LONDON (BLOOMBERG) - Officials from Rome to Washington are urgently mapping out plans to loosen lockdowns and begin rebooting their economies even as the coronavirus pandemic still rages across swaths of the globe.. Read more at straitstimes.com.
LONDON - Officials from Rome to Washington are urgently mapping out plans to loosen lockdowns and begin rebooting their economies even as the coronavirus pandemic still rages across swathes of the globe.The juggling act for policymakers will be to reopen without triggering a second wave of infections that leads to a fresh round of lockdowns and yet more economic damage.
Unfortunately, there's no off-the-shelf plan for governments to decide when, let alone how, to rev up the economic engines after such an abrupt halt in activity, especially when restarting could put the lives of more people at risk. Reopening economies safely would require antibody tests to identify communities that were least affected. For now, those"are still not validated in most countries", said Prof David Heymann, a senior professor of infectious disease epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine."Until they're available, it's going to be a guessing game."
The experience of a car parts maker in Wuhan is one indication of just how onerous rebooting the global economy is going to be. Singapore and Hong Kong have also been forced to implement new restrictions as the virus persists, underscoring that even those with early success in containing the outbreak have little room for complacency. Singapore reported a record 142 new infections on Wednesday , and at least 40 of those were linked to clusters at foreign worker dormitories that house low-wage workers.
Deutsche Lufthansa, one of Europe's largest airlines, estimated it will take months until global travel restrictions are completely lifted and years before the worldwide demand for air travel returns to pre-crisis levels. The company will slash its fleet of planes and shut a low-cost carrier. Based on their findings and what's happening in China, they're saying clients should prepare for the possibility of re-starting operations 15 to 20 days after a country's peak.
A road map authored by a group of US health specialists including former Food and Drug Administration commissioner Scott Gottlieb calls for an intermediate stage in which schools and businesses would reopen but gatherings would still be limited. People would be encouraged to keep at a distance from one another, and those at high risk would be told to limit their time in public. If cases begin to rise again, restrictions would be tightened.
In Italy, where the pandemic has claimed more than 17,600 lives, selected firms could open in mid-April after the level of new cases flattened out, an official familiar with the discussions said earlier this week. If the situation continues to improve, early May could bring fewer social restrictions, the official said, with some shops reopening but bars and restaurants remaining closed. Social-distancing rules will remain.
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