Boris Johnson was updated on the coronavirus outbreak in a call on Friday with Chief Medical Officer Professor Chris Whitty, Downing Street has said.
A No 10 spokesman said: “We are still in the containment phase. As the CMO said, it is now highly likely that the infection will spread in a significant way.
“Officials will therefore accelerate work on the delay phase of the Government’s plan.”
The spokesman said Mr Johnson will chair a meeting of the Government’s Cobra civil contingencies committee on the issue on Monday.
Iran threatens use of force to limit travel as cases rise
Iranian authorities have warned that they may use force to limit travel between cities, as the country reported 1,234 new cases of the coronavirus in the past 24 hours, a huge jump that takes the confirmed total to 4,747.
At a televised news conference, health ministry spokesman Kianoush Jahanpour also said the death toll had risen to 124. He did not elaborate on the threat to use force, though he acknowledged the virus now was in all of Iran’s 31 provinces.
The threat may be to stop people from using the closed schools and universities as an excuse to go to the Caspian Sea and other Iranian holiday spots. Semiofficial news agencies in Iran posted images of long lines of traffic of people trying to reach the Caspian coast from Tehran on Friday despite authorities earlier telling people to remain in their cities.
Updated
The first case of Covid-19 has been confirmed in Nottingham. Dr Fu-Meng Khaw, the centre director at Public Health England East Midlands, said:
Public Health England is contacting people who had close contact with one of the latest confirmed cases of Covid-19. The case is a resident of Nottingham city and recently returned from South Korea.
Close contacts will be given health advice about symptoms and emergency contact details to use if they become unwell in the 14 days after contact with the confirmed case(s).
This tried and tested method will ensure we are able to minimise any risk to them and the wider public.
Updated
Governments using lockdowns and quarantines to fight the deadly new coronavirus must ensure people’s rights are respected and avoid unintended consequences, the UN rights chief said on Friday.
Michelle Bachelet said the response to the Covid-19 disease caused by the virus must place human dignity and rights at its centre.
Her office said lockdowns, quarantines and similar measures “should always be carried out in strict accordance with human rights standards and in a way that is necessary and proportionate”.
Bachelet’s comments came as the number of people infected worldwide neared 100,000 across 85 countries, with more than 3,300 lives lost.
Updated
China may soon lift the quarantine imposed on the province at the centre of the coronavirus outbreak, which has been under lockdown for more than a month, a senior government official hinted on Friday.
Asked about the measures taken in central Hubei province to contain the spread of the virus, Ding Xiangyang, the deputy secretary general of China’s state council, told journalists: “The day everyone is waiting for will not be too far away.”
But Ding stressed that cases in Hubei – and its capital, Wuhan, where the virus emerged – still made up a huge proportion of the national toll.
Fifty-six million people in Hubei have been effectively quarantined since late January to stop the virus from spreading across the country when people returned to work from their hometowns after the extended lunar new year break.
Updated
The global spread of the coronavirus outbreak has continued to roil financial markets, with European stocks plunging on Friday amid continued growth fears.The FTSE 100 fell by 3.5% in morning trading, with hotel and travel stocks among the worst affected. Shares on benchmark indices in Germany and France fell by 3.7% and 3.8% respectively.
Investors are moving their money out of riskier company shares towards the relative safety of government debt. That demand for safer assets has broken records in the bond markets. Yields on 10-year bonds from the UK and the US both hit all-time lows on Friday morning. Yields move inversely to prices; when yields fall it indicates an increase in demand.
Oil prices are also taking a hammering this morning, with investors doubting whether Opec production cuts will be enough to sustain prices – given the big fall in demand caused by coronavirus disruption. The price of Brent crude futures (the North Sea oil benchmark) has fallen by 2.7% today to lows of $48.54 per barrel.You can follow all the market moves on the business live blog.
Updated
Apple and Google are both rejecting apps related to the coronavirus, according to a report from CNBC, as the companies try to limit the potential for misinformation and profiteering on their app stores.
Developers told the outlet that Apple had banned their apps, which would have allowed people to see stats about the spread of the virus, because although they were publishing data from credible sources, they were not themselves an official health organisation or government.
Google hasn’t said anything about a ban to its developers, but is limiting results on the play store, its app market, for searches relating to the term. It’s not clear if it’s also preventing the apps from wider distribution.
In the early days of the crisis, sales of the long-running pandemic simulator Plague Inc rose dramatically across China, before eventually being removed from the nation’s app stores entirely.
Updated
Indonesia confirmed on Friday that two more people had tested positive for the coronavirus, taking the total number of confirmed cases to four.
The two Indonesians were in their 30s and had been tested after being in contact with the first two confirmed cases, health ministry official Achmad Yurianto told a news briefing.
Indonesia had announced its first confirmed cases on Monday, a mother and her daughter who live in the Depok area near Jakarta.
Updated
The coronavirus outbreak will have a significant impact on developing Asian economies due to lowering tourism and travel, as well as supply chain disruptions and the impact of the virus on health, according to an analysis by the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
The magnitude of the economic losses will depend on how the outbreak evolves, which remains highly uncertain, the bank said. The range of scenarios explored in the analysis suggests a global impact in the range of $77bn to $347bn, or 0.1% to 0.4% of global gross domestic product (GDP).
Updated
Cameroon has confirmed its first case of the novel coronavirus – a French national who arrived in the capital Yaounde in February – the government said on Friday. The man, 58, has been placed in isolation in a hospital, the health ministry said in a statement.
In sub-Saharan Africa, Senegal has registered four cases, all foreign nationals, and South Africa and Nigeria have one case each since the outbreak emerged in December in China.
Updated
The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany has tripled since Tuesday, rising to 534, it was announced yesterday. Official data can be found here.
Updated
Thanks to everyone who has been sharing links and updates with me. If you have a news tip to share on the coronavirus outbreak, then please do get in touch.
Email: sarah.marsh@theguardian.com
Twitter: @sloumarsh
Instagram: sarah_marsh_journalist
A Coronation Street cast member is self-isolating as a precaution over coronavirus. A spokeswoman said:
The cast member concerned took the decision to self-isolate as a precaution. They haven’t been in to work and they are showing no symptoms. There has been no disruption to filming.”
It comes after the release of the new James Bond film was delayed due to the outbreak. No Time to Die has been rescheduled from April to November as cinemas across Asia have closed.
Updated
First death in the Netherlands
An 86-year-year old man infected with the coronavirus died in the Netherlands on Friday, the country’s first known fatality from the epidemic, the national health institute said.
He died in hospital in the port city of Rotterdam. The Netherlands reported its first coronavirus infection on 27 February. As of Thursday, there were 82 confirmed cases of Covid-19 there.
Updated
More than 60 staff at Cork University hospital have been asked to self-isolate following a case of community transmission of Covid-19 at the hospital.
The health service executive’s national director of acute operations, Liam Woods, said steps have been taken overnight including visitor restriction and curtailment of some elective procedures and outpatient services.
He said the hospital will have to adjust services and there will be a redeployment of staff, RTE news reported.
A helpline is available at 1850 24 1850 and is open Monday to Friday from 8am to 8pm and from 9am to 5pm at the weekend and Woods said people should call that if they have inquiries or concerns rather than the 999 or 112 emergency numbers.
Updated
Czech citizens should avoid all travel in Italy, and those returning from the European country worst-hit by the coronavirus outbreak should stay home for two weeks, the prime minister, Andrej Babis, said on Twitter.
The Czech Republic has reported 12 cases of coronavirus in people or their close contacts who have been in northern Italye. Families returning home from ski trips in the area during the school holidays risk further cases.
“We call on all citizens of the Czech Republic not to travel ANYWHERE in Italy,” Babis said in a Twitter post. “And those who are coming back to stay home for 14 days after their return.”
In a separate post he asked companies to find ways to let employees work from home if possible.
Právě jsme s epidemiologem Romanem Prymulou vyhodnotili vývoj epidemie koronaviru v Itálii. Mezidenní nárůst o 769 nových případů a úmrtí o 41 případů. Vyzýváme všechny občany ČR, aby nejezdili KAMKOLIV na území Itálie. A ty, kteří se vrací, aby po návratu zůstali 14 dní doma.
— Andrej Babiš (@AndrejBabis) March 6, 2020
Updated
The Vatican on Friday reported its first coronavirus case, saying it had suspended outpatient services at its health clinic after a patient tested positive for Covid-19.
The clinic inside the tiny city state – which has some 1,000 residents – will be deep cleaned, while the emergency room will remain open, spokesman Matteo Bruni told AFP.
The patient tested positive on Thursday. The clinic is used by priests, residents and employees - including those now retired - as well as their relatives.
