The Economist Continental Europe Edition April 11, 2020

Joe Biden floated the idea that voters in America’s presidential election might have to participate by mail only. The captain of the uss Theodore Roosevelt was fired after asking for help when covid-19 spread among his sailors. Officials said he had not gone through the proper channels in airing his complaint. The captain was given a rousing send-off by sailors. After a backlash, the head of the navy resigned. In South Africa a man was charged with spreading fake news about testing. Scotland’s chief medical officer resigned after she broke the government’s advice by leaving her house, twice, during lock-down to visit her second home. A tiger in the Bronx Zoo is thought to have contracted covid-19 from an infected zookeeper. There is no evidence that tigers can give the disease to humans. For our…

Politics Boris Johnson, Britain’s prime minister, who has contracted covid-19, was admitted to intensive care after a deterioration in his breathing. Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary, is to stand in for him chairing cabinet meetings “where necessary”. America braced itself for a surge in deaths related to the new coronavirus. There were some tentative signs of good news in Europe, as the number of people dying and the number of new cases registered each day fell in several countries, including Spain and Italy, the two worst-affected. Austria talked of starting to emerge from its shutdown, and in Denmark junior schools and kindergartens are to reopen. But Europe remains the worst-hit part of the globe. For the first time since it started publishing daily figures in January, China reported no new…

Joe Biden floated the idea that voters in America’s presidential election might have to participate by mail only. The captain of the uss Theodore Roosevelt was fired after asking for help when covid-19 spread among his sailors. Officials said he had not gone through the proper channels in airing his complaint. The captain was given a rousing send-off by sailors. After a backlash, the head of the navy resigned. In South Africa a man was charged with spreading fake news about testing. Scotland’s chief medical officer resigned after she broke the government’s advice by leaving her house, twice, during lock-down to visit her second home. A tiger in the Bronx Zoo is thought to have contracted covid-19 from an infected zookeeper. There is no evidence that tigers can give the…

Politics Boris Johnson, Britain’s prime minister, who has contracted covid-19, was admitted to intensive care after a deterioration in his breathing. Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary, is to stand in for him chairing cabinet meetings “where necessary”. America braced itself for a surge in deaths related to the new coronavirus. There were some tentative signs of good news in Europe, as the number of people dying and the number of new cases registered each day fell in several countries, including Spain and Italy, the two worst-affected. Austria talked of starting to emerge from its shutdown, and in Denmark junior schools and kindergartens are to reopen. But Europe remains the worst-hit part of the globe. For the first time since it started publishing daily figures in January, China reported no new deaths from covid-19.…

MOST BOSSES and workers have been through economic crises before. They know that each time the agony is different—and that each time entrepreneurs and firms adapt and bounce back. Even so, the shock ripping through the business world is daunting. With countries accounting for over 50% of world GDP in lockdown, the collapse in commercial activity is far more severe than in previous recessions. The exit path from lockdowns will be precarious, with uneasy consumers, a stop-start rhythm that inhibits efficiency, and tricky new health protocols. And in the long run the firms that survive will have to master a new environment as the crisis and the response to it accelerate three trends: an energising adoption of new technologies, an inevitable retreat from freewheeling global supply chains and a worrying…

MOST BOSSES and workers have been through economic crises before. They know that each time the agony is different—and that each time entrepreneurs and firms adapt and bounce back. Even so, the shock ripping through the business world is daunting. With countries accounting for over 50% of world GDP in lockdown, the collapse in commercial activity is far more severe than in previous recessions. The exit path from lockdowns will be precarious, with uneasy consumers, a stop-start rhythm that inhibits efficiency, and tricky new health protocols. And in the long run the firms that survive will have to master a new environment as the crisis and the response to it accelerate three trends: an energising adoption of new technologies, an inevitable retreat from freewheeling global supply chains and a worrying…