The European epidemic seems to usher in a turning point. Several areas with severe epidemics have shown positive signs.
The number of critically ill patients in France has dropped by eight. A total of 6,248 people have received treatment in the intensive care unit so far, a decrease of 209 compared with the previous day. The number of new coronary pneumonia patients hospitalized has also dropped for two consecutive days. There are currently 31,305 new crown patients receiving treatment in the hospital, a decrease of 474 in the past 24 hours.
On the 16th local time, Italy reported a reduction of 143 serious cases compared with the previous day, and the number of serious cases now fell to its lowest value since March 22; the number of patients receiving general treatment in hospitals fell for three consecutive days. Brusa Ferro, president of the Italian Higher Institute of Health, said the epidemic curve “began to decline”,
In Germany, as of 0600 local time, the cumulative number of cured cases has exceeded 77,000, which is consistently higher than the number of existing cases.
Multi-country arrangements for resumption of production
As the epidemic situation improves, more and more European countries have begun to resume work and resume production, and economic activities that have been "halted" due to the epidemic situation have restarted.
As the first country in Europe to mandate the wearing of masks, Austria is also ahead in relaxing control. According to the timetable set by the government, from April 14th, small shops, gas stations, car repair shops, building materials and gardening markets with an area of no more than 400 square meters can be resumed; all shops and barber shops will be available from May 1st Business resumed; the hotel and catering industry resumed business from mid-May; primary and secondary schools gradually resumed classes around mid-May.
Switzerland announced that it will gradually relax its control in three stages: from April 27, barber shops, flower shops, building materials markets, etc. will be allowed to operate, and non-emergency departments and dental clinics of hospitals and clinics will be admitted; from May 11 to all malls and The market can be opened for business, and primary and junior high schools resume classes; from June 8th, high schools and universities resume classes, reopening museums, libraries, botanical gardens, zoos and other leisure and entertainment venues, and relax previous restrictions on the gathering of people.
The German federal and state governments have reached an agreement on the next national policy to respond to the new crown epidemic. According to the agreement, starting from the 20th of this month, shops with an area of not more than 800 square meters can be reopened under the premise of meeting sanitation and personnel restrictions.
Some industries such as construction and manufacturing in Spain have resumed work on the 13th. Prime Minister Sanchez said that Spain still needs to further extend the state of emergency in the future, but the government has begun to design the next stage of relaxation of restrictive policies so that the public can take "personal or collective health, medical and Under the "Scientific Measures", a new normal life is launched.
Italy also announced that some stores can resume operations from the 14th, including baby and infant supplies stores, pet supplies stores, bookstores, dry cleaners and electrical stores. These stores must be sterilized at least twice a day, and customers must wear masks and gloves.
In addition, the Italian New Crown Outbreak Special Working Group is brewing to launch an app that can track the travel path of the public, especially for new crown virus carriers. The government will also allow to go out in batches based on the age of the people. These measures will better protect susceptible people, and also help enterprises gradually resume production.
In Croatia, the farmers ’market, which had previously been suspended due to the epidemic situation, has reopened to welcome customers, but it is necessary to strictly observe measures such as disinfection and restrictions on passenger flow.
The European Union has also recently put forward a "road map" to remove restrictive measures, and put forward suggestions on how to remove restrictive measures from member states, including that internal border controls should be lifted on a coordinated basis, and reopening of external borders should be taken as the second phase of action; Open economic activities should be implemented gradually; crowd gathering should be allowed gradually, taking into account the characteristics of different categories, etc.
Is China-EU economic and trade cooperation good?
The Chinese and European economies are highly interdependent and trade and investment are close. It is undoubtedly a good thing for Chinese enterprises that the European economy has ended its “shutdown” as soon as possible.
Earlier, due to the rapid deterioration of the epidemic, many European orders accepted by many foreign trade companies in China were cancelled, and it was also very difficult to win new orders. A person in charge of a textile company said that European customers urged them to deliver goods in early March, but did not expect to receive a refund notice a week later.
According to official data, due to the epidemic, the trade volume between China and the EU fell by 10.4% year-on-year in the first quarter of this year.
Zhao Ping, director of the International Trade Research Department of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, told China News Agency that if European countries can restore normal economic order, it will play an important role in stabilizing external demand and boosting China's foreign trade out of the trough.
However, considering that the epidemic situation is still likely to be repeated, the European resumption of production and production materials will "walk slowly", and the recovery of corporate production and operation activities will not be achieved overnight. In Austria, where the anti-epidemic measures were first “loosened”, Prime Minister Kurz has made it clear that he will carefully study the trend of the epidemic and may “emergency brake” at any time to take strict anti-epidemic measures again.
This means that the prospects for China-EU economic and trade cooperation are still not optimistic in the short term, and it is difficult for bilateral trade and investment to see a "V-shaped" rebound immediately.
Analysts believe that under the current situation, in addition to continuing to strengthen cooperation in epidemic prevention and consolidating the positive situation of the epidemic situation, China and Europe should also jointly take measures to promote economic recovery and better maintain the stability of the industrial chain and supply chain.
Cui Hongjian, director of the European Institute of the China Institute of International Studies, said that after a long period of suspension or even interruption of the supply chain, the resilience of China-EU economic and trade cooperation is being tested, and both sides need to actively maintain this resilience in the future.
In the view of Tang Zheng, vice president and secretary general of the European Commission of China-Europe Economic and Technical Cooperation Association, China and Europe should focus on three aspects in the future to further strengthen the resilience of economic and trade cooperation between the two sides: deepen cooperation in the fields of economy, trade, culture and health Coordinate and cooperate mechanisms to create a health and health community; encourage Chinese companies to increase investment in Europe, especially to seize investment opportunities in physical industries; actively promote the negotiation of China-EU investment agreements. In addition, China and Europe should further strengthen policy communication and coordination. The governments and business associations of the two sides can strengthen information exchanges around financial support, tax relief, consumption stimulus and economics.
(Li Xiaoyu)