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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
World
Hannah Mays (now) Damien Gayle, Matthew Weaver and Helen Sullivan (earlier

Markets fall again as global Covid-19 cases near 130,000 – as it happened

We are going to close this blog now. Thanks for following along. We will be covering all of the latest coronavirus developments in our new blog here.

Summary

  • Markets continued to plummet today as the US and UK stock exchanges suffered their worst performance since Black Monday in 2008.
  • Arsenal coach Mikel Arteta has coronavirus. In a statement the club said they expected a significant number of people, including the full first-team squad will have to self-isolate. The Premier League is holding an emergency meeting tomorrow morning.
  • President Trump’s handling of the virus outbreak was criticised by top federal health official Dr Anthony Fauci who described the US’s lacklustre approach to coronavirus testing “a failing”. Democratic presidential hopefuls Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders also slammed the president’s handling of the health crisis.
  • Former Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt criticised the governments decision to delay social distancing measures. In a Channel 4 interview, Hunt said he was “surprised” and “puzzled” by the move.
  • 121 people at Italy’s Juventus F.C. are self isolating after footballer Daniele Rugani tested positive for the virus.
  • There is heightened concern at the White House after a picture emerged of a top Brazilian government aide, who has tested positive for coronavirus, standing right next to Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago last weekend.
  • President Macron addressed the French nation and announced the closure of all the country’s creches, schools, colleges and universities as part of “strong measures” to address an expected acceleration in the number of people with the virus. He described the outbreak as “the most serious health crisis France had faced in a century”.
  • Spain will inject €14bn into the economy to help Spanish businesses survive economic shocks from the outbreak. Two cabinet ministers have tested positive for coronavirus. The Catalan regional government has ordered around 70,000 people to stay at home for two weeks from 9pm tonight after a steep increase in cases of the virus.
  • Angela Merkel held a press conference where she appealed to Germans to restrict social contact and announced plans to restructure the country’s hospitals in order to boost the number of intensive care beds.
  • Canada’s most populous province to shut down schools for two weeks. All public schools in Ontario will be shut from 14 March to 5 April.
  • Disturbing satellite images of mass graves in Iran suggest the scale of the outbreak there is worse than authorities are admitting.
  • Schools in Belgium will close from midnight tomorrow until the Easter Holidays. Belgium’s prime minister Sophie Wilmès made the announcement. Restaurants and bars have also been ordered to close and only essential shops such as supermarkets and pharmacies may stay open.

Updated

The Costa Rican government has announced a new round of social distancing policies to limit the spread of coronavirus following the country’s 23rd confirmed case on Thursday. The public have been asked to keep at least 1.8 metres from other people while restaurants and cinemas have been asked to operate at 50% capacity.

It comes after Costa Rica suspended mass gatherings and asked public sector workers to work from home on Monday. The country’s tourism industry has reported thousands of cancelations and a fall in bookings as the pandemic spreads around the world.

The Central American only has a handful of cases, but there are growing concerns that the deportation of migrants from the US and Mexico could accelerate the spread of coronavirus in the region.

UCL university in London has confirmed that one of their students has tested positive for coronavirus.

In a statement on the university website UCL President Professor Michael Arthur said “UCL’s immediate priority is to support our student, as well as their family and friends. The student has not been on campus in the last ten days and has self-isolated at home. They do not live in UCL student accommodation. Our Student Support & Wellbeing Team is in close communication with them and we ask that their privacy is respected.”

Professor Arthur said “It is inevitable that there will be further cases in the coming days and weeks as cases increase in the UK.”

He said that students would not be penalised for not attending classes if they do not feel comfortable being on campus.

You can read the full statement here: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2020/mar/message-provost-about-confirmed-case-coronavirus-ucl

My colleague Sam Jones reports that the regional government of Catalonia has ordered around 70,000 people in four municipalities in the Barcelona region to remain in their homes for a fortnight from 9pm tonight after a steep increase in Coronavirus cases in the area.

Igualada, Vilanova del Camí, Santa Margarida de Montbui and Òdena have been placed in lockdown after the number of cases linked to a hospital in Igualada rose to 58 on Thursday.

“No one is allowed out of these affected areas,” the regional government said on Thursday evening. “Only emergency personnel and vehicles bringing fuel and food supplies will be allowed to move round the area.”

The move comes almost a week after neighbourhoods in a small town in the northern region of La Rioja were placed in lockdown after a cluster of cases was traced to a funeral in the nearby Basque Country.

Meanwhile, Santiago Abascal, the leader of Spain’s far-right Vox party, has confirmed he has tested positive for coronavirus days after the party’s general secretary, Javier Ortega Smith, was diagnosed with the virus. Earlier this week, the party apologised for holding a 9,000-person rally in Madrid on Sunday.

Belgium’s prime minister Sophie Wilmès has announced the closure of Belgium’s schools from Friday at midnight until 3 April when the Easter holidays begin.

Restaurants and bars have been ordered to close and only essential shops such as supermarkets and pharmacies may stay open on the weekends. Citizens are being advised to work from home but public transport will continue to run.

Former Health Secretary and current Chairman of the Health Select Committee Jeremy Hunt was interviewed on Channel 4 News earlier this evening about the UK’s response to coronavirus. Hunt challenged the logic of delaying social distancing measures, saying “I’m surprised we’re not moving sooner”.

“The places that have succeeded are the ones that moved earliest to social distancing ...I think people will be concerned that we’re not moving sooner to more social distancing, for example banning external visits to care homes.”

“I am concerned because we’ve got four weeks, We’re four weeks behind Italy and what we do every single day of those four weeks is absolutely critical. I don’t want to second guess the advice that scientists are giving but I would like to see what the modelling is from the behavioural scientists that says we can go too early with some of these measures because I think most peoples priority is their elderly loved ones who are most vulnerable.”

In what was a remarkably frank interview, Hunt said there was “all to play for” in the coming weeks and described the announcement today to delay social distancing measures as “puzzling”.

The Premier League has released a statement:

“In light of Arsenal’s announcement tonight confirming that their first-team coach Mikel Arteta has tested positive for COVID-19, the Premier League will convene an emergency club meeting tomorrow morning regarding future fixtures.”

As it stands all Premier League matches are scheduled to go ahead as planned this weekend.

Arsenal coach Mikel Arteta tests positive for coronavirus

Arsenal coach Mikel Arteta has tested positive for coronavirus. In a statement the club said Arsenal employees who have had recent close contact with Arteta will now self isolate and that they expect this to be a significant number of people from the London Colney training centre including the full first-team squad and coaching staff, as well as a smaller number of people from our Hale End Academy which we have also temporarily closed as a precaution.

Managing director Vinai Venkatesham said: “The health of our people and the wider public is our priority and that is where our focus is. Our thoughts are with Mikel who is disappointed but in good spirits. We are in active dialogue with all the relevant people to manage this situation appropriately, and we look forward to getting back to training and playing as soon as medical advice allows.”

You can read the full statement here: https://www.arsenal.com/news/club-statement-covid-19

Updated

The Tribeca Film Festival, which was due to take place in New York from April 15 to 26, has been postponed, although organisers did not confirm an alternative date.

Disturbing satellite images have emerged that show Iran has dug mass graves in the city of Qom. The pictures suggest that the coronavirus outbreak is more serious than the Iranian authorities are admitting.

Julian Borger has the full story:

Here’s a video of Democratic presidential hopefuls Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders slamming President Trump’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak

Hospital bosses are delighted with Boris Johnson’s continued insistence that school closures would not help combat coronavirus.

“This decision will obviously be welcomed by the NHS and those leading organisations at the frontline of caring for patients with the coronavirus”, said a senior leader in the NHS.

“We are in a very fast moving and unprecedented situation and trust leaders are working hard to ensure that they have the plans, resources and capacity to respond to the inevitable increase in cases and key to that is having enough staff in place. This is one less issue to have to manage at this stage, but they are clearly planning ahead and looking at how they can continue to provide patient care if the situation does change.”

Two hours before Johnson’s press conference Richard Beeken, chief executive of Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust, tweeted his view -- which is widely-shared in the NHS:

One senior hospital executive told me recently that trusts are acutely concerned about school closures because that could produce a very difficult “double whammy” of large numbers of staff off to look after their children at the same time as hospitals are suddenly being hit by a really significant surge in patients left seriously ill by Covid-19.

Boris Johnson’s government was not the only one to get a hammering today from a senior health official for its handling of the virus outbreak. Dr Anthony Fauci, a top federal health official, has said that the U.S lag in coronavirus testing is a failing, and claimed improvements are needed. Experts say the U.S simply isn’t testing enough people.

“The system is not really geared to what we need right now”, said Fauci. “That is a failing. It is a failing, lets admit it.” Large-scale testing is a critical part of tracking the spread of infectious diseases and allocating resources for treatment. The lack of comprehensive figures means U.S. health providers could quickly be overwhelmed by undetected cases.

As of this afternoon, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was reporting about 1,260 U.S. illnesses, a number that trailed independent researchers, who are adding reports from individual states more quickly. Researchers at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles this week estimated that the true count of infections was close to 9,000 about two weeks ago.

Markets have continued to plummet today as the US and UK stock exchanges suffered their worst performance since Black Monday in 2008. Read our full report here:

My colleague Leylan Cecco reports that Canada’s most populous province will shut down schools for two weeks in an effort to slow the spread of coronavirus. All publicly funded schools in Ontario will be shut down from March 14 until April 5, 2020.

“We recognize the significant impact this decision will have on families, students, schools, as well as the broader community, but this precaution is necessary to keep people safe,” the province said in a statement this afternoon, the day before schools closed for a one week spring break. The advice to shutter all schools came from Ontario’s chief medical officer, Dr. David Williams, who also called on people to refrain from attending large events in the coming days.

The surprise decision follows remarks from premier Doug Ford earlier today that appeared out of step with the cautious messaging from neighbouring provinces.

“I just want the families and their children to have a good time. Go away, have a good time, enjoy yourself,” he told reporters Thursday. “We’re going to be monitoring the situation as it changes every single day.”

Ontario now has 59 cases of the coronavirus.

Our Berlin correspondent Kate Connolly has just followed a press conference in Berlin headed by Angela Merkel, which followed hours of heated discussion between the leaders of Germany’s 16 Länder at an emergency meeting over what steps Germany’s biggest economy should be taking, after the number of people with coronavirus rose to 2695 and the number of dead, rose to six.

Many Germans were glued to livestreams of the press conference, expecting and hoping to hear some decisive measures, such as the closure of schools and kindergartens across the country. What they got was a sense of urgency which we have not heard up until now. In short, the meeting’s participants concluded that Germany is now in crisis mode, with a plan to be unrolled with immediate effect to restructure the country’s hospitals in order to boost the number of intensive care beds (currently there are 28,000 of them, 25,000 of which are equipped with respiratory apparatus). All non-urgent operations are to be postponed. The state will offer financial help to the health insurance companies to ensure this happens, Merkel said.

She appealed to Germans to restrict social contact as much as possible. She also advised on the cancellation of all gatherings which are not strictly necessary. She said the next “4, 5 weeks” would be “very very crucial in determining the question as to what happens next”.

Markus Söder, premier of Bavaria and the leader of the Christian Social Union in Bavaria, admitted that the situation was “far more dramatic than we had thought even one or two weeks ago”. He said that the government’s quick introduction of so-called ‘Kurzarbeit’ - or work reduction policies introduced at the height of the banking crisis, which ensure workers receive their wages, and see employers compensated by the state “send an important signal to German businesses”. He coined a phrase used by Mario Draghi, president of the European Central Bank at the height of the Euro crisis, “we will do whatever it takes”.

Although many Germans had hoped or expected they might do, the leaders did not decide on:

- a universal policy on closing schools, kindergartens and universities, although Söder did announce this evening that Bavaria (which currently has 500 people with coronavirus, and one death) will do so from tomorrow, becoming the first state to do so.

- Neither did it decide on the closure of German borders (though it will control them including checking temperatures).

- Neither did it decide to stop flights to and from Italy.

Should schools in Britain shut? Interestingly, although other countries such as Italy and Ireland are doing that, there appears to be no groundswell of medical or scientific opinion in the UK that it should follow suit.

There are slightly mixed opinions among experts surveyed by the Science Media Centre (https://www.sciencemediacentre.org/), but no one urging immediate closures like those seen elsewhere.

“Not closing schools seems understandable to me”, said Dr Jennifer Rohn, a cell biologist at University College London. “Children will be the least likely to be affected and therefore the least likely to be shedding virus, which is directly proportional to more serious symptoms. In contrast, if you close schools you’re keeping a very large number of parents away from work. As long as it is deemed feasible to keep workplaces open, it’s probably better not to harm the economy further in this way.”

Paul Hunter, professor of medicine at the University of East Anglia, is more sceptical. “I would like to see a bit more about why they’re not closing schools and banning large events. We do know, in general, that school holidays lead to a marked reduction of transmission in infections and at the end of school holidays, infection rates take off. Every mother and father knows that when kids go back to school they’re going to get hammered by colds and flus and sore throats.”

He would like to know more about how ministers and government advisers reached their decision. “I’m sure it’s based on good quality science. But we don’t know what that science is. The science isn’t being shared with us in a way that makes it easy for us to understand the logical basis for all of this. I would hope that more of the information and science that the government is relying on to make these decisions would be made available so we could interrogate it and see if it’s valid.”

Dr Charlotte Jackson, from the UCL Institute of Clinical Trials and Methodology, points out that school closures have proven effective against outbreaks in the past.

“There are examples from the UK and elsewhere of school closures reducing transmission of influenza. During the 2009 flu pandemic, the UK saw a reduction in cases following the closure of schools for the summer holiday, and an increase when schools reopened in the autumn. There are also studies from various other settings, including France, Hong Kong and Mexico, suggesting reductions in transmission of seasonal or pandemic influenza associated with school closures. Social distancing measures in general did seem to slow down transmission in US cities during the 1918 flu pandemic”, she says.

However, that does not mean that they would help delay the spread of the Coronavirus, she adds. “With the current coronavirus outbreak, countries have generally used lots of control measures at the same time (this also happened during the 1918 flu pandemic) so it’s difficult to separate any effects of school closures from other interventions. I wouldn’t like to comment definitively on whether closures would be effective for this particular virus.”

What about Boris Johnson’s new policy of advising schools against overseas trips? Deenan Pillay, professor of virology at UCL, says: “Banning overseas school trips is a difficult one, but remember that any trips involve groups of people going to airports, going on boats and coaches and living together, and since this virus is ubiquitous now, anything like that is likely to increase acquisition of the virus. We know that children are less likely to get severe disease from coronavirus, but they nevertheless are likely, if they do get infection, to spread to others. It’s a sensible measure before closing the schools”.

(With thanks to the Science Media Centre).

A further update from Spain: The government has announced that another member of the cabinet has tested positive for coronavirus. Spain’s territorial policy minister, Carolina Darias, tested positive for the virus after all cabinet members and staff working in close proximity were tested after Spain’s equality minister, Irene Montero, was confirmed to have Covid-19. Darias is doing well, the government said in a statement, and was the only person to test positive.

Here’s a photo of Queen Letizia, who is also being tested, meeting Montero last week:

Queen Letizia attends a meeting with Minister of Equality Irene Montero last week
Queen Letizia attends a meeting with Minister of Equality Irene Montero last week
Photograph: Angel Naval/MARINA PRESS/REX/Shutterstock

My colleague Sam Jones reports that the Spanish government will inject €14bn into the economy to help the country’s businesses weather the coronavirus storm, and will direct €2.8bn of funds to regional governments to help them deal with the health emergency.

The measures were announced this afternoon by prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, as the number of confirmed cases of the virus rose to 3,004. So far, the virus has claimed 84 lives in Spain.

“These are difficult moments but we will overcome then,” said Sánchez. “We will overcome this with unity and responsibility from all.”

Spain’s tourist industry - which provides 11% of its GDP - could be badly hit by the outbreak. According to the Spanish hoteliers’ confederation, reservations were already down 20-30%, in particular for holidays in Catalonia, Valencia and the Balearic and Canary Islands, in February compared with last year. Hotel bookings were down 24% in Madrid and 20% in Barcelona.

The prime minister will be conducting all his meetings by videoconferencing after it emerged that Spain’s equality minister, Irene Montero had tested positive for the virus. Her partner, the deputy prime minister, Pablo Iglesias, is in quarantine.
Every member of the cabinet is being tested for the virus - as are King Felipe and Queen Letizia after the queen participated in a joint event with Montero last Friday.
Although the central government has been criticised for its initially slow response to the epidemic, regional governments have been putting their own preventative measures in place, with most of Spain’s autonomous regions - including Madrid, Catalonia and the Basque country - shutting down schools.

Some sad news for US basketball fans: the NCAA has cancelled both men’s and women’s tournaments.

BT has announced that its Chief Executive Philip Jansen has contracted coronavirus.

Here’s a statement from the company:

“Philip Jansen, Chief Executive, BT Group has late this afternoon tested positive for COVID-19 and as a result has followed the Public Health England protocols to self-isolate.

BT is now working closely with Public Health England to undertake a full deep clean of relevant parts of its Group headquarters and will ensure those employees who have had contact with Philip are appropriately advised.

Philip Jansen said: “Having felt slightly unwell I decided as a precaution to be tested. As soon as the test results were known I isolated myself at home.”

“I’ve met several industry partners this week so felt it was the responsible thing to do to alert them to this fact as soon as I could.”

“Given my symptoms seem relatively mild, I will continue to lead BT but work with my team remotely over the coming week. There will be no disruption to the business.”

Updated

My colleague David Agren in Mexico City reports that a top Mexican health official insisted today there was no need to cancel upcoming festivals, concerts and sporting events, even as Covid-19 continues spreading and countries struggle to contain the pandemic.

Speaking at a morning press conference with President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, undersecretary of health Hugo López-Gatell said cancelling large events – such as the annual San Marcos Fair, the largest state fair in Mexico – would occur on a case-by-case basis, according to risk.

“If we stay disciplined, we can come up with an orderly scheme for cancellations or restrictions on public places, according to the risk,” López-Gatell said. The government, he added, wanted to avoid “significant economic impacts for canceling [events] without prior notice.”

A massive music festival and full slate of pro-football matches will occur of the weekend in Mexico – at a time when such events are being cancelled in other countries. López Obrador also still plans to hold campaign-style rallies southern Guerrero state on Saturday and Sunday.

The annual Tianguis Turistico – an massive tourism tradeshow – was postponed Thursday, however, as foreign attendees cancelled their trips to the city of Mérida, according to local media.

The resistance call off events comes as the man known as AMLO comes under criticism for his Covid-19 response – and AMLO politicises the issue. On Wednesday, he accused his opponents of “wanting Mexicans to be infected” so they can “blame us for everything.”

Mexico has confirmed only 12 cases of coronavirus and tested just 324 individuals as of March 11. AMLO said Thursday said the country would spend what it had to address the pandemic, though critics allege his austerity measures and changes in government purchasing of pharmaceuticals have crippled the health system.

“The Covid-19 pandemic couldn’t arrive at worse moment [for Mexico] with a collapsed healthcare system and a growing economic crisis,” said Xavier Tello, a healthcare consultant in Mexico City.

Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has announced that the country will close schools and universities immediately to delay the spread of the virus.

He said preschools and kindergartens would remain open.

“The potential number of deaths is very high, and we must take action to prevent that,” Netanyahu said in a prime-time televised speech from his office in Jerusalem.

Israel has already taken relatively stringent measures, including forcing anyone arriving in the country, from any part of the world, to self-isolate for at least 14 days.

There have been 109 confirmed cases in Israel, some serious, but with no deaths.

