European restaurants operating in milder temperatures and relying on outdoor dining aren’t sources of outbreaks like some of their counterparts in the American Sunbelt.

Some brands have taken the unusual step of promoting these new hires to reassure a nervous public.

Cash was already being edged out in many countries as urban consumers paid increasingly with apps and cards for even the smallest purchases. But the coronavirus is accelerating a shift toward a cashless future, raising new calculations for merchants and enriching the digital payments industry.

After observing that some of its new M.B.A. hires weren’t coming in with crucial technology and data-science skills, Ernst & Young decided to educate employees itself. The training would be free to all of the consulting firm’s more than 280,000 employees world-wide.