: 65-litres
• Length: 4,597mm
• Width, w/mirrors: 2,173mm
• Height: 1,727mm
• Wheelbase: 2,741mm
• Track, F/R: 1635/1642mm
• Overhang, F/R: 901/955mm
• Ground clearance: 212mm
• Wading depth: 600mm
• Approach/departure/ramp angles: 22.8°/28.2°/20.6°
• Maximum gradient: 45°
• Maximum side slope angle: 35°
• Aerodynamic drag co-efficiency: 0.33
• Headroom, F/R: 1,003/984mm
• Legroom, F/R: 993/968mm
• Shoulder room, F/R: 1,455/1,420mm
• Boot capacity, min/max: 897/1794-litres
• Unladen/kerb weight, 5-seat: 1,826/1,901kg
• Suspension, F/R: MacPherson struts/multi-link
• Steering: Variable ratio electric power-assisted rack & pinion
• Turning circle: 11.8-meters
• Lock-to-lock: 2.31-turns
• Brakes, F/R: Ventilated discs, 349mm/discs, 300mm
• Tyres: 235/50R20

The new coronavirus appears to linger in the air in crowded spaces or rooms that lack ventilation, researchers found in a study that buttresses the notion that COVID-19 can spread through tiny airborne particles known as aerosols.

At two hospitals in Wuhan, China, researchers found bits of the virus’s genetic material floating in the air of hospital toilets, an indoor space housing large crowds, and rooms where medical staff take off protective gear. The study, published Monday in the journal Nature Research, didn’t seek to establish whether the airborne particles could cause infections.

The question of how readily the new virus can spread through the air has been a matter of debate. The World Health Organisation has said the risk is limited to specific circumstances, pointing to an analysis of more than 75,000 cases in China in which no airborne transmission was reported.

But as the virus fans across the globe and infections near 3 million, scientists are trying to understand exactly how contamination occurs.

People produce two types of droplets when they breathe, cough or talk. Larger ones drop to the ground before they evaporate, causing contamination mostly via the objects on which they settle. Smaller ones — those that make up aerosols — can hang in the air for hours.

The researchers, led by Ke Lan of Wuhan University, set up so-called aerosol traps in and around two hospitals in the city that was home to the pandemic’s first steps.

They found few aerosols in patient wards, supermarkets and residential buildings. Many more were detected in toilets and two areas that had large crowds passing through, including an indoor space near one of the hospitals.

Especially high concentrations appeared in the rooms where medical staff take off protective equipment, which may suggest that particles contaminating their gear became airborne again when masks, gloves and gowns are removed.

The findings highlight the importance of ventilation, limiting crowds and careful sanitation efforts, the researchers said.

By Marthe Fourcade

Summertime: Scenes from Provincial Life

J. M. Coetzee

London: Vintage, 2010

Pp. 266

J. M. Coetzee, famed South African — now Australian — writer, who won the 2003 Nobel Prize for literature, has published three fictionalised memoirs, sometimes termed autobiographical novels. Following “Boyhood” (1997) and “Youth” (2002), this is the third. In “Summertime”, he chooses a most unusual approach. Presupposing himself dead, he has a hypothetical researcher interview five people who knew him in the 1970s, when he was newly returned from the US, having attained a graduate degree and taught at universities there. This is the period just prior to the publication of his first novel, “Dusklands” (1977), which set him on the path to international recognition.

The first page of the book blazes with an account of extrajudicial killings perpetrated by the South African regime in neighbouring Botswana, disguised as black-on-black violence. Such accounts are prevalent in much of Coetzee’s writing, showing his distain for the apartheid regime and its senseless violence: “So they come out, week after week, these tales from the borderlands, murders followed by bland denials. He reads the reports and feels soiled…” (p 4)

The above quote is from notebooks dated 1972-75, presumably in preparation for a book Coetzee intended to write before he “died” and now used as a reference by his would-be biographer. They set the scene: Coetzee is living with his father in their deteriorating old home in the white suburbs of Cape Town, close to the notorious Pollsmoor prison where Nelson Mandela and other political prisoners were once incarcerated. Coetzee has begun the Sisyphus-like task of repairing the house, based on his belief that people should do their own manual labour. He even asks himself why he persists in “inscribing marks on paper, in the faint hope that people not yet born will take the trouble to decipher them”. (p. 7)

This self-questioning is typical for the self-effacing image of himself that Coetzee projects via the interviews. The first is with Julia, a psychiatrist who had an affair with him and dismisses him as a loner, socially inept and repressed, though she seems most interested in talking about herself. The next interview is with his cousin Margot, written up as a narrative about a Christmas holiday gathering at the expansive, remote family farm. Again, the author appears as an outsider, this time in relation to the Coetzee clan: “John’s presence on the farm is a source of unease. After years spent overseas… he has suddenly reappeared among them under some cloud or other, some disgrace. One story being whispered about is that he has been in an American jail”. (p. 89)

Strangely, no one asks John about this, so they continue to think it was some kind of criminality, rather than the protest against the Vietnam War in which he was involved. This section reveals the narrow, provinciality of the Afrikaners rural community, even those who live a more sophisticated life. It also shows that the old order is unravelling: White farmers can no longer make a living from the land; race relations are changing. Coetzee’s love of the land and nostalgia are also revealed as he shares childhood memories with Margot “of those Christmastides of yore… when they were children roaming the veld as free as wild animals”. (p. 108)

Questions of identity come to the fore in a different way in the third interview, with Adriana, a Brazilian ballet dancer who has landed in South Africa with her two daughters and been widowed, due to a combination of circumstances. Since John is dead, he cannot defend himself from her accusations that as an Afrikaner he is not qualified to teach her daughters English, and that he had sexual designs on her and her daughter. She dismisses him as a nothing, despite knowing he later became a famous writer.

The fourth and fifth interviews paint a different picture, though confirming Coetzee’s outsider status. His former colleagues at the University of Cape Town, South African Martin and Sophie, a French woman, share his abhorrence of apartheid and affirm his seriousness as an intellectual and teacher. Sophie in particular offers insight into John’s utopian thinking, his abhorrence of politics and his principled opposition to injustice, violence and other forms of cruelty, while holding out the tantalising tidbit that she had a “liaison” with him, but refusing to go into details.

There is much the reader does not know. Are the interviewees based on real people? Is the writing of this fictionalised memoir an act of soul searching on Coetzee’s part, or is he sometimes playing, poking fun at himself and others? Or both. But it doesn’t really matter. The book is fascinating as it swings back and forth between serious moral considerations and wry humour. Coetzee paints a complex, nuanced picture of South Africa at the time, rich in insight and irony. The composite picture of the author that emerges from the interviews is of a conflicted man of great integrity who eschews superficiality and pretence. He writes from the periphery of the white experience, not presuming to speak for the African majority. One aspect that surely reflects truth is his agonising over how to care for his ailing father, with whom he shares little, but to whom feels a sense of duty—a truly universal predicament. “Summertime” is available at the University Bookshop.