Wrapping up live coverage
We’re going to wrap up this live coverage for now. The most significant updates from the past 12 hours can be found in our latest summary here.
My colleague Lily Kuo in Beijing also just filed this wrap of the day’s events, focusing on the reports of dozens more deaths in Wuhan, where hospitals are said to be increasingly undersupplied and overburdened.
We appreciate you reading along. Keep checking with us for updates as the day goes on.
Updated
The known unknowns
We’re learning more about this coronavirus each day, but a month since it emerged, there remain some important holes in our understanding — what the former US secretary of defence, Donald Rumsfeld, might have called known unknowns. I’ve just spoken to Ian Mackay, a virologist at the University of Queensland about what some of those might be.
1. How many cases are mild and how many are severe?
The disease appears to spreading more efficiently than its cousins Sars or Mers. That’s probably down to the fact that the world is much more dense and interconnected than in 2003, when Sars emerged, and because this coronavirus is more easily transmitted. “It’s more like the flu, which can whip around the world in no time,” says Mackay.
It appears that China will not be able to contain its spread within the country, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the death toll will spike, he says. “One big hole in our understanding is whether the disease is more dangerous than Sars,” he says. “That part is hard to answer because we’re missing a big important number, which is how many people are confirmed cases but haven’t gone to the hospital and are being quarantined at home, and how many have recovered.”
That matters, because it will tell us how many people have gotten only mildly or moderately sick, and therefore how deadly the disease is. If we take the cases that have been reported outside China, the death rate is less than 1%. But understanding the full spectrum of infections inside China will give us a much better idea.
2. How many of those infected are kids?
“Usually with respiratory viruses we see the young end of town as the virus spreaders,” says Mackay. Think of the way that kids go to school, spread a cold, then take it home to their parents, who in turn might carry the virus to work.
“So I’m wondering why we’re not seeing kids among the cases,” Mackay says. He speculates it might be because we’re focusing on the most severely infected people, who are presenting to hospital, and missing the fact that many people, including children, might have the coronavirus but are only presenting with relatively minor symptoms and recovering at home.
3. Is the virus mutating?
Viruses are “relentless replicating adaptive machines” that are constantly evolving, and this coronavirus will be no exception, Mackay says. Virologists need to see a larger selection of genome sequences of the virus than are currently available “to see more of what’s happening with the virus as it’s passing through thousands, possibly tens of thousands of hosts”.
Chinese officials have made comments suggesting that the virus is now transmitting more easily. Scientists will want to see evidence of those new cases “just to make sure that there aren’t consistent changes building up in the virus over time that might have an effect” on how it should be fought, he says.
Over the weekend, major international talks on biodiversity loss that were set to take place in China were moved because of the coronavirus outbreak.
The first round of negotiations for a Paris-style agreement on biodiversity, which had been due to take place in Kunming, Yunnan province, between 24 and 29 February, has been moved to Rome.
Biodiversity experts and government policy makers had been set to meet in the city in southern China to discuss plans to protect a third of the world’s oceans and land by 2030.
The UN said the decision to move talks was made in consultation with the Chinese government.
Updated
Sixty Italians evacuated from Wuhan arrived at a military base near Rome on Monday.
A passenger who was expected to be onboard the flight remained in Wuhan after contracting a fever, Italian media reported. The group will be quarantined for up to two weeks.
Meanwhile, panic over the virus continues in Italy, with general practitioners and hospital emergency units overwhelmed with people suffering flu symptoms or simply seeking information from professionals. Codacons, the consumers’ group, has called for group tours at popular sites, including the Colosseum in Rome, to be banned. On Friday, Italy announced a state of emergency that will be in place for six months.
Updated
As researchers are racing to develop a vaccine for the Wuhan coronavirus, the British drugmaker GSK has teamed up with the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) to aid efforts to produce a vaccine.
GSK, one of the world’s biggest vaccine makers, says it will make its “adjuvant platform technology” available. An adjuvant is added to some vaccines to improve the immune response and means the amount of antigen required per dose can be reduced – allowing more vaccine doses to be produced and made available to more people, which is crucial in a pandemic.
Dr Richard Hatchett, the chief executive of CEPI, says:
Gaining access to GSK’s world-leading adjuvant technology is a huge step forward in developing a vaccine against the novel coronavirus 2019-nCoV. Coupling GSK’s adjuvant systems with the pioneering platform technology we are funding has the potential to make more vaccine available more rapidly – by decreasing the dose of vaccine antigen required to protect each individual.