Bruni said the Vatican was getting in touch with all those who had passed through the clinic, as per protocol.
Health officials in Ireland are trying to trace dozens more people who could have been exposed to coronavirus after the number of confirmed cases in the country doubled in 24 hours.
It was announced last night that 13 people have been diagnosed with the new coronavirus, as seven more people tested positive yesterday.
The number of cases of coronavirus in University Hospital Limerick has increased to six, it was confirmed this Friday morning.
The latest two confirmed cases of the virus are linked to the original outbreak in the West of Ireland earlier this week involving a family of two adults and two children.
In a press statement released before the two additional cases were confirmed this morning, a UHL spokesperson stated public health officials are “rapidly” working to identify and contact those who had any possible contact with the individual during said time.
“UL Hospitals Group and HSE Mid West Community Healthcare can confirm they are working closely with public health colleagues in tracing contacts of four confirmed cases of COVID-19 (novel coronavirus),” the statement reads.
“These patients are currently isolated in hospital and receiving appropriate care. The cases were confirmed on March 4 and public health are now working rapidly to identify any contacts this small cluster may have had in the days prior to this positive result. This work will be completed as quickly as possible.
Media Statement -
— UL Hospitals (@ULHospitals) March 6, 2020
UL Hospitals Group & HSE MidWest Community Healthcare can confirm we are working closely with public health colleagues in tracing contacts of four confirmed cases of COVID-19. #Coronavirusireland #COVIDー19
📷 3 pages pic.twitter.com/dYDLDIg9m3
Updated
Victims of coronavirus fraud in the UK have lost £800,000 since February, figures show.
A range of coronavirus scams have been uncovered by a UK fraud unit, costing victims more than £800k in one month, City of London police says.
— Jamie Grierson (@JamieGrierson) March 6, 2020
The National Fraud Intelligence Bureau has identified 21 reports of fraud where coronavirus was mentioned, with victim losses in the hundreds of thousands.
Of the 21 reports, 10 were made by victims that attempted to purchase protective face masks from fraudulent sellers. One victim reported losing over £15,000 when they purchased face masks that were never delivered.
The unit has also received reports about coronavirus-themed phishing emails attempting to trick people into opening malicious attachments or revealing sensitive personal and financial information.
“One common tactic used by fraudsters is to contact potential victims over email purporting to be from research organisation’s affiliated with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO),” the bureau said.
“They claim to be able to provide the recipient with a list of coronavirus-infected people in their area. In order to access this information, the victim needs to click on a link, which leads to a malicious website, or is asked to make a payment in bitcoin.”
Reporting numbers are expected to rise as the virus continues to spread across the world.
Updated
The first case of coronavirus has been identified in Serbia. The health minister, Zlatibor Loncar, said a man has been infected with the virus.
Updated
Bollywood has called off its Oscars night, the International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) awards, because of the spreading coronavirus.
Organisers of the Indian cinema’s biggest awards ceremony said they had to postpone the three-day event in Indore starting on 27 March because of the “sensitivity” of the mounting health crisis.
The biggest names in Bollywood including Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif were due to attend the gala where “Gully Boy”, an international hit about a Mumbai rapper, was favourite for the top awards.
Organisers said in a statement: “A fresh date and plans for hosting IIFA in Madhya Pradesh will be announced at the earliest.”
With nearly 1,800 titles released in 2018, India is the world’s biggest film industry in terms of movies made and is a major exporter.
Updated
First case reported in Vatican city
Vatican City has reported its first coronavirus case. Spokesman Matteo Bruni said the discovery was made on Thursday and that outpatient services in Vatican clinics had been suspended to sanitise the areas.
More to follow …
#BREAKING Vatican reports its first #coronavirus case pic.twitter.com/kA6crZPoxt
— AFP news agency (@AFP) March 6, 2020
Updated
Adviser to Iran's foreign minister dies of coronavirus
An adviser to Iran’s foreign minister who took part in the 1979 US embassy hostage crisis has died from coronavirus, the official IRNA news agency has reported.
Hossein Sheikholeslam, “a veteran and revolutionary diplomat”, died late on Thursday, IRNA said.
Iran has been scrambling to contain the rapid spread of coronavirus, which so far has infected 3,513 people and killed at least 107 people in the Islamic republic.
Updated
A British man has tested positive for the new coronavirus in Thailand, bringing the total number of cases in the country to 48. The man had flown from London via Hong Kong.
Confirmation of the case came as health officials attempted to clarify what measures were being introduced for travellers entering the country.
Earlier this week, the country’s public health minister, Anutin Charnvirakul, posted an order on his official Facebook page stating that people arriving from Germany, Japan, South Korea, China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, France, Singapore, Italy and Iran would be required to self-quarantine for 14 days. Hours later the post was deleted, and the minister’s Facebook page went offline.
Health authorities said on Friday they would not be imposing compulsory quarantines, but that they were “recommending” that arrivals from some countries and territories stay indoors and report to authorities for monitoring. This includes travellers from China, Hong Kong, Macau, Italy, Iran and South Korea.
Arrivals from these areas will have to report on their health status daily, said Tanarak Plipat of the disease control department, or risk “punishment” under the law.
The number of cases in Thailand, which receives about 40 million foreigners a year, has remained relatively low, prompting fears that the virus is going undetected in the country. Thailand’s economy relies heavily on the tourism sector, which has been severely hit by the coronavirus outbreak.
Updated
Some key updates: Asia shares down and cruise ship hit
The number of people infected with the new virus headed toward 100,000 on Friday, with fresh disruption caused by the outbreak.
Some key updates:
• Asian shares were down following a rough day on Wall Street.
• The head of the UN’s food agency, the World Food Program, warned of the potential of absolute devastation as the outbreaks effects ripple through Africa and the Middle East.
• Signs of the virus shifting away from its origins in China were becoming clearer each day, as the country reported 143 new cases Friday, the same as a day earlier. Just a month ago, China was reporting several thousand new cases a day.
• The second hardest-hit country, South Korea, was also registering a notable decline in new infections and the World Health Organization’s leader said he was seeing encouraging signs there. South Korea reported 505 additional cases Friday, down from a high of 851 on Tuesday.
• Cases were increasing in Germany and France, but Italy remained the centre of Europe’s outbreak, particularly in its north. The country has had 148 fatalities, making it the deadliest site for the virus outside China.
• Iran’s government planned to set up checkpoints to limit travel and urged people to stop using paper money as the country has counted more than 3,500 cases and at least 107 deaths.
• In the US there have been more than 230 cases, with Washington state hit hard. Officials are so concerned about having space to care for the sick there that they were expected to close a $4m deal on Friday to take over a roadside motel. The plan to turn the 84-room EconoLodge into a quarantine facility was not sitting well with everyone, including the police chief in the town where its located, who called it ill-advised and dangerous.
• To the south, on the Pacific coast, California National Guard paratroopers were lowered from a military helicopter to deliver virus test kits to the bow of the Grand Princess cruise ship. The vessel, with thousands onboard, was ordered to stay at sea after a traveler from its previous voyage died of the coronavirus and at least four others were infected.
Updated
A few front pages from Australia today.
School Shut After Virus Infects Teen. Contagion 'unlikely' to be contained - https://t.co/AUkrtwxGFV @yoni_bashan @NC_Robinson#frontpagestoday #Australia #TheAustralian #buyapaper 🗞 pic.twitter.com/xmaRph3w6Q
— Front Pages Today (@ukpapers) March 6, 2020
Tourism Blow As Travel Ban Widens. Italy Australians to self-isolate if sick - https://t.co/d34sk2VCqb @ErykBagshaw#frontpagestoday #Australia #TheAge #buyapaper 🗞 pic.twitter.com/v6lWFHYLeh
— Front Pages Today (@ukpapers) March 6, 2020
The government’s chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance, said: “We have been looking at this right from the outset with very sophisticated mathematical modelling, and we are confident of refining the death rate, the mortality rate, down, and we really think 1% is probably the most accurate figure at the moment ... It may be lower.”
Here are some of the newspaper front pages today.
Guardian front page, Friday 6 March 2020: First coronavirus death in UK pic.twitter.com/kceHPywjek
— The Guardian (@guardian) March 5, 2020
The front page of tomorrow's Daily Telegraph:
— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) March 5, 2020
'Patients told to stay home if they get 'mild' virus'
More here: https://t.co/OlbzmxAa8G#TomorrowsPapersToday #coronavirus #coronavirusUK pic.twitter.com/8imlQACcJj
Morning readers. Stay with @beltel for all your breaking news. Here's a look at the front page of the Belfast Telegraph this morning. pic.twitter.com/FqCStQLsJI
— Belfast Telegraph (@BelTel) March 6, 2020
Updated
The temple of Rome of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced it will close beginning on Friday, 6 March, in response to concerns about the spreading Covid-19 virus.
