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The drop in the Australian share market despite the US Fed rate cut raises questions over the ability of central banks to halt the fall in share prices, according to Michael McCarthy of CMC Markets in Sydney. The moves in Australia follow late falls on Wall Street as the main indices failed to rally on the emergency Fed stimulus.
The market reaction to the Fed’s decisive action is worrying for investors. Major US indices dropped 2.5% to 3%. There is now a question over the ability of monetary policy to halt plummeting asset prices. The dangers of negative wealth effects from stock market falls adds to concern about the global outlook. The seeming ineffectiveness of further monetary easing will almost certainly lead to further calls on governments to push the fiscal stimulus button.
Bonds rallied again, pushing yields to fresh all-time lows. Gold found a firmer footing to rally by 3% as the US dollar slipped. In an illustration of the unusual conditions cryptocurrencies were among the least volatile markets.
But he adds that futures trading points to a rise in Tokyo when it opens in half an hour.
Australia’s sharemarket has dropped 1.4% after the opening bell; reversing a rally on Tuesday that followed more than a week of losses.
The benchmark ASX200 index is now down more than 10% over the past week and a half.
The Aussie market’s fall follows a plunge overnight on US markets, which responded to an emergency rate cut by the Federal Bank by shedding about 3%.
Banks, miners and consumer stocks have all been hit in an across-the-board selloff that reverses gains made by the market on Tuesday.
In early trade, Australia’s biggest bank the Commonwealth Bank fell more than 1.5% and rival ANZ was down almost 2%.
Mining giant BHP was down 1.2%, soft drink company Coca-Cola Amatil fell 1.1% and share registry provider Computershare tumbled 4.6%.
The ASX200 was up as much as 1.8% on Tuesday morning, but began to fall away in afternoon trade after the Reserve Bank of Australia cut official interest rates to a new record low of 0.5%.
Chile has now reportedly confirmed its first case of coronavirus; a patient who the health ministry says is being treated at a hospital in the city of Talca, 250km south of the capital Santiago.
Google I/O – the tech firm’s annual developer event – has been cancelled over coronavirus fears, its parent company Alphabet Inc has said.
Over the coming weeks, we will explore other ways to evolve Google I/O to best connect with and continue to build our developer community.
The Italian government is about to release a series of recommendations to try to halt the coronavirus outbreak. The tips are contained in a document issued by the the country’s scientific committee that will be released within the next few hours. They include:
- Social distancing: remaining away from crowded environments and maintaining a distance of two meters from other people; especially within enclosed spaces.
- Greetings: avoiding kisses and hugs when greeting people.
- Elderly population: people older than 75 years with underlying health conditions are advised to remain at home and avoid social events.
Moreover, the Juventus and Milan’s upcoming Italian Cup semi-final second leg match has been postponed. The match was meant to be held on Wednesday night and would have followed the 1-1 first-leg draw in Milan’s San Siro. The committee has called for all sporting events to be held behind closed doors.
The death toll from Covid-19 in Italy has risen to 79 and confirmed cases to 2.263, the emergency commissioner and civil protection chief Angelo Borrelli has said.
According to the Reuters news agency, Dr Tony Holohan, Ireland’s chief medical officer, has told reporters:
Today we are confirming that Ireland has diagnosed one new case of COVID-19. The case arises in a female in the east of the country and is associated with travel from northern Italy.
Ireland has confirmed its second case, with the nation’s department of health saying it’s associated with travel from Italy.
An emergency funding bill to fight coronavirus could be completed and ready for the signature of the US president Donald Trump by Friday evening, according to Senator Patrick Leahy; the top Democrat on the Senate appropriations committee.
After a meeting with the vice president Mike Pence and health officials, Chuck Schumer – the Democratic leader in the Senate – said officials could not say how soon or where people can be tested for coronavirus.
Washington state’s department of health reports that the total number of confirmed coronavirus cases now stands at 27, including the deaths of nine people. That is up from 18 cases and six deaths on Monday.
Algeria has confirmed three new cases, bringing the total number of people who have tested positive for the virus to eight, the nation’s health ministry has said, adding that those cases include seven Algerians from the same family and an Italian man.
The man died nearly three weeks ago and tests now show he was killed by the virus, the regional health chief Ana Barcelo has told a press conference.
Spain confirms first death
The first coronavirus death in Spain has been confirmed, the Reuters news agency reports, citing a Valencian health official.
Updated
That’s all from me. I will now be handing over to my colleague who will keep you informed on the latest news. Thanks
A seventh person with coronavirus has died in the Seattle area of the US, but the infection wasn’t identified until after their death.
The New York Times has reported that the individual was brought to Seattle’s Harborview Medical Center on 24 February and died two days later, before a crisis in the state began unfolding over the weekend.
BREAKING: A 7th person with coronavirus has died in the Seattle area. This time, the infection wasn’t identified until well after the person's death.
— Mike Baker (@ByMikeBaker) March 3, 2020
The death was 6 days ago at Harborview Medical Center. https://t.co/IvVpdiScaM
Susan Gregg, a spokeswoman for the hospital, said on Tuesday that samples had tested positive for the virus. “In coordination with Public Health, we have determined that some staff may have been exposed while working in an intensive care unit where the patient had been treated,” Gregg said.
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A summary: all the latest developments
In the last few hours there have been some new developments, which are summed up below.
- A British woman in the coronavirus-hit Tenerife hotel has tested positive for Covid-19, officials have confirmed. The woman arrived at the H10 Costa Adeje Palace on 23 February, and was not part of the initial group of 10 Italians where the first case was identified.
- Unite is warning that factories could shut down or cut working hours because of shortages of parts from China if the coronavirus crisis worsens. Steve Turner, Unite’s assistant general secretary, called for an urgent meeting with Alok Sharma, the business secretary, over the threat to livelihoods if work dries up in the manufacturing sector.
- The Federal Reserve cut interest rates by half a percentage point on Tuesday in an attempt to stem the economic fallout from the coronavirus. Analysts and investors are questioning whether the move will be enough in the long term if the virus continues to spread.
- The death toll from coronavirus in Italy has risen by 27 over the past 24 hours to 79, the Civil Protection Agency said. The total number of cases in the country reached 2,502, up from 2,036 on Monday. The agency said that of those infected, 160 people had fully recovered.
Lebanon’s health minister said hospitals were ready to deal with any further spread of the novel coronavirus in the country, where 13 cases have been recorded with no deaths.
Hamad Hassan said the cases had all either returned from an affected country or were transmitted through “close contact” with a family member or neighbour - not “local transmission”.
All 13 people suffering from the Covid-19 illness are being treated at Beirut’s Rafic Hariri state hospital, where 140 beds have been designated to isolate and monitor suspected cases, he added.
Updated
The Vatican said on Tuesday that Pope Francis was still suffering from a cold and not exhibiting other symptoms, after a report said he had tested negative for the novel coronavirus.
Italy’s Messaggero newspaper reported that the 83-year-old pontiff, who has been cancelling events since last Wednesday, had been tested for the virus as a precaution.
Without directly confirming the report, Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said in a statement that the cold was “running its course without symptoms attributable to other pathologies”.
Updated
Here is a brief summary of the latest news and updates.
US central bank jumps in
The Fed cut interest rates by half a percentage point on Tuesday in an attempt to stem the economic fallout from the coronavirus. Analysts and investors are questioning whether the move will be enough in the long term if the virus continues to spread.
The spread
The number of cases globally now exceeds 90,911 across 77 countries and territories, with at least 3,123 deaths reported. Just 125 new cases were reported in China on Tuesday. There were more than 600 in South Korea, 542 in Iran and 523 in Italy.
In Iran, where the death toll has risen to 77, the supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei urged people to wash their hands and described the outbreaks as “not something extraordinary”.
Containment still top priority
The WHO’s Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the risk of the epidemic spreading was now very high at a global level, but there was evidence that surveillance was working in South Korea and containment was possible.
“We are in uncharted territory. We have never before seen a respiratory pathogen that is capable of community transmission, but which can also be contained with the right measures,” he said. “Containment of Covid-19 is feasible and must remain the top priority for all countries.”
Updated
Retired nurses could provide support in the case of a major coronavirus outbreak if the right safety measures are in place, nurses have said.
However, they said the health and care system was “challenged by the current high level of nursing vacancies”.
Susan Masters, the Royal College of Nursing’s director of nursing policy and practice, said:
This is a challenging time for staff in health and care services – we welcome the fact that the government’s new plan is UK-wide, and builds on previous experience of the 2009 swine flu pandemic.
As the plan acknowledges, some nursing staff will inevitably be affected by the virus. With the right safety measures and regulation, retired nurses could provide important support for staff currently working in the NHS and social care services. But senior nurses already spend a great deal of time supervising and mentoring more junior colleagues and nursing students, so the issue will be whether they have the capacity to extend this to returning retired staff. Any legislation being considered will need to be carefully scrutinised to ensure that safety for patients and healthcare staff is the priority.
There are already well-rehearsed plans in the UK in place to deal with infectious diseases like coronavirus, but the health and care system is challenged by the current high level of nursing vacancies. The public can support nurses by checking on any vulnerable neighbours or relatives, particularly those living on their own, to ensure they have enough to eat and drink and don’t run out of medication.
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Private company ISS has promised full pay for all health workers self-isolating due to coronavirus, and a health union is calling for the government to offer similar reassurances.
ISS has been handed taxpayer funded contracts to the tune of £307m since 2015 for services including cleaning and catering in schools and hospitals.
GMB, the union for NHS staff, said it had pressured NHS outsourcing companies – and the government – to ensure all workers are given full pay from day one if forced to self-isolate.
Lola McEvoy, a GMB organiser, said:
Full pay from day one for NHS contract workers is an urgent priority for public safety given the escalating coronavirus crisis.
This announcement that ISS will give full pay to everyone required to self-isolate is the direct result of GMB members’ bravery in campaigning at Homerton hospital and across the UK.
Updated
The US Federal Reserve cut interest rates on Tuesday in an effort to shield the world’s largest economy from the impact of the coronavirus.
The Fed chair, Jerome Powell, suggested the threat to the economy would not soon abate.
“The virus and the measures that are being taken to contain it will surely weigh on economic activity, both here and abroad, for some time,” Powell said in a news conference shortly after the central bank said it was cutting rates by a half percentage point to a target range of 1.00% to 1.25%.
The move did little to deliver immediate comfort to financial markets roiled by fears of the virus’s impact on economic growth. Losses on Wall Street deepened.
Powell said the central bank’s action would provide “a meaningful boost to the economy” by loosening financial conditions and shoring up business and household confidence.
Updated
Vinitaly, the world’s largest fair for winemakers and sellers, will postpone its trade show due to the coronavirus outbreak in Italy.
The trade show was supposed to be held in Verona in April. Last year Vinitaly hosted 4,600 exhibitors and almost 125,000 visitors from 145 countries
Updated
A French TV channel apologised on Tuesday for airing a mock advert for “corona pizza” that featured a chef coughing up green phlegm on to Italy’s national dish.
Italian foreign minister, Luigi Di Maio, criticised the joke, which appeared on the satirical Groland programme on Canal+. It showed a chef coughing green mucus on to a red tomato base and white mozzarella. The colours together made up the Italian flag.
“Here’s the new Italian pizza, which is going to spread around the world,” the fake advert said.
Globally, more than 3,100 people have died of the coronavirus and over 90,000 have been infected. Italy is the worst-hit country in Europe, with 79 deaths and more than 2,500 people infected.
Updated
The Swiss army said all soldiers would be confined to base after a case of the new coronavirus was discovered in their ranks.
A man tested positive for Covid-19 Monday as he was preparing to carry out a required military refresher course, the Swiss armed forces said in a statement.
Updated
The death toll from Covid-19 in Italy has risen to 79 and confirmed cases to 2.263, the emergency commissioner and civil protection chief Angelo Borrelli said on Tuesday.
A newborn boy from the northern region of Lombardy has tested positive for the coronavirus and is currently hospitalised in Bergamo. According to the Higher Health Institute (ISS), he is not in a serious condition.
“He came out positive to the swab, he is not intubated, he was already in a phase of post-natal assistance,” an official told Ansa.
The number of people who recovered from the virus rose to 160 people, 11 more than Monday.
The majority of cases – 1,520 – are in the northern Lombardy region, where 10 towns have been under lockdown for more than a week. The virus has spread to more than half of Italy’s 20 regions, including Tuscany, Puglia, Sicily and recently Sardinia.
Authorities say the majority of people who tested positive in other regions were travelling from Lombardy or had been in the north for a few weeks before the outbreak.
Of those infected, 1,034 are in hospital – 229 in intensive care – and 1,229 are recovering at home.
Updated
Amazon is struggling to control sellers who are ramping up the price of products due to fear around the coronavirus outbreak.
On Monday hand sanitiser and respiratory masks were in some cases being sold at a more than 2,000% mark-up.
Amazon said it had removed “tens of thousands” of listings and was monitoring postings.
The Financial Times reported that a pack of 20 masks made by 3M was being sold by an unauthorised reseller at $387 (£301.95), compared with a normal retail price of around $14.99 (£11.70).
“There is no place for price-gouging on Amazon,” the company said in a statement. “We are disappointed that bad actors are attempting to artificially raise prices on basic need products during a global health crisis and, in line with our longstanding policy, have recently blocked or removed tens of thousands of offers.”
It added: “We continue to actively monitor our store and remove offers that violate our policies.”
