Blogs and Opinions
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3 ways the coronavirus is affecting animals around the world
Tuesday 7th of April 2020
The coronavirus has upended our way of life – but it’s also having a dramatic impact on animals across the globe, too, from the coughing tiger in New York to emboldened goats on the streets of Wales.
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Europe’s armed forces face a war against coronavirus as military infections rise
Tuesday 7th of April 2020
Military forces across Europe have scaled back operations and imposed stricter rules on personnel to try to stem the spread of the coronavirus among staff who often live and work in close quarters, making them more vulnerable to infection.
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This is the impact of COVID-19 on modern slavery
Tuesday 7th of April 2020
There are 40.3 million people estimated to be in modern slavery. How will COVID-19 impact efforts to end modern slavery, forced labour, human trafficking and child labour, as countries committed to in SDG Target 8.7?
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What is the evidence on wearing masks to stop COVID-19?
Tuesday 7th of April 2020
Masks are the new gold. Varying recommendations exist surrounding the use of N95 masks – the most popular commodity that has emerged in the face of this pandemic. Though all regions have universally aligned on the need for risk mitigation, the differences between recommendations on use of N95s is subtle but palpable.
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A virologist writes to his family to explain Europe’s lockdown
Monday 6th of April 2020
It’s becoming a tradition that my dad, my family and I email and Zoom each other to talk about the latest developments in our lives and about the latest findings on the new coronavirus. Last week, my sister and her boys finally went to visit grandma and grandpa (though they kept their distance), we all got worn out because of the lockdown, and my Dad (the former head of virology at the Institute for Tropical Medicine in Antwerp, Belgium) was asked to become a scientific reader of papers on COVID-19.
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This is what the economic fallout from coronavirus could look like
Monday 6th of April 2020
The shock to the global economy from COVID-19 has been both faster and more severe than the 2008 global financial crisis (GFC) and even the Great Depression. In those two previous episodes, stock markets collapsed by 50% or more, credit markets froze up, massive bankruptcies followed, unemployment rates soared above 10%, and GDP contracted at an annualized rate of 10% or more. But all of this took around three years to play out. In the current crisis, similarly dire macroeconomic and financial outcomes have materialized in three weeks.
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Here’s why energy security is a vital tool in tackling a pandemic
Monday 6th of April 2020
Reliable, affordable electricity is needed to keep people connected at home and to run life-saving equipment in hospitals
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Italy’s death toll is slowing – what’s next?
Monday 6th of April 2020
Italy reported its lowest daily COVID-19 death toll for more than two weeks on Sunday as authorities began to look ahead to a second phase of the battle against the new coronavirus once the lockdown imposed almost a month ago is eventually eased.
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Bill Gates is funding new factories for potential coronavirus vaccines
Monday 6th of April 2020
Bill Gates is plugging money into building factories for seven promising coronavirus vaccine candidates, even though it will mean wasting billions of dollars.
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Supply chains have been upended. Here’s how to make them more resilient
Monday 6th of April 2020
In the wake of supply chain disruptions due to coronavirus, several experts have reiterated the need to obtain more visibility across the chain. Companies who sell finished goods generally know production and shipment schedules for their Tier 1 suppliers, but they usually have little to no knowledge of suppliers further up the chain.
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Africa has a COVID-19 time bomb to defuse
Monday 6th of April 2020
In Liberia, the first case of COVID-19 came from someone who brought the disease from Switzerland. This traveller’s household cook was the next in Liberia to test positive for the infection.
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Leonardo DiCaprio launches food fund for communities hit by COVID-19
Friday 3rd of April 2020
Leonardo DiCaprio is helping to launch a food fund for communities impacted by the COVID-19 coronavirus, part of a wave of philanthropic efforts to ease the damage inflicted by the worsening pandemic. Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, for example, announced Thursday he has donated $100 million to Feeding America, which has a network of food banks across the US.
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Confirmed coronavirus cases now exceed 1 million worldwide
Friday 3rd of April 2020
Global coronavirus cases surpassed 1 million on Thursday with more than 52,000 deaths as the pandemic further exploded in the United States and the death toll climbed in Spain and Italy, according to a Reuters tally of official data.