CEPI, a public-private group based in Norway, is one of several organisations working on a vaccine. It has committed $11m to three programmes led by the companies Inovio Pharmaceuticals and Moderna, and the University of Queensland, with the hope of having a viable vaccine in production within 16 weeks, although testing for safety and efficacy will take much longer.
Meanwhile, a research team at the National Institutes of Health in Maryland has prepared a modified version of a key section of the virus to encourage the body to produce antibodies against the disease. And France’s Pasteur Institute said last Friday that it had set up a taskforce aimed at developing a vaccine against the virus within 20 months.
Updated
In Germany, eight people have tested positive for the virus so far. Seven of them, five Germans and two Chinese nationals, are employees of the car parts supplier Webasto, headquartered in Stockdorf, Bavaria. The eighth is the child of one of the employees.
All eight patients were in a “stable clinical condition” and had only shown “flu-like symptoms”, said a spokesperson for the Bavarian health ministry.
Four of the infected Webasto employees had taken part in a training workshop run by a Chinese employee who only started to feel ill on her return flight to China, where she subsequently tested positive for the 2019-nCov virus.
The company’s headquarters in Stockdorf was disinfected by experts over the weekend and was to remain closed until Tuesday. A further 140 employees were tested for the virus, with 80 of them being ordered to stay indoors and avoid human contact even though their test results had returned negative.
Updated
So, what have I missed?
If you’re just checking in with us this Monday, here are the major developments in the ongoing coronavirus story:
- There are now 17,459 confirmed cases, according to Johns Hopkins University. The death toll is 362 people, while 489 have recovered.
- The death toll is now higher than that from the Sars epidemic, which was 349 people.
- More and more countries are temporarily banning people coming from mainland China from entering. Among them is New Zealand, whose prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, this morning cited “the range of unknowns in the way the virus is being transmitted” to justify her country’s decision.
- We’ve registered the first fatality from the disease outside China. A 44-year-old Chinese citizen has died in the Philippines after travelling there from Wuhan, where he was from. The race is now on to identify everyone he came into contact with, including passengers in the aircraft he flew in, and staff in the hotels where he stayed. He was travelling with a 38-year-old woman who was confirmed to have had the virus but was no longer showing symptoms.
- Outside China, Hong Kong and Macau, the highest number of confirmed cases are in Japan (20 people), Thailand (19), Singapore (18), South Korea (15), Australia (12) and the US, which confirmed its 11th case overnight. A woman in Santa Clara, California, had recently travelled to Wuhan and returned with the virus. But her symptoms are said to be minor and she’s being quarantined at home.
- The outbreak has battered Chinese stock markets, which have plunged at least 7% after reopening for the first time since they closed for the lunar new year on 23 January. Trading in several commodities was suspended after losses quickly exceeded their daily limits.
Stick with us. We’ll be sharing more as it emerges today.
Updated
A group of British nationals and some of their foreign relatives currently in quarantine for coronavirus say they are holding up well.
The 94 people are being kept in isolation at Arrowe Park hospital in Wirral after being evacuated from the centre of the outbreak in Wuhan, China, on two repatriation flights. They will be held for two weeks to monitor for any symptoms of the virus.
Kharn Lambert, a PE teacher, has lived in Wuhan for the last five years and was being visited by his 81-year-old grandmother, Veronica Theobald, when the outbreak occurred.
He told Sky News’s Kay Burley on Monday: “It’s quite weird being home but not being home, and also being locked in – almost like being back in Wuhan really – where we can’t get outside certain perimeters and go further, so it’s a bit of a weird feeling, really.”
Lambert said that, out of the first group of 83 arrivals, no one was showing any coronavirus symptoms or complaining about feeling unwell.
“Everybody is in good spirits,” he said. “As you can imagine, it’s not the best of circumstances but we’re all trying to keep our spirits high.
“We’re playing jokes on each other, we’re having a laugh when we have the chance to see each other.”
People in Wirral have donated supplies, including toys and video-game consoles, to keep the quarantined cohort entertained.
The second group of evacuees, made up of seven British nationals and four of their family members, arrived at the Merseyside hospital on Sunday evening.
Lambert said he has not seen the new arrivals and believed they were being housed away from the other people in quarantine.
He praised the staff taking care of the evacuees in the hospital accommodation block. “They’re all being told to wear protection, ie masks and gloves, when they’re in the communal areas.
“They’ve been absolutely fantastic since the moment we arrived and we can’t thank them enough for everything they’re doing for us at the moment.”
