April is confirmed as the black month of 2020. Due to the lockdowns imposed by many countries to try to contain coronavirus infections, the economy suffered unprecedented damage and the prospects for the future become increasingly bleak. This is certified by the data coming from Great Britain, where in April the gross domestic product collapsed by 20,4% compared to March and even 24,5% compared to April 2019. The plunge is "almost 10 times larger than the steepest pre-Covid-19 drop," explained Jonathan Athow, director general of the British statistics institute, underlining which is about the Britain's worst ever economic downturn where the closures were initiated on March 23.
The decline affects all sectors, from education to health through pubs and car sales. Trade with the rest of the world has also been heavily affected by the pandemic.
As regardsGDP fell by 10,4% in the first quarter. "In line with many other countries around the world, the coronavirus has had a profound impact on our economy," commented Finance Minister Rishi Sunak. The data on the industrial production, which fell by 20,3% in April compared to the previous month.
In the meantime, tensions continue between the Government and the various industrial sectors. The airlines British Airways, easyJet and Ryanair have decided to launch legal action against the government led by Boris Johnson, guilty of having imposed quarantine on all travelers arriving in the United Kingdom since last Monday. A decision defined as "irrational" and without scientific basis, also because French and German citizens who arrive in Great Britain on a weekly basis are exempt from the quarantine which instead applies to travelers from countries where the rates of contagion from Covid-19 are lower than those of the United Kingdom.
In a joint note, the three British aviation giants explained that the choice to impose the quarantine will have a "devastating effect on British tourism and the wider economy and will destroy thousands of jobs”. For this reason, the request is to discuss the cause as soon as possible.
