World coronavirus dispatch: The UK-NZ-Germany success, and Korea's haste

From carmaker Renault laying off 14,600 people, to S&P's downgrading Rolls-Royce to junk, and the third type of coronavirus transmission - read these and more in today's world dispatch

After some recovery in cases, South Korea had allowed schools to open. But it has now quickly rushed to close them back again amid another outbreak. On Thursday, the country reported 79 new cases within 24 hours — its highest number in two months. More than 200 schools across South Korea were forced to return to online teaching just days after being allowed back in classrooms. Most of the affected schools are in an area outside of Seoul, which has seen a fresh outbreak of the virus. Read more here

Let’s look at the global statistics

• Total confirmed cases: 5,813,997
• Change over previous day: 220,849
• Total deaths: 360,412
• Total recovered: 2,418,865
• Nations hit with most cases: The US (1,721,750), Brazil (438,238), Russia (379,051), the UK (270,508) and Spain (237,906).

Source: Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Research Center

English Premier League to restart on June 17: The Premier League is set to restart its season next month, as it seeks to prevent more than 500 million pounds in losses at England’s top football clubs after fixtures were suspended because of the pandemic. The 20-member clubs have voted to resume matches on June 17, beginning with postponed fixtures between Aston Villa and Sheffield United, and Manchester City versus Arsenal. Read more here

UK economy recovering: The UK economy is showing tentative signs of improvement as the country eases out of its lockdown with job vacancies returning, household spending contracting less sharply, and more companies going back to business. Here are what five indicators on commercial activity are signalling on the UK economy. Read more here

Carmaker Renault to cut 14,600 jobs: Renault plans to lay off about 14,600 of its employees worldwide and lower production capacity by almost a fifth. The plan includes cutting almost 4,600 positions in France, its home country, through a voluntary retirement scheme. More than 10,000 further jobs will be scrapped in the rest of the world. Renault employs about 180,000 people globally. Read more here

New Zealand has nearly eradicated the virus: New Zealand on Friday almost eradicated coronavirus from its shores, with just one person in the nation of 5 million known to still be infected. Of the 1,504 people who were infected, 22 have died and all but one of the rest have now recovered. The nation’s borders remain closed. Read more here

Germany’s infection rate drops before key threshold: Germany’s new coronavirus cases held below 1,000, and the infection rate dropped further beneath the key threshold of 1.0. The reproduction factor of the virus, known as R-naught, fell to 0.61. This means 10 infected people are estimated to infect an average of around six others. Read more here

UN seeks $2.4 billion to help Yemen: The UN humanitarian chief urgently appeals for $2.4 billion to help millions of people in Yemen cope with the conflict and Covid-19, saying programmes are already being cut and the situation is “alarming”. More than 12 million children across Yemen need humanitarian assistance and nearly half a million require treatment for severe acute malnutrition. Read more here

Coronavirus lethal in cancer patients: New research shows how dangerous the coronavirus is for current and former cancer patients. Those cancer patients who developed Covid-19 were much more likely to die within a month than people without cancer who got it, two studies found. Read more here

Rolls-Royce downgraded to junk by S&P: Rating agency Standard & Poor’s has downgrade Rolls-Royce to junk, in a severe blow to the aero-engine company, which only last week announced plans to cut 9,000 jobs, mainly from its civil aerospace division. Like many of its aerospace peers, it has had to adjust its cost base to a market which could be up to 50 per cent smaller in the next four years as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Read more here

Long Reads

Understanding how the virus spreads in the environment: Covid-19 has, so far it seems, three modes of transmission. One route is via surfaces, deposited on things like door handles or silverware that then picked up by someone who touches some entry point into the body — eyes, nose, mouth. A second route is through large droplets, like those someone might give off in a cough or sneeze. A third way: a vast number of the particles that come out of a person’s mouth are much smaller, under 5 microns. They dry out quickly in the air and become so light they can float around for hours. Read more here

Interactive

Taking stock of layoff in Silicon Valley: Layoffs have slammed tech companies, both large and small, since the start of the coronavirus pandemic in mid-March. The industry has cut more than 40,000 jobs so far, but this month was the cruellest yet. In a single week in early May, Uber Technologies Inc announced it would slash 3,700 positions, Airbnb Inc said it would cut 1,900 and Lyft Inc fired or furloughed more than 1,000. View this infographic