BitGou: Thursday Morning Briefing: Who gets to restart the U.S. economy?

what you need to know about the coronavirus

Who gets to restart the US economy?
The tug-of-war over who gets to reopen the world's largest economy - President Donald Trump or state governors - enters its next round on Thursday as Trump announces what he calls "new guidelines" for the move. The U.S. coronavirus death toll - the highest in the world - surged past 30,000 on Wednesday after doubling in a week, but Trump believes the country has passed the peak on new cases. Many do not agree - and are preparing to resist. New York state government sources told Reuters that Governor Andrew Cuomo has hired McKinsey consultants to develop a strategy for the safe economic reopening of the region according to its own, science-based timetable.

A French standoff for Amazon
Tensions between economic and health imperatives are also coming to a head in France where Amazon closed six warehouses on Thursday until at least April 20, after it clashed with unions over safety measures. The world’s largest online retailer is facing mounting scrutiny on both sides of the Atlantic as it juggles a surge in online orders and employees’ safety.

Homicide charge over COVID-19
The pandemic has raised a series of as yet mostly unanswered questions about who if anyone bears legal responsibility for helping its spread. Now India has charged the chief of a Muslim seminary with culpable homicide for holding a gathering last month that authorities say led to a big jump in infections. The seminary is the headquarters of the Tablighi Jamaat group, one of the world’s biggest Sunni Muslim proselytising organisations.

Testing through sewage
Australian researchers said they expect to roll out within weeks a program of testing raw sewage to detect the presence of the coronavirus and pinpoint communities at risk. A successful pilot project was carried out in Queensland state. On a wide scale, sewage sampling can gauge the approximate number of people infected in an area without the need to test every individual, the CSIRO national science agency said.

Feeling pressure to be productive while stuck at home?
Well, you can’t beat Tom Moore. The 99-year-old British war veteran has raised more than $15 million for his country’s health service by walking the 25 metres around his garden 100 times, days before his 100th birthday on April 30.

Track the global spread of the novel coronavirus with our live interactive graphic.

Catch up with the latest pandemic-related financial insights from Breakingviews: from Chinese bling spending to some cheer from the world’s top contract chipmaker, in the latest edition of Corona Capital.

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World

Eleven vessels from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy came dangerously close to U.S. Navy and Coast Guard ships in the Gulf, the U.S. military said, calling the moves “dangerous and provocative.” While such interactions had occurred occasionally a few years ago, they had stopped, and this incident comes at a time of increased tensions between the two countries.

'It's Covid! Stay away!' Shoved to the ground, splashed with bleach or glared at on public transportation, health workers face a growing tide of hostility across Latin America for potentially spreading COVID-19.

Love wins: Weddings, birthdays and celebrations have been cancelled around the world because of the coronavirus pandemic but in the Chinese city of Wuhan, where the virus first appeared, they are finally resuming as authorities relax a strict lockdown that separated families, friends and lovers for over two months.