The Economist A special edition on the coronavirus pandemic

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From: The Economist this week - Saturday Mar 28, 2020 12:09 pm
As the novel coronavirus continues its devastating march across the globe, our issue this week highlights two trends. First, poor countries have until now seen few cases. That is set to change, with potentially calamitous consequences. Second, to counter the pandemic, states have amassed extraordinary power.
   
March 28th 2020 Read in browser
   
  The Economist this week  
 
  Our coverage of the new coronavirus  
   
 
 
   
  cover-image   
     
  Welcome to this week’s newsletter highlighting the best of our coverage on covid-19. In an issue dominated by the disease, we had two covers. In most of the world we looked at the spread of the virus in poor countries. So far, recorded cases are few. But make no mistake: they are mounting and societies are terrifyingly underprepared.

 In America and Britain we wrote about how the pandemic has led to the most dramatic increase in state power since the second world war. For believers in limited government and open markets, covid-19 poses a problem. Only the state can deal with this crisis. Yet history suggests that the state will not give up all the ground it takes—with implications for the economy and surveillance.

We develop those themes in this issue. We have in-depth reporting on the threat from the disease in Africa. We also examine the use of personal data to enforce quarantines, track the epidemic and pounce on new outbreaks. We look at how wars and the Depression led to a permanently bigger state with many more powers and responsibilities, and the taxes to pay for them. We describe the unprecedented global collaboration among medics searching for the best way to treat the disease. We look at how China is slowly returning to normal. And for all those long-suffering workers stuck at home, our Bartleby columnist shares the pain.

We have also been reporting on the disease on Economist radio and in Economist films. This week we highlight our science podcast, Babbage. It features items on how some people with covid-19 lose their sense of smell, the scramble to make ventilators and the effect of the pandemic on the environment.

We hope that our coverage helps make you better informed, and your isolation more tolerable. 		 
 
  Zanny Minton Beddoes, Editor-In-Chief  
     
Must-reads from our recent coverage
 
  Editor’s picks  
 
   
 
 
 
Continental contagion
Africa is woefully ill-equipped to cope with covid-19

People cannot stay away from work if they have no money
Middle East and Africa
 
 
 
Creating the coronopticon
Countries are using apps and data networks to keep tabs on the pandemic

And also, in the process, their citizens
Briefing
 
 
 
Building up the pillars of state
Rich countries try radical economic policies to counter covid-19

History suggests that the effects will be permanent
Briefing
 
 
 
Stop, collaborate and listen
Crowdsourcing to fight covid-19

Many trials are under way to find the best treatment
International
 
 
 
The post-virus economy
China goes back to work

But not back to normal
China
 
 
 
Bartleby
Diary of a home worker

The challenges of concentrating during a lockdown
Business
 
 
 
Babbage
Sniffing out the answer—understanding the symptoms of covid-19

Our weekly podcast on the science and technology making the news
Economist Radio
 
 
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