US drug overdose deaths surge, Germany’s naked swimming controversy & other Covid news

As the Covid-19 pandemic shows no signs of letting up, ThePrint highlights the most important stories on the crisis from across the globe.

File image of US President Donald Trump | Stefani Reynolds | Bloomberg

New Delhi: The novel coronavirus pandemic continues to devastate several countries across the world — the latest count is more than 13.69 million cases and more than 5.86 lakh deaths.

China became the first major global economy to record GDP growth in the second quarter of this year. In the US, the bank is likely to impact the trajectory of economic recovery going ahead. Meanwhile in the European Union, leaders meet for a crucial meeting and why is a discussion on nude swimming in Germany gaining so much traction during a pandemic?

ThePrint brings you the most important global stories on the coronavirus pandemic and why they matter.

Chinese GDP grows at 3.2% in second quarter

China became the first major economy in the pandemic era to return to growth as it posted a rise in GDP of 3.2 per cent in the second quarter compared to the same period last year, reports the Financial Times.

“The figures follow the first annual decline in decades in the previous quarter, when China’s GDP fell by 6.8 per cent as the country struggled to deal with the impact of the Covid-19 crisis,” says the report.

Despite some local breakouts — such as the one in Beijing — China has managed to bring the virus under control, and the number of daily new cases has remained in tens over the past quarter.

This rise in GDP has come mainly from expanded industrial production. The state has supported industrial activity by allowing local governments to borrow more for infrastructure projects. “A rise in construction has helped boost the country’s steel output when production has shrunk in other big national producers,” adds the report.

Will China’s secretive conclave be held this summer?

Every year, the Chinese Communist Party holds a meeting at the seaside resort of Beidaihe, in Hebei Province, which brings together the present and the past leadership. While it is an informal summit, it is one meeting that makes President Xi Jinping jittery as he could be subjected to criticism from party elders.

Now, as China enters a tumultuous phase, everyone is wondering whether the Beidaihe summit, due in two weeks, would be held this year or not, reports the Nikkei Asian Review.

“The situation surrounding this year’s conclave is extraordinary. For one, nobody knows whether the luminaries can gather as usual, considering the pandemic,” notes the report. But this also comes at a time when China is facing several issues — “the virus, Hong Kong, South China Sea boundaries and U.S. tensions — it is not hard to imagine that the elders would like to have a word with the leader.”

US is having a bank-shaped recovery

While everyone is wondering what the shape of economic recovery might look like following the pandemic and lockdown, the Financial Times’ Gillian Tett argues in a column that we should forget about the V- or U-shaped recovery, as it is more likely to be “bank shaped”.

By bank, Tett means the US Federal Reserve and how that has kept everything afloat in the US economy. “Since the Covid-19 pandemic hit, the American central bank has responded with stunning shock and awe; Deutsche Bank analysts reckon that the Fed balance sheet will double during 2020 to $8.3tn, because of all the monetary support it has provided,” writes Tett. But the Fed has its limitations, she adds.

“The bottom line is this: central bank action can spark a V-shape rally in equity prices; but on its own, it cannot create sustainable growth after that. Therein lies the reason why the current economic rebound could run out of steam — and why that symbol for “bank” is both a portent for the future and an illustration of the plight US president Donald Trump faces as he tries to revive the economy,” remarks Tett.

In shadow of pandemic, U.S. drug overdose deaths resurge 

Drug-related deaths, which had fallen for the first time in more than 25 years in 2018, have now resurged to record levels under the shadow of the Covid-19 pandemic, reports the New York Times.

“Nearly 72,000 Americans died from drug overdoses last year, according to preliminary data released Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — an increase of 5 percent from 2018,” says the report. “It looks as if 2020 will be even worse. Drug deaths have risen an average of 13 percent so far this year over last year, according to mortality data from local and state governments collected by The New York Times, covering 40 percent of the U.S. population.”

“If this trend continues for the rest of the year, it will be the sharpest increase in annual drug deaths since 2016, when a class of synthetic opioids known as fentanyls first made significant inroads in the country’s illicit drug supply,” the report explains.

Big choices for EU leaders as they meet in Brussels

As all the 27 leaders of the European Union (EU) — one from each member state — meet in Brussels, they will have some decisions to make that could determine the very future of the EU, reports the BBC.

“On the face of it the summit is about money: they need to set an EU budget of around €1 trillion for the period ending in 2027 and at the same time to agree on an ambitious €750bn (£670bn) Recovery Fund,” notes the report.

The initiative for this massive recovery fund has been led by Germany’s Angela Merkel and France’s Emmanuel Macron, and aims to aid southern European economies under distress from the pandemic. But now comes the harder part, where the leaders will have to decide the design and the timeline of the stimulus package.

Child vaccinations fall sharply amid pandemic, UN says

The pandemic has resulted in a sharp decline in the number of children getting their necessary vaccinations according to the United Nations, reports the BBC. “The decline in immunisation against diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough over the first four months of the year is the first in nearly three decades,” notes the report.

“Immunisation programmes in three-quarters of the more than 80 countries that responded to a UN survey have been disrupted, Unicef and the WHO said,” it adds.

The Maldives is now open to all global tourists. Here’s how they’re doing it

As opposed to a lot of tourist destinations in the world, Maldives has opened its doors to global tourists, reports CNN.

“As of July 15, this island nation in the Indian Ocean is reopen to international tourism and, perhaps remarkably, very few strings are attached. Global travelers — US citizens included — will not have to enter into a mandatory quarantine upon arrival at Velana International Airport in the capital, Male. Nor will they need to produce proof they have tested negative for coronavirus,” notes the report.

But the idea is to allow travellers to spend all their time only at a single resort — which they won’t be allowed to leave — and this would act like a natural quarantine.

A fight over nude swimming marks return of pre-coronavirus banalities in Europe

A new raging debate about nude swimming in a German lake district has now caught the attention of the entire country, and is probably one of biggest signs of how people are eager to look away from the pandemic and go back to old, banal quibbles of life, reports the Washington Post.

“The local council’s ban on naked swimming — and other activities such as naked yoga — has returned the town to the banalities of pre-coronavirus summers and earned it a spot on the national public broadcaster’s nightly newscast, where it received more airtime than the United States’ spiraling coronavirus outbreak that day,” notes the report.

What else we are reading:

Trump Administration Strips C.D.C. of Control of Coronavirus Data: New York Times

Japan’s domestic tourism campaign faces scrutiny as coronavirus spikes in Tokyo: Reuters

Crucial yet forgotten: the Filipino workers stranded by coronavirus: Nikkei Asian Review

Trump Isn’t the Worst Pandemic President: New York Times

‘How we’re surviving a second virus lockdown: BBC

Barbados wants you to work from its beaches during the pandemic: Washington Post