The Rome Italy Temple was previously scheduled to close beginning from 21 March for its annual maintenance and cleaning, but the area presidency stated its desire to bring forward the closure date to align with the Italian government’s directives to close universities and schools.
Updated
The city of Bethlehem was on lockdown on Friday, after the first Palestinian cases of the coronavirus were discovered there. The Palestinian government announced a month-long state of emergency late on Thursday after seven cases were identified, while the Israeli defence ministry said it had imposed emergency measures on Bethlehem, with all people “forbidden from entering or leaving the city”. It added that the lockdown had been imposed “in coordination with the Palestinian Authority”.
Updated
Control and prevention of the coronavirus in Beijing is at its most challenging period, one of city’s government officials said on Friday. Zhang Tongjun, who is part of Beijing’s working group that is handling the spread of the epidemic, made the comments at a news briefing.
Updated
The UK government’s chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance, has said he does not think a working vaccine will be produced in time for the coronavirus outbreak.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I don’t think we will get the vaccine for this outbreak. I don’t think we’ll get something in time or at scale for this outbreak.”
Updated
A useful thread from an NHS doctor about the coronavirus.
Everything we know about #coronavirus #Covid19 so far.
— Dr Dominic Pimenta (@juniordrblog) March 4, 2020
A thread by a doctor. /thread pic.twitter.com/6qc6yrX4dg
A coronavirus case has been linked to Trinity College Dublin. The university has written to staff and students to inform them, saying a section of its Dublin city centre campus will be closed as a precautionary measure, although other parts are open as normal.
It said the situation is fluid and it advised its 18,000 students and 3,000 staff to keep up to date with communications from Trinity and official government advice.
The Indian government has said visas granted to people from Italy, Iran, South Korea, Japan and issued on or before 3 March and who have not yet entered India, will be suspended immediately.
“Such foreign nationals may not enter India from any air, land or seaport ICPs. Those requiring to travel to India due to compelling reasons, may seek fresh visa from nearest Indian embassy/consulate,” the government website reads.
Sofia Rehn, 37, from Stockholm in Sweden, said her partner has been told he cannot go to India as he is an Italian national, despite not having lived in the country for some time.
We booked a holiday to India nine months ago. A close friend is getting married near Delhi and we were planning a two-week holiday. It was all planned but we just needed to get a visa. A week ago we tried to submit our details and mine was fine. I got it through after 48 hours. But for my boyfriend we were told citizens from Italy could not do an e-visa (online application). We were told by the embassy as my partner was Italian and lives abroad he may have do a paper visa. On Tuesday we were told it was the coronavirus situation in Italy that was causing problems, but because he does not live there it should be fine. We were told he would just need to do a health screening and a paper visa.
But yesterday we were told he was unable to get a visa as India has become very strict and no one with an Italian passport from anywhere is allowed to enter, only diplomats if they do a health screening and certificate showing they don’t have Covid-19.
If you are having difficulties with travel, please share your stories with us: sarah.marsh@theguardian.com.
Updated
Some of the latest updates are below.
How many people have been infected now?
There are now over 98,000 coronaviruses cases globally and more than 3,300 people have died, according to a Reuters tally. China’s central province of Hubei, excluding its provincial capital Wuhan, reported no new cases over 24 hours for the first time since the outbreak began.
Britons among those on stranded cruise ship off California
Test kits were flown to the idled Grand Princess cruise ship off San Francisco, where at least 35 people have developed flu-like symptoms. It comes as the vessel was linked to two other confirmed cases.
Death toll in Italy has risen by 41
The death toll from an outbreak in Italy has risen by 41 over the past 24 hours to 148, the civil protection agency said on Thursday, with the contagion in Europe’s worst-hit country showing no sign of slowing.
Nationwide school closures in Japan
The Japanese prime minister, Shinzo Abe, announced a nationwide school closure. The policy has been roundly criticised as counterintuitive, disruptive and risky given it has pushed tens of thousands of pupils into daycare centres instead, which now have to improvise measures to try to stop the children from contracting the illness. “We have the children spend all day at the same seat, eating their snacks and lunches there too,” Stella Kids manager Ikuyo Kamimura said. “They face the same direction so they don’t get infected by droplets.”
Updated
Britons stranded on cruise ship on its way back to California
More than 140 Britons are stranded on a cruise ship off California’s coast amid coronavirus fears. The ship was on its way back to California from Hawaii with more than 2,000 passengers onboard when the alarm was raised.
Officials flew test kits by helicopter out to the Grand Princess after the authorities learned that a patient who had died from the coronavirus had previously traveled on the vessel. Some passengers and crew members onboard have been showing symptoms.
Updated
For readers in England, a reminder that you can read all the latest government advice on what to do regarding the coronavirus here. Here is a broader page for the UK and something for our Scottish readers.
Updated
A pop-up shop has appeared in Washington for coronavirus prevention supplies. As local stores sell out of masks and hand sanitiser, Adilisha Patrom, owner of a co-working and event space next to Gallaudet University, stepped in.
The Associated Press reports that inside Patrom’s shop are different models of face masks and hand sanitiser bottles in various sizes. They are displayed along a stack of information sheets from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
A Florida native who came to Washington to attend Howard University, Patrom, 29, sells her masks for between $5 (£3.85) and $20 (15.41), depending on the model. She also puts together prevention kits with masks, surgical gloves and sanitiser.
Updated
In Norway, at least 90 people have been infected, with at least 67 of those affected noted to have been travelling in Italy. Italy has confirmed about 3,800 infected and closed all its schools on Thursday until mid-March. The director of health directorate, Bjørn Guldvog, urged people who are in quarantine to stay home.
Updated
Japan has cancelled a memorial for victims of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Crown Prince Akishino and the prime minister, Shinzo Abe, had been scheduled to speak at the event next Wednesday. The government memorial in past years was broadcast live to towns worst-hit by the disaster, but the local events were being cancelled or trimmed back as well.
The chief cabinet secretary, Yoshihide Suga, said on Friday the cancellation was unavoidable because Japan “must take all possible steps to stop the further spread of the virus in the country”. Japan has urged schools to close nationwide and limited large gatherings of people among its containment measures.
Updated
Hello to everyone following the live blog today. I am going to be keeping you informed on all the latest updates around the coronavirus outbreak. Please do keep me up to date on any developments in your area and share news tips with me.
If you have any specific questions I will also try to answer them but be mindful that I am getting a lot of emails. Thanks
Email: sarah.marsh@theguardian.com
Twitter: @sloumarsh
Instagram: sarah_marsh_journalist
Updated
The Australian government has discussed a number of measures to make sure the country is prepared for the coronavirus, including the use of telehealth to support care in the home of elderly people.
The discussion took place at the Australian government coronavirus primary care preparedness forum held on Friday in Canberra. The forum was convened by the chief medical officer, Prof Brendan Murphy, who hasn’t had a day off since the outbreak began.
Their discussion included protective equipment (PPE), consistency of communication and messaging, and the potential impacts of Covid-19 on business continuity for primary care services. The challenges facing rural and remote, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, were also discussed.
A range of options were discussed to boost primary care including the role of telehealth and other models of care in the response. The public can soon expect a community-focused advertising campaign with nationally consistent messaging. Doctors can expect a nationally consistent clinical triage plan that can be shared with all primary care providers and their staff.
The government said in a statement that if widespread community transmission of Covid-19 takes place there will be a rapid expansion of pathology testing arrangements, using both the public and private sectors. “A new health system model of care will be rolled out to manage the triage, testing and clinical care of people with symptoms of Covid-19, people who are at risk of exposure, and people who are especially vulnerable to the impact of Covid-19 infection. This would include telehealth approaches and telephone triage lines. Consistent national triage messaging for all primary care services,” it said.
Current Current information on the novel coronavirus outbreak is available at the department’s website.
Updated
The crown prince of the oil-rich emirate of Abu Dhabi tweeted on Friday that he had discussed cooperation in fighting the new coronavirus with the US billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates.
Abu Dhabi is the capital of the United Arab Emirates federation, which has reported at least 27 coronavirus cases.
“My good friend @BillGates and I discussed over a call the importance of enhancing cooperation between multilateral institutions and private entities in the global fight against all diseases and Covid-19 in particular,” Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, the de facto ruler of the UAE, tweeted. “We have been and will remain strong partners in this effort.”
My good friend @BillGates and I discussed over a call the importance of enhancing cooperation between multilateral institutions and private entities in the global fight against all diseases and covid19 in particular. We have been and will remain strong partners in this effort.
