Over the course of 2020 the PMI data have tracked the economic fallout from the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic around the world, and going forward will show which economies are able to recover quickly and which remain under pressure. This note looks back on an unprecedented period for the PMI surveys. Virus origins The first cases of COVID-19 were identified around the start of 2020, and by the end of January the severity of the outbreak in China was becoming clear. On January 30th, the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, with the ... (full story)