World Coronavirus Dispatch: US share buybacks cut in half by pandemic

German rail slammed for withholding data, UK govt faces more heat after latest school exam problem, How Indonesia failed to control coronavirus and other pandemic-related news across the globe

Travel chaos gives passengers headaches at summer’s end: A heap of new travel restrictions has thrown Europe’s long-anticipated August break into disarray, dealing a setback to airlines and leaving some passengers on the hook for the cost of last-minute changes. In the UK, quarantine measures have been reimposed on Spain, France, Malta and the Netherlands. Further, for those who already have tickets, changing plans has become a minefield of terms and conditions that vary by carrier. Read more here

Let’s look at the global statistics

Total Confirmed Cases: 22,413,126


Change Over Yesterday: 353,193


Total Deaths: 787,686


Total Recovered: 14,338,859

Nations hit with most cases: US (5,529,933), Brazil (3,456,652), India (2,836,925), Russia (935,066) and South Africa (596,060)

Source: Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Research Center 

US share buybacks almost cut in half by pandemic: Provisional figures show the total spent on buybacks by companies in the S&P 500 was about $89.7 billion, according to S&P Dow Jones Indices, down 46 per cent from the same quarter last year. If the estimate holds true, it would mark the lowest quarterly total for buybacks since the first quarter of 2012. Read more here 



German rail criticised for withholding data during pandemic: Travel booking sites have criticised Europe’s largest rail operator, state-owned Deutsche Bahn, for refusing to share data predicting how crowded its trains are during the Covid-19 pandemic. Deutsche Bahn didn’t allow customers using its site to view load factors and real-time data, including on train delays. Read more here

Top lithium miner boosts output on optimism about long-term demand: “Given the demand growth expectations in coming years, we feel comfortable with the higher level of inventories that are being built,” said Soc. Quimica y Minera de Chile SA (SQM), a Chile-based chemicals major. Between mid-2015 and mid-2018, prices for lithium almost tripled as the world’s EV fleet hit the 5 million mark. Read more here

UK government faces more criticism after latest school exam problem: UK’s Exam Board announced on Wednesday that it would recalculate grades for specialist work-related qualifications, just hours before students were due to receive their results.

Its decision came days after the government bowed to pressure from angry pupils, teachers and lawmakers and ditched an algorithm that had downgraded A-level results for almost 40 percent of school leavers last week. Read more here

Australia big business chafes at virus border closures: Several major Australian businesses urged a swift reopening of state borders on Thursday, even as authorities warned against complacency as new cases of the virus appear to be trending lower. Qantas Airways warned of protracted loss, while retail conglomerate Wesfarmers said the restrictions were causing “enormous hardship”. Read more here

Specials

South Africa’s big coronavirus aid effort tainted by corruption
: Contracts are being doled out to family members. Food parcels have gone missing. And funds meant for unemployment insurance are making their way into the pockets of political cronies. South Africa, the continent’s economic powerhouse, responded to the coronavirus pandemic by announcing the largest relief effort in the country’s history. But the undertaking has been dogged by allegations of widespread corruption and mismanagement, undermining confidence in a government that had initially received international acclaim for its assertive response to the pandemic. Charities and ordinary citizens say they have been left to fill in the gaps created by the government’s failures. Read more here

How Indonesia failed to control coronavirus
 

Only last week, Luhut Pandjaitan, Indonesia’s maritime minister and close confidant of the country’s president, touted herbal mangosteen juice as a coronavirus remedy, reflecting the unscientific approach to battling the coronavirus. Indonesia, where the rate of testing is among the world’s lowest, contact tracing is minimal and authorities have resisted lockdowns even as infections spiked, shows no signs of containing the virus. It now has the fastest infection spread in East Asia, with 17 percent of people tested turning out positive, rising close to 25 percent outside the capital, Jakarta. Read more here

Wuhan coronavirus: From silent streets to packed pools
 

Wuhan went into a then unprecedented lockdown on 23 January - at a time where the virus had killed 17 people and affected more than 400. The city of 11 million people was entirely cut off from the rest of China. Now pictures of partygoers at the Wuhan Maya Beach Water Park - looking very much removed from the outbreak that the rest of the world continues to battle - have now gone, viral. How did it get to this point; read about the trajectory here

Also, watch here: Thousands attend pool party in Wuhan