World Coronavirus Dispatch: Second wave in Asia prompts fresh lockdowns

EU lets member nations suspend import duties on medical equipment, Gold continues to surge, Australia posts daily virus record and other pandemic-related news across the globe

The European Union let its member countries suspend import duties on medical equipment needed to fight the coronavirus for three more months. The European Commission allowed EU governments to waive the bloc’s tariffs on goods such as masks, testing kits and ventilators until October 31, amid a resurgence in Covid-19 cases worldwide. The move also maintains a suspension of value-added tax on the products. Read more here

Let’s look at the global statistics:

Total Confirmed Cases: 16,264,048


Change Over Yesterday: 208,139


Total Deaths: 648,966


Total Recovered: 9,407,977

Nations hit with most cases: US (4,234,140), Brazil (2,419,091), India (1,435,616), Russia (811,073) and South Africa (445,433)

Source: Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Research Center

Zimbabwe suspends parliament after two members contract Covid-19: Zimbabwe has suspended most parliamentary business after two lawmakers and two other people tested positive for the coronavirus. The two were in a team conducting field visits around the country. A driver and a journalist also contracted the virus. Read more here

Gold continues to surge amid pandemic: Gold’s unrelenting march higher shows no signs of slowing after a plunge in the dollar swept prices past the previous high set in 2011. With the world facing an extended period of unprecedented economic and political turmoil, gold’s now got $2,000 in its sights. Some in the market suggest the haven could rise even beyond that. Read more here

Second wave of coronavirus in Asia prompts fresh lockdowns: Countries around Asia are confronting a second wave of coronavirus infections and are clamping down again to try to contain the disease. Fresh lockdowns have been announced in Australia, Vietnam, China and Hong Kong. Read more here

Australia posts daily virus record: Australia’s second-most populous state reported 532 new cases of the virus which causes Covid-19, taking the national total to 549, the most new cases in a day since the pandemic arrived. Victoria currently has more than 4,500 active cases after weeks of triple digits daily rises. Read more here

Mitsubishi Motors losses to hit $3.4 billion in FY20: Mitsubishi Motors said on Monday it expects a group net loss of $3.4 billion for the year ending March 2021, marking the second straight year of red ink. Mitsubishi, which is owned 34 per cent by Nissan Motor, expects sales to drop 35 per cent, with volumes projected to fall 25 per cent to 845,000 units. Read more here

Specials

European companies fend off insolvency as support from central banks softens damage:

The number of firms seeking court protection from creditors in major European economies such as Britain, Germany and France has slumped since the pandemic hit the region this year, even as growth took a battering. UK insolvencies fell about 30 per cent between April and June from a year earlier while in Spain, the rate was almost 60 per cent lower, according to data. The picture is similar in Germany, where the number of insolvency filings fell 13 per cent in April alone, and France where it’s down 19 per cent from 2019 during the same month. Read more here

Casual dining chains have ‘no future’, says former PizzaExpress entrepreneur

High street casual dining chains have “no future” after coronavirus, according to the entrepreneur who turned PizzaExpress into the UK’s first midmarket restaurant chain. Hugh Osmond, who with fellow entrepreneur Luke Johnson took PizzaExpress public and expanded the chain to more than 200 sites during the 1990s, said private equity firms buying casual dining businesses at risk of bankruptcy because of the Covid-19 crisis “fail to understand the business they are acquiring”. Read more here

The best ad slogans to get people to wear masks: To convince the holdouts and skeptics to cover their faces, Bloomberg News turned to experts in an industry that’s all about changing people’s behaviour: advertising. Read here to learn about how advertisers and brands are peddling this important message forward. Read more here