Welcome to the newsletter highlighting The Economist’s best writing on the pandemic. Our cover this week examines the Republican claim that, as president, Joe Biden would succumb to the plans of the radical left—dramatically expanding the role of government and crippling American business. How much of a danger is that?

In our writing on the pandemic we focused on the ramifications of the virus in different countries. We have an analysis of the news that President Donald Trump and the first lady have contracted the disease. Our lead note in Asia tries to get to the bottom of why Pakistan has recorded so many fewer deaths and infections than India, in spite of being poorer. We report on the second wave in Spain and the problems in Iraq. We catch up with the election campaign in New Zealand, where Jacinda Ardern has been riding a covid-19 high. And we trace the connections between the pandemic and booming rich-world house prices. 

Our mortality tracker uses the gap between the total number of people who have died from any cause and the historical average for the time of year to estimate how many deaths from the virus the official statistics are failing to pick up.

We have also been covering the pandemic in Economist Radio and Economist Films. We have a film this week that looks at how covid-19 has disrupted world trade, which was already faltering before the virus struck. The pandemic will not kill off globalisation, but it will deepen the cracks in it. 

The weather in the northern hemisphere is turning cold. If you are spending more time indoors with people from outside your household, don’t forget your mask!