World Coronavirus Dispatch: Tokyo Olympics next year despite virus

China's August exports beat estimates, UK cases jump highest level since May, airplane cabins could look different next time you fly and other pandemic-related news across the globe

China’s exports in August rose at a faster-than-expected pace, increasing by 9.5 per cent from a year earlier, though imports dropped 2.1 per cent, customs data showed on Monday. Analysts in a Reuters poll had forecast exports would increase 7.1 per cent from year earlier after registering surprising growth of 7.2 per cent in July. Imports were estimated to have edged up 0.1 per cent, after slumping 1.4 per cent in July. Read more here

Let’s look at the global statistics:

Total Confirmed Cases: 27,114,571

Change Over Yesterday: 241,425

Total Deaths: 883,538

Total Recovered: 18,140,467

Nations hit with most cases: US (6,276,834), India (4,204,613), Brazil (4,137,521), Russia (1,022,228) and Peru (689,977)

Source: Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Research Center 

Tokyo Olympics will happen next year despite virus: International Olympic Committee’s Vice President John Coates said the Tokyo Olympics will go ahead next year regardless of the coronavirus situation. Coates said the Games will start as planned on July 23 “with or without Covid,” stressing that the Olympics have never been cancelled outside of world wars. Read more here

Philippines moves to make vaccine with Australia: The Philippines will meet with Australian manufacturers for a Covid-19 vaccine being developed by the University of Queensland. The nation did not reach a commitment with Pfizer during a meeting last Friday as a law restricts “pre-ordering without the products yet. Read more here

Slowing German industry output points to long recovery ahead: Industrial output rose 1.2 per cent, less than forecast by economists. The increase was led by carmakers while machinery retreated. Investment-goods production still increased 2.1 per cent. Germany said its industry is back at nearly 90 per cent of pre-crisis levels. Read more here

India now second, behind US, in virus cases amid economic pain: India has crossed the coronavirus tally of Brazil with 4.2 million cases. It became the second worst-hit country on a day when urban metro trains partially resumed service in the capital New Delhi and other states. India also reported 1,016 new deaths for a total of 71,642, the third-highest national toll. Read more here

UK cases jump by 2,988 to highest level since May: US virus cases remain steady but the infection numbers in the UK increased by the most in more than three months, while the rate in Germany also ticked higher. France is also seeing a spike in numbers, just as schools start to head back to class. Read more here

Brexit threatens to strip UK pilots of right to fly EU planes: With the UK’s split from the EU set to be completed on December 31, there’s no agreement in place that would allow aviators holding UK licenses to serve the bloc on anything other than British planes. The country’s Civil Aviation Authority has in contrast said it will continue to recognize EU documentation for a further two years. Read more here

Samsung seals $6.6bn Verizon 5G deal as Trump targets Huawei: Samsung Electronics has clinched a $6.6bn deal with Verizon to help it build 5G networks in the US. The South Korean company said on Monday it had signed a contract to supply wireless telecoms equipment to the US operator until the end of 2025. Read more here

Specials

Hong Kong tycoons, banks claimed millions in virus subsidies
 

Hong Kong’s property tycoons and global firms including Ernst & Young and Jones Lang LaSalle have received tens of millions of dollars in government-funded wage subsidies meant to protect jobs. While the companies are entitled to claim the subsidies, the payments to developers controlled by billionaire tycoons and financial firms employing highly-paid professionals have raised concerns about the fairness of the program. White-collar jobs have largely stayed intact during the crisis, with the brunt of the city’s recession falling heavily on low-skilled and low-paid workers in the construction, retail and food industries. Read more here
 

Airplane cabins could look different the next time you fly
 

One of the biggest companies in that business, Recaro Aircraft Seating GmbH, has designed a range of modifications to keep passengers apart and protect them from infection. Aircraft typically must be 70 per cent to 80 per cent full to turn a profit, so that increases the appeal of devices that let passengers sit side by side without touching heads, brushing shoulders or nudging elbows. Airlines are figuring out how to apply a disinfectant coating developed by Recaro onto their seats. The German company says it has revamped the substance to repel viruses including Covid-19. Recaro, which sold about 150,000 aircraft seats last year, isn’t immune to the crisis gripping the aviation industry, despite potential demand for its designs. Read more here

At Home: With adult children home, now’s the time: talk about your money: As many families have discovered, it can be uncomfortable to involve children in discussions of how to handle estates after parents die. In an Edward Jones/Age Wave study, two-thirds of Americans said the pandemic had brought them closer to their family, although only 28 per cent of those over 65 “have yet to begin discussing their end-of-life care preferences with anyone at all, including their family.” With the US economy shrinking by nearly a third and more than 185,000 Americans dying in the pandemic, the sheer grief of the current situation can be overwhelming. It’s arduous for many people to move ahead and process all of the potential effects on families — but for many, the impact on their general prosperity and later years will be profound. Read more here

Tracking world’s new hotspots
 

Where are cases and deaths rising? Latin America and Asia are the continents that currently have the highest number of daily confirmed cases. See here