Computer generated representation of COVID-19 virions (SARS-CoV-2) under electron microscope | Source Felipe Esquivel Reed via Wikimedia
Severe acute respiratory syndrome-Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a novel virus from the family of coronaviruses which causes COVID-19 i.e. Coronavirus Disease-2019. It is the successor of the SARS-CoV-1 which caused the SARS outbreak in the year 2003-2004. This is a positive-sense single-stranded RNA virus which has rapid mutation properties.
The etymology of the name suggests that 'Corona' comes from the Latin word corōna meaning crown, garland, or a wreath. When seen under an Electron Microscope, the virion which has a diameter of 50-200 nanometres looks like the solar corona hence named Coronavirus.
When the virus enters the body; it attaches itself to the binding site or the ACE 2 receptors of healthy lung cells through its spike protein. Then it enters the cell via this attachment and causes apoptosis or cell death. The virus also affects organs other than lungs such as the brain, heart and kidneys. The multiple impact points make it problematic for the researchers to create a vaccine in addition to its rapid mutation properties.
The disease might have a zoonotic origin i.e. the transmission occurs from animals to humans. On comparing the genomic sequences the Human Coronavirus strain is found to be 96% identical to Bat Coronavirus samples and 92% similar to the Pangolins samples. Human transmission of the disease takes place via air droplets when the infected person is coughing, sneezing or talking.
The first cases of this respiratory illness were reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) from Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China, on 31 December 2019. It is the first severe outbreak since the 2009 H1N1 Influenza Pandemic. Initially, it was supposed that the site of origination is Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market but, in May 2020 the negative samples tested, by Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, from the livestock market suggested that it was the site of the super spreading of the virus.
SARS-CoV-2 is known to have an average reproduction number of 2.2-2.6 which means that, on an average, one infected person can spread the infection to 2-3 people. Although if measures like social distancing are put into use, to reduce the exposure of the infected population, it leads to a significant reduction in transmission rates. The infection fatality rate (IFR) of COVID-19 in various studies till 16th June 2020 was projected to range 0.60% to 1% of infected people . However few studies suggested the IFR as high as 3.6%.
The testing of an individual takes place through a method known as real-time Reverse transcription Polymerization Chain reaction (rRT-PCR). The process of obtaining strains and testing the patients usually involves nasal swabs or sputum swabs; the results come in within a span of a few hours to a couple of days.
Currently, there are no known vaccines available for the virus or any specific antiviral treatments, but there are numerous vaccines in works all over the world to tackle COVID-19. Experts believe that the minimum time required to test a vaccine is 12 to 18 months.
Trials are also going on for the repurposed drugs or the drugs which are useful for treating other diseases and might be capable against COVID-19: Some of these drugs are Hydroxychloroquine, chloroquine, Remdesivir, Dexamethasone, Lopinavir-ritonavir, and Convalescent plasma.
The only current solutions for tackling the pandemic are social distancing, hand wash, hygiene and face masks.
Support us to bring the world closer
To keep our content accessible we don't charge anything from our readers and rely on donations to continue working. Your support is critical in keeping Global Views 360 independent and helps us to present a well-rounded world view on different international issues for you. Every contribution, however big or small, is valuable for us to keep on delivering in future as well.
Cyberpunk 2077, the most awaited video game was released on consoles and PC on 10th of December, 2020. The game went under 10 years of build-up and had kept gamers waiting for over 8 years. Cyberpunk 2077 is inspired by a cult-favourite tabletop roleplaying game. The video game was designed by well-known Polish studio, CD Projekt Red. Cyberpunk was the studio’s first big console game since The Witcher 3: Wild hunt which was an extraordinarily triumphant game that won numerous awards after its launch in 2015.
The popular video game, when released, faced backlash from the gaming community and non-gamers for several reasons. To many observers and gamers, Cyberpunk 2077 even proved to be an absolute failure. Several gamers called out the game developers for the promotion of sexiest ideologies and transphobia. However, the reviews weren’t well received by the fans. Cyberpunk 2077 fans responded with unacceptable abuses, harrasing and hateful messages and even rape and death threats.
Keanu Reeves in Cyberpunk 2077
Cyberpunk 2077 released ample previews, trailers, motion pictures and marketing material. Aside from this, the appearence of popular Canadian actor, Keanu Reeves as a character in the game carved the expectations of gamers and promised a sexy and kinky world of futuristic and revolutionary action. CD Projekt Red, one of Europe’s most successful video game company announced Cyberpunk 2077 project in 2012 and released the first trailer in 2013
The game is set in an alternate timeline in the city of California. The streets in the game are owned by tyrannical corporations. Everyone in the game modifies their body with illegal technology. Much of the state in the video game setting is said to be suffering from the impacts of a major nuclear attack which happened years ago. Every player gets to be a cyber-enhanced human who has to fight against physical and psychological threats to their survival. The game character of Keanu Reeves comes in as your sidekick.
