News Headlines - 07 April 2021

▽Osaka declares local medical emergency as coronavirus cases hit record 878 | The Japan Times

Osaka Prefecture declared a medical state of emergency Wednesday as its medical system strained to handle a rapid rise in coronavirus cases, including a large number involving variant strains.
The declaration came the same day Osaka reported a record 878 cases. Neighboring Hyogo Prefecture, meanwhile, saw a record 328 cases.
Osaka’s decision comes two days after it announced a one-month effort through May 5 to get the virus under control by requesting that drinking and dining establishments shut at 8 p.m. Officials are patrolling restaurants and bars to ensure social distancing and safety measures are in place, especially the wearing of masks. But with cases rising to record levels, the prefecture feared its medical facilities would be overwhelmed if it didn’t do more.

▽1 in 3 Covid survivors suffers neurological or mental disorders: Study

One in 3 Covid survivors has suffered a neurological or psychiatric disorder within six months of infection with the virus, an observational study of more than 230,000 patient health records has estimated.
The study, published Tuesday in The Lancet Psychiatry journal, analyzed data from the electronic health records of 236,379 Covid patients from the U.S.-based TriNetX network, which includes more than 81 million people.
This group was compared with 105,579 patients diagnosed with influenza and 236,038 patients diagnosed with any respiratory tract infection, including influenza.

▽Fidelity, Square, Coinbase Launch Bitcoin Trade Group - WSJ

Fidelity Investments, Square Inc. and several other financial firms are forming a new trade group that aims to shape the way bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are regulated.
The Crypto Council for Innovation will lobby policy makers, take up research projects and serve as the burgeoning industry’s voice in championing the economic benefits of digital currencies and related technologies. Crypto investor Paradigm and Coinbase Global Inc., which operates a cryptocurrency exchange, also signed on as initial members of the group.
The council’s launch comes as prices of many digital assets have surged, drawing in new mainstream investors and the banks and brokers that serve them. Earlier this year, the total market value of bitcoin, the most popular digital currency, touched $1 trillion for the first time.

▽French state to inject up to €4bn into Air France-KLM | Financial Times

France will contribute up to €4bn to strengthen Air France-KLM’s balance sheet, potentially doubling its shareholding as it tries to steer the airline through the worst of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The French state, which is already a 14.3 per cent shareholder, will convert €3bn in loans it gave to Air France last year into perpetual hybrid debt and take part in a planned additional capital raise for up to €1bn. 
Overall, the government’s shareholding could rise to 29.9 per cent, making it the largest single shareholder, French finance minister Bruno Le Maire told radio station France Inter on Tuesday morning. 

▽Robert A. Mundell, a Father of the Euro and Reaganomics, Dies at 88 - The New York Times

Robert A. Mundell, a Nobel Prize-winning economist whose theorizing opened the door to understanding the workings of global finance and the modern-day international economy, while his more iconoclastic views on economic policy fostered the creation of the euro and the adoption of the tax-cutting approach known as supply-side economics, died on Sunday at his home, a Renaissance-era palazzo that he and his wife restored, near Siena, Italy. He was 88.