Our coverage of the coronavirus
A selection of our stories about covid-19 and its consequences
Since it emerged in December 2019, the coronavirus has officially killed over 6m people, though our own estimate suggests the actual toll exceeds 20m. It has infected many millions more and compelled governments around the world to lock down their populations. The rapid development of vaccines has at least offered some grounds for optimism. To stay up to speed with The Economist’s coverage of the virus, you can bookmark this hub page; register to receive our weekly newsletter, which has a special edition showcasing our coronavirus coverage; and follow our data trackers showing global vaccination rates, a daily estimate of excess deaths around the world and the virus’s spread across Europe and America.
Political and social consequences
Nicholas Bloom predicts a working-from-home Nike swoosh
Firms, employees and society will all benefit, reckons the Stanford economist
The fight over working from home goes global
Employees want to toil in the kitchen. Bosses want them back in the office
The working-from-home illusion fades
It is not more productive than being in an office, after all
Economic consequences
The pandemic has broken a closely followed survey of sentiment
Americans’ opinions about the state of the economy have diverged from reality
Sunday brunch is the new Friday night
Post-lockdowns, in-person spending has shifted from weekdays to weekends
Expensive energy may have killed more Europeans than covid-19 last winter
Our modelling estimates that high energy prices claimed 68,000 lives
America is ending its emergency declaration for the pandemic
Many services that Americans have come to rely on are about to wind down
Epidemiology
In an ugly world, vaccines are a beautiful gift worth honouring
According to the WHO, they have saved more lives than any other medical invention
The 2023 Nobel prizes honour work that touched millions of lives
Besides mRNA vaccines, they celebrate ultra-fast lasers and tiny prisons for light
A new study of studies reignites controversy over mask mandates
Most papers are inconclusive, though the largest covid-era study showed benefits
Where did covid-19 come from?
There are two opposing theories: zoonosis, and a leak from a lab
Data trackers
The global normalcy index
Is the world returning to pre-pandemic life? Find out with our interactive tracker
Excess deaths, by country or city
In many parts of the world, official death tolls undercount the total number of fatalities
Tracking the coronavirus across Europe
How countries and regions are coping with the covid-19 pandemic