The total number of coronavirus cases around the world has surpassed 20 million. The United States currently has 5.2 Covid-19 cases, of which just under 50,000 were confirmed yesterday, showing that the rate of infection is slowing down in the US. Brazil has just over 3 million cases and is also observing lower daily increases. India, with 2.2 million coronavirus cases, is still adding 50,000 new ones each day.
The markets reacted positively to news that the United States might finally be past the peak of the outbreak. Part of the reason why Covid-19 appears to be dying down is that the most affected states at the moment have all reinstated some lockdown measures and have made the wearing of masks mandatory.
Nevertheless, as the new school and university year is just around the corner and Trump has been pushing for the reopening of schools, many are concerned that there will be more outbreaks to come.
In any event, the economic consequences of the pandemic will be far-reaching in the United States. The government’s current inability to agree on a bipartisan stimulus plan is causing further strain, since millions of unemployed Americans are deprived of weekly benefits.
President Trump has already issued executive orders to supplement some of that funding and is now talking about a potential tax cut to further support the economy. The stock markets have reacted well to this situation and we are seeing indices on the rise again today.
In other news, unemployment data from the United Kingdom today showed that the country lost 220,000 jobs, which is the worst reading since the coronavirus pandemic began. Still, that number was lower than the forecast.
Speaking of Europe, there is a resurgence of coronavirus cases there, particularly in Spain and Germany, but this is not a cause for concern as of yet.