Updated
The first coronavirus case has been confirmed in Argentina, it has been reported. The minister of health, Ginés González García, is expected to give more details of the case at a press conference later.
Argentina Ministry of Health is about to hold a press conference, and it is believed that the first case of Coronavirus in the country will be officialy confirmed @sloumarsh
— Luciana Zorzoli 💚 (@pajaraz) March 3, 2020
Updated
The World Health Organization said on Tuesday that understanding of how the new coronavirus spreads was rapidly increasing, but warned that the protective gear needed to fight the disease was “rapidly depleting”.
The UN health agency voiced concern that the masks and other protective equipment used by health workers was running out amid panic buying and manipulation of markets.
“We are concerned that countries’ abilities to respond are being compromised by the severe and increasing disruption to the global supply of personal protective equipment ... caused by rising demand, hoarding and misuse,” the head of the World Health Organization , Tedros Adhanom, said.
Updated
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Updated
Italy is considering setting up a new quarantine red zone near the northern city of Bergamo given the high number of coronavirus cases in the area, the head of the national health institute said on Tuesday.
The Italian government set up two red zones on 22 February – one centred on 10 towns in the region of Lombardy, south-east of Milan, and another, smaller one in the neighbouring region of Veneto.
Since then, a growing number of cases have emerged near Bergamo, north-east of Milan. “We are considering the possibility of adopting a measure like this one,” health chief Silvio Brusaferro said after being asked if a new red zone might be created.
Updated
Factories could be forced to close, Unite warn
Unite is warning that factories could shut down or cut working hours because of shortages of parts from China if the coronavirus crisis worsens.
Steve Turner, Unite’s assistant general secretary, called for an urgent meeting with Alok Sharma, the business secretary, over the threat to livelihoods if work dries up in the manufacturing sector.
“We are of the view that if the situation in China was not to improve over the coming three to four weeks, UK automotive plants will be entering periods of short time working and or enforced production shutdown,” he said.
He called for the adoption of a UK scheme similar to Germany’s short time working support scheme (Kurzarbeit). Turner said: “The scheme, in place since 1910, has been adopted by many European countries, and has served to protect manufacturing industries from the pressures of short time working by providing for wage protection during agreed periods of down time.”
Unite – like the TUC, Unison and GMB – is also calling for full sick pay for all workers from day one if they have to take time off with suspected coronavirus. Currently, up to 2 million gig economy workers do not necessarily receive sick pay and may be forced to make a choice between losing pay and carrying on in work with symptoms.
Updated
Car plants could be forced to halt production in a matter of weeks because of the threat of a shortage of essential components from virus-hit China, a trade union has warned.
Unite said it wants an urgent meeting with the business secretary, Alok Sharma, to discuss the prospect of short-time working in the event of production shutdowns.
In a letter to Sharma, Unite’s assistant general secretary, Steve Turner, said:
We are of the view that if the situation in China does not improve over the coming three to four weeks, UK automotive plants will be entering periods of short-time working and/or enforced production shutdown.
Updated
Routine hospital appointments and surgeries may be postponed if Covid-19 infects large numbers of people, health officials in Northern Ireland said.
An NHS statement said:
The health and social care system is also planning for the possibility of reduced staffing in hospitals and the community as a result of coronavirus in order to mitigate against these risks.
Depending on the pressures in the system in the months ahead, trusts (which provide health services) may have to consider postponing routine elective appointments and surgeries to focus on the immediate demands associated with coronavirus.
The aim is to “flatten” the main community transmission peak and delay it until summer when services are less stretched.
Medical staff are in a phase of containment, Northern Ireland’s chief medical officer, Dr Michael McBride, said.
Major publishers Penguin Random House, Hachette Livre, Pan Macmillan and Curtis Brown parent company Original Talent have pulled out of London Book Fair, one of the largest publishing events in the world, despite the event remaining on schedule to go ahead next week, the Bookseller reports.
Pan Macmillan announced it was pulling out following concerns about the coronavirus. Its managing director, Antony Forbes Watson, said: “The duty of care that we have to everyone who works for us and the news that so many of our customers and partners will no longer be attending the book fair have combined to lead us to this conclusion.”
The developments come after Simon & Schuster’s US team and the Macmillan Trade US team also pulled out of the fair last week over “health and safety fears”.
Updated
Death toll in Italy rises by 27 to reach 79
The death toll from coronavirus in Italy has risen by 27 over the past 24 hours to 79, the Civil Protection Agency said.
The total number of cases in the country reached 2,502, up from 2,036 on Monday. The agency said that of those infected, 160 people had fully recovered.
The contagion came to light 12 days ago and is focused mainly on a handful of hotspots in the north of Italy. However, cases have now been confirmed in all but one of the country’s 20 regions.
Updated
About 3.4% of confirmed cases of Covid-19 have died, far above seasonal flu’s fatality rate of under 1%, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) has said.
But Tedros Adhanom said the novel coronavirus could be contained. Speaking at a Geneva news conference, he said: “To summarise, Covid-19 spreads less efficiently than flu, transmission does not appear to be driven by people who are not sick, it causes more severe illness than flu, there are not yet any vaccines or therapeutics, and it can be contained.”
Tedros said that he had spoken with Thomas Bach, president of the International Olympic Committee, about the 2020 Tokyo Olympics due to open in July. “I think deciding now would be too early, it would be good to monitor the situation,” he said.
Updated
A British guest is the latest person to be diagnosed with coronavirus at a Tenerife hotel. The H10 Costa Adeje Palace hotel has been under lockdown due to an outbreak of the virus.
The Briton, who tested positive for the virus on Monday evening, had not been isolated in their room as they had not presented any symptoms, the authorities said.
“The epidemiology team is studying the contacts this person had,” a spokeswoman for the local health services said.
Guests without symptoms have been allowed to circulate around the hotel, making use of facilities like pools and shared dining areas, as long as they wear a mask, wash their hands frequently and submit to regular temperature checks.
Other cases diagnosed over the past week at the hotel had been among a group of 10 Italian holidaymakers. In total, around 150 people have been diagnosed with coronavirus in Spain.
Authorities are monitoring two clusters in Torrejón de Ardoz, a suburban city close to Madrid with a population of around 130,000, and one in the Basque city of Vitoria-Gasteiz.
Around 100 health workers in the Basque country have been isolated in their homes after coming into contact with people infected with the virus, local health authorities said.
Updated
A total of 32 people have tested positive for coronavirus in Norway, the Norwegian Institute of Public Health said at a press briefing. Those attending heard about seven additional infections to the most recent update published on its website.
Updated
Pharmacy chains are limiting the sale of hand sanitiser amid concerns products could be sold for inflated prices online.
A spokeswoman for Boots, the UK’s largest chemist chain, said it had seen an increase in the sale of hand sanitisers, but it still had stock available in its warehouses for online sale and in stores.
She also confirmed that there is currently a limit of two hand sanitisers per customer to ensure as many people as possible have access to the products.
The PA news agency understands that Boots is concerned some of its products could be re-sold online.
The company has seen protective products of the kind it sells, for example face masks, appear on websites such as Amazon at prices far greater than those retailed by Boots.
A spokesman for LloydsPharmacy, which runs over 1,500 UK pharmacies, said it too was limiting the sale of hand gel products to two per person both online and in store.
Spain’s health minister, Salvador Illa, has recommended that sporting events with a high expected attendance from zones designated as high-risk for coronavirus, such as northern Italy, should be held behind closed doors.
Such events include the return leg of the Champions League fixture between Valencia and Italy’s Atalanta scheduled for 10 March and a Europa League match between Getafe and Inter Milan on 19 March.
Updated
The spread of coronavirus appears to have led many to stockpile toilet paper, with social media images showing low supplies around the world.
Shoppers have begun to buy up items in bulk due to the spread of the virus, despite authorities insisting it would not be necessary to do so.
Sharon Reilly photographed a shop in Massachusetts, United States, noting that toilet paper stocks were running low while “all the bleach was gone too”.
She told the PA Media: “It did not make me feel like I needed to stockpile. It made me sad that people are clearly scared.”
Franziska Heintel shared photos of empty supermarket shelves in Berlin. She told PA Media: “I’m not sure if it’s an accurate representation and I don’t want to make people panic even more. There’s probably plenty of stores here that didn’t sell out of stuff yet.
Many more similar scenes were spotted in various parts of Australia, where “toilet paper” began trending.
Updated
England’s chief medical officer, Prof Chris Whitty, will appear before MPs on Thursday to give evidence on how well prepared the UK is for a possible coronavirus global pandemic.
Jeremy Hunt, the former health secretary and chair of the health and social care committee, said: “We’re seeing a daily global increase in fatalities and spread of the coronavirus.
“It’s crucial that the government acts urgently to ensure that the NHS is well prepared to deal with a major outbreak here in the UK.
“Lives will be saved in future by the planning that’s happening now. The health and social care committee is losing no time in calling in the chief medical officer to scrutinise emergency plans that would halt and contain the spread of the virus.”
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Two companies have been banned from using “scaremongering” adverts for face masks which made false claims about their ability to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
The adverts, which appeared on Amazon and on the Scottish Sun website, were in breach of the Advertising Standards Authority’s (ASA) code, a ruling found.
The authority stated that the adverts were “misleading, irresponsible and likely to cause fear without justifiable reason”.
The rulings were made against the adverts by Easy Shopping 4 Home Ltd, which appeared on the Amazon website, and adverts by Novads OU for its Oxybreath Pro mask, which appeared on the Scottish Sun website via the Taboola network as well as on cnn.com and other sites.
Updated
British woman at virus-hit Tenerife hotel tests positive for Covid-19
A British woman in the coronavirus-hit Tenerife hotel has tested positive for Covid-19, officials have confirmed.
The woman arrived at the H10 Costa Adeje Palace on 23 February, it has been reported. She was not part of the initial group of 10 Italians where the first case was identified.
Sky News said the woman is believed to be asymptomatic and in good health, and has now been isolated in hospital. Authorities are trying to track down anyone who may have been in close contact with her.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has not commented. A total of seven people have now been diagnosed with Covid-19 in Tenerife.
Updated
Hello everyone. I am updating you on all the latest information on the coronavirus outbreak until 7pm GMT. Please get in touch if you want to share any news tips with me.
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Updated
Hospitals are being told to ramp up their plans for treating coronavirus patients.
In a letter to the chief executives of NHS trusts and other leaders, NHS strategic incident director Prof Keith Willett and incident director Stephen Groves set out a series of measures for more widespread cases in the UK.
The letter says that to date Covid-19 has been managed as a high-consequence infectious disease through specialist centres. But “it is now appropriate to begin to manage some patients within wider infectious disease units and, in due course if the number of cases continues to grow, we will need to use all acute units”, the document adds.
It says acute hospitals must look at the support offered to people with respiratory illness and “consider the impact that a possible surge in medical patients might have on services and stocks”.
The document says they must “clearly identify how your organisation will implement the sequence of segregation of clinical areas (in emergency departments (ED), wards, critical care) and diagnostic and intervention suites to support the continued response in the event of a significant escalation in Covid-19 cases”.
The letter says trusts must establish a Covid-19 incident management team, led by an accountable emergency officer (AEO).
The letter warns against stockpiling, saying: “Medicines, medical devices and clinical consumables should not be stockpiled by organisations or patients as this may put a strain on the supply chain and exacerbate any potential shortages.
The document also reminds trusts that any staff members who need to self-isolate receive full pay. Managers should also “refresh business continuity plans for the maintenance of essential services”.
Ambulance trusts are also reminded to look at the “safe transfer” of coronavirus patients to hospitals.
Updated
Vaughan Gething, the Welsh health minister, called on people who are infected or self-isolate to be treated with dignity.
He said: “Unfortunately some people in Wales, just as in the rest of the UK, have been subject to prejudice and racist comments. This global public health emergency does not distinguish between races and faiths Our people should not use this global public emergency as an excuse to do so.”
Gething said that if the peak was in May or June emergency legislation – for example to ban gatherings – would have to be passed before the Easter recess. He also revealed that a Welsh version of the UK government’s Cobra meeting would be stood up – which he dubbed Cobra Cymru.
Meanwhile, the Welsh first minister, Mark Drakeford, has said GPs may have to stop carrying out “routine” duties such as diabetes monitoring.
Dr Will Welfare of Public Health England North West has provided an update on cases in Greater Manchester.
Public Health England is contacting people who had close contact with three cases of Covid-19 confirmed in Greater Manchester. Two of the cases are residents of Bury.
As a result of contact tracing we know the new Bury cases announced today are known contacts of the previously confirmed case from Bury.
The third case is a resident of Bolton which is not linked to the two cases in Bury announced today. The Bolton resident became infected whilst in Italy.
Close contacts will be given health advice about symptoms and emergency contact details to use if they become unwell in the 14 days after contact with the confirmed cases. This tried and tested method will ensure we are able to minimise any risk to them and the wider public.
The University of Oxford: 'Chinese and other Asian students and staff have felt isolated'
Louise Richardson, the University of Oxford’s vice-chancellor, has this afternoon sent an email to staff updating them on the university’s response to the Covid-19 outbreak, noting: “It seems inevitable that we will have cases here in Oxford before too long.”
Richardson said she has been chairing weekly meetings on contingency planning with senior colleagues and colleges, including identifying potential testing and isolation facilities. Richardson added:
As we know, the outbreak of the virus initiated in China. Many of our Chinese and other Asian students and staff have felt isolated or even suspect, especially when wearing face masks. This is a time for us to come together as a community and to support not shun one another. We are a truly global institution and delight in bringing together diverse cultural norms, and we are, above all, a community of scholars and students coming together to learn, to research and to improve the world around us.
