Your Weekend Reading: Covid’s Fourth Year Begins With a China Infection Wave

It’s been three years, but the coronavirus pandemic that’s claimed millions of lives all over the world is still very much with us. The virus is now rampaging across the country where it was first discovered, with tens of thousands being infected each day and potentially millions more lives at risk. Nations around the world this week said they are implementing measures to test or restrict travelers from China, where an unprecedented wave was unleashed this month when Xi Jinping abandoned his “Covid zero” policy in the face of widespread protests and spreading economic malaise. Xi contends his strategy is “optimized” to protect lives and minimize economic costs. But the country’s economy is showing more strain as the surge grows. China’s vaccination programs lagged other parts of the world as it pursued years of testing and lockdowns. Now health experts say they’re worried the virus’s unchecked spread in a nation of 1.4 billion could spawn new variants that will circumvent protections people elsewhere have gained through vaccination or previous infections. While no new variants have emerged from China so far, it’s still early days.

While central banks around the world gain ground on inflation, industries from tech to retail and finance are nevertheless preparing for a potential economic slowdown, largely by firing thousands of people. Wall Street is already in retrenchment mode, and Goldman Sachs is working on a fresh round of terminations. The outlook for trade looks glum for the new year as conditions continue to deteriorate across the world’s factories and ports. But don’t expect the price of goods such as oil, copper and wheat to come down significantly any time soon, Javier Blas writes in Bloomberg Opinion. “The commodities boom is taking a pause, not ending,” he said.