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Coming up short

April 30, 2021

If you are in the U.S., China, the U.K. and parts of Europe, things may appear to be looking up in the fight against Covid-19.

Vaccines are rolling out and the lockdowns that hammered economies are easing, giving hope to industries ranging from tourism to manufacturing.

Yet in much of the world, the catastrophe is still unfolding. India reported record new cases today, while Brazil's fatalities exceeded 400,000 as the country registered more Covid-19 deaths in the first four months of the year than all of 2020. Even Singapore chalked up the most community infections since July yesterday.

The outlook is darkening in nations ranging from Thailand to Russia and Romania, where authorities are struggling to convince people to receive shots.

And that's the nub of the problem. Until inoculations reach critical mass in more places the pandemic will continue its march — and so will the multiplication of variants that could render vaccines less effective.

Increasingly, this is a rich-poor issue. Countries with the highest incomes are getting vaccinated about 25 times faster than those with the lowest, Bloomberg's Vaccine Tracker shows, and Africa, with 1 billion people, is trailing the rest of the world.

Initial hoarding by developed countries has been a big part of the problem. The U.S., for example, has a stockpile of AstraZeneca vaccines it hasn't even approved for use.

It's now promising to share some with India — home to the world's largest vaccine manufacturer — which has gone from exporting or donating millions of shots to being unable to fulfill its global commitments or provide for its own citizens.

Defeating the pandemic remains a chimera, and getting there is going to take a more united effort. — Karl Maier 

A Covid-19 hospital set up inside the Stark Arena in Belgrade on Thursday.

Photographer: Oliver Bunic/Bloomberg

Click here for this week's most compelling political images and tell us how we're doing or what we're missing at balancepower@bloomberg.net.

Global Headlines

Biden's bid | Congress will probably pass a version of President Joe Biden's $4 trillion economic plan by October, and once it enters legislative text, Democrats can skirt most Republican opposition. But as Erik Wasson and Billy House explain, the proposal to spend about $2.3 trillion on infrastructure and manufacturing and $1.8 trillion on education and child care won't emerge unscathed.

  • Republican lawmakers are proposing checking voters' names against databases that may be flawed, meaning eligible citizens could be blocked from casting ballots.

Target date | World powers are working to restore their nuclear deal with Iran by the middle of next month before a key monitoring deal expires. As Jonathan Tirone and Golnar Motevalli report, while the U.S. and Iran have made headway, there's a long way to go before an understanding is reached.

On mute | TikTok is among global social media companies facing pressure in Russia to remove critical posts as President Vladimir Putin cracks down on dissent. It has even won praise from Russian officials for its willingness to do so, after the Kremlin approached authorities in China about TikTok content, Madis Kabash writes. One popular user said his posts on Russia's protest movement were muted after they went viral.

Legislative blitz | Mexico's president is pushing through sweeping economic reforms that will affirm his power ahead of midterm elections in June. The laws are part of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's promise to transform public life, increasing the presence of the state and reversing the "neoliberal model" he argues has been behind Mexico's malaise for decades.

Lopez Obrador

Photographer: Cesar Rodriguez/Bloomberg

Solar plant tour | U.S.-listed Daqo New Energy fired back at claims it uses forced labor at its factories in the western Chinese region of Xinjiang, saying it'll invite analysts and investors to visit its plant in May. China has detained "upwards of 1 million" ethnic minorities including Muslim Uyghurs in Xinjiang, according to the United Nations, while western countries say China is committing genocide there.

What to Watch

  • Peru's leftist presidential front-runner Pedro Castillo suspended campaign events yesterday, citing health reasons.

  • The European Union will formally warn Apple that its app payment system and marketing rules may violate antitrust regulations as authorities escalate an investigation later today, a source says.

  • The secretary-general of South Africa's ruling African National Congress, Ace Magashule, faces suspension for failing to vacate the post while he stands trial on graft charges.

  • Violence surged in Afghanistan in the first quarter of the year as U.S. forces prepared to leave the country after two decades.

Pop quiz, readers (no cheating!). Which country's spy agency announced measures to fight infiltration by "hostile forces" in its companies and other institutions? Send your answers to balancepower@bloomberg.net.

And finally ... The death toll is still rising three months after a coup in Myanmar, as the junta faces resistance to the takeover. Touted a decade ago as a promising frontier market, Myanmar has seen investors shun the country. Exiled allies of now-detained civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi set up a shadow unity government, while armed ethnic groups have renewed attacks on the military. In these videos, we take a closer look at what's happening on the ground.

Protesters at a candlelight demonstration against the coup in Yangon on April 3.

Source: AFP/Getty Images

 
 

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