Our stellar academics, meanwhile, are doing what they do best, pushing at the frontiers of knowledge. They are attempting to create a vaccine, they are investigating therapeutic responses, and they are modelling the spread of the disease. To learn more about this work, please consult the coronavirus research microsite.
I would like to express my deep appreciation to all those colleagues across the collegiate university who have been working tirelessly to ensure that we are as prepared as we can be for the consequences of an outbreak here in Oxford.
This virus will pass, and when it does, I hope that we will be able to look back with pride on both the humanity and the efficacy of our response.”
Updated
The first coronavirus case has been confirmed in Ukraine. The country’s health ministry confirmed the case in the western city of Chernivtsi on Tuesday.
The deputy health minister, Viktor Lyashko, told reporters in Kyiv that a man exhibiting symptoms of the virus was admitted to hospital on Saturday, three days after returning from holiday in Italy.
Lyashko said the man, whose condition was confirmed late on Monday, was in a stable condition and his wife was quarantined in their home.
Updated
After the Foreign and Commonwealth office told Britons quarantined in a hotel in Tenerife that they would be allowed to book their own flights home, another guest has said the message conflicts with the information being given by hotel staff.
The guest, who did not wish to be named, has been in the hotel for 11 days with her husband, and has booked to fly home on 10 March but would like to switch to an earlier flight. “From what we have been told by the hotel we will not be able to leave,” she said. “No one will give us correct information.
“There are guests here that are more than happy to stay until the 10th but we are not. We want to be home and self-quarantine at our own home. We actually believe this is not a safe environment to be in,” she said.
Other guests had been allowed to leave the hotel to catch a flight home this morning, but had to return a few hours later because their test results did not arrive back in time.
Updated
Prof Chris Whitty, England’s chief medical officer, has given greater detail about the 12 new cases announced earlier today.
Eight patients had recently travelled from Italy, one from Germany, one from Singapore, one from Japan and one from Iran. The patients are from London, Hampshire, Northamptonshire, Bury, Wirral, Greater Manchester, Humberside and Kent. All are being investigated and contact tracing has begun.
The total number of confirmed cases in England is now 48 (one previously reported positive case was retested and found to be negative) and with each of the previously reported single cases in Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland, the total number of UK cases has reached 51.
Updated
IOC insists Tokyo 2020 will go ahead
The International Olympic Committee has insisted it expects Tokyo 2020 to go ahead as planned despite fears the Games might have to be delayed because of the coronavirus outbreak.
The IOC announced on Tuesday that it remained committed to staging the event as scheduled between 24 July and 9 August after Japan’s Olympic minister, Seiko Hashimoto, suggested it could be postponed until later in the year.
Read more here.
Updated
France to requisition stocks of face masks
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has said authorities will requisition all existing stocks, and future production of, face masks in the coming months to help combat the outbreak.
“We will distribute them to health professionals and to French people infected with the coronavirus,” Macron said on Twitter.
Hand sanitisers and face masks have been selling out in French pharmacies in recent days. And some retailers have raised prices, prompting the finance minister, Bruno Le Maire, to ask France’s consumer and anti-fraud watchdog to open an investigation and warn that he could “regulate prices of masks and gels by decree” if necessary.
Nous réquisitionnons tous les stocks et la production de masques de protection. Nous les distribuerons aux professionnels de santé et aux Français atteints par le Coronavirus.
— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) March 3, 2020
On Tuesday, France announced its fourth death from the virus, a 92-year-old man in the Morbihan department in Brittany, one of three hotspots. The country confirmed it had 204 cases of Covid-19. About 120 schools are closed and gatherings of more than 5,000 people in enclosed spaces have been cancelled.
Updated
The Irish taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, has said the government is not currently recommending the cancellation of St Patrick’s Day events because of coronavirus, but that the situation could change before the annual 17 March festivities.
Varadkar also announced he is to lead a special cabinet sub-committee to coordinate the state’s response to Covid-19.
“As of today, we only have one case of Covid-19 in the state, it was imported and it has been contained, so we are not advising anyone to cancel any gatherings at this stage,” he told a post-cabinet news conference.
“But bear in mind the St Patrick’s Day festival and events are two weeks away and a lot can happen between now and then but, as of now, we’re not advising to cancel major events or major gatherings such as that.”
Updated
The England rugby player, Mako Vunipola, is self-isolating and has ruled himself out of Saturday’s Six Nations fixture against Wales.
At the weekend, the Saracens prop flew back from Tonga - which he was visiting for family reasons - via Hong Kong. An England spokesperson said: “He is not sick but it is a precaution.”
Updated
The US Federal Reserve has slashed interest rates in an emergency measure to protect the US economy from the financial impact of the coronavirus.
In an unscheduled move, the Fed cut its benchmark rate to between 1% and 1.25%, down from 1.5% to 1.75%.
The Fed said:
The fundamentals of the US economy remain strong. However, the coronavirus poses evolving risks to economic activity. In light of these risks, and in support of achieving its maximum employment and price stability goals, the federal open market committee decided today to lower the target range for the federal funds rate by 1/2 percentage point, to 1 to 1-1/4 percent.
The committee is closely monitoring developments and their implications for the economic outlook and will use its tools and act as appropriate to support the economy.
The move has sent shares rallying.
Updated
Northern Ireland has around 100 critical care beds ready for Covid-19, health officials said.
The country’s chief medical officer, Dr Michael McBride, said non-urgent services may have to be put on hold during a peak of infection which could last months.
Around 99% of people affected would make a full recovery, while 95% would suffer mild to moderate symptoms which would not require hospital treatment, the senior civil servant said.
“Those numbers will change as we get data more relevant to European healthcare systems, maybe more aligned with ours,” he said.
Updated
Hello everyone. I am taking over the live blog from my colleague now and will be updating you on all the latest information on the coronavirus outbreak until 7pm. Please get in touch if you want to share any news tips with me.
Email: sarah.marsh@theguardian.com
Twitter: @sloumarsh
Instagram: sarah_marsh_journalist
Updated
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries has said it is limiting the number of Opec and non-Opec delegates attending its policy meeting on 5-6 March to a bare minimum, in light of the coronavirus outbreak.
“This precautionary measure has become necessary due to the public health risk that would come from convening such a vast number of people in one place,” Opec said.
Updated
Iran: 23 MPs infected as 300,000 soldiers and volunteers mobilised
Iran has announced plans to mobilise 300,000 soldiers and volunteers against the deadliest outbreak of the coronavirus outside China, as state television quoted an MP saying 23 members of parliament were infected.
On Tuesday, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the country’s supreme leader, ordered the country’s armed forces to help health officials combat the outbreak.
“Whatever helps public health and prevents the spread of the disease is good and what helps to spread it is sin,” Khamenei said, as the deputy health minister, Alireza Raeisi, reported more infections and a death toll of 77.
Updated
The Queen was seen wearing gloves while shaking hands and handing out medals at an investiture at Buckingham Palace today as the government set out new plans to contain coronavirus.
The monarch, who celebrates her 94th birthday next month, would be among those considered most vulnerable to the virus due to her age.
While she often wears gloves on public occasions, royal observers have noted she does not usually don them for investitures.
As the number of people diagnosed in the UK rose to 51, the issue will have undoubtedly been discussed among her senior aides.
Buckingham Palace declined to comment. But one source said that the Queen and palace staff would follow government advice.
Summary of latest developments
• More than 3,100 worldwide have died from the new coronavirus while more than 90,000 have been infected in 73 countries and territories.
Mainland China, excluding the semi-autonomous territories of Hong Kong and Macau, has 80,026 cases, including 2,943 deaths. Elsewhere in the world, 10,134 cases and 166 deaths have been recorded.
Amid a sharp recorded decline in new cases in Hubei, the Chinese province at the centre of the outbreak, and the provincial capital Wuhan, the country remained on alert as authorities reported an increase in cases coming from abroad.
• Police and fire services might respond only to major incidents if their staff fall victim to Covid-19, the British government has said in a key planning document outlining how ministers are preparing for an escalating outbreak of the virus.
The government action plan envisages that the army could be called in to help if civilian authorities were struggling to cope, and up to a fifth of the national workforce could be absent from work when the illness reaches its peak. Schools could close and elderly people most at risk could be advised not to attend large social gatherings, casting doubt on commemorations such as those for the 75th anniversary of VE day.
• Iran says 77 people have died and 2,336 have been infected by the coronavirus.
The country has had the highest number of deaths from Covid-19 outside China, where the virus originated.
Chinese authorities have asked overseas-based citizens to reconsider or minimise their travel plans as the virus spreads around the world and prompts a rise of cases arriving in the country.
• The world’s top finance ministers and central bankers have pledged to do what they can to protect the global economy from the coronavirus.
That could include extra government spending or changes to monetary policy, such as interest rate cuts or more asset purchase programmes.
Updated
Ryanair anticipates 10% fall in bookings in April and May
Ryanair expects a 10% fall in bookings in April and May because of concerns about coronavirus, having a “meaningful impact” on quarterly earnings.
The airline’s chief executive, Michael O’Leary, said the situation would stabilise by early summer.
“At the moment we’re expecting a 10% decline in bookings through the months of April and maybe May. We could be down about 2 million passengers over that period,” O’Leary told Reuters in an interview on the sidelines of an annual industry conference.
Updated
A New York City school has said it would be closed on Tuesday after a suspected case of coronavirus was detected in its community.
The SAR academy and SAR high school is an orthodox Jewish school in the Bronx borough of Riverdale. It said in a statement the closure was a precautionary measure and that it was in touch with the New York City Department of Health and following its guidelines.
“At this time it is important to remain calm,” the statement said, urging people to follow a series of precautionary measures.
Around 100 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in the US and there have been six deaths, all in Washington state. New York has reported one confirmed case, in Manhattan.
Updated
Kuwait’s civil aviation authority is asking passengers from 10 countries, including India, Turkey and Egypt, to produce certificates issued by the Kuwaiti embassy in their country saying they are coronavirus-free.
Passengers who do not provide the certificates will not be allowed into Kuwait, the aviation authority said on Twitter.
الطيران المدني : اجراء فحص طبي للقادمين من الفلبين والهند وبنغلاديش ومصر وسوريا وأذربيجان وتركيا وسيريلانكا وجورجيا ولبنان الى دولة الكويت يؤكد خلوهم من
— الطيران المدني (@Kuwait_DGCA) March 3, 2020
فيروس كورونا المستجد . pic.twitter.com/8aDY6wXkcI
Updated
Healthcare experts, academics and others have been criticising the UK government’s action plan on coronavirus from the perspective of how it makes little or no mention of the differential impact of the outbreak or its secondary effects on women.
Dr Rebecca Steinfeld, a campaigner who works at the charity Maternity Action, has tweeted this thread:
This thread. And also: (1) What about pregnant women stranded in UK due to quarantine restrictions abroad (or here at some point) who may be liable to be charged for their maternity care? @MaternityAction's work shows devastating impact on women & babies of avoiding care... https://t.co/b0xvI6PzWL
— Dr Rebecca Steinfeld (@beccasteinfeld) March 3, 2020
She poses questions including what the impact might be on already overstretched maternity services if huge numbers of the healthcare system’s workforce are drafted into combat coronavirus.
Updated
Britain’s new chancellor, Rishi Sunak, has posted a picture showing him washing his hands with some Carex soap in shot.
The whole government is working closely together to tackle COVID-19. We are taking firm action to support your families, your businesses and the public services on which you rely.
— Rishi Sunak (@RishiSunak) March 3, 2020
We can all help fight this virus by washing our hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. pic.twitter.com/9q6CJeKKLa
Now many people on Twitter are comparing the introduction of Carex in his
tweet, with another photograph he posted at the end of February
where he was making some tea, standing next to a Yorkshire Tea box.
Yorkshire Tea spent the next few days swatting away a swarm of angry
boycott-threatening tea drinkers by insisting it was only a simple
tea.
People have predicted it could be a busy day for Carex too:
The Carex comms team have just had a heart attack... https://t.co/bVwthvcR8k
— Philip Cowley (@philipjcowley) March 3, 2020
*Waits for Sue to start shouting at Carex* pic.twitter.com/aYuKqebLFv
— Mike Pullen (@MikePullen1969) March 3, 2020
Updated
Here’s an interesting post from the data analyst Andy Cotgreave, who asks if data visualisation conventions should be changed in the light of the coronavirus outbreak.
Should we change our #dataviz rules in light of the #coronovarius outbreak? Here are my thoughts, in response to a tweet from @cased, in which she called out a BBC article by @robertcuffe https://t.co/cHFVOkagDr
— Andy Cotgreave (@acotgreave) March 2, 2020
He was responding to this tweet
Please change the scale on this #coronavirus infographic @BBCNews it makes it look far worse than it is. We need context and should see 100% on the horizontal axis not 15% it looks more alarming than it is cc @HetanShah @bengoldacre @LydNicholas pic.twitter.com/6J0A9ulILc
— Alice Casey (@cased) March 2, 2020
Updated
A school in north-west England has become the latest to close after it was confirmed that the parent of a pupil had tested positive for coronavirus.
In a statement posted on the website of Hilbre high school in Wirral, it said the closure was taking place as a precaution.
The principal, Mark Bellamy, said a group of students went on a ski trip to northern Italy in February but the confirmed case was not connected to the trip at this time.
