World Coronavirus Dispatch: Apple's Tim Cook hints at retaining WFH

Hong Kong Disneyland opens this week, US colleges become Covid reservoirs, UK lockdown may knock 2% off GDP, and other pandemic-related news across the globe

Apple CEO Tim Cook said he’s been impressed by employees’ ability to operate remotely and predicted that some new work habits will remain after the pandemic. During an interview at The Atlantic Festival on Monday, Cook said Apple created new products, despite the need for most employees to work away from the office due to Covid-19.

Cook said he doesn’t believe Apple will “return to the way we were because we’ve found that there are some things that actually work really well virtually.” Read more here

Let’s look at the global statistics:

Total Confirmed Cases: 31,322,314

Change Over Yesterday: 293,557

Total Deaths: 964,765

Total Recovered: 21,496,554

Nations hit with most cases: US (6,857,703), India (5,562,663), Brazil (4,558,840), Russia (1,105,048) and Colombia (770,435)

Source: Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Research Center

Global economic recovery on track despite uptick in infections, says ANZ: The global recovery remains on track, despite fears of the economic hit from a “second wave” of infections, according to ANZ economists. Governments have imposed “more modest” restrictions on movement to handle rising infections and countries have seen improved health outcomes, resulting in a smaller hit to economies. Read more here

Canada to announce three-pillar economic recovery plan: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is set to unveil a new plan to try to contain the spread of Covid-19 and recharge Canada’s economy. The Wednesday’s speech will be a focus on the immediate task of tackling the coronavirus, a medium-term commitment to support citizens and a “resiliency agenda” to spur recovery and reconstruction. Read more here

JPMorgan sees two-week UK lockdown knocking 2 per cent off GDP: A two-week shutdown of the UK hospitality sector could knock at least 2 per cent off the nation’s GDP and trigger further stimulus from the Treasury and Bank of England, according to JPMorgan Chase. Mounting virus cases in Britain have led to speculation the government will impose at least a partial lockdown as soon as next month. Read more here

Also Read: UK restaurants face crackdown as Covid cases surge

Hong Kong Disneyland to open this week: Hong Kong Disneyland plans to re-open on Friday with reduced capacity and a reservation system for visitors while the city has extended its social distancing rules another week. Thailand said all five new infections it reported Tuesday were imported and found in state quarantine. Read more here

India and Pakistan ramp up remdesivir production under Gilead deal: India and Pakistan have ramped up production of the coronavirus drug remdesivir under a licensing agreement with Gilead Sciences, but onward distribution to other developing countries has been slow. Read more here

Hundreds test positive for Covid-19 after migrant camp fire in Greece: Hundreds of migrants and refugees at a new temporary camp on the Greek island of Lesbos have tested positive for coronavirus, officials say. More than 240 people returned a positive result after 7,000 tests were conducted in recent days. The new tent city was built after a fire destroyed the overcrowded Moria camp earlier this month. Read more here

Specials

US colleges become reservoirs of Covid ready to spill over
 

College administrators and government officials summoned students back to campus. Now, they are presiding over viral reservoirs poised to release a flood of infected undergraduates at Thanksgiving -- if they make it that far. Schools have turned into de facto sanitariums: Covid-19 infections are sweeping student populations, though health departments are seeing relatively few hospitalizations or deaths so far. Colleges that tried to hold classes in person have had to send students into seclusion. With many schools planning to end their semesters at the November holiday, students will disperse across the country, and some will bring the disease with them. Read more here

Rapid Covid tests could be “consumer products”
 

Dido Harding, head of the UK’s beleaguered test-and-trace programme, has suggested rapid coronavirus tests might be a “business and consumer product” for symptom-free people. The comments prompted claims from Labour that a “two-tier ‘pay-to-hug’” system was being considered. Earlier this month Matt Hancock, health secretary, put forward the idea that millions of people could be tested each day to ensure they did not have the disease. Touted as part of an ambitious ‘Project Moonshot’ plan, new technology would deliver results in as little as 20 minutes. Read more here

Here’s what investors with $3.4 trillion are buying during the pandemic
 

Hotels, pipelines, convenience stores and automaker bonds are among the assets being bought by some of the world’s biggest asset managers as they look for value in a world thrown into turmoil by the coronavirus pandemic. In interviews with sovereign wealth funds, pension firms and asset managers across Asia and Europe that collectively manage about $3.4 trillion, one thing was clear: many of them are avoiding the overheated stock market. Read more here

Info-graphic
 

These are the 12 global economic indicators to watch
 

It’s hard to navigate every twist and turn of the $90 trillion global economy. To help you, Bloomberg has created this real-time dashboard of key economic indicators from every corner of the world. Selected by our economics team and updated when new data are released, it will provide insight on the strength or softness of expansions and recessions. See here