Second Wave? China Orders ‘Partial Lockdown’ Of Border City; Seoul’s Newest Cluster Explodes To 120 Cases: Live Updates
Summary:
- VW ‘pauses’ manufacturing of VW Golf, SUVs
- China imposes ‘partial lockdown’ on northeastern border city
- SK’s ‘Itaewon’ cluster climbs to 120
- Germany, Austria agree to reopen mutual border
- Global cases: 4.22 million
- Global deaths: 291,519
- Poland reports record jump in new cases
- Russia sees numbers start to slow after shocking record run of confirmations
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Update (0745ET): After reopening the largest auto factory in the world, Volkswagen is reportedly ‘pausing’ production of the Volkswagen Golf (a compact model more popular in Europe), as well as its SUVs, due to ‘poor sales’.
What, exactly, was the point of reopening factories and potentially exposing workers to SARS-CoV-2, just to shut down operations again? Also, given that VW is the world’s largest carmaker, this is just the latest headline to undermine the “V-shaped” thesis/“fantasy”.
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As we reported last night, news that LA County suspects its reopening will take up to 3 months – a month longer than previously expected – sent markets lower into the close. That news, combined with Dr. Fauci’s warning about states rushing to reopen, cemented the impression that the reopening of the American economy would probably be much more fraught with delays. And for a brief moment, it seemed like fun-durr-mentals almost mattered again…
Anyway, European markets wobbled Wednesday following reports that the latest cluster of cases in Seoul had climbed to 119, the latest increase of dozens of cases as contact-tracers scramble to test as many people as possible. More than 14k people have been tested so far. To be sure, investigators have made some discoveries that undermined the theory that all of these cases are connected to one “super-spreader”. Rather, it’s believed that most of these cases were likely individuals who were asymptomatically infected elsewhere. The cases have been linked to multiple cases.