He added: “Last week, I chose to keep the school open following advice from the government and Public Health England. Today, as I believe, this confirmed case directly impacts on my students and staff. It is for this reason I am closing the school.”
Updated
Dozens of British guests on lockdown in a hotel in Tenerife have received “conflicting messages” about how to return home, Britain’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office has admitted.
In an email sent to Britons at the H10 Costa Adeje Palace hotel, and seen by the Guardian, the FCO acknowledged last night that “the situation within the hotel continues to be difficult” and assured guests that they were working closely with the Spanish authorities.
The hotel was put in lockdown last Tuesday after four Italian guests tested positive for coronavirus, and a fifth from the same group was also found to have been infected with the virus on Saturday.
The email assured guests that the FCO had been in regular contact with Spanish authorities and that attempts were being made to coordinate tests with flights home. The guests have previously been told they will have to leave Spain 24 hours after a negative result.
Guests are being allowed to book their own flights home, but should notify the Foreign Office at least 40 hours before departure so it can liaise with the Spanish authorities to ensure tests are coordinated.
At checkout, guests will be asked to sign a declaration form to say they are free of coronavirus symptoms, and will be given a certificate confirming their negative result. They will have to present both before boarding.
On arrival in the UK, guests will be required to self-isolate for the remainder of the isolation period, until 9 March.
Unlike the British citizens in the hotel, Dutch and Finnish guests have been told by their government that they must wait out the full isolation period and stay until 10 March.
The first group of Britons left the hotel on Sunday, though it is unclear who was able to leave and why.
Updated
Italy’s large elderly population poses a challenge in slowing the number of coronavirus deaths in the worst-affected country in Europe, a health specialist has said.
The virus has killed 52 people in Italy, all aged between 63 and 95 and with underlying serious illnesses.
The Guardian’s Lorenzo Tondo and Angela Giuffrida report that the death toll, provided by officials on Monday night, marked an increase of 18 in 24 hours. Twenty-three per cent of the Italian population is over 65, making it the oldest in the world after Japan.
Prof Massimo Galli, the director of infectious diseases at Sacco hospital in Milan, said: “Italy is a country of old people. The elderly with previous pathologies are notoriously numerous here.
I think this could explain why we are seeing more serious cases of coronavirus here, which I repeat, in the vast majority of cases start mildly and cause few problems, especially in young people and certainly in children.”
Updated
Britain’s health secretary has suggested one of the current rules on sick pay – that self-certification can only last for seven days, and that people need a sick note from a GP if they need to be off sick longer – could be revised in the light of coronavirus.
Matt Hancock is continuing to address MPs in parliament, which is being liveblogged by my colleague, Andrew Sparrow.
Here is a government note about the current rules relating to sick leave.
Updated
Local councils in Britain have said that coping with the virus will place extra demands on their resources, which they are discussing with the government.
The Local Government Association (LGA) said: “Directors of public health, working in councils, have specialist knowledge of the management of threats, such as viruses. They continue to work round the clock to deal with this rapidly evolving situation by using tried and tested infection control procedures to contain and delay the spread of the virus.”
Updated
G7 finance ministers and central bank governors have said they will use all appropriate policy tools to achieve strong, sustainable growth and safeguard against risks from the coronavirus outbreak, which has fuelled global recession fears.
In a joint statement issued after a conference call, they said Group of Seven finance ministers were ready to take actions, including fiscal measures where appropriate, while central banks would continue to work to support price stability and economic growth.
BREAKING: G7 Finance Ministers and central bankers release statement pledging to "use all appropriate policy tools." But they do NOT announce action.
— Heather Long (@byHeatherLong) March 3, 2020
Statement says G7 will use "fiscal measures where appropriate" and central banks will "continue to fulfill their mandates" pic.twitter.com/fANg4roWi1
Updated
A letter posted on social media by an emergency doctor has gone viral in Germany, where he said he felt medical staff had been “left in the lurch” by authorities.
Falk Stirkat, an emergency doctor on call from Erlangen, said: “We are in no way whatsoever prepared for the current situation.
“We’re being sent to the people who have had contact with someone with Corona in order to get samples from them. But we’re not being provided with any sort of proper protective clothing. I have been told to just go to the patients without any protection.
“One colleague was forced to use a pair of diving goggles she brought from home to protect her and others from the spread of the virus.”
In further signs that authorities are overwhelmed by the situation, people have been reporting huge difficulties in finding who to turn to if they suspect they or their children might have the virus.
One woman told the tabloid Bild she spent four and a half hours on the phone trying to find someone to help her, but was “sent from pillar to post” before being told to stay at home.
Updated
The Italian business lobby group Confindustria has said the coronavirus outbreak will strongly impact on economic growth in the first half of 2020, sending the country into a deepening recession.
In a statement, Confindustria said gross domestic product would fall in the first quarter, with a “stronger contraction” between April and June because of the epidemic that has killed more than 50 people in Italy and heavily disrupted economic activity.
Italian GDP had already declined 0.3% in the fourth quarter of last year before the coronavirus outbreak struck.
📊 Nelle stime di produzione industriale per il 1° bimestre l’effetto #Covid_19 è ancora modesto. Prospettive in netto peggioramento, in particolare nel 2° trimestre
— Confindustria (@Confindustria) March 3, 2020
Leggi l’indagine rapida del Centro Studi ⬇️https://t.co/QrR9M9GJsx
Updated
While British police are not anticipating a worst-case scenario, they are preparing for it, according to the umbrella body for police chiefs.
The National Police Chiefs’ Council said in a statement that measures could include greater use of reserve (“special”) police officers.
The NPCC’s lead for civil contingencies, Deputy Chief Constable Paul Netherton, said: “If required, we have tried and tested plans that ensure continuity of policing during times of capacity issues or increased demand. These plans can include moving officers around the country, changing shift patterns and the use of the special constabulary.”
Updated
Confirmed coronavirus cases in UK now at 51, says health secretary
The number of confirmed cases of the new coronavirus in the UK stood at 51 as off 9am local time, Britain’s health secretary, Matt Hancock, has told parliament.
The threat of coronavirus to the UK was “increasingly serious”, he said, but the government and the health service were “well prepared”.
In a Commons statement, he said: “The situation facing the country is increasingly serious. Globally and at home the number of cases continues to rise.
“As of 9am today there were 51 confirmed cases in the UK and it’s becoming more likely that we will see widespread transmission here in this country.”
Updated
Germany has 188 registered cases of coronavirus, with the state of North Rhine-Westphalia in the west of the country the most affected, having 101 cases, and the growing number of infections showing a clear eastwards spread.
Several kindergartens and schools have shut, workplaces and even artists’ studios have been closed, and increasing numbers of office staff have been told to work at home.
There is particular media focus on a cruise ship with 1,200 Germans onboard, moored in the Norwegian port city of Haugesund. Two of the passengers who had contact with a person who had the virus are suspected of having it.
Passengers are awaiting diagnosis results from Norwegian authorities who are then expected to announce whether the passengers should stay on the ship or be taken into quarantine elsewhere. Most of the cases in Germany so far appear to involve people who had been in Iran and Italy. Germany’s health minister, Jens Spahn, has urged doctors to “carry out too many tests rather than too few”.
Increasingly doctors are complaining they have insufficient equipment to carry out the tests, with masks and full body suits in very short supply. In a letter posted on social media that has gone viral, Falk Stirkat, an emergency doctor on call from Erlangen, said he felt medical staff had been “left in the lurch” by the authorities.
“We are in no way whatsoever prepared for the current situation,” he said. “We’re being sent to the people who have had contact with someone with Corona in order to get samples from them. But we’re not being provided with any sort of proper protective clothing. I have been told to just go to the patients without any protection. One colleague was forced to use a pair of diving goggles she brought from home to protect her and others from the spread of the virus.”
Updated
Vaughan Gething, the Welsh government’s minister for health and social services, said that if Wales suffered a more serious outbreak than other UK countries it may ask for extra funds from Westminster.
He said: “If we do have a more significant outbreak than other parts of the UK then we want to make that clear in terms of our conversations with the Treasury.”
There are not the same powers in Wales to detain people suspected of having the virus – as there are in England. Such power has to be sought from a magistrate, but Gething said Welsh government lawyers were working on the issue and if it was deemed necessary the law could be changed.
He said that for the moment the message was for people to go about their normal business.
The chief medical officer for Wales, Frank Atherton, has given a briefing in Cardiff. He said:
• 450 people have been tested in Wales. Most of the testing has taken place in the community. Only one person confirmed to have coronavirus. That person is being treated in London. Active surveillance is taking place, which includes testing people with respiratory illnesses in intensive care units.
• On timing, Atherton said the expectation was for an upsurge of cases in April, a peak in May or June, a tapering off in July/August. Not known if coronavirus will vanish or reappear as a seasonal virus.
• Up to 80% of the population could be affected. Of those, 80% will be mild cases. Typically for each person infected, doctors need to speak to 10-20 people they may have been in contact with – in general those that come within 1-3 metres of an infected person.
• The NHS 111 line can now be used throughout Wales for concerns about coronavirus (the line does not generally cover all areas in Wales).
• Currently in the “containment” phase. Next will be the “delay” phase to try to slow the spread of coronavirus while the NHS is under pressure. Atherton described this as a “window of opportunity for calm preparation”. May need to halt some non-urgent operations, outpatient services.
• School closures, bans on mass gatherings may follow.
• Atherton’s “best guess” is that no vaccine will be developed this year. Next year, maybe.
• There might be areas resource implications in some communities where there are disproportionate numbers of elderly or chronically ill people. There may be a need to “tailor” Wales’s response to the outbreak.
Updated
Scottish health boards and government ministers will be able to ask a sheriff to restrict the movements of patients with coronavirus who refuse to self-isolate or remain in hospital, the Scottish government has confirmed.
The new UK-wide coronavirus action plan, published this morning on behalf of the UK and three devolved governments, said Scottish health boards, which run all NHS services at regional level in Scotland, have:
“powers to place restrictions on the activities of individuals who are known to have the disease, or have been exposed to the disease, and to prohibit them from entering or remaining in any place. Boards may also apply for court orders for quarantine and medical examination.”
These powers are unprecedented and would only be used in extreme circumstances, but a Scottish government spokesman confirmed that ministers could also take on emergency powers. He said:
“The Public Health (Scotland) act 2008 allows health boards to apply to a sheriff for an order requiring a person’s isolation at home or for them to be quarantined where they pose a significant risk to public health.
“Scottish ministers can also make regulations under the act requiring a person posing a health risk to be medically examined, quarantined or detained.”
A second papal international conference, which was to have included Pope Francis, has been postponed due to the coronavirus, the Vatican has said, according to Reuters.
The meeting of world, cultural and religious leaders to sign a “global compact on education” has been rescheduled from 10-17 May to 11-18 October.
Organisers said it was because many of the participants might not be able to travel to Italy. Participants from more than 100 countries were expected.
Updated
Boris Johnson's press conference - Summary
Here are the main points from the Boris Johnson press conference held this morning to announce the UK government’s coronavirus action plan. Johnson appeared alongside Prof Chris Whitty, the government’s chief medical officer, and Sir Patrick Vallance, the government’s chief scientific adviser. To a large extent the PM allowed the two officials to answer the more technical questions, and, perhaps not surprisingly, they appeared to have a better grasp of the detail.
Here are the main points from the briefing.
- Johnson sought to reassure the public that the government is prepared for a widespread coronvirus outbreak that could have far-reaching consequences for Britain. He said the government was publishing its coronavirus action plan and that it had four strands:
The plan has four strands. Containing the virus, delaying its spread, researching its origins and cure, and finally mitigating the impact should the virus become more widespread. That is, contain, delay, research, mitigate.
Johnson said it was “highly likely” that more people would contract the illness, and he stressed that the government was now preparing “for all eventualities”. But he said little directly about what emergency measures might be introduced, and he avoiding discussing the possible fatality rate - even though his two advisers made it clear that potentially the number of people at risk is very high. Johnson said that most people would not be affected. He said:
Let me be absolutely clear that for the overwhelming majority of people who contract the virus this will be a mild disease from which they will speedily and fully recover as we have already seen.
He insisted that the country was going to get through the coronavirus, “and get through it in good shape”. And he stressed the importance of people washing their hands.
- Whitty and Vallance said that under a “reasonable worst case scenario” 1% of people getting coronavirus might die. Near the start of the press conference Whitty said that coronavirus had a 1% death rate based on the Chinese experience. And he said that there was a “significant ramp up” in the death rate for those over 80. Whitty commended this graphic from today’s Times (paywall) showing coronavirus death rates.
But Whitty also said that the 1% Chinese mortality rate figure might be overstating the true rate because of the number of people getting the virus but not displaying symptoms. And he implied that the survival rate might be higher in the UK because of its health system being better than China’s. He said:
The exact percentages will depend on a lot of factors - including the health care system you have in place, so I would not expect... the numbers we are seeing in China automatically to read over to the UK.
The two advisers did not predict what proportion of the population might contract coronavirus on the event of containment failing.
- Johnson said that, although the government was planning to legislate to give it powers in relation to schools, borders and quarantine, these powers would be “exceptional and short-term”.
- Whitty and Vallance said that, in the event of coronavirus spreading, ministers would be asked to choose from an option of far-reaching proposals that could be taken to limit the spread of the disease. They did not go into great detail about what measures might be included, although they conceded that some of them could be highly disruptive. They said modelling would be used to decide what was best. But they also said it would be a mistake to introduce these restrictions too soon, because they said that could led to people ignoring the rules at the point where they were needed most.
