BitGou: Friday Morning Briefing: Americans urged to wear masks outside as coronavirus pandemic worsens

Coronavirus

What you need to know about the coronavirus

Big data on lock-downs
Google data published yesterday reveal some interesting geographical differences on how the coronavirus outbreak has - and has not - changed people’s behaviors. Its reports cover 131 countries and show to what extent visits to shops, parks and workplaces dropped in March, when many governments issued stay-at-home orders.

Masking up
As mentioned here earlier this week, one effect of the pandemic has been how the reluctance of many Westerners in particular to the wearing of masks has broken down. Now the Trump administration looks set to join local U.S. officials in advising Americans to wear masks when venturing out, after the U.S. death toll this week rose by 1,000 in a single day for the first time.

The spread

Coronavirus cases pass the million mark
There are now over a million official cases of coronavirus, and more than 53,000 deaths as of 0200 GMT on Friday, according to a Reuters tally. It took 76 days from Jan. 10 for the first 500,000 cases of coronavirus to be reported. That figure doubled in the next 8 days. Infections in the United States total 240,000, Europe accounts for more than half of cases, East Asia has almost 100,000 and the Middle East has reported over 80,000.

Carbon emissions drop the most since WW2. Will it last?
Carbon dioxide emissions could fall by the largest amount since World War Two this year as the coronavirus outbreak brings economies to a virtual standstill, according to Rob Jackson, the chair of the Global Carbon Project, a network of scientists providing benchmark emissions data.

Follow our curated coronavirus live interactive graphic

U.S. immigration officials say they have a plan if detention centers get hit with coronavirus outbreaks: They will transfer detainees with serious symptoms to hospitals with “expertise in high risk care.” But many centers - each housing hundreds of people, often in close quarters - are located in remote communities, far from hospitals able to handle a rush of patients with COVID-19.

Breakingviews: Corona Capital - China loans, H&M, LBO no-show. China weighs its financial soft-power priorities and Sweden’s H&M offers a glimmer of hope. Plus: Chinese education companies learn some uncomfortable lessons about Covid-19. Catch up with the latest pandemic-related insights from Breakingviews here.

Reuters reporters and editors around the world are investigating the response to the coronavirus pandemic.

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World

Italy’s national lockdown to try to contain the spread of coronavirus will probably continue beyond the start of May, the head of the Civil Protection Agency said. This week the government extended the lockdown — which imposes severe restrictions on movement and shutters all services and firms not deemed essential Italy’s supply chain — until April 13.

Britain’s health minister said he had “no idea” if Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s week-long isolation after testing positive for coronavirus would end. “I don’t know about his own personal medical condition. What I do know is I’ve been working with him every single day through this crisis,” Health Minister Matt Hancock told ITV. “He’s been working incredibly hard.”

Medical charity Alima planned to open an emergency operating theater this week in Burkina Faso, but the project has stalled because the country closed its borders before a surgeon and anesthetist could fly in. In Central African Republic, health officials say a measles vaccination campaign may be canceled because of a delay in the supply of vials normally flown in from France. Coronavirus has infected more than 3,000 people In sub-Saharan Africa and killed about 100, prompting some of the world’s poorest countries to shut land and sea borders.

Asia

Glass half empty or full? Confusion reigned in some Hong Kong pubs and bars, after authorities ordered a two-week closure to curb a coronavirus pandemic, with many outlets that sell food uncertain if the latest restrictions applied to them.

Singapore will close schools and most workplaces, except for essential services and key economic sectors, for a month, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said, as part of stricter measures to stop the spread of the coronavirus. Singapore reported 65 more coronavirus cases, taking the city-state’s total cases of the disease to 1,114. The country suffered its fifth coronavirus-related death.

Tokyo nudges PM Abe to declare state of emergency. Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike said that Japan declaring a national state of coronavirus emergency would send a “strong message” that could help dodge an explosive outbreak, her most explicit nudge so far for the government to make the call.

Business

Fed's dilemma: Picking winners for $4 trillion in credit

When the Federal Reserve polled Wall Street about financial stability risks last fall, 'global pandemic' didn’t make the list. The challenge now facing the central bank, in consultation with the Treasury, is prioritizing which market to help next.

7 min read

Why sweetened layoff benefits may be at odds with U.S. loan program

The generous U.S. unemployment benefits rolled out to blunt the economic harm caused by the coronavirus could have an unintended effect: it may actually be an incentive for companies to choose layoffs rather than keep staff on their books.

6 min read

'Mom & Pop' firms worry they will be squeezed out of small business coronavirus aid

Family-owned restaurants fear they could be pitted against larger competitors, hotel chains and potentially investment funds, in a race starting on Friday, for a $349 billion pot of money the U.S. government will offer businesses hard-hit by coronavirus.

4 min read

U.S. dairy farmers dump milk as pandemic upends food markets

Dairy farmer Jason Leedle felt his stomach churn when he got the call on Tuesday evening. “We need you to start dumping your milk,” said his contact from Dairy Farmers of America, the largest U.S. dairy cooperative. Despite strong demand for basic foods like dairy products amid the coronavirus pandemic, the milk supply chain has seen a host of disruptions that are preventing dairy farmers from getting their products to market.

8 min read