President Donald Trump promised “very dramatic” actions to support the US economy as the World Health Organization said the threat of a pandemic is “very real”.
Infections climbed across Europe and Italy attempted a nationwide lockdown, but the situation in Asia showed improvements. China announced only 19 new cases, the lowest since Jan 18 according to official figures, while South Korea added 131 new infections, extending a declining trend. Chinese President Xi Jinping visited the coronavirus epicentre of Wuhan for the first time since the disease emerged.
Trump said he will seek a payroll tax cut and “substantial relief” for industries that have been hit by the coronavirus. The economic package will leave out for now any aid for the travel industry, according to people familiar with the matter, raising the risk that the plan won’t go far enough to satisfy investors.
Key Developments:
Cases surpass 113,000 worldwide; deaths exceed 3,900
China reports 19 new cases, 17 deaths
‘If we sanitise, it will be fine’: cruise fans ignore US alert
Trump’s coronavirus claims often contradicted by his own experts
WHO says outbreak close to being a pandemic
World updates (latest first):
Top virus doctor says high blood pressure is big death risk
The US economic package to be unveiled by President Donald Trump will leave out for now any aid for the travel industry, which has been battered by the coronavirus outbreak, according to people familiar with the matter, raising the risk that the plan won’t go far enough to satisfy investors.
As outlined by Trump in remarks Monday, the proposal will likely include a payroll tax cut and a short-term expansion of paid sick leave, according to the people, who described the plan on condition of anonymity ahead of its planned release on Tuesday.
While the White House wants to find a way to help airlines and hospitality companies reeling from a plunge in demand from travellers, administration officials remain uncertain about the best way to do so.
China’s Xi pays first visit to Wuhan since outbreak
Chinese President Xi Jinping visited the coronavirus epicentre of Wuhan for the first time since the disease emerged, state media said, a trip intended to project confidence that his government has managed to stem its spread domestically.
Xi arrived Tuesday morning in the capital of hard-hit Hubei province, the official Xinhua News Agency said. Wuhan, where the disease first emerged in December, has been quarantined since Jan 23, in what some people see as a heavy-handed approach following earlier failures to act quickly enough to stem the spread.
US tests fewer than 5,000, Atlantic reports
Only 4,384 people in the US have been tested for the new coronavirus, nearly two weeks after the disease was found to be spreading across America, according to the Atlantic.
While more than 500 cases have been reported in the US, experts say the number is too small to reflect the full extent of the disease’s spread as not enough Americans have been tested, the Atlantic wrote.
“The lack of testing means that it is almost impossible to know how many Americans are infected with the coronavirus and suffering from Covid-19, the disease it causes,” the Atlantic wrote.
Japan to introduce penalties for mask resales
Japanese Health Minister Katsunobu Kato said the government will introduce penalties on re-selling masks as it tries to head off price gouging and make sure there is an ample supply as the country battles the new coronavirus.
Boeing worker quarantined
Boeing Co said an employee from its Everett facility in Washington state has tested positive for the virus and is now in quarantine. The company has asked coworkers who were in close contact with the person to remain home in self quarantine and monitor their health. It also said it conducted thorough cleaning of work areas and common spaces.
Apple China iPhone shipments dive 60%
Apple Inc’s iPhone shipments in China plunged more than 60% in February, when the coronavirus outbreak shut down scores of its stores and hampered key manufacturing partners across its largest international market.
Shipments of Apple’s marquee device dropped to about 494,600 units from a year earlier, according to Bloomberg calculations based on monthly data from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, a government think-tank. Overall mobile phone shipments, including Android devices, slid 56% to 6.4 million units, the academy said. Those year-earlier comparisons were skewed by the fact that the Lunar New Year holidays fell in February of 2019, versus January this year.
Since erupting in China in January, the Covid-19 epidemic has hit Apple’s supply and demand. While factories are gradually restarting after enforced quarantine, lingering production bottlenecks risk hurting global iPhone revenue in coming months.