Updated
Chinese stock markets plunged on Monday morning as investors absorbed the news that coronavirus cases had increased in recent days. Markets had been closed since 23 January for the lunar new year and the falls – including by 7.7% on the Shanghai stock exchange composite index – were not surprising, after share prices elsewhere dropped on the expectation that the virus, which has prompted bans on public gatherings in many Chinese cities and total lockdown of others, would batter economic activity.
We’re tracking the impact of the virus on the markets and all the rest of today’s business news here:
Updated
My colleague Kim Willsher has passed along some good news from the Pasteur Institute in Paris, which announced at the weekend that it had managed to isolate and grow a culture of this coronavirus. That means it is available for research, which puts scientists on track to develop a vaccine.
However, that isn’t a quick process. Christophe D’Enfert, a scientific director with the Pasteur Institute, told reporters in Paris the vaccine could be made available in 20 months if “all goes well”.
“At the end of August, we could enter clinical trials and, provided all goes well, obtain a vaccine candidate within 20 months,” he said.
In other positive developments this morning, tests on 20 French passengers on a second plane of 36 people repatriated from Wuhan on Sunday have come back negative. They will still be held in 14-day quarantine, a junior health minister said. A French government spokesperson said all those French citizens who had asked to be brought back to France had now returned.
Updated
China issues appeal for masks, suits and goggles
Hello, this is Michael Safi, I’ll be updating you with the latest developments in this story over the next hours.
We’re getting a little more now from the press conference (given online, not in person) by the Chinese foreign ministry. The government has been at pains to emphasise that it has the tools to control the spread of this coronavirus outbreak, but this morning did concede it needs help – in the form of protective medical equipment.
“What China urgently needs at present are medical masks, protective suits and safety goggles,” the foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said in a press briefing on Monday morning.
China’s factories can produce 20 million masks a day, but panic over the virus has prompted people in the country of 1.4 billion to stock up on them, while frontline medical personnel have reported equipment shortages.
Agence France-Presse provides this context:
At full capacity, China’s factories are only able to produce around 20m masks a day, according to the ministry of industry.
The foreign ministry said countries including South Korea, Japan, Kazakhstan and Hungary had donated medical supplies.
Tian Yulong, of the industry ministry, said earlier on Monday that authorities were taking steps to bring in masks from Europe, Japan and the US, adding that supply and demand in China remained in “tight equilibrium” as factories returned to production after the lunar new year break.
He said they were now operating at between 60% and 70% capacity.
In addition to Hubei, the province of more than 50 million people at the centre of the outbreak, several other provinces and cities across China have made it compulsory to wear masks in public.
These include Guangdong – China’s most populous province – plus Sichuan, Jiangxi, Liaoning and the city of Nanjing, with a combined population of more than 300 million.
Updated
China’s foreign ministry has issued a strongly worded criticism of the US, accusing its global rival of acting to create and spread fear about the coronavirus outbreak instead of offering any significant assistance.
The US was the first nation to suggest partial withdrawal of its embassy staff, and the first to impose a travel ban on Chinese travellers, the ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said.
“All it has done could only create and spread fear, which is a bad example,” Hua told an online news briefing, adding that China hoped countries would make judgments and responses that were reasonable, calm and based on science.
Updated
Initial tests carried out on about 20 people who were repatriated to France from China presented negative results for coronavirus, the French junior health minister Adrien Taquet has told BFMTV.
More than 250 people from 30 countries arrived in France on Sunday after being flown out of Wuhan (more details here).
Updated
The Associated Press has published an updated list of global cases of the coronavirus:
China: 17,205 cases on the mainland. In addition, Hong Kong has 14 cases and Macau has seven. Most of the 361 deaths have been in central Hubei province, where illnesses from the new type of coronavirus were first detected in December.
Japan: 20
Thailand: 19
Singapore: 18
South Korea: 15
United States: 11
Germany: 10
Taiwan: 10
Malaysia: 8
Australia: 7
Vietnam: 8
France: 6
United Arab Emirates: 5
Canada: 4
India: 3
Philippines: 1 death, 1 additional case
Russia: 2
Italy: 2
Britain: 2
Nepal: 1
Sri Lanka: 1
Sweden: 1
Spain: 1
Cambodia: 1
Finland: 1
Updated
Here’s a summary of what we know so far today on the coronavirus outbreak:
- 361 people have died in China, one in the Philippines.
- Confirmed infections in China are 17,238 (official Chinese figures include Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau).
- Outside of China, infections stand at more than 150 (for simplicity of comparison between the numbers, I have removed Taiwan [10], Hong Kong [15] and Macau [8] from this global figure).
