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Global Scans · Coronavirus · Weekly Summary


Future potential spread of the coronavirus is impacting world trade and threatens a global economic recession and inflection point. For the first time, Illness is now a major driving force. We first reported this virus way back in 2010 and regularly since July 2015 as a predictable surprise: a known unknown to most. It is not a Black Swan; it was foreseen! Forewarned is forearmed and forearmed is protection against unpleasant possibilities and this inflection point will most likely change everyone's future profoundly.

Here are some actions you could take offered by and our friends at WavePoint and BCG and McKinsey.

Companies are asking people to work from home (we have always worked from our homes since 2003). We think the latter will become a long-term and rapidly growing trend as people reduce traveling time, buy more online, and increasingly recognize the benefits to their health of staying home. More emerging, potential behavioral trends here. Begin regularly evaluating predictable surprises, be prepared and act in time, while others lose their shirt through inattention to the future.

  • [New] The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on global supply chains, nearly 75% of U.S. companies experiencing a supply chain disruption. Cash Flow Inventory
  • [New] The flattening of drug death rates could provide a rare glimmer of hope amid the bleak U.S. drug crisis, which has seen overdose rates rise inexorably for the past two decades and especially during the Covid-19 pandemic. STAT
  • [New] Installing 60 GW of offshore wind by 2030 would require increasing the yearly deployment rate by a factor of 5 × between 2024 and 2030, at a time when supply chains are increasingly constrained due to the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic and rising global demand. The Telegraph
  • [New] A major challenge for the Space Development Agency has been ensuring timely deliveries from suppliers amid lingering supply chain disruptions stemming from the Covid-19 pandemic. SpaceNews
  • [New] The IMF calculated that 10 countries are in debt distress and 26 countries are at high risk, meaning that 36 or 19% of the number of IMF members are in debt risk. nationthailand
  • [New] Since the COVID-19 pandemic - which has widened pre-existing inequality gaps, including gender inequality, and reversed progress on sustainable development - it is now estimated that it will take the world 286 years to achieve gender equality. World Health Organization: WHO
  • [New] Is hard for policymakers to focus enough attention on climate mitigation and adaptation when they must also respond to wars in Europe and the Middle East, the Covid pandemic, political polarization, and the recurrent threat of economic turmoil. World Literature Today
  • Following a prolonged period of supply chain disruption stemming from the covid pandemic, a new and withering price war has resulted as major importers like Brazil have pivoted away from expensive Bolivian supplies to cheaper liquefied natural gas from the United States and Middle East. The Week
  • In recent years, Scottish pork production has faced significant disruption from both the Covid-19 pandemic and Brexit, causing prices to fall below the cost of production which has been further exacerbated by cheaper supplies being sourced from outwith the UK. Pig World
  • Particularly since the COVID-19 pandemic, empty store shelves have become a common occurrence due to product shortages and other disruptions in global supply chains. Foley & Lardner LLP
  • The ongoing geopolitical tensions between the U.S. and China and the global restructuring of supply chains following the COVID-19 pandemic are expected to solidify Mexico's status as a prime nearshoring destination in the coming decade. Supply & Demand Chain Executive
  • Piracy, hijackings, armed robbery, regional conflict and the COVID-19 pandemic have put seafarers' lives and well-being at risk - and, by extension, threatened to disrupt world trade and supply chains. United Nations
  • Health officials from other states told the CDC last week that they are already moving toward isolation guidelines that would treat the coronavirus the same as flu and RSV, with additional precautions for people at high risk. Washington Post
  • Global stocks in 2023/24 are expected to reach the highest level outside the period of high Chinese reserves (2012/13 and 2015/16) and 2019/20 (COVID), which could inhibit further upward movement in prices. CottonWorks
  • As the world grappled with the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, telehealth emerged as a critical tool for delivering medical care while minimizing the risk for virus transmission. medscape
  • The United Kingdom's ports have defied COVID-19 disruption to maintain a growth trajectory in attracting investments, despite the impact of COVID-19 and Brexit disruption. The Maritime Executive
  • Older adults in Canada with a stroke history were at high risk for depression during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. medscape
  • In promoting global sustainability agenda (SDGs 2030), Slovenian diplomatic work has spread to areas like water resources and recovery from the COVID 19 pandemic by large-scaled vaccination drive. ThePrint
  • Covid-19 has become a significantly smaller public health threat in recent years, thanks in no small part to vaccination (though it's still harming and killing more people than the flu or any other infectious disease in the U.S.). Gizmodo
  • Advocates for people with disabilities and others who face higher risk of severe covid condemned the CDC's shift, which they say endangers them by abandoning attempts to control transmission. Washington Post
  • Consolidated copper production is forecast to increase by 19% to 156,500 tonnesii in 2024, compared to 2023, with continued higher grades in Peru and a full year of British Columbia production. Hudbay Minerals Inc.
  • In the case of CO 2, it seems almost certain that global emissions will fall this year because of the global slump in economic output, transport activity and fossil-fuel combustion caused by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. IEA
  • Global conflicts, natural disasters, wars, and the COVID-19 pandemic repeatedly cause supply chain disruptions and pose major challenges for the globalized supply networks in regard to robustness and resilience. SpringerLink

Last updated: 24 March 2024



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