Friday Morning Briefing: Wuhan market had role in virus outbreak, but more research needed, the WHO says

What you need to know about the coronavirus today

A wholesale market in the central Chinese city of Wuhan played a role in the outbreak of the novel coronavirus last year, as the source or possibly as an “amplifying setting,” the World Health Organization said, calling for more research. Chinese authorities shut down the market in January as part of efforts to halt the spread of the virus and ordered a temporary ban on trade and consumption of wildlife.

Australian officials are frustrated that their push for an inquiry into the origins of the coronavirus is being undermined by the White House, which has sought to link the outbreak to a Chinese lab, sources told Reuters.

Germans expect to spend less
One third of Germans expect to splash less cash on durable goods in future and the same proportion sees their financial situation worsening over the next 12 months as the coronvirus crisis bites, a poll showed. That is having an impact on consumption, with one quarter canceling their vacations and 7% planning to postpone purchases of products like clothing, cars or luxury goods, the Nuremberg-based GfK market research group said.

Getting out from under the doona
Australia laid out a three-step road map to ease social distancing restrictions, aiming to remove all curbs by July and get nearly one million people back to work. Prime Minister Scott Morrison said it will be up to Australia's various states and territories to decide when to begin implementing each stage. Each step will likely be separated by a four-week transition. "You can stay under the doona forever. You'll never face any
danger," Morrison told reporters, using an Australian word for quilt. “But we’ve got to get out from under the doona at some time.”

Plague, weather, war and the UK economy
For anyone pondering how the coronavirus outbreak is about to deliver the British economy's worst year in modern history, only a handful of things have wrought such severe and sudden damage in the past: weather, war and pestilence. The Bank of England put forward an "illustrative scenario" that saw a plunge in output of 14% in 2020 - albeit followed by 15% bounce-back in 2021 - the worst hit to the economy in more than 300 years.

Lessons unlearned
As the coronavirus spread through the Diamond Princess cruise ship with passengers dying in what became one of the first hot spots outside China, Japanese authorities issued no warnings to the Costa Atlantica cruise ship docked at another Japanese port. The Costa Atlantica now hosts one of Japan's biggest clusters of the coronavirus, with a quarter of the more than 600 people then onboard infected.

Suntanning with plexiglass screens
Santorini beach bar owner Charlie Chahine is not a fan of the plexiglass screens that have been added around the lounge chairs at his establishment, but if that is the way it has to be for tourists to return, then that is what he is doing. Businesses on Greece's most popular holiday island are adopting all kinds of hygiene measures, anxious for the season to start.

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Life under lockdown

An Indian train killed 14 migrant workers who had fallen asleep on the track while they were heading back to their home village after losing their jobs in a coronavirus lockdown, police said. Tens of thousands of people have been walking home from India’s big cities after being laid off because of the lockdown to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus since late March. The driver tried to stop the freight train when he saw the workers on the tracks in the western state of Maharashtra, the railway ministry said, adding it had ordered an inquiry.

Britain’s Queen Elizabeth will give a televised message to her nation to mark the 75th anniversary of VE Day, as the coronavirus outbreak overshadows nationwide celebrations to commemorate the end of World War Two in Europe. Plans for extensive events to herald the anniversary of Victory in Europe Day, when allied forces accepted the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany, were scaled back in March after the government banned social gatherings to curb the coronavirus.

Juili Kale’s dreams to receive her master’s degree diploma in a ceremony cheered on by her family were dashed by the coronavirus - until robots came to the rescue. Cameras pre-recorded Kale and about 140 of her fellow graduates as they logged on at home this week, dressed in graduation robes and mortar board caps. Kale, who has been studying at Arizona State University, had planned the day for months. They took turns moving a remote-controlled robot on a podium at the university that held an eye-level display showing their face. Via the robot, they approached the dean to receive their diplomas and take a photo.

Facebook and YouTube said they were removing a video that made medically unsubstantiated claims relating to the novel coronavirus pandemic. The 26-minute video dubbed “Plandemic” went viral this week across social media platforms. It features Judy Mikovits, an activist among people who contend that many common vaccines are dangerous. Mikovits says in the video that wearing masks activates the coronavirus within people, without providing evidence, and criticizes orders to stay away from beaches.

Follow the money

Coronavirus deals U.S. job losses of 20.5 million, historic unemployment rate in April

The U.S. economy lost a staggering 20.5 million jobs in April, the steepest plunge in payrolls since the Great Depression and the starkest sign yet of how the novel coronavirus pandemic is battering the world’s biggest economy. To put that into perspective, the U.S. economy has never lost more than 2 million jobs in a single month. And although the unemployment rate reached 25% in 1933, it got there much more slowly.

12 min read

Pandemic sets Japan on course for deep recession as spending, services plunge

Japan’s household spending plunged in March and service-sector activity shrank at a record pace in April, reinforcing expectations that the coronavirus pandemic is tipping the world’s third-largest economy into deep recession.

4 min read

Green hydrogen's time has come, say advocates eying post-pandemic world

Hydrogen has long been touted as a clean alternative to fossil fuels. Now, as major economies prepare green investments to kickstart growth, advocates spy a golden chance to drag the niche energy into the mainstream of a post-pandemic world.

8 min read

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