- 36 people on France’s evacuation flights from Wuhan showed symptoms of the flights – 20 French nationals and 16 foreign nationals.
-
China’s markets plunged on opening, on the first day of trading since the extended lunar new year. Shanghai is down nearly 8%.
- Health workers in Hong Kong have gone on strike, calling for closure of the border with China.
- Vietnam and the US confirm three new cases each.
- A Qantas charter flight carrying Australian citizens has departed Wuhan and is due to arrive in Western Australia at about 4pm local time.
- New Zealand has banned foreign travellers from China from entering.
- The Maldives has banned entry of travellers from China.
- The new hospital in Wuhan, built to accommodate coronavirus patients, has opened.
Updated
Maldives bans entry of Chinese travellers
The Maldives has banned travellers arriving from China as a precautionary measure to combat the spread of coronavirus, Ali Waheed, the tourism minister of the Indian Ocean islands, said on Monday.
More than 280,000 Chinese tourists visited the luxury holiday destination in 2019, government data shows, the largest number from any country.
Updated
I may have spoken too soon on calling my favourite post from Chinese state media today. The Global Times has released a video, headlined by the Hollywood actor Jackie Chan, called “Believe Love Will Triumph”. The GT says the video is a call for people to “stand together and stay strong” during the fight against the coronavirus.
Chinese singers and actors such as #JackieChan, #XiaoZhan and #TongLiya sing "Believe Love Will Triumph" to call for people to stand together and stay strong during the fight against the #novelcoronavirus. pic.twitter.com/3uInERZhpY
— Global Times (@globaltimesnews) February 3, 2020
Updated
Trading has resumed on China’s stock markets after the lunch break. The losses have been staunched slightly from the falls of almost 9% earlier in the day but it’s still very ugly. Oil has lost $0.51 to $56.11 a barrel, reflecting concerns about slowing demand in the global economy.
- The Shanghai Composite is off 7.91%.
- Shenzhen Component down 7.59%.
- The Australian ASX200 has closed down 1.34%.
- The Nikkei is off 0.85%.
- Kospi in Seoul is down 0.12.
- Hang Seng up 0.26%.
- Brent crude loses $0.51 to $56.11 a barrel.
- The yuan has fallen to 7.01 to the US dollar, its worst since August.
- Futures point to 0.55 lift on FTSE100.
- Dow Jones expected to rise 0.75%.
Interesting that the Hong Kong market is up today. It’s the only major bourse in the black and perhaps says more about the medium-term outlook on the markets, where many expect the Chinese economy to bounce back once the virus is under control.
The 8% plunge in Chinese stocks today is, understandably, making headlines. But good reporters all note that this is catch-up after a long holiday. More surprising is the stability in HK market. Do investors really think they've priced in the effects of the epidemic? pic.twitter.com/ry24SzXxNF
— Simon Rabinovitch (@S_Rabinovitch) February 3, 2020
Updated
There seems a fairly concerted effort just now to put a positive spin on how China is handling the virus, with a series of tweets from state media. They include:
- The government promising to purchase the surplus production from enterprises when coronavirus epidemic ends.
- The overall production of face masks in China exceeding 20m per day – “the highest in the world”.
- The virus stimulating online shopping and online entertainment, despite its impact on other industries. “China has better capabilities to contain the economic impact of the epidemic compared with the time of SARS outbreak: official,” reports the Global Times.
My personal favourite is this video below from CGTN, which says people have chosen to stay in Wuhan because of “love, people and responsibilities”. “Everyone is united and we will work together to battle the coronavirus,” it says, adding: “I believe everything will be back to normal. Cherry blossoms will bloom, streets will be busy and people will have hot dry noodles for breakfast at restaurants.”
“My city is hit by the coronavirus, but we will get through it”
— CGTN (@CGTNOfficial) February 3, 2020
This video is for everyone who is fighting against the #coronavirus https://t.co/k7je5yy5LE pic.twitter.com/2Co0ABzOzU
A close second is the People’s Daily most recent post of a field of “thriving” rape flowers. “That’s the brightness we need,” the post says.
That’s the brightness we need! A vast field of thriving rape flowers light up the Meijiang County in E China’s #Jiangxi. pic.twitter.com/VY5Oe65o4P
— People's Daily, China (@PDChina) February 3, 2020
Updated
The city of Guyuan, 1,200km north-east of Wuhan, has brought in new measures to stop the virus spreading, according to state-run media. It means no more than 25 people are allowed in every 100 sq metres in public venues.
