European Commission raises 20 billion Euro for Covid-19 recovery

EC President Ursula von der Leyen meets students at The Pavilion of Knowledge in Lisbon on Wednesday. She gave the green light to Portugal for its recovery plan seeking funding from the bloc’s rescue fund. Pic/AFP

The European Commission has raised 20 billion Euro ($24.2 billion) through a 10-year bond as part of its plans to finance the 27-nation bloc's recovery from the coronavirus crisis.

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the inaugural transaction of the NextGeneration EU program is the largest ever institutional bond issuance in Europe. The money will help finance the national recovery plans devised by member states to get their economies back on track.

Von der Leyen said the bond was priced at ‘very attractive terms' and that the European Union will pay less than 0.1 per cent interest on it.

"Europe is attractive," she said. "By the end of this year, we expect to have issued around 100 billion in bonds and bills." To finance the stimulus, the EU's executive arm said it will raise from capital markets up to an estimated 800 billion by the end of 2026. In total, member states have agreed on a 1.8 trillion-euro budget and pandemic recovery package.

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Exposure to common cold may protect from Covid-19

Exposure to the virus that causes common cold can provide protection against infection by the SARS-CoV-2 virus behind Covid-19, according to a study. The research, published on Tuesday in the Journal of Experimental Medicine, found that rhinovirus, the common respiratory virus, jump-starts the activity of interferon-stimulated genes. These genes trigger early-response molecules in the immune system which can stop reproduction of the SARS-CoV-2, that causes Covid-19, within airway tissues infected with the cold, researchers said.

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1,64,028
No. of new cases reported globally in the past 24 hours

17,61,56,662
Total no. of cases worldwide

3,815,486
Total no. of deaths worldwide

Source: WHO/Johns Hopkins

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