Covid-19: Practical guidance on significant commercial and legal issues

April 2020

Coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) was declared a public health emergency of international concern by the World Health Organisation on 30 January 2020. It has required governments, and particularly healthcare systems, to respond swiftly and in a coordinated way to ensure that they are properly mitigating and responding to the evolving situation to ensure the wellbeing of their citizens.

This is above all a human and social crisis, necessitating some significant changes in the way everyone goes about their daily lives. As efforts are underway to manage the spread radiate across the world, the impact to businesses and economies has become increasingly significant.

Our clients are assessing (as we are ourselves – for more information on this please see What is Linklaters doing?), on a continuous basis, how to address the threat posed by Covid-19 to their workforce, customers, suppliers and wider stakeholders. On this page, we’ve pulled together our insights on some of the key issues affecting businesses globally and possible solutions.