Strictest measure to curb the spread of #nCoV2019! No more than 25 people allowed in every 100 square meters in public venues, announced the govt of Guyuan, a city in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. pic.twitter.com/Rh1i2yalWM
— Global Times (@globaltimesnews) February 3, 2020
Updated
Hong Kong medical workers go on strike, demanding closure of China border
Hundreds of Hong Kong medical workers walked off their jobs on Monday, demanding the city close its border with China to stop the coronavirus spreading – with frontline staff threatening to follow in the coming days. Hong Kong has 15 confirmed cases of the virus. The action by non-essential medical staff comes as authorities refuse to completely seal the border, instead closing down some crossings.
Updated
The extended lunar new year ended in China today, raising concerns that travel across the country could affect the spread of the virus. Agence France-Presse reports that in Beijing, some neighbourhoods have sealed themselves off – including with homemade barriers – to force visitors or anyone returning home from the holiday to register their travel history.
One district in northern Shijiazhuang city is offering cash incentives of 2,000 yuan ($288) AFP says, for reporting anyone who has travelled to Wuhan in the past two weeks.
For some communities, anyone who has visited central Hubei province – of which Wuhan is the capital – is no longer welcome at all.
“Even if you live here, you can’t enter,” said a security guard at the entrance of a Beijing neighbourhood when asked about returning Hubei residents.
“Those from Hubei could bring the infection here,” he told AFP, wearing a blue mask. “If you’re from Hubei, you have to notify the neighbourhood committee.”
Updated
France's evacuation flights from Wuhan carry 36 people showing virus symptoms
Frances’s health minister has confirmed that 36 people on an evacuation flight from Wuhan were showing symptoms of the coronavirus.
In all, 254 people arrived in France from the Chinese city of Wuhan, where the deadly virus was first detected, on the second such flight.
“About 20 people who presented symptoms have stayed on the tarmac” at Istres airport in the south of France to undergo further testing, Agnès Buzyn said. They included French and non-European nationals, Agence France-Presse reported.
Tests were carried out to establish whether they had the coronavirus and the results will be known on Monday.
A further 16 foreign nationals displaying symptoms were flown back to their respective countries.
The second evacuation flight was carrying people of 30 different nationalities, most of them European. Sixty-five of the returnees were French.
A total of 124 non-French evacuees swiftly travelled on to their home countries, according to military sources in Istres, AFP says.
Nine Belgians and three of their partners as well as 15 Dutch citizens and their two Chinese partners were isolated after travelling on from Istres to a military airport near Brussels, according to Belga news agency.
However, 60 others from Mexico, Rwanda, Brazil and Georgia remained on French soil, Buzyn told reporters.
So far in France, only six cases of coronavirus have been detected.
Updated
China’s state-run People’s Daily is publishing pictures of the air force bringing in medical staff and supplies to Wuhan.
Eight large transport aircraft dispatched by the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) air force Sunday landed at Wuhan Tianhe International Airport, delivering 795 military medical staff and 58 tonnes of supplies to help the city fight against the novel #coronavirus epidemic. pic.twitter.com/AjKL34xVwp
— People's Daily, China (@PDChina) February 3, 2020
Vietnam confirms three new cases
Vietnam has confirmed three new cases of coronavirus, bringing the total cases in the country to eight.
11th case confirmed in the US
Health officials in California said there were now 11 confirmed cases of the virus in the country, adding three to the previous tally.
A woman in Santa Clara county and the family she is staying with are being quarantined and she is now in isolation at their home. However, the woman, who recently travelled to Wuhan, was not sick enough to require admission to hospital.
The other two cases involve a married couple in San Benito county, the San Benito county public health services announced in a release late on Sunday.
Updated
Summary
Here’s a summary of what we know so far today on the coronavirus outbreak:
- 361 people have died in China, one in the Philippines
- Confirmed infections in China are 17,238 (official Chinese figures include Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau).
- Outside of China, infections stand at more than 150 (for simplicity of comparison between the numbers, I have removed Taiwan [10], Hong Kong [15] and Macau [8] from this global figure).
- China’s markets plunged on opening, on the first day of trading since the extended lunar new year. Shanghai fell 8.7%.
- A Qantas charter flight carrying Australian citizens has departed Wuhan.
- New Zealand has banned foreign travellers from China from entering.
- The new hospital in Wuhan, built to accommodate coronavirus patients, is due to open on Monday.
Updated
The eastern Chinese city of Wenzhou in Zhejiang province on Sunday closed roads and confined people to their homes to try and stop the spread of the virus. Wenzhou, an industrial port city, is 800km (500 miles) from Wuhan, where the health emergency began. It has a population of around three million.
