World Coronavirus Dispatch: Dicey nature of investing in oil during Covid

Collapse in tourists visiting Rome burst the city's Airbnb short-term rental bubble, Cuba plans 'big bang' currency devaluation, and other pandemic related news across the globe

Rome’s Airbnb landlords suffer

The collapse in tourists visiting Rome during the pandemic has burst the city’s Airbnb short-term rental bubble, forcing some indebted landlords into fire sales of their flats to avoid defaulting on their mortgages. In recent years, vast numbers of flats in central Rome close to monuments such as the Colosseum and Trevi fountain have been repurposed for short-term letting by amateur landlords seeking to profit from the Eternal City’s estimated 15 million visitors a year. The collapse in visitors has left landlords overstretched after they speculated on Rome’s tourism boom at a time when the wider Italian economy has been stagnant. Many are rushing to convert their properties into long-term rentals or sell them to pay off debts, and estate agents say sales prices are down by about a third. Read here

Let's look at the global statistics

Global infections: 71,108,819

Change Over Yesterday: 488,827

Global deaths: 1,595,286

Nations with most cases: US (15,851,014), India (9,826,775), Brazil (6,836,227), Russia (2,574,319), France (2,405,210).

Source: John Hopkins Coronavirus Research Center.

Cuba plans ‘big bang’ currency devaluation

The devastating effect of coronavirus on tourism, a fall in foreign earnings from the export of medical services and tougher US sanctions have created the worst cash crunch in Cuba since the early 1990s. Struggling, Cuba is now planning on the biggest devaluation of its currency since the 1959 revolution and the elimination of a dual currency system. The government is anxious that the devaluation should not fuel unrest, particularly given recent expressions of dissent by artists demanding greater freedoms. Read here

Virus can travel farther and faster inside restaurants

South Korean researchers in a study suggest the virus, under certain airflow conditions, travels farther than six feet and can infect others in as little as five minutes. Droplet “transmission can occur at a distance greater than 2 meters if there is direct air flow from an infected person in an indoor setting,” the authors write. Understanding the role that air flow plays in transporting droplets and aerosols large enough to infect others is important, scientists say. But such research also reinforces the randomness of infection as well as the limitations of the current protections that people use to keep themselves safe. Read here

New Zealand, Cook Islands to form travel bubble

New Zealand and the Cook Islands have agreed to open up quarantine-free travel between the two countries starting in the first quarter of 2021. The officials from both countries will work to implement quarantine-free access for visitors from the Cook Islands. This will be the first reciprocal travel bubble New Zealand has formed after closing its borders earlier this year to eliminate local Covid-19 transmission. While New Zealand nationals can visit Australia quarantine-free, a two-way bubble has been delayed due to Australia’s higher tolerance for community transmission. Read here

Specials

Book essay: Life after Covid

Unless you are Jeff Bezos or a shareholder in Zoom, the past 11 months are likely to have inspired a mix of fear, despair, grief and confusion. The pandemic has touched every aspect of life and mostly not for the better: bringing death, disease, joblessness and isolation, and deepening social and economic inequalities. Globalism is under pressure from nationalism, as countries have closed borders, hoarded protective equipment and bartered over vaccines. Geopolitical alliances are being reshaped. The US seems in disarray; China appears emboldened. The world sometimes feels as if it is spinning in the wrong direction, although the vaccine rollouts offer a glimpse of hope. For those whose heads are aching at the enormity of it all, three books offer different but surprisingly congruent ways of processing the pandemic and looking ahead to the world that might emerge. Read here

What’s reopened and what’s still restricted in 16 cities around the world

Vaccines have been rolled out in some countrues. But so is a resurgence in coronavirus cases in many parts of the world. The story keeps track of the responses from public health officials and others across 16 cities. Read here

The dicey nature of investing in oil during covid

The question of whether to invest in oil and gas has become a polarising issue in the world of money management. Even before the pandemic sapped the world’s thirst for fuel, the future of the fossil-fuel industry was already under threat due to the rise of electric cars, the proliferation of renewable energy and growing consciousness about the long-term impact of climate change. What makes the situation even more challenging for investors are new questions about the direction of oil prices, which no longer follow the fairly predictable cycle of boom and bust that governed the industry for much of the past century. Read here