News Headlines - 26 March 2020

▽What comes after coronavirus for economy? Worry about stagflation

However, there will be a surge in demand as fear abates, customers return to shopping centers and restaurants, and businesses and consumers look to borrow at historically low interest rates. Ultimately, the imbalance will create a lopsided recovery with slow output growth with accelerating prices and inflation; in other words, stagflation.
To avoid this dangerous scenario, the Fed would need to take quick action to reverse their recent rate cuts. But the political environment created by a president who calls for zero interest rates even when the economy is near full employment and a weary public emerging out of recession will make this unlikely.

▽Coronavirus may have infected half of UK population - Oxford study | Financial Times

The new coronavirus may already have infected far more people in the UK than scientists had previously estimated - perhaps as much as half the population - according to modelling by researchers at the University of Oxford.
If the results are confirmed, they imply that fewer than one in a thousand of those infected with Covid-19 become ill enough to need hospital treatment, said Sunetra Gupta, professor of theoretical epidemiology, who led the study. The vast majority develop very mild symptoms or none at all.

▽Japan’s Virus Success Has Puzzled the World. Is Its Luck Running Out? - The New York Times

Ever since the first coronavirus case was confirmed in Japan in mid-January, health officials have reassured the public that they have moved quickly to prevent the virus from raging out of control. At the same time, though, Japan has puzzled epidemiologists as it has avoided the grim situations in places like Italy and New York without draconian restrictions on movement, economically devastating lockdowns or even widespread testing.

▽Can a century-old TB vaccine steel the immune system against the new coronavirus? | Science

Researchers in four countries will soon start a clinical trial of an unorthodox approach to the new coronavirus. They will test whether a century-old vaccine against tuberculosis (TB), a bacterial disease, can rev up the human immune system in a broad way, allowing it to better fight the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 and, perhaps, prevent infection with it altogether. The studies will be done in physicians and nurses, who are at higher risk of becoming infected with the respiratory disease than the general population, and in the elderly, who are at higher risk of serious illness if they become infected.

▽Italian Mayor Hunts Down People Not Staying at Home 'Go Play With Your PlayStation at Home'

In response to reckless behavior, local authorities have been taking things in their own hands: enter Antonio Decaro, mayor of Bari, a large city located in the south of the country.
Decaro posted a video on Facebook that, while showcasing the seriousness of the situation, might also make you smile thanks to some iconic Italian wit, which is something we all need nowadays.
Decaro himself is shown patrolling the streets of the city a few days ago, hunting down stragglers who ignored instructions to stay at home, going about their business and playing around.
In the video, you can see him approach two men playing ping pong on the beach and saying “Ping pong isn’t allowed. You can’t play ping pong. Let’s go. Go home to play with your PlayStation” then warning them that the police is coming and they should immediately go home.