Three officials in China’s Zhejiang province are reported to have been “penalised for their negligence of duty after failing to report seven infected cases” of coronavirus, Chinese state media is reporting.
One source of figures on the deaths and infections from the coronavirus that we have been referring to is from Johns Hopkins University in the US. Its tracker shows Chinese and global cases of infections and deaths, including visual representations of the virus. Below is a snapshot of what it’s showing now. The headline figures are:
- 17,318 confirmed cases globally
- 362 deaths globally (all in China except one in Philippines)
It’s worth noting that they separate out cases in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, whereas the Chinese Health Commission groups them in their figure all under China.
Updated
China’s currency, the yuan, is also having a torrid time today. It has fallen back through the seven-to-the-dollar mark to trade at its lowest point since December.
The higher the number the weaker it is because, unlike with most other currencies, its movements tend to be expressed in yuan rather than the US dollar. For example, the Aussie dollar is usually quoted in US cents – today it’s standing at US$0.669.
Onshore #yuan and offshore yuan both break through 7/USD mark pic.twitter.com/0TcWVWeZTj
— YUAN TALKS (@YuanTalks) February 3, 2020
Yuan crashes through 7 to the dollar pic.twitter.com/qRUvDqSerW
— Tom Orlik (@TomOrlik) February 3, 2020
Updated
Chinese commodities trading suspended
Trading in a whole range of commodities has been suspended in China after losses quickly exceeded the daily limit today.
The maximum level of losses, known as limit-down in trading parlance, was reached for iron ore, nickel, copper, eggs, palm oil, crude oil and other produce.
China's futures market slumped at the open on Mon, with iron ore, screw thread, crude oil, palm oil, eggs contracts falling their daily limit amid #coronavirus outbreak. Monday is the first trading day after Chinese spring festival holiday. pic.twitter.com/UDxbNQYa9K
— Global Times (@globaltimesnews) February 3, 2020
Here are some images from the state broadcaster CGTN from inside the new hospital built to take coronavirus patients in Wuhan.
How does #China's makeshift hospital, built within days to treat patients infected with #coronavirus in #Wuhan, look like?
— CGTN (@CGTNOfficial) February 3, 2020
These images show the inside facility of Huoshenshan Hospital, which is set to open Monday with 1,400 medical staff, all from the PLA, and 1,000 beds pic.twitter.com/1T0MVANPFa
Back to the markets. The Shenzhen composite is down 9.13% and the yuan has been fixed at its lowest point this year in onshore trade.
The Shenzhen market is smaller than the Shanghai one and is made up of smaller, more tech-based companies. It makes the Shenzhen index more like the US Nasdaq.
The Shenzhen index slumped 9.13% and the ChiNext index lost 8.23% despite a slew of efforts announced Sunday to assuage investors amid the spread of #coronavirus. pic.twitter.com/sXloMXpbNl
— Global Times (@globaltimesnews) February 3, 2020
More bad new from China is that factory activity slowed in January, according to data in a closely watched survey released today.
The Caixin/Markit manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) eased to 51.1 from 51.5 in December, missing expectations but remaining above the 50-mark that separates growth from contraction for the sixth straight month. Analysts had expected a reading of 51.3.
Industrial profits also fell 6.3% on a year earlier to 588.39bn yuan ($85.22bn) in December, official data showed on Monday.
#CoronaVirus #Shanghai $SSE https://t.co/TyiD7ZHF01
— Trader Jim 🇬🇷 📈 (@GreekTrader96) February 3, 2020
China markets playing catch up on a week of terrible virus news. Shanghai plummets at the open... pic.twitter.com/XCgca7m8CN
— Tom Orlik (@TomOrlik) February 3, 2020
Updated
China’s acting ambassador to Israel apologised on Sunday after comparing the closure of several national borders to Chinese citizens amid fears of a new virus from China to the turning away of Jewish refugees during the Holocaust, the Associated Press reports.
Dai Yuming told reporters at an English-language press conference in Tel Aviv that the “errors” to limit or even ban entries of Chinese citizens reminded him of the old days, the old stories that happened in the second world war, the Holocaust, the darkest days in human history.
The Chinese embassy in Israel later issued a statement saying there was no intention whatsoever to compare the Holocaust with the current situation and the efforts taken by the Israeli government to protect its citizens.
“We would like to apologise if someone understood our message the wrong way,” the embassy said.
