COVID-19: What you need to know about the coronavirus pandemic on 1 May – World Economic Forum

A new strain of Coronavirus, COVID 19, is spreading around the world, causing deaths and major disruption to the global economy.

Responding to this crisis requires global cooperation among governments, international organizations and the business community, which is at the centre of the World Economic Forums mission as the International Organization for Public-Private Cooperation.

The Forum has created the COVID Action Platform, a global platform to convene the business community for collective action, protect peoples livelihoods and facilitate business continuity, and mobilize support for the COVID-19 response. The platform is created with the support of the World Health Organization and is open to all businesses and industry groups, as well as other stakeholders, aiming to integrate and inform joint action.

As an organization, the Forum has a track record of supporting efforts to contain epidemics. In 2017, at our Annual Meeting, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) was launched bringing together experts from government, business, health, academia and civil society to accelerate the development of vaccines. CEPI is currently supporting the race to develop a vaccine against this strand of the coronavirus.

1. How COVID-19 is affecting the globe

Testing is key in battling COVID-19, but where is testing the most prevalent? According to data from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Iceland, Luxembourg and Estonia have tested more of their population for coronavirus than any other countries.

The lowest levels of testing in OECD countries are in Mexico (0.4), Japan (1.8) and Greece (5.8). The average testing rate for all OECD countries is 22.9 tests per 1,000.

Top officials have welcomed announcements to boost testing including OECD Secretary-General ngel Gurra who said increasing testing capacity was essential to start easing lockdowns and to reduce the risk of new outbreaks.

Diagnostics testing for COVID-19 in OECD countries

Image: OECD

Though passenger planes have seen steep declines, cargo planes are facing a surge in demand to respond to the need for supplies during the COVID-19 crisis. Slowing efforts are a slew of new guidelines, including fast-changing border restrictions and quarantines for crew. Airlines are lobbying for governments to respond with practical exemptions, writes Isobel Fenton, Platform Curator, Aviation & Aerospace, World Economic Forum. A two-week delay for essential supplies is clearly unacceptable, she says.

Looking for an escape? Literature instructor Christine Berberich from the University of Portsmouth shared a selection of books to enjoy during lockdown in a recent article for the Conversation. These books, including Kazuo Ishiguros The Remains of the Day and Rohinton Mistrys A Fine Balance engross their readers in their characters lives and transport them to another world.

On this weeks World Vs Virus podcast, our colleague David Knowles interviews science Journalist Laura Spinney about her book, Pale Rider, an exploration into the history of the Spanish Flu. The flu changed the world in many important ways, says Spinney, and there are some important lessons for how we respond to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic..

The World Versus Virus podcast is available on Apple Podcasts as part of its Essential Listening collection. The podcast is also available on Spotify and Libsyn.

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Written by

Linda Lacina, Digital Editor, World Economic Forum

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.

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COVID-19: What you need to know about the coronavirus pandemic on 1 May - World Economic Forum