World Coronavirus Dipatch: Does Sweden offer an example or a warning?

While companies in UK delay investing workers' pension contributions, US Postal warns there may be mass delays in processing mail-in ballots

Many UK companies delay investing workers’ pension contributions: A FT survey of pension companies uncovered a spike in employers missing payment deadlines. Nearly one in ten of the 20,000 employers on Royal London’s pension book had missed the deadline since March, putting themselves at risk of a fine or court action by the regulator. Read more here 

Let’s look at the global statistics:                  

Total Confirmed Cases: 2,11,63,347

Change Over Yesterday: 2,38,744

Total Deaths: 7,64,744

Total Recovered: 1,32,79,850

Nations hit with most cases: US (53,13,454), Brazil (32,26,443), India (25,25,922), Russia (9,10,778) and South Africa (5,79,140)

Source: Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Research Center 

US Postal Service warns of mass delays for mail-in ballots: The US Postal Service has warned nearly every state in the US that it might not be able to process postal votes in time for the presidential election, in the latest sign that its financial struggles could end up affecting November’s vote. This come after massive cuts undertaken at the department earlier. Read more here

New Zealand Covid-19 outbreak grows, Australia still struggles: New Zealand on Saturday reported seven new cases of the coronavirus as a lockdown in the country’s biggest city, Auckland, was extended on Friday. Australia’s second most-populous state, Victoria, continues to struggle after it last month became the centre of the country’s biggest coronavirus outbreak. Read more here

UK bailout talks end unsuccessfully for Jaguar Land Rover and Tata Steel: Emergency funding talks with JLR, the UK’s biggest carmaker, and Tata Steel — both owned by Indian conglomerate Tata Group — were recently broken off, according to people briefed on the discussions, after the Treasury concluded that Tata Group had deep enough pockets and did not qualify for taxpayer support. Read more here

Malaysia GDP plunges record 17.1 percent in Q2 under pandemic pressure: This is Malaysia's worst performance on record and first quarterly decline since 2009, amid the global financial crisis. It marks a reversal compared with the 4.9 percent growth logged for the second quarter of 2019, and a steep drop-off after the country eked out 0.7 percent GDP growth in the first three months of 2020. Read more here

Specials

Sweden’s coronavirus experiment:

Sweden, which has refused to close down schools and restaurants to contain the new coronavirus, is being closely watched as many other countries are gradually opening up their economies from stricter lockdowns. The controversial Swedish approach is seen by some as a warning and by others as an example of how to contain the disease without draconian measures. What was special about Sweden’s approach? Read here

In-charts: The latest figures as countries fight Covid-19 resurgence:

Latin America is the current epicentre of the pandemic, with the region accounting for almost half of all deaths each day. Europe’s average count of coronavirus-related deaths overtook Asia’s in early March, with Italy, Spain and the UK becoming the global hotspots. From mid-April the focus shifted to the US, where the number of deaths has remained consistently high, although the focus of the epidemic has shifted from the northeast to southern and western states. Read more here

Struggling to focus? How to improve attention span when 'the world is sick'

First, cut yourself some slack. Take time for self-care and self-compassion, and lean on basics like sleep, healthy eating and exercise. Top this with setting specific goals, instead of promising yourself that you’ll ‘focus’ and ‘be productive’. And finally incorporate breaks in the middle, ideally outdoors. Read more here