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 Health over economy
Two-thirds of more than 13,200 survey respondents in 11 countries
including China, France, Germany, India, Mexico, Saudi Arabia and
the United States agreed that their governments should prioritise
saving lives over restarting economies.
"It's complicated because you have two crises simultaneously - a
health crisis and an economic crisis," said Richard Edelman, chief
executive of U.S. communications firm Edelman, which did the survey.
"But people are saying, 'We've already had six to seven weeks of
this (restriction on activity), what's another week or two?'"
No choice but to continue working
Almost a month after Tokyo declared a state of emergency, dozens of
call centre employees still commute into crowded offices, and a
labour union has received more than 100 calls from operators worried
about their safety in the last month.
Some who opted to take leave were told it would hurt their careers,
a representative of the labour union said.
Japan Inc has been reluctant to embrace telecommuting, with firms
citing concerns about data security. Companies also fear a decline
in worker productivity and customer service.
Under the post-World War Two constitution, the government cannot
order companies to close, but it has tried to curb infections while
keeping the economy ticking over by encouraging a reduction in
person-to-person contact.
Tipping point
An internal Chinese report presented early last month by its
Ministry of State Security to top Beijing leaders including
President Xi Jinping concluded that global anti-China sentiment was
at its highest since the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown and could
result in confrontation with the United States, people familiar with
the paper told Reuters.
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China has been accused by the United States of suppressing early information on
the virus, which was first detected in the central city of Wuhan, and
downplaying its risks.
Beijing has repeatedly denied that it covered up the extent or severity of the
virus outbreak.
Relations between China and the United States are widely seen to be at their
worst in decades, with deepening mistrust and points of friction, from U.S.
accusations of unfair trade and technology practices, to disputes over Hong
Kong, Taiwan and contested territories in the South China Sea.
Bright spot
With its commodities sector suffering only minor disruptions from the
coronavirus, Western Australia is one of the world's few bright spots, even as
the national economy faces its first recession in three decades.
Economists, miners and farmers believe global demand for food and iron ore will
mark a return to prosperity for the region that fell into the doldrums in 2014.
Western Australia has succeeded in stopping almost all new infections and
analysts expect the state to lead a national recovery.
(Compiled by Karishma Singh; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
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