BitGou: Monday Morning Briefing: Chinese capital reinstates curbs as coronavirus resurfaces

What you need to know about the coronavirus today

Surge in cases puts Beijing on alert
Several districts of the Chinese capital put up security checkpoints, closed schools and ordered people to be tested for the coronavirus on Monday after an unexpected spike of cases linked to the biggest wholesale food market in Asia. After nearly two months with no new infections, Beijing officials have reported 79 cases over the past four days, the city’s biggest cluster of infections since February.

Interactive graphic tracking global spread of the coronavirus.

Reality check for markets?
Fears that a second wave of COVID-19 infections is under way sent jitters across global markets with stocks and oil under pressure, while investors bought into safe havens such as German government debt. “Markets are pricing a too-optimistic recovery, in my opinion, and there could be a reality check coming rather sooner than later,” said Stephane Ekolo, an equity strategist at TFS Derivatives in London.

In Europe, a cross-border dash for cigarettes and scratch cards
European nations eased border controls after three months of lockdown, but Spain’s continued closure, a patchwork of quarantine rules and remote-working mean pre-crisis travel levels are a way off. Greek airports allowed more international flights as the country sought to salvage its summer, German tourists flocking to neighboring Denmark caused an 8-km (5-mile) queue and Italians popped into France to buy lottery scratch cards.

From crowded tubes to pedal power in London
The crowded daily commute in London has long been a source of misery for millions. But getting to work will be even more of a challenge following lockdown. London authorities are adding new routes for cyclists and pedestrians, bicycle sales are soaring and boat operators are considering increasing their services on the River Thames.

Whipped for breaking quarantine
Peruvian peasant brigades, who battled leftist rebel groups decades ago, are now doling out rough justice in a bid to slow the spread of the coronavirus in the Andean country, which has the region’s second-highest number of cases after Brazil.

Reuters Graphics tracks and explains the new coronavirus.

From Breakingviews - Corona Capital: IKEA, Cinema deal, UK banks, Masks. IKEA unpacks plans to repay furlough cash, and a fresh plot twist hits Cineworld’s transatlantic merger. Catch up with the latest financial insights.

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U.S.

When police encounters involving Tasers turn fatal, black people make up a disproportionate share of those who die, according to a Reuters analysis. Civil rights advocates are concerned over the disproportionate share of black Americans who have died in police Taser confrontations.

Reuters identified 1,081 people who died after being shocked by police with Tasers through the end of 2018. Our Taser Tracker has details on each case.

The death of Rayshard Brooks by a white police officer in Atlanta on Friday, was a homicide caused by gunshot wounds to the back, the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s office said. An autopsy conducted on Sunday showed that Brooks, 27, died from blood loss and organ injuries caused by two gunshot wounds, an investigator for the medical examiner said in a statement. The manner of his death was homicide, the statement said. Brooks’ death reignited protests in Atlanta after days of worldwide demonstrations against racism and police brutality.

The top U.N. human rights body will hold an urgent debate on allegations of “systemic racism, police brutality and violence against peaceful protests” in the United States on Wednesday, a statement said.

The Democratic National Committee’s council on climate change irked party leadership when it published policy recommendations this month that ventured beyond presidential candidate Joe Biden’s plan, sources said.

Emerging from lockdown

Before the novel coronavirus brought its pandemic to New Delhi, Mohammad Aamir Khan was one of tens of thousands of people making a living in the Indian capital as a taxi driver. But that work dried up during the nearly three-month lockdown to prevent the spread of the virus. With cases rising in India even before the government lifted the lockdown last week, a friend suggested perhaps the only business now booming in the country – driving a private ambulance.

New coronavirus cases and hospitalizations in record numbers swept through more U.S. states, including Florida and Texas, as most push ahead with reopening and President Donald Trump plans an indoor rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Alabama reported a record number of new cases for the fourth day in a row on Sunday. Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, North Carolina, Oklahoma and South Carolina all had record numbers of new cases in the past three days, according to a Reuters tally.

covid science

Europe steps up tech battle versus coronavirus with German app, and France expects AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine to be shared pro rata

Germany on Tuesday becomes the latest European country to launch a smartphone app that seeks to break the chain of coronavirus infection by tracking encounters between people and issuing a warning should one of them test positive. A growing number of countries in the region have opted to use Bluetooth short-range radio to measure the risk of exposure, after concluding that tracking people’s movements using location data would be intrusive.

A deal between AstraZeneca and France over potential COVID-19 vaccines involves doses being split between countries on a pro-rata basis based on population, a source at the French President’s office said. The British drugmaker signed a contract with European governments at the weekend to supply the region with up to 400 million doses of its potential vaccine.

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