World Coronavirus Dispatch: Paris to shut all bars, raise alert to maximum

Trump's campaign manager tests positive, UK's scheme to help jobless back into work, how Remdesivir moved from back shelf to best hope, and other pandemic-related news across the globe

Cineworld, the world’s second biggest cinema operator, is preparing to close all its screens in the US and UK after further delays to the new James Bond film pushed its struggling business to the brink. The indefinite closure of 90 per cent of Cineworld’s screens, which is expected as soon as this week, raises fundamental questions over the viability of the company and a cinema sector devastated by the pandemic.

The closures include Cineworld’s 543 Regal theatres in the US and 128 cinemas in the UK, How remdesivir moved from back shelf to best which were banking on November’s release of the latest James Bond to boost ticket sales. Read more here

Let’s look at the global statistics:

Total Confirmed Cases: 35,157,350

Change Over Yesterday: 286,049

Total Deaths: 1,037,075

Total Recovered: 24,505,898

Nations hit with most cases: US (7,417,845), India (6,623,815), Brazil (4,915,289), Russia (1,209,039) and Colombia (855,052)

Source: Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Research Center

Paris to shut bars and raise alert to maximum: Paris will shut all bars completely from Tuesday as the French government raises the city's coronavirus alert to maximum following a sustained period of high infection rates. The maximum alert level in France comes into force when the infection rate in a locality exceeds 250 per 100,000 people and at least 30 percent of intensive care beds are reserved for Covid-19 patients. Read more here

Bill Stepien, Trump’s campaign manager, tests positive for the virus: Stepien was with Trump at the presidential debate in Cleveland on Tuesday, but it was unclear when he was last with the president. However, he was in closed-door preparation sessions with Trump and a half-dozen other aides and advisers on Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. Trump and the first lady were confirmed on Friday morning to have the virus. Read more here

Also Read: Trump doctor says he could be out of hospital on Monday

UK launches scheme to help new Covid jobless back into work: British government launched a new employment programme on Monday aimed at helping those left jobless due to the pandemic to get back into work. The Job Entry Targeted Support (JETS) scheme would be backed by a 238 million pound ($308 million) investment. Jobseekers put forward for the scheme would have access to tailored, flexible support to quickly get back into employment. Read more here

Virgin Atlantic trials pre-flight Covid testing for air crews: Virgin Atlantic Airways will carry out rapid pre-flight coronavirus testing for cabin crew and pilots from its base at London’s Heathrow airport. The carrier said it launched a trial on flights to Shanghai and Hong Kong on September 30 and is planning a wider roll-out that will involve testing every operating crew at least a once a month. Read more here

Auckland lifts coronavirus restrictions: Coronavirus restrictions in New Zealand’s largest city will be lifted this week, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Monday as she expressed confidence a second wave of Covid -19 infections in Auckland has been almost eliminated. New Zealand, a nation of five million, appeared to have stamped out community transmission of Covid-19 earlier this year. Read more here

Specials 

Covid hastens an overdue reckoning for UK economy
 

The truth is that the UK economy was overdue a reckoning. The pandemic has just exposed the cracks that were already appearing in the model that came out of the tumultuous overhaul of the 1980s. From banks and retailers to hospitality, businesses that have underpinned the economy since the purge of heavy industry by Margaret Thatcher were already being upended by a shift in consumer behavior and automation. A record employment rate masked widening income inequality, cheap labor and a productivity rate that trailed most of the world’s advanced economies. What will come out the other end depends on questions politicians and businesses are struggling to answer as Britain leaves the EU’s single market and the pandemic reshapes the global economy. Read more here

After Covid-19 vaccine sprint would come distribution challenges
 

In the quest to develop shots against Covid-19, researchers have overcome challenges that typically make vaccine projects stretch across years if not decades. Assuming one or more of their experimental vaccines proves safe and effective in late-stage trials -- a huge feat in itself -- drug companies and health officials will next face a whole new set of obstacles in their effort to deliver the shots widely around the world. Preparations for vaccinating the planet’s 7.8 billion people are already underway. Read about it here

How remdesivir moved from back shelf to best hope for treating Covid-19
 

What began as a hope-for-the-best decision in a hospital in Washington has since mushroomed into a worldwide rush for the drug, which has become a beacon of hope in a pandemic that has driven people into home confinement, shuttered entire industries and hobbled national economies. TIME conducted dozens of interviews with the doctors involved in the first human studies of the drug in the sickest patients, public-health experts and industry insiders to create the most comprehensive chronicle yet of how a new therapy can emerge in the midst of this coronavirus pandemic when the urgent need to treat patients clashes with normally time-consuming regulatory requirements to ensure safety and efficacy. Remdesivir could be the first real treatment for Covid-19 that finally gives man even a slight upper hand against microbe. Read more here

Opinion
 

Covid recovery will stem from digital business
 

Much has been said and written about the pandemic-related rise in business insolvencie. But the truth is that many new businesses are being created, too. In fact, recent US data shows that applications for the employer identification numbers needed to start new businesses are up 18.5 per cent this year compared to 2019. Many of these new enterprises will fail, of course — most do. If historical trends hold, this Schumpeterian creative destruction will leave the economic landscape very different after Covid-19. Read more here