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How to reform NGO funding so we can deal with threats like COVID-19
Thursday 2nd of April 2020
We all know that this pandemic is unprecedented in scale and need. Almost every household, community, organization, sector and nation is reeling from its impacts on health, the economy and society. Our world has fundamentally changed.
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How can we save lives and the economy? Lessons from the Spanish Flu pandemic
Thursday 2nd of April 2020
The COVID-19 outbreak has sparked urgent questions about the impact of pandemics, and associated countermeasures, on the real economy. Policymakers are in uncharted territory, with little guidance on what the expected economic fallout will be and how the crisis should be managed. In this blog post, we use insights from a recent research paper to discuss two sets of questions. First, what are the real economic effects of a pandemic—and are these effects temporary or persistent? Second, how does the local public health response affect the economic severity of the pandemic? In particular, do non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) such as social distancing have economic costs, or do policies that slow the spread of the pandemic also reduce its economic severity?In our paper, we study the economic effects of the largest influenza pandemic in U.S. history, the 1918 Flu Pandemic which lasted from January 1918 to December 1920, and spread worldwide. It is estimated that about 500 million people, or one-third of the world’s population, became infected with the virus, leading to at least 50 million deaths worldwide, with 550,000-675,000 occurring in the United States. The pandemic thus killed about 0.66 percent of the U.S. population, and, in particular, resulted in high death rates for young (18-44) and healthy adults.In our research, we exploit variation in both the severity of the pandemic, as well as the speed and duration of NPIs implemented to fight disease transmission across U.S. states and cities. NPIs implemented in 1918 resemble many of the policies used to reduce the spread of COVID-19, including closures of schools, theaters, and churches, bans on public gatherings and funerals, quarantines of suspected cases, and restrictions on business hours.
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COVID-19 in Africa: insights from our media briefing with WHO
Thursday 2nd of April 2020
Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa, who will speak on growing cases in the region, concerns and how countries can cope.
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In pictures: this is what social distancing looks like around the world
Thursday 2nd of April 2020
The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends people should keep at least 1 metre away from each other to protect against coronavirus. This kind of social distancing, together with regular handwashing, is key in efforts to halt the spread of COVID-19.
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COVID-19: What the evidence so far means for containment
Wednesday 1st of April 2020
Evidence always plays a major role in devising a strategy for any global health crisis – it becomes even more important when the circumstances of that crisis continuously evolve. With the total count of Coronavirus patients exceeding 885,000 across more than 170 countries, it is clear that COVID-19 is a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic and a crisis of unprecedented magnitude.
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How widespread is coronavirus in New York? We need to know
Tuesday 31st of March 2020
As of 30 March, over 66,000 people had tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, in New York State. But how many are really infected? We don’t know.
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Take a look inside NHS Nightingale, London’s new coronavirus hospital
Tuesday 31st of March 2020
China famously built a brand-new hospital in Wuhan in six days at the height of the coronavirus outbreak there.
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Europe’s fresh food supply is being threatened by coronavirus
Tuesday 31st of March 2020
Fresh fruit and vegetables will become increasingly scarce in Europe, suppliers warn, as the coronavirus pandemic hampers the global movement of produce and of the people needed to gather crops.
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UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson tests positive for coronavirus
Friday 27th of March 2020
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has tested positive for coronavirus and is self isolating but will still lead the government’s response to the outbreak.
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US: What will the post-pandemic economy look like?
Thursday 26th of March 2020
Lockdowns of entire cities. Panic in financial markets. Bare store shelves. Shortages of hospital beds. The world has entered a reality unknown outside wartime.
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COVID-19 in Africa: key insights from our media briefing with WHO
Thursday 26th of March 2020
– Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa- Dr John Nkengasong, WHO Special Envoy on COVID-19 and Director of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention- Professor Samba Sow, WHO Special Envoy on COVID-19 and Director of the Center for Vaccine Development in Mali – With Dr Zabulon Yoti in the Brazzaville studio and Dr Michel Yao.
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Could COVID-19 give rise to a greener global future?
Wednesday 25th of March 2020
The COVID-19 coronavirus has forced entire countries into lockdown mode, terrified citizens around the world, and triggered a financial-market meltdown. The pandemic demands a forceful, immediate response. But in managing the crisis, governments also must look to the long term. One prominent policy blueprint with a deep time horizon is the European Commission’s European Green Deal, which offers several ways to support the communities and businesses most at risk from the current crisis.