|
 Second-wave fears
Governors of U.S. states that are COVID-19 hotspots pressed ahead
with economic reopenings that have raised fears of a second wave of
infections.
The moves by states such as Florida and Arizona came as Treasury
Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the United States could not afford to
let the novel coronavirus shut its economy again and global stocks
tanked on worries of a pandemic resurgence.
In Europe, health experts said the risk of a second wave of COVID-19
infections big enough to require lockdowns to be reimposed is
moderate to high.
India reported a record daily increase of cases and became the
world's fourth worst-hit country, raising the prospect of the return
of a lockdown just days after it was lifted.
Insurers beat back virus claims
U.S. property and casualty insurers have cast the coronavirus
pandemic as an unprecedented event whose cost to small businesses
they are neither able nor required to cover.
The industry has warned it could cost them $255 billion to $431
billion a month if they are required, as some states are proposing,
to compensate firms for income lost and expenses owed due to
virus-led shutdowns, an amount it says would make insurers
insolvent.
A Reuters examination of the estimate, however, suggests the
possible bill may not be so onerous.
British economy battered
The UK economy shrank by a quarter in the March-April period as
entire sectors were shuttered by the coronavirus lockdown.
"This is catastrophic, literally on a scale never seen before in
history," Paul Johnson, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies
think tank, said. "The real issue is what happens next."
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development says
Britain - with its huge services industries that are hit hard by
social distancing measures - could suffer the worst downturn among
the countries it covers, with an 11.5% contraction this year.
[to top of second column] |
Bottlenecks? Glass vial makers prepare for vaccine
Drugmakers are warning of a potential shortage of vials to bottle future
COVID-19 vaccines, but their rush to secure supplies risks making matters worse.
Schott AG, the world’s largest maker of speciality glass for vaccine vials, says
it has turned down requests to reserve output from major pharmaceutical firms
because it does not want to commit resources before it is clear which vaccines
will work.
“We have to keep the door open to give capacity to those who really are
successful in the end. We don’t want to be portrayed in the press as the ones
who were unable to package the best vaccine,” Chief Executive Frank Heinricht
told Reuters.
Roping in the drones
Airspace Systems, a California startup company that makes drones that can hunt
down and capture other drones, on Thursday released new software for monitoring
social distancing and protective face-mask wearing from the air.
The software analyzes video streams captured by drones and can identify when
people are wearing masks, standing close together or points where people gather
in clusters. Airspace aims to sells the system to cities and police departments.
The company says the system does not use facial recognition and does not save
images of people or pass those images to its customers. Even with those
protections in place, the system is still "a step toward robots that are
monitoring our behaviour," said Jay Stanley, a senior policy analyst with the
American Civil Liberties Union's Speech, Privacy and Technology Project.
(Compiled by Linda Noakes, Editing by Timothy Heritage)
[© 2020 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2020 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
 |