— محمد بن زايد (@MohamedBinZayed) March 6, 2020
Updated
Hubei province reports no new cases for the first time since outbreak began
China’s central province of Hubei – excluding the provincial capital Wuhan – reported zero new cases of coronavirus over 24 hours for the first time during the outbreak.
It comes as authorities continued to contain imported infections in other parts of the country. Wuhan, the centre of the epidemic, confirmed 126 new cases on Thursday.
However, there were no new infections in the province apart from those, the National Health Commission said on Friday.
Elsewhere in China, schools in provinces where there have been no new cases for a number of days, put in place plans for reopening. Qinghai, a northwestern province in China that had reported no new infections for 29 days as of March 5, said it would stagger the start date of different school days from March 11 to March 20, according to a notice posted on an official website on Friday.
Separately, the southwestern province of Guizhou, which reported no new infections for 18 days, had said at the end of February that schools would start from 16 March.
Updated
Food supplies: the health secretary seeks to reassure the public
The government said it is working with supermarkets to ensure food supplies as the number of people self-isolating with coronavirus is expected to rise.
The health secretary, Matt Hancock, sought to reassure the public amid panic buying in some parts of the country, with supermarkets seeing shelves cleared of items such as toilet roll and paracetamol.
Speaking on BBC’s Question Time, Mr Hancock said: “The government has supplies of the key things that are needed, and, within the food supply, we are absolutely confident that there won’t be a problem there.
“And, crucially, we are working to makes sure that if people are self isolating, they will be able to get the food and supplies that they need.”
He said there was “absolutely no need” for individual people “to go round buying more than they need.”
The capital of South Korea expressed extreme regret Friday over Japan’s ordering 14-day quarantines on all visitors from the country due to a surge in viral infections.
Seoul warned of retaliation if Tokyo doesnt withdraw the restrictions. The response came a day after Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced the quarantine, which also applies to visitors from China.
The Japanese government yesterday issued what’s realistically a full entry ban on our people, South Korean Prime Minister Chung Se-kyun said during a government meeting on quarantine strategies. He said he considered it “regrettable and demand the excessive and irrational measure to be immediately withdrawn”.
Hello everyone. I am taking over the live blog and will be giving you all the latest updates on the coronavirus outbreak. I’d love to hear from you, so if you have any news tips or wanted to share a view of what is happening where you are, then please do get in touch.
Email: sarah.marsh@theguardian.com
Twitter: @sloumarsh
Instagram: sarah_marsh_journalist
Just in case you agree with the WHO that the world isn’t taking coronavirus seriously enough, today the Guardian has a long read on why we need worst-cast scenario thinking to prevent pandemics.
In 1347, death came to Europe. It entered through the Crimean town of Caffa, brought by the besieging Mongol army. Fleeing merchants unwittingly carried it back to Italy. From there, it spread to France, Spain and England. Then up as far as Norway and across the rest of Europe – all the way to Moscow. Within six years, the Black Death had taken the continent.
Tens of millions fell gravely ill, their bodies succumbing to the disease in different ways. Some bore swollen buboes on their necks, armpits and thighs; some had their flesh turn black from haemorrhaging beneath the skin; some coughed blood from the necrotic inflammation of their throats and lungs. All forms involved fever, exhaustion and an intolerable stench from the material that exuded from the body.
Our population now is a thousand times greater than it was for most of human history, so there are vastly more opportunities for new human diseases to originate. And our farming practices have created vast numbers of animals living in unhealthy conditions within close proximity to humans.
Read the in-depth story by Toby Ord below:
Here's the Covid-19 news today so far
Today coronavirus ignited a diplomatic row between South Korea and Japan, as S&P projected a $211bn blow to economies in Pacific Asia, and more businesses sent employees home.
- The coronavirus outbreak has ignited a diplomatic row between Japan and South Korea, after Tokyo said it would quarantine all passengers arriving from the country, which has the highest number of Covid-19 cases outside China.
- A top Chinese official visiting Wuhan has been heckled by residents who yelled “fake, fake, everything is fake” as she inspected the work of a neighbourhood committee charged with taking care of quarantined residents.
- The World Health Organisation warned countries: “This is not a drill” as medical doctors sounded warnings over a “disturbing” lack of preparedness.
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Coronavirus could knock $211bn off Asia-Pacific economies, S&P global ratings said.
- Donald Trump has admitted that the coronavirus “might have an impact” on the US economy but said it would pass.
- US Vice President Mike Pence has said there were too few coronavirus testing kits to be able to meet demand, CNN reports.
- ‘More scary than coronavirus’: South Korea’s health alerts have exposed private lives. The avalanche of information in the alerts has included some embarrassing revelations. One involved a man in his 50s who returned from Wuhan province in China – where the outbreak started – with his 30-year-old secretary. Both were infected in the early days of the epidemic.
- French president Emmanuel Macron has said a coronavirus epidemic is “inevitable” in France. There are 423 infections and seven people have died.
- The Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas declared a 30-day state of emergency after coronavirus cases were reported in the West Bank town of Bethlehem.
The latest Coronavirus developments at a glance:
Updated
Psychologists warn that the coronavirus outbreak has the ingredients to tip society into a state of panic if not carefully handled.
“If you look at the historical record you’ll find that when outbreaks of novel disease emerge they do trigger high levels of anxiety and uncertainty and dread,” said Monica Schoch-Spana, a senior scientist at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security.
The invisibility of infectious disease makes it particularly potent as an agent of anxiety, according to Schoch-Spana, whose research focuses on community responses to extreme events.
WHO says seven confirmed Covid-19 cases in the Palestinian Territories
The World Health Organization has added the occupied Palestinian territories to its updated list of confirmed locations with coronavirus, the first designation for the area since the outbreak began.
In a statement, the global body said the Palestinian Ministry of Health had confirmed seven cases of Covid-19. On Thursday, Palestinian authorities said they suspected cases might arise after a group of Greek tourists who visited the holy city of Bethlehem tested positive for Covid-19 following their return to Greece.
To prevent contagion, the Palestinian Authority has effectively shut down the West Bank for a month, closing all schools, and banning tourists from booking hotel rooms.
Israel, which occupies the West Bank, also closed military checkpoints leading to Bethlehem. So far, no cases have been reported in Gaza, which is geographically isolated from the West Bank and blockaded by Israel and Egypt. Israel has confirmed 16 cases, all of them people who have been isolated.
‘This is not a drill’: WHO urges world to take virus more seriously
World health officials have warned that countries are not taking the coronavirus crisis seriously enough, as outbreaks surged across Europe and in the United States where medical workers sounded warnings over a “disturbing” lack of hospital preparedness, Reuters reports.
The World Health Organization warned Thursday that a “long list” of countries were not showing “the level of political commitment” needed to “match the level of the threat we all face”.
“This is not a drill,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters.
“This epidemic is a threat for every country, rich and poor.”
Tedros called on the heads of government in every country to take charge of the response and “coordinate all sectors”, rather than leaving it to health ministries.
What is needed, he said, is “aggressive preparedness”.
‘Fake, Fake’: senior Chinese leader heckled by residents on visit to coronavirus city
A top Chinese official visiting Wuhan has been heckled by residents who yelled “fake, fake, everything is fake” as she inspected the work of a neighbourhood committee charged with taking care of quarantined residents.
Vice-premier Sun Chunlan, one of the most senior government officials to visit the centre of the coronavirus outbreak, toured a residential community in Wuhan’s Qingshan district on Thursday.
Videos posted online showed Sun and a delegation walking along the grounds while residents appeared to shout from their apartment windows, “fake, fake,” “it’s all fake,” as well as “e protest”.
Some could be heard yelling, “formalism,” a term that has employed frequently recently to criticise ineffective measures taken by government representatives for the sake of appearances.
Read the full story below:
S&P: Coronavirus could knock $211bn off Asia-Pacific economies
A fast spreading coronavirus outbreak could knock $211 billion off the combined economies of the Asia-Pacific, with Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia among the most exposed, S&P Global Ratings said on Friday.
S&P cut its 2020 growth forecast for China to 4.8% from previous estimate of 5.7%.
It forecast Australian growth to slow sharply to 1.2% from an already below-trend 2.2% in 2019.
Japan would take 0.5 percentage point hit and Korea a 1 percentage point knock.
In other forecasts, Hong Kong’s economy would likely contract by -0.8% in 2020, Singapore’s would flat line, and Thailand’s expansion likely slow to 1.6%.
S&P did not cut growth forecasts for emerging markets of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and India, citing the fact that reported infections in those countries were still low.
However, it noted the outlook could quickly deteriorate if the low level of cases was due to minimal testing and if those countries were swept up in financial contagion.
Back in Hong Kong now, asked whether school closures are effective, Dr Leung says “we won’t know definitively until we see age-stratified… data from a high burden population.”
