COVID CORNER
STATUE MASKS UP
In Aizuwakamatsu in central Japan, a 57m (187ft) statue of Kannon, the Buddhist goddess of mercy, has been given a giant face covering. Temple managers intend to keep the statue masked until the pandemic is brought under control. BBC News, 17 Jun 2021.
STOP THE PIGEON!
Officially, North Korea claims to have had no cases of Covid at all, but that has not stopped Kim Jong-un from announcing extreme measures to keep the disease from spreading. Fearing that pigeons flying in from neighbouring China could be bringing in the virus (despite no evidence that birds spread Covid), he has decreed that people in the border districts of Hyesan and Sinuiju should shoot every pigeon they see, prompting international