Currently head of an interim administration, Netanyahu has also called for an emergency unity government to deal with the crisis. Three elections within the past year – the latest one on 2 March – have led to a political deadlock, with no side coming out ahead.

Netanyahu asked the opposition leader, Benny Gantz, to help him form a unity government, which he said would last only a limited time to tackle coronavirus.

Glastonbury ticket holders will be pleased to know that the festival’s organisers have said they were “working hard” to ensure the event goes ahead despite the pandemic. Kendrick Lamar has been announced as Glastonbury’s third headliner.

The US rapper joins Taylor Swift and Sir Paul McCartney at the top of the bill for the festival’s 50th anniversary edition in June, while Diana Ross will (hopefully) play the Sunday legend’s slot.

A ray of sunshine perhaps in this dark picture is that the coronavirus crisis may lead to a slump in global carbon emissions this year. A word of warning however has come from the International Energy Agency, the global energy watchdog. Their executive director Fatih Birol has said the outbreak could spell a slowdown in the world’s clean energy transition unless governments use green investments to help support economic growth through the global slowdown.

My colleague Jillian Ambrose has the full story:

Within minutes of Leo Varadkar’s announcement on Thursday of closures and restrictions shoppers packed supermarkets across Ireland to stock up on toiletries, tinned food, pasta, rice and other products.

“A fresh supply of toilet paper on the shelves, all gone, pasta, going, wipes, forget about it,” said a manager at SuperValu in Dun Laoghaire, south Dublin, as people with full trollies and baskets queued at cash registers.

Similar scenes played out across the country. Several supermarkets briefly closed to restock. “As a result of unprecedented numbers of customers in some stores this afternoon we had to put some health and safety measures in place,” said a Tesco spokesperson.

Retail Excellence, an industry representative, asked people to stop posting images on social media of empty shelves, saying it was sensationalising the issue.

Authorities urged people to stay calm and not stockpile, saying supply chains were robust. “People do not need to panic buy. Supermarkets & shops will remain open. Stockpiling could cause problems - please don’t do it,” tweeted Heather Humphreys, the business and enterprise minister.

The industry group Retail Ireland warned that distribution networks were not designed to deal with widespread bulk buying. “It is important that consumers behave responsibly and don’t buy more than they need.”

German-owned chain Lidl reported significantly stronger sales but in a statement said its supply chain could cope. “We’re confident of maintaining supply of key lines as consumer demand remains high and our stores are continuing to receive deliveries as planned.”

In the US, the professional baseball season is going to be delayed by two weeks because of Covid-19

President Macron also gave the French people an “economic guarantee” that those who have to self isolate will continue to be paid, including independent workers.

“I know you have legitimate worries about your jobs, your businesses,” he said, promising to protect businesses and staff “whatever it costs”.

He added that Europe had to act together during the crisis. “Europe will react in a huge organised manner to protect its economy. We also have to organise international level.”

“Today we have to avoid two pitfalls...nationalism. This virus has no passport. We have to join forces, coordinate our responses, cooperate. European cooperation is essential.

“The other pitfall is to take an individualist approach. It is by being united and saying “us” and not “I” that we will bounce back. I am counting on you to invent during this period new sense of solidarity.”

President Macron: outbreak is 'most serious health crisis France has faced in a century'

The French President Emmanuel Macron is giving a live address from the Elysée Palace where he has described the coronavirus outbreak as “the most serious health crisis France had faced in a century”. This is the first time he has addressed the French on the outbreak.

He announced the closure of all the country’s creches, schools, colleges and universities as part of “strong measures” to address an expected acceleration in the number of people with the coronavirus and prepare for a second wave at a later date.

Macron called on those aged over 70 and with underlying health conditions to limit their contact with the outside world and remain at home as much as possible. Protecting the weakest was a priority, he said.

He also praised the “sang froid” of the French population. “You haven’t given in to anger or panic...you have slowed the spread of the virus and allowed our health staff and hospitals to prepare. That is what a great nation is.”

“We are only at the beginning of the epidemic and the spread of the virus is accelerating...we have to have confidence in science, to listen to those who know. We have in France the best virulogues and epidemiologists and clinicians...we have said despite our efforts to stop it the virus continues to spread and spread faster,” he said.

The second priority was to slow the spread of the virus. Non-urgent hospital procedures will be postponed. “We will mobilise all financial means necessary to save lives, however much it costs,” he said.

The latest figures in France are 2,876 confirmed cases and 61 deaths an increase of 595 cases and 13 deaths on the previous day.

Updated

The international medical humanitarian organization Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has released a statement saying the appalling conditions in which thousands of men, woman and children now find themselves on Aegean islands close to the Turkish coast provide “especially high risk environments” for the novel virus to both flourish and spread.

Calling for camps on the outposts to be evacuated immediately, the group said: “All over the world governments are cancelling events and prohibiting large gatherings, but in the Greek island camps people have no option but to live in close proximity. COVID-19 may be just the latest threat that people face here, but the conditions they live in make them more vulnerable than the rest of the country’s population.

Dr Hilde Vochten, MSF’s medical coordinator in Greece, added:

“We are in contact with the National Public Health Organization in order to coordinate actions, including health information and case management for local residents and asylum seekers alike. But we need to be realistic: It would be impossible to contain an outbreak in such camp settings in Lesbos, Chios, Samos, Leros, and Kos. To this day we have not seen a credible emergency plan to protect and treat people living there in case of an outbreak.”

Health authorities, she said, should implement a plan that includes measures for infection prevention and control (IPC), health promotion, rapid identification of cases, isolation, management of mild cases, as well as the treatment of severe and critical cases.

More than 42,000 asylum seekers are stranded in camps on the Aegean isles of Lesbos, Samos, Chios, Leros and Kos.

Here’s a helpful round up from our politics live blog on a busy day of Covid-19 developments over in the US, with plenty more to come.

  • New York state is poised to ban large gatherings over 500 people. And Broadway shows are all suspended from 5pm today, as are events at Carnegie Hall, together the beating heart of America’s vibrant performing arts world.
  • Joe Biden says America needs a stronger national response to coronavirus and demands no cover up on the numbers, no sparing of effort to test and treat. Trumps Trump with strong address from home state of Delaware.
  • Top federal health official Anthony Fauci told Congress this morning that the US is “failing” in its efforts to conduct adequate testing of the nation for coronavirus.
  • Donald Trump is considering extending travel restrictions to domestic travel between California and Washington. There is no confirmation and no details from the president on this yet.
  • There is heightened concern at the White House after a picture emerged of a top Brazilian government aide, who has tested positive for coronavirus, standing right next to Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago last weekend.
  • Donald Trump said the US wants to lose as few people as possible to the virus, predicted, once again, that it will “go away” and also that financial markets will rebound.

News is just coming in that 121 people at Juventus F. C. are voluntarily self-isolating after footballer Daniele Rugani tested positive for the virus. Those in isolation include football players, staff members, directors, entourage and Juventus employees.

Many thanks to my colleague Damien for covering the blog. This is Hannah Mays signing on now with the latest updates.

Updated

Summary

  • The UK prime minister, Boris Johnson, said that many families “are going to lose loved ones before their time”, as he indicated a shift in the government’s approach to coronavirus from “contain” to “delay”.
  • Johnson spoke as the death toll from coronavirus in Italy passed 1,000, making it the European country worst affected by coronavirus, with 15,113 confirmed cases - an day on day increase of 21.7%.
  • The total number of confirmed coronavirus cases worldwide now stands at 127,863, according to figures from Johns Hopkins University. There have been 4,718 deaths and 68,310 people have recovered.
  • The UK death toll so far is 10, while the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the country increased by 134 to 590.
  • Mainland China reported 15 new infections, eight of which are in Hubei. There have been 11 new deaths, 10 of which were in Hubei.
  • In London, the FTSE 100 index of leading shares suffered its second worse day ever, with about £160bn wiped off the value of Britain’s biggest blue-chip companies.
  • In Scotland, the government advised that gatherings of more than 500 people should be cancelled, overseas school trips should not go ahead and anyone with symptoms indicative of coronavirus should stay at home for seven days.
  • The Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau revealed he is self-isolating after his wife returned from a visit to the UK with flu-like symptoms, including a fever.
  • A nursing home in Basingstoke has become the first care home for older people to be hit by the virus. Oakridge House been closed to visitors after a person tested positive.
  • Ireland’s taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, announced the closure of all schools, colleges and childcare facilities from tomorrow. “I know that some of this is coming as a real shock... but we’re doing it for each other,” he said. Malta, Denmark, Norway and Lithuania introduced similar measures.
  • The EU condemned Donald Trump’s unilateral ban on travel from 26 European countries. The presidents of the European commission and European council defended Europe’s record in managing the pandemic and sharply criticised the White House for its failure to consult its allies.
  • India barred the entry of all foreign tourists for one month starting tomorrow. The ban on foreign visitors includes foreign nationals of Indian origin.
  • Actors Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson announced that they have both tested positive for Covid-19 while filming in Australia.
  • The chief medical officers from England, Wales, Scotland and Northern have instructed doctors to change the way they work to deal with “very abnormal emergency situation”.
  • Every member of the Spanish cabinet is being tested for coronavirus after the country’s equality minister, Irene Montero, became the latest politician to test positive for the virus. The coronavirus death toll in Spain has increased from 47 to 84.

In Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, the country’s prime minister, has called for the formation of a national unity government to tackle the threat of the global coronavirus epidemic, according to a snap on Reuters.

The country has held three elections within the a year, with no clear winner making it difficult for any one party to form a government.

The Football Association of Ireland has announced that all football has been suspended until 29 March, the Press Association reports.

The decision follows advice from the government, the Department of Health and European football governing body Uefa. In a statement, the FAI said:

The decision has been taken in light of the growing threat posed by the Covid-19 outbreak and in the best interests of our players, coaches, volunteers, supporters and staff.

This decision will be monitored on an ongoing basis.

The FAI again met with representatives from the National League Executive Committee and the Professional Footballers’ Association of Ireland today, and continues to work with both bodies to help our clubs and players through this difficult time.

The FAI remains in communication with the Department of Health and Uefa on Covid-19 and will continue to follow all government guidelines.

Also today, the Gaelic Athletic Association of Ireland (GAA) - the body that coordinates the Irish sports of Hurling, Gaelic Football and Camogie - announced the suspension of all games, training and club gatherings at all levels - from under-8’s practice to inter-county championship teams - until 29 March. The GAA’s statement said:

In light of this morning’s Government announcement, the GAA, An Cumann Camógaíochta and the Ladies Gaelic Football Association have decided to suspend all activity at club, county and educational levels until March 29 (inclusive) from midnight.

This is to include all games, training and team gatherings at all ages and all grades.

We will continue to liaise with Government officials and review the situation between now and the end of the month, assessing the impact of these measures on our competitions.

In the meantime, the Association is encouraging all members to continue to follow the guidelines which have been provided by the Health Authorities.

The EU has condemned Donald Trump’s unilateral ban on travel from 26 European countries as urgent efforts to contain the rapid spread of the coronavirus pandemic upended daily life for millions of people around the world, Jon Henley, the Guardian’s Europe correspondent, reports.

Ireland, Austria, Turkey and Norway on Thursday joined the growing list of countries to close all schools, universities and kindergartens, while Italy – by far the hardest-hit European nation – said its death toll from the virus rose to 1,016 from 827, with infections climbing by 21% to 15,113.

In a joint statement, the presidents of the European commission and European council defended Europe’s record in managing the pandemic and sharply criticised the White House for its failure to consult its allies.

Here is what the UK prime minister, Boris Johnson, said at the start of his press conference, in which he warned of a grim new phase of the coronavirus outbreak in the country, cross-posted from our politics live blog.

In a marked change of tone from the previous press conferences and interviews he has given on this subject, he said this was the worst public health crisis for a generation and that “many more” people would die. He said:

It’s clear that coronavirus Covid-19 continues, and will continue to, spread across the world and our country over the next few months.

We’ve done what can be done to contain this disease, and this has bought us valuable time, but it’s now a global pandemic.

The number of cases will rise sharply, indeed the true number of cases is higher – perhaps much higher than the number of cases we have so far confirmed with tests.

We’ve all got to be clear, this is the worst public health crisis for a generation. Some people compare it to seasonal flu, alas that is not right. Due to the lack of immunity this disease is more dangerous.

It is going to spread further and, I must level with you, I must level with the British public: many more families are going to lose loved ones before their time.

Updated

There has been a rise in confirmed coronavirus cases in Greece where the number has jumped from 99 to 117, Helena Smith reports from Athens.

Revealing the increase the health ministry spokesman, Sotiris Tsiodras, an expert in infectious diseases, said while 107 of the cases had been traced, 10 were of unknown origin.

Two former patients, however, who had been hospitalised with the illness had been released after fully recovering.

Women sit next to tents, at a makeshift camp for refugees and migrants next to the Moria camp, on the island of Lesbos
Women sit next to tents, at a makeshift camp for refugees and migrants next to the Moria camp, on the island of Lesbos. Photograph: Elias Marcou/Reuters

The announcement came as a migrant on Lesbos, who had been feared to have contracted the virus, learned today he had tested negative. The news has been met with widespread relief among doctors and humanitarian staff working in Moria, the vastly overcrowded camp where the asylum seeker had been living.

With some 22,000 men, women and children in the holding facility, where appalling conditions have generated global notoriety, an outbreak would be very hard to contain, local officials fear. Panagiotis Paparisvas, who heads the local Tradesman Association told the Guardian:

People here are very worried about Moria because we all know that even if one person goes down with it, in such conditions it will be very difficult to control.

Today’s news has been met with joy.

The migrant, who has remained anonymous, had begun to exhibit symptoms of Covid-19, including a high fever, on Wednesday and was immediately quarantined.

Tests were conducted at the hospital in Mytilene, the island’s port capital, where a 40-year-old local woman, who contracted the illness on a trip to Israel, has been isolated in a specialist unit since Monday. A supermarket employee in the resort town of Plomari, the mother-of-two is believed to have had contact with countless people upon her return to Lesbos.

The island’s hospital and local health centres have very limited capacity to care for patients in the event of an outbreak with doctors saying “ten at most” would be the limit.

Updated

Brexit negotiators will not meet next week

A joint EU and UK statement has just been issued confirming that the teams of negotiators for next week’s Brexit talks will not meet.

Given the latest Covid-19 developments, EU and UK negotiators have today jointly decided not to hold next week’s round of negotiations in London, in the form originally scheduled.

Both sides are currently exploring alternative ways to continue discussions, including if possible the use of video conferences.

Updated

The Labour MP Kate Osamor has written to Matt Hancock, the UK health secretary, calling for immediate support to NHS 111 to stop what she says are safety failings that are contributing to the spread of coronavirus. She writes:

NHS 111 is our first and main line of defence for the public against the spread of coronavirus. Millions of British people depend on a safe, robust screening service with clear, consistent, clinical advice. If the service does not operate effectively, we will lose the fight to contain and delay the spread of the virus.

Kate Connolly, the Guardian’s Berlin correspondent, has sent a summary of developments in Germany, where the number of people with coronavirus has risen to 2,527.

The fourth death was announced this morning, of a 67-year-old man from the south western state of Baden-Württemberg. And this afternoon, there was news of the fifth death, of an 80-year-old man, in the southern state of Bavaria.

In Berlin an emergency meeting is taking place of the leaders of Germany’s 16 states to discuss what measures should be taken to dampen the spread of the virus. A press conference is expected when the talks conclude.

A German police officer wearing a face mask monitors drivers at the French-German border between the cities of Strasbourg and Kehl.
A German police officer wearing a face mask monitors drivers at the French-German border between the cities of Strasbourg and Kehl. Photograph: Patrick Hertzog/AFP/Getty

Prof Lars Schaade, the vice president of the Robert Koch Institute, the leading government advice body for public health, said that the virus was spreading “very fast” in Germany. He said virologists would be closely observing developments over the next days and weeks, looking for any indication as to when the virus might start to “level off”. He warned that young people and those in good health were at risk of not taking the illness seriously.

They don’t belong to the risk group. But globally there have been cases of young people whose illnesses have developed into something more serious.

Younger people also had to show solidarity towards older members of society, he said, by curbing their activities so as not to contribute to the spread of the virus.

Germany’s president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who has cancelled almost all of his non-urgent appointments, appealed to Germans to help each other, and show solidarity particularly towards the elderly and sick by not undertaking any necessary journeys or activities. He said:

We need to change our daily lives, not gradually, but immediately. This is all about gaining time, so that the hospitals are not overwhelmed and there’s more chance to develop a vaccination.

As increasing numbers of events are being cancelled across the country and schools, and kindergartens being closed where there are confirmed persons with coronavirus, the Christian Democratic Union party announced its conference at the end of April, which was to elect a new leader, would no longer take place.

Daniel Barenboim, the artistic director of Berlin’s Staatsoper, said tonight’s performance of Carmen, starring Anita Rachvelishvili, would take place without an audience but would be live-streamed on its website at 7pm local time.

After several leading footballers from clubs in Hanover and Stuttgart were tested positive, the German Football Association, DFB, said it was at pains to see the regular football season out, but it would also consider bringing it to a premature end.

Its general secretary, Friedrich Curtius, wrote in a guest commentary for the football magazine Kicker:

We need to look at every scenario and be ready in case it should happen that matches cannot take place, or even whether we have to bring the season to an early close.

Updated

My colleague Lisa O’Carroll has more on the advice to the government from the UK elections watchdog to postpone May’s local and mayoral elections because of the coronavirus crisis.

The Electoral Commission has written to the government expressing “serious concerns” over canvassing activity as the country moves into the “delay” phase of the virus prevention plan.

Next week’s Brexit talks in London are also under threat but officials are hoping to salvage the three-day negotiating round through video-conferencing.

Downing Street said it was “still anticipating” the second round of negotiations would take place as planned on Wednesday.

Elections for local authorities, police and crime commissioner, and mayoral posts are due to take place in 309 constituencies on 7 May.

An EU official said: “We are in contact with the UK about next week’s round of negotiations.”

Updated

Authorities in the Netherlands have announced new measures to combat the spread of coronavirus, after a press conference by the prime minister, Mark Rutte.

Gatherings of more than 100 people have been banned in the country, while older people and others from vulnerable groups have been told to avoid public transport.

The Netherlands has 614 confirmed infections. You can read more on the I Am Expat website.

Updated

Venezuela cancels flights from Europe and Colombia

Venezuela has cancelled all flights from Europe and neighbouring Colombia in an effort to isolate the troubled South American country from the spread of the coronavirus, reports Joe Parkin Daniels. The ban will last 30 days.

Mass gatherings have also been banned, the country’s embattled president, Nicolás Maduro, said in a televised statement on Thursday. He described the measures as “preventative”.

Venezuela, which boasts the largest proven oil reserves on the planet, is mired in social and economic turmoil, with shortages in basic goods and medical supplies widespread and runaway hyperinflation.

An anti-Maduro demonstrator throws teargas back at police in Caracas. Mass gatherings have now been banned in Venezuela.
An anti-Maduro demonstrator throws teargas back at police in Caracas. Mass gatherings have now been banned in Venezuela. Photograph: Getty Images

Public health experts warn that the country is far from ready to handle any outbreak amid a collapsing health system.

No cases of Covid-19 have been confirmed by the famously intransigent government, though observers say that testing capabilities are well under par.

Maduro, who is not recognised as the legitimate president by the US and 50 other countries, has said US sanctions are hurting his administration’s ability to respond to the pandemic.

