Bi-monthly, one page analysis of COVID-19’s economic and epidemiological impact.
COVID-19 Note #15
Economic and Epidemiological Impact Analysed in just a few gobbets for time-starved, over-solicited decision-makers Globally, COVID-19 continues to gather pace. It is ebbing in countries that were hit hard at the beginning of the pandemic (like Italy), but the global number of new cases is growing faster than ever with more than 200,000 officially reported each day on average. The [...]
COVID-19 Note #14
Infection numbers keep rising globally with Africa particularly hard hit. There is no foolproof containment strategy but being outside is increasingly recognised as safer. Future lockdowns, which are inevitable, will be more localised and less stringent. However, a simple absence of lockdown is not enough to re-kick economic activity, it must be coupled with consumer confidence and a sense [...]
COVID-19 Note #13
COVID-19 Economic and Epidemiological Impact Analysed in just a few gobbets for time-starved, over-solicited decision-makers We are not over the worst. Globally, millions of cases still go unrecorded. Fear of new and serious side effects are making us collectively more prudent and should encourage the use of the proven methods of containment. Collective caution, combined with many other factors, means [...]
COVID-19 Note #12
In numeric terms, the European Covid-19 crisis becomes a footnote, as the pandemic now rages across the rest of the Globe. Containment polices will be in stop-go mode for as long as it takes and will be increasingly politicized. In the rich economies saving trumps shopping, for weaker and fragile economies debt levels spell potential disaster. COVID-19 Economic and Epidemiological [...]
COVID-19 Note #11
Beware of Western-centricity. Lockdown saved millions from infection, after lockdown residual social distancing continues to do so. For the markets its liquidity! Beware of Western centricity! The pandemic is worsening globally. 7th June saw the highest single-day tally since the pandemic started with 136,000 new confirmed cases. The situation is under control in Europe, confusing in the US (curving downwards but with [...]
COVID-19 Note #10
The virus epicentre shifts to Latin America and with it the risk of social unrest rises. Lockdowns reduced herd immunity but there are still more known unknowns than knowns. Will the consumer liquidity crisis morph into a corporate solvency crisis? After Europe and the US, the epicentre of the pandemic is now moving to Latin America – Brazil, Chile, Mexico [...]
COVID-19 Note #9
“The more we learn about the coronavirus, the more questions arise”. COVID-19 Economic and Epidemiological Impact - Analysed in just a few gobbets for time-starved, over-solicited decision-makers “The more we learn about the coronavirus, the more questions arise”. This quote from Peter Piot (one of the world’s leading virologists) captures the extreme level of uncertainty with which scientists and [...]
COVID-19 Note #8
The virus has spread further and faster and is set to last longer than scientist initially expected. As sentiments like fear and confidence influence the economy the road to recovery is likely to be long and full of pitfalls. COVID-19 Economic and Epidemiological Impact - Analysed in just a few gobbets for time-starved, over-solicited decision-makers Recent medical findings indicate [...]
COVID-19 Note #7
Having successfully contained the first wave of the outbreak and assuming the situation was under control they are now being forced to return to near total lockdown. COVID-19 Economic and Epidemiological Impact - Analysed in just a few gobbets for time-starved, over-solicited decision-makers Several of the countries in Asia that had become the international gold standard in terms of [...]