- Vallance said a decision to give up trying to contain the virus, and to move to the focus on mitigation, could be taken by a group of countries at the same time.
- Whitty and Vallance played down the prospect of widespread school closures being ordered. Whitty said that the evidence from China suggested children were less likely to be affected by coronavirus than adults. Vallance said there might be a case for closing schools to stop the disease spreading, and to “pull down the peak”. But he said closing schools would impact on the NHS, because staff with school-age children would have to stay at home.
- Whitty said the government was trying to delay infection reaching its peak until the late spring and the summer, when the NHS would be in a better position to cope. He said that, to achieve this, the government might need to do three things: 1) introduce “social distancing” measures (he did not elaborate); 2) isolate older people; and 3) reconfigure public services.
- Whitty signalled that the UK could be affected by coronavirus for another six months. He said he expected it to take two to three months to reach its peak from its outbreak, and for the virus to then take another two to three months to decline.
- Whitty and Vallance played down the prospect of people having to cancel holidays. They said that, at the moment, they were not advising people to cancel their plans, other than in specific countries covered by health advice. And they said that, once the virus had spread widely, they would be no point in avoiding foreign countries anyway. But Whitty said people might want to consider the risk of travelling to countries with a weaker health service than the UK’s with coronavirus at its peak.
- Whitty came close to ruling out any attempt being tried to isolate cities, following the Chinese model. He said this would only make sense in a situation where the virus was starting in one place, with a high transmission rate, and where it was not present elsewhere. (That is not the situation in the UK.) At the weekend Matt Hancock, the health secretary, refused to rule out cities being isolated to prevent the spead of the disease.
- Johnson said the government was considering “all reasonable options” that could help self-employed workers who need to give up work because they are self-isolating.
- Whitty said specific measures were likely to be proposed for care homes. He did not give details of what these might be.
- Johnson said he thought the NHS was “well capable of handling the most tremendous pressures”, such as the ones it was likely to face, although he refused to go into detail of extent to which normal health services might be disrupted. But he did say, if the virus spread widely, people might have to be “self-restraining” and avoid services like the GP and 111 where possible.
- Johnson said that, when deciding how to balance the need to protect the public against the need to reduce disruption, he would be guided by scientific advice.
- Johnson did not rule out the army being used to help out the police or other public services at the peak of the outbreak.
- Johnson said he had not given up shaking people’s hands. On a visit to a hospital last week where he thinks coronavirus patients were being treated, he shook hands with everybody, he said. “Our judgment is washing your hands is the crucial thing,” he said.
- Vallance said that there was no need for people to panic buy. Asked if the government was worried about this, he said the government expected people to take logical decisions.
- Whitty said the crisis was likely to lead to “extraordinary outbreaks of altruism” rather than widespread outbreaks of antisocial behaviour.
Updated
There has been a spate of worrying developments in Iran, where the virus has killed at least 77 people and infected 2,336.
The Islamic Republic’s supreme leader has ordered the armed forces to assist health officials in combating the outbreak. As many as 300,000 soldiers and volunteers could potentially be mobilised, though it remains unclear what actions they would be taking to confront the virus.
Semiofficial news agencies in Iran are reporting that the head of the country’s emergency medical services is now ill with Covid-19, and state television quoted a lawmaker as saying 23 members of parliament now had the virus.
State media also broadcast images of the 80-year-old Ayatollah Ali Khamenei planting a tree wearing disposable gloves ahead of Iran’s upcoming arbor day, illustrating that concern about the virus as now reached the top of the country’s Shiite theocracy.
There are now more than 2,530 cases of coronavirus across the Middle East, with most of those outside Iran in the region linked back to the Islamic Republic.
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The Leipzig book fair has been cancelled in an effort to contain the spread of the coronavirus in Germany, Reuters is reporting.
A spokeswoman for the fair declined to comment. She said the fair would issue a statement in due course.
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There is no current evidence that pets can be infected with the new coronavirus or be carriers of the virus, according to the animal charity Blue Cross for Pets.
That’s not entirely clear until further tests are carried out, but the charity adds in a post on its website: “There is currently a dog in Hong Kong who has tested weakly positive for coronavirus.”
“Though it isn’t yet confirmed whether this is environmental contamination through the dog’s nose and mouth or whether they have really been infected, which means the situation is still evolving.”
Fending off rumours that he has cancelled a raft of diary engagements because he has caught the coronavirus, France’s president Emmanuel Macron will visit an “operational crisis centre” at the health ministry on Tuesday evening.
The Élysée Palace said Macron wanted to express his “gratitude and support” to the teams coordinating the country’s response to the health emergency.
“No, Emmanuel Macron has not caught the coronavirus … and no, the president is not in quarantine,” the president’s team reportedly told Le Parisien newspaper.
France’s health authorities have released a map of the spread of the coronavirus around the country. Among the 191 confirmed cases, there have been several clusters, including one in a group of small villages in the Morbihan in Brittany where all schools and colleges have been closed and local gatherings cancelled and banned.
The worst affected region is the Oise department north of Paris, which has reported 64 confirmed cases. The average age of those infected is 51 with ages ranging from one year to 92 years.
On Tuesday morning, the health minister, Olivier Véran, announced France was setting aside a further €260m for French hospitals to deal with the coronavirus crisis. He told BFMTV the authorities were “anticipating the possibility of an epidemic” on French territory.
“It’s not yet an epidemic, but we are facing the threat of an epidemic and it’s getting closer,” he added.
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The UN has postponed its annual meeting on gender equality, forcing the cancellation of hundreds of events across New York next week, over concerns about transmission of the coronavirus, the Guardian’s Liz Ford writes.
Member states have cancelled all side events organised during the two-week Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), which was to begin on Monday.
Thousands of people were expected to attend CSW, the largest global meeting on gender equality, where member states and civil society groups meet to advance progress on women’s rights. This year marks the 25th anniversary of the adoption of the Beijing Platform for Action, considered the most progressive international blueprint for advancing women’s rights.
Over the weekend, the UN secretary general, António Guterres, had asked member states to consider scaling down, shortening or postponing CSW in light of the coronavirus outbreak. More than 550 feminist organisations worldwide wrote to UN Women calling for the meeting to be postponed rather than cut back as that would have excluded civil society.
On Monday, a decision was made to postpone the meeting, and all side events involving UN agencies, country missions and NGOs were cancelled.
“The outbreak of the coronavirus forced a difficult choice for the Commission on the Status of Women,” said the president of the International Women’s Health Coalition, Françoise Girard.
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All routine surgery will need to stop as part of preparations to continue to allow intensive care units to function during a widespread outbreak of coronavirus, a doctor working in a British intensive care unit has warned.
Preparations need to be accelerated and coordinated and Britain needs to be honest and transparent about the potential impact of a Wuhan-type epidemic in the UK, Dr Tim Cook said in a piece for the Guardian.
Hospitals are acting to expand intensive care outside its existing footprint and double or even treble ICU capacity, most likely by taking over operating theatres, he added.
“This expansion will involve engaging anaesthetists and others to provide ICU medical care and nurses from elsewhere in the hospital to work as ICU staff. To facilitate this, much or all routine surgery will need to stop.”
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Infections in UK would peak three months after first sustained transmission
The government is working on the basis that it will take between two and three months after the first sustained human to human transmission for the outbreak to peak.
That potentially key point on timeframes was spelled out by Britain’s chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance.
After that, it would take another two to three months for it to taper off. The press conference has now ended. We’ll be posting an summary from my colleague Andrew Sparrow shortly.
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Johnson appeared to pass on a question about reports that his government had chosen not to retain access to the European Union’s pandemic warning system.
The UK’s department of health wanted to retain membership of the Early Warning and Response System (EWRS) as part of the EU-UK future relationship deal – but Johndon’s office said no, the Daily Telegraph had reported.
There is a question about whether people should cancel their plans to go abroad for holidays.
Whitty says that it’s about whether people are travelling to high-risk areas. But there will potentially come a point at which infection is so widespread that it makes no differences as to where people travel.
Johnson is asked if he will continue to shake hands with visiting dignitaries. He says that he continues to shake hands and did so when he was at a hospital “the other night” where there were coronavirus patients.
Kate Proctor asks whether it was no longer a “likely” course of action that cities could be locked down. She also asks for stats on the rates of death among the elderly.
Whitty says that in general – and while he doesn’t want to take anything off the table – the locking down of cities happens and is more effective when the infection is coming from one particular place.
He says that what is clear is that there is a significant ramping up of people dying from the infection when they are over 80. A lot also depends on the healthcare system that is in place and he would not expect all of the statistical outcomes in China to be replicated in the UK.
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Johnson and the officials are asked what practical advice can people get on keeping cupboards and fridges stocked without triggering panic buying.
Vallance says there is no reason for people to be engaged in that behaviour but there is a government sub-group examining the issue of food provision. There will clearly need to be measures put in place to provide food to those self-isolating.
There is a question about what assurances can be given to older people and those who are frightened at the moment if they are in “at risk” groups.
Whitty responds by saying that even for the highest risk group the majority of people will survive. He adds that if you look at the Chinese data it was clear that great majority of older people survived.
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Coronavirus "not comparable" to 1918 Spanish flu - UK health officials
There’s a question about how similar the outbreak is to the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, which is mentioned in the UK government planning document released today.
Vallance replies by saying that it is “very different” to the 1918 outbreak, which affected a lot of children and young people. By comparison, this virus has more of an impact on older groups and the vulnerable.
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Britain is facing a "national challenge" - Boris Johnson
Johnson says Britain is facing a “national challenge” and he is very confident that the British public can see the balance regarding the risk. “I am very confident that Britain will get through it in good shape,” he adds.
Another question: what about parents concerned about school closures?
Johnson says: “We don’t think schools should be closing in principle – they should stay open – but they should follow the advice of Public Health England.”
Vallance says there is modelling on the impact of school closures. There is no point in looking at it in isolation, he says.
Where closures fit into other measures – given that children are at lower risk – might actually be quite limited.
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Very specific advice will be given on care homes, adds Whitty, but one of the things the authorities are eager to do is avoid doing this too early.
Johnson is asked: “What words of assurance for Brits sitting at home that they can get through this crisis?”
He repeats the advice on washing hands and says: “This is overwhelmingly a disease that is moderate and people will recover from it speedily.”
Valance says there are things to do now which have been clear and the authorities will give other advice at an appropriate time.
“If you do things at the wrong time you end up with an awful lot of disruption because people can’t see the point of doing them at that time,” he says.
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There will come a time when the official reaction to the virus will move beyond a phase of “containing” it, adds Whitty.
This will come when so many people are affected in Britain and around the world so as to make it sensible to end that phase of planning.
“There will come a point … when containing ceases to make sense. We haven’t reached that point but we could reach that point,” he added.
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Johnson is asked about whether he is prepared to deploy the army and police.
The police are there, he replies, but the army is of course always ready to back them.
“That is under the reasonable worst-case scenario,” he adds.
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Overall, probably around 1% of the people who get the virus may end up dying as a result, the press conference is told by Britain’s chief medical officer, Prof Chris Whitty.
Who are in that group? “It goes up a bit among people who are older and a bit more vulnerable,” says Whitty.
There are gaps in knowledge about the number of people who have had the infection with no symptoms, he adds. One thing the authorities are not sure about is the number of people who can get infected.
In reality, the proportion of the population who will get infected is likely to be lower, and probably much lower, than 80%.
“If you look at Wuhan it’s clearly not 80% that is infected, so we can learn from that and we build on it,” says Vallance. “What we are doing is building on the reasonable worst-case scenario.”
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There is a question to Johnson and the health service civil servants flanking him about whether the virus will get bigger than efforts to contain it.
The answer is that it’s too early to say, replies Johnson.
There are measures that could be taken to flatten the peak, the press conference is told by Britain’s chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance, but it’s important to take the right steps at the right time.
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The British prime minister, Boris Johnson, is outlining the UK’s plans for coronavirus. There are four strands: contain, delay, research and mitigate.
He says it will be a mild disease for most people but he “understands” the concern and admits it is highly likely there will be a spread of the disease.
“Our country remains extremely well-prepared as it has been since the outbreak in Wuhan several months ago,” says the prime minster, who reiterates the message that people should wash their hands for the length of time it takes to sing Happy Birthday twice.
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Dublin’s Silicon Docks area seemed as jammed as usual on Tuesday morning despite thousands of Google workers staying at home as a precaution against coronavirus.
Commuters who had hoped for a respite from the rush-hour crush found it was business as usual on Dart trains and at the Grand Canal dock station, which teemed with workers for Facebook and other tech companies.
Some Facebook employees grumbled in a WhatsApp group that they too wanted to work from home.
Google told most of its 8,000 staff in Dublin to work from home after an employee on Monday showed flu-like symptoms. “We continue to take precautionary measures to protect the health and safety of our workforce, and as part of that effort we have asked our Dublin teams to work from home tomorrow,” said a spokesperson.
The affected worker is considered an unlikely case of coronavirus but Google’s Irish division wants to test its ability to function with staff working remotely.
Ireland has just one confirmed case of the virus but health officials have warned they expect cases to proliferate. The National Public Health Emergency Team is expected later on Tuesday to announce new measures to combat infection, including possible curbs on public gatherings.
The taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, is to chair a special cabinet committee to oversee the threat and government response.
