Global Scans · Coronavirus · Weekly Summary

Future potential spread of the coronavirus is impacting world trade and threatens a global economic recession and inflection point. For the first time, Illness is now a major driving force. We first reported this virus way back in 2010 and regularly since July 2015 as a predictable surprise: a known unknown to most. It is not a Black Swan; it was foreseen! Forewarned is forearmed and forearmed is protection against unpleasant possibilities and this inflection point will most likely change everyone's future profoundly.

Here are some actions you could take offered by and our friends at WavePoint and BCG and McKinsey.

Companies are asking people to work from home (we have always worked from our homes since 2003). We think the latter will become a long-term and rapidly growing trend as people reduce traveling time, buy more online, and increasingly recognize the benefits to their health of staying home. More emerging, potential behavioral trends here. Begin regularly evaluating predictable surprises, be prepared and act in time, while others lose their shirt through inattention to the future.

• [New] The challenges to Canada's health care systems will continue long after COVID-19 dies down, because we have a huge backlog of procedures to deal with, for which we will need a strong health care workforce. Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI)
• [New] The COVID-19 pandemic fundamentally reshaped the context for quantum strategy development due to heightened concerns about technological resilience and supply chain vulnerabilities. RBC WEALTH MANAGEMENT
• [New] Achieving the 2030 UN SDGs will require tremendous efforts ahead by governments and industries globally given the considerable setback induced by the COVID-19 pandemic. PubMed Central (PMC)
• [New] Authors from seven institutions in Sweden worked with 43396 randomly selected women and found a higher risk of CVD in cohorts with high-protein consumption (62.9 ± 19 g per day). PubMed Central (PMC)
• [New] Crisis care support service 13 YARN will receive $19 million in funding over the next four years to expand its services, with the hotline reporting a huge increase in demand since the 2023 Voice to Parliament Referendum. NITV
• [New] AI adoption in commercial buildings could reduce energy use by 8-19% by 2050, with up to a 40% reduction combined with aggressive policy, through applications across equipment efficiency, occupancy optimization, and building controls. California Climate Briefs
• [New] 2026 global oil demand forecast revised lower by 730,000 barrels per day; Q2 2026 demand contraction projected at approximately 1.5 mb/d, the sharpest decline since the COVID-19 pandemic. Crestwood Advisors
• [New] The lackluster revenue outlook comes in part from declining sales of its Covid vaccine and Paxlovid, which it expects to fall by $1.5 billion year over year to $5 billion. CNBC
• [New] The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted vulnerabilities in global supply chains and accelerated demand for flexible, resilient logistics solutions. Plunkett Research, Ltd.
• [New] Global health funding has dropped dramatically since the COVID-19 pandemic, falling from $80.3 billion to a projected $36.2 billion by 2030, widening the gap between available resources and urgent health needs. Yahoo Finance
• [New] Because the FDA only requires 1 or 2 large treatment trials for repurposed drugs, it's possible that the next couple of years could result in a number of FDA-approved drugs for long COVID. Health Rising
• [New] Maryland will continue to work with partners to address the availability of COVID-19 vaccine for children. Maryland.gov Enterprise Agency Template
• [New] Whereas Covid-19 was easily spread from person to person, the World Health Organization and other health authorities have stressed that human-to-human transmission of hantavirus is very rare, and so the risk to public health is low. The Guardian
• [New] Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, many institutions, particularly national public health institutions and national reference laboratories, accounting for 87.3% in Africa, had extremely limited genomics and bioinformatics literacy, expertise, and opportunities 1-3. PubMed Central (PMC)
• [New] Compounding shocks - the COVID-19 pandemic, the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Trump tariffs, and Red Sea disruptions - have exposed the fragility of supply chains over-concentrated in single locations. ZestLab
• [New] The economic hit of the Iran war on the British economy could be the worst since Covid - even as Deloitte predicted that 250,000 British workers will lose their jobs by the middle of 2027, bringing the unemployment rate up to 5.8%. UnHerd
• [New] The PRC is likely expanding its people-to-people and economic exchanges with North Korea to pre-COVID - 19 levels to gain leverage that could restore its former political relationship with Pyongyang. American Enterprise Institute - AEI
• The COVID-19 pandemic has heightened public attention to chronic diseases, including diabetes, as the global health crisis emphasized the risks associated with comorbidities like diabetes and obesity. PubMed Central (PMC)
• Setbacks have occurred in lower-income countries where COVID-19 pandemic disruptions and cuts to global health funding, including the termination of USAID and the U.S. withdrawal from the WHO, have weakened vaccination systems and slowed recovery. Council on Foreign Relations

Last updated: 24 May 2026