“Children seem to be relatively spared. Are they spared because they’re not susceptible, or because they are susceptible but they don’t show too much symptoms… or because they don’t go on to infect others?
If they are susceptible but not infective then there is very little reason to go on with class suspension.
But if they’re infective then there is every reason to continue school closure.
“So why have we closed schools? Because of the precautionary principle: We cannot afford to be wrong.”
Updated
In Canada, we’re hearing reports via Canadian media of the first community transmission of the coronavirus in British Columbia. We should have more definitive information soon.
For now, the Vancouver Sun has reported that eight new cases have been confirmed in the province, including in a woman who “has not travelled recently and has had no close contacts with any recent travellers.”
We’re now hearing some of the caveats of the findings.
As Leung and Wu have stressed, the number of asymptomatic, undiagnosed infections is a largely unknown factor, and it doesn’t enter into their estimates of the symptomatic fatality rate - that’s where the 1.4% figure came from.
The estimates, which were drawn on those “exported” cases from Wuhan to their home countries, were also based on people well enough to travel, he says, so might have slightly underestimated the prevalence in Wuhan, “due to not including those who are already in a serious condition and, for example, hospitalised.”
Precise fatality risks estimates might not generalise to those outside Wuhan, because it has an explosive outbreak at the beginning, in a stressed health system without much experience treating it.
Updated
Dr Leung and Dr Wu are now taking questions:
What are the implications of your estimate on containment and mitigation of the virus?
Leung: “The fear has always been: ‘Is this another 1918?’ The straight definitive answer is no.”
“But some have…dismissively said, ‘Oh it’s just like the flu’. It’s not.”
Covid-19 is deadlier than the swine flu pandemic, let alone the seasonal flu, Leung says.
“Hong Kong does not have a self sustainable epidemic at hand yet and we need to keep up our alertness and interventions… to protect ourselves and others,” he says.
“The longer we can hold on to containment, the few people arguing to get sick.”
“This is where lives are at stake, particularly older adults over the age of 60 and 70.
South Korea vows ‘reciprocal’ countermeasures to Japan’s travel limits
South Korea said on Friday it will consider countermeasures to Japan’s “unjust, unacceptable” travel restrictions barring visitors from areas which have been hard hit by the coronavirus epidemic, Reuters reports.
The presidential National Security Council met after Japan said it would bar arrivals from highly affected areas in South Korea and Iran and order a two-week quarantine for those from other regions.
“It is unacceptable that the Japanese government took such an unjust action without prior consultations with us, and we will explore necessary countermeasures based on principles of reciprocity,” the council said in a statement.
Updated
HKU’s Professor Gabriel Leung says the Covid-19 epidemic is somewhere between the 1918 and 2009 influenza pandemics.
Leung compares the new coronavirus outbreak to Sars, Mers, 1918 influenza pandemic, and the 2009 influenza pandemic:
In Sars there were no silent carriers. If you were infected you would show [moderate to severe] symptoms and required hospitalisation, So the fatality risk was the same across the three categories [of measurement, explained earlier].
With Mers, we were only able to observe among those hospitalised, he says.
The 1918 influenza pandemic infection fatality risk was around 2-2.5%. So the symptomatic fatality risk was even higher.
“This is not the 1918 pandemic… But on the other hand it is not the 2009 swine flu pandemic either. It is much more severe, much more fatal.”
Updated
In Hong Kong, Leung says: “We estimate the symptomatic fatality rate is 1.4%”
“There is still one remaining uncertainty - out of those infected, what is the proportion who show symptoms?”
Differences in this proportion would shift the rate by about 0.1% - which is still a lot of people.
“We are close to 100,000 cases already. I’m sure that the actual number is several times that at least,” says Leung.
“So while the rest of the world is still in the stuttering beginnings of the first wave, the eventual final epidemic size is going to be many times larger.”
This means even a symptomatic 1.4% fatality risk is going to be huge, he says.
“This is a very serious concern, especially among the older adult population.”
In Hong Kong, there are some significant numbers coming from this press conference with Professor Jospeh Wu and Professor Leung of Hong Kong University.
Professor Wu is explaining that they have previously concentrated on the Wuhan rates, because that’s where the most deaths were, also using “export” rates of infection: that is the confirmed cases found among people on the charter flights out of Wuhan back to their home countries.
Countries have different left levels and different testing capabilities. For example, Singapore likely has one of the highest testing rates, says Wu.
“If you take Singapore as the gold standard, estimating the proportion of cases not detected … only 40% of cases exported around the globe were actually detected.”
Updated
South Korea’s health alerts are leading to speculation of extra-marital affairs
Nemo Kim reports:
As the number of coronavirus cases in South Korea exceeded 6,000 this week, there was a rise, too, in complaints about information overload in the form of emergency virus text alerts that have included embarrassing revelations about infected people’s private lives.
Health authorities and district offices across the country are sending “safety guidance texts” from early morning to late at night, reminding people to wash their hands thoroughly and not to touch their faces with unwashed hands.
But for many people, the texts – while intended as a public health service – are fuelling social stigma and in some cases, leading to speculation over extra-marital affairs.
Much of the criticism centres on messages that trace the movements of people who have recently been diagnosed with the virus.
“A woman in her 60s has just tested positive,” reads a typical text, “Click on the link for the places she visited before she was hospitalised,” it adds.
Updated
More from Hong Kong now, where the HKU Medical school chair of public health medicine and founding director of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Control founding director Professor Gabriel Leung is speaking.
Leung is emphasising the importance of the work they are doing, to estimate the fatality rate. It’s a complicated and “non-trivial” task, he says.
As an example, a crude or naive estimate back during the Sars epidemic, when it appeared as low as 2% during the outbreak but eventually became about 17%.
The 2013 Avian flu outbreak “started off being 70% and then it came down to 40%”.
“So it is impossible based on experience alone which way around the trajectory is going to be if you keep using that crude, simple and naive estimate.”
This is not a trivial question, and requires detailed modelling, Leung says. There are three ways of looking at the fatality rate.
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Infection fatality risk
The number of deaths is the same, but the denominator is all infected cases. Some you can observe, and some you can’t, depending on the disease.
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Symptomatic fatality risk
This uses a denominator of people who show symptoms, and hugely depends on the breadth of testing conducted.
“If it turns out that this disease, Covid-19, has quite a lot of asymptomatic cases, there will be very different estimates.”
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Hospitalisation fatality risk
This rate is determined wiht the number of people infected and hospitalised, and assumes the hospitalisation is for treatment rather than isolation purposes.
Updated
HSBC Holdings PLC has sent home more than 100 staff in London after a worker tested positive for the coronavirus, the first known case at a major company in Europe’s main financial hub, Reuters reports.
The bank also has an employee in China with the virus who is in a stable condition, interim Chief Executive Noel Quinn said in an internal memo seen by Reuters.
Banks worldwide are readying out-of-town offices and isolating some teams to ensure trading operations continue if the virus spreads to more financial centres.
Italy’s UniCredit also sent home some staff after two new infections among its employees, one each in Germany and Italy.
JPMorgan is moving traders in New York and London to a number of locations, it said in a memo on Thursday.
Updated
Still in Hong Kong, Professor Gabriel Leung is carefully walking journalists through the data and science around coronavirus fatality rates.
There are two rates with current data available this morning - 98,243 confirmed cases worldwide, with 3,354 deaths, and 54,021 recoveries.
One is 3.4% - that is the rate of cumulative deaths among cumulative cases.
“This is the wrong number and will continue to be wrong unless and until the entire epidemic has run its full course.”
There hasn’t been sufficient time for the cases to resolve clinically, so it’s bad data essentially. You shouldn’t be counting a case that presented yesterday, because who knows how they will fare in the coming weeks.
Leung says a better estimate is “dividing the cumulative number of deaths by… the cumulative number of deaths plus the cumulative number of recoveries.”
That is 5.8%, and is also probably wrong, but for a different reason.”
“You are only including every case that has resolved - they have died or they have recovered,” he says.
“But you haven’t actually estimated the total number of infected cases… because you haven’t tested everybody.”
Updated
Turning to Hong Kong now. Fatality rates are one of the most concerning and confusing aspects of the global outbreak, particularly with varying levels of testing and of reporting transparency from different nations.
In Hong Kong reporters are hearing from Professor Jospeh Wu, of Hong Kong University Medical school of public health, and Professor Gabriel Leung, the chair of public health medicine HKU Medical school and founding director of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Control.
“We have noticed in the last few days there has been intense discussion about the potential fatality risk of Covid-19, and what we have been concentrating our work on, is precisely on estimating the fatality risk,” says Leung.