#Chinese embassy apologizes for comparing border closure to Holocaust
— The Jerusalem Post (@Jerusalem_Post) February 2, 2020
👉 https://t.co/SvKadC69GY https://t.co/IIjhQHemXK
Updated
While trading in Shanghai plunged on opening, Chinese state media is reporting that shares of Improve Medical, which makes face masks, jumped 8.5%.
#Facemask shares rose by nearly 8.5% in the first five minutes of trading on Mon morning. Shares of Improve Medical touched the trading ceiling. (File Photo) pic.twitter.com/MXyx2oN5Wo
— Global Times (@globaltimesnews) February 3, 2020
Updated
Just some more on the new Wuhan hospital, the Global Times has tweeted photos of military medics waiting to admit the first patients.
1,400 military medics are preparing to admit the first #coronavirus patients at Wuhan’s Huoshenshan hospital on Monday. Many of them have the experience in fighting #SARS. https://t.co/Dq0ZQnTocq pic.twitter.com/G7K7wlxaP7
— Global Times (@globaltimesnews) February 3, 2020
You can read more on the Chinese stock market’s fall from Martin Farrer here, who says the fall is the biggest daily drop for five years as traders rushed to sell amid continued fears about the impact on the global economy of the coronavirus epidemic.
The benchmark Shanghai composite index fell 8.7% at the opening on Monday on a wave of negative sentiment that has built up for 10 days during the long market shutdown for the lunar new year.
Updated
Chinese shares plunge 8.7% at the opening
Stocks in Shanghai have fallen 8.7% at the opening.
The maximum allowed before trading is suspended for the day is 10%. So we could be in for a short day.
Chinese stocks post the single-biggest decline since the global financial crisis at the reopen.#CoronavirusOutbreak #China pic.twitter.com/I2QSXuCnlU
— David Ingles (@DavidInglesTV) February 3, 2020
The PBOC injects 150bn to help but markets are in the deep red after a week of pent-up demand to buy/sell. This is one of the most volatile markets in the world but the downside trigger is -10% so won't fall more than -10% on a day. So, get ready. Buckle up & enjoy the volatility
— Trinh Nguyen (@Trinhnomics) February 3, 2020
One of the two new hospitals that have been built in Wuhan to cope with the coronavirus is due to start receiving patients today, according to the state-run Global Times.
The #SARS treatment-model #Huoshenshan Hospital in Wuhan which will officially receive coronavirus patients from Monday can conduct remote medical treatment. https://t.co/re78dNJMfL pic.twitter.com/g9L2mCE7Op
— Global Times (@globaltimesnews) February 3, 2020
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Deutsche Welle’s east Asia correspondent, William Yang, is reporting a Chinese ministry of environment statement announcing it would monitor waste water from hospitals in order to prevent the virus from being spread via human excrement and waste water.
And #China’s Ministry of Environment issued a statement late last night, announcing that in order to prevent the virus from being spread through human excrement and waste waters, they will monitor waster waters from hospitals and townships, regulate the processing of ... pic.twitter.com/nZvB63oYWN
— William Yang (@WilliamYang120) February 2, 2020
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We’ve already seen stocks fall across a lot of Asia Pacific this morning amid mounting concerns about the spread of the virus. But the real action will begin in about 20 minutes when trading opens on stock markets in Shanghai and Shenzhen, which have been closed for 10 days and therefore ringfenced from the heavy selling seen across the world last week.
#GlobalUpdate | Asian stocks fall in Monday morning trade as investors await reopening of #China’s markets amid the ongoing #coronavirus outbreak pic.twitter.com/9nf3M2ZsXC
— ET NOW (@ETNOWlive) February 3, 2020
China’s authorities have pumped US$170bn into the financial system in order to try to head off the impact of investors wanting to offload shares. It’s what my colleague Graeme Wearden calls a “reverse-repo” operation. He explains it all here:
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Increased death toll and confirmed cases of infection
The Chinese news outlet Tencent is reporting new figures on the virus inside China.
The outlet, which as been very accurate during the outbreak, now lists deaths at 361 and confirmed infections in China at 17,238.
I’m trying to confirm those figures with the Chinese Health Commission, but its website tends to be quite hard to load, which I assume is due to the number of people trying to access it.
The National Health Commission’s official figures: Diagnoses / Suspected cases / Cured / Deaths. pic.twitter.com/jAv8xnUdSZ
— Bill Birtles (@billbirtles) February 3, 2020
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While we’re on the US, Donald Trump told Fox news the US has offered China “tremendous help” in dealing with the epidemic.
