At 94 per cent, the overall share of workers residing in countries with workplace closures of some sort remains high. The share of workers in countries with required closures for all but essential workplaces across the entire economy or in targeted areas is still significant, though there are large regional variations. Among uppermiddle-income countries, around 70 per cent of workers continue to live in countries with such strict lockdown measures in place (whether nationwide or in specific geographical areas), while in low-income countries, the earlier strict measures have been relaxed considerably, despite increasing numbers of COVID-19 cases

In a report released today, titled “Coming Together for Refugee Education,” UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, predicts that unless immediate and bold action is taken by the international community to beat back the catastrophic effects of COVID-19 on refugee education, the potential of millions of young refugees living in some of the world’s most vulnerable communities will be further threatened.  The data in the report is based on the gross enrolment figures from the 2019 school cycle.

The COVID-19 pandemic has created the largest disruption to education in history and prolonged school closures could further entrench inequalities in access to learning, the UN Secretary-General said on Tuesday, underlining the need for “bold steps” to address the crisis.

With multilateral cooperation under strain, senior UN officials, Nobel laureates and eminent academic experts, gathered virtually on Wednesday for the launch of a new report recommending “an adjusted approach” to economic development, and a policy dialogue exploring how countries can recover from COVID-19, in ways that lead to real structural transformation.

Reducing inequality and improving social mobility, identifying new forms of growth, and focusing on new measures of economic performance are among the biggest challenges facing the global economy as countries emerge from lockdown. Current unemployment figures are likely a better barometer of economic health than financial market valuations, and the deglobalization of supply chains may force emerging markets to reconsider growth models. These are some of the findings of the World Economic Forum’s Chief Economists Outlook, published today.

“We need a much stronger response of unity and solidarity if we are to get through this pandemic together and build a safer, more stable future, (…) Returning to the systems that created this fragility is out of the question,” António Guterres said.

He added: “This is essential not only to beat COVID-19, but to tackle the other existential crises we face, including the climate emergency.”    

The COVID-19 crisis has affected societies and economies around the globe and will permanently reshape our world as it continues to unfold. While the fallout from the crisis is both amplifying familiar risks and creating new ones, change at this scale also creates new openings for managing systemic challenges, and ways to build back better.

Of the 740 million women working in the informal economy,11 42 per cent are found in the abovementioned high-risk sectors, compared to 32 per cent of men.12 Lockdowns and curfews, compounded by limited, if any, access to social protection provisions – including health care, income and food support, and maternity protection – worsen their social and economic situation. For instance, women homeworkers who produce for global supply chains are particularly affected by COVID-19, as their incomes depend heavily on now suspended orders from high-income countries.13 In this context, when gender intersects with other personal characteristics, such as ethnicity, nationality, age, disability or HIV status, there is a risk that both gender disparities and intra-women inequalities will widen further.

This report presents a set of policies to mitigate the impacts and groups them in three overlapping phases: Coping, Managing Continuity, and Improving and Accelerating. The guiding principle are to use every opportunity, in each phase, to do things better. This includes the provision of incentives, such as school feeding and school health programmes, to maximize reenrolment and attendance as schools reopen. By learning from innovations and emergency processes, systems can adapt and scale up the more effective solutions. In doing so, they could become more effective, more agile, and more resilient. A vision and proactive action will help not only mitigate the damage from the current crisis, but could turn recovery into real growth.

“Hemos analizado el avance de 72 series estadísticas de los indicadores de los 17 ODS para la región: 4 alcanzaron la meta; 15 van en la tendencia correcta; 8 necesitan más intervención de políticas públicas; 13 requieren una fuerte intervención de políticas públicas; 27 están estancadas y 5 en retroceso”, afirmó hoy Alicia Bárcena, Secretaria Ejecutiva de la Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL).

Agregó que la pandemia del COVID-19 visibilizó los problemas estructurales del modelo económico y las carencias del sistema de protección social y brechas del régimen de bienestar, confirmando la necesidad de repensar el desarrollo y formular respuestas para un mundo post COVID.

“La crisis es el accidente más la desestabilización. Combina el desencadenamiento de dificultades, el desorden en el funcionamiento de las organizaciones y divergencias en cuanto a las opciones fundamentales. Con la crisis, la cuestión de la información del público se vuelve central. No se trata solamente de aplicar soluciones listas para ser empleada en problemas definidos. Será preciso legitimar la propia acción, mantener la credibilidad, hacer gala de eficacia en la ayuda a la población.”

The COVID-19 lockdown in the U.S. began at a time of relatively mild weather and very few natural disasters, so for the past few months, the country has been able to focus mainly on the pandemic. But this week, two dams in Michigan failed after heavy rains and flooding, forcing 11,000 people to evacuate while trying to social distance. The floodwaters also threatened the Dow Chemical plant and two hazardous Superfund waste sites, which could have precipitated an environmental disaster. In India and Bangladesh, the most powerful cyclone in more than a decade forced over three million people to evacuate as relief teams tried to protect them against infection from COVID-19.

The United Nations and other partner organizations of the CCSA make a wealth of impartial data and statistics available free of charge with the spirit of promoting facts-based planning. This report presents a snapshot of some of the latest information available on how COVID-19 is affecting the world today. Although a wide range of topics are covered in this report, a consistency of message is clear – this is an unprecedented crisis, and no aspect of our lives is immune. The quantitative knowledge presented in this report covers different aspects of public and private life from economic and environmental fluctuations to changes that affect individuals in terms of income, education, employment and violence and changes affecting public services such as civil aviation and postal services. The report also puts a spotlight on the affects for some sub-population groups like women and children as well as geographical regions.

Tax revenues in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) increased to 23.1% of GDP on average in 2018, according to the new edition of Revenue Statistics in Latin America in the Caribbean published today. However, these gains are now under threat as a result of the region’s deteriorating fiscal outlook, which has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and the global economic crisis.

El Centro Internacional CIDOB de Barcelona señala que puede ser que la crisis del coronavirus sea sólo un bache en el camino de las dinámicas internacionales durante las últimas décadas. Quizá, tras un periodo de hibernación de las principales economías internacionales, la vida vuelva a la normalidad, los planes de estímulo capeen el temporal y el mundo vuelva a ser plano e híperconectado. Sin embargo, el coronavirus puede ser también un punto de inflexión en la era de la globalización.