World Coronavirus Dispatch: US banks consider layoffs as recession sticks

Banks eye layoffs as short-term crisis ends, long-term costs emerge: At the height of the coronavirus pandemic last spring, the heads of U.S. banks, including Morgan Stanley and Bank of America Corp, pledged not to cut any jobs this year. However, as executives prepare for an extended recession and loan losses that come with it, layoffs are back on the table, said consultants, industry insiders and compensation analysts. Read more here

Let’s look at the global statistics:


Total Confirmed Cases: 2,47,65,771


Change Over Yesterday: 2,84,607


Total Deaths: 8,37,559


Total Recovered: 1,62,07,881

Nations hit with most cases: US (59,17,817), Brazil (38,04,803), India (34,63,972), Russia (9,82,572) and Peru (6,29,961)

Source: Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Research Center

Hong Kong’s starts free coronavirus tests for all: Hong Kong is about to embark on the world’s biggest experiment in voluntary testing and hopes 3 million residents will come forward for the exercise. Roughly 30,000 people registered within the first five hours. Read more here

White House suggests $1.3 trillion coronavirus aid bill: President Donald Trump is willing to sign a $1.3 trillion coronavirus relief bill. Hours later, Democratic House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi in a statement repeated her call for a $2.2 trillion bill and said Meadows’ offer would not meet the needs. Read more here

China's Wuhan says all schools to reopen on Tuesday: Wuhan, Ground Zero for the Covid-19 pandemic, will reopen all its schools and kindergartens on Tuesday, local authorities said. As many as 2,842 educational institutions are set to open their doors to almost 1.4 million students. Read more here

Indonesia reports record new coronavirus cases for third day: Indonesia reported its biggest rise in new coronavirus infections for a third successive day on Saturday. Saturday’s 3,308 cases take Indonesia’s tally of infections to 1,69,195, while 92 new deaths carried its toll to 7,261. Read more here

Specials

How WeChat censored the coronavirus pandemic

Politically sensitive material, like references to the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, have long been forbidden on China’s highly censored internet, but researchers at the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab say these efforts reached a new level during the pandemic. It’s latest report, published earlier this week, finds that between January and May this year, more than 2,000 keywords related to the pandemic were suppressed on the Chinese messaging platform WeChat, which has more than 1 billion users in the country. Read more here

Premier League plots stadium reopenings to avoid lossmaking season

Coronavirus-related losses at English football’s top tier clubs are projected to be £850 million for last season, mainly due to lost matchday income with supporters unable to attend games since February. The Premier League also agreed a £330 million rebate with broadcasters to compensate for the lack of action during lockdown. It is plotting a financial recovery. Talks are under way for the partial reopening of stadiums and a deal has been reached with broadcasters to prevent further rebates. Meanwhile, teams are seeking to spend less cash in the multibillion pound transfer market. Read more here

Disrupted schooling will deepen inequality for American students 

Of the 50 largest school districts in America, 35 plan to start the coming term entirely remotely. The opportunity to squelch the virus over the summer has been lost, upending plans for “hybrid” education (part-time in-person instruction). This means more than just child-care headaches for parents. The continued disruption to schooling will probably spell permanent learning loss, disproportionately hurting poorer pupils. Read more here