Updated

The UK government has updated its coronavirus advice, following the latest emergency meeting of ministers and their advisers this afternoon. Here are the key points:

  • If you have symptoms of coronavirus infection (Covid-19), however mild, stay at home and do not leave your house for seven days from when your symptoms started. (See “ending isolation” section, below, for more information)
  • This action will help protect others in your community whilst you are infectious.
  • Plan ahead and ask others for help to ensure that you can successfully stay at home.
  • Ask your employer, friends and family to help you to get the things you need to stay at home.
  • Stay at least 2 metres (about three steps) away from other people in your home whenever possible.
  • Sleep alone, if that is possible.
  • Wash your hands regularly for 20 seconds, each time using soap and water.
  • Stay away from vulnerable individuals such as the elderly and those with underlying health conditions as much as possible.
  • You do not need to call NHS 111 to go into self-isolation. If your symptoms worsen during home isolation or are no better after seven days contact NHS 111 online. If you have no internet access, you should call NHS 111. For a medical emergency dial 999.

Updated

Extinction Rebellion has postponed its next wave of protests, which had been due to start on 23 May.

Sources within the environmental protest movement say they are planning an alternative “rebellion”, in an effort to support the struggle against the coronavirus outbreak that is spreading around the world.

A statement sent to the Guardian reads:

Extinction Rebellion UK – as part of a wider movement – exists to protect life, both now and for future generations. Right now we all need to prioritise public health, follow advice from scientists and doctors, and be mindful of the most vulnerable in our communities.

Mass public gatherings will not be organised by Extinction Rebellion if it is not safe to do so.

As such we can no longer make a commitment to the date of May 23rd for in-person rebellion in London based on Covid-19. We will make alternative, creative plans for May and June, watch this space!

We will return to London in future but can’t be certain of a date right now, so we ask rebels to continue mobilising, to be ready for when the time is right. We believe in the need for mass civil disobedience, until the Government responds adequately to the ongoing climate and ecological emergency. As the pandemic passes nothing will feel the same and we need to be ready, we are already in a state of planetary crisis, and we do not have to return to business as usual.

Extinction Rebellion will continue to organise with, and support, our local communities and each other throughout this time of national and international emergency.

Extinction Rebellion protesters hold a demonstration against the budget outside parliament in London.
Extinction Rebellion protesters hold a demonstration against the budget outside parliament in London. Photograph: Matt Dunham/AP

Updated

Italy Covid-19 death toll passes 1,000

More than 1,000 people in Italy have died as a result of the Covid-19 outbreak, according to the latest figures.

According to Reuters:

The death toll from an outbreak of coronavirus in Italy has jumped in the last 24 hours by 189 to 1,016, a rise of 23%, the Civil Protection Agency said on Thursday.

The total number of cases in Italy, the European country hardest hit by the virus, rose to 15,113 from a previous 12,462, an increase of 21.7%. That marked the biggest daily rise in absolute terms since the contagion first came to light on Feb. 21.

The agency said that, of those originally infected, 1,258 had fully recovered compared to 1,045 the day before. Some 1,153 people were in intensive care against a previous 1,028.

Updated

FTSE 100 index suffers second-worst day ever

Britain’s FTSE 100 has suffered its biggest one-day loss since October 1987, and its second worst day ever.

The escalating coronavirus crisis has triggered an absolute rout in the City again, and around Europe, as Donald Trump’s EU flight ban sparks alarm – and fuels fears of a global recession.

Investors appear to be pricing in a serious pandemic, with quarantine measures and lockdowns in big cities leading to huge economic cost, and losing faith that policymakers can prevent it.

Read more on our business live blog:

Updated

For full coverage of the UK prime minister’s press conference on the country’s response to coronavirus check out our politics live blog.

Deliveroo HQ in London will be closed from tomorrow until at least 30 March, a leaked internal memo sent by the chief executive and founder, Will Shu, to staff reveals, Jedidajah Otte reports.

Shu wrote:

I’m writing to provide another update on coronavirus. In recent days, governments around the world have also taken more aggressive measures as I’m sure you’ve read about. Given these rapidly changing conditions the exec team and I have made the decision to close HQ and require everyone to work from home.

Dan Winn, the chief technology officer at Deliveroo, wrote in a separate message to staff at the company’s tech department, seen by the Guardian:

This is a watershed moment for the company and for this team. Our business environment is changing rapidly. Consumer, rider and restaurant needs are evolving literally daily … In the midst of all this, we’re today transitioning our organisation to a completely new way of working: fully remote. It’s imperative that we get this right.

A Deliveroo spokesperson said:

Deliveroo has taken the precaution of temporarily closing its HQ office in London and employees will work from home. This is a safety-first approach that we will keep under review.

Updated

The health minister in Wales, Vaughan Gething, has defended his government’s decision not to order the postponement of the Wales v Scotland rugby match, Steven Morris reports.

Plaid Cymru has called for the game and other mass gatherings to be put off, but Gething said: “It’s really clear and really important that ministers are making choices guided by the best evidence and advice.” He said Wales was “actively considering” banning mass gatherings from next week.

Wales centre Hadleigh Parkes.
Wales centre Hadleigh Parkes. Photograph: Michael Mayhew/SportsPhoto/AllStar

On closing schools, Gething said such a move was not appropriate at the moment. He said: “Ministers have had clear advice that closing schools now is not an appropriate step to take. That advice may change.”

The chief medical officer for Wales, Dr Frank Atherton, said the expectation was that cases would start rising in early April and there may be a peak in May and June.

Asked if there was any suggestion the pattern in the UK was not following that seen in Italy, he said: “We have to assume the pattern of transmission in Italy may be coming our way. We have to assume that.”

Welsh Labour has announced it is postponing its annual conference as the Welsh Labour government devotes its full attention to responding to the outbreak. The conference was due to take place next month in Llandudno, north Wales.

Updated

Many families 'to lose loved ones' announces UK prime minister

Boris Johnson said the coronavirus outbreak was “the worst public health crisis for a generation” and the number of cases could be “much higher” than had been confirmed.

The prime minister said he had to “level with the British public that many more families are going to lose loved ones before their time”.

We are now getting on to the next phase in that plan, because this is now not just an attempt to contain the disease as far as possible, but to delay the spread and thereby minimise the suffering.

He said even if the peak of the disease was delayed by a “few weeks”, the NHS would be in a stronger position to handle it because of the improving weather, more beds would be available and there would be greater time for medical research.

Updated

As well as advising that gatherings of 500 people or more be cancelled next week, Scotland’s first minister said overseas school trips should not go ahead and people with symptoms indicative of coronavirus should stay at home for seven days.

Nicola Sturgeon told a press briefing that she was articulating a Scottish government position, not a UK-wide position, when advising that large gatherings should cancelled.

“We will from the start of next week advise the cancellation of mass gatherings of over 500 people that have the potential to have an impact on our frontline emergency services,” she said.

The first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s chief medical officer, Dr Catherine Calderwood, and the health secretary, Jeane Freeman, deliver an update on coronavirus after a Cobra meeting.
The first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s chief medical officer, Dr Catherine Calderwood, and the health secretary, Jeane Freeman, deliver an update on coronavirus after a Cobra meeting. Photograph: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

Though this move would not have a significant impact on the spread of the virus, Sturgeon said the government issued this advice to reduce the impact on policing and frontline health services during the outbreak.

At first minister’s questions, Sturgeon said she was specifically referring to events that required policing and ambulance cover. “I am very clear that we are basing the decision on resilience issues and not simply on the action that we require to take to reduce the spread of the virus,” she said. “It is important that we recognise that those decisions have to be informed by the science but that there are wider implications that we all have to be mindful of.”

The Scottish government will also be advising local authorities and schools that overseas school trips should be cancelled. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office would soon issue advice that aligned with that position, Sturgeon said.

The first minister said schools, colleges and universities throughout the UK were currently not being advised to close. While the government would keep this issue under review, Sturgeon explained that closing schools could lead to children gathering in more informal settings and result in a greater spread of the virus.

She added: “If it gets to the stage where the advice is to close schools, this will not be for a week or two weeks. This will be something that was advised to last throughout the peak of the infection and that is potentially until the summer period.”

Updated

The Green party in England and Wales has cancelled its spring conference. The talks had been due to take place in Brighton on the weekend of 20-22 March.

A statement on the Green party website reads:

As a democratic party, conference plays an important role in determining policy and the overall direction of the party, as well as providing a space for training and discussion for members.

However, it would not be responsible to continue with our plans given the ongoing situation.

In lieu of conference, plans are already under way to provide members with access to fringe sessions and interaction opportunities online throughout the course of the weekend.

We will be offering refunds of fees for those already booked. We hope that, given the party will face a significant financial loss as a result of this decision, those members that are able to consider foregoing this will do so.

Updated

Electoral Commission recommends local elections are postponed

The local elections are scheduled to be held on Thursday 7 May in about 118 English local councils, eight directly elected mayors in England and 40 police and crime commissioners in England and Wales.

More universities in England say they are stopping in-person lectures and classes and planning to switch to remote learning this month, Richard Adams, the Guardian’s education editor, reports.

The University of Durham and Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) have announced that they will move to remote learning where possible, with Durham to begin from 16 March for the last week of term before its Easter holidays begin.

Clare O’Malley, Durham’s global pro-vice-chancellor, told students in an email:

If you wish to leave Durham following your last class this week, you can do so. Others of you will stay in Durham but will not be able to access your classrooms next week. We will make every effort to ensure that all of you can participate in classes remotely until the Easter break.

The Birley campus at Manchester Metropolitan University.
The Birley campus at Manchester Metropolitan University. Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian

MMU also said it was preparing for the possibility of switching its end of year exams to online assessments. Malcolm Press, the vice-chancellor of MMU, told students:

We have decided to end face-to-face teaching at Manchester Metropolitan University from Friday 27 March, and potentially sooner, if requested by the government.

Tutors across our faculties are now preparing to support this and will update you on how to access remaining teaching … To be prudent, the university is also planning how best to deliver assessments, exams and credits, should we need to change our usual processes for the summer term. We will update you on any changes as soon as possible.

You will be free to go home for the Easter break from Friday 27 March or remain on campus and in halls as usual.

Updated

Rodrigo Duterte, the president of the Philippines, has announced that the whole of Metro Manila, the country’s capital, is to be placed under quarantine, according to reports.

All travel in and out of the capital will be halted from 15 March until 14 April, Duterte said after a meeting with an interagency taskforce on the Philippines’ response to the outbreak, according to a report in ABS-CBN News. The site reported the president as saying:

Community quarantine is hereby imposed in the entirety of Metro Manila. It’s a lockdown. There is no struggle of power here … It’s just a matter of protecting and defending you from Covid-19.

A classroom is disinfected in San Juan, Metro Manila.
A classroom is disinfected in San Juan, Metro Manila. Photograph: Eloisa Lopez/Reuters

Updated

Concerns are growing that the deportation of migrants from the US and Mexico could accelerate the spread of coronavirus in Central America, after authorities in Honduras suspended repatriation flights and confirmed the first two cases in the country, Jeff Ernst reports for the Guardian.

Honduras became the third country in Central America – and the first in the northern triangle region, which is the largest source of migration to the US – to confirm cases of the virus late on Tuesday.

The cases involved people who had recently returned from Europe, but three men deported from the US also arrived presenting symptoms.

The three deportees, aged between 18 and 26, have been placed in isolation. President Juan Orlando Hernández called for calm, saying on Wednesday: “We cannot allow ourselves to be guided by panic or hysteria.”

Updated

Two more UK deaths from coronavirus

Prof Chris Whitty, the chief medical officer for England, has confirmed the country’s ninth and tenth deaths from coronavirus, both in London.

I am sorry to confirm two further people have sadly died in England who tested positive for Covid-19. This takes the total in England to 10.

I offer my sincere condolences to their families and friends and ask that their privacy is respected.

They both had underlying health conditions. The patients were at Barking, Havering and Redbridge University trust and Imperial College Healthcare NHS trust.

Updated

The Brazilian government has confirmed that President Jair Bolsonaro’s communications secretary, Fabio Wajngarten, has coronavirus just days after meeting Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago, Dom Phillips, in Rio de Janeiro, reports.

Confirming a newspaper report, it said:

The medical service of the presidency of the Republic adopted and is adopting all the necessary preventive measures to preserve the health of the president of the Republic and the entire presidential committee which accompanied him on the recent trip to the United States, as well as presidential palace staff.

It added:

This is because one of the members of the group, Fabio Wajngarten, secretary of communication of the presidency of the Republic, is carrying the new coronavirus Covid-19, confirmed in a control test.

Wajngarten shared photos of himself with Trump and Mike Pence during the trip, as well as Bolsonaro. The two presidents dined on Saturday at Mar-a-Lago in Florida. In one video, Wajngarten (wearing glasses) is seen just behind Trump and Bolsonaro.

The US government has been informed “so that they can adopt the necessary cautionary measures”, the statement said. Wajngarten is in home quarantine.

Updated

Canadian PM self-isolating after wife returns from UK

The Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, is self-isolating after his wife began suffering from flu-like symptoms after returning from the UK.

According to his spokesman, Trudeau “will spend the day in briefings, phone calls and virtual meetings from home, including speaking with other world leaders”.

Updated

This is Damien Gayle taking the reins on the liveblog now for the next couple of hours, with the latest updates on the developing coronavirus situation.

Please do get in touch if you have any news – particularly anything internationally you think we might have overlooked – as well as any tips or suggestions for our coverage. As usual you can email me at damien.gayle@theguardian.com, or reach me via my Twitter profile, @damiengayle.

Updated

The London School of Economics is to move all teaching for undergraduate and postgraduate students online later this month, becoming the first UK university to do so in the wake of the widespread Covid-19 outbreak, Richard Adams, education correspondent, reports.

But it said the campus and residential accommodation will remain open as usual, following PHE advice.

Minouche Shafik, the LSE director, said in a message to students and staff:

I want to recognise that there are many different views and opinions on campus around our school’s approach to Covid-19, and I appreciate that these decisions may not be in line with some thinking. I assure you that these actions have been taken with consideration of a range of perspectives and with all members of our community in mind. We are stronger when we come together, and I hope we can continue to work in partnership with the same commitment to each other in the weeks ahead.

The library of the London School of Economics, which is to be the first university to move all teaching online in response to the coronavirus outbreak
The library of the London School of Economics, which is to be the first university to move all teaching online in response to the coronavirus outbreak Photograph: Frank Baron/The Guardian

The school, based in central London, is also to postpone graduation ceremonies planned for July, with all public events on campus to be stopped from 23 March.

Updated

Scotland bans mass gatherings of more than 500 people

Scotland’s first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, has announced a ban on gatherings of more than 500 people in Scotland.

She also said at the Cobra meeting it was decided that the UK had moved from the “contain” phase into the “delay” phase.

Updated

The London School of Economics has said it will switch to online-only classes and lectures for all undergraduate and taught postgraduate courses from 23 March, while summer exams will be replaced by online assessments.

A spokesperson said:

From Monday 23 March LSE will deliver all teaching for undergraduate and postgraduate students online. This will be in place for the rest of the academic year. Taught exams and assessments scheduled later this year will also be delivered online.

These actions are taken as a precaution and to provide clarity and reassurance to the LSE community in exceptional circumstances.

The LSE campus and halls of residence will remain open. Guidance from Public Health England maintains that there is presently low risk for LSE and that buildings, services and facilities can run as usual.

We will take any additional necessary steps, such as a campus closure, if we are advised to do so in the future.

The University of Westminster has announced that it is cancelling its open day for undergraduate applicants scheduled for 14 March.

The university said:

The health and wellbeing of our university community and visitors is our priority and, while no confirmed cases of coronavirus diagnosis have been reported at the university by Public Health England, the university considers that it would be prudent to take a cautious approach to hosting major events at the current time.

Updated

During the Spanish Flu outbreak in 1918, adverts in the Guardian told readers that soap can save lives.

Summary

Here’s a summary of the latest developments:

Updated

The majority of coronavirus infections may be spread by people who have recently caught the virus and have not yet begun to show symptoms, scientists have found.

An analysis of infections in Singapore and Tianjin in China revealed that two-thirds and three-quarters of people respectively appear to have caught it from others who were incubating the virus but still symptom-free.

The finding has dismayed infectious disease researchers as it means that isolating people once they start to feel ill will be far less effective at slowing the pandemic than had been hoped.

A leading public health expert has launched a devastating critique of the government’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak in the UK, saying it is too little too late, lacks transparency and fails to mobilise the public.

Prof John Ashton, a former regional director of public health for north-west England, lambasted a lack of preparation and openness from the government and contrasted Britain’s response to that of Hong Kong.

“Right at the beginning of February, they [Hong Kong] adopted a total approach to this, which is what we should have done five weeks ago ourselves. They took a decision to work to three principles – of responding promptly, staying alert, working in an open and transparent manner,” he told the Guardian.

“Our lot haven’t been working openly and transparently. They’ve been doing it in a (non) smoke-filled room and just dribbling out stuff. The chief medical officer only appeared in public after about two weeks. Then they have had a succession of people bobbing up and disappearing. Public Health England’s been almost invisible.

“Boris Johnson should have convened Cobra himself over a month ago and had regular meetings with the chief medical officer with the evidence. The thing should have been fronted up nationally by one person who could be regarded as the trusted voice and who could have been interrogated regularly. That’s not happened.”

The seaside resort of Knokke-Heist has become the first municipality in Belgium to declare itself to be in “lockdown”.

Sports centres, bars and cinemas must remain closed until 30 April and all cultural events organised by the local authority have been called off.

The mayor of Knokke, Leopold Lippens, said he was acting in the face of prevarication by the central government.

He said: “While the federal government continues to talk, we intervene ourselves. I think about the health of my Knokke people. What the rest of Belgium does, I don’t care.”

Updated

The director of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has urged government’s to “double down” on efforts to control the Covid-19 pandemic.

In a briefing today he said:

We are deeply concerned that some countries are not approaching this threat with the level of political commitment needed to control it.

Let me be clear: describing this as a pandemic does not mean that countries should give up. The idea that countries should shift from containment to mitigation is wrong and dangerous.

On the contrary, we have to double down.

This is a controllable pandemic. Countries that decide to give up on fundamental public health measures may end up with a larger problem, and a heavier burden on the health system that requires more severe measures to control.

All countries must strike a fine balance between protecting health, preventing economic and social disruption, and respecting human rights.

We urge all countries to take a comprehensive approach tailored to their circumstances – with containment as the central pillar.

Colombia has ordered the cancelation of all events of more than 500 people in the latest attempt to contain the spread of the coronavirus.

The measures announced by the president, Iván Duque, also include a suspension of transiting cruise ships in the country, and follow protocols put in place on Wednesday that oblige people arriving from China, Italy, France and Spain to go into self-isolation at their homes or hotels for two weeks.

Colombia’s football league will play matches behind closed doors, Duque said, as Colombians begin to stockpile household goods and masks in anticipation of a difficult few months.

Declaring a “sanitary emergency” on Thursday morning, Duque said that “quick and exceptional measures” must be taken. He said those measures will be in place until 30 May.

Colombia, an oil exporter, continues to feel the economic fallout from the pandemic, with its peso (COP) the weakest against the dollar (USD) it has ever been when markets opened on Thursday. Colombia has confirmed nine cases of Covid-19.

Updated

Mark Jit, an epidemiologist at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, told the Guardian that at this stage of the outbreak, the government’s plan appeared to be a sensible approach.

His colleague has criticised the UK response as insufficient (see earlier), but Jit said:

The whole world is at the situation now where we don’t expect to contain the virus. There might have been a window early on, but that has now passed … This virus is going to spread … A certain number of people are going to be infected in the UK, and the challenge is that they are not all infected at once. If it all happens at once then that is going to be a really big challenge for the NHS.

