The Economist A special edition on the coronavirus pandemic

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From: The Economist this week - Saturday May 02, 2020 11:13 am
Even after lockdowns end, economies will not return to full strength. With people weighed down by financial hardship and the fear of a second wave of covid-19, the 90% economy that will follow will be far from normal
   
May 2nd 2020 Read in browser
   
  The Economist this week  
 
  Our coverage of the new coronavirus  
   
 
 
   
  cover-image   
     
  Welcome to the newsletter highlighting The Economist’s best pandemic coverage. Our cover this week looks at what to expect from life after lockdowns. What we call the 90% economy will be missing large chunks of everyday life—at least until a vaccine or a treatment is found. People are weighed down by financial hardship and the fear of a second wave of covid-19. Businesses are short of money. The unemployed could face a lost decade.

Our coverage of the disease this week sleuths into the genetic origins of the virus. SARS-CoV-2 almost certainly travelled from a bat to a person via an animal in the wet market in Wuhan—but it could conceivably have escaped from one of the town’s biological laboratories. We estimate how many years victims lose to covid-19 and weigh up the costs and benefits of closing schools. We look at the immune system, China’s determination to stamp out the disease and how nicotine may affect the rate of infection by competing with the virus to bind with human cells.

 We also have a mortality tracker, which uses the gap between the total number of people who died from any cause and the historical average for the time of year to estimate how many deaths from covid-19 the official statistics are failing to pick up.

We have been focusing on the pandemic in Economist radio and Economist films, too. In Babbage, our science podcast, Pascal Soriot, chief executive of the pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca, talks about potential treatments. We ask whether people who have recovered from covid-19 can catch it a second time. And Sonja Lyubomirsky, of the University of California, Riverside, tells us how acts of kindness can boost the immune system.

For those of us chafing under lockdown, perhaps her words will offer some encouragement. 		 
 
  Zanny Minton Beddoes, Editor-in-Chief  
     
Must-reads from our recent coverage
 
  Editor’s picks  
 
   
 
 
 
The origin of covid-19
The pieces of the puzzle of covid-19’s origin are coming to light

How they fit together, though, remains mysterious
Science and technology
 
 
 
Before their time
Would most covid-19 victims have died soon, without the virus?

A new study suggests not
Graphic detail
 
 
 
The kids are not all right
When easing lockdowns, governments should open schools first

The costs of keeping them closed are too high
Leaders
 
 
 
Covid-19
Leaving lockdown means understanding immune responses to the virus

Unfortunately, a lot is still unknown
Science and technology
 
 
 
Chaguan
China plans to crush new covid outbreaks with tough measures

They may work, but the cost will be high
China
 
 
 
Covid-19
Smokers seem less likely than non-smokers to fall ill with covid-19

That may point towards a way of treating it
Science and technology
 
 
 
Babbage
Beyond immunity—what can help the body fight the coronavirus?

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