BitGou: Monday Morning Briefing: EU leaders struggle with 'mission impossible' at deadlocked recovery summit

What you need to know about the coronavirus today

EU leaders’ “mission impossible”
EU leaders stood at an impasse after three days of haggling over a plan to revive economies throttled by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the chairman of their near-record-length summit Charles Michel urged them to make one last push on “mission impossible”. The leaders are at odds over how to carve up a vast recovery fund designed to help haul Europe out of its deepest recession since World War Two, and what strings to attach for countries it would benefit. A group of “frugal” wealthy north European states pushed during the summit for a smaller recovery fund and sought to limit how payouts are split between grants and repayable loans.

Tamping down Australia’s outbreak
Australia’s Acting Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly said it would take “weeks” to slow the Melbourne outbreak to levels seen as recently as June, when Victoria and the rest of Australia reported single or double-digit daily infections. “We have learned over time that the time between introducing a measure and seeing its effect is at least two weeks and sometimes longer than that,” Kelly told Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio. An official inquiry into the outbreak began hearings on Monday.

Hong Kong tightens, China relaxes
Hong Kong tightened coronavirus restrictions, with non-essential civil servants told to work from home from this week, as the global financial hub reported more than 100 daily cases, a record number. “The situation is very serious and there is no sign of it coming under control,” Chief Executive Carrie Lam said. A requirement for restaurants to only provide takeaway after 6pm was extended. Face masks will be mandatory in indoor public areas.

Six strains
British scientists analyzing data from a widely-used COVID-19 symptom-tracking app have found there are six distinct types of the disease, each distinguished by a cluster of symptoms. The King’s College London team found that the six types also correlated with levels of severity of infection, and with the likelihood of a patient needing help with breathing - such as oxygen or ventilator treatment - if they are hospitalized.

From Breakingviews - Corona Capital: Julius Baer, Philips, Reshoring. Japan’s drive to encourage its companies to shift production out of China, plus the earnings of Julius Baer and Philips. Read Breakingviews’ daily column on pandemic-related financial insights.

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Amphibious Ambitions: China is launching new amphibious assault ships and beefing up its marines. Its main aim is to project power far from home, but it is also strengthening its ability to invade Taiwan.

Emerging from lockdown

Florida reported over 12,000 new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, the fifth day in a row the state has announced over 10,000 new infections, even as President Donald Trump pledged that “it’s going to be under control.” U.S. deaths from the coronavirus topped 140,000 on Saturday as cases continued to rise in 42 out of 50 states over the past two weeks, according to a Reuters tally.

While a resurgence in coronavirus cases in Texas has brought many businesses to a screeching halt, eight robots have kept All Axis Machining’s metal fabrication facility in Dallas humming.

Track the spread of the virus with this state-by-state and county map.

To protest censorship during the COVID-19 outbreak, a Chinese artist known as Brother Nut kept his mouth shut for 30 days, using metal clasps, gloves, duct tape and other items. In the project - #shutupfor30days - he also sealed his mouth with packing tape with “404”, the error code for a webpage not found, written across it, a nod to the blocking of online content that is common in China for sensitive issues.

No kissing and disinfect the microphone: Campaigners for Japan’s nightlife workers say they need realistic guidelines for how to stay safe and remain in business amid the coronavirus, which has seen the government zero in on host and hostess bars as centres of contagion.

COVID Science

Britain has signed deals to secure 90 million doses of two possible COVID-19 vaccines from an alliance of Pfizer and BioNTech, and French group Valneva, the business ministry said. Britain secured 30 million doses of the experimental BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine, and a deal in principle for 60 million doses of the Valneva vaccine, with an option of 40 million more doses if it was proven to be safe, effective and suitable. With no working vaccine against COVID-19 yet developed, Britain now has three different types of vaccine under order and a total of 230 million doses potentially available.

Synairgen said its drug helped reduce the risk of severe cases in hospitalized patients with COVID-19, according to data from a trial of more than 100 people in the United Kingdom, sending its shares skyrocketing. The trial, which used interferon beta, showed that patients who were given Synairgen’s formulation had a 79% lower risk of developing severe forms of the disease compared to placebo.

GSK is to buy a 10% stake in German biotech company CureVac for $163 million, the two companies said, in a deal that bets on new technologies already being used in potential COVID-19 vaccines.

Follow the money

When the U.S. sneezes, the world catches a cold. What happens when it has severe COVID-19?

After the U.S. government committed roughly $3 trillion to support the economy through a round of restrictions on activity imposed to curb the virus in April and May, the disease is surging in the United States to record levels just as those support programs are due to expire. For other major economic powers, that is a weight added to their own struggles with the virus and the economic fallout.

6 min read

Investment consultants who advise on trillions scored taxpayer loans

R.V. Kuhns & Associates, an investment consulting firm that advises on $2.5 trillion in retirement plans and other assets, sent a message of confidence in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing this spring, as COVID-19 wreaked destruction across America’s economy. The firm, it said, stood ready to “to maintain all the services we provide.”

6 min read

Exclusive: Global banks scrutinize their Hong Kong clients for pro-democracy ties - sources

Global wealth managers are examining whether their clients in Hong Kong have ties to the city’s pro-democracy movement, in an attempt to avoid getting caught in the crosshairs of China’s new national security law, according to six people with knowledge of the matter.

7 min read

U.S. companies fear workplace coronavirus precautions do not address airborne risk

U.S. companies are raising new questions about how they can make workplaces safe after the world’s top public health agency acknowledged the risk that tiny airborne droplets of the novel coronavirus may contribute to its spread, industry healthcare consultants said.

5 min read