Previously, the COVID-19 epidemic continued to spread rapidly around the world. In order to curb the epidemic, many governments continued to upgrade epidemic prevention and control through measures such as “suspension”, “holiday”, “ban” and even “country closure”. However, as the COVID-19 epidemic has been alleviated, many countries have begun to gradually and orderly “unblock”. In this post-epidemic period, in addition to relaxing control and orderly restoring production and living order, countries will also restart their economies that have been hit hard by the epidemic. Is the global economy expected to usher in a new recovery?
United States: Plans to begin withdrawing epidemic restrictions from May 15th
Since the outbreak of the epidemic in the United States, the U.S. government has required people to increase social distance, and states have generally issued “stay-at-home orders.” Most companies have suspended work and production, non-essential operations have been forced to shut down, and large areas of the economy have “shut down.” Affected by this, consumer demand has plummeted, corporate investment spending has been sluggish, and the U.S. economy has fallen into contraction. Data recently released by the U.S. Department of Commerce showed that as the COVID-19 epidemic severely hit demand, the U.S. economy fell by 4.8% at an annual rate in the first quarter of this year, the largest decline since the financial crisis.
At the same time, the U.S. labor market has also been severely impacted. Data released by the U.S. Department of Labor on April 30 showed that as of the week of April 25, the number of people applying for unemployment benefits for the first time in the United States reached 3.839 million, higher than the market consensus of 3.5 million. Trump has become increasingly frustrated with the economic recession triggered by the epidemic, which has left more than 30 million Americans unemployed and threatened his re-election prospects. The United States is the world’s largest epicenter of the COVID-19 epidemic. So far, more than 1.22 million people have been infected and more than 70,000 people have died.
In response, U.S. President Trump is eager to advance the unblocking of the economy. He said on Tuesday that Americans should start returning to normal life as soon as possible, even if more Americans People are infected with the new coronavirus and even die. It is understood that some regions in the United States plan to begin withdrawing epidemic restrictions from May 15. The first phase of reopening includes construction, manufacturing and specific retail industries, and finally the reopening of schools and entertainment industries.
Italy: officially entered the second phase of anti-epidemic on May 4
According to the latest data released by the Italian Civil Protection Department, there were 1,389 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Italy and 174 new deaths, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 213,013 and the total number of deaths to 29,315. Italy’s Civil Protection Department stated that this was the day with the fewest deaths since March 10, and the number of new cases in a single day also dropped from 1,900 on May 2 to 1,389.
From May 4, approximately 4.4 million people in Italy have been allowed to resume work, marking Italy’s entry into the fight against the epidemic and recovery. In the second stage of economic parallelism, the resumption of production and work in various industries will be gradually carried out at intervals of two weeks, but all types of schools will remain closed. , which means that the nationwide “city closure” measures will end on the evening of May 3. The Italian government reminds the public to pay more attention to maintaining social distance and take personal hygiene protection to the greatest extent.
In addition, on the 6th local time, Francesco Boccia, Minister of Italian Regions and Autonomous Regions, stated that business premises originally planned to reopen on June 1 ( Restaurants, coffee bars, barber shops, etc.) may reopen earlier. According to the original plan, retail stores, museums and other places can open from the 18th, while restaurants, coffee bars and barber shops will have to wait until June 1 to reopen.
Russia: Plans to gradually lift epidemic restrictive measures
Local time On the 6th, Russian President Vladimir Putin held a video conference with heads of relevant Russian government departments and local governors. Russia will gradually lift restrictive measures in three stages.
Currently, the number of newly confirmed cases in Russia in a single day has exceeded 10,000 for four consecutive days. Russian Prime Minister Mishustin, who was diagnosed with the new coronavirus earlier, did not attend the video conference that day. Putin said Mishustin’s condition was improving.
South Korea will gradually open public facilities from the 6th
Local time 3 On the 6th, South Korean Prime Minister Jung Sye-kyun stated that given that the epidemic in South Korea is at a low level and the epidemic has been effectively controlled, the South Korean government decided to shift South Korea’s epidemic prevention measures to “life-based epidemic prevention” starting from the 6th. Various facilities that were previously closed under government administrative orders will be gradually opened, and universities, middle schools and primary schools will also gradually resume normal teaching depending on the situation.
Iran’s low-risk areas will open mosques and schools
According to Iranian media reports on the 3rd, Iran President Rouhani said that day that in the past 24 hours, a total of 300 people in Iran were hospitalized due to COVID-19. There are currently 132 white cities (low-risk areas) in Iran. Rouhani announced that mosques in these cities will reopen on the 4th and schools will reopen on the 16th.
Portugal has entered a “state of disaster”
Portuguese Prime Minister Costa recently Announced the end of the national emergency, entered a “state of disaster” on the 3rd, and restarted economic and social activities in three steps.
Starting from the 4th, all shops and street stores within 200 square meters, including bookstores, barber shops, shoe stores and clothing stores, will reopen.Businesses and public service systems have resumed, except for the city hall where business is concentrated;
Starting from the 18th, high schools will resume classes, and shops, coffee shops, and restaurants within 400 square meters will resume operations. Open;
Starting from June 1st, all shops and shopping malls will be open, but the number of receptions will be reduced by half, and people must maintain a social distance of 2 meters.
Some federal states in Germany relax epidemic prevention bans
Starting from the 4th local time, some federal states in Germany will take the lead in relaxing a series of epidemic prevention measures ban. Among them, Saxony-Anhalt became the first region in Germany to relax contact restrictions. According to the regulations of the German federal government, it is prohibited for more than two people who are not family members to gather in public places, and the state of Saxony-Anhalt has now relaxed this limit to five people. At the same time, Saarland also announced that gatherings of up to two households and visits to friends will be allowed.
Serbia lifts state of emergency
On the evening of the 6th local time, the Serbian National Assembly voted to lift the state of emergency, that is, there will no longer be a curfew from the 7th, but there will still be Relevant epidemic prevention and control measures shall be retained.
The global economy will continue to face difficulties and challenges and recover There are still multiple obstacles
Although a large number of countries have gradually “unblocked” and entered the parallel stage of epidemic prevention and economic recovery, a large number of domestic companies are still ordered to close. During the epidemic prevention and control period, the vast majority of companies were hit hard, affecting all walks of life.
Some experts have predicted that the economic contraction caused by the crisis will be three times that of the 2008 global financial crisis. According to the latest April 2020 Global Economic Overview released by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), due to the new coronavirus pandemic, the global economy is expected to contract significantly by 3% in 2020, which will have a more serious impact than the financial crisis from 2008 to 2009. Much more.
According to statistics, the GDP growth rate of the United States in the first quarter was negative, and the manufacturing and non-manufacturing PMI indexes of the United States, the European Union, Japan, and South Korea were still downward in April. As of April 28, the number of unemployed people in the United States has exceeded 30 million, and consumption in the United States will be in recession in the future. Industry insiders said that consumption in developed countries mainly drives production. When consumption declines, it is difficult for production to improve, global orders will decrease accordingly, and the world is already in recession. </p