In 2018, the developers insisted and had assured the gamers that Cyberpunk 2077 would not include in game purchases. CD Projekt Red did not want to lock any content behind a paywall. The studio was also insistent that the game would come out only when it was completely “ready”. They announced that the release would take place in April 2020 but it was delayed multiple times due to the COVID-19 pandemic as well as other quality problems that the game was facing. When it was finally released in December 2020, gamers expected their experience of the game to be “worth the wait”. However, the video game wasn’t well revived by all. In spite of several months of work that went into making and developing the game, the game was launched with several technical issues. Players on both PC and consoles were having terrible experiences. As a result of multiple glitches and technical problems, the characters’ faces were obscured and the game would reset randomly. Some of the environments or areas of the game map was unappealing. The game even caused consoles to crash repeatedly and sometimes sacrificed players’ progress. One glitch led to characters’ breasts and penises being exposed. The characters’ genitals would poke out of their clothes. CD Projeckt Red offered refunds to players who were disappointed with the product. In fact, they updated a self-review discouraging gamers from playing the game on console until the game was fixed and improved.
Cyberpunk 2077 was roundly criticized by reviewers, game designers, industry insiders and other gamers across the gaming community. The wait and hype for the game had already created a fanbase which turned toxic by harassing reviewers who criticised the game.
There is another reason why the game wasn’t well received. Cyberpunk 2077 transphobia was apparent in the game contradicting the fact that the developers had claimed that the game was ahead of its time. The game has an incredibly detailed character creation menu. The players can control several aspects of their character’s appearance including the shapes and size of the genitals. The game even allows players to decline the option of including genitals to their characters. However, this isn’t the problem and is in fact appreciable. The idea of not determining gender by the character’s genitals in fact made many trans players happy. But this soon turned into disbelief and disappointment. The gamers realised that the game actually assigned the gender to the characters not based on their genitals but rather by the voice. Characters with higher-pitched voices were identified as females and characters with deep-voiced characters were assigned male pronouns. This purports the toxic idea that people’s gender can be determined by certain traits. A non-sexist video game would determine the gender of a player’s character based on an independent choice made by players themselves. This is uninfluenced by other physical traits or qualities.
Several reviewers called out Cyberpunk 2077 for promoting sexist ideologies. Unfortunately, toxic fans harassed the reviewers. “You just KNOW when you're going to get harassed. If the game with all the hype has anything wrong with it, and you're honest about that, or even just want to provide any context outside of ‘it's fun’, you're going to get harassed. It's a given.” These were precisely what Susan Arendt, a podcast host quoted. She even second guessed herself whether sharing her true opinions was worth the hateful, threatening and harassing messages that she received.
Controversial Tweet by Cyberpunk 2077 Twitter Handle
In the early days of arcade, gaming was a family activity. The popular male dominance and stereotype that only boys or men are good at video games were perpetuated in the past three decades. We observe this change due to sexualisation of video games. Today, most video games aren’t family friendly as they include explicit and sexual content. This, in fact, is a marketing tactic used by developers to target the male population. In 2018, a Cyberpunk 2077 fan who was awaiting the game at that point of time tweeted that the user wanted to see more from the “guys” at CDPR. In response to this tweet, CD Projekt Red tweeted, “Did you just assume their gender?!”. On the look of it, the tweet seems innocent but it is a joke at the expense of the trans community. After receiving backlash to the tweet, CDPR took it down and issued an apology staying sorry to “all those offended”. The apology seems like another targeted mockery and CDPR did no right by not taking responsibility for its actions.
Not only is Cyberpunk2077 transphobic and sexist, it is non user friendly as well. The game has several epilepsy triggers without any warnings about it. There are several instances and situations in the game where the effects and the graphics are brighter, louder and flashing. This is a general trigger for seizures. Liana Rupert, a player of Cyberpunk 2077 suffered a major seizure and at several moments felt that she was close to another one. After bringing this to the notice of CD Projekt Red, the company agreed to add trigger warnings wherever necessary.
The gaming industry has definitely taken a few steps forward in terms of inclusivity of all genders but has also taken a few steps backward. While all genders are welcome, they still face harassment and judgement for simply existing in the community and need a lot more improvement.
