Friday Morning Briefing: Entering the Baltic travel bubble

What you need to know about the coronavirus today

Entering the Baltic Travel Bubble

The Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia opened their borders to each other at the stroke of midnight, creating Europe's first "travel bubble".

The idea is that neighboring countries with similar results in tackling the pandemic allow free movement between them. New Zealand and Australia discussed a similar "Trans-Tasman bubble" earlier this month, but have not yet set a date for its start.

"The Baltic Travel Bubble is an opportunity for businesses to reopen, and a glimmer of hope for the people that life is getting back to normal," Lithuanian Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis said. Full border-free movement within Europe is unlikely to resume until next month at the earliest.

Queues in the airport ...

Anyone worried about the difficulty of maintaining social distancing when travel does begin again, has good reason, judging by the queues at Jakarta's airport on Thursday.

Photographs posted on social media days after the partial resumption of operations showed passengers queuing cheek by jowl in snaking lines to enter the airport and crowding inside it.

State airport operator Angkasa Pura said lines had thinned by afternoon and efforts were underway to ensure physical distancing. Travelers are required to provide a clean bill of health, and a letter from their employer stating the purpose of travel to be able to board an airplane.

...and the office

Not removing your face mask even indoors, casual dress codes and awkwardness over accepting handshakes are characterising the new normal as financial professionals start returning to the office in Hong Kong.
But above all there are the queues, as social distancing affects everything from taking the lift to grabbing a coffee.

"It's refreshing to come back to the office, but with so many restrictions, I now wouldn't mind working from home once in a while," said one of a group of bankers who gave up on a team coffee and returned to the office after waiting for a table.

In Wuhan, more testing times

Residents stood in pouring rain in queues of more than an hour to be tested for the novel coronavirus in Wuhan, the central Chinese city where the global pandemic began last year.

State media reported the city of 11 million tested over 3 million residents since April, and will now focus its testing efforts on the rest, prioritizing those who have not been tested before, people living in residential compounds that had previous cases of the virus, as well as old or densely populated estates.

Wuhan has conducted 1.79 million tests from April 1 to May 13, according to Reuters calculations based on daily reports published by the city's health commission.

Track the spread with our interactive graphic and live blog.

Breakingviews - Corona Capital: Richemont, Bundesliga, IKEA, AIA. Read concise views on the pandemic’s financial fallout from Breakingviews columnists across the globe.

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Life under lockdown

Lying in rows of cots in a small hotel on the outskirts of Kiev, 51 babies born to surrogate mothers are stranded in Ukraine as the coronavirus lockdown is preventing parents from the United States, Europe and elsewhere from collecting them. Ukraine imposed a ban on foreigners entering in March, and most parents have only seen their newborns through pictures and video calls with the clinic.

Since Venezuela went into its coronavirus lockdown, dozens of needy people have been lining up at a slaughterhouse in the western town of San Cristobal to pick up the only protein they can find for free: cattle blood. Mechanic Aleyair Romero, 20, goes twice a week. He lost his job at a local garage and says boxes of subsidized food from the government of President Nicolas Maduro arrive too slowly.

For Yerbin Estrada, the worst part of the day is when the sun begins to set. The hundreds of inmates of La Esperanza prison in central Honduras must leave its small courtyard and file back to their cramped cells. “That is when the hell really begins,” said the powerfully built and bearded 25-year-old, glancing a final time at the armed guards perched on the rooftop, silhouetted against the dimming sky.

Muslim-majority Malaysia will ease a ban on mass prayers in mosques, starting from Friday and ahead of this month’s Eid festival, the government said, as it gradually relaxes curbs that have helped rein in the coronavirus. The news follows last week’s reopening of many businesses in Malaysia, which has a tally of 6,819 infections and 112 deaths. It comes ahead of the Eid holiday that ends the fasting month of Ramadan, and falls on May 24 this year.

Follow the money

Wisconsin court ruling at center of political divide over U.S. reopening

Wisconsin’s governor predicted confusion after the state supreme court struck down his sweeping stay-at-home order, fueling a growing political divide over how and when to reopen the shattered U.S. economy. The court’s decision, found that Governor Tony Evers and a top state health official did not have the authority to unilaterally confine residents to their homes or bar them from working.

7 min read

U.S. issues first coronavirus workplace guidance to nursing homes

The U.S. Department of Labor issued its first workplace guidance to nursing homes since the COVID-19 pandemic swept the country and ravaged care facilities, saying residents, staff and visitors should keep 1.83 meters apart. The alert from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration also said nursing homes should screen residents and staff for symptoms and should find alternatives to group activities.

3 min read

Pandemic stirs Wall Street’s social conscience

Worker welfare is having a moment on Wall Street. The need to restart production lines and reopen offices idled by the coronavirus pandemic mean issues such as sick pay and working conditions are suddenly a top priority for the C-suite and, for some investors, a golden opportunity to apply the principles of ethical investing.

6 min read

Australians emerge from coronavirus lockdown to beers and lattes

Restaurants, cafes and bars in Australia’s most populous state reopened after a two-month coronavirus lockdown, boosting the federal government’s bid to get people back in work and the economy back on track. The easing of some quarantine measures in New South Wales state came just a day after the national statistics office reported unprecedented record high job losses and Prime Minister Scott Morrison warned that worse was still to come.

4 min read

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