Seven Stories – 21/04/2020

Takudzwa Musavengana,

Nicole Wise

Potentially effective COVID-19 Treatment boosts market sentiment

The US biopharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences has raised market confidence after reports on April 17 that the company’s antiviral drug, remdesivir, exhibited highly promising results in clinic trials with severely ill coronavirus patients. Investors hope the drug will ease the effects of the pandemic, leading to a reopening of the global economy and a swifter end to the pandemic. Trials at the University of Chicago Medicine, reported by Stat News, showed rapid recoveries in almost all of the 125 severely ill patients. Shares in Gilead have risen by 17% this year. The news boosted futures linked to the S&P 500 by 3%, while the STOXX Europe 600 and FTSE 100 rose by 2.9% and 3.2% respectively.

Arcadia group may close over 100 stores before winter

Sir Phillip Green’s Arcadia group, which owns a retail empire across the UK could close in surplus of 100 stores by the time winter comes. The company, which owns brands such as Topshop, Burton, and Evans, has 550 stores over the UK. The retail empire has been impacted heavily by the coronavirus, as many of its brands had already been struggling prior to the pandemic. Most of the company’s 16,000 staff are on the government furlough scheme, while bosses have taken a pay cut. The company had already been set to close 42 stores, due to a “rescue deal” the company had with landlords in 2019.

City law firms criticised for furloughing staff

Some City law firms have come under fire this week following their decision to furlough staff, with multiple critics comparing their decision to participate in the scheme to that of Premier League football clubs. While small, local businesses may face the decision between furlough or insolvency, larger firms have more choices and should not look to furlough as their first choice, critics have suggested. Firms are choosing to use the government scheme to pay employees 80% of their wages, as opposed to choosing to make junior lawyers redundant, as they did during the 2008 financial crisis. Top firms including Eversheds Sutherland, DLA Piper and Taylor Wessing are known to have signed up for the scheme.

Matt Hancock looks certain to come up short on testing pledge

As we move into the last weeks of April, the pledge by the British health secretary Matt Hancock, to ramp up coronavirus testing to 100,000 a day by the end of this month, looks increasingly unlikely to be met. On Saturday 18 April, less than 22,000 tests were carried out. Missing this figurehead target would represent a significant setback to government ministers, amidst mounting criticism this weekend over the UK government’s preparedness and approach to the coronavirus pandemic, which was intensified by a much-publicised Sunday Times exposé. The importance of widespread testing as part of a strategy for exiting lockdown measures has been extensively stated by officials, ministers, health professionals and organisations such as the WHO.

Amazon close six warehouses after court ruling suspends the sale of non-essential items

Following a court ruling in a Parisian suburb, Nanterre, on Tuesday 14 April, six of Amazon’s French distribution warehouses have closed until at least Wednesday 22 April. The decision follows concerns raised by the trade union Sud Commerce, who stated that Amazon were putting the health of their workers at risk through selling non-essential items. Amazon are now facing the possibility of a fine of €1million a day. Amazon retaliated with allegedly strong evidence regarding security measures to protect employees and have appealed the decision.

British Government pledges to protect ventilator manufacturers from litigation

The government have pledged to protect manufacturers of new ventilators to be used to treat Covid-19 patients from taking on the financial liability of legal claims over IP infringements, or personal injury caused by faulty machines. The creation of new ventilators, when based on already existing models, may normally face the risk of increased IP litigation. The protection set out by Gove in a letter to Public Accounts Committee therefore brings welcoming news to ventilator producers. However, the extent to which the government will provide protection is unclear, and concerns have been raised by clinical experts on whether the standards set by British officials are sufficient in the treatment of coronavirus patients.

Latin American countries separate sexes to halt coronavirus spread

Certain measures, such as lockdowns and social distancing, have become orthodox tools for cities and countries across the world in the fight against coronavirus, but, in a relatively unorthodox move, some Latin American states have resorted to separating men and women to stop the virus spreading. Peru, Panama, and the Colombian capital, Bogotá are among the places that have taken these measures, in which men and women are given different days of the week to leave their homes for essentials. In Panama, women are allocated the days Monday, Wednesday and Friday, while men have Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, with Sunday restricted for all, and Panama’s vice-president has claimed that the number of people moving around has decreased by 50%. However, Peru tried the same methods yet abandoned these measures a week later.