“You have to appraise the policies based on the timing. Early on when it looked like it was mainly concentrated in Wuhan countries were trying to prevent cases from entering and to detect the few cases that we had … Now there are countries which are closing schools and are having travel restrictions, but I think the motivation behind that is to really delay the epidemic … I don’t think countries are really expecting to prevent the epidemic.

“I’m not privy to the exact thinking of ministers, but the general thrust of it seems sound. There is no way to really prevent the virus spreading across the UK so the task is really to delay it.

Updated

Here’s a roundup on the rapidly changing travel restrictions around the world.

Three Leicester City players have shown symptoms of coronavirus and been placed in self-isolation, manager Brendan Rodgers has said.

UK cases rise from 456 to 590

A total of 590 people have tested positive for coronavirus in the UK as of 9am on Thursday, up from 456 at the same point on Wednesday, the Department of Health said.

The 134 daily increase is the biggest numerical rise so far, and represents a daily increase of 29.4%

Updated

The Conservative MP Andrew Bridgen has confirmed that he is self-isolating after having lunch last week with the health minister Nadine Dorries, who was tested positive for the virus earlier this week.

Updated

Two more deaths in England

NHS England has confirmed two more patients have died from coronavirus, taking the UK death toll to 10 (including two patients who have died overseas). Both patients were in London and had underlying health problems.

A spokesperson for Imperial College Healthcare NHS trust said:

We can confirm that, sadly, an 89-year-old patient who was very unwell with underlying health conditions has passed away at Charing Cross Hospital.

The patient had tested positive for coronavirus. Our thoughts and condolences are with the patient’s family.

Tony Chambers, interim chief executive at Barking, Havering and Redbridge University hospitals NHS trust, said:

We can confirm that a patient, who was in her sixties, and who tested positive for Covid-19 has sadly died at Queen’s hospital. She had been very unwell with significant other health conditions.

Our thoughts and condolences are with the patient’s family at what is undoubtedly a very distressing time.

We ask that the family’s privacy is respected.

Updated

Martin Hibberd, professor of emerging infectious disease at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, says the UK response has not been adequate to contain the virus.

He writes:

The UK response has clearly not been sufficient, as numbers are continuing to climb and we are at risk of following the trajectory of other European countries.

If the aim is simply to delay the peak of the outbreak till the summer, then perhaps the UK response is enough. However, WHO is challenging the world to do more and we know from China that aggressive curtailment policies can work to reduce numbers.

But following China, as Italy is moving towards, is not an easy path for many reasons. I would advocate for the UK to follow a more nuanced approach, such as that being adopted by Singapore; which appears to be effective to at least contain numbers of Covid-19 cases.

In this approach, extensive contact-tracing and Sars-CoV-2 testing is able to rapidly identify new cases and fully isolate them. When put together with other social distancing measures (that do not include ‘lock down’ of areas – even the schools are open), some confidence is gained that the pandemic can be more controllable and shops can remain open.

To do this, the UK would need to rapidly increase its testing facilities and target to test every possible case, together with other social distancing tools to make this work. They could start by testing everyone in parliament to understand the nature of any cases there.

Updated

The Czech Republic will close its borders to travellers coming from Germany and Austria and also ban the entry of foreigners coming from other risky countries to contain the outbreak, the prime minister, Andrej Babiš, has said.

Reuters reports:

Citizens will also be barred from travelling to those areas. Among other measures, the government banned public events of more than 30 people and closures of places such as sport centres or spa services. Restaurants must close by 8pm.

Updated

Positive cases in Scotland increase from 36 to 60

The number of positive Covid-19 cases in Scotland has increased by 24 from 36 to 60 in the last day.

The latest UK total is expected to be announced soon.

A second member of staff at Aintree University hospital in Liverpool has tested positive for coronavirus (Covid-19), the hospital said.

A spokesman said:

They were identified, informed and advised as part of contact tracing related to an existing case. The member of staff concerned has been asked to self-isolate at home. This tried and tested method is to ensure we are able to minimise any risk to them, our patients and the wider public.

Updated

Trading on Wall Street suspended

Trading has been suspended on Wall Street triggering another monster selloff in Europe.

The FTSE 100 has plunged 9%, shedding 546 points to just 5,330.37 – levels not seen since 2012.

European stock markets have crated by 10% – which would be the worse day ever for the Stoxx 600 index of EU companies.

Updated

Norway and Lithuania have become the latest countries to shut down nurseries, schools and universities, AP reports.

The Norwegian government says employees at work must be at least one metre apart and gatherings of more than 50 people have been banned. Norway’s royal palace said all official arrangements till early April will either be cancelled or postponed.

Lithuania suspended gatherings of more than 100 people and closed museums, cinemas and sports clubs. In the capital of Vilnius, the lockdown is due to last for five weeks.

Updated

Mike Tinmouth, a digital marketing consultant from south London, has finally been tested for coronavirus more than a week after first reporting a fever to NHS 111 following a trip to Thailand and Singapore.

Speaking to the Guardian before his test he said that government plans to increase the testing regime from 1,500 tests a day to 10,000 was “too little too late”.

He said:

I was told you need to be tested, but I just wasn’t getting a response from 111. I was told there were severe delays to even book in for a test. I was flabbergasted. I woke up with a fever on Wednesday last week. I was first told that because I didn’t have a severe cough it was probably just flu. I was told I didn’t even need to self isolate.

When I developed a cough I was told I’d been given the wrong information and that I should be tested and that someone would call me back. That’s when the real frustration started.

I went from being sick over the last few days to being angry, and frustrated.

He pointed out that he was due to speak at a care home conference this week and has tried to avoid contact with his husband, who teaches in a London school.

It is not knowing whether I have coronavirus or just something else that has kept me and everyone around me in suspended animation. And that’s really unacceptable. Every thing that is being done at the moment feels like a front for what’s actually happening and that doesn’t fill me with any confidence.

Updated

Cobra meeting gets underway

The foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, arrives in Downing Street, London, ahead of a meeting of the government’s emergency Cobra committee
The foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, arrives in Downing Street, London, ahead of a meeting of the government’s emergency Cobra committee. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA

UK ministers, officials, medical officers and the chief of the defence staff have arrived for the latest emergency Cobra meeting.

The meeting is expected to confirm that the UK has officially moved from the “contain” to the “delay” phase as set out in a plan for tackling Covid-19.

Chief Medical Officer for England Chris Whitty (right) and Chief Scientific Adviser Sir Patrick Vallance arrive in Downing Street for the Cobra meeting
The chief medical officer for England, Chris Whitty, (right) and the chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance, arrive in Downing Street for the Cobra meeting. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA

Updated

The streets in Denmark were this morning almost empty during the rush hour as the Danes followed the the danish prime minister’s recommendation for people to stay at home, writes reader Ralf Kauffmann.

The Danish parliament passed new emergency laws that include giving the authorities power to access people’s homes without a court order in case of suspected coronavirus cases.

The health authorities have been given power to ration essential medicines at pharmacies, and supermarkets can be ordered to ration food to counter hoarding. The Danish parliament is expected to close after it has finished passing the new emergency laws. Hospitals have canceled all non-emergency operations.

All non-essential public workers have been sent home for two weeks on full pay. And religious services and sports events have been cancelled.

A view of empty shelves at a supermarket in Copenhagen as people began stockpiling food just hours after the Danish government introduced measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus
A view of empty shelves at a supermarket in Copenhagen as people began stockpiling food just hours after the Danish government introduced measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus. Photograph: Nikolaj Skydsgaard/Reuters

Updated

What exactly happens once someone is infected with this new virus? The Guardian’s Science Weekly podcast explains.

The US vice-president, Mike Pence, has defended the Trump administration’s restrictions on travel from 26 European nations, saying the centre of the pandemic has shifted from Asia to Europe, Reuters reports.

In a round of television interviews, Pence said thousands more cases of Covid-19 were expected in the United States, and that clamping down on travel from Europe was just part of the government’s strategy to fight the outbreak.

Speaking to NBC’s Today, he said: “We know there will be more infections in the days ahead. We’re trying to hold that number down as much as possible.”

And he told CNN: “We’ve recognixed ... that the epicentre of the coronavirus has shifted from China and South Korea to Europe.”

He added that Trump made the decision to impose the travel ban “on the spot” after a briefing from health experts in the Oval Office.

Updated

Spain’s health ministry has said the number of confirmed cases in the country has risen to 2,968, and that 84 people have died.

The new figures came as the two houses of the country’s parliament suspended all activities for a fortnight and Spain’s equality minister, Irene Montero, became the latest MP to be diagnosed with the virus.

All cabinet members are being checked for the virus after Montero, whose partner is the Podemos leader and deputy prime minister, Pablo Iglesias, tested positive. King Felipe and Queen Letizia are also being tested after the queen participated in a joint event with Montero last Friday.

All schools, nurseries and universities in the Madrid region have been shut until 23 March, and all gatherings of more than 1,000 people banned. Catalonia, Galicia, Murcia and the Basque country are also planning to shut down their educational institutions to try to halt the spread of the virus.

Updated

Death toll in Spain increases from 47 to 84

The death toll from coronavirus in Spain has risen from 47 to 84 in the last day, according to Reuters, citing the country’s health ministry.

Updated

How will pupils who have free school meals be fed if schools in England close for a long period?

Vic Goddard, the headteacher of Passmores Academy secondary school, who featured in Channel 4’s Educating Essex documentary series, has a plan:

The Guardian reported on the issue earlier this week.

Updated

A shutdown of schools and universities in Malta has been announced by the prime minister, Robert Abela.

He also banned mass gatherings. “The government will not tolerate people going on with mass events. Now is not the time for such attitudes,” he said according to Times Malta.

Updated

Summary

Here’s a summary of another busy day on the coronavirus front.

Updated

Italy’s government has ordered all shops, bars and restaurants across the country to close after the country’s death toll from the coronavirus outbreak rose by 31% in the space of 24 hours to a total of 827.

As governments across Europe cancelled events, shut schools and imposed travel bans and the World Health Organization formally declared a pandemic, the Italian prime minister, Giuseppe Conte, said all stores would close nationwide bar those selling “basic necessities”, such as pharmacies and supermarkets.

“Industries can stay open, but with strict measures in place, as well as essential services such as banks. Transport will be guaranteed,” Conte said on Wednesday night, warning Italy’s population of over 60 million not to “rush to the supermarkets” as shelves would be restocked as normal.

Ireland closes schools and universities

Ireland’s taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, has announced the closure of all schools, colleges and childcare facilities from tomorrow as part of a partial lockdown that will apply from 6pm tonight until 29 March.

All indoor gatherings of 100 people or more and outdoor gatherings of 500 or more will be cancelled.

Public transport will still run and shops will remain open. He said:

I know that some of this is coming as a real shock. And it’s going to involve big changes in the way we live our lives. And I know that I’m asking people to make enormous sacrifices. But we’re doing it for each other.

Staff should work from home where possible with meetings online if possible.

Varadkar said he was acting on new medical advice the government had received following a meeting of the national emergency team last night.

“The virus is all over the world, it will continue to spread but it can be slowed,” he said in an address outside Blair House in Washington before a breakfast meeting with the US vice president Mike Pence.

“Acting together as one nation we can save many lives our economy will suffer but in time it will bounce back,” he warned.

Updated

McLaren have withdrawn from the Australian Grand Prix, scheduled for this Sunday, after a member of their team staff tested positive for coronavirus. The news throws increasing doubt on the race going ahead.

A statement from the team said:

The team member was tested and self-isolated as soon as they started to show symptoms and will now be treated by local healthcare authorities.

The team has prepared for this eventuality and has ongoing support in place for its employee, who will now enter a period of quarantine. The team is cooperating with the relevant local authorities to assist their investigations and analysis.

Earlier on Wednesday, the world champion Lewis Hamilton admitted he was “shocked” that the race was planned to go ahead at all amid the ongoing outbreak.

When asked why he thought it was going ahead, Hamilton pointedly noted: “Cash is king. I can’t add much more to it. I don’t feel like I should shy away from my opinion.”

Updated

The European Space Agency has announced that it will delay the launch of its joint Exomars mission with Roscosmos from this summer to late 2022.

The ExoMars rover, named Rosalind Franklin, includes a drill to access the sub-surface of Mars as well as a miniature life-search laboratory kept within an ultra-clean zone.

Various software and hardware components, including parachutes designed to ensure a soft landing, needed further work, according to the two agencies. Efforts to overcome these engineering problems were said to have been hampered by travel restrictions due to the coronavirus outbreak.

The Earth-Mars journey is only attempted when the planets are favourably aligned, meaning the next opportunity for the robotic mission won’t occur until 2022.

The Roscosmos director general, Dmitry Rogozin, said:

We have made a difficult but well-weighed decision to postpone the launch to 2022. It is driven primarily by the need to maximise the robustness of all ExoMars systems as well as force majeure circumstances related to exacerbation of the epidemiological situation in Europe which left our experts practically no possibility to proceed with travels to partner industries.

I am confident that the steps that we and our European colleagues are taking to ensure mission success will be justified and will unquestionably bring solely positive results for the mission implementation.

Updated

India bans tourists

India has barred the entry of all foreign tourists for one month starting tomorrow in a bid to contain the coronavirus.

The ban on foreign visitors includes foreign nationals of Indian origin. Only diplomats, officials and members of international organisations such as the UN are exempt.

All travellers arriving from, or having visited, Italy, Iran, China, south Korea, France, Spain and Germany after 5 February will be quarantined for 14 days.

The move to heighten restrictions came as the number of infected persons rose to 73.

Last week, India suspended visas to nationals from China, South Korea, Italy, Iran, and Japan but set no restriction on travellers from other countries such as Germany and France which have hundreds of confirmed cases.

Indians who were planning holidays abroad or planning to meet children studying overseas will have to cancel their plans. The government has told Indians to avoid all non-essential travel abroad.

Most badly hit will be the Indian diaspora who account for some 50% of the 10 million tourists who visit India every year, mostly to meet family and attend weddings. Many are classified as persons of Indian origin, who can enter India without a visa, but they too are banned under the latest rule.

The health ministry clearly feels that an escalation in preventive measures is necessary given that India’s population density of some 420 people per square kilometre – compared with China’s 146 people per square kilometre will make it easier for the virus to spread at great speed.

Updated

Spain's La Liga suspended

All football matches in Spain’s top division, La Liga, have been suspended for two weeks over fears of the spread of the coronavirus, the league’s organising body said in a statement on Thursday.

The league’s statement said the decision came after Real Madrid put its squad into quarantine, and that it had notified the clubs, the Spanish soccer federation (RFEF) and the national sports ministry of the postponements.

Updated

The US vice president, Mike Pence, who is charge to the US response to coronavirus, has been defending Trump’s European travel ban.

Denmark’s prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, has announced that the closure of all nurseries, schools and universities for two weeks.

The Local reports her saying:

This will have huge consequences, but the alternative would be far worse.

Under normal circumstances, a government would not present such far-reaching measures without having all the solutions ready for the many Danes concerned, but we are in an extraordinary situation.

There are 615 confirmed coronavirus cases in Denmark.

The UK government is funding a new international push to challenge dangerous fake news about coronavirus, which is engaging social media influencers to help combat misinformation. The £0.5m from the Department for International Development (DfID) will challenge misinformation in south-east Asia and Africa, which it says is then spreading worldwide, and direct people to the right advice to help stop the spread of the virus.

DfID says false claims and conspiracy theories have spread rapidly on social media, touting dangerous “cures” like drinking bleach or rubbing mustard and garlic into your skin. As well as posing a serious risk to health they can speed up the spread of the virus, by stopping people taking simple practical, preventative steps like washing their hands, it says.

The cash will go to the Humanitarian-to-Humanitarian (H2H) Network, which has extensive experience addressing the spread of misinformation during epidemics, for example following the 2015 Ebola outbreak.

H2H will work with social media influencers – vloggers and bloggers – in the relevant regions to help spread accurate health information and reach younger online audiences that are more susceptible to fake news. It will also work with partners to create verified content.

Updated

Tennis is expected to shut down on Thursday for up to 10 weeks. The French Open in May and Wimbledon in June are thought to be safe at the moment, but the Guardian understands several other big tournaments are almost certain to be cancelled, including the Miami Open, which is due to start on 25 March.

In Paris the show goes on, as smaller concert halls find creative ways to get round France’s ban on gatherings of more than 1,000 people.

While Madonna cancelled the last dates of her tour in Paris, the US rock band Nada Surf got round the ban by playing the same Paris concert twice in one evening.

La Cigale concert hall, where the band performed, is among several smaller venues to have resorted to asking bands to play one set starting at 7 or 7.30pm and another at 9 or 9.30pm, with no opening act.

The concert hall, which has a capacity of 1,500, asked ticket holders who could come to the early show to make every effort to do so, so that as many people as possible could be sure to see one of the performances.

The veteran Irish singer Van Morrison also played two shows in Paris’s Olympia concert hall, which has a capacity of 1,900, on Tuesday evening to get around the crowd limit, and other venues holding fewer than 2,000 spectators are taking similar steps.

It is unclear, however, how long the strategy will continue to work as the French president, Emmanuel Macron, is expected to announce stricter containment measures when he addresses the nation on Thursday evening.

Updated

The home affairs committee is to launch a short inquiry into the Home Office’s preparations for and response to Covid-19.

Covid-19 has already affected the work of the Home Office and its associated bodies. As part of the “contain” phase of the plan, Border Force has assisted in the repatriation of British nationals and their dependents from affected areas overseas, while the Home Office has provided support to foreign nationals in the UK who were unable to return home.

The committee is seeking written evidence on how police and fire and rescue service plans are being designed, as well as what trade-offs will have to be made by police if a significant number of officers are unable to work at any given time.

The committee will look at whether UK Border Force is sufficiently equipped to deliver any additional functions required of it during a period of heightened vigilance, and with reduced staffing.

The chair of the committee, Yvette Cooper, said: “It’s very important that all of our public services are prepared for coronavirus. We need to know what preparations the Home Office is and should be making and what practical consequence there will be for police and border force as coronavirus continues to spread.”

A hearing is currently scheduled for next Wednesday.

Updated

Iran has asked for $5bn loan from International Monetary Fund emergency fund in a bid to fight the growing threat of coronavirus in its country.

The request has been made by the Iranian Central Bank to the IMF managing director, Kristalina Georgieva.

The move was revealed in a tweet by the Iranian foreign minister, Javad Zarif, who urged the IMF to do the right thing and be on the right side of history by providing the cash.

Zarif said that Georgieva had said the IMF funds would be available to help the fight against coronavirus through a new rapid financial instrument.

He added the Iranian central bank had asked for access to the $50bn fund immediately.

Iran, partly due to sanctions, says it has been short of medicines, protective equipment for nurses and doctors including gloves and masks.

Iran’s official statistics show that 9,000 Iranians have been infected with the virus and 354 have died, making it the third worst affected country in the world. The virus has crippled the already weakened Iranian economy, and led to many of its borders being closed, so disrupting trade.

Zarif’s wording implied he knew the request may find resistance from the US, which is running a policy of maximum economic pressure on Iran over its refusal to renegotiate the Iran nuclear deal signed in 2015.

Updated

Lighting ceremony of the Olympic flame for Tokyo 2020Olympics in Olympia, Greece
Lighting ceremony of the Olympic flame for Tokyo 2020
Olympics in Olympia, Greece Photograph: Costas Baltas/Reuters

Bizarre scenes are unfolding in Greece’s ancient Olympia where the flame lighting ceremony for the Tokyo 2020 games is currently under way.

The elaborate ceremony that is the usual backdrop to the traditional torch lighting event has been scaled back to the point that only 100 accredited guests are attending it, thanks to coronavirus.