Trump’s national security adviser, Robert O’Brien, in a separate interview, said China had been more open about the coronavirus than it has been in previous crises but had not yet accepted US offers of assistance.
“So far the Chinese have been more transparent certainly than in past crises and we appreciate that,” O’Brien said in an interview with CBS’s Face the Nation.
He said Beijing has still not responded to US offers of help from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other health professionals.
“We’ve got tremendous expertise,” he said. “This is a worldwide concern. We want to help our Chinese colleagues if we can and we’ve made the offer and we’ll see if they accept the offer.”
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New travel restrictions take effect in US
The Department of Homeland Security increased measures to combat the coronavirus on Sunday, directing all flights from China and all passengers who have travelled to China within the last 14 days to be routed through one of eight US airports, effective as of 5pm eastern time in the US. “Three additional airports will be added to the list of airports authorized to receive such flights beginning at various times on Monday, February 3, 2020,” the department said.
There will be enhanced screening procedures and the “capacity to carry quarantine passengers, if needed”, the statement said.
The move follows the US decision on 31 January to ban foreign nationals who have visited China in the past two weeks.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump appeared to downplay concerns about the impact in the United States of the flu-like virus that has killed 350 people in China and spread to more than two dozen countries, telling Fox television in an interview, “We’re gonna see what happens, but we did shut it down, yes.”
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Financial markets are in for a tough day today as the economic uncertainty generated by the virus deepens.
Australian shares led the way with a 1.5% fall on the ASX200 in Sydney, while the Nikkei in Tokyo and Kospi in South Korea followed suit with losses of 1.2% and 1.35%.
Investors again flocked to safe havens such as gold and government bonds, ditching oil which fell US$0.39 to $56.24 a barrel, the lowest since January 2019.
You can read the full story here:
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New Zealand bans foreign travellers from China
New Zealand has closed its borders to any foreigners arriving from China – including those who have passed through the country in transit – and boosted its border screening in an attempt to prevent coronavirus arriving in the country.
“We have been advised by health officials that while there are still a range of unknowns in the way the virus is being transmitted, we should take a precautionary approach and temporarily stop travel into New Zealand from mainland China,” Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand’s prime minister, told reporters.
The ban will be in place for 14 days and reviewed every 48 hours. It follows similar measures taken by other countries, including Australia and the US.
There have been no confirmed cases in New Zealand.
You can read our full story below.
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The Qantas flight was scheduled to take off from Wuhan airport at 2am local time, but finally departed at 8.03am. It is estimated to arrive at Learmonth, 1,200km north of Perth, at around 3.30pm local time.
Australian charter flight departs Wuhan
Australian citizens onboard a Qantas plane have departed Wuhan. The flight chartered by the Australian government will take them into quarantine on Christmas Island, formerly used as a detention centre for refugees and asylum seekers arriving by boat.
The Qantas flight left Wuhan airport around 10 minutes ago.
The Qantas chief executive, Alan Joyce, said about 270 people were being evacuated with some health officials and 18 crew onboard.
“Of course it’s pretty complex. The Wuhan airport had been closed for a while. So we expected that it might take longer on the ground, and we have planned for that,” Joyce told ABC radio.
The Qantas flight will go to an air force base in Western Australia, from where the government will fly the passengers to Christmas Island, 1,500km (900 miles) from the mainland.
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With the death toll climbing to 360, it has passed the fatalities recorded in China for the Sars epidemic (349).
China’s Global TV network published this graph showing the progression of infections in Hubei province and Wuhan.
Central China's #Hubei Province, the epicenter of the #coronavirus outbreak, reported 2,103 new cases of the infection on Sunday, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 11,177 in the province
— CGTN (@CGTNOfficial) February 2, 2020
more: https://t.co/HbG7VtIQbH pic.twitter.com/XLAmlgtVpI
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Good morning and welcome to our coverage of the coronavirus outbreak, with me, Alison Rourke.
News just coming out of China is that the number of fatalities for the virus has now passed that of the Sars epidemic. Authorities announced a short time ago that 360 people are now known to have died in China, with confirmed cases standing at 16,615.
One person is also known to have died in the Philippines – the first outside China. The person who died was a a 44-year-old Chinese man from Wuhan.
There’s anger in China over footage of government officials in Wuhan appearing to take face masks intended for health workers.
New Zealand has announced it’s closing its borders to foreign travellers from China, following in the footsteps of several other countries, including neighbouring Australia.
More international evacuations are expected take place today, including of Australians from Wuhan.
You can get in touch with me at alison.rourke@theguardian.com or on Twitter @AlisonRourke
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