News Update – Tuesday, July 28, 2020

APCO Worldwide's Coronavirus Beat is a weekly publication on the impact of COVID-19 on businesses, economies, policy and culture, and how leaders are responding. The next newsletter will appear Tuesday, August 4.

Have a comment about this newsletter? We welcome your feedback.

Business & Economic Impact

1. Gold prices soared to a record USD 1,944 per ounce as concerns grow about how a coronavirus resurgence could impact the economy, CNN

2. A senior researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences says China must evaluate the impact of its stimulus measures, including a high fiscal deficit, South China Morning Post
3. A new forecast revealed that the United Kingdom's economy may not recover until 2024, with the unemployment rate rising to 9% and the economy estimated to shrink by 11.5%, BBC

Global Policy

1. The World Health Organization stated border closures to halt the spread of COVID-19 are unsustainable and only useful with detection and containment measures, CBS News

2. The trade pact appears to be the most durable part of the U.S.-China relationship as tensions between the two countries are flaring over the coronavirus, The New York Times
3. Senate Republicans unveiled a USD 1 trillion coronavirus aid package that would cut employment benefits, setting the stage for a clash with House Democrats, Financial Times

Control Measures

1. The UK is closely watching coronavirus cases in France and Germany, after requiring travelers from Spain to quarantine for 14 days due to a rise in local cases, BBC

2. Hong Kong now requires masks in public and is considering postponing the September election after recording 100 cases for five consecutive days, South China Morning Post
3. Vietnam is tightening border controls and evacuating 80,000 people from a tourist area as the country reported 11 new coronavirus cases since April, CNN

Worth Noting

1. Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech announced later-stage clinical trials of their vaccines, aiming to test on 30,000 people to determine safety and effectiveness, The New York Times

2. Google will keep its 200,000 employees home until at least July 2021, making it the first major corporation to extend reopening plans due to the pandemic, The Wall Street Journal
3. North Korea officially reported the country's first suspected case of coronavirus from a person who defected to South Korea and returned with COVID-19 symptoms, BBC

Stay Ahead: Insights from APCO

China's 5G Rollout: How Foreign Companies Can Benefit
As China is accelerating the deployment of fifth-generation mobile data technology (5G), Nina Zholudeva from APCO Worldwide's Beijing office suggests that a glimpse at the country's 5G progress and how its applications can help foreign businesses to understand how they can become part of the story.

5G networks are already available in major Chinese cities and should cover most of the country in less than five years. Despite the main goal to support domestic development, now is the time for foreign companies to think about how they can seize the opportunities which will also arise.

To increase benefits, companies should:

Stay informed of China’s 5G network development progress;
Monitor central and local government initiatives to encourage wider 5G adoption;
Explore opportunities to create local partnerships.

Some Positive News

ER doctor reunites with family: An emergency room physician contracted the coronavirus in April and finally reunited with his family after three months, ABC News
Food waste to food banks: A Washington state man rescues 2.4 million pounds of farmers’ crops going to waste and provides it to food banks, Good News Network
Traveling by boat: An Argentine man stuck in Portugal because of travel bans sails by boat for 85 days to see his 90-year-old father in Argentina, The New York Times

More Tips from Around the Water Cooler

Tips for surviving a financial crisis, from a woman who lost almost everything, CNN
5 Tips for managing an underperformer — remotely, Harvard Business Review
Marketing your business in the midst of COVID-19: 5 tips to stay afloat, Forbes
These 4 countries are accepting American travelers for remote-work trips, The Washington Post
Working from home: Why you're easily distracted during lockdown, Bloomberg

Quotables

“Our research suggests that COVID-19 is driving a meaningfully increased interest in hygiene and health, a behavior that is likely to be sustained over time. Experience tells us that a change in behavior for over 60 days causes consumers to permanently change what they do over time. To date, over 85% of people have already improved their hygiene habit as a result of COVID-19.”

- Laxman Narasimhan, Reckitt Benckiser Group CEO & Executive Director

“Obviously the Americas is clearly still the major hot spot, North, Central and South America, but we have disease beginning to accelerate in Africa. Also, even in Europe, while certainly in western Europe the disease has come under control, we still have some worrying trends in southern Europe and the Balkans so we’re not out of the woods just yet in the European environment. It requires sustained vigilance."

- Mike Ryan, head of the World Health Organization’s emergencies programme

The APCO team is working with clients globally to manage this crisis, and we stand ready to support your needs. For more resources from APCO, including our latest research, information on how we can help or to contact us, visit apcoworldwide.com/coronavirus.

About Coronavirus Beat

Coronavirus Beat is a bulletin of updates and clippings from the most relevant media and government sources created to help APCO’s clients keep abreast of the impacts of COVID-19 from around the world. APCO is supporting clients in managing the issues they confront related to the outbreak. Contact our crisis team at Crisis360@apcoworldwide.com or +1.866.360.APCO (toll-free) or +1.866.483.2726 (outside the United States).

APCO Worldwide is an advisory and advocacy communications consultancy helping leading public and private sector organizations act with agility, and build organizational reputations, brands, relationships and solutions to succeed. APCO has offices in more than 30 major cities throughout the world. To find out how APCO’s integrated services can help your company, visit apcoworldwide.com.