Your Monday morning coffee briefing from TFG. Governments across Europe face a hard balance between public health and economic activity as they combat a resurgence in COVID-19 cases. Global trade is recovering more quickly than after the 2008 global financial crisis.

The transmission of COVID-19 has returned to “alarming rates” across Europe, says the World Health Organization. The UK government imposed more restrictions on areas of the North East and the Midlands to combat a rise in the number of cases.

COVID-19 case rates are rising while fatalities remain relatively low across much of Europe. The UK saw its first significant tightening of restrictions in months with socialising limited to groups of six in England.

Having appeared to stabilise in July and August the number of new cases of COVID-19 globally has edged up to new highs in the last fortnight. Europe is seeing a second wave, particularly in Spain and France, but the case rate in the US has fallen.

In their response to the Covid-19 pandemic, governments have learned and applied many of the lessons of past crises. Early testing and tracing at scale gave countries including Germany, Taiwan and South Korea a lead in combating the virus.

Soaring demand for personal protective equipment (PPE) and COVID-19 tests resulted in a scramble for supplies. Governments are borrowing on a grand scale to subsidise and protect domestic capacity.

The pandemic has been vastly disruptive. It has prompted powerful responses from the government and the private sector. The number of new cases globally appears to have stabilised. Lockdown measures early in the quarter weighed heavily on UK growth but the recovery picked up some pace in June, with GDP rising 8.7% from May.

Forecasters are predicting official figures released this week will show the UK economy suffered the worst impact from the coronavirus pandemic of any major advanced economy.

Your Monday morning coffee briefing from TFG. Productivity in the UK dipped in the first quarter of the year and is likely to fall further as estimates suggest that the fall in output has been greater than the fall in hours worked. Various causes of this slowdown have been proposed including low interest rates, low investment, short-termism in the corporate sector, austerity, Brexit and mismeasurement to name but a few.

Your Monday morning coffee briefing from TFG.Almost half of all Covid-19 cases reported so far were from just three countries: the US, Brazil and India. Wearing masks became compulsory in UK shops and other enclosed public spaces. EU leaders agreed to create a €750bn EU recovery fund to support member states worst hit by COVID-19.