Toilet paper caper
A family from Queensland, Australia have ordered enough toilet paper to last them 12 years, they estimate.
The ABC reports that the Janetzki family in Toowoomba mistakenly ordered 80 boxes instead of 48 rolls of “Australia’s most sought-after product,” the ABC reports. Panic buying has left shelves empty of toilet paper across the country, with one supermarket chain imposing rations on customers.
“They received 2,304 rolls and were charged $3,264 instead of $68, something that went unnoticed until the two-pallet order showed up on their doorstep days later.”
Mike Pence details plans to distribute millions
The Guardian’s Hallie Golden reports that Vice President Mike Pence held a joint press conference with Washington State Governor Jay Inslee Thursday evening in which he detailed plans to distribute millions of coronavirus test kits across the country.
Standing in front of an American flag and surrounded by masks and other emergency supplies at Camp Murray, Pence said there will be 1.2 million test kits delivered in the next few days and 4 million by next week. He said in the “not too distant future,” the public could also expect getting tests from their doctor and local pharmacy.
In response to a question about President Trump’s remarks on Wednesday in which he disputed the coronavirus death rate presented by the World Health Organization, Pence said he supports the president’s judgement and that the number may prove to be lower than previously reported.
Inslee, who has had a noticeably divisive relationship with Trump, said they don’t have the luxury of debating this issue right now.
“I have had more than a very robust disagreements with the current president but I want to focus today on the work we need to do in partnership,” he said. “And I can tell you that I think this is a good partnership moving forward.”
Updated
South Korea calls Japan's approach to virus 'opaque' and 'passive'
The war of words over the coronavirus outbreak between South Korea appears to be escalating. Earlier we reported that Seoul had strongly protested on Friday Japan’s decision to impose a two-week quarantine for visitors from South Korea, calling it “unreasonable, excessive and extremely regrettable”.
Now Reuters is reporting that the South Korean National Security Council (NSC) has called the measures “unjust” and “unacceptable”.
The NSC said Seoul would consider countermeasures based “on principles of reciprocity”.
It also said South Korea had “transparent control over coronavirus cases, “unlike Japan’s opaque, passive policy”.
Summary
Events continue apace as coronavirus infections spread around the world. Here’s a summary of the main points in the past few hours:
- Donald Trump has admitted that the coronavirus “might have an impact” on the US economy but said it would pass. He previously played down the economic impact of the outbreak, predicting last week that the stock market would bounce back. The Dow Jones sank 3.6% on Thursday.
- US vice president, Mike Pence, who is heading the coronavirus efforts in the US, has admitted the country does not have enough testing kits: “We don’t have enough tests today to meet what we anticipate will be the demand going forward,” he said.
- China announced 143 new cases of the virus on Friday and 30 new deaths (29 in Hubei).
- A Chinese researcher has told the state-run People’s Daily that Wuhan will see no new cases by the end of this month.
- A man in New Zealand with Covid-19 attended a rock concert packed with thousands of other people.
- In Australia’s biggest city, Sydney, a school (Epping Boy’s High) has been closed after a 16-year-old student was diagnosed with the virus. A staff member at an aged care facility, Dorothy Henderson Lodge, was also diagnosed ... four other residents at the facility have been diagnosed, one of whom died.
- Australia’s federal government has set up a national Indigenous advisory group to fast-track an emergency response plan for Aboriginal communities that are among the most vulnerable to any potential spread of Covid-19.
- Italy death toll from the outbreak has risen to 148, with 3,858 infections.
- The French president Emmanuel Macron has said a coronavirus epidemic is “inevitable” in France. There are 423 infections and seven people have died.
- The Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas declared a 30-day state of emergency after coronavirus cases were reported in the West Bank town of Bethlehem.
Updated
Academics have called for stricter testing of the dog that tested ‘weak positive’ for coronavirus
Yesterday it was reported a pet dog in Hong Kong was continuing to return “weak positive” results for the coronavirus.
It first showed a “low level infection” last week, and was taken into isolation where it has shown further positive results. The dog’s owner has been diagnosed with Covid-19.
Health experts involved in the case agreed it was likely a human-to-animal transmission, despite the dog showing no symptoms.
“We discussed with other experts worldwide in this field. And we are pretty sure that this dog has a low level of infection, and it is confirmed,” said Dr Thomas Sit Hon-chung, assistant director of inspection and quarantine at the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department.
“I believe using the word ‘confirmed’ or ‘infected’ is suitable.”
However academics have called for stricter testing to rule out that the animal is simply contaminated without being infected.
Blood samples were taken on Tuesday, but results are a five-to-seven day wait.
“If the blood test for antibodies is positive, it means that the low-level infection is confirmed,” Professor Vanessa Barrs of City University, told the South China Morning Post.
“If the test is negative, it means either the dog was not infected, or that it had such a mild infection that it did not make antibodies.”
Prof Barrs, who is one of the experts involved with the case, said there was still no evidence people could be infected by their pets, and people shouldn’t panic.
More now on the beleaguered airlines.
Cathay Pacific, under increasing pressure from the coronavirus epidemic, is planning to close its Vancouver base in June, South China Morning Post is reporting.
The report said the closure, which was reportedly already on the cards but now brought forward, could cost up to 150 jobs.
The Vancouver crew base is the last one left for the airline in Canada, after it closed the Toronto base last year.
Airlines are particularly struggling amid the outbreak, as countries close borders to tourists from affected countries, and people avoid travel.
Industry bodies have warned the outbreak could cost US$113bn in revenue.
On Thursday British budget airline Flybe went into administration, cancelling all flights.
Donald Trump’s comments about the virus and the economy are interesting because it is an admission from him that the situation might get worse before it gets better – and because he has boasted so often about the record highs on the stock market since he came to power.
But despite a brief rally in the wake of the Fed’s emergency rate cut on Tuesday, stocks are falling fast again and Trump has been forced to change his tone.
Wall Street is on course for another battering on Friday judging by futures trading and what’s happening in Asia.
Here's the sorry state of financial markets right now.https://t.co/izcV9XSHsK pic.twitter.com/6y5FvbLG4q
— David Ingles (@DavidInglesTV) March 6, 2020
The Nikkei in Tokyo is off more than 3% now, Seoul is down 2.27%, Hong Kong has lost 2% and . Shanghai is down 1%. In Australia, where shrinking retail sales have not helped, the ASX200 is 2% in the red.
In the US, an employee at Seattle’s CenturyLink Field stadium has tested positive for coronavirus, ESPN reports. The employee worked at a February 22 XFL Seattle Dragons home game, “but as of now, no games scheduled to be played at the facility have been canceled,” according to local health officials.
The Australian National Farmer’s Federation says agriculture is “feeling the effects of coronavirus on multiple fronts.”
The outbreak of the could cost the country’s seafood industry AU$389m (US$257m), according to Australia’s Australian Bureau of Agriculture and Resource Economics and Science
“The most obvious impact is on Australian farm exports,” the federation’s chief executive officer Tony Mahar said in a press release.
“Seventy-five per cent of what we produce is exported. On average one third of these exports go to key markets including China, Korea and Japan, whose combined exports are valued at approximately AU$17bn (US$11.2bn) per annum.
In China, coffee chain Starbucks said on Thursday it expects China sales in stores open for at least a year to fall by about 50% in the quarter ending March due to the coronavirus outbreak.
The world’s largest coffee chain said the impact of the epidemic could reduce its second-quarter revenue in China by $400 million to $430 million versus its prior expectations, and hurt its adjusted earnings per share by 15 cents to 18 cents.
Starbucks said it has been forced to defer some store openings planned in China for fiscal year 2020 to next year due to the outbreak. Its business has also been affected in Japan, South Korea and Italy due to store closures and reduced customer traffic.
Mike Pence admits shortage of coronavirus test kits
US Vice President Mike Pence has said there are too few coronavirus testing kits to be able to meet demand, CNN reports. Pence is leading the administration’s response to the spread of the virus.
“We don’t have enough tests today to meet what we anticipate will be the demand going forward,” Pence told reporters while touring 3M facilities in Minnesota.
Updated
Trump admits coronavirus "might" impact US economy
Donald Trump has admitted that the coronavirus “might have an impact” on the US economy but said it would pass, Reuters reports.
The US president has previously sought to play down the effects of the outbreak and predicted last week that the US stock market would bounce back after losses last week.
But asked at his first town hall meeting of the 2020 election season in Scranton, Pennsylvania if the outbreak would hurt the economy, he said:
It certainly might have an impact. At the same time, I have to say people are now staying in the United States spending their money in the US, and I like that.
It’s going to all work out. Everybody has to be calm. We have plans for every single possibility and I think that’s what we have to do. We hope it doesn’t last too long.