South Korea reports 131 new coronavirus cases
South Korea’s health ministry confirmed 131 more coronavirus cases in the nation, raising the total to 7,513, according to a statement. The number continues a declining trend since March 6. Total deaths in the country rose to 54 from 51 previously.
New White House chief of staff quarantined
Mark Meadows, Donald Trump’s incoming White House chief of staff, has quarantined himself after coming into contact with someone who tested positive for the coronavirus, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Meadows, a veteran Republican congressman from North Carolina, joins five other lawmakers who are putting themselves in quarantine or restricting their work after contact with people who tested positive for the virus.
Japan cabinet approves bill for emergency: Kyodo
Japan’s cabinet approved a bill that would enable the declaration of an emergency over the new coronavirus if needed, Kyodo News reported.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe would be able to declare an emergency in the case of a rapid nationwide spread of the infection, Kyodo said. Doing so would empower regional governors to call on local people to avoid going out, and for limits on the use of facilities where large numbers of people gather.
While his expert panel said Monday that there was, as yet, no explosive spread of the disease in the country, Abe told parliament he wanted to prepare for the worst-case scenario. Japan has confirmed more than 500 cases of the virus, with nine dead.
KKR shuts London offices after virus case
A KKR & Co employee in London has the coronavirus, leading the private equity firm to close both of its offices in the city while it has them sanitised. KKR has asked employees at the London offices to work from home until further notice and is requiring all staff who had close contact with the person infected with the virus to quarantine themselves for 14 days.
Firms around the world have been preparing for more employees to work from home and separating parts of their work forces to limit the potential of an outbreak to disrupt operations key to financial markets. Firms including Deutsche Bank AG, HSBC Holdings Plc and Wells Fargo & Co have confronted cases of the virus among staff in recent days.
China reports 19 new cases, 17 new deaths
China reported 19 additional coronavirus cases as of March 9, according to a statement from the National Health Commission, bringing the total number of infections to 80,754. The new cases are the lowest since Jan 18.
The death toll in China rose by 17 to 3,136, with all of the latest fatalities occurring in Hubei. Discharged patients rose by 1,297 to a total of 59,897.
US sports leagues limit locker room access
Major US pro sports leagues are banning media and anyone other than necessary personnel from team locker rooms.
Major League Baseball, Major League Soccer, the National Basketball Association and the National Hockey League will limit locker room and clubhouse access to players and “essential employees” of teams, the leagues said in a joint statement. Media access will be maintained in designated areas outside locker rooms and clubhouses, the statement said.
The move is the latest response by sports organisations to the coronavirus outbreak. But it stops short of some of the more extreme measures that some leagues have imposed around the world, such as cancelling games or holding competitions with no spectators.
US to produce 4 million tests a week: Azar
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said that by the end of the week, the US expects to produce 4 million coronavirus tests each week. He said 2.1 million tests have shipped or are ready to be shipped, and that so far no individual that a public health official has said has needed a test has gone without one.
Italy to extend travel ban nationwide
Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said he’ll move to extend restrictive measures on travel -- currently in force in the north -- throughout the rest of the country in a bid to limit the spread of the coronavirus.
WHO says outbreak close to being a pandemic
The spread of the new coronavirus is very close to being a pandemic after the disease has reached more than 100 countries, Mike Ryan, head of the World Health Organization’s Health Emergencies Program, said at a daily briefing.
“The threat of a pandemic has become very real,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “But it would be the first pandemic in history that could be controlled.”
Ryan said countries that shift solely to mitigation are conceding defeat and that they shouldn’t give up on containment efforts. The WHO said China and South Korea’s efforts have borne fruit, and that it hopes to see results from Italy’s recent measures in coming days.
The mortality rate for people 80 and over exceeds 20%, said Maria Van Kerkhove, a WHO epidemiologist, citing figures from the WHO’s mission to China.