3 THINGS THAT WILL CHANGE THE WORLD TODAY

Good morning, here’s your Wednesday morning briefing. Look out for these three things happening around the world today.

Wuhan lifts coronavirus travel restrictions

The Chinese city of Wuhan today lifts travel restrictions that will enable residents with a ‘Green Code’ health classification to move freely.

Chinese citizens have been designated a coloured QR code, with green allowing the person to move freely, yellow to remain in quarantine and red to remain under supervised quarantine.

Wuhan, the original epicentre of the Covid-19 pandemic, has been under lockdown since 23 January. Restrictions across China have gradually been lifted as the number of new cases has decreased, reporting no deaths on Tuesday for the first time.

The Chinese state lifted restrictions in the rest of the Hubei province on 25 March. It says more than 3,331 people have died and 81,740 have been confirmed as infected.

Calls grow for Parliament to work remotely

Lib Dem Chief Whip Alistair Carmichael is the latest to call for Parliament to work remotely during the coronavirus pandemic.

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By GlobalData

In a letter to his colleagues in the House of Commons, Carmichael said that if the government can hold Cabinet meetings “as a temporary measure, there is no reason not to extend these ideas to Parliament”. He also called for a special committee of MPs chaired by the new leader of the opposition Keir Starmer to scrutinise the government’s response to the virus.

It follows a letter sent by Labour MP Chi Onwurah and co-signed by 153 MPs to the House of Commons clerk asking for Parliament to “lead by example” and create a setup to work remotely.

A version of Zoom with beefed up security will reportedly be offered to MPs, after concerns were raised about the videoconferencing software.

WTO releases annual trade figures

The World Trade Organisation today releases its Annual Trade Statistics and Outlook Report.

Last year’s report highlighted the trade tensions between the US and China but struck a hopeful tone that trade growth could rebound to 3% in 2020.

That projection now looks dead in the water as the coronavirus pandemic has caused major economic downturns, with a global recession widely expected. While the bulk of the report will cover trade activity pre-pandemic, it is likely the pandemic will feature in its outlook for the rest of the year and 2021.

WTO Director-General Roberto Azevêdo will hold a press conference at 2pm BST to discuss the report.

Tuesday’s Highlights

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WhatsApp limits message forwarding to curb spread of Covid-19 rumours

Ten-year Chinese hacking operation targets Linux servers

Coronavirus case studies: How Whitgift School is manufacturing hospital visors