Covid-19, five years on: this day in 2020

Post Malone x Nirvana Tribute - Livestream Post Malone: Nirvana Tribute Livestream April 24, 2020 at 6PM EST.This event will raise funds for The United Nations Foundation’s COVID-19 Solidarity Respons...

USA -- Rap artist Post Malone performs an 80-minute at-home tribute to Nirvana, covering many of the band's songs. The event raises more than $500,000 to be donated to coronavirus relief funds.

Global -- The price of some Canadian oil has also fallen to $0, and the price of Brent crude oil has fallen to $18/bbl.

Global/finance -- The price of West Texas Intermediate crude oil (a benchmark for oil prices) has turned negative for the first time in history. This is largely because oil is being stockpiled at the WTI measuring location in Cushing, Oklahoma, as a result of massively reduced global demand for oil.

Global/finance -- Saudi Arabia and Russia have agreed to oil production cuts. Reuters has reported that "If Saudi Arabia fails to rein in output, US senators have called on the White House to impose sanctions on Riyadh, pull out US troops from the kingdom and impose import tariffs on Saudi oil."

Philippines -- President Rodrigo Duterte extends the lockdown and home quarantine measures on Luzon until April 30.

USA -- The Facebook-owned messaging service Whatsapp has become a breeding ground for disinformation about Covid-19, and in response the service announces that it is limiting how many times messages can be forwarded.

Japan -- Prime Minister Shinzo Abe declares a state of emergency to combat Covid-19.

Poland -- Deputy Prime Minister Jarosław Gowin tenders his resignation over a disagreement with the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party. He wanted the election scheduled for May 10 to be postponed while the government is pushing to keep the election date, amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Ivory Coast -- Police and protesters clash after the protestors dismantled a half-built Covid-19 testing center over fears that people using the facility would spread the virus through their district.

France -- President Emmanuel Macron eases some lockdown restrictions for people on the autism spectrum following the requests of disability groups

UK -- Having been admitted to hospital yesterday, Boris Johnson has been moved into an intensive care unit after his symptoms from Covid-19 worsened.

Germany -- Chancellor Angela Merkel describes the coronavirus crisis as the biggest test the European Union has faced in its history.

Coronavirus: Debenhams to file for administration The department store chain, which employs 20,000 people, says the move will allow it to keep trading.

UK -- Department store chain Debenhams has filed for administration because of "unprecedented" circumstances caused by the United Kingdom's coronavirus lockdown.

UK -- Scotland’s Chief Medical Officer Catherine Calderwood resigns from her post after she is pictured visiting her second home, despite urging Scots to stay at home and avoid all but essential travel

USA -- Bronx Zoo says one of its tigers has tested positive for coronavirus

Front page of The Times, Monday April 6 2020, with the headline: "PM taken to hospital over virus symptoms"

UK -- The Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been taken to hospital as a "precautionary step" after having "persistent" signs of coronavirus ten days after testing positive for the virus.

‘We should take comfort that while we may have more still to endure, better days will return: we will be with our friends again; we will be with our families... The Queen’s broadcast to the UK and Commonwealth

UK -- The Queen concludes: "We should take comfort that while we may have more still to endure, better days will return: we will be with our friends again; we will be with our families again; we will meet again."

UK -- HM The Queen has made an unusual broadcast to citizens of the UK and the Commonwealth. She thanks those working on the NHS front line as well as care workers and "those carrying out essential roles, who selflessly continue their day-to-day duties outside the home in support of us all".

Sam Freedman @Samfr · Apr 5, 2020 No one at local park is sunbathing. No one in non-household groups. Everyone socially distancing. Further restrictions- unless there's clear evidence in the data - seem highly unnecessary.

UK -- People are generally observing social distancing regulations. A tweet from Sam Freedman @samfr.bsky.social points out that: "No one at local park is sunbathing. No one in non-household groups. Everyone socially distancing. Further restrictions... seem highly unnecessary." buff.ly/JVtyvHf

UK -- Former children's laureate Michael Rosen is in hospital with Covid-19 symptoms.

Turkey -- the Gendarmerie has been sent to the eastern city of Batman after a riot erupts inside the city's Type-M prison. The riot comes after the Turkish parliament approved the release of 100,000 inmates because of Covid-19, but excluded journalists and political prisoners, many of whom are Kurds

UK -- Government minister Michael Gove has called conspiracy theories relating 5G communications technology to the Covid-19 pandemic "dangerous nonsense" after 5G masts have been set alight.

UK -- Outgoing Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn calls his five years in the top job "the honour of my life".

UK -- Keir Starmer has been elected leader of the UK's Labour Party, the opposition to the governing Conservatives. His deputy will be Angela Rayner.

Chart 5 – (Not) repeating austerity …taxes will rise. No consolidation should come until we are out of this crisis, but it will come eventually. And when it does tax rises are going to be doing the work they conspicuously didn’t do post-financial crisis. Some will say that the tax to GDP ratio is already heading back to its highest since the 80s, so taxes simply can’t go up. The answer to which is 1) an ageing society means the tax take is simply bigger over time 2) our tax take during the 80s and 90s was artificially low given our spending as the state ran down it’s assets 3) actually the total tax paid by households relative to their income has if anything fallen over time, from around 37 per cent in the late 1970s to 34 per cent recently. Part of this is successive reductions in income tax shown below (see original TOTC here).

UK -- Torsten Bell (@torstenbell.bsky.social) of the Resolution Foundation posts a chart to his email list showing that it's unlikely that the government will be able to return to its pre-Covid "austerity" agenda:

Germany -- Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, has returned to work after isolating, her doctor having tested positive for Covid-19.

Switzerland -- Police surround the Champ-Dollon prison in Geneva after dozens of prisoners refuse to return to their cells because of new coronavirus measures.

Europe -- Ford Motor Company extends the suspension of vehicle and engine production at most of its manufacturing sites in Europe to May 4 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Alistair Coleman @alistaircoleman · Apr 3, 2020 There’s a ridiculous conspiracy theory going around that the government is advertising the fact that it’s using 5G towers to spread coronavirus on [checks notes] the new £20 note.

UK -- BBC disinformation reporter Alistair Coleman (@alistaircoleman.bsky.social) says a new conspiracy theory going around purports that the government is advertising on the new £20 note the fact that it’s using 5G towers to spread coronavirus.

USA -- At a White House press briefing, the CDC announces new mask wearing guidelines and recommends that all people wear a mask when outside of the home.