Europeans return to workplace but reduce leisure activity: European schoolchildren’s return to the classroom has boosted their parents’ office attendance, but leisure activity has begun to fall as fresh coronavirus-related restrictions hold back the economic recovery in the continent’s services sector, data suggest.
Alternative economic data such as travel volumes, visits to entertainment venues and restaurant bookings indicate that the resurgence in infections is choking off earlier signs of revival in the most affected industries. But the reopening of schools across the continent for the start of the autumn term has helped boost the number of people travelling into their workplaces and public transport use is rising in many cities.
Let’s look at the global statistics:
Total Confirmed Cases: 32,751,412
Change Over Yesterday: 184,717
Total Deaths: 994,146
Total Recovered: 22,623,337
Nations hit with most cases: US (7,078,088), India (5,992,532), Brazil (4,717,991), Russia (1,138,509) and Colombia(806,038)
As the French Open begins, confusion and fears about coronavirus dominate: With cases of coronavirus spiking, French government officials have reintroduced strict limits on the size of gatherings, cutting by 90 percent the number of spectators that will be allowed at the tournament. Also, hotels are at a fraction of their occupancy. Read more here
Saudi Arabia sees quick tourism rebound after domestic boom: Saudi Arabia is preparing for a quick rebound in tourism and hasn’t revised its visitor targets for 2021 despite the coronavirus pandemic, Tourism Minister said. As the government prepares to reopen its borders to foreign tourists in January, the kingdom is using its presidency of the Group-of-20 biggest economies to facilitate a resumption of global travel. Read more here
Early Covidtreatments could be ‘bridge’ to vaccine, Fauci says: Monoclonal antibodies that stop the coronavirus from spreading in the body are among promising strategies for averting severe illness from Covid-19 before vaccines arrive, said Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.Antibody-based medications, other blood products from recovered patients and antivirals are being investigated as early treatments. Read more here
Mainland China reports 14 new Covid-19 cases vs 15 a day earlier: Mainland China reported 14 new Covid-19 cases on September 26, compared with 15 cases announced a day earlier. The National Health Commission said in a statement that all the new cases were imported infections involving travellers from abroad. Read more here
Under 10 percent of Americans have covid-19 antibodies, study finds: Less than 10 percent of Americans have antibodies to the new coronavirus, suggesting that the nation is even further from herd immunity than had been previously estimated, according to a study published Friday in The Lancet.The study looked at blood samples from 28,500 patients on dialysis in 46 states, the first such nationwide analysis. Read more here
Specials
The looming legal minefield of working from home
Today’s employment laws were drawn up at a time when the typical worker slogged in to the same building each day and headed back home at night. That time may never return. A poll of more than 750 European employers published last week showed 41 per cent have plans to make it easier for staff to keep working remotely once offices reopen. They may not give a fig if their staff are lighting up at home, but they do care about much else, such as how much work is being done. That is already raising potential legal headaches, according to UK employment lawyers. Read more here
Coronavirus’s outsized effect on women's mental health around the world
A new study found that while almost nobody is spared from the anxiety, worry and overall emotional fatigue of the coronavirus pandemic, women are almost three times as likely as men to report suffering from significant mental health consequences.The study was involved surveys of 10,400 women and men in 38 countries including the US, as well as others in Latin America, Asia and the Middle East. Read more here
Tracking the pandemic: Where are the global hotspots?
Key charts and maps explaining how the respiratory virus has spread around the world. See here
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