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British government launches planning document on coronavirus
Police and fire services will only respond to the most serious call-outs if their staff fall ill through coronavirus, the British government has warned, in a key planning document setting out how ministers would deal with an escalating outbreak.
The 28-page action plan envisages that up to a fifth of the national workforce could be absent from work, schools could close and elderly people would be advised not to attend social gatherings.
The measures would be rolled out only if the virus moved beyond the currently designated “contain phase”.
The plan also states there could be an increase in deaths arising from the outbreak, particularly among vulnerable and elderly groups, and that local authorities will need help to deal with that challenge, presumably in relation to morgue capacity.
It also proposes that businesses facing short-term cashflow because of low demand from customers could ask the HMRC how to avoid falling behind with tax. And it says that if NHS staff numbers are affected, some non-urgent care may be delayed and retired healthcare professionals brought back on duty.
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Japan's Olympic 2020 contract allows postponement - minister
Tokyo’s Olympic 2020 contract allows it to postpone the Games until the end of the year, Japan’s Olympics minister has said, amid concern the coronavirus could disrupt the event.
“The contract calls for the Games to be held within 2020. That could be interpreted as allowing a postponement,” Seiko Hashimoto said in a session of Japan’s parliament.
However, Japan’s government and host city Tokyo were still committed to hosting the Games, due to begin on July 24, she added. And under the hosting agreement, the right to cancel the Games belongs to the IOC.
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Chinese citizens are to be evacuated from Iran, reports Chinese media.
#Exclusive: Staff at the Chinese Embassy in #Iran confirmed with GT on Tues, the first charter flight will arrive in Iran tonight to evacuate Chinese people from Iran. GT learned that some Chinese students stranded in #Qom have registered for the flight. pic.twitter.com/Bijn2E9Ofb
— Global Times (@globaltimesnews) March 3, 2020
We’re waiting for Britain’s Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, to emerge from 10 Downing Street to outline details of Britain’s plans to contain the new coronavirus.
As we reported earlier, British supermarkets have drawn up “feed the nation” contingency plans that would help the country cope with any panic-buying brought on by a sudden escalation of the outbreak.
Under the plans, supermarkets would work with suppliers to scale back the variety of foods and groceries available, and instead focus on maintaining supplies of staple products.
Details of the strategy in place to ensure uninterrupted food supplies came as Johnson was set to unveil “battle plans” today for tackling a potential outbreak, expected to include steps to limit the spread within crowds and to older, more vulnerable people.
The outgoing Bank of England governor Mark Carney has told British MPs at an ongoing committee hearing that he does not expect the coronavirus economic shock to be as bad as 2008.
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A lack of training and communication have led to fears of medical facilities in the US becoming overwhelmed with an influx of cases.
All hospitals have a pandemic preparedness plan that they should brief all their employees on as the illness becomes more serious in the US, reports Lauren Aratani.
But some nurses in the medical field say that training and information has not come in a timely manner.
A survey of 1,000 California nurses from National Nurses United, the largest nurses’ union in the country, found that 47% of nurses were unsure if their hospital had a plan in place to isolate patients with possible novel coronavirus infection.
Almost half were unsure if their hospitals have enough personal protective equipment, such as masks, to protect staff in the case of a rapid surge of cases.
Health authorities in Gibraltar have confirmed that a person in the British overseas territory has been identified as having the new coronavirus and is self-isolating.
The patient and their partner recently returned from northern Italy via Malaga airport, according to a report by GBC News.
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Bank of England to take steps in potentially large virus economy shock
Mark Carney told the House of Commons Treasury committee the Bank of England’s role in the coronavirus outbreak was “to help UK businesses and households manage through an economic shock that could prove large but will ultimately be temporary”.
He said the Bank would “take all necessary steps to support the UK economy and financial system consistent with its statutory responsibilities”.
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The outgoing Bank of England governor, Mark Carney, has been giving evidence before British MPs, who have been keen to hear how monetary policy might be used to mitigate the impact of the virus outbreak.
My colleague Andy Sparrow has been monitoring his appearance and reports that the full text of his opening statement to the House of Commons Treasury committee about coronavirus is available. Here is an extract.
The Bank of England’s role is to help UK businesses and households manage through an economic shock that could prove large but will ultimately be temporary.
The Bank will take all necessary steps to support the UK economy and financial system, consistent with its statutory responsibilities. We are monitoring the situation closely across all our functions and ensuring all necessary contingency plans are in place.
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There are reports that Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the British-Iranian woman detained in Iran and who is suspected to have the coronavirus, could be released from prison in Iran temporarily.
That’s according to a British Labour MP, Tulip Siddiq, who tweeted: “News from Iranian ambassador that my constituent Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe may be released on furlough today or tomorrow from prison in Iran. If this is true, Nazanin would welcome leaving Evin jail, but we’ve been here before.
“If this furlough happens, the British government have an obligation to make it permanent, and not let her be used as a bargaining chip in the weeks to come. I remain concerned that Nazanin has told her family that she has still not been tested for coronavirus.”
In a statement issued this week, the Free Nazanin Campaign said although there were reports of at least one coronavirus-related inmate death inside Tehran’s notorious Evin prison, staff had refused to test her.
In a statement issued via the campaign, Zaghari-Ratcliffe said: “I am not good. I feel very bad in fact. It is a strange cold. Not like usual. I know the kinds of cold I normally have, how my body reacts.
“This is different. I am just as bad as I was. I often get better after three days. But with this there is no improvement. I haven’t got one bit better.”
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Other questions that are often asked concern “super-spreaders” – what are they and how are they transmitting coronavirus?
As explained by the Guardian’s health editor, Sarah Boseley, not everybody is equal when it comes to the transmission of infectious diseases.
In fact, it has been established for at least two decades that there is something called the 20/80 rule – that a small core group of about one in five people transmit infections to far more people than the majority do. Read on.
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Got questions about the much repeated “self-isolation” strategy for coping with the virus?
Some of the most frequently asked questions have been answered in a Guardian piece here with input from our health editor, Sarah Boseley.
At a very basic level, those who are self-isolating are expected to stay at home, and certainly not go to work or college. It has been described by public health officials as taking the same measures you would if you had a heavy cold – although perhaps a better comparison would be the flu.
The key thing is not to go near other people to avoid spreading the virus, which is transmitted via droplets from coughs and sneezes. It is thought you need to be relatively close to inhale those droplets – maybe within a metre or so. But the droplets can also land on surfaces and transfer to people’s hands – hence the advice to wash them frequently.
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The French carmaker PSA has managed for ensure that its European facilities have enough supplies to keep running for now during the coronavirus outbreak, according to its chief executive officer, Carlos Tavares.
Speaking at a conference call with journalists, Tavares also said that the carmaker could resume activity in the Chinese province of Hubei on 11 March, according to the latest information from Chinese authorities.
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India, the world’s main supplier of generic drugs, has restricted the export of 26 pharmaceutical ingredients and drugs made from them, including paracetamol, as concern mounted the coronavirus outbreak could turn into a pandemic.
Indian pharma companies get almost 70% of the active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) for their medicines from China, Reuters reports.
Already, the coronavirus outbreak has disrupted businesses dependent on Chinese supplies and industry professionals say Indian generic drugmakers are likely to face supply shortages from China if the epidemic drags on.
“Export of specified APIs and formulations made from these APIs... is hereby ‘restricted’ with immediate effect and till further orders,”
Police are investigating an attack in central London on a Singaporean student who says he had to go to hospital after being targeted by a group of people who shouted about the coronavirus being beating him up.
Jonathan Mok, who shared pictures of his battered face and wrote about his ordeal in a Facebook post, which has been shared thousands of times, that one of them tried to kick him in the head before saying: “‘I don’t want your coronavirus in my country.”
The Metropolitan Police have given a statement to the Guardian saying they are investigating a racially aggravated assault in Oxford Street in central London on a near Tottenham Court Road station at around 9.3opm last Monday.
The force, which said that the 23-year-old victim was punched and sustained facial injuries, are now looking at CCTV to try to identify the suspects.
Mok wrote on Facebook that he had already experienced several racist statements directed to him in the past weeks, some involving references to the coronavirus, but felt that racially-motivated assaults always seemed like they would never happen to someone else.
Writing about the incident, he said that he had walked past a group of men when he heard one make a reference to the virus, and stopped to look at them.
All of a sudden, the first punch was swung at my face and took me by surprise. When I was still shocked by the first hit, the guy delivered the second sucker punch. By then, a few passers-by had stopped and one of them tried to reason with them that 4 on 1 was not fair.
The attacker’s friend tried to swing a kick at me as I was explaining to the passer-by that I hadn’t done anything at all. I tried to react in self-defence but couldn’t do anything substantial because I was still recovering from a broken finger in my master hand.
The guy who tried to kick me then said, ‘I don’t want your coronavirus in my country’, before swinging another sucker punch at me, which resulted in my face exploding with blood (from my nose), where the blood was splattered all across the pavement.
Mok, who has studied in London for the past two years, added that he hated being in the spotlight and never liked writing posts on Facebook or any social media platform but that the incident highlighted an important issue that needed to be brought into the spotlight.
He was told in hospital that he had suffered a few fractures in my face and might need to undergo reconstructive surgery to fix some of the bones.
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It looks like the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) knows how to try to get on the right side of Donald Trump.
Here’s a tweet today from the WHO’s director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, commending the US president on Twitter for a US aid donation to the response to coronavirus in vulnerable countries.
Considering Trump’s well-publicised hostility to US aid spending, one might wonder if he was aware of the support. He does now..
Thank you President @realDonaldTrump, @USAIDMarkGreen & @USAID for 🇺🇸’s contribution of $37 million to the global #COVID19 response. These funds will help build preparedness & response capacities in vulnerable countries. @WHO is grateful for your support to keep the world safe. https://t.co/d8EJkaFx6u
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) March 3, 2020
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The good news is that coronavirus is being contained “to an extent” in London, the city’s mayor has said.
Sadiq Khan said Britain was a “very different country to China” when he was asked on BBC if police and troops could be stationed at underground stations. The most important thing people could do was to wash their hands, he reiterated.
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Public data on the number of patients tested in the US for coronavirus was removed from the website of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), according to a congressman, who has written to ask questions about it.
Mark Pocan, a Democratic party congressman, writes that until 1 March, the CDC reported publicly on its website on the number of travel-related Covid-19 cases, the total number of people tested and the number of deaths.
“Inexplicably, today, the CDC’s public webpage dedicated to Covid-19 data no longer displays how many persons have been tested for, or who have died, from Covid-19. I would like to know why,” he writes.
This is unacceptable.
— Rep. Mark Pocan (@repmarkpocan) March 3, 2020
I just sent a letter to @CDCDirector demanding answers to why their website removed public data on the number of patients tested in the United States.
The American people deserve answers. https://t.co/fr50cDL7id pic.twitter.com/Sh6JRYBjRz
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Matt Hancock adds that in “the reasonable worse case scenario there are actions that I may have to take, which I didn’t come into politics to take, but which may be necessary to save lives”.
The government is certainly not recommending stockpiling, he says, adding: “What’s important is to try to come through this together and everyone has a duty to do something – hand-washing being the most obvious example.
Hancock is asked if he accepts that there is effectively a trade-off between disrupting or even destroying the social and economic situation on the one hand, and keeping people safe on the other.
“To a degree,” he replies.
“The thinking is that we will be guided by the science and we will minimise social and economic disruption, subject to keeping people safe.”
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It’s taken the coronavirus to lead to the ending of a boycott by British government ministers of BBC Radio 4’s flagship Today programme, a policy brought in when a new administration came into power with a somewhat difficult relationship with Britain’s national broadcaster.
The health minister, Matt Hancock, was on the programme this morning, where he repeted some of the talking points he’s been passing on to other news outlets this morning.
Closing schools at the moment would be ineffective on clinical grounds but the situation may change, he added.
Hancock was also challenged on what the government is doing to help care homes, where residents who are in the higher risk groups are said to be extremely concerned.
Part of the proposals of the emergency legislation being brought forward by the government will result in retired doctors and others, as well as volunteers, being able to come through to help out if there is a shortage of staff.
🚨🚨🚨
— Jim Waterson (@jimwaterson) March 3, 2020
Downing Street’s BBC boycott is thawing and all it took was the threat of mass death on a global scale. https://t.co/vWjDknpEDg
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A number of staff at Google’s office in Dublin have been told to work from home after a co-worker reported flu-like symptoms, according to a report in the Irish Times
It reports that the person concerned is not a confirmed case of the Covid-19 coronavirus, but a source told the newspaper that people who may be close contacts of the individual have been told to work at home until there is greater clarity on whether they are at risk.
The company has more than 8,000 employees in Dublin,
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The British government has been accused of failing to grasp the threat of so-called “gig economy” workers spreading coronavirus, after a minister advised those with no sick pay who have to self-isolate to claim benefits instead.
The government is under huge pressure from trade unions and Labour to promise statutory sick pay to all workers when it unveils its coronavirus action plan, due to be published today.
But Justin Tomlinson, a work and pensions minister, said the current advice for workers with no sick pay who suspect they have the disease was to claim universal credit – which can take up to five weeks to come through. The alternative would be employment and support allowance, which requires claimants to have two to three years of national insurance contributions.
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Europe’s response to the virus in terms of how the economic impact can be mitigated is to be discussed by governors of the European Central Bank (ECB) on 12 March, AFP reports.
Echoing other central banks including the Bank of Japan and Bank of England, the ECB president, Christine Lagarde, said in a statement on Monday the bank was “ready to take appropriate and targeted measures as necessary” to deal with the virus outbreak’s economic impact.
