COVID-19: What you need to know about the coronavirus pandemic on 25 April

1. How COVID-19 is affecting the globe

2. Why global cooperation is key to ensure equitable access to COVID-19 treatments and vaccines
The World Health Organization announced a special initiative Friday to strengthen global collaboration and ensure equitable access to diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines. Such collaboration across governments, manufacturers and the private sector is key given the need to protect the global population, WHO officials said.

Agency leaders have stressed in past briefings that a successful vaccine program requires scaling up manufacturing capacities, distribution, and public health initiatives that ensure that communities are on board.

Equity is also key to ensure the virus does not see a resurgence. In a statement today, the WHO explained that even when tools to fight outbreaks have been available they historically haven't always been equally available to all. It cited the early days of HIV treatment and the deployment of vaccines against the H1N1 outbreak in 2009 as examples.

"We cannot allow that to happen", said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General at today's briefing.

In an essay on how to overcome the pandemic published on Friday, Bill Gates also stressed the importance of collaboration and innovation. "This is like a world war, except in this case, we’re all on the same side. Everyone can work together to learn about the disease and develop tools to fight it. I see global innovation as the key to limiting the damage," he wrote.

3. Survey finds some business leaders expect a "U-shaped" recession
60% of business leaders expect a "u-shaped" downturn, according to a poll taken last week of more than 3,500 chief executives by YPO, a business leadership network Reuters reported. These leaders expect a long delay between the recession and the next upturn.

According to the survey, 40% saw the pandemic as a severe risk to their firms while only 10% thought it could challenge their survival.

4. How climate change initiatives can survive COVID-19
In an interview for Agenda, environmentalist Jennifer Morgan, the International Executive Director of Greenpeace International, explained that she potential for the pandemic to serve as a key tipping point.

"The climate emergency hasn’t gone away," said Morgan. "It’s still very much with us and while we have to prioritize addressing COVID-19, we also have to think together and create the world that we want to see."

She added: "Companies have a chance to really be on the right side of history, of moving forward. Companies have learned from the past and should take the opportunity to create a more circular zero-carbon economy for profit and for people."

5. How COVID-19 impacts people with intellectual disabilities
Those with intellectual disabilities are hit especially hard by COVID-19 lockdowns, explains one essayist this week for Agenda. She points out that people with intellectual disabilities often utilize a range of resources such as home health aides, day programmes, drop-in centres, family respite services and group homes that lockdowns have closed or made unavailable. Such closures can cut these individuals off from both their communities and their independence, while increasing the responsibility of family members. Coping with the global effects of coronavirus, says the author, means grappling with the challenges faced by vulnerable and overlooked populations.