Delegates, including the country’s outgoing president Prokopis Pavlopoulos, have been listening to speeches sitting some distance apart from one another. Addressing the crowd Thomas Bach, the president of the international Olympic Committee, felt fit to mention the virus in a speech otherwise eulogising the Olympics’ universalism. A dress rehearsal on Wednesday was similarly closed to the public to comply with Greek government restrictions to prevent the spread of Covid-19.

The site of the birth of the Olympic games, the stadium at ancient Olympia can seat as many as 3,000 people, the number who attend the ceremony in more normal times.

Lit by a high priestess in the 7thcentury BC Temple of Hera, on an otherwise radiant day replete with birdsong, the flame will begin its week-long rally through Greece before being handed over to Japan’s Olympic committee in Athens next week to start its journey to Tokyo – even if question marks remain over whether the 2020 games will take place at all.

Updated

To clarify Trump’s European travel ban, here’s a list of the 26 Schengen countries from where people will not be allowed to fly to US for 30 days:

Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.

The European countries that are not part of the Schengen zone, and whose citizens are therefore exempt from Trump’s ban are: Albania, Andora, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Georgia, Ireland, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, Romania, Russia, San Marino, Serbia, Turkey, Ukraine, The United Kingdom and Vatican City.

Note that the ban applies to where people are flying from, not an individual’s nationality, so a Brit flying from a Schengen country will still be covered by the ban.

Updated

Spanish cabinet to be tested after minister tests positive

Every member of the Spanish cabinet is being tested for the coronavirus after the country’s equality minister, Irene Montero, became the latest politician to test positive for the virus.

Her partner, the deputy prime minister and Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias, is in precautionary quarantine, the government said in a statement.

The government also announced that the prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, will be using videoconferencing for all his meetings and press conferences once today’s cabinet meeting is over.

News of Montero’s diagnosis comes days after Javier Ortega Smith, the general secretary of the far-right Vox party, was diagnosed with the virus. Vox also apologised for holding a 9,000-person rally in Madrid on Sunday as cases of the virus rose. Ana Pastor, the former speaker of the congress of deputies, tested positive for the virus on Wednesday.

Spain has now confirmed 2,277 cases of the virus, making it the second most affected country in Europe and the fifth in the world after China, South Korea, Iran and Italy. So far, 55 people have died from the virus in the country.

Iglesias tweeted that his partner and their three young children were doing well, and thanked Spain’s health workers for their efforts, calling them “our country’s greatest pride”.

Updated

The chief medical officers from England, Wales, Scotland and Northern have instructed doctors to change the way they work to deal with “very abnormal emergency situation”.

In a letter they warned that the expected epidemic will be a “challenge” and exacerbate staff shortages in the NHS.

It says doctors will be required to temporarily work in “clinical areas outside their usual practice for the benefit of patients and the population as a whole”.

It adds: “Clinicians may need to depart, possibly significantly, from established procedures in order to care for patients in the highly challenging time-bound circumstances of the peak of an epidemic.”

Leo Varadkar greets Congressman Dan Kildee of Michigan with an elbow bump at the National Building Museum in Washington
Leo Varadkar greets Congressman Dan Kildee of Michigan with an elbow bump at the National Building Museum in Washington Photograph: Niall Carson/PA

Ireland’s caretaker taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, is due to meet Donald Trump in the Oval Office this morning, the first meeting with an EU leader since the president’s travel ban announcement.

Varadkar was in the US ahead of the ban, which does not include flights from Ireland as it is not one of the Schengen zone countries Trump has targeted.

Varadkar’s two-day visit is the shortest undertaken for an Irish premier in recent memory and he was forced to cancel some engagements yesterday to deal with the Coronavirus crisis at home.

The US has also curtailed the traditional Irish American festivities with this afternoon’s shamrock ceremony in the White House usually headed by the US president and taoiseach of the day cancelled.

It is understood that Varadkar’s breakfast meeting with the vice-president, Mike Pence, this morning is also going ahead. Earlier it was announced that New York’s St Patrick’s day parade has been cancelled.

Updated

Austria has reported its first coronavirus death.

A 69-year-old man has died in Vienna after contracting the virus, city authorities said on Thursday, Reuters reports.

Austria has confirmed 302 cases so far, and four people have recovered.

UK paramedic tests positive

A paramedic with the East of England ambulance service has tested positive for coronavirus.

An NHS spokesman said:

The chief medical officer today confirmed a further case of Covid-19 who is a resident of Hertfordshire and a paramedic with the East of England ambulance service (EEAST).

There are well-established procedures that are being followed in a case such as this and the NHS and Public Health England are taking all necessary steps to manage the situation.

Hertfordshire is the worst hit council area in the UK with 18 confirmed cases.

Updated

Trump’s travel ban has prompted another plunge in the markets.

Wild trading in London has driven the FTSE 100 as low as 5,482 points, down over 6% today.

Every single company on the blue-chip index, and on the smaller FTSE 250 index, is down.

Cineworld has slumped 30% after it warned it could breach its banking covenants if cinemas are forced to close (see earlier post).

Wall Street is heading for another slump too – trading in futures contracts have been suspended ‘limit down’, after falling 5%.

A man in Rome has come up with an extreme way of enforcing social distancing.

There is a “big question mark” over whether large-scale events such as football matches should go ahead as Scotland’s first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, has warned.

Sturgeon warned it is highly likely “significant numbers” of people will get the virus, with 36 cases confirmed in Scotland so far and the first case of community transmission north of the border reported on Wednesday.

She said that while cancelling mass gatherings did not have a significant impact on reducing the spread of the virus, such events tie up resources that could be used elsewhere.

She told ITV’s Good Morning Britain:

Mass gatherings, football matches for example, they need to be policed, they need to have emergency medical ambulance cover.

We are going into a period where our emergency services, our NHS in particular, will be under significant challenge and significant pressure, we may see all of our workforces affected by high absentee rates because of sickness so there’s a wider issue here about whether cancelling those kind of events is the right thing to do to reduce pressure on our front-line emergency workers.

From a wider resilience point of view, then I think there is a big question mark over whether large-scale events like that, whether it is sensible to allow them to proceed at the moment.

We’re looking very carefully right now at whether large-scale events, whether it would be right and sensible given the situation we are facing right now to allow them to go ahead.

Updated

Here’s video of Paris Saint-Germain players celebrating their Champions League win over Borussia Dortmund with thousands of their fans who had been locked out of match in an effort to slow the spread of the new coronavirus.

Paul Hunter, professor in medicine at the University of East Anglia, points out that the science does not support Trump’s European travel ban.

In comments circulated by the Science Media Centre, he said:

It is uncertain what the US intends to achieve with the recently announced travel ban to the Schengen area of Europe. Many of us have been pointing out since the Covid-19 epidemic began that travel bans have a poor record on preventing the spread of epidemic diseases. At best travel bans only delay the spread of an epidemic by a short while.

The paper published on the 6th March in Science by Chinazzi and colleagues from the US, China and Italy provided further evidence of this opinion and showed that the travel ban in China only delayed the spread internally by 3 to 5 days. Chinazzi also showed that international travel bans are only modestly effective at controlling international spread for a while.

Introducing an international travel ban at a time when the US is now one of the countries with the most rapidly accelerating internal transmission rates will do little if anything to reduce the burden of infection within the US.

Updated

The Financial Times reports a suspected coronavirus cases in a camp for internally displaced people in northern Iraq.

First case in a UK care home for older people

A nursing and residential home in Basingstoke in Hampshire has closed to visitors after a person tested positive for Covid-19.

Oakridge house cares for up to 91 people who have a range of needs including diabetes and dementia.

Hampshire county council could not confirm whether the person who has tested positive for the virus was a resident or staff member, the BBC reports.

The council said it was working closely with Public Health England to minimise the risk of the virus spreading further.

So far there have been 13 confirmed cases of the virus in Hampshire, making it one of the worst hit areas in the UK.

Updated

In Brussels, EU politicians and diplomats suggested that Trump was seeking to find a scapegoat for his own failures over management of the coronavirus.

Dacian Cioloş, a former prime minister of Romania who now leads the Renew group in the European parliament within which MEPs from Emmanuel Macron’s party sit, tweeted:

Staff who work in the UK parliament are demanding guidance on how to deal with thousands of visitors and potential security threats during the coronavirus crisis.

It comes amid growing disquiet among 650 MPs and more than 3,000 support staff over how to keep parliament functioning without shutting out the public they are meant to serve.

At least three Whitehall departments - HM Revenue and Customs, the Department of Health and the Cabinet Office - are testing out systems which would allow thousands of staff to work from home for several months at a time.

A letter from Prospect union, GMB and PCS unions to the Speaker, Lindsay Hoyle, has asked for “clear guidance” on how parliamentary staff including tourists guides and security guards can minimise the risk of infection.

Ken Gall, chair of the joint union committee across parliament, wrote that there were many unanswered questions from parliament’s 3,000 staff which must be addressed urgently. In a leaked email to the Speaker circulated to other members of the House of Commons Commission, he wrote:

We believe that all staff are entitled to clear guidance from their employer during what is an almost unprecedented situation.

Is parliament intending to allow visits to continue? If so, what measures are you taking to assure and protect those staff who will be in close proximity to those visitors? Is it possible to get some bespoke advice from health professionals specifically for security staff/visitor assistants/catering?

What realistic steps can you take to minimise the risk of infection for those whose role means they cannot work from home? For example, are there measures that could be taken to reduce the potential contact with visitors for security guards that do not compromise the security of the house?

Will you confirm that any staff who are advised to stay at home as a precaution, as a result of infection, to care for someone else (such as children in the event of school closure), or as a result of some or all services being suspended or cancelled will not suffer financially?

Max Freedman, the chair of Unite’s parliamentary branch, which represents MPs’ staff, told the Guardian that his members should be allowed to work from home.

“MPs may wish to carry on as normal, but House of Commons authorities must explain why they aren’t allowing staff to work remotely – something that can be done with minimum disruption – to stop further spread within a large and mobile workplace. MPs should also allow staff to work remotely particularly if they are at increased risk,” he said.

At least three government departments have told some staff to work remotely on Friday in preparation for asking thousands of civil servants to stay away from central London offices if the disease spreads dramatically, Whitehall sources have confirmed.

As Number 10 begins preparations for allowing most civil servants to work from home, some staff at the Department of Health and Social Care and the Cabinet Office have been told to stay away but continue to work, sources said. Parts of HMRC are preparing to close on Monday and Tuesday, sources said.

Dave Penman, the head of the FDA union, which represents the most senior civil servants in Whitehall, said his members are seeking a delicate balance between public access and staff safety.

He said:

Every day, people travel from all over the world to visit parliament, not just the parliamentarians and their staff. Whilst the desire to keep parliament open to the public is understandable, there needs to be a recognition that it is also a workplace, for thousands of people who could be vulnerable to the virus or have friends and relatives who are vulnerable.

Updated

The giant German contracting firm Bilfinger, which works for a number of water utilities companies in the UK, has sent a draconian memo to staff banning them from travel to China, South Korea, Italy and Iran.

The memo, leaked to the Guardian, also orders any staff member displaying flu-like symptoms to inform their supervisors and contact a doctor.

It also bans meetings of more than 50 people and recommends video calls instead. “Smaller face-to-face meetings should continue to be held when absolutely necessary for effective business performance,” it says.

It informs staff that two of the company’s employees have tested positive for Covid-19.

Updated

European politicians reacted with astonishment to Trump’s decision to bar entry to the US to travellers from the 26-nation Schengen zone, highlighting its apparently political nature and warning above all of the move’s economic impact.

Charles Michel, the president of the European council, said the EU27 would “assess the situation” but stressed that economic disruption “must be avoided”. Europe was “taking all necessary measures to contain the spread of the Covid-19 virus, limit he number of affected people and support research,” he added.

Alexander Stubb, the former Finnish foreign minister, tweeted that while any attempt to contain the coronavirus outbreak was welcome, Trump’s decision to exclude the UK from a European travel ban was “nothing short of irresponsible”

Stubb noted that viruses “do not recognise borders” and said decisions about dealing with the coronavirus outbreak, which has infected more than 126,000 people and killed more than 4,600, “should be based on facts, not politics”.

Iceland now has 90 confirmed Covid-19 cases, which in a county of only 364,000 people, could represent the highest percentage infection rate in the world, reader Louise Todd points out.

Reykjavik’s Grapevine has the latest:

Of these 90 individuals, four of them contracted it due to a so-called “third-degree infection”; contracting the virus from someone who contracted the virus from someone else, who brought the disease in from abroad.

35 of these infections can be directly traced back to northern Italy; 29 from Austria; four from Switzerland and one from an unnamed Asian country. The rest have been infected from individuals from this group, some of whom did not abide home quarantine orders.

Update: Reader, Diego Sánchez Santaya, points out that San Marino has more than 60 cases in a population of 30,000, which represents an infection rate 10 times higher than Iceland’s.

Updated

The governor of Tokyo has likened the idea of preventing Japanese citizens from enjoying the forthcoming cherry blossom season to “taking hugs away from Italians”, but advised people to abandon the time-honoured custom of getting together in groups to eat and drink beneath the sakura trees this spring due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Yuriko Koike, who on Thursday dismissed the idea of cancelling this summer’s Olympics as “unthinkable,” told reporters after a meeting with the prime minister, Shinzo Abe: “We discussed what to do with hanami (the Japanese word for flower-viewing).

“It is in the open-air, and the metropolitan government wants people to admire the flowers, but we would like to ask people to refrain from, for example, spreading out blue tarps and enjoying fun parties at Ueno park like every other year,” she added, referring to a large park in central Tokyo popular with hanami revellers.

Referring to measures introduced in Italy in an attempt to check the spread of the virus, Koike conceded that many would find it hard to forego the annual rite. “I think taking hanami away from the Japanese is like taking away hugs from Italians,” she said.

Japan’s meteorological agency expects the capital’s cherry blossoms to begin blooming from mid-March and to be at their best during the final week of the month.

News sites in France have reacted with alarm to the prospect of the US putting Europe into quarantine.

Le Monde says the decision will worsen the economic situation for airlines and cause a drop in the stock markets showing that the west “is incapable of a responding as one to the coronavirus pandemic”.

France24 said the halting of all flights from Europe to the US was a “complete catastrophe” for the air companies. It added that Donald Trump was living up to his “America first” mantra in locking down the US but said he was ignoring the scale of the crisis at home while criticising the European Union for not being able to control the virus.

“He can shut off the country but that will change nothing,” said the TV station’s American correspondent.

There is widespread astonishment at the decision to exclude the UK from the travel ban. On French social media it is being pointed out that Brexit does not stop Covid-19.

Updated

Liverpool manager’s Jurgen Klopp appeared to be furious with fans last night as they reached out for hi-fives at Anfield last night before his team’s exit from the Champion’s League.

The UK chancellor, Rishi Sunak, acknowledged the impact of coronavirus on the government after health ministers Nadine Dorries and one of her staff tested positive.

Her fellow health minister, Edward Argar - and an unnamed Cabinet minister have also been forced to self-isolate.

Sunak told BBC Breakfast:

“This has obviously now impacted Parliament and government, and we are dealing with it, like all other businesses are going to have to start dealing with it.

“For the various people that have been impacted by this, obviously that work is going on with Public Health England who are going through that process - as they do in all cases around the country - and they are exceptionally good at it, and it’s a very thorough and rigorous process.”

Sunak said the government would take the “right steps at the right time” but played down the prospect of a US-style travel ban.

In response to Trump’s announcement of a ban on travel from continental Europe, he said:

“We haven’t believed that that’s the right thing to do, the evidence here doesn’t support that. What we are trying to do is contain the virus while recognising that it is now likely that it will spread more significantly.”

Updated

The social media trail of Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson reveal they came into contact with quite a few people before diagnosing as positive for Covid-19.

This is Matthew Weaver taking over the blog in London where the UK government is poised to move from the contain to the delay phase in its plan to tackle coronavirus.

Please let me know if you have any news or tips you think I should be including in our coverage, either at matthew.weaver@theguardian.com or via Twitter on @matthew_weaver

PA has a useful guide on what to expect after Boris Johnson approves the move to the delay phase at a Cobra meeting at 1.15pm.

The delay phase will see a mixture of the same advice given out, such as encouraging the washing of hands regularly, while also introducing social restriction measures to slow the spread of the virus.

How will it help deal with the outbreak?

The end goal of the delay phase is to slow the rate of coronavirus being contracted and allow the NHS to clear the annual winter pressure it faces.
It would also provide a buffer to allow a possible vaccine to be developed, although this would not come into use for at least another year. The government’s planning document explained:

“The benefits are that if the peak of the outbreak can be delayed until the warmer months, we can reduce significantly the risk of overlapping with seasonal flu and other challenges, societal or medical, that the colder months bring.

“The delay phase also buys time for the testing of drugs and initial development of vaccines and/or improved therapies or tests to help reduce the impact of the disease.”

What do they mean by social restrictions?

According to the government’s published action plan, the restrictions being considered would have “social costs”. These are thought to include urging employees to work from home where possible and even shutting down schools and cancelling events where masses of people will gather.

Is it the same as what is happening in Italy and China?

The severity of the interventions have differed on a country by country basis.
China and Italy have put full scale lock downs in place, with court action and fines threatened for people breaking imposed curfews.
Wuhan, the Chinese city of 11 million people, which was at the centre of the initial outbreak, temporarily shut down its public transport network.
And in countries such as France and Spain, large public gatherings have been banned in a bid to prevent widespread contamination.

Are sporting events at risk?

Football matches in the European countries, including Paris Saint-Germain’s Champions League tie against Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday, have been played behind closed doors as a result of bans on gatherings of 1,000 people or more.

But there is doubt about whether the UK would follow suit after the deputy chief medical officer suggested scientific research did not back up the decision to outlaw public events.

Dr Jenny Harries, in a video exchange with the PM on Wednesday, said: “In general, those sorts of events and big gatherings are not seen to be something which is going to have a big effect, so we don’t want to disrupt people’s lives.”

Why is the UK not doing the same as Italy?

Johnson suggested the decisions had come about because “politicians and governments around the world are under a lot of pressure to be seen to act, so they may do things that are not necessarily dictated by the science”.

Why has it taken so long to move from the contain phase to delay?

Ministers have regularly stated that implementing tough social clampdowns too early can prove counterproductive as the public could tire of the restrictions, but it appears the PM and his advisers feel the time is right to escalate delay preparations.

Current advice, including washing hands and catching coughs and sneezes with tissues before binning them will continue during the delay period, as will trying to find and isolate coronavirus cases at an early stage.

Updated

That’s it from me, Helen Sullivan. I’m handing over to my colleague Matthew Weaver now for the latest.

Summary

If you’re just joining us, hello and welcome to what has been a very busy few hours in coronavirus news worldwide.

Here’s the very fresh Coronavirus: At a glance.

First fatality in Greece as ferry passengers quarantined

Greece reported its first fatality from a coronavirus infection on Thursday, a 66-year-old man who had returned from a religious pilgrimage to Israel and Egypt at the end of February.

A Greek flag flutters behind the entrance of a closed school in Kalyvia suburb south of Athens, 11 March 2020. Greek government on 10 March announced that all schools in the country will remain closed for the next two weeks, in an attempt to stop the wild spread of coronavirus.
A Greek flag flutters behind the entrance of a closed school in Kalyvia suburb south of Athens, 11 March 2020. Greek government on 10 March announced that all schools in the country will remain closed for the next two weeks, in an attempt to stop the wild spread of coronavirus. Photograph: Yannis Kolesidis/EPA

The deceased had underlying health issues, the health ministry said in a statement. There were 99 confirmed cases of coronavirus in Greece by late Wednesday.