He dismissed criticism of his administration’s handling of the crisis.
“I think people are viewing us as having done a very good job. What we have to do is do a professional job. Nobody is blaming us for the virus,” he said. “This started in China.”
Updated
Latest figures from China
Mainland China had 143 new confirmed cases of coronavirus infections on Thursday, the country’s National Health Commission said on Friday, up from 139 cases a day earlier.
That brings the total accumulated number of confirmed cases in mainland China so far to 80,552.
The death toll from the outbreak in mainland China was 3,042 as of the end of Thursday, up by 30 from the previous day.
The central province of Hubei, the epicentre of the outbreak, reported 29 new deaths. In the provincial capital of Wuhan, 23 people died.
Chinese Vice Premier Sun Chunlan was visiting residential compound in Wuhan to inspect the work of community officials, who are supposed to be helping residents quarantined at home get food and needed supplies. Residents yelled out of their windows, “Fake, Fake”, apparently referring to the claims of the community workers.
Correction: Earlier we reported that it was Chinese premier Li Keqiang who had visited the compound, it was Chinese vice premier Sun Chunlan
#Wuhan resident yelled "it's all fake" when Vice Premier was inspecting a residential complex on lockdown, calling out the hoax that community put together to cope with inspection as they failed to deliver daily necessities that were supposed to be sent to each family. pic.twitter.com/52XMUyGrfb
— People's Daily, China (@PDChina) March 5, 2020
Updated
A Chinese researcher has told the People’s Daily that Wuhan will see no new cases by the end of this month. He also said that the rest of China, except Hubei, can begin ‘taking off their masks’ by the end of this month and return to normalcy.
China on Friday reported 143 new cases of the virus, up from 139, bringing the total number of cases in mainland China to 80,552. The death toll rose by 30 and stands at 3,042 as of the end of Thursday.
Gansu province reported 11 new cases, all passengers from Iran. All 311 passengers on the flight from Iran have been now been quarantined in Lanzhou, the capital of Gansu, according to CCTV.
A man in New Zealand confirmed to have been infected with the coronavirus was revealed on Friday to have attended a rock concert packed with thousands of other people, Reuters reports.
Health authorities said the man in his 30s, who is the partner of a woman who was confirmed to have Covid-19 this week, attended the Tool concert at Spark Arena in Auckland on 28 February.
The band played two concerts to capacity crowds in New Zealand’s largest city last week.
Many Australians are discovering that their travel insurance does not cover the outbreak of coronavirus, the ABC reports. Many are cancelling their travel plans entirely as a result.
The Insurance Council of Australia is providing information for people, as is consumer advocacy group Choice.
“There is no need for anyone to stockpile drugs,” says Queensland’s Chief Health Officer Jeanette Young. “There is no drug that is known to be of benefit for this novel coronavirus.”
Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk says, “We have procedures in place just as we would have with bushfires.”
“This is a public health issue, but it also has a huge economic impact as well.”
Updated
Queensland’s Chief Health Officer Jeanette Young says, “Today in Queensland we have 13 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus.Every single one of those cases, we know how they contracted it. So it is really important that anyone who comes into Queensland who has travelled within the last 14 days overseas and develops any symptoms immediately seeks medical advice”.
Australia’s Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk says she is “concerned there has been no dedicated national meeting where we can discuss [the response to coronavirus] in depth. I have been asking for this since January.”
Australia’s federal government has set up a national Indigenous advisory group to fast-track an emergency response plan for Aboriginal communities that are among the most vulnerable to any potential spread of Covid-19.
The taskforce met on Thursday as remote Aboriginal communities in South Australia began to strictly limit visitors for the next three months, worried that if Covid-19 arrives it will be “devastating” for their elders and people with existing health problems.
The Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) have introduced strict rules for entry to their lands, which they can to do under the APY Land Rights Act.
“We are protecting our people, especially those who hold our ancient cultural knowledge, and we know they are already vulnerable as they are quite old,” APY general manager Richard King said.
“A lot of our people present with comorbidities like diabetes and renal failure. We have high smoking rates, overcrowding in housing, overall poor hygiene.
“It’s almost a perfect storm to support the transmission of these types of diseases.”
Updated
Four Australians are on the Grand Princess cruise ship currently being held off California’s coast over coronavirus fears, the ABC reports, with the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade saying it is ready to assist them.
In Australia, at about the same time as the prime minister was holding a press conference, the New South Wales premier Gladys Berejiklian held one too, saying cases in that state had now reached 26 after a second health worker at the BaptistCare Dorothy Henderson Lodge aged care facility was diagnosed with the virus.
There had been an escalation of the virus in NSW, Berejiklian said.
A 50-year-old woman working at the facility was diagnosed with the virus on Wednesday. Overnight, a second worker at the facility had also tested positive. A 95 year-old resident of the home who died on Tuesday later tested positive for the virus.
Meanwhile a 16 year-old high school student had tested positive overnight, prompting the closure of Epping boys high school. A doctor at Ryde hospital was confirmed as another case earlier in the week.
Berejiklian said closing the school was a “very precautionary approach” so that contacts of the boy could be identified.
NSW chief medical officer Dr Kerry Chant said a returned traveller from Iran who tested positive with coronavirus on Thursday had been confirmed as a nurse at Canterbury Hospital.
Meanwhile in Victoria, Shepparton’s Goulburn Valley Grammar School has asked some students to isolate at home A Victorian high school has asked a group of students and their families to self-isolate at home after two indonesian exchange students at the school became unwell and await tests for the virus.
In Madrid, Spain, The EY Accounting Group has sent home around 1,500 workers from its office, following the confirmation of a case of coronavirus.
Updated
US Vice President Mike Pence says Trump with sign the country’s coronavirus bill into law on Friday.
The WHO says coronavirus epidemic can be contained with concerted global response
The epidemic of COVID-19 coronavirus infection spreading around the world from China can be contained and controlled, the World Health Organization said on Thursday, but only with a concerted response by all the world’s governments.
“We are calling on every country to act with speed, scale and clear-minded determination,” the WHO’s director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, told a briefing at the U.N. health agency’s Geneva headquarters.
Tedros voiced concern that “some countries have either not taken this seriously enough, or have decided there is nothing they can do”.
He added: “This is not the time to give up. This is not a time for excuses. This is a time for pulling out all the stops.”
South Korea has reported 196 new coronavirus cases, bringing the total there to 6,284, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Asian stocks are being sold off again in Friday’s trading session after a brief respite on Thursday.
The Nikkei in Tokyo is down 2.4% and the Kospi index is off 1.7% in Seoul as investors follow the lead of Wall Street, where the Dow Jones finished the day down by 3.6%. Shares in Sydney are down 1.6%.
US treasury bond yields dropped to new record lows as money piled into perceived safe havens. The price of oil edged up after Opec signalled that it wanted a bigger than expected cut in production.
U.S. 30YY @ 1.4992% pic.twitter.com/d5erZO5G1G
— David Ingles (@DavidInglesTV) March 6, 2020
Dominic Rushe in New York has the full story on another turbulent day on Wall Street:
Beijing reported four new cases of coronavirus on March 5, all imported from Italy, the city’s municipal health commission said in a statement on Friday.
The city now has a total of 422 cases. Coronavirus cases are now rising across the globe at a more rapid rate than inside China.
Australian retail trade figures just out show a 0.3% drop for January, in seasonally adjusted terms.
This followed a plunge in the same terms of 0.7% in December, traditionally the strongest month of the year due to Christmas shopping sprees.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics says the result was affected by the country’s devastating bushfires but not the coronavirus outbreak, even though “some individual retail businesses reported reduced customer numbers attributed to COVID-19”.
It expects February’s numbers to be hit by the outbreak, adding to pressure on the government to deliver a meaningful boost to the economy in a stimulus package set to be unveiled within the week.
South Korea is protesting Japan’s decision to impose a two-week quarantine for visitors from the republic.
South Korea strongly protested on Friday Japan’s decision to impose a two-week quarantine for visitors from South Korea, calling it “unreasonable, excessive and extremely regrettable”.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday ordered a two-week quarantine for people arriving from South Korea while barring arrivals from highly affected areas starting on Saturday.
Seoul’s foreign ministry will summon the Japanese ambassador on Friday to lodge a complaint, after calling in a senior diplomat late on Thursday to request explanations, it said in a statement.
In Australia, the ABC is reporting that a new case has been confirmed in New South Wales. The infected person is an aged-care facility worker.
A bit more on that AU$1 billion estimate for the cost of coronavirus to Australian states and territories – that is health costs, specifically, of managing the virus.
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Morrison says “We are spending all of our time focusing on what the next step needs to be, and to ensure we can take that next step when it is in the national interest”.
