World Coronavirus Dispatch: Covid could wipe out $16 trn of global wealth

WHO halts HCQ trials again, Australia jobless rate 19-year high, UK builds Covid war chest-roundup of news from across the world on the Covid-19 pandemic

In a new estimate of loss from the pandemic, BCG has said volatile markets and the economic fallout could wipe out as much as $16 trillion of global wealth this year and hinder growth for the next five years. This would be higher than the 2008 financial crisis, which erased $10 trillion.

Personal financial wealth reached $226 trillion globally last year, a 9.6 per cent gain from 2018 and the strongest annual growth rate since 2005. From 2019 through 2024 wealth growth worldwide could slow to a CAGR of 1.4 per cent if BCG’s worst case scenario pans out. Read more here

Let’s look at the global statistics:

Total Confirmed Cases: 83,49,972

Change Over Yesterday: 1,53,237

Total Deaths: 4,48,959

Total Recovered: 30,73,955

Nations hit with most cases: US (21,63,290), Brazil (9,55,377), Russia (5,52,549), India (3,66,946) and UK (2,97,342)

Source: Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Research Center

Air maintenance firms, manufacturers plan for $60 billion in lost sales
 

Maintenance firms and spare parts producers who keep airplanes running are bracing for a decline of up to 75 per cent in sales this year - and more pain to follow - as airlines park or retire thousands of aircraft due to the coronavirus pandemic. Worth about $80 billion in sales last year, the industry ranges from engine makers like General Electric and Rolls-Royce to systems companies like Honeywell and Raytheon Technologies and a host of smaller suppliers. Read more here

UK’s new stimulus: The Bank of England is expected to build back its war chest for fighting the coronavirus crisis, by announcing an increase of at least 100 billion pounds in its bond-buying programme. By buying up so much debt - almost all of it issued by the government - the BoE is keeping a lid on borrowing costs paid by businesses and consumers, as well as the public sector. It is also trying to steer inflation back to its 2 per cent target. Read more here

Australia jobless rate 19-year high: Employment in May plunged a further 227,700 after a record slump of about 600,000 in April, according to official figures. The unemployment rate shot up to 7.1 per cent, the highest since October 2001, from an upwardly revised 6.4 per cent in April. In comparison US’s unemployment rate 13.3 per cent. Read more here

UK says China and Russia trying to exploit coronavirus crisis: “We certainly know Russia is engaged systematically in misinformation and propaganda, through cyber and other ways. Others engage in the same too, China and Iran, but I don’t think it had any outcome on the electoral process in the UK,” British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab told a TV news channel. Read more here

WHO again halts trial of hydroxychloroquine in Covid-19 patients: WHO said investigators leading the so-called Solidarity Trial testing the drug - which had been promoted by US President Donald Trump - had reviewed recent evidence and decided to stop recruiting new patients. In a statement it said the decision was based on evidence from the Solidarity Trial itself, as well as from a UK-led trial that had found the drug did not help Covid-19 patients. Read more here

SPECIALS

Decoding the second wave of the coronavirus
 

Many nations are emerging from lockdowns even as experts are predicting a second wave of Covid-19 infections. Based on the first wave, they can avoid the worst. The answer: Move swiftly. Governments that hesitated to mount a broad containment response when the virus first emerged ended up with eight times as many deaths per 100,000 citizens, on average, compared to those that sprung into action soon after—or even before—confirming their first case. Read the analysis here

Rich countries are placing advance orders for potential vaccines
 

Britain and the US have sunk millions of dollars into various vaccine candidates, including one being developed by Oxford University and manufactured by AstraZeneca. In return, both countries are expected to get priority treatment; the British government declared that if the vaccine proves effective, the first 30 million doses would be earmarked for Britons. Separately AstraZeneca signed an agreement to make at least 300 million doses available for the US, with the first batches delivered as early as October. Read more here

Singapore braces for new style of election, amid pandemic
 

With polls expected to be held in April 2021, campaigning in the country has been altered to curb any virus spread. No physical rallies, refrain from shaking voters’ hands, no gatherings on polling night and no more than five people in a group when candidates canvass support on the ground. Elections in the city-state would make Singapore the second Asian nation to go ahead with the ballot during the virus outbreak following South Korea’s polls in April. Other countries in the region have opted to postpone voting due to the pandemic. Read more here

MULTIMEDIA

Self-isolation, job loss and fear of getting coronavirus is affecting our mental health. How is our brain processing the pandemic? Watch it here

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