Separately, passengers on board a ferry boat were quarantined as a precaution after a crew member said he felt unwell, a health ministry spokesman said. The crew member disembarked for further health checks.

The Athens News Agency reported there were 341 passengers and 77 crew on board the ferry which was currently docked at port on the island of Limnos.

Lewis Hamilton of Great Britain and Mercedes GP talks in the Drivers Press Conference during previews ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Australia at Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit on March 12, 2020 in Melbourne, Australia.
Lewis Hamilton of Great Britain and Mercedes GP talks in the Drivers Press Conference during previews ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Australia at Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit on March 12, 2020 in Melbourne, Australia. Photograph: Dan Istitene - Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images

Here’s the latest on Formula 1 coronavirus news:

Amid fears that the coronavirus is already spreading in the Formula One paddock at the Australian Grand Prix, the world champion Lewis Hamilton has admitted he is “shocked” the race is going ahead.

Up to eight team members have now been tested for the coronavirus and placed into self-isolation as further doubt is cast over the running of the race on Sunday. Hamilton delivered a withering assessment of why he believed the meeting was taking place, commenting that “cash is king”.

With European markets opening shortly, here is a brief look at what the reaction to Trump’s measures – as well as the Australian government’s stimulus package – have been in Australia.

Panic selling drove Australian shares down 7.36% on Thursday after the market gave the thumbs down to a government stimulus package before being electrified by a sweeping ban on European travel imposed by US president Donald Trump.

More than 25% of the market’s value, or more than $520bn (US$335bn), has been wiped from the value of Australian shares since 21 February, when coronavirus chaos began to grip the market.

The steep fall – the second of more than 7% this week and the worst single day plunge since the global financial crisis – once again battered airlines, travel agents and mining stocks, but no sector of the economy was immune to the punishment.

Updated

Preventing Japanese from gathering to enjoy cherry blossom season because of coronavirus would be like “taking hugs away from Italians,” the governor of Tokyo said on Thursday.

Yuriko Koike however urged people to refrain from traditional “hanami” parties where friends and family gather under cherry blossom trees for food and drink, AFP reports.

A woman wearing a face mask, amid fears over the spread of the Covid-19 novel coronavirus, takes pictures beneath cherry blossom trees at Ueno park in Tokyo on March 12, 2020.
A woman wearing a face mask, amid fears over the spread of the Covid-19 novel coronavirus, takes pictures beneath cherry blossom trees at Ueno park in Tokyo on March 12, 2020. Photograph: Philip Fong/AFP via Getty Images

After a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Koike said: “We discussed what to do with hanami. It is open-air. The metropolitan government wants people to admire the flowers.”

“I think taking hanami away from the Japanese is like taking away hugs from Italians,” she said.

“But we would like to ask people to refrain from, for example, spreading blue tarps and enjoying fun parties at Ueno Park like every year,” she added, referring to a large central Tokyo park popular with revellers.

Meteorologists expect cherry blossoms to begin blooming around March 17 in Tokyo.

Japan has urged people to refrain from traditional “hanami” parties, where friends and family gather under cherry blossom trees for food and drink, over coronavirus fears.
Japan has urged people to refrain from traditional “hanami” parties, where friends and family gather under cherry blossom trees for food and drink, over coronavirus fears. Photograph: Bloomberg/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Updated

More on actors Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson, who announced today that they have tested positive for coronavirus while in Australia. The Guardian can confirm that the couple is now in isolation in a hospital on Queensland’s Gold Coast.

Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson arrive for the 92nd annual Academy Awards ceremony at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, California, USA, 09 February 2020.
Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson arrive for the 92nd annual Academy Awards ceremony at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, California, USA, 09 February 2020. Photograph: David Swanson/EPA

Here’s everything we know so far:

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte will be tested for the new coronavirus Thursday after he meets with Cabinet officials who were exposed to infected people and have now self-quarantined, officials said Thursday.

A disinfection worker sprays anti-septic solution against Covid-19 aboard a firetruck along a street on March 11, 2020 in Manila, Philippines.
A disinfection worker sprays anti-septic solution against Covid-19 aboard a firetruck along a street on March 11, 2020 in Manila, Philippines. Photograph: Ezra Acayan/Getty Images

Duterte has no symptoms of Covid-19 but wanted to make sure he is healthy and could continue to engage with the public.

Philippine health officials have reported 49 cases of infections and two people, a Chinese and a Filipino, have died.

Duterte on Monday declared a state of public health emergency when the number of people infected with coronavirus rose to 33 from just 3 cases last week.

Lewis Hamilton of Great Britain and Mercedes GP talks in the Drivers Press Conference during previews ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Australia at Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit on March 12, 2020 in Melbourne, Australia.
Lewis Hamilton of Great Britain and Mercedes GP talks in the Drivers Press Conference during previews ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Australia at Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit on March 12, 2020 in Melbourne, Australia. Photograph: Dan Istitene - Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images

Meanwhile in Formula One news from Australia, Reigning F1 world champion Lewis Hamilton says:

“I am really very surprised that we are here. For me it is shocking that we are all sitting in this room (press conference).”

More F1 team members were tested for the coronavirus at the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne earlier today, as further doubt was cast on the running of this weekend’s race. No results have yet been made available.

Two members of the Haas team and one from McLaren, who were identified with fever symptoms on Wednesday, underwent tests for the coronavirus before going into self-isolation.

We’ll have more on this shortly.

Updated

As Europe wakes up, we’re seeing more reaction to Donald Trump’s travel ban announced late on Wednesday from the Oval Office.

The ban, in case you’re just joining us is on foreign citizens entering the US if they have been in Europe in recent weeks.

The 30-day curbs, starting Friday, exclude Britain, Ireland and other countries outside the European Schengen passport-free travel area.

European Council president Charles Michael tweeted a few minutes ago:

China is focusing on restarting factories and businesses hit by strict containment policies which prevented millions of people from travelling and returning to work after extended China Lunar New Year holidays.

Factory activity plunged to its worst level on record in February, and while more businesses have reopened in recent weeks as containment measures are eased, analysts do not expect activity to return to normal levels until April.

In this Tuesday, March 10, 2020, photo released by Xinhua News Agency, Chinese President Xi Jinping waves to residents who are quarantined at home as he pays a visit to a community in Wuhan in central China’s Hubei province.
In this Tuesday, March 10, 2020, photo released by Xinhua News Agency, Chinese President Xi Jinping waves to residents who are quarantined at home as he pays a visit to a community in Wuhan in central China’s Hubei province. Photograph: Ju Peng/AP

Airlines were hit particularly hard during the last several weeks, with Chinese airlines reporting a total loss of 20.96 billion yuan in February. The total number of airline passengers last month fell 84.5% year-on-year in comparison to the same time last year, China’s aviation regulator said Thursday.

The Hubei government on Wednesday said Wuhan will allow some key industries to resume work.

Updated

Australian supermarket chain Woolworths has announced further restrictions on certain goods amid wide-spread panic buying in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.

Empty shelves in an Australian supermarket after panic buying due to the coronavirus.
Empty shelves in an Australian supermarket after panic buying due to the coronavirus. Photograph: Barcroft Media/Barcroft Media via Getty Images


On Thursday the company announced it would begin rationing tissues, hand sanitiser, paper towels and rice. It also announced a further restriction on the sale of toilet paper.
The company had previously introduced a four-pack per person limit on toilet paper after shelves were left bare by shoppers fearing being caught without a domestic essential.

The new limits are:

  • Tissues - two pack limit per shop
  • Paper towel, serviettes and wipes - one pack limit per shop
  • Toilet paper - one pack limit per shop
  • Hand sanitiser - two unit limit per shop
  • Bulk rice (2kg+) - one pack limit per shop

China had eight new coronavirus infections in Hubei province as of the end of Wednesday, the first time the epicentre of the pandemic recorded a daily tally in single-digits, as more businesses reopened with local authorities cautiously easing strict containment measures.

Medical staff treat a patient infected by the Covid-19 coronavirus at Red Cross Hospital in Wuhan in China’s central Hubei province on March 11, 2020.
Medical staff treat a patient infected by the Covid-19 coronavirus at Red Cross Hospital in Wuhan in China’s central Hubei province on March 11, 2020. Photograph: AFP via Getty Images

As the spread of the virus continues to slow, Hubei province announced on Thursday a further loosening of travel restrictions and will also allow some industries to resume production in two of its cities and two counties.

Hubei’s economy, driven by manufacturing and trade, including a sizable auto sector in the provincial capital Wuhan, had been virtually shuttered.

Wuhan reported all of the new cases on Wednesday, the National Health Commission said on Thursday. Outside of Hubei, mainland China had seven new cases, including six cases imported from abroad.

Overall, the 15 new confirmed cases in mainland China on Wednesday was a drop from 24 cases a day earlier.

That brings the total number of confirmed cases recorded in mainland China to 80,793. As of Tuesday, 62,793 people have recovered and been discharged from hospital, or nearly 80% of the overall infections.

As of the end of Wednesday, the death toll in mainland China had reached 3,169, up by 11 from the previous day. Hubei accounted for 10 of the new deaths, including seven in Wuhan.

A dramatic attempt by Donald Trump to limit the spread of coronavirus by banning travel to the US from most of Europe for 30 days has failed to stem heavy losses on financial markets and prompted one top economist to warn that a global recession was now “highly probable”.

In a sombre primetime address from the Oval Office on Wednesday evening, the US president boasted that the travel ban and series of other measures designed to cushion the economic blow of the outbreak amounted to “the most aggressive and comprehensive effort to confront a foreign virus in history”.

But Asian stock markets and Wall Street futures trading plunged deep into the red even as Trump laid out his plans, with investors betting that the $250bn package would not be enough to reverse the creeping shutdown of the world’s largest economy.

Here’s the latest on Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson who, in case you are just joining us, have confirmed that they have tested positive for coronavirus while in Australia to film the Baz Luhrmann production Elvis.

Actors Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson have tested positive for Coronavirus while in Australia.
Actors Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson have tested positive for Coronavirus while in Australia. Photograph: Dimitrios Kambouris/WireImage

Australia’s Channel Nine presenters David Campbell and Belinda Russell are being tested for coronavirus because they interviewed Rita Wilson at the network’s Sydney studios on Monday.

Campbell, Russell and a number of unnamed Nine staff who came into contact with the visiting singer and producer have gone into self-isolation and are being tested.

Campbell told 2GB Wilson did not shake hands when she came to Nine on Monday.

“She came into the Today Extra studios on Monday and she was delightful and really nice and she didn’t have any symptoms of anything,” Campbell said.

“She was cautious. She actually made a joke coming into the studios, saying we shouldn’t shake hands, we should bump elbows. So we bumped elbows.”

Late on Wednesday evening, US President Donald Trump announced in an address from the Oval Office that he was introducing a travel ban from Europe – not including the UK or non-Schengen Travel Area states – to the US.

US President Donald Trump announced on March 11, 2020 the United States would ban all travel from Europe for 30 days starting to stop the spread of the coronavirus outbreak. “To keep new cases from entering our shores, we will be suspending all travel from Europe to the United States for the next 30 days. The new rules will go into effect Friday at midnight,” Trump said in an address to the nation.
US President Donald Trump announced on March 11, 2020 the United States would ban all travel from Europe for 30 days starting to stop the spread of the coronavirus outbreak. “To keep new cases from entering our shores, we will be suspending all travel from Europe to the United States for the next 30 days. The new rules will go into effect Friday at midnight,” Trump said in an address to the nation. Photograph: Doug Mills/AFP via Getty Images

The United States did not coordinate on the sweeping restriction aimed at curbing the spread of the coronavirus with European officials before Trump announced it, a European diplomat told Reuters.

The ban on foreign citizens entering the country if they have been in Europe in recent weeks will heap more pressure on airlines already reeling from the coronavirus pandemic, analysts said, hitting European carriers the hardest.

The 30-day curbs from Friday, which exclude Britain, Ireland and other countries outside the European Schengen passport-free travel area, are similar to those that went into effect targeting China on 1 February.

Combined with a fresh U.S. State Department advisory asking citizens to reconsider the need to travel globally, the move could create chaos at dozens of airports across Europe as passengers attempt a last-minute rush to fly to the United States before the ban takes effect.

As well as slashing arrivals, the move is set to decimate spending by European tourists in the United States. There were 5.8 million arrivals from the biggest markets of Germany, France, Italy and Spain in 2018, according to U.S. data, which said they spent nearly $22 billion combined.

Updated

The dollar slid on Thursday, after President Donald Trump disappointed markets with a coronavirus plan light on details, Reuters reports.

The greenback dropped 1% to 103.32 yen, fell as much as 0.6% to $1.1333 against the euro and lost 0.6% to the safe-haven Swiss franc, while stocks plunged.
Trump announced on Wednesday a ban on travellers from 26 European countries entering the United States for a month.

A currency exchange broker prepares a transaction in January, 2020.
A currency exchange broker prepares a transaction in January, 2020. Photograph: Ashraf Shazly/AFP via Getty Images

He unveiled economic steps to counter the virus but his address from the Oval Office was light on medical measures beyond assurances that “the virus has no chance against us”.

“The market was looking for more,” said Moh Siong Sim, currency strategist at the Bank of Singapore.

“A travel ban is part of the solution, but the more important parts are still missing. They are really the public health measures: Paid sick leave, free testing, free treatment,” he said.

Futures markets reacted swiftly. They are now pricing in the US Federal Reserve moving the lower end of its benchmark funding band to zero when it meets next week, if not before.

“The deflationary shock that we had assumed would trigger a US entry into the zero-yield world is turning out to be a combo of trade war, oil price war and Covid-19 virus,” J.P. Morgan’s long-term strategists Jan Loeys and Shiny Kundu said in a note.

“(There are) close to even odds now of an official US recession this year.”

In Australia, the ASX has closed down 7.36%, in a blow to the country’s share market representing more than AU$100bn ($US65bn) in losses.

The United States did not coordinate on a sweeping restriction on European travel aimed at curbing the spread of the coronavirus with European officials before U.S. President Donald Trump announced it late on Wednesday, a European diplomat told Reuters.

European Union leaders participate in a videoconference call with European Council President Charles Michel at the European Council building in Brussels, Tuesday, March 10, 2020.
European Union leaders participate in a videoconference call with European Council President Charles Michel at the European Council building in Brussels, Tuesday, March 10, 2020. Photograph: Stéphanie Lecocq/AP

Trump, in a televised address, said his government had been in frequent contact with U.S. allies on the 30-day restriction, but European Union officials were not notified about the decision ahead of time, said the diplomat, who was not authorized to speak publicly.

“There was no heads-up, no coordination as the president claimed,” the diplomat said.

No comment was immediately available on the decision from the EU delegation in Washington.

Trump’s order curbing travel from Europe to the United States, except from Britain, beginning on Friday, could complicate already strained trade ties between Brussels and Washington.

EU Trade Commissioner Phil Hogan canceled a scheduled visit to Washington for next week earlier on Wednesday.

After sowing confusion by suggesting that *trade and cargo* from Europe would also be banned, Trump later clarified that *trade will in no way be affected* by the restriction. In fact, the travel curbs will sharply curtail trade in services.

Thailand reported 11 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, bringing the total number of cases in the Southeast Asian country to 70, health officials said.

A sign saying “Wuhan Keeps Fighting” outside of Wat Pho, one of Thailand’s most popular tourist attractions, on March 11, 2020 in Bangkok, Thailand.
A sign saying “Wuhan Keeps Fighting” outside of Wat Pho, one of Thailand’s most popular tourist attractions, on March 11, 2020 in Bangkok, Thailand. Photograph: Lauren DeCicca/Getty Images

All of the new patients had socialised and shared drinks, health officials said, adding that a tourist from Hong Kong had been the source of the infection.

“The Hong Kong tourist came alone and already went back. The 11 infected are all Thai,” said Sopon Iamsirithawon, director-general of the Communicable Diseases Department.

It was the biggest jump in cases for weeks in Thailand, which was one of the first countries outside China to report infections of the new COVID-19 virus that has since swept much of the world.

Rural Australian pharmacists are struggling to source essential medications due to overwhelming demand on wholesalers amid the coronavirus crisis, the Guardian’s Felicity Nelson reports.

The spread of Covid-19 has not yet caused a national shortage of medications and experts say there is no need whatsoever to panic buy.

But the flood of orders from pharmacies has led to temporary shortages in some rural areas.

At least three major drug wholesalers have written to pharmacists warning of unprecedented demands for stock and apologising for supply chain challenges, according to documents seen by The Medical Republic and shared with Guardian Australia.

On Today’s episode of Science Weekly Extra: what happens once someone is infected with the new coronavirus?

Following our first Covid-19 episode last week, we received an incredible response, with so many interesting new areas to explore. One of those was what exactly happens once someone is infected with this new virus. As Nicola Davis find outs, whilst scientists are still racing to figure the exact details out, insights can be gleaned from other viral infections like influenza.

Australia has extended its existing travel ban for China, Iran, South Korea and Italy, and is reviewing whether to extend a travel ban to Europe.

AAP has meanwhile reported that the Australian Capital Territory has confirmed its first case of Covid-19.

The man aged in his 30s was tested for Covid-19 at the Weston Creek Walk-in Centre clinic on Wednesday, with the positive result confirmed on Thursday.

He’s being treated at Canberra Hospital and precautions are being taken to ensure the safety of staff and the broader community.

On Thursday the national security committee of cabinet met and decided to extend the existing ban on travel from China, Iran, South Korea and Italy by one week.

Under the rules of the travel ban:

  • Foreign nationals are not allowed to enter Australia for 14 days from the time they left the affected country;
  • Australian citizens and permanent residents are able to enter Australia but are required to self-isolate at home for 14 days from the day they left the affected country.

A skywriter writes Wash Hands over Sydney’s CBD, 12 March 2020.
A skywriter writes Wash Hands over Sydney’s CBD, 12 March 2020. Photograph: Jessica Hromas/The Guardian

In Sydney, Australia, somebody has used skywriting to remind the city’s people to “Wash hands”.

With less than half an hour of trade left to go on the Australian market, it looks likely to finish the day down between 5% and 6%.

But it’s hard to be sure because the market is extremely volatile today.

It was about 2% down in early trade before sliding a percentage point as Australian prime minister Scott Morrison and treasurer Josh Frydenberg announced details of a $17.6bn stimulus package.

President Donald Trump’s announcement that most travel from Europe to the US would be banned sent the market into panic selling mode, with the benchmark ASX200 index diving to be as much as 7% down for the day.

It has recovered slightly since then. At about 3.45pm it was down 5.4%.

Trump speech caused confusion among US air travellers

A quiet confusion hung overhead at San Francisco Airport’s international terminal on Wednesday night, as travellers canceled flights and sought to make sense of Donald Trump’s sudden coronavirus-related travel ban.

Ticket counters were nearly empty in the international terminal at San Francisco International Airport on 6 March, 2020 in San Francisco, California.
Ticket counters were nearly empty in the international terminal at San Francisco International Airport on 6 March, 2020 in San Francisco, California. Photograph: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Many of the travellers who planned on flying to Europe that evening had no guarantee that they would be able to return back to the United States once their trips had concluded, forcing some to make last-minute calls on dream vacations.

Tulio Mello, 51, was preparing to board his flight to Istanbul when his friend called and told him not to get on the plane. “They had started announcing group one,” he said.

Turkey is not one of the countries included in the travel ban, but a mixture of misinformation, panic and precaution dominated the decisions made at San Francisco’s airport. A number of passengers on Mello’s Turkish Airlines flight left with him, waiting by the airline’s counter for their luggage, some on hold with customer service.