Scott Morrison says he does not believe the travel ban to South Korea has had a negative effect on the Australia’s relationship with the country: “I think we all understand these are not usual times, and we regret having to have to do that.”
Australian health minister Greg Hunt says “our estimate of the most likely range of costs for the states and territories [of the coronavirus] is in the order of AU$1 billion”.
The Australian government says that dementia and the personal protective equipment are of particular concern as the government looks to manage the spread of the virus in aged care facilities.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison is giving a press conference. I’ll be posting the most important takeaways over the next few minutes.
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“Women wash their hands significantly more often”: men being told to
The spread of the new coronavirus is shining the spotlight on a little-discussed gender split: men wash their hands after using the bathroom less than women, years of research and on-the-ground observations show.
Health officials around the world advise that deliberate, regular handwashing is one of the best weapons against the virus.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s online fact sheet “Handwashing: A corporate activity,” cites a 2009 study that finds “only 31% of men and 65% of women washed their hands” after using a public restroom.
“Women wash their hands significantly more often, use soap more often, and wash their hands somewhat longer than men,” according to a 2013 Michigan State University field study conducted by research assistants who observed nearly 4,000 people in restrooms around East Lansing, Michigan.
“If you stand in the men’s bathroom at work, and watch men leave, they mostly don’t wash their hands if they used the urinal,” said one New York City public relations executive, who did not want to be identified for fear of alienating his colleagues.
Since the virus’s spread, he’s seen an uptick in men’s handwashing at work, he noted. “I, for the record, do wash my hands all the time,” he added.
In the US state of Maryland, a public health laboratory has confirmed three coronavirus cases, Governor Larry Hogan said in a statement on Thursday.
The patients contracted the disease while traveling overseas and are in good condition, Hogan said. He provided no additional details.
Airlines continue to suffer
With stocks on the way down again, one sector is suffering more than most: airlines. According to the industry’s leading body, the International Air Transport Association, companies could lose up to $113bn in revenue this year as regular services are suspended, populations are put in lockdown and businesses and individuals cut down on travel.
The boss of Southwest Airlines, Gary Kelly, said the drastic drop-off in travel demand seemed fear-driven and was similar to what the industry experienced after the September 11 attacks in 2001.
“We could discount prices tomorrow and it wouldn’t do any good,” Kelly said at a conference in Washington.Earlier, Kelly told CNBC: “9/11 wasn’t an economically driven issue for travel, it was more fear, quite frankly, and I think that’s what’s manifested this time.”
The Dow Jones US airlines Index closed down 8.6% as the wider market slumped by 3.6%, or nearly 1,000 points.
Here’s the full story from our transport correspondent, Gwyn Topham:
Photograph: Kate Munsch/Reuters
Businesses in Australia are enacting emergency measures to address the threat of workplace transmission after concerns about staff exposure the novel coronavirus.
Management of the Sydney branch of global media conglomerate ViacomCBS closed their Darlinghurst premises on Thursday after an employee was found to have potentially been exposed to the virus. Staff were sent home to work remotely as a precautionary measure until further notice.
“This individual has not been diagnosed with the virus and is currently seeking medical advice,” the company said in a statement.
Meanwhile, law firm Clayton Utz sent all its staff home on Thursday and told them to work remotely on Friday after a senior staff member discovered his wife’s grandmother, who died on Tuesday in hospital, had tested positive to the virus. His wife had recently visited her grandmother.
Clayton Utz’s chief executive partner Rob Cutler told the Australian Financial Review that staff would not return to work until they received the results of the employee’s testing, and that if the test were positive, it could mean a two-weeks of quarantine and testing across the firm.
US death toll reaches 12
The US death toll from the coronavirus rose to 12 on Thursday when King County, Washington reported the latest fatality. Of the 12 US deaths, 11 have come in Washington state and one in California.
Many of the cases in Washington have been linked to an outbreak at a nursing facility in the Seattle suburb of Kirkland, including six deaths.
Epidemic 'inevitable' in France
Emmanuel Macron says epidemic is ‘inevitable’ in France
French president Emmanuel Macron has said a coronavirus epidemic is “inevitable” in France.
“There is a moment when we all know that... an epidemic is inevitable,” Macron said.
On Thursday the French health ministry reported three more deaths from the disease, bringing the country’s toll to seven.
The country recorded 138 new virus cases in the biggest daily jump, bringing the total number nationwide to 423.
In a sign of the growing concern over the French figures, the EU parliament announced that the venue for next week’s session would be switched from Strasbourg in eastern France to the Belgian capital Brussels.
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The Vatican is planing special virus measures for the pope
The Vatican said on Thursday it was considering changes to Pope Francis’s schedule “to avoid the dissemination” of the new coronavirus that has killed 148 people and infected hundreds in Italy.
The Vatican did not say whether the outgoing 83-year-old pope would be temporarily kept away from crowds or whether he would stop shaking hands with visitors.
Pope Francis has not been seen in public since announcing during his traditional Sunday prayer before crowds on Saint Peter’s Square that he was skipping an annual spiritual refuge south of Rome because of a cold.
He had been seen coughing and sniffing since last Wednesday.
The pontiff has cut down his schedule and has spent most of his time at his Saint Martha’s guest house in the Vatican.
In Italy, the coronavirus death toll has risen by 41 over the past 24 hours to 148, the Civil Protection Agency said on Thursday, with the contagion still showing no sign of slowing.
The accumulative number of cases in the country, which is hardest hit by the virus in Europe, totalled 3,858, up from 3,089 on Wednesday.
The head of the agency said that of those originally infected, 414 had fully recovered versus 276 the day before.
While the contagion is focused on a handful of hotspots in the north of Italy, cases have now been confirmed in each of the country’s 20 regions.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas declared a 30-day state of emergency on Thursday after coronavirus cases were reported in the West Bank town of Bethlehem.
The decree was announced hours after officials closed Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity, the traditional birthplaces of Jesus, and banned foreign tourists from West Bank hotels.
“We have decided to declare a state of emergency in all Palestinian areas to confront the danger of the coronavirus and prevent it from spreading,” said Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh, reading from the decree.
He also decided to close all schools, colleges and kindergartens and to cancel foreign tourist reservations.
US markets fall sharply again
US stock markets closed sharply lower again on Thursday as fears about fallout from the virus outbreak sent more shudders through the financial world.
The Dow Jones sank 968 points, or 3.6%, wiping out most of its surge of 1,173 points a day earlier. Treasury yields sank to more record lows as investors plowed money into low-risk investments.
Markets have been stuck on a rollercoaster for weeks because of uncertainty about how much damage the outbreak of the new coronavirus will do to the global economy.
These vicious swings are likely only to continue, as long as the number of new infections continues to accelerate, many analysts and professional investors say.
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Australian composer Brett Dean has been diagnosed with coronavirus, the ABC reports. He had withdrawn from an Adelaide Symphony Orchestra event fearing he had pneumonia, but has since tested positive for Covid-19. There are seven confirmed cases of the virus in the state of Adelaide. Three of the people he came into contact with have placed themselves in quarantine.
There are currently seven confirmed cases of the virus in Adelaide, including Dean and an eight-month-old boy, who was also diagnosed yesterday.
Australian markets fall 1.6%
The Australian market has followed the lead set by the US and dropped 1.6% shortly after the opening bell as coronavirus fears once again grip traders.
US markets were down about 3.5% overnight (Australian time) after California, the country’s biggest state by population, declared a state of emergency and infections in New York City surged.
Travel agencies have taken a big hit on the back of bans on corporate travel and tourism.
Corporate Travel Management, which has been falling for a fortnight, dropped again in early trade, shedding about 6%. It’s already been savaged this week, shedding 7.5% on Thursday and more than 9% on Wednesday.
Flight Centre, which has also had a bad fortnight, fell about 5%.
All the big four banks - ANZ, Commonwealth, NAB and Westpac – were down more than 2%, with NAB the biggest loser of the pack at almost 3.7%.
Updated
Welcome to today’s liveblog.
Local transmissions are an increasing worry, the WHO has warned, as global infection rates reach 96,500.
3,300 people have died in China, according to Reuters. Alarm is growing in both Italy and Iran, where 107 people in each country have died.
The UK has had its first death from the virus. A female patient in her 70s with underlying health conditions became the first to die of the virus in the UK.
11 confirmed deaths in US as Trump casts doubt on death rate .“Now, this is just my hunch,” the US president said after declaring that he believed the World Health Organization’s figure of 3.4% for the Covid-19 death rate was “false”.
Prepare for sustained community transmission, says WHO. In what could encourage more countries to take drastic precautions, the head of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, told states that their actions now “determine the course of the outbreak in your country”.
