The Current for April 23, 2021
Today on The Current:
Canada has banned flights from India and Pakistan for 30 days, over an alarming surge of COVID-19 cases, plus a new variant. Matt Galloway asks Minister of Public Safety Bill Blair whether the ban will curb the spread of the virus, or if it's already too late. Plus, we hear about the efficacy of travel restrictions from Kelley Lee, Canada research chair in global health governance at Simon Fraser University.
Plus, India's health-care system is cracking under a COVID-19 surge, with hundreds of thousands of daily new cases, oxygen in short supply and new variants emerging. We discuss the situation on the ground, and what Canadian doctors are doing to help, with Dr. Aqsa Shaikh, who leads a vaccine program in New Delhi; Dr. Tarun Bhatnagar, an epidemiologist at the Indian Council of Medical Research's National Institute of Epidemiology; and Ananya Tina Banerjee, an assistant professor of epidemiology at McGill University.
And do you know how to spot fake news? Alan Rusbridger, former editor of the Guardian newspaper warns that media literacy is vital in a world with social media, and journalists themselves need to be mindful of how the public consumes and understands the news. He joins us to discuss his new book, News and How to Use It: What to Believe in a Fake News World.