“There are just so many differentials that can happen,” he said. “I think there is one case (of coronavirus) in Turkey, but imagine in five days they find 400 people and then they say you have to stay 14 days in quarantine. It just wouldn’t be great to go for five days and then end up stuck for 30 days.”

Updated

For those who want to read Donald Trump’s speech in full, you can find it here. He did not pull any punches on who he blamed for the outbreak of the virus in the US:

And taking early intense action, we have seen dramatically fewer cases of the virus in the United States than are now present in Europe. The European Union failed to take the same precautions and restrict travel from China and other hotspots. As a result, a large number of new clusters in the United States were seeded by travellers from Europe.

As we know, the travel ban from Europe only includes countries in the Schengen Area that have officially abolished all passport and all other types of border controls. The countries in the Schengen Area are: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.

The restrictions do not apply to American residents or to travel from the UK. Most immediate family members of US citizens are exempt.

They will begin at 11.59pm on Friday.

It’s unclear at the moment how the US would account for travellers who travel from Europe to the US, via London, given the UK is exempt.

You can read our explainer of what we do know, below.

First confirmed case in the Pacific Islands

French Polynesia has announced the first case of Covid-19 in Tahiti, the first confirmed case of the coronavirus across the Pacific Islands.

President Edouard Fritch, said that French Polynesian politician Maina Sage had been confirmed with the virus after returning from Paris on 7 March. Sage is resting at home in self-isolation in Papeete.

French Polynesia, which comprises more than 100 islands, the largest of which is Tahiti, is a French overseas collectivity. Sage is French Polynesia’s representative in the French National Assembly.

During her time in Paris, Sage served on a National Assembly commission with France’s culture minister Franck Riester, who has also been confined in France after contracting Covid-19.

Announcing the first confirmed case of the coronavirus in Tahiti, President Fritch reassured people about government plans for monitoring, testing and isolation. He stated, however: “I invite the population to avoid travel outside the country.”

In Australia, more from Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk on Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson’s positive coronavirus diagnosis:

While Hanks had regularly posed for photos with fans at Coolangatta Beach on the Gold Coast and a cafe near Mount Warning on the New South Wales far north coast, the premier said she did not believe a selfie would constitute close contact.

“Tom has been having a wonderful time on the Gold Coast and we are so lucky to have Tom in Queensland,” she said.

“But what it is, is people who have come in very close contact with him in recent days [our] experts will now work very closely with him with Baz [Luhrmann] and all the cast the crew and then they will isolate those people who have been in that close proximity.

“From what the chief health officer has told me it’s over 15 minutes of being in very close contact, so a selfie wouldn’t count as that.”

She said Hanks and Wilson would receive “the best treatment in our hospital”.

“I’m very confident with the physicians that we have that will be treating Tom and his wife and like I said we wish them all the very best for a speedy recovery,” she said.

“I know the thoughts of Queenslanders and all Australians are with Tom and Rita during this time.”

Hanks and Wilson’s son, Chet Hanks, posted on Instagram that he just spoke to his parents, who are both “fine, they’re not even that sick. They’re not that worried about it, they’re not tripping. but they’re going through the necessary health precautions obviously.”

“Yeah, it’s true my parents got coronavirus. Crazy,” he says.

Reactions to Donald Trump’s speech earlier include this, from David Litt, who wrote speeches for Obama: “As a former presidential speechwriter, my careful rhetorical analysis is that he’s gonna get us all killed.”

Donald Trump’s first Oval Office address – that almost sacred altar for US presidents on prime time television – came in January 2019 amid a partial government shutdown and asserted that only a border wall can keep out dangerous illegal immigrants.

His second such address on Wednesday night was again couched in terms around the need to resist a foreign invasion that is someone else’s fault. The problem is that the coronavirus is already inside America and spreading.

And the message was delivered by a 73-year-old man with a sniffing habit who did not seem to be a glowing picture of health nor entirely at ease reading from a TelePrompter. His bold assertion last week – “I like this stuff. I really get it … Maybe I have a natural ability” – seemed even more incredible than before.

Updated

Actors Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson have tested positive for Coronavirus while in Australia.
Actors Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson have tested positive for Coronavirus while in Australia. Photograph: Carlo Allegri/Getty Images

The latest on Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson, who are in Australia and have confirmed they have tested positive for coronavirus:

The premier of Queensland, Annastacia Palaszczuk, said on Thursday that health officials would conduct contact tracing to determine who had been in close contact with Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson.

“People who have come in close contact with Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson will now need to self isolate and quarantine,” she said.

Shortly before health minister Greg Hunt’s announcement that the question of travel from Europe had been referred to the Health Protection Principal Committee, Australia’s foreign minister Marise Payne – who is in Washington DC to meet with US officials – said there were no immediate plans to expand Australia’s current travel restrictions to other countries such as the US or regions like Europe, but that these restrictions were continually being re-assessed.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Marise Payne.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Marise Payne. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP

“I think the important thing about our response is that we have acted early in our decisions around travel restrictions that we’ve needed to impose – always focused on protecting the health and safety of Australians. We are constantly reviewing our travel restrictions.”

Payne said government-issued travel bans were becoming almost “self-fulfilling” with people unwilling to travel as the global Covid-19 pandemic took hold.

“To an extent these are about to become self-fulfilling in some ways, given the restriction and the constraints on airlines around the world. That is having an impact, most certainly, on people’s ability to travel.

“If you’re travelling at the moment you will see that we have very subdued airports, that we have a much lower level of activity. So I think it is, in fact, in some ways, addressing itself.”

In Australia, Victorian health minister Jenny Mikakos says there have been 5,200 negative tests in Victoria.

There are 27 confirmed cases in the state.

There are 12 screening clinics across the state, says Mikakos. “We are already seeing increased demand of people presenting for testing,” she says. The state’s call centre has received over 21,000 calls.

Australian Health Minister Greg Hunt is speaking now.

“In Australia we have 128 cases,” he says.

The Prime Minister and the national security committee have met and decided to refer the question of travel from Europe to the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee (composed of chief medical officers), following Trump’s announcement.

Updated

Now for the latest reactions to Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s coronavirus stimulus package, which economists say will do its bit to boost confidence – but, they add, further cash maybe needed:

“The decision not to pump much cash, relatively speaking, into the wallets of ordinary Australians is the biggest gamble in the Morrison government’s stimulus package,” writes the Guardian’s senior business reporter Ben Butler. So will it pay off?

Guardian Australia political editor Katharine Murphy writes, “Regions and communities that are severely impacted by the coronavirus will be given access to taxpayer support through a new $1bn fund – but it is unclear how the fund will operate, because the practicalities will be worked through with the states.”

In the US, CNN has more now on the US coronavirus travel ban for Europe announced by President Donald Trump earlier today.

The ban exempts all countries NOT in the Schengen Area travel zone, acting Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Chad Wolf explained the ban in a statement issued on Twitter.

We’ll have a fuller story explaining the ban and its implications – including whether Europeans could skirt the ban by traveling through the UK and other countries – shortly.

Summary: Hanks, Wilson, Trump, the NBA, F1 and St. Patrick's Day

There has been no lack of major Covid-19 news today, as the virus affects Hollywood actors, major sporting events and prompts Donald Trump to place a travel ban on all flights from Europe.

  • US President Donald Trump introduced a total travel ban from Europe, excluding the UK, for 30 days. The ban does not extend to trade.
  • Actors Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson have announced that they have both tested positive for Covid-19 while filming in Australia.
  • The St. Patrick’s Day parade in New York City has been canceled this year for the first time since 1762, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Wednesday night.
  • In Hong Kong, an 80-year-old man has denied he was “patient zero” for the Diamond Princess cruise ship outbreak.
  • The total number of coronavirus cases worldwide now stands at 126,135, according to figures from Johns Hopkins University.
  • Mainland China reported 15 new infections, eight of which are in Hubei. There have been 11 new deaths, ten of which were in Hubei.
  • Australia’s ASX200 was down over 7% following Trump’s Europe travel ban.
  • The NBA has suspended play indefinitely after after a player on the Utah Jazz preliminarily tested positive for Covid-19.
  • Two more Formula One team members have been tested for the coronavirus at the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne. The event has not been cancelled.
  • Juventus defender Daniele Rugani has tested positive for coronavirus, the Serie A club said on Wednesday.
  • The Australian stock market gave the thumbs down to the Morrison government’s stimulus package and Trump’s travel ban.

Actors Rita Wilson and Tom Hanks have tested positive for Coronavirus while in Australia.
Actors Rita Wilson and Tom Hanks have tested positive for Coronavirus while in Australia. Photograph: Dia Dipasupil/FilmMagic

Rita Wilson, the actor and singer, has posted a similar statement to the one made by her husband Tom Hanks earlier today on her Instagram stories.

Hanks and Wilson, both currently in Australia, have both confirmed that they have contracted the coronavirus.

Rita Wilson post to Instagram stories about being infected with coronavirus, along with husband Tom Hanks.
Rita Wilson post to Instagram stories about being infected with coronavirus, along with husband Tom Hanks. Photograph: Instagram

“Hello, folks. Tom and I are down here in Australia. We felt a bit tired, like we had colds, and some body aches. I had some chills that came and went. Slight fevers too,” she wrote.

“To play things right, as is needed in the world right now we were both tested for the coronavirus, and were found to be positive.

“Well, now. What to do next? The medical officials have protocols that must be followed. We Hanks’ will be tested, observed and isolated for as long as public health and safety requires. Not much more to it than a one-day-at-a-time approach, no?

“We’ll keep the world posted and updated. Keep us in your prayers!”

The Australian Academy of Science has made a helpful explainer answering your coronavirus questions, including whether or not to stockpile toilet paper.

In Hong Kong, an 80-year-old man has denied he was “patient zero” for the Diamond Princess cruise ship outbreak.

Buses carrying the Hong Kong passengers from the quarantined Diamond Princess cruise ship leave a port in Yokohama, near Tokyo, Friday, Feb. 21, 2020.
Buses carrying the Hong Kong passengers from the quarantined Diamond Princess cruise ship leave a port in Yokohama, near Tokyo, Friday, Feb. 21, 2020. Photograph: Eugene Hoshiko/AP

The Hong Kong man, who gave his surname as Wu, told the South China Morning Post that he had been unfairly identified as the source of the Covid-19 outbreak which infected more than 700 and killed eight.

Wu was the first confirmed case from the cruise ship’s 3,700 passengers, diagnosed after he returned home to Hong Kong. The diagnosis prompted the eventual quarantining of the thousands still on the ship, and in subsequent reports Wu has been reported as the index case.

However Wu told the Post reports that he had begun coughing before he boarded were wrong, and that it started several days into the trip. He was diagnosed after returning disembarking in Hong Kong with about 130 other passengers.

Wu was traveling with his wife and daughters, none of whom became sick, the report said, and their journey from Hong Kong to Tokyo involved interaction with multiple groups of people.

Health official said that while Wu was the first identified patient from the cruise, there were at least two people who developed symptoms before he did.

“The timing doesn’t support that he was the first case, as his symptoms’ onset was January 23,” said Professor David Hui Shu-cheong, a respiratory medicine expert from Chinese University, who added there were many uncertainties about the case.

“I think it is very likely the Hong Kong man got infected from others such as on the bus because there were two confirmed cases on the cruise who developed symptoms before him and his family tested negative.”

Wu, who was hospitalised with the disease, told the Post he was recovering and in good health.

“Because of me, my family had to suffer from quarantine. I don’t want to bring more trouble to them,” he said. “But I cannot accept people calling me the source.”

Here’s the latest on Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson, who have confirmed they have tested positive for coronavirus while in Australia.

The Guardian understands that early on Thursday morning cast and crew attached to the film received an email instructing them to stay away from set after a member of the production tested positive for the virus.

In the lead up to shooting, normal practice would involve lead actors to have close contact with wardrobe and hair and makeup departments for screen tests and sound tests. These often involve close physical contact with potentially dozens of crew.

In a statement the US production company behind the film, Warner Bros, said it was “taking precautions” to protect its employees.

Hanks and Wilson, who is a singer as well as an actor, had been travelling to different locations in Australia and had posted photos from Sydney and Brisbane on Instagram.

Wilson performed at the famous Sydney Opera House over the weekend and had appeared on the Nine breakfast morning show Today earlier in the week.

Famously approachable, Hanks had regularly posed for photos with fans at Coolangatta Beach on the Gold Coast and a cafe near Mount Warning on the New South Wales far north coast.

New York St. Patrick’s Day Parade postponed for first time since 1762

In this Saturday, March 16, 2019, photo, bagpipers and others march up Fifth Avenue during the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in New York. The New York City St. Patrick’s Day Parade has been postponed for the first time in its 258-year history because of coronavirus concerns, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Wednesday, March 11, 2020.
In this Saturday, March 16, 2019, photo, bagpipers and others march up Fifth Avenue during the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in New York. The New York City St. Patrick’s Day Parade has been postponed for the first time in its 258-year history because of coronavirus concerns, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Wednesday, March 11, 2020. Photograph: Mary Altaffer/AP

In the US, the St. Patrick’s Day parade in New York City has been canceled this year, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Wednesday night. The parade is one of the most high-profile – and oldest – US public events to be felled by the global coronavirus pandemic.

Organisers plan to hold the event at a later date, Cuomo said in a statement.

The parade is usually held on 17 March, attracting millions of spectators who line up along Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue to celebrate the patron saint of Ireland. The tradition dates back to 1762, organisers say.

Updated

In Australia, the federal opposition has said the country should immediately close schools and cancel mass events, arguing the “public health emergency” requires urgent, even “draconion” action.

Labor shadow cabinet minister Bill Shorten said Australia needed to implement social distancing “not in weeks and months but in days”.

A view of the Willoughby Girls High School in Sydney, Australia, 09 March 2020. Willoughby Girls High School has been closed after a 12-year-old year seven pupil was confirmed as having coronavirus.
A view of the Willoughby Girls High School in Sydney, Australia, 09 March 2020. Willoughby Girls High School has been closed after a 12-year-old year seven pupil was confirmed as having coronavirus. Photograph: Bianca de Marchi/EPA

“The only way to make sure this pandemic is not worse than it otherwise could be is to have more drastic social distancing measures,” he told Sky News.

In New Zealand, the ministry of health said there had been no new cases of coronavirus for the fifth consecutive day in a row.

The two people who had been hospitalised for the virus were now recovering at home.

Yesterday around the country 100 tests for the virus took place around the country, the ministry of heath’s Ashley Bloomfield said.

Daily monitoring of those in self-isolation was “usually a phone call” he said.
Around 9000 people are currently in self-isolation in New Zealand, and the director said there had been no reports of non-compliance.

“We’re operating in an environment where it’s high trust,” Bloomfield said, though his ministry were conducting research into how to “force” people into self-isolation if they needed too.

In Australia, travel agencies and airlines are among Australian stocks smashed by Donald Trump’s decision to close US borders to travel from Europe.

A view of digital market boards at the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) in Sydney, Australia, 10 March 2020.
A view of digital market boards at the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) in Sydney, Australia, 10 March 2020. Photograph: Joel Carrett/EPA

Flight Centre stock tumbled almost 18% by 1.30pm on Thursday afternoon while online rival Webjet was down 14.6%. Shares in Australia’s flag carrier, Qantas, were down 10.4%.

All three stocks have been consistently sold down since the market first began its coronavirus slide on 21 February.

The stockmarket sell-off, which began as Australian prime minister Scott Morrison unveiled a stimulus package with little in it for ordinary workers, has gripped the entire market.

Just two stocks recorded small rises – contractor Cimic Group, formerly known as Leighton Holdings, and medical imaging software group Pro Medicus, which bounced back after a savaging on Wednesday.

Back to US president Donald Trump’s remarks earlier.

The White House has clarified one of the key details about Trump’s measures.

The president said that trade and cargo from Europe would be banned along with passengers. But the administration later said that the president misspoke and that trade would continue between the US and Europe.

Trump himself also clarified this point via Twitter:

Global infections over 126,000

The total number of coronavirus cases worldwide now stands at 126,135, according to figures from Johns Hopkins University.

These are the highest infection figures globally:

  1. China: 80,932
  2. Italy: 12,462
  3. Iran: 9,000
  4. South Korea: 7,755
  5. France: 2,284
  6. Spain: 2,277
  7. Germany: 1,966
  8. US: 1,311
  9. Switzerland: 652
  10. Japan: 639

Updated

Two more F1 team members tested for coronavirus

Two more Formula One team members have been tested for the coronavirus at the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne, taking the total having undergone checks for the infection to five.

The race weekend begins in earnest with the first free practice session on Friday afternoon, with no indication that racing will be cancelled.

The words “Stop F1” are seen over the Sydney sky on March 11, 2020. Five Formula One team staff members have been tested for the new coronavirus, officials said, casting a shadow over the opening race of the year.
The words “Stop F1” are seen over the Sydney sky on March 11, 2020. Five Formula One team staff members have been tested for the new coronavirus, officials said, casting a shadow over the opening race of the year. Photograph: David Gray/AFP via Getty Images

In the Philippines, staff at the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) headquarters in Manila are working from home after a visitor to the bank tested positive for Covid-19.

“The Bank’s Manila headquarters facility will be closed from 12 March to undertake cleaning and disinfecting. Bank operations will continue. ADB Management will make a decision in coming days on when to reopen the Bank premises,” the bank said in a statement.

Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe attends an upper house plenary session at parliament in Tokyo on March 11, 2020.
Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe attends an upper house plenary session at parliament in Tokyo on March 11, 2020. Photograph: Kazuhiro Nogi/AFP via Getty Images

Japan’s prime minister, Shinzo Abe, marked his 3,000th day in office battling the coronavirus’s effects on the world’s third-biggest economy and speculation that this summer’s Tokyo Olympics could be cancelled or postponed.

Abe, who became the longest-serving leader last November - after two separate periods in office - this week announced 1tn yen (US$9.6 bn) in emergency funds for businesses hit by the coronavirus outbreak. The package includes 500 billion yen in zero-interest loans for small and medium-sized firms who suffer cash shortages due to dramatic declines in sales.

Japan’s health and welfare ministry on Thursday said it had confirmed a further 50 cases of the virus, bringing the country’s total to 620. Fifteen people have died from Covid-19 in Japan. The ministry’s figures do not include almost 700 cases and six deaths among passengers and crew on the Diamond Princess cruise ship, which was quarantined in Yokohama for more than two weeks.

South Korea has reported 114 new cases of the coronavirus, as well as six more deaths, bringing the country’s total number of infections to 7,869, the Korea Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) said on Thursday.

People walk in front of a TV screen showing a live broadcast of U.S. President Donald Trump’s speech at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, March 12, 2020.
People walk in front of a TV screen showing a live broadcast of U.S. President Donald Trump’s speech at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, March 12, 2020. Photograph: Ahn Young-joon/AP

The new cases, detected on Wednesday and reported Thursday morning, marked the lowest number of daily infections in more than two weeks. Sixty-six people have died from the illness in South Korea, where more than 60% of confirmed cases have been linked to a branch of the Shincheonji religious sect in Daegu, a city of 2.5 million people in the country’s south-east.

Of the new cases reported on Thursday, 73 were in Daegu and eight were in nearby North Gyeongsang province, the KCDC said.

In Australia, Triple J host Avani Dias is reporting that a person who attended a Melbourne music festival with a crowd of 12,000 has tested positive for coronavirus.

ASX200 down over 7% following Trump's Europe travel ban

The Australian sharemarket is continuing to fall following US president Donald Trump’s announcement he was banning travel from Europe (except the UK).

At around 1pm on Thursday the benchmark ASX200 was down more than 7%.