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It’s far too early to be able to tell if the government will moving to cancel mass gatherings such as the London Marathon next month, Britain’s health minister, Matt Hancock, has said, but it may have to take steps it doesn’t want to take to keep people safe.
“Right now, that is what people should be doing and otherwise going about their normal daily life because we want to minimise the level of disruption, subject to doing the things we need to do to keep people safe,” he told BBC Breakfast.
He added that it was a “reality of this disease” that there were actions the “government does not normally take and that we don’t want to take, that may be necessary to keep people safe”.
Hancock said he understood why people may not want to shake hands, but added: “The scientific advice is that the impact of shaking hands is negligible and what really matters is that you wash your hands more often.”
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Major concerts and events in the United Arab Emirates, an air transit centre as well as a tourism and business hub, have been cancelled or postponed as the coronavirus spreads in the Gulf.
There have been at least 1,641 cases of the virus in the Gulf region, mostly in Iran where 66 people have died, Reuters reports. Cases have also been reported in other Middle East nations.
The 5-6 March Ultra electronic music festival at Abu Dhabi’s 25,000-capacity Du arena and the 21 March K-pop Music Bank concert at Dubai’s 17,000-capacity Coca-Cola Arena have been cancelled.
Organisers of Ultra, where electronic group Major Lazer and DJ Afrojack were to perform, cited travel restrictions imposed by some countries and airlines in the wake of the rapidly spreading virus.
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As governments roll out plans, coronavirus is also changing social interaction, especially in the western world.
The Guardian’s Caroline Davies has been looking at how handshakes, cheek-kisses, hugs – the everyday greetings ingrained in our culture – are not as welcome as they used to be.
In the meantime, good hand hygiene is the key message.
“Science says shaking hands is disgusting,” Nicky Milner, the director of medical education at Anglia Ruskin University, told the Guardian. She pointed to research showing on average we carry 3,200 bacteria from 150 different species on our hands. On average, we will shake hands 15,000 times in our lifetime, she said.
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Britain’s health secretary, Matt Hancock, has been on the airwaves this morning and said that for “most people who catch this virus, it’s relatively mild, and a bad cough”.
He said the number of home ventilation kits are being expanded and that “the NHS, I am sure, will rise to the challenge” of dealing with the coronavirus outbreak.
On whether the NHS would be able to cope if the virus reaches pandemic level, he told ITV’s Good Morning Britain: “A lot of people, not least because it is mild, will be best off at home than in hospital so we are expanding the number of home ventilation kits that are available so that can be done.
“The NHS, of course, has a full plan for this and prepares for this even when there isn’t an outbreak.
“Inevitably in the case of this becoming widespread of course there will be much more pressure on the NHS, but the NHS is prepared for this sort of challenge.”
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Good morning from London where the British government is preparing to publish details this morning of its action plan to slow down the spread of corona virus, which is expected to include measures to potentially cancel events and bring health service staff out of retirement.
A cabinet meeting will be followed later in the morning by a press conference by the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, who will unveil “battle plans” today for tackling a potential outbreak, expected to include steps to limit the spread within crowds and to older, more vulnerable people.
The number of people in the UK who have tested positive for the virus stands at 39.
The plan is expected to include a “war room” to bring together communications experts and scientists from across government and the NHS to roll out a public information campaign.
British supermarkets have meanwhile drawn up “feed the nation” contingency plans that would help the country cope with any panic-buying brought on by a sudden escalation of the coronavirus outbreak
Under the plans - which you can read about in the Guardian’s report here - supermarkets would work with suppliers to scale back the variety of foods and groceries available, and instead focus on maintaining supplies of staple products.
This is Ben Quinn picking up the liveblog, which will bring you coverage of those developments today in Britain as well as covering the ongoing situation around the world.
You can reach me at ben.quinn@theguardian.com or tweet me at @BenQuinn75
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Summary
It’s been another busy day of news developments on the coronavirus outbreak. Below are the main points so far:
- South Korea has declared “war” on the virus after reporting 600 new infections on Tuesday, taking the country’s total infections to just under 5,000.
- WHO experts arrived in Iran as the semi-official news agency, Fars, said the country was “accelerating measures” in the fight against the virus.
- China reported 125 new cases on Tuesday, its slowest daily increase in six weeks (eight times as many cases were recorded outside of China as inside in the last 24 hours).
- Twitter told its employees to work from home.
- Italy, Europe’s worst-hit country, recorded a spike in deaths to 52 from 18 as the number of confirmed cases reached 1,835.
- Health officials in the US, where 91 cases have been confirmed, said six people in the Seattle area of Washington state have died of Covid-19.
- Hong Kong announced charter flights to get its citizens out of Wuhan.
- Washington has 18 confirmed cases, the most of any state in the US, eight of which have been linked to a nursing home in Seattle.
- Trump signalled he is considering additional travel restrictions into America to try to contain the spread of coronavirus
- Hong Kong’s chief executive Carrie Lam said on Tuesday that two chartered flights would bring 533 Hong Kong residents, including pregnant women and cancer patients, back from Wuhan.
- The Australian prime minister warned against panic buying, as the central bank cut interest rates to a historically low 0.5% in an attempt to protect the economy.
- Cruise ship passengers at Réunion Island were threatened by violent protests.
- UK supermarkets draw up plans to ‘feed the nation’.
You can also read our Coronavirus latest: at a glance
Updated
Pope tests negative - report
Pope Francis, who canceled a Lent retreat for the first time in his papacy because he is suffering from a cold, has tested negative for coronavirus, the Italian newspaper Il Messaggero reported on Tuesday.
Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said he had no immediate comment on the report.
The 83-year-old Roman Catholic leader, who had part of one lung removed because of an illness decades ago, also cancelled most audiences last week.
In China, Shanghai will require everyone entering the city from countries with “relatively serious virus conditions” to submit to 14 days of quarantine, an official said on Tuesday.
The rule will apply to all people regardless of nationality, said Xu Wei, an official with the city government’s news office, speaking to reporters at a briefing.
The southeast province of Guangdong, neighbouring Hong Kong, announced similar rules earlier on Tuesday.
Updated
Canada asks travellers from Iran to self-isolate
Canada has asked travellers arriving from Iran – one of the countries hardest hit by the new coronavirus epidemic – to self-isolate at home for 14 days, even if they are not exhibiting any symptoms.
Health authorities asked Canadians to avoid any non-essential travel to Iran and the northern region of Italy, which have both emerged as major hotspots for the infection.
Many cases in Canada had been linked to the Iran outbreak, Canadian chief medical officer Theresa Tam told reporters.
Canada had 27 confirmed cases.
Japan reports first case on island of Kyushu
Japan has reported its first case of coronavirus in Oita prefecture on the southwestern island of Kyushu after a woman in her thirties tested positive for the pathogen, Kyodo news reported.
Australia and New Zealand are funding the WHO’s Pacific regional coronavirus response plan and are responding to requests from assistance for Pacific nations.
There are no confirmed cases in the Pacific islands or Timor-Leste, so far, but fears about the virus are widespread in the region, with rumours and misinformation circulating on social media.
Many Pacific countries do not have adequate health infrastructure to deal with a serious outbreak and some are already battling illnesses like malaria, dengue fever and drug-resistant tuberculosis. A devastating measles outbreak swept through the region late last year, claiming the lives of more than 80 people in Samoa, most of them young children.
Australia’s department for foreign affairs issued a statement saying it had responded to requests for assistance from the region and was providing personal protective equipment and medical supplies for healthcare workers in Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste and Fiji, as well as assisting with planning, surveillance, risk communication and case management in Solomon Islands, Kiribati, Palau, Tonga, the Federated States of Micronesia and Fiji.
Chinese state media is reporting that Apple will be hard hit by the coronavirus shutdown. It says the plant in Shanghai which delivers 40%of the iphone handsets only has 25% of workers are back at work. Also Foxconn’s plant is only running at 22%.
#Apple to be hard hit by #COVID19:
— Global Times (@globaltimesnews) March 3, 2020
-At Shanghai's Changshuo plant, which delivers 40% of #iphone handsets, only 10,000 workers or 1/4 of the workforce have come back at the production line.
-#Foxconn's Zhengzhou plant is short of 50,000 workers, or 22% of the plant's capacity pic.twitter.com/HOzmmAWP1t
The health minister in the Australian state of New South Wales, Brad Hazzard, has confirmed more cases in NSW, taking the number of cases there to 13.
These include a 39 year-old man who arrived from Iran, and a 53 year-old man who returned to Sydney from Singapore, a woman in her sixties who returned from South Korea, and a woman in her sixties just returned from Japan.
“We are seeing an escalating number of people,” he is telling reporters at a press conference.
Meanwhile an Air Asia flight was met by paramedics upon landing at Avalon airport in the state of Victoria on Tuesday morning after showing symptoms of the coronavirus. T
he passenger was then taken to hospital and quarantined. Ambulance Victoria confirmed it received a call about a passenger just after 11.30am.
Other plane passengers will be allowed to go home but will be notified if the passenger tests positive for the virus.
Updated
Twitter tells its staff to work from home
The social media giant Twitter has called on its staff around the globe to work from home, due to the virus outbreak.
“Beginning today, we are strongly encouraging all employees globally to work from home if they’re able,” it said on a blog post.
“Our goal is to lower the probability of the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus for us - and the world around us. We are operating out of an abundance of caution and the utmost dedication to keeping our Tweeps healthy.”
It says working from home will be “mandatory” for its employees in Hong Kong, Japan and South Korea.
China asks overseas citizens to reconsider travel plans
Chinese authorities have asked overseas-based citizens to reconsider or minimise their travel plans as the coronavirus epidemic spreads across the world and prompts an uptick of imported cases arriving in the country, Reuters reports.
“We are trying to distance ourselves from the virus, but what cannot be broken is the flesh and blood relationships between overseas Chinese and their families in their hometowns,” said the government of Qingtian county in the southeastern Zhejiang province.
Travellers from countries with severe coronavirus outbreaks who arrive in Guangdong province, an economic and export powerhouse in the south, must undergo a 14 day quarantine - state media reported on Tuesday.
It added that travelling was the easiest way for cross-infections to happen, describing staying home as the “best form of protection”.
“For the sake of your family’s health and safety, please strengthen your precautions, carefully decide on your travel plans and minimise mobility,” it said.
South Korea declares 'war' on Covid-19
More on South Korea, where cases are approaching 5,000. President Moon Jae-in said the country had begun a “war” against Covid-19 and placed all government agencies on a 24-hour alert.
He said the country was in a “critical phase” and planned to inject US$25 billion into the virus response.
“The crisis in Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province reached its peak and the whole country has entered a war against the infectious disease,” Moon said.
He ordered all of the government’s organisations to shift to a “24-hour emergency situation room system”.
Australian bank Westpac announces interest rate cut
Westpac is first out of the gate to announce interest rate cuts following Australia’s Reserve Bank’s decision to cut interest rates.
In an announcement that landed in Guardian Australia’s inbox just nine minutes after the central bank’s decision was revealed, Westpac said it would pass on the full 0.25 point cut to home loan borrowers from 17 March.
Importantly, it also said it would reduce the interest rate it charges on certain loans and overdrafts to small business customers by the same amount.
The pressure is now on the other banks to match Westpac’s move.
Updated
South Korea infections approach 5,000
South Korea has revised up its figures to report 600 new cases of coronavirus in the past 24-hours, bringing the total number of cases in the country to 4,812.
Updated
Reserve Bank of Australia cuts rates to 0.5%
The Reserve Bank of Australia has cut official rates by 0.25% to a new record low of 0.5%.
Futures market traders had been banking on a cut, with ASX data showing trading on the exchange implied a 100% chance of a reduction to 0.5%.
The probability of a cut had been tracking at between 10% and 20% last week but suddenly surged to 100% on Monday.
Further out, traders expect the official cash rate to drop to 0.25% by July.
Hong Kong announces flight to bring 533 people home from Wuhan
Hong Kong’s chief executive, Carrie Lam, has announced a charter flight operation to bring home 533 Hong Kong residents from Wuhan.
On both Wednesday and Thursday the Hong Kong governments will run two charter flights from Wuhan to bring the people home.
There are a number of pregnant women and cancer patients among the group, a press conference in Hong Kong heard today.
Lam told reporters:
For people who are strands in Hubei, they are quite anxious to return to Hong Kong.
If possible, Hong Kong will make arrangements to bring them back. In the past week we have announced we will send charter flights to bring people back to Hong Kong in batches.
This week many departments have been working together on this arrangement with support from the Hubei provincial government.
Now we are ready.
The 533 includes 443 people in the city of Wuhan, while the rest are from elsewhere in the province.
Among the 93 they have “some special situations and we have to bring them back as soon as possible,” she said. Lam said the operation “posed a great challenge to the SAR government”.
Hong Kong minister, Patrick Nip, said they will be taking care of “emergency cases”, including 14 pregnant women, 11 students needing to take an exam, and 22 residents who need to receive medical treatment in Hong Kong. Some are cancer patients who have to undergo chemotherapy.
“There may be some fine-tuning in regards to the actual numbers,” said Nip.
More than 40 staff members from immigration department, and health and other authorities will take the first flight to Wuhan to undertake “preparatory work” at the airport with Wuhan counterparts.
Anyone who has presented symptoms or tested positive will not be allowed to board, and people’s temperatures will be checked before boarding the flight, one of four times each passenger will be checked over the journey.
