Hello and welcome to the Intelligence on Economist Radio.

I'm your host, Jason Palmer.

Every weekday we provide a fresh perspective on the events shaping your world.

Throughout human history, epidemics have left their mark on habits, on language, even on urban architecture.

Disease has shaped many of the world's cities.

We look at how likely it is that COVID-19 will do the same.

And, at first, it seemed like a joke, a misfortunate global beer brand with a name echoing that of a global pathogen.

But the marketeers behind corona have a real problem on their hands, and a simple rebranding isn't really an option.

First up, though.

Switch on the news today, and chances are it'll be about one thing.

The US coronavirus deaths almost doubled in five weeks.

But six or seven months ago, something else was dominating global headlines, and this show.

A wave of protests had erupted across the globe, not least in the Middle East and Arab world.

Not since, I suppose the Arab Spring of 2011, have once seen so many, apparently, coordinated or simultaneous protests in one place.

We're so afraid what's going now in Baghdad is a carnival.

As the coronavirus has spread, many of these protest movements have necessarily been put on hold.

Lately, though, in Lebanon, not even a lockdown has been able to contain the public anger that has swelled as the country's economic crisis has gone from bad to worse.

Those who took to the streets last October are protesting against their government once again.

For more than a month, the lockdown bought the Lebanese government clear streets.

There was a lot of concern here that the virus would overwhelm the underfunded health care system in Lebanon,

and so people really did obey the government's stay-at-home order for the latter part of March, for much of April.

Greg Carlstrom is our Middle East correspondent, reporting from Beirut.

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