Actor Rita Wilson’s recent Instagram posts before she and husband Tom Hanks announced that they have been infected with coronavirus show her in front of the Sydney Opera House.

She also performed songs from her new album at the Sydney Opera House on 7 March.

She also appeared on Australia’s Today Show on 9 March.

Two hours ago she posted a video of her performance on the show.

Here are the main takeaways from US president Donald Trump’s address earlier today, in which he announced a travel ban on flights from Europe – not including the UK – to the US for 30 days.

Here is everything we know about Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson’s coronavirus diagnosis so far:

NBA suspends play indefinitely after Utah Jazz player tests positive

In the US, the NBA announced that it will suspend the season after Wednesday night’s games until further notice, as it deals with the coronavirus pandemic.

The announcement came after a player on the Utah Jazz preliminarily tested positive for covid-19 ahead of a game between that team and the Oklahoma City Thunder. The game was called off moments before tip-off, and the player had not been in the arena.

The league said it would use the hiatus to determine next steps amid the pandemic.

In Australia, production on the Baz Luhrmann film actors Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson are in the country to film had been set to begin on Monday.

In the film, Elvis, slated for 2021, Hanks is set to play Colonel Tom Parker, Elvis Presley’s manager.

In a statement the US production company behind the film, Warner Bros, said it was “taking precautions” to protect its employees.

In this file photo US actor Tom Hanks and wife Rita Wilson arrive for the 77th annual Golden Globe Awards on January 5, 2020, at The Beverly Hilton hotel in Beverly Hills, California.
In this file photo US actor Tom Hanks and wife Rita Wilson arrive for the 77th annual Golden Globe Awards on January 5, 2020, at The Beverly Hilton hotel in Beverly Hills, California. Photograph: Valérie Macon/AFP via Getty Images

“The health and safety of our company members is always our top priority, and we are taking precautions to protect everyone who works on our productions around the world,” the company said in a statement provided to the New York Times.

A few reactions now as the world learns that Tom Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson have tested positive for coronavirus in Australia:

The Australian market has fallen further after US president Donald Trump announced the country would close its borders to Europe, excluding the UK.

After dropping throughout the morning as the Australian government announced a stimulus package, the benchmark ASX200 index took an additional tumble at lunchtime on Thursday to be down about 3.9% for the day.

The news that Tom Hanks has tested positive for coronavirus in Australia now brings into focus where the actor and his wife, Rita Wilson, who has also tested positive have been spending their last few days.

Hanks’ most recent Tweet before the announcement that he had the virus today was on March 8th, from Bondi Beach in Sydney:

A little more on Tom Hanks confirming he and his wife Rita Wilson have tested positive for coronavirus in Australia:

Hanks posted a photograph from a Gold Coast hospital.

Hanks and Wilson are in Australia filming Baz Luhrmann’s untitled Elvis Presley film.

Updated

Tom Hanks and wife Rita Wilson test positive for coronavirus in Australia

Tom Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson have coronavirus. He wrote in a post on Instagram:

“Hello, folks. Rita and I are down here in Australia. We felt a bit tired, like we had colds, and some body aches. Rita had some chills that came and went. Slight fevers too. To play things right, as is needed in the world right now, we were tested for the Coronavirus, and were found to be positive.”

Asian stock markets fell sharply as Donald Trump addressed the US from the Oval office.

The ASX200 in Sydney, which had edged back up after a rough start to the day, dropped around 1% to 2.5%. The Nikkei is Tokyo made a similar move to 2.54% down for the day.

US futures dropped from -0.2% to -1.2%.

The travel ban from Europe also very bad news for European airlines. The Atlantic route is the most profitable in the world. Good news for British Airways though that UK exempted.

Just to recap the main point from that address by US President Donald Trump, he has introduced a total travel ban from Europe, excluding the UK, for 30 days.

Updated

US president Donald Trump:

“Our future remains brighter than anyone can imagine. Acting with compassion and love we will heal the sick,” he says.

CNN says “In a generation we have not heard an announcement as serious as this from a US president.”

Trump plans to have the Small Business Administration provide economic loans in affected states and territories for small businesses. Asking congress to increase funding for this programme by US$50bn.

“I will never hesitate to take any of the necessary steps to protect the health safety and wellbeing of the American people,” Trump says of the European travel restrictions.

“No nation is more prepared or resilient than the United States.”

US President Donald Trump says, “If you are sick or not feeling well, stay home.

To ensure that Americans will not suffer financial hardship he will soon be taking “unprecedented measures” for financial relief for workers who cannot work due to illness.

Donald Trump says Americans should avoid “non-essential travel to crowded areas”

Trump is addressing the nation from the Oval Office.

“Testing capabilities are expanding rapidly. Day by day we are moving very very quickly... the risk for ordinary Americans is very very low... the elderly population must be very very careful.”

US president Donald Trump says the travel restrictions will not apply to the United Kingdom.

Donald Trump announces suspension of all travel from Europe to the US for 30 days

In the US, Donald Trump says, “To keep new cases from entering our shores we will be suspending all travel from Europe to the US for the next 30 days.”

There are currently 1276 cases in the US, according to Johns Hopkins University

Updated

President Donald Trump listens during a meeting with banking industry executives about the coronavirus, at the White House, Wednesday, March 11, 2020, in Washington.
President Donald Trump listens during a meeting with banking industry executives about the coronavirus, at the White House, Wednesday, March 11, 2020, in Washington. Photograph: Evan Vucci/AP

US President Donald Trump is speaking now from the Oval Office in Washington, as the country’s coronavirus cases near 1,300. He appears to be reading a prepared statement.

“We will ultimately and expeditiously defeat this virus,” he says.

Updated

Latest China cases

We getting the latest figures from China now, with Reuters reporting that there are 15 new infections in mainland China, eight of which are in Hubei. There have been 11 new deaths, ten of which were in Hubei.

China’s total number of cases is 80,793 as of the end of March 11.

Donald Trump is expected to deliver a speech in fifteen minutes’ time, at 9pm EST.

A view of the White House March 11, 2020, in Washington, DC.
A view of the White House March 11, 2020, in Washington, DC. Photograph: Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images

He’ll be speaking from the Oval Office, as the US reckons with the spread of coronavirus and the White House grapples with the severity of the situation.

After days of downplaying the threat, Trump announced he would be delivering a prime-time address to the nation at 9pm ET on the federal response to what the World Health Organization has now declared a global pandemic.

Trump’s speech comes on a tumultuous day as cases in the US topped 1,000 and the number of deaths rose to 37, while fluctuations in the financial markets continued and Washington strained to respond. Testifying on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, Dr Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, warned that the outbreak in the US is going to get worse.

“I can say we will see more cases, and things will get worse than they are right now,” Fauci told the House Oversight and Reform Committee. He said it is “10 times more lethal than the seasonal flu”.

The University of Tasmania, in Australia, has warned staff and students that a woman who tested positive to coronavirus visited the library of their Sandy Bay campus on Monday, 9 March.

In a statement, vice-chancellor Professor Rufus Black said:

A woman in her 30s has tested positive for coronavirus in Tasmania. She is currently in a stable condition in the Royal Hobart Hospital.

It is Tasmania’s third confirmed case of coronavirus. The other two cases remain in medical care and are stable. This latest case is not related to either of the previous cases and is not due to local transmission in Tasmania.

The woman travelled to Australia from South America via New Zealand and arrived in Hobart on Sunday 8 March from Sydney aboard Jetstar flight JQ727 which landed about 10.20pm.”

The woman also informed PHS that she visited UTAS’ Sandy Bay Campus on Monday 9 March. She was at the Morris Miller library between 9.30am to 5.30pm.

While the risk to any other member of the public who was at these venues at the same time is very low, anyone who was at these venues at the above times who is feeling unwell in the 14 days after they were there should contact the Public Health Hotline on 1800 671 738.

Updated

The Australian stock market has given the thumbs down to the Morrison government’s stimulus package.

Shares, which were already down about 2% when Australian prime minister Scott Morrison and treasurer Josh Frydenberg began talking at around 10.35am, fell as the politicians spoke.

Within 10.50am the benchmark ASX200 was down 3%. After some choppy trade, it was off by 2.9% at 11.30am.

The package relies heavily on money for business, which gets around three quarters of the stimulus, and while there is cash for people on benefits the amount is less than that handed out by the Rudd government during the global financial crisis and there is nothing for workers without families.

There is another sea of red on stock market boards in Asia Pacific on Thursday morning.

The Nikkei in Japan has dropped 2.3% and the Kospi in Seoul is off 1.2%. As we’ve seen already, the Australian market has fallen almost 3% despite the announcement of a federal government emergency stimulus package.

Comparisons being made with the massive household giveaway by the Kevin Rudd government in 2009.

Focus will now be on what Trump has to say later today but another Fed rate cut, which everyone is already expecting, might not be enough as Eleanor Creagh from Saxa Capital Markets in Sydney suggests here:

The Pixies, currently touring in Australia, are postponing their remaining performances, the Guardian’s Steph Harmon reports:

Here is the mandatory #washyourlyrics, Pixies edition:

#Washyourlyrics, Pixies edition.
#Washyourlyrics, Pixies edition. Photograph: Wash your lyrics

To wrap up that presser from Australian prime minister Scott Morrison, here is the country’s stimulus package at a glance. All figures are in AUD.

  • The package is worth $18bn in this financial year and $22bn over the 15 months it will run.
  • The instant asset threshold is increased from $30,000 to $150,000.
  • The Boosting Cash Flow for Employers measure will provide up to $25,000 back to small and medium-sized businesses, with a minimum payment of $2,000 for eligible businesses.
  • Eligible employers can apply for a wage subsidy of 50% of the apprentice’s or trainee’s wage for up to 9 months from 1 January 2020 to 30 September 2020.
  • Households that receive a government payment will receive a $750 from March 31.
  • A $1bn ‘Coronavirus fund’ will be established.

Back to Australia now, where Prime Minister Morrison is speaking with the treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, about the government’s stimulus package response to the economic impact of coronavirus on the country, which started the year with a significant blow from the bushfires:

Question: Will this starve off a recession? Is that the job?

Scott Morrison:

The job is what I outlined when I stood here with the Treasurer just 10 minutes ago. And that is to ensure that we keep Australians in jobs, that we keep businesses in business, and that we ensure the Australian economy is in a position to bounce back strongly on the other side.

That is the task. That’s what we’ve designed this package to do. If more is required, more will be done and we’ll watch that closely, like you do with any plan, and you get the best information and you continue to make good decisions.

I think we’ve made some very good decisions here and this boost, as I said, 1.2% of GDP, particularly in the initial phase, and even stronger than that, actually, this year, as you look at - it was $11 billion going out the door effectively by 30 June - that’s when it’s needed. This is very front-end-loaded.

Moving away from the Australian news for a moment and over to football, where the Juventus defender Daniele Rugani has tested positive for coronavirus, the Serie A club said on Wednesday.

“The footballer, Daniele Rugani, has tested positive for coronavirus-Covid-19 and is currently asymptomatic,” Juve said in a statement. “Juventus Football Club is currently activating all the isolation procedures required by law, including those who have had contact with him.”

Rugani has made seven appearances for Juventus this season but was an unused substitute for Juventus on Sunday in their behind-closed-doors victory against Internazionale. Rugani was also seen training with the first team on Tuesday.

Here are the main measures involved in the Australian stimulus package response to the coronavirus from our story earlier today:

Australian businesses will receive an assistance package worth at least $8.7bn in response to the coronavirus outbreak, as the government seeks to urgently stimulate the economy and stave off a looming recession.

Cash payments for businesses, wage subsidies for apprentices and a massive expansion of the instant asset write-off aimed at encouraging the sale of cars, utes, tools and industrial equipment will form the centrepiece of the business boost that will kick in as early as Friday.

The business package, to be announced on Thursday, will also be accompanied by assistance for households, with direct cash payments for households to form part of the overall economic stimulus plan, expected to be worth more than $15bn.

A major focus of the business package, which aims to “keep business in business and Australians in jobs”, will be a tax-free cashflow boost for employers worth up to $25,000.

More on that AU$750 payment. In short, 6.5 million Australians will be getting a cheque for $750. Treasurer Josh Frydenberg says:

Now it’s not for us to tell those Australians how to spend their money but what we do know from experience is that they will spend that money and that money will encourage economic activity and the more economic activity that we see through the June quarter, in particular, will be important, because in the June quarter, just as we’ve seen in the March quarter, the spread of the coronavirus has had an impact across the economy.

It’s disrupted end-to-end supply chains. It’s obviously impacted on the tourism sector, on the international education sector and more broadly.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison is answering questions from the media now.

Question: Will this package be enough to save the nation?

Morrison:

We have worked carefully to make sure that we have got a proportionate response here to meet the challenge.

Now, this is, as I said, 1.2% of GDP. To give you some comparison, when the initial stimulus was done for the GFC many years ago, those payments equated to some 0.88% of GDP in that package which was, as you know, supported by the Coalition, and that used similar measures - payments through the payment system.

For the Australian economy to continue to move forward, says Morrison, “businesses need to continue to go forward and do what they do each day.” Money is going to the people who “are most likely to churn that into the economy quite quickly.”

The $17.6bn stimulus package revealed by the Australian government this morning has failed to stem losses on the stock exchange, with shares continuing to fall as prime minister Scott Morrison and treasurer Josh Frydenberg detailed the measures.

A market that had fallen by 2% before Morrison began speaking at about 10.35am fell further to be off by almost 3% by 10.50.

Businesses will benefit most from Australia’s stimulus package.

Australian treasurer Josh Frydenberg, who just spoke, said:

The package is worth $17.6 billion, $11 billion of which will go out the door before June 30.

As the Prime Minister said, this is on top of the recent health package we announced of $2.4 billion in measures.

Importantly, $3 out of every $4 spent will go to backing business and keeping Australians in a job.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on stimulus package

It’s all about jobs, says Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison.

“Jobs provide people with choice, jobs are just so important” on how Australia deals with the “difficult months” ahead, he adds.

“It is a health crisis, but it is a health crisis with very significant economic impacts.”

All up, over the next two financial years, the stimulus package will cost AU$22bn.

The stimulus package is worth just under AU$18bn.

The measures include:

  • $750 across the full gambit of those who receive all sorts of benefit payments.
  • The waiting period will be waived for what is currently called the ‘sickness allowance’ (On March 20, it becomes the JobSeeker payment) for casuals who have to self-isolate.
  • Businesses with over $50m in turnover will be eligible for a payment of $25,000.

Updated

Australian prime minister Scott Morrison is speaking now, addressing the economic impact of the coronavirus outbreak in the country, as well as the government’s planned stimulus measures.

The ASX is down 2.4% since opening this morning.

Updated

A empty classroom is seen at University of Sao Paulo School of Geography after classes where suspended when a student was confirmed with new coronavirus in Sao Paulo, Brazil, March 11, 2020.
A empty classroom is seen at University of Sao Paulo School of Geography after classes where suspended when a student was confirmed with new coronavirus in Sao Paulo, Brazil, March 11, 2020. Photograph: Amanda Perobelli/Reuters

In Brazil, where there are now 69 confirmed coronavirus cases, the Folha de S.Paulo newspaper site has reported adding one in Northeastern state of Bahia and 16 at the Albert Einstein hospital in São Paulo to the 52 released by the Health Ministry earlier.

Dominic Phillips reports that Brazil expects more growth in locally transmitted cases, according to a health official speaking on Wednesday.

“From now on the number of cases of local transmission will increase,” João dos Reis, executive secretary at Brazil’s health ministry told the country’s Senate Wednesday. “People will contract the disease without us being able to establish the origin of the virus.”

The government will buy 20 million surgical masks and four million hospital masks, he said, according to the Agência Senado agency. He also said the government will hire 5,000 new doctors and create a thousand more beds in intensive care units, he said.

Man rescued from collapsed China hotel after 69 hours

In China, more on the rescues from the collapsed virus quarantine hotel in Quanzhou, southeastern China in which at least 20 other people died. A man was pulled out alive after being trapped for 69 hours under the rubble, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

Rescuers search for survivors in the rubble of a collapsed hotel on March 10, 2020 in Quanzhou, Fujian Province of China.
Rescuers search for survivors in the rubble of a collapsed hotel on March 10, 2020 in Quanzhou, Fujian Province of China. Photograph: China News Service/China News Service via Getty Images

The man was sent to hospital immediately after being rescued late on Tuesday afternoon. Another nine people are missing from the collapse on Saturday.

A 10-year-old boy and his mother had been rescued around midnight Monday after being trapped for 52 hours. The condition of all three survivors remains unknown.

The hotel in the city of Quanzhou had been a quarantine site for people exposed to the new coronavirus.

Rescuers at the scene of the collapse had protective gear and disinfectant to minimize exposure to the virus.

The building had reportedly been modified illegally before the collapse.

Updated

The Australian stock market has followed overseas exchanges downwards, shedding 1.8% as the country waited for the government to reveal details of a stimulus package.

Overnight, Australian time, US markets fell by between 5% and 6%, while the London exchange’s benchmark FTSE index dropped a more modest 1.4%.

Ten minutes after the start of trade on the ASX the benchmark ASX200 index was down 1.8%, led by mining stocks, which were down an average of about 2.5%.

Prime minister Scott Morrison is to announce details of his stimulus package shortly. He is expected to address the media any minute now.

We’re expecting Donald Trump to speak in an hour and a half’s time, at 9pm Eastern Time, or for our Australian readers, 12pm AEST.

Updated

Summary

Hello and welcome to today’s coronavirus liveblog. The WHO has declared the coronavirus a “pandemic”, something they had been careful not to do until now. What does that mean for you and for the global economy? We’ll have the latest throughout the day.

Here are the biggest developments from the last few hours:

  • The World Health Organization has declared a coronavirus pandemic, as it expressed concern “about alarming levels of inaction”. The WHO director-general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said the number of cases outside China has increased 13-fold in the past two weeks and there are now 118,000 cases in 114 countries and 4,291 people have lost their lives.
  • Italians are facing up to yet more stringent measures designed to combat the outbreak. The country’s prime minister, Giuseppe Conte, has now said shops – barring supermarkets, food stores and chemists – will be shut down, while companies must close all their departments that are not essential to production.
  • A third UK government minister is in isolation. In addition to the unnamed cabinet minister, the junior health minister Ed Argar is also self-isolating after having dinner with Nadine Dorries on Thursday night, the Guardian understands.
  • The number of UK cases rose by 87 in 24 hours to 460. Including Scotland’s first community transmission. The number of UK citizens who have died rose to 1o.
  • The UK chancellor, Rishi Sunak, has announced a £30bn package to try ease the impact of coronavirus and promised the NHS “whatever it needs” to tackle the crisis, as the Bank of England cut interest rates.
  • Brexit talks due to take place in London next week have been thrown into doubt because of coronavirus. Michael Gove told MPs that fresh concerns about the safety of the talks had been raised by EU officials.
  • Iran announced a record increase in cases to 9,000 as the country’s death toll from the virus increased to 354. Friday prayers have been cancelled for a third week in a row.
  • The death toll from the coronavirus in Italy rose from 631 to 827 in a day. At the same time, the total number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in the country rose by more than 2,000, from 10,149 on Tuesday to 12,462 today.
  • India and Kuwait have effectively banned foreign visitors.Guatemala has banned Europeans from entry, despite the central American country being yet to record a case.
  • States of emergency have been declared in Michigan and Massachusetts, as the number of Covid-19 cases in the US passed 1000. Three security officers have tested positive at California’s San Jose airport.
  • China has reported only 24 new cases and 22 new deaths nationally, including a record low of 13 cases in Wuhan. Lockdowns have been partially lifted in the Hubei province, and key industries will be allowed to resume in Wuhan.
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