There will be at least two doctors and two nurses for each flight.
There will also be special seat arrangements to lower the risk of cross infection.
They will then be taken by special transport to a quarantine centre for 14 days.
“We hope that throughout the process everything will be smoothed and we can minimise the public health risk,” said Nip.
There are 100 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Hong Kong, and Lam said the condition was controllable “but we still need to stay alert because the virus has no borders”.
Authorities have restricted entrants from Japan, South Korea, Italy and Japan, who must go through 14 days quarantine on arrival in Hong Kong.
Signs at Hong Kong airport inform arrivals there are hefty penalties, including more than 10 years in jail, for not disclosing having been in the relevant countries in the past two weeks.
The Australian government is holding a forum for aged care providers on Friday about preparations that should be taken to protect those most vulnerable to Covid-19.
Aged care minister Richard Colebeck told The Guardian:
The Chief Medical Officer has written to aged care providers reminding them that while the number of cases of COVID-19 in Australia is still small, services need to plan and be prepared for a change to these circumstances.
The Chief Medical Officer has shared references to information with providers to help their planning.
The Department is also planning a forum to inform the sector’s preparations for dealing with cases of COVID-19 that might arise.
Aged care homes are expected to assess the risk of, and take steps to prevent, detect and control the spread of infections. Infection management, such as isolating infectious consumers, and applying standard precautions to prevent transmission, minimises the risk of transmission.
It is also expected that homes develop and implement an effective infection prevention and control program that is in line with national guidelines. The Australian Guidelines for the Prevention and Control of Infection in Healthcare set out the requirements for best practice infection control.
USA: NBA tells basketball players to stop high-fives
The world’s top basketball league, the NBA, has told teams avoid high-fiving fans and strangers and avoid taking any item for autographs.
In a memo sent to teams on Sunday and obtained Monday by The Associated Press, offered 10 recommendations to players with hopes of decreasing risks of getting the virus – among them, not taking items such as pens, markers, balls and jerseys from autograph-seekers. Here’s AP’s report:
The NBA also told teams that it is consulting with infectious disease experts, including the Centers for Disease Control and infectious disease researchers at Columbia University in New York.
“We are also in regular communication with each other, NBA teams including team physicians and athletic trainers, other professional sports leagues, and of course, many of you,” the league wrote in its memo to teams, their physicians and athletic training staffs.
ESPN first reported on the contents of the memo.Some players are already heeding the advice.
“Corona,” Bobby Portis of the New York Knicks said as he offered some fist-bump greetings on Monday night before his team faced the Houston Rockets.
Portland guard CJ McCollum said that he is taking the matter seriously.
South Korea reports 476 new cases of virus
South Korea has reported 476 new cases of virus, taking the total in the country to 4,212. We are expecting ant
Updated
Chinese state media is reporting another seven new cases of of the virus in people returning from Italy.
East China's Zhejiang Province reported seven new confirmed cases of #COVID19 from #Italy on Tuesday. One imported case from Italy was reported yesterday. pic.twitter.com/EyasoG9gP5
— Global Times (@globaltimesnews) March 3, 2020
And just on handshaking, Australia’s chief medical, Brendan Murphy, officer says people don’t need to stop doing this in general:
Social isolation should be focused on people who have returned from countries or people who have symptoms that might suggest they have picked up this. The same as you would if you ink you have the flu, but if you have come back from SouthKorea or Italy or Iran, then we would certainly want you to practise some social distancing, not go to mass gatherings, and in that context, shaking hands, good hand hygiene is probably best to be avoided. We are not suggesting those practices should be considered by the broader general community.
'Limited transmissiblity' to children – Australian health minister
The Australian health minister, Greg Hunt, is talking about the low rates of infections for children.
One of the very important reassurances for families is about on the evidence we have, limited transmissibility to children, which is very important for families and parents, and then the mild impact on those children on the evidence across the globe.
The chief health officer, Brendan Murphy adds to this:
I thank the evidence around the world is that when children are infected, they are incredibly mild, in fact so mild that they almost don’t have symptoms. The only child we have had in Australia infected feel that criteria. We are not entirely sure the extent to which they get the virus, but we do know that symptomatic significant disease is not a feature and we have been very little evidence of a significant problem in children, and that is quite different from flu where we often have some quite sick children. So that is a good positive message.
Updated
The Australian PM is now being asked about whether people should be stocking up at supermarkets.
“I can understand the anxiety out there in the community. That is why it is important to get information from the trusted official sources,” Scott Morrison says.
Australia: No evidence of sustained community transmission
Australia’s chief medical officer, Brendan Murphy, is speaking now.
He says his teams are concentrating on containment, but says there is no evidence of sustained community transmission in Australia, despite two suspected cases on Monday.
There is no reason for people to stop going to mass gatherings on stop going about their normal business. Our focus is now on return travellers. If you have comeback from one of the countries where coronavirus is particularly a high-risk country.
He singles out Iran as a country of particular concern.
Updated
Australia’s health minister, Greg Hunt, now has the microphone.
He says authorities are trying to track close contacts of the people who have been diagnosed in the country over the past day or so, when community transmission is believed to have happened for the first time in the country.
Officials from primary care and aged care professions are meeting today to map out a plan and to “make sure supply lines are maintained in Australia”.
Morrison now foreshadowing the expected interest rate cuts when Australia’s central bank, the Reserve Bank, meets later today... and putting pressure on the banks to pass on any cuts to customers
There is no doubt that if the bank were to take a decision today on cash rates that the government would absolutely expect the four big banks to come to the table and to do their bit in supporting Australians as we go through the impact of the coronavirus. That is why, if the bank were to go down that path, they would be going down that path.
What’s evident is he is trying to set a positive tone...that businesses and the community will bounce back “on the other side” of this coronavirus outbreak, but caveats that people must take this seriously.
If you don’t work to get the details of a package like this right, then it can have very serious implications, both economically and more broadly, and frankly, we saw that last time, and we don’t intend to repeat those mistakes.
Scott Morrison says this is a health crisis with significant economic implications but is different to a financial crisis.
There is no problem with the banking system. There is no problem, structurally, with the stability of the economy or things of that nature. This is a health crisis which has had serious disruptive impact on the trouble, the movement of people, and of goods around the world.
Morrison touches on possible measures to control the spread of the virus.
“If we had concerns, there is the ability to lockdown aged care facilities, out of protection for the residents in those aged care facilities.”
Australian PM urges citizens to keep going about 'daily business'
We’re now hearing from Australia’s prime minister, Scott Morrison.
He says he’s spoken to the two of the major supermarkets, Coles and Woolworths, about their response to the virus ... but gives no further details.
He encourages people to continue going about their daily business.
Last week Australia enacted its emergency response plan to the outbreak.
He says border control restrictions and travel will be looked at again today.
He confirms there have been 34 cases in the country, 21 of whom have recovered.
He calls on Australians to exercise “common sense”.
I am looking forward to getting to places of mass gathering, particularly if it involves my football team playing, or going to kids’ concerts or doing any of these things. Australians should continue to go about their lives and our normal way and just exercise commonsense. In the same way that you would during a severe winter season where there may have been an outbreak of influenza or something like that.
Updated
WHO team of experts arrived in Iran
On Monday a WHO team of experts arrived in Iran, to help with the outbreak of coronavirus. To date, 1,501 COVID-19 cases, including 66 deaths, have been reported in the country.
The WHO says cases with a travel history to Iran have also been reported from Afghanistan, Australia, Canada, Lebanon, Pakistan, Kuwait, Bahrain, Iraq, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
We are expecting a news conference from the Australian prime minister, Scott Morrison, shortly.
Australia now has 34 cases of coronavirus, after a 20-year-old man from China has been diagnosed with COVID-19.
We know that authorities are looking at whether to use additional powers to control the spread of the virus. We’ll bring you coverage of that as soon as it starts.
Here’s what we know so far about the cases in the country:
- 15 of the 34 cases were either Chinese tourists or residents recently returned from China. All 15 have cleared the virus.
- 10 of the 34 were infected after travelling on the Diamond Princess cruise ship. Six of those 10 have cleared the virus and have left hospital.
- One of the 10 from the ship - 78-year-old James Kwan - died in a Perth hospital on Sunday. It was the first coronavirus death in Australia.
- Six other cases involve people recently returned from Iran.
- The final two cases are Australia’s first person-to-person transmissions. One is a Sydney doctor, the other the sister of an infected man who recently returned from Iran. Neither recently travelled overseas.
Updated
Cruise ship protests in Réunion over coronavirus fears
Passengers from Australia, New Zealand and the UK on board a Princess Cruises liner have been met by violent protests in Réunion Island in the Indian Ocean due to fears over coronavirus.
The Sun Princess docked early on Sunday with 2,000 passengers on board. It is operated by Princess Cruises, the same company that operated the Diamond Princess which quarantined by Japanese authorities with 3,700 on board in Yokohama after a passenger tested positive for Covid-19.
You can read our full story below:
Updated
Australian state of Queensland announces another confirmed case
In Australia, Queensland Health authorities have said a 20-year-old man from China has been confirmed to have coronavirus. The man is currently in a stable condition in isolation in the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital.
The man had travelled to Dubai for at least 14 days before entering Australia, via Brisbane on 23 February. He became unwell on 25 February.
Dr Jeannette Young, Queensland Chief Health Officer, said authorities are looking into where the man may have contracted the disease.
“The male has recently returned to Brisbane and we are working closely with relevant authorities to undertake contact tracing,” Young said.
“The male lived with one other housemate in Toowong. We are in contact with the male’s housemate, who is undergoing assessment. Our contact tracing methods are tried and trusted and we will take every opportunity to raise awareness of this case in the community if there has been any community exposure.”
There have now been ten people in Queensland with COVID-19, including the three people from the Diamond Princess Cruise Ship. The most recent case, a 63-year-old woman, remains in isolation in a stable condition at Gold Coast University Hospital.
The other eight patients have been clinically cleared by their treating team and discharged from hospital. Overall 33 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in Australia.
State and territory health departments are giving updates throughout the morning, with a press conference from the federal chief medical officer and health minister, Greg Hunt, expected later in the day.
Updated
China infections and deaths continue to drop
China has announced its daily figures of deaths and infections, with numbers still dropping. There were 125 new confirmed cases (114 in Hubei), and 31 new deaths (all in Hubei).
The death toll now stands at 2,943, with a total of 80,151 infections. The daily update also said 47,204 people, or 59% of people diagnosed, have recovered.
Updated
The pharmaceutical company Pfizer says it has identified certain antiviral compounds it had in development that have the potential to inhibit coronaviruses and is engaging with a third party to screen the compounds, Reuters reports.
The company said it hopes to have the results from that screening by the end of March and if any of the compounds are successful, it would hope start testing them by the end of the year.
Pfizer’ chief scientific officer, Mikael Dolsten, was one of a number of pharmaceutical executives who met with President Trump at the White House on Monday.
Updated
Trump questions time to make coronavirus vaccine
This footage shows President Trump appearing to question the length of time it may take to make a vaccine for the coronavirus, and being corrected by Dr Anthony Facui, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).
Infectious diseases head Dr. Anthony Fauci has to stop Trump from asserting in a White House meeting that coronavirus vaccine would be available in two months: "Like I've been telling you, a year to a year and a half." pic.twitter.com/YF59PYMlG0
— Oliver Willis (@owillis) March 2, 2020
In this clip, Trump asks if the influenza vaccine could be used to treat coronavirus.
Medical experts at the White House have to patiently explain to Trump that his idea of using the flu vaccine to address the coronavirus will not work. pic.twitter.com/acghVStSvK
— Oliver Willis (@owillis) March 2, 2020
WHO chief warns world is in 'unchartered territory'
The WHO boss, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has warned that the world has “never seen a respiratory pathogen that is capable of community transmission, but which can be contained with the right measures”. He said containment must be the top priority for all countries and that there is “no one-size fits all approach”.
Knowing & understanding an epidemic is the first step to defeating it.
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) March 2, 2020
We are in unchartered territory with #COVID19. We have never before seen a respiratory pathogen that is capable of community transmission, but which can also be contained with the right measures.
Australian market rebounds as traders anticipate interest rate cut
First up let’s have a look at what’s happening on the markets. Yesterday there were big falls on fears of the virus spread, including in. Australia, which plunged more than 2.5% when it opened yesterday. But with widespread predictions the Australian central bank, the Reserve Bank, will cut interest rates today, the market was up almost 1.6% at about 10.40am.
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the coronavirus outbreak. We’re expecting another busy news day as infections spread outside of China.
Before we get started, here are the main points so far:
- Italy’s death toll has risen to 52, with 1,835 confirmed cases
- The US has now recorded six fatalities from the virus, with 75 confirmed cases
- WHO chief says: “We have never before seen a respiratory pathogen that is capable of community transmission, but which can also be contained with the right measures.”
- UK supermarkets have drawn up plan to “feed the nation” as coronavirus spreads. Confirmed cases stand at 39.
- The virus outbreak has reached more than 60 countries.
- The level of risk of contracting coronavirus within Europe has been raised from moderate to high.
- Australia’s chief medical officers will meet on Tuesday to discuss if extra measures are needed to combat outbreak.
You can get up to date with all our coverage below:
- Italy’s coronavirus death toll rises to 52
- Six dead in Washington state as new cases reported across US
- EU raises risk level of coronavirus infection as global deaths pass 3,000
- Coronavirus: today’s developments at a glance
Updated
