Believers in a “great transition” see Covid-19 as the handmaiden of history. The pandemic started in China. But the Chinese government has done a much better job of containing the disease than the US. According to Johns Hopkins University, the total number of US deaths from Covid-19 stood at over 223,000 at the end of last week compared with 4,379 in China. With the disease contained, the Chinese economy is rebounding and looks set to grow by 2 per cent this year, making it the only G20 economy to expand. By contrast, the US economy is likely to shrink by 3-5 per cent and the major European economies are in trouble.
