The Economist Continental Europe Edition April 18, 2020

Politics Donald Trump said that data suggested America was past the peak of the covid-19 outbreak, as he mooted guidelines to reopen the economy. The president created a council to look at the options, some of whose members were surprised to be included. Earlier he started a row with state governors who are trying to co-ordinate the lifting of some restrictions. He claimed they needed his permission; the constitution says they don’t. When a journalist asked Mr Trump what he had done all February to prepare for covid, he called her “disgraceful”. Mr Trump said he would suspend American funding to the World Health Organisation, accusing it of pushing “China’s misinformation” on the coronavirus. Bernie Sanders bowed out as the sole remaining challenger to Joe Biden and endorsed his hitherto…

Boris Johnson was discharged from hospital, where he had been admitted to intensive care. The British prime minister is convalescing at Chequers, an official residence. Taiwan reported no new coronavirus cases on April 14th, the first such interlude in more than a month. China recorded scores of new cases, including an increase caused by local infections. A cluster of cases was discovered on China’s north-east border with Russia. Russia reported several record daily surges in new cases, bringing its total to 25,000. New York City’s cumulative death toll soared past 10,000 as officials added 3,700 previously unrecorded deaths from the disease to the rolls. America’s Supreme Court said it would hold its first-ever hearings by telephone conference, starting next month. For our latest coverage of the virus and its consequences please visit economist.com/ coronavirus or…

Politics Donald Trump said that data suggested America was past the peak of the covid-19 outbreak, as he mooted guidelines to reopen the economy. The president created a council to look at the options, some of whose members were surprised to be included. Earlier he started a row with state governors who are trying to co-ordinate the lifting of some restrictions. He claimed they needed his permission; the constitution says they don’t. When a journalist asked Mr Trump what he had done all February to prepare for covid, he called her “disgraceful”. Mr Trump said he would suspend American funding to the World Health Organisation, accusing it of pushing “China’s misinformation” on the coronavirus. Bernie Sanders bowed out as the sole remaining challenger to Joe Biden and endorsed his hitherto rival for president.…

Boris Johnson was discharged from hospital, where he had been admitted to intensive care. The British prime minister is convalescing at Chequers, an official residence. Taiwan reported no new coronavirus cases on April 14th, the first such interlude in more than a month. China recorded scores of new cases, including an increase caused by local infections. A cluster of cases was discovered on China’s north-east border with Russia. Russia reported several record daily surges in new cases, bringing its total to 25,000. New York City’s cumulative death toll soared past 10,000 as officials added 3,700 previously unrecorded deaths from the disease to the rolls. America’s Supreme Court said it would hold its first-ever hearings by telephone conference, starting next month. For our latest coverage of the virus and its consequences…

THIS YEAR started horribly for China. When a respiratory virus spread in Wuhan, Communist Party officials’ instinct was to hush it up. Some predicted that this might be China’s “Chernobyl”—a reference to how the Kremlin’s lies over a nuclear accident hastened the collapse of the Soviet Union. They were wrong. After its initial bungling, China’s ruling party swiftly imposed a quarantine of breathtaking scope and severity. The lock-down seems to have worked. The number of newly reported cases of covid-19 has slowed to a trickle. Factories in China are reopening. Researchers there are rushing candidate vaccines into trials (see Briefing). Meanwhile, the official death toll has been far exceeded by Britain, France, Spain, Italy and America. China hails this as a triumph. A vast propaganda campaign explains that China brought…

THIS YEAR started horribly for China. When a respiratory virus spread in Wuhan, Communist Party officials’ instinct was to hush it up. Some predicted that this might be China’s “Chernobyl”—a reference to how the Kremlin’s lies over a nuclear accident hastened the collapse of the Soviet Union. They were wrong. After its initial bungling, China’s ruling party swiftly imposed a quarantine of breathtaking scope and severity. The lock-down seems to have worked. The number of newly reported cases of covid-19 has slowed to a trickle. Factories in China are reopening. Researchers there are rushing candidate vaccines into trials (see Briefing). Meanwhile, the official death toll has been far exceeded by Britain, France, Spain, Italy and America. China hails this as a triumph. A